Red Moscow

The convoy came to the forest northwest of the town of Yakovlevo, where there was a swamp that occupied several kilometers. Yakov got out of the car and stood on the edge of the swamp, carefully observing the surrounding environment, wondering if this place is suitable for demonstrating the hovercraft.

"How about it, Yasha." Sokov came to his side and asked tentatively, "Can you see this?"

"The overall environment is good, but there are some trees in the middle of the swamp, which will block the advancing route of the hovercraft." Yakov pointed to a sparse forest growing in an open space in the middle of the swamp and said, "I'm afraid we can't deploy all the hovercraft."

"I just want the commanders and fighters in charge of assault missions to get acquainted with the use of the hovercraft, and there is no need to deploy them all." Sokov replied: "Assault type and transport type can be arranged with two each."

"Okay." Yakov felt that what Sokov said made sense, so he nodded, called an accompanying officer, and gave him some instructions in a low voice.

After listening to Yakov's instructions, the officer nodded, turned around and arranged for the assembly of the hovercraft.

Lunev came up to Sokov and asked Sokov: "Comrade Commander, do you need to call Lieutenant Colonel Dobrushin here?"

Sokov looked up at the sky. Although it was already four or five o'clock in the afternoon, it should still be four hours before dark, so he nodded, "I think it's okay. Not only should Lieutenant Colonel Dobrushin be called over, but finally Then let him bring a company over to get used to the use of the hovercraft."

The accompanying radio operator immediately sent a telegram to the 62nd Marine Brigade, informing Lieutenant Colonel Dobrushin to take a company of soldiers and rush to the forest area to adapt to the new river crossing equipment.

Dobrushin received the telegram, read it over and over several times, and then said to his chief of staff: "Comrade chief of staff, tell me, what does the commander mean by asking me to take people to get used to the equipment for crossing the river? You know, we are the navy, we deal with all kinds of ships all year round, what kind of river crossing equipment have we never seen before, do we still need to get used to it?"

"Comrade Brigadier," the chief of staff said with a smile, "Since it was an order issued by the commander himself, I think you should take someone over there to have a look. Maybe he will surprise us."

"What surprises can there be?!" Dobrushin shook his head and said, "I guess it is an ordinary ship. Comrade Commander has never fought this kind of river crossing before, so he asked me to take people there to get used to crossing the river so solemnly." equipment."

Since Sokov personally issued the order, the chief of staff knew that Dobrushin would definitely carry it out unconditionally, so he offered: "Then I will call immediately and send you a company of troops."

"It doesn't need so many people." Dobrushin waved his hand and said, "I can just take a platoon there."

"Only take one platoon?" The chief of staff reminded Dobrushin: "If Comrade Commander sees that you disobey the order and bring such a small force with you, will you be angry?"

"I don't think so." Dobrushin said confidently, "I'll just take a guard and line it up."

An hour later, Dobrushin emerged on the edge of the swamp with his guards.

Still far away, he saw four strange boats on the shore at the edge of the swamp. The whole hull of the boat seemed to be on a kayak. a huge fan.

Dobrushin hurriedly came to Sokov, raised his hand to salute, looked at the strange ships in the distance, and asked curiously: "Comrade commander, is this the river crossing equipment provided by the superior? "

"That's right, this is the river-crossing equipment I asked you to get used to." When Sokov spoke, he glanced behind Dobrushin, frowned and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, didn't I ask you to bring a Do you even come here to adapt to the equipment for crossing the river? But I think there is only one platoon of people coming with you."

Sokov's words made Dobrushin's face show an embarrassed expression: "Comrade Commander, the combat backbone of our marine brigade all comes from the naval fleet, and almost all types of ships can be used, so I don't think there is any We need to bring so many people here."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Yakov walked up to Dobrushin, looked him up and down, and said, "This is our newly developed hovercraft, which can travel at high speed on any terrain. Your commander Letting you bring people to adapt to it is to hopefully reduce your casualties on assault missions."

Knowing that Dobrushin had never seen a hovercraft before, Sokov said to Yakov, "Yasha, let your people demonstrate it to him first."

Yakov nodded and gestured to the officer standing by the hovercraft that he could get started.

Seeing Yakov's gesture, the officer turned around and shouted at the pilot of the hovercraft, "Go!"

As the order was issued, everyone first saw the huge fan at the tail of the ship spinning at high speed, and then the ship slowly moved forward and slowly drove into the swamp.

"Comrade Commander," Lunev asked with some concern when he saw the hovercraft sailing into the swamp, "This swamp is not small, won't the hovercraft get stuck in it?"

"Don't worry." Yakov heard Lunev say this, and quickly comforted him: "The hovercraft can travel on any complicated terrain, and it will never fall into a swamp."

Just as he was talking, the hovercraft had already accelerated and rushed towards the other end of the swamp like an arrow leaving the string, leaving only water ripples on the surface of the swamp.

Seeing that the hovercraft rushed to the other end of the swamp at such a fast speed, Dobrushin clenched his hands nervously and said excitedly: "Oh my God, this is the first time I have seen the hovercraft in the swamp. Such a fast ship."

"Colonel Yakov." Seeing that the hovercraft was about to rush to the other side of the swamp, Lunev pulled Yakov and asked, "Can this hovercraft only go straight, or can it turn?"

"Of course you can turn, Comrade General." Yakov said proudly: "The hovercraft can turn on water, just like a car on land."

After the hovercraft rushed to the opposite bank of the swamp, it made a sharp turn on the bank, and then quickly drove towards the starting point.

Dobrushin looked at the hovercraft rushing towards him, and couldn't help but shine his eyes: "It's at least 500 meters from here to the other side of the swamp. But this new type of boat only took less than a minute to fly to the other side of the swamp." After running the entire distance..."

Before Dobrushin finished expressing his emotions, Sokov interrupted and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Dobrushin, I plan to hand over these hovercraft to your brigade for assault."

"Really, Comrade Commander." Dobrushin grabbed Sokov's arm and asked with a smile on his face, "Are these new ships really for us?"

"That's right," Sokov nodded and said, "If the commanders and fighters of your brigade take this kind of hovercraft after the offensive begins, even if the starting point is two or three hundred meters away from the shore, you can definitely fly within a minute or two. , just pass through the river and rush directly in front of the enemy, so that they don’t have any time to react, thereby reducing the casualties of the troops when they perform assault missions.”

Seeing the hovercraft landed and stopped not far away, Sokov gave Dobrushin a light push on the shoulder and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, hurry up and take your people over to see , and strive to adapt to the use of hovercraft as soon as possible, which will be very helpful to you in the next battle."

Dobrushin agreed, and took the troops to prepare to learn the functions of the hovercraft and experience the feeling of riding a hovercraft. But after walking a few steps, Dobrushin stopped and turned to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, please call my chief of staff and ask him to send two more companies of soldiers over. I want my subordinates to learn how to use this new type of ship in the shortest possible time."

Sokov waved his hand at Dobrushin, signaling that he understood. Seeing that Sokov agreed to send a telegram to the brigade headquarters, Dobrushin couldn't help being overjoyed, and hurriedly led his subordinates towards the hovercraft.

"Comrade Commander," Lunev said with confidence, looking at the background of Dobrushin and the soldiers going away, "as long as our army is equipped with hovercraft, it will be much easier to carry out any missions to cross the river in the future."

"Comrade Military Commissar, once the enemy knows that we have this kind of hovercraft, they will come up with countermeasures sooner or later." Seeing that Lunev was somewhat overwhelmed, Sokov reminded him: "The hovercraft can indeed operate on many complex terrains. Driving, but it is not a panacea. Once the enemy sets up barbed wire or lays minefields in front of the riverside position, it will still pose a huge threat to the hovercraft.”

"Misha is right." Yakov echoed in time: "There are only a few sparse small trees in the middle of the swamp, which caused our hovercraft to find a way to avoid it during the demonstration to avoid damage to the hull. Etc. Once the hovercraft is officially in combat, the enemy will know it's there, and then they will definitely find ways to develop countermeasures to hinder our hovercraft operations."

"Let's talk about the future." Sokov didn't care at all whether the Germans would figure out a way to deal with the hovercraft. After all, it was the black technology that appeared in advance because of himself. If the Germans can really find a way to restrain themselves, it's a big deal to launch other things in advance.

"Comrade Military Commissar, immediately arrange for people to guard these areas, and don't let German scouts sneak in, so as not to let the enemy know about the hovercraft in advance." Sokov said to Lunev: "In this way, our hovercraft will be very difficult. The chance to win by surprise was lost."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Lunev nodded and replied, "Colonel Khokhlov's 182nd Infantry Division is stationed not far from here. I can entrust this task to them. Although The soldiers they replenished in the early stage are basically old, weak and remnant soldiers. These people may not play a big role on the battlefield, but if they are used for security tasks, they should be more than enough."

"Hmm." Sokov nodded slightly, and said, "Then leave the security task to Colonel Khokhlov."

"Comrade Commander, there is one more thing I want to talk to you about."

"what's up?"

"How are you going to arrange for Assia?"

"Asiya?" Sokov asked a little puzzled, "What happened to her?"

"That's right," Lunev said to Sokov in a low voice: "Didn't she and a few female health workers be taken away by the enemy last time? Although the review of them within the Army Group has ended, some time ago Apana Regarding the future affairs of the University of Science and Technology, I once specifically mentioned this matter to me, saying that our review at that time was too formal, and wanted us to review it again."

Knowing that Apanashenko was paying attention to Asiya's affairs, Sokov couldn't help frowning: "What kind of re-examination law is he going to do?"

"I'm not sure about this." Lunev spread his hands and said helplessly, "If we follow the previous review expression, I'm afraid Assia will not be able to stay in the army."

"Comrade Military Commissioner, tell me, what should we do?"

"In fact, the method is very simple." Lunev said: "You can transfer her to the field hospital of the group army, so that she is within your jurisdiction. Know in time."

Sokov agrees with Lunev's statement very much. If Asiya continues to stay in the 182nd Infantry Division, the sky is as high as the emperor is far away. Even if something goes wrong, I am afraid I will have to wait for a long time I know, maybe even the day lily will be cold by then. Wanting to understand this, he turned his head and said to Lunev: "Comrade Military Commissar, I will leave it to you to be responsible for how to place Asiya."

Yakov, who was standing aside, saw Sokov and Lunev whispering all the time. At first, he thought they were discussing the hovercraft, but after watching for a while, he found that Sokov's expression was serious, as if he had met Seeing any problem, he took two steps closer and asked curiously, "Misha, what happened?"

Hearing Yakov's question, Sokov couldn't help hesitating. But after thinking about it, Yakov was also captured by the Germans in the early days of the war, and he led his own people to rescue him from the prisoner-of-war camp, so the fact that Assia was captured by the enemy does not seem to be a big deal.

So he told Yakov about the fact that Asiya had been captured by the German army some time ago, and finally said: "Now it seems that someone is planning to harm her. Comrade Military Commissar and I are considering how to settle her."

"Misha, so this is the matter." After Yakov figured out what was going on, he said to Sokov carelessly: "If you trust me, I can let her work in the Weapons and Equipment Department as a member of the military factory." The factory doctor. I believe that within my jurisdiction, no one can embarrass her."

"Comrade Commander," Lunev heard Yakov say this, his eyes lit up immediately, and he said to Sokov: "I think Colonel Yakov's proposal is good, let Asiya go to the Weapons and Equipment Department. For her, it is undoubtedly the most suitable."