Red Moscow

When Stalin heard this, he was immediately happy: "Comrade Zhukov, you and Rokossovsky have come to me for fighting for Misha's troops. I didn't expect that you would immediately come to me as soon as you heard that the Third Front Army also wanted him. Changed my mind."

"Comrade Stalin, I have figured it out." Zhukov replied: "If Misha and his troops went to Rokossovsky's Second Front according to the original plan, if there was anything on my side, he would immediately It can be supported. But if I go to the Third Front Army and the Second Front Army is separated in the middle, I am afraid it will be impossible to ask him to support me."

After Stalin waited for Zhukov to finish speaking, he said unhurriedly: "The assignment of the 48th, 65th, and 70th Army Groups to the Second Front Army is the result of the research of the Supreme Command, and no one has the right to change it at will. Therefore, no matter what No matter how many reasons you have for wanting to keep him, it won't work. Now that you have changed your mind and agreed with Xiaoxiao and his troops to go to the Second Front Army, then arrange the transfer of troops as soon as possible."

"Okay, Comrade Stalin." Zhukov said: "Rokossovsky and I will immediately issue an order to move the troops."

After finishing the call with Stalin, Zhukov said to Rokossovsky: "Koschka, since the Supreme Command has made a decision long ago, let's follow the order. In this way, starting tomorrow, the 48th, Units of the 65th and 70th armies, gradually move to your second front area."

"Well, before the three armies withdraw from the existing defense zone, the defense troops you arranged must be in position as soon as possible."

"Don't worry, Koschka." Zhukov said, "I know how to do such trivial things, so you don't need to remind me."

Subsequently, both Zhukov and Rokossovsky gave orders to the 48th, 65th, and 70th armies to move their defenses. As for the defense areas they vacated, new troops will take over.

There is no impenetrable wall in the world. What happened in the headquarters was passed on to the headquarters of the 48th Army. When Sokov listened to the gossip told by Sidolin, he couldn't help being stunned. He looked at Sidolin in surprise, and began to search for the history he knew in his mind.

According to his memory, the 48th Army has been incorporated into the combat sequences of the Belarusian First and Second Fronts since the Belarusian Campaign in June 1944. On February 11, 1945, it was assigned to the Belarusian Third Front Army. Just a week after the third front army sequence, that is, on February 18, the commander of the front army, General Cherniakhovsky, was bombarded by the German army when he was commanding the battle, and unfortunately died.

After Cherniakhovsky died, Marshal Vasilevsky temporarily took over his post as commander of the Front Army. It was not until mid-April that Baghramyan officially took over the post of commander of the Third Front Army. .

To Sokov's surprise, Cherniakhovsky also made a request to the Supreme Command, requesting that his troops be placed under the command of the Third Front Army. Thinking of this, Sokov smiled wryly and shook his head. He said that people are afraid of being famous and pigs are afraid of being strong. It seems that being too famous is not good.

"Comrade Commander," Sidolin said to Sokov, "I think that in the coming battle, the Belarusian First and Second Fronts, and Marshal Konev's Ukrainian First Front may all enter Berlin. And General Cherniakhovsky's Belarusian Third Front seems to have nothing to do with the capture of Berlin."

Sokov agreed with Sidolin's statement. According to his memory, at the end of the war, the troops of the Belarusian Third Front were still staying near Königsberg, hundreds of kilometers away from Berlin.

"That's right, I also think that according to the current distribution of fronts, the first troops to enter Berlin are either Marshal Zhukov's First Belarusian Front Army or Marshal Konev's Ukrainian First Front Army. The reported Belarusian Second Front, at best, was an assist, entering Berlin much later than the other two troops."

"Comrade Commander." Ponejielin reminded Sokov: "The troops are about to move out, but the candidate for the commander of the 3rd Infantry Division has not yet been determined, and the chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Miyakov, must not always be acting as his agent." ?”

"General Kirillov has never had a clear position in the army, which is very detrimental to his future." Regarding the candidate for the new commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, Sokov decided to choose Kirillov, but in Before the official appointment, he felt that it was necessary to communicate with Pornejelin and Sidolin: "I plan to let him take over as the commander of the 3rd Infantry Division. What do you think?"

"I have no objection." Bornejelin was the first to speak.

"I have no objection." Xidolin echoed: "It's a pity that there is no military system in our group army sequence, otherwise he can be appointed as the commander of the army."

"Since everyone has no objection, it will be officially approved." Sokov said to Sidolin: "You will call General Kirillov later and ask him to go to the 3rd Infantry Division to take over the post of division commander."

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Sidolin nodded and said, "I'll call him right away."

But when Sidolin picked up the phone, he suddenly said: "I don't know how the current situation is with Colonel Muzichenko and those few of your classmates."

Sidolin's words made Sokov think again of the few people who were unwilling to follow him to the new army. He thought to himself, since we haven't seen each other for so long, we should really call to check their situation and see how they are doing now.

But before making the call, Sokov asked Ponejielin: "Comrade Deputy Commander, do you know the latest situation of the Ukrainian First Front Army?"

"They just finished the Lviv-Sandomierz campaign," Ponejerin said. "In this important strategy, they severely damaged the German Army Group 'Northern Ukraine' and wiped out the western Ukrainian states and Poland. The German army in the southeast region forcibly crossed the Vistula River and captured the large landing field west of Sandomierz, creating favorable conditions for the implementation of a new campaign."

After Ponegelin finished speaking, he asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, why are you asking this?"

"I want to call Marshal Konev and congratulate him." Sokov said, "At the same time, I want to know about the current situation of General Muzichenko and those classmates."

Hearing what Sokov said, Ponedelin said: "Comrade Commander, I don't think it's necessary. Even if I don't call, I can guess that Muzichenko and the others must be having a bad time."

"Why?" Sokov asked back.

"When we left, Muzichenko was serving as the division commander." Ponejielin said to Sokov: "If he can go further, he will definitely call me and show off to me. But after so long For a long time, I didn't receive a single call, which proves that Muzichenko's life is not as good as he originally imagined."

Knowing that Muzichenko's life is not going well, Sokov changed his mind and thought it might be more appropriate to call the 51st Army headquarters directly. Then 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 53rd Army Group, I want to talk to their commander or chief of staff."

The person who answered the phone was Chief of Staff Smirnov. After hearing Sokov's self-introduction, he asked casually, "Who?! Who did you say you were?"

The next moment, he exclaimed: "It turned out to be Commander Sokov. Hello, hello, long time no see. How are you?"

"I'm fine, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov said with a smile, "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine too, thank you Commander for your concern." As Sokov's former chief of staff, Smirnov knew that the other party would not call for no reason, so he asked tentatively: "I wonder if you called today, What's matter?"

Before Sokov made the call, he was worried that Smirnov would be transferred to another unit. Now that his former partner was still in his original position, he stopped circling around and asked directly: "Comrade Chief of Staff , I called you today to ask Colonel Muzichenko and some of my classmates how the situation is going now?"

Hearing Sokov ask about Muzichenko, Smirnov fell silent.

Seeing that the other party was silent suddenly, Sokov immediately realized what might have happened, and quickly asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, is something wrong? Please tell me the truth."

"You guessed right, Comrade Commander, something has happened." Smirnov said: "During our army's attack on Lviv, due to insufficient artillery preparations before the attack, we were not able to effectively destroy the enemy The defense system was so strong that Muzichenko and his division were ambushed by the Germans as they advanced towards the city. After a fierce battle, most of the division members died heroically, while the rest were rescued by the rescue forces. With help, I managed to escape the encirclement of the German army."

Hearing this, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart. He asked tentatively, "Comrade Chief of Staff, so Colonel Muzichenko and my classmates are all on the list of those who were attacked?"

"That's true." Smirnov said: "Since you left, Muzichenko has arranged for your classmates to serve as staff officers in the division headquarters. As a result, they all died when they were attacked by the German army. There are even some people who don’t even have a complete body.”

Knowing that the people he stayed in the 53rd Army had all fought in the recent battle, Sokov felt extremely heavy in his heart. Although when I was transferred from the 53rd Army, these people refused to leave with me for various reasons, but these people have more or less branded themselves. It is false to say that they are not uncomfortable when they hear that they sacrificed.

After Sokov put down the phone, he announced to Ponedelin and Sidolin with a heavy heart: "Just now, General Smirnov, chief of staff of the 53rd Army, told me that Muzichenko and my classmates were attacking Liberia. During the battle of Wolfe, the division headquarters on the way to transfer were attacked by the German army, and unfortunately died heroically."

Sidolin was not familiar with Muzichenko and those remaining students. Hearing what Sokov said, he just said: "It's a pity." His expression didn't change.

And Ponedelin and Muzichenko are not only old comrades-in-arms for many years, but they were also imprisoned in the same concentration camp after being captured by the German army. They have a deep friendship with each other. The eye circles suddenly turned red.

He turned around and raised his hand to wipe away the tears running down his cheeks, and asked with some sobs: "Comrade Commander, do you know where he is buried?"

"I don't know." Sukov didn't ask about this at all just now, so he couldn't answer Ponegerin's question, so he could only say with a wry smile: "I heard from General Smirnov that the battle was very tragic and many sacrificed The commanders and fighters don’t even have a complete corpse.”

"Comrade Commander," said Ponegerin, "when the war is over, I will go to Lvov myself to see the area where my old friend died."

"Yes." Sokov nodded and said, "If you don't object, I can go with you."

Sidolin asked next to him: "Comrade Commander, do you need to tell General Kirillov about the death of Colonel Muzichenko?"

"It's not necessary." Sokov refused Sidolin's proposal without hesitation: "We just appointed Kirillov as the commander of the 3rd Infantry Division. Don't use these things to affect his emotions. Let him take over the troops with peace of mind."

"Well, then I won't tell him about it for now, so as not to affect his mood."

Taking advantage of Sidolin's phone call, Pornegerin suggested to Sokov: "I think that after we reach the new defense zone, I'm afraid we won't launch an attack on the enemy immediately, and we will definitely stay there for a while. Come on, it involves the construction of fortifications. Do you think we should wait for the friendly troops to take over the defense before transferring, or should the main force be transferred first, leaving only a part of the troops to wait for the friendly troops to take over the defense?"

"We still don't know whether there are enough fortifications in the newly allocated defense zone, so it is not advisable to stay and wait until the defense is changed." Sukov said: "I mean, leave one for each division. The regiment is responsible for handing over the defense, and the other troops will first advance to the area assigned to us by the superior."

"Do you need to report the transfer to the front army headquarters?" Ponejielin asked.

Sokov laughed after hearing this, "Comrade Deputy Commander, I would like to report, but who should we report to? Marshal Zhukov of the First Front, or Marshal Rokossovsky of the Second Front? "

Thinking about it, Ponegerin seemed to make sense. Since the superior has given you the order to move the defense, you just take the troops to move the defense. Reporting to the superior seems a bit superfluous. At most, wait until the troops are in place, and then report to the immediate superior.

The order was sent to the divisions and brigades of the 48th Army by telephone, and the troops withdrew from the defense area one after another in the afternoon and moved towards the new station.

When the troops departed, some of the seized materials could not be taken away. The chief of logistics came to ask Sokov for instructions: "Comrade Commander, there are still a lot of seized materials in our defense area, but the vehicles are used to transport soldiers. , what should I do with these materials?"

Sokov waved his hand and said boldly: "Since you can't take it away, let's keep it all. You know, these seized materials are not only useful to us, but also useful to friendly troops who are on defense." , leave it all to them.”