Red Moscow

The train started slowly, gradually accelerated, and drove out of the Belarus Railway Station, heading towards the west of the city.

At noon, the train entered Smolensk and stopped at the city's railway station, waiting for passengers to get on and off.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Patriotic War, the German army concentrated heavy troops and launched a frantic attack on the city in order to open the road to Moscow. The 16th, 19th and 20th armies commanded by Konev, Lukin and Yershakov stubbornly resisted the German advance here, plus Yartevo to the southwest, and Roko The combat group commanded by Sovsky restrained part of the German army, preventing the enemy from freeing up its hands and feet to fight.

After the two sides were in a stalemate here for a month and a half, in order to avoid being encircled by the German army, the Soviet army forcibly crossed the Dnieper River and successfully withdrew to the left bank area, where they continued to consolidate new defense lines and resist the German attack. But regrettably, these three army groups that escaped from the German encirclement were once again surrounded by the Germans in the Vyazma area half a month later. Most of the troops were annihilated. Even Lieutenant General Lukin was seriously injured and died. Unfortunately, he became a prisoner of the German army.

Seeing Sokov's eyes looking out the window, Adelina couldn't help but asked curiously: "Misha, have you participated in the defense of Smolensk?"

"No." Sokov withdrew his gaze from outside the city and said in a positive tone: "During the Battle of Smolensk, I was still serving as a garrison in Khimki Town. I had no chance to participate in such a great battle. Battle." At this point, he couldn't help but smile and said self-deprecatingly, "But then again, if I had participated in the battle to defend Smolensk, I might have died or become a prisoner of the Germans. You and I might have There is no chance of getting to know each other.”

"How could it be possible?" Agelina obviously didn't believe Sokov's statement: "I heard that during the Smolensk Defense Battle, our army's commanders and fighters would fire grenades and die with the enemy even if they were seriously injured. "They would rather die than be taken prisoner."

If someone else had said this, Sokov might have laughed. But since the person who said this was Agelina, he could not help but correct the other person: "Agelina, our commanders and soldiers performed very bravely on the battlefield. After being seriously injured, they fired grenades and attacked the enemy. It is true that the same death occurred, but to say that no one of our soldiers was captured in this battle is to distort the facts.”

But Agelina obviously had great trust in the person who told the story. After listening to Sokov's words, she retorted: "Misha, you said that some soldiers in our army were captured by the Germans. Do you have any evidence?"

"Don't talk about evidence, even if you want witnesses, I can find them for you."

Agelina said with some dissatisfaction: "If you find a random person on the street and say that he was captured by the Germans in Smolensk, others might see the rank on your shoulder straps and follow your lead. Make up the lies you need."

Sokov looked at Agelina sitting opposite, feeling that the other person suddenly became very strange, and actually had an argument with him over such an insignificant matter. He took a deep breath, calmed down a little and said: "If I tell you about other people, you may not believe it, but if I tell you that Yasha was once captured by the Germans in Smolensk, would you believe it? What if? If you still have doubts, you can ask Yasha in person if you have a chance to see him in the future."

Seeing Sokov speaking so seriously, Agelina realized that the things she knew before might have been misled by others, so she asked cautiously: "Misha, is this true? Is Yasha really being tricked?" Were the Germans captured?”

"Yes, he was indeed captured by the Germans." Sokov answered truthfully: "He was a lieutenant in the artillery regiment of the 14th Tank Division at the time. After he was captured, he used the name of a fallen comrade. You also know that at that time, our army was not in a good position in combat, and a large number of personnel were captured almost every day. The Germans simply did not have the time and sufficient manpower to verify the identities of the captured commanders and fighters of our army, so Yasha’s true identity was still unknown. It was not exposed. Fortunately, after I got the information, I led people to rescue Yasha. "

Since the witness mentioned by Sokov was Yakov, Agelina naturally believed a little of what he said: "The reason why you have such a good relationship with Yasha is because you once removed him from a prisoner of war camp. Rescue him?"

"I have a good relationship with Yasha. Apart from the fact that I once rescued him from a prisoner of war camp, I thought we were friends who grew up together. However, we later separated until I rescued Yasha from a prisoner of war camp. Only then did we regain contact." Sokov recalled that it was the most correct decision he made to lead troops to rescue Yakov. After Yakov later went to the weapons and equipment department, he became his strong support. Continuously provide advanced weapons and equipment to your troops, making your troops' combat effectiveness far superior to that of other friendly troops.

"Oh, so that's it." Agelina nodded thoughtfully after hearing this and said, "No wonder you two are as good as brothers. It turns out there is such a relationship."

"More than four years have passed since the Battle of Smolensk in 1941," Sokov looked out the window again: "Look, most of the bombed-out houses in the city are still in ruins. I don't know when. To rebuild.”

"It is not an easy task to rebuild a city." Agelina said: "You must know that this war that lasted for four years destroyed hundreds of cities in the country. To rebuild these cities , requires a lot of manpower and material resources, but our military and civilian casualties in this war exceeded 20 million. "

Sokov has read information from later generations. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the total population of the Soviet Union was 180 million, 28 million died, 30 million were disabled, one-third of the population was scrapped, and men died in almost every household. However, due to confidentiality reasons at this time, the number of casualties announced to the outside world is 20 million.

"Well, the price paid is high." Sokov said casually: "But in order to defend our great motherland, no matter how high the price is, it is worth it."

After the whistle blew, the train started again.

A few minutes later, the train reached the Dnieper River Bridge.

"Adelina, do you know?" Sokov said: "Shortly after the start of the Battle of Smolensk, the Germans occupied the southern part of the city. At that time, Colonel Malyshev, the commander of the Smolensk garrison , in order to prevent the enemy from breaking into the north of the city, he decisively ordered people to blow up the bridge, blocking the enemy on the other side of the Dnieper River. "

If it were an ordinary woman, hearing Sokov say this, she would definitely applaud and praise Colonel Malyshev for his good bombing. But Agelina was no ordinary woman. She looked at Sokov and asked with a serious expression: "He blew up such an important bridge without permission from his superiors. Has he been punished?"

“After the news that the bridge on the Dnieper River was blown up came back to Moscow, the Supreme Commander himself became furious and immediately called Marshal Timoshenko, the commander of the Western Front on the front line, and asked him to severely punish this audacious man. Guy. But since Timoshenko was not in Smolensk, he handed the matter over to Lieutenant General Lukin. After receiving this order, Lukin found out after careful investigation that Colonel Malyshev blew up the bridge. In order to prevent the German army from crossing the Dnieper River and occupying the northern part of the city, the decision made by the other party was completely correct. After figuring out what was going on, Lukin immediately reported to Marshal Timoshenko and explained the bombing of Colonel Malyshev. He also proposed that Colonel Malyshev should not be punished for his actions, but should also be given the rewards he deserved. "

After Agelina heard this, she let out a long sigh, and then said: "This Colonel Malyshev is so courageous. Isn't he afraid that his superiors will blow up important bridges because he makes independent decisions without even conducting an investigation?" Should he be shot directly?"

"I think he must have considered this issue." Sokov did not tell Adelina that Colonel Malyshev later became his subordinate. He continued: "But as the garrison commander, he should know very well , if he loses the city, he will definitely not be able to escape the fate of being court-martialed; if he blows up the bridge on the Dnieper River, he may be court-martialed, but he can save the city. Therefore, he made the right choice in the end. "

"He is so brave." Agelina said: "If it were me, I definitely wouldn't be able to make such a decision."

"In fact, during the Great Patriotic War, there were many commanders like Colonel Malyshev who put their personal safety behind in order to defeat the enemy." Sokov gave Adelina an example: "For example, On the day the war broke out, Marshal Rokossovsky, who was also the commander of the Ninth Mechanized Corps and the commander of the Zhitomir garrison, risked his head and opened the file on the map when he was unable to get in touch with the National Defense Committee. The top-secret files in the safe, and according to the instructions above, promptly dispatched troops to the western border of Ukraine to participate in the battle. "

After the two chatted for a while, Agelina felt a little sleepy, so she lay on her bed and closed her eyes to rest. Sokov raised his hand and looked at the time. It was almost one o'clock, so he asked tentatively: "Agelina, it's lunch time now. How about you eat something first before going to bed?"

But Agelina, who was lying on the bed, didn't even open her eyes. She just waved her hands and said, "I got up too early today. I'm a little sleepy, so I won't eat lunch. If you're hungry, just go and eat by yourself." ”

Seeing that Agelina was unwilling to go to the dining car, Sokov did not force himself, got up, left the box, and walked towards the dining car.

When I came to the dining car, I found that there were not many passengers dining here. Only five or six of the more than thirty dining tables were occupied. I don’t know if the passengers left after eating or if they didn’t come here to dine at all. But Sokov's stomach was growling with hunger, so he didn't think much about it and just found the nearest seat to sit down.

Not long after we sat down, a waitress from the dining car came over and asked politely: "Comrade Commander, what would you like to eat?"

Sokov picked up the menu on the table and flipped through it. He ordered Russian pies, oatmeal, vegetable salad, pancakes and kielbasa, and then said: "That's all for now. If there's not enough, I'll order more."

Just when the waitress was about to turn around and leave, Sokov remembered Agelina who was still sleeping in the box, and quickly stopped the waitress: "Comrade waiter, please give me another Tula gingerbread and red beef stew" And the blintz, take it to my box."

When the waitress heard what Sokov said, she asked a little strangely: "Comrade Commander, will you also send the things you just ordered to your box?"

"No." Sokov shook his head: "The first things I ordered were eaten here. The three things I ordered later were ordered for my companion. She was a little tired and was resting in the box. "

"Understood, Comrade Commander." The waitress said, "I will go and prepare it for you immediately."

Shortly after the waitress left, a sergeant carrying a submachine gun walked into the dining car with two soldiers.

Seeing Sokov sitting at the table, the sergeant hurriedly came over and saluted: "Hello, comrade general! I am Sergeant Torba, the squad leader of the train guard squad. I wonder if there is anything I can do for you."

Sokov thought that the food he ordered would have to wait a while before it could be delivered, so he asked Torba to sit down opposite him and asked him about some information he was eager to know: "Comrade Sergeant, I didn't know you were on this line. How long have you been here?”

"Two months, Comrade General," Torba replied loudly.

Sokov calculated in his mind that it took 33 hours to get from Moscow to Berlin. He could make almost two round trips in a week, which meant that Torba had already made more than ten round trips, so he should have a better understanding of the situation on the road. He nodded and then asked: "Comrade Sergeant, I heard that it is not peaceful along the way. Especially after entering Poland or German territory, you may encounter the remaining gangs. I wonder if you have been running on this line for so long, Have you ever been attacked by gangs?”

"Comrade General, the situation you mentioned did happen, but this train I took has never encountered such a situation."

"Oh, so that's it." Sokov thought to himself. Since Torba had been on duty on this train for more than two months and had not encountered the gangsters who attacked the train, he would not recite it like that, but he happened to encounter it. Bar.

Torba saw Sokov thinking silently and thought that the general sitting opposite him was scared, so he took the initiative to comfort him and said: "Comrade General, there is a garrison squad led by me in the car. Even if it encounters a sneak attack by gangs, We were able to repel their attacks easily."

"Comrade Sergeant, how many people do you have under your command?"

"Including me, there are a total of fifteen people." Torba said confidently: "Comrade General, the gangs along the way are all rabble, and they have no fighting power at all. Although we only have a dozen people, we have to deal with a group of A gang of a hundred people still doesn’t have much of a problem.”