Red Moscow

After Ma Lining finished speaking, the air in the room seemed to freeze. Sokov looked at Malinin, his eyes widened in surprise, and he thought to himself: "Illusion, it must be an illusion, what I saw and heard just now must be an illusion. I am just a little major, how can I act as an agent?" It is not the position of a division commander, but the commander of an infantry division that is about to be awarded the title of Guards."

Ma Linin may know the shock that his words brought to Sokov, so after he finished speaking, he didn't speak any more, but took a sip from the teacup in front of him, then stared at Sokov, quietly Observe the other person's reaction.

I don't know how long it took, Sokov finally woke up from the shock. He rubbed his face with both hands, and then said with a wry smile: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I didn't hear what you said just now, can you tell me?" Repeat it again?"

Malinin couldn't help laughing at Sokov's reaction. He pushed the teacup in front of him aside, looked at Sokov calling his nickname and said, "Misha, you heard me right. It is decided to appoint you as the commander of the 328th Infantry Division, and start preparing to attack the German army on the other side of the Zhizdra River as soon as possible. However, since you are only an acting division commander, your rank will not be adjusted for the time being, and you will still be the rank of major.”

"Comrade Chief of Staff," although the superior appointed him as the acting division commander, Sukov was not at ease in his heart, and he said with some embarrassment: "The division chief of staff and the three regiment commanders of the 328th Division should be the worst. The rank of lieutenant colonel? Let me be a major to command a group of colonels and lieutenant colonels. I am worried that they will disobey my orders."

"Misha, you are worrying too much." Seeing Sokov's uneasy look, Ma Linin said with a smile: "In the army, the important thing is the position, not the rank. In the past few years, major division commanders and captain commanders abounded." Yes, they still manage the troops well."

When Ma Linin said about the commander of the major and the commander of the captain, Sokov couldn't help but mutter to himself: That's because the purges almost wiped out all the middle and senior officers in the army. In order to command the army, they can only be promoted from low-level officers. That's why there is such a strange phenomenon with such a low military rank and high distribution.

However, Ma Linin had already talked about this, and it was obviously impossible for Sokov to refuse this special appointment. It suddenly occurred to him that the Battle of Kharkov, which ended in failure, would break out in another month. If he continued to serve as the battalion commander of the Istria Battalion, it would be more likely that the troops would be transferred to the Southwest Front Army. If he were to act as the commander of the 328th Division, Marshal Timoshenko would not agree so much if he wanted to mobilize himself.

After a fierce ideological struggle in his heart, Sokov nodded and said: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, since the superior trusts me so much, I can't let you down. This acting commander, I am willing to Go and try. I don't know who you plan to send to accompany me to take office?"

"I would like to take office with you, but unfortunately there are too many things in the army headquarters, and I can't get away." Malinin said here, seeing the disappointed expression on Sokov's face, he quickly added: "But you When you go to the 328th Division, Military Commissar Lobachev will personally send you to the post."

When Sokov heard that Ma Linin could not accompany him to take office, he felt very disappointed. He thought that if he was only accompanied by a staff officer, it would be difficult to establish his prestige in a short time after he arrived in the 328th Division. When he was disappointed, he suddenly heard Malinin say that Lobachev would accompany him to take office, and he couldn't help asking in surprise: "Comrade Chief of Staff, is this all true?"

"It's true," Lobachev walked in before Malinin could answer. He came straight to Sokov and said with a solemn expression: "Major Sokov, I will personally accompany you to the 328th Division to take up your post."

When Lobachev was speaking, Malinin glanced in the direction of the door, and seeing Belkin, who had followed Sokov, was standing at the door, he waved to him, called him in front of him, and said to him: " Comrade Deputy Battalion Commander, I want to tell you something, since the headquarters decided to appoint Sokov as the acting division commander of the 328th Division, so from now on, you are the acting battalion commander of the Istria Battalion. Are there any questions? "

"No problem." Hearing that he was appointed as the acting battalion commander of the Istria Battalion, Belkin, who was a little emotional, agreed loudly, then turned to face Sokov, and stretched out his hand to him, saying: "The Battalion Commander, no, it’s Comrade Acting Commander, please accept my congratulations to you, congratulations on taking up the position of Commander.”

Lobachev and Malinin whispered a few words, and then said to Belkin: "Comrade Belkin, you should go back to the battalion with the medal now, and distribute the medal to every soldier who has established meritorious service as soon as possible. At the same time , I also want to tell everyone the news of Major Sokov’s acting division commander, hoping to boost morale.” After he finished speaking, he turned to Sokov and said, “Major Sokov, it’s getting late, I’ll accompany you You go to the headquarters of the 328th Division."

On the way to the headquarters of the 328th Division by car, Lobachev said to Sokov: "Major Sokov, this division suffered a lot of losses in the previous battle, and the division commander was injured and left the army. As for the low morale. After you take office, find a way to improve the troops as soon as possible. How is it, is there any difficulty?"

Since Sokov did not know the situation of the 328th Division, he did not immediately give a positive answer to Lobachev's question. Instead, after hesitating for a while, he replied: "Comrade Military Commissioner, I will do my best to improve the morale of the troops in the shortest possible time."

"Very good!" Regarding Sokov's reply, Lobachev nodded with a smile, and said with satisfaction: "Major Sokov, I believe you are fully capable of raising the morale of the troops in a short period of time, and After completing the replenishment, quickly restore the combat effectiveness of the troops and prepare for the next stage of battle."

The division headquarters of the 328th Division is located in a small village near the forest. The driver of the car came to the entrance of the division gate familiarly and stopped. After the car stopped, he turned his head and said to Lobachev and Sokov who were sitting in the back row: "comrades, two commanders, we have arrived. .”

Judging from the driver's familiarity with the terrain and the tone of his speech at the moment, Sokov knew very well that Lobachev must have been here a lot recently. His purpose of accompanying him to take office is probably to help him as soon as possible. Integrate into this collective, so that can carry out each work more smoothly.