Sokov's words made Cui Kov and others stunned on the spot, with an incredible expression on their faces. You know, since they received the telegram from the front, they racked their brains and repeatedly calculated how to make all the troops cross the river and enter the city in the shortest time. At this moment, when they heard Sokov came up with a good idea, why didn't they stunned and half-believing and half-doubting?
"Tell me, Colonel Sokov." The first person to wake up from the shock was Cuikov. He raised his chin at Sokov and asked on behalf of everyone: "What can you do to get all the troops to cross the river and enter the city within three days?"
"We can build a floating bridge." Sokov said confidently: "As long as there is a floating bridge, it only takes more than one day at most, and more than 30,000 troops can enter the city."
"This is unrealistic," Krelov interrupted Sokov before he could finish his words: "If we set up a pontoon bridge on the Volga River, it will take less than half a day for the German plane to blow it up."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov asked with a smile, "if the pontoon bridge we built was invisible to the enemy, wouldn't their planes be able to blow up the pontoon bridge?"
Hearing Sokov say this, Krelov sneered: "How is this possible? If the enemy cannot discover our pontoon bridge, unless it is built at the bottom of the water..." At this point, he suddenly shook all over, and then asked Sokov in surprise, "You don't want us to really build the pontoon bridge at the bottom of the water, right?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, that's what I thought about." Sokov pointed to the map and explained to Krelov: "In order to hide the target and avoid the bridge being bombed by enemy planes, we can build a bridge under the water with rails and asphalt sleepers. The bridge deck is forty to fifty centimeters from the water surface, so that the river water cannot flood the exhaust pipes of the car, and can also hide the bridge tightly."
"Col. Sokov, have you ever thought that there are fleet ships moving in the Volga River?" Krelov, who had listened to the explanation next to him, pointed to the Volga River on the map and asked: "How do these ships pass through the area where we set up the pontoon bridge? You must know that the bridge deck is only forty or fifty centimeters away from the water surface, and the waterline of the ship is much deeper."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, if I want to solve this problem, I may have to find a professional." After saying this, Cui Kefu called a staff officer and told him: "Go and call Colonel Tupichev, the chief of the engineering corps, over, and say that I have important things to find him and let him come here immediately."
After the staff officer left, Cuikov said to Sokov in an encouraging tone: "Col. Sokov, you can say all your thoughts."
Sokov was thinking in his mind at this moment that it was said that the creativity of the underwater bridge appeared in the Battle of Stalingrad. Was the person who came up with this solution the first way Krelov in front of him? Because he was so obsessed that he didn't hear anything Cuikov said to him.
Seeing Sokov staring at the map in a daze, he thought he was considering the issue of letting the ship pass through the pontoon bridge, he raised his hand and patted him twice, saying to him: "Col. Sokov, don't worry, the ship passes, I think Colonel Tupichev should be able to figure out a solution."
After Sokov was awakened, he realized that he needed to say something else, so he continued: "Even if we have repaired this pontoon bridge, in order to prevent the bombing of enemy planes, we need to prepare a new target for them."
"A new target of attack?" Cuikov asked in surprise: "Col. Sokov, I don't quite understand what you mean. Can you explain it clearly?"
"We should build a fake pontoon bridge far away from the bottom of the water so that the enemy thinks we are transporting soldiers, weapons and ammunition to the city through this pontoon bridge." Sokov explained to Cuikov with some pride: "In this way, they will aim the targets of bombing and shelling at the fake pontoon bridge. We can take the opportunity to transport more soldiers and military supplies into the city through the bottom of the water."
"What do you think if this pontoon bridge is built, how much can the transportation volume of supplies in a day be achieved?"
"It's hard to say." Sokov never pretended to understand things he was not familiar with, so he answered truthfully: "Comrade Commander, I am not in charge of logistics, and I really can't answer this question."
"Yes, yes, you are not in charge of logistics, how could I ask you this question?" Cui Kefu said with a dry laugh: "I should ask General Lobov of the Logistics Department for this kind of thing."
Tupichev, the director of the engineering corps, followed the staff into the headquarters. He came to Cui Kefu, raised his hand to salute, and asked, "Comrade Commander, what are you doing with me?"
"That's right, comrade Colonel." Cuikov pointed to Sokov standing next to him and said, "Col. Sokov suggested to us that a pontoon bridge buried at the bottom of the water can be built in the Volga River, with the bridge deck forty or fifty centimeters from the river surface, so that the river water will not flood the exhaust pipes of the car, and at the same time, it can hide the pontoon bridge very well."
"Build a pontoon bridge underwater on the Volga River?" Tupichev was stunned after hearing Cuikov's words, and then gave Sokov a thumbs up: "Genius, Colonel Sokov, you must be a genius, otherwise you would never have thought of such a good idea."
"Comrade Colonel," after Tupichev finished speaking, Cuikov continued: "We have two questions now, one is whether the engineers can build such a floating bridge, and the other is how to ensure the fleet's ships pass after the floating bridge is repaired."
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander. Although the river water is now boring, as long as you can provide me with enough vodka, I think the warriors can complete this difficult task in the cold. As for letting the ship pass," Tupichev put his right hand under his left armpit, holding his chin in his left hand, staring at the map on the table and thinking. After a while, he raised his head and asked Sokov: "Col. Sokov, have you been to Leningrad?"
"No." Although Sokov had always wanted to go to Leningrad, because it was under the siege of the German army, there was no chance to go yet. So when he heard Tupichev's question, he shook his head and replied, "I have never been there before."
"Comrade Colonel, I understand what you mean." Sokov had never been to Leningrad, but it did not mean that Cuikov and the others had never been to. He guessed the other party's intentions from Tupichev's words and asked quickly: "Leningrad is called Venice in the north. The hundreds of bridges on the Neva River are Leningrad's unique water city and bridge city landscape, and opening the bridge is a ceremony that Leningrad cannot miss."
Tupichev may have given Sokov had not been to Leningrad, so he specifically introduced to him in detail: "There are more than 300 bridges of all sizes in the city of Leningrad. From April to November every year, in order to facilitate the navigation of large ships, the bridges on the Neva River will be opened in order from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. every day, the bridges on the Neva River will be opened in order according to the upstream and downstream, allowing the larger ships traveling on the Neva River to enter the city at night, and allowing the oncoming merchant ships to sail to the Gulf of Finland.
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 can be moved and is usually fixed with fasteners. In the middle of the night, when a ship is about to pass, we open the fasteners and use two sets of pulleys to pull up the movable bridge plates. This way, the ship can pass through."
After listening to Tupichev's introduction, a gratified smile appeared on Cuikov's face. He turned his head and said to Krelov: "Chief of Staff, have you heard it? Professionals are professionals. The problem that makes us headache was solved in just a few words."
Tupichev seemed a little embarrassed about Cuikov's praise: "Comrade Commander, this is all Colonel Sokov's credit. If he hadn't thought of building a floating bridge under the water, I wouldn't have thought of this way to open the bridge to ensure the smooth flow of the tunnel."
Cui Kefu raised his hand and looked at his watch and asked Tupichev: "Comrade Colonel, how long does it take for you to complete the underwater pontoon bridge?"
After calculating in his mind, Tupichev replied: "Comrade Commander, since the narrowest part of the Volga River is more than 1,000 meters, it will take as soon as five days to build such a floating bridge."
Chapter completed!