Ustinov asked puzzledly: "Lida, not many people know about this matter, who did you listen to?" Is it Marshal Zhukov? ”

"No, Comrade People's Commissar. I didn't listen to Marshal Zhukov about this. I glanced at Vasilevsky, who was sitting behind the desk, and said that the person who provided me with information must not be betrayed, so I smiled into the microphone and said: "Anyway, I have my way to understand this, I wonder if you can take care of the 6th Guards Army and give priority to replenishing this batch of new equipment to us, you can't let the Guards soldiers have equipment in their hands that is not even as good as ordinary troops, right?" In that case, they will pay heavy sacrifices in the face of a fascist invader armed to the teeth, no matter how brave they behave. ”

That is to say, I have a relatively friendly relationship with Ustinov, and I have the ability to say some things so unscrupulously, and if I were replaced by someone else, I might have been put on the platform because I said that the Guards soldiers were not equipped with good equipment and that they might pay heavy sacrifices, and they would teach me a harsh lesson.

After listening to my words, Ustinov was silent for a while, and then said in a serious tone: "Lida, you and I have a good relationship, and I won't hide some things from you." The infantry light weapons at my disposal are 30,000 Kalashnikov rifles. But it will definitely not work for you all, there is an old friend of mine, who is now in the position of deputy commander of the Bryansk Front, and he is waiting in the meeting room outside, also for this batch of weapons and equipment. ”

After listening to Ustinov's words, I couldn't help but chuckle in my heart, secretly screaming that it was not good, the other party was not only the deputy commander of the Bryansk Front, not to mention the rank higher than me, but also an old friend of Ustinov. It looks like this batch of weapons is going to be lost. Thinking of this, I immediately pleaded with Ustinov: "Comrade People's Commissar, can you let me talk with this comrade deputy commander?" Even if we can't give us all of these weapons, we can give us half or a third? ”

"Leda, wait a minute, don't hang up." Ustinov finished. I heard him seem to pick up another phone next to him and say into the microphone: "Hey, comrade deputy commander of the Bryansk Front, please come in." ”

A moment later, I heard first a knock on the door, then a chair, and it seemed that Ustinov was standing up. Soon Ustinov's hearty laughter was heard: "Dear Ivan. Hello Ivanovich, it's nice to see that you are still alive. ”

"Comrade People's Commissar," followed by a familiar voice: "To borrow a phrase from a friend of mine who once said: 'A bullet that kills me.'" It hasn't been made yet. ’”

When I heard this, my heart couldn't help but move, my heart said this sentence is so familiar, as if I said it, and I also seem to have heard the voice of the person who spoke, could it be that which general I know?

I was thinking about it when I suddenly heard my name: "My comrade general." If I'm not mistaken, this sentence you quoted. It should be the only female general of our army, Comrade Oshanina, who said it, right? ”

Ustinov's words surprised the other party, and he hesitated for a moment before replying: "That's right, dear Dmitry. Fedorovich, this sentence is indeed what Oshanina once said. She was a good friend of mine. ”

The words of this unknown general surprised me, and listening to his tone, it seemed to be quite familiar to me, but I thought about it carefully. I really can't think of a general I am familiar with who would be the deputy commander of the Bryansk Front.

Before I could come up with an answer, I heard Ustinov say again: "I was talking to Oshanina on the phone when you were just outside, and she also wanted the weapons that your front wanted. Old man, why don't you talk to her, and the two of you will privately discuss how to distribute this new batch of assault rifles? ”

The general was silent for a moment, and finally agreed very simply: "Okay, let me talk to Leda." ”

"Hey, Leda, are you still there?" Ustinov's voice came out of the earpiece more clearly, and it was clear that he had picked up the microphone again.

"Yes, Comrade People's Commissar, I am!" Hearing Ustinov's voice, I hurriedly replied.

"That's right, Comrade Deputy Commander of the Bryansk Front wants to talk to you," Ustinov, hearing my answer, continued: "He said that he is a good friend of yours, and I am sure that you can reach an agreement that is satisfactory to both sides." Then Ustinov's voice became a little distant, apparently handing the microphone to the general, for I had heard him say, "Please, Comrade General, Leda is waiting for you on the line." ”

The general took the microphone and fed it.

Listening to this familiar voice, I never remembered who the other party was, so I had to say vaguely: "Hello! Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front. ”

When the other party heard my voice, he smiled and said, "What's the matter, Leda, after you get to the general, can't you even hear my voice?"

I tried my best to recall this familiar voice, to think of all the generals I knew during the Battle of Stalingrad, but neither Chuikov, nor Rodimtsev, nor Lyudnikov could match the speaking general, and besides, in their rank, they did not yet have their own deputy commanders of the front. I really hate Russian names at the moment, they are all made up of their own name, patronymic and last name, and everyone usually calls each other by their last name, but among friends who have a good relationship, they are called by their real name and patronymic. When Ustinov called him just now, he called him so affectionately that I didn't even know who the other person was. Because I really couldn't remember, I had to reply with a wry smile: "I'm sorry, Comrade General, I really can't hear your voice." Who are you? ”

"Lida, what's wrong with you, did you forget me when you left Leningrad?" The other party raised his voice and said in a slightly dissatisfied tone: "After becoming the commander of the army group, I will no longer need me Fedyuninsky?" ”

"General Fedyuninsky?!" The other party's words surprised me so much, I never dreamed that the deputy commander of the Bryansk Front, who was actually my savior, General Fedyuninsky, could not help but exclaim: "Oh my God, Comrade General, I really didn't expect it. The deputy commander of the Bryansk Front turned out to be you! I beg your pardon......"

"Alright, Leda, no more talk." Without waiting for me to finish, Fedyuninsky interrupted me and continued: "We'll talk about the old things later. Now let's talk about this batch of weapons and equipment. ”

Originally, I wanted to catch up with him and play the emotional card, but when I heard him say this, I had an ominous premonition in my heart. It seems that Fedyuninsky is also a person who has a clear distinction between public and private, friends are friends, and work is work. No matter how good his relationship with me is, when it comes to the interests of our respective troops, he deliberately plays an official tone.

"General Fedyuninsky," I said politely, but at the same time firmly, "for the assault rifles of this group of infantry." How to distribute, please come up with a plan first, and then we will discuss. ”

"Well, well, Leda, since you asked me to come up with a plan, then I'll tell you what I think," Fedyuninsky said with a smile: "There are thirty thousand rifles in that batch." For the sake of our friendship, I'll give you five thousand. ”

"What. Five thousand? Hearing Fedyuninsky's figure, I held my mouth and said angrily: "Comrade General, will it be too little?" ”

"Quite a few," said Fedyuninsky with a smile, "although we have twenty-five thousand, but we have brought back such a few rifles." At most, three or four divisions of troops could be armed, and the rest of the troops had to be reequipped, at least until after October. ”

"Comrade General, my troops are deployed opposite the Germans, and there is a possibility of fighting them at any time. Without good weapons, we would have suffered heavy casualties in battle. In front of this old superior, who was both a friend and an elder brother, I cheekily said, "Otherwise, we will still have half of this batch of weapons, can you see it?" ”

"No, resolutely not." As soon as my words came out, they aroused Fedyuninsky's resolute opposition: "Give you 5,000 rifles, all for the sake of our old friends, otherwise I will not give you a single gun." ”

"Comrade General," I continued, "since you are my old superior and friend, you should take care of me, and you can't just watch my troops suffer casualties because of poor equipment, and let me be a bare-bones commander, right?" ”

Vasilevsky, who was sitting across from me, couldn't help but smile dumbly when he looked at me like this. And Fedyuninsky, who was on the other end of the phone, was obviously in a dilemma, and after a while, he said: "Okay, Lida, since you say so, I'll add some more to you, seven thousand, seven thousand, this is the final number, don't bargain with me anymore?" ”

"Please, please, Comrade General, can you add some more to me?" I thought of the young girls in the store in later generations, haggling with the boss, and I couldn't help but use it in the negotiation with Fedyuninsky, but after this voice came out, I got goosebumps all over my body: "Add a little more, I don't want too much, just give me 10,000." Is it good? ”

As I said this, I accidentally caught a glimpse of Vasilevsky and Shumilov covering their mouths and smiling backwards and backwards, and couldn't help but smile awkwardly at them. It is estimated that Fedyuninsky on the other side was almost tormented by my voice and couldn't stand it, so he gritted his teeth and said simply: "Okay, nine thousand, not one more." If you still think it's less, then I won't give you any of it. ”

When I heard Fedyuninsky say this, I felt that my goal had basically been achieved, so I borrowed the donkey from the slope and said: "Well, Comrade General, since this is the case, nine thousand is nine." Thank you, thank you for your generosity! ”

"Alright, Leda." Ustinov's voice came from the earpiece, "General Fedyuninsky has been by you, is there anything else you want to say to me?" If not, I'll hang up. ”

"Please wait a minute, Comrade People's Commissar. I have something to say to you. "Although some of the equipment of the infantry has been solved, the equipment of the tank crew has not yet been settled. The German Tiger tanks are helpless even with the best T-34 of the Soviet army, let alone those early T-26s and the like, and putting such tanks into the battlefield is not very useful at all except for letting the German tank crews as targets, so I plan to ask for more new T-54/55 tanks from Ustinov to equip the newly formed 33rd Tank Army of Colonel Bere.

"Tell me something, I still have a lot of work to do." Ustinov urged.

"Comrade People's Commissar," I said in a pleading tone, "the 33rd Tank Army is equipped with old tanks, but they are no match for German tanks, I wonder if you can add us a little new tanks?" ”

Ustinov was silent for a moment, and then asked angrily: "How much are you going to want?" ”

I am reminded of what Vasilevsky said just now that the current output of the arsenal can only reach the level of 70,000 rifles and 170 tanks per month. If I wanted too much, Ustinov would definitely not agree, so I pondered for a long time, and finally asked tentatively: "Comrade People's Commissar, can you give me 300 tanks?" It is the kind of new tank with a relatively large output. "Originally, I wanted to directly mention the model of the tank, but seeing that there was a commander like Shumilov in the room, who did not have a high level of secrecy, I could only vaguely replace it with a new tank.

"What?" Ustinov exclaimed excitedly at what I said: "Hey, I said Lida, do you know how much our arsenal has a monthly output at the moment?" Without waiting for me to answer, he asked himself, "110,000 rifles and 220 tanks." But as soon as you open your mouth, you will ask for 300 vehicles, you must know that it is more than a month's production, if it is all given to your group army, what will happen to those tank group armies? ”

I couldn't help but be stunned when I heard the discrepancy between what he said about the output of equipment and what Vasilevsky said, but I quickly remembered that I was mistaken, and Vasilevsky was talking about the output of the previous 20 days, not the whole month.

Ustinov said angrily: "...... With the existing manufacturing process and scale of our arsenal, the number of man-hours required to produce a new tank is 7,000, which is only slightly lower than the 8,000 man-hours when the T-34 was put into production in 1940. It would take at least May 1944 to shorten the number of man-hours in manufacturing, when it would be possible to drop to about 4,000 man-hours......"

After hurriedly finishing a series of data, Ustinov unceremoniously rejected me and said: "Leda, don't say it's you in this matter, even if Zhukov or the Supreme Commander himself comes forward, I can't give you so many tanks." (To be continued.) )