The year finally came in 1942, and a new page was turned in history. On the second day www.biquge.info of the Gregorian New Year, a radio broadcast from the Gomel underground city committee announced to the surrounding area the exciting news that the International Anti-Fascist League had been formed.

The news came a little late, but the vast number of Soviet soldiers were informed of the good news by the Soviet army's propaganda department. On the vast battlefield, the Soviet soldiers who continued to fight saw a glimmer of hope, and at this point, they were no longer alone.

In the village committee of the blacksmith village, the atmosphere was really peaceful, and everyone congratulated each other.

"It's Christmas soon, and now that we have more friends, the time will soon come for these invaders to fight back from many fronts.

Kavitsky's exclamation was quite right, and everyone was optimistic about the future.

In addition to the excitement, everyone held wine glasses and drank a few glasses of wine to help the fun.

Yang Mingzhi came to the village committee on January 2 to have a regular visit, but he didn't expect them to be really enthusiastic. Belarusians are like that, a people who dare to love and hate, and they are more exaggerated than the Russians.

These people are talking about this new information, and most of them have the most basic knowledge of the international situation. As a pragmatic man, Kavitzky admired the industrial power of the United States, and others also considered Britain and the United States to be very powerful.

"As long as Britain and the United States can hold off a large number of German troops on the Western Front, the pressure we face will laugh a lot. But this kind of scene is not immediately reflected when the agreement is signed, do you really think of this? Berekov? Kavitsky's question is also a question shared by many people.

Yang Mingzhi scratched his head, of course, he couldn't say that the Allies opened a second battlefield in 1944, the Allies landed in Italy, Mussolini was killed, and Nazi Germany was defeated from both sides.

"The Germans will eventually lose." Yang Mingzhi said simply, "The situation should develop as you expected. ”

"I thought you had something else to say, it seems that you and I and everyone else are so close in thought."

Kavitzky waved his hand and shifted the subject away. "It's still very difficult for us, especially in this swamp. Our troops are very short of heavy weapons, and the core area for weapon production is this blacksmith village. I would now like to know, what advanced weapons does the so-called Pripyazy Weapons Design Bureau, which Berekov leads, have now? ”

These words stopped Yang Mingzhi, "Advanced weapons don't have them. The rocket recommended grenade system is still being produced, and the other two artillery pieces may be able to equip our troops this month, which has greatly improved our army's firepower. ”

That's the most exciting, especially when Yang Mingzhi pointed out that the recoilless gun could even be built before Christmas!

The Soviet Union has always pursued the doctrine of artillery, and the strategic system of the Soviet army has always been very far behind that of the German army.

After the end of the First World War, Germany was always thinking about the shame of the past, and the strong anger among the people pushed Hitler and his Nazi Party to the forefront. Military revenge was already inevitable, but based on Germany's fragile national power, in a variety of strategic models, blitzkrieg was finally adopted as a military strategy. Because this is the most suitable war system for the national conditions that the German army can establish in just five years, but Germany is a small country after all.

But in the Soviet Union, Stalin went crazy and used policy to build the Soviet Union into a huge industrial country, and the system was better adapted to a full-scale all-out war of the whole people. In terms of its strategic thinking, since Eastern Europe is dominated by almost vast plains, the war of the large corps is the mainstream. And artillery strategy, this is an old tradition that has been handed down since the days of Tsarist Russia. Perhaps it was in 1812 that the Russian army suffered heavy losses from Napoleon's French artillery bombardment, and then made up its mind to build artillery.

So, even in the swamps, everyone still has a soft spot for artillery.

But the reality was that around 1940, the production of Soviet artillery was much inferior to that of Germany!

The arsenal was not up to the level of advanced artillery, but the recoilless guns that came out in the late 19th century were no problem at all. In addition, the Soviet Union has also made great achievements in this area, and the recoilless gun made by Liang Buchinsky was equipped with some Soviet troops. But what Yang Mingzhi and Rigushkov did was a little behind. Yang Mingzhi's words filled Kavitzki and the others with hope, and after drinking, everyone simply went directly to the arsenal to watch.

Yang Mingzhi naturally led the way with interest, and he was confident.

That Rygushkov was a veteran of the army, and he was very competent in how to make artillery.

The demand for technology to manufacture recoilless guns is indeed not high, and the first step is naturally to make steel in the blast furnace, and the quality of steel trained by the Martin method is enough to make weapons. The molten steel is poured like a mold and then cooled, followed by a collision between the metals.

The temperature in the blast furnace workshop of the arsenal was as high as 40 degrees, and it was the middle of winter, and most of Kavitzki and others did not often come to the arsenal for investigation. I saw a large number of workers working barebacked, and even so, many people were still sweating.

Yang Mingzhi is very knowledgeable, he pointed to the clay mold and said: "The artillery is made into a blast embryo with that mold, and then it is processed by the lathe." According to Rigushkov, it was possible to process one barrel per day. If the production capacity is expanded to the maximum, one recoilless gun a day is no problem at all. ”

One cannon a day, which is already a very fast production rate. Kavitzky and Yerentina were amazed, not only by the high output, but also by the iron and fire in the workshop, and by the industrial beauty of the industry.

"It's beautiful, it's like a steel mill here. I remember that last year, when we retreated into the swamp, we were poor and white, and now we are not only self-sufficient in food, but even weapons and ammunition can be manufactured! Yerentina looked fondly at this Berekov from China, and all this change was not his result. This guy is a treasure for the Soviet Union!

But to build a cannon, with a barrel, it is still far from a real artillery, and more importantly, the ammunition.

Yerentina asked a few more words by the way: "Berekov, these problems of weapon manufacturing should have been told to us by Rigushkov himself, but where is he himself now?" ”

"In a very smelly place." Yang Mingzhi said without concealment. "Anyway, if you want to come and see the production of weapons, I have no problem leading you here, after all, I know a lot about this arsenal in the past few days."

"You didn't answer my question! A smelly place? Where is that, is it a toilet? ”

"That's right! It's the toilet. Yang Mingzhi clapped his hands.

"It seems that Rygushkov went to the village manure clean-up, where the manure of the whole collective farm was collected. He's not just doing this to make fertilizer, he's also producing nitrate. ”

Magnesium nitrate, that is, various types of saltpeter, was needed in black powder, and Rigushkov was also using the ancient method of making nitrate.

In the 17th century, the English army said that the best saltpeter should be found in the corner of the church, because that is where people pee.

"In short, our current production of black powder is very high, it is not effective as an explosive, but as a medicine to propel artillery shells or rockets forward, it is really good!" Yang Mingzhi also led the group on a tour of the ammunition production workshop, where workers were wrapping gunpowder in thick paper and containing a primer to fire the firing pin. In the shell section, the conical monomer is made of cast iron, and the inside is hollow with wax, then filled with picric acid explosives, and finally a collision fuse is installed.

All this is not complicated for these workers.

But when I arrived at the barrel processing workshop, I was facing the lathe to boring the blast embryo, because of the firing principle of this artillery, the barrel must be a seamless steel. The barrel processing process is really a shocking scene, and these things, Yang Mingzhi is really not strange.

He pointed to the barrel being processed, and said: "Our army's first recoilless rapid-fire gun will be assembled in the next few days, and then we will conduct a test gun, and once it is successfully launched, it will be handed over to the artillery." ”

This sonorous word is a guarantee of success, and it will also be the first artillery of the Pripyazi Weapons Design Bureau.

Kavetsky asked: "Berekov, you should at least give this cannon a model name." All guns had model and number. ”

Yes! Forget about it yourself. But the name is also simple: "Just call it ПБo-1." ”

This number means "Pripyazi Weapons Design Bureau, recoilless, artillery, the abbreviation of the three words, and the model number is a 1." (To be continued.) )