Red Moscow

Regardless of whether it is Smirnov or Gorokhov, although they don't say anything, they feel that it is impossible for the scouts to complete Sokov's mission. Can't go back.

When the next day was approaching noon, the head of the reconnaissance department led a lieutenant wearing a helmet, hurried into the headquarters, and reported to Sokov excitedly: "Our scouts are back!"

"Our scout is back?" Sokov tilted his head and looked at the lieutenant behind the scout chief: "Comrade chief, are you talking about this lieutenant?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander." The chief of reconnaissance pulled the lieutenant over and pushed him in front of Sokov: "This is Lieutenant Ruslan, and the several reconnaissance teams sent to the Uman area this time are all under his control. directed."

"Hello, Lieutenant Ruslan." Sokov smiled and shook Ruslan's hand, and said in a friendly tone, "Thank you!"

"No hard work, no hard work." Seeing Sokov taking the initiative to shake hands with him, Ruslan seemed a little excited, and he said incoherently: "Comrade Commander, it's a pleasure to meet you. To meet a legend like you, It is my honor. If my friends know that I have met you, they will be envious of them."

Sokov chuckled, and then got back to business: "Lieutenant Ruslan, I would like to ask, how did you return here from the Uman area in less than a day?" Smirnov and Gorokhov cast meaningful glances.

"Comrade Commander, if you walk, you may not be able to return here tomorrow night." Ruslan explained: "I and another soldier captured a motorcycle, and then pretended to be the German signal soldier who delivered the order." , just swaggered back along the highway. On the way, we even ate something at the German supply point, and even filled up the motorcycle."

"Not bad, Lieutenant Ruslan, you are doing well." Sokov praised Ruslan, then turned to Smirnov and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, how are you? Am I right? Scout There is always their way, and they can arrive at the designated place within the time we stipulated."

Under such circumstances, it is obviously inappropriate to contradict Sokov. Smirnov could only nod his head and say, "You are right, Comrade Commander."

"Did the film come back?" Sokov asked Ruslan again.

"Yes, Comrade Commander, bring it back!"

"Where is it?" This time it was Smirnov's turn to rush to ask. He wanted to see for himself what the new German weapons looked like.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," the chief of the reconnaissance department quickly explained, "I have sent someone to clean the film that Ruslan brought back." He raised his hand to check the time, and replied, "It will take until one o'clock in the afternoon at the earliest. to get the photos out.”

"It's too late, Comrade Director, it's too late." Unexpectedly, Smirnov said with a straight face: "Don't you know that every minute is precious on the battlefield? The new weapons of human beings can be used to develop countermeasures earlier. Do you understand?"

"I understand, Comrade Chief of Staff." The Director of Reconnaissance said knowingly, "I'll go and watch right now, and try to get the photos developed as soon as possible."

After the head of the reconnaissance department left, Sokov glanced at Ruslan standing in the middle of the room, standing straight like a telegraph pole, and said with a smile: "Comrade lieutenant, don't stand there, come and sit down, I have something to do." I want to ask you."

After Ruslan sat down, he put his hands on his knees, his back was still straight, and he looked forward. Sokov knew that the other party was restrained, and after a faint smile, he returned to the subject: "Lieutenant Ruslan, I want to ask you a question."

Hearing what Sokov said, Ruslan stood up quickly, looked ahead and said, "Excuse me, Comrade Commander, I will definitely report the truth."

"Do you still remember the new German weapons, how long did they launch?" Sokov said this, staring at the other's wrist, worried that if he didn't have a watch, his plan would fail: "You won't A watch?"

Fortunately, what he was worried about did not happen. Ruslan nodded and replied: "Comrade Commander, you are performing reconnaissance missions outside, and you don't have a watch to tell the time. That's not okay. When the enemy fired new weapons, I I even checked the time."

After recording the time Ruslan said, Sokov handed the piece of paper to Smirnov, and said with a smile: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please calculate the flying speed of this new weapon. "

In order to make what he said more like an analysis, Sokov called Konev not long ago to find out when the V1 missile landed and exploded. Now with the launch time and explosion time of the V1 missile, it is a matter of course to calculate the flight speed.

With the data provided by Sokov, Smirnov calculated the flight speed of the V1 missile in less than a minute: "My God, Comrade Commander, the flight speed of this new German weapon , can reach 500 kilometers per hour, which is comparable to the speed of an aircraft. If the Germans had a large number of such weapons and fired them at the same time, they would cause us huge casualties."

Smirnov's worries are not superfluous. You know, even Konev's headquarters will be attacked, so where else can it be safe? What's more terrible is that you never know when this kind of rocket will attack the target in that place.

"Lieutenant Ruslan," Sokov said kindly to Ruslan after he asked Ruslan to sit down again, "So, you have seen the new German weapons with your own eyes." Seeing that Ruslan was about to stand up, he replied For himself, he quickly pressed the other person's shoulder, "You don't need to stand up, just sit and talk."

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Ruslan, who was pinned by Sokov on the shoulder, replied nervously, "I have carefully observed the new German weapons through a telescope."

"Anyway, we have to wait a long time before we can see the developed photos." Sokov said: "Since you have seen this new weapon with your own eyes, you might as well describe it to us. In this way, I can Based on your description and the photos you took, write a detailed analysis report to the commander of the front army."

"How should I put it?" Ruslan said hesitantly: "That new weapon, when I first saw it, felt like a weird aircraft, but it had no landing gear, and it was on the top of the tail. , there is a cylindrical device, I guess it should be the engine, so when this new weapon took off, I saw the fireworks ejected from the back..."

When Ruslan was introducing the situation, Sokov kept recording what the other party said in his notebook, and subtly added some content he knew.

After Ruslan finished speaking, Sokov stopped writing and intentionally asked for some details, such as the length and diameter of the new weapon, how many Germans were there when it was launched, and so on. Every question Sokov asked, as long as Ruslan knew it, he answered it truthfully.

It was not until lunch time that the reconnaissance chief came in with a stack of photos and handed them to Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, these are the photos taken by the scouts."

Sokov took out a photo from Smirnov's hand and found that it happened to be the V1 missile placed on the transmitter. Because it was taken during the day, the resolution was quite high.

"Lieutenant Ruslan," Sokov put the photo in front of Ruslan, pointed to the photo and asked, "Is this the new weapon you saw?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander, that's it."

Sokov tapped the photo a few times with his finger, and said: "I think this new weapon of the German army is more like an aircraft. In my opinion, we will call it an aircraft in the future. Don't keep talking about it." Rockets or new weapons, it sounds too outrageous."

In this way, Sokov gave the V1 missile an easy-to-remember name.

After lunch, the Director of Reconnaissance and Ruslan had no reason to stay, so they bid farewell to Sokov and left the headquarters. After the two left, Sokov began to scribble on the report, filling in the parameters of the V1 missile he knew. Of course, in order to avoid arousing suspicion from others, he deliberately wrote some wrong data, but the mistakes were within the acceptable range.

After finishing the report, Sokov said to Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I need to rush to the headquarters of the Front Army immediately and report what we have learned to Marshal Konev."

"This is what it should be, Comrade Commander." After Smirnov finished speaking, he asked, "Do you need me to go with you?"

"No need." Sokov refused very simply: "I don't know how long it will take, and the army can't be without a military chief for a long time, you should stay at the headquarters. In case something urgent happens You have full control over the situation.”

Now that Sokov had already reached this point, Smirnov knew that it was useless to say anything else, so he stopped insisting, but said firmly: "Comrade commander, although the paint from here to the headquarters , it is safe most of the time, but we can’t take it lightly. I think, how about letting Lieutenant Koshkin lead a company of guards and go with you to the headquarters of the Front Army?"

"There is no need to form such a large formation." Sokov waved his hand and said, "In case there are really German stragglers nearby, seeing a convoy of this size, they will definitely not let it go, they will choose An ambush at a suitable place would put me in danger. In my opinion, just ask Koshkin to take a platoon with me."

Out of consideration for Sokov's safety, before the convoy set off, Smirnov repeatedly told Koshkin: "Lieutenant Koshkin, I will leave the safety of Comrade Commander to you. You have to assure me, Just like protecting your own eyes, ensure the safety of Comrade Commander. Do you understand?"

"I fully understand, Comrade Chief of Staff." Faced with such nagging Smirnov, Koshkin said patiently: "I will never let Comrade Commander be in danger."

When Sokov appeared at the headquarters of the Front Army, Konev was stunned for a moment, and after recovering, he asked curiously, "Comrade Sokov, why did you come to me?"

"Report to Comrade Marshal," Sokov said respectfully after raising his hand to salute Konev, "I have obtained some information on German aircraft and compiled an analysis report. I am here today to give you report."

"Aircraft, what aircraft?" Konev didn't know that Sokov changed the name of the new German rocket team to an aircraft, and asked with a puzzled face: "Comrade Sokov, what the hell are you trying to say? Confused?"

"I'm sorry, Comrade Marshal, I didn't make it clear." Sukov realized that he had not expressed it accurately, but he confused Konev, and quickly explained: "The aircraft I mentioned was the one that the Germans used to attack the village yesterday. new rockets."

"Aircraft?" Zakharov came over and asked in the same puzzlement: "Comrade Sokov, why do you call it an aircraft?"

Although Sokov mentioned the V1 missile to Konev and Zakharov, he never described the shape of the missile, so that both of them thought that the V1 missile attacking the village had the same shape as the V1 missile. Soviet rockets are about the same.

Sokov put the briefcase on the table, opened it, took out a stack of photos from it, and handed them to Konev and Zakharov respectively: "Comrade Marshal, Comrade Chief of Staff, please watch our reconnaissance The photos taken by the soldiers. The things in the photos are the weapons that attacked the village yesterday."

Zakharov took a look at one of the photos, and said with emotion: "Don't tell me, this thing looks like an airplane, with wings and a tail. It's just a cylindrical object on the tail. What is it for?"

"This is where the engine of the aircraft is located," Sokov explained to Zakharov. "Our scouts saw with their own eyes the fireworks coming out of the tail of this aircraft when it took off."

Konev took the report and photos back to the conference table and sat down. He put the report on the table, then carefully looked at each photo, and carefully looked at the aircraft that almost wiped out the headquarters.

After looking at the photos, he picked up Sokov's analysis report and browsed carefully. After watching for a while, he muttered softly in his mouth. Sokov's ears were sharp, and he immediately heard that the other party was reading the parameters of the V1 missile. This parameter is half true and half false, and can only be used as a reference so that Konev can have a perceptual understanding of the V1 missile.

After reading the analysis report, Konev looked up at Sokov and asked, "Comrade Sokov, are the parameters in your report accurate?"

"Comrade Marshal," Sokov hurriedly argued, "This is my own speculation based on the photos and the scouts' accounts. There must be some deviations from the real data. Fortunately, our task is to find a way to intercept these flying machines, not building them."

"Then tell me, how should we deal with these aircraft?"

"I don't know if there are other launch points other than Uman, which was discovered by our army." Sokov said to Konev with a solemn expression: "I want to use the air force or artillery to kill the enemy's attack in advance." The launch point is obviously impossible. Therefore, we can only use other methods to deal with it. For example, use anti-aircraft artillery to block the direction of the aircraft, or dispatch fighter jets to destroy the aircraft in the air."