Red Moscow

When Sokov led people to the theater, he happened to see Constantine commanding the soldiers to carry out several burnt corpses on canvas.

Seeing Sokov bringing people over, Constantine quickly stepped forward to salute and reported: "Comrade company commander, we found the bodies of several staff members in the theater. After inspection, they should have been killed."

"Yes, I know." Sokov nodded and said, "We also found several corpses in the public bathroom. Except for one who was a staff member, the rest of the deceased were our soldiers. Their The military uniforms are all gone, they must have been replaced by saboteurs.”

"Comrade Company Commander, this matter is a bit difficult to handle." After hearing what Sokov said, Constantine scratched the back of his head and said with an embarrassed look on his face: "If the saboteurs are wearing the uniforms of our soldiers, how can we find them? What? You can’t stop people for inspection as soon as you see people in military uniforms. Doing so will not only consume a lot of energy and time, but also be horribly inefficient. "

"Lieutenant Konstantin, you are right." Sokov knew that what the other party was talking about was true, and said helplessly: "Not to mention that those saboteurs had already found a place to hide after completing the arson mission. Even if they didn't It’s probably not easy for us to find them in hiding.”

"Comrade Company Commander, our company has too few people." Constantine reminded Sokov: "Do you think we should ask our superiors for more people?"

"It's hard to handle, Comrade Second Lieutenant." Sokov shook his head and said helplessly: "If I hadn't been able to persuade you, my superiors wouldn't even assign me to your platoon, and they would have asked me to take dozens of soldiers with me. The old, weak and disabled soldiers are responsible for the security work of the headquarters."

After hearing Sokov's complaint, Constantine was silent for a long time, seeming to be helping Sokov find a way to solve the problem of insufficient troops.

While Constantine was thinking, Sokov was also thinking about it. In the past, when he commanded an army alone, the recruitment of soldiers usually came from taking in small units that had been broken up, or from liberating prisoners of war held in prisoner-of-war camps. But now he is only a small company commander, and his activity area is in the center of the city. Even if there are small units that have been scattered, they can't reach the area where they are, let alone collect them.

"Comrade Company Commander," Constantine suddenly shouted: "I have thought of a good way to quickly expand the strength of my company."

After hearing this, Sokov couldn't help but his eyes lit up, and he quickly asked: "Tell me quickly, what is a good way?"

"It is obviously impossible for our superiors to recruit experienced veterans to supplement our troops." Constantine said, "But we can recruit from new recruits."

"Recruit from new soldiers?" Sokov looked at Konstantin and asked puzzledly: "Where to recruit new soldiers?"

"Of course it's the recruitment office." Constantine said: "As far as I know, recruits who have just signed up to join the army will not be added to the army immediately, but will be placed near the recruitment office until a certain number of people are gathered. , and then be assigned to various combat units in an organized manner.”

"Well, this is a good idea." Sokov felt that since his troops would not fight in a short period of time, it would not matter even if he added a group of new soldiers, so he agreed to Constantine's proposal: "I will go find him after daybreak. Commander and Chief of Staff, please allow me to recruit new troops."

After daybreak, Vlasov and Colonel Der were found at the temporary headquarters of the Front Army Headquarters. Here, they were severely criticized by Chief of Staff Tupikov: "General Vlasov, Colonel Der, since you yesterday Knowing that the Germans might bomb the headquarters, why did they not report it to us during the transfer? As a result, the headquarters personnel suffered heavy losses in the German bombing. "

Vlasov and Colonel Del looked at each other and saw helplessness in each other's eyes. Then Colonel Del reported to Tupikov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it's not that we don't report, it's just that we can't confirm the accuracy of the intelligence, so we don't dare to report it casually."

"Since you can't confirm the authenticity of the intelligence, why did you order everyone in the building to evacuate the building and hide in the air-raid shelter?" Tupikov slapped the table hard and said viciously Said: "I really didn't expect that you would come up with such a lame excuse to shirk your responsibility."

Fortunately, Vlasov did not know that before the air attack came, the personnel of the front army headquarters had actually noticed the movement here. However, because the three front army chiefs felt that Vlasov and the others were panicked, the German bomber formation even When they reached the sky above the city, they could not find the exact bombing coordinates, let alone the location of the front army headquarters. As a result, just half an hour later, reality hit them hard in the face. Most of the bombs dropped by German bombers fell on the building where the front headquarters was located. This was the real cause of huge casualties.

If Vlasov knew about this, he would definitely argue with Tupikov. But at this moment, he could only say patiently: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, Captain Sokov, the commander of my special company, told me last night that there were fires in buildings in three places around the headquarters, and they may have sneaked into the city. In this way, the German saboteurs gave instructions to the incoming bomber formation to bomb. Target. Although we didn't quite believe what he said, for the sake of safety, I ordered all personnel to evacuate the building and hide in a nearby air raid shelter until the German bombers dropped the bombs. The moment before the explosion, I doubted whether Captain Sokov’s judgment was accurate.”

"General Vlasov, in this case, we blamed you wrongly." As soon as Vlasov finished speaking, a deep voice came from the door next to him, and then a tall figure appeared at the door.

After seeing clearly that the person coming was Kilponos, Vlasov and Colonel Del quickly stood up from their seats, stood at attention, and raised their hands to salute each other.

"Everyone, sit down." Kilponos raised his hand and pressed down, indicating that the two of them should sit down. Then he pulled a chair and sat across from them, and then said: "You guys said, why did you do it last night? Would you order everyone to evacuate the building and hide in the air-raid shelter because you trusted the judgment of a company commander? "

"Yes, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Vlasov said with some embarrassment: "Actually, I was always dubious about his words. It wasn't until I hid in the air-raid shelter and felt the fierce bombing outside that I was convinced of the opponent. The statement is absolutely correct.”

"General Vlasov, I really didn't expect that you would have such a capable person under your command." Kilponos couldn't help but become a little interested in Sokov: "The company commander you mentioned has joined the army. How many years have it been and what battles have you participated in?”

"He has been in the army for less than a week." Vlasov replied awkwardly: "But because of his outstanding performance on the battlefield, he was awarded the Order of Lenin, the highest honor, by the Supreme Command, and was promoted to the rank of captain as an exception."

Kilponos, as the commander of the front army, also heard about Sokov's matter, but he didn't know much about it. He turned to look at Tupikov beside him and asked curiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you know the deeds of this captain?"

Tupikov has a good memory. He has seen stories about Sokov in reports from his superiors. At this moment, when Kilponos asked, he quickly told the other party what he knew in detail, and finally looked at Vlasov and said: "I really didn't expect that such a hero was actually the first A member of the 3rd Army Headquarters."

"It's really amazing. With his own efforts, he actually saved so many lives." Kilponos said with emotion: "If he had been at our front army headquarters, maybe the loss last night could have been avoided."

After resolving the misunderstanding, Kilponos asked Vlasov how to strengthen the security in the city to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

"Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Vlasov replied cautiously: "There are hundreds of thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of residents gathered in Kiev today. It is probably not possible to find hidden saboteurs among so many people. What an easy thing. For the sake of safety, I suggest that the front headquarters should be moved to a new location and the surrounding defenses should be strengthened to avoid being targeted by the Germans again. "

"The headquarters will be transferred soon." Kirponos said to Vlasov: "As the garrison commander of Kiev, I will leave the security work in the city to you."

After coming out of the temporary headquarters, Colonel Del met an acquaintance, and the two stood on the roadside and chatted. Vlasov was eager to rush back to his headquarters, so he said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please take your time and talk, I'll go back first."

As soon as Vlasov returned to the headquarters, a staff officer reported to him: "Comrade Commander, Captain Sokov has just arrived and said that he has important matters to see you. Neither you nor the Chief of Staff were around at the time. Let him leave first.”

Vlasov knew very well that Sokov would not come to him if there was nothing important, so he ordered the staff officer: "Go and find Captain Sokov immediately. I want to ask him personally. What's the matter with me?"

Sokov was staying in a nearby room. When he heard that the staff officer who came to him said that Vlasov had returned, he immediately came to see him.

"Comrade Commander," Sokov said straight to the point after raising his hand to salute Vlasov: "Our company has too few manpower to be responsible for protecting the safety of the headquarters. I hope you can add some manpower to me. "

"How many people are there in your company now?"

"Including me, there are 86 people in total, and half of them are old, weak and disabled soldiers."

Hearing the number Sokov said, Vlasov couldn't help but be stunned: "Damn it, why are there only so many people?"

"There is no way, Comrade Commander." Sokov said with a grimace: "The chief of the security department told me that the number of security troops in the headquarters is already insufficient, and it is impossible to mobilize enough manpower to form a new special company."

Vlasov frowned after hearing this. "How can more than eighty people play a role in such a big city? Captain Sokov, please sit down for a while. When the chief of staff comes back, I will ask him to I’ll give you some more manpower.”

Sokov nodded, then found a corner and stood there waiting.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, Colonel Del finally appeared in the headquarters.

"Chief of Staff, you are back." Vlasov, who was looking at the map, raised his head and said to him: "Captain Sokov wants to see you for something."

"Captain Sokov," Colonel Del came to Sokov, looked at him and asked, "What do you want from me?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, the situation is like this." Sokov said to Colonel Del: "My special company is a little short in number. I hope you can give me some additional troops."

"How many people are there in your company?"

"86 people, including me."

"What's going on? Didn't I ask the Director of Security to arrange more manpower for you? How could there be only more than eighty people?"

"There are really only more than eighty people." Seeing that Colonel Del didn't seem to believe what he said, Sokov quickly added: "If you don't believe it, you can call and ask the director of the security department to know whether what I said is true or false. "

Colonel Del picked up the phone, called the director of the security department, and asked straight to the point: "Comrade director, I would like to ask, how many people are there in the special company directly under the headquarters?...What, how many people did you say?...Oh ,I see."

When Colonel Del put down the phone, Vlasov asked: "How did the chief of security respond?"

"Comrade Commander, Captain Sokov is right. There are indeed only more than eighty people in the special company." Colonel Del glanced at Sokov and said with some lack of confidence: "With more than eighty of them, if you want to Strengthening the headquarters’ defense seems unrealistic.”

"Comrade Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff." Seeing that the time was ripe, Sokov hurriedly stepped forward and said to the two of them: "I do have a way to quickly replenish the number of soldiers. I can replenish the number of soldiers in the special company as soon as possible, but first we must With the consent of both of you.”

"What way?" Colonel Del asked.

"Replenish soldiers directly from new recruits." Sokov was worried that Colonel Del would object, and specifically said: "As far as I know, since recruits will not be added to the army until they reach a certain number, before that, those who have just joined the army will The new recruits have been placed near the recruitment office. Do you think you can allow me to select suitable personnel directly from the new recruits and add them to the special company?"

After hearing this, Vlasov did not immediately express his attitude. Instead, he turned to Colonel Del and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what do you think of this matter?"

Colonel Del thought for a while, then nodded and said: "Comrade Commander, I think it's okay. If we recruit directly from the new recruits, let alone a special company of 100 people, I think it's 300 or 400 people." There’s no problem with anyone.”

"Since you don't object, then you should immediately draft an order and ask Captain Sokov to go to the recruiting office to recruit people."

While Colonel Del was writing the order, Sokov added beside him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it is not enough to have new recruits. We must also issue them with military uniforms and weapons, so that my special company can effectively take on the role of defense." The responsibility of the command.”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, just follow what Captain Sokov said. In addition to the new recruits, distribute them military uniforms and weapons and arm them as soon as possible." Vlasov said with emotion: "Maybe one day in the future, It’s up to them to protect our headquarters.”

"Captain Sokov," Colonel Del handed the written order to Sokov: "Take this order and go to the recruiting office. You can get what you want."