Red Moscow

"Oh my God!" The captain quickly crossed himself on his chest and murmured, "This is incredible."

"Yes, Comrade Captain, I joined the army on August 19, 1941." Seeing the captain's dumbfounded expression, Sokov explained to him: "But by chance, I achieved some meritorious deeds, so As an exception, he received the Order of Lenin and the rank of captain.”

The captain stared at the Order of Lenin on Sokov's chest, nodded slightly, and said: "Captain Sokov, it seems that you have made great contributions. I have seen many of the Red Banner Orders here in the 37th Group Army. Very young, but this is the first time I’ve seen the Lenin Medal.”

After filling in the information, the captain asked Sokov for a photo. But where could Sokov get the photo? He could only say apologetically, "I'm sorry, Comrade Captain, I don't have any ready-made photos. Is there a photo studio somewhere in the city?" , I’ll go over and take a photo now.”

"Many shops in the city are closed." The captain shook his head and said, "Even if you are lucky enough to find a photo studio that is not closed yet, but you don't have a military ID card on you, if you are caught by the patrol, you will be in danger. It’s troublesome.”

"Then what should I do?"

"Captain Sokov, don't worry, we have people here who specialize in taking pictures." The captain said to Sokov: "I will call the person in charge of taking pictures and ask him to take pictures of you."

The captain picked up the phone on the table, dialed a number and said, "Send a comrade to take pictures to our office. There is someone here who wants to take pictures."

After putting down the phone, the captain took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handed it to the staff officer and Sokov: "Do you want to smoke?"

The staff officer reached out and took out a cigarette from the cigarette case, holding it in his mouth. But Sokov waved his hand and refused: "Thank you, I don't smoke."

After the captain and staff lit their cigarettes, they looked at Sokov and asked: "Captain Sokov, when you come to Kiev this time, I wonder what position your superiors have assigned you?"

"I came here with the new commander, General Vlasov." Sokov knew very well that the captain seemed to be chatting, but in fact he was inquiring about his background. He pretended to be casual and said: " Before coming here, Comrade General told me that I might be given the position of guard company commander in the security force of the headquarters.”

"This is a good job." After listening to Sokov's story, the captain grinned: "Not only can you have frequent contact with the group army leader, but it is also not very dangerous. If I ask you for help with anything in the future, you can You can’t pretend you don’t know me.”

"Don't worry, Comrade Captain." Sokov had just arrived, and naturally he was eager to make more connections. Since the captain took the initiative to come, he would not refuse anyone who came: "If you have anything to do, just ask. As long as it's in I will definitely help you if it is within my ability.”

"Then let's just say this."

Not long after the two chatted, a photographer appeared at the door. He straightened his body and reported to the captain: "Comrade Captain, I have been ordered to report and I am waiting for your instructions. Which comrade wants to take the photo?"

"This is the captain." The captain pointed at Sokov and said, "Take a photo of him for a military ID."

"Understood, Comrade Captain, I will take pictures for him right now." The photographer said politely to Sokov: "Comrade Captain, please follow me to the corner. There is enough light here, which is very suitable for taking pictures of you."

A few minutes later, the photo was taken. Sokov asked tentatively: "I wonder when I can get the photos?"

"Three days." The photographer replied: "You can get your photos in up to three days."

"No, three days is too long." Before Sokov could speak, the captain said first: "I can only give you three hours at most. You know, Captain Sokov does not have a military card, but as a The security personnel directly under the group army have to go out to do things frequently. If they are caught by the patrol, it will be troublesome, so you have to develop the photos as soon as possible. "

"I'm sorry, Comrade Captain." The photographer said with a wry smile, "I can't develop the photos within three hours."

"How long will it take you?"

The photographer thought for a moment and replied: "Four and a half hours at the fastest."

The captain hesitated for a moment, and then said: "I will give you five hours. You must develop the photos as soon as possible."

"Yes, Comrade Captain."

After the photographer left, the captain said to Sokov: "Captain Sokov, you can come here to get your military ID in five hours."

Sokov followed the staff back to the headquarters.

At this moment Vlasov has learned about the current situation from the chief of staff.

Seeing Sokov reappearing in front of him, he said to Chief of Staff Del: "Colonel Del, this is Captain Sokov. I have just introduced him to you. I want him to serve as a guard directly under the group army." In the army, you serve as the commander of the security company, right?"

"No, Comrade Commander." Del answered very readily: "I think with Captain Sokov's ability, there should be no problem in serving as a guard company commander."

"By the way, the defense around the headquarters is too weak. I plan to put Captain Sokov in charge of strengthening the defensive positions so that the enemy cannot get close to my headquarters."

Although Colonel Del agreed to Sokov's appointment as the guard company commander, he raised his own objection after hearing what Vlasov said: "Comrade Commander, I don't think it's appropriate to let Captain Sokov be responsible for strengthening the defense around the headquarters."

"What's inappropriate?" Vlasov asked dissatisfiedly.

"Comrade Commander, you don't know that the defense deployment near the headquarters is the responsibility of the engineering department of the front headquarters." Del said helplessly: "If we want to adjust the deployment, we must apply to the front headquarters. After they pass, they will order the person in charge of the engineering department to come and make corresponding adjustments based on the problems of the defensive positions. The defensive fortifications near my headquarters are about the same level as the defense outside the front headquarters building. Even if we apply, I'm afraid it won't be approved. I think it's better to maintain the status quo to avoid unnecessary trouble."

Sokov, who was next to him, felt relieved when he heard it. Although on the way here, he promised Vlasov that he would find a way to strengthen the defense around the headquarters. But this kind of thing seems simple, but it is quite troublesome to do it, and it is bound to encounter many obstacles. At this moment, when he heard Del say that he was not suitable for this matter, Sokov wanted to give him a thumbs up.

However, in front of Vlasov, Sokov still had to pretend to be regretful: "So that's the case, it's really a pity. I'm sorry, Comrade General, I may not be able to meet your wishes and can't help you, please forgive me."

Vlasov obviously didn't expect that he just wanted to strengthen the defense around the headquarters to prevent the existing fortifications from stopping the German army from breaking into the city. After listening to Colonel Del and Sokov, he couldn't help but sigh.

"Comrade Commander," Del saw that Vlasov didn't speak, and continued, "In fact, you are really worrying too much. Our army has as many as 700,000 or 800,000 troops in Kiev and its surrounding areas, while the German army is said to have less than 300,000. We have an absolute advantage in terms of manpower. If we really fight, the balance of victory will definitely fall to us."

Sokov looked at Colonel Del and felt that the other party seemed to have transformed into a familiar big bald head, who was saying confidently: 800,000 against 600,000, the advantage is mine!

I am afraid that among the people present, no one knows the comparison of the Soviet and German forces better than Sokov. The German army invested 500,000 troops, while the Soviet army had 850,000 troops. Although the Soviet army had a clear advantage in manpower, due to strategic and tactical mistakes, the Soviet army failed to effectively play its advantage in numbers, which ultimately led to the failure of the battle, and made this battle recorded in the history of human warfare because the Soviet army had the largest number of prisoners.

The German army used airplanes, artillery and tanks to strafe and crush the Soviet army in the encirclement. Although the Soviet commanders and fighters fought bravely, the battlefield situation was extremely unfavorable to them at this time. In addition, the Soviet equipment performance was not as good as that of the German army, and the situation soon became one-sided. After several days of fierce fighting, the German army successfully occupied Kiev and captured 660,000 Soviet troops.

The Battle of Kiev ended with a great victory for the German army. From a tactical point of view, this was a great victory. But looking at the overall situation, the Battle of Kiev was a big pit for the Germans. From a strategic point of view, the importance of the German army's occupation of Moscow was far greater than the occupation of Kiev.

After the German Central Army Group captured Smolensk, it could have rushed straight to Moscow. But the mustache believed that it would not be too late to launch an attack on Moscow after occupying the industry and coal mines in the Donets Basin of Ukraine and cutting off the Soviet army's supply lines from the Caucasus oil fields.

Although the German army successfully achieved this goal, it wasted the best two months of summer. It was not until the end of September that the German army marched towards Moscow again. But the rainy autumn had arrived, and the road to Moscow was full of mud. The German army's advance was seriously delayed, and they had to face the problem of winter operations that they were not prepared for. The Soviet army took advantage of this time to mobilize a large number of troops from the rear to Moscow, complete the deployment before the German army arrived, and finally won the great victory of the Battle of Moscow.

When Sokov was recalling the relevant historical materials, Del once again told Vlasov what he had said not long ago: "Comrade Commander, our army not only has an advantage in numbers, but also is on the defensive. The German army cannot occupy Kiev without more than twice our troops."

Sokov happened to hear Colonel Del's remarks, and a bitter smile appeared on his face. He did not expect that Colonel Del, as a group army chief of staff, would have such a confused understanding of the current situation.

Vlasov noticed the change in Sokov's expression, and was slightly stunned after all. After a moment of silence, he looked at Sokov and asked, "Captain Sokov, you have fought the Germans in real battles. Do you think we can defeat the German attack on Kiev with our current strength?"

"It's hard to say, Comrade Commander."

Vlasov didn't expect Sokov to answer him like this, so he asked back, "Why?"

"Yes, our army has strong troops and is responsible for defense. No matter how you look at it, the situation is very beneficial to our army." Sokov reorganized the vocabulary in his mind and said cautiously: "But everything We have to consider the worst aspects. Now the air superiority on the battlefield is in the hands of the Germans. In addition, our armored forces were basically lost in the Battle of Uman. Therefore, in a real fight, who will win and who will lose? It’s hard to say.”

"Captain Sokov, why do you say that?" Unexpectedly, after Sokov finished speaking, before Vlasov expressed his position, Colonel Del became anxious: "How can you be so pessimistic and disappointed? The battle has not started yet. , you knew we would lose to the Germans? It's very dangerous. To put it mildly, you are frightened by the Germans and have become panicked; to put it more seriously, your argument is completely defeatist. Fortunately, if you said these words in front of us. Let the Ministry of Internal Affairs hear it and you could be court-martialed."

Hearing what Colonel Del said, the muscles on Sokov's face couldn't help but twitch a few times. He thought to himself that his words were very tactful, but Colonel Del, as the chief of staff of the group army, still couldn't control his emotions when he heard what he said. If Vlasov hadn't been by his side, the other party might have handed him over directly to the Ministry of Internal Affairs personnel.

"Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff. Don't scare Captain Sokov anymore." Vlasov said with a smile: "We just speak freely and say whatever comes to mind. Even if we say something wrong, it doesn't matter, at least give We were given a heads up to see where we were falling short.”

Then he turned to Sokov and asked: "Captain Sokov, when will your military ID be available?"

"The captain in charge of applying for the certificate has already made special arrangements for me. However, since I took the photo temporarily, it takes a lot of time to develop the photo, so it will take five hours at the fastest to obtain the military ID. "

"Oh, that's it." Vlasov nodded slowly after hearing this.

Sokov saw that Vlasov seemed to want to arrange other tasks for himself, so he asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, I wonder what tasks you are planning to arrange for me?"

"I want you to take a few people to the frontier to understand the situation." Vlasov said: "Look at the deficiencies in our army's defense work at the frontier. But now you haven't got your military ID card. Just wait for now. If you are in the city and are found out by the patrol that you don’t have a military ID, they will at most lock you up. But if you are caught by a patrol at the front and they find that you don’t have a military ID, they can just lock you up. Just shoot him as a German spy."

Hearing what Vlasov said, Sokov couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. He really didn't know that the forward patrols had such great power and could shoot suspicious people who might be German spies at will.

"Comrade Commander, is everything you said true?" Colonel Del asked in surprise: "If the patrol team at the front catches a suspicious person, can they really just shoot them without even interrogating them? What if they kill them by mistake? People, what should I do?”

"What else can be done?" Vlasov shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said helplessly: "He can only count himself unlucky."