After the first round of shooting, the four-barreled group, two-barrel group and single-barrel group were shot. Although none of the rockets fired hit the mound, the impact point was not far from the mound. As soon as the shooting ended, staff members took a jeep and went to the impact point to check and record relevant data.
Sokov sat on the bench in the wooden house, looking at the jeep going away. Regardless of Yakov and the tall and thin man chatting in a low voice, he asked guiltily: "Is today's test considered a success?"
"Success, of course, is considered a success." Hearing Sokov's question, the tall and thin man said with excitement: "The impact point of the rocket launchers currently equipped by our army is often deviated by more than two hundred meters. If it were not powerful, it might not be possible early. It has been discontinued. And the rocket you designed, after a small improvement, has effectively improved the accuracy of shooting..." Weapons experts were full of praise for the 107mm rocket launcher, which made Sokov feel a little sad. Somewhat smug.
Yakov sat aside and said nothing at first. After seeing the staff who went to measure the data returning by car, he immediately interrupted the chat between the two, "The jeep is back. Let's go take a look at the data collected by the staff."
The tall and thin man and Yakov came outside the house, took the plywood handed by the staff, and looked at the data recorded on the paper together. Sokov leaned his head over and took a look. He only saw a bunch of symbols and a lot of numbers, and he had no idea what they meant.
Yakov took out the paper recording the data from the plywood, folded it and put it in his pocket, and said to the tall and thin man: "I will go to see Comrade People's Commissar now and give him the data of this test. You guys Stay here and prepare for the next round of testing."
Sokov, who was standing nearby, was about to ask Yakov what the test was, but he saw Yakov shaking his head towards him and said: "Let's go, Misha, come with me to see Comrade People's Commissar."
In this way, Sokov, who followed Yakov to this mysterious test site, only looked at the staff responsible for weapons testing and fired several groups of rockets. He didn't even understand the data collected, and followed Yakov in a daze. The husband left here and went to see Ustinov.
The two came to Ustinov's office. The people's commissar had been waiting for them for a long time. As soon as he saw Yakov walking in the door, he asked straight to the point: "Comrade Captain, have you finished collecting the data?"
"Yes, Comrade People's Commissar." Yakov took out the piece of paper from his pocket, spread it out in front of Ustinov, and said respectfully: "The test data is on it, please. Take a look!"
After reading the data on the paper, Ustinov had an expression of surprise on his face. He raised his head and looked at Yakov standing in front of the table, and said: "Captain Yakov, judging from the test data, the effect of this new weapon is not bad. You must seize the time to complete other data tests. , and strive to prepare troops as early as possible."
"Comrade People's Commissar," Sokov, who was standing behind him, couldn't help but feel a little nervous when he heard that Ustinov was preparing to equip the troops with this weapon as soon as possible. He didn't care about the consequences of his words, but said hurriedly: "Even if this kind of weapon is produced, it will not be equipped with troops for the time being."
"Why?" Ustinov and Yakov asked in unison.
"Although this new type of rocket launcher has just undergone its first round of testing today, I think you can imagine how powerful this type of rocket launcher is." When Sokov said this, he paused for a moment. Observing the reactions of the two people, he saw that they both nodded in agreement with his statement, and then continued: "Although our army's counterattack under the city of Moscow has achieved great results, it should also be noted that the enemy is still very powerful. We are still unable to gain the initiative on the battlefield. If this new rocket launcher is equipped with troops too early, once it falls into the hands of the Germans, with the current level of German military industry, it will not take long to imitate it. If They are also equipped with such weapons, which is a disaster for our army."
"Misha, your statement is too pessimistic..." Yakov was afraid that Sokov's words would make Ustinov unhappy, so he quickly interrupted him: "Since our army can be crushed under the walls of Moscow, If the Germans attack, we will annihilate their effective forces in more areas."
Ustinov was confused by Sokov's words, and he asked in confusion: "Yes, if this new type of rocket launcher cannot be equipped with troops as soon as possible, then what is the point of developing it now?"
Faced with Ustinov's doubts, Sokov naturally could not tell him that in the coming days, the Soviet army would also have a fierce contest in Kharkov and Stalingrad. If the German army had this new type of rocket launcher, the 62nd Army troops holding Stalingrad might be driven into the Volga River at any time.
Sokov organized the vocabulary in his mind, and then said to Ustinov: "Comrade People's Commissar, according to my judgment, our army will have to wait until at least 43 years to gain the initiative on the battlefield. Before that, the German army will still have the upper hand. If we put the new rocket launcher into the army prematurely, once it is captured by the German army and mass-produced, it will bring a catastrophic blow to our army. Therefore, I suggest that after it is officially put into production, It is only provided to a small number of troops. Even if the war situation goes against our army, this rocket launcher can be destroyed in time."
"Major Sokov, your assumption is not valid." After listening to Sokov's words, Ustinov said with a straight face: "While you overestimated the enemy's strength, you also seriously underestimated it. The strength of our army has been greatly reduced. The counterattack carried out under the city of Moscow has severely damaged the vitality of the Germans. I believe that it will not take long for us to drive the Germans out of our territory."
Faced with Ustinov's confidence, Sokov was really dumbfounded, but under the current circumstances, he really couldn't refute, so he could only remain silent.
Fortunately, Ustinov did not argue with him, but told Yakov: "You have to hurry up for the next few tests. It is best to finalize this new rocket launcher within half a month and start It is put into production. But due to our insufficient productivity, we can only produce about a hundred units and equip the troops on a small scale. Do you understand?"
"Understood, Comrade People's Commissar." Yakov nodded and replied: "I guarantee that the production workshop will be able to start the production of this new rocket launcher before the end of May..."
After Ustinov finished explaining the mission to Yakov, he turned his attention to Sokov who was in a daze and raised his voice and said: "Major, you can tell me whatever you have in mind now."
Although Sokov was reprimanded, he couldn't help but feel relieved when he saw that Ustinov still agreed with his point of view and would not equip the troops with such rocket launchers in large numbers. He tried to put a smile on his face and said: "Our army is now equipped with artillery and rocket launchers of various calibers, so it is not too important whether this new rocket launcher is installed. Its main function is to attack the enemy's Transport lines, camps and warehouses, if possible, can also be of great use in street fighting.”
"Street fighting, where are the street fighting taking place?" After hearing this, Ustinov got up and came to the wall, looking up at a map hanging on the wall. Since this is not a military map, there are no dizzying red and blue arrows on it. He casually pointed to several cities occupied by the German army on the map: "Are you talking about Smolensk, Kiev or Odessa?"
Although Sokov glanced at the location of Stalingrad, he still said sincerely: "Comrade People's Commissar, the places you mentioned are all places where we will start street battles with the enemy. But now, I feel that I The location where the army will engage in street fighting with the German army may be south of Moscow."
"South of Moscow?" Sokov's words aroused Ustinov's interest. He slapped the map twice and said, "Please point me to where we will meet the German army next." Start a fierce battle?"
"Here!" Sokov quickly walked to the map, pointed to the two cities south of Moscow, and said to Ustinov: "Kharkov and Belgorod! According to my judgment, they must It won't be long before our army will start a fierce battle with the German army here."
Seeing Sokov pointing out these two places without hesitation, Ustinov showed a hint of surprise on his face. Because in the meeting of the Supreme Command he attended two days ago, he specifically mentioned that Marshal Timoshenko's troops would launch a large-scale attack on the enemies entrenched in Kharkov and Belgorod in June. A massive offensive. But I didn't expect that the major in front of me actually guessed the intention of the high command.
Seeing that Sokov was so young, Ustinov did not believe that he would guess the plan of the Supreme Command, so he asked tentatively: "Comrade Major, I want to ask you, what are your plans for launching an attack on the German army?" Did you analyze it yourself, or did someone tell you?"
In response to Ustinov's question, Sokov grinned and replied shamelessly: "Comrade People's Commissar, of course I analyzed it myself."
"Tell me your reasons." Ustinov walked back to his table and sat down. He looked at Sokov and asked curiously: "Why do you think that the targets of our army's attack are Kharkov and others?" Where is Ergorod?”
"To the north of our country, Leningrad is under siege by the German army. The enemy cannot rush in, and our army is temporarily unable to break their siege." Sokov pointed at the map with his finger and said pretentiously: "And Moscow on the center line , although both the enemy and ourselves have concentrated heavy troops, the possibility of another war is unlikely, because the German army can no longer advance towards Moscow as unscrupulously as last year. In this way, the only places where fighting can occur are Kharkov and Belgo Rhodes, if these two cities are recaptured, the military industrial enterprises in Kharkiv can resume production as soon as possible and provide the troops with urgently needed weapons and ammunition..."
Ustinov, who was sitting in his seat, looked at Sokov who was talking eloquently, and his face turned livid, because what the other party said was roughly the same as what he heard at the meeting of the Supreme Command. If he hadn't investigated the other party's identity in advance, he would have almost ordered Sokov to be arrested as a German spy at this moment.
"Major Sokov," but when Sokov finished speaking, Ustinov also made a decisive decision: "Marshal Timoshenko plans to launch a counterattack south of Moscow. He will launch a counterattack in the near future. Organize a group of commanders with rich combat experience to study his combat plan. If you have no objection, I plan to recommend you to attend this seminar."
After the meeting with Ustinov, Yakov took Sokov and left Ustinov's office. When he came to the corridor, Yakov looked around and saw that no one was passing by, so he complained softly to Sokov: "Misha, how can you talk nonsense in front of Comrade People's Commissar? You know, what happened just now I'm scared to death. I'm afraid that when he gets angry, he will order someone to arrest you. Even if I come forward, it won't be that easy to rescue you."
"Thank you for your concern." In fact, when Sokov left the office, he also found that the shirt on his back was soaked with sweat. He didn't even feel Yakov's concern. "
"Fortunately, Comrade Ustinov is easy to talk to, but some people of the older generation are hard to talk to." Yakov thought about Sokov going to attend a meeting chaired by Timoshenko in a few days, so he tactfully said Remind him: "So when you are in a meeting, you need to know in your heart what you can say and what you cannot say. Once you say something wrong, it will not be as simple as receiving a few criticisms. You may be directly sent to a military court." "
Yakov's words once again scared Sokov into a cold sweat. He asked in surprise: "Yakov, don't scare me. Is Marshal Timoshenko really in such difficulty?"
"Yes." Yakov nodded and said affirmatively: "If you obey his orders, maybe nothing will happen. But once you go against him, hehe... you might get yourself killed. .”
When Sokov heard this, he couldn't help but start beating the drum in his heart. He secretly thought that if he went to the meeting hosted by Timoshenko, he would definitely oppose the battle plan he proposed, otherwise he would have to watch helplessly as the attacking troops were defeated by the German army. If it is true, as Yakov said, that raising different opinions will anger Timoshenko, then it is better not to attend such a military meeting.
Seeing Sokov standing there in a daze, with his face turning red and white, Yakov guessed that he had been frightened by him. He quickly raised his hand and slapped him on the back, and said with a smile: "I'm just teasing you. In fact, Marshal Timoshenko is quite easy to get along with. In the meeting, just say whatever you think of, even if If you say it's wrong, he won't blame you."
