Red Moscow

The officers and soldiers of the Skeleton Division, under the siege of the 71st Guards Division, more than 2,000 people still escaped from the encirclement.

But the so-called elite SS division, after being attacked by the Soviet army, one division was wiped out, the other was also severely damaged, and both division commanders were captured by the Soviet army, which made the German command feel ashamed .

General Zeitzler, the chief of the German general staff, carefully introduced to Hitler after Hitler was furious: "My head of state, in order to refute the false news released by the Russian intelligence agency, I think we should immediately rebuild the Imperial Division and send it to the Skeleton Division." Go to the new teacher."

Hitler, who had fired an evil fire, became much calmer at the moment. He looked at Zeitzler and asked, "Chief of the General Staff, who do you think should be the new commander of the Imperial Division?"

"How about Lieutenant Colonel Tansen?" Zeitzler said to Hitler: "He is a commander of the Imperial Division. He was sent back to Berlin because he was injured in the battle some time ago. Now he is the rank among the surviving officers and soldiers of the Imperial Division. Highest officer."

"How is his injury?" Hitler asked. "When can I leave the hospital?"

"Everything is almost fine." Zeitzler said respectfully, "If you want to see him, I can send someone to come over right away."

"Let him come here."

An hour later, an officer wearing a black SS uniform, wearing the rank of Commando Commander First Class, and with a scary scar on his chin, appeared at the General Staff. After entering the door, he raised his hand in a salute, and then stood there motionless like a wooden stake.

Hitler walked up to him, looked him up and down, and asked, "Are you Lieutenant Colonel Tansen?"

"Yes, my head of state." The officer replied with a serious expression.

"How did you get the scar on your chin?"

"My head of state was wounded by a Russian grenade during a battle."

After listening to Tansen's answer, a smile appeared on Hitler's face. He turned his head and said to Zeitzler: "He is an officer with rich combat experience, and he is better than those officers who just sit in the office and give orders randomly. many."

"That's right, my Führer." Seeing that Hitler had approved Tansen, the boulder that Zeitzler was hanging in his heart finally fell to the ground, he was relieved, and then said to Hitler: "I wonder if you agree with my proposal just now?" ?”

"I think so." After Hitler finished speaking, he turned and faced Tansen, and said to him, "Mr. Captain of the First Order Commando, I think you must have heard the bad news that the entire Imperial Division was wiped out?"

"My head of state, the Imperial Division has not been completely wiped out." Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Tansen said plausibly: "Now there are only me and hundreds of wounded soldiers left in the Imperial Division. As long as one of us is alive, the Imperial Division will be destroyed." will exist forever."

Tansen's words made the smile on Hitler's face even bigger. He raised his hand and patted Tansen on the shoulder, who was a head taller than himself, and said approvingly: "Good job, Mr. First-Class Commando Captain. I Now you are officially appointed as the acting division commander of the Imperial Division and promoted to the banner captain."

Hearing that Hitler officially appointed Tansen as the new division commander of the Imperial Division, Zeitzler quickly said: "My Fuhrer, I plan to reorganize the Imperial Division within half a month and send them back to Barvenkovo."

"Very good, Zeitzler." Hitler agreed with Zeitzler's proposal, "In their battle report, the Russians announced that they had wiped out our Imperial Division and severely damaged the Skeleton Division. Let Tansen take The new Imperial Division returned to Barvenkovo ​​and gave the Russians a hard lesson, letting them know that our Imperial Division was not wiped out by them and continued to fight."

Zeitzler knew very well in his heart that although there were still Tansen and hundreds of wounded soldiers left in the Imperial Division, to be precise, the entire Imperial Division had been wiped out. Now the Imperial Division with Tansen as the division commander is just a reorganized unit. Although the name has not changed, its combat effectiveness has been greatly reduced.

At this moment, I heard that Hitler planned to redeploy the new Imperial Division to Barvenkovo, so he quickly asked, "Then where should the soldiers for the Imperial Division be drawn from?"

If it is an ordinary national defense force, if it needs to replenish its troops, it can be replenished from those reserves. But now what needs to be formed is an SS division, and the replenishment of soldiers will be much more troublesome.

After pondering for a long time, Hitler said to Zeitzler: "Drop personnel from the SS in Berlin and add them to the Imperial Division." After giving Zeitzler instructions, he said to Tansen, "Mr. Banner Captain, I only have one request, when your troops arrive at Barvinkovo, at least 70% of the original combat effectiveness of the original troops must be restored, so that they will not be at a disadvantage when fighting the Russians. How can it be done?"

"Please rest assured, my Führer." Seeing that Hitler valued himself so much, Tansen was very moved. He quickly replied, "I will never let you down. When I bring the troops back to Barvenkovo, I will The Russian troops in that division will definitely be taught a lesson."

After handing over the two captured division commanders to the people from the Front Army Command, Sokov called a meeting of his division commanders. After introducing the huge results of this battle, he said to everyone: "Comrades, with the destruction of the Imperial Division and the Skeleton Division, the pressure on our army's frontal defense has been greatly reduced. According to my analysis, the enemy is in seven Before a month, there will be no more attacks on us."

The division commanders present all had surprise expressions on their faces when they heard Sokov's words, and even began to discuss in a low voice. Seeing that everyone was so excited, Sokov didn't interrupt them, but patiently waited for their discussion to finish before continuing, "I have one more thing to tell you."

After everyone's eyes were on him, Sokov went on to say: "comrades commanders, my superiors have revealed a little information to me. After a while, I may be transferred, and then a new commander to take my place."

Sokov's words were like sprinkling a handful of salt into a red-hot oil pan, and it exploded immediately: "Damn, why did you transfer Comrade Commander away? Who gave this order?"

"That's right, we can't let Comrade Commander leave." Merkulov, who followed Sokov repeatedly during this period of time, said on behalf of everyone: "We should send a joint telegram to our superiors, asking them to let Comrade Commander stay." Next. Only by following him can we make more achievements.”

"Comrades, please be quiet, please be quiet!" Seeing that everyone was complaining about his possible transfer in the future, Sokov was still very moved. However, the matter of the transfer was just mentioned by Ma Lining casually. It is still unknown whether it will become a reality. He quickly raised his hands and pressed down: "Listen to me."

After the room regained calm, Sokov said to everyone: "The superior has the intention to mobilize me, but whether it will be implemented is still unknown for the time being. I am very grateful for everyone's concern for me, but as soldiers, we must It is our bounden duty to obey orders. Wherever our superiors want us to be transferred, we must unconditionally implement them. Besides, even if I am no longer in the Sixth Army, you can continue to fight against the Germans under the command of the new commander. Get more victories."

After the meeting was over and all the division commanders had left, Lunev suddenly said to Sokov: "Comrade commander, you shouldn't tell the division commanders about your possible transfer. It must be very uneasy.”

"But I've already calmed them down?" Sokov asked a little puzzled, "Why are they not at ease?"

"Comrade Commander, let me explain this to you." Vitkov interrupted and said, "The commanders of the Guards Division have just gotten used to your novelty after getting along with you for one or two months. You have also established a lot of meritorious service. But at this moment, you suddenly told them that you might be transferred away, and then a new commander will take over your position, which will cause them some troubles. A sense of crisis. I think in order to prevent you from being transferred, they may reflect their demands through their own channels, and only hope that you can stay."

"No way." Regarding Witkov's statement, Sokov expressed doubts: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't look at me as the commander of the group army now, but I don't think I have such a high prestige."

"Comrade Commander, since you don't believe me, we can wait and see, but whether the next development of the matter will develop as I guessed."

That night, Sokov received a call from Malinin. The chief of staff of the front army said angrily on the phone: "General Sokov, did you disclose the news that you are going to be transferred?"

Sokov couldn't help being surprised when he heard Malinin's question, and then asked, "What happened?"

"I received several calls from the commanders of the group army, saying that since you are going to be transferred away, I hope we can be more magnanimous and return the troops assigned to your command back then."

From Ma Linin's words, Sokov realized that he might have caused a catastrophe unintentionally, and quickly explained to the other party: "I just want everyone to be mentally prepared, so as not to cause unnecessary confusion after the superior issues a transfer order." .”

Ma Lining was silent for a long time, and finally said: "So, you still wish you were transferred? Tell me, which unit did you transfer to after you were washed?"

Sokov wanted to tell Malinin in his heart that if he really wanted to take himself away from the Sixth Army, then he would transfer himself to Konev's Steppe Front Army. But you can only think about these things in your heart, but you can't say them out. Hearing Ma Linin's question, he quickly pretended to be aggrieved and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, how can you say that. You know, if it is possible , I hope to always follow the command of General Rokossovsky."

Sokov's explanation eased Malinin's attitude a lot: "General Sokov, Comrade Commander is currently arguing in the Kremlin about whether you will be transferred. I hope you will not make any trouble at this time."

"Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sukov heard that Ma Linin used the word "struggle with reason", and immediately realized that his transfer was probably a certainty. But exactly where it will go is still unknown.

In the middle of the night, Sokov, who was sleeping in his room, was woken up by a communications officer. He said with some embarrassment, "Comrade Commander, I have your call." Probably because he was worried that Sokov would scold him, he emphasized, "It's a call from the Front Army Command."

Sokov learned that it was the call from the Front Army Command, and guessing that it might be a big deal, he rushed into the headquarters. He picked up the microphone on the table and stuck it to his ear: "I'm Sokov, who are you?"

"I'm Rokossovsky." Rokossovsky's voice came from the receiver: "I just returned from Moscow by plane."

"Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front Army!" Sokov felt that Rokossovsky would definitely not be unable to sleep at night, so he made a phone call to chat with himself. He must be calling at this moment because of a major event related to him. , and asked anxiously: "I don't know if you called me so late, is there something important?"

"Misha, it's about your transfer." Rokossovsky said with a heavy tone: "The commanders on other fronts, after seeing your recent achievements, raised it to the Supreme Commander himself, saying that their The army needs a commander like you, so I beg the headquarters to transfer you to their army."

Hearing this, Sokov knew that it was an unchangeable fact that he left the Sixth Army, but the next question he had to figure out was which front he would be transferred to. He tentatively asked: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army , we would like to ask you, which front does the superior plan to transfer me to?"

"Although I tried my best, the Supreme Commander himself has made up his mind and feels that you should be sent to a more important front, so he will transfer you away in a short time." Rokossovsky said on the phone: " The places available to you today are the Leningrad Front and the Western Front."

"Aside from these two front armies, are there other options?"

"Misha," Rokossovsky asked in surprise when he heard Sokov's question, "do you want to go to the Southwest Front or the Voronezh Front?"

"No," Sokov quickly denied, "If I had a choice, I would rather go to Admiral Konev's Steppe Front Army."

"What, Konev's Steppe Front Army?" Sokov's reply frightened Rokossovsky: "Misha, are you in a daze, to make such an absurd request? You know, The Grassland Front Army is just a reserve team, and if you go there, it may be very difficult for you to have any chance to make contributions."

"Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Sokov could not directly tell Rokossovsky that in a few months, the Steppe Front Army would shine on the Soviet-German battlefield. He could only say euphemistically: "I know that the Steppe Front Army It is a reserve team, but if I go there, I will definitely find a way to train the reserve team into an elite force."

Sokov's statement made Rokossovsky feel very strange. After a long silence, he asked back: "Misha, have you really decided to go to the grassland front army?"

"Yes, I have decided."

"Okay, now that you have made your decision, after dawn, I will call the Supreme Commander himself and tell him your choice."