Although Sokov once commanded the 53rd Army, there were many people who were dissatisfied with him. In order to quickly establish his prestige, Sokov decided to start with the equipment of the troops. As long as the troops are equipped with sophisticated weapons, they can fight
The probability of winning a battle will be greatly increased. Once a few battles are won, commanders at all levels will completely change their impressions of themselves.
To obtain weapons and equipment, the first person Sokov thought of was naturally Yakov. Although he could obtain the equipment he wanted by following the normal steps, the waiting time was very long, and what he obtained through Yakov
Weapons and equipment can arm the troops in a few days at most.
With the help of the director of the communications corps, the call was quickly connected.
"Yasha, it's me."
"It's Misha." Yakov on the other end of the phone was obviously a little distracted: "I called your home last night, but no one answered. Where did you go?"
"I was at General Konev's headquarters last night."
"Oh, it turns out it's at General Konev's headquarters." After Yakov said this casually, his whole body was shaken, and then he suddenly stood up from his seat and asked in surprise: "What, you
At General Konev's headquarters? I said, why did you suddenly run to the front line without making a sound?"
"Major General Tarasov, the commander of the 53rd Army, was injured and could no longer continue to command the troops. General Konev applied to the Supreme Command to let me take over the position of commander of the group army." Sokov explained: "Due to the military situation
Urgently, as soon as this appointment was approved by the Supreme Command, I flew to the front line."
"I really didn't expect you to return to the front line so soon." Yakov said with emotion: "I thought that even if you finished your studies, you would have to wait a few more months before you could return to the front line. By the way, call me.
What's wrong with the phone?"
After Yakov just asked this question, before Sokov could answer, he guessed the answer: "Misha, why are you calling me about weapons and equipment?"
Now that Yakov had guessed his intention, Sokov did not hide it, but truthfully told the other party the current equipment situation of his army, and finally said: "Yasha, you have to help me this time
, otherwise my troops will definitely be beaten to pieces by the Germans who broke through. To be honest, I have been fighting for so long, and I have never encountered such a situation with such poor quality of soldiers and such poor weapons and equipment..."
Smirnov next to him heard Sokov talking about his troops, and the muscles on his face couldn't help but twitch violently. He deliberately reminded Sokov not to say this, so as not to damage the image of the troops. But he was just about to move forward.
, but was pulled back by Ponejelin, who shook his head at him and signaled not to disturb Sokov's call.
In order to figure out what was going on, Smirnov pulled Ponedelin aside and asked in a low voice: "Old Ponedelin, you heard how the commander commented on the troops, couldn't I remind him?
, lest the image of the army be damaged?"
"Smirnov, you may have misunderstood the commander." Ponedelin explained: "Although the commander said that the troops are useless, only through this method of selling misery can we get what we want.
Weaponry."
"But doing this may affect the image of our army."
"Pull him down, Smirnov." Ponedelin said with a smile: "Comrade Commander is not a person who talks nonsense. What he said today, if it weren't for an old friend like Colonel Yakov, would be
They won't say it out loud at all. This is just a joke among their friends and will not have any adverse impact on the image of the army."
Smirnov did not know Yakov's true identity, so he was skeptical of Ponedelin's statement: ""Is it really like this?"
"Smirnov, you and I have been old friends for more than ten or twenty years, and I don't want to hide some things from you." Ponedelin asked, "Do you know who Yakov is?"
"Who is it?" Smirnov replied stupidly: "Isn't it a colonel from the Weapons and Equipment Department? You know, the most common people working there are school-level officers."
"But the identity of this school-level officer is not simple." Ponedelin looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to him, so he lowered his voice and said to Smirnov: "You may not know that he is the Supreme Commander himself.
His eldest son Yakov. In the weapons and equipment department, even Comrade Ustinov wants to give him three points. Although he is only a colonel now, he will become a general sooner or later."
"Ah, the commander is talking to the son of the Supreme Commander himself?" Smirnov was startled and broke into a cold sweat: "Oh my God, this is simply unbelievable."
"Although Colonel Yakov's identity is not a secret in the Weapons and Equipment Department." After Ponedelin explained Yakov's identity to Smirnov, he specifically reminded him: "But here, we still need to be strict.
It’s confidential, so please don’t tell anyone.”
When Ponedelin and Smirnov returned to the table, Sokov had finished making the phone call and was sitting at the table in a daze. Ponedelin asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, all the weapons and equipment problems have been solved."
Already?"
Sokov looked up at Ponedelin standing in front of him, frowned and said: "Colonel Yakov promised to give me a batch of 75mm artillery, which can be transported to Highland 239 as soon as the afternoon."
"75mm artillery?" Ponejelin said with some confusion: "Our army uses 76.2mm artillery. Where did these 75mm artillery come from? Comrade Commander, Colonel Yakov does not know
Is the wrong data reported?"
"No, Major Ponejelin." Sokov shook his head and said, "When I first heard about the caliber of this artillery piece, I was worried that he had said it wrong, and I asked him specifically, only to confirm that he did not.
Wrong."
"But what the hell is this 75mm artillery piece?" Ponejelin continued: "I have never added artillery pieces of this caliber."
"Comrade Commander," at this moment, Smirnov asked: "Can you tell me the name of this artillery?"
"Scream, shout..." Hearing Smirnov's question, Sokov seemed particularly embarrassed because he didn't remember the name of that artillery at all.
Just when Sokov was in a dilemma, he heard Smirnov ask again: "Comrade Commander, are these 75mm artillery Bofors field artillery produced in Sweden?"
Smirnov's words gave Sokov a wake-up call. He nodded vigorously and then said: "Yes, that's right, that's the name Yakov said. Why, Comrade Chief of Staff, what do you think of this kind of field artillery?"
Do you also understand?"
"Comrade Commander," Smirnov did not answer the question immediately, but asked: "Do you know what position I held at the beginning of the war?"
"I know." Sokov knew Smirnov's resume very well: "In the early days of the war, you were the principal of the Podolsk Infantry School. At that time, the German armored column bypassed our defense line and moved along the
The road was heading straight towards Moscow, and it was you who led the military academy cadets to block the attack, which slowed down the enemy's advance towards the capital, allowing our army to use this precious time to build a sufficient number of defenses."
Seeing that Sokov knew so much about his past history, Smirnov tried his best to control his emotions, but the slightly raised corners of his mouth still exposed his true thoughts. "Comrade Commander, you must know that I was commanding at that time
Among the students, they are not only infantrymen, but also students of the artillery academy, so I have some knowledge of artillery."
"tell me the story."
"This 75mm Bofors field gun is produced by the Bofors factory in Sweden."
Seeing Sokov's confused look, Smirnov began to educate him: "Comrade Commander, the Bofors company that produces this field gun is indeed not well-known. It is just a Swedish artillery manufacturer.
Enterprise. However, its history is very long. It was a company acquired by Nobel in order to change the backward situation of military production in the motherland. However, half a century after its establishment, this company was not large in scale and only produced a small amount.
of steel and explosives.”
While Smirnov was giving Sokov a popular science lesson, Ponedelin poured a cup of hot tea, placed it in front of Sokov, and said politely: "Comrade Commander, please drink tea!"
"Bofors started producing artillery after the end of World War I." Smirnov said: "Germany, as a defeated country at that time, was restricted by the Treaty of Versailles, and military industrial enterprises could only produce light weapons, not even heavy machine guns.
production, let alone the production of artillery. At that time, the German artillery giant Krupp was in danger of going bankrupt because it could not produce artillery. At this time of survival, some shareholders suggested that they could cooperate with military industrial companies in other countries.
A cooperative approach enables the business to continue to exist.
When choosing a partner country, the first thing Krupp thought of was Sweden, because this country had a good relationship with Germany during World War I and even secretly helped them do a lot of things. So, with the coordination of relevant parties, Krupp
Lupp approached the Swedish Bofors Company and proposed cooperation.
The method of cooperation is simple: Krupp provides all research materials and technical personnel, and allows Bofors to share them. However, Bofors is not allowed to monopolize the success of the research, and needs to provide venues, equipment, technical workers, etc.
With the full support of Krupp, Bofors's production level has naturally improved by leaps and bounds, and it has become Europe's first-class military industrial enterprise in a short period of time. They have produced various types of artillery, in addition to the famous 40 mm anti-aircraft gun,
There are 75mm field artillery guns, 155mm howitzers, etc., which are all very classic weapons and equipment.
The models of Bofors 75mm field guns are all 22 times in diameter. They can fire grenades and armor-piercing projectiles. The maximum firing range reaches 9 kilometers. The maximum penetration depth of 500 meters using armor-piercing projectiles for direct fire also reaches about 30 millimeters. I commanded the students
The soldiers once used a Bofors field gun to destroy at least fifteen German Panzer III tanks at a distance of three hundred to five hundred."
Originally Sokov was dismissive of this kind of Bofors field gun, but after listening to Smirnov's story, he realized that he had found a treasure. Using such artillery to equip the divisional artillery regiment, whether it is offensive or
Defense can achieve good results. He made a decision in an instant: "Yakov said that these artillery pieces were captured from the occupied German warehouses and there are no signs of use yet. Anyway, we will directly discuss them later."
Send them to Highland 239, and use them all to equip the artillery regiment of the 41st Guards Division. When the German army breaks through to the south, they can set up these field artillery on the high ground to cover the breaking German army with firepower."
Seeing that Sokov decided to allocate all Bofors field guns to the 41st Guards Division, he tentatively asked: "Comrade Commander, do you know how many field guns there are? What is the base number of ammunition for each gun?"
"
"I don't know." When Sokov just talked to Yakov, he learned that the other party planned to give him an artillery piece that he had never even heard of. He felt a little uncomfortable, and naturally he would not ask about the number and equipment of the artillery.
Ammunition situation. When Smirnov asked about it, he replied with some embarrassment: "I forgot to ask."
Smirnov just smiled faintly and said, "It's okay. I'll call the 41st Guards Division and let them be ready to receive it."
Seeing Smirnov going to get the phone, Sokov remembered a key question: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I want to ask you something."
"what's up?"
"Who is the commander and political commissar of the 41st Guards Division now?"
"The division commander is Major General Kurishenko, and the political commissar is Colonel Afanasy." Smirnov also emphasized: "These two commanders were transferred to the 41st Guards Division after the Battle of Kursk.
.”
"Oh, I see."
The enthusiastic Smirnov also asked: "In addition, the commanders of the 122nd, 124th and 126th Guards Regiments, and the 89th Guards Artillery Regiment, do you need me to give you the list?"
"No, no, no," Sokov waved his hands and said, "I just arrived in the army. It would be good if I could recognize all the division-level commanders. Plus, I can't remember the regiment-level commanders. It's better to wait for me to get used to it here.
After some time, slowly introduce the regiment-level commander to me."
But Sokov regretted it as soon as he said this. If it were another division, he would be forgiven for saying this, but the 41st Guards Division is also considered his old subordinate, how can he be so indifferent?
Wanting to understand this, he quickly asked: "Who is the division chief of staff now?"
"The chief of staff of the division is Sidorin!" Smirnov replied: "He is a very good staff officer and was promoted to the rank of colonel not long ago."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov felt particularly pleased when he heard Sidorin's name. This commander had sacrificed his life in the early stages of the Battle of Stalingrad, but now he is still alive because of himself.
Live well. If he is lucky enough, there will be no problem in surviving until the victory of the war. "I very much agree with your statement. Sidorin is indeed a very good staff officer. Let him serve as the division chief of staff.
It’s a bit too condescending.”
Smirnov knew that Sidorin had fought side by side with Sokov and had a profound fighting friendship. Since the other party said so, he must have wanted to arrange a suitable position for Sidorin and quickly asked: "Commander
Comrade, where do you plan to place him?"
"There is an intelligence department under the group army. If possible, arrange for him to serve as the director of the department."