The truck carrying the spherical tank, guided by workers who were familiar with the road, carefully stepped through craters one after another. It took almost an hour to finally arrive at the underground tank garage of the assembly workshop.
Except for the ten tank crews that serve as fixed forts, 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 driving into the tank depot, they guessed that it might be some newly transported supplies, so they all stood up and walked over to the truck, preparing to wait for the truck to stop and help. Then unload the supplies from the car.
After the truck stopped, Bely jumped out from the driver's seat of the truck and called to the tank crew: "Comrades, the truck is equipped with a vehicle radio. Please help unload the truck."
The tank crews have long heard that each tank needs to be equipped with a vehicle-mounted radio. Just now, everyone was still talking about it. If this is true, then cooperation between each other will become more convenient on the battlefield in the future. At this moment, I heard that the car radio was in the car, and I felt like I had a shot of blood, and I became a porter with ease.
Sokov and Yakov got off the driver's seat of the longboard truck, leaned against the vehicle and lit a cigarette, silently looking at the tank crews who were unloading the truck. Kalashnikov, standing on the longboard, and several workers began to remove 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. When they saw Kalashnikov and the workers busy on the longboard, they couldn't help but get excited about the thing covered by the canvas. They gathered around, stood around the longboard, and pointed at the thing.
After removing all the steel cables, Kalashnikov asked Sokov under the car: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, will you drive the tank down now?"
The tank soldiers standing around heard Kalashnikov's words and couldn't help but start talking: "No way? That thing covered by the canvas is actually a tank?"
"Yes, 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 Sokov nod in approval, he and the workers lifted the canvas covering the spherical tank, opened the hatch on the side of the sphere, and got in with both hands and feet.
After the tank soldiers saw clearly the true appearance of the ball tank in Lushan, they were all stunned. After a long time, someone else said: "Oh my God, what is this ball? Is it really a tank?"
"Hell, how can a round tank fight? Once it starts rolling, will the tank crew inside be affected?"
While the tank crews were talking about it, Kalashnikov started the tank and drove down the cement slope next to the longboard truck. When the tank soldiers saw that the spherical tank actually started to move, they sighed and made way for the spherical tank.
After the spherical 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 spherical tank developed and produced by our country. The front is equipped with two 76mm artillery pieces, and 7.62mm directional and axial machine guns are installed on the front and sides..."
After Belly introduced the various parameters of this tank, he paused for a moment and continued: "Since only three prototypes of this tank were produced, we have no way of knowing how it will perform on the battlefield. Therefore, I We need four volunteers to drive this tank. Who has signed up?"
As soon as he finished speaking, almost all the tank crews raised their hands. Just kidding, there are only three prototypes of this new tank in the country. If you don't apply to drive this tank now, 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 crews is unprecedentedly high.
Belly'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 Valenla, the task of the eight of you is to understand the operation of the ball tank overnight, and you have assisted Kalashnikov in installing the vehicle radio."
"Comrade Colonel," Valenla waited for Bely to finish and couldn't help but asked curiously: "Does it need to install a phone on the back of the tank?"
"No." Bely replied simply, "Even if a telephone is installed, I guess no infantry would dare to follow the ball tank. They will definitely be worried whether this tank will tip over and crush themselves into flesh. Sauce." His words immediately aroused laughter from the surrounding tank soldiers.
After the tank crews finished laughing, Belei waved his hand and said to them: "Except for Lieutenant Valenla and the others, who are taking the time to familiarize themselves with the new tank, the rest of the crew must cooperate with the technical workers to install the vehicle-mounted radio. It must be completed before dawn. This mission. Do you understand?"
The tank crew stood up and shouted: "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 discuss it with you. How to use the ball tank on the battlefield."
As soon as Sokov, Bely and Yakov entered the headquarters, Belkin came up to them and said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, you are back!"
Sokov had been partnering with Belkin for a long time. He keenly noticed that something was wrong with Belkin's expression. After asking Bely and Yakov to sit down, he pulled Belkin aside and asked in a low voice. Said: "Comrade Political Commissar, did something happen?"
Belkin 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."
"An officer captured by the Germans?" Sokov heard what Berkin said and immediately realized the seriousness of the problem. He 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?!"
"When we were preparing to send people to command the squad behind enemy lines, weren't there two candidates?" Belkin said cautiously: "One is the fourth company commander, Lieutenant Grisa, and the other..."
This happened not long ago. Sokov naturally remembered who the other candidate was. He couldn't help but blurt out: "The other person is Lieutenant Guchakov, the commander of the ninth company. What, he was captured by the enemy?"
"Yes, that's him."
"What on earth is going on?" Sokov asked anxiously: "How could he be captured by the Germans? How did he escape later?"
Facing 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 in a few words on the phone, so he made a decisive decision and said to Belkin: "Comrade Political Commissar, you are in charge of the factory. I went back to Mamayev Kurgan overnight to find out what happened."
