After dark, the people who followed Sokov to the factory building, bere, in addition to Yakov and Kalashnikov, were also Berere. Bererere was afraid that Sokov would disagree, so he emphasized to him: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, in the next days, my tank battalion will participate in a lot of battles. I want to communicate with the factory leaders in advance, which is completely necessary."
Sokov was worried that Peter would have any bad associations when he knew that a colonel was a tank battalion commander under his lieutenant colonel. In order to avoid embarrassing Bere, he did not invite Berere to go together. At this time, he heard Bererere mention it, so he went with the flow: "Okay, Comrade Colonel, since you also want to know Director Peter, let's go with us."
In the past, people who assembled the workshop went to the factory building by car, but now the road has been blown up to a bumpy pit, and there are also some bombs without explosions. Therefore, for safety reasons, Sokov and his friends had to choose to walk and go to the factory building through the traffic trench in the factory.
When he approached the factory building, if the person walking in the front was not the guide sent by Kusto, Sokov really thought he had gone to the wrong place. The factory building, which was originally a five-story building, has now disappeared from its roof, and there are two floors left on the east side of the building. You can tell at a glance that this is a masterpiece of the Luftwaffe.
Peter sent the factory director to the factory office director. After he greeted the guide, he came to Sokov and straightened his body and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I am the factory office director. The factory director is waiting for you in the basement. Please come with me."
Sokov and his group followed the factory director to enter the factory building and walked along a staircase toward the basement below. The structure of the basement here is the same as the basement in the assembly workshop, and it is a long corridor, with rooms one after another on both sides of the corridor.
From the open door, Sokov saw some soldiers and workers sitting resting in the room; some rooms were filled with wooden boxes, probably either machinery, equipment, weapons and ammunition, and there was also a room where workers holding rifles stood guard at the door. Sokov once thought it was Peter's office, but when he approached, he found that the room with a glass door was actually a communication room. He clearly saw that the telephone receiver was filled with young female operators, who were orderly unplugging or plugging the different phones from the receiver to the designated position...
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," the director of the factory office saw Sokov standing at the door of the communication room, staring at the female operator inside without moving, and quickly urged with an expressionless face: "Comrade Director is still waiting for you, please come with me."
When we arrived at the end of the corridor, the director of the factory office stopped and turned to Sokov and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please wait for a moment. I will go in and say to the director."
After obtaining Sokov's consent, he pushed open the closed door and walked in. As soon as he entered the door, he closed the door with his backhand. After a while, the door opened and Peter and the director of the factory office walked out side by side. Peter stretched out his hand to Sokov and said with a smile: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, welcome to us to guide the work!"
Guiding the work?! Sokov was stunned when he heard Peter say this, and thought to himself that I was here to talk to you about the tank radio station. What kind of work can I do to guide you? But he soon remembered that Peter once asked himself to check the defense situation near the factory building and gave them rectification suggestions. Such a statement could barely be considered as guiding the work.
After Sokov shook hands with Peter, he introduced several companions behind him. He started with the highest rank of Bere: "This is Colonel Bere, who used to be the brigade commander of the 84th Tank Brigade, and now he is the acting battalion commander of the Tank Battalion."
Although Peter was not a soldier, he was not unfamiliar with military rank and position. When he learned that the colonel in front of him was now trying to obey Sokov's command, he couldn't help looking at Sokov with admiration. He held Bi Lei's hand and smiled and said, "Hello, Colonel Bi Lei, welcome you!"
Sokov went on to introduce: "These two are Major Yakov from the Weapons and Equipment Department, Lieutenant Kalashnikov."
I heard that the major in front of me was Yakov. Peter stretched out his hands, held Sokov's hand tightly, and said with a little flatteringly: "Hello, Major Yakov. When the White Bandits attacked the city, I also fought a tenacious battle with the enemy who attempted to break into the city under the leadership of your great father."
When Yakov learned that Director Peter had followed his father before and fought tenaciously with the invading enemies in this city, he immediately felt good about him. He held the other party's hand and said with a smile: "Director Peter, not only can we defeat the White Bandits' Army invasion in the city back then, I can defeat the invaders who attempted to seize the city today."
After everyone came to the office and sat down, Peter did not immediately talk to Sokov about the tank's on-board radio station, but asked straight to the point: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you have been in our factory for a while. I wonder if you think there is anything that needs improvement in our fortifications?"
Although Sokov has not looked at the fortifications outside the factory building, he knows that the structure of the fortifications here is definitely similar to the assembly workshop, so he said without hesitation: "Comrade Director, I would like to ask first, how many trenches have you dug outside the factory building?"
"Two paths!" Peter replied without thinking: "The two paths are five hundred meters apart."
Sokov continued to ask, "Did you use traffic trenches to continue connecting between the two trenches?"
"No, there are no traffic trenches between the two trenches." Peter replied awkwardly after answering Sokov's question: "There is no traffic trenches because he is worried that the workers will give up their positions and flee because of fear in the fight."
"Comrade Director, you're thinking too much." Before Sokov said his suggestion, he felt it was necessary to praise the workers of the Red October factory so that Peter would not have any resistance in his next proposal: "I believe that the workers of the Red October tractor factory are all good. Even if they sacrifice their lives and expose their bodies to the wilderness, they will never let the Germans easily pass through the positions they hold."
"That's right, right." Peter naturally would not object to Sokov's statement, so he could only nod and echoed: "I believe that all the workers in the factory will fight tenaciously until the last moment when facing the enemy coming up. Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you better tell me what kind of adjustments should our defensive positions be made?"
"Comrade Director, the absence of a traffic trench between your two trenches means that no matter you provide reinforcements or retreats, the soldiers must leave the trench they were originally defending and pass through hundreds of meters of open space under the enemy's firepower..."
"Please wait a moment, lieutenant colonel." Peter heard this and quickly stopped Sokov and continued, proactively saying: "Our comrades will strictly abide by Order No. 227 and will not step back until they receive the orders from their superiors."
"What I mean by retreat is not escape." Sokov felt a deep sense of frustration in his heart for such a stubborn person in front of him, but he still tried hard to control his emotions and said in a stable tone: "Before the attack, the enemy will continue to bombard our army's defensive positions. Your front-line positions do not have artillery holes or hidden units, and the soldiers can only stay in the trenches and get shells. In this way, a considerable proportion of comrades will be injured and killed by the enemy's artillery fire without waiting for the enemy to attack."
"There is no way to do this," Peter said helplessly: "We have no air supremacy on the battlefield. The artillery on the other side of the Volga River cannot suppress the German artillery. Our comrades can only stay in the trenches and be bombed. But every comrade knows that even the high price is paid for in order to defend the great motherland."
"Comrade Director," Sokov said in a stern tone: "To defend the motherland, paying his own blood and life is the awareness that every Soviet citizen should have, but we cannot use this as a reason to ignore the lives of the soldiers and allow them to die in groups under the enemy's artillery fire."
"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Peter became a little unfriendly when he heard Sokov speak to himself in such a stern tone: "Do you have any way to reduce the casualties of comrades?"
"Yes, Comrade Director." Sokov nodded and said in a positive tone: "I do have a way to reduce the casualties of our soldiers when they are bombarded by the enemy."
Hearing Sokov said this, Peter's eyes lit up and he asked hurriedly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I don't know what the solution is. Come and listen quickly."
Sokov said lightly: "The best way is to dig a few more traffic trenches between the two trenches."
"What, how many traffic trenches are dug?" Peter couldn't help but show a disappointed expression on his face. He said with a bitter face: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I really can't think of why digging a few traffic trenches can reduce the casualties of the troops when they are bombarded?"
Not only Peter had such questions, but even Bere and Kalashnikov looked at Sokov with confusion. Only Yakov, who knew Sokov best, sat next to him with a calm expression and smoked.
Sokov picked up a pencil on the table and drew a brief picture on a newspaper that Peter used to roll cigarettes: "Comrade Director, come and see. We use several traffic trenches to connect the two trenches, so that when the enemy shells our first line of defense, we can withdraw all the soldiers in the first trenches to the second trenches to avoid shelling, leaving only a few observation sites on the position. After the enemy's shelling is over, our soldiers will return from the second trenches to the first trenches."
"It makes sense, it makes sense." Peter stared at the simple picture drawn by Sokov and nodded repeatedly, saying with emotion: "We retreated all the soldiers on the first line of defense to the second line of defense. What the enemy shelled was an empty position with only a few observation posts. In addition to wasting shells, the results they could achieve were very limited."
Seeing that Peter agreed with his statement, Sokov continued to say: "With the traffic trench, once the first line of defense is tight, you can also let the soldiers of the second line of defense quickly enter the first line of reinforcements through these traffic trenches. Because the troops no longer have to brave the enemy's guns and bullets and pass through the open land without any blockage during the reinforcement process, this will also reduce the casualties of subsequent troops to the lowest level."
"This is really a good idea." Peter slapped the table and cheered: "Why didn't I come up with such a good idea?" After saying that, he raised his head, looked at the factory director standing beside him, and ordered: "I will leave it to you to be responsible for digging traffic trenches. Before dawn, at least five to eight traffic trenches must be dug out."
Hearing Peter's order, the factory director couldn't help but complain: "Comrade Director, I have to dig so many traffic trenches overnight. Where can I find so many people?"
"This is your business." Peter raised his hand and looked at his watch, and continued, "There are still twelve hours from now to Tianming. If you don't act quickly, Tianming will definitely not be able to complete the task I assigned you." When the factory director heard Peter say this, he did not dare to raise any more difficulties. He could only agree and turn around and walk out of the office.
After Sokov and other directors of the factory office left, he said to Peter: "Comrade Director, the matter of fortifications has come to an end. Next, it's time to talk about the tank's on-board radio station."
"Comrade Khrushchev personally called me about the on-board radio station and asked me to hand over all the supplies stored in the factory to you for use unconditionally." Peter asked Sokov in confusion: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I don't understand, what do you want so many on-board radio stations to do?"
"It's very simple, for the convenience of command." Sokov saw Peter's puzzled look, and explained to him: "Analysis of the current situation, in the following days, the Germans will definitely try to rush into the factory from different locations, and the support from tank troops will definitely be indispensable. If you need support, the tanks are scattered in different places and relying solely on signal flags to command tanks is obviously unrealistic. But if each tank is equipped with a vehicle-mounted radio station, the situation will be very different."
Speaking of this, Sokov pointed to Bere next to him with his hand: "For example, Colonel Bere learned through the radio which tank company is closest to you, just send an order to the company commander. The company commander then notifies the tank crews scattered everywhere with the radio. They can come to support you in the shortest time."
Chapter completed!