After the first round of shooting, the four-pipe group, two-pipe group and a single-pipe group were fired respectively. Although the rockets fired did not hit the mound again, the bounce point was not far from the mound. As soon as the shooting ended, a staff member immediately took a jeep and went to the bounce point to check and record the relevant data.
Sokov sat on the bench in the wooden house, looking at the jeep away, and despite Yakov and the tall and thin man were chatting in a low voice, he asked guiltily: "I wonder if today's experiment is successful?"
"Success is of course considered successful." The tall and thin man heard Sokov's question and said excitedly: "The rocket launcher that our army now is equipped with now often deviates from more than 200 meters. If it weren't for its powerful power, it might have been discontinued. And the rocket you designed has effectively improved the shooting accuracy after a small improvement..." The weapon expert praised the 107mm rocket launcher, which made Sokov feel a little complacent.
Yakov first sat aside without saying a word. After seeing the staff who were measuring the data back in the car, he immediately interrupted the chat between the two, "The jeep is back, let's go and see the data collected by the staff."
The tall and thin man and Yakov came outside the house, took the plywood handed over by the staff, and checked the data recorded on the paper together. Sokov leaned over and took a look, only seeing a bunch of symbols and a lot of numbers, and he didn't understand what it meant.
Yakov pulled out the paper that recorded the data from the plywood, put it in his pocket, and said to the tall man: "I will go to meet the People's Committee now and hand over the data of this test to him. You continue to stay here and prepare for the next round of tests."
Sokov, who was standing next to him, was about to ask what Yakov's test it was, but he saw Yakov wave his head to him and said, "Let's go, Misha, go with me to meet the People's Comrade."
In this way, Sokov, who followed Yakov to this mysterious test site, only looked at the staff responsible for weapon testing, fired several sets of rockets, but didn't even understand the data collected. He followed Yakov out of here in a confused manner and went to see Ustinov.
The two came to Ustinov's office. The people's committee member had been waiting for the two for a long time. As soon as he saw Yakov walk into the door, he asked straight to the point: "Captain, have the data collected?"
"Yes, Comrade of the People's Committee." Yakov took out the paper from his pocket, spread it out and placed it in front of Ustinov, and said respectfully: "The test data are all on it, please check it out!"
After reading the data on the paper, Ustinov showed a surprise expression on his face. He raised his head and looked at Yakov standing at the table and said, "Captain Yakov, judging from the test data, this new weapon is effective. You must hurry up and complete the test of other data, and strive to prepare the troops early."
"Comrade of the People's Committee," Sokov, who was standing behind, couldn't help but feel a little shocked when he heard that Ustinov was about to equip the troops with this weapon as soon as possible. He didn't care about the consequences of his own speaking, but said hurriedly: "Even if this weapon is produced, it cannot be equipped with the troops for the time being."
"Why?" Ustinov and Yakov asked in unison.
"Although this new rocket launcher has just been tested for the first round today, I think you can imagine the power of this rocket launcher." Sokov said this and deliberately paused for a moment to observe the reactions of the two. Seeing that they nodded in agreement with his statement, he continued: "Although our army's counterattack under the city of Moscow has achieved great results. But at the same time, it should be seen that the enemy's strength is still very strong and we cannot take the initiative on the battlefield. If this new rocket launcher is equipped with troops too early, once it falls into the hands of the Germans, it will not take long to imitate it with the current military-industry level of the Germans. If they also equipped this weapon, it would be a disaster for our army."
"Misha, your statement is too pessimistic..." Yakov was afraid that Sokov's words would make Ustinov unhappy, and quickly interrupted him: "Since our army can smash the German attack under the city of Moscow, we will wipe out their living forces in more areas."
Sokov said that Ustinov was confused, and he asked in confusion: "Yes, if this new rocket launcher cannot be equipped with troops as soon as possible, what's the point of developing it now?"
Faced with Ustinov's doubts, Sokov naturally could not tell him that in the next day, the Soviet army would still have a fierce battle between Kharkov and Stalingrad. If the German army had this new type of rocket launcher, then the 62nd Army troops that were holding on to Stalingrad would have the possibility of being driven into the Volga River at any time.
Sokov organized a word in his mind and said to Ustinov: "Comrade of the People's Commissar, according to my judgment, our army wants to gain the initiative on the battlefield, and it will have to wait at least 43 years. Before that, the German army will still have the upper hand. If we put the new rocket launcher into the army too early, once it is seized by the German army and produced in large quantities, it will bring a catastrophic blow to our army. Therefore, I suggest that after it is officially put into production, it will only provide it to a few troops. Even if the battle situation is not good for our army, this rocket launcher can be destroyed in a timely manner."
"Major Sokov, your assumption is not true." After hearing Sokov's words, Ustinov said with a stern face: "While overestimating the strength of the enemy, you also seriously underestimated the strength of our army. The counterattack under the city of Moscow has seriously damaged the Germans' vitality. I believe that it will take no long before we can drive the Germans out of our territory."
Faced with Ustinov's confidence, Sokov was really amused and crying, but under the current circumstances, he really couldn't refute it, so he could only remain silent.
Fortunately, Ustinov did not care about him, but told Yakov: "You must hurry up with the next few tests. It is best to set up this new rocket launcher within half a month and start to be put into production. But because our productivity is insufficient, we can only produce about a hundred gates and equip the troops on a small scale. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Comrade of the People's Committee." Yakov nodded and replied: "I promise that the production workshop will be able to put into production of this new rocket launcher before the end of May..."
After Ustinov assigned the mission to Yakov, he turned his eyes to Sokov, who was dazed, and raised his voice and said, "Major, you can tell me what you think now."
Although Sokov was trained, he still agreed with his point of view and did not equip such rocket launchers with large quantities of troops. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he tried to squeeze out a smile on his face and said: "Our army is now equipped with artillery and rocket launchers of various calibers, so whether this new rocket launcher is equipped is not very important. Its main function is to attack the enemy's transportation lines, camps and warehouses. If possible, it can also play a huge role in street fighting."
"Stand combat, where to do street combat?" Ustinov heard this, got up and came to the wall, looking up at a map hanging on the wall. Since this was not a military map, there were no dazzling red and blue arrows on it. He pointed to several cities occupied by the German army on the map: "Are you talking about Smolensk, Kiev or Odessa?"
Although Sokov glanced at the location of Stalingrad, he still said insincerely: "Comrade People's Commissar, the places you are talking about are places where we are going to engage in street battles with the enemy. But now, I think the location where our army wants to fight street battles with the German army may be in the south of Moscow."
"South of Moscow?" Sokov's words aroused Ustinov's interest. He slapped the map twice and said, "Suggest me, where will we fight fiercely with the German army next?"
"Here!" Sokov hurriedly walked to the map, pointed to two cities south of Moscow, and said to Ustinov: "Kharkov and Belgorod! According to my judgment, it will take no time for our army to start a fierce battle with the German army here."
Seeing Sokov pointing out these two places without hesitation, Ustinov's face showed a hint of surprise. Because at the meeting of the Supreme Command that he attended two days ago, he specifically mentioned that Marshal Temuxingo's troops would launch a large-scale offensive against the enemies entrenched in Kharkov and Belgorod in June. But unexpectedly, the major in front of him actually guessed the intention of the Supreme Command.
Seeing Sokov so young, Ustinov didn't believe that he would guess the plan of the Supreme Command, so he asked tentatively: "Comrade Major, I want to ask you, did you analyze the plan for the attack on the German army yourself, or did someone tell you?"
Regarding the question raised by Ustinov, Sokov grinned and replied with a shameless face: "Comrade of the People's Committee, of course, I analyzed it myself."
"Tell me your reasons." Ustinov walked back to his table and sat down, looking at Sokov and asked curiously: "Why do you think that the target of our army is Kharkov and Belgorod?"
"To the north of our country, Leningrad is surrounded by the German army. The enemy cannot rush in, and our army cannot break their siege for the time being." Sokov pointed to the map and pretended to say: "Although Moscow on the middle line has concentrated heavy troops, it is unlikely to start a war again, because the German army can no longer advance towards Moscow as unscrupulously as last year. In this way, the only places where fighting can take place are Kharkov and Belgorod. If these two cities are recaptured, then the military-industrial enterprises in Kharkov city can resume production as soon as possible to solve the urgently needed weapons and ammunition for the troops..."
Ustinov, who was sitting in his seat, looked at Sokov who was talking, and his face turned pale because what the other party said was roughly the same as what he heard at the meeting of the Supreme Command. If he had not investigated the other party's identity in advance, he would have almost ordered people to arrest Sokov as a German spy at this moment.
"Major Sokov," But when Sokov finished, Ustinov also made a decisive decision: "Master Timuxingo plans to launch a counterattack in the south of Moscow. He will organize a group of commanders with rich combat experience in the near future to study his combat plan. If you don't object, I plan to recommend you to attend this seminar."
After the talks with Ustinov, Yakov took Sokov out of Ustinov's office. When he came to the corridor, Yakov looked around and saw that there was no idle passing by, he whispered to Sokov: "Misha, how can you talk nonsense in front of the People's Comrade? You know, I just scared my cold sweat, and I was very afraid that he would be angry, so I ordered someone to arrest you. Even if I came forward, it would not be so easy to rescue you."
"Thank you for your concern," Sokov actually found that his shirt on his back was wet with sweat when he left the office. He said gratefully for Yakov's concern: "Fortunately nothing happened."
"Fortunately, Comrade Ustinov is easy to talk to, but some older generations are hard to talk to." Yakov thought that Sokov would attend a meeting chaired by Temuxinge in a few days, so he reminded him tactfully: "So when the meeting, you must understand in your heart what you can say and what you can't say. Once you say the wrong thing, it is not as simple as being criticized. Maybe you will be sent directly to the military court."
Yakov's words scared Sokov into a cold sweat again. He asked in surprise: "Yakov, don't scare me, is Marshal Temuxin really so difficult?"
"Yes." Yakov nodded and said with certainty: "If you obey his orders, there may be nothing. But once you sing a opposite tune with him, hehe... may bring you a murderous disaster."
When Sokov heard this, he couldn't help but start to stir up trouble. He thought to himself that if he went to attend a meeting chaired by Temuxinge, he would definitely have to sing a counter-topic for the combat plan he proposed, otherwise he would have to watch the attacking troops be defeated by the German army. If it was really like what Yakov said, and he would have angered Temuxinge, it would be better not to attend such a military conference.
Chapter completed!