As soon as Yakov walked into the command center, he saw two officers standing facing the door. One of the officers wearing the rank of lieutenant colonel came first and said with a smile: "Major Yakov, I am Lieutenant Colonel Sidorin, the chief of staff of the brigade, I welcome your arrival on behalf of the commanders and soldiers of the entire brigade!"
Just as Yakov shook hands with Sidolin, the political worker next to him also came over and took the initiative to greet him: "Major Yakov, I am the political commissar of the brigade Beirkin, welcome you!"
After shaking hands with the two, Yakov asked with some confusion: "Two commanders, I heard from the sentry at the door that the brigade commander is here, why didn't I see him?"
"I am here, Yakov." As soon as Yakov finished speaking, he heard a familiar voice sound in the room, "Welcome to Mamayev hill."
"Misha, where are you?" Yakov only heard the sound but did not see anyone. He looked around. Except for the two commanders in front of him, and the few radio operators and staff officers sitting in front of the phone not far away, he saw no sign of Sokov at all. He thought that Sokov was joking with him and deliberately hid, so he couldn't help but ask loudly: "Why can't I see you?"
"Major Yakov, comrade commander is here." Sidolin and Belkin sideways, revealing Sokov lying on the camp bed in the corner of the wall: "He is injured and cannot stand up to greet you. Please forgive me."
Yakov was shocked when he saw Sokov lying on the camp bed. He quickly walked to the bed, leaned down and approached Sokov, and asked with concern: "Misha, are you injured? Are you seriously injured?"
Sokov, who was lying on the marching bed, smiled faintly and said, "I'm fine, I'm just injured in a little shock. I'll be fine for two days. Yakov, why did you suddenly appear in Mamayev's hill?"
"Why am I here?" Yakov heard Sokov's question and snorted heavily, saying, "If I hadn't given you new weapons, I probably wouldn't have had a chance to come to Stalingrad."
"Oh, I'm sending us new weapons?!" Yakov's words made Sokov secretly happy. He asked quickly: "Yakov, tell me quickly, what new weapons is it?"
Yakov hesitated for a moment, as if considering whether to tell the truth to Sokov. But after a moment, he made a decision. Since this batch of new weapons was handed over to Sokov and others for use, it doesn't matter even if it is said in public. After a light cough, he said, "It is the 107mm rocket launcher you designed, which has been officially put into production after repeated tests. Comrade Ustinov asked me to send a batch here and let you test its power on the battlefield."
When Sidolin and Belkin heard Yakov say that they had new weapons, they all showed surprise expressions on their faces, but when they heard that they were rocket launchers, they immediately lost interest. They were thinking in their hearts: the rocket launcher battalion was equipped with 122mm rocket launchers on vehicles, and now a 107mm rocket launcher appeared out of thin air, which probably would not play much role in combat.
Seeing that Sidolin and Belkin were indifferent, Sokov said to them: "Political Commissar, Chief of Staff, do you think that the power of this kind of rocket launcher on the battlefield is not as powerful as that of our army's current Katyusha rocket launcher?"
Sidorin and Belkin, who were guessing the central story by Sokov, did not speak, but just laughed dryly, and just assumed that they had agreed to Sokov's statement.
After seeing the expressions on the two of them clearly, Sokov smiled slightly, and then said to Yakov: "Yakov, are you sending this batch of 107 rocket launchers here? Or should you introduce the situation to them."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Yakov turned toward Sidolin and asked, "Can you please inform my subordinates and ask them to send a towed rocket launcher?"
"Do you send it here?" After hearing Yakov's request, Sidolin asked in surprise: "The space here is small, I'm afraid it can't be used to put on the rocket launcher?"
"Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff." Yakov said confidently with a smile on his face: "Since it is a new rocket launcher, its size must be different from that of common rocket launchers, and it will definitely be placed here."
Sidolin stared at Yakov for a while, feeling that he didn't want to joke with him, so he walked to the table, pulled the phone in front of him, shook the handle a few times, then picked up the microphone and put it in his ear, and said, "I am Lieutenant Colonel Sidolin, please contact me the post at the entrance of the reverse slope..."
While Sidolin was calling, Sokov asked Yakov with a smile: "Yakov, you haven't seen each other for a few months. You are actually majors. You are promoted quickly enough."
Yakov grinned and said, "Misha, don't make fun of me. You know, I am a technical army now, and my rank is definitely a little higher than that of ordinary troops..."
Not long after the two chatted, the second lieutenant whom Yakov had met appeared at the door with seven or eight soldiers. The second lieutenant walked into the door, raised his hand to salute Sidorin, and reported: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have brought the comrades from friendly forces."
Before Sidolin could speak, Yakov had already walked to the door and rushed to the soldiers standing outside and said, "Come in and assemble everything in his hands." With the order issued, the soldiers rushed in, put down the thick cannon barrels in their hands, and began to assemble them on the spot.
Sidorin waved to the lieutenant, signaling that he could leave, then stood beside him and looked at the busy warrior, and asked Yakov curiously: "Major Yakov, is this the kind of rocket launcher you are talking about?"
"That's right," Yakov nodded, saying affirmatively: "This is the latest towed rocket launcher."
Looking at the gradually forming rocket launcher, Cidorin shook his head and said, "Major Yakov, if you weren't your explanation, I thought this was a new type of farm tool, and the appearance was so simple."
The soldiers completed the assembly of this twelve-tube towed rocket launcher in just three or four minutes. Seeing that they had finished assembly, Yakov waved at them and said, "You guys go out first, and come in when I call you."
After the soldiers left, Yakov began to introduce this new rocket launcher to Sidolin and Belkin: "... Since the rockets fired are flying by the thrust of their own engines and do not require complex anti-recoil devices, the launcher structure is simple and light. Most of the components of the gun body can be decomposed and combined without tools, and it is very easy to operate and repair. In special cases, we can also use a single tube, two tube, four tube or eight tubes to fire easily. The gun weighs 613 kilograms, with a small size, light weight, and good mobility. It can be pulled by a jeep or dragged by a mule and horse, or it can be decomposed and transported by manpower."
After listening to Yakov's introduction, Cidolin and Belkin had a sensory understanding of this rocket launcher. But it would be useless to have strong maneuverability and not strong firepower. Therefore, Cidolin continued to ask: "Major Yakov, how powerful is this rocket launcher?"
"The rocket weighs 18.8 kilograms, the warhead weighs 8.33 kilograms, the maximum range is 8.5 kilometers, and the killing radius is 12.5 meters." As Yakov participated in the entire process from design, development to mass production of this rocket, he was very familiar with various data. When he heard the question of Cidolin, he immediately replied without hesitation: "This new rocket has a strong firepower, and it fired 12 rounds at a time, which is equivalent to a howitzer battalion, which is beyond the reach of ordinary artillery."
Sokov, who was lying on the marching bed, watched Yakov introduce the new 107 rocket launcher to his two deputys, thought to himself: "I originally planned to go directly to the 'conscience-free cannon', but unfortunately the thing is not very accurate in shooting and has a range of close to one or two hundred meters before it can be launched. If the German army on the opposite side is equipped with several snipers, they can easily snipe the soldiers who operate the 'conscience-free cannon'. Moreover, when the 'conscience-free cannon' is launched, the oil barrel will roll, which will also cause unnecessary casualties to nearby soldiers. If you want to deal with the Germans, the 107 rocket launcher that was only released more than 20 years later is powerful and the most reliable."
After listening to Yakov's introduction, Belkin was full of curiosity about this new rocket launcher. He stepped forward and touched the barrel and asked, "Major Yakov, you just said that this towed rocket launcher can be disassembled and transported manually?"
"Yes, comrade of the political commissar." Yakov said: "As you can see, the 107mm rocket launcher is not only light in total, but also can be quickly decomposed and combined. The weight of a single component after disassembly is not more than 30 kg. To meet the requirements of the human back, the decomposed part has the following characteristics in terms of structural dimensions: the upper part is not the neck (easy to raise the head), the lower part is not the hip (easy to step), the wider part is not the shoulder (easy to pass), and the center of gravity is close to the body (preventing to twist the waist). After the decomposition is completed, our soldiers can carry the parts anywhere, reassemble them, and fire strikes nearby enemies."
"Major Yakov is right." Sidolin interrupted, "We have seen it just now. Only seven or eight soldiers can carry all the parts and assemble them in the shortest time. Major, I want to ask, how many such traction rocket launchers do you have brought this time?" Yakov didn't say anything, but raised his right hand and stretched out four fingers.
"Forty gates?" Cidolin asked in surprise: "You actually brought such a rocket launcher across the river?"
Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, he saw Yakov shook his head and replied, "Comrade Chief of Staff, you are wrong. It's not forty gates, but four gates. This time we brought our own four-pull rocket launcher to Mamayev hill."
"There are only four." After learning that Yakov had only brought four rocket launchers, the smile on Cidolin's face gradually disappeared, he asked in disappointment: "It's too little!"
"There are quite a few, Comrade Chief of Staff." Yakov replied: "These rocket launchers were prepared for dispersed use at the beginning of their shooting. Although there are only four gates, after dismantling, they are launched in a single or double tube manner. We can launch firepower on the German army at 48 or 24 places at the same time."
After Yakov finished speaking, Sidolin turned around and asked Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, where are you going to deploy these rocket launchers?"
"One gate is deployed in the north and south each, and one gate is placed in the arsenal for backup. After the remaining gate is dismantled, it will be allocated to the troops fighting in the city." Sokov felt that if the building Vasily was also equipped with such magical weapons, it would inevitably cause greater casualties to the enemy, so he added: "Equipment the building where Vasily is located with two pipes so that they can better attack the enemies rushing into the city."
After saying this, Sokov suddenly remembered that there was another important thing before he asked, so he looked at Yakov and asked, "Yakov, haven't you told me how many rockets have you brought here?"
"Not too many, only 96 rockets," Yakov replied, "It happens that two can be fired per tube."
"There are only such a small amount of rockets." After hearing what Yakov said, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Even if he shot it all, it would not cause much casualties to the Germans. After a moment of silence, he continued to ask: "When will the new rocket be shipped again?"
"This batch of rockets is for testing." Yakov explained to the three of them: "I want to go to the battlefield to check the effect myself. If it is really powerful, then we can increase production capacity and equip more troops; if the effect on the battlefield is limited,..." At this point, Yakov suddenly stopped, as if there was something indescribable.
Sokov guessed what he was thinking from the expression on his face, and asked quickly: "If it is not powerful on the battlefield, will this new weapon be completely discontinued?"
"That's it." Yakov gave an accurate reply to Sokov's speculation: "According to Comrade Ustinov's order, if the role of this new rocket plays a limited role in the battlefield, then we will completely stop the production of this rocket."
Seeing Sidolin, Belkin's sad expression, Sokov, who came from later generations, hurriedly comforted them and said, "Chief of Staff, Political Commissar, what's wrong with you? Do you have no confidence in this new weapon? You know, this was invented by me."
When Sidolin and Belkin heard Sokov say this, their faces showed a look of surprise. After they looked at each other, Belkin asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you say you invented this weapon? Are you kidding us?"
"Comrade Political Commissar," Sokov looked at Belkin and asked back, "Do you think I would make such an unrealistic joke with you in such an important thing?"
Chapter completed!