Red Moscow

Under the careful treatment of the military doctors and the careful care of Asiya, Sokov recovered quickly.

Seeing that it will be October Day in a few days, the songs played on the radio in the hospital have become all military songs. Those inspiring songs made Sokov's blood boil when he was lying on the hospital bed. He felt that if an enemy appeared in front of him at this moment, he could jump out of the hospital bed and throw the chair beside the bed at him.

When Sokov and Asiya were chatting that day, he suddenly saw Lunev walking in from the outside, and he quickly greeted each other: "Lunev, hello, why do you have time to see me today?"

"Hello, Misha." Neither of them served in the army now, so they didn't continue their original address. Lunev walked to the hospital bed, stretched out his hand to Sokov, and said, "I'm here today to visit my colleagues, and I'll stop by to have a look at you and chat with you."

Sokov's injuries were so good at this time that he could sit up halfway. Seeing Lunev stretching out his hand to him, he quickly raised his right hand to shake hands with him, and said to him, "Lunev, please sit down, what's the matter?" Sit down and talk."

Seeing Lunev sitting on the chair beside the bed, Sokov greeted Asia again: "Asiya, pour a cup of hot tea for General Lunev, remember to put more sugar."

Assia agreed, and turned to pour tea. But Lunev said to Sokov with a smile: "Misha, I didn't expect you to remember my habits, and you know that I like to put more sugar in my tea."

"We are partners. It is normal to remember your habits." Sokov said jokingly: "I remember that you are the person who consumes the most sugar cubes every month."

Amid the laughter of the two, Asiya came to Lunev with hot tea and said politely, "General Lunev, please drink tea."

Lunev took the teacup in Assia's hand and asked with a smile, "Assia, are you tired taking care of Misha here every day?"

"He is my husband, no matter how tired he is." After Assia finished speaking, she tentatively asked Lunev: "General Lunev, do you have something important to say to Misha? Am I avoiding it?"

"No, there's no need to avoid it." Lunev waved his hand at Assia, and said randomly, "Sit down and listen, too. You'll be interested in what I'm going to say next."

After Asya sat down in the chair next to her, Lunev turned to Sokov and asked, "Misha, do you know about the adjustment of the number of the troops?"

When Sokov heard what Lunev said, he was taken aback for a moment, and then thought that it was already November. In his own memory, the Soviet Army changed the designations of all troops on October 20, 1943. For example, Konev The designation of the Prairie Front Army was changed to the Second Ukrainian Front Army.

Although he knew the details of the number change this time in his heart, he still pretended to be confused on the surface. After all, he had been lying in the hospital, and it was impossible for anyone to tell him such an important matter. If he said that he knew, it might cause unnecessary trouble, so he pretended to be puzzled and asked, "How to adjust the number?"

"The Central Front Army commanded by General Rokossovsky was renamed the Belarusian Front Army. There are 3rd, 48th, 50th, 61st, 63rd and 65th Armies and the 16th Army of the Air Force;

General Vatutin's Voronezh Front, changed its designation to the First Ukrainian Front, and consisted of the 13th, 27th, 38th, 40th, 47th, and 60th Army, the 3rd Guards Tank Army and the 2nd Air Force Army;

General Konev's Prairie Front Army was renamed the Ukrainian Second Front Army. It consisted of the 4th, 5th, and 7th Guards Army, the 37th, 52nd, 53rd, and 57th Army of all arms, and the 4th Guards Tank Army 5th Army and 5th Air Force Army;

General Malinovsky's Southwest Front, reorganized as the Third Ukrainian Front. "

After Lunev finished speaking, Sokov said in surprise: "Our 27th Army is now under the command of General Vatutin?"

"Yes." Lunev nodded and said, "Misha, you can tell from the designation that General Vatutin is obviously more valued by the Supreme Command, and the 27th Army has been incorporated into the organizational system. , which is a matter of course.”

Hearing Lunev mention Vatutin, Sokov remembered that in a few months, the Soviet general would be ambushed and wounded on the way to inspect the troops, and finally died of wound infection. According to unofficial records, he developed a wound infection during his hospitalization. The doctor said that the wound infection could only be resolved by using penicillin provided by the Allied forces. However, because Stalin was worried about this new anti-inflammatory and antibacterial drug, he firmly refused to use it, which indirectly led to Vatutin's death.

Whether the story was true or not, Sokov realized that with his own spearheading the use of penicillin, a worrisome new drug, is now also the drug of choice for preventing wound infections. Maybe in this way, Vatutin will no longer unfortunately die of postoperative wound infection as in real history.

"There is another important news." Lunev continued: "Since General Konev fought at Kursk, liberated Kharkov, Belgorod, and broke through the Dnieper front of Manstein, He has been promoted to the rank of general because of the great battle results he has achieved.”

"Oh, Comrade Front Army Commander has been promoted to general. This is a happy event." Sokov thought to himself, until February next year, General Konev, who has never been promoted during the war, will be with General Konev. Together with Rokossovsky, who has made great military exploits, he was promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union. He smiled at Lunev: "Unfortunately, I am still lying in the hospital and cannot get in touch with him, otherwise I would definitely congratulate him for his higher military rank."

"When the war broke out, Konev's military rank was general and was appointed commander of the Western Front, while Rokossovsky was only a major general and one of the commanders of his many army groups," Lunev said with emotion. Said: "But I didn't expect Rokossovsky to be so eye-catching in the next battle that he won the rank of general before the battle of Kursk."

"Lunev," Sokov couldn't help interjecting when he heard this; "I will definitely continue to develop according to the current trend. Maybe by the beginning of next year, General Rokossovsky and General Konev will have May be promoted to Field Marshal."

Regarding Sokov's statement, Lunev only thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement: "Not only the two generals Rokossovsky and Konev may be promoted to marshal, I think Vatutin and Malinovsky are equally likely to become marshals."

In Sokov's memory, Malinovsky was promoted to Marshal in September 1944. After Germany surrendered, he was sent to the Far East. The Kwantung Army launched an offensive, and within ten days, defeated the Kwantung Army of as many as 600,000 people.

And Vatutin is very highly regarded by Stalin. If he hadn't had an accident, he might have been promoted to marshal earlier than Rokossovsky and Konev.

"How is the war in the Dnieper area?" Sokov asked.

"Manstein's defense line deployed on the Dnieper River has been breached by our army in many places." Lunev said with a relaxed expression: "The Belarusian Front Army and the Ukrainian First Front Army have already launched an attack on Kiev on October 3. Now that General Rokossovsky's troops have reached the eastern suburbs of Kiev, I believe that it won't be long before Rokossovsky can lead his troops into Kiev and liberate this great city."

"General Lunev, you said that General Rokossovsky's Belarusian Front Army has reached the eastern suburbs of Kiev?" Sokov couldn't help being stunned when he heard Lunev say this. Could something be wrong with Kiev's troops being Vatutin's 1st Ukrainian Front, not Rokossovsky's? With this question in mind, he asked curiously, "Is there any mistake?"

"How can this be wrong, Misha." Lunev said with some displeasure: "Have you forgotten what I do? The battle reports from the front are basically received by us at the same time as the General Staff. Frontline If there is any trouble, I will know it at the first time."

Sokov realized how stupid his question was. Lunev is now a member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Naturally, he is well aware of the battles and personnel changes on the front line, so how could he make a mistake. In the real history, Vatutin's troops took the lead in entering the city of Kiev, probably because of an accident that he did not know about.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel sorry for Rokossovsky. In the battle to attack Kiev, his troops were the first to attack, but the first troops to enter the city were Vatutin's Ukrainian First Front Army. . In October 1944, when he commanded the First Belarusian Front Army to launch the Battle of Warsaw, he was transferred by Stalin to the Second Belarusian Front Army, and Zhukov took over the vacated position. Since the main attack direction of the Belarusian Second Front in the later period was the East Prussian region of Germany, he missed the honor of liberating Berlin.

"General Lunev," Asiya, who was sitting on the side, tentatively asked while Lunev was speaking, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Assia, if you have any questions, just tell me." Lunev said with a smile: "Everyone is so familiar, so don't have any scruples."

Assia glanced at Sokov who was lying on the hospital bed, and asked cautiously: "My family Misha has made a lot of achievements in the past two years, but he is still a major general. Do you know when he will be promoted to the military rank?" ?”

After asking this question, seeing Lunev's face change, Asiya couldn't help but feel a little lack of confidence, and quickly added: "General Lunev, I just asked casually, if it is not convenient for you to say, you don't have to say it." gone."

But Lunev sighed, and said leisurely: "Assia, to tell you the truth, there is a document in my desk drawer, which was given to the Supreme Command by General Konev, asking them to promote Misha Lieutenant General. But for some reason, this application, which was submitted as early as May today, was rejected by the Supreme Commander himself."

"Ah, General Konev's application for promotion was rejected?" Assia glanced at Sokov quickly, and asked Lunev in surprise, "Why?"

"Misha is my partner. When I saw something about him, I naturally paid special attention to it." Lunev explained to Asiya: "After I learned from many sources, I learned that someone in the Supreme Command said that Misha Sha is too young, and if he is promoted too quickly, it will be detrimental to his future growth. It is for this reason that General Konev's application was rejected."

Knowing that the reason why he could not be promoted was because he was too young, Sokov was really dumbfounded.

"Misha, I feel the same as you about your failure to be promoted." Lunev comforted Sokov and said, "But don't worry, I believe this is only temporary. With your achievements on the battlefield , it will be a matter of time to be promoted to the military rank. If you are lucky, you may become a marshal in the future."

"Is this true?" Hearing Lunev say that he might become a marshal in the future, Sokov's expression was like this. After all, this kind of thing is too far away, and no one can tell. But Asiya's eyes widened in surprise, she stared at Lunev and asked, "General Lunev, is this really possible?"

"That's right, I think so." After Lunev expressed his attitude, in order to prevent Assia from being blindly optimistic, Hart vaccinated her, "But if Sokov wants to become a marshal, he must at least It takes five to eight years."

After listening to Lunev's conclusion, Sokov really wanted to cry. The war will be over in a year and a half. Without the war, I will naturally have no chance to make contributions, so becoming a marshal can only be a dream in the mirror for me, elusive.

However, Sokov didn't dwell on this matter for long, and changed the subject in a timely manner: "Lunev, will there be a military parade on Red Square for this year's October Festival?"

"It's needless to say, Misha." As soon as he mentioned the Red Square military parade, Lunev became a little emotional: "Don't forget that in November 1941, the German army came to Moscow, and we held the parade on Red Square." A great military parade was held. After passing through Red Square, the troops participating in the military parade boarded the trucks parked there by the Moskva River and drove directly to the front line."

"What a pity." Sokov sighed softly, and said regretfully, "I can't even get out of bed now, otherwise I would also like to see this exciting military parade."

Lunev reached out and patted Sokov on the back of his hand twice, comforting him and said: "Misha, don't worry, you can rest here to recover from your injuries. It doesn't matter if you missed the military parade on October Day. have the opportunity to participate.”

"In May next year, my injury should be almost healed." Sokov said thoughtfully, "But by then, as a major general without any post, will I have the opportunity to participate in such a military parade? "

"It's up to me," Lunev dismissed Sokov's concerns, and said in a sweeping manner; "Regardless of whether you have a job or not, I can take you Bring the viewing stand so that you can watch the military parade on the spot."

"That's really great." Hearing Lunev's promise to himself, Sokov couldn't help but burst into ecstasy, and quickly said, "Then we've made a deal."

"It's a deal!"