When Rokossovsky rushed back to Sushinich, in the courtyard of the command, he saw a strange armored car. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 The reason why info says strange is that the armored car has neither tracks nor wheels, only four pry plates support the body, and there is also a propeller in the tail section.

Just as Rokossovsky and Malinin were circling around the armored car, Lobachev came out of it and said with a smile: "Comrade commander, you are back, is the journey still smooth?" ”

Rokossovsky said without looking back: "Well, I'm back." After he said this, he asked curiously, "What kind of armored car is this, and why does it look so strange?" ”

"Report to Comrade Commander," another familiar voice suddenly sounded from his body: "This is the automatic sled I was ordered to bring back to you." ”

"This is an automatic sled?" Rokossovsky stared at the armored car in front of him with only four pry boards wide eyes, turned his head and asked Maksimenko, who was standing behind him, in surprise: "You used this kind of sled to wipe out the German troops who occupied the transit station?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Commander, it was this kind of sled that knocked the Germans to the ground in today's battle." After briefly briefing Rokossovsky about the course of the battle, he called a sergeant and instructed: "Comrade sergeant, it seems that our commander is very interested in automatic sleds, so please give him a detailed introduction." ”

As soon as Maksimenko's words fell, a sergeant wearing a tank man's hat and a white camouflage suit walked up to the automatic sled and began to popularize science to Rokossovsky and them: "Commanders, what you see is our army's newly developed NKL-26 armored automatic sled, which is a snow mobile platform with a two-person car group, the body is a fully enclosed wooden structure design, the whole is box-shaped, and the front and rear are divided into two parts: the cockpit and the crew compartment. A 7.62 mm machine gun with a shield on the roof that can do 300-degree circular firing is operated by a member sitting in the back.

The body is surrounded by a spring-independent suspension skid, and the skid assembly is composed of a skid body, a support rod, a rotating shaft and a spring suspension device, and the front and rear two sets of skids can achieve differential steering. The skid body has a unique T-shaped cross-section and is made of sturdy duralumin. ”

Hearing this, Ma Linin couldn't help but interject and ask: "Comrade Sergeant, I want to ask, what is the speed of this sleigh and how far is the maximum travel?" ”

The sergeant did not know Malinin, he gave a quick glance at Malinin's rank, and then replied respectfully: "Comrade Colonel, the sled can reach a speed of 25-35 kilometers per hour with full fuel, and the maximum distance is 160 kilometers. ”

"Comrade Sergeant," Rokossovsky waited for the sergeant to finish speaking, and then seized the time to ask: "Is this kind of vehicle easy to operate?" ”

"Comrade commander, the operation of the sled is very convenient." The sergeant opened the door as he spoke, and after making a gesture of please, he politely said, "Look, this is the sled's control device." ”

A group of people gathered around the car door, probing their heads to look inside, to see what was in the cockpit clearly. The sergeant continued to explain: "Everyone, please see, this is the same steering wheel as the car, the ignition switch, the starter button, the fuel pressure gauge... Front pry brakes, rear pry brakes..."

"Comrade Sergeant, I have one more question." After looking at the cockpit and the crew compartment behind it, Rokossovsky asked with interest: "Can this automatic sled be started at any time in cold and cold weather?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." The sergeant nodded and said affirmatively: "It is said that when it was designed, the Mechanical and Armored Vehicle Administration took into account the fact that this vehicle would have to fight in harsh climatic conditions, so it specifically requested an improved version of the NKL-26 armored automatic sled, which could be activated at hand in the freezing cold of minus 20 degrees Celsius. For this reason, the engineers added a battery, a starter and a low-temperature start preheater to the automatic sled, so that the driver can easily start the engine by turning the ignition switch to the starting position in the cab, just like driving a normal car. ”

"Wait a minute, Comrade Sergeant, I just heard you mention the improved version." Rokossovsky then asked: "I wonder what the early models were like?" ”

"The early model was called the NKL-16 automatic sled, which was mainly a snow transporter, not a combat platform, so there was basically no consideration for firepower and protection performance."

After Ma Lining waited for the sergeant to finish speaking, he frowned and asked, "Comrade sergeant, this automatic sled is a wooden structure, so isn't it easy to be destroyed in battle?" ”

The sergeant walked to the front of the car, patted the front armor with his gloved hand, and explained: "In order for the sled to have some armor protection, this 10 mm thick armor plate is placed on the front of the hull at an angle of 60 degrees, so as to provide limited protection for the occupants of the sled." ”

After understanding the performance parameters of the automatic sled, Rokossovsky nodded with satisfaction, turned his head and asked Maksimenko, who was standing aside: "Comrade Colonel, I don't know how many automatic sleds the superiors have equipped us?" ”

"14," Maximenko quickly replied, "the superiors equipped us with 14 automatic sleds. ”

"What, only 14 of them are equipped for us?" Rokossovsky looked at Maksimenko with wide eyes and asked in a voice of disbelief: "That is, you wiped out more than 200 German troops with only 28 people?" ”

"Comrade Commander, we have more than 28 people on the move." Maksimenko replied with a smile: "You see, there are people standing on all four pry boards of the sled, and I sent more than fifty fighters to stand on the sleds, hold the support rods with their hands, and follow the automatic sled company to attack." When they got there, they jumped off the pry board and went into battle. ”

As soon as Maksimenko's words were finished, they immediately aroused a lot of discussion among the surrounding commanders, and everyone agreed with the rapid advance tactics he had adopted. Ma Linin also said with emotion: "If the higher authorities equip our group army with more automatic sleds like this, we will be able to form a rapid group and fight deep into the depth of the German army." Using the tactics of hitting and running, they can't catch up even if they want to, so they can only stare dryly. ”

Ma Lining's words caused everyone to laugh good-naturedly. Lobachev saw that Rokossovsky's face was purple from the cold, and he still stayed by the automatic sleigh to watch non-stop, and hurriedly walked over and persuaded: "Comrade commander, it's too cold outside, let's go ahead in the group." ”

Hearing Lobachev's reminder, Rokossovsky noticed that there were more than 30 people in the yard, including the commander and the guards, and many of them were so frozen that they kept stamping their feet in place, but they were still looking at the automatic sleigh parked in the middle of the yard with great interest.

"Comrade commanders, it's too cold outside, let's all go back to the headquarters." Rokossovsky greeted everyone and walked into the building first.

After the main members of the army headquarters had arrived, Rokossovsky began to talk about his feelings: "Comrade commanders, from the beginning of the great counteroffensive to the present, the German army has been repelled by our army 100-350 kilometers to the west. The liberation of all of the Moscow, Kalinin, Tula, and Ryazan regions, as well as parts of the Smolensk and Oryol regions, was declared. Speaking of this, he deliberately paused for a moment and said in a heavy tone: "Although the successful implementation of the major counteroffensive under the city of Moscow has greatly improved the strategic situation of our army. On the whole, however, the organization and implementation of our army's campaign still appeared extremely clumsy. In particular, the main tank units are still dispersed to infantry divisions in tank brigades or tank battalions to directly support infantry breakthroughs, with only a few being used to form the basic forces of rapid clusters.

Due to the shortage of tanks, in the major counteroffensive we have carried out, the vast majority of the 'rapid clusters' are mainly composed of cavalry and ski troops, plus a small number of airborne troops, although this kind of troops have a certain mobility, but the firepower and defense are obviously insufficient, and in the face of the enemy's counter-attack and strong defense, they are often powerless, and even suffer serious losses. It was in this situation that General Dovator died. ”

Seeing that he mentioned Dovatore, the expressions of the commanders present became serious, and he changed the topic in time: "But now, we have this kind of automatic sled, so when fighting in the snow, mobility and combat effectiveness can be greatly improved." Just like in today's battle, we used less than half the enemy's strength to wipe out this ski force that had attacked the rear of our army. ”

Listening to Rokossovsky talk about today's one-sided battle, everyone became excited again. In particular, Deputy Commander Zakharov said with confidence: "As long as the higher authorities equip us with another 100 such automatic sleds, I believe that with the strength of our group army, there will be no big problem in advancing the front to the southwest for another 100 kilometers." ”

"That's right, that's right." As soon as Zakharov's words were finished, Orel added: "We can take the approach of 20 vehicles in a group and rush to the rear of the German defensive strongholds, cut off their fragile logistical supply lines, and force them to withdraw from the areas they now occupy." ”

"Chief of Staff, what do you think?" After Rokossovsky waited for the two to finish speaking, he turned his gaze to Malinin and asked tentatively: "Is it the same as the two of them?" ”

Malinin nodded and said affirmatively: "Yes, Comrade Commander." With the current strength of our army, if we want to launch an attack on the German army from the front, first, it will take a long time, and second, the casualties paid will not be small. If, as the two of them said, the German supply lines were cut off by automatic sled detachments, then the enemy in these strongholds would have no choice but to retreat after the supplies were cut off, so that we could recover these villages and settlements with minimal casualties. ”

"Now that the three of you are in agreement, let's go and make a battle plan." Rokossovsky raised his hand and touched his nose and added: "I'll call Zhukov and see how many more automatic sleds I can get from him." ”

Zhukov knew that one of the transit points of the 16th Army was occupied by the Germans, and the reason why he delayed calling Rokossovsky was because there was a problem in other areas, and the 20th Army under the command of Vlasov fell into the encirclement of the Germans after successively breaking through the German breeding in the direction of Volokolamsk and Shakhovskaya and reaching the Gzatsk area.

Hearing that it was Rokossovsky's voice, he immediately asked impatiently: "Comrade Rokossovsky, I heard that a material transit point on the right flank of your army group was occupied by the Germans, how is it, and when do you plan to send troops to recapture it?" ”

"Comrade General," Rokossovsky was stunned for a moment when he heard Zhukov say this, and then proudly announced: "I called you to tell you that the transit station, which was occupied by the enemy, has been recaptured. The German ski unit of more than 200 people has been completely annihilated by our army. ”

"The enemy has been wiped out by you?" When Zhukov heard the news, he was very surprised: "I don't know how many casualties your troops have?" ”

Rokossovsky replied lightly: "Our troops easily annihilated the enemy occupying the transit station at the cost of losing 4 people and wounding 11 people." ”

"What, at such a small price?" Zhukov could not believe his ears, in his experience, to recapture the lost transit station from the hands of the enemy, at least two or three hundred or even more Soviet troops would have to pay the price, and the battle would have to go on for at least a day or two. How is it possible to reclaim a transit station so quickly when the casualties are almost negligible? So he felt the need to get to the bottom of it: "Tell me, what's going on?" ”

"That's right, Comrade General." Rokossovsky truthfully reported to Zhukov about the situation of the battle: "Our counter-offensive troops quickly approached the enemy's position on automatic sleds, and before the enemy came to his senses, our sleds had already rushed in front of them, and 14 machine guns were fired at the same time, killing the enemy and wounding them, and the rest dropped their weapons and ran around, and finally the living ones became prisoners of our army. ”

"Comrade Rokossovsky, if I'm not mistaken, it seems that I have only assigned you 14 automatic sleds, which can only carry a maximum of 28 people, how can it be possible to destroy almost ten times as many enemies?"

In response to Zhukov's question, Rokossovsky explained with a smile: "That's right, in addition to the two crew members of the automatic sled, we also carried four fighters in each car, who stood on the sled board, grabbed the support frame that fixed the pry with their hands, and quickly rushed to the battlefield with the sled. When they got there, they jumped off the pry board and went into battle. ”

When Zhukov heard this, he praised Rokossovsky for how they used the automatic sled so appropriately. Rokossovsky struck while the iron was hot and asked: "Comrade Zhukov, I wonder if you can still provide us with another batch of such sleds?" ”