Red Moscow

Yakov was shocked: "The Germans developed a new type of aircraft and bombed Marshal Konev's original headquarters? Misha, is this true? Are you kidding me?"

"How can I joke with you about such a thing." When Sokov said this, he couldn't help feeling that the communication methods of this era were too backward. If it was a later generation, I'm afraid he would have made a video and sent it to Yakov: "It's a pity that I can't show you the photos of the aircraft taken by the scouts now..."

"Misha, what are you talking about?" Yakov suddenly interrupted Sokov: "You said you have pictures of the aircraft, is that true?"

"Of course it is true," Sokov replied, "My scouts took a full film of photos near the aircraft. Most of the photos are very clear, and the overall structure of the aircraft can be seen clearly..."

Before Sokov could finish speaking, Yakov suddenly interrupted him: "Misha, what you said is very important, and I will report it to Comrade Ustinov immediately. If you have anything to do, we will talk about it next time." .” After speaking, Sukov hung up the phone without giving him any chance to respond.

Sokov was dumbfounded while holding the phone with a blind tone. He didn't expect Yakov to leave before he finished speaking. He still wanted to ask him to help him build a batch of anti-aircraft guns. Now it seems that there is a high probability It is hopeless.

Seeing Sokov holding the microphone in a daze, Smirnov asked with concern: "Comrade Commander, what did Colonel Yakov say?\

,"Sokov put down the phone and said to Smirnov with a wry smile: "He hung up the phone before I even said my request. It seems that it may not be easy to get anti-aircraft guns from him." An easy thing."

"Comrade Commander, although we don't have enough anti-aircraft guns, we can't intercept aircraft in flight." Ponedelin said to Sokov: "But we can think of other ways to deal with German aircraft."

"What way?" Sokov asked.

"Send more small units to the enemy." Ponegelin said: "Let each small unit carry new rockets, and once they find the launch position of the German aircraft, attack with the new rockets in time to knock the enemy out of the way." Destroy the aircraft before take-off, so as to avoid an irresistible attack on our army."

"Lieutenant Colonel Ponejerin, I'm already doing this." Sokov said: "After receiving the new rockets sent by our superiors, we have sent six small troops, and they are now interspersing towards the Uman area. , if all goes well, we may arrive at the designated reconnaissance location before it gets dark tomorrow."

"Comrade Commander, I have an idea." Smirnov interjected, "I have an idea. We can try to use new rockets to attack aircraft flying in the air. If we are lucky, we should be able to shoot down some of them."

Faced with such absurd ideas proposed by Smirnov, Sokov thought that this thing is not a stinger for later generations, but can also attack aircraft from the ground, so he shook his head and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, the new rocket is The accuracy is not high, and there will be a lot of deviation when hitting a fixed target. If it is used to hit a moving target like an aircraft, it is a waste."

Sokov's words are very clear, it is impossible to hit the aircraft with a new type of rocket. After Smirnov laughed dryly twice, he changed the subject in time.

By evening, Sokov was reading reports from the divisions. Just halfway through, I heard the phone on the table ring. He raised his hand and saw that the phone was relatively close to Smirnov, so he didn't reach for the phone.

Smirnov grabbed the microphone, put it in his ear and said, "I am Chief of Staff Smirnov, where are you?"

"Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff." The person on the other end of the phone said respectfully, "This is the airport. There is a colonel from Moscow. He said he is an acquaintance of Comrade Commander. He needs to see Comrade Commander urgently."

"Comrade Commander," Smirnov quickly covered the receiver with his hands, and said to Sokov in a low voice: "The call from the airport said that there was a colonel from Moscow who said he was an old friend of yours and will see you immediately. .Did you see him?"

Knowing that a colonel from Moscow wanted to see him, Sokov couldn't help being stunned, wondering who it could be, who dared to come to see him at this time? He hurriedly asked Smirnov: "Chief of Staff, ask the comrades at the airport, what is the name of the colonel from Moscow?"

"Yakov, Colonel Yakov!" the airport commander reported to Smirnov: "He said he was from the Moscow Armament Department."

"Comrade Commander," Smirnov said excitedly before hearing this, "It's Colonel Yakov. He came from Moscow to look for you."

Knowing that Yakov came by plane without making a sound, Sokov was taken aback for a moment, and then felt ecstasy in his heart. He could guess that Yakov's sudden appearance here must have something to do with the photo of the V1 missile in his hand. As long as the other party wants something from him, it shouldn't be a big problem to ask him to support the anti-aircraft guns.

He hurriedly said to Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, let the airport send someone to take Colonel Yakov there. Remember, you must ensure his safety on the way."

Smirnov knew that the journey from the airport to the headquarters was only five or six minutes away, and the entire area was within the control of the 53rd Army, so there was no problem with safety, but he still straightened his body and replied: "Yes, Comrade Commander, I will immediately notify the comrades at the airport to send Colonel Yakov over."

"Comrade Commander," Smirnov asked curiously while waiting for Yakov to arrive, "tell me, what is Colonel Yakov doing here?"

"I think it should be related to the new aircraft of the German army. After all, we have first-hand information." Sokov had now figured out the real reason for Yakov's arrival, and he said to Smirnov: "They If you are going to do research on German aircraft, you have to come to us and find out."

Ponegerin's reaction was quick, and he heard some overtones from Sokov's words: "Comrade Commander, if Colonel Yakov wants to obtain those materials, he should pay some price, for example, to solve the problem that a batch of troops urgently need. Flak."

"Lieutenant Colonel Ponegerin, you are right." Sokov agreed with Ponegerin's words: "A few hours ago, when I called him, I was still thinking about how to persuade him. But Now the situation has turned in our favour, and before I have to speak, he will offer an exchange."

When Yakov walked into the headquarters, Sokov got up to greet him, opened his arms and gave him a warm hug, and then asked knowingly: "Yasha, you don't stay in the weaponry department well, run to the front line What are you here for?"

"Misha, where is the photo of the aircraft you took?" Yakov ignored Sokov, but went straight to the point: "Hurry up and show it to me."

"Don't worry, Yasha." Sokov decided to stimulate the other party's appetite, so that he could take the initiative in the next conversation: "It's dinner time, and you're probably hungry, why don't you eat dinner after dinner?" , let’s talk slowly.”

"Misha, before I saw the photos, how could I eat anything." Yakov said to Sokov in a pleading tone: "Yu Gong, we are collaborators. You design new weapons for us, and we manufacture them." The new weapons that come out are handed over to your troops; in private, we are friends like brothers, and we are also my savior..."

Seeing what Yakov said so sincerely, Sokov stopped going around in circles and asked Ponegerin to bring the photo and put it in front of Yakov: "This is the photo taken by our scouts. If you don't understand anything, just ask me. I will give you a satisfactory answer."

Yakov nodded, took the photos and browsed them carefully. During the period, he also took out a magnifying glass from his pocket to carefully examine some subtleties in the photos.

He looked at it for twenty minutes before raising his head and asking Sokov, "Misha, are all the photos here?"

"Yes, it's all here." After Sokov finished speaking, he found that his meaning was not complete enough, so he hurriedly did not add: "I am reporting to Marshal Konev for the set of photos that were first developed. It was handed over to him at the time. This is a new photo that I ordered someone to redevelop later, and it is exactly the same as the set of photos that I handed in.”

"This aircraft looks a bit like an airplane." Yakov stared at one of the photos and said, "But compared with a real airplane, there is no cockpit."

"I think this kind of aircraft is a new type of unmanned aircraft." Sokov said: "After taking off from the launch pad, they fly with pre-filled fuel."

"Misha," Yakov looked at the photo in his hand, frowning and asked, "Do you know the specific data of this aircraft?"

Listening to Yakov asking himself, Sokov couldn't help but start to read the data of the V1 missile: "The missile weighs 2.2 tons, has a length of 7.6 meters, a projectile diameter of 0.82 meters, a wingspan of 7.6 meters, and a flight speed of about 550 kilometers per hour. meters, the flight altitude is 2,000 meters, the firing range is 370 kilometers, and the warhead charges 700 kilograms."

Although he knew the parameters of the missiles well, he still pretended to be ignorant, shook his head and said, "Yasha, to tell you the truth, I know that the length of this aircraft is six to eight meters. , the flight speed can reach 500 kilometers per hour, and the other content is ignorant."

"What, the flight speed of this aircraft has actually reached 500 kilometers per hour?" Yakov was very skeptical about Sokov's statement: "Misha, who told you this data ?”

"Who else could have told me? Of course we figured it out ourselves." Having said that, Sokov looked at Smirnov opposite him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, am I right?"

"Yes, yes, Comrade Commander, you are absolutely correct." Smirnov said to Yakov with a smile: "Colonel Yakov, I calculated the flight speed."

Yakov shifted his gaze to Smirnov, and asked with interest: "General Smirnov, I would like to ask, on what basis did you calculate the speed of the German aircraft?"

"It's very simple." Smirnov explained: "First of all, we need to find out how far the German army's launch position is from the village; secondly, we know the time when the aircraft takes off and lands, so we can get a rough estimate of the flight speed. data."

Yakov nodded after hearing this, and turned his gaze to Sokov: "Misha, how do you plan to deal with this German aircraft?"

He really wanted to doze off, so someone sent a pillow, and Sokov was considering when to propose the anti-aircraft gun to Yakov. But at this moment, since he asked first, he took the opportunity to express his true thoughts: "I plan to deploy a large number of anti-aircraft guns in the defense zone. When the German aircraft fly over our heads, we can use anti-aircraft guns to shoot them down." come down."

"I'm absolutely sure." Sokov said confidently: "Don't look at the flight speed of the aircraft, it can catch up with our common aircraft. But it has a fatal weakness. From the launch, it can only follow a fixed route. Flying. Our anti-aircraft artillery just needs to set the lead and conduct arresting shots to shoot it down."

"It makes sense." As a former artilleryman, Yakov naturally understands the reason for setting the advance amount. After he echoed Sokov, he continued to ask: "How many air defense positions have you deployed so far?"

Sokov did not answer the other party's question, but cast a glance at Smirnov on the opposite side. Smirnov, who understood the situation, quickly said: "Comrade Colonel, we would like to set up a few more anti-aircraft artillery positions in the defense zone. But we can't!"

"why not?"

"Because we don't have enough anti-aircraft guns." Smirnov said with a bitter smile: "A few hours ago, the commander called you to ask you to support our batch of anti-aircraft guns."

"Misha, is this all true?"

"Of course it is true." Sokov said here, suddenly remembered that he had mentioned the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, and asked Yakov: "Yasha, I remember that I submitted a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun to you at the beginning of last year. blueprints. How, so far, has the finished product been produced?"

"Not yet." Yakov smiled wryly and shook his head, "Currently, the weapons and equipment department's discussions on this kind of equipment are basically going on every day."

"Yasha, if it doesn't involve a confidentiality treaty, can you tell me what's going on?"

"An engineer believes that we have shot down 60% of the invading enemy aircraft with 25 to 37mm caliber antiaircraft guns on the battlefield, so we plan to develop a 37mm twin antiaircraft gun."

"No, it must not be designed as a 37mm anti-aircraft gun." Sokov remembers very clearly that in 1945, the Soviet Army developed the ZSU-37mm self-propelled artillery based on the su-76M self-propelled artillery body. Because this kind of self-propelled anti-aircraft gun was only installed on the armored vehicle with a 37mm anti-aircraft gun, and it was only equipped for 75 years in 1948, he hurriedly stopped and said loudly: "You and I both know that small-caliber anti-aircraft guns may be effective against propeller aircraft. , but against the kind of jets that are getting faster and faster, it seems a bit powerless."

Considering that Sokov had designed many weapons for the weapons and equipment department, Yakov chose to believe what the other party said. After a short pause, he asked back, "Misha, tell me, what kind of self-propelled artillery should we produce?"