Red Moscow

  Chapter 313 A visit from a big shot

  Stalin's evaluation of Sokov made Beria have to give up the pursuit of Sokov, but he was still unwilling. As soon as he returned to his office, he called a deputy and told him: "Tell our people in Stalingrad to keep an eye on Sokov, and if he has any problems, report to me directly. "

  Hearing what Beria said, the subordinate couldn't help being stunned for a moment, and then asked back: "Since we found out that there is something wrong with him, why didn't we arrest him immediately instead of just continuing to monitor?"

  Belia glared at the talkative subordinate, and said in a stern tone: "Do what I tell you to do. Don't you know that you can't ask questions that shouldn't be asked? Go and execute the order."

  The subordinate hurriedly agreed, and then quietly left Beria's office.

At the same time, Stalin was walking back and forth in his office with a pipe in his hand. Don’t look at him just now at the meeting, praising Sokov as a military genius, thereby negating Beria’s suspicion of Sokov, but Bailey The things Ya said still inevitably made him doubt in his heart. After reviewing all of Sokov's battle cases one by one in his mind, he found that Beria's words were not completely unreasonable. Sokov's analysis of the situation and his grasp of the fighting opportunity could be described as perfect.

   Some people may say that Sokov was able to achieve such a huge result entirely because he commanded a force with outstanding combat effectiveness, and someone else could achieve the same result. But Stalin clearly remembered that when Sokov sent the wounded Rokossovsky to Moscow for treatment, he left the army for a while. One thing is to draw down the troops.

Stalin returned to his desk and sat down, put his pipe on the table, picked up the high-frequency telephone, and dialed a number. When the voice of the operator of the Kremlin switchboard came from inside, he said slowly: "I am Stalin. , get me the Stalingrad Front Command, and find Comrade Khrushchev."

  After the call was connected, Stalin asked straight to the point: "Comrade Khrushchev, where is Gordov?"

   "The German army is launching a fierce attack on us." Khrushchev didn't know that Stalin called Gordov's purpose at this moment, but he replied truthfully: "Comrade Commander has personally gone to the front."

Hearing Khrushchev's answer, Stalin couldn't help frowning: "Damn, he is the commander of the front army, and the command position should be at the headquarters. Why did he go to the front?" When he said this, Stalin was muttering to himself : Is my decision to appoint Gordov as the commander of the Stalingrad Front Army wrong?

Khrushchev was also thinking: Why did Comrade Stalin ask such a question? Didn’t he know that those elderly commanders heard that the enemy launched an attack in certain areas? The usual way is to bring a few guards, Take a car and rush to the place where the battle is fiercest? Is there anything wrong with Goldov's statement?

Stalin seemed to have guessed what Khrushchev was thinking, and said on the phone: "Comrade Khrushchev, when Gordov comes back, please tell him that he is the commander of the front army, not the battalion commander. There is no need for him to go to the front line, his command position is in the headquarters. He has no right to risk his life."

   "Understood, Comrade Stalin." Regarding what Stalin said, Khrushchev quickly replied: "I will convey your meaning to him."

"Also," Stalin hesitated for a moment, and decided to tell Khrushchev the overall situation so that he could be mentally prepared: "From the analysis of the current situation, the German army rushed to the city of Stalingrad, and even rushed into the city. It is possible in the city, so you have to be mentally prepared for this..."

   "Comrade Stalin, please rest assured." Stalin's words surprised Khrushchev, and he quickly stated: "Our commanders will definitely block the enemy and never let them approach Stalingrad."

"Comrade Khrushchev, your ideas are very good." Regarding Khrushchev's statement, Stalin said bitterly: "I believe that our commanders and fighters can show great courage in the face of a ferocious enemy. And a tenacious fighting spirit. But at the same time, we should also clearly realize that the enemy's strength is far stronger than we imagined, and with our current strength, it is very difficult to stop them."

  As the military commissar of the Stalingrad Front Army, Khrushchev had already prepared for the worst in the face of an unfavorable battle situation, but he still felt very uncomfortable when he heard Stalin say such words at this moment. He waited for Stalin to finish speaking before asking cautiously: "Comrade Stalin, what should we do next?"

"Take time to go back to Stalingrad, and as a military commissar of the Front Army, learn about the construction of the fortifications in the city." Having said that, Stalin paused for a moment, and then continued: "Remember, when you go back to the city, you First go to Mamayev Hill, where the 73rd Infantry Brigade is stationed. You have a good chat with the brigade commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, and then report to me in detail what you said."

  "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov?" Khrushchev didn't understand why Stalin asked him to meet an infantry brigade commander, and even reported the conversation between them. He asked puzzledly: "Comrade Stalin, may I ask, is there anything special about the lieutenant colonel you asked me to meet?"

   "He is the son of Mikhail Ivanovich Sokov."

After being reminded by Stalin, Khrushchev immediately remembered who Sokov was: "I remembered that he also participated in the meeting when we formulated the Kharkov offensive campaign plan. Now that I think about it, he The comments made at the time were absolutely correct.”

   Khrushchev's words aroused Stalin's great curiosity: "What opinion did he make at that time?"

"That's right, Comrade Stalin." Now that Khrushchev knew the identity of Sokov and the old friendship between Sokov and Stalin, he was able to speak freely about some things: "He proposed at the meeting that if he wanted to To achieve victory in the Kharkov Offensive Campaign, at the beginning of the campaign, the German army must first eliminate the Balvinkovo ​​salient, otherwise the German army will launch a counterattack from this area after the battle begins. Regrettably, Both me and Marshal Timoshenko scoffed at his statement, Comrade Marshal even scolded him."

  Stalin's heartbeat suddenly accelerated. To know this situation, there is no information provided by Beria. It seems that Xiao Xiaosha is really not simple, and his judgment of the battle situation is so accurate. Thinking of this, he quickly said to Khrushchev in a hoarse voice: "Comrade Khrushchev, go to Mamayev Post as soon as possible, talk to Misha, and listen to his views on the upcoming battle. Pay attention, he It has been said many times on different occasions that sooner or later the German army will rush into Stalingrad, and the enemy and the enemy will start a brutal street battle in the city. You'd better understand how he came to such a conclusion."

"Understood, Comrade Stalin, please allow me to rush to Stalingrad now." Hearing what Stalin said, Khrushchev immediately realized the urgency of the matter, and hurriedly asked: "Only in this way can I help you find you." desired answer."

  Regarding Khrushchev's request, Stalin was silent for a moment, and then said: "Now that Gordov is not in the headquarters, then you hand over the command to the chief of staff, Major General Nikishev."

Khrushchev put down the phone, called the Chief of Staff, Major General Nikishev, and said to him with a serious expression: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have ordered the Supreme Commander himself to return to Stalingrad immediately. Everything here, I'll leave it to you."

  Never mind that Nikishev is the chief of staff of the front army, but since the command power is in the hands of Gordov and Khrushchev, he is often just a decoration. At this moment, when Khrushchev said that he would hand over the command to him, he was overjoyed and quickly expressed his position to the other party that everything in the headquarters would remain normal.

   Everything that happened in Moscow was unknown to Sokov, the person involved. Seeing that he kept sneezing, Belkin, who was sitting across from him, asked with concern: "Comrade Brigadier, do you have a cold? Or, I'll call Assia and ask her to come and help me." Take a look."

"No need," Sokov waved his hands quickly and said, "I don't have a cold, maybe I'm allergic to something. Don't worry about me, it will be fine in a while. Let's continue the topic just now. Our field hospital should be placed What position."

   "In my opinion," Belkin said confidently, "there are so many buildings on the nearby pier that can fully accommodate our field hospital. Why don't we just put them there?"

"No, absolutely not." Regarding Belkin's proposal, Sokov resolutely opposed it: "Once the battle is transferred from outside the city to inside the city, the direction of the docks will be the focus of German bombing and shelling. If we put the field hospital on In buildings near the docks, it puts the casualty at risk."

"However, Comrade Brigadier, have you ever thought that if you put the field hospital in the tunnel according to your idea, because the air inside is not circulated and there is a possibility of collapse at any time, it will really save our wounded Putting it in danger." Belkin said tit-for-tat: "Another reason why I suggest putting it on the dock is that our wounded can be sent to the opposite bank by ships traveling between the two banks."

  Just as the two were arguing with each other, Serezha broke in from the outside and hurriedly reported: "Brigade Commander, Comrade Political Commissar, a big man has come outside and is inspecting our fortifications."

   "Big man?" Sokov asked curiously after hearing what Seryozha said, "Is it the leader of the city or the city defense committee?"

  Seryozha thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "It's not like. If it's the leader of the city or the city defense committee, Major Ozor should know it, but I just saw that they seem to be meeting for the first time."

   "Let's go, Comrade Political Commissar." Seeing that Seryozha couldn't tell who was coming, Sokov said to Belkin who was sitting opposite: "Let's go to meet this big man."

After leaving the tent, Seryosha pointed to the hills in the distance, and said to Sokov and Berkin: "The brigade commander, the political commissar, the big man, accompanied by Major Ozor, has gone to the south **** to inspect Our fortifications are gone."

   Knowing that the big man had already climbed up the south slope, Sokov and Belkin followed Sergei to climb up again. Unexpectedly, just halfway through the climb, he was stopped by several soldiers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs wearing blue hats.

"What do you mean?" Sokov was very annoyed at being blocked from his way in his defense zone. He asked loudly at the soldiers blocking the way: "Which part do you belong to? What are you here for?"

  As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a familiar voice: "Is it Lieutenant Colonel Sokov?"

  Sokov looked in the direction of the sound, and saw standing side by side with Ozor on the hill was a short, bald man in casual uniform. However, it only took a moment for Sokov to recognize that the person standing beside Ozor was Khrushchev, the Military Commissar of the Front Army. He replied in a panic: "Yes, I am Sokov."

"Come here, come to me, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov!" Khrushchev yelled, and while suppressing his panic, Belkin passed the two soldiers who gave way to Khrushchev. Xiao Fu went.

Sokov stopped two or three steps away from Khrushchev, straightened his body, raised his right hand to his forehead to salute, and said nervously: "Hello, Comrade Military Commissar of the Front Army, the infantry No. Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, commander of the 73rd brigade, reports to you, I follow your orders, please instruct!"

"Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." The smiling Khrushchev waited for Sokov to finish his salute, held his hand, and said in a loud voice: "I was ordered to come to the city to check the construction of the fortifications. When passing by here, I saw someone building fortifications on the hill, and out of curiosity, I came over to have a look. How is it, did you disturb your work?"

  Sokov smiled awkwardly when he heard Khrushchev's question, and said to himself: You should ask Ozor next to you, what's the point of asking me? However, he said with a respectful attitude on the surface: "Comrade Military Commissar, welcome to Mamayev Post to guide our work. I would like to invite you to visit our newly built fortifications, and then give us some valuable opinions." .”

   "Okay, I was just listening to the major's introduction to the tunnel fortification you designed, and I heard it is very distinctive." Khrushchev said with a smile on his face: "Next, please take me to visit."

  (end of this chapter)