Red Moscow

  Chapter 140 I am Yakov Dzhugashvili

   "What happened?" Sokov heard Belkin say this, and the first reaction in his heart was that something happened, and his superiors discovered that he secretly led the team to perform the mission. He asked with some guilt: "Did our actions be noticed by our superiors?"

"Comrade operator, you go out first." Belkin sent the operator away, and was about to say what was going on, but he accidentally saw Yakov standing behind Sokov, and he hurriedly asked Soko The husband cast a questioning look, meaning to ask: who is this person, do you need to let him go?

  Sokov shook his head and said, "Comrade Deputy Battalion Commander, let me introduce you. He is the person we are going to rescue. If you have anything to say, you can speak directly."

   Knowing that the weird man with a face covered in bandages and only his mouth, eyes and nose showing was Stalin's son Yakov, Belkin couldn't help but look at him twice. However, he did not call the other party's name recklessly, but said something important to Sokov: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the situation is like this. Not long ago, the Army Command was preparing to join forces with the 61st Army on the right to seize The village of Popkovo was occupied by the Germans. Our division also wanted to participate in this attack. Due to the lack of troops in the division, the division commander Chernyshov called me and asked our battalion to transfer two companies to participate in this attack. battle."

  Hearing that Chernyshov was going to transfer two companies from the battalion, Sokov couldn't help but frowned and asked, "When?"

"It was originally scheduled to be transferred in three days, but a phone call was made half an hour ago, ordering the transferred troops to arrive at Sukhinich by tomorrow morning." After Belkin finished speaking, he asked Sokov He asked for instructions: "Comrade battalion commander, what should we do?"

Sokov thought in his heart that the time for mobilizing troops had suddenly been advanced, something unexpected must have happened, so he asked: "Comrade Deputy Battalion Commander, did something happen during my absence? "

"Yes," Belkin nodded, and replied: "According to the information I have received, the German army launched a surprise attack on the 61st Army's defense area, breaking through our army's two lines of defense in a very short period of time. "

   "What, the Germans launched a counterattack on the right wing?" Hearing this news, Sokov was a little surprised, and quickly asked, "Did the superiors take any measures?"

  Belkin shook his head and replied: "I don't know, some information is beyond the knowledge of commanders of our level."

Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said to Belkin: "If the enemy makes progress on the right flank, then we will also be attacked in this direction; once the two companies are transferred, we will not be able to stop the enemy at all. Comrade Deputy Battalion Commander, I will go to Susinich immediately to talk to the commander. I will leave it to you to take care of the affairs of the battalion.”

"Wait a minute," Belkin saw that Sokov was about to leave with Yakov, so he quickly stopped him, turned around and took off a brand new military coat from the wall, pouted at Yakov, Said to Sokov: "Comrade Battalion Commander, it is not appropriate for your friend to wear this suit to the headquarters. You should put this suit on."

   After thanking Belkin, Sokov took the military coat, handed it to Yakov and said: "After putting it on, the two of us will go to Sukhinich to see the commander."

  Not long after Sokov left with Yakov, the operator returned to the command post from the outside and asked Belkin curiously: "Comrade deputy battalion commander, who is that strange man who came in with the battalion commander?"

  Unexpectedly, as soon as his words fell, Belkin glared at him and said seriously: "Comrade operator, your responsibility is to send and receive telegrams, and don't inquire about things that have nothing to do with you."

  ...

   Half an hour later, the truck carrying Sokov stopped outside the headquarters.

After getting out of the car, Sokov said to the driver: "It's not far from here in the square, you park the car there, and I'll go find you when I'm done." Then he turned and said to Yakov who had just got off the car: "Let's go. !"

   Sokov brought Yakov to the entrance of the headquarters, and was about to walk in, but was stopped by a lieutenant on duty. The lieutenant asked very politely: "Comrade major, what department do you belong to, what can you do here?"

   "I am Major Sokov, Commander of the Istria Battalion," Sokov revealed his identity to the sentinel, "I have something urgent, and I want to see Comrade Commander."

  The lieutenant was very vigilant, and after Sokov finished speaking, he continued to ask: "Who did you receive the order to come here to meet the commander?"

   "I haven't received any orders from anyone." Sokov replied truthfully: "I have particularly important information and I need to report it to the commander immediately. Comrade Lieutenant, please let me in."

   "No, Comrade Major!" The lieutenant said dryly: "You can't enter the headquarters without the order of the head of the army group. This is an important place for the headquarters, please don't stay here!"

Although Sokov hit a snag, he would never give up easily. He stepped forward and put his arms around the lieutenant's shoulders, and said to him in a negotiating tone: "Comrade lieutenant, please call the chief of staff, Colonel Malinin." , just say that I have something urgent to see the commander. By the way, I almost forgot to tell you that the building where the headquarters is located was occupied by me with my troops."

  Perhaps the last sentence played a role, the lieutenant hesitated for a long time, finally nodded, and said: "Okay, I will call Comrade Chief of Staff, as for his disagreement with you, I can't guarantee it."

The lieutenant walked to the guard box beside him, picked up the phone and contacted Ma Linin, and he said respectfully, "Comrade Chief of Staff, hello, I am the star officer at the gate, and there is a major from the Istria Battalion..." Having said that, he couldn't help but glanced back at Sokov, indicating that he couldn't remember his name. Sokov hurriedly said "Sokov" in a low voice. After the lieutenant heard it clearly, he immediately raised his voice to the microphone, "Major Sokov of the Istria Battalion, he said he has an urgent matter to see Comrade Commander."

  Malinin heard that Sokov had something urgent to see Rokossovsky, so he quickly told the lieutenant: "Since he is in a hurry, let him come in."

   "Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff." After putting down the phone, the lieutenant made a gesture of invitation to Sokov, and said with a smile, "Comrade Major, please go in."

   Sokov led Yakov into the building and found Malinin inside. Malinin glanced at the "weird man" behind Sokov, and asked, "Major Sokov, what do you need from the commander?"

Hearing Malinin's question, Sokov hesitated for a moment. He weighed the stakes in his heart, and decided not to tell Malinin about the matter, so he said vaguely: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what I want to say is normal. , need to report to the commander in private."

  Malinin already had a good impression of Sokov. Hearing that he wanted to talk to Rokossovsky face to face, he didn't make things difficult for him. Instead, he led the two of them to the room where Rokossovsky was.

   Rokossovsky was working with several other army chiefs on how to strengthen the right-wing defense. Seeing that Malinin brought Sokov in, he casually asked, "Chief of Staff, what's the matter?"

"Comrade Commander," Malinin walked up to Rokossovsky and whispered to him, "Major Sokov said there was something important to tell him privately. I asked him what it was, but he didn't Ken said it looked serious."

   Rokossovsky turned around, faced Sokov and asked, "Sokov, do you have something to tell me?"

  When Sokov entered the door, he carefully observed the people in the house, including Army Group Deputy Commander Zakharov, Artillery Commander Kazakov, Armored Master Orel, and Military Commissar Lobachev. Hearing what Rokossovsky said at this moment, he said with some embarrassment: "Comrade Commander, I want to talk to you alone."

   "Come with me." Rokossovsky walked to the wall, pushed open a door, and shook his head at Sokov, "If you have anything to say, come in."

   Just as Sokov was about to step into the small room, Malinin stopped him and said politely: "Major Sokov, please hand over your sidearm."

  Knowing that this was a rule, Sokov very cooperatively handed over the submachine gun and pistol to Malinin. Seeing Ma Linin's eyes fixed on Yakov again, he said quickly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't worry, he doesn't have any weapons on him."

Rokossovsky waited for the two of Sokov to enter the room, then closed the door, and said with some displeasure: "Misha, don't be a secrecy, if there is anything important, just speak up. I am holding a military meeting. What about the meeting?"

   "Comrade Commander, please wait a moment, the answer will be revealed soon." After speaking, Sokov reached out to help Yakov untie the bandage wrapped around his face.

   Rokossovsky sat next to him, wanting to see what this Sokov was going to do. But when the bandages on Yakov's face were all untied, revealing his true face, Rokossovsky jumped up from his seat, rushed to Yakov, and looked him up and down carefully. Fan, pointing at him, said in surprise: "You... you are... Yakov?!"

   "Yes, Comrade General." Yakov nodded and gave Rokossovsky an affirmative answer: "I am Yakov Dzhugashvili."

   "Aren't you captured by the German army? Why are you here?" Shocked, Rokossovsky turned his head and asked Sokov, "Misha, tell me what's going on here?"

"Comrade Commander, I led people to rescue Yakov from the prisoner-of-war camp." Sokov explained how he found out about Yakov's whereabouts, and how he organized a small team to surprise the prisoner-of-war camp in Dumini. The matter was told to Rokossovsky one after another.

  After understanding the ins and outs of the matter, Rokossovsky looked at Yakov, but asked Sokov: "How many insiders are there?"

"There are three people in the Istria battalion, one is me, one is the political deputy battalion commander Belgin, and the other is Valerian who reported, but he has already died in the battle." Sokov After finishing speaking, it suddenly occurred to Rokossovsky that Rokossovsky also knew about this matter, and quickly added: "I was wrong, there should be four people, and the other one is you."

Seeing that Sokov kept the number of insiders within such a small range, Rokossovsky guessed what he must be thinking, and then asked: "Misha, what do you think about this matter?" ?”

"Comrade Commander, the Germans have been making a fuss about Yakov's capture. We should fight back." Sukov already had a complete plan in mind: "Let's send Yakov back to Moscow first. Then he declared that Yakov had never been captured, but was wounded in battle and hid in a collective farm to recuperate. Now he has recovered and returned to Moscow.”

   Regarding Sokov's proposal, Rokossovsky thought for a long time before nodding his head and said, "This is a way, but I will ask Stalin first to see what his opinion is."

  As soon as he finished speaking, the phone on the table rang. Sokov instinctively looked towards the place where the bell rang, and found that it was a high-frequency telephone. His heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and he thought to himself: "This can't be a call from Stalin, right?"

Soon, his conjecture was confirmed, and Stalin's voice came from the receiver: "Comrade Rokossovsky, let me ask you, the German army broke through the 61st Army on your right wing, have you taken any measures?" what?"

"Yes, Comrade Stalin." Rokossovsky replied hastily: "We have sent troops reinforced with tanks to the right wing. The first is to consolidate our defense line, and the second is to prepare for when the 61st Army cannot support us. to support them..."

   After reporting on the work, Rokossovsky noticed that Stalin was going to hang up the phone, and quickly said: "Comrade Stalin, I have a very important person here, and I want to talk to you. I wonder if you allow it?"

  If the person who said this was not Rokossovsky, Stalin would have hung up the phone long ago. He was silent for a moment, then told Rokossovsky: "Give him the phone."

  Yakov walked over, took the microphone from Rokossovsky, and pressed it tightly to his ear. But he didn't speak for a long time. Sokov, who was standing aside, could clearly see that his hand holding the microphone was trembling slightly.

   "Why don't you speak?" Stalin asked annoyed when he heard the delay in speaking, "Who are you?"

   "It's me!" Yakov said in a voice hoarse because of excitement: "I'm Yakov Dzhugashvili!"

  (end of this chapter)