Burning Moscow

After listening to what I said, Stalin asked with interest: "Lida, let’s talk about it, how do you judge that the German army is not capable of launching a large-scale battle? You know they just defeated our hundreds of thousands of troops. Morale is high, and even without the addition of new soldiers and weapons and equipment, we can continue to advance our military's defenses."

Regarding Stalin’s question, I replied after a little thought: "Comrade Stalin, after a long period of fighting in the German army, not only the officers and soldiers are very tired, but the various military materials needed for the battle are also extremely scarce. Under this situation, They had to stop their offensive pace to consolidate the existing defensive zone and take a short break."

My answer obviously did not satisfy Stalin. He stood up, paced the room slowly with his pipe in his mouth, as if thinking about something. And I didn't dare to take it lightly, my eyes stayed on him, moving with him.

When I saw him stop and slowly turn towards me, I guessed that he might have something to ask me, so I quickly stood up. He turned around and saw me standing up from my seat. He pointed at me with the hand holding the pipe, ready to ask me questions.

At this moment, the door rang. Stalin and I both looked in the direction of the sound, and saw Poskrebeshev standing straight by the open door. Seeing that we noticed him, he quickly said: "Comrade Stalin, General Rokosovsky is here!"

"Please come in!" After Stalin finished saying this, he walked to the door.

Not long after Poskrebeshev withdrew from the door, Rokosovsky in a uniform walked in. As soon as he entered the door, he raised his hand to salute Stalin who appeared in front of him. At the same time, he said politely: "Hello, Comrade Stalin, I am ordered to come and report to you, I am waiting for your order, please give instructions!"

Stalin changed his pipe to his left hand. Then he pulled Rokosovsky's hand from his forehead with his right hand, held it tightly, and shook it vigorously and said warmly: "Welcome, Comrade Rokosovsky."

Seeing Rokosovsky and Stalin walking towards me side by side, I hurriedly smiled and raised my hand to salute him, and proactively greeted him: "Hello. Comrade Commander of the Front Army."

He raised his hand in return, then walked over to hold my hand, and said friendlyly: "Hello, Lida. I heard that you are in the hospital, and I was planning to see you in two days. I didn't expect to be here today. I met you here."

"Well, Comrade Rokosovsky, when you have time, you two will slowly reminisce about the past." Stalin interrupted our conversation and urged: "Let me talk about the situation of the Central Front first. ."

When Rokosovsky heard Stalin say this, he straightened his body quickly and respectfully reported: "Comrade Stalin, the Central Front will be held from February 25th to today. The offensive campaign will be carried out in the direction of Sevsk. It advanced 30 to 60 kilometers and successfully reached Sevsk. It also cut off the Bryansk + Konotop railway line..."

During the more than half a month of my hospitalization, although Bezikov occasionally came to tell me some of the latest battle reports, most of the time I was in a state of isolation. At this moment, hearing Rokosovsky reporting the battle report to Stalin, I concentrated and listened carefully to every word he said.

After Stalin listened to his report. I asked: "Comrade Rokosovsky, do you think that in the current situation. Can we concentrate the forces of several fronts and launch a counterattack against the German forces that have just occupied Kharkov?"

His voice just fell. Rokosovsky shook his head like a rattle: "No, Comrade Stalin, it is not the time for us to attack now. This can only weaken his strength in vain." He said that, and paused for a moment. , And then said like a lot of courage, "Before I came here, I received instructions from the base camp: immediately send the 21st Army to the Obyany area to the commander of the Voronezh Front to command the evil king to marry the dumb. Concubine. It turns out that a large number of enemy troops have broken through in the direction of Kharkov and Belgorod, posing a threat to advance to Kursk.

Comrade Stalin, I have to report to you here that our situation is deteriorating. The combat troops and logistics departments of the front army have not arrived, the problem of material supply has not been resolved, and the enemy has greatly strengthened its military force against our front army. The transfer of the group army made the balance of power completely unfavorable to me. "

After listening to Rokosovsky’s words, Stalin did not immediately express his position. He turned to face me and asked: "Lida, if you are allowed to make a decision, what do you plan to do?"

Regarding Stalin’s abrupt question, I didn’t panic at the slightest. Instead, I said confidently: “Comrade Stalin, I think the current mission of the Central Front should be to immediately switch to defense.” In order to be more accurate, I looked at the booth. The map opened on the table reads the place names on it, “The defense areas are Gorokiše, Little Arkhangelsk, Trosna, Lyuderzh, and Koreneva. At the same time, the Central Front should be added to the Roman Year. General Ko’s 48th Army, Pzhev’s 13th Army transferred from the Bryansk Front and the area it occupied, and Chernyakhovsky’s 60th Army transferred from the Voronezh Front And the lot it occupies..."

Although the place in front of me did not indicate the positions of the various troops, I still cleverly stated the deployment of the Soviet army before the Kursk battle based on my memory.

Stalin waited for me to finish and asked Rokosovsky with a smile: "Dear Comrade Rokosovsky, do you have anything else to add?"

Rokosovsky first gave me a surprised look, and then replied: "Comrade Stalin, we must build a defense that the enemy cannot break. The defense should be deployed in a deep echelon. First of all, we must be able to defend against enemy tanks. We have been fighting from previous battles. It is clear from the painful lesson that the enemy will use a large number of tanks when launching an offensive. Therefore, we should first be prepared to deal with the enemy's tanks.

Also, the reason why we lost Kharkov and Belgorod so quickly. I think the reason for our failure is that we did not pay attention to the timely formation of the reserve team. When the enemy attacked, our strength was exhausted. The front line draws a long line away from the rear base. Another reason is that our campaign strategy reconnaissance is too poor. In this way, it is possible for the enemy to retreat and form a large-scale army group and conduct a sudden counter-assault, while we have no troops to repel the assault. We have no battle reserve in the depth of our defense, so that the enemy can break through our front in a narrow area. The encirclement of our army was completed without encountering any resistance. "

To Rokosovsky’s summary, Stalin showed a satisfied smile on his face. He held the pipe in his mouth and said in admiration: "Yes, Comrade Rokosovsky, you have considered the issue very comprehensively. At present, in the middle of the enemy's defense zone, there has been an arc of two hundred kilometers long. I intend to hand over the task of defending this arc to your Central Front and Vatutin's Voronezh Front. And in yours In the rear of the country, I will also deploy troops from the newly formed front army in the reserve."

"There are tanks, Comrade Stalin." Rokosovsky waited for Stalin to finish. Immediately he couldn't wait to say: "The German army is equipped with a new type of tank. Even at a distance of 400 meters, the armor-piercing projectile fired by our anti-tank gun cannot penetrate the armor of this tank."

Hearing what Rokosovsky said, I knew in my heart that his troops must have also encountered a German Tiger tank. He quickly turned his gaze to Stalin to see what he would say next.

"Comrade Rokosovsky, with regard to this new German tank. You don't have to worry about it." Stalin took the pipe out of his mouth, held it in his hand, and said slowly: "It had already broken through the Leningrad blockade. The battle was still going on. Zhukov once reported to me that our artillery had destroyed a German tank. Judging from the appearance of this tank, it is not very similar to the tank model we are familiar with. Moreover, the tank was destroyed. After the wreck, the Hitler bandits tried every means to drag it away from the wrecked location.

We are very interested in this report. The order consists of an infantry platoon and 4 tanks to form a special squad, responsible for capturing enemy tanks. Drag it to our military position for detailed study. To ensure the success of the operation. We are also preparing strong artillery firepower to provide fire cover for the squad.

The squad, under the leadership of Captain Korsalev, began to carry out this combat mission after dark. The enemy kept firing at the location of the destroyed tank. However, the tank was dragged back. Even the broken track of the tank was picked up from the snow, senior Han Yu. The construction of the tank is indeed unusual. It was found that it was a test sample of a new heavy tank of the ‘Tiger-1’ type, and it was sent by Hitler’s command to the Volkhov front line for testing.

Our experts conducted a comprehensive study on the captured tank and used experiments to find out its vulnerable parts. The results of the research were sent to me just two days ago and will be communicated to all units of our army in the near future. In this way, in future battles, our tankers and gunners will dare to fight it alone. "

When I heard Stalin talk about the process of capturing the German Tiger tank, I couldn’t help but think of the T-62 whose tracks were broken by anti-tank mines on a small island in the east. The Soviets wanted to prevent this new type of tank from being robbed, unfortunately. Cover the area of ​​the tank with gunfire until the wreckage of the tank sinks into the water.

"Lida! Lida!!" I was so engrossed in my thinking that Stalin called me twice before I heard it. He saw that I was absent, and said with some dissatisfaction: "You have been to the Secret Research Institute and told Comrade Rokosovsky what you know about tanks and anti-tank weapons."

I agreed, and then introduced to Rokosovsky what I knew about top-secret information: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I would like to introduce you to some weapons newly developed by the Institute. The first one is an assault rifle. Light weapons for infantry, I think you have seen them a long time ago?"

I asked this for a basis, because after Fronin launched this weapon, he sent it to the 16th and 20th Army at the time so that a small number of commanders and fighters tried this new gun. Therefore, when introducing the new weapon, First I heard the assault rifle so that Rokosovsky could have a perceptual understanding of the new weapons mentioned later.

Sure enough, after listening to what I said, Rokosovsky nodded and said affirmatively: "Yes, I have seen this assault rifle. It combines both the Mosin Nagan rifle and the Bobosha submachine gun. Advantages. But there is one thing I didn't want to understand. Since this weapon has been researched a long time ago, why is it that more than a year has passed and it hasn't been installed for a long time?"

"The reason for the delay in listing troops is because of the ammunition." I saw Rokosovsky showing a dazed expression, and explained to him: "This assault rifle uses a kind of Short barrels of bullets, with our existing military production technology, are temporarily unable to be mass-produced, so this assault rifle cannot be installed in the army."

"Then when can the troops be deployed?" Rokosovsky asked impatiently.

"At present, the Institute has established a production line for short barrels of bullets," I said calmly: "If nothing happens, it will be possible to deploy troops on a large scale in about two or three months."

Just after I finished speaking, Rokosovsky asked again: "Apart from assault rifles, are there any new weapons?"

"Yes." I went on to introduce: "Among the anti-tank weapons, a new anti-tank rocket launcher has been launched. It is not only smaller in size than the American bazooka rocket launcher, it is convenient to carry, and its power is not small. Penetrate the frontal armor of a German tank at a distance."

Seeing that Rokosovsky heard the excitement on the face of this intelligence ~www.NovelMTL.com~, I threw another "blockbuster": "Also, the institute has also developed A new type of tank. Compared with the German Tiger, it has thicker armor and stronger firepower. According to testers, the six existing tanks can easily deal with a German tank battalion. But I think they are right. Doesn’t match the facts."

My words shocked Rokosovsky. He asked nervously, "What's the matter? Can't it be beaten at all?"

I glanced at Stalin and saw that he was smoking a pipe with a smile on his face. I knew that he knew something about the power of the new tank. The only person in this room who didn't know was Rokosovsky. "It's not that we can't beat them, but that these researchers have far underestimated the power of the new tanks. Not to mention a tank battalion, even if it is a tank regiment, our six tanks can still achieve a complete victory." (To be continued. )

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