Comrade Marshal, we just need to prepare at least a few units capable of operating effectively in a chemically contaminated area. It is they who will be able to keep the front from falling apart if Hitler does decide to use poisonous substances.
Shaposhnikov did not think long, and, in my opinion, took a quite adequate decision.
In the Kalinin area, two new tank brigades and a rifle division are now completing their formation. After completing the task assigned to you by the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, you will go there as a representative of the General Staff and organize the necessary preparations. I will support any reasonable reinforcement of these units with chemical troops. But right now you need to concentrate on cutting off the supply of the Moscow Pocket by air. By the end of the day, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command wait for your suggestions.
I left Shaposhnikov, to put it mildly, not in the best mood. What can I do against a horde of transport planes, densely covered by evil Messerschmitts? Use my "air defense cruiser," a homemade conversion of the TB-7? That's ridiculous. In the daytime, the Messerschmitts would pile in and tear it to shreds, losing at best a few planes. We could, of course, bomb airfields at night, but that would probably do little, and our losses would probably be heavy the Germans are no fools, and they learn from their own experience very quickly.
So I have to use anti-aircraft guns, they're not bad in the Red Army, but it's not so easy here either. A stationary bridge over the Dnieper River or enemy tanks and armored personnel carriers huddled in a small area is one thing, but aircraft flying at high altitude is quite another.
The muzzle velocity of the only flak suitable for my targets is 800 meters per second. The projectile will have to fly seven to eight kilometers, and mostly upwards. It will reach its target in 15 seconds or even 20 seconds after the shot. During this time, the aircraft can make several maneuvers, both horizontally and vertically. And if you consider that there are over a thousand of these planes, I'll just get pretty tired of shooting them down. This will take several months, which no one will give me, and, above all, the Germans themselves will not give me any time.
Chapter 2
I continued to live in Lubyanka, which suited me fine, since it allowed me to see Lena regularly. Together with Ignatov and Nikiforov she became subordinate to Lieutenant Colonel Lebedev, who, at my request, began to prepare from them a combat troika of saboteurs. Lena entered as a sniper, Ignatov as a grenade launcher, and Nikiforov was assigned the role of machine gunner.
Depending on the task at hand, the group of saboteurs could also include other fighters. For example, a radio operator, a sapper, a guide, or two or three gunners who were members of the grenade launcher and machine gun teams, but three soldiers always formed the core of the group. Lebedev liked my idea and was preparing several such threesomes at once, but only Lena and the sergeants continued to serve in Moscow next to me, even though I didn't seem to be directly involved with them anymore.
I shook my head, bringing my thoughts back to the matter at hand. I immediately dismissed the idea of sitting in the gunner's seat of one of the anti-aircraft guns myself, since I obviously would not be able to shoot down so many planes, to make a big difference in a few days.
I was sitting and thinking about the situation when the door opened and Lena walked quietly into the room.
What's the matter? She asked worriedly when she saw my grim face.
Well, nothing bad's happened yet, I tried to smile as nonchalantly as possible, It's just that the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command want me to break the Germans' air bridge to the Moscow Pocket, and I'm trying to figure out if I'm up to the task of breaking it.
If the bosses think you can do it, then be kind enough to break it, Lena replied without smiling, but I could see from her eyes that she didn't really mean it.
Maybe you can tell me how to do it? I asked just as jokingly.
What's there to think about? Lena was surprised, Who set you the task?
Comrade Shaposhnikov did.
There! Lena said, holding up her index finger, Which means what? It means that your resources are virtually unlimited. You're not a battalion or regiment commander, for whom such an order would be absurd. You are a direct subordinate of the Chief of General Staff. That is, you have to carry out this order with the help of the units and formations that the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command will allocate for the task at hand. Have you been told what you can dispose of yet?
No, I looked at Lena with surprise, she suddenly showed herself in a completely unexpected way. They're expecting an operation plan from me by this evening.
So what's the problem? You didn't have a problem pointing heavy howitzers at ground targets, so why would it be different with aerial targets? Remember how many guns were working for you near Moscow. Many hundreds! I do not think that, having set such a task, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command will be greedy in forces and means. Ask for as many anti-aircraft guns and planes as you need. Without any false modesty, which, however, as far as I know, you don't have, Lena smiled.
I looked at my girlfriend in silence. Her simple words acted as a switch for my brain, that put my mind in the right direction. After all, it's true that I should no longer rely solely on my own abilities. If I want to get to a really strategic level, it's time to bring in resources of an appropriate scale. And this task will be another test for me. It was not for nothing that the order sounded so abstract. The means of carrying it out are left entirely up to me, which means that the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command wish to see, how I'm going to get out of this situation.
Lena, you're good, I caught her hand and pulled her to me.
Come on, she waved me off, putting her hands on my chest, What did I say that was so important?
It's up to me to decide if it's important or not, I wrapped my arms around her tighter and lifted her slightly. Lena let out a soft chuckle and tried to wriggle out, but she didn't try very hard.
* * *
Sergeant Serova almost missed Lebedev's class on general sabotage training and left my room in quite a hurry, and I, after mindlessly lying in bed for a few minutes, got the computer to give me a reference about the flight routes and tactics of German transport planes.
The Germans had enough airfields inside the Moscow Pocket. The perimeter of the encirclement was gradually shrinking, of course, but the enemy could still safely receive transport planes in a dozen places, and this ensured the rapid distribution of received supplies to units and formations.
It cannot be said that the Luftwaffe was able to completely ignore our aircraft, but the Germans quickly found effective tactics to counteract the few Soviet fighters. They did not stretch their Messerschmitts along the routes of the transport planes, and besides, they would not have had enough fighters to do so. The Junkers and Heinkels flew in tight groups of 3050 planes at an altitude of about 5,000 meters. Such a group of planes could defend itself even without fighter cover, keeping a tight machine-gun fire on any enemy who dared to approach it. Nevertheless, there was a cover-up. The Messerschmitts patrolled the skies directly over the transport planes and ahead on their course, making sure no one tried to hurt their clumsy wards.