Red Moscow

  Chapter 459 Rocket launcher debut

  As soon as Yakov entered the headquarters, he saw two officers standing facing the door. One of the officers wearing the rank of lieutenant colonel came up first and said with a smile on his face: "Major Yakov, I am Lieutenant Colonel Sidolin, the brigade chief of staff, and on behalf of the entire brigade, I welcome you!"

   Just as Yakov was shaking hands with Sidolin, the political worker next to him also came over and greeted him: "Major Yakov, I am Belkin, political commissar of the brigade, welcome!"

   After Yakov shook hands with the two, he asked in confusion: "Commanders, I heard from the sentry at the door that the brigade commander is here too. Why didn't I see him?"

   "I'm here, Yakov." As soon as Yakov finished speaking, he heard a familiar voice in the room, "Welcome to Mamayev Gang."

"Misha, where are you?" Yakov only heard the voice but saw no one. He looked around, except for the two commanders in front of him and a few reporters sitting in front of the intercom not far away. Except for the members and staff officers, there was no sign of Sokov at all. He thought that Sokov was joking with himself, and hid on purpose, so he couldn't help asking loudly, "Why can't I see you?"

"Major Yakov, Comrade Brigadier is here." Sidolin and Belkin turned sideways, revealing Sokov lying on the camp bed in the corner: "He is injured and cannot stand up to meet you. I also ask for your understanding."

Yakov couldn't help being surprised when he saw Sokov lying on the camp bed. He quickly walked to the bed, leaned down and approached Sokov, and asked with concern: "Misha, are you injured? Is the injury serious? what?"

   Sokov, who was lying on the camp bed, smiled lightly and said, "I'm fine, I just suffered a little concussion injury, and I'll be fine after lying down for two days. Yakov, why did you suddenly appear on Mamayev Post?"

   "Why did I come here?!" Yakov snorted heavily when he heard Sokov's question, and said, "If I hadn't sent you new weapons, I probably wouldn't have had the chance to come to Stalingrad."

   "Oh, you sent us a new weapon?!" Yakov's words made Sokov secretly happy, and he hurriedly asked: "Yakov, tell me quickly, what new weapon is it?"

  Yakov hesitated for a moment, as if considering whether to tell Sokov the truth. But after a while, he made a decision. Since these new weapons were to be used by Sokov and the others, it didn't matter if they said them in public. After he coughed lightly, he said: "It is the 107mm rocket launcher you designed at the beginning. After repeated tests, it has now been officially put into production. Comrade Ustinov asked me to send a batch over for you to Test its power on the battlefield."

When Sidolin and Belkin heard that Yakov said that there was a new weapon, they both showed surprise expressions on their faces, but when they heard that it was a rocket launcher, they immediately lost interest. They were all thinking in their hearts: The rocket launcher battalion equipment All of them are vehicle-mounted 122mm rocket launchers, and now a 107mm rocket launcher has appeared out of thin air, which probably won't play much role in the battle.

Seeing Sidolin and Belgin's lack of interest, Sokov said to them: "Political Commissar, Chief of Staff, do you think that the power of this kind of rocket launcher on the battlefield is not as powerful as that of our army's active-duty Kakashi?" Qiusha rocket launcher?"

  Sidorin and Belkin, who were guessed by Sokov, didn't speak, but just laughed dryly twice, assuming that they acquiesced to Sokov's statement.

  After seeing the expressions on the faces of the two of them clearly, Sokov smiled slightly, and then said to Yakov: "Yakov, you sent these 107 rockets, or you should introduce them to them."

   "Comrade Chief of Staff," Yakov turned to Sidolin and asked, "Can you send someone to inform my subordinates to send a towed rocket launcher?"

   "Send it here?" Sidolin asked in surprise after hearing Yakov's request: "The space here is small, I'm afraid it can't fit the rocket launcher?"

   "Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff." Yakov said with a smile on his face, confidently: "Since it is a new type of rocket launcher, it must be different in size from common rocket launchers, and it can definitely be placed here."

Sidolin stared at Yakov for a while, and felt that he didn't want to be joking with him, so he walked to the table, pulled the phone in front of him, shook the handle a few times, then picked up the receiver and put it to his ear, and spoke Said: "I am Lieutenant Colonel Sidolin, Chief of Staff, pick me up at the guard post at the entrance of the reverse slope..."

   While Sidolin was on the phone, Sokov smiled and asked Yakov, "Yakov, I haven't seen you for a few months, and you're already a major. You've been promoted fast enough."

  Yakov grinned, and said: "Misha, don't make fun of me. You know, I belong to the technical army now, and my military rank will definitely be a little higher than that of ordinary troops..."

  The two chatted for a short time, and the second lieutenant Yakov had seen before appeared at the door with seven or eight soldiers. The second lieutenant entered the door, raised his hand to salute Sidolin, and reported: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have brought the comrades from the friendly army."

Before Sidolin could speak, Yakov had already walked to the door, and said to the soldiers standing outside: "Come in, all of you, and assemble everything in your hands." They swarmed in, put down the thick barrels they were holding, and began to assemble them on the spot.

  Sidorin waved to the second lieutenant, indicating that he could leave, then stood by and looked at the busy soldiers, and asked Yakov curiously: "Major Yakov, is this the rocket launcher you are talking about?"

   "That's right," Yakov nodded and said with certainty, "This is the latest towed rocket launcher."

  Looking at the gradually taking shape of the rocket launcher, Sidolin shook his head and said, "Major Yakov, if you hadn't explained it, I would have thought it was a new type of farm tool. The appearance is so crude."

  The soldiers completed the assembly of this twelve-tube towed rocket launcher in just three or four minutes. Seeing that they had completed the assembly, Yakov waved at them and said, "Go out first, and come in when I call you."

After the soldiers left, Yakov began to introduce this new type of rocket launcher to Sidolin and Belkin: "...Since the rockets fired fly by the thrust of their own engines, there is no need for complicated anti-recoil devices, so The structure of the launching device is simple and light. Most of the parts of the gun body can be disassembled and combined without tools, and the operation and maintenance are very easy. In special cases, we can also use single tube, two tubes, four tubes or eight tubes for simple launch The gun has a total weight of 613 kg, small size, light weight, and good maneuverability. It can be pulled by a jeep or a mule or horse, or it can be disassembled and carried by manpower."

   After listening to Yakov's introduction, Sidolin and Belkin had a perceptual understanding of this rocket launcher. But it is useless to have strong mobility without strong firepower, so Sidolin then asked: "Major Yakov, how powerful is this rocket launcher?"

"The rocket weighs 18.8 kilograms, the warhead weighs 8.33 kilograms, the maximum range is 8.5 kilometers, and the killing radius is 12.5 meters." Yakov participated in the whole process of this rocket from design, development to mass production, so he He is very familiar with various data, and when he heard Sidolin's question, he immediately replied without hesitation: "This new type of rocket fires violently, firing 12 rounds at a time, which is equivalent to a howitzer battalion. Ordinary artillery can't reach."

Sokov, who was lying on the camp bed, watched Yakov introduce the new 107 rocket launcher to his two deputies, and thought secretly: "I originally planned to go straight to the 'heartless gun', but unfortunately the shooting accuracy of that thing It is not high, and the range is short. It must be close to a place of one or two hundred meters to launch. If the German army on the opposite side is equipped with a few snipers, they can easily kill the soldiers who operate the "heartless gun". And the "heartless gun" 'During launch, the oil drum will roll over, which will also cause unnecessary casualties to nearby soldiers. If you want to deal with the Germans, this 107 rocket launcher, which came out more than 20 years later, is very powerful. And the most reliable."

After listening to Yakov's introduction, Belkin was full of curiosity about this new type of rocket launcher. He stepped forward and touched the barrel and asked, "Major Yakov, you just seemed to say that this towed rocket launcher can also be disassembled. , by manual handling?"

"Yes, comrade political commissar." Yakov said: "As you can see, the 107mm rocket launcher is not only light in total weight, but also can be disassembled and combined quickly, and the individual components after disassembly weigh no more than 30 kilograms. For To meet the requirements of the human back, the disassembled part has the following characteristics in terms of structural size: the top does not fit the neck (easy to raise the head), the bottom does not fit the hips (easy to step), the width does not fit the shoulders (easy to pass), and the center of gravity is close to the body (to prevent twisting the waist). Completed After disassembly, our fighters can carry the parts anywhere, reassemble them, and fire at nearby enemies."

"Major Yakov is right." Sidolin interjected, "We have just seen that only seven or eight soldiers can carry all the parts and assemble it in the shortest time. Major, I would like to ask, how many such towed rocket launchers have you brought this time?" Yakov did not speak, but raised his right hand and stretched out four fingers.

   "Forty doors?" Sidolin asked in surprise, "You actually brought such rockets across the river?"

Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Yakov shook his head and replied: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you made a mistake, it is not forty doors, but four doors. This time we have brought four traction doors Bazooka to Mamayev Kurgan."

   "There are only four." Knowing that Yakov had only brought four rocket launchers, the smile on Sidolin's face gradually disappeared, and he asked with some disappointment, "It's too few!"

"Not a lot, Comrade Chief of Staff." Yakov replied: "These rocket launchers were prepared for dispersive use at the beginning of shooting. Although there are only four, but after dismantling, single-barreled or double-barreled Launched in the same way, we can fire at the German army at 48 or 24 places at the same time."

  After Yakov finished speaking, Sidolin turned around and asked Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, where do you plan to deploy these rocket launchers?"

"One door is deployed in each of the north and south posts, and the other door is placed in the arsenal as a backup. After the remaining door is dismantled, it will be distributed to the troops fighting in the city." Sukov felt that if the building that Vasily insisted on Also equipped with this kind of magical weapon will inevitably cause greater casualties to the enemy, so he added specifically: "Equipping the building where Vasily is located with two tubes will allow them to better attack the enemies who rush into the city. "

  After saying this, Sokov suddenly remembered that there was one important thing he hadn't asked, so he looked at Yakov and asked, "Yakov, you haven't told me how many rockets you brought here?"

   "Not too many, only 96 rockets." Yakov replied: "It happens to be two rockets per tube."

   "There are only so many rockets." After hearing the number Yakov said, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Even if all of them were fired, the Germans would not cause too many casualties. After a moment of silence, he continued to ask, "When will the new rockets be delivered again?"

"This batch of rockets is for testing." Yakov explained to the three people: "I want to go to the battlefield to check the effect in person. If it is really powerful, then we can increase production capacity and equip more rockets." If the effect on the battlefield is limited,..." At this point, Yakov suddenly stopped, as if there was something hard to say.

  From the expression on his face, Sokov guessed what he was thinking, and quickly asked: "If it doesn't exert much power on the battlefield, will this new weapon be completely discontinued?"

"That's right." To Sokov's guess, Yakov gave an accurate answer: "According to Comrade Ustinov's order, if this new type of rocket has a limited effect on the battlefield, Then we will completely stop the production of such rockets."

Seeing the dejected expressions of Sidolin and Belkin, Sokov, who came from later generations, quickly comforted them and said, "Chief of Staff, Political Commissar, what's wrong with you? Don't you have confidence in this new type of weapon? You know, this But I invented it."

When Sidolin and Belkin heard what Sokov said, their faces showed surprise expressions. After they looked at each other, Belkin asked: "Comrade Brigadier, you said that this weapon is yours. Invented? Are you kidding us?"

   "Comrade Commissar," Sokov looked at Belkin and asked, "Do you think I will play such an unrealistic joke with you on such an important matter?"

"Misha didn't joke with you." Before Belkin and Sidolin could express their views, Yakov came out to help Sokov explain: "I handed over the drawings to Comrade Ustinov for him, and we We also participated in part of the development work together.”

  (end of this chapter)