Yakov drove his car to the Weapons and Equipment Department. The guards on duty outside saw his car, and they moved the roadblocks away from each other, pulled up the railings and let his vehicle pass through.
After the car entered the gate, it drove for a distance and stopped in front of a building with a disguised net. Yakov turned his head and said to Sokov: "At this time, Comrade Ustinov is here to work."
Sokov just nodded and asked nothing. He knew very well that if Yakov didn't want to say anything, no matter how many questions he asked would be useless.
After Yakov parked the car, he took Sokov into the building and came to the third floor to see Ustinov. The officer sitting in the outside office saw Yakov bringing people in, and quickly got up to salute.
"Second Lieutenant," Yakov said to the other party: "Please inform Comrade Ustinov that Colonel Sokov has arrived!"
The officer agreed, walked to the closed oak door, pushed open one of them and walked in, and closed the door casually. Not long after, the officer opened the door and walked out again. He stood at the door and said to the two, "Comrades of the People's Committee, please come in." After that, he stood sideways by the door and made a gesture of inviting inside.
"Our hero is here!" As soon as Sokov and Yakov walked into the office, they saw Ustinov coming around from behind the desk and following him far away, so they reached out to Sokov: "Welcome to Moscow."
Sokov quickly stepped forward, raised his hand and saluted him, stretched out his hands to hold the other party's hand, shook it hard and said, "Hello, Comrade People's Committee, I'm very happy to see you."
After looking up and down, Ustinov nodded slightly and said, "Comrade Sokov, you have lost weight and darkness. I heard that you have been injured twice, and have your injuries healed?"
"Thank you for your concern. My injury has been cured long ago." Sokov was anxious to know what Ustinov had summoned him to Moscow for the sake of his urgent call, so he asked tentatively: "Comrade of the People's Committee, I want to ask, is there anything important to summon me to Moscow?"
"It's so, we called you to Moscow, with the focus on understanding the use of various new weapons." Ustinov called Sokov to sit down, then returned to the back of his desk and continued, "How are you using it on the battlefield? It's far more convincing than the data we've obtained on the test ground."
Sokov was confused by Ustinov's words. He thought to himself that if he wanted to figure out the performance of the new weapon, he could send people to Stalingrad, so that accurate data could be obtained. Why should he recruit himself from the forefront at such a critical moment? Is this necessary?
When Ustinov said this, he suddenly paused and looked at Yakov, who was sitting aside, as if he had a wink at the other party. When Sokov saw this scene, he was stunned and thought to himself how could Ustinov wink at Yakov? It must be because he had read it wrong.
But the next scene made Sokov uneasy. Yakov actually narrowed his eyes and shook his head hard at Ustinov, and then made a secret gesture. The two of them communicated silently with their eyes and gestures, which made Sokov feel a little helpless.
"Comrade of the People's Committee," Sokov didn't understand what the two were doing, so he coughed gently. When they turned their eyes to him, he spoke, "I heard that the laboratory where the incendiary bomb was damaged by German spies. Is this a matter?"
"Some." Ustinov admitted the question asked by Sokov: "But this matter has been handed over to the staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I believe that the truth will be found out in no time."
When Sokov heard Ustinov say this, he was even more confused. When Yakov called himself, he was damaging the research room by German spies and suffered huge losses. He needed to come back to assist in the work, so he hurriedly recalled himself to Moscow and even sent a special plane to pick him up.
Who knew that when he got here, he actually said that there was a special person to deal with this matter. Isn’t this playing with him? However, the other party’s position is higher than that of him. Even if he is dissatisfied, he cannot complain in person. He gritted the bullet and continued, “Can I ask, why did I recruit me back?”
"Col. Sokov," Ustinov sat upright and looked at Sokov and asked, "What kind of technical equipment do you think is the most effective in assaulting in the snow?"
Ustinov's question made Sokov want to go to the automatic sledge equipped by his troops during the Moscow Defense War, and quickly replied: "If it is used for assault, automatic sledge is the most suitable."
"Yes, the automatic sled moves very quickly on the snow," Ustinov said thoughtfully: "But the disadvantage is also very obvious. You can only carry two people. Apart from the driver, there is only one machine gun shooter. If it is used to attack the enemy, it is a good choice; it can be used for attack, and its role will be very limited."
Sokov thought about it in his mind and felt that the automatic sled was a waste due to the limitations of the use location and season and there was no need for large-scale development. I believe that after that, the hovercraft equipped in later generations would be a good choice, and I don’t know if the Soviet Union has that kind of production capacity now.
Thinking of this, Sokov said to Ustinov: "Comrade of the People's Committee, I thought of a kind of equipment that can replace automatic sleds and become a fast assault equipment in the snow. It can not only move quickly in the snow, but also quickly maneuver on swamps and rivers."
When Ustinov heard Sokov say this, his eyes lit up and said repeatedly: "Col. Sokov, hurry up and tell me what equipment is it?"
"hovercraft!"
"Hoakboat?!" After hearing this, Ustinov couldn't help but look at Yakov with confusion. Seeing that the other party was also confused, he turned his eyes to Sokov again and asked, "What is it?"
"Comrade of the People's Committee, can you give me paper and pen?" Sokov asked politely: "I'll draw a sketch for you to see."
Ustinov had known that Sokov had the foundation of mechanical drawings, and the drawings he drew were simple and clear, so everyone could see them clearly. So he picked up the paper and pen and handed them over, and said, "Draw them, I want to see what the hovercraft you mentioned are like."
Sokov took the paper and pen and quickly drew the picture. While drawing, he also popularized the two of them: "A hovercraft refers to a high-speed transportation tool that uses the principle of surface effect and relies on air above the atmosphere to form air cushions between the hull and the support surface (water surface or ground), so that the hull can sail entirely or partially away from the support surface.
The hovercraft should be made of light alloy material, and the ship is equipped with a blower and a light diesel engine. The high-pressure air generated by the blower is sent through the pipe into the air chamber of the bottom cavity to form an air cushion to support the hull, and the engine drives the thruster to make the ship sail quickly close to the support surface. In addition to snow, it is also suitable for use in inland rapids, dangerous shoals and swamps."
As soon as Sokov finished drawing, he picked up the sketch and looked at it carefully. After reading for a while, he raised his own question: "Col. Sokov, how fast can this hovercraft travel?"
“The hovercraft has very little navigation resistance,” Sokov replied. “Based on my estimates, the theoretical speed can be as high as 6080 km/h.”
"What, 6080 km/h?" Ustinov was startled by the data Sokov said: "So, the hovercraft runs faster than the train?"
"What about the load?" Yakov, who was standing beside him, asked.
"It depends on the volume of the hovercraft," Sokov said cautiously: "I think there should be no problem with a ship carrying a shift, or two or three shifts of cargo."
"If this hovercraft can be made, we can quickly mobilize troops and supplies in any season and any complex terrain." Ustinov opened a folder and carefully put the sketch in: "I will arrange engineers as soon as possible to develop this hovercraft."
"Comrade of the People's Committee, I want to ask." Sokov considered that the third Kharkov Battle would soon be launched after the Battle of Stalingrad. The roads were muddy due to the thawing in spring, which caused serious problems in the Soviet army's logistics supply line. Even though both troops and equipment were superior, they were still defeated by Manstein's troops. If the hovercraft could be developed before the start of the battle, it might have changed the results of this battle: "How much time would it take to be developed."
"It's hard to say, Colonel Sokov." Ustinov replied awkwardly: "Although this sketch is the time it takes to turn the things on the drawing into real objects. If it's fast, it may be half a year; if it's slow, it's not impossible to have three or five years."
When Sokov learned that it would take half a year or even three to five years, he couldn't help but take a breath. He thought that it was really too late to develop the daylily, and the daylily was cold. It seems that no matter how hard he tried, he would not be able to change the result of the third Kharkov Battle.
"Col. Sokov," Ustinov continued, "I know you have many ideas, and I wonder if you can provide us with some ideas on weapon development."
"Self-propelled artillery!" Hearing Ustinov's question, Sokov immediately had the idea of self-propelled artillery in his mind, and he said without hesitation: "Comrade of the People's Committee, I think our army can also develop self-propelled artillery."
"Self-propelled artillery?!" Ustinov was stunned at first, and then asked back: "I received a report from Comrade Peter, the director of the Red October Factory some time ago. In the report, he mentioned a type of self-propelled artillery. I wonder if it is the same equipment as what you said?"
"Yes, Comrade of the People's Committee." Sokov nodded and said in a positive tone: "The self-propelled artillery he mentioned in the report should be the kind I am going to report to you."
Ustinov suddenly remembered something and asked, "So, is the design drawing of Director Peter in the report also your masterpiece?"
Sokov nodded again, "Yes, it is the self-propelled cannon I designed. But now the number of cannons is too small, and the caliber of the cannon is too small."
"Then tell me," Ustinov picked up his pen, opened the notebook in front of him, prepared for the record, and said to Sokov: "How large is the self-propelled artillery do we need?"
"In addition to the existing 76mm caliber artillery," Sokov replied: "There should also be added 85mm, 100mm, 122mm and 152mm caliber artillery."
Ustinov couldn't help frowning: "Col. Sokov, if we produce so many caliber self-propelled artillery, the production of conventional artillery will be affected..."
"Comrade of the People's Committee," Sokov quickly explained: "I think the two do not conflict with each other. Self-propelled artillery is different from tank guns. It directly installs artillery of the same caliber on the tank territory, so that artillery that can only be pulled by carriages or trucks can be maneuvered by its own abilities..."
When Ustinov heard this, he couldn't help laughing twice and said embarrassedly: "I'm just a stubborn person. It seems that there is no conflict between the self-operated artillery and the conventional artillery. We can install a large number of active artillery on the tank territory to turn it into more mobile artillery. In this way, our artillery can quickly establish artillery positions at any location and give heavy blows to the enemy."
Sokov felt that everything he could remember had already told Ustinov, so he stood up and asked respectfully: "Comrade of the People's Committee, if you have nothing to do, please allow me to say goodbye!"
"Wait, Colonel Sokov, I have something to say to you." After Ustinov said this, he turned his eyes to Yakov and said with a wry smile: "Lieutenant Colonel Yakov, you and Colonel Sokov are friends, so you should tell him about this in person."
Sokov looked at Yakov with a blank look on his face, thinking to himself: Why did Ustinov want to say something but stop it several times, and now he pushed Yakov out again and asked him to tell himself, what was going on? He coughed gently, cleared his throat, and asked carefully: "Yasa, what happened? Please tell me the truth?"
Yakov walked to Sokov, put his hands on Sokov's shoulders, and said in a heavy tone: "Misha, I have bad news to tell you that you must be strong."
Yakov's brainless words made Sokov even more confused. He stomped his feet in an anxious manner: "Yasha, you and I are old friends for many years. Do you have any problems? Can't you tell me directly?"
"That's right, Misha." Yakov secretly glanced at Ustinov. Seeing him nodding hard at him, he gritted his teeth and said, "Two days ago, a German bomber broke into Moscow in the dark and dropped several bombs over a factory in the northwest, causing certain property losses and casualties to the factory. Your mother was unfortunately killed by the German bomb."
"What, my mother was killed by a German bomb?" Sokov asked in surprise: "Is it because of this that you called me back to Moscow?"