Red Moscow

After receiving Rokossovsky's instruction, Sokov planned to let his troops rest and reorganize in the next period. However, Ponejielin suggested to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, although our troops have been seriously reduced in combat, their morale is extremely high. We might as well take advantage of the high morale of our troops and send them to the German troops in Poland. Let's launch an attack. How about resting after occupying a new city?"

"Comrade Commander," Sidolin waited for Ponejielin to finish speaking, then looked at Sokov and asked, "I wonder if you intend to adopt the suggestion of the Deputy Commander?"

Sokov did not immediately express his attitude, but instead asked Ponejielin: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I want to ask you, if we continue to attack, which city do you plan to capture?"

"Here." Ponedelin pointed to Siedlce, which is less than a hundred kilometers west of Brest, and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, Siedlce is only 90 kilometers away from Warsaw. When we captured the city, we had a bridgehead to attack Warsaw."

Ponejielin's proposal is very tempting. Sokov's 48th Army is now the closest army to Warsaw. If it really captures Siedlce, the capital of Siedlce Province, then he can deter Warsaw's defenders. The army put them in a state of constant panic.

"That's a good suggestion." Sokov first agreed with Ponedelin's proposal, and then raised the problems that the troops are facing now: "But our troops are too scattered now, and we have rushed to attack Siedlce. I am worried that in the end Instead of taking the city, our attacking forces suffered heavy casualties."

Seeing that Sokov indirectly vetoed his attack plan, Ponegerin felt a little bit lost. He said in a low mood: "Comrade Commander, I know what you said is true. But our army suffered heavy losses, and the German army The loss is not small, and they have just suffered a disastrous defeat not long ago, and they are in a state of demoralization and low morale. If we launch an attack at this moment, I believe we will encounter much less resistance."

"Comrade Deputy Commander," Sokov looked up at Ponedelin and asked, "Do you know which part of the German army the defenders stationed in Siedlce belong to?"

"I don't know." Ponegerin answered quite simply. He turned to Sidolin and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, do we have any information about the Siedlce garrison?"

"I'm sorry, Comrade Deputy Commander, no." Sidolin said apologetically: "Our army has just entered the Polish territory, and we are not familiar with the place, so we haven't sent reconnaissance personnel to conduct reconnaissance in the Siedlce area for the time being."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov waited for Sidolin to finish speaking, and immediately ordered him to say, "Whether we will attack Siedlce in the near future or not, it is absolutely necessary to find out the strength and deployment of the German troops in the city." of."

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Sidolin nodded and said, "I will immediately call the Director of Reconnaissance and ask him to immediately send reconnaissance personnel to Siedlce to find out the strength and deployment of German troops in the city."

"Also," Sokov continued: "If we really want to launch an attack on Siedlce, the current strength is far from enough, and the two divisions currently deployed near Lublin must also be transferred. Come back and prepare for the attack."

"I agree." Ponegerin promptly agreed with Sokov's statement: "We want to hit the troops and launch an attack on the German army, and firmly hold the initiative on the battlefield in our hands. .”

Just when Ponegerin said that he called the two division commanders and ordered them to withdraw, Sokov added another sentence specifically: "Comrade Deputy Commander, remember to tell the two division commanders that if you have not found them on the hillside at this moment For useful things, leave one or two companies to continue searching, and the rest of the troops will withdraw first."

Hearing what Sokov said, Ponedelin had a complicated expression on his face: "Comrade Commander, do you really think that there will be treasures buried by the Jews on the hillside of the concentration camp?"

"Yes, Comrade Deputy Commander." Sokov nodded and replied in an affirmative tone, "I fully believe that."

Seeing Sokov's confidence, Ponedelin didn't take it seriously at first, but when he called Lyuzhikov, he heard the other party say excitedly: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I have some good news for you."

"Good news, what good news?" Ponegerin heard the other party's tone so excited, and unconsciously thought of what Sokov said not long ago, so he asked tentatively: "You are not on the hillside of the concentration camp, Have you found a treasure?"

The next moment, Liuzhikov said excitedly: "That's right, Comrade Deputy Commander, you guessed it right. We did find treasures buried by the Jews on the hillside of the concentration camp, and there were quite a few of them." .”

Ponegerin turned his head and glanced at Sokov who was standing in front of the map by the wall, and murmured to himself: "Could Comrade Commander really be able to predict, otherwise how would he know that the Jews buried a large amount of property on the hillside of the concentration camp?" Woolen cloth?"

"Comrade Colonel," Pornegering looked away, and asked into the microphone, "I don't know what is there?"

"There are a lot of things," said Liuzhikov. "Jewelry, clocks, brushes, pipes, lighters, kitchen utensils, etc., I packed five or six boxes, and I buried a lot of them in the ground..."

Hearing this, Ponedelin interrupted Liuzhikov's words: "Then what kind of gains do Colonel Ismailov have?"

"I think their gains should be greater than ours." Liuzhikov said: "It was only after they discovered the treasures buried in the ground that my subordinates discovered them one after another."

"Comrade Colonel, we will have a new combat mission soon." Pornegelin said into the microphone: "As soon as the supply convoy of the 8th Guards Army arrives, hand over the concentration camp to them, and then you all withdraw Come on, understand?"

Knowing that there was a new combat mission, Liujikov tentatively asked: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I wonder where our next offensive target is?"

"This is a military secret, and you will know it when you come back." Ponegelin said, "The troops responsible for the main attack this time should be the 1st and 6th Guards Divisions, and your two divisions are only the 2nd Division." echelon."

"What, we are only the second echelon?" Liuzhikov was a little disappointed when he learned that his troops could not be the main offensive. , our division will be able to take on the main task.

After Ponedelin put down the phone, he said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, you are really good at predicting things. Both division commanders found treasures buried by the Jews on the hillside of the concentration camp, and there were quite a lot of them. "

"Comrade Deputy Commander, is this all true?" Sidolin couldn't help asking after hearing what Ponejielin said.

"Of course it's true." Pornejelin nodded and said, "Can I make fun of this kind of thing?"

After confirming that what Ponegerin said was true, Sidolin asked Sokov: "Comrade Commander, we have found so much treasure, what should we do with it and return it to the Jews?"

"The owner of the treasure must have been killed in the concentration camp, and these treasures have become ownerless." Sukov said: "After the treasure is brought back, I will personally hand it over to the front army headquarters, and Comrade Marshal will handle it." these things."

"Comrade Deputy Commander," Sokov's mind is not on the Jewish treasure at the moment, he is considering how to take Siedlce, he pointed to the map and said to Ponejielin and Sidolin: "Deputy Commander , Chief of Staff, I just thought about it carefully. If we attack from Brest, it will take two days for the troops to march on the road. If the attack fails, we will not even have a place to stay. Therefore, I plan to Choose the first attack target here in Mizyrec."

"The first attack target is Mizyrets?" Sidolin stared at the position on the map and said with some hesitation: "Comrade Commander, according to the information we obtained in advance, this city was captured by our army at the end of September 1939." Occupation. At the beginning of October of the same year, due to the Soviet-German non-aggression pact, our country ceded the city to the Germans. With the transfer of the ruling power, about 2,000 Jewish citizens left their original residences for the Soviet-occupied area, while the Germans were in the city Create a ghetto for 20,000 prisoners."

"Jewish ghetto?!" Hearing what Sidolin said, Sokov said with some surprise: "In this way, this city is tantamount to a concentration camp."

"There is such a possibility." Sidolin said: "If the German Jewish segregation area still exists, after we occupy the city, I am afraid we will face new supply problems."

But Ponegerin said: "It doesn't matter whether the residents live in the city or the Jews who are imprisoned. Only when we capture the city can we shorten the distance to attack Siedlce."

"I agree with the deputy commander," Sokov went on to say, "Once we capture Mizyrets, the distance from Siedlce is only 30 kilometers, and our troops will be able to reach it in half a day at most, even if we march on foot." outskirts of the city."

When the three were studying the deployment of the attack, Koshkin ran in from the outside and said to Sokov with a panicked expression: "Comrade Commander, a big man is coming!"

"An important person is here?!" Sokov asked disapprovingly, "Who is it?"

"General Bulganin, Military Commissar of the Front Army."

"Oh, General Bulganin is here." Knowing that it was Bulganin, Sokov said to himself what happened to Koshkin, it's not like you haven't seen a big man, but you are just a military commissar of the Front Army, so let you behave Be so out of shape. But he didn't blame the other party, he just asked casually: "Is there anyone else?"

"Yes. Comrade Commander."

"who is it?"

"It's Comrade Khrushchev."

Koshkin's words startled Sokov. You know, Khrushchev is now sent to Ukraine by Stalin to take charge of Ukraine's work. But now his troops are in Belarus and Poland, what is he doing here?

When Khrushchev and Bulganin walked in side by side, Sokov and others hurried forward to salute, and asked in surprise: "Comrade Khrushchev, General Bulganin, why did you come to my headquarters?" ?”

Bulganin said with a smile: "I heard that your troops fought well. We came here to see you."

When Khrushchev shook hands with Sokov, he smiled and said, "Comrade Sokov, we meet again."

"Yes, Comrade Khrushchev." Although Sokov couldn't remember when he last met, he still politely responded: "We haven't seen each other for a long time."

"I heard from Yakov." Khrushchev did not let go of Sokov's hand immediately, but continued: "Two years ago, when you and Yakov went to Nizhny Novgorod, Is it true that I saved Leonid's life?"

Khrushchev's words reminded Sokov of what happened in Nizhny Novgorod two years ago. At that time, Yakov took himself to Leonid's friend's house as a guest. Leonid was drunk, He shot himself in the head with a pistol. He thought it was empty, but he didn't expect there to be bullets in it. If Sokov hadn't pushed his hand away in time, the bullet would have shot him in the head.

Two years have passed since this incident. If Khrushchev hadn't brought it up, Sokov would have completely forgotten about it. He chuckled dryly, and said, "I didn't do anything at the time, I just watched him put the gun on his forehead, and worried that he would be in danger, so I lifted his hand up. There are bullets."

After Ponedelin invited Khrushchev and Bulganin to sit down, he asked them to bring tea and snacks, and said with a smile, "You have worked hard all the way, so let's have some tea and something to eat first."

Unexpectedly, Khrushchev neither drank tea nor ate snacks, but said to himself: "I left the army in the 1920s and went to work as the deputy mine manager of the Ruchenkov Mine in Ukraine.

In 1922, there was a famine in the Donbas mining area, and there was even a terrible incident of cannibalism. The country is worse off than the mines. My ex-wife died in the famine of 1921. Her death left me devastated. I alone take care of two children, my son Leonid and my daughter Yulia. "

Sidolin didn't know the situation of Khrushchev's family members. After the other party finished speaking, he asked tentatively: "Comrade Khrushchev, how are your son and daughter?"

"Chief of Staff Sidorin!" As soon as he had finished speaking, Bulganin said sternly: "Don't you know that Leonid, the son of Comrade Khrushchev, died in the air battle with the Germans?" ?"

At this time, Sokov no longer cared about whether Khrushchev's son died in an air battle, or whether he was captured and executed by Stalin's men after defecting to the enemy. He only wanted to know what Khrushchev's real purpose was here.

"I'm sorry, Comrade Khrushchev." After being reprimanded by Bulganin, Sidolin immediately realized that he had said the wrong flower, and quickly apologized to Khrushchev: "I don't know the situation in your family. If there is anything wrong, please forgive me."

Fortunately, Khrushchev did not argue with Sidolin, he waved his hand at him first, then turned to Sokov and said, "Misha, I have something important to tell you when I came here today. "

"Please speak, Comrade Khrushchev." Sokov made a gesture of invitation to Khrushchev, and said respectfully, "I am all ears."