Red Moscow

"Shula?!" When Rokossovsky received a call from Lunev and heard the name Shula, he couldn't help frowning: "Who is he? Is it important?" Saying this At that time, he was thinking in his heart, what is going on, Lunev, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, why would he ask a tank officer, what happened to him?

When Lunev heard Rokossovsky's answer, he immediately realized that the other party had misunderstood, and quickly explained: "Comrade Marshal, I'm sorry, I didn't make it clear. Although Shura was just an ordinary tank officer, he He has a special identity. He is the younger brother of the heroine Zoya. He just turned 20 this year. Before I came to the frontier, Comrade Beria gave me a task. After I met Shura, I must ensure his Be safe and make sure he lives to win."

"It turned out to be like this." After listening to Lunev's explanation, Rokossovsky realized that he had misunderstood the other party, and said with some embarrassment: "I thought something happened to him, and you would look for it through me. his whereabouts."

"Comrade Marshal, after I came to the 48th Army, I asked many people to inquire about Shula." Lunev continued: "There are many people with this name, but none of them is the person I am looking for. I just talked to Misha chatted, and he said that if he wants to find this Shula among tens of millions of people, he probably has to ask you for help."

As a commander commanding hundreds of thousands of people, Rokossovsky naturally did not have time to look for an ordinary tank commander. He turned his head and said to Subbotin who was sitting next to him: "Comrade Military Commissar, I have a I want to trouble you."

Su Bojing said hastily: "Comrade Marshal, if you have anything to do, please tell me."

"It's like this. General Lunev, the military commissar of the 48th Army, called and asked us to help him find a young tank commander named Shura." Rokossovsky said to Subbotin: "This The commander is the younger brother of the heroine Zoya, and Comrade Beria once told Lunev that he must let this young man live until the day of victory."

"Don't worry, Comrade Marshal." After figuring out what task Rokossovsky entrusted to him, Subbotin stood up and said, "Leave this matter to me, and I will definitely find this Shu pulled."

"General Lunev, have you heard everything?" Rokossovsky said into the microphone: "My military commissar, General Subbotin, is willing to help you find that Shura in the army. You just wait." Listen to the good news."

After Lunev put down the phone, he excitedly said to Sokov: "Misha, Comrade Marshal has promised to help me find Shula in the army, and I believe it will not be long before I can get accurate information about Shula. "

"Comrade Military Commissar," Sokov felt the need to pour cold water on Lunev to calm him down: "Even with the help of Comrade Marshal, it will not be easy to find Shula. You know , the total strength of the Second Front Army is as many as several hundred thousand. The troops have been reduced in battle, and the superiors are constantly replenishing them. Many commanders and fighters may have died in the battle before their names were even entered in the roster. In this case, looking for a tank commander is like looking for a needle in a haystack."

"But I will always try, just in case I find it." Lunev also said helplessly: "After all, I was entrusted by someone."

"I'm afraid it will take a long time to find someone." Sokov said to Lunev: "Comrade Military Commissar, don't worry, wait patiently. I believe that with the help of the Marshal, there is still great hope for finding Shula." of."

When Sokov said this, he began to recall the history of the heroic siblings again in his mind. He vaguely remembered that he had read a book written by their mother before, saying that Shura died in the battle to liberate Königsberg. . If I remember correctly, the Second Front only dispatched the air force to bomb Königsberg at that time, and did not dispatch ground troops. The main attack was the troops of the Third Front.

When Sokov was trying to remember, Ponegerin saw his expression and asked tentatively, "Comrade Commander, what are you thinking?"

Hearing Ponedelin ask himself, Sokov looked up at him and said, "Comrade Deputy Commander, do you think it is possible that the Shura we are looking for is not in our Second Front Army at all?"

"This is impossible." Lunev immediately retorted: "According to the information I have received, Shura is in the troops attacking East Prussia."

"Comrade Military Commissar, you are right about one thing. Our Second Front Army is indeed a force attacking East Prussia." Sokov said: "But the troops attacking East Prussia are not only our Second Front Army, but also Neither the Third Front nor the Baltic Front can guarantee that Shura is not in the other troops."

"Comrade Commander, why are you still talking about Shura?" At this time, Sidolin came over and interrupted the conversation of several people. He put a telegram he had just received on the table: "This There's an update just received."

"What information?" Sokov asked.

"General Nikitin, the commander of the 120th Guards Division, reported," Sidolin saw that everyone was staring at him, and no one cared about the telegram on the table. He could only briefly convey the contents of the telegram to Everyone said again: "They captured a group of officers and soldiers of the Grossdeutschland Division during the battle. After interrogating the prisoners, they learned that the division had received an order to retreat to Königsberg."

"Ah, the troops of the Grossdeutschland Division are going to retreat towards Königsberg?" Ponegerin asked in surprise when he heard the news, "Chief of Staff, is the news reliable?"

"The telegram was sent by General Nikitin himself." Sidolin replied: "I believe his report should be credible. In addition, the Brandenburg armored bomber, which also belongs to the Greater German Panzer Army The artillery division also received an order to retreat."

Sokov asked: "Did the prisoners say when the main force of the Grossdeutschland Division plans to retreat to Königsberg?"

"Tonight." After Sidolin finished speaking, he asked Sokov for instructions: "Since the German army plans to abandon their positions and retreat, shouldn't we take the opportunity to launch a more fierce attack on them?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, although the German army has received an order to retreat, if we increase our offensive against them at this time." Sokov shook his head and rejected Sidolin's proposal: "The enemy will definitely stay and resist tenaciously until After repelling our army's attack, choose to retreat."

"Then what should we do?" Sidolin looked at Sokov and asked, "Should we just watch the enemy retreat from under our noses?"

"Chief of Staff, come and see the map." Sokov pointed to the map and said to Sidolin: "If the German army wants to retreat, it will inevitably pass through the combat area of ​​the 65th Army. We can first get in touch with the commander of the friendly army. After the enemy's retreat begins, use pursuit tactics to attack them. At this moment, if the friendly forces intercept from the front, the enemy who is attacked from both sides will definitely suffer heavy losses."

"That's a good idea." Sidolin nodded and said, "Comrade Commander, you have a good relationship with General Batov. I think you should greet him personally."

For Sidolin's proposal, Sokov readily agreed. He picked up the phone and ordered the communications troops to connect to the 65th Army Headquarters. After hearing General Batov's voice from the receiver, he immediately greeted him warmly: "Hello, General Batov! I'm Sokov."

"It turned out to be General Sokov." Hearing that the person calling him was actually Sokov, Batov asked with a smile, "Call me, is there anything important?"

"It's like this, General Batov." Sokov picked up the phone on the table, stared at the content on it and said: "My troops captured a group of officers and soldiers of the Grossdeutschland Division, and after interrogating some prisoners , They confessed that they had received an order from their superiors and would withdraw from their existing position tonight and move towards Königsberg."

"Oh, is this news reliable?" Batov quickly asked his chief of staff to bring a map, and while looking at the situation map of the enemy and ourselves, he asked Sokov: "General Sokov, if this news is true, what do you plan to do?" manage?"

"If I launch a strong attack on the German army at this moment, the enemy will definitely resist our attack with all their strength in order to retreat safely. In this way, our side will suffer a certain degree of loss." Sokov thought of cooperating with Batov , so I didn’t hide anything from him: “So I’m going to stand still for the time being, and when the German army starts to retreat, our army will follow and chase. And if your troops give the enemy a head-on blow, I believe it will cause huge losses to the enemy. .”

Just to be on the safe side, Batov deliberately asked: "General Sokov, is the unit you said to be retreating the Grossdeutschland Division or the Grossdeutschland Panzer Army?"

"The German officers and soldiers we captured in the battle belonged to the Grossdeutschland Division, but in their statements, the Brandenburg Panzergrenadier Division was mentioned, and they were also ordered to retreat."

"So that's the case." Batov raised his hand and looked at the time. He felt that it was a bit too early to arrange the interception of the Grossdeutschland Division at this moment, so he said into the microphone: "General Sokov, thank you for providing us with I will start ordering the troops to make preparations now, and I will discuss specific cooperation matters with you after everything is ready."

"Okay." Hearing what Batov said, Sokov couldn't say anything more, so he could only say a scene: "We will discuss the next step of cooperation after your troops are ready."

After Batov put down the phone, he immediately called his chief of staff and said to him, "Chief of staff, are there any officers and soldiers from the Grossdeutschland Division among the prisoners we captured?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Hearing Batov's question, the chief of staff asked in puzzlement, "Why are you asking this?"

"General Sokov just informed me." Batov said to his chief of staff: "According to the confession of the prisoners of the Grossdeutschland Division, the two divisions of the Grossdeutschland Panzer Army will withdraw their positions tonight and move towards Ko Nessberg's direction shifted."

"What, the Greater German Panzer Army will abandon its position tonight and move towards Königsberg?" The chief of staff looked at the map and said with bright eyes: "If this information is reliable, the enemy will attack from our Once the combat area has passed, we can give them a head-on blow, and maybe we can knock down these two elite divisions of the German army in one fell swoop."

"Chief of Staff, that's right. I think so too." Batov pointed to the map and said, "If the German army wants to retreat to Königsberg, it must pass through our combat area. At that time, our army only needs to give the enemy a head-on attack." A heavy blow can cause them considerable losses. General Sokov said just now that he intends to send troops to pursue from behind and flank the German army with us."

"That's not bad." The chief of staff couldn't help but smile when he heard this: "If the troops of our two armies are really flanking each other, I believe that a considerable amount of troops of the German Panzer Army will be lost in this area. If the Marshal Comrades will be very happy when they find out about this.”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, tell me, is it the two armies that act at the same time that destroys two German divisions that achieve the greatest results, or the one army that wipes out two German divisions?"

The chief of staff couldn't help being taken aback, and then asked tentatively, "Comrade commander, are you planning to leave the 48th Army and go it alone?"

"That's right, that's how I think about it." Batov didn't hide his true thoughts from his chief of staff at all: "There is still the 2nd Assault Army between us and the 48th Army. If they really trail The retreat of the German army is not a cross-regional battle. In this way, even if our cooperation has achieved great results, I am afraid that Comrade Marshal will credit Sokov with all the credit for this battle."

Originally, the chief of staff felt that what Batov wanted to do alone was somewhat unethical. But after listening to his analysis, I feel that if Sokov's troops are really allowed to enter their own combat area, it will be a cross-regional operation. Regardless of the outstanding performance of one's own troops in the battle to destroy the enemy, I am afraid that everyone will unconsciously give the greatest credit to Sokov and his 48th Army.

After trying to understand the truth, the chief of staff nodded and said in agreement: "Comrade commander, I understand what you mean. I will immediately issue an order to the troops to rush to build defenses in areas where the German army may pass by, and prepare to attack the enemy head-on. Whack."

"Go quickly." Batov waved his hand at the chief of staff, urging: "Move up the troops of the second echelon, let them enter the combat area as soon as possible, and make all preparations for combat, so that the German Panzer Army of the German Army will Whenever we arrive, we can give them a head-on blow."

The military commissar, who was sitting next to him as a mascot, had an embarrassed expression on his face when he heard the conversation between Batov and the chief of staff. While the chief of staff was on the phone, he asked Batov in a low voice: "Comrade commander, is it really appropriate for us to do this?"

"What's inappropriate." Batov looked at the military commissioner and said, "You can't just sit and watch friendly troops swagger into our area and establish a victory that can cover our light? If such a situation really happens Even if you and I don’t say anything about the situation, I’m afraid the commanders and fighters below will have emotions in their hearts.”