Killing the enemy's assault gun and repelling the German attack. Such good news naturally needs to be reported to superiors immediately. As soon as Vasily returned to his command post, he called Belkin and reported to him the results of the battle he had just achieved.
Although it has been a long time to prepare the rocket launcher troops, Belkin still has no idea of the specific effect since it has never been used in actual combat. When he heard Chief of Staff Vanya say that Vasily had called, he was very nervous when he took the phone: "Comrade Captain, how is the situation there at your place? Have you repelled the German attack?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Vasily said excitedly: "These attacking Germans are cowards. As soon as their assault guns were killed by us, they turned around and fled back in fear."
"What, the enemy has been repelled by you?" Hearing Vasily saying that the enemy had been repelled, Belkin had a surprised expression on his face, thinking that this was too fast, no more than twenty Minutes, and without hearing any gunshots or explosions from that direction, he actually repelled the enemy. It was incredible: "Comrade Captain, this is too fast. From the moment I give you the order, How much time has passed."
"Comrade Commander, I did not expect to repulse the enemy's attack so quickly." Vasily said truthfully: "Actually, the rocket launcher equipped by the anti-tank platoon played its role and easily destroyed the enemy's assault gun. The enemy's When the infantry saw that the assault gun had been destroyed by us, they were so frightened that they turned around and ran away."
Knowing that the rocket launcher played a role in the battle, Belkin couldn't help but curiously asked: "Comrade Captain, how many enemy assault guns did you kill and how many rockets did you use? How high is the hit rate?"
After listening to Belgin's series of questions, Vasily said carefully: "Comrade commander, because our anti-tank men came out of the crater in front of the position and fired from the enemy's assault gun about 80 meters away, the hit rate was 100%. . In other words, we only used five rockets to destroy five enemy assault guns."
"Are there any casualties among the anti-tank crew?"
"No, there were no casualties among the anti-tank soldiers." Vasily heard the implication of Belkin's words and quickly added: "The five rocket launchers they carried have been brought back safely."
"Okay, okay, just bring them all back." The reason Belkin was so nervous about these rocket launchers was because he was worried that if they were captured by the German army, with the German army's imitation and production capabilities, it would take less than two months to equip a large number of troops. The Soviet tanks will face catastrophe, so they have to be extra cautious in certain things. He finally asked: "Comrade Captain, I have another important question. Are you using domestic rocket launchers or American bazooka rocket launchers?"
"The American bazooka rocket launchers are too bulky and need to be assembled before use. Soldiers don't like to use them. We use domestic rocket launchers." Vasily reported on the phone: "Comrade leader, you must also Knowing that the domestically produced rocket launchers were designed by the division commander, the soldiers have confidence in the division commander and will naturally have more confidence in the weapons he designed."
Vasily's words of admiration for Sokov made Belkin blush slightly. Just before Vasily's call came, he was still doubting his partner and felt that the weapon he designed was not very safe. But today's facts have proven that his judgment was wrong. The weapons designed by Sokov are very effective against enemy assault guns and tanks.
Seeing Belkin put down the phone, Chief of Staff Vanya asked curiously: "Comrade regiment commander, is the rocket launcher designed by the division commander really so effective against enemy tanks?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." Belkin looked at Vanya and said solemnly: "We have been getting along with the division commander for a long time. Don't you still know what kind of person he is? What he means Which of the weapons designed is not easy to use? Not to mention the rocket launcher, even the new rocket launcher that we used to make the enemy howl like ghosts some time ago is an amazing invention. If the division commander invents more weapons like this and installs them as soon as possible Army, I am afraid that the enemy who wanted to attack Stalingrad would have been defeated by us long ago."
After Vanya waited for Belkin to finish speaking, he lowered his head deeply, blushed and apologized to Belkin: "I'm sorry, comrade commander, it was my fault. As an old subordinate of the division commander, I shouldn't Have any doubts about his abilities and the weapons he designed. I will never make similar mistakes in the future."
Belkin waved his hand at Vanya and said: "This matter ends here, there is no need to mention it again. I will immediately call the division commander to report the results of the battle here. You and Colonel Lyudnikov will contact you to repel the enemy." Notify him of the enemy's attack."
After answering the call at Mamayev Heights, Bergin took a deep breath and said to the communications soldier who answered the phone: "I am Bergin, please transfer me to the division commander."
Soon, Sokov's voice came from the receiver: "Comrade Political Commissar, comrades from the reserve group are crossing the river one after another. The bridge has just been erected and I don't know if it is strong, so the troops are crossing the river very slowly. You may need more time." Been waiting for a while.”
"No, Misha, you are mistaken. I am not calling you to ask when the reinforcements will arrive, but I want to tell you something." Belkin said hesitantly: "Not long ago, In order to repel the German assault artillery attack, I ordered the first battalion to use rocket launchers without even saying hello to you."
Even though the shrinking regiment was equipped with rocket launchers, Sokov had not allowed them to use it since they entered the barricade factory. He was worried that if this equipment was exposed prematurely, it would not be so easy to deal with enemy tanks in the future. . The best way is to wait until the battle of Kursk before using them. By then, your troops will prepare hundreds of rockets. Even if they are faced with the torrent of steel from the German army, they will not be afraid and will still turn them into piles of burning scrap metal.
Now that Belkin mentioned that he had used a rocket launcher, Sokov felt a little uncomfortable, but he could not criticize Belkin. After all, he did this to defeat the German attack. If the Germans really occupy the barricade factory, then no matter how many advanced weapons the drawdown regiment has, it will be of no use.
After being silent for a while, Sokov said into the microphone: "Comrade Political Commissar, I wonder how powerful the rocket launcher is on the battlefield?"
"Yes, quite good." When Sokov asked about the power of the rocket launcher, Belkin became particularly excited: "After receiving my order, Captain Vasily, the commander of the first battalion, immediately ordered the anti-tank platoon to come forward. He opened fire in the bomb crater in front of the position and opened fire at a distance of 80 meters from the enemy tanks. Five of the five shots hit, killing all five German assault guns. The German infantrymen who were attacking with the vehicles were frightened to turn around when they saw that they had lost their support. He fled back."
Sokov did not expect that using the rocket launcher for the first time would achieve such good results, which was beyond his expectations. Sidorin on the side also heard Belkin's voice, so he approached the microphone and asked: "Commander Belkin, I would like to ask, is the rocket launcher you are using, the bazooka rocket launcher assisted by the US allies, or the division commander's rocket launcher?" Designed bazooka?”
Not only Sidorin wanted to know the answer to this question, but Sokov also wanted to know the answer. He quickly held his breath, nervously waiting for the sound coming from the receiver like a student waiting for the teacher to announce his grades.
After a while, Belkin's voice came from the receiver: "Needless to say, it is naturally a rocket launcher designed by the division commander. This kind of rocket launcher can basically hit the target within a range of 80 meters."
"What about the American bazooka?" Sokov thought of how several US military instructors who had arrived with the troops escorting the bazooka a few days ago had carefully and patiently taught their soldiers how to use the bazooka. Therefore, he is particularly concerned about the performance of this rocket launcher on the battlefield: "How effective is it against German tanks or assault guns?"
"This is not very clear yet." Belkin said with some embarrassment after hearing Sokov's question: "The soldiers said that the American bazooka rocket launcher is too bulky, but it must be assembled before use. In addition, Those Americans speak Russian with a strong accent, and many of the soldiers we participated in the training did not understand what they were saying..."
When he first heard the reason Belkin said, Sokov felt it was a bit far-fetched, and he was thinking about how he should reply to Yakov if he asked him about it. When he heard the following part, Sokov immediately thought of a suitable reason. You must know that many soldiers from Central Asia cannot even understand Russian. The accented Russian spoken by Americans cannot be understood by the soldiers. , that is perfectly normal.
When Sokov ended the call with Belkin and put down the phone, Sidorin couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade division commander, if our superiors ask us why we don't use bazooka rocket launchers, how should we answer? You can't say it's because of the soldiers. They think the rocket launcher is too bulky and inconvenient to use, so they are unwilling to use it, right?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I think you have entered into a misunderstanding. Why do we have to use American rocket launchers instead of our own domestically produced rocket launchers that are better to use?" Sokov said with a straight face: "If the soldiers If you force them to use a weapon that everyone thinks is bad, you will be irresponsible to them. I don’t know how many soldiers will lose their lives in vain because of such wrong orders. Do you understand?"
"Comrade Division Commander, what you said makes sense." Sidorin waited for Sokov to finish and then asked with a grimace: "But if the Army Headquarters asks about this matter, how should we reply?"
Regarding Sidorin's question, Sokov only took a few seconds to come up with the ideal answer: "If the superior asks about this matter, I think it will be easy to handle. You can report it to the superior. If the same unit Equipping two completely different anti-tank weapons will make future supplies more difficult. If necessary, these American-assisted rocket launchers can be equipped with other troops. Anyway, the American instructors have not left yet , they can go directly to teach the soldiers how to use the rocket launcher."
"This is a good idea from the division commander." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Ivanov agreed: "Instead of leaving these bulky and difficult-to-use rocket launchers idle in our division, it would be better for the group army headquarters to Come forward and distribute these weapons to other troops. In this way, not only will our trouble be solved, but the troops who received the rocket launchers may also be grateful for our generosity."
"Yes, that's right." Seeing that Ivanov guessed what he was thinking, Sokov smiled and nodded, and then said: "I will call Comrade Commander right now and ask him to unite our division. The rocket launchers inside are all distributed to troops in need."
Chuikov received a call from Sokov. After listening to his report, although he was happy about the news that the shrinking regiment had repelled the German attack, he was also worried about how to allocate the bazooka rocket launchers that Sokov was willing to call out. Unable to reply in time, he hesitated for a long time and said into the phone: "Colonel Sokov, let me think about this first, and I will call you when I have the result."
Chuikov put down the phone and asked Krylov, who was recording the results of the battle: "Comrade Chief of Staff, Colonel Sokov just called me and said that he was going to hand over the bazooka rocket launchers assigned to them by their superiors, and let us use them according to the battlefield According to the actual situation, they will be assigned to the troops in need. Tell me, who should we assign them to?"
Krylov knew something about the bazooka rocket launcher, but he still didn't believe that this weapon could become the nemesis of German tanks. Therefore, after listening to Chuikov's question, he said disapprovingly: "Comrade Commander, please forgive me, it may take some time to become familiar with such weapons. Nowadays, all divisions are fighting fiercely with the enemy. Where can we spare manpower? What about taking the time to learn the use of such a weapon?”
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you can't say that." When Chuikov thought about the drawdown regiment in the barricade factory, he used five rockets to kill five German assault guns, and he felt particularly excited: "Today, the drawdown regiment was destroyed with rocket launchers. The enemy's five assault guns successfully crushed the enemy's attack. If this weapon can be equipped elsewhere, it will definitely improve the anti-tank capabilities of our army. As you know, the enemy has left the support of aircraft, tanks and artillery. It is very difficult to rush into our army's position. Therefore, I plan to distribute the rocket launchers handed over by Sokov to a force in need."
"Comrade Commander, I don't understand." When Chuikov and Sokov were talking on the phone, Krylov had been talking to the forward commander, so he did not understand the content of the conversation between the two. He asked in confusion: "If Colonel Sokov handed over all the rocket launchers, what would his troops use to deal with the German tanks?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you didn't hear me clearly." Chuikov said with some laughter and tears: "The rocket launcher Colonel Sokov gave us was a bazooka rocket launcher assisted by the United States. And the one they used was a Soko rocket launcher. It is said that this kind of rocket launcher is lighter and more powerful, and is deeply loved by soldiers. Therefore, the American bazooka rocket launcher has become a weapon that no one cares about in the downsizing regiment. This is Soko The reason why Colonel Husband is willing to take the initiative to hand it over."
