During the whole day, the German army did not attack the assembly workshop again. Sokov was full of uneasiness about the German army's performance, and he felt that the enemy must be brewing some conspiracy.
After dark, Sokov immediately sent two groups of lurking whistles in the direction of the wall, each group of five people carrying an MG34 machine gun, two rifles and a submachine gun. If they find an enemy who has taken advantage of the night to get into the factory, in addition to shooting and warning, they also have strong enough firepower to stop the enemy for a period of time.
Because of concerns about the German army's night attack, several officials, including Sokov, did not sleep at night, but sat in the basement to chat in the command room.
Sokov thought of the collapse of the roof and walls, almost destroying the production line in the factory, making the assembly work unable to continue. While it was fine, he asked Cousto curiously: "Comrade in the workshop, your workshop cannot be produced now. So where should the tanks needed on other fronts be produced?"
Hearing Sokov's question, Cousto's face showed a surprised expression: "Why, lieutenant colonel, don't you know that the Derrensky factory is the largest tank production plant in Stalingrad? You must know that since the industrial city like Kharkov fell, more than half of the tank production in the country have been completed by their factory. And the output of our factory," said Cousto's face, "I can't even catch up with one-fifth of others."
Sokov had asked Cousto about the output of the assembly workshop before and knew that it could produce ten T-34 tanks a day. Now, he heard that the output of the Derzhinsky factory was more than five times that of theirs. He couldn't help but ask in surprise: "What, their output is so high?"
Ballshaq sighed and said, "I guess their production will soon stop."
"Stop, why?" Sokov asked in confusion: "Is it because of the enemy's attack on the factory?"
"The enemy's attack is one aspect." Ballsack pointed at the top with his hand and continued: "When we are attacked by the enemy, as long as there is power supply, the work in the workshop will not stop."
Ballshak's words made Sokov even more confused: "Since the factory is attacked by the enemy, production will not stop because of this, but what causes them to stop production in the near future?"
"The raw materials, the raw materials in the Derzhinsky factory are almost used up." Ballshak was very afraid that Sokov would not understand, so he explained to him specifically: "The raw materials needed to produce tanks were transported by railways or ships in the past. Now the city is besieged by the Germans and the railways have been cut off by the Germans. As for shipping, because it has to continuously transport troops and various military supplies to the city, the amount of raw materials that can be transported across the river is very small and it comes very slowly. This will lead to the factory having to stop working due to the shortage of raw materials in the near future."
After Sokov waited for Ballshak to finish his words, he turned his head and asked Cousto: "Comrade in the workshop, I want to ask, is there a smelting workshop in the factory? That is, where scrap copper and iron are returned to the furnace?"
"Yes." Cousto nodded after hearing this: "Not only does Derrensky have a smelting workshop, but also in our factory. I wonder what you are asking about this?"
"There are so many destroyed tanks on the battlefield, both enemy and our army. Why don't you collect these scrap copper and iron and re-return them to produce new tanks?"
Sokov's words made Cousto's eyes lit up, and he quickly asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, can you tell me where there are reimbursed tanks?"
Sokov smiled bitterly, pointed his hand up, and said, "Comrade Workshop Director, why have you forgotten that there are several destroyed German tanks within the wall. You can definitely bring them back and forth and then use the tanks we need to make."
"The Germans had too many impurities in tanks, and the quality of the steel plates produced was not as good as that of our country's steel plates." Cousto complained and continued: "Anyway, we lack raw materials now, so we can only reluctantly bring the German tanks back and forth."
"There are eight tanks in the factory," Sokov said to Cousto with his fingers. "In addition, in front of the two hills in the north and south of Mamayev hills, there are hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles..."
"How many, lieutenant colonel?" Kusto was shocked when he heard the numbers Sokov said, "Are there so many tanks and armored vehicles that you destroyed in front of Mamayev's hill?"
"That's right," Sokov nodded and said in a affirmative tone: "We have indeed wiped out a lot of German tanks in the past two months of battle. These tanks are piled in front of our positions, not only blocking the vision of our soldiers, but also using these tanks as cover when the Germans attack, they can also use these tanks as cover to move closer to our positions. If you can drag these wreckage away from our positions, you will be very grateful."
"This is really good news, I want to report it to the factory director immediately." Kusto said excitedly: "In this way, the Derzhinsky factory will not be forced to shut down due to insufficient raw materials."
Sokov understood Cousto's reaction very well. The Red October tractor factory is currently attacked by the German army, and the assembly workshop is the first to be hit. If the Derzhinsky factory can maintain normal production, even if the work here is temporarily suspended for a period of time, it will not affect Stalingrad's mission to provide tanks to other fronts.
While Cousto was calling, Ballshaq asked Sokov about his interesting topic: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you really think that the German army will come to attack tonight?"
"I can't say whether the enemy is coming to attack." Sokov replied with a smile: "But I'm not afraid of ten thousand, but I'm afraid of if I want. The reason why I arranged two sets of lurking sentries in the factory was to prevent the Germans from approaching our army's position as they did last night, taking advantage of the incoming sentries on our position that could not be observed."
"You also said yesterday that you are also preparing to launch a sneak attack on the German army." Seeing that Sokov was sending troops to attack the enemy, Ballshak seemed not active at all, so he deliberately reminded him: "If it's too late today, why haven't you sent a sneak attack troops yet?"
"Comrade Major, don't worry." Sokov said calmly: "Before we carry out sneak attacks on the enemy, we must always figure out where their command is located, how the surrounding defense forces are, etc. Once we understand all this, it will not be too late for us to send troops to carry out sneak attacks."
After Cousto made the phone call, he returned to Sokov and said with a smile: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I have reported the situation to Director Peter. He heard that there were hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles in front of Mamayev's hill, but he was so happy that he was ready to send a tracked armored repair vehicle overnight to pull the wreckage back."
"This is a very correct decision." Sokov thought that he could really clean up the front of Mamayev's post in a short period of time, and in the next battle, the attacking German army would be directly exposed to the firepower of the defenders. In that case, if they wanted to seize Mamayev's post, they would definitely pay a heavier price. "After the armored repair vehicle was dispatched, I would call the brigade command and ask them to send people to help drag the wreckage away."
As the two were talking, a faint gunshot suddenly came from outside. The sudden gunshot made Sokov alert him. He listened to the movement outside. Although there was thick concrete blocking him, he still heard that the gunshots were coming from the north of the factory.
Chapter completed!