Red Moscow

  Chapter 301 The Long March (Part 2)

  Antonov said that he had heard of Sokov a long time ago, and it was not just a polite remark. Sokov led his troops to attack Kursk, which made him overwhelmed. Although this battle contained a lot of trickery, it greatly changed the situation of the enemy and the enemy in the south of Moscow, allowing the Soviet army to gain a crucial salient on the German defense line. From here, a full-scale counterattack can be launched against the German army.

   It was precisely because he wanted to meet this legendary lieutenant colonel that when he heard that Vasilevsky was going to send someone to the station, he volunteered to accept the task. After greeting Sokov, Antonov told the officers following him: "Go and get the station master and the military representative."

"Comrade General," Seeing the officer turned to leave, Sokov quickly stopped him, and said to Antonov with some embarrassment: "The station chief and the army representative are not here, and a deputy station chief is in charge. "

   "Then go get the deputy station master." Antonov told the officer, "Tell him to move faster."

   Not long after, the officer brought the deputy station chief to the office. Seeing Sokov and Belkin standing next to Antonov, the muscles on the deputy station chief's face twitched involuntarily. He came to Antonov and asked respectfully, "Comrade General, are you looking for me?"

Antonov looked at the other party and asked: "Comrade deputy station chief, this is Antonov, the deputy chief of operations of the General Staff. Didn't the General Staff inform you some time ago that the 73rd Infantry Brigade will take a train to Kazan in the near future? , let you arrange the trains in advance. Why are you notifying them now, and you have to wait for a month and a half?"

Hearing Antonov's question, the deputy station chief was sweating profusely. While wiping the sweat off his forehead, he replied nervously: "Comrade General, I don't know about this matter. The arrangement of the military column has always been made by Comrade Station Master is in charge."

   "Where is the station master?" Antonov was obviously dissatisfied with the deputy station chief's answer. He frowned and asked, "Also, where did the military representative go?"

   "They went to a meeting in the city!" replied the deputy station master.

   "When can I come back?"

  The deputy station master raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said cautiously: "I'll call them and ask when they can come back." After seeing Antonov nodding his head to express his permission, he turned around and prepared to go outside.

   "Stop!" Antonov stopped him, pointed to the phone on the table, and said in a commanding tone, "Call here!"

The deputy station master did not dare to disobey Antonov's order, so he could only go to the table, picked up the phone, dialed the number tremblingly, and said into the microphone: "I am the deputy station master, please call Sei Moxikin, I have something important to report to him." After a while, Sokov heard an old voice from the receiver, "Comrade deputy station chief, I am Moxikin, what happened? Are you in such a hurry to find me?"

The deputy station chief quickly glanced at Antonov, who was sitting next to him, and said in a panic: "Comrade station chief, General Antonov of the General Staff is in the duty room of the station. He has something important to discuss with you. You Come back quickly."

"Damn it, I haven't finished my meeting yet... What, what are you talking about? Comrades of the General Staff... You tell them to wait for a while, and I will rush back immediately." After saying this, Semoxikin did not wait for the deputy Before he could say anything else, he hung up the phone.

  The deputy station chief put down the phone, wiped the sweat off his brow with his hand again, and said with a smile: "Comrade General, the station chief will be back soon, please wait here for a while."

"Comrade deputy station chief, go and get busy with your own work first." Antonov knew that the station was busy every day. If the deputy station chief was left here, it would definitely affect the normal work. Anyway, after a while, The station master was about to come back, so he waved his hand at the deputy station chief, "Comrade station chief will come back later, let him come here to find me."

After the deputy station master left, Antonov also sent his subordinates out. Seeing that he and Sokov were the only ones left in the room, he said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Comrade Sokov , It was our negligence at work that caused such a thing to happen, on behalf of the comrades at the station, I apologize to you." Then he stood up and saluted and apologized to the two.

"Comrade General, I can't blame you for this matter. It's clearly a problem with the station." Seeing that Antonov apologized to the two of them, Belkin quickly winked at Sokov: "You say so?" , Comrade Brigadier?"

  Hearing what Belkin said, Sokov quickly echoed: "That's right, Comrade General, this is all the station's fault, and has nothing to do with you."

Antonov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, smiled lightly, and then said: "This time the base camp transferred you to Stalingrad for rest. Logically speaking, it doesn't matter even if it takes two days at night. But this The deputy station master went too far, actually arranging the military column to transport you one and a half months later..."

   "Comrade General," the speaker was not interested but the listener was interested. Hearing this, Sokov abruptly interrupted Antonov's words: "Do you really think that our trip to Stalingrad is to rest?"

Antonov was taken aback by Sokov's words. He looked at Sokov and asked puzzledly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I don't understand, why do you say that? You know, you were transferred to Stalingrad to rest, but A decision made by the Supreme Command."

"Comrade General," Sokov had a rare opportunity to communicate with senior officers. Now that he met today, Aite would not let this opportunity easily pass by: "I want to ask you, do you think the Germans will attack Stalin?" Guller?"

  The room suddenly became quiet, and none of the three spoke. Antonov and Belkin began to think about the questions raised by Sokov. After a long time, Antonov coughed lightly, breaking the silence in the room, and said softly: "From all the signs, the Germans did have signs of attacking Stalingrad, but they did so , just to divert our attention. Their real target is Moscow and Caucasus oil.”

"Comrade General, if I tell you that the real goal of the Germans is to capture Stalingrad in order to obtain food and oil in the south of our country, and at the same time to encircle Moscow." Sokov, in order not to frighten Antonov, said: Say politely: "Would you believe it?"

Hearing what Sokov said, Antonov couldn't help laughing: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I want to ask you, if the Germans are really as you guessed, the next target of attack is Stalin. Gele, then why has the Central Army Group they placed near Moscow remained on hold? You know, there are 70 elite divisions armed to the teeth. If they really join the southern front, with our army's current strength , can’t stop them at all.”

  Belkin was afraid that Sokov would say something unreasonable to Antonov, so he quickly and quietly tugged on the corner of his clothes, suggesting that he should not act impulsively. Sokov, who understood, nodded, and then said to Antonov: "Comrade General, according to my analysis, the seventy divisions deployed by the Germans near Moscow are just to cause us a misunderstanding. A target of attack is Moscow, not any other location."

"Okay, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you don't need to talk about it." Antonov knew that Sokov's father, more than a dozen big men in the army, and the Supreme Commander himself had been comrades-in-arms. He did have some ability, and he was very optimistic about him at first, but now he heard his alarmist words, and his impression of him was inevitably discounted. With a straight face, he said impatiently: "Where to deploy defenses is something that the Supreme Command and the General Staff should consider, and you only need to obey the orders of your superiors."

   The words were not speculative, and Antonov closed his eyes after finishing these few words, leaning on the back of the chair with closed eyes and resting his mind. Seeing that Antonov stopped talking, Sokov could only obediently keep silent even though he had a thousand words in his heart. But he was not angry with Antonov because of this. He was thinking in his heart: If I were to change places with him and hear a mid-level officer questioning the judgment of the Supreme Command, how would I react?

  The embarrassing atmosphere in the room didn't last long, and an old man in his fifties with gray hair and military uniform hurried in from the outside. Seeing Antonov sitting in the room, he tentatively asked: "Is this General Antonov of the General Staff?" After getting an affirmative answer, he introduced himself and said, "I am the station master Sai Moxikin, I'm sorry, I went to the city for a meeting today, and I didn't come back until now, so I kept you waiting."

Antonov got up and shook hands with Semoxikin, and then said: "Comrade station chief, the situation is like this. Our comrades from the General Staff also called you a few days ago, saying that the 73rd Infantry Brigade is going to Kazan , let you arrange a military column."

   "That's right, that's right, that's what happened." Semoxikin nodded and said, "I answered the call myself at the time, and after answering the call, I specially arranged a military column for them."

Antonov was very surprised to hear what Semoxikin said. He turned his head and glanced at Sokov and Belkin standing behind him, and asked in surprise: "But your deputy station chief just said that the recent The military train schedule is already full, and if the troops want to go to Kazan, they will have to wait at least one and a half months."

"Comrade General, since I handled this matter, he may not know much about the situation." Perhaps in order not to make his family scandal public, Semoxikin took the responsibility on himself. He smiled at Antonov, Said: "I will check now, what time is the military column arranged for them."

   As Semoxikin said, he walked to the wall, took off the schedule book hanging on the wall, and put on reading glasses to examine it carefully. After looking at it for a while, he put down the dispatch book in his hand, and said to Antonov with a smile: "Comrade General, we have found out. The military column arranged for the 73rd Infantry Brigade will leave at 6:15 tomorrow morning. Troops can then board the train at platform nine."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you have heard it all." After finishing speaking, he turned his head to look at Sokov behind him, and said to him expressionlessly: "The station has arranged a military column for you, tomorrow morning at 6:15 Departure. Now you take your troops to the waiting hall to rest, and the station will provide you with lunch and dinner.” After explaining a few words, Antonov felt that his task had been completed, so he took his Several subordinates left the station.

  (end of this chapter)