Red Moscow

Sokov remembered that the Germans did not seem to have used V1 missiles to attack cities controlled by the Soviet army, but why did V1 missiles appear in the Uman area? And the time of appearance was three months earlier than the history I knew.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov thought for a while, feeling that such an important matter needs to be reported to Konev. It would be even better if Zhukov was still at the Front Army Command at this time, and the two Front Army commanders could be alerted at the same time. "This matter is of great importance, and I need to report it to the commander of the front army immediately."

"Okay." Hearing what Sokov said, Smirnov couldn't object. He nodded and said, "Although I don't understand what kind of weapon the Germans have, but hearing what you said, I think It should also be reported to the superiors so that they can be mentally prepared."

When Sokov's call reached the front headquarters, Konev, Zhukov, Rotmistrov, Zakharov, and Susaikov were drinking.

The person who answered the phone was Zakharov. After recognizing Sokov's voice, he said inarticulately: "Comrade Sokov, if you are not in a hurry to go back, you should be drinking with us at this moment."

Hearing that Zakharov was a little drunk, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little anxious, because what he was about to report would not work if he didn't have a clear head. He hurriedly asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, can you let me Is Comrade Marshal answering the phone?"

"Comrade Marshal," Zakharov asked with a smile: "We have Marshal Zhukov, Marshal Konev, and Marshal Rotmistrov of the Armored Forces here. I don't know which marshal you are looking for?"

"Konev, Marshal Konev." Because of his anxiety, Sokov may not respect Konev's position as usual, but call him by his first name: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please hand over the phone to Konev. Marshal, I have something important to report to him."

Hearing Sokov's urgent tone, Zakharov realized that something might really have happened, and quickly handed the microphone to Konev, and said in a low voice: "Comrade Marshal, Sokov is looking for you, and said There is something important to report."

Konev had high blood pressure, so the doctor told him not to drink too much, and he followed the doctor's advice fundamentally. Even on such a memorable day today, he only drank two small cups, and he was still in an absolutely sober state. He put the microphone close to his ear, "Comrade Sokov, this is Konev, what do you have to report to me?"

"Comrade Marshal," Sokov replied respectfully, "The scouts we sent to the Uman area found something special. I thought it was necessary to report to you, so I called you."

"What special thing?"

"How should I put it, it should be a new type of weapon of the Germans." Sokov reported the contents of the scout's telegram to Konev in detail, and finally said: "According to my analysis, the weapon that resembles an aircraft The thing should be the rocket newly developed by the Germans; and the device like the conveyor belt is the catapult for launching this rocket.” When Sukov reported to Konev, he deliberately called the V1 missile a rocket , so as not to arouse the suspicion of the other party.

Konev didn't think so much, he was just thinking about what Sokov said: This is a new rocket developed by the Germans! He has seen with his own eyes the power of the rockets used by the Soviet army today, and they are very effective against the German army. But now that the Germans have also developed rockets, he can't help worrying.

He thought for a long time, and then asked: "Comrade Sokov, I would like to ask, which one has a longer range and is more powerful, the German rocket or the new rocket you developed?"

"It goes without saying, Comrade Marshal." Sokov hurriedly explained to Konev: "When it comes to range, the longest range of the new rocket is only 8,500 meters; , I am afraid it can reach one or two hundred kilometers."

"Impossible, it's absolutely impossible." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Konev refuted him loudly: "So far, even the navy's large-caliber naval gun with the longest range is only more than 20 kilometers away. No matter how far the range of this new German rocket is, it is impossible to reach a distance of one or two hundred kilometers, you must have made a mistake."

Regarding Konev's question, Sokov said cautiously: "Comrade Marshal, although there was no weapon with a range of more than 100 kilometers in the past, according to my analysis, with the advent of this rocket developed by the German army, For the first time, there is a weapon with a range of more than one hundred kilometers."

Although Konev trusted Sokov very much, what the other party said sounded like fantasy, so he avoided the question and continued to ask: "Then tell me, how powerful are the two rockets? "

"Comrade Marshal." Fortunately, before Sukov made the call, he knew the blast radius of explosives, so he could answer Konev's question: "According to the scout's description, I estimate that the ammunition of this rocket is more than 500 kg. The death radius of 500 kg of explosives is 135 meters, the radius of serious injuries is 305 meters, and the radius of minor injuries is 548 meters.”

After talking about the data in one breath, Sokov added: "If the power of our new rockets is like a toddler, then the power of the German rockets is like a burly man, and he is still In its prime."

"Comrade Sokov," Konev was very skeptical about Sokov's statement, but considering that Sokov is not a person who talks nonsense, he still asked patiently: "Even if the rocket developed by the Germans is really It is as powerful as you said, but what effect will it have on us?"

"It has a huge impact, Comrade Marshal." Sokov didn't know how the V1 missile of the German army appeared on the Soviet-German battlefield, but he was well aware of the power of this missile. He was afraid that Konev would not take this matter seriously, and he specifically emphasized: "If the Germans know the location of our army headquarters and fire a few such rockets at us, it will cause a devastating blow to our command system." .”

When Konev was listening to Sokov's explanation, Zhukov came over at some point, and he frowned and asked, "Konev, what did Misha say on the phone?"

"Comrade Marshal," Konev quickly covered the microphone with his hands, repeated what Sokov said to Zhukov, and finally asked, "What do you think of this matter?"

"Nonsense, it's just nonsense." Zhukov also sneered at Sokov's statement. He decided to teach him a lesson, and he couldn't just get promoted and forget about it and say something that shouldn't be said: "Ko Nev, give me the microphone, I want to have a good talk with Misha."

Sokov grabbed the microphone and said sharply, "Misha, do you know what you're talking about?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Hearing Zhukov's voice from the receiver, Sokov couldn't help feeling a little flustered, but he still answered truthfully, "I'm not scaremongering, what I'm saying is the truth."

"Then why did you call Konev?" Zhukov asked sternly.

"I think that since the Germans have developed such a powerful weapon, I am afraid they will launch it at our important target soon." Sokov said anxiously: "I think we should do a good job of prevention to avoid unnecessary losses. .”

"Do a good job of prevention?" Zhukov said with a sneer: "The range and power of the German rockets are all your subjective assumptions. If we let all the troops do a good job based on your imagination. preventive measures, that would cause unnecessary panic."

Zhukov's words made Sokov speechless. He knew that since the V1 missile had been placed on the catapult, it was only a matter of time before the launch. But I am not a god, and I don't know which target the German army will attack. I can't let all the troops within the range take precautions, right? Always the German missiles really hit, I am afraid Zhukov and Konev will not say anything, but if there is a false alarm and the Germans do not launch missiles at all, then their image in the minds of the two will be damaged.

"What to do, what to do?" Sokov kept asking himself in his heart: "Should I think of a reliable reason to convince Zhukov without arousing his suspicion?"

"Misha," Zhukov raised his voice seeing Sokov not speaking, "Are you still online?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal, I'm still here!"

"Since it's still there, why don't you talk." Zhukov said with some displeasure: "I hope to hear a reasonable explanation."

"Comrade Marshal," Sokov became anxious, and the thoughts in his mind suddenly became clear. He hurriedly said: "A few days ago, in order to find out where the open-pit mine where our prisoners of war were held, I asked Marshal Konev. The air force was sent to conduct reconnaissance in the Uman area. But out of the four reconnaissance planes sent, only one returned successfully, and the other three reconnaissance planes were either shot down by ground artillery fire or destroyed by enemy planes.”

"Wait a minute, Misha." As soon as Sokov said this, Zhukov stopped him. He turned and asked Konev: "Comrade Konev, did you send four reconnaissance planes to Ukraine a few days ago?" Mann reconnaissance, and three were shot down?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." To Zhukov's question, Konev gave an affirmative answer: "That's true, I didn't expect that the Germans' anti-aircraft firepower in the Uman area would be so powerful that it would be lost in vain. Three reconnaissance planes."

After receiving confirmation from Konev, Zhukov realized the seriousness of the problem. He quickly linked the German army's deployment of rocket launch positions in the Uman area to the shooting down of the reconnaissance plane. He said into the microphone: "Misha, you continue to talk. I want to hear what conclusions you have drawn."

"I was thinking at the time: Why did the Germans deploy such a tight defense in the Uman area?" Sokov explained his judgment to Zhukov: "If it is to prevent our army from capturing Uman, this reason is obviously not sufficient. With the liberation of Zhitomir, Cherkasy, and Kirovgrad, our army has established a firm foothold on the right bank of the Dnieper River. Even if the Germans want to defend, they will not only deploy such tight troops in the Uman area Defense. Therefore, there is only one truth, the Germans have important military objectives in the Uman area.

The open-pit mines where prisoners of war were held were obviously not worth the heavy defense of the German army. "Sokov said: "Our army has now formed a semi-encirclement trend against Uman, Vinnitsa and other places. Even if the Germans want to carry out a heavy defense, they should not focus on Uman, because staying here The enemy at the salient position may fall into a new encirclement by our army at any time, and the upper echelons of the German army are obviously unwilling to see such a situation happen. "

Zhukov nodded when he heard this, and said, "It makes sense. Then how do you judge that the German army deployed a tight defense in Uman to protect their newly developed rockets?"

"Actually, I just thought of it suddenly." Sokov decided to continue making up lies to Zhukov: "I received a report from the scouts, and after careful analysis, I concluded that the German army planned to use this new type of rocket to attack us. The possibility of strikes on important targets of the army. That is why I called Marshal Konev to warn him."

After figuring out what was going on, Zhukov said with a smile: "Misha, you are worrying too much. We are more than 130 kilometers away from Uman. Even if the Germans are going to use this newly developed rocket, yes We carry out attacks, but can we really realize their intentions? You must know that weapons with a range of more than 100 kilometers do not exist in this world."

Before Sokov could refute, there was a dull explosion sound outside.

Hearing the explosion, Zhukov frowned and said sharply, "What's the noise outside?"

Konev didn't talk to him, but picked up the phone on the table, dialed a number, and asked, "I'm Konev, what's the matter with the explosion outside?... Find out immediately, there's news , report to me immediately!"

Zakharov, who was originally drunk, was also sobered by the explosion. As soon as Konev put down the phone, he couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade Commander, what happened outside, where did the explosion come from?"

"I don't know." Konev shook his head and said, "I have issued an order to find out what happened in the shortest possible time."

Zhukov came to Konev with his hands behind his back, and said with a serious expression: "Comrade Konev, judging from the sound of the explosion, the location of the explosion is far away from here, but the scale is not small. Could it be that a German spy detonated it?" Where do you store ammunition?"

"It's impossible." Konev immediately denied Zhukov's conjecture: "In order to prevent the warehouse where the ammunition is stored from being attacked by the enemy, I have arranged heavy soldiers. The Germans want to blow up the warehouse. How can it be so easy?" .”

"Well, it makes sense." Zhukov accepted Konev's explanation, and continued: "Then let's stop making wild guesses and wait patiently for news."

After about a quarter of an hour, the phone on the table rang, and Zakharov grabbed the receiver and stuck it to his ear: "I'm Zakharov, please tell me!...What, what did you say? Say it again? I don't know what the other party said, Zakharov seemed to be drained of strength, and said weakly: "I see, thank you!"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, what's the matter?" Konev asked.

"Comrade Marshal," Zakharov replied with a bitter face, "the troops stationed in the village of Morenzi reported that the village may have been bombed, and more than 20 soldiers and villagers were killed in the bombing. People get hurt."