Red Moscow

"I hope so." Victoria sighed and said: "Although in this era, many things are beyond your control, you should still find a way to leave Vlasov. If possible, you should hug Marshal Zhukov or Marshal Rokossovsky’s thighs will be very helpful to you in the future.”

"Vika, I think so too, but unfortunately there is no chance now." Sokov spread his hands and said helplessly: "Today General Zhukov is the commander of the reserve front army. He has assembled 10 troops from the 24th Group Army. Division, ready for August 30 At this moment, Major General Rokossovsky, who had not yet served as the commander of the 16th Army, was commanding the Yartevo Combat Group, which was made up of stragglers, and was fighting against the German troops in Wo. They are facing each other across the river."

A look of astonishment appeared on Victoria's face: "Misha, I really didn't expect that you know so much about the history of the Patriotic War. You even know more than me, an authentic Russian."

Sokov is wondering whether he should tell Victoria that he has traveled back in time to the Great Patriotic War for the second time, and it is not surprising to know this history. But at this time, the soldiers outside could not wait any longer and sent a representative in to find Sokov: "Comrade company commander, shall we continue patrolling?"

"Yes, we have to continue patrolling." Sokov said to the soldier: "I have something else to talk to this comrade, the policeman. You can go out first."

"Okay, comrade company commander."

After Victoria waited for the soldiers to leave, she looked at Sokov and said, "I didn't expect you to become the company commander."

"I'm just the acting company commander." Sokov explained to Victoria: "As you can see, I don't have any military rank at the moment, and it's unknown how long I can be."

"Where are you stationed now?" Victoria asked.

"Garrison headquarters." After Sokov finished giving the address, he deliberately added: "We just moved in a few hours ago."

"Ah, just a few hours after checking in, you are asked to go out on patrol?"

"There is no way." Sokov also said helplessly: "You should know that the situation is seriously unfavorable to the Soviet army. Before the troops of the Far Eastern Front are transferred over, the Supreme Command can only send troops originally stationed in Moscow to Continuously send reinforcements to the front line. Today, the responsibility for city defense and patrol falls on the newly formed militia division. They have not received sufficient military training. For things like patrol, they can just walk around in formation in the city. If anything happens. , the only one we can rely on is our regular army.”

After Sokov said this, he saw Victoria looking at him with a half-smile, and he couldn't help but asked with some embarrassment: "Vika, what are you looking at me for?"

"You seem to have great military qualities." Victoria said bluntly: "You know, before this time travel, you were just a businessman selling clothes in the market. Even if you have played with guns on the shooting range and practiced You have good marksmanship. But when you go to the battlefield and face the enemy's intense artillery fire and the bullets whizzing past your head, it is still unknown how much you can use these skills. "

"Vika, it's getting late. I'm going to lead a team on patrol." Sokov looked at the soldiers outside the yard and said hurriedly: "If I tell you that this is not my first time traveling, I'm afraid you will I won’t say that anymore.”

Victoria was stunned after hearing this, and then asked: "Misha, what did you say?"

Sokov smiled slightly and reminded the other party: "Vika, think about your great-grandmother's attitude towards me. Do I really just have the memory of her former superior?"

"Misha, what are you saying, I don't understand?"

"I have something urgent to do. If you want to know the answer, wait until the next time we meet." Sokov said, raising his hand to his forehead and saluting Victoria, "Vika, I wish you good luck! "Then he trotted out of the yard and continued patrolling along the street with the patrol team.

Victoria looked at Sokov's back and murmured: "Misha, what do you mean by this? Did you ever travel to this era before?"

…

After two hours of patrolling, the patrol led by Sokov returned to the garrison headquarters.

Seeing Sokov coming back, the captain immediately came up to him and said anxiously: "Comrade soldier, why are you back?"

"Comrade Captain, what's the matter?"

"General Vlasov is back and said he has something to ask you."

"Where is he?"

"In the guest house of the headquarters." The captain said proactively: "I will take you over to see him."

Ten minutes later, Sokov, led by the captain, arrived at the second floor of the headquarters guest house.

The captain raised his hand and knocked on the door. Soon the door opened and Vlasov's guards appeared at the door.

"Please tell Comrade General," the captain said respectfully, "I have brought his men!"

"Is it Sokov?" Vlasov's surprised voice came from behind the guard.

The captain didn't know Sokov's name at all, so he could only answer vaguely: "I think so."

Sokov quickly stepped out from behind the captain: "Comrade General, I'm here."

"Sokov is here, come in quickly." After greeting Sokov, Vlasov expressed his gratitude to the captain: "Comrade Captain, thank you for bringing my men here."

After Sokov entered, Vlasov invited him to sit down on the sofa near the door, and then ordered the guard to pour tea for Sokov.

After Vlasov sat down on the sofa next to him, Sokov asked: "Comrade General, I wonder if you are in a hurry to come to me. Is there anything important?"

"After a long day's journey, why don't you go out on patrol if you don't have a good rest in your room?"

"Comrade General, the current strength of the garrison headquarters is limited, and there are even fewer people who can be sent to patrol the streets." Seeing that Vlasov seemed very dissatisfied with the matter, Sokov quickly explained to him: "We are just Help me.”

"Oh, that's it." Vlasov nodded and continued: "I called you here today because I have something important to tell you."

"I wonder what it is?"

"When I met Comrade Stalin today, I reported to him in detail the achievements you have made." Vlasov said with a smile: "The Supreme Commander himself was very happy after hearing this, saying that if a hero like you, if Just being a soldier is too incompetent, so I plan to promote you to a military rank. At the same time, the military rank and medal should be awarded to you tomorrow. I would like to express my congratulations to you in advance."

After hearing what Vlasov said, Sokov quickly stood up, stretched out his hands to the other party, and said politely: "Thank you, Comrade General! Thank you for telling me such good news."

After the two sat down again, Sokov asked tentatively: "Comrade General, I wonder if the Supreme Commander himself is arranging your future duties?"

Vlasov chuckled, and then asked: "Sokov, I know you are very smart, why don't you guess what kind of position the Supreme Commander himself will give me?"

"Comrade General, this is what I think about it." Sokov deliberately pretended to be thoughtful and said: "For an excellent commander like you, if you continue to serve as the commander of the mechanized army, you will obviously not be able to use your true talents. If the Supreme Command wants to assign you a new position, it must be a group army commander. Also, if you stay in Moscow, if it arranges for you to return to Kiev, you may be assigned the position of garrison commander. "

After Sokov finished speaking, his eyes were fixed on Vlasov, trying to see what kind of reaction he would have.

After listening to Sokov's "analysis", Vlasov's face was filled with expressions of disbelief.

"I'm talking about Comrade Sokov." The guard next to him said: "Did you listen to the captain who brought you here talk about Comrade General's new position, so that you could speak so decisively?"

Faced with the guard's doubts, before Sokov could speak, Vlasov waved his hand at him and said: "No one else knows about my new position except the garrison commander General Artemyev. Artemyev and I were old friends before the war. I knew his character and he would not reveal my position to others casually. But Sokov could guess that he was really smart. Know how to analyze the essence of things through some clues.”

"Comrade General, you are very grateful." Sokov said modestly: "I also made a wild guess."

The guard who was criticized by Vlasov felt somewhat unconvinced, and he asked on his own initiative: "Comrade Sokov, let me ask you, what will happen in the upcoming decisive battle between our army and the German army in the Kiev area?" What's the result?"

Hearing this question, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little in his heart. He thought that the Battle of Kiev was the largest battle of annihilation in the history of human warfare. If I told you that the final winner was the Germans, I don't know what kind of attitude you would use to respond to me. ?

Seeing that Sokov didn't speak for a long time, the guard asked more aggressively: "Sokov, why didn't you speak? You can't guess?"

The guard's words aroused Vlasov's interest. He looked at Sokov and asked: "Comrade Sokov, since you can guess the position just awarded to me by the Supreme Command, let's analyze it again. Kiev is about to When the war breaks out, who is the final winner?"

"Comrade General, I can't say." Sokov said briefly.

"Tell me, tell me." Vlasov said in an encouraging tone: "Let's chat for a while like friends. You can say whatever you think of without any scruples. Even if you are wrong, I won't I'll blame you."

With Vlasov's promise, Sokov said: "Comrade General, I feel that the war that is about to break out in Kiev will end in a disastrous defeat for our army. And the heroic city of Kiev will also fall. into German hands."

"What, you said that the war that is about to break out in the Kiev region will end in a disastrous defeat for our army?"

"That's right." Sokov said evasively: "The German army invested a large number of armored units in the Kiev area, but the armored units of our Southwest Front were completely lost in the Battle of Uman. In other words, in the next battle "Our military commanders and fighters can only use their own flesh and blood to fight against the German steel torrent."

The guard seemed to want to say something, but Vlasov raised his hand to stop him.

Vlasov frowned and thought. He knew very well that as early as July, Zhukov, who was still the Chief of General Staff, proposed to Stalin that there was no need for Kiev to hold on and that the main force of the Southwest Front should be withdrawn to the Dnieper River. On the left bank, build strong defenses. Who knew that Stalin would not listen to his suggestions at all. Not only did he remove him from the post of chief of general staff, he also assigned him to the reserve front army as a commander with few rights.

Vlasov raised his head again, looked at Sokov and said: "Comrade Sokov, your idea is very similar to General Zhukov. He also once proposed that if our army engages in a decisive battle with the German army in the Kiev area, it may suffer The fate of failure. However, he was punished by the Supreme Command for this incident and was transferred to the position of commander of the Reserve Front. "

Hearing Vlasov mention Zhukov's current position, Sokov did not say a word. He knew very well that in a few days, Zhukov would succeed in crushing the heavy German army group in the Yelnya salient. Become famous. So much so that when Stalin saw the critical situation in Leningrad, he transferred him to the area without hesitation to replace Voroshilov as the commander of the front army in order to rescue Leningrad from the predicament.

Sokov said nothing, just looked at Vlasov quietly, waiting for him to say the next words.

"Sokov, tell me, will General Zhukov be reactivated in the future?"

Sokov was not only reactivating it, he would be entrusted with important tasks as soon as the battle in the Yelniya Bulge was over. Moreover, throughout the Great Patriotic War, Zhukov would often travel to various areas as a representative of the base camp. battle front.

But in the face of Vlasov's inquiry, Sokov deliberately pretended to be embarrassed and said: "I have heard of General Zhukov. He is a great general. I think he serves as the commander of the Reserve Front. It may be temporary, maybe the superiors will entrust him with important tasks soon.”

After chatting with Sokov for a while, Vlasov raised his hand to look at the time, and then said: "Comrade Sokov, it's getting late. You've been tired for another day. Go back and rest first."

Sokov quickly stood up, saluted Vlasov, said "yes", turned around and walked out of the room.

Seeing the door closed by the guards, Vlasov thought thoughtfully: "After Zhukov was dismissed from the post of Chief of General Staff, he was changed to Commander of the Reserve Front. He only met with Stalin today. Got it. How could Sokov, a recruit who had just joined the army, know about this? "

At this time, a ridiculous thought suddenly came to Vlasov's mind: "Is this Sokov a spy sent by the Germans?"

But as soon as the idea came up, he rejected it. You know, Sokov's achievements in the small town are astounding. The Germans would definitely not pay such a huge price just to help a little guy gain the trust of the Soviet army. In any case, Sokov is a very special person, and I still need to observe him more to see if I can use him to my advantage.