Red Moscow

Marshal Konev appeared as soon as the new army headquarters was established in the city of Tulchin.

Seeing Konev who came out unexpectedly, Sokov, Smirnov, and Military Commissar Gorokhov who were chatting at the table all stood up in a hurry and went forward to greet him together.

After Sokov raised his hand to salute Konev, he asked in surprise, "Comrade Marshal, why did you come to me?"

"In one day, your group army handed over a lot of occupied chassis. I was worried that comrades would be emotional, so I came here to take a look." Konev asked in a joking tone: "How is it, Comrade Sokov, Are you emotional?"

"How could it be, Comrade Marshal." Sokov said with a smile: "It is the bounden duty of soldiers to obey orders. Since our superiors have asked us to hand over our defenses to friendly troops, we just need to execute orders. What emotions can we have?"

After Konev sat down at the table, he suddenly asked, "Comrade Sokov, I heard that you dismissed General Kurishenko, the commander of the 41st Guards Division. Is there such a thing?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." From Konev's questioning, Sokov heard that the other party's visit this time might have something to do with Kurishenko's dismissal, so he replied truthfully: "I don't think he is suitable. Lieutenant Colonel Pornegelin was appointed to take over the post of division commander."

"Comrade Sokov, have you ever considered that General Kurishenko is an old soldier and has a lot of old stories in the army. You dismissed him here without any explanation. I'm afraid his old stories will be against you. .”

"Comrade Marshal," since Konev took the initiative to bring up Kurishenko's affairs, Sokov felt that it was necessary to explain: "During this period of battle, General Kurishenko was not resolute in executing orders, and repeatedly There was a situation that delayed the fighter plane. In order to prevent possible losses, after some careful consideration, I decided to relieve him of his position as division commander."

"Well, Comrade Sokov, even if what you said makes sense." Konev continued to ask: "It is true that General Kurishenko is not suitable for the post of commander of the 41st Guards Division, but after you dismissed him , You can’t leave him idle, you should arrange some work for him, lest he have nothing to do all day long, just drinking and complaining.”

Sokov shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said, "I'm sorry, Comrade Marshal, I don't have a suitable position for him here, so I can only wrong him to be temporarily idle."

"If you talk about the position of a teacher, you really have one here."

Konev's words surprised Sokov: "What, Comrade Marshal? What are you talking about, I have a suitable candidate for the division commander here?"

After saying this, Sokov's brain started to run at a high speed. He silently pondered in his heart, which division commander in his army is vacant?

After thinking about it for a long time, Sokov never thought of which division had a vacant position that could be used to accommodate Kurishenko. He could only shake his head and say, "I'm sorry, Comrade Marshal, I really can't think of any division. Is there a vacancy for the post of teacher?"

"Do you still remember the division I transferred from the 38th Army to your command a few days ago?"

"The 38th Army is assigned to the troops I will command?" Sokov was still at a loss: "Comrade Marshal, you are talking about the 237th Division, right? But the division has a complete organizational system, and the commanders are also fully staffed. There aren't any vacancies."

"Not before, not now or in the future." Konev sighed, and said to Sokov, "Misha, to tell you the truth, the commander of the 237th Division unfortunately ran over a landmine on his way to here. He has already died a heroic death. As a result, the position of division commander of the 237th Division is vacant."

Hearing the news of the death of the commander of the 237th Division, Sokov completely understood his feelings. Konev appeared at his headquarters today to arrange a new position for Kurishenko. Now that the superior has made up his mind, it is useless to say what he says, so he can only choose to compromise: "Okay, Comrade Marshal. I will resolutely obey your order and appoint General Kurishenko as the acting commander of the 237th Division .”

After arranging Kurishenko's new position, Sokov remembered that the division was sent to the open-pit by himself to rescue the rescued commanders and fighters, so he couldn't help asking Konev: "Comrade Marshal, did we rescue the soldiers from the open-pit?" There are more than 30,000 commanders and fighters, how should we arrange them?"

After hearing this, Konev couldn't help frowning, "Didn't I hear you report that there were 48,219 people on the seized roster, how did it become more than 30,000 people?"

"It's like this, Comrade Marshal." Sokov explained to Sokov: "After the Germans captured our prisoners of war, they put them directly in the open pit, ignored them, and left them to fend for themselves. .Many prisoners of war died from malnutrition caused by chronic starvation, but their names remained on the German rolls.”

After some explanations from Sokov, Konev finally understood what was going on. After pausing for a moment, he asked, "Among the more than 30,000 people, how many of them are suitable for joining the army in a short period of time?"

"There are only more than 10,000 people, which is only half of the total number." Sokov said to Konev: "Another five or six thousand people will be able to recover and be reorganized into the army after a period of recuperation. More than 800 people have been permanently disabled after being tortured by the Germans, and have no chance to return to the battlefield."

Knowing that many commanders and fighters were unable to return to the battlefield due to disabilities, Konev also felt it was a pity. He sighed softly and said regretfully: "It's a pity, what a pity. We owe a debt of blood, and we will get it back from them sooner or later."

As soon as Konev mentioned paying back the blood debt, Sokov suddenly remembered the famous Rhine Camp in later generations. This is a series of huge open-air camps separated by barbed wire on the flat open land on the west bank of the Rhine. POW camp. It is said that as many as 5 million German prisoners of war were detained, but in the end more than 1.3 million prisoners of war disappeared. Among them, the disappearance of 300,000 prisoners of war was blamed on the Soviet army, and the disappearance of the remaining one million prisoners of war has become an unsolved mystery.

"By the way, Comrade Sokov, I remember one more thing."

"whats the matter?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov, who came with me, said he had something to ask for you, and hoped to have a private talk with you."

Sokov knew very well in his heart that even though the commander of the 49th Army was also surnamed Melekhov, there was no connection between the two. Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov said that his brother was imprisoned in the open pit and asked his own to inquire about it. Now that all the prisoners of war in the open pit have been rescued, the other party must have come to ask about his brother's situation.

"Comrade Marshal, where is he?" Sokov thought that he happened to be fine, so he could go to see Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov: "I'll go find him now."

According to Konev's instructions, Sokov found Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov in the parking lot outside the headquarters. He shook hands with him and said with a smile: "Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, unexpectedly we meet again. gone."

"Hello, Comrade General." Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov seemed nervous because he would get news of his brother immediately: "I'm sorry to bother you, I think..."

Seeing the other party's hesitation, Sokov asked first: "Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov, do you want to ask about your brother?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov nodded vigorously, and asked expectantly, "Is there any news about him?"

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov, but I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you."

"Did he sacrifice himself?"

"No, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I will not send you a death notice." Sokov said helplessly, "I ordered someone to check the roster of prisoners of war, and I didn't find your brother's name on it."

"Impossible, it's absolutely impossible." After listening to Sokov's words, Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov lost control of his emotions: "You know, there are a total of 48,219 prisoners of war you rescued. It must be when you reviewed the list. , I missed my brother’s name.”

"How is this possible, Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov." Sokov directly poured cold water on the other party to dispel the other party's illusions: "The commander in charge of handling the list is the person I trust the most. I sent him When I went to the open pit to rescue prisoners of war, I told him to look carefully at the people with the surname Melekhov in order to find your brother. Unfortunately, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the list is Without your brother."

In order to make the other party completely give up, he also took out a piece of paper that was folded squarely from his pocket and handed it to Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, this records all the people with the surname Melekhov. People, see if your brother is among them."

Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov, who was a little emotional, snatched the paper from Sokov's hand. So I was so excited that I tore a gap in the paper when I opened it. After opening the paper, he couldn't wait to browse the names on it. But what is regrettable is that he read the note with only more than 30 names over and over ten times, but he still didn't see his brother's name.

"Don't be sad, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Seeing Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov pulling his hair with both hands in pain, Sokov couldn't bear it, so he comforted him and said, "The reason why you haven't found your brother is because I think that There are two possibilities. One is that he died on the battlefield, because the battle was fierce, and there was no time to take away or bury the remains of his comrades."

Sokov's words made Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov calm down a lot. He looked up at Sokov, and asked expressionlessly: "Then there is another possibility, Comrade General."

"Another possibility is a very ideal state." Sokov said to Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov: "Maybe he used someone else's identity to prevent his identity from being exposed. There's nothing on the roster."

This time Sokov's words made Melekhov's eyes light up. He grabbed Sokov's shoulder and asked excitedly, "Comrade General, is this really possible?"

"Of course." Sokov nodded and said: "After some commanders and fighters of our army were captured by the German army, in order not to reveal their true identities, many people would pretend to be others and enter the German prisoner-of-war camps."

"Impersonation should be very common." Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov showed a relaxed expression on his face: "The Germans generally execute our officers, political workers, and Jews in a short time after they catch them. Yes. When some commanders were captured, in order to escape the fate of being shot by the Germans, they liked to use the names of their sacrificed comrades as their amulets.”

Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov saw hope again, he raised his hand to wipe away the tears on his face, and said apologetically to Sokov: "Comrade General, please forgive my gaffe and impoliteness just now."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you don't have to blame yourself, this is all human nature." Sokov said lightly: "I will continue to help you find my brother, as long as there is news about him, I will notify you immediately." He said Just after saying this, I suddenly remembered that I might not be able to find the real person by searching by name, so I asked, "Do you have a photo of him?"

"I'm sorry, Comrade General, no." Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov replied with some embarrassment. "I used to have his photos, but after so many battles, those photos were lost."

"Forget it. If he really fell into the hands of the Germans, after two years of torture, he may have been completely changed. Even if he stood in front of you, you would not recognize him."

Regarding Sokov's statement, Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov did not feel alarmist, but thought it was very reasonable: "You are right, Comrade General. Don't mention you, even I may not be the first Recognized him immediately."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Sokov decided to poach Konev's corner, considering that his army lacked experienced officers, and asked tentatively, "I wonder if you are interested in joining my army?"

"Comrade General," Facing Sokov's invitation, Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov hesitated. Although there are many opportunities to make meritorious deeds by Sukov's side, the risk factor has doubled: "This matter has nothing to do with it. It's important, can you let me think about it?"

Sokov knew that the twisted melon was not sweet, and he did not intend to take advantage of the other party's ready to repay the favor and force the other party to become his subordinate. Instead, he said reasonably: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, this choice is related to your future. You need to think about it carefully. But don't worry, the door of my army is open for you at any time, as long as you want, you can come over anytime!"

"Comrade Commander," an officer approached and reported to Sokov, "a comrade woman wants to see our Supreme Commander."

Sokov did not give an immediate reply, but instead asked: "Is it a comrade in the army or a local comrade?"

"Neither." The officer replied with some embarrassment: "It's just an ordinary woman. She insisted that she had important matters and wanted to see the supreme commander here."

Just when Sokov was about to ask the officer to bring him over, Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov suddenly said: "Comrade General, it can't be a German spy, right? As far as I know, such a thing happened to the friendly army. Many ordinary people wanted to see our supreme commander, but as soon as they met, the other party would shoot or detonate the grenade hidden on his body, causing some casualties to our commander.”

Sokov felt that Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov's statement was a bit worrisome. According to the information he had, the city had always been controlled by the Romanian army. They probably didn't bother to engage in such a trick of assassination. Then he said confidently to the officer: "Please bring that female comrade to me."

After a few minutes, the officer brought over a woman in ordinary clothes, a flowered shawl and a flowered headscarf. Before Sokov could speak, Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov standing beside him suddenly exclaimed, "Warnia? Is that you?!"