Red Moscow

The end of the year came in a flash of time, and the fortifications that should be built in the defense zone have already been built; the troops that should be replenished have also been roughly replenished. If you want to use an old saying to describe it, it is "everything is ready and only owes the east wind". The 48th Army is ready to fight, and it can rush into the depths of the enemy's defense without hesitation just waiting for Rokossovsky's order.

On the afternoon of December 31, Sidorin received a call from Chief of Staff Bogolyubov: "General Sidorin, how is the situation there?"

Sidolin thought that the other party was asking about his defense and preparations for battle, so he quickly replied: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the entire army group has made all preparations for battle, and we can attack the German defense with an order from you." Launch a large-scale attack in depth."

After listening to the other party's answer, Bogolyubov realized that Sidolin had misunderstood himself, and explained: "General Sidorin, you have made a mistake. I am not calling you to ask how your combat preparations are going. That’s it. You know, you will report to me every few days on the situation of your army group, are you ready for battle, don’t I still know?”

"What's that about?" Sidolin asked in puzzlement, wondering what it was that allowed the Chief of Staff of the Front Army to call in person?

"Tomorrow is New Year's Day," said Bogolyubov. "Are you ready to celebrate the soldiers?"

"What, is it a holiday?" Sokov, who was chatting with Ponegerin next to him, asked curiously after hearing the voice from the receiver, "What holiday is it?"

"Comrade Commander, you should talk to the Chief of Staff." Sidolin said, and handed the microphone to Sokov.

"Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army." Sokov asked politely on the phone: "I don't know what holiday is celebrated?"

"Tomorrow is the New Year, have you forgotten?" said Bogolyubov, "Have you forgotten?"

After such a reminder from Bogolyubov, Sokov remembered that tomorrow is the New Year. In Russia, this is the most important festival, which can be compared with the Chinese Spring Festival.

No one really reminded Sokov of this incident, so he naturally couldn't make any preparations. Hearing Bogolyubov say this at this moment, he said with some guilt: "I'm sorry, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I have not made any preparations for this."

"Then it's not too late to prepare now." But Bogolyubov didn't blame him, but said with a smile: "The Front Army Command will provide you with two tons of beef and mutton, five tons of flour, and a certain amount of chocolate for For your holiday use."

"Great, this is really great." Knowing that Bogolyubov had provided a large amount of supplies, Sokov couldn't help but be overjoyed, and said to Bogolyubov: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, on behalf of the 48th Army Thank you from all commanders.”

"Verbal thanks are not enough." Bogolyubov said: "If you really want to express your gratitude, in the end, in the battle of the beginning of spring, you should establish more brilliant military exploits. I think this form of gratitude is Comrade Marshal wanted to see."

"You can rest assured about this." Sokov said carelessly, "I have never disappointed Comrade Marshal."

After Sokov hung up the phone, Sokov looked at Sidolin and Ponejielin and asked: "The superior has provided us with some supplies for the festival. Tell me, how should we celebrate the coming 1945?"

"Comrade Commander, although the logistics department of the front army has provided us with a lot of supplies, if it is distributed to every soldier, I am afraid that there will not be much."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, don't keep making riddles." Ponejelin heard what Sidolin said, and said impatiently: "Just say it directly, how should we use these materials to celebrate the holidays with the commanders and fighters?"

Sidolin did not answer this question immediately, but looked at Sokov and said, "I think this matter should be decided by Comrade Commander. No matter what decision he makes, I will obey it unconditionally."

Sukov never dreamed that Sidolin would kick the question to his feet, and for a while, he didn't know how to answer it. After a long time, he cautiously asked Ponegerin: "Comrade Deputy Commander, you have been in the army for a long time. I will follow your opinion on how to deal with this kind of thing."

Seeing that Sokov handed over the decision-making power to himself, Ponejielin was not pretentious, but said bluntly: "If it is made into stew, firstly, the quantity is not enough, and secondly, it will take a long time. In my opinion, it is better Just make dumplings."

Sokov knows that pelmeni, or pelmeni, are a Russian dish originating from the Ural Mountains and are called "bread ears" in the Uralic language family. The shape of the dumplings is different from that of Huaxia. They are flat and round, and look more like wontons.

The fillings are beef, mutton and pork, and the cooking method is roughly the same as that of Huaxia. If you want to say what it has, it is its dipping sauce, which is usually tomato juice, cream, sour cream and salad dressing.

"Okay, let's make dumplings." Sukov saw that Ponejielin had already stated his plan, and he readily agreed: "The deputy commander will be responsible for making dumplings. I hope that at zero o'clock When the sound is sounded, every commander and fighter in the group army can eat hot dumplings."

"Comrade Commander, you can rest assured about this." In any case, Ponejielin has been a commander in the army for decades, and he is familiar with how to arrange this kind of work. Since Sukov assigned the task to As for himself, he replied straightforwardly: "I will deliver hot dumplings to the hands of every commander before the clock strikes zero."

As soon as he said action, he acted. After Ponejielin took over the task from Sokov, he immediately led a unit directly under the group army to start the work of mincing meat and making dumplings.

Seeing the bustling scene outside the headquarters, Sidolin couldn't help drooling a little. He said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, to tell you the truth, I haven't eaten dumplings for two or three years. Now I see I can't help drooling while making dumplings."

Sokov laughed loudly after hearing this, and then said to Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, today you can eat with an open stomach, and eat as much as you can. The right is to make up for previous regrets."

In the evening, the dumplings that had been frozen in the snow for several hours began to be put into the pot one after another. The warrior who was responsible for lighting the fire, adding water, and placing the dumplings by the side of the pot couldn't help drooling when he saw the dumplings tumbling up and down in the pot.

For this situation, Ponegerin was not surprised, and shouted at the soldiers: "Comrades, you can eat with your belly open, eat as much as you can, and be sure to eat all the dumplings you owed before." .have you understood?"

As soon as Ponegerin finished speaking, thunderous shouts sounded from all around: "I understand."

For the dumplings that came out of the pan first, Bonejielin must have delivered them to the Army Group Command in person, asking Sokov, Sidolin and others to eat first. He directed the soldiers carrying trays, and put plates of dumplings on the table.

When the plates of dumplings were all on the table, Ponegerin brought some more plates of dipping sauce, and said to everyone: "Commanders, the dumplings are already cooked, and you can eat them with your stomachs open." Looking at Potapov who just arrived, he said, "Misha, you have suffered in the German POW camp for so many years, today you can enjoy some dumplings from your hometown."

Potapov, the artillery director, has roughly recovered after more than two months of recuperation. Seeing the plate after plate of dumplings in front of him, he smiled and said to Ponejielin, "Pavel, you've been busy all afternoon, please sit down and eat some."

As soon as Potapov finished speaking, Sokov echoed: "That's right, Comrade Deputy Commander, you must be tired and hungry with the soldiers making dumplings for an afternoon. Sit down and eat some with us first." Bar."

Ponegerin wanted to decline, but was pulled to sit down by Potapov: "I said, old man, I used to like to eat dumplings made by you, I haven't seen you for so many years, and I don't know if your craftsmanship has deteriorated. "

"You'll know if you taste it." Ponejielin pushed a plate of dumplings in front of Potapov, and said with a smile: "I made this plate of dumplings stuffed with mutton and chicken. You can taste it." How about it. By the way, I remember that every time you eat dumplings, you like to dip them in salad dressing. Here, this salad dressing is your favorite flavor, hurry up and try it. "

Just as everyone picked up their knives and forks and started to wipe out the dumplings on the plate, a staff officer hurried in from outside.

Seeing the staff officer enter the door, Bonegelin thought that the other party was here to report the news that the dumplings were cooked, so he said to him first: "Comrade staff, we have enough dumplings for the time being. If you have cooked dumplings, you can give them to other people first." The comrades in the unit eat it. If it is not enough, I will inform you to cook it again."

"No, Comrade Deputy Commander." Unexpectedly, the staff officer shook his head vigorously after hearing this, and said to Ponejelin: "It's not about the dumplings, but a general came outside and wanted to see our commander. "

"What, there is a general outside who wants to see me?" Sokov stood up and looked at the staff officer and asked, "Who is it?" According to his thinking, it might be someone from the Front Army Command, or it might be the chief of staff Bogolyubov. maybe.

But the staff officer shook his head again and said, "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, the general didn't allow me to say his name, saying that you'll know who he is as soon as you see him."

Hearing what the staff officer said, Sokov felt somewhat displeased, thinking who are you? To come to see me, he even specially told the staff not to give his name. So he said to the staff impatiently: "Comrade staff, go and invite him in."

After the staff officer left and Sokov sat down again, Sidolin asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, who do you think it will be? Will it be Chief of Staff Bogolyubov?"

"No." Before Sukov finished speaking, Ponejielin said first: "Based on what I know about Bogolyubov, he would not do such boring things. Fortunately, the staff went out to call the other party." , we will soon know who this arrogant guy is!"

As soon as Ponegerin finished speaking, a voice familiar to most people came from the door: "Deputy Commander Ponegerin, who do you think is an arrogant guy?"

Hearing this voice, Sokov stood up abruptly, looked towards the door in shock, and saw a general wearing a gray military overcoat standing there. Seeing that Sokov noticed him, the other party took off the hat on his head, spread his hands, and said helplessly, "Misha, I haven't seen you for a few months, don't you know me?"

"Yasha!" When Sokov heard the other party speak, he recognized that it was Yakov. After seeing the opponent's face clearly at this moment, he was even more sure that his judgment was not wrong, and hurriedly walked around the table and walked towards the opponent with open arms: "Why did you appear here?"

After a warm hug, Yakov and Sokov replied: "Misha, I was ordered by the General Staff to go to the front to check the New Year's situation of the troops. It seems that your place is not bad. There are countless big pots, boiling hot dumplings."

"Yasha, it's better to come early than to come at a good time." Sokov pulled Yakov towards the table and said, "We are eating dumplings. You should sit down and eat again."

Ponegerin and Sidolin were very familiar with Yakov, so they naturally greeted him: "Yes, General Yakov, please sit down and eat dumplings with us."

However, Potapov and Colonel Malyshev, the director of the armored forces, did not know who Yakov was, so they could only stand still and wait for the other party to sit down before asking Sokov who he was.

"Wait a minute, Misha." Yakov gently broke away from Sokov's hand, and said to him with a smile, "There is a distinguished guest I brought outside the door."

Sokov heard that there was another VIP from Yakov outside the door, so he said carelessly: "Yasha, since he is your VIP, he is also my friend. Let him come in quickly."

The next moment, when a female soldier in a well-fitting military uniform appeared at the door, Sokov's eyes widened. After a long time, he murmured, "Assia, what, why is it you? Why did you appear here?"

After hearing this, Yakov smiled and said, "Of course I brought it."

When Sokov and others were talking at the door, Potapov asked Ponejielin in a low voice: "Old man, who are the two newcomers? I think Comrade Commander is very enthusiastic about them."

"The young general's name is Yakov, and he is the son of Comrade Stalin." Ponederin said in a low voice: "The female soldier next to him is Comrade Commander's wife Asiya."

After listening to Ponedelin's words, Potapov was shocked. He didn't expect that this young general had such a great background, and he was Stalin's son. And judging by the tone of his conversation with Sokov, the two should be friends who talk about everything. More importantly, the other party brought Sokov's wife with him this time.

Ponegerin walked up to Asiya, held out his hand to her, and said in a friendly manner: "Comrade Asiya, you are welcome to come to our place. On behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the group army, I welcome you."

"And me, Comrade Assia." Sidolin also leaned over and extended his hand to Assia: "Welcome!"

Assia is very familiar with Ponegerin and Sidolin, so she didn't feel nervous. After shaking hands with them one by one, she said with a smile: "General Bonegerin, General Sidolin, can you I am also very happy to see you again.”

Sokov saw that with the arrival of Yakov and Asiya, everyone in the conductor stood up and greeted him. He felt a little embarrassed. He felt that there was a bit of self-serving in it, so he greeted everyone and said: "Everyone stop standing, sit down and eat the dumplings quickly. If you don't eat any more, it will be cold."