Canteen System Assistance Notes

Difficult to intercept.

6. For long-range unguided delivery of the V5Ak-500 bomb, it can be launched at a distance of 20 kilometers from the target and at an altitude of more than 5000 meters to achieve the maximum expected hit rate. In this mode, the entire formation's carrier aircraft can disengage after launching.

Our Chinese comrades have suggested using RRAB charges in this combat mode to enhance the effectiveness of bombing. We believe this is a valuable suggestion.

7. If the carrier aircraft is intercepted by the German army and cannot escape, all crew members should activate the bomb's self-destruct mode and destroy the remote control equipment at the same time.

The AK-500 bomb will self-destruct immediately after leaving the aircraft 100 meters.

All crew members must pledge their lives to ensure that not a single bomb or remote control equipment falls into the hands of the Nazis!!

Su Kong's Thoughts (Part 2)

Su Kong's Thoughts (Part 2)

Kremlin - Green Room - Minutes of Meeting No. 43-11-74, December 6, 1942

Participants:

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev

Yakovlev: Hello, Comrade Stalin, hello, Comrade Ivanovich. Stalin: Hello, Sergeyevich, please sit down.

Mikoyan: Comrade Sergeyevich, time is of the essence. As soon as we received your message, we immediately organized a study and decided to hold this discussion. Now, please explain your views on the new fighter test on November 20.

Yakovlev: Okay. Recently, there have been some voices within the People's Commissariat of Aviation Industry and the General Administration of Aircraft Test Production, who believe that the Yak-U fighter was unfairly treated during the November 20th nK-tests, that its performance was due to accidental factors, and that a retest should be organized.

Stalin: Yes, I know that. What do you think, Sergeevich?

Yakovlev: This statement has some truth to it, but overall it is unscientific and unnecessary. Stalin: Oh? Go on, Sergeyevich, please go on.

Yakovlev: Yes, Comrade Stalin.

The TK3 designed by Comrade Polikarpov in China is a single-engine heavy fighter-bomber equipped with an American-designed engine with strong horsepower. The Vake-U that participated in the test was a special aircraft manufactured by my design bureau after adopting aluminum from Chinese comrades and replacing the wings and skin of a Yak9. The Lavochkin Bureau's La-5fn special aircraft is in a similar situation, but their aircraft not only replaced the skin and frame, but also adjusted the aerodynamic layout according to the "206" aircraft currently under construction at the Central Institute of Fluid Mechanics. Except for the engine, it was almost a new aircraft.

In the tests, the Yak-U versus the nK-3 was ranked before the La-5-fn. So, in a sense, it was precisely because the Yak-L exposed the TK3 fighter-bomber's weak roll in the battle that the La-5fn was able to choose a more aggressive tactic later, winning two of the three battles by engaging in close-range dogfights - those people believed that the Yak-9U could also use the same tactics to win.

Mikoyan: So, they believed that it was accidental factors that led to such a battle result, and the judgment that the La-5-fn was better than the Yak-9U was also due to accidental factors.

Yakovlev: Yes, Comrade Ivanovich.

Stalin: So, Sergeevich, in your opinion, should we conduct another test?

Yakovlev: Quite the contrary, Comrade Stalin, I think not only do we not need to reorganize the tests, but we should go even further. In my capacity as Deputy Minister of the People's Commissariat of Aviation Industry and Director of the Main Directorate of Aircraft Trial Production, I propose that, until the promised American aid arrives, we reduce the allocation of Chinese aluminum alloys to the Yak-9 project and increase the allocation to the fighter aircraft of the Lavochkin Design Bureau.

Stalin: Sergeyevich, I did not expect you to make such a suggestion: tell me the reason.

Yakovlev: Comrade Stalin, our country's aluminum metal production has not yet fully recovered. Even if we take into account the 15000 tons of aluminum alloy supported by our Chinese comrades this year - as far as I know, they sent us almost all of their newly produced aluminum - it is still not enough to meet the full needs of the aviation sector.

So we need to make trade-offs.

Comrade Stalin, in the Soviet Air Force, different aircraft have different roles and require different amounts of aluminum: Il-2 as an attack aircraft

It doesn't require a lot of aluminum. As a bomber, the Tu-2 requires a lot of aluminum.

As for frontline fighters, the benefits of putting more aluminum in the Yak-9 are not as great as the benefits of putting more aluminum in the La-5-fn.

Instead, it will make the Yak-9 lose its advantage of low manufacturing costs.

Therefore, instead of producing the all-aluminum Yak-U, it would be better to prioritize the precious aluminum resources into Comrade Lavochkin's special aircraft - I believe that producing the optimized and improved La-5-fn will gain more advantages in the battle against the Nazis.

We can even gather these best aircraft and form the best special forces with our best pilots to hunt down those so-called Nazi "ace pilots" who are showing off their power over the battlefield. Mikoyan: I see. I commend your selflessness, Comrade Sergeyevich.

Comrade Stalin Sergeevich, first of all, I applaud your impartial and unbiased speech; secondly, I think your opinion is very valuable - please write a draft of this matter as soon as possible and submit it to the People's Commissariat of Aviation Industry.

Chapter 748: Torch and Planet Suite

(Inventory chapter)

The brave and tenacious American Army is driving out the German and Italian forces in North Africa.

His Majesty's Navy warships successfully escorted landing ships during the landings in North Africa.

The Allied forces are highly skilled, and their true strength will be revealed in North Africa!

On November 8, 1942, with newspapers and radio broadcasting constantly churning out propaganda, the British, American, and French Allied forces assembled a large number of ships and air forces to carry out the first large-scale "sea-to-land" landing in French Algeria and Morocco.

A massive parachute display nearly obscured the sky above the drop sites, and a multitude of ships threatened to fill the sea. The billowing clouds of dust raised by the landing troops seemed to indicate that the German-Italian resistance was minimal... It seemed as if the Allies had finally swept away the shadow of the Dieppe defeat, successfully opening a second front behind the fascist coalition forces!

Indeed, due to Vichy France's peculiar positioning within the Axis powers and Allied diplomacy, as well as relatively good Allied intelligence coverage, the German and Italian armies never entered the area where the British, American, and French forces were landing, leaving the coastal defenses in the landing area quite weak. Consequently, the Allies engaged in few major engagements with them, resulting in minimal losses.

However, due to strange reasons such as the contact person being in a car accident, the real person in power being in the hospital to see his son, and there being no backup means of communication, the French army, that is, the French army stationed in many French colonies in North Africa, actually caused the most losses to the Allies.

During the landing at Oran, French coastal artillery opened fire on the Allied forces, sinking and damaging several landing ships. The French Army also engaged in fierce fighting with the British and Americans on the beachhead and in the shallow landing areas.

During the Casablanca landing, not only did the coastal defense artillery fire at the Allied forces, but the remaining French destroyers also launched a "mad dog attack" on the Allied landing fleet. In the end, the battleship "Jean Barre", with only one turret, was still squatting at the berth, firing at the Allied landing fleet. Although it was eventually counterattacked by the American battleship "Massessachusetts" and sank under the siege of the US Navy Air Force, it still created the largest single loss for the British and American forces in the entire landing.

By the time the French surrendered in Oran on the 10th and in Casablanca on the 11th, the British, American, and French Allied forces had suffered nearly 2,000 casualties. Furthermore, George Smith Patton Jr., who was observing the battle from the USS Augusta, was drenched by the water from Jean Bart's 380mm gun.

Although the command system of the British, American and French Allied Forces was still quite chaotic and lacked a unified headquarters, fortunately, there were no major accidents during the landing process.

Really?

"(Because I don't want to offend the Allies or the Axis)...So in view of the current war situation, I now declare that the Tunisian region becomes an undefended neutral zone, open to all countries."

On November 9th, the French Tunisian Governor-General Esteva declared his defeat, completely stupefying the British, American, and French forces, who were already intensively organizing the landing. This information, seemingly beyond common sense, completely stupefied them. Conversely, perhaps due to prior intelligence or a shared understanding of the general's thinking, the Axis powers reacted exceptionally quickly.

The German Air Force and the Italian Navy in Italy acted at lightning speed. On the 9th, the German Air Force took off more than 40 transport planes of various types, quickly seized the Tunisian airport that had begun to lie down and declare neutrality, and established contact with the German troops remaining in Italy.

What follows is extremely intensive air and sea transportation.

Although the Allies had gained control of the sea and air around the landing area, they still posed no effective threat to the German-Italian forces in Tunisia. The Luftwaffe, with more fuel than ever before, deployed numerous Me323E transport aircraft, delivering vast quantities of supplies to North Africa. Meanwhile, Italy, which had not yet completely lost control of the sea, mobilized numerous merchant ships to rush supplies to the now-undefended ports of Tunisia.

In just a few days, over three divisions of reinforcements and over 150 tons of supplies were shipped to North Africa. These included numerous Tiger and Panzer IV G tanks, various types of tanks modified with 80mm high- and low-pressure guns, and other armored weapons. They also included numerous German-made anti-tank weapons like the Tortoise Fist and the Derstadt recoilless rifle, as well as numerous tank modification kits. The Germans, empathizing with their own situation, believed that since armor-piercing rounds were already flying everywhere on the Soviet-German battlefield, these grilles and skirts could help German tanks in North Africa block the portable armor-piercing round launchers in the hands of British and American infantry.

The only regret was that the newer Panzer IV H tank, modified with sloped frontal armor, failed to catch up with this window of opportunity and ultimately failed to reach North Africa. However, these supplies finally alleviated the urgent needs of the German and Italian troops in North Africa, and brought some relief to the newly appointed Supreme Commander of the German-Italian Allied Forces, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring.

However, Mr. Rommel, who had also received a large amount of reinforced supplies and had his stomachache cured, seemed to have reversed his mental state from the defeat in the Battle of El Alamein. He decided to draft a new battle plan, and as always, he intended to seize this brief period of "logistical abundance" and take the initiative to attack and deal a heavy blow to the British and American forces that were still unstable.

He believed that even the Anglo-American coalition, with its naval superiority, would not be able to survive these rounds of fighting in the face of his bold and sharp armored assault. However, would the situation this time turn out as this cunning "fox" envisioned?

——―-———-

As the torches in North Africa were lit, in the center of the World Island, the Soviet-German battlefield was erupting like a volcano.

The larger-than-ever "Operation Blue" campaign, along with the simultaneous Crimean offensive, achieved incredible results but also nearly depleted the German forces on the southern front. With the transfer of some central forces, the Germans finally broke through the Perekop Isthmus, pushing the Soviets back to the fortress of Sevastopol and the Kerch Peninsula. Meanwhile, a reinforced Army Group B, led by General Paulus, finally rolled its tanks into the city of Stalingrad.

However, what awaited them was the Soviet Red Army, armed workers' self-defense forces and Red Navy infantry in the city.

Soviet commander Yeremenko (with a wry smile) gathered all the communication equipment he could find, and adopted the "tank hunting company-tank hunting team" model proposed by the front-line soldiers, and distributed the newly arrived "extended-range turtle fist" to the reinforcements.

In the radio frequency band filled with German and Russian (the German army also had the habit of using the captured "Baofeng" radio station), the German army's repeated attacks were all repelled by the Soviet army.

The powerful gray lightning finally lost its momentum along the Volga River.

In retaliation for the Soviet Union's street fighting strategy, the German Air Force dispatched a powerful group of bombers to carry out air strikes on the city, but the city, which had become a rubble, could not be destroyed any further. The German air force achieved little success, and many of its aircraft were shot down by Soviet anti-aircraft guns and interceptors. A large number of armored vehicle wreckage with iron crosses painted on them were left on the battlefield.

What awaited the German army was not only the gradually colder weather, increasingly scarce logistics, and the dwindling number of tanks. On November 17, 1942, the Soviet Don Front and Stalingrad Front on the flanks of the battlefield suddenly began a fierce artillery preparation and launched a powerful armored offensive.

Operation Planetary Suite has officially begun!

Perhaps it was because the Soviet army's losses in the early stages of the war were much reduced compared to the original time and space, and the "logistics of logistics" had been greatly improved. Soviet commanders Zhukov and Rokossovsky obtained more tanks and troops than in history, and had stronger assault capabilities.

Thus, the "Uranus Plan" formulated in September 1942 became a massive offensive plan, "Uranus Pro Max Ultra" - Planetary Suite, of a scale far beyond history. According to the plan, the Soviet army would mobilize over 2 million troops, including the Voronezh, Southwestern, Don, Stalingrad, Southern, and North Caucasus Fronts, to launch several consecutive encirclements, intending to completely destroy the German forces entrenched in Stalingrad, the Don, and the North Caucasus, and in one fell swoop reverse the situation on the entire southern front and even the entire Soviet-German battlefield!

Therefore, in addition to Zhukov and Rokossovsky, Marshals Timoshenko and Budyonny also joined the command of this battle as commanders.

This overwhelming momentum was thrilling, though it wasn't necessarily a good thing for the Soviets in late 1942. However, when the Don Front's assault wave of over 380 tanks, after an hour and a half of fire preparation, launched from Serafimovichi and launched a fierce attack on the Romanian 3rd Army, the Romanian soldiers fought bravely, but with only about 60 75mm guns in the entire army to directly threaten the T34 tanks, they were almost instantly overwhelmed by the Soviet steel torrent.

At the same time, the Stalingrad Front on the Kalmyk steppe also set out from Tsa-Tsa, successfully defeated the Romanian 4th Army in front of it, and began to attack in a circular motion to the north and west.

In an instant, the powerful pincer attack broke through the German flank defense and surrounded about 27 German troops and General Paulus in the area east of Kalachi and in Stalingrad.

Furthermore, after the Eighth Route Army's "Overseas Railway Protection Army," consisting of approximately four divisions, entered Iran, the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, having analyzed and deduced the situation on the Soviet-German battlefield, decided, at the request of the Soviet Communist Party, to dispatch 50,000 reserve troops from Xinjiang Province, who were undergoing new recruit training, abroad in advance. Within the Soviet Union and Iran, they received German-style equipment from the Iranian Army, underwent long-distance training to transform into motorized infantry divisions, and simultaneously served as "existential cheerleaders" for the Soviet-German battlefield. This allowed the Soviet Army in Central Asia and Iran to finally free up forces to reinforce the north.

Commander Budyonny, who had received the fresh troops, led the North Caucasus Front, which rushed out from the Caucasus Mountains and swept towards the German Army Group A in the North Caucasus region like a tide.

At this moment, in this time and space, the German Army Group A, which had withdrawn troops to assist Army Group B and slowed down its offensive, turned out to be a blessing in disguise - when facing such a front-line offensive, the previous attenuation of the attack momentum made it easier for them to retreat.

But this is not the climax of the battle!

According to the plan of the Soviet High Command, in the next stage of the battle, after successfully expelling the Southern Front and the North Caucasus Front of Army Group A, the Southwestern Front, which will be equally strengthened, will launch a second round of pincer attacks from the north and south - their target will be the remaining approximately 100,000 troops of Army Group B - at this time, in order to cover the Southwestern Front moving south, the Voronezh Front will also launch a pincer attack on the Hungarian 2nd Front and the Italian 8th Front in front of them, delaying the last German reinforcements in the Ostrogozhsk area.

If all goes well, after the two pincer offensives converge, the Soviet army will capture Rostov, achieving its goal of sealing off the entire North Caucasus region and completely cutting off the lifeline of all remaining German troops!

However, just as light is always accompanied by shadows and powerful forces always have their dark side, behind the Soviet army's unstoppable offensive and continuous victories, there are fatal hidden worries - even the deep operations known for breaking through distances, when faced with exponentially increased distances, the pressure on logistics will increase at a quadratic rate.

Moreover, the Soviet army was still very short of motorized transport forces to transport troop logistical supplies.

With the triumphs on all fronts, the Soviet offensive speed inevitably slowed down: the North Caucasus Front and the Southern Front, galloping across the vast grasslands, gradually found that they could no longer complete the planned attack missions within the scheduled time due to terrain and distance restrictions, as well as the increasingly strong resistance of the German army; the Paulus Group, which was surrounded on a larger scale than in history and even included some tank reinforcements, was struggling desperately, trying its best to get close to the Manstein Group near the front line and break out.

This directly led to the powerful Don Front and Stalingrad Front having to focus on maintaining the encirclement and being unable to withdraw troops to expand the battlefield advantage...

All of the above factors directly led to the Southwestern Front becoming an isolated force deep in the enemy's territory, which resulted in the Soviet Army's second pincer offensive being poorly coordinated and unable to form a complete attack.

This fleeting opportunity was discovered by German forces arriving in Rostov and advancing eastward along the Don River as the battle progressed. At this point, the German commander, known for the "Great March of the Battle of the Reich," had a somewhat unconventional idea:

Since the Soviet encirclement in front of them is extremely tenacious and difficult to advance, Paulus's group's motivation to break out is weakening, and the hope of a successful rescue is becoming increasingly slim... So, should we divert troops to attack this isolated Russian army deep in the enemy's territory?

Never mind!

Manstein decided to draft a telegram to report to the Army Headquarters while directly sending the troops into motion - let the infantry division defend here, and I will take Germany's most advanced tank force to meet those Russian tanks! He couldn't help but think of the almost indestructible "Type IV H" tank that had arrived at the front not long ago.

Chapter 749: Combustible Sparks (⑴) Commander Rurik

"The Baoshishan Peak No. 4 medium-sized automatic relay beacon station can be divided into a fuel power generation part, a radio frequency antenna part, and a radio frequency back-end part, which are respectively carried by three Canadian CMAP type 46 off-road trucks. In case of emergency, the fuel power generation part can be abandoned, but the continuous operation time will be greatly reduced.

The maximum antenna height is 15 meters, with a maximum wind resistance of 8 km/h. Beacon station deployment typically takes 2-4 hours, and the RF power is 420 watts. With a well-placed antenna and flat, unobstructed terrain, the expected range is a circular 25-30 km.

..It can relay radio/wired communications on up to 64 preset frequency bands and support 8-to-8-way transfers between different frequency bands, which can be handled by two operators... What does this mean? Building a bridge?"

Colonel Rurik-Kapovich Kotlinsky bit the pencil in his mouth and reached for a nearby dictionary. He was a man of great learning. Even though the material had already been translated into Russian by students and teachers organized by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications' Communications Academy, Rurik asked his old partner, Political Commissar Titalenko, to find the Chinese who had come to the Volkhov Front to provide equipment maintenance and personnel training and obtain the bilingual Chinese and Russian versions of the "Original Operations Manual."

Even if a commander does not need to understand the specific technical details of new technologies and equipment, he must have a perceptual understanding of their functions, roles, advantages and disadvantages: this is what Rurik thought.

Following the strange characters and Cyrillic pronunciation, Rurik quickly found the Russian explanation of this Chinese word:

Bridging—connecting different landmasses with bridges. Here, it refers to connecting multiple different devices. Oh! So that's what it means.

Rurik closed the dictionary and wrote the annotated Cyrillic letters on the bilingual Chinese and Russian document.

That is to say, this big Khitan gadget can perform radio switching in 64 preset frequency bands, act as a field telephone switchboard, and the operator can also perform one-to-one switching between 16 radios of different frequency bands, and between wired telephones and radios - this is indeed a very useful function.

Special attention should be paid. During radio transmission, the antenna of this device will emit significant radio signals... firing frequency, firing rate... oh, it's a radio frequency signal. I'm afraid the comrade responsible for translation will only get 2 points in spelling class... Be careful of the German invaders' radio direction finding and countermeasures..."

Besides radio discipline, this is something that should be taken into account. Rurik picked up his pen again and began to write notes on the document.

————-——-

Even at this point, Comrade Rurik Kapovich Kotlinsky still occasionally had a serious sense of unreality, as if everything he was experiencing was a dream, a strange dream he had in his dormitory bunk when he was still a student.

Just a few years ago, he was an ordinary company commander. However, due to his diligent study and excellent grades, he passed the entrance exam to the Dzerzhinsky Military Academy and was successfully recommended by the army to study there. In school, he studied basic infantry courses such as infantry command, battalion and regimental tactics, and campaign command. While maintaining excellent grades in his core subjects, he also took minors in communications technology and artillery operations. But just as he was preparing to complete his final year of studies, finish his graduation thesis, and return to the army to contribute to his country as soon as possible, war suddenly broke out.

Shocked, requesting to fight, retreating, and holding graduation defense in advance... Comrade Rurik was forced to end his further studies early in the midst of turmoil, and in early 1942 he joined the Soviet active forces as the commander of a ski battalion - followed by the hellish "Lyuban Battle".

War forced this young lieutenant to grow. Although he had completed all his courses in school and received high scores on his exams, he had only yet to complete his graduation thesis. On the brutal battlefield, he was still a complete novice. However, perhaps it was not just his profound talent that was at work, or perhaps it was the knowledge he had already mastered that had subtly transformed him. Comrade Rurik completed his mission well and exceeded expectations.

During the chaotic retreat, he gathered the remnants of his allies and formed a regimental unit that maintained its structure. With the assistance of Leonid Fyodorovich Titalenko, he took temporary command of several regimental units, forming the brigade-sized "Rurik Group." He withstood the fierce attack of the German Third Army on a retreat route only about 2 kilometers wide, and even coordinated with allied tank units to launch a fatal counterattack.

So, when he was hit by a stray bullet and fell heavily at the end of the battle, Comrade Rurik Kapovich Kotlinsky only felt that the sky in front of him was turning into a quiet white, and the clouds turned into a deep blue like oil paint - facing the daytime and blue clouds in front of him, Rurik felt that his fate would probably end here.

However, when he opened his eyes again, he did not see Mentor Lenin, nor did he see God or Heavenly Father or anything like that. He only saw the ceiling of the hospital and Political Commissar Titalenko standing aside and whispering to the nurse.

"Ah, Karpovich! You're awake!" Commissar Titalenko said with a smile. "You're a colonel now!"

On January 5, 1943, Comrade Rurik's rank had changed to colonel and his position to division commander.

He clearly underestimated his role in the battle. After he collapsed, Marshal Zhukov, upon learning that the troops had largely evacuated, dispatched a liaison plane, stuffed Rurik into the cabin, and evacuated him, arranging for him to undergo surgery immediately at a hospital in the rear. After he recovered successfully, Marshal Zhukov even sent someone to visit him, asking if he was willing to stay on his staff and serve as a staff officer.

In 1942, a Soviet commander who had not completed his graduation thesis but had completed the military academy training process and had experience in leading troops at the grassroots level was obviously a very scarce resource, so scarce that even Zhukov wanted to take him away.

However, after careful consideration, Rurik still couldn't let go of the comrades he had forged friendships with during the war, and the desire to seek revenge against the Nazis remained firmly rooted in his mind. He sincerely expressed his desire to remain on the front lines, and stated that if the organization issued an order to transfer, he would obey it unconditionally.

Fortunately, the young officer's wish was supported by the Soviet Chief of General Staff Shaposhnikov and the commander of the Volkhov Front, Meretskov. Zhukov, who was eager to recruit talents, could only leave his blessings with regret.

Instead, the 12th Independent Ski Battalion originally commanded by Rurik was supplemented with about a thousand troops transferred from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and on this basis, the Soviet 930th Infantry Regiment, which was emptied out in the battle around Volkhov, was rebuilt: this unit also inherited the Red Banner Medal of the 12th Independent Ski Battalion and became the "90th Infantry Regiment of the Order of the Red Banner". At the same time, Rurik and Political Commissar Titalenko were awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" for their outstanding heroic performance in the retreat phase of the Lyuban Battle.

Finally, the 930th Red Banner Infantry Regiment was incorporated into the 256th Infantry Division of the Soviet Army, with Rurik and Titalenko serving as the division commander and political commissar respectively.

Now, this lumberjack's son, who was still a lieutenant in 1942, was commanding three infantry regiments, one artillery regiment, one independent anti-tank battalion, one reconnaissance company, one engineering battalion, as well as a series of attached forces such as communications, medical care, chemical protection, transportation, and hospitals. He was preparing to participate in the next battle in a "basically complete organization" state that was rare in the Soviet army at that time.

The name of this battle is: