Red Moscow

"Victor," Sokov wanted to keep a low profile during the study period, but he was worried that there would be a subordinate like Victor in the training class, so that his identity would not be concealed at all, so he asked tentatively: "Except Besides you, are there any other commanders in the training class who are my subordinates?"

"I'm not sure, Comrade Commander." Victor replied with a wry smile, "Although I'm the only one from our division, I don't know if there are any commanders from other divisions to participate in the training."

Seeing that Victor didn't know, Sokov felt very helpless. After all, he had served as the commander of the 21st and 27th Army, and even briefly commanded the 53rd Army. There are so many commanders who know him. It seems that if I want to conceal my identity, it may be a difficult task.

Sokov waved his hands at the two of them, and said helplessly: "If there is really a commander who knows me, then there is nothing I can do. Anyway, you two don't reveal my identity."

"By the way," Sokov suddenly remembered an important question: "Do you know how the seats in the classroom are arranged?" He asked this because he was worried that the teacher would arrange himself behind when arranging the seats.

"Comrade Commander, you can rest assured about this." Victor said: "Before the formal lecture, you can choose your seat freely, and you can sit wherever you want. Write down your seat and report it to the teacher, then the seat will be fixed and cannot be changed casually.”

"Where are you going to sit?" Sokov asked, hoping that the two of them could sit near him. In any case, with two people who knew his details by his side, he could safely order them to go if there was anything to do. finished.

Victor and Sukharev looked at each other, and then Victor said, "Comrade Commander, we will sit next to you. Sukharev will sit in front of you, and I will sit behind you." .You still have injuries on your legs, and you have limited mobility. Please tell us if you have anything to do, and we will do our best to help you."

Time passed quickly, and new commanders walked into the classroom from time to time. After they greeted Sokov and the others politely, they began to look for ideal positions.

"Hey, Comrade Captain." At this time, an elderly major walked up to Sokov and said to Sokov, "Please find a seat at the back, I have bad eyesight and want to sit here .”

Facing such a rude major, Sokov didn't argue with him, but smiled lightly, and then said: "I'm sorry, Comrade Major, didn't you see me sitting in a wheelchair? You just have bad eyesight, and I It’s because of bad legs and inconvenient movement, I think you should go to the back and find a seat.”

Seeing that Sokov refused his request, the major put a straight face on his face and asked impolitely: "Captain, don't you know that in the army, you must absolutely obey the orders of your superiors? What I just said is understandable." My order to you. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Major." Sokov deliberately procrastinated and emphasized: "But unfortunately, I won't let you. You should go to the back as soon as possible to find a seat. If you move too slowly, there may be no seats. "

"Captain Sokov is right." Victor, as Sokov's old subordinate, saw that his superior was in a little trouble, so he naturally came out to help him smooth things over: "He has an injury on his leg. Inconvenience, major, I advise you to go to the back as soon as possible to find a seat, if you are late, the seats will be taken away, and you will have to stand in class."

If someone else had said these words, the major would definitely scold him. But seeing that Victor had the same military rank as his own, he could only snort heavily, and then walked quickly to the back row, trying to find a place that belonged to him as soon as possible.

Not long after, the entire classroom was full of people.

Fortunately, except for the unreasonable major just now, no one came to say hello to Sokov. It seems that in this classroom, the only people who know Sokov are Victor and Sukharev.

A teacher wearing glasses and the rank of captain walked in from the outside and stood directly on the podium.

Seeing the teacher come in, the noisy classroom suddenly became silent.

"Commanders, commanders, hello!" The instructor standing on the podium said: "I will introduce myself, my name is Christonia, and I am your instructor. From now on, in the next three months , we will all study together. In order to facilitate the management of the class, we have assigned a monitor for the class.”

The instructor picked up the roster on the table, flipped through it, and then looked up at the students sitting below: "Major Kryzhiuf from the 13th Army."

Hearing this strange name, Sokov, like ordinary students, also looked around, trying to see clearly who the student who was the class leader was.

When Sokov saw the elderly major standing up, his face showed a look of astonishment. He didn't expect that the person who just asked him to give up his seat was actually the monitor of the training class?

"Major Kryzhiuf," although the teacher's military rank is lower than that of Kryzhiuf, he still said in an orderly tone: "As the monitor of the training class, your responsibility is to assist the teachers in managing the class and maintaining normal teaching. Order. You have to do a good job in the communication link between the teacher and the students. You must not only convey the instructions of the teacher to the ears of the students in a timely manner, but also communicate the life and study problems that the students encounter in school. Difficulty, quickly report to the instructor."

Kryzhiuf said: "Comrade teacher, please rest assured that I will definitely perform my duties well and be a good link between the teacher and the students in the class."

Sukharev had a bitter expression on his face when he heard what Kryzhuv said, and he asked Sokov in a low voice: "Captain Sokov, tell me, will this squad leader wear small shoes for you in the future?" ?”

"What are you afraid of?" Sokov said with some disdain, "He is just a little major, what can he do to me?"

Sukharev thought about it carefully, and it was really the case. Anyway, Sokov was an army commander. If Kryzhov really wants to wear small shoes for Sokov in the future, he can directly reveal his true identity. Presumably at some point, the expression on Kryzhov's face will be very exciting.

"Quiet, commanders and comrades, please be quiet!" Seeing Sokov and Sukharev whispering, Kryzhuv performed his duties as squad leader in time. The first person he criticized was naturally Sokharev. Cove. "Everyone is not a recruit, but has already undergone military training. Don't you understand that classroom order needs everyone to maintain it?"

Sokov is a smart person, so he can naturally hear that what Kryzhuv said was aimed at him. The other party wants to use this method to avenge the loss he suffered just now.

As a former commander of the group army and a newly promoted lieutenant general, Sokov naturally wouldn't care about such a small person like Kryzhiuf. He looked at the teacher standing on the podium, guessing what the other party would do next. will do.

"Comrade squad leader," the teacher told Kryzhouf, "after class is over, please wait for the seats of the commanders and report to me."

After hearing Kryzhiuf's affirmative answer, the teacher nodded in satisfaction and continued, "Today is the first day of registration. We won't be lecturing for now, so we'll chat casually."

After the teacher finished speaking, the classroom fell into silence.

The reason is very simple. Although the teacher said to chat casually, he didn't say anything, so the students sitting below kept silent, and wanted to wait for someone to speak before expressing their views.

The teacher waited for a while, but when no one spoke, he pouted at Kryzhouf's position and said, "Comrade squad leader, it seems that the students are rather shy and embarrassed to take the initiative to speak, so I'll let you say a few words first." Sentence."

"Okay, comrade teacher." Kryzhouf stood up, coughed heavily, cleared his throat, and said, "comrades commanders, you all know that I am from the 13th Army. During the battle, our troops did not participate in many battles, and were basically used as a reserve team.

But after the liberation of Kiev, we finally got rid of the fate of being a reserve force, and we received orders from General Rokossovsky to advance to Koroszyn to assist the 60th Army, which was fighting there, from the Germans Take that city. "

"Wait a minute, Comrade Major." Hearing this, Sokov couldn't help interrupting Kryzhuv: "If I remember correctly, the troops that liberated Kiev were the Ukrainian troops of General Vatutin. The First Front, and General Rokossovsky belongs to the Belarusian Front, how could you accept his orders?"

Hearing Sokov's question, Kryzhiv said quite proudly: "Comrade Captain, you don't know that, Rokossovsky, as a representative of the headquarters, was sent to the Ukrainian No. On the one hand, the army assisted in the command. But not long after he came, he took over the commander of the army from the original commander."

"This is really great!" Sokov couldn't help blurting out when he heard this.

"What's so great?" Kryzhouf asked puzzled.

"I mean, it is very appropriate for General Rokossovsky to command the troops near Kiev." After explaining the reason, Sokov added casually: "General Rokossovsky's command level , is far superior to General Vatutin."

The instructor has led many training courses, and it is definitely the first time for Sokov to criticize Vatutin's poor command in public: "Why do you say that?"

"I have seen Generals Vatutin and Rokossovsky, . . . "

Unexpectedly, as soon as he said this, there was a burst of laughter. According to everyone's thinking, Sokov must be bragging. How could a mere captain like him see all kinds of opportunities and command hundreds of thousands of soldiers? Commander-in-Chief.

From the laughter of the crowd, Sokov understood that they misunderstood what he meant and thought he was bragging, but he did not defend himself, but took the initiative to say: "Comrade teacher, I want to talk about it from a purely military point of view. Kursk battle, I wonder if it is possible?"

"Just say what comes to mind, Comrade Captain." Seeing that Sokov was willing to speak, the teacher naturally wanted it, so he took the initiative to say: "Even if you say something wrong, no one will blame you."

"As we all know, the battle of Kursk was divided into two directions, the north and the south. General Rokossovsky was in charge of the north, and Vatutin was in charge of the south." Sokov followed his own thinking, taking it easy He said: "After the Germans launched a fierce attack on our army's defense line, the area in charge of Vatutin was broken through by the Germans from the front for about 35 kilometers, and it was almost pierced. With the help of a group army, this round is really bad luck.

In contrast, the defensive pressure carried by Sokorovsky's Central Front Army was no less than that of the Voronezh Front Army, but the Germans tried their best to attack, and only advanced about 12 kilometers forward, and they could no longer move . The gap between the two can be seen from this. "

Sokov originally wanted to say more, but considering that some things might be leaked, he directly skipped the analysis of the information: "I have carefully studied the Battle of Kursk, and if General Vatutin Being able to stand still and rely on the fortifications that have been built long ago to resist the German attack. And use the advantages of firepower and terrain to consume a large amount of the German army's effective strength..."

The instructor patiently listened to Sokov's explanation, nodded his head and said: "What you said is very reasonable, but even so, we still won the final victory." After a short pause, he asked back: "Comrade Captain, you Tell me, is the victory in the Battle of Kursk beneficial to our army?"

"The benefits are obvious, Comrade Teacher." As soon as he talked about the analysis of the battle situation, he said that Sokov forgot that he was a captain, but a participant, to discuss the Battle of Kursk with everyone Pros and cons: “It can be said that before the Battle of Stalingrad, our army was still in the stage of strategic defense. The Germans had the final say on where the battle should take place. But with the capture of Paulus, the German army’s first With the destruction of the 6th Army, we have changed from a stage of strategic defense to a stage of strategic stalemate.

And our army's victory in the Battle of Kursk turned our army from the original strategic stalemate stage to the strategic offensive stage. Up to now, the situation on the battlefield has completely changed. The offensive side has become our army, while the Germans have become the defensive side. "

"That's right." A smile appeared on the instructor's face. He nodded at Sokov and said with emotion: "Comrade captain, which unit did you serve as a staff officer in the past? Otherwise, you are talking about these things. How can it be possible to do everything when it is time?"

"No, comrade instructor." Sokov shook his head and replied, "I have never served as a staff officer. I have always participated in combat in combat units."

The instructor saw Sokov in a wheelchair, with one of his feet still in a cast, and thought what he was saying might be true. If he is a staff officer in the army, the chance of being injured is very small. It seems that it is really a combat unit. He smiled and asked: "Comrade Captain, I want to ask you, what are your plans after the training is over?"

"It goes without saying," Sokov grinned, and replied truthfully: "After my injury is healed, I will definitely return to the front-line combat troops and continue to fight tenaciously with the Germans."

"Students," the instructor raised his voice and said to everyone, "I'm here to give you an overview. After your training is complete, in addition to being assigned to the frontline combat units, some of you will also enter the staff department. It serves as a combat staff officer or an intelligence staff officer."