Red Moscow

After Sokov was sent to the hospital on Graben Street, Shekhovtsov immediately called the army headquarters to find out whether the army chief of staff had returned. He wanted to tell him the bad news.

Unexpectedly, the person who answered the phone was a staff officer in the duty room. After he recognized Shekhovtsov's voice, he hurriedly said: "I'm sorry, Comrade Major, the chief of staff went out for an inspection and hasn't come back yet. If you have anything, you can tell me the same. I will report to him as soon as the chief of staff comes back."

"Something happened, something big happened." Shekhovtsov said anxiously: "I just accompanied the new commander to the 20th Guards Army. Unexpectedly, we were attacked on the way back. Now the commander is seriously injured and has just been sent to the operating room."

The duty staff was shocked and asked hurriedly: "Comrade Major, what you said is all Really?"

"Do you think I dare to joke about this?" Shekhovtsov knew that the only way to inform the chief of staff who was inspecting the troops of the 21st Guards Army of Sokov's accident was through the communication line in the duty room. He said with a straight face: "You should immediately find a way to contact the chief of staff and tell him that the commander was injured."

"Okay, Comrade Major." The duty staff realized the seriousness of the problem and hurriedly asked cautiously: "I wonder which hospital the commander is in now?"

"The hospital on Graben Street."

After the duty staff ended the call with Shekhovtsov, he immediately contacted the headquarters of the 21st Guards Army through the military line.

After the call was connected, the duty staff officer said straight to the point: "I am a staff officer in the duty room of the group army. I have important things to report to the chief of staff immediately."

"Sorry, comrade staff officer." The person who answered the phone said politely: "After the chief of staff finished his inspection here, he went to the 20th Guards Army. If you have urgent matters to find him, please contact the 20th Army."

The duty staff officer frowned, knowing that if such an important matter was not reported in time, he might be in trouble. So he found a colleague and asked him to contact the duty room of the 20th Guards Army, while he contacted the duty room of the Austrian cluster.

After the call was connected, a deep voice came from the receiver: "This is the group headquarters, what can I do for you?"

"Hello!" The duty staff officer didn't know the rank of the other party, but he still explained the reason for his call directly: "I am the duty staff officer of the duty room of the 1st Guards Army. A major incident has happened here and we need to report it to General Malinin immediately."

"What, you want to report to General Malinin?" But the other party said disdainfully: "You are a small duty staff officer, what qualifications do you have to talk to General Malinin?"

Seeing that the other party was unwilling to let him contact Malinin, the duty staff officer was anxious: "I'll tell you the truth, our new army commander was attacked on his way back from an inspection of the 20th Guards Army and was unfortunately seriously injured. If you don't report this matter to General Malinin in time, if something happens, can you bear the consequences?"

The person who answered the phone was shocked. As a member of the group, he naturally knew about the attack that happened on the border yesterday and Sokov's appointment to the 4th Guards Army today. If something really happened to Sokov, and he did not report it to Malinin in time, he might be sent to a military court if he was held accountable in the future. But when he reported the matter to Malinin, he still asked cautiously: "Is everything you said true? Is General Sokov really injured?"

The duty staff officer still did not know who the new army commander was at this time. When he heard the other party's question, he quickly replied: "When the new commander arrived, the chief of staff went to inspect the troops below, so I don't know the new commander's name for the time being. I only know that the new commander who just took office today is lying in the operating room of the hospital on Graben Street for emergency treatment because of his injury."

After the person who answered the phone figured out the general situation, he quickly said: "I will report to General Malinin immediately."

After Malinin received the report, his face was full of shock: "What, Sokov was attacked and injured, when did this happen? And where is my adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Onishchenko, where is he now, why didn't he report to me?"

But no one could answer Malinin's questions.

After a short silence, a staff officer in the office suggested to Malinin: "Comrade General, since the report below said that General Sokov is now being rescued in the hospital on Graben Street, why don't we go there directly to find out what happened."

"Your suggestion is good, let's go to the hospital immediately."

Half an hour later, Malinin and several guards came to the hospital on Graben Street.

Downstairs, he met the guard company commander of the 20th Guards Army and asked hurriedly: "Captain, which unit are you from?"

"Report to Comrade General," the guard company commander did not know who Malinin was, but when he saw the star on the other's shoulder strap, he knew that the other party had an extraordinary background. He quickly stood at attention and saluted and replied: "I am the guard company commander of the 20th Guards Army."

"Since you are the guard company commander of the 20th Guards Army, what are you doing here?"

"Comrade General, our company was ordered by the army commander to escort the new army commander back to the headquarters, but we were attacked on the way." The guard company commander reported: "Comrade Commander was unfortunately injured and was sent here."

Malinin learned that the captain in front of him was the one who escorted Sokov here, and immediately asked him a few questions.

But unfortunately, when Sokov and others were injured, the guard company commander was leading people to search in the forest and did not see the process of their injuries at all. Therefore, facing the questions raised by Malinin, he did not know how to talk about it.

Malinin was very dissatisfied when he saw that he could not get the answer he wanted to know from the captain. After a heavy snort, he took people upstairs and went directly to the operating room.

There were seven or eight people standing at the door of the operating room, including Shekhovtsov and Shelyoerkov.

Malinin did not know Shelyokov, but he recognized Shekhovtsov as the head of the logistics department of the 4th Guards Army. He walked directly to him and asked directly: "Major, tell me, what happened? Why was General Sokov injured?"

When Sokov and others were attacked, Shekhovtsov was also far away, and he was not very clear about the specific situation. But after hearing Malinin's question, he glanced at Shelyokov beside him, and then said to Malinin: "Comrade Commander, when the attack happened, I was a little far away, and I didn't see the specific situation clearly. But this captain was nearby at the time, maybe he can tell you some more accurate information."

Malinin glanced at Shelyokov and felt that the other party was very familiar. Although he couldn't call out his name, he vaguely remembered that it was him who followed Sokov to see him yesterday, so he nodded at him and then said: "Comrade Captain, we meet again. I guess you can tell me what happened today?"

Shelyokov took a step forward and began to report to Malinin about the situation when he was attacked.

After hearing this, Malinin couldn't help but frowned: "So, it wasn't just Misha who was injured at the time. My adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Onishchenko, and Major Vaseligov beside him were also injured?"

"Yes." Shelyoerkov nodded and replied: "At that time, the shells fired by the enemy kept falling next to the jeep where the commander was riding and exploding. The two commanders were worried about the commander's safety, so they helped him escape to the nearby woods. As soon as they entered the woods, they encountered enemy submachine gun fire, and all three of them fell to the ground."

A member of the hospital who came with Malinin The director had already called over: "Comrade Commander, I called the director."

"Director," Malinin looked at the director and asked, "How are the injuries of the three people inside?"

"One of them was seriously injured, with two bullets in the chest and abdomen, one of which was only 3 mm away from the heart." The director replied: "The other two were relatively lightly injured, both were shot in the arms and abdomen, and there is no danger to their lives. Once the bullets are removed, they can be sent directly to the ward."

As he was talking, the door of the operating room opened and a flatbed cart was pushed out from inside.

Malinin went forward and saw that it was his adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Onishchenko. He quickly grabbed the other's hand and asked with concern: "Lieutenant Colonel, how do you feel?"

Onishchenko was very moved to see that Malinin cared so much about him. His eyes turned red and tears could not stop flowing down: "Comrade Commander, I'm so sorry, I didn't complete your task. You asked me to protect General Sokov, but I ended up injuring him."

"Okay, okay, this is not your responsibility." Malinin had just learned from Shelyoerkov's story what Onishchenko took after encountering an emergency. Even if he was at the scene at the time, he probably couldn't do better than him. It's just that his luck was a little worse, and he met a hidden enemy head-on, otherwise the three would not have been injured: "You have fulfilled your duties well. Now go back to the ward and have a good rest, and strive to recover and be discharged as soon as possible."

Then, the door of the operating room opened again, and another flatbed cart was pushed out.

Malinin looked and saw that it was Major Vaseligov who was responsible for protecting Sokov's safety. He and the other party were very familiar with each other in Berlin. Seeing him lying on the flatbed, he stepped forward and asked with concern: "Major Vaseligov, is your injury serious?"

"General Malinin." Vaseligov saw Malinin in front of him and was immediately ashamed. He said in a crying voice: "Marshal Zhukov asked me to protect General Sokov's safety, but I failed his trust and caused General Sokov to be seriously injured..."

"Major Vaseligov, since the incident has already happened, it will be useless for you to blame yourself." Malinin said in a kind tone: "You should rest assured and recover from your injuries."

"But General Sokov is still Rescue inside." Vaseligov glanced at the operating room with the door closed, and said with a painful expression: "I don't know if his life is in danger."

"Don't worry, Major Vaseligov." Malinin restrained the smile on his face and said seriously: "I believe Misha is lucky, and he will be fine this time."

After the stretcher on which Vaseligov was lying was pushed away, Malinin looked at the dean and asked: "Dean, please tell me truthfully, what is the chance of the injured inside surviving?"

The dean was silent for a long time, and then slowly said: "His injuries are very serious, and my doctors are still rescuing him. Whether he can survive depends on his luck. "

Malinin raised his hand and looked at the time, thinking to himself that Sokov's injury was of great importance, and he must report the matter to Marshal Zhukov as soon as possible. Judging from the current situation, the rescue operation will continue for some time. Even if I go back to the headquarters to make a call first, it will not delay things.

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly saw the logistics section chief Sekhovtsov again: "Comrade Major, does your chief of staff know about Misha's injury?"

"Maybe I know, maybe I don't know..."

"If you know, you know. If you don't know, you don't know." Ma Lining became angry when he heard this. "What do you mean you may know, you may not know?"

"Comrade Commander, don't be angry." Shekhovtsov said aggrievedly: "After we came to the hospital, I immediately contacted the army duty room and informed the duty staff about the new commander's injury. Ask him to contact the chief of staff of the group army as soon as possible and report the matter to the other party. But now that so much time has passed, I am not sure whether the chief of staff of the group army has been notified. "

"Didn't your chief of staff be at the headquarters when Misha took office?" Malinen asked with a straight face.

"The chief of staff said that a large-scale military exercise was about to be held. He was worried about the situation of the troops below, so he went to inspect the troops below early this morning." Shekhovtsov explained to Malinin: "I I don’t know if the chief of staff has been notified by the duty room at this time.”

"Major, I have to go back to the headquarters to make an important phone call. You stay here and call me immediately if anything happens. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Shekhovtsov straightened his back and said, "If there is any latest situation, I will call you immediately."

After Malinen left the hospital, he returned to his headquarters.

Malinin had a hard time deciding whether to call Zhukov and report to him that Sokov was injured.

He sat behind his desk, smoking one cigarette after another. After an unknown amount of time, when he reached into the cigarette box to feel for cigarettes, he felt empty, and then he realized that he had emptied the entire box of cigarettes. . At this moment, he also made a decision in his heart. No matter how severely Zhukov would criticize himself after learning about this matter, he should also report the matter to the other party.

After thinking about this, he grabbed the phone, picked up the receiver, and after dialing a number, he heard the operator's voice and immediately ordered: "I'm Malinin, put me through Zhukov's official residence in Moscow immediately. I have Important things should be reported to him.”

The call was answered quickly.

Zhukov's familiar voice came from the receiver: "Is it Ma Linin? I'm Zhukov. Do you have any urgent need to see me?"

"Hello, Comrade Marshal." Malinen took a deep breath and continued: "I want to report to you about Misha."