Red Moscow

The sound of thunder came from afar, and Kopalova, who was sleeping in the box, was awakened. She put on a piece of clothing, went to the corridor, looked through the glass in the direction of the sound, and said to herself: "It's not summer yet, how can there be thunder?"

It happened that Sokov and Seryosha were standing not far away chatting. Hearing Kopalova's mumbling, Seryosha smiled and said: "Kopalova, you are wrong, it's not thunder, but the newly arrived tank battalion, which is bombarding the bandit's nest with tank guns."

"Newly arrived tank battalion?" Kopalova asked in surprise: "When did they arrive? How come I don't know."

"When they came, you were sleeping." Sokov said with concern: "We don't know how long we have to wait before we can leave here, you go back and continue to sleep."

After waiting for more than two hours, the railway workers from Budapest finally arrived and began to repair the locomotive and re-lay the railway destroyed by the bandits.

The laying of the rails has not been completed yet, and the tank battalion commanded by Yuri drove back in a mighty manner.

Yuri boarded the train, saluted in front of Sokov, and said, "Comrade Commander, we have fulfilled our mission. The enemies in the bandit nest have been completely wiped out by us."

"Well done." Sokov extended his hand to him, "Lieutenant Colonel Yuri, on behalf of the passengers who died on the train, I would like to express my gratitude to you and your subordinates for everything you have done for them."

"Comrade Commander, you are too polite." Yuri said, "If we allow this gang of bandits to continue to exist, we don't know how many innocent people will die in their hands."

While the two were talking, the commander of the infantry also came back. He said to Sokov excitedly: "Comrade General, fortunately you sent us a tank unit, otherwise those damn bandits would continue to hide on the hillside and resist stubbornly."

"Comrade Commander," Sokov waited for the other party to finish speaking, and then asked tentatively: "I wonder what the casualties of your troops are?"

"More than a dozen were killed and dozens were injured." The commander explained to Sokov: "Although the bandits in the nest did not have heavy weapons, the terrain where they hid was better, and our attack was more difficult. Fortunately, you later sent us a tank battalion. Under the intensive artillery fire, the bandits' defensive positions were quickly destroyed. Then I ordered the troops to launch the final attack and completely wiped out the bandits in the nest."

"Comrade Commander, thank you." Sokov shook hands with the other party and said with a smile: "I will report your results to General Malinin."

Then Sokov turned to the station Yuri next to him said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, your mission has been completed and you can return to Budapest. Please express my gratitude to General Trofimenko for sending troops to rescue me."

"Comrade Commander." Yuri said hesitantly, "The order I received is to escort you to Vienna."

"No need, Lieutenant Colonel Yuri." Sokov pointed to Major Felix and the commander standing next to him and said to Yuri, "They are all sent by General Malinin to pick me up. With them by my side, there will be no danger on the way to Vienna."

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Sokov was unwilling to let him escort him, the commander naturally wanted it, "Then I will lead the troops back to Budapest. I will convey your meaning to General Trofimenko."

Soon after Yuri left with the tank battalion, the rails were laid and the damaged locomotive was repaired.

The airborne battalion accompanied Sokov on the train to Vienna, while another unit stayed behind to deal with the aftermath, burying the dead passengers on the spot and marking them so that their relatives could come and find them in the future.

After the train traveled for two hours, it finally entered Vienna and stopped at Meidling Station.

After the train stopped, Major Felix and his men set up a cordon on the platform before getting back on the train and inviting Sokov to get off: "Comrade Commander, we have arrived at Meidling Station in Vienna, and you can get off. The car to pick you up has stopped next to the platform."

After Sokov expressed his agreement to Major Felix, he got off the train with Kopalova, Seryosha, Vaserigov and others.

As soon as he arrived at the platform, a lieutenant colonel walked out from the side, walked quickly to Sokov, saluted, and said respectfully: "Hello, General Sokov, I am sent by General Malinin to meet you. The car is parked next to the platform, please follow me."

"It turned out to be you, Lieutenant Colonel Onishchenko!" Before Sokov finished speaking, Vaseligov's voice suddenly came from behind: "I really didn't expect to meet you here."

Then, Vaseligov passed Sokov and came forward to give the lieutenant colonel a warm hug.

"Comrade General, let me introduce you." After Vaseligov separated from the other party, he turned to Sokov and said: "This is Lieutenant Colonel Onishchenko, the adjutant of General Malinin. We were good friends in Berlin, and I didn't expect to meet in Vienna today."

Knowing that the person who came to pick him up was actually a friend of Major Vaseligov, Sokov felt much more at ease. Since he was an acquaintance, everything was safe before meeting Malinin.

But before meeting Malinin, Sokov still needed to settle Seryosha, Kopalova and others, so he said to Onishchenko: "Lieutenant Colonel Onishchenko, I have a few entourage here, I wonder if you can settle them first?"

"No problem." Onishchenko readily agreed to Sokov's request, then called a captain, whispered something in his ear, and said to Sokov: "General Sokov, please ask your entourage to follow this captain, he will help them settle down."

"Seryosha, Kopalova," Sokov turned and said to the people behind him: "You follow this captain, he will arrange accommodation for you."

After Seryosha, Kopalova and others left with the captain, Sokov and Vasherigov got into the black car that came to pick them up.

After the vehicle started, Onishchenko, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, turned his head and said, "General Sokov, General Malinin was very anxious when he learned that you were in danger, and immediately sent troops to rescue you. After the troops set out, he basically asked about the progress of the troops every half an hour to see if you were rescued. Now that I see that you are safe, I think General Malinin will be happy."

A dozen minutes later, Sokov appeared in front of Malinin.

"Misha!" After seeing the living Sokov, Malinin stepped forward and gave him a warm hug, and then said, "Seeing you arrive safely, I feel at ease."

"General Malinin, thank you!" Facing this old superior, Sokov showed due courtesy: "If you hadn't sent troops to reinforce in time, I would have been in great danger."

After Malinin asked Sokov to sit down, he asked someone to bring two cups of coffee, and then started to talk about business.

"Misha, you came from Moscow, so you must know a lot of news." Malinin looked at Sokov and asked, "Can you tell me why the Supreme Command suddenly held such a large-scale live-fire military exercise?"

Hearing Malinin's question, Sokov was stunned, and then asked, "Why, you don't know the reason for organizing this military exercise?"

"Of course I don't know." Malinin said somewhat unhappily, "Half a month ago, I received an order from the Supreme Command, saying that a large-scale military exercise would be held at the end of April, so it was a live-fire exercise, so I was asked to prepare the weapons and ammunition used in the exercise in advance. I just don't understand, the war in Europe has ended for almost a year, and there is still such an exercise, what's the point, are you really preparing to go to war with the Allies?"

From Malinin's narration, Sokov found a problem. Although Malinin is now the commander of the Austrian cluster, his superiors have not informed him of many things, so that until now, he has not figured out what the purpose of his superiors' exercise is.

"General Malinin," Sokov felt that some things could be kept secret from grassroots commanders, but commanders of Malinin's level should be told the truth: "At the beginning of this month, former British Prime Minister Churchill, who was visiting the United States, delivered a very unfriendly speech to our country, declaring that we and the Allies are enemies rather than friends. For this reason, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged a severe protest to the British side, hoping that Churchill would retract his speech.

But unfortunately, the British side turned a deaf ear to our protest and ignored it at all. It was precisely because of this that the Supreme Command made the decision to conduct large-scale military exercises in Europe after discussion and research."

"Oh, so that's the case." Malinin nodded slowly after listening, and then asked: "What is the content of Churchill's speech, do you know?"

Sokof nodded and repeated the content of the speech he heard to Malinin.

After listening to Sokov's story, Malinin slapped the table hard and said angrily: "It's outrageous, absolutely outrageous. We sacrificed millions of officers and soldiers to completely defeat the Germans, but we didn't expect Churchill to turn his back on us and even want to fight us."

"Our exercises are to deter the Allied forces and prevent them from acting rashly."

"Misha, there are no outsiders here. I want to ask you a question and I hope you can answer me truthfully."

"Please ask, General Malinin."

"If, I mean if." Malinin said solemnly: "If we really go to war with the Allies, how confident do you think we are of winning?"

Although there was the August 1st military exercise in later generations, Sokov was not aware that the Soviet army at this moment seemed to have the strength to fight against the Allies throughout Europe, so he could only say euphemistically: "General Malinin, if we go to war with the Allies, Britain and France are not a concern, our army can easily defeat them."

Malinin was obviously not optimistic about Britain and France, and after hearing what Sokov said, he nodded vigorously to show his approval. Then he asked: "Misha, if our army faces the American army, what do you think are our chances of winning?"

"General Patton is the first American who can fight, but he died in a car accident at the end of last year." Sokov continued: "As for the other American generals, I don't know much, so I can't give you a clear answer."

"The US military has terrifying industrial strength. They can produce enough planes, artillery and tanks, as well as supporting ammunition in a short period of time." Malinin did not seem to have much confidence in the contest between the Soviet and American armies. "Although we have more troops than them, the final factor on the battlefield is not only the number of troops, but also related to the equipment of the troops. Therefore, I am skeptical about whether our army can defeat the US military."

Malinin's statement coincided with Sokov's thoughts.

After Malinin finished expressing his opinion, seeing that Sokov did not speak, he continued to ask: "Misha, who do you think will win the final victory if Manstein and Marshal Zhukov meet with equal forces and equipment?"

Sokov did not expect Malinin to suddenly change the topic to which senior Soviet and German commander is better. After hesitating for a long time, he spoke cautiously: "General Malinin, although I admire Marshal Zhukov very much, if I stand in a neutral position to comment, I think Marshal Zhukov is really not Manstein's opponent if the forces and equipment are equal. According to my observation, if Marshal Zhukov wants to win the battle, he must use more than two to three times the enemy's forces."

After saying this, Sokov stopped and stared at Malinin nervously, worried that the other party would be furious because of his opinion. But after a while, Malinin's expression did not change at all. On the contrary, when Malinin saw that Sokov had stopped talking, he urged him, "Misha, why don't you say anything? Keep talking."

"I have finished what I want to say." Sokov said carefully, "Marshal Zhukov and Marshal Manstein have never competed face to face, so to discuss who has a higher level of command, we need to discuss from many aspects."

"Well, you are right, Marshal Zhukov did not fight against Manstein head-on." Malinin thought for a while and asked a new question, "Then let's change two people. Do you think Model, commanding an army of 500,000, can break through the defense line of Marshal Rokossovsky's army of 1 million?"

When Sokov heard this question, he almost laughed out loud, "General Malinin, I remember that you were Marshal Rokossovsky's chief of staff during the Battle of Kursk. At that time, when your forces were equal, Model did not gain any advantage on the northern front, not to mention when your forces were only half as strong. Model was called the "Master of Defense" because the troops under his command dealt a heavy blow to the troops under the command of Marshal Zhukov in the Rzhev area, successfully avoiding the fate of the German army being driven out of our borders after the Battle of Moscow. A commander who knows how to defend does not mean he knows how to attack. "

To increase persuasiveness, Sokov continued to give examples: "For example, the commander of our 44th Army is a recognized defense expert. The enemy must pay a huge price to achieve the goal in the area he defended. But after the Supreme Command appointed him as the commander of a certain front, his performance on the battlefield was unsatisfactory, so he was soon dismissed from the position of commander. "