Burning Moscow

Chapter 1657 New transportation route

Early the next morning, Terekin and I took the flight back to Lublin.

As soon as I returned to the headquarters, I saw Malinen sitting at the table with a thick pile of materials in front of him. I thought it was another battle report, so I walked towards him quickly and asked, “Comrade Chief of Staff, is it the battle report on the front line again?”

I thought Malinin would answer me, saying that it was the report from the landing site of Magnusev and Puławy, or the latest situation on the landing site of Serotsk. Unexpectedly, he stood up and walked towards me. After shaking hands with Terekin and I, he said, “It’s not the war report, but the climate data of Warsaw over the past few years.”

I heard that it was climate data. I immediately guessed that it must be related to the next crossing of the river. I hurriedly walked over to the table and asked: “Chief of Staff, have you found the information we need?”

“Yes, Lida, I found it.” Malinen said with a frustrated expression: “According to the data, the Vistula River will not be fully frozen until mid-December, but the thickness of the ice is generally only five to eight centimeters. .”

When I heard such data, I couldn’t help but chuckle. After a moment of silence, I murmured: “In other words, even if the Vistula River freezes, we can only let the infantry cross the river?”

“That’s it,” Ma Linin said with a serious expression: “Even if the infantry is only allowed to walk on the ice, you can’t carry too many things, otherwise it will cause the ice to break.”

“Before the river is completely frozen,” Military Commissioner Terekin also expressed his own opinion at this moment: “There will be a lot of ice floes on the river, which will prevent us from continuing to use ships on the Vistula.”

“Comrade Military Commissioner was right,” Malinin promptly expressed support as soon as Terekin finished saying: “As long as there are ice floes on the river, we can only rely on the two pontoon bridges for transportation to the landing site on the west bank. ”

When I heard Ma Lining mentioned the pontoon bridge, I immediately asked with concern: “How is the pontoon bridge? Can our transport team pass smoothly?”

“Yes, although the Germans often send out planes to bomb our pontoon bridges, thanks to the efforts of our air force and ground air defense forces, the pontoon bridges are still intact so far.” After Malinin introduced the situation, he began to complain to me: ” However, the transportation capacity of the pontoon bridge is limited. I have sent the logistics minister to the river to find out about the transportation convoys on the east bank that lined up to cross the river. Some even waited here the night before, and they haven’t been able to cross the river until today. The convoy transporting the wounded was unable to make it through for a long time. Some wounded did not sacrifice on the battlefield, but died in pain while waiting to cross the river.”

Malinin’s words reminded me of the hardest time in the defense of Stalingrad. Due to the indiscriminate bombing of ships on the Volga River by the Germans, the soldiers and materials behind could not be transported, and the wounded in the city could not be transported. , The health workers can only throw hundreds of wounded by the river and let them fend for themselves.

Thinking of the miserable scene that year, my nose can’t help but sore. Thinking of this, I pinched my nose, and then asked Malinin: “Chief of Staff, are we still capable of erecting a new pontoon?”

Regarding my question, Ma Lining hesitated and said: “Because there is not enough bridge equipment, it is basically impossible to erect a pontoon bridge that can be used by tanks, artillery and trucks.”

As soon as his voice fell, I hurriedly asked: “What about the bridge for infantry to pass?”

“There is no problem with the bridge for infantry.” Ma Linin asked with some confusion: “Lida, if our technical equipment can’t cross the river, even if we deploy more infantry to cross the river, the effect will be limited.”

“The Magnusev landing field defended by the Eighth Guards Army is fighting fiercely every day. There must be a lot of injured officers and soldiers. We must find a way to remove the wounded as soon as possible so that they can recover as soon as possible and return to the battlefield. “I explained to Ma Lining: “The reason why I am preparing to build another pontoon is to bring the wounded back from the other side faster.”

“But if the new pontoon bridge cannot pass vehicles, how should we transport the wounded?” Terekin asked puzzledly.

“It’s very simple. Use people to bring the wounded.” I pointed to the map and said to Malinin and Terekin: “The wounded in the West Bank who are going to be evacuated will be taken to the Vistula River by ambulance, and the stretcher waiting here will take the wounded. Take it from the pontoon and take the ambulance parked on the east bank. Do you think this works?”

After listening to me, Malinin and Terekin made a total, and then nodded at the same time and said: “This is a good way. As long as the ambulance does not cross the bridge, the transportation pressure on the pontoon bridge can be greatly reduced so that we can change more. A lot of supplies were shipped there.”

I checked in my heart, and felt that even if I did this, it would still not be able to solve the problem of the limited capacity of the floating bridge. Because it is not only necessary to transport materials from the east bank to the west bank, but the trucks that have finished unloading must also be driven back from the west of the river, so that the number of tanks and artillery that can travel from the east bank to the west bank every day will be very limited. If we want to speed up the hoarding of materials and assemble more technical equipment in the West Bank, we need to find another way.

I sat at the table and stared at the map for a long time. I felt that there was no possibility of building a pontoon bridge for tanks and vehicles. We are currently seriously lacking bridge equipment, and even if it’s installed, it’s in the German aircraft. Under the indiscriminate bombing, it will be wiped out in an instant.

Seeing me staring at the map in a daze, Ma Lining asked carefully: “Lida, have you thought of a good way?”

I shook my head lightly, saying that I haven’t figured out a good way yet.

At this moment, I heard Terekin sigh softly and mutter to himself: “I have thought of all the methods I can think of, but the effect seems to be insignificant, unless we let our truck have wings. Fly over, so that we can guarantee the supplies needed on the other side.”

The speaker is unintentional and the listener is interested. Terekin’s words immediately opened up a new way of thinking: Yes, since land is not accessible, we can consider air transportation. Thinking of this, I quickly grabbed the phone on the desk and called the Air Force Command. After hearing Porenin’s voice, I immediately asked: “Comrade General, I want to ask, how many are there in your army? Transport plane?”

“There are 20 C46 transport aircraft aided by the United States.” After Porenin said this, he asked curiously: “Comrade Deputy Commander, are you planning to airborne behind the enemy?”

Instead of answering his question immediately, I ordered: “Comrade General, please report me the parameters of this aircraft.”

“This is an all-metal twin-engine, single-wing military transport aircraft manufactured by Curtis.” After hearing my instructions, Porenin immediately reported to me the various parameters of this aircraft: “C46 transport aircraft with a wingspan of 32.92. Meters, the fuselage length is 23.27 meters; the maximum take-off total weight is 25.4 tons, the payload is 3.64 tons, the cruising speed is 301 kilometers, the range is 1883 kilometers, and it can carry 40 fully armed soldiers; equipped with Pratt & Whitney r-2800-51 Two sets of dual-cylinder, star-type air-cooled piston engines, each with a power of 2000 horsepower.”

I waited for Porenin to report the parameters of the aircraft, and then said: “Comrade General, I have no idea of ​​airborne behind enemy lines. The reason why I want to understand the performance of this aircraft is to open up a transport on both sides of the Vistula River. line.”

“The transportation line on both sides of the Vistula River?” Porenin could not help but ask confusedly after hearing this, “Comrade Deputy Commander, I don’t understand what you mean.”

“That’s it, Comrade Commander of the Air Force.” Since knowing that the Air Force has 20 C46 transport aircraft provided by the Americans, my heart feels a lot more at ease, so I feel relieved and boldly talk about my plan to Porenin: “I It is planned that the convoy carrying the supplies will unload the supplies at the airport, and then use the transport aircraft to continuously transport the supplies to the two landing sites of Magnušev and Puławy on the west bank of the Vistula River. How about, are there any difficulties? ?”

“Comrade Deputy Commander, your plan is theoretically feasible.” Porenin said carefully on the phone: “As long as there is a 500-meter runway at the landing site on the opposite shore, our plane can land there safely. .”

“It’s great, this is great.” After getting Porenin’s confirmation, my mood became happy, and I said into the microphone: “I will first contact the two generals Cuikov and Kolpakchi. After they give me a definite answer, I will call you again.”

When I put down the phone, I saw Malinin and Terekin both looking at me with disbelief, making me a little embarrassed to see them. I looked at the two of them and asked, “You can tell me, is this plan of mine okay?”

“I think this plan is very good.” Ma Linin turned to look at Terekin next to him, staring at me and said: “It’s worth a try.”

Seeing that Ma Lining also agreed with me, I immediately called Cui Kefu. Open the door and ask: “Comrade General, how is your situation there?”

“Lida, the situation is very bad.” Cui Kefu complained to me: “The enemy attacked our landing field every day. Due to the lack of sufficient technical equipment, although the enemy’s attack was repelled by us, the casualties of the troops were It’s huge.”

“Comrade General, I understand your situation. However, due to our limited transportation capacity, it is estimated that it will be difficult to change the current situation in a short period of time.”

“Yes, the supplies and ammunition shipped from the east coast every day can only barely be used.” Cui Kefu said a little worried: “If the pontoon is blown up by an enemy plane, the more troops we have on the west bank, the easier it will be. In a situation where ammunition and food are exhausted.”

“General Cuikov, I have now come up with a way to maximize the supply of materials and ammunition to you.” Since I have never been to the Magnuschev landing site and do not understand the terrain there, I am a little lacking in confidence. Said: “But it needs your full cooperation.”

“Comrade Deputy Commander, don’t hesitate to tell me what you order,” Cui Kefu said respectfully to me: “As long as it is within my abilities, I will do my best.”

“That’s it, General Cui Koff. I plan to send air force transport planes to carry supplies for you, but I don’t know if you can build a runway at least 500 meters long for the transport planes in a safe location?”

As soon as I finished speaking, there was no sound in the receiver. According to my experience, this must be Cui Kefu covering the microphone and discussing the matter with his staff. Sure enough, after a while, his voice came through the receiver again. He said excitedly: “Comrade Deputy Commander, I just asked my chief of staff and the director of engineering. They said that we can build a runway like this overnight. We also have a plan on how to guide the plane to land. Whether it is day or night, we Bonfires will be lit on both sides of the runway to guide the air force’s comrades.”

After Trikov’s affairs were finalized, I called Kolpakchi again, and talked about the special delivery route for his landing site, which made him happy too. He patted his chest and assured me that the 500-meter runway would be repaired overnight so that the transport plane could land smoothly after dawn.

After contacting Trikov and Kolpakci, I quickly called Porenin again and said to him: “Comrade General, I have already talked to the two commanders on the west bank of the Vistula River. They will stay overnight. Repair the runway for the transport aircraft to land. They will set up bonfires on both sides of the runway to guide the transport aircraft to land smoothly.”

“Great, Comrade Deputy Commander.” Porenin said to me: “Please immediately order the transport convoy to transport all the materials to be transported by air to the airport outside Lublin. When dawn, I will send two planes full of materials. The planes from China flew to Magnusev and Puławy respectively to establish new transportation routes.”

When I was about to put down the phone, I suddenly remembered an important thing, and hurriedly told Porenin: “By the way, Comrade General, please remind your pilots, do not regard the battlefield filled with gunpowder as a landing. Point, so as not to cause unnecessary losses. Understand?”

“Comrade Deputy Commander don’t worry.” Porenin assured me confidently: “The pilots I send are all experienced pilots. They will never make such low-level mistakes. .”

I have arranged the starting point and ending point of the route. Next, it is time to arrange the material problem. I said to Malinen: “The Chief of Staff, immediately call the Minister of Logistics and inform him: Except for the transport convoy that is staying on the Vistula River, the other convoys that are heading towards the Vistula River are all transporting supplies to rubles. The airport outside Lin.”

Regarding my order, Ma Lining said hesitatingly: “Lida, for the sake of safety, I think we should wait until the air force’s test flight is successful before we transfer all the supplies to the airport. Now only one or two small convoys will be sent over. It’s okay.”

“No, Comrade Chief of Staff, no.” I decisively rejected Malinin’s proposal: “There are too many transport convoys staying on the Vistula River nowadays. Instead of letting everyone jam and waste time by the river, it is better to make a desperate move. Air force transport planes transported the supplies to the other side of the river.”

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