red moscow

Chapter 2917 New Cooperation Model
Khabarov led his team into the forest again to search for hidden arsenals containing large quantities of combat supplies.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Khabarov sent a telegram to Sokov via the radio: "We have discovered a new arsenal, which contains a large amount of supplies. In addition to infantry guns and ammunition, there are also a large number of artillery shells. Can you please arrange vehicles to transport all these combat supplies back?"

Karsokov was overjoyed when he saw the telegram, and urged Sokov: "Comrade Commander, it is great to find a large amount of combat supplies in the new arsenal. We should arrange a convoy to rush over immediately and transport all the supplies back."

But after reading the telegram, Sokov remained calm.

First, two arsenals were discovered yesterday. The war materials obtained from them are enough to support two months. It seems unnecessary to transport another batch of war materials back. More importantly, Volokolamsk will fall soon after October Day, and the 16th Army will retreat eastward. If there are too many war materials stored here, it will be troublesome to transfer them. If the situation is critical and most of the war materials cannot be transferred in time, they can only be burned on the spot to avoid falling into the hands of the Germans.

"Chief of Staff, send a telegram back to the search team and ask them to send someone back as a guide as soon as possible."

"Okay, I'll send a telegram to the search party right away."

While Karsokov was dictating the contents of the telegram to Morozova, Sokov picked up the phone and called the quartermaster, Captain Popov: "Comrade Captain, this is Sokov, please come to me immediately."

Karsokov, who had just dictated the telegram to Morozova, heard Sokov's call and kindly reminded him: "Comrade Brigade Commander, we are now facing two problems: one is that we do not have enough transport vehicles to transport all the supplies back at once; the other is that there are too many supplies found recently. Although the place where the supplies are stored is in the forest, if the area is too large, there is still a risk of exposure. Once the German scouts discover the place where we store supplies and guide the planes to bomb, our supplies will be lost."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, you are right. There is indeed a possibility that the target will be exposed if there are too many piled up supplies. Therefore, except for the shells, the combat supplies in the arsenal we just discovered will be left there for the time being."

As soon as the two men finished their discussion, Popov hurried into the tent. After raising his hand to salute, he asked eagerly, "Comrade Brigade Commander, have you found a new arsenal?"

"Yes, the search team has found a new arsenal, which contains more combat supplies than the previous two arsenals." Sokov told Popov, "I have ordered them to send someone back to serve as your guide. When you lead the convoy to the destination, only take the shells back, and don't move the rest of the combat supplies for the time being."

Hearing Sokov's order, Popov looked surprised: "Comrade Brigade Commander, why is this?"

Sokov quickly repeated to Popov what he had just said to Karsokov, and at the end he emphasized: "Remember, after loading the shells, you must camouflage the arsenal again, and never let others discover its existence."

Popov said smartly, "Comrade Brigade Commander, you are afraid that the arsenal will be discovered by friendly forces and they will take away the combat supplies inside. Right?"

Sokov thought to himself, I am not afraid that the friendly forces will move the supplies, but I am preparing for the troops to rely on this arsenal to provide a steady supply of combat supplies when the defense line is forced to retreat to the east under the attack of the German army. Although he thought so in his heart, he said insincerely: "Yes, Comrade Captain, that's what I think."

After seeing Popov off, Sokov suddenly remembered something and asked quickly, "By the way, why didn't Colonel Politik come today?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander, if you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have noticed it." Karsokov said, "How about I give him a call and invite him to come and visit us?"

Sokov thought about it and rejected Karsokov's proposal: "Forget it, if Comrade Colonel wants to come, he will come even if we don't call."

"Then I won't call." Karsokov gave up the idea of ​​calling and sat opposite Sokov and asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, didn't the commander say that he was going to move the 315th Division to the back room for reorganization? Why is there no movement now?"

"I don't know either." Sokov shook his head and said, "Comrade Commander must have his own considerations. These are not things that we subordinates can ask about casually."

"Report!" The voice of the sentry came from outside the tent.

"Come in!" Karsokov shouted outside.

The sentry entered the room, saluted Sokov and Karsokov, and reported: "There is a commander from the army headquarters outside who wants to see you!"

When he heard that the commander was from the army group headquarters, Sokov's first thought was whether Rokossovsky would give him a secret mission. He was worried that there would be leaks when he made a phone call or sent a telegram, so he specially sent an officer to convey the order to him.

So he called to the sentry, "Send him in!"

When the commander from the army headquarters appeared in front of Sokov, his eyes almost fell to the ground. He looked at him and said in surprise: "Why is it you, Yakov? Where did you come from?"

Yakov did not speak, but came forward and gave Sokov a warm hug. He leaned close to Sokov's ear and whispered, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, thank you for rescuing me from the prisoner-of-war camp."

After the two separated, Sokov introduced Karsokov to him, "Comrade Chief of Staff, let me introduce you to Captain Yakov. He used to be a lieutenant in the artillery. I have dealt with him before and we are considered friends."

"Hello, Captain Yakov. I am Lieutenant Colonel Karsokov, Chief of Staff of the Brigade." Karsokov was not sure of Yakov's identity and thought he was just an ordinary commander. He smiled and asked, "I wonder what important instructions you brought to us from the headquarters?"

"Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Yakov shook Karsokov's hand and explained, "You misunderstood. I was not sent by the headquarters to convey orders." "Not here to convey orders?" Karsokov asked in confusion, "But didn't you just say that you were from the army headquarters?"

"Yes, I am from your army headquarters, but I am not a member of the headquarters." Yakov explained to Karsokov: "I am a staff member of the Armament Department, and I was ordered to go to the front to pick up Comrade Alekhin. I happened to hear General Rokossovsky mention that Sokov is the brigade commander here, so I came to see him specially."

"Then you guys can reminisce about the past. I have something else to do, so I won't accompany you any longer."

After Sokov invited Yakov to sit down, he asked Romanov to pour him a cup of tea, and then asked: "Yakov, what do you do in the weapons and equipment department?"

"After I returned to Moscow, I was assigned to the Armament Department to assist Comrade Ustinov in his daily work." Yakov said with a wry smile, "You also know my position. After I arrived at the Armament Department, everyone took good care of me and didn't assign me heavy work. Compared with those busy comrades, I had nothing to do every day. Later, I heard that they would arrange personnel to go to the front line to test new weapons, so I signed up."

"Oh, so that's how it is." Sokov began to think about it. The reason why he was able to do well in his last time travel was not only because he knew a lot of history that was about to happen, but more importantly, Yakov, who was working in the weapons and equipment department at the time, provided him with a large number of new weapons. He had not heard from Yakov for a long time and had given up the idea of ​​asking him to provide him with weapons and equipment, but when he saw him appear, the original idea came to his mind again.

"Sokov!" Yakov said sincerely, "You saved my life. If you need my help in the future, just ask me and I will do my best to help you."

Sokov thought about it. Although the blueprint drawn by Khabarov had been taken away by Alekhin, it was still unknown whether Alekhin would be taken seriously after he returned to the Armament Department and handed it over. But if this matter was handed over to Yakov, the chances of success would be greatly improved.

Thinking of this, he said to Yakov, "Yakov, since we are friends, can we change our names? You call me Misha and I call you Yasha, how about that?"

Yakov thought about Sokov's proposal for a moment, then nodded in agreement: "I think it's okay."

Seeing that Yakov agreed to his proposal, Sokov felt more or less relieved, which meant that the other party might not refuse his next proposal.

"Yasha, one of my soldiers designed a blueprint for a new rifle yesterday. Comrade Alehin from your weapons and equipment department looked at it and said it was a good idea. He also said that he would take it back for verification and then start producing a sample gun." Sokov looked at Yakov and asked, "You know about this, right?"

"I know about the blueprints." Yakov nodded and responded, "I came here to pick up Comrade Alehin. I also saw the blueprints he brought back. To be honest, before I returned to Moscow, I was just an artillery lieutenant. I was not very familiar with infantry weapons, so I couldn't tell whether the blueprints were good or bad."

"Yasha, I can assure you that if the new rifle can be produced as soon as possible and equipped to individual troops, the combat effectiveness of that unit will be improved."

Yakov heard the hidden meaning in Sokov's words and asked tentatively: "Misha, do you want me to recommend this blueprint to Comrade Ustinov and include it in the manufacturing and testing plan as soon as possible?"

"It would be great if you could help." Sokov said, "I know the Armament Department has recently launched a submachine gun with a drum magazine that can hold an astonishing 71 rounds. The emergence of this weapon will greatly increase the firepower advantage of our light infantry on the battlefield."

"This submachine gun is called the PPSh submachine gun, and it is equipped with a drum magazine with a capacity of 71 rounds." Seeing that Sokov knew about the new submachine gun that would soon be equipped in the army, Yakov did not hide it, but nodded and said truthfully: "But because it is unclear how this weapon will perform on the battlefield, so far only fifty have been produced."

Sokov remembered seeing a piece of data before. The PPSh submachine gun, which became famous in the Great Patriotic War, had only produced 1942 before January 1. This number of submachine guns was only enough to equip a battalion and could not change the firepower comparison on the battlefield. The early production was so low, probably because the weapons and equipment department repeatedly tested this weapon, which delayed precious time.

"Yasha, I can tell you responsibly that this PPSh submachine gun will definitely bring about a huge firepower advantage on the battlefield." Sokov said, "Although I am not qualified to give orders to the weapons and equipment department, I still want to ask Comrade Ustinov to increase the production of this submachine gun and equip the troops as soon as possible."

Although Yakov was a rookie who had just joined the weapons and equipment department and didn't know much about light weapons, he couldn't help but frowned when he heard Sokov's firm words: "Misha, you said that we should increase the production of this submachine gun. Isn't this inappropriate? You know, the PPSh submachine gun has not been tested for a long time, and the defects of this gun have not been fully understood. If we rashly mass-produce it and find that this weapon has fatal defects after it is equipped to the troops, it will have unimaginable consequences for our troops."

Although Sokov felt that Yakov's statement was too cautious, he could not say anything more. He was from the future and naturally knew the popularity of the PPSh submachine gun on the battlefield, but for Yakov and the people in the weapons and equipment department, this new submachine gun could not be easily mass-produced and equipped to the troops without hundreds or thousands of tests.

"Yasha." Sokov organized the words in his mind and said cautiously: "I have a suggestion. I wonder if you can accept it?"

Yakov did not hastily agree to Sokov's request, but just said, "Tell me first!"

"I hope you can recommend the blueprint Comrade Alehin took away to Comrade Ustinov, so that we can manufacture a prototype of this new rifle as soon as possible. Do you think that's okay?"

"This is a small matter, so there is no problem." Yakov continued to ask: "Anything else?"

"If, I mean if." Sokov went on to say, "If it turns out that this newly developed new weapon can achieve a level that satisfies everyone, then we can start a cooperation. I will provide you with the drawings of the new weapon, and then you will find a way to turn these drawings into real objects and equip my troops as soon as possible. What do you think?"

"Misha, I think the method you proposed is very good." Yakov nodded slightly. "If the weapons on the blueprint that Comrade Alekhin brought back can perform amazingly after being turned into real objects, then I will agree to cooperate with you. You provide me with the blueprints, and I will be responsible for having people manufacture the weapons on the blueprints. After they pass the tests, they will be equipped to your troops as soon as possible."

"That's great, Yasha, that's really great." After receiving Yakov's affirmative answer, Sokov was overjoyed. He quickly grabbed Yakov's waving hand and shook it vigorously a few times: "On behalf of the officers and soldiers of the entire brigade, I would like to express my gratitude to you!"

(End of this chapter)