Red Moscow

Colonel Konev's 3rd Guards Airborne Division launched an attack on the German positions on the right bank of the Transnistria at ten o'clock in the evening. Fortunately, it is getting dark today, and the commanders and fighters will not be affected by the lack of light when they are fighting.

The Germans probably never dreamed that they would be attacked by the Soviet army from upstream. According to the experience of the German commanders, the Soviet army often fought on its own, and there were very few cases where different troops cooperated in combat. I didn't expect such an extremely low probability to happen to me.

If it was a few days ago, the German commander was worried about the attack from the upper reaches and deployed a lot of troops in this direction. But after these few days of observation, he found that the Soviet army that established the right bank landing site upstream was more keen on attacking westward, and had no interest in them at all in the south.

Because of this, the German commander left a small number of troops on the north side of the defense zone to monitor the movement of the Soviet army, and the rest of the main force was transferred to the east to deal with the Soviet army on the left bank and prevent them from crossing the Transnistria.

Unexpectedly, the Soviet army would suddenly launch an attack on its own defense zone at such a late hour. The northern defense line, which was originally extremely weak, naturally could not resist the Soviet army's attack.

What's more terrible is that shortly after the northern defense line was breached, the Soviet army on the left bank of the Transnistria launched another forced crossing operation. As soon as the German commander ordered the artillery to fire at the boats crossing the river, they found the artillery cover from the upper reaches, and the entire artillery position suddenly became a sea of ​​​​flames.

As for the Soviet army crossing the river, most of the ships arrived on the right bank smoothly because they were not hit by German artillery fire. As soon as the ship touched the shore, the soldiers on board jumped into the water one after another, rushed to the right bank with their weapons in hand, and rushed towards the fortifications occupied by the enemy.

Under the attack from both sides of the Soviet army, the Germans were beaten into a mess. In less than an hour, most of the river defense positions fell into the hands of the Soviet army. Although most of the German troops are still resisting in the remaining fortifications, a few soldiers have abandoned their positions and fled further west.

Sokov was naturally elated when he learned that the 3rd Airborne Division was progressing smoothly. After this battle is over, the division commander, Colonel Konev, may become Major General Konev.

At this moment, the phone on the table rang, and the idle military commissar Gorokhov picked up the phone. After listening for a while, his face showed a surprised expression.

After finally waiting for the other party to finish speaking, he actually nodded and said, "General Lunev, I would like to ask, can you cancel his trip?"

Although Sokov was a little far away from Gorokhov and couldn't hear the content of his conversation, judging from his expression, his request must have been rejected by Lunev. So he walked up to Gorokhov and asked curiously, "Comrade Military Commissar, what are you talking about with General Lunev?"

Seeing Sokov standing in front of him, Gorokhov simply handed him the microphone: "Comrade Commander, you should talk to General Lunev and hope he can change his mind and don't let that person come to the front." .If something goes wrong, even if my head is chopped off, I can't bear the responsibility."

Sokov answered the phone in a daze, wondering who the hell wanted to come to the front and make the military commissioners panic? In order to find out what was going on, he was pressed to his ear by the receiver and said, "Is Lunev? I'm Sokov!"

"Hello, Misha." Lunev's happy voice came from the receiver: "I'm glad to hear Ni's voice again."

"Lunev, who are you going to let come to the front?" When Sokov said this, he glanced at Gorokhov who was wiping his sweat with a handkerchief, and said with a smile: "Scared my military commissar to death." My head is sweating profusely."

"A fighter and a good sniper," Lunev said on the phone. "His name is Nikolai Alexandrovich Morozov."

"Morozov?" Sokov was a little surprised when he heard this name for the first time: "Is he really just an ordinary sniper? Why did my military commissar become like this when he heard his name?" Gaffe."

After listening to Sukov's words, Lunev was very surprised: "Have you never heard of his name?"

"No. This is the first time I've heard his name." Sokov truthfully replied, "Lunev, can you tell me who he is?"

"How should I put it?" Lunev said hesitantly on the phone: "If you want to label him, you can say this: He is a well-known GM, social activist, scholar and writer in the early days of our country, and he covers a wide range of topics. , the fields of scientific research cover chemistry, physics, mathematics, astronomy, history, biology, philosophy, economics, linguistics, geophysics, aviation science, meteorology, and there are a lot of related works.”

"Not only that, this old man is also self-taught, proficient in 11 foreign languages ​​including English, French, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, and Polish. What's even more amazing is that as early as the mid-1870s, he devoted himself to overthrowing the The tsar’s revolutionary movement later met Marx in London, while Lenin and Stalin were still in their infancy.”

When he heard that the upcoming sniper actually knew Marx, Sokov went crazy: "Lunev, don't make fun of me. Marx died as early as 1813. If this The sniper really knew Marx, so he was at least in his early eighties, how could such an old man send him to the front? Isn’t this nonsense?”

"Misha, I'm really not joking with you." Lunev said seriously: "This old man will be 90 years old in two months. Since he was transferred from the Volkhov front to Moscow, he He tried everything possible to return to the front line. No, he heard that you played well, so he wanted to visit you. The Supreme Commander himself couldn’t resist him, so he agreed to his request.”

"Wait a minute, Lunev." Sokov heard some key things from Lunev's words: "You mean that he was a soldier and a sniper after the war broke out. My Guess right?"

"Exactly, Misha." Lunev on the other end of the phone said with a smile: "Misha, with your IQ, you can become a detective. Maybe after the war is over, this will be your ideal career." .”

"Okay, Lunev, don't praise me." Sukov interrupted Lunev's words, and asked impatiently: "Tell me quickly, where did he become a soldier? What kind of achievements did he get?" record?"

"After the old man retired a few years ago, he still participated in the training courses of the national defense militia. Although he was wearing glasses, he was very interested in sniping, and his level improved rapidly. After he finished the training course with excellent results in 1939, He still insists on practicing shooting to make his sniper skills more and more perfect.

After the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, the old man couldn't stay idle anymore. He often went to the local conscription office to ask to join the army to kill the enemy, and urgently asked to be sent to the Leningrad front.

Due to his high reputation, the conscription department had no choice but to allow him to "inspect" the battlefield near Leningrad (to put it bluntly, let him walk around as an official, eating and drinking), and only gave 1 month stay.

But Morozov has never been an obedient person. After arriving at the front line, he declined all special care for himself, but willingly lived in a dark and damp fortification, no matter how difficult the living conditions and how dangerous the environment was. Never complain.

On the third day on the battlefield, he began to independently snipe and kill the German army, and achieved a good record. During his time on the Volkhov front, a large number of German troops fell at his guns, most of them officers.

The Germans, who were furious, specially called in snipers to try to retaliate, and even used bombers to strike Morozov's possible hiding area, but he was safe and sound.

The commander of his group army, after learning of the series of actions taken by the German army, couldn't help worrying about what would happen to this highly respected and legendary figure. So despite the other party's strong opposition, he was still sent back to Moscow. For this matter, the Supreme Command once sent someone to persuade him to focus on scientific research, which is also serving the motherland.

A few days ago, he had just won the "Defender of Leningrad" medal and the Order of Lenin, and he had the idea of ​​returning to the front again. In order to successfully achieve his goal, he personally wrote a letter to Comrade Stalin letter and was approved."

"Lunev," Sokov said to Lunev in a reproachful tone, with cold sweat breaking out on his forehead after learning about Morozov's identity, "how can you let such an important person Come to me? In case something happens, who can afford the responsibility?"

"Misha, I have no choice." Lunev said rather helplessly: "Among so many fronts, tell me, is there any place that is safer than your headquarters? It is precisely because of consideration that if Let Comrade Morozov go to your place, life will be greatly guaranteed, and the superiors will make such a decision."

"Well, since the superiors have already made arrangements, I can only choose to obey unconditionally." Sokov asked with a sigh, "I wonder when he will arrive?"

"About one or two o'clock at noon." Lunev said, "I was ordered to send him to your place to report. You remember to prepare something delicious to entertain me."

"No problem," Sokov said casually, "You go back to the old army to inspect, can't you be satisfied?"

After putting down the phone, Sokov called Trofimenko and others to him, and said to them: "comrades commanders, just received a call from General Lunev, the Supreme Command intends to send us a Here comes an old sniper who is nearly ninety years old. I hope everyone will show due respect when they see him."

Now, except for Sokov and Gorokhov, no one knows that an old man who is nearly ninety years old will soon come to his headquarters.

Hearing what Sokov said, Sameko asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, who is it? Why are you almost ninety years old, and you still want to come to the front?"

"Commanders," Sokov said to the crowd, "the full name of this old sniper who is about to come is Nikolai Alexandrovich Morozov. I think there should be someone here who can know him."

At first, he thought that few people knew this Morozov, but Sokov soon found out that he was wrong. Everyone present, except himself, a local turtle, knew Morozov.

"What, it's great that Comrade Morozov is coming to us." Sameko said excitedly: "I've heard legends about him since I was a child. He once participated in the assassination of Alexander II. Unfortunately it failed.

Soon after, he was arrested in Poland, and in November 1882, he was taken to a military fortress near St. Petersburg, Russia, to serve his sentence for 23 years. "

"I've also heard about his deeds." Trofimenko said: "In 1910, he suddenly became interested in aircraft, so he made and tested a variety of hot air balloons and airplanes in one go. However, he was caught by the Tsarist Russian secret police who closely monitored him. The latter searched his home and found the aircraft he made. He then claimed that Morozov attempted to fly an air raid on the palace and threw bombs to assassinate Tsar Nicholas II. .”

Gorokhov said slowly: "In 1918, Morozov entered the 'Lesgaft Institute of Natural Sciences' in St. Petersburg as a leader. It was reserved for him. And on March 29, 1932, Morozov was awarded the title of honorary member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR."

Such a legendary figure, how to place him after he arrived in the army became a headache for Sokov.

"Comrade Commander," Smirnov, who had been silent all this time, suddenly interjected, "Isn't Mr. Morozov a sniper? We happen to have a sniper training class. I think we can assign him there and let him assist. Vasily and Lyudmila go about their daily work."

One word awakened the dreamer. If Smirnov didn't mention it, Sokov would have almost forgotten that the two top ten snipers in the world are now in his headquarters, responsible for training snipers. If the elderly are also assigned to the training class to be responsible for the training of snipers, wouldn't my own problems be easily solved?

"Comrade Chief of Staff, you are right." Sokov nodded his head a few times and said, "Arrange him to the sniper training class of Vasily and Lyudmila. It can not only make use of his strengths, but also give full play to his strengths." Keeping him in a safe place for a long time before any unpleasant surprises happen."

"Sniper training class?" Sameko asked with some surprise: "When was this training class established, why don't I know?"

"Although the sniper training class was not established for a long time, it was before our two armies formed a combat group." Sokov explained to Sameko: "It's normal that you don't know."

"Comrade Commander," Smirnov suggested to Sokov again: "Would you like to call Vasily and Lyudmila over now and tell them face to face so that they know how to deal with the old man."

"The names of Vasily and Lyudmila sound familiar." Trofimenko frowned and said, "I just can't remember where I heard them before."

"Both Vasily and Lyudmila are excellent snipers." Seeing Trofimenko's frowning expression, Sokov explained to him, "I was transferred here after applying to my superiors. Specially responsible for training qualified snipers for me."

"It turned out to be the two of them." Trofimenko also remembered who the two were after Sokov's reminder. He nodded and said, "I only saw their photos in newspapers before. I had a chance to meet the real person today."