Red Moscow

   "Actually, it's nothing." Potapov said thoughtfully: "Comrade Stalin didn't ask many questions, mainly about the situation when I commanded troops to fight in Ukraine, and what happened after I entered the prisoner-of-war camp..."

   "That's all?!" Pornegerin asked in disbelief after hearing this: "Comrade Stalin only asked you these?"

   "Yes, that's all I'm asking about." Potapov has just finished speaking, and then quickly added: "By the way, I also asked about the deployment of the German army in East Prussia."

  Sokov was also quite puzzled. After Stalin and Potapov met, they asked such a simple question, and then even restored the other party's military status and allowed him to return to the front line.

  With such doubts in mind, Sokov waited for the field to quiet down, and then asked: "General Potapov, after Comrade Stalin finished talking with you, did you restore your military status and allow you to return to the front?"

   "The restoration of military status is indeed after the conversation." Potapov explained to Sokov and everyone: "But returning to the front line is my initiative."

   "You asked for it?" Pornejelin asked in shock, "Is this true?"

"Yes," Potapov nodded, and continued: "After I met Comrade Stalin, I was put in a hotel on Arbat Street. Poskrebyshev came early the next morning. The hotel met me and asked if I would like to stay in Moscow or go to the front?"

   "Then how did you answer?" After Sidolin asked this sentence, he immediately realized that he was talking nonsense. If the other party wanted to stay in Moscow, how could he appear on the front line at this moment? He quickly changed his words and said, "Then you said you thought about the front line, right?"

"That's right, that's right." Potapov nodded, affirmed Sidolin's statement, and continued: "Then, Poskrebyshev asked me what kind of position I hoped to hold. "

This time, no one interrupted him, allowing him to say the following words smoothly: "I thought about it, although I was born as a tank soldier, but I was locked up in a prisoner-of-war camp for more than three years, and I really let me command a tank. Army, I am afraid I am powerless, so I plan to change other positions. After some thinking, I feel that I have some experience in commanding artillery operations, so I proposed to Poskrebyshev, hoping to let me serve as a group army If possible, it is best to go to the 48th Army."

Hearing this, Sokov began to ponder: Potapov was the commander of the 5th Army in the early days of the war, and even Marshal Rokossovsky was his subordinate, but now he is willing to lower his profile and come It's a little too weird to be a chief of artillery for yourself.

"General Potapov," just as Sukov was meditating, Sidolin on the side said, "I remember that you are the commander of the 5th Army, and you have never commanded artillery units. You came to us as a small Chief of Artillery, is that appropriate?"

"I think it's very suitable." It was Ponejielin who spoke, and he smiled and said to Sokov and Sidolin: "You may not know that when Potapov was fighting in Ukraine, he used the swamp as a Covering and using accurate and dense artillery fire to attack the German troops advancing along the road made great contributions to our army jumping out of the enemy's encirclement."

  But after hearing this, Sokov felt even more uncomfortable. He secretly said that no matter how capable you are, wouldn’t you still become a captive of the Germans later? What Ponegerin said may have been exaggerated to a certain extent.

And Potapov, who was observing the words and expressions on the sidelines, saw the change in the expression on Sokov's face, and immediately guessed what was going on, and quickly explained: "General Sokov, in fact, during the battle in Kiev, I can completely get rid of being trapped. The fate of the prisoner, but because of a wrong order, it caused an irreversible tragedy."

   "What wrong command?"

"The situation in Kiev became extremely severe at that time, and the superior ordered our army to retreat." Potapov said: "Just as I was withdrawing the troops from the combat area in batches according to the superior's order, I unexpectedly received A battle order, let us concentrate all our forces and launch an attack on the German army."

   "What, after Kiev's retreat started, someone actually gave you an order to attack?" After hearing this, Sokov was stunned: "Isn't this telling you to die?"

"Yes, after a long period of fighting, the strength of the 5th Army has been severely weakened." Potapov explained: "In the attack order from the superior, we were asked to concentrate our efforts on attacking Zhytomyr west of Kiev. And crush the heavy German army group there. When I received this order, I knew that with my own strength, I could not complete these arduous tasks. But the habit of obedience developed in the army for decades, let me know that this It is an order to send us to die, but we still gather the troops we can contact and attack Zhytomyr."

   What happened next? Although Potapov didn't say anything, everyone understood what was going on. When the troops in the Kiev area are showing signs of defeat, launching an attack on the enemy's heavily guarded city is tantamount to dying in vain. Needless to say the final result, Potapov's troops were wiped out by the enemy, and even he himself became a prisoner of the Germans.

   Sokov took a deep breath, stood up straight and stretched out his hand to Potapov, saying in a friendly tone: "General Potapov, on behalf of all commanders and fighters of the 48th Army, welcome to join us!"

Potapov quickly stretched out both hands, held Sokov's hand tightly, and said emotionally: "Thank you, thank you, Comrade Commander! In the days to come, I will fully cooperate Your."

  Now that Potapov, the artillery director, has officially taken office, the next topic of discussion is related to the upcoming offensive in a few months.

  Sidorin looked at Potapov and asked: "Comrade Artillery Director, if our army wants to prepare artillery fire on the enemy's position before attacking, where is your priority target?"

In response to Sidolin's question, Potapov pondered for a moment, and then said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have provided you with the blueprints of the enemy's fortifications last time. If you want to attack, you must give priority to shelling those fortifications." A solid position. As long as the solid fortifications of the German army are destroyed, their defense lines will become shaky, and when our infantry conducts an assault, they will be able to break through the enemy's defense lines in the shortest possible time."

  Potapov's answer can only be regarded as quite satisfactory, there is nothing special about it, and Sokov didn't take it to heart after hearing it. What he is thinking about now is to let the scouts figure out the German army's defense situation as soon as possible, so that when the offensive starts, they can attack them in a targeted manner.

   "Comrade Artillery Director," Sidolin was very dissatisfied with Potapov's answer. He felt that what the other party said was equivalent to not saying anything. Who doesn't know that before attacking, it is necessary to destroy the strongest fortifications of the enemy, so as to reduce the resistance encountered by the troops during the attack: "Can you be more specific?"

   "Comrade Chief of Staff, if you want me to tell you now, when we attack, we should bombard the German targets first, and what kind of results can be achieved. Unfortunately, I can't do it."

"Why?"

   "The reason is very simple." Potapov continued: "I don't know the scale of the army's artillery, as well as the number and specifications of the artillery owned. How can I come up with a constructive plan?"

"Potapov is right." As soon as Potapov finished speaking, Ponejielin chimed in and said: "Although he stayed with us for a while, because of his sensitive identity at the time, the internal situation of the Army Group , I basically did not tell him that he is not familiar with the artillery situation, it is not surprising."

Sokov felt that what Ponedelin said made sense, so he said to him: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I will let General Potapov familiarize himself with the work of the artillery unit, and I will leave it to you. You are no different." opinion?"

   "No." Pornegerin shook his head and said with a smile on his face: "I am happy to accept such a task."

   "Also," Sokov continued to Ponejielin: "General Potapov's body is relatively weak, it is best to arrange another health worker to take care of his daily life..."

   "Comrade Commander," Potapov waved his hands hurriedly when he heard that Sokov planned to arrange a health worker to take care of his daily life, "I'm used to being alone, and I don't need anyone to help me."

"No, General Potapov." But Sokov said firmly: "Your body is too weak, and I don't want you to collapse on the eve of victory because of too much work." After saying this, he urged again Ponejielin, "Comrade Deputy Commander, remember, you must send a best health worker to take care of General Potapov's daily life."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Ponedelin felt that Sokov's words were very reasonable. No matter how strong Potapov's body was before, but after staying in the German prisoner-of-war camp for so long, It has long since become weak. If there is no special person to take care of him, he might fall ill one day, so he assured Sokov: "I will arrange suitable people to take care of Potapov."

  After they had finished their meal, they called the orderly to clean up the table. Sokov picked up the cigarette case on the table and distributed it to everyone. But when he handed the pack of cigarettes to Potapov, the artillery director refused: "Thank you for your kindness, Comrade Commander, I have already quit."

Since Potapov didn't want to smoke, Sokov didn't force it either. He put the cigarette case on the table, lit the cigarette in his mouth, and asked casually, "General Potapov, I want to ask you a question. people."

"who?"

"After the war broke out that year, when the German army attacked the Brest Fortress, they captured many prisoners of our army." Sokov looked at Potapov and asked: "I want to ask, what is the number of prisoners in your prisoner-of-war camp? Has there ever been such a prisoner of war?"

Hearing this question, Potapov frowned and thought about it. After a long time, he said in an uncertain tone: "It seems that there are a group of prisoners of war from the Brest Fortress. But they were in February 42. They were all shot by the Germans, and along with them were the family members of the soldiers who were captured in the fortress at the same stage."

"Damn Germans." Hearing this, Sidolin punched the table fiercely and said through gritted teeth, "This is another blood debt they owe, and we will ask them to pay it back sooner or later." .”

After waiting for Sidolin to finish speaking, Sokov asked Potapov about the person he cared about: "The person I want to ask is Major Gavrilov, one of the defenders of the Brest Fortress. He was the commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment. When the main body of the German army occupied the fortress, he held it alone for a month.

  I saw in a seized document that when Gavrilov was captured by the German army, he was ragged, skinny, unshaven, covered in dust, and was in a coma, extremely weak, and even found it difficult to swallow. But just before he was captured, he still threw bombs and shot with guns, killing and wounding many German officers and soldiers. "

   After Sokov finished speaking, Potapov hadn’t reacted yet, and Ponejielin said in surprise: “Comrade Commander, when did you see this document? Why have I never seen it before?”

Naturally, Sokov would not tell the other party that what he said came from the online database of later generations, so he could only vaguely say: "After the last occupation of the Brest Fortress, when I checked the captured German military materials, I saw it by accident."

Hearing Sokov's impeccable statement, Ponejielin couldn't ask any more questions, so he could only turn his eyes to Potapov, wondering if his old buddy had seen this Gavrilov .

   But unfortunately, Potapov thought for a long time, finally shook his head slowly, and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I have never heard of this person."

  Sokov's disappointment was shown on his face, and everyone saw it. In order to defuse the embarrassing atmosphere, Sidolin preemptively said: "Comrade Commander, if this Major Gavrilov is really as stated in the German materials, I am afraid he would have died long ago. After all, the Germans would not Use their precious medicines on our wounded soldiers, especially the wounded soldiers captured by them."

   Regarding the ending of Gavrilov, Sokov still knows a little bit about it. He knew that he lived to the day of victory and was awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" after returning to China. Although he knew that the other party was still alive at this moment, he didn't know where to go to rescue him, which made Sokov very annoyed.

"Yes, Comrade Commander." To Sidolin's statement, Ponegerin also echoed: "If his body is really so weak, let alone become a prisoner of the Germans, even if he is captured by our army." I am afraid it will be very difficult to survive after being rescued from the field hospital."

   "No, I believe there will be a miracle." Sokov said: "Although I don't know where he is at the moment, I firmly believe that he will survive and even return to his homeland alive."

Hearing what Sokov said, Sidolin felt that the other party took it for granted, but it was not easy to lose his face in front of everyone, so he could only echo: "Comrade Commander is right, a brave fortress like this The defender will surely survive until the day we win. It would be great if the troops who rescued him from the prisoner-of-war camp were our army group."

  Sokov does not know which concentration camp Gavrilov is currently being held in, and whether the concentration camp is in his own combat area, so it is still unknown whether he can rescue Gavrilov himself. But since Sidolin comforted himself so much, he said casually, "I hope so."