"Yes! It is indeed very fast." Unable to restrain his excitement, Deggarev interrupted impolitely: "Comrade leader, please allow me to say something. I have doubts about Belekov's so-called assault rifle. Could it be that they
It only took one week to complete the drawings, factory production, and even arrange experiments at the shooting range? Even if they completed all of this, I really have doubts about the quality of the firearms."
Stalin took advantage of the situation and added: "They have developed two types of firearms. Comrade Deggarev, let me tell you the truth, the telegram sent by the commander of the Siberian Military District has a high degree of confidence in the second weapon developed by Belekov, a light machine gun.
Evaluation. Take a look at this report!" As he said that, Stalin took out a document from the drawer of his desk and handed it to the three people in front of him.
At this moment, Deggarev's old wrinkled face was full of shock.
This document was written by the commander of the Siberian Military District, and was by no means an unknown figure. Although that man was only a lieutenant general, he was now responsible for an extremely important recruitment task. Nearly one-third of the Soviet army's active troops were
Coming from the Siberian Military District, the troops coming out of this military district will be even larger in the future.
That man was also in his fifties, and he was a soldier. There was probably very little bragging in his report, and most of the content in the report was probably just unsettling facts.
It is an expert's way of looking at the door, and Deggarev saw several special descriptions and data.
First, they developed an assault rifle based on the so-called intermediate-power rifle ammunition developed by the Simonov Design Bureau. The assault rifle is equipped with a detachable magazine and weighs only six kilograms.
Second, Belekov proposed a concept of a gun family, so he modified the rifle and developed a so-called squad light machine gun. After installing a drum with a ammunition capacity of up to 75 rounds, the total weight was only nine kilograms.
Third, the core components of the two firearms are interchangeable. There are 30-round magazines, 50-round cartridges and 75-round cartridges to choose from, and they are completely interchangeable.
Fourth, the use of intermediate-power bullets does not mean that the bullets lack power. There are actually shooting range experiments, and the bullets can still penetrate a one-millimeter-thick steel plate 400 meters away. And Berekov claimed that fierce gun battles almost always occur at 400 meters.
Within a certain distance, battles around 200 meters are the most frequent.
If we only look at the descriptions of the military region commanders, these core descriptions are too surprising and unbelievable.
Of the three, Deggarev is undoubtedly the most sensitive. After all, the light machine gun he developed is now the standard light machine gun of the Soviet army, with hundreds of thousands of equipment. It is now the backbone of the infantry squad's firepower. But its
Why didn't Deggarev understand that the disadvantages were too serious?
The large 47-round bullet tray is troublesome to load and not very convenient to carry. However, the ammunition reserve is indeed very high, which is very critical to the continuity of the battle.
What now? If the key parameters of Belekov's so-called squad light machine gun are really what the military district commander said, his achievements can be discarded.
The drum has up to 75 rounds of ammunition ready, and can continuously fire 3,000 rounds. The total weight is only nine kilograms, and it can break thin steel plates at a distance of 400 meters.
If you think about it carefully, there are many things behind these data that are terrifying to think about!
Simonov, Deggarev and Tokarev, all three of them are working on automated weapons.
What does an excellent automatic firearm look like?
It should be lighter to reduce the load of soldiers. The accuracy should be high, the rate of fire should be appropriate, and the amount of ammunition should be large. The materials should be strong, durable and easy to maintain.
Are these needs actually met by Berekov? There is another amazing description in the report document. The assault rifle actually has two modes: semi-automatic and fully automatic. The mode is adjusted by an external small
Wrench control, when it is pushed to the lowest position, it is the safety of the bolt lock, and when it is pushed to the highest position, it is the fully automatic mode.
Three modes can be controlled with just one wrench? How is such exquisite shooting possible?!
The three of them were gathered together. Under the light of the lights, Stalin noticed the sweat on their foreheads.
"Haha, it looks like you are shocked too."
At this time, Deggarev calmed down and said: "Yes, Comrade Stalin. I am now full of doubts and full of expectations. Thank you very much for giving us such an opportunity. I really want to see the new gun."
"Yes!" Simonov added, "I would like to know what kind of magical design their new gun is."
Tokarev also said: "Even if the firearms have some flaws, some of his design structures have unparalleled reference value. If we obtain their design blueprints, we can quickly develop better firearms."
Stalin nodded with satisfaction. As a Georgian, he now regards himself as a Russian. The Soviet Union is Russia, a Russia more powerful than Tsarist Russia, and a new Russia with great ideals. Such greatness
The country must absorb the country's talents and technologies and turn them into its own strength. Now it seems that these experts who have worked for the Soviet Union for twenty years have the ability to quickly digest the results of Belekov's research and development.
At this time, Stalin was also very glad that he attached so much importance to this matter, and for this reason he did not hesitate to rush many alliance talents to gather in Moscow. This move, which was criticized by Voroshilov a day ago, now seems to be really correct.
Incomparable.
Voroshilov has been Stalin's "close comrade-in-arms" for a long time, and his close cooperation during the Great Purge deepened this relationship.
However, Voroshilov was never Stalin's subordinate, and the two truly had a "comrade-in-arms relationship." Therefore, Voroshilov did not have to look at Stalin's face to act based on some issues.
Voroshilov is essentially a brave warrior. This kind of person is always very straightforward in speaking and doing things.
Before the outbreak of the war, a plan for the army to comprehensively replace semi-automatic rifles with semi-automatic rifles was formulated at a series of meetings on ordnance production and began to be implemented.
As a result, the war broke out as soon as the plan was implemented.
Regarding this issue, Voroshilov once showed some dissent in his attitude, but since it was peacetime, he did not need to care too much about this matter.
However, after the tragic defeat after the outbreak of the war, the Soviet army lost a large amount of military territory, and the newly formed troops were faced with the dilemma of lack of guns and ammunition in a short period of time. Voroshilov, who had served in the military all his life, knew that he could not ignore it. The semi-automatic rifle that was originally braked
It is obvious that the clothing replacement plan has failed to keep up with the changes in the current situation.
Still on this issue, Voroshilov has always been a bit conservative. Is the Mosin-Nagant obsolete? No! Its accuracy is incredible and it can kill the enemy with one shot, so why bother with a repeating rifle? Instead of it
Instead of making a fuss about firearms, it is better to strengthen the training of the army.
Voroshilov supported Mosin-Nagant's restoration of status with such a very pragmatic and traditional attitude. Other important figures in the People's Commissariat of Defense, based on the current actual situation of the alliance, determined that only Mosin-Nagant was the best option at the moment.
Cost-effective firearms.
Of course, the submachine gun is also indispensable. Its performance in urban warfare is incredibly stunning. Voroshilov fully supports this.
However, submachine guns are ultimately submachine guns, and urban warfare is not a mainstream battlefield. In large army operations, soldiers still have to use rifles to fight.
So at the meeting, Stalin's insistence met with opposition from others.
What happens now? While the United States vigorously aided the Soviet Union, it also brought a lot of news about the U.S. military industry.
Stalin's vision was very broad. He learned that the US military was fully equipped with a semi-automatic rifle, giving their army a strong firepower advantage.
People are so infuriating. If the Soviet Union was as wealthy as the United States and its homeland had not been attacked, how could the plan to replace it with semi-automatic rifles be vetoed by Voroshilov's "reckless" reason?!
But Stalin never lacked supporters.
Some supporters do their best to please the leader in order to gain benefits, while others agree with Stalin's decision-making.
The three weapons experts left the Kremlin, and the next day, an older man and a rather young man walked into the Kremlin and stood in Stalin's office.
These two can be called important figures.
The old man is Fedorov, who is over seventy years old. He was born in Tsarist Russia and was an outstanding pioneer of automatic rifles. His research results have given great help to many latecomers. The three outstanding talents yesterday were simply his students.
As early as 1925, three rifles developed by Fedorov, Tokarev, and Degtyaryov passed the national shooting range test, but none of them met the three principle requirements of the Red Army: simplicity, strength, and reliability.
This incident can be considered a regret for the old man, but fortunately his design ideas were fully studied and referenced by his successors.
The work of his student Simonov eventually became the Soviet Army's standard semi-automatic rifle, although it is now almost out of production.
The old man has retired, but the country is in dire straits. With the enthusiasm of a "Soviet labor hero", he feels that he has reason to dedicate his strength, but he is now old and frail. He has always received high treatment from the Soviet authorities
In his later years, he could eat bread and broth with peace of mind, and he was still writing a book in order to help future generations of scientific researchers.
It was impossible to make a fuss about the work of writing a book. He dictated with pen and paper in his deputy's hands, and mainly discussed the theory of artillery.
He was flattered to suddenly receive an invitation from Stalin himself. Should he be awarded a Gold Star Medal? Impossible?!
The result was Stalin's invitation, just because there was a legendary general who developed an incredible firearm.
Fedorov, who was so old, moved from a safe and comfortable place to his workplace in the Ural region and arrived in Moscow by train. Stalin briefly described Berekov in the invitation letter. Of course, "Pravda" had already reported
I wrote a long report on this legendary general.
There was a sentence in the invitation letter that surprised Fedorov. It was said that both types of guns belonged to the same family. Stalin only understood the concept of "gun family" after reading the report, so he put the relevant paragraphs into the invitation letter.
Fedorov's place instantly ignited the old man's fiery soul.
The concept of gun clan? This is a more constructive idea than "standardization"!
Fedorov was shocked! As early as a few years ago, the Soviet Union had fully popularized the army's 7.62mm full-power bullets. From rifles to heavy machine guns, bullets of one size were used. There will be huge tactics in the war.
Advantage.
Fedorov has been actively advocating for this matter, and the 68-year-old man has always been very pleased that this work could be completed before the war broke out.
General Belekov has a bigger goal. The words "firearms" and "family" are connected together. Doesn't this mean that all the firearms used by the army are "one family"? If you think a little more divergently, different firearms,
Many parts are probably interchangeable. Only in this way can they be worthy of the concept of "family".
In this way, Fedorov came excitedly, arriving one day earlier than General Berekov, which made the old man a little regretful.
As for another extremely young man.
He is another legendary figure, Ustinov, the youngest minister of the Soviet Union.
In 1942, he was only 34 years old! Only four years older than Yang Mingzhi, he was already responsible for managing various weapons production in the Soviet Union.
Ustinov is the current People's Commissar of Arms and Armament of the Soviet Union and a member of the People's Commissariat of Defense.
When the German army used a new type of long-range rocket to surprise Moscow in early September, Ustinov was still organizing weapons production in the Ural region. When the news that Moscow had suffered a special attack reached his ears through a secret phone call, Ustinov simply
I can’t believe it, that’s a distance of 200 kilometers!
Although the Soviet Katyusha rocket launcher is very powerful, its range is dwarfed by that. There is a magical young general in Belarus, said to be called Belekov. He claims to have developed a 40-kilometer rocket launcher and caused a long-distance fire in July.
The attack on Chernihiv.
At first, Ustinov felt that things were a bit strange. In addition, he was very busy at work. He didn't care much about things far away. It was better to do the job at hand well to be worthy of the country.
He had no intention of paying attention. Although the promoted Berekov was the developer of RPG, even if that person was a genius, he probably had little to do with him.
This time, the leader called directly to summon him to Moscow.
What major event caused the leader to call for such a meeting? Ustinov never expected that the reason was that General Berekov suddenly left Novosibirsk for Moscow.
Ustinov was confused. Now in Belarus, now in Siberia, are there two Belekovs? After asking the leader carefully, there is indeed only one Belekov. Even so, Belekov had to carry out the operation within the country.
Moving long distances, any fatigue of traveling and traveling does not have to be as important as the development of new weapons.
Two people, an old man and a young man, entered Stalin's office and sat on the chairs with peace of mind.
Fedorov gave significant help to the Soviet military industry, while Ustinov was his focus for promotion. Stalin sent copies of those documents to the two, looking forward to hearing their opinions.
Fedorov was the teacher of the three yesterday, and Ustinov is a rare genius.
Let's say that when Stalin first realized that Berekov had great potential, he thought of the equally young Ustinov.
A 34-year-old young man became a minister, so why couldn’t a 30-year-old be promoted to the commander of a group army? Stalin knew that he had promoted some useless people, and there were also some people who, after being promoted, showed great performance in this war.