Red Moscow

When the intelligence agent from Uman appeared in front of Sokov, he couldn't help being stunned: "Comrade Adelina, is that you?"

The young female intelligence officer just entered the dimly lit room, before she could clearly see a group of commanders standing opposite, she suddenly heard someone calling her name from the crowd, and she couldn't help showing a shocked expression on her face. She squinted her eyes and looked into the crowd, trying to figure out who was calling her.

Sokov knew in his heart that when a person suddenly faces a group of people, even if there are acquaintances in the crowd, it is difficult to recognize them. So he pushed aside Bonegeline who was standing in front of him, walked up to Adelina, and said with a smile, "Adelina, you don't know me anymore, I'm Sokov."

After Adelina looked the commander in front of her up and down, she recognized that the young general was the Sokov she knew. She exclaimed and gave Sokov a warm hug: "It turns out It's you, Misha. When did you come to the front? I thought you were recuperating in a military hospital in Moscow?"

"I have not been here for a long time, and I am the commander of the 53rd Army." Sokov briefly explained his situation, and then asked curiously: "Adelina, aren't you working in Lubyanka now? Why? Will it appear in the Uman area?"

Seeing that Sokov and Adelina knew each other, the surrounding commanders dispersed one after another to go about their respective tasks, trying not to disturb the commander and his old friends to catch up.

"Comrade Sokov, I really didn't expect you to know Adelina." Shtemenko nodded at Adelina, "Hi, Adelina, nice to meet you here."

"Yes, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff." Sokov explained to Shtemenko: "At the end of the Moscow Defense War, I led the troops to liberate a prisoner-of-war camp. At that time, Adelina was working as an interpreter for the Germans. That's when I met her."

After figuring out how Sokov met Adelina, Shtemenko also took the initiative to talk about how he met Adelina: "I met her twice in Lunev's office and knew that she was Lunev's most capable agent."

After the simple greetings, Sokov put a cup of steaming black tea in front of Adelina, and asked the question again: "Adelina, you are not transferred to work in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, why did you show up?" where?"

"It's like this, Misha." Adelina picked up the hot tea and explained to Sokov: "I received a mission last week, saying that our underground resistance organization lurking in Uman City got a A defense map of Uman. The comrade who was supposed to get information was unfortunately discovered by the enemy and died when passing through the defense lines of both sides. Comrade Lunev, considering that I know German and have many years of experience in underground work, sent me to carry out this daunting task.”

Sokov didn't make a sound, and listened quietly to the other party's story about how to get in touch with the members of the underground resistance organization who obtained the information if he sneaked into Uman quietly through the defense lines of both sides without attracting attention.

After Adelina's narration came to an end, Sokov asked, "After you got the information, did you come to our city immediately?"

"No, Misha." Adelina shook her head and said, "According to the instructions of our superiors, we should find a way to return to Zhytomyr, and hand over the information we have obtained to the staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who will respond there."

"Since the order from your superiors is to go to Zhytomyr." Shtemenko asked inexplicably, "Then why did you turn around and come to us?"

"Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, I have no choice." Adelina said bitterly: "The Germans have assembled a large number of troops in the direction of Zhytomyr, and the road to the north is blocked. My colleagues and I There was a dispute between the intelligence agents, I proposed to find my own troops in the south, and pass the information on. But he insisted on returning to Zhytomyr. He thought that even if the Germans blocked the road, we could find a way to go from other directions. Go around."

"Confused, Adelina, your companion is so confused." Sokov said angrily after hearing this: "Since the road has been blocked, then just go in the opposite direction, why continue stubbornly?" How about taking the risk of heading north? If you do so, you will end up killing yourself and your companions.”

"Misha, you are right." Agelina nodded and said, "We encountered a German patrol less than five kilometers away from Uman, and there was an exchange of fire. All three of my companions were in I was killed in battle, and I narrowly escaped the Germans by hiding under a tree root."

She continued: "I found that it was obviously impossible to go north, so I strengthened my original decision and prepared to move south to find my own troops and pass on the information."

Hearing Adelina repeatedly mention intelligence, Sokov turned his head and asked Smirnov who was sitting beside him silently: "Comrade Chief of Staff, has the film been developed?"

Smirnov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said, "It will take a quarter of an hour at the earliest before we can see the developed film."

Sokov considered that even if the film was developed, he could only use a magnifying glass to look at the content on it. He felt that this was too inconvenient, so he frowned and asked, "How long does it take to develop a photo?" long time?"

"After the film is developed, if you want to develop it into a photo, it may take an extra half an hour."

Sokov, who was eager to know the deployment of the German army, how could he wait so long, he asked Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, is there any way to make the negatives more clearly visible?"

"Misha, do you have a slide projector here?" Agelina said unexpectedly: "If there is a slide projector, we can play the film as a slide, so that we can clearly see the deployment of the Germans."

"It makes sense, it makes sense." Sokov nodded repeatedly after hearing this, and then told Ponejielin: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please find a slide projector so that we can see the photos."

Pornegerin agreed, turned and walked out of the headquarters, looking for a slide projector outside.

"Adelina," Sokov looked at Adelina after Ponegerin left, and asked with concern: "What are your plans after returning to Moscow this time?"

"I don't know." Adelina shook her head and said, "As an intelligence officer, I have no right to choose my own life. I resolutely obey the arrangement of my superiors. I think that maybe I will continue to work in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, or it is possible Transferred to other fronts, where some covert missions were carried out."

"Adelina, it's too dangerous for you to perform missions outside all year round." Sokov shook his head and said, "When I was in the hospital, I heard you say that because of the failure of the operation, your identity was exposed and you had to withdraw Moscow. People can’t be lucky forever, you can avoid one or two dangers, but you may not be able to escape for a lifetime.”

Seeing that the other party was silent, Sokov offered: "Adelina, if you feel embarrassed, I can call Lunev personally and ask him to arrange a good job for you, so you don't have to worry about it like this anymore." .”

"Comrade Commander," Smirnov asked suddenly, "Didn't General Lunev say he would come to our place to investigate? How many days have passed, why haven't we seen him yet?"

"I'm not too sure." Sokov shook his head and said, "Before the battle started, he said that he would come to me overnight, but who knows that he hasn't seen him yet, and he hasn't heard from him yet. phone, I don’t know what he did.”

"Comrade Sokov, the reason is very simple." Shtemenko said: "In order not to affect your command of operations, the superior has given Lunev an order not to take any investigation work that will affect your command."

"So that's the case." Sokov finally understood why Lunev hadn't appeared in his headquarters. It turned out that his superiors had ordered him to stop the investigation. He looked at Stemenko and asked: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, you must know something inside?"

"What inside story can I know?" Shtemenko shook his head and said, "Actually, Yakov said good things for you. The Supreme Commander personally intervened in this matter and announced in public that all investigations will be stopped. , so as not to affect your command operations."

Knowing that it was Yakov's help that he avoided many unnecessary troubles, he couldn't help but feel grateful to Yakov. He remembered that Yakov once said that after dawn, he would return with the hovercraft unit to help him transport a new batch of weapons and ammunition.

"Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff," Sokov asked Shtemenko tentatively, "do you know that Yasha is leaving now?"

"I don't know." Shtemenko looked at Sokov with strange eyes and said, "The two of us came back from the headquarters of the 41st Guards Division together. You don't know about it. How can I know?"

"After the enemy in Uman is eliminated, we will definitely continue to advance to the west of Ukraine." Sokov said: "Because our army has not yet been able to obtain air supremacy in those areas, the air defense of the future troops will become a big problem, so he Being able to send the anti-aircraft weapons over earlier can also reduce some of the pressure on our air defense."

Hearing Sokov mention the issue of air defense, Smirnov said quickly: "Comrade Commander, I received an order from the Front Army Command not long ago, saying that the women's anti-aircraft artillery regiment, which originally belonged to the 27th Army, will be closed in the near future. Putting it under the command of our army group, I would like to ask if this is your preparation for future air defense."

"That's right." Sokov replied in an affirmative tone: "Our army's air defense force is too weak. If it encounters a large-scale air attack by enemy planes, it will definitely cause great casualties. Therefore, it is necessary to form a new air defense force. It is an imperative event. The women’s anti-aircraft artillery regiment of the 27th Army has well-trained soldiers, and it would be very appropriate for them to help train new anti-aircraft artillery or anti-aircraft machine gunners.”

Several people chatted for a while, and Ponegerin came in from outside with two soldiers carrying a slide projector. He handed a film to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the film has been developed."

Sokov didn't reach out to pick up the film, but told him, "Let's take a look at it with a slide lamp."

Adelina heard Sokov say she wanted to see the photos, so she quickly stood up and said, "Misha, I think I should avoid it."

"No, no, no," Sokov said, waving his hands, "You were the one who brought this information, and you are fully qualified to read it together. Besides, you have stayed in Uman and are familiar with the situation in the city. Tell us about the situation in the city."

Now that Sokov said so, Adelina no longer insisted on leaving, but sat down again.

Soon, an intelligence staff member was showing the slides.

Looking at the schematic diagram projected on the wall, Sokov nodded to Adelina and motioned her to explain it to everyone. After all, what was seen on the schematic diagram was quite different from the actual situation.

Adelina walked to the wall, picked up a explaining stick, pointed to the bottom of the city defense map and said: "comrades, commanders, from the city defense map we have obtained, the Germans always put the key points of defense, It is placed on the north side of Uman. According to their thinking, the north side is the troops commanded by Marshal Zhukov, and only that direction is the place that poses the greatest threat to them.”

"And to the south is the Ukrainian Second Front Army where you are. Compared with the First Front Army commanded by Marshal Zhukov, your threat is obviously much smaller. Therefore, their defense in the south of the city appears to be much weaker. "

"For example, here." Adelina pointed to a location with the explaining stick and said to everyone: "This is a forest area, and the Germans' defense force is only two battalions. , without even barbed wire and minefields, our troops could easily storm their positions."

"Wait a minute, Comrade Adelina." Hearing this, Ponegerin couldn't help interrupting Adelina: "I once fought the Germans here, how much do I know about the terrain to the south of the city?" I have some understanding. Although the Germans do not have many troops in the south of the city, and there are no barbed wire and minefields in front of the positions, but the terrain here is complex, with many lakes and swamps, we cannot invest in armored troops at all, and can only rely on infantry to break through the enemy line of defense."

Although Adelina is an intelligence agent, she is not familiar with specific battles at all. When she heard Ponegerin speak, she stopped on her own initiative, intending to wait for the other party to finish speaking before making corresponding supplements.

"You're right, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." As a member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Adelina naturally read the information about Ponegerin and me. She recognized him at a glance, and explained politely: " But the terrain here is not conducive to defense, even if armored units cannot be used, as long as our infantry attack, positions without barbed wire and minefield protection can be quickly occupied by them."

"Comrade Adelina," said Shtemenko, who was sitting next to Sokov, with a smile, "It seems that you have a good understanding of this information. I believe it must have taken a lot of work."

Hearing Shtemenko's compliment to her, Adelina quickly stood at attention, straightened her back and replied: "Yes, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, I have already familiarized myself with this information. After providing the information, I went to the scene to check it myself to avoid mistakes.”

"That's right, Comrade Adelina." Shtemenko said approvingly: "It's an intelligence officer not to blindly believe what he gets, but to go to the field and investigate for himself to determine whether the information is accurate or not." The attitude that a member should have.”