Red Moscow

Two days later, Ozor came to Sokov on his own initiative and told him excitedly: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the tunnel fortifications on the north and south slopes have been roughly completed, and I'm here to invite you to inspect it."

"Approximately completed?" Sokov heard the word used by Ozor and asked curiously, "What does it mean?"

"I didn't make it clear." Ozor explained: "The main work of the tunnel has been completed, and the remaining work is to reinforce the key parts with reinforced concrete."

"Comrade Commissar," Sokov has been to the tunnel fortifications one of the few times since the start of construction. Now that the construction is basically completed, he smiled and said to Belkin: "Let's go and see the tunnel fortification."

Under the leadership of Ozor, the two came to the foot of the south slope, where there was a cave with a height of one person, which seemed to lead to the tunnel fortification. Ozor stopped at the entrance of the cave and said to Sokov and Belkin, "Lieutenant Colonel, Comrade Commissar, there are twelve exits on the south slope, and this is one of them."

Sokov and Belkin followed Ozor into it, and found that there was a corridor going upwards at an angle. The corridor was about one meter wide and the height inside was two meters. waist. Every ten meters or so on the earth wall, there is a gas lamp for lighting.

Ozor, who was leading the way, turned around and explained to Sokov and Belkin behind him: "Lieutenant Colonel, political commissar, this is a spare passage. After the battle starts, we will close it to prevent it from being attacked by the enemy." Discovery. If we want to attack, we can also get through the exit in the shortest time."

The three of them walked forward for more than a hundred meters, and felt that the corridor suddenly widened, and there were adjacent rooms on both sides of the corridor. Seeing this, Belkin asked curiously, "Major Ozor, what are these rooms used for?"

"Comrade Commissar," Ozor stopped, and shook the flashlight in his hand towards the dark room: "These rooms are used to store ammunition and food. Not a day or two."

"It's not enough just to have a place to store ammunition and food," Sokov secretly counted the rooms. There are about 20 rooms. If they are filled with the ammunition and food needed by the troops, they can last for about half a month. But as soon as he saw the tunnel, he thought of Shangganling. He didn't want the troops to be short of water near the Volga River, so he continued to ask: "I want to ask, where is the water we usually use stored?" place?"

"Don't worry, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I have already considered it." Ozor took Sokov and Belkin to another place that can accommodate hundreds of people, and said to the two: "You see Are there metal buckets with lids on the wall? One bucket holds 500 kilograms of drinking water, and twelve buckets equals six tons of water." He stamped a square cement slab on the ground with his foot, and a voice came from under the cement slab. There was a hollow voice, "There is groundwater under this cement slab. Once there is water shortage, you can open this cement slab to get water."

Hearing that ammunition, food and water were stored, Sokov looked up at the top of his head and asked with some concern: "Major Ozor, can the accumulated soil on it withstand the bombardment of the German heavy artillery?"

"Don't worry, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Hearing Sokov's question, Ozor grinned and said, "The accumulated soil on top exceeds fifteen meters, and we need to use reinforced concrete to reinforce it. No matter how dense the German heavy artillery is, they still don't want to blow up the tunnel fortifications."

When Belkin heard what Ozor said, he squinted his eyes with a smile and said: "Great, this is really great. As long as we hide in the fortifications, no matter how fierce the German artillery fire is, we can reduce the casualties of the commanders and fighters to a minimum." lowest."

"The tunnel can't be used for pure defense, we need to use this place as a stronghold for attack." Sokov said to Ozor: "Comrade Major, please show us another exit."

It took the three of them more than an hour to walk through the tunnel fortifications on the southern slope. When they came to the trench from the tunnel, Ozor asked with some trepidation: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, how is it? Are you satisfied with this fortification?"

Sokov thought for a while, and then said: "These entrances and exits set up in the trenches are too narrow, which is not conducive to the troops' attack. Think about it, when the enemy's shelling ends and their infantry attack the hillside, And because the exit is too narrow, our soldiers are unable to come out in time because they are squeezed into the tunnel, will it be a bad thing?"

"Understood, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Regarding Sokov's opinion, Ozor nodded: "I'll ask someone to widen the exit of the tunnel later."

As Sokov and Ozor spoke, an armored train passed the railway a few hundred meters away, heading for the factory area. Seeing the only three 76.2mm caliber guns on the armored train, Sokov murmured in his heart. He didn't think that the existing equipment of the armored train could stop the German tanks. If you want to deal with the German tanks, you have to figure out a way on your own.

After the train left, Sokov turned around and asked Ozor, "Major Ozor, if the Germans took Mamayev Kurgan as their attack target, they would definitely use tanks to cover the infantry charge. The slope of the slope makes it impossible for enemy tanks to drive up, but it would also be a headache for us to park at the foot of the slope and provide fire support to the infantry with tank guns and machine guns."

Ozor guessed what Sokov wanted to express, so he asked tentatively: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, are you planning to build an anti-tank trench near the railway?"

"That's right." Seeing that Ozor understood his intention, Sokov nodded and said, "I just plan to dig an anti-tank trench in front of the minefield and barbed wire so that the enemy tanks cannot come over. .”

"It's easy." Regarding Sokov's idea, Ozor said carelessly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you only need to give me two thousand people, a maximum of two days, and I can repair one in front of Mamayev Post." A circular anti-tank trench."

"Wait a minute, Major Ozor." Seeing that Ozor agreed so readily, Sokov decided to move the "Golan Trenches" of later generations to the Battle of Stalingrad in advance. Zor said: "The anti-tank trench I want to build is 6 meters wide at the mouth, 4 meters wide at the bottom, and 9 meters deep. Generally, when building anti-tank trenches, the excavated soil should be piled on both sides, but this anti-tank trench All the excavated soil should be piled up on the side close to our army's position, and built into a soft soil embankment more than two meters high..."

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, don't say any more." Before Sokov could finish speaking, Ozor interrupted him: "Do you know how much work we have to dig such a fortification?"

Sokov only thought about how to copy the "Golan trench", but he really didn't consider how much work it would be to dig such an anti-tank trench. So after hearing this question from Ozor, he was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head and asked, "How big is it?"

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, let me calculate it for you now. The anti-tank trench you mentioned is trapezoidal. Calculate according to the trapezoidal formula: trapezoidal area = (upper base + lower base) × height ÷ 2. In other words, (4+6)×9÷2=45, and the length of the anti-tank trench is about 3,800 meters. The total excavated earthwork should be 171,000 cubic meters. Even if two thousand soldiers participate in the construction, the earthwork to be excavated by each person will be 85.5 cubic."

After hearing Ozor's calculations, Sokov couldn't help being taken aback: "Ah, everyone has to dig so much earth? So, we don't have the ability to complete such an anti-tank trench at all?"

"Yes, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what you said is absolutely correct." Ozor nodded his head and said affirmatively: "You asked for the depth of the anti-tank trench to be nine meters, without the help of excavators and heavy lifting machinery , relying on the soldiers to dig with shovels and pickaxes, even two months would not be able to complete the work.”

"Since the amount of the project is so large," Sokov felt a little too taken for granted, so he could only say helplessly, "Let's forget it."

Although I heard Sokov said that no anti-tank trenches would be built, what he said just now aroused Ozor's curiosity: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I can ask why this kind of anti-tank trench digging Do you want to hide all the soil that is close to our army's position?"

Although it is impossible to build the "Golan trench" in front of Mamayev Post, Sokov did not give up. He felt that he should tell Ozor the characteristics of this anti-tank trench, and it might be useful in the future: "The German army Seeing that there is an anti-tank trench blocking the road ahead, even if the bulldozer is used, since all the accumulated soil is piled up on the side of our army, the bulldozer will have no soil to fill.

If they built a bridge over the anti-tank ditch, because the other end of the ditch was more than two meters higher, one end of the bridge was higher and the other end was lower, and the higher end was placed on the soft soil embankment, causing the tanks crossing the bridge to sway left and right. Shaking, he fell into the trench without moving.

Even if the tanks can get away with it, a tragic fate awaits them. Because when crossing the embankment, the car body is lifted up, exposing the weak bottom of the armor; Anti-tank rifles with poor penetration can also kill these tanks. "

After hearing what Sokov said, Ozor widened his eyes in surprise, looked at Sokov with admiration and said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are really amazing. The anti-tank trenches you mentioned, I’ve never heard of it before, if it wasn’t for time constraints and lack of supporting construction machinery, I’d like to personally lead people to build the anti-tank trenches you mentioned.”

"Comrade Brigadier," Belkin on the side said disapprovingly after hearing Sokov's words, "Your anti-tank trenches can certainly block enemy tanks, but at the same time, they will also limit the range of movement of our tanks. .”

"Comrade Commissar, it's not what you imagined." Before Sokov could speak this time, Ozor had already defended him: "Isn't the soil dug from the anti-tank trench piled up on the side of our army?" ?We could bulldozer the dirt into the tank trenches, or clear a gap or two out of the dirt walls and put up rut bridges to get our tanks through.”

After listening to Ozor's explanation, Belgin was taken aback for a moment, then looked at Sokov and said with a smile: "Brigade Commander, you are really not simple, you can come up with such a clever anti-tank trench. It's a pity that we There is not enough time, and there is no necessary construction machinery, otherwise we can really consider digging such an anti-tank trench to prevent German tanks from approaching Mamayev Gang.”

"Since we can't dig anti-tank trenches, forget it." Although it is impossible to build this famous "Golan trench", Sokov feels very sorry, but there is no way. He could only use other methods to deal with the German tanks: "Comrade Major, when laying out the minefields, you should plant more anti-tank mines on the inner side of the railway, near Mamayev Hill, so that some of them can be eliminated. German tanks."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you should have said this earlier." Ozor had a troubled expression on his face when he heard Sokov say this: "When I went to the warehouse to collect mines and explosives two days ago, I heard that the military supplies The official said that all the anti-tank mines were handed over to the defense forces outside the city..."

There was no way to dig anti-tank trenches, and Sokov could still think about it; but now, he didn't even have the anti-tank mines he urgently needed, so how could he deal with German tanks in the next battle? Thinking of this, Sokov's brows could not help but twitch into a knot.

"Oh, we can't dig anti-tank trenches, and there are no anti-tank mines." Belkin sighed and said, "After the battle starts, we can only watch the enemy's tanks rush to the foot of Mamayev Post, Covering the infantry charge with tank guns and machine guns."

Seeing that Sokov remained silent, Ozor asked cautiously, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, is there anything else you can do to deal with the German tanks?"

"Trap!" Hearing Ozor ask himself, Sokov couldn't help blurting out: "Even if there are no anti-tank mines and anti-tank trenches, we can still dig traps to deal with enemy tanks."

"Dig a trap?" Hearing what Sokov said, Ozor couldn't help feeling a little lost, and then asked curiously, "How to dig?"

"Comrade Major, we can dig some two or three meters deep rectangular pits on the inside of the railway, cover them with wooden planks, and sprinkle soil on them." Sokov introduced a new trap he had come up with to Ozor: "The German infantry stepped on it, there was no problem. But when their tanks rolled over, the wooden planks would break because they could not bear the weight of the tanks, which would cause the enemy's tanks to roll over, or fall directly into the deep pit. "

"Yes, this is a good idea." Ozor clapped his hands immediately after hearing what Sokov said: "Dig a few traps like this in front of the minefield, and it will definitely not attract the attention of the enemy. Wait for the tank to run over , the heavy car body will collapse the wooden boards covering the deep pit, causing the tank to fall into the pit. This is really a good way, and I immediately arranged for manpower to dig the pit.”