Red Moscow

Now that the most stubborn Captain Augusta Ernst was ready to surrender to the Russians, there would be no objection from the remaining soldiers. They knew very well in their hearts that if they continued to resist, they would only die. On the contrary, if he puts down his arms and surrenders, once the war is over, he will still have a chance to go back and reunite with his family.

Seeing that the German army raised the white flag, it was an announcement of surrender. The Soviet commanders and fighters who hid themselves cheered and rushed out of their hiding place, and went forward to capture the prisoners with weapons.

Hundreds of captives were quickly gathered and guarded by some guards soldiers. The remaining warriors stayed to clean the battlefield, collect the dead bodies and collect usable weapons. Countless fighters stepped on that area, and soon turned the ground into a quagmire.

Seeing that the enemy had been completely wiped out, Sokov came out of his hiding place and strode forward with Lunev, Merkulov and others. The soldiers who were busy might not know Sokov, but they knew their division commander. They quickly stopped their work and stood at attention to salute the three of them.

Hundreds of people stood at attention and knocked their heels at the same time, mud and water splashed everywhere. Although a lot of muddy water splashed on Sokov's body, he was not angry at all, and instead waved to the soldiers.

When they came to the place where the captives were being guarded, many German soldiers who were sitting on the ground stood up before the soldiers guarding the captives yelled, and looked curiously at the three Russian generals who came over. Some of the officers guessed Sokov's identity and raised their hands to salute him, but Sokov ignored them and asked an officer guarding the prisoners, "Where is Major General Val?"

When the officer heard Sokov's question, he quickly replied: "Report to Comrade Commander, Major General Val is not locked up here, but in a nearby wooden shed."

"Take me over there to have a look."

The officer led Sokov and others to a wooden shed not far away, and he saw Major General Val sitting inside. "Major General Val," standing outside the wooden shed, said to Major General Val inside: "We meet again."

Hearing Sokov's voice, Major General Val came out of the wooden shed and stood in front of Sokov with a face of shame: "General Sokov, I really didn't expect that we would meet again under such circumstances."

Sokov knew that Major General Wahl would definitely have a psychological shadow after being held hostage by his subordinates, so he said to him: "Now I will order someone to send you to the rear, where you will be treated as a prisoner of war that matches your status."

If it was a few hours ago, Major General Val led the rest of the troops into formation and surrendered, maybe he is still full of confidence at this moment, but after experiencing the betrayal of his subordinates, he feels that he has become a lost dog, and he is even worried in his heart, Suko If the husband feels that he is of no use, will he directly order someone to shoot him?

Until now, after he heard what Sokov said, the heart hanging in his throat finally returned to his stomach. Although being captured was a disgraceful thing, as far as he knew, the captured German generals enjoyed good treatment, and he could wait quietly in the prisoner-of-war camp for the day when the war ended.

"General Sokov," Major General Val said cautiously, "I have a request."

"What request?"

"I heard that Colonel Shimon, the commander of the Skeleton Division, was also captured by you." Major General Val asked cautiously, "Can you lock me up with him?"

Sokov originally thought that Major General Val would make some excessive request, but he didn't expect that the other party just wanted to be locked up with Colonel Shimon, so he said carelessly: "No problem, I can fulfill your wish."

Although the final statistical results have not yet come out, Sokov knows very well in his heart that the Imperial Division can basically be said to have been wiped out. The next thing I have to do is to go back to the headquarters, report this matter to Rokossovsky, and at the same time, learn about the issue of encircling and suppressing the remnants of the Skeleton Division.

Sokov returned to the Army Group Headquarters and was about to order the communications soldier to connect him to the Front Army Headquarters when the phone on the desk rang first. Witkov picked it up and listened for a while, then quickly passed the phone to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, it's a call from the Chief of Staff of the Front Army."

Sokov took the microphone and said politely to his ear, "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff, I'm Sokov."

"Hello, General Sokov!" Malinin said in a business-like tone: "I have something I want to inform you officially. From now on, the designation of our front army has been changed from the original Don River Front Army to the Central Front Army. And move the defense in the direction of Moscow."

Sokov's map glanced at his intentions, and he thought in his mind that if the main force of the front army moved towards Moscow, they would soon be able to reach the north of Igyum and control the Kursk region, thereby attracting the enemy's attention and providing their troops Take the pressure off your defenses.

After Malinin said a few more words, he heard no movement from Sokov's side. He thought the phone was disconnected, so he raised his voice and asked, "General Sokov, why don't you speak? Did something happen?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I'm thinking that if the main force of the front army reaches the north of Igyum, the enemy may concentrate its main force in your direction. In this way, the pressure on us here will be greatly reduced."

"Yes, the situation will indeed develop as you said." After Ma Lining said this, he asked: "A few hours ago, you told me that you were launching the final attack on the Imperial Division. I think Ask, what is the result now?"

"Report to Comrade Chief of Staff." Listening to Malinin's question about the attack on the Imperial Division, Sokov quickly replied: "After a fierce battle, our army completely wiped out the Imperial Division. Officers and soldiers were captured."

"What, you even captured Major General Val of the Imperial Division?" Ma Linin asked excitedly.

"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov replied: "Actually, before the final offensive began, Major General Val had negotiated with us and planned to lead the remaining more than 1,000 officers and soldiers to surrender to us, but something happened. Accident."

"Accident?" Ma Lining asked in surprise, "What accident?"

"Major General Val is very aware of the situation and knows that if he continues to fight, his troops will not escape the end of destruction, so he is ready to lead the troops to surrender." Sokov explained: "But because the time of the Imperial Division he replaced is too short, it has not yet had time Established prestige in the division. Therefore, before he was about to issue an order to surrender, he was held hostage by a group of fanatical officers and soldiers. Those officers and soldiers not only prevented Major General Val from surrendering, but also called on the remaining officers and soldiers to continue to resist. As a result, our battle continued for a while .”

"It's really strange." Hearing Sokov say this, Malinin couldn't help muttering: "The best way to deal with such fanatical enemies is to wipe them all out." He paused for a moment, then continued to ask, "Then the last How did the enemy surrender?"

"Inadvertently, I discovered that the German officer who held Major General Wahl hostage and a defected interpreter in my unit were actually brothers. I sent an interpreter to persuade the surrender, so that the remaining German officers and soldiers put down their weapons in a bloodless way. surrender."

"General Sokov, what did you just say?" Malinin couldn't help frowning when he heard this, "In your army, there is actually a defected interpreter and an SS brother? Have you checked Through this translator, could he be a spy arranged by the enemy inside our army?"

"No, Comrade Chief of Staff." Seeing that Malinin was suspicious of Corporal Ernst, Sokov quickly defended him and said, "Corporal Ernst surrendered to our army when our troops attacked the Istria Reservoir. He has been in my army for more than a year, if he is a spy, we would have noticed it long ago."

"Since he has an older brother who is an SS soldier, I don't think he is suitable to stay in your army." Out of caution, Ma Linin reminded Sokov: "I think it's better to transfer him to another place." .”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I can assure him that he will have absolutely no problems." Sokov heard that Malinin said that he would transfer Ernst away, and he couldn't help being a little anxious: "When I went to persuade Paulus to surrender, he still He used to be an interpreter and accompanied me, he is absolutely loyal to us."

Seeing that Sokov kept saying good things for his subordinates, Malinin could not force him to drive away the interpreter, so he could only say politely: "General Sokov, your military commissar is the deputy minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. , How to deal with this translator, I suggest you talk to him to avoid any unpleasant things in the future."

"Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff." Seeing that Ma Linin no longer pursued the matter, Sokov felt more at ease, and quickly replied, "I will communicate this matter with the Military Commissioner."

"General Sokov, there is one more thing I want to tell you." Malinin continued: "I heard from the commander that due to the amazing combat effectiveness of your army group in the battle to eliminate the Imperial Division and the Skeleton Division, let Commanders on many fronts are envious of you. They have proposed to the Supreme Commander himself, hoping to transfer you and your troops to their fronts to fight the enemy."

Sokov knew very well in his heart that where he was now, in a few months, the Battle of Kursk, which would change the pattern of world wars, would take place. If he went to another front at this moment, the results he could obtain would be greatly reduced. He was unwilling to leave the current army, but in order to find out who wanted him to go, he still asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, can you tell me which fronts are there?"

"General Govorov of the Leningrad Front, General Sokorovsky of the Western Front, and General Konev who has just served as the commander of the Steppe Front." After reporting a few names, Ma Linin said to Sokorovsky Kov said: "They all applied to the Supreme Commander himself, hoping to let your troops go to their fronts. General Konev even said that even if the superiors do not agree to equip him with the Sixth Army, even if only you are alone It’s also possible to transfer over.”

Sokov thought to himself that if his superiors really planned to transfer him to another army, the best choice would be to go to Konev's Steppe Front Army. In the eyes of others, Konev's luck is really bad. He was the rank of general before the war. As a result, after two years of fighting, Zhukov and Vasilevsky became marshals. Rokosov, who was lower than him, Sky and Vatutin have also become generals now, but he still carries the general's epaulettes.

The reason why he was transferred to the Grassland Front Army as the commander was entirely because he felt that the current fighter was immature and did not follow Stalin's order to easily launch an attack on the German defense line. As a result, he was dismissed as the commander of the Western Front Army. Relegated to the grassland front army which belongs to the nature of the reserve team.

But this demotion is not a bad thing for Konev. The troops he commanded before were mainly infantry. In addition to the four infantry armies of the Steppe Front Army, there is also the 5th Guards Tank Army of General Rotmistrov. This is a steel army that makes the German army fearful. .

After the Battle of Moscow, the center of gravity of the Soviet-German war has moved to the southern front, where the two sides gathered heavy troops to prepare for the main decisive battle. And this transfer made him transfer from the central battlefield to the southern battlefield, which gave Konev, who had a powerful armored mechanized unit for the first time, a chance to make great achievements.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov asked tentatively after weighing the strength in his heart, "I want to ask, what does the Supreme Commander himself mean? Will he transfer us to other directions?"

"It's not easy to say." Ma Lining would not express his opinion easily on this kind of matter of trying to figure out the holy will, but said euphemistically: "But if you really want to transfer you, you will definitely be notified in advance."

Sokov secretly made up his mind that if his superiors really planned to transfer work for him, he must find a way to go to Konev's troops. In any case, in the final stage of the war, the time they entered Berlin was no more than Zhukov's Belarusian army. How much slower is the first front army.

To be on the safe side, he still asked cautiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, if the superior really plans to transfer my job, can I freely choose where I want to go?"

"General Sokov, I just said that casually." Malinin continued: "Unless your army group is assigned to other troops to command, it can only be the Southwest Front Army or the Voronezh Front Army; if you want to transfer you to other fronts, the troops You definitely can’t take it away, and there are only a few commanders you can trust who can follow you away.”

Hearing what Malinin said, Sokov began to think again. If he could only take a few commanders away when he left, should he take those people away? Because he was so engrossed in thinking, he didn't hear clearly what Ma Linin said next.

Fortunately, Malinin guessed that Sokov would be distracted, so he raised his voice and called him twice. Sokov woke up from his contemplation and asked quickly, "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you have any instructions?"

"I'll send a plane to you right away." Ma Lining said on the phone: "Bring back the captured Imperial Division and the Skeleton Division's two commanders, so that they won't be rescued by the enemy."

"No problem, no problem." Regarding the matter of taking the two captured division commanders to the headquarters of the front army by land, Sokov was not at ease. He was worried that he would be ambushed by the German army along the way, and the two prisoners would be released If it is lost again, it will be difficult to explain to the above. Now that Ma Lining offered to send a plane to pick up the prisoners, he hurriedly said, "Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff, I will immediately order someone to send the prisoners to the airport."