Red Moscow

"Should I call you Liuba, or Shevzova?" Sokov asked after the other party finished speaking.

"Whatever," said Liuba Shevzova casually: "Comrade General, you may call me whatever you like."

"Okay, then I'll call you Liuba." Sokov decisively chose the address of the other party, and continued: "Aren't you afraid of being punished if you reveal your identity to me now?"

"Scared, of course I'm afraid." Liuba nodded and said with affirmative tone: "However, I did not complete the task assigned to me by my superiors, and sent that general safely to the designated place. He was killed in the end, and the My documents were taken away by the Germans, all of which have nothing to do with me. Even if I can continue to hide it, I will feel uneasy, so I choose to confess everything to you."

"Liuba," Sokov patted Liuba's shoulder lightly twice: "If I told you that you can't do anything, would you believe it?"

"It's impossible!" Liuba raised her voice sharply, "My mistake is enough to send me to a court-martial and receive the punishment I deserve."

Sokov shook his head, called Liuba to sit down, and said to her, "Liuba, you may not know that the mission you accepted back then was a mission to send you to death."

"What, the task of sending me to die?"

"That's right." The ins and outs of this matter, Ponejielin has told Sokov, and Sokov naturally knows what's going on, he explained to Liuba: "The situation at that time was seriously unfavorable to the Southwest Front Army, so It was decided by the superiors to conduct a deception operation on the Germans in order to disperse their forces. This way, the main force of our army will have enough time to regroup and launch a counterattack against the Germans.

And the general on the plane you are flying is just a reconnaissance staff officer, and his real rank is captain. He was wearing a general's uniform and carrying a fake document, and he was flying across the battle lines in a plane, just to let the Germans shoot down your plane, so that when the German search forces arrived, they could find the papers that the fake general was carrying. These carefully forged documents will mislead the German commander and make him make wrong decisions. "

After listening to Sokov's narration, Liuba was silent for a long time before asking: "Comrade General, is everything you said true?"

"Of course it's all true." Sokov nodded and explained to Liuba: "I first heard about this matter from the corporal Aku who rescued you. In order to confirm the truth of this matter, I I also deliberately asked the commander of the 12th Army at the time, Bone Delin, to find out what was going on."

"Comrade General, can I say something?" Brass, who had been sitting next to him without speaking for a long time, suddenly interrupted and asked.

"Of course, Comrade Blass."

Blass stood up and said: "Comrade General, I have seen the leaflets dropped by the Germans into the forest. The commander of the 12th Army, General Pornejerin, has been captured by the Germans. How can you ask him for information? ?”

"Comrade Blass, you don't know something." Before Sukov could speak, Smirnov spoke first to help him explain: "General Pornedelin was indeed captured by the Germans, but in the second half of last year Well, when we liberated Klemenchug, we rescued him from the prisoner-of-war camp. Now he is serving as the commander of a certain division under the Army Group. Therefore, it is very convenient for us to ask him to find out what's going on. .”

"Comrade General," although Sokov had explained the whole matter clearly, Liuba was still worried: "Am I really all right?"

"Liuba, I'm going to tell you that you have nothing to do." Sokov worried that Liuba still had misgivings, so he continued, "I sent Aku to Vinnytsia just to find the old The remains of the reconnaissance staff officer, if possible, bring his remains back for burial."

"So, I'm really fine?" Liuba's face was full of disbelief.

"Of course it's fine," Sokov looked at the other party and said, "What are your future plans? Would you like to stay at the Army Group Command, or return to the Air Force and continue to fly your plane?"

"I haven't piloted an airplane for many years." Liuba said with a wry smile, "The airplanes today are completely different from the airplanes I flew at that time. I'm not sure if I'm still fit to fly."

Seeing Liuba's indecision, Smirnov said to her: "Comrade Liuba, if you really want to return to the blue sky, I can help you contact the air force that is willing to accept you."

Seeing Liuba looking at Smirnov with puzzled eyes, Sokov remembered that he hadn't introduced Smirnov to the two of them, so he hurriedly said, "This is General Smirnov, the chief of staff of the army group. , he was formerly the headmaster of the Podolsk Infantry Academy."

Sokov originally thought that the other party might not know about the Podolsk Infantry Academy, but he did not expect Blas to have a surprised expression on his face after hearing this: "So you are the principal of the Podolsk Infantry Academy, General Smirnov. Hello, hello, I used to have a comrade in arms who graduated from the Podolsk Infantry Academy, and I heard him mention you once."

Hearing that Blass was his student's comrade-in-arms, Smirnov couldn't help feeling more fond of him: "Comrade Blass, where is that student now?"

"Sacrificed," Blass sighed. "He was killed in battle less than a week after the war broke out."

Smirnov sighed softly after hearing this, and said: "In order to defend our great motherland, many people gave their lives."

Blass said with emotion: "It's a pity that after someone died, he didn't even know where he was buried, let alone let others remember it."

"Comrade Brass, I think that after we win the final victory, we will build the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in several famous big cities." Sokov said with a serious expression: "Besides the perennial eternal flame In addition, there should be a line of words engraved: 'Your names will not be known, and your achievements will last forever'."

"Comrade General, is what you said true?" Blass asked excitedly, "Is it true that such a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier will be built to commemorate the thousands of soldiers who died in the battle to defend the motherland?"

"That's for sure, Comrade Brass." Sokov said that he had seen many such Tombs of the Unknown Soldier in later generations, so he naturally had the most right to speak, so he said in an affirmative tone: "I assure you. "

Since Sukov still had to command the battle, after chatting with Blass and Liuba for a few more words, he ordered someone to take them down to rest, and prepared to chat with them slowly when he had time.

After such a long delay, Sukov was most concerned about how the battle on the right bank was going, so he directly connected the headquarters of the 41st Guards Division, and straight to the point asked Bonejelin who answered the phone: "Bonegelin Lieutenant Colonel Jaylin, how is the situation there, has the enemy's shelling stopped completely?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander, the shelling has completely stopped." Pornedelin reported to Sokov: "Although the shelling stopped, the Germans did not attack us. It seems that your analysis is correct. Our artillery destroyed the German artillery positions, and the German infantry, without artillery cover, dared not risk attacking our positions again."

"Closely monitor all movements of the German army." Sokov worried that Ponegerin underestimated the enemy, and specifically told him: "Don't be careless, so as not to be caught off guard by the Germans."

"Comrade Commander, you can rest assured about this." Ponejielin assured Sokov on the phone: "I have already told the frontline troops to send a reconnaissance team as close as possible to the enemy's garrison. Closely monitor the enemy's movements. If there is any trouble, report to the superior immediately."

After a few words of praise for Ponejielin, Sokov suddenly remembered the female pilot Liuba, and quickly said: "By the way, Lieutenant Colonel Ponejielin, I have one more thing to tell you. The female pilot who was on the mission back then Pilot, found!"

"A female pilot on a mission?!" Ponegerin was taken aback for a moment, and then understood what Sokov meant, and asked in surprise, "Comrade Commander, you mean that I sent The female pilot on a top-secret mission?"

"That's right, it's her." Sokov replied in an affirmative tone.

"But she has been missing for almost three years, where did she come from now?"

"Today, a guerrilla unit established contact with the 3rd Guards Airborne Division stationed on the right bank. Among them, Captain Blass and a female health worker came to my headquarters." Sokov told Ponejielin The introduction said: "The female health worker among them is the missing female pilot."

"My God, how did she survive these two or three years?"

"Didn't I just tell you that she served as a female health worker in a guerrilla team?" Sokov introduced to Ponejielin: "The guerrilla captain Blas was originally an officer. After the troops were dispersed, He took some soldiers and retreated to the forest area, using the terrain to fight guerrillas behind enemy lines.

The areas where they are active are in the two countries of Ukraine and Moldavia. When the German army's siege in Ukraine made them unable to stand, they retreated to Moldavia. When the siege began in Moldavia, they moved on to Ukraine just in time. In this way, they dealt with the German army for almost three years. "

Sokov's description of Blass made Ponegerin very interested in him. He tentatively asked: "Comrade commander, there is an extreme shortage of battalion and company commanders in our division. Can you let this Captain Brass come to my division, and I can appoint him as the battalion commander?" .”

"I'll talk to him later and hear what he thinks." Sokov said, "If he is willing, I will arrange manpower as soon as possible and send him to your army."

"Great, this is really great." There are many commanders under Ponejielin, but there are only a handful of excellent ones. Now that Sokov is willing to send the guerrilla leader to his army, I couldn't help but burst into ecstasy, and quickly said into the microphone: "Comrade Commander, thank you!"

Pausing for a moment, Ponegelin said, "Comrade Commander, I have a bold idea."

"Oh, what's your idea?" Sokov said with great interest, "Let's hear it!"

"Since the German infantry did not dare to attack us because they lost the cover of artillery, why didn't we attack the enemy?"

Sokov looked down at the map in front of him, thinking in his mind that the current position on the right bank of the upper reaches of the Transnistria has only three divisions under the command of Ponedelin. If they advance as a whole, they must be drawn from other areas. Troops to fill this defensive gap.

Smirnov, who was next to him, heard the conversation between Sokov and Ponedelin, and leaned over and said in a low voice: "Currently stationed in Chernivtsi are the two divisions of the 49th Army. It seems that they can be transferred westward to fill the defensive gap left by Ponegelin's troops."

After hearing this, Sokov stared at the map for a while, and felt that the plan Smirnov said was more reliable, so he nodded and agreed: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, according to what you said, we will station The two divisions in Chernivtsi were transferred to fill the defensive gap left by Ponyedelin's corps."

After saying this, Sokov said into the microphone: "Lieutenant Colonel Ponejielin, I agree with you in principle. You can launch a tentative attack on the enemy's position first. If it goes well, the whole army will attack the enemy's position first." Move forward, rushing into the depths of the enemy's defenses."

"After we move forward, we will inevitably leave a gap in the defense." Pornegerin reminded Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I hope you can deploy troops to fill it as soon as possible, otherwise we may fall into a situation where we are attacked from both sides. Dilemma."

"Lieutenant Colonel Ponegelin, you can rest assured about this." Sokov comforted the other party and said; "I will dispatch other troops as soon as possible to take over the defensive positions you left behind, so that you can have peace of mind when you attack. .”

Smirnov did not wait for Sokov to end the call with Ponedelin, he picked up another phone and got in touch with Major General Melekhov, commander of the 49th Army: "Melekhov proposed General? I'm Smirnov."

Hearing the call from the Chief of Staff of the Army Group, Melekhov asked respectfully, "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you have any instructions?"

"General Melekhov," Smirnov said on the phone: "according to the commander's order, the 116th and 130th divisions under your army should immediately advance westward, and after crossing the Transnistria, Take over the right bank position left by the friendly army and hold it firmly. Understand?"

Hearing that his troops were to take over the defense of the right bank, Melekhov replied loudly without hesitation: "Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff, I will immediately give the troops the order to go."

"General Melekhov, what kind of troops do you plan to have in charge of the security and defense of Chernivtsi?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Melekhov replied, "There are probably more than a thousand troops directly under the army, which are used to maintain law and order and defense in the city. There should be no major problems."

"Since there is no problem, let's arrange for the troops to leave as soon as possible." Smirnov worried that the other side deliberately delayed, and specifically emphasized to him: "The positions vacated by friendly forces should not be left vacant for too long. Otherwise, once the Germans notice , they would have the possibility of turning around the flanks of the attacking force, thereby cutting off the link between the attacking force and the rear."