Red Moscow

As soon as the telegram here was sent out, Sokov received a telegram from Ponejielin, and couldn't help but fell into deep thought.

Seeing Sokov's expression, Trofimenko couldn't help asking curiously, "Comrade Commander, what happened?"

Sokov handed the telegram he had read to Trofimenko: "Look at it, Comrade Deputy Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ponedelin has provided a very important piece of information, and I am considering whether to send it to Report from superiors."

Trofimenko was full of doubts, took the telegram in Sokov's hand, and after seeing the contents clearly, he couldn't help but turn pale with shock: "What? The Romanians contacted Lieutenant Colonel Ponejielin and planned to announce How is it possible to have Bucharest as an undefended city?"

"Yeah, I also think it's impossible." Sokov expressed his doubts without hesitation: "If we have more troops entering Romania, or even approaching Bucharest, the Romanians will destroy their capital It is understandable to set it as an undefended city. But now that our troops are one or two thousand kilometers away from their capital, it is a bit unbelievable to propose such a plan at this time."

And Sameko on the side also interjected: "Comrade Commander, I have read this telegram, and I think it is a conspiracy. Even if the Romanians do not intend to fight us, but our army has just entered Romania. Their haste to propose making Bucharest an undefended city without a larger military operation is problematic by any measure."

When the three of them reached an agreement, and felt that this was definitely a conspiracy by the Romanians after getting hints from the Germans, Smirnov said: "Comrade Commander, I think this matter should be considered from a different angle. Perhaps the Romanians did this not as a conspiracy, but as a signal to us that they intended to break away from the Germans and join us."

"Oh, are they trying to express that?" Trofimenko said in a skeptical tone: "If they really want to get out of the control of the Germans, they can send a special envoy to contact us in private. Now such an inexplicable announcement Their intentions to build an undefended city are questionable."

He cast his eyes on Sokov and asked, "Comrade Commander, what do you think of this matter?"

Sokov naturally knew that Romania finally broke away from German control, joined the Soviet camp, and participated in the battle to defeat Germany and liberate Europe. But at this time, the other party suddenly came out like this, which made him a little at a loss.

After thinking about it for a long time, he finally said: "Commanders, don't forget that we are soldiers. Soldiers are responsible for marching and fighting, defending our home and country, and such headaches should be left to professionals. Ask."

After finishing speaking, he called the director of the communications corps and told the other party: "Comrade director, please help me get through to the headquarters of the front army. I have something important to report to Marshal Konev immediately."

It didn't take long for the director of the communications corps to get through to the front army headquarters. The person who answered the phone was originally an ordinary staff officer. He heard that Sokov had something important to report to Marshal Konev immediately. Marshal Husband, do you want to answer this call?

If it's someone else's call, Konev won't answer it if it's not particularly important. But now the call was from Sokov, and he said there was something important, so it was no wonder Konev didn't answer the call.

"I'm Konev." Since there was an important matter, Konev didn't waste his precious time on pleasantries, but asked straightforwardly, "Comrade Sokov, what do you want?"

"Comrade Marshal, the situation is like this." Seeing Konev get straight to the point, Sokov didn't go around in circles, but went straight to the point: "I just received a telegram from Lieutenant Colonel Ponegerin, saying that the Romanian side Contact him with the intention of turning Bucharest into an open city."

"What, what did you say?" The information was so important that Konev thought he had misheard, so he quickly told Sokov, "Say it again."

"Comrade Marshal," Sokov knew the importance of this matter, so he deliberately slowed down his speech when he repeated it, so that Konev could hear every word clearly: "The Romanian side sent people to conduct a dialogue with Lieutenant Colonel Ponejerin. contacted, saying that they intend to turn the capital, Bucharest, into an undefended city."

"Turn Bucharest into an undefended city?!" After confirming that he heard clearly this time, Konev was also puzzled. He also specifically checked the location of the Ponejerin battle group and the distance from Bucharest. Then he blurted out: "What the hell, our troops are one or two thousand kilometers away from Bucharest. How could the Romanians come up with such a plan? Isn't there any conspiracy?"

"Comrade Marshal, when I saw the telegram, my first reaction was the same as yours, and I thought it was a conspiracy." Sokov explained: "Don't talk about Chernivtsi, even if our troops go north of Wengeny Entering Romania, it is thousands of kilometers away from their capital Bucharest. Moreover, our troops entering Romania have not yet taken large-scale military operations. How could they rush to build undefended cities? I think this There must be something wrong with it.”

"It's not just a problem, it's a big problem." Konev said: "I don't know what the Romanians' intentions are, so I'm going to report the matter to the Supreme Command immediately and let them figure it out. what's going on."

After finishing the conversation with Sokov, Konev directly called the switchboard of the Kremlin and asked the operator to transfer to Poskrebyshev's office.

When the phone was connected, when he heard Poskrebyshev's familiar voice coming from the receiver, Konev said directly: "Poskrebyshev, I called you because I have something important to do. Report immediately to Comrade Stalin. Excuse me, is he in the office at the moment?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Poskrebyshev said politely to Konev: "If you are in a hurry, I can transfer the call in."

"Please transfer the call in for me, Comrade Poskrebyshev, this is a very important matter."

Poskrebyshev pressed a button on the telephone, and a moment later, Stalin's majestic voice came from the receiver: "What's the matter?"

"Hello, Comrade Stalin!" Poskrebyshev quickly stood up from his seat, and said while maintaining a posture of attention: "Konev called you, and you are on the third line. May I ask if you can go in?"

"Turn the call in." Stalin muttered, "I want to hear if he has something important to ask me."

Soon, Boskrebyshev transferred the call. "Hello, Marshal Konev." Stalin politely greeted Konev on the other end of the phone: "You are in such a hurry to find me, has something important happened?"

"Yes, Comrade Stalin, something important has indeed happened." Konev said respectfully: "Otherwise, I wouldn't take the liberty to bother you."

"Then let's talk about it." Stalin took out a cigarette from the cigarette case, crushed it with his fingers, stuffed the shredded tobacco into the pipe, struck a match and lit it, and continued: "I want to hear about this matter." Whether it is really as you say is very important."

"Comrade Stalin," Konev said cautiously, "Sokov reported to me that the Ponejielin battle group that entered Romania received information from the Romanian side that they planned to make the capital, Bucharest, undefended. city. I think this news is very important, so I will report it to you as soon as possible."

"What, Romania is planning to make Bucharest an undefended city?!" Stalin was also stunned by this unexpected news. He stared blankly for a long time while holding his pipe, and finally said, "Is this news reliable?"

"Comrade Stalin, this news was reported to me by Sokov. And he got this news from Ponedelin. I don't think it's fake."

"Konev, tell me, why did the Romanians suddenly think of changing Bucharest to an undefended city, and why did they take the initiative to contact Ponejerin?"

"I don't know very well, Comrade Stalin." Konev would have no problem if he were to go to the front line; Notifying Ponegelin is entirely because the battle group has entered Romania, if our army wants to take any major military action in Romania, then the troops performing the task will be this Ponegelin battle group."

Stalin took a puff of his cigarette, then asked slowly, "What rank is this Bonejielin?"

After hearing this, Konev hesitated for a moment, then replied: "The rank of lieutenant colonel."

"Then how many troops does the battle group under his command have?"

"There are three divisions, namely the 41st Guards Division, the 98th Guards Division and the 254th Infantry Division." Konev hurriedly reported: "He himself is also the commander of the 41st Guards Division."

"It sounds like a good commander, but why is he only a lieutenant colonel now?"

This question stopped Konev, and he didn't know how to answer Stalin's question for a while. If the truth was told, Sokov might be implicated. After all, it was a huge risk for Sokov to let someone under the surveillance of the Ministry of Internal Affairs take up such an important position.

"Konev." Seeing that Konev remained silent for a long time, Stalin asked with some displeasure, "Why didn't you speak?"

"Comrade Stalin, something happened to Lieutenant Colonel Bonejielin before, and he was reviewed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so no one dared to give him a higher rank." Konev said tremblingly: "Sokov originally proposed He was awarded the rank of colonel, but I considered his problem and only reluctantly gave him the rank of lieutenant colonel."

"What happened to him?" Stalin asked.

"When the war broke out, he was the commander of the 12th Army of the Southwest Front Army and was captured in the Battle of Uman." Konev said: "Because of the enemy's deceptive propaganda, we misunderstood him, and the court-martial even did A death sentence in absentia was issued. But Sokov's troops freed him from an enemy prisoner of war camp during the liberation of Kremenchug last year. We did not know until then that he had been staying in the prisoner of war camp. , fought tenaciously against the German invaders, and never surrendered."

Konev's explanation gave Stalin a little impression of this matter: "Konev, I remembered, besides this former commander of the 12th Army, Ponedelin, did he also serve as the commander of the 12th Army? Muzichenko, commander of the 6th Army, and Kirillov, commander of the 13th Infantry Army?"

"That's right, that's the three of them."

"Aside from Borgnejelin, what are the other two people doing?"

Konev replied cautiously: "Muzichenko is now the commander of the 233rd Division of the 57th Army, and Kirillov is the commander of the 252nd Division of the 57th Army. Both have the rank of lieutenant colonel."

"Give them the rank of colonel." Stalin said suddenly.

"What?" Konev couldn't believe his ears. He thought that the ranks of Ponedelin, Muzichenko, and Kirillov would be the ceiling of life when they reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. They were directly promoted to the rank of colonel. He hurriedly thanked Stalin on behalf of the two: "Thank you, Comrade Stalin, on behalf of Muzichenko and Kirillov, I would like to express my thanks to you."

He suddenly remembered that Stalin seemed to have forgotten Ponegerin, and quickly reminded him cautiously: "What about Lieutenant Colonel Ponegerin, will you also promote him to colonel?"

"Promote him to be a lieutenant general!" Stalin said in an unusually firm tone: "The next negotiation with Romania will be in the charge of him and my new people."

Konev was so shocked that his jaw almost hit the ground. He never dreamed that Stalin would suddenly promote Muzichenko and Kirillov today. What was even more surprising was that he actually promoted Bone Jie Lin was promoted from lieutenant colonel to lieutenant general, this span is too big.

The sudden promotion of Ponegerin and others certainly shocked Konev. But when he informed Sokov of the news, Sokov was also shocked. He even thought that his ears had misheard. The military ranks of Jielin and others were all promoted.

Of course, the person who has benefited the most from them is none other than Bonejeline. When he was captured in the Battle of Uman, he was only a major general, but now he has been directly promoted to lieutenant general, and he has been promoted to three ranks in a row. This promotion is a bit big.

As for how to tell Ponegerin the good news, Sokov thought for a while and decided that it would be more appropriate not to send a telegram, but to call him directly. So he asked the director of the communications corps to connect to the battle group's phone, and he was going to tell Pornejelin the good news himself.

After the call was connected, Sokov took the receiver from the communications chief, put it close to his ear, and asked nervously, "Is it Ponegerin?"

"Yes, it's me, Comrade Commander." Ponegerin thought that Sokov was calling himself to inquire about Bucharest's undefended situation, and quickly explained: "The information I provided is true, Romanians They sent a representative to see me and specifically raised the issue of the city being undefended. I felt that this matter was of great importance, so I reported it to the headquarters by telegram at the first time."