Red Moscow

The truck carrying the ball tanks, guided by workers who are familiar with the road, carefully walked through one bomb crater after another, and it took almost an hour to finally arrive at the underground tank depot of the assembly workshop.

Except for the ten tank groups that serve as fixed turrets, the rest of the tank crews stay in the underground tank depot so that they can enter the battlefield as quickly as possible when receiving combat missions. When they saw a truck and a longboard truck driving back and forth into the tank depot, they guessed that some new supplies might have been brought in, so they all stood up and walked over with the truck, ready to wait for the truck to stop, help Then unload the supplies from the car.

After the car stopped, Bely jumped out from the cab of the truck and greeted the tank soldiers: "Comrades, the car is equipped with a car radio, please help unload the car."

The tank crews have long heard about the need to install a vehicle-mounted radio station for each tank. Just now everyone was still discussing. If this is true, then in the future on the battlefield, the coordination between them will become more convenient. At this moment, hearing that the car radio was in the car, it was as if he had been beaten with chicken blood, and he became a porter with ease.

Sokov and Yakov got off the cab of the longboard truck, lit a cigarette by the side of the truck, and silently watched the tank soldiers who were unloading the truck. Kalashnikov, who was standing on the longboard, and several workers began to dismantle the steel cables that fixed the ball tank.

There were many tank soldiers, and the dozens of wooden boxes on the truck were quickly moved. Seeing Kalashnikov and the workers busy on the longboard truck, they couldn't help being excited about the thing covered with canvas, and they all gathered around the longboard truck, pointing at it.

After removing all the steel cables, Kalashnikov asked Sokov who was under the car: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, should we drive the tank down now?"

The tank soldiers standing around heard Kalashnikov's words, and couldn't help but start discussing: "No way? That thing covered with canvas is actually a tank?"

"Yeah, although there is a canvas blocking it, no matter how you look at it, this thing doesn't look like a tank."

After Kalashnikov saw that Sokov nodded his approval, he and the workers lifted the canvas covering the spherical tank, opened the hatch on the side of the spherical tank, and got in with hands and feet.

After the tank soldiers saw the true face of the ball tank, they were all stunned. After a long time, someone said: "My God, what is this ball? Could it really be a tank?"

"Hell, how does a round tank fight? When it starts to roll, will the tank crew inside be hurt?"

While all the tank soldiers were discussing, Kalashnikov started the tank and drove down the concrete slope next to the longboard. Seeing the spherical tank, the tank soldiers really started to move, and gave way to the spherical tank while feeling emotional.

After the ball tank stopped in the open space, Bely walked to the tank and said to his subordinates: "Comrades, let me introduce to you, this is the SHT-1A ball tank developed and produced by our country. The front is equipped with two 76mm guns, and the front and side are equipped with 7.62mm directional and axial machine guns..."

After Bely introduced the various parameters of this tank, he paused for a moment, and then continued: "Since only three prototypes of this tank have been produced, we have no way of knowing how it will perform on the battlefield. Therefore, I Four volunteers are needed to drive this tank. Anyone sign up?"

As soon as he finished speaking, almost all the tankers raised their hands. Just kidding, there are only three prototypes of this new tank in the country. If you don't apply for driving at this moment, you probably won't have the chance to drive this tank in your life. It is precisely because of this that the enthusiasm of the tank soldiers is at an all-time high.

Bely's eyes swept over the tank soldiers one by one, and finally picked out eight tank soldiers, one of whom was a lieutenant. He said to the lieutenant: "Lieutenant Valenra, the task of the eight of you is to figure out the operation of the ball tank overnight, and you have already assisted Kalashnikov in installing the car radio."

"Comrade Colonel," Valenra waited for Bely to finish speaking, and couldn't help asking curiously: "Does it need to install a telephone behind the tank?"

"No." Bely replied very simply, "Even if the phone is installed, I don't think any infantry would dare to follow the ball tank. They will definitely worry whether this tank will tip over and crush themselves to pieces. Sauce." His words immediately aroused laughter from the surrounding tank soldiers.

After the tank soldiers finished laughing, Bely waved his hand and said to them: "Except for Lieutenant Valenra and the rest of the crew, they must take the time to familiarize themselves with the new tank. This task. Do you understand?"

The tank soldiers got up and shouted loudly: "I understand."

"Now that you understand everything, let's start working." After Bely assigned the task, he walked up to Sokov and said to him: "Comrade Brigadier, let's go back to the command post now, I want to study with you Let's see how to use the ball tank on the battlefield."

As soon as Sokov, Bely and Yakov entered the headquarters, Belkin greeted him and said to Sokov, "Comrade Brigadier, you are back!"

Sokov and Belkin have been partners for a long time. He keenly noticed that there was something wrong with Belkin's expression. After calling Bely and Yakov to sit down, he pulled Belkin aside and asked in a low voice. Said: "Comrade political commissar, is something wrong?"

Belgin nodded and replied in a low voice: "Shortly after you left, the deputy brigade commander called and said that the third battalion commander sent an officer who had been captured by the Germans to the brigade headquarters. He wanted to ask , how to deal with this officer.”

"The officer captured by the German army?" Sokov immediately realized the seriousness of the problem when he heard Belkin say this, and quickly asked, "Who is the officer? Do I know him?"

"Yes, Comrade Brigadier." Belkin nodded and said in a positive tone: "You know him."

"who?!"

"Didn't we have two candidates when we were planning to send someone to command the squad behind the enemy's rear?" Belkin said cautiously, "One was Lieutenant Griza, commander of the fourth company, and the other..."

This happened not long ago. Sokov naturally remembered who the other candidate was, and he couldn't help blurting out: "The other one is Lieutenant Guchakov, commander of the Ninth Company. Why, he was captured by the enemy?"

"That's right, it's him."

"What's going on here?" Sokov asked anxiously, "How did he get captured by the Germans? How did he escape later?"

Faced with Sokov's series of questions, Belkin shook his head and said, "The deputy brigade commander didn't tell me the specific situation, and I don't know exactly what happened."

Sokov realized the seriousness of the problem. He felt that it would be difficult to talk about this kind of thing on the phone in a few words, so he made up his mind decisively and said to Belgin: "Comrade Commissar, you are in charge of the factory. I'll go back to Mamayev's post overnight to find out what's going on."