Red Moscow

Lunev's phone call was timely, and the director and political commissar of the field hospital were organizing the transfer of medical staff. At this time, a soldier came over and reported to the political commissar, "Comrade political commissar, your phone number."

The political commissar, who was staring at the medical staff loading the wounded and medicines, didn't take what the soldiers said to heart, and just asked casually, "Who is calling?"

"It's a call from General Lunev, Military Commissar of the Group Army."

Hearing that it was Lunev's call, the political commissar did not dare to neglect, and quickly asked, "Where is the phone?"

"In the former dean's office."

As the headquarters of the 69th Army moved into Klemenchug, their field hospital also moved into the city, and in the shortest possible time, took over the hospital that was requisitioned by the original 27th Army field hospital. As for the dean's office, among the first batch of handed over facilities, the receiving office is the medical director of the 69th Army Field Hospital.

The political commissar looked around and did not see the shadow of the dean, so he ordered the soldiers: "Take me there."

Soon, the political commissar of the hospital came to the director's office, greeted several friendly medical staff inside, and picked up the microphone on the table: "Hello, comrade military commissar, I am the political commissar of the hospital."

"Hello, Comrade Political Commissar." Time was running out, and Lunev didn't go around in circles, so he asked bluntly, "Has the field hospital started to be transferred?"

"Yes, Comrade Military Commissar." Although the political commissar of the hospital felt that Lunev asked this question a little strangely, he still replied truthfully: "The facilities of the hospital have been handed over to friendly forces, and some of the seriously wounded have been sent to Moscow. The seriously wounded who cannot move will stay in the hospital, and the medical staff of the friendly army will continue to treat them. The remaining lightly wounded will move forward with the field hospital so that they can return to the team in time after their injuries."

Lunev didn't care about the arrangement of the field hospital. The purpose of his call was to prepare the well-prepared hospital staff to rescue the injured Sokov. He then asked: "What about the medical staff, has the transfer started?"

"Comrade Military Commissar, the director is responsible for the transfer of medical personnel. I'm not sure." The political commissar of the hospital asked hesitantly: "However, there is a battle with the German army ahead, and some wounded who cannot be treated in division-level field battles will still be sent to the hospital." Into the city, there should be some medical staff who will not be transferred for the time being."

"Comrade political commissar of the hospital," Lunev heaved a sigh of relief when he learned that some of the medical staff were staying, and then told the other party: "Please find a few highly skilled military doctors on standby immediately. There is an important operation that needs to be done." They do it themselves."

Hearing what Lunev said, the political commissar of the hospital immediately thought to himself, could it be that a certain regiment commander, or even a division commander, was injured in the battle? Otherwise, why would Comrade Military Commissar personally call and order several highly skilled military doctors to prepare for surgery?

Thinking of this, the political commissar of the hospital tentatively asked: "Comrade military commissar, is it any regiment commander or division commander who was injured in the battle?"

"It's not the head of the regiment or the division commander." Lunev said solemnly: "It's the commander, General Sokov. He was attacked by a German bomb on his way to the front for inspection and was seriously injured. He has been sent to you. hospital..."

"What, Comrade Commander is injured?" The political commissar of the hospital was shocked and asked in a trembling voice: "Comrade Military Commissioner, is everything you said true?"

"Of course it is true." Lunev said, "You arrange a military doctor as soon as possible to prepare for the commander's surgery, and the Chief of Staff General Sameko and I will rush there soon."

The political commissar of the hospital put down the phone, just in time to see the medical director of the 69th Army coming in, grabbed his hand, and asked emotionally, "Comrade director, is the military doctor from your hospital here?"

"They are basically still on their way." The chief of medical affairs did not know why the political commissar of the hospital was so excited, so he replied truthfully, "I am afraid that we will not be able to arrive here until after dark at the earliest."

He sensed that something was wrong with the political commissar of the hospital, so he asked with concern, "Comrade political commissar, is something wrong?"

"I just received a call from the military commissar, saying that the commander was attacked by a German bomb on his way to the front line for inspection. He was seriously injured and has been rushed to the hospital." The political commissar of the hospital explained: "You also know , Our field hospital is busy transferring, everything is messed up, I am worried that we will not find enough manpower to operate for the commander."

"Your commander?" The chief of medical affairs asked tentatively after listening to the political commissar, "You mean General Sokov?"

"Yes, that's him."

Hearing that Sokov was injured, the chief of the medical affairs department became serious: "Comrade political commissar, I will immediately contact the director by radio to see if he can send some capable military doctors over to help General Sokov. surgery."

The political commissar stepped forward and took the hand of the Chief of Medical Affairs, shook it vigorously twice, and said gratefully: "Comrade Chief, thank you, on behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the 27th Army." He took a step back and raised his hand to salute the other party with a solemn military salute.

Besides, after Lunev called the political commissar of the hospital, he felt that such a major event as Sokov's injury must be reported to his superiors immediately, so he asked the communications soldier to help him connect to the front army headquarters.

The person who answered the phone was Zakharov, Chief of Staff of the Front Army. He heard Lunev's voice and said with a smile: "General Lunev, why do you want to call me today? By the way, the commander of the 69th Army The Ministry should have entered Klemenchuk, have you started the transfer?"

"General Zakharov," Lunev rushed to report the news of Sokov's injury, but did not answer the other party's question, but said straight to the point: "I called you because something urgent happened. We The commander, General Sokov, was attacked by a German bomb on his way to the front, and is now seriously injured and is being sent to a field hospital for emergency treatment."

Hearing that Sokov was injured, Zakharov's smile froze on his face. His first reaction was that Lunev was joking with himself, how could Sokov be injured? After the muscles on his face twitched violently a few times, he said in a slightly hoarse voice: "General Lunev, your joke is not funny at all."

"I'm not joking, General Zakharov." Lunev said with a straight face: "Sokov has been sent to the field hospital for emergency treatment. Chief of Staff Sameko and I will visit him soon."

Zakharov realized that Sokov's injury was real, not that Lunev was joking with himself, and quickly replied: "I will report this to Comrade Commander immediately. Where are you now?"

"Although we have handed over our defense to our friendly forces, the troops and field hospitals stationed in the city have not been evacuated yet." Lunev replied, "Of course we are still staying in the city of Kremenchug."

"I see." Zakharov raised his voice and replied, "I will report this to Comrade Commander immediately, maybe he will rush to you soon."

After finishing the call, Lunev came out of the church, joined Sameko, who had been waiting impatiently outside, and headed for the hospital in a jeep.

After Zakharov put down the phone, he turned to call a staff officer and asked, "Did you see Comrade Commander?"

The staff officer straightened his body and replied respectfully: "Report to Comrade Chief of Staff, I just saw the commander, Marshal Zhukov and Marshal Vasilevsky eating in the next room."

If it was something else, Zakharov would definitely ask the staff to invite Konev over. But Sokov's injury was no small matter. He decided to report to the three in person while Zhukov and Vasilevsky were there.

When Zakharov walked into the next room, he saw Konev, Zhukov, and Vasilevsky eating around a wooden table. Of course, vodka must be indispensable. However, in order not to affect the battle, everyone only placed a small cup in front of them, and they would not drink any more after drinking this amount.

Seeing Zakharov walk in, Konev put down the wine glass in his hand, looked up at him and asked, "Chief of Staff, is there any emergency military situation?" According to Konev's thinking, since Zakharov personally If you came to find yourself, something big must have happened, that's why you asked this question.

"Comrade Commander, something serious happened."

The expression on Konev's face suddenly became serious. He stood up and asked, "Comrade Zakharov, what happened?"

"It's the 27th Army Commander Sokov..."

Before Zakharov finished speaking, Zhukov on the side frowned and interjected, "Comrade Zakharov, is there something wrong with Misha again? He must have disobeyed my order again and ran to the forefront without authorization." went?"

"Comrade Marshal, the situation is worse than you imagined." Now that Zhukov had spoken, Zakharov could only report to him first: "The 27th Army's attack on the south side of the landing field has achieved good results. Sokov The general led a platoon of guards to the front, but on the way, he was attacked by the Germans and seriously injured by the bomb..."

"What, Misha was seriously injured?" Zhukov stood up abruptly and asked in shock, "How did he get injured, where is he now, and how is his injury?"

When Lunev reported the situation to Zakharov, he did not know the specific situation of Sokov at all, so the report was very brief. Facing Zhukov's series of questioning at this moment, Zakharov hesitated for a long time, and finally said cautiously: "I'm sorry, Comrade Marshal, I don't know the specific situation. I only know that I was bombed by a German bomb on the way to the front. Hurt."

"Comrade Marshal," since Zakharov couldn't ask about the specific situation, Konev felt that it was necessary to go to Kremenchug himself to understand the whole thing, so he took the initiative to say to Zhukov: "I Now go to Klemenchuk and find out what happened."

Knowing that Sokov was seriously injured, Zhukov could not sit still. He said to Konev: "Comrade Konev, I will go with you." When he lifted his foot and was about to leave, he suddenly remembered that he and himself were the representatives of the base camp. Vasilevsky was still there, so he stopped quickly, turned around and said apologetically, "Vasilevsky, I want to go to Kremenchug with Konev, please stay here with Zha Harroff has taken care of everything."

When Vasilevsky heard that Sokov was injured, he originally wanted to go with Zhukov and others, but since Zhukov had already talked about this, it was obviously inappropriate to insist on going to Kremenchug. Said smoothly: "Okay, then I will stay here. Comrade Marshal, if you have any latest news, please call me in time."

When Zhukov heard what Vasilevsky said, he was taken aback for a moment, and then understood what the other party meant. In any case, Sokov's troops played a pivotal role on today's battlefield. If Sokov was injured and unable to command the troops, it might seriously affect the ensuing battle. Maybe as soon as he left, he reported the matter to the Supreme Command.

After thinking about this, Zhukov nodded and said, "Okay, Comrade Vasilevsky, once I have the latest news, I will call you."

It takes four hours to drive from the Front Army Command to Klemenchug, and it must be in the absence of traffic jams. Now a large amount of troops and supplies are being transported in the direction of Klemenchug, and it is impossible not to get stuck in traffic. However, Zhukov and Konev are in high positions, and it is impossible to leave the headquarters for a long time, so they both chose the fastest means of transportation and rushed to the northern suburbs airport in Klemenchug by plane.

When they arrived at the field hospital, Lunev greeted them at the door.

After the two sides saluted and shook hands, Zhukov asked impatiently: "General Lunev, how is the situation?"

"The operation is still going on." Lunev said with a solemn expression: "The military doctors are doing their best to rescue them, and they must still be out of danger."

Zhukov was obviously dissatisfied with Lunev's answer, but he still tried hard to control his emotions, and asked blankly: "Tell me, what's going on, why did you get caught by the Germans?" Seriously injured by the bomb?"

At this moment, Lunev has already figured out the cause and effect of Sokov's injury from the accompanying staff office. Hearing Zhukov's questioning, he quickly reported to him: "Comrade Marshal, the situation is like this. The commander took a guard platoon to the front , when passing an abandoned railway crossing, he met a team of engineers. The other party told him that there were mines on the road ahead, and they were carrying out demining operations..."

Before Lunev could finish speaking, Konev, who was following Zhukov, interjected and asked, "Is it because Sokov couldn't wait, so he ordered the driver to drive through the minefield at risk, and was unfortunately injured by the mine?"

"No, General Konev, the information is not what you imagined." Lunev said to Konev with a sideways face: "It was only later that I learned that this engineering team was disguised by the German army, and there were no soldiers on the road ahead." There are no landmines, and this is how they forced Sokov's convoy to stop next to the road squad. There are bombs they have planted in the road squad, and they will blow up the convoy when the time comes. They will be in the After the explosion, rush to the explosion site quickly and eliminate those surviving commanders and fighters."

Zhukov found that the development of the matter was very different from his own imagination, raised his eyebrows, and then said: "Speaking of it, what happened afterwards?"