Red Moscow

Belkin walked up to the deserters who were tied behind their backs with his hands behind his back, his eyes swept over them one by one, and finally settled on a sergeant. He asked coldly: "Comrade Sergeant, tell me, why did you become deserters?"

"Does it need to be said?" Vasily, who was standing beside Sokov, said angrily, "They are all cowards who are greedy for life and afraid of death. They were frightened by the Germans, so they became shameful deserters. "

"No, Comrade Battalion Commander." Hearing what Vasily said, the sergeant blushed, and he said excitedly to Belkin standing in front of him: "We are not cowards, we are not deserters."

"Comrade Brigadier," Grisa leaned close to Sokov's ear and whispered, "This sergeant's name is Elizaveta. He was the one who discovered the German army's sneak attack on our position two days ago."

Sokov couldn't help being taken aback when he heard what Griza said. He thought that since he came here, as the company commander of the party involved, Griza has kept silent. This is a bit abnormal, and there may be something hidden in it.

When Belkin heard the deserter shouting grievances in front of him, he smiled contemptuously and asked, "Sergeant, since you said you are not a coward or a deserter, why did you leave the army without authorization?"

Sergeant Elizaveta turned his head and glanced at the soldiers next to him, summoned up his courage and said, "Comrade political commissar, we are all Kursk people, we don't want to leave our homeland, we want to stay here and continue to fight the German devils. Therefore, we were going to find other troops to take us in, but we were caught as deserters."

"You think the army is run by your family, and you can be in whichever army you want?" Vasily was furious when he heard Elizaveta say this: "Since you are a deserter, no matter what you say, Don’t even think about surviving.” After saying this, Vasily drew his pistol and said to Sokov, “Comrade Brigadier, don’t talk nonsense with them, shoot them all.”

When Sokov heard Elizaveta's justification, he knew that there was a big oolong in this matter. These soldiers were all locals. troops, but for some reason, they were caught as deserters.

Sokov looked at Belkin, and said a little dumbfounded: "Comrade Comrade Commissar, how do you think this matter should be handled?"

Belgin frowned and thought for a while, then said to Elizaveta: "Comrade Sergeant, I want to remind you that you are a soldier, not a civilian. A soldier takes obeying orders as his bounden duty. Where you have to go, there is no room for bargaining."

"Comrade Commissar," Elizaveta said with a pout after waiting for Belkin to finish speaking, "but we really don't want to leave Kursk. Staying here can still fight against the Japanese invaders."

"If you don't want to leave Kursk, you can apply to your superiors, and your superiors will consider your actual situation." Belkin said with some displeasure: "In view of the bad influence you have caused by leaving the army without authorization, you must be fined. You punish."

Hearing that Belkin said that he and others would be punished, Elizaveta thought that the next step would be to announce that he would be shot. After a soft sigh, he lowered his head resignedly, closed his eyes and waited for the arrival of the god of death. Unexpectedly, he heard Belkin continue to say: "But considering that you are the first offender, you will be locked up for two days. If a similar situation happens again, don't blame the ruthless military law."

Elizaveta did not expect that he could escape from death. He opened his eyes and looked up at Belgin, and asked in surprise, "Comrade Comrade, why don't you just lock us up for two days and not shoot us?"

"It's not easy to be shot, I'll shoot you now." Vasily, who was furious, waved his pistol and wanted to rush towards Yelizaveta, but was stopped by Sokov.

After Sokov held Vasily back, he said to Grisa who was standing next to him: "Lieutenant Grisa, order your company to disband. In addition, send two more soldiers and take them all to the confinement room."

Seeing the disbandment of the troops, several "deserters" who were supposed to be shot were also untied and sent to a confinement room not far away, Vasily was a little anxious: "Comrade Brigadier, do you just let them go like this?" ?”

"Don't let them go, are they really shot?" Sokov looked at Vasily and said: "The matter has been clarified, this is just a misunderstanding, they don't want to be deserters, but they don't want to Get out of your own home."

"Whether to stay or not, it's not up to them to decide." Vasily said angrily: "If everyone is like them and is unwilling to leave their hometown, then isn't our army messed up?"

"Captain Vasily, through this incident, one thing has been explained." Belkin walked over and said to Vasily: "The political propaganda work in your battalion is not enough."

"Brigade Commander, Comrade Political Commissar." Hearing what Belkin said, Grisa quickly interjected: "The troops have just been expanded from platoons to companies, and the number has increased nearly tenfold, but we haven't been equipped with enough political workers. I have an unshirkable responsibility for what happened today."

"Lieutenant Grisa, we are temporarily unable to provide you with political workers. But you can choose among soldiers. Many of them should have engaged in similar jobs before joining the army." Today's "desert incident" gave Soko The husband sounded the alarm, and he solemnly said to Griza: "There may be a big battle, the army must not be chaotic, understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Brigadier Commander." Griza quickly replied, "I assure you, there will never be a similar situation in the company, otherwise you will dismiss me."

Several people were talking, when suddenly a sentry hurried over and reported to Sokov out of breath, "Comrade Brigadier, some jeeps are coming towards us, and there seems to be some important people in them."

"Is there someone important?" Sokov's curiosity was aroused by the sentry's words. He quickly turned his head and looked in the direction the sentry pointed, and saw three open-top jeeps galloping towards them. Although the distance was long and the speed was fast, Sokov still saw at a glance that the chief of the general staff Vasilevsky was sitting in one of the jeeps. He couldn't help muttering: "Damn it, why did Comrade Chief of Staff come here?" who, a small report to Vasilevsky.

Vasily seemed to have guessed what Sokov was thinking, and said hastily: "Comrade Brigadier, it's not me. I only reported to you, and definitely never reported to my superiors."

"That's right, Comrade Brigadier Commander, I can testify to the Battalion Commander on this point." Grisa quickly helped Vasily smooth things over: "After the incident, Comrade Battalion Commander has been with me and has absolutely never had contact with outsiders. I guess, maybe Comrade Chief of Staff has his own news channel."

Sokov still agrees with Griesa's statement. Seeing that the jeep was getting closer and closer to him, he hastily adjusted his discipline buttons, pulled the hem of his military uniform, and walked towards the jeep with big strides.

Before the car stopped, Vasilevsky jumped out of the car, strode up to Sokov, and asked sharply: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, what's going on? Here, there will be shameful deserters?"

"Report to Comrade Chief of Staff." Facing Vasilevsky's questioning, Sokov hurriedly and respectfully replied: "There are no deserters, it's just a misunderstanding."

"What, is it a misunderstanding?" Vasilevsky's face showed a surprised expression: "But someone reported to me that there were five deserters in the fourth company, and you and Belgin political commissar personally Come here to deal with this matter. Why did it turn into a misunderstanding in a blink of an eye?"

"That's right, Comrade Chief of the General Staff." Sokov waited for Vasilevsky to finish speaking, briefly introduced the ins and outs of the matter to him, and finally said: "The soldiers were unwilling to join the army Leaving home, and thus taking the wrong path, trying to stay here."

"So that's the case." After figuring out what was going on, the expression on Vasilevsky's face softened: "Then how did you deal with them?"

"Closed for two days." Sokov replied briefly.

Vasilevsky originally wanted to ask why he didn't stay locked up for a few more days, but suddenly remembered that this unit was about to leave in two days, so he changed the subject in time: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, your brigade will be in the next half-hour." Within a month to a month, a long journey will begin, if this happens again, how do you plan to deal with it?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, please rest assured that this incident was an accident." Seeing Sokov's hesitation, Belkin quickly chimed in and said, "I assure you, we will strengthen our propaganda and mobilization efforts." The job, to eliminate the unstable factors in the army in time, was successfully completed by this transfer."

"Very good, Commissar Belkin, you speak very well." Vasilevsky was very satisfied with Belkin's statement. He nodded and continued: "I hope that the situation at that time will really be able to As optimistic as you say."

Vasilevsky came and went quickly, seeing that the so-called "desert incident" was just a misunderstanding, chatted with Sokov and the others, and then left by car.

Looking at the jeep in the distance, Sokov couldn't help beating his heart. He didn't expect that what happened in the fourth company would be reported to Vasilevsky so quickly. It seems that in his brigade, there must be some The eyeliner placed by the internal affairs department, and his every move, may be under the surveillance of the other party.

Belkin walked up to Sokov and said to him: "Comrade Brigadier, since the matter here has been dealt with, we might as well go back to the brigade headquarters."

Sokov nodded and agreed to go back to the brigade, but before leaving, he told Vasily and Grisa again: "We are about to leave Kursk, and the soldiers' emotions may fluctuate. Pay attention to appease their emotions. If similar things happen again, I will dismiss you. Do you understand?"

"Understood." Vasily and Grisa replied quickly and loudly.

When the two walked halfway, Sokov worried that there would be four companies in other companies, so he and Belkin went to make an inspection. Fortunately, although some soldiers were reluctant to leave their hometowns, under the enlightenment and persuasion of the company's political workers, they all changed their minds and were willing to follow the troops to new areas.

After the inspection, on the way back to the brigade headquarters, Sokov said to Belkin: "Comrade political commissar, it seems that new fighters are reluctant to leave their homes. This is a very common phenomenon. Fortunately, we discovered it in time and conducted a Remedy. Otherwise, when we go to a new battlefield and face a ferocious enemy, if our troops are shaken in morale, we will definitely lose the battle.”

"Comrade Brigadier, you are right. Because too many new fighters have been recruited in Kursk, and we don't have enough political workers, we have done very poorly in terms of political and ideological work. What happened today, yes For us, it is a lesson..." When Belkin said this, he suddenly paused for a moment, then frowned and asked Sokov, "Comrade Brigadier, what did you just say, a new battlefield? Are you really Do you think we can win battles when we get to Stalingrad?"

"Will there be no war in Stalingrad?" Hearing Belkin's question, the muscles on Sokov's face twitched violently, and he thought to himself: "After you go to Stalingrad, you will find , All the battles of this life have been concentrated together." Although he thought so in his heart, he still tried his best to control his emotions, so as not to slip up when he was excited.

The jeep they were riding in stopped outside the brigade headquarters. Before getting out of the car, Sergey, the commander of the guard company, rushed out of the building and said to the two: "Brigade commander, political commissar, you are back."

Seeing Seryozha's anxious expression, Sokov asked curiously, "Seryozha, what happened to your birth?"

"Comrade Brigadier," said Seryozha, "a few local residents have come and said that some of them are here to see you."

"Come here specially to see us?" Sokov heard what Seryozha said, and he couldn't help asking curiously: "Seryozha, do you know what they need to ask me and the political commissar?"

"I asked, but they refused to tell." Seryozha said hesitantly. "Then I got some words from a young girl, and I knew that they came here to express their gratitude to you."

"Thank you, what can we be thankful for?" These uninvited guests aroused Sokov's interest. He shook his head at Seryozha and said, "Seryozha, take me to meet these local residents. I know exactly what they want from me."