Red Moscow

The time it took for Sokov and Assia to reach the city was less than an hour. But when he returned to Mamayev Gang, he found that the trenches on the southern slope had begun to take shape.

Assia looked up at the fortifications on the hill, and said to Sokov: "Misha, if there is nothing else, I will go back to the health team. There are still many wounded waiting for my care."

"But, Assia." Seeing Assia leaving in a hurry, Sokov asked a little blankly: "Didn't your captain arrange for you to be supervised here and treat the soldiers injured during construction at any time?"

"Misha, you said it yourself. It was the captain who saw that I was too tired to take care of me." Asiya approached Sokov, quickly kissed him on the face, and then said: "I Go back to the health team first. When you miss me, remember to come to the health team to see me."

Belkin walked over from the side, looked at Assia's leaving back, and asked Sokov, "Comrade Brigadier, have you just gone shopping in the city?"

Hearing Belkin's question, Sokov smiled faintly and said, "Comrade Commissar, the war is imminent. Trench digging and bunker repair are everywhere in Stalingrad. Even if you want to go shopping, there is nowhere to go." When he said this, seeing the puzzled expression on Belkin's face, he added: "I'm going to the city to see how the fortifications are being built."

Belkin knew that there were quite a few troops heading towards Stalingrad through various means of transportation, and that the war was imminent, so he was also very concerned about the construction of fortifications in the city: "Comrade Brigadier, how is the situation?"

"Very bad." Sokov looked at Belkin and said: "Although trenches are being dug and bunkers are being dug everywhere, many of them are superficial. For example, the department store we went to, the second floor there The roof, if fortifications are built, can block off the entire street. But when I went up to check, the sandbags used to pile up the fortifications were thrown everywhere, but no one thought about piling it into a fortification."

The two were talking when Ozor, who was covered in mud, came over. Wiping the sweat from his forehead with his hand, he said to Sokov, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are back, I have something to find you."

Sokov thought to himself: Could it be that the manpower I sent is not enough, and he wants to ask me for more people? He quickly put a smile on his face and asked, "Major Ozor, what's the matter?"

Ozor said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, since you plan to station all your troops in the tunnel, I would like to remind you that there are many problems that must be considered before construction. To avoid reworking after construction, our It’s a huge project.”

Sokov asked Ozor humbly: "Comrade major, what are the problems that we need to consider in advance?"

Ozor pointed his fingers and said to Sokov: "First, it is the storage of ammunition, food and drinking water. If there is a war, the troops must hold on for a long time in the tunnel, so we must open up a special area to store needed ammunition, food and water."

Sokov took out his notebook, wrote down what Ozor said, and said to him: "Comrade Major, you are right. Once the battle starts, the situation will be more serious than you imagined. We must open up a special area , for ammunition, food, and water storage. Any other questions besides that?"

"Communication! Another problem that needs to be paid attention to is communication." Ozor continued: "There is no signal in the tunnel, which makes the telegraph machine unusable. And if the telephone line is laid, it is easy to be blown up by the enemy's artillery fire. Once the telephone line is destroyed If it is blown up, your connection with the outside world will be cut off."

Regarding the communication problem raised by Ozor, Sokov tried his best to recall it. He remembered that the volunteers who invented the tunnel fortification installed antennas at the entrance of the tunnel to solve the problem of poor signal of the telephone in the tunnel. After thinking of a way, he said to Ozor: "Comrade Major, all your worries can be solved. We can install an antenna at the exit of the fortification on the back of the hill to solve the problem of the poor signal of the telephone in the tunnel." Good question. As for the telephone line, I think it should be laid. After all, the telephone is not reliable at all times, and we have to prepare for the worst. You are worried that the telephone line will be blown up by the enemy's artillery fire. This is not a problem. We Just lay the telephone wires on the backside of the hill. No matter how heavy the enemy's artillery fire is, it is not so easy to blow up a few telephone lines across the hill."

After Sokov said the solution he came up with, he asked back: "Comrade Major, do you have any questions?"

"No more." Ozor shook his head and said, "I'll go back and make some arrangements now."

Seeing that Ozor was about to leave, Sokov quickly stopped him: "Comrade Major, please wait a moment, I have one more thing to explain to you."

"What's the matter?" Ozor stopped walking.

Sokov bent down and drew a sketch of the entrance of the tunnel, and said to Ozor: "Comrade Major, what I want to tell you is that the entrance of the tunnel cannot be straight, but should be curved."

Regarding Sokov's strange request, Ozor asked curiously, "Why?"

"Comrade Major, if the entrance of our tunnel is straight, the Germans only need to install a machine gun or a flamethrower in the tunnel, and the commanders and fighters in the tunnel will suffer heavy losses." Sokov gestured and said: "If the entrance The place is curved, and the enemy's machine guns cannot pose too much threat to the soldiers in the tunnel. At the same time, such a tunnel will slow down their forward speed, so that our commanders and fighters have more time to respond."

"I remember, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Ozor looked at Sokov and said with a smile, "I think if you come to be an engineer, you will definitely have more wonderful ideas." Ozor finished speaking , raised his hand to salute Sokov, turned around and walked up the hill, probably preparing to assign tasks to his subordinates.

Belgin looked at Sokov and said curiously: "Comrade Brigadier, I sometimes wonder what kind of person you are? Why do you know so much? Even professional military engineers admire you so much."

"Comrade political commissar, don't you know what kind of person I am? I just sometimes come up with some ghostly ideas and make others stunned. It will mess things up." Sokov looked at his watch, smiled and said to Belkin: "Comrade Comrade, it's already past lunch time, but I haven't had lunch yet. Let's go with me. Eat something."