Red Moscow

  Chapter 1960

  Sokov waited for Ponegerin to finish speaking, and said slowly: "It seems that the Romanians are going to come for real. General Ponegerin, what do you think of this matter?"

"How should I say it?" Because Sukov often referred to himself as a general before, Ponegerin didn't care about the change in Sukov's address to himself: "I think this matter is too ridiculous, you know, My battle group is now more than 2,000 kilometers away from Bucharest, and there is no air force, so it does not pose any threat to them. They proposed to make the capital an undefended city so early, and there are many problems in it."

   "Tell me, what problems do you think there are."

"First of all, the German army still has a large number of troops stationed in Romania." Ponegelin said: "If this news is known to the Germans, maybe they will directly send troops to occupy Bucharest as they did to Italy, and at the same time put Romania on the battlefield. The troops are all disarmed, lest they turn against our army."

Perhaps because he was worried that Sokov would not believe what he said, he also specifically emphasized: "As far as I know, since Italy announced its surrender, the German army has locked up and disarmed all Italian troops fighting on our battlefields. Controlled troops, they directly carried out the massacre."

   Regarding the massacre of the disarmed Italian army by the German army, Sokov has read it in history books. But when he heard that Romania was preparing to make the capital an undefended city, he did not consider the consequences for the Romanian army at all. At this time, after listening to Ponegerin's words, he couldn't help worrying about the fate of the Romanian officers and soldiers.

   "Comrade Commander," Ponegerin thought Sukov was thinking something when he heard that Sukov was silent, and asked with concern, "What do you think we should do next?"

"General Ponegelin, you still follow my original order and keep a distance from the Romanian army. We will treat those who are friendly to us with the same attitude; if there are troops with bad intentions against us, we will resolutely and completely eliminate them. Lose."

"Okay, Comrade Commander, I will pass on your order to all divisions." After Pornegerin finished speaking, he suddenly realized that when Sokov called himself today, he reminded him politely. Said: "Comrade Commander, I was a general in the past. Now I am just a lieutenant colonel. If you call me general like this, if people with ulterior motives hear you, I'm afraid it will cause unnecessary trouble for you."

"General Ponegerin," Sokov said with a smile, "I called you because I have some good news for you. From now on, you are no longer Lieutenant Colonel Ponegerin, but Boonegerin." Lieutenant General Nedelin."

Hearing what Sokov said, Ponejielin still felt a little unbelievable: "Comrade Commander, don't make fun of me. Even if the superior wants to promote me to the rank of colonel, it would be good to be promoted to colonel. How can I be promoted three times in a row? level, to become a lieutenant general."

   "I'm not kidding you, but the truth." Sokov said seriously: "I just received a call from Marshal Konev. He said that Comrade Stalin himself promoted you to lieutenant general."

  Pornegelin couldn't help being stunned. He thought he had been captured by the Germans. Although the suspicion was cleared after review, it would be good to keep his current rank of lieutenant colonel. How dare he expect to be promoted. Knowing that it was Stalin himself who promoted his military rank at this moment, his eye circles suddenly turned red, and he asked with some sobs: "Comrade Commander, is it true that Stalin himself promoted me to the military rank?"

   "That's right, General Pornegerin." Sokov intentionally pronounced the word general very emphatically: "This is absolutely true."

   After confirming that the news was true, Ponedelin asked cautiously: "What about Muzichenko and Kirillov? Have their military ranks been restored?"

   "They were only promoted to colonels." Sokov said: "It may take a long time to become generals again. Well, let's not talk about this, let's continue to discuss the intentions of the Romanians."

  Then, the two discussed the intentions of the Romanians for a long time before ending the call.

When Ponegerin put down the phone in his hand, Sidolin, who was sitting opposite him, stood up, stretched out his hand to him, and said in a friendly tone: "Comrade commander, congratulations on your promotion to general, please accept my sincere thanks." congratulate!"

  Pornegelin held Sidolin's hand and said gratefully: "Colonel Sidolin, thanks to your active cooperation for so long, I was able to achieve such results."

   "Comrade General, look at what you said, I was your chief of staff to help you carry out your work and cooperate with you in the implementation of combat operations. These are all my duties, so there is no need to say thank you."

   After congratulating Ponegerin, Sidolin asked for instructions on the next move: "Now that our entire battle group has entered Romania, how should we carry out military operations next?"

   "Invite the two division commanders over here," Ponegerin said, "We will assign them the next battle plan."

  The other two divisions were stationed not far from here. After receiving a call from Sidolin, the two division commanders hurried over to attend the temporary military meeting held by Ponegerin.

When the two entered the door, they unexpectedly saw a bottle of champagne on the table. Chuvashov asked Sidolin curiously: "Chief of Staff, what are you doing with a bottle of champagne? It's to celebrate all members of our combat group." Have you entered Romania?"

   Sidolin said with a smile: "Yes, this is one of the things we want to celebrate."

   "What about the other item?"

Sidolin pointed at Ponejielin with his hand, and said emotionally: "I now officially announce to you that not long ago, our division commander, Comrade Ponejielin, was officially promoted to lieutenant general by Comrade Stalin. "

Sidolin's words stunned the two of them. Chuvashov and Shechtman glanced at each other. Seeing the shocked expression in each other's eyes, he quickly turned to Sidolin and asked tentatively, "Siduolin?" Colonel Lin, are you kidding me?"

   "How can this kind of thing be a joke." Sidolin deliberately said with a straight face: "This news was reported by Comrade Commander himself."

   Knowing that Sokov delivered the promotion order, the two no longer doubted whether the news was true or not. Instead, they stretched out their hands to Ponegerin and extended sincere congratulations to him.

Sidolin opened the champagne, poured it into each of the four teacups, handed a cup to Chuvashov and Shechtman, picked up a cup himself, raised it to a position parallel to his shoulders and said: "Let's toast , Congratulations to Comrade Pornegerin on becoming a general again."

   After the four teacups collided, the four drank the champagne in the teacups in one gulp.

  Sidorin put down his teacup and began to arrange new combat missions.

"Two division commanders, although our battle group has entered Romania, it is a pity that we have not occupied any Romanian city except this fortification group near the border. That is to say, we have so far So far, we have not gained a firm foothold in Romania, so our next task is to capture the nearest city and establish a solid defense area."

  Chuvashov gently turned the teacup in his hand, looked at Sidolin and asked: "Colonel Sidolin, I wonder which city we will capture the nearest?"

"Let's take a look at the map." Sidolin pushed the map among the crowd and said, "After discussing with Comrade General, it was decided that the 98th Guards Division would occupy Storozhniec in the southwest; The 254th Division occupies Geely Boka due south."

After Sidolin assigned combat tasks to the two divisions, Chuvashov raised his own doubts: "Colonel Sidolin, Storozhnets is no more than five kilometers away from our defense zone, which means it is under our control. Is it necessary to send special troops to occupy the area within the range?"

Chuvashov stood up and pointed to the left side of the battle group's defense zone: "Why don't you go west and occupy Kosov? Although it is more than 60 kilometers away from our defense zone, as long as it is occupied there, it will be expanded. out of our defense zone."

"General Chuvashov, although Storozhnets is within the firepower of our army, the city is not occupied by us after all. Once the Germans enter the city, they will pose a great threat to us. Also, the reason why we captured these two cities on the south side of the defense zone is to respond to the friendly forces that are about to enter Romania from the north of Vingeny."

When Chuvashov heard it, Sidolin made a lot of sense. If the battle group advances directly to the west, it can also occupy many Romanian towns, but then it will distance itself from the friendly forces entering Romania from the south. , it is difficult to cooperate with each other.

   "When will the action start?" Chuvashov asked.

   "Of course, the sooner the better." Ponegelin said: "But before attacking, you must send people into the city to find out the enemy's strength and deployment."

"Comrade General, I have a question." But Shechtman said suddenly: "Whether it is Storozhniec or the defenders in Jiliboka, they all keep a distance from our army, and they seem to be watching something. .If we fight so rashly, will it stimulate the opponent to fight us desperately?"

"We have been in Romania for a few days," Ponegerin said again: "Except for the army that greeted us, the attitude of the rest of the Romanian army is unclear. We don't know at all. Are these troops welcoming us?" As for us, we are still ready to fight to the end with us.

  In order to clarify this matter, I think it is absolutely necessary to take military action against them. Only when the guns are fired can we find out who are our friends and which are our enemies. "

"How to play?" Chuvashov asked: "Do you prepare for artillery fire before the attack and destroy the enemy's outlying fortifications? Also, do you need to issue an ultimatum to the Romanian army and ask them to lay down their weapons and attack me?" The army surrendered?"

"The mobilization of troops can be carried out during the day." As for whether to use artillery or issue an ultimatum, Ponegerin did not express his opinion, but he came up with another way: "The Romanian army in the city will naturally understand our mobilization. What is going on. What choice to make next is up to them.”

"What about the 27th Border Guard Regiment?" Shechtman suddenly asked: "You know, this army is now in the same defense zone as us. If we launch an attack on the city, tell me, what will these Romanian soldiers do?" What is the choice? To continue to cooperate with us, or to turn against us and take up arms to defend their country?"

   "I think there are two possibilities," Sidolin suggested: "How about we invite the head and chief of staff of the 27th Frontier Regiment to come here and ask their opinions?"

   Regarding Sidolin's proposal, everyone was silent for a long time, and finally Ponegerin broke the silence: "I think Colonel Sidolin's proposal can be tried."

  Seeing that Pornegelin agreed to his proposal, Sidolin did not hesitate, and immediately ordered the messenger to connect to the 27th Frontier Regiment to find the head of the regiment and the chief of staff.

   Knowing that Ponegerin had something to look for, Colonel Kostin, head of the 27th Frontier Regiment, and Chief of Staff Luca did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly drove to Pornegerin's headquarters.

  After entering the door, Kostin couldn't help but feel trembling when he saw several teachers sitting here. Seeing that the regiment leader lost his composure, Luca could only ask on behalf of him: "Your Excellency Commander, may I ask you to come to us, is there anything important?"

   "That's right, Lieutenant Colonel Luka." Sidolin got up and replied, "We plan to launch an attack on the cities of Storozhniec and Giliboka, and I would like to ask you two for your opinions."

   Both Kostin and Luca were taken aback when they heard that the Soviet army planned to attack Romanian cities. Luca asked in amazement: "We have not taken any hostile actions against your army. Why did you attack our city?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Luca, we have been in Romania for a long time." Sidolin explained to Luca: "It is impossible for our tens of thousands of troops to stay here forever, and we must take some military action. Since the nearby The army in the city has not expressed its attitude towards us so far, so we cannot wait indefinitely. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to take military action."

   "Colonel Kostin, Lieutenant Colonel Luca," Ponegerin looked at the two and said blankly, "If you have any ideas, you can take this opportunity to say them."

   "I have nothing to say." Kostin knew that since Bornegerin had made a decision, no matter what he said, it would not change the reality, so he simply said straightforwardly: "Everything is up to you."

  Luka, on the other hand, appeared to be much more cautious. He said to Ponegerin: "Your Excellency, I hope that when you attack the city, you will focus on attacking military targets, and don't hurt ordinary people."

"Lieutenant Colonel Luca, you can rest assured about this." Ponegelin explained to him: "We will try not to use artillery in this attack on the city, so that the damage to the city will not be too great, and it is natural to accidentally injure the city." The possibility of civilians has been greatly reduced. The purpose of our entry into Romania is to liberate the Romanians from the iron heel of the German Nazis.”

   "That's good, that's good." Luca got the assurance from Ponegerin, and his heart suddenly became more at ease: "Then I wish you the final victory in the next military operation."

  (end of this chapter)