Red Moscow

Early the next morning, Yakov drove to pick up Sokov.

On the way, Yakov said to Sokov: "Misha, during New Year's Day, someone pretended to be a staff member of the city's housing management department and called you, saying that he was going to assign you a villa. How about that, the other party contacted you later. You?"

"No, since Asiya's car accident, she has been unable to get in touch with the other party." Sokov said: "We analyzed at that time that this so-called staff member of the city's housing management department was a fake. Why did you suddenly Do you remember talking about this?"

"I went to that area yesterday and found that there are indeed many villas that are empty." Yakov said: "It turns out that the owner of the villa should have died during the war. It is better to let such a good house sit there. If you want to eat ashes, you might as well find some connections and just choose a villa to move into. In this way, with more rooms, Marshal Zhukov can legitimately arrange security forces for you. "

"I would like to move in, but unfortunately I don't have any connections or background."

"Aren't we going to the General Staff today?" Yakov reminded Sokov: "After you meet Marshal Zhukov, mention this to him specifically and he will solve the subsequent problems for you. You know, although The war has been over for a long time, but at your level, if there are not a few guards around, things can still happen easily. "

"Okay." Sokov felt that what Yakov said made sense, so he nodded and said, "I will mention this to Marshal Zhukov after I see him."

"That's right." Yakov said excitedly: "Marshal Zhukov is not a roundworm in your belly. If you don't say what you need, even if he wants to help you, he won't be able to do it. Are you right? ?”

"That's right." Sokov replied: "Some things do require taking the initiative in order to achieve the goal in the shortest time."

Arriving at the General Staff Headquarters, the two first went to meet with the Chief of General Staff Antonov.

Arriving at Antonov's office, Sokov met a bearded general.

Seeing that Sokov was a little dazed, Antonov knew that he did not know the people around him, so he took the initiative to introduce him: "General Sokov, let me introduce to you. This is the new Deputy Chief of General Staff and Operations Department. Minister General Shtemenko.”

Perhaps because he was worried that Sokov did not understand Shtemenko, he even shared his resume: “After Comrade Shtemenko was personally nominated by Comrade Stalin for an exceptional promotion to general in November 1943, he accompanied the Supreme Commander to participate in the event. Tehran Conference.

At the end of 1943, he participated in the preparations for the campaign to liberate Crimea by Andrei Ivanovich Yereomenko's Primorsky Army.

From February to March 1944, as the chief of staff representing Timoshenko in the base camp, he participated in organizing the breakthrough of the German defense line in the Second Baltic Front and coordinating the actions of the First and Second Baltic Fronts. With his humility and talent, he won the admiration of Marshal Timoshenko, who had a distrust of the General Staff.

In April and June 1944, as a representative of the base camp, he went to the Third Belarusian Front and the Second Belarusian Front, making significant contributions to the preparation and implementation of the 1944 Mogilev Campaign. In July of the same year, he went to the Third Baltic Front to assist the head of the front in planning, preparing and implementing the 1944 Pskov-Ostrov Battle.

By the way, in June 1945, he also participated in formulating the combat plan called "August Storm" to crush the Kwantung Army. "

Although the other party's military rank was the same as his own, since Shtemenko had a formal position, Sokov took the initiative to raise his hand and salute him: "Hello, Comrade Deputy Chief of General Staff!"

"Hello, General Sokov!" Shtemenko raised his hand in return and came over to shake hands with Sokov: "I have heard of your name a long time ago, but for various reasons, I never had the opportunity to fight alongside you. I finally saw you in person today.”

"General Sokov, General Yakov!" Antonov asked curiously: "Why did you come to the General Staff Headquarters today?"

"Marshal Zhukov, it was Marshal Zhukov who called us here." Sokov quickly replied: "He said that our army will launch a large-scale military exercise in Europe on the eve of May Day, and asked Yasha and I to come over today. , participated in the formulation of the plan for this actual military exercise.”

"So that's what happened." Antonov scratched the back of his head and said with some embarrassment: "Yes, we do plan to launch a large-scale actual military exercise in Europe on the eve of May Day. But you two have to participate Marshal Zhukov has not told me about it, so I can’t let you join for the time being. Everything will have to wait until Marshal Zhukov comes. "

"Comrade Chief of General Staff," Sokov politely reminded Antonov: "Can you call Marshal Zhukov now and ask him about this matter?"

Antonov thought for a while, then nodded and said, "Okay, I'll call Marshal Zhukov now and hear what he has to say."

Seeing Antonov holding the phone in front of him and about to dial, Sokov asked tentatively: "Comrade Chief of General Staff, do you need us to temporarily avoid it?"

"There is no need." After Antonov shook his head and said this, he dialed a number. When someone spoke, he said straight to the point: "I am Antonov, Chief of General Staff. Please help me find him." Marshal Zhukov! ...What, Comrade Marshal is not in the office? ...Well, I don't know!"

Antonov put down the phone and said apologetically to Sokov and Yakov: "General Sokov, General Yakov, I regret to tell you that Marshal Zhukov is not in his office now and has gone somewhere. The officers on duty don’t know much either, so I can’t allow you to attend the upcoming General Staff meeting. I hope you can understand my difficulty.”

"It's okay, Comrade Chief of General Staff." Although Antonov did not allow himself and Yakov to participate in the meeting, which made Sokov feel disappointed, he also knew in his heart that the other party was also acting in accordance with the regulations. For such a large-scale actual military exercise, it is not in compliance with the regulations to allow two generals with no actual duties to participate in the formulation of the plan. So he said politely: "Then Yasha and I will go out first and wait until Marshal Zhukov comes."

"General Sokov, General Yakov, I'm really sorry." Antonov said politely: "If there is any negligence, please forgive me."

The two came to the corridor outside, found a bench and sat down, and started chatting.

"Misha, do you know what kind of position Comrade Malenkov will hold after this meeting?"

"I don't know." Sokov shook his head and then asked, "Do you know?"

"Of course I know." Yakov nodded and continued: "He was elected as a member of the ZZ Bureau and Secretary Z of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks); at the meeting of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, he was appointed Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union."

After hearing this, Sokov couldn't help but smile: "Yasha, what I said is right, your father regarded him as his successor, otherwise it would be impossible for him to serve as the vice chairman of the Council of Ministers."

"Yes, your guess is correct." Yakov said doubtfully: "But the person with the loudest voice is Zhdanov, how could it become Malenkov?"

Sokov naturally knew the answer to Yakov's question, but he could not tell it, otherwise he might be jailed. So he just laughed and immediately changed the subject: "Yasha, where did you say Marshal Zhukov went?"

"I don't know." Yakov said angrily: "I really didn't expect that he didn't say hello to General Antonov in advance. As a result, we were in trouble. If he didn't show up today, the two of us would I can only go home in despair."

"No, no." Although Marshal Zhukov could not be contacted for the time being, Sokov was not worried at all. He said with a smile: "Since Comrade Marshal told us that we will study and formulate a plan for the actual military exercise today. , he will definitely appear. Be patient, he may appear in front of us anytime."

"Really?"

"Of course it's true." Sokov nodded and said in a positive tone.

"I'm worried..."

Yakov had just finished speaking when a loud voice came from not far away: "What are you worried about?!"

The two of them looked around and saw Zhukov, who was short and had a big head, walking towards them with long strides. They stood up quickly, raised their hands and saluted each other: "Hello, Comrade Marshal of the Soviet Union!"

Zhukov came to the two of them, shook hands with them one by one, and asked with some surprise: "Since you are all here, why don't you go in?"

"Comrade Marshal," Sokov said with some embarrassment: "Comrade Chief of General Staff said that he did not receive your notification, so he could not allow us to participate in the formulation of the exercise plan."

"Nonsense, I didn't notify him, couldn't he call me and ask me?" Zhukov said angrily.

"He did." Yakov interrupted: "But you were not in the office at the time, and the officer on duty did not know your whereabouts."

"Oh, that's it. That was my negligence." Zhukov gestured to the two of them: "Follow me."

Seeing Zhukov enter the office, Antonov and Shtemenko, who were sitting at the desk talking, immediately stood up and raised their hands to salute Zhukov: "Hello, Comrade Marshal!"

Zhukov raised his hand in return and then said: "Comrade Antonov, I notified Misha and Yasha yesterday to participate in the discussion and formulation of the exercise plan. Because I forgot to inform you, you have no idea about this matter. No clue, it’s all my fault.”

"Comrade Marshal," Antonov said, "I called your office, but the comrade on duty said that you had left and knew nothing about your whereabouts. It was precisely because of this that I had to call your office. General Sokov and General Yakov are excluded for the time being, since you say so now, let them participate in the formulation and discussion of the plan.”

"Is everyone here?"

Antonov did not answer, but turned his eyes to Shtemenko beside him.

Shtemenko stepped forward and reported to Zhukov: "Comrade Marshal, so far, there are Deputy Chief of Staff Ivanov, Marshal Konev, Marshal Tolbukhin, Marshal Bagramyan, etc. in the conference room. People are inside.”

After hearing this, Zhukov waved his hand and said, "Let's go, let's go over for a meeting now."

Arriving at the conference room, Sokov saw that in addition to the marshals mentioned by Shtemenko, there were more than a dozen generals including two generals. In front of these people, Sokov and Yakov were considered to be the lowest-ranking ones, so they found a corner to sit down and prepared to listen to the exercise plan.

"Comrade generals!" Zhukov said when he saw that everyone had arrived: "I have called you here today because our army will hold a real-force military exercise in Europe on the eve of May Day with the participation of millions of troops. First of all, I would like to give the floor to Chief of General Staff Antonov to introduce the situation to everyone.”

"Hello, marshals, generals and comrades!" Antonov stood up, came to the wall, pointed to a giant map hanging on it and said: "Just a few days ago, former British Prime Minister Churchill was in the United States. During the visit, he made extremely unfriendly remarks towards our country, saying that the Eastern European countries under our protection are under the 'Iron Curtain'. In order to protest his vicious remarks, we will take a series of countermeasures. "For example, they sent troops to surround their embassies and conduct large-scale military exercises in Europe to deter the West."

"Comrade Chief of General Staff." Bagramyan raised his hand after hearing this and asked curiously: "I want to know, have we sent troops to besiege the British Embassy?"

"Yes, Comrade Bagramyan, we have sent troops to besiege the British embassy." Zhukov stood up and said: "And the two generals who performed this task, Sokov and Yakov, are sitting here right now. room to study and discuss plans for the upcoming live-force exercises.

Hearing Zhukov say this, when the attendees looked at Sokov and Yakov, expressions of curiosity and approval appeared on their faces. Even Antonov's eyes flashed with an uncontrollable smile. meaning.

"Okay, Comrade Antonov." Zhukov said to Antonov: "You continue to talk."

“According to the results of my discussion with Marshal Zhukov, in addition to the Germany-based cluster, the troops participating in this exercise also include our central cluster and southern cluster, with a total strength of no less than one million people. At the same time, a large number of our troops will also be used. The technical equipment currently in service in the army." Antonov nodded, and then said: "Everyone knows the cluster in Germany, and I will not repeat it now.

The Southern Group was established on June 10, 1945 on the basis of the former Ukrainian Third Front. It consists of the 4th Guards Army, the 26th, 27th, 46th, and 57th Army, and the 17th Aviation Army. Troops are stationed in Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria, with headquarters in Budapest.

The Central Cluster is the general name for our army's garrisons in Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Hungary. The headquarters is located in Milovice, Czechoslovakia. It was established on June 10, 1945 on the basis of the 1st Ukrainian Front. It consists of the 4th, 5th, 7th, and 9th Guards Armies, the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies, and the 2nd Aviation Army. The 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, the 7th Guards Mechanized Corps, the 7th and 10th Artillery Corps, the 18th Tank Corps, etc. can be said to be strong troops. "