It is by no means a simple matter to lift these huge steel behemoths onto the ship. Even after they are split into many parts such as engines, car bodies, chassis, and separate turrets, in the absence of heavy lifting expertise,
Equipment docks still require a lot of manpower to transport them onto the ship.
In order to cooperate with the smooth completion of Malashenko's transportation operation, Colonel Baranovsky, who was the commander of the entire dock and the Ladoga Lake Squadron, dispatched a large number of troops to Malashenko before nightfall completely fell.
dockworkers assisting Red Navy sailors.
The vast majority of dockworkers among them are mainly front-line workers who have just retreated from Leningrad and young and middle-aged men among evacuated civilians.
These workers and civilians, whose hearts were ignited with ambition and anger because their motherland was invaded, voluntarily joined the ranks of dock workers to participate in voluntary labor. Even if they did not have the opportunity to pick up a gun and rush to the front line, they still had to work on the transportation lines within their capabilities.
Please do your part to fight the national crisis together.
Compared with the well-known Soviet-German war blockbusters directed by a certain French director in later generations, those evil political commissars who forcibly captured civilians to serve as soldiers, and who would be directly shot if they disobeyed.
At the dock within Malashenko's field of vision, there is a scene of a political commissar holding a loudspeaker standing on a pile of material boxes at the dock and loudly directing the crowd to work, shouting at the top of his lungs and cheering for the comrades.
The shouts of encouragement echoed over the pier under the night sky for a long time.
Red Navy sailors from the Baltic Fleet, regardless of their status, worked hard together with dock workers and civilians to move goods.
All the slanderous actions by capitalist directors who do not know the essence and true meaning of the Soviet spirit are being undermined invisibly at this moment. Their selfless dedication to the motherland and their unswerving faith in the red are not those of capitalist cowards.
That people can understand.
I watched a tank turret placed on a flatbed trailer in front of me. It was pushed manually by more than a dozen workers, and the Red Navy sailors on the transport ship pulled the rope and chanted hand-in-hand and shoulder-to-shoulder. It was finally sent to the deck.
, the transportation process was far more difficult than he imagined. Malashenko could not help but raised his hand with a slight frown and glanced at the hands on the watch.
"It has been an hour and a half since dark, but we have only transported eight KV1 heavy tanks onto the ship so far, and we haven't even had time to set off for transportation. If we continue like this, I guess it won't be until dawn.
There is no way to load all of our battalion’s equipment onto the ship.”
From the eager look on Malashenko's face, we can see the deep helplessness and anxiety from the bottom of his heart. After much thought, Lavrinenko still couldn't come up with any better way, so he had to
He stretched out his palm and patted Malashenko on the shoulder and spoke softly.
"The original heavy lifting equipment on the dock was either transported to the rear by emergency evacuation, or was directly blown up by the German air raids. Although manual transportation is difficult and inefficient, it is really the only feasible solution for us at the moment. A little peace of mind
Come on, Malashenko, you have to stay calm and be ready to command the troops at any time."
While listening to the advice from his deputy, Lavrinenko, he still couldn't take his eyes away. Even after the turret and engine were removed, the heavy chassis still weighed more than 0. There were only three small cranes on the dock.
It seemed extremely strenuous and heavy to be hauled separately. The speed of slowly moving to the deck of the transport ship through the trailer seemed to Malashenko to be slower than a snail.
"This can't go on like this, Lavery, there aren't enough people involved in the loading operation!"
"Go and gather our own vehicle crews and logistics personnel from each company. No matter how many people there are, as long as they are not injured and unable to move, all of them will be involved! If we continue to grind at this rate, can our entire battalion cross the lake tonight?
I can’t guarantee it, but I’m sure we will be waiting for those German planes and bombs by daybreak!”
It was originally planned to let the troops under his command, who had been hurried up in the direction of Leningrad after a long journey, rest for a while in order to prepare and regain their strength to deal with the battle that might break out at any time after crossing the lake.
But judging from the current situation, Malashenko's previous wishful thinking is obviously somewhat unrealistic. If timely corrections are not made, it is likely that Malashenko himself will be deceived in the end.
Looking at the eager and anxious look on Malashenko's face, Lavrinenko, who knew that time waits for no one, also had similar thoughts and plans to Malashenko. Lavri had almost no hesitation.
Nenko then nodded in agreement to Malashenko and immediately took the order and left.
About five minutes later, the crews and logistics personnel of the independent 1st Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion, who were urgently summoned by Lavrinenko, began to join in the heated port transfer work.
The heavy tank turret is loaded on a pallet truck and pushed and pushed onto the ship by manpower. Skilled dock mechanics operate a small dock crane with limited carrying capacity to drag the heavy tank chassis onto the deck.
Some civilians who were relatively thin and not very capable formed a human-shaped assembly line and loaded the 76mm artillery shells that were emptied out of the tanks one after another onto the ship.
On the desolate dock shrouded under the deep night sky, there was a lively work scene. Everyone, including women and children, were carrying out loading and unloading operations under the coordination of the commanding political commissar.
Ship after ship of food and supplies, after being fully loaded, set off with their horns blaring, and gradually moved farther and farther above the deep and endless black lake, transporting full loads of hope to Leningrad.
One after another, ships carrying frontline wounded and evacuees arrived at the dock. Medical staff who were already on standby immediately ran forward, carefully took over the stretchers carrying the heroes of the motherland and the people, and carefully inspected the situation.
After seeing the scene on the pier, the evacuated workers and civilians who walked off the evacuation ship in an orderly manner immediately threw themselves into this temporarily smoke-free front without hesitation.
With more and more people joining in to assist, the efficiency of loading these kv1 steel behemoths onto the ship has begun to increase faster and faster.
Finally, when the deck of the military transport ship converted from an old retired destroyer was crowded with the chassis and components of various KV1 heavy tanks, several transport ships that had been fully loaded were finally able to start near midnight.