The second more

Even before Marshal Ogarkov's all-encompassing modernization program was launched, the Ministry of Defense began to resume projects that had been temporarily suspended in 1991 due to political reforms. Defense Minister Yazov and Marshal Valennikov, who is also Deputy Minister of Defense, are working on the resumption of a number of indispensable projects.

That is the project about the resumption of sniper school curriculum training, which came to the conclusion of Marshal Valnikov after summing up the number of casualties of Soviet soldiers in the Chechen war. Although the Soviets achieved a crushing victory with the air support of Su-25 attack aircraft and Mi-24 helicopter gunships, the Soviets still suffered unnecessary casualties, mainly reflected in the snipers of the Chechen rebels.

When the Soviets withdrew from Chechnya, they left 533 SVD sniper rifles there. Some Chechen militants and their supporters began to take up arms and engaged in a real sniper battle with the Soviets with SVD sniper rifles. The vast majority of Soviet casualties in the war came from Chechen snipers who fired cold guns from the rubble.

"At that time, although there were certain special shooters in the Soviet army who used SVD, there were not enough real snipers who could use it. Our actions relied only on snipers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB special operations group. Although these snipers are well trained, they are accustomed to fighting with tactics similar to those of the S.W.A.T. Also they are not good at personal camouflage, as well as fighting in the mountains and in the countryside on the edge of cities. They were not trained to counter sniper fire or evade shelling. So the army must restore the school on snipers and train new army snipers. ”

"We're not just going to restore a real sniper training school. It is better to hold a shooting competition for all officers and soldiers. The sniper course focused on shooting training, tactical training and map reading, culminating in a month-long live-fire practice in the mountains near Bamut in Chechnya. Where are the mountainous areas of Chechnya, where the terrain is most complicated, which is very suitable for sniper training of the Soviet army. ”

Marshal Valennikov's attention will not always be on heavy weapons such as main battle tanks and armored vehicles, but also on reducing the casualty rate of soldiers and improving the survival of soldiers in the battlefield environment.

According to what Marshal Valennikov emphasized earlier, they were not gray cattle, but the great Soviet Red Army.

"I also agree with Marshal Valennikov that the Soviet army has not yet perfected itself in many aspects, and snipers are only one of them, and the Ministry of Defense will also support you."

Yazov sighed, he had heard it before, Marshal Ogarkov, sent by the Ministry of Defense, was secretly received by Yanayev, and it seemed that this marshal, who was always trying to make some big news, tried to instill in the General Secretary his plan for the upgrading of the Soviet army. Unlike his opponent's drastic reforms, Yazov is more adept at tinkering with certain aspects, and the Sniper is just one example.

The actions of the army were always hidden from Yanayev's eyes, and the words of Marshal Valennikov and Comrade Yazov quickly reached Yanayev's ears, although Yanayev was still carefully reading the report on the upgrading of the Soviet armament submitted by Marshal Ogarkov, Yanayev was more interested in Marshal Valennikov's proposal, not only to restart the project, but also to promote the new image of the Soviet army.

In Yanayev's hands, military-themed movies are always an excellent way to promote the image of the army, so Yanayev, who is well versed in this, will definitely not miss any opportunity.

The Soviet Propaganda Department has recently been vigorously promoting the image of the army in the new era, and it is clear that snipers will be a very good entry point for the subject. So Yanayev specially called Surkov from the White House in Moscow to the office of the general secretary.

"Huh? Want the Soviet Propaganda Department and the Moscow Studios to join forces to shoot a movie? Or a movie about a sniper. Surkov, who came in a hurry, paused for a moment, this kind of trivial matter does not need Yanayev's personal advice at all.

Immediately, he figured out that the reason why General Secretary Yanayev cared about such trivial matters was actually to proceed from the overall situation of the army's image propaganda and wanted to carry out an important propaganda of the army's image.

"Yes, a movie about snipers during World War II." In fact, Yanayev said, there are many classic films about World War II romanticism filmed in Moscow, but they have been rejected by the Western-dominated art mainstream. In terms of artistry alone, the Slavic people, who are good at pathos and romance, are not necessarily worse than Hollywood.

"For example, our legendary sniper of the Second World War, Comrade Vasily Chasev, this can be the object of our film's vigorous promotion, and in conjunction with the restoration of the sniper school, this will be a very good army propaganda advertisement. It will attract more young blood to join our troops. Yanayev said.

Just as the United States likes to use various means to show the powerful strength of the army in movies, the Soviet army should also use this way to promote its own unique military culture, so as to attract more young people to join the ranks of the army to defend the country.

"But if you write the script and shoot it, it may take a lot longer than you think." Surkov pointed out the most critical problem, "and how to solve the problem of funding at that time." ”

"Because military propaganda is long-term, there is no need to worry about this problem, and you don't have to worry about funding, I will coordinate with the Ministry of Defense to solve this problem. If you want to write the script, the Moscow studio will receive a copy very quickly. And this movie should reflect the shining point of human nature, as well as the momentum of the Soviet Red Army in the same hatred of the enemy. In fact, Yanayev said, the film about Vasily made by the United States later could indeed be a very good army propaganda film, of course, only after removing all the black Soviet shots, such as replacing the overseers behind the soldiers with the Red Army commissars who charged with the soldiers, and the shots of insufficient ammunition.

Americans are always good at subtly expressing the plot of the Black Soviet Union in movies, and filming the Great Patriotic Red Army as a gray animal in the imperial Russian era.

"Huh?" Listening to Yanayev's series of worry-free replies, Surkov asked puzzledly, "Could it be that General Secretary Yanayev has already arranged it?" ”

"Yes." Yanayev replied with great certainty, "And the name of the film is "Soldiers in the City." (To be continued.) )