Andrey's good talk finally dragged on for a lot of time, Ustinov drank several glasses in a row, Andrei only drank one or two glasses, but Ustinov has always been in good spirits, and unlike later generations, Ustinov is still young and in good health, and then Andrei continued to ask: "Dmitry, the two new tanks used by the Germans in the Battle of Kharkiv, it seems that we captured two, did your equipment department test them?" ”

Ustinov first took a sip of wine and said: "Well, we have tested both tanks, I have to say that the performance of both tanks is very good, our T34 tank is very difficult, only a very close distance our tank gun can penetrate the armor of the Tiger tank, the performance of the Leopard tank is also above the T34, because of technical reasons, experts still have difficulties to overcome, so our army's new tank still cannot be put into service!" ”

Andrei understood that the general direction of history had not changed, and that the German Tiger tank had been captured in Leningrad and thoroughly examined. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 The info test results were confusing, even at a distance of 200 meters, the Soviet T-34 tank could not penetrate its front armor, and only heavy artillery could deal with this monster. But this is only on the test ground, and the situation on the battlefield seems to be even worse.

Marshal of the Soviet Union Voronov had to admit: "We do not have artillery capable of withstanding these tanks." ”

In April 1943, the entire front from Lake Ladoga to the Sea of Azov came to a standstill. For two years, the Soviets did whatever it took to learn how to fight the Germans in the summer, and now it was time to show their new skills. But the "Tiger" tank once again raised doubts about the Soviet army, whether it could withstand the enemy's attack? And the new tanks and anti-tank guns that the Soviet army hastily developed will certainly not be able to enter service before the summer campaign. But by this time, the Soviet High Command had already begun to develop a plan for the summer operation.

The Kursk region was the focus of attention of the Soviet troops, who had penetrated deep into the German lines, forming the so-called Kursk Bulge. The Soviets deduced that the Germans would launch a fierce attack on the defensive area from south to north to besiege the Soviet troops. To avoid this, the Soviet General Staff decided to build strong fortifications in this area and, having dragged down the enemy forces, launched an offensive on its own initiative.

And Andrei suddenly remembered a lot of anti-tank methods that were used by many predecessors but really fit in line with reality, yes, "Golan trench"! At the beginning, the Syrian armored forces were played badly, and the trench was 6 meters wide at the mouth, 4 meters wide at the bottom, and 9 meters deep. According to the general method of constructing anti-tank trenches, the excavated earth should be piled on both sides. However, the Israeli army went against the norm and piled up all the accumulated soil on its own side and built a soft soil embankment more than two meters high.

This trench has made the Syrian army very troubled, so let's fill it with bulldozers, because all the accumulated soil is piled on the Israeli side, and the Golan Heights are solid volcanic lava fields, bulldozers can't shovel hard ground, and there is no soil to fill. The Chinese and Syrian troops had no choice but to fill the tanks into the trenches, which were only more than 2 meters high, but 9 meters deep.

The Syrian army had no choice but to come up with a last resort and erect a rutted bridge with a tank bridge, but because the other end of the trench was more than two meters high, the bridge erected was high at one end and the other was low, and the high end was on the soft soil embankment, so that the tanks crossing the bridge swayed left and right, and they turned into the trench at every turn.

The fate of the tanks that were lucky enough to survive was even more tragic, because when they crossed the earthen embankment, the hull was raised, exposing the weakly armored bottom; When they crossed the earthen embankment and came down, they again exposed their fragile tops, "raising their heads and revealing their stomachs, bowing their heads and revealing their backs," giving the Israeli troops two excellent opportunities to aim and shoot, and becoming a "live target" for antitank guns.

Of course, this is also the fact that the Syrian intelligence work has not been done well, if the preparation is sufficient in advance, the sappers will be able to come up with a way, and the Egyptian army will not be able to get the Bar-Lev line quickly?

In fact, the trench is only one side and the firepower of the position on the other, but with RPG, the anti-tank capability of the Soviet army is still much stronger than in history!

The most powerful weapon against the German armored forces, the shovel! And Andrei immediately told Ustinov what he thought, and Ustinov listened carefully and felt that it made sense, but he then asked; "Andrey, this trench sounds very good, but if it is a specific effect, we have to experiment with it!"

The next two people drank happily again, Andrei was still very confident in the results of the experiment, after all, the Israeli army had proved this, Andrei returned to his residence to rest, and the next day, he received an order to go to the Kremlin, and on the way he met Ustinov, he came over and said, "Andrey, let me tell you in advance, in mid-April, we will organize a delegation to the United States, Comrade Zhukov recommended you to the Supreme Commander himself." ”

When he went to the United States, hearing Ustinov say this, Andrei couldn't help but wonder and asked: "Dmitry, I can ask, I'm afraid I'm not suitable to go, you have to know that I am a person from the Ministry of Internal Affairs?" ”

"Rest assured, the task is simple, members of the delegation. Responsible for informing the American people about the great deeds of the Soviet government and people in their heroic resistance to the fascist aggressors. Ustinov said this, and habitually shrugged his shoulders again, adding: "Of course, if possible, I also hope that they will provide us with more military assistance." and convincing politicians and the population there to support the Central Powers' counteroffensive in Europe. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief himself was very anxious for Britain and the United States to open a second theater of war and force the Nazis to divide their forces, thereby relieving us of the pressure. ......" Then Ustinov said: "The kind of anti-tank trench you are talking about has already been tested, and it works very well, even Comrade Stalin already knows it!" ”

Sure enough, after meeting Stalin, Stalin said: "Andrey, you are a hero of our Soviets, I plan to let you and Comrade Molotov set off for the United States together, now you have to leave early, and then your military rank will be promoted to lieutenant general!" ”

But Andrei, while rejoicing, voiced his concerns, saying: "Comrade Stalin, after all, I am from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and it seems that I am not fit to attend such diplomatic events. "After all, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is a secret police agency, and this is still not suitable for showing up! But Stalin still said: "No, Andrei, you must know that you are a hero of our Soviets and your outstanding performance on the battlefield has attracted attention in Britain and the United States, so it is very appropriate for you to go this time!" "Stalin's order cannot be disobeyed, so Andrei can only choose to accept it!

And when he left Stalin's office, Andrei was about to float up, and the rank of lieutenant general was still awarded by Stalin himself!

The delegation departed for the United States on 3 April. First, I took a train for two days and two nights to the Urals, where I changed planes and flew to Alaska, and after flying to Seattle, I rested for a day and flew to Washington in the early morning of the 8th.