Red Moscow

Seeing that it was getting dark outside, Susaikov said to Sokov: "Comrade Sokov, it's getting late, you should go and rest first. If you have anything to do, we will talk about it tomorrow."

And Zakharov called the lieutenant colonel who showed Sokov the way, and told him: "Comrade lieutenant colonel, take General Sokov to a small hotel nearby. Remember to tell the person in charge and arrange a good one for him." s room."

The lieutenant colonel nodded, and then made a gesture of invitation to Sokov: "Comrade general, please."

From the headquarters to the small hotel, there is a distance of more than 500 meters. The lieutenant colonel knew that Sokov's leg was injured, so he deliberately walked slowly so that the other party could keep up with him.

When approaching the small hotel, the lieutenant colonel suddenly asked: "General Sokov, I heard that you are looking for an open-pit mine near Uman. Is there such a thing?"

Hearing the lieutenant colonel's question, Sokov couldn't help but frowned slightly, thinking how could an ordinary lieutenant colonel know about such a confidential matter? But after thinking about it, this person seems to be highly valued by Zakharov, and it is not surprising that he knows some inside information about the headquarters.

When he thought about the question being asked by the other party, even though there was no one around, he deliberately lowered his voice, as if he didn't want more people to know.

Before answering the question, Sokov asked, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I don't know what to call you?"

"My name is Georgi Melekhov," replied the lieutenant-colonel, "you may call me by either my first or last name."

Sokov thought that Zhukov's name was also Georgi, and if it would be confusing, he decided to call him by his surname: "So it's Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov. I want to ask, why did you inquire about this?" "

Melekhov hesitated for a moment, then asked cautiously: "Comrade General, can you help me keep a secret?"

Sokov nodded, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone your secret."

After receiving Sokov's assurance, Melekhov said: "Comrade General, I have an older brother, my own older brother. When the war broke out, he was in the 97th Border Guard Column of the 12th Army of the Southwest Front. Position. Since our army could not resist the German attack at the beginning of the war, the border guard column he was in moved to Kiev with the main force. But their troops were later deployed in the Uman area and were finally annihilated by the Germans.”

Hearing this, Sokov couldn't help interjecting and asked, "Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov, did your brother die or was he captured?"

"After the Battle of Uman, some commanders and fighters successfully broke through and retreated to Kiev." Melekhov said: "Although I heard the news that my brother's border defense column was annihilated by the German army, I always had a little bit of luck in my heart. , I thought he was still alive, so I asked those commanders and fighters who successfully broke through to see if anyone knew the whereabouts of my brother."

Looking at Melekhov's sad expression, Sokov knew that the other party must have not found his brother among the survivors. After a pause, he asked, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you think that your brother is still alive and even imprisoned in the open pit in Uman?"

"That's right." Melekhov nodded vigorously, and said in an affirmative tone: "I think this possibility is very high. After all, according to the information obtained, the enemy held tens of thousands of prisoners of war of our army in that mine."

"Okay, Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov." Sokov felt that as long as his troops could find the open-pit mine and rescue the commanders and fighters imprisoned in it, then helping Melekhov find his brother would be a matter of effort, so he would be happy He said calmly: "As long as my troops liberate the open-pit mine, I will definitely intervene in your brother's matter."

"Thank you, General Sokov, thank you very much."

The two soon came to the small hotel. The person in charge of the hotel was a lieutenant. Seeing Melekhov's arrival, he hurriedly stepped forward to greet him and said with a smile, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are here!"

Seeing Sokov following Melekhov, he quickly stood at attention and raised his hand in salute, saying respectfully, "Hello, Comrade General, welcome!"

"The general will be staying with you tonight." Melekhov said to the person in charge, "You can arrange a good room for him."

"Don't worry, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." The person in charge of the hotel said, "I will arrange the best room for him."

…………

Early the next morning, Sokov was awakened by a hasty knock on the door.

He sat up straight, did not put on his shoes immediately, but raised his voice and asked dissatisfiedly towards the outside: "Who, who is outside?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Melekhov's voice came from outside the door: "I am Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov."

Hearing that it was Melekhov who knocked on the door, Sokov didn't wear a coat, but bent over to put on his boots, walked slowly to the door, and opened the door with his hand.

"Hello, Comrade General!" Melekhov, who was standing outside the door, raised his hand to salute Sokov when he saw Sokov appearing at the door, and said politely: "Chief of Staff Zakharov ordered me to wake you up."

"What's the matter with him?"

"That's right, Comrade General." Melekhov explained to Sokov: "We have received a notification from the Supreme Command that Marshal Zhukov will arrive in an hour and let us prepare for reception. Chief of Staff Comrade said that you have a good relationship with Marshal Zhukov, and I want you to meet him at the airport."

Knowing that Zhukov was coming, Sokov didn't dare to neglect, and quickly said to Melekhov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please wait a moment, I will go with you after packing up."

A few minutes later, Sokov, who had packed up, came out of the room and said to Melekhov, "Let's go, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, let's go see Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army now."

Walking out of the hotel, Sokov saw a jeep parked by the side of the road, and asked tentatively, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, is this car here to pick me up?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Melekhov replied affirmatively, "After we meet up with the chief of staff, we will rush to the airport immediately. It will be more convenient to have a car."

The distance from the hotel to the headquarters is only more than 500 meters, and the jeep arrived outside the headquarters in less than a minute. Before the driver turned off the engine, Sokov saw a group of officers coming out, led by Konev. Zakharov and Susaikov followed closely behind. He hurriedly opened the car door, intending to go up and greet the three of them.

Before Sokov could speak, Konev saw him, nodded at him, and then said, "There's no need to go in, let's go to the airport now." After speaking, he walked towards a jeep parked not far away go.

After Zakharov and Susaikov greeted Sokov, they got into their own cars. Sokov hurriedly got back into the car and said to Melekhov, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, follow the car of Comrade Marshal."

After arriving at the airport, everyone stood beside the runway according to their positions. Although Sokov carried the lieutenant general's epaulettes, the people present were all important members of the headquarters, so he could only be crowded with a group of school-level officers.

Soon, a transport plane landed at the airport.

As the cabin door opened, Zhukov appeared at the cabin door.

Konev, Zakharov and Susaikov hurried forward to greet them.

After getting off the plane, Zhukov smiled and said to Konev: "Comrade Konev, I really didn't expect that we would meet again so soon."

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Konev shook hands with Zhukov and replied with a smile, "I didn't expect that we met the day before yesterday and met again today."

After Zhukov finished shaking hands with Zakharov and Susaikov, he was ready to get on a jeep that was driving over. Unexpectedly, he had just stepped into the car with one foot, and accidentally saw Sokov in the crowd, and quickly put his foot back.

"What's the matter, Comrade Marshal." Konev saw that Zhukov got out of the car halfway, and thought that something happened, so he quickly asked, "Is something wrong?"

Zhukov pointed at Sokov in the crowd, and said with a smile, "I didn't expect Misha to be here."

"Yes, he came when we held the commendation meeting yesterday." After explaining to Zhukov, Konev asked back, "Do you need to call him over?"

Zhukov thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "Forget it, let's see him later." After speaking, he re-entered the jeep.

Sokov stood at a relatively rear position, so it was naturally impossible to hear the conversation between Zhukov and Konev. Seeing everyone got back into the car, he also returned to the jeep.

Zhukov came this time on the order of the Supreme Command to promote Konev and Rotmistrov. Therefore, shortly after arriving at the headquarters, the promotion ceremony began immediately.

The ceremony was held in a meeting of the headquarters, and there were no more than 30 people who participated in the ceremony, which couldn't be compared with the scale of yesterday's commendation meeting.

The promotion ceremony was very simple. After Zakharov spoke a few words as the host, the official promotion began. Konev and Rotmistrov, who participated in the promotion, stood in front of everyone wearing brand-new military uniforms with their heads held high.

Zhukov walked up to Konev, and after saluting each other, he picked up the marshal's epaulets from the tray in the adjutant's hand, put them on Konev, shook hands, and said with a smile: "Congratulations, Marshal Konev!"

"Serve the Soviet Fatherland!"

Zhukov nodded, repeated the action just now, put the epaulettes of the Marshal of the Armored Forces on Rotmistrov, and congratulated him.

After doing all this, Zhukov turned around and said to everyone: "Commanders, I am here today on the order of the Supreme Command. In addition to the military rank, there is a new promotion order."

Hearing what Zhukov said, the people in the conference room couldn't help whispering, discussing in low voices that there is another promotion order, who is it for? However, Sokov's heart beat faster, thinking that Stalin agreed to Konev's suggestion and promoted himself to the military rank?

But after thinking about it, this possibility is unlikely. I was promoted to the military rank while recuperating. How long has it been since then, how could it be possible to be promoted again? Although there is a precedent for Vasilevsky, he is still very self-aware. He knows that he is not at the same level as the opponent. Others can be promoted from general to marshal in less than a month. What happened is simply a fantasy.

Seeing Zhukov make a gesture to the adjutant, the adjutant immediately understood, took out a boxy order from his jacket pocket, and handed it to Konev.

Konev unfolded the order, looked at it, and then began to read aloud: "In view of the courage and heroism shown in the struggle against the German invaders, Mikhail Mikhainovich is promoted to Sokov is the general!"

After Konev finished reading, the entire conference room became silent. Everyone did not expect that after completing the promotion of the two marshals, Sokov, the commander of the 53rd Army, also won the promotion.

"What's the matter, Comrade Sokov." Konev saw that Sokov had been sitting in his seat and didn't move, so he deliberately sternly said, pretending to be dissatisfied: "Didn't you hear the promotion order I read? "

Sokov quickly stood up and replied in a panic: "I heard that, Comrade Marshal!"

"Since I heard it, why don't you come here?"

It was only at this moment that Sokov confirmed that what he heard was not an auditory hallucination but real. He quickly grabbed his cane and limped towards Konev's position.

When Sokov came over, Konev took out two gold stars from the tray in the adjutant's hand, and solemnly pinned them on the epaulets for Sokov. He then took two steps back, carefully looked at the three gold stars on Sokov's shoulder strap, and said with satisfaction: "Comrade Sokov, congratulations, you have become the youngest general in our army."

"Thank you!" Sokov hurriedly held Konev's hand, and said excitedly, "Comrade Marshal, thank you so much."

Unexpectedly, Konev said sharply: "General Sokov, have you forgotten how to answer after receiving a medal or promotion?"

Konev's words reminded Sokov, he immediately stood at attention, straightened his back and said loudly: "Serve the Soviet motherland!"

"You have served well," Konev said kindly. "Keep working hard. Maybe before the end of the war, you will have another star on your shoulder badge."

After the simple and almost crude promotion ceremony ended, everyone dispersed. Sokov still stood there without moving. He waited until the others had almost left, and then tentatively asked Konev: "Comrade Marshal, can I go back to the army?"

"Of course." Konev said straightforwardly, "I'll ask the chief of staff to arrange a car to take you back."

After Sokov left, Zhukov and others came to Konev's office and began to summarize the experience and lessons of the Cherkasy Battle.

Although Zhukov knew the situation of the battle well, he still listened patiently to Konev's explanation. After the other party finished speaking, he began to conclude his speech: "The Korsun-Shevchenkovsky battle convincingly proved that our army has fully mastered the highest form of campaign science, that is, the art of encircling and annihilating the enemy. It It proves that our army's offensive operations are at a high level, and our army's skills in fighting the German Faxi Temple army are improving day by day.

Since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky Battle was the second large-scale encirclement battle after the Battle of Stalingrad. I believe that after this, the enemy will suffer more than one blow of this type of campaign. "

Konev agreed with Zhukov's summary, and he then asked: "Comrade Marshal, our two front armies will definitely have the opportunity to fight together in the next few days. At that time, my troops and I will They all resolutely obey your command."

"Comrade Konev, I have something to inform you. Someone proposed at the headquarters meeting that in order to command the troops more conveniently, it is planned to merge the Ukrainian First and Second Front Armies."