Burning Moscow

"We can defeat the Germans in two years?" The engineer who spoke quickly glanced at my epaulettes and said euphemistically: "Comrade General, am I not mistaken?"

Seeing a curious expression on Ustinov’s face, I smiled at the engineer who was in trouble, and said lightly: "Yes, Comrade Engineer, you have no misunderstanding. There will be two more years at most. We You can defeat the Germans. As for the reason," I paused for a moment on purpose to attract everyone's attention, and then said in an official tone, "The German army began to go downhill after the defeat in Stalingrad. , Coupled with the various defects of the Nazi Germany's political and economic constitution, it is doomed to their ultimate fate that they will eventually fail."

After I said this, I turned to Ustinov to see how he reacted. Unexpectedly, there was not only a slight smile on his face, but a solemn expression on his face. I didn't know that what I said touched his mind, so I quickly turned off the topic and asked, "Comrade People's Committee, I don't know if you asked me to come here today, what's the matter?"

When Ustinov heard my question, he did not answer immediately. Instead, he stood up and said to the engineers: "Comrade engineers, I think Oshanina is right. If you really wait until two years later, It doesn’t make much sense to use this new type of tank in the armed forces. So I beg you here to hurry up and overcome all difficulties. We must let all our tanks use this type of tank in the shortest possible time."

After listening to Ustinov’s words and whispering among the engineers present, an older engineer stood up and assured him: "Comrade People’s Committee. I speak to you on behalf of everyone. We must be in March. Within months, overcome the problems faced by the new tanks, and strive to arm our troops with this tank before August."

In response to the engineer's reply, Ustinov nodded in satisfaction. "Since everyone's opinions have been unified, please give me a detailed report as soon as possible so that I can prepare the necessary raw materials for you and provide enough manpower." After saying these two sentences, he waved his head at me and said. "Comrade Oshanina, follow me for a walk."

I guessed that he might have something to tell me privately, so I got up, followed him and walked out the door.

We walked forward along the dimly lit corridor, and several guards who followed deliberately fell behind. So as not to affect our private chat. But Ustinov walked forward without a word, perhaps to take care of me. He walked very slowly so that I could keep up with him.

As he walked, he stopped suddenly, turned and said to me solemnly: "Oshanina, do you know? Kharkov lost his defense last night."

"What, Kharkiv lost?" The unexpected news shocked me. Unexpectedly, even if our army occupied Kiev and dispersed the enemy's forces, it still failed to change the fate of Kharkov's fall. I instinctively asked, "What about Kiev. Is it still in our hands?"

Ustinov said sadly: "The German troops rushed into Kharkov on the 11th. At that time, the German troops rushing into the city were divided into two columns, running along the Belgorod-Kharkov railway line. Kharkov advanced north. But when they rushed to the Alexander district, a small unit of our army, led by a T-34, counterattacked the Germans and successfully drove them out of the city.

Later, the German army was supported by powerful aerial-class artillery, including dive bombers and assault guns. Infiltrated the city again. It also repelled the counterattack launched by our army from Kharkov Airport and destroyed a lot of our army after the T-34. An offensive base was established in residential areas in the northern suburbs.

On March 12, the German armored division broke through the strong defense line of our army in the northern residential area. And launched a fierce house-to-house battle with our army, and quickly advanced to the city center. …"

When Ustinov talked about the battle of Kharkov, I was worried for Kiev. If Kharkov was lost, Rabarko and the others would be trapped in the Kiev area. If they could not get support from their superiors, even if If the German army does not attack, the troops in the Dnieper battle cluster will not collapse because of the exhaustion of materials.

After finally waiting for Ustinov to finish speaking, seeing that he didn't mention Kiev, I just wanted to ask again, but he said first: "Go, accompany me to the top to have a look."

Hearing what he said, I couldn't help complaining. Xin said that I had just walked here with the officer for at least ten minutes, and the wounds on my eyes continued to hurt along the way. If I go back in this way, I am really worried that the worst will happen, causing the retina to fall off again.

Before I could speak, Ustinov raised his leg and walked forward. Seeing this, I had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow. Fortunately, it didn't take long for me to find that the situation was a little different from what I had imagined. Ustinov took me to an elevator. Seeing our arrival, the guards on both sides of the elevator hurriedly took the initiative to open the elevator door for us and asked us to enter.

The two of us got into the phone, and the guard who had been following also followed in. After closing the elevator door, they directly pressed the elevator's up button, which made the elevator we were riding in to rise slowly.

When the elevator stopped, the guard opened the elevator door and walked outside to serve as a guard. Ustinov made a please gesture towards me, and then he took the lead and walked outside. After getting out of the elevator, he stood in place and looked around, then pointed to the right and said, "Let's go outside and take a look."

We passed another long corridor and finally came to the outside of the building. On the wall of the building, several tanks covered with camouflage nets are neatly placed. Judging from the shape of the tank, it should be a new type of tank produced with the technology brought by Fronin.

I thought that Ustinov would let people lift the camouflage net on the tank, and let me, a terrapin, see the latest tank of our army. Who knew he kept walking forward.

We walked forward for a while, and I suddenly saw a raised earth embankment on the open ground in front of me, and a lot of people were standing on the embankment, and several T-34 tanks were parked nearby. I see this strange phenomenon. The heart said that Ustinov took me so far, wouldn't he just show me this earth embankment?

When I got closer, I saw the acquaintance Fronin standing on the embankment, and the wide and deep pit under the embankment, I suddenly understood. This is the "Golan Trench" I proposed. The upper and lower width and depth of this anti-tank trench meet the standards I said. Since they are only testing the applicability of this anti-tank trench, the length of the trench is only 30 meters.

Fronin walked around from the side of the ditch, came to us, and greeted us. He stood by and introduced Ustinov to the advantages of this anti-tank trench.

After listening to Ustinov, he still said uneasy: "Comrade Engineer, are you sure that this anti-tank trench can stop the German steel torrent?"

"Comrade People’s Committee," Fronin said cautiously: "After our tests. Even though the tanks on the offensive side exhausted all means, they still could not successfully cross the trenches. When the test was just conducted, there was even a tank that jumped in. In the ditch, the driver in the car was also injured."

After listening, Ustinov turned his head and smiled and said to me: "Comrade Oshanina, it seems that this kind of anti-tank trench that you have developed can really be used for great purposes."

Unexpectedly, Fronin heard him and looked at me in surprise and asked: "Comrade People's Committee. You just said that this kind of anti-tank trench was made by Comrade Oshanina?"

"Yes, I was from Marshal Zhukov. I learned about Comrade Oshaninna's creativity," he said with a smile on his face: "I was also dubious when I heard it. But in order not to save the Marshal's face. , I still agreed to dig an anti-tank trench like this, but the effect was not expected to be so good. I guess that as long as we have a large number of such anti-tank trenches in the front, it will definitely give the Germans a headache.

When Ustinov walked to the ditch to see the effect, Fronin leaned over to me. He asked in a low voice, "Lida, I want to ask you something. How did you know the'Golan Trench'?"

Fronin's words made my heart tighten, and my heart was over. Did he guess that I was also a traverser. While considering how to answer him, he said to himself: “This kind of anti-tank trench appeared in the 1973 Middle East War. The weak Israeli army at that time relied on this kind of anti-tank trench to not only block the enemy’s They attacked fiercely and even launched a counterattack to wipe out the invading enemy forces."

When he finished speaking, I pretended to say mysteriously: "Comrade Engineer, I actually figured it out. At the time, I thought that after the plan was reported, it would be left unattended. I didn't expect you to spend it. At such a great price, to repair such an anti-tank trench."

Froning asked cautiously: "Is this idea of ​​yours just coming out, or is it the product of a long time of deliberation?"

"Of course it was well thought out." When I talked about the Golan Trench, I was a little bit overwhelmed. In order to let Fronin understand, I also specially named: "In fact, as early as the Defence of Stalingrad, I thought We should dig an anti-tank trench like this in front of our Mamayev Hill, so that every time the enemy attacks, their tanks will rush to the foot of the mountain to cover the infantry's attack on us."

"Since you had thought of such anti-tank trenches as early as the battle of Stalingrad." Hearing me say this, Fronin asked in a puzzled manner: "Then why don't you send someone to dig at the foot of the mountain. What about one? Don’t you know that such an anti-tank trench can block the enemy’s armored assault?"

I sighed and said helplessly to Florin: "Engineer, it's not that I don't want to repair it, but that there are no conditions. You can only have this kind of anti-tank trench soil work area is too large, and there is no special mechanical cooperation. Let our soldiers dig with a spade. It will not be possible to dig it out in less than a month or two. At that time, the enemy was hovering near the Mamayev Hill. Will they give us enough time to repair the fortifications?"

After listening to Froning, he shook his head and said in agreement: "Lida, you are right. The Germans simply cannot let you build an anti-tank trench that embarrass them under their noses. I guess you The trenches have not been repaired, and the enemy’s armored forces have rushed in front of you."

I looked around and found that the person closest to us was also ten meters away, so I asked in a low voice, "Have you heard about Kharkov?"

After listening to my words, Fronin said with a calm face: "I know that the battle of Kharkov in history ended with the defeat of our army and the victory of the German army. Although in this battle, our army suffered far more casualties. For the German army, but for the Germans, this was a victory that was not worth the loss. A large number of their elite troops were consumed by us in the battle. As a result, the combat effectiveness of their troops was greatly reduced, so that in the next Battle of Kursk..."

When Fronin spoke about Kursk, he obviously realized that he was still in 1943 instead of 1975, and could not reveal too much secret, so he stopped.

I heard him mention the battle of Kursk, knowing that the main event was coming, I hurriedly asked in a low voice: "Comrade Engineer, can you tell me the details of the battle of Kursk?"

He didn't know that after listening, he just rolled his eyes at me, UU reading www.uukanshu.com stubbornly said: "Lida, you still don't want to know some things. If I say it at this time, maybe history will If there is a deviation, let's just let it happen.

Seeing Fronin’s resolute attitude, I continued to ask about the battle of Kursk, but cared about the new tanks: "Comrade Engineer, those tanks can really deal with the Germans. Tiger tank? If you know their tank, our 45mm anti-tank can do nothing about it."

After listening to my words, Fronin sneered twice, and said dismissively: "What is the tiger style? In front of our T-72, it is simply vulnerable. We only need ten T-72s. Can deal with tanks of a German regiment."

At this time, Ustinov came back from the trench, and he smiled and said to me: "Comrade Oshanina, I can tell you at this time, why I called you here for the purpose." I looked at him blankly, and he went on to say: "I intend to make you responsible for the daily affairs of this secret base. I don't know what your intentions are? If you want, you can take the post tomorrow!"

"What, Comrade People's Committee, what are you talking about?" Ustinov's words stunned me, and I asked in disbelief: "You plan to let me manage this secret base?" (to be continued) )