Burning Moscow

The space in the tent was originally very small, and Cui Kefu and Lelyushenko became more crowded when they came here. However, Lu Jin and Chief of Staff Zalijuk, who were at a lower level, immediately stood up wittily, raised their hands to salute us, and then turned and walked out of the tent.

When everyone sat down around the table again, I began to whisper in my heart, if there were German artillery observers nearby, who would guide the artillery and fire two shots at us, it would be a brilliant success: you can kill three at once. A commander of the group army, a deputy commander, a commander of the Guards and two commanders of the Guards Division.

While I was thinking about it, I heard Trikov asking Guriyev: "Comrade General, how about the casualties of your division during the battle?"

"Comrade Commander," Guriyev frowned upon hearing Trikov's question. He replied with weeping face: "Our troops were bombarded by enemy artillery in the battle to expand the breach. The troops suffered heavy casualties. After meeting with the friendly forces last night, they fought stubbornly with the enemy who was trying to counterattack. At present, the commanders of the entire division have suffered one-third of the casualties, and more than half of the soldiers have suffered casualties. It is urgent to make repairs.

"Comrade General, your division must be rectified, but not now, you have more important tasks to perform." Cui Kefu said, suddenly asked: "By the way, did you catch it during the battle? SS officer?"

"SS officer?" After repeating what Trikov had said, Guriyev was about to turn his head to become the chief of staff of his division, only to find that the opponent had left with Lukin, so he said in embarrassment: "Comrade Commander, this is only Ask the Chief of Staff, he knows the situation better than I do."

Just as Cuikov was about to ask Guriyev to call his chief of staff, Xie Liujin suddenly said: "General Cuikov, my subordinates have captured a lot of prisoners, of which there should be SS prisoners. But..."

Cui Kefu saw that Xie Liujin had only said half of his words, so he didn't go on, and asked curiously: "Comrade General, why don't you go on talking anymore. What do you want to say, ‘but’?"

I understand the reason why Xie Liujin only said half of what he said. When Cui Kefu finished his question, he quickly replied: "According to my order, the captured SS prisoners must be separated from other Wehrmacht prisoners. When the screening is completed, they will be taken. All were shot. By the way, General Cui Kefu, why do you suddenly remember asking about the SS prisoners?"

"I am also entrusted by my friends." Cui Koff heard me asking, his expression became serious, "He asked me to help him find a SS officer named Heinmann."

I know that before the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, due to the cooperation between the Soviet Union and Germany, it was not a strange thing that everyone knew a few German friends, but when the war started, almost all the boundaries were decisively drawn. This is the first time I have heard of this kind of behavior of actively entrusting the high-level military personnel to find a German friend of his own. So I asked cautiously: "General Cui Koff, can I ask, this friend of yours, why should you ask you to help find a SS officer?"

Cui Kefu looked around and saw that everyone's eyes were focused on him, he smiled, and then said, "It seems that everyone wants to know why my friend asked me to find a SS officer?"

Seeing everyone nodded in agreement, he went on to say: "My friend worked in the People’s Committee of Foreign Affairs. He was a staff member of the Embassy in Germany before the war. After the war broke out, the Germans sent the SS to surround the embassy. And tried to confiscate some of our important documents. I just mentioned Heinmann, who was the guard captain of the embassy at the time. Although he was a Nazi, he sympathized with our comrades. He used his identity to help our comrades leave the embassy. I also helped to transfer some important documents to a safe place. After my friend returned to China, he always remembered this friend who provided them selfless help. Later, I heard that Heinmann was also transferred to the Eastern Front. So he asked me to help him inquire about Heinmann's whereabouts."

Although Cui Kefu’s briefing was brief, everyone knew that although Heinmann was an SS officer, he selflessly provided a lot of help to our comrades. As soon as Cui Koff finished speaking, I asked curiously: "General Cui Koff, I don't know how old this Heinmann is this year, what he looks like, and what rank is he currently?"

Hearing my series of questions, Cui Kefu shook his head and said with a wry smile: "I'm sorry, Comrade Oshanina, the information I can provide you is very limited. I only know that Heinmann is in his forties this year, when the war broke out. , He is the rank of captain. I don't know anything about the rest."

Kistyakov whispered: "This Heinmann was a captain of the SS in 41 years..."

Before Kistyakov could finish speaking, Lelyushenko interrupted him and reminded him: "The rank of captain of the SS is equivalent to the captain of the first SS commando squadron. It has been two years since the war broke out. This Heinmann has at least the rank of major, that is, the captain of the second-level SS commando."

"Master Xie Liujin," I'm afraid that after a while, the commanders outside will shoot all the captured SS prisoners. As soon as Lelyushenko finishes speaking, he immediately tells Xie Liujin: "Go and check immediately. Among the SS prisoners, is there a person named Heinmann? As long as it is a person by this name, whether it is a soldier or an officer, he will be brought here immediately."

"Yes!" Xie Liujin stood up and agreed, then turned and walked out of the tent.

"Comrade Oshaninna, I don't understand." Lelyushenko waited for Xie Liujin to walk out of the tent, and asked me with a puzzled look: "Why did you tell your subordinates, whether it is a soldier or an officer, to call Heinman? Bring everyone here. Didn’t you hear Comrade Cui Kefu say that he was the rank of captain two years ago.”

Regarding Lelyushenko’s question, I replied with a smile: "Comrade General, I guess this Heinmann has a lot of pro-Soviet behavior in peacetime. Even during the siege of our embassy, ​​he used his power to release staff. Going out, and helping to transfer important documents, was not noticed by others, but he must have been on the Gestapo's blacklist a long time ago, so he was sent to the Eastern Front to die."

"General Guriyev," Cuikov waited for me to finish, and immediately told Guriyev: "As for the Germans captured by your division, I would like to trouble you to check it out. Don't let your subordinates kill our friends. ."

"Okay, Comrade Commander," Guriyev stood up and replied freely, "I've been here to ask about this."

When there were only a few of our commanders left in the room, Cui Koff finally changed the topic to me: "Oshanina, in the battle last night, your troops played very well, and all the commanders and fighters performed well. It was very brave. Without your cooperation, I guess it would take at least two or three days to occupy Ijum."

"Yes, I think so too." As soon as his words fell, Lelyushenko next to him added: "After more than a month of fighting between the 6th and 12th Army, the troops lost a lot and were unable to deal with the enemy. The defense depth of the army launched a new offensive, so the front army headquarters transferred my Third Guards Army over to serve as Cui Kefu’s reserve team."

Although I know that in the next half month or even longer, my army is almost in a state of doing nothing, but I am still very interested in the actions of the Southwest Front: "General Cui Kefu, do you think our next step Where will the battle of the empire begin?"

Trikov looked down at the map in front of me, then pushed it in front of me, pointed to it and said: "According to the order we received before the offensive battle started, the troops will continue to develop in the southwest after occupying Ijum and attack. In the Bavinkovo ​​area, all the enemies on the east bank of the Dnieper will be wiped out. In this way, we can complete the recovery of the Donbass and return the entire important coal and metallurgical area to our hands."

I stared at the map, thinking in my head that, judging from our deployment position, we are farther and farther away from the main force of the Voronezh Front. If we continue to develop like this, the higher level will assign us to the Steppe Front or the Southwest Front. what? If this is the case, then we have no chance to participate in the liberation of Kiev.

Perhaps seeing that I have not spoken for a long time, Lelyushenko misunderstood what I meant, and explained to me: "Oshanina, don't worry. Since the enemy in the Ijum area has been wiped out by us, Then the enemy’s defenses on the entire east bank of the Dnieper River became empty. The Germans simply couldn’t mobilize troops to fill these vacancies. In this way, after completing the task of suppressing the Germans, we can continue to develop south and follow along. Down the Dnieper River to liberate Zaporos, Nicopol, and even rescue Odessa on the Black Sea from the Germans."

As Lelyushenko imagined how the troops would overcome obstacles along the way and retake one city after another from the Germans, my eyes were fixed on Zaporosz's position. Half a year ago, I led the 79th Infantry Army across the Dnieper from here, and attacked all the way to the northwest. The empty rear of the German army was upset. Even through the night attack, fortunately, the defense of Kiev was taken over from the hands of the Germans. If it wasn't for Moscow to transfer me away, I might be able to stay in Kiev for a while.

Cui Kefu then gave me a brief account of the locations of the group armies of the Southwest Front Army and their next combat operations ~www.wuxiaspot.com~.

At this moment, a voice calling for a report suddenly came from outside the door. Cui Kefu thought that the teacher came back from completing the task, so he shouted, "Come in."

As the door curtain was opened, a lieutenant walked from the outside, and he saw the generals full of the house, and he couldn't help feeling a little at a loss. Cui Kefu looked up at him, then asked, "Comrade Lieutenant, what's the matter?"

"Report to Comrade Commander," the lieutenant was obviously Guriyev's subordinate. Hearing Trikov's question, he straightened his body and replied: "Someone called General Oshanina."

Hearing that there was a call for me, I quickly stood up and asked kindly: "Comrade Lieutenant, do you know where the call came from?"

"I'm not sure, it should be a senior leader, he said his name is Vatutin..."

When I heard that the call was from Vatutin, I knew there must be something important, and urged the lieutenant, "Lieutenant, take me to answer the phone." After speaking, I walked quickly outside the tent. (To be continued.)

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