Red Moscow

Chapter 2588 Mine Clearance (Part 2)

"Yes, Comrade General, you are right." Regarding Sokov's statement, Vaserigov promptly agreed: "I have dealt with engineers and soldiers, and I heard them say that they would rather risk They were not willing to participate in the demining work even if they were bombarded by enemy planes or artillery and set up pontoons on the river.”

As soon as Vaserigov finished speaking, the fake president couldn't help but ask: "Major, why?"

"Sir," although Vaseligov did not know the identity of the fake president, since others were asking for advice humbly, he naturally explained to the other party: "The material used in landmines is not only the metal you know, but also the material used in mines. There will be plastic or wooden mines that cannot be detected by the minesweepers used to detect mines, and if you accidentally step on them, they will explode, causing considerable casualties to the minesweepers. "

 After listening to Vaselgov's explanation, the fake president nodded slowly, and then said: "So that's it. Engineers are really a dangerous profession."

"On the battlefield, any type of soldier is dangerous." Sokov interjected: "Unless you don't go to the battlefield, there is a possibility of sacrifice or injury at any time."

“Comrade General,” the fake president stared at Sokov and asked with a half-smile, “Have you ever been injured on the battlefield?”

"Of course I was wounded." Sokov replied with a normal expression: "During the Battle of Stalingrad alone, I was wounded twice. After one of them, I lay in bed for nearly a month. In 1944, I was seriously injured while commanding operations near the Dnieper River and almost didn't survive."

Vaseligov knew a little bit about Sokov’s resume, so he looked relatively calm when listening to him talk about these contents. But the face of the fake president was full of shock: "What, you were wounded twice in the Battle of Stalingrad? I heard that the survival time of commanders and fighters who entered Stalingrad was 24 hours for soldiers and 72 hours for officers. It’s amazing that you survived!”

Sokov smiled faintly, "I'm just lucky, so I can sit across from you today." After saying this, Sokov turned his gaze to the window again and continued to observe the women clearing mines in the distance, secretly thinking Pray that nothing happens to them.

 But some things happen the more we are afraid of them happening, but they happen anyway. Just as Sokov was staring at the group of women clearing mines, a ball of fire and black smoke suddenly rose from the crowd, and human body parts could be vaguely seen in the fire. Then, everyone sitting in the box heard a loud noise, and at the same time, the car window glass was shaken and rattled.

"No, something happened." When Sokov saw this situation, he stood up from his sleeper and instinctively wanted to run out to deal with the matter. But as soon as he took a few steps toward the door, he stopped. He remembered that his duty was to take care of the fake president in front of him. He must not leave him even half a step before arriving in Moscow.

He had no choice but to sit down again and look into the distance anxiously.

Just as Sokov judged, after a woman demining was killed by a landmine, the women around her screamed and ran away after a brief moment of confusion. No matter how the soldiers leading the team shouted, they I couldn't listen at all, just like headless flies scurrying around in a minefield. Maybe you won't step on a landmine after running for a few steps, but the possibility of running forty or fifty meters without stepping on a landmine is almost zero.

Just like that, fire and gunpowder smoke rose from time to time in the minefield. Every time the fire appeared, it meant that one or several women were taken away by death. After just a few minutes, the direction of the minefield fell silent, with only two or three leading soldiers still standing, and the rest fell into the minefield.

"Oh my God!" The fake president saw this tragic scene, crossed himself on his chest, and murmured: "I thought they could successfully complete the demining work, but who knew that in just a few minutes, They basically fell into a pool of blood."

“Comrade General,” Vasergov asked Sokov anxiously after seeing what was happening in the minefield: “What should we do?”

"What else can we do?" Sokov spread his hands, shrugged, and said helplessly: "We can only sit and watch. According to the order from our superiors, the two of us cannot leave before arriving in Moscow. This is a private room.”

“Comrade General,” after hearing what Sokov said, the fake president sitting opposite him said, “Are you worried that I will run away?”

Sokov did not want Vaserigov to know the identity of the fake president, so he switched to English and said: "Yes, Marshal Zhukov arranged for me to take care of him here, just because he is worried about you escaping. Even if you don't escape, as long as someone sees it, Your face can also cause a lot of trouble, you know what I mean?"

　　The fake president was stunned to hear that Sokov could speak such fluent English. After a long time, he finally said: "Comrade General, I didn't expect that you speak English so well."

"I have learned before and can speak a little bit." When Sokov said this, he glanced at Vaserigov next to him and continued: "Because your identity is relatively sensitive, even if you are a guard I trust, I can’t let him know either.”

 “Doesn’t he understand English?”

"I don't understand," Sokov shook his head and said, "I once took him to visit a US military prisoner of war camp. He remained silent the whole time, which shows that he doesn't understand English at all. And you, the person you want to impersonate is from the US. It’s hard for the number one person not to speak English, so I think it’s more convenient for the two of us to communicate in English.”

"Your proposal is good, I agree." The fake president nodded and said, "This way we don't have to worry about talking to each other."

 And when Vaserigov heard Sokov and the fake president suddenly speaking in English, he couldn't understand a single word and seemed a little embarrassed.

There was a knock on the door. Sokov stopped talking with the fake president and told Vaserigov: "Major, go and see who it is?"

Vaseligov walked to the door and opened the door of the box. After seeing clearly that it was Zhukov's adjutant standing at the door, he asked politely: "Comrade adjutant, does Marshal Zhukov have any new instructions?"

The adjutant nodded, and then said: "Some accidents occurred in the minefield in the distance. The train may have to stop on this platform for a longer time. Comrade Marshal asked me to come over and inform you that under no circumstances can you leave this box."

"clear."

 After the adjutant finished explaining the matter, he turned and left.

 Vaseligov returned to the box and told Sokov about Zhukov's new order. After hearing this, Sokov nodded slightly: "I know." When the three of them turned their eyes to the window again, they saw a group of commanders and fighters sent by the station, about thirty people, in a dispersed formation, carefully entering the mine. district and began to clean up the mess there.

Vaseligov saw the commanders and soldiers who were going to clean up the participating troops, and couldn't help but muttered: "I wonder how many of those women will survive?"

"It's hard to say." Sokov stared out the window and said without looking back: "If when the first landmine was unfortunately detonated, everyone lay down on the spot and didn't run around, then we could Casualties were minimized. But as I analyzed the scene at that time, the women had no actual experience in demining. When they saw a landmine exploded and their companions were killed, their minds immediately went blank and they could only think about it. Hurry up and escape from this death zone, but I didn’t expect that running around like this will speed up their death.”

The fake president also interjected at this moment: "According to my observation, none of the people who fell due to the explosion have stood up so far. This shows that they were either killed by the explosion or seriously injured, so that they could not even stand up like this Even simple movements are impossible.”

“I think we should give a suggestion to our superiors,” Vaselgov said: “Let those German prisoners of war come to clear mines. In this way, even if the mines are unfortunately detonated, our enemies will be killed.”

But the fake president disagreed with Vaselgov’s statement: “Comrade Major, now that the war is over, we cannot risk the lives of German prisoners of war.”

"Sir, I don't agree with your statement." Vaserigov retorted: "Enemies who surrender voluntarily are called prisoners of war, and those held in prisoners of war today are just a group of enemies who have temporarily laid down their weapons. Do we still need to be kind to our enemies?"

 Sokov couldn't help but be surprised when he heard what Vaselgov said. He secretly said that the words sounded familiar, as if they were said by some important person. Unexpectedly, Vaselgov had the same opinion as that person.

"I once heard someone say that the German prisoners of war who were detained in areas controlled by the Soviet army were living in hell." The fake president argued unconvincingly: "I'm afraid there are too many prisoner of war camp leaders with the same characteristics as you. idea.”

"Sir, you didn't say much." Sokov felt that the fake president's words were biased, so he took the initiative to say: "What the major just said should have been said by a certain American general. He was just paraphrasing it. That’s all. As for your statement that the German prisoners of war in our prisoner-of-war camps are living in hell, I cannot agree with that.”

 “Am I wrong?”

"Mr. Fake President," Sokov once again said to the Fake President in English: "After our army invaded Berlin, the German army saw that defeat was inevitable. Many troops withdrew to the Allied combat area and chose to fight against the Allied forces. The main reason why the Japanese army surrendered was, as you said, that they were worried that they would live in **** after being imprisoned in a prisoner of war camp. But they never dreamed of the treatment they would receive after surrendering to the Allied forces. It’s pretty much the same here.”

“I heard that many prisoners of war die every day in our prisoner-of-war camp.” The fake president said unconvincingly: “I’m afraid this kind of situation will not happen in the Allied prisoner-of-war camp, right?”

"Shortly after I came to Poland, as a representative of Marshal Zhukov, I participated in the inspection team of the Red Cross organization and went to prisoner of war camps controlled by the US military to check the situation of German prisoners of war." Sokov said: "Although we saw Every scene is very harmonious, but I can detect that these are what the US wants us to see, but the truth in the prison camp is concealed by them. "

“Comrade General, maybe your judgment is wrong.”

"Let's put it this way, Mr. Fake President." Sokov continued: "When I was inspecting, a German major once made a request to me, hoping that I could rescue him from the US military prisoner of war camp. For this reason, he Plan to pay me two kilograms of gold as a reward."

When he learned that a German prisoner of war even planned to pay Sokov two kilograms of gold as a reward in order to leave the US prisoner-of-war camp, his eyes widened in surprise: "Comrade General, is everything you said true?"

“You and I are not familiar with each other, and we have no interest in each other. Do you think I would lie to you about this kind of thing?”

“That’s not true.” The fake president shook his head and said, “So, everything you said is true.”

 “That’s right.”

The fake president was silent for a while and asked a question that concerned him: "Comrade General, do you know what your superiors plan to do with me?"

“I don’t know.” Even though Sokov is now ordered to take care of the fake president, he really doesn’t know how his superiors will deal with this person. However, he also felt that since Zhukov was not afraid of trouble and was willing to go all the way to bring this person back to Moscow, it meant that his superiors had no intention of letting him disappear from the world, but instead locked him in an isolated place. Thinking of this, he said to the fake president: "If your superiors intend to silence you, I'm afraid you can't leave Berlin at all. Now that you have successfully arrived in Poland, your safety is guaranteed before returning to Moscow. As for arriving What will happen to you after Moscow is beyond my control."

　　The box fell into silence. No one spoke or was in the mood to speak. Instead, they all looked out the window and watched the group of soldiers in the distance dealing with the aftermath in the minefield.

When he saw the soldiers carrying complete or incomplete corpses out of the minefield on stretchers, Sokov was counting silently in his mind. The stretcher team entered the minefield twice and carried out 34 corpses, indicating that the women's team responsible for demining had been completely wiped out.

"What a pity." Vaserigov sighed and said: "The person who arranged for these women to clear mines should be sent to a military court. When the mines exploded in the minefield, he was fine, but he left these future mothers They gave it to death."

When Sokov heard what Vaselgov said, he turned to look at him, but said nothing. He felt that the person who could issue such an order was at least a senior general of Zhukov level. For them, as long as they can clear the landmines left during the war, the number of casualties is just a cold number to them.

After all the bodies and wounded were carried out from the minefield, a new group of women entered the minefield to continue the demining task that the previous team had not completed. Perhaps because they were worried that the situation just now would happen again, the number of soldiers leading the team was much larger this time. Even if a similar incident happened again, these soldiers could control the situation in a short time.

The train finally set off, heading in the direction of Belarus. Looking at the moving scenery outside the window, Sokov couldn't help but feel excited. In at most one day, he would be able to return to Moscow and reunite with Asya. Then he will stay at home with peace of mind and quietly wait for the day when his child is born.

 (End of this chapter)