Red Moscow

Colonel Jones glanced at the position where several German officers were standing in the distance, and then said: "General Sokov, I think you can tell Major Peterson the good news in person later, and let him wait patiently for a few more days, and he will be free again."

"You are right, Colonel Jones." Sokov said politely: "I will find a suitable opportunity to tell him the good news."

Jones nodded to Sokov, then walked back to Kolb and Patton, leading everyone to continue to patrol the prisoner-of-war camp.

"Misha," Ajelina waited for Colonel Jones to leave, came to Sokov, and asked in a low voice: "I really didn't expect that Colonel Jones actually agreed to your request and was ready to release Major Peterson. Do you think there is any conspiracy?"

"Ajelina, I think there is no conspiracy so far." Sokov sneered and continued: "But after we leave, Colonel Jones will definitely call Peterson to his office and assign him some tasks in private, such as collecting intelligence on our occupied areas, provoking local residents and our army against each other, etc., as a condition for releasing Major Peterson."

"Will Major Peterson agree to the other party's request?"

"He can choose not to agree." Sokov said, "But the consequence is that he will continue to be detained in the prisoner-of-war camp until the day the prisoner-of-war camp is abolished."

"The day the prisoner-of-war camp is abolished?" Ajelina asked in surprise, "Misha, when do you think the prisoner-of-war camp will be abolished?"

"I think it will take at least five years, or even longer."

"Ah, it takes so long?"

"Yes." Sokov sighed softly and said, "Many prisoners of war will not even wait until the day they are released, and will die in the prisoner-of-war camp for various reasons. The prisoners who died in the concentration camps were sent to the crematorium by the Germans, while the prisoners who died in the POW camps might be buried in pits dug by the Rhine. "Before continuing the inspection, Sokov found an opportunity to come to Peterson and said to him: "Major, I have spoken to Colonel Jones, and he said that you will be officially released in a few days. I am informing you now so that you can be mentally prepared." "Great, Mr. General, this is really great." Peterson was overjoyed when he learned that he was about to be released: "I express my sincere gratitude to you." "I am now living in the Adlon Hotel. If you leave the POW camp smoothly, , remember to come find me. "

"Okay, Mr. General, I will definitely find you."

After inspecting the prisoner-of-war camp, Kolb waited for Patton, Sokov and Tasini to gather together, and then made a new request that was groundbreaking: "We did not find any abuse of prisoners in the prisoner-of-war camps we inspected. But as far as I know, there are as many as 16 prisoner-of-war camps built by the Allies on the Rhine River. I think we might as well randomly find another prisoner-of-war camp for inspection. If the situation is still the same, then when I go back to write the report, I will have more evidence to support the results of this investigation."

When Patton heard Kolb say this, his face changed immediately. Sokov saw his hand touch his waist several times, as if he wanted to pull out a pistol and shoot the nosy investigator in front of him.

And Tasini was one of those who didn't know about it. Regarding Kolb's proposal, he said disapprovingly: "Since we have already inspected this prisoner-of-war camp, I don't think it matters to inspect another prisoner-of-war camp. Don't you think so, George!" He said the following words to Patton.

The muscles on Patton's face twitched twice. Sokov saw that he wanted to slap Tasini, his teammate. Isn't this putting the US military on the fire? But although he was dissatisfied in his heart, he couldn't say it out loud, so he had to pass the buck to Sokov: "General Sokov, what do you think?"

"After inspection, it can be proved that there is absolutely no abuse of prisoners in the US POW camps." After weighing the pros and cons, Sokov decided to help Patton out: "I think it is completely unnecessary to inspect another POW camp."

"That's right." Seeing that Sokov chose to support him, Patton smiled: "General Sokov is right. Since we have already inspected a POW camp and found no problems, there is no need to do anything unnecessary. What do you think, Li Jean!" As he said that, he also winked at Tasini.

Tasini realized it later. When Patton winked at him, he immediately realized that he had just said the wrong thing. Maybe there were some shameful secrets in the American prisoner-of-war camps. He quickly agreed: "Yes, yes, George and General Sokov are right. Since we have already inspected one prisoner-of-war camp, it is a waste of time to inspect other prisoner-of-war camps." When Tasini explained his point of view to Kolb, Sokov suddenly remembered one thing. Why didn't the British military representatives appear in the inspection team today? Britain and the United States are close allies. Does the absence of British representatives mean that there is a contradiction between Britain and the United States? Kolb saw that the representatives of the United States, the Soviet Union, and France did not agree to inspect other prisoner-of-war camps. He could not do it alone. He could only sigh and then said: "Gentlemen, since you do not agree to inspect new prisoner-of-war camps, I now declare that the investigation of the International Committee of the Red Cross will end here. Thank you for your cooperation!"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Kolb said the investigation was over. Patton and Tarsini were because the other did not insist on inspecting the new prisoner of war camp, while Sokov knew that they could finally go home without the northwest wind blowing here.

After Kolb got in the car and left, Patton walked Sokov to the car and said enthusiastically: "General Sokov, if you have the chance, you must come to Bavaria to see me."

"General Patton," Sokov said awkwardly, thinking that if he really went to Bavaria, he might make Zhukov unhappy, "I'm not sure if I have time to go to Bavaria..."

Before Sokov could finish speaking, Patton interrupted him: "General Sokov, I know that you have just arrived in Berlin, and Marshal Zhukov has not arranged specific work for you, and you have plenty of time. Please don't refuse me. Invitation, come to Bavaria on a suitable day, and I can ask you to go hunting with me.”

"Okay, General Patton." After hearing what Patton said, Sokov understood that the other party must have investigated him privately, so he no longer refused: "I will choose a suitable time to visit you in Bavaria."

"Then I will wait for your arrival in Bavaria."

On the way back, Vasergov asked Sokov curiously: "Comrade General, why did you agree to General Patton to go to Bavaria?"

"Major, no matter what, the US military is our ally now. And an invitation from a senior US military general cannot be refused casually." While Sokov expressed his attitude, he was worried that Vaseligov would If he had any bad thoughts, he also emphasized: "Of course, I will truthfully report everything that happened here today to Marshal Zhukov."

"Misha, I have a question."

"What questions, Agelina?"

"Mr. Kolb proposed to inspect another prisoner of war camp. Why did you take the lead in objecting?" Agelina asked puzzledly: "Don't you want him to know the real situation in the prisoner of war camp?"

"Before coming here, I told you that there must be serious prisoner abuse in the US military prisoner of war camps, and many prisoners of war will even die." Sokov said: "But this situation is only the US military's. There is it in the prisoner-of-war camp, but not in the prisoner-of-war camp we manage?”

After hearing what Sokov said, Vaserigov immediately heard what he said: "Comrade General, what you mean is that if Mr. Kolb's intention is to randomly inspect a prisoner of war camp today, it will definitely The fact that they tortured prisoners and even caused the death of a large number of prisoners of war will be discovered, and the US military will definitely be very unwilling to do so if such a scandal occurs, and will inevitably require the Red Cross to inspect the prisoner of war camps controlled by our army. My guess is correct. Bar?"

"Yes, this is only one reason."

"Is it just one reason?" Vaserigov asked with confusion on his face: "Comrade General, are there other reasons?"

"Of course." Sokov said with a sneer: "In order to prevent the abuse of prisoners of war from being exposed, the US military will definitely create some trouble for us on the road, such as laying landmines. As long as the US and French convoys do not enter the minefield "Whether our convoy and the Red Cross's convoy will run over a mine is a trivial matter to them."

"No way, Comrade General?!" Vaserigov obviously didn't believe Sokov's statement: "If our convoy ran over a mine and caused casualties, how would the United States report to Marshal Zhukov? Where’s the explanation?”

"They will throw the blame on the Germans." Sokov went on to say: "They can say that there are still landmines laid by the Germans on the way to the prisoner of war camp that have not been cleared, and we are unlucky. It ran over one of the landmines, causing casualties. Tell me, if the United States really used such words to reply to Marshal Zhukov, what could he really say to risk damaging diplomatic relations between the two countries? Are you going to break up with the US and seek justice for us?”

Hearing what Sokov said, Vaserigov fell silent. He knew very well that if a few of his people really hit a mine and died on the border of the US military, even if Marshal Zhukov personally came forward, without destroying the diplomatic relations between the two countries, This matter will be reduced from a big deal to a trivial matter.

"Misha, let me ask you, if Major Peterson really comes to our defense zone to look for you after being released by the Americans, what should you do?"

Facing the question raised by Agelina, Sokov thought for a moment and answered decisively: "Today in Germany, because there is no army of their own, the war has been over for more than half a year, but the overall situation does not seem to be the same. Not optimistic. Therefore, I plan to suggest to Comrade Marshal that we establish a German armed force to help us restore normal life order."

"What, are you going to suggest to the marshal to form a German army?" Vaserigov's eyes widened in surprise: "Can they obey our command?"

When Sokov heard what the other party said, he realized that he had made a mistake. How could he casually tell such an important matter to a major, even if he was a security personnel responsible for protecting him? So he changed the subject: "I just have Whether such an idea is feasible or not depends on Marshal Zhukov.”

At this moment, the car passed the Brandenburg Gate, and Vaserigov quickly asked: "Comrade General, where do you plan to go next?"

"Agelina, you must be very tired." Sokov thought that he wanted to give advice to Zhukov. He didn't know when he could return to the Adlon Hotel, so he said to Agelina: "You go back to Adlon first. Rest in the Grand Hotel, I’m going to see Comrade Marshal.”

Agelina is a smart person. From the fact that Sokov only said half of what he said, she guessed that Sokov must have something important to talk to Zhukov. It was inconvenient to go with him, so she said smoothly: "Yes. Ah, I’m very tired today and want to go back to rest. Major Vaselgov, please drop me off at the door of the hotel.”

The jeep crossed the square and stopped at the entrance of the Adlon Hotel. Agelina opened the door and got out of the car, waved to Sokov, and then walked into the hotel.

When Sokov closed the car door, he raised his head and looked upstairs. Unexpectedly, he found a figure moving on the second floor. He quickly called to Vaserigov who was about to let the driver drive: "Major, wait a minute, there seems to be something going on in the hotel. "

Vaserigov was startled, and then asked: "What's going on?"

Sokov pointed to the second floor with his hand and said, "Here, there is a figure moving on the second floor of the hotel. Could it be a saboteur?"

After figuring out that it was Sokov who saw a figure moving on the second floor, Vaserigov became calmer. He explained to Sokov: "Comrade General, the Adlon Hotel is a place where important people are received. Defense It must be relatively strict. In order not to cause unnecessary panic, the security personnel are deployed on the second floor, which is the figure you see.”

"Oh, so that's it." After hearing what Vaselgov said, Sokov suddenly felt more at ease. He was still worried last night that if some German officers and soldiers slipped through the net and attacked the Adlon Hotel at night, just a few female soldiers at the front desk would not be able to stop them. But now it seems that his worries were unfounded. It turned out that there were security forces deployed to protect the hotel in the ruins on the second floor of the hotel.

"Major, it's getting late. We need to rush to the marshal as soon as possible."

Vaserigov agreed and immediately told the driver: "Drive!"