Sokov's words made Chuikov and others stunned on the spot, with expressions of disbelief on their faces. You know, since they received the telegram from the front army, they racked their brains and repeatedly calculated how to do it in the shortest time.
Inside, let all the troops cross the river and enter the city. Now that they heard that Sokov had come up with a good idea, why not make them stunned and doubtful.
"Tell me, Colonel Sokov." Chuikov was the first to wake up from the shock. He raised his chin towards Sokov and asked on behalf of everyone: "What can you do to make everyone
All the troops crossed the river and entered the city?"
"We can build a pontoon bridge." Sokov said confidently: "As long as there is a pontoon bridge, it will only take more than a day at most to allow more than 30,000 troops to enter the city."
"This is unrealistic." Before Sokov could finish his words, Krylov interrupted him: "If we build a pontoon bridge on the Volga River, German planes will blow it up in less than half a day.
.”
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov asked with a smile on his face: "If the pontoon bridge we built is invisible to the enemy, then wouldn't their planes be unable to blow up the pontoon bridge?"
Hearing what Sokov said, Krylov sneered: "How is this possible? If we want to prevent the enemy from discovering our pontoon bridge, unless it is built under the water..." At this point, he suddenly felt a shake all over his body.
Shocked, and then asked Sokov in surprise, "You don't want us to really build the pontoon under the water, do you?"
"That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff, that's what I thought about." Sokov pointed to the map and explained to Krylov: "In order to hide the target and prevent the bridge from being bombed by enemy planes, we can use rails and brushes
Asphalt-coated sleepers are used to build the bridge under the water. The bridge deck is forty to fifty centimeters above the water surface. In this way, the river water cannot flood the exhaust pipes of cars, and the bridge can be completely hidden."
"Colonel Sokov, have you ever thought about the fact that there are fleet ships operating in the Volga River?" Krylov, who was listening to the explanation, pointed to the Volga River on the map and asked: "How are these ships doing?
Through the area where we set up the pontoon bridge? You know, the bridge deck is only forty or fifty centimeters from the water, and the waterline of the ship is much deeper."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, if I want to solve this problem, I'm afraid I need to find professionals." After Chuikov said this, he called a staff officer and told him: "Call Colonel Tupichev, the director of the engineering corps.
Just tell him that I have something important to ask him and ask him to come over immediately."
After the staff officer left, Chuikov said to Sokov in an encouraging tone: "Colonel Sokov, if you have any other ideas, you can tell them."
Sokov was thinking in his mind at the moment. It is said that the idea of underwater bridges appeared during the Battle of Stalingrad. Could it be that the person who originally came up with this idea was Krylov in front of him? Because he thought too much.
He was so absorbed that he didn't hear what Chuikov said to him.
Seeing Sokov staring at the map in a daze, Chuikov thought he was thinking about letting the ship pass the pontoon, so he raised his hand and patted him twice on the back and said to him: "Colonel Sokov, don't worry, the ship
Regarding the issue of boat passage, I think Colonel Tupichev should be able to come up with a solution."
After being woken up, Sokov realized that he needed to say something more, and continued: "Even if we repair the pontoon bridge, in order to prevent enemy planes from bombing, we need to prepare a new attack target for them.
"
"New attack target?" Chuikov asked in surprise: "Colonel Sokov, I don't quite understand what you mean. Can you explain it more clearly?"
"We should build a fake pontoon bridge far away from the underwater pontoon bridge so that the enemy thinks we are transporting soldiers, weapons and ammunition to the city through this pontoon bridge." Sokov explained to Chuikov with some pride: "This way
Once they arrive, they will target the fake pontoon bridge for bombing and shelling. We can take the opportunity to transport more soldiers and military supplies into the city through the underwater pontoon bridge."
"Do you think that if this pontoon bridge is built, how much material transportation can be achieved in one day?"
"It's hard to say." Sokov never pretended to understand something he was unfamiliar with, so he answered truthfully: "Comrade Commander, I'm not in charge of logistics, so I really can't answer this question."
"Yes, yes, you are not in charge of logistics, why would I ask you this question?" Chuikov laughed dryly and said, "I should ask General Lobov of the Logistics Department about this kind of thing."
Tupichev, director of the engineering corps, followed the staff into the headquarters. He came to Chuikov, raised his hand in salute, and asked: "Comrade commander, what do you want to see me for?"
"That's it, Comrade Colonel." Chuikov pointed to Sokov who was standing next to him and said: "Colonel Sokov suggested to us that we can build a pontoon bridge buried under the water in the Volga River, with the bridge deck four feet away from the river.
Fifty centimeters, so that the river water will not flood the car's exhaust pipe, and at the same time, the pontoon can be well hidden."
"Build an underwater pontoon bridge on the Volga River?!" After hearing what Chuikov said, Tupichev was stunned for a moment, and then gave a thumbs up to Sokov: "Genius, Colonel Sokov, you must be a genius, otherwise you will definitely
I can’t think of such a good way.”
"Comrade Colonel," Chuikov continued after Tupichev finished speaking: "We have two questions now. One is whether the engineers can build such a pontoon bridge, and the other is how to ensure the passage of ships in the fleet after the pontoon bridge is repaired."
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander. Although the river water is biting now, as long as you can provide me with enough vodka, I think the soldiers can brave the cold to complete this arduous task. As for allowing ships to pass," Tupiche
The husband put his right hand under his left armpit and his left hand supporting his chin, staring at the map on the table and thinking. After a while, he raised his head and asked Sokov: "Colonel Sokov, have you been to Leningrad?"
"
"No." Although Sokov had always wanted to go to Leningrad, he had no chance to go there because it was under siege by the German army. So when he heard Tupichev's question, he shook his head and replied: "Never.
Haven `t been there."
"Comrade Colonel, I understand what you mean." Sokov has never been to Leningrad, but that does not mean that Chuikov and the others have not been there. From Tupichev's words, he guessed the other party's intention and asked quickly:
"Leningrad is known as the Venice of the North. The hundreds of bridges on the Neva River make Leningrad a unique water city and bridge city. The opening of the bridge is a ceremony not to be missed in Leningrad."
Tupichev may have considered that Sokov had never been to Leningrad, so he introduced him in detail: "There are more than 300 bridges of various sizes in Leningrad. From April to November every year,
In order to facilitate the navigation of large ships, the bridges on the Neva River are opened from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. every day in order of upstream and downstream, allowing larger ships plying the Neva River to enter the city at night and allowing oncoming merchant ships to enter the city.
Sailing towards the Gulf of Finland.
And we can use this technology on the pontoon bridge. After the pontoon bridge is built, a section of the bridge plate in the middle of the bridge is movable and is usually fixed with fasteners. In the middle of the night, when a ship wants to pass, we open the fasteners and use
Two sets of pulleys pull up the movable bridge plate, so that ships can pass."
After listening to Tupichev's introduction, Chuikov showed a happy smile on his face. He turned to Krylov and said: "Chief of Staff, did you hear that? Professionals are professionals. The problems that give us headaches are actually
Let him solve it in a few words."
Tupichev seemed a little embarrassed about Chuikov's praise: "Comrade Commander, this is all the credit of Colonel Sokov. If he hadn't thought of building a pontoon bridge under the water, I would not have thought of this method of opening a bridge to ensure that
The alley is clear."
Chuikov raised his hand to look at his watch and asked Tupichev: "Comrade Colonel, how long will it take you to build the underwater pontoon bridge?"
After calculating in his mind, Tupichev replied: "Comrade Commander, since the narrowest part of the Volga River is more than a thousand meters long, it will take at least five days to erect such a pontoon bridge."
"No." Chuikov shook his head and said, "The reinforcements sent to us by our superiors will arrive in two days. You must set up the underwater pontoon bridge before they arrive."