Red Moscow

After Sidolin received the telegram from Lyujikov, he fell into deep thought. Seeing this, Sokov asked curiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what did you say in the telegram that made you so fascinated?"

"Comrade Commander." Sidolin came to Sokov with a telegram, and said with a wry smile: "Colonel Liuzhikov sent a telegram saying that his troops had successfully occupied the Majdanek Concentration Camp." , freed more than 40,000 prisoners."

"More than 40,000 people have been rescued?!" Hearing what Sidolin said, Ponejelin immediately walked over and said excitedly: "In this way, we can at least replenish tens of thousands of soldiers for the army."

"Comrade Deputy Commander, I'm afraid it will be disappointing." Sidolin said: "Among the more than 40,000 prisoners rescued, there are less than 500 commanders and fighters in our army, and the rest are from Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Jews in Slovakia, France, Belgium, Holland, etc.”

After listening to Sidolin's words, Ponegerin asked with a straight face: "In a concentration camp with more than 40,000 people, even if there are not tens of thousands of people, there should be seven or eight thousand, right? Why are there less than five hundred people?" ?”

"Obviously," interrupted Sokov, "the rest of the commanders were massacred by the Germans."

"Yes, Comrade Commander, you're right." Sidolin echoed, "That's what Colonel Liuzhikov reported. They found nearly two thousand dead bodies in the open space outside the crematorium." Bodies that didn't have time to be burned."

"What, there are still two thousand corpses that haven't had time to be burned?!" Pornegerin's eyebrows twitched into a knot: "Are the Germans really so inhumane that they carried out wanton massacres in concentration camps?"

"Comrade Deputy Commander, I have said long ago that the concentration camps of the Germans cannot be compared with the prisoner-of-war camps we know." Sokov said: "No matter who they are, as long as they enter the concentration camp, the chances of survival are very high." small."

He turned to Sidolin, and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what else was in Colonel Lyuzhikov's telegram?"

"During the battle, they captured more than 300 prisoners..."

Before Sidolin could finish speaking, Sokov interrupted him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, send a telegram to Colonel Lyuzhekov and shoot all the captured German guards, leaving no one behind. They are not human." , are just a group of two-legged animals, to deal with them, we must use the method of dealing with animals."

Unexpectedly, after Sukov finished speaking, a smile appeared on Sidolin's face: "Comrade Commander, I was just about to report this matter to you. Colonel Liuzhikov has ordered the captured German soldiers to be guarded. They were all shot, and after the telegram, he offered to let us punish him."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, send him a telegram immediately, and just say what I said, good kill! If you catch this kind of SS guard guarding the concentration camp in the future, you don't have to be polite to them at all, and they will all be shot." Sokov said. After saying this in a low tone, after a pause, he continued: "Colonel Liuzhikov is not only not wrong, but also meritorious. When he comes back, I will personally award him a medal."

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Sidolin replied with a smile, "I'll telegraph Colonel Lyuzhkov immediately, so that he won't panic now and think you'll punish him."

"Colonel Ismailov's 284th Infantry Division, where is it now?"

"They also arrived near the Majdanek concentration camp." Sidolin asked Sokov for instructions: "How should the two divisions be arranged next, should they rely on the concentration camp to continue their defense, or should they take the initiative to attack Lublin?" attack?"

"The troops on the left wing of the front army are now seventy or eighty kilometers away from Lublin. If they attack rashly, our troops may become alone." After thinking for a while, Sukov said to Sidolin: "Let them Rely on the Majdanek concentration camp to deploy defenses."

While Sidolin was going to send a telegram to the two division commanders, Sokov connected the front army headquarters. He planned to continue to report the latest progress of his troops to Rokossovsky.

"Comrade General," Sokov said hastily after hearing Rokossovsky's voice, "I have some good news to report to you. Two of my infantry divisions have successfully captured Maitland near Lublin. Danek concentration camp and liberated more than 40,000 prisoners in the concentration camp."

"Ah, there are actually more than 40,000 prisoners?!" Rokossovsky couldn't help being taken aback after hearing this: "Misha, among so many prisoners, how many are commanders and fighters of our army?"

"Less than 500 people." Sokov said with some difficulty: "The rest of the captured commanders and fighters have long been killed by the Germans."

"Damn the Germans," said Rokossovsky through gritted teeth, "the blood debt they committed to us, we will have to pay them back sooner or later."

"Comrade General, during the battle to liberate the concentration camp, my subordinates captured more than 300 German guards." Sukov said: "Since these people are SS soldiers who have committed heinous crimes and done all kinds of bad things, I have ordered them to be arrested." All executed."

"You're right, Misha." Rokossovsky expressed his support for Sokov's approach: "If it's the Wehrmacht, we can send them to a prisoner-of-war camp. Captives are needed."

After a pause, Rokossovsky asked again: "By the way, where are your two infantry divisions now? Are they both in the Majdanek concentration camp?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Sokov said with certainty: "It is indeed in the Majdanek concentration camp. Considering that there are friendly forces on the left wing that are still too far away from Lublin, if two infantry divisions are used to attack the city, not only It is difficult to obtain results, and it may even put them in danger. So I ordered them to rely on the terrain of the concentration camp to temporarily deploy defenses, and take countermeasures after the friendly forces arrive near Lublin."

"Well, you are very thoughtful." Regarding Sokov's deployment, Rokossovsky did not comment, but said casually: "Then after the left wing troops of the front army arrive near Lublin, your troops will go back to Lublin." It’s not too late to launch an attack.”

As soon as the phone call was over here, Sidolin reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, Colonel Lyuzhikov called back and said that a captain was sent back to Brest with two prisoners, probably in the evening. can reach."

"Bring two prisoners back?" Sokov couldn't help being confused after hearing this, and asked back: "Comrade Chief of Staff, did Colonel Liuzhikov say who the two prisoners are?"

Sidolin looked down at the telegram in his hand and replied: "One is a chess player, and the other is a football player."

"A chess player, a football player." Sokov frowned. "What did Colonel Lyuzhkov send them here for?"

"I don't know." Sidolin asked tentatively, "How about I send him another telegram to ask what's going on?"

Sokov almost agreed to Sidolin's proposal, and asked the other party to send a telegram to ask Liuzhikov what happened to send these two people here. But after thinking about it, it seemed that there was no need to send a telegram to Liuzhikov for such a trivial matter. Anyway, the two prisoners would be there in the evening. When they got there, they would know what Liuzhikov was up to.

"Forget it, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov waved his hand and said, "There's no need to send a report. We'll know what's going on when they come over."

In the evening, a captain came to the headquarters and reported to Sokov respectfully: "Hello, Comrade Commander, I am sent by Colonel Liuzhikov."

As soon as the other party mentioned Liujikov, Sokov immediately remembered that this person was ordered to send two prisoners, so he asked, "Where are the two people you brought?" In order not to hurt the self-esteem of these newly rescued Jews, , he did not use the word prisoner in front of the captain.

"They're waiting outside."

"Quickly ask them to come in!"

Soon, two skinny men in ill-fitting military uniforms and peaked caps appeared in front of Sokov.

The captain introduced to the two: "This is our commander, General Sokov."

When they heard that the young general in front of them was Sokov, the commander of the Soviet Army, the two hurriedly took off their hats, put them in their hands, and bowed ninety degrees to Sokov.

"Don't make so many tricks." For some reason, Sokov saw the bowing posture of the two men, and immediately thought of saying goodbye to the corpse, so he quickly stopped the two men, then asked them to sit down, and ordered the soldiers to serve them Tea and refreshments came.

"What are your names and what do you do?" Sokov asked.

Hearing Sokov's question, the two people who had sat down stood up again. The short man on the left spoke first: "My name is Andrew, and I was a chess master before the war."

Then, the man next to him said, "Mr. General, my name is Kowalski. I was the captain of the Bisk team before the war."

"I think you must be starving." Sokov said to the two: "Please sit down. Please drink tea. There is something to eat on the table. If you want to eat, you can do it yourself."

When Sokov said these words, the faces of the two still showed terror. But seeing Sokov's amiable expression, the two became calm. Andrew first picked up the teaspoon, put a spoonful of sugar into the tea, gave Sokov a sneaky look, and stirred it gently.

Seeing that the smile was still on Sokov's face, he became more courageous, so he put the teaspoon into the sugar bowl again, scooped a spoonful of sugar and put it into the teacup. Kowalski, on the other hand, grabbed a few slices of sausage from the basin, stuffed them directly into his mouth, and began to chew quickly.

Sokov was not in a hurry to ask questions, but waited for the two of them to eat something and drank a few sips of hot tea before asking: "My teacher sent you to me, did he want you to tell me something?"

Kowalski, who was reaching out to grab the sausage again, retracted his hands when Sokov asked him, put his hands on his knees, bowed his head and said nothing.

Seeing Kowalski's reaction, Sokov knew that even if he continued to ask, the other party might not dare to speak, so he turned his attention to Andrew: "Andrew, you should talk about it."

Hearing what Sokov said, Andrew stood up abruptly, straightened his back and said, "Yes, Mr. General!"

"I'm not a concentration camp here. If you have anything to say, sit down and talk!" Sokov may be worried that the two will have a psychological burden, and he also emphasized: "We chat like friends, and you can say whatever comes to your mind."

Seeing Sokov's kind attitude, Andrew finally let go of the burden in his heart, and began to tell Sokov: "Mr. General, I have already said that I was barely a chess master before the war. Because of this This skill, when I entered the concentration camp, I was not sent to the gas chamber, but was arranged to work elsewhere."

"After staying in the concentration camp for about half a year, a commander named Max Kegel came. He especially liked playing chess, so he often asked me to play chess..."

Hearing this, Sokov couldn't help interjecting and asked, "Andrew, did he threaten you that if you lose the bet, he will shoot you directly?"

"No, Mr. General." Andrew shook his head and said, "He may be reluctant to part with an opponent like me, so he never threatened me like this."

When Sokov heard this, he thought that this commander named Max Kegel is not bad, as long as you play chess with him, you will not be in danger of life, he raised his chin at the other party: "Go on. "

"At the beginning, I thought he was just a chess lover, and asked me to play chess with him every day to pass the time." A painful expression suddenly appeared on Andrew's face: "But I didn't expect that he asked me to play chess with him." Chess is to satisfy his perverted hobby."

"Pervert's hobby?" Hearing this, Ponegerin couldn't help interjecting and asked, "What's the hobby?"

"Kill!" Andrew gritted his molars and said, "Before playing chess, he told me that the 'Queen' on the board represents a young woman, the 'Bishop' represents a man, the 'Rook' represents an old man, and the 'Horse' represents Child."

When Sokov heard this, he immediately realized something, but he tried his best to control his emotions, and did not interrupt Andrew, allowing him to continue to say: "I didn't understand what he meant at the time, so I started playing chess with him. Soon, I was eaten by him as an 'elephant', and then he called one of his men, grabbed a man from among the busy prisoners, and shot him just a few meters away from us. The man was killed.

It was only after seeing the man lying in a pool of blood that I understood what he meant by the word 'elephant' representing a man. Every time he eats a chess piece from me, he will shoot and kill the corresponding prisoner according to the pre-set.

It was the first time I saw someone being killed so close to me, and I couldn't help feeling a little bit psychologically burdened. As a result, I lost repeatedly in the following games. At the end of the first game, a woman, two men, an old man and a child were killed under his orders. "

Sokov's breathing became short of breath. He didn't expect that the commander of the concentration camp would engage in such a death game to satisfy his perverted psychological needs.

Sidolin on the side slapped the table angrily, and said sharply: "Where is this German commander? If I catch him, I will find a chess master to compete with him. As a pawn, just shoot one of his family members and see how he reacts."

"He was transferred as early as last year." Andrew said with a wry smile, "As for where he went, I don't know much."

"Andrew was forced to play chess by the Germans." Sokov turned to Kowalski and asked, "What about you, what death game did the Germans play with you?"