As soon as the new army headquarters was established in the city of Tulchin, Marshal Konev appeared.
Seeing Konev who came out unexpectedly, Sokov who was sitting at the table chatting, Smirnov and military commissar Gorokhov all hurriedly stood up and stepped forward to greet him.
After raising his hand to salute Konev, Sokov asked with some surprise: "Comrade Marshal, why did you come to my place?"
"In one day, your group army handed over a lot of occupied chassis. I was worried that the comrades would be emotional and came here to take a look." Konev asked in a teasing tone: "How is it, Comrade Sokov?
Do you have emotions?"
"How is that possible, Comrade Marshal." Sokov said with a smile: "It is the bounden duty of soldiers to obey orders. Since our superiors ask us to hand over defense to friendly forces, then we only need to execute the order. How can we feel about it?"
After Konev sat down at the table, he suddenly asked: "Comrade Sokov, I heard that you dismissed the commander of the 41st Guards Division, General Kurishenko. Is that true?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal." From Konev's question, Sokov heard that Konev's visit might be related to Kurishenko's dismissal, so he answered truthfully: "I don't think he is suitable.
He was the division commander, so he asked Lieutenant Colonel Ponejelin to take over his position."
"Comrade Sokov, have you ever considered that General Kurishenko is a veteran soldier with many old friends in the army. You dismissed him without explanation. I'm afraid his old friends will have objections to you.
.”
"Comrade Marshal," since Konev took the initiative to bring up the matter of Kurishenko, Sokov felt the need to explain: "During this period of fighting, General Kurishenko was not resolute in executing orders and repeatedly
There was a situation that delayed the fighter plane. In order to prevent possible losses, I decided to relieve him from his position as division commander after careful consideration."
"Okay, Comrade Sokov, even if what you say makes sense." Konev continued to ask: "General Kurishenko is indeed not suitable to be the commander of the 41st Guards Division, but after you relieved him of his post
, we can’t just leave him idle, we should give him some work so that he won’t have nothing to do all day long, just drinking and complaining.”
Sokov shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said: "I'm sorry, Comrade Marshal, I don't have a suitable position for him here, so I can only feel sorry for him being idle for the time being."
"If we talk about the position of teacher, you do have one here."
Konev's words surprised Sokov: "What, Comrade Marshal? What do you mean, I have a suitable candidate for the division commander here?"
After saying this, Sokov's brain started to work at a high speed. He silently wondered in his heart, which division commander was vacant within his own group army?
After thinking about it for a long time, Sokov never thought of which division had vacant positions that could be used to place Kurishenko. He could only shake his head and said: "I'm sorry, Comrade Marshal, I really can't remember any division."
Is there a vacancy for the position of division commander?”
"Do you still remember the division I transferred from the 38th Army to your command a few days ago?"
"The troops in the 38th Group Army that are under the command of our association?" Sokov was still confused: "Comrade Marshal, you are talking about the 237th Division, right? However, the division has a complete organization and complete commanders.
There are no vacancies."
"It didn't happen before, and it won't happen now or in the future." Konev sighed and said to Sokov: "Misha, to tell you the truth, the commander of the 237th Division unfortunately ran over a mine on the way here.
He has died a heroic sacrifice. As a result, the position of division commander of the 237th Division is vacant."
After hearing the news of the sacrifice of the commander of the 237th Division, Sokov finally understood in his heart that Emotional Konev appeared at his headquarters today just to arrange a new position for Kurishenko. Since the superiors have already made up their minds
With this idea, no matter what I say, I can only choose to compromise: "Okay, Comrade Marshal. I will resolutely obey your order and appoint General Kurishenko as the acting commander of the 237th Division."
After arranging Kulishenko's new position, Sokov remembered that the division was sent to the open-pit mine to rescue the rescued commanders and fighters, and he couldn't help but ask Konev: "Comrade Marshal, we rescued the commanders and fighters from the open-pit mine."
There are more than 30,000 commanders and fighters, how should we arrange them?"
After hearing this, Konev couldn't help but frowned, "I didn't hear you report that there were 48,219 people on the seized roster. How did it become more than 30,000 people?"
"That's it, Comrade Marshal." Sokov explained to Sokov: "After the Germans captured our prisoners of war, they locked them directly in the open-pit mines, ignored them, and left them to fend for themselves.
.Many prisoners of war died due to malnutrition caused by long-term starvation, but their names have always been retained in the German roster."
After Sokov's explanation, Konev finally understood what was going on. After a moment of pause, he asked: "How many of the more than 30,000 people are suitable to be incorporated into the army in a short period of time?
"
"There are only more than 10,000 people, which is only half of the total number." Sokov said to Konev: "The other five to six thousand people will be able to recover and rejoin the army after a period of rest. And there is a possibility that
More than 800 people were left with lifelong disabilities after suffering the torture of the Germans and had no chance of returning to the battlefield."
Knowing that many officers and soldiers were unable to return to the battlefield due to disabilities, Konev also felt it was a pity. He sighed softly and said regretfully: "It's a pity, it's such a pity. This is another example of the Germans' attitude towards the battlefield.
The blood debt we owe will be recovered from them sooner or later."
When he heard Konev mention the blood debt, Sokov suddenly thought of the famous Rhine Camp in later generations. This was a series of huge open-air camps on the flat open space on the west bank of the Rhine, separated by barbed wire by the Allied forces.
Prisoner of war camp. It is said that as many as 5 million German prisoners of war were imprisoned, but in the end more than 1.3 million prisoners of war disappeared. The disappearance of 300,000 of them was attributed to the Soviet army, and the remaining 1 million prisoners of war disappeared.
His disappearance has become an unsolved mystery.
"By the way, Comrade Sokov, I remember one more thing."
"whats the matter?"
"Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov, who came with me, said he has something to ask you and hopes to talk to you alone."
Sokov knew very well that even though the commander of the 49th Army was also named Melekhov, there was no connection between the two. Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov said that his brother was imprisoned in an open-pit mine.
I asked him to inquire about this matter. Now that the prisoners of war in the open-pit mine have been rescued, the other party must have come to ask about his brother.
"Comrade Marshal, where is he?" Sokov thought that he was fine and could go see Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov: "I will go find him now."
Following Konev's instructions, Sokov found Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov in the parking lot outside the headquarters. He shook hands with him and said with a smile: "Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I didn't expect us to meet again.
Already."
"Hello, Comrade General." Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov seemed very nervous, probably because he would get news about his brother soon: "I'm sorry to disturb you, I think..."
Seeing that the other party was hesitating, Sokov asked first: "Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov, do you want to ask for news about your brother?"
"Yes, Comrade General." Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov nodded vigorously and asked expectantly: "Is there any news about him?"
"No, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I will not send you a death notice." Sokov said with some helplessness: "I ordered someone to check the roster of prisoners of war, but your brother's name was not found on it."
"Impossible, this is absolutely impossible." After listening to Sokov's words, Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov lost control of his emotions: "You know, you have rescued a total of 48,219 prisoners of war. It must have been when you were reviewing the list.
, I missed my brother’s name.”
"How is this possible, Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov?" Sokov directly poured cold water on the other party to dispel his illusions: "The commander responsible for processing the list is the person I trust most. I sent him
When he went to the open-pit mine to rescue prisoners of war, he was specifically told to carefully check the people with the surname Melekhov in order to find your brother. But what is regrettable is that Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, in the list is
Without your brother."
In order to make the other party give up completely, he also took out a square piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what is recorded on this are all the people with the surname Melekhov."
Man, see if your brother is among them."
Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov, who was a little excited, snatched the paper from Sokov's hand. He was so excited that he actually tore a gap in the paper when he opened it. After opening the paper, he couldn't wait to read it.
Name. But unfortunately, he read the note with only more than thirty names more than ten times, but still did not see his brother's name.
"Don't be sad, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Seeing Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov pulling his hair with both hands in pain, Sokov couldn't bear it, so he comforted him and said: "The reason why I didn't find your brother is that I
There are two possibilities. One is that he died on the battlefield, and because of the fierce fighting, there was no time to take away or bury the bodies of his comrades."
Sokov's words made Lieutenant Colonel Melehov calm down a lot. He looked up at Sokov and asked expressionlessly: "Then there is another possibility, Comrade General."
"Another possibility is a very ideal state." Sokov said to Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov: "Maybe in order to prevent his identity from being exposed, he assumed someone else's identity. In this way, just from the flower
You can’t see anything on the roster.”
This time Sokov's words made Melehov's eyes light up. He grabbed Sokov's shoulders and asked excitedly: "Comrade General, is this really possible?"
"Of course." Sokov nodded and said: "After some of our army's commanders and fighters were captured by the Germans, in order not to reveal their true identities, many people would pretend to be others and enter the German prisoner-of-war camps."
"Impersonation should be very common." Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov showed a relaxed expression on his face: "The Germans usually execute our officers, political workers and Jews in a short time after they catch them.
When some commanders were captured, in order to escape the fate of being shot by the Germans, they liked to use the names of their fallen comrades as their own amulets."
Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov saw hope again. He raised his hand to wipe away the tears on his face and said apologetically to Sokov: "Comrade General, please forgive me for my gaffe and impoliteness just now."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you don't have to blame yourself. This is human nature." Sokov said lightly: "I will continue to help you find your brother. As long as there is news about him, I will notify you immediately." He said.
Just after saying this, I suddenly remembered that I was afraid that I couldn't find the real person by searching by name, so I asked, "Do you have any photos of him?"
"I'm sorry, Comrade General, no." Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov replied with some embarrassment: "I had photos of him before, but after so many battles, those photos were lost."
"Forget it if he doesn't. If he really fell into the hands of the Germans, after two years of torture, he would have been completely changed. Even if he stood in front of you, you wouldn't recognize him."
Regarding Sokov's statement, Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov did not think it was alarmist, but thought it was very reasonable: "You are right, Comrade General. Let alone you, even I may not be able to do it the second time."
I recognized him immediately."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Sokov considered that his army still lacked experienced officers, so he decided to poach Konev, and asked tentatively: "I wonder if you are interested in joining my army?"
"Comrade General," faced Sokov's invitation, Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov hesitated. Although there were many opportunities to make achievements by following Sokov, the risk factor increased exponentially: "This matter is related to
It’s important, can you let me think about it carefully?”
Sokov knew that coercion was not sweet, and he did not intend to take advantage of the other party's readiness to repay his kindness and force him to become his subordinate. Instead, he said reasonably: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, this choice is related to your future. Indeed,
You need to think about it carefully. But don’t worry, the door of my army is always open for you. You can come over at any time as long as you want!"
"Comrade Commander," an officer came over at this time and reported to Sokov: "There is a female comrade who wants to see our supreme commander."
Sokov did not give an immediate reply, but asked: "Is it from the army or a local comrade?"
"None of them." The officer replied with some embarrassment: "She is just an ordinary woman. She insisted that she had something important and wanted to see the supreme commander here."
Just when Sokov was about to ask the officer to bring the person over, Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov suddenly said: "Comrade General, isn't it a German spy? As far as I know, such a thing has happened to friendly forces. It is said that it was a local
Many civilians wanted to see our supreme commander, but as soon as they met, the other party would shoot or detonate grenades hidden on their bodies, causing some casualties to our commander."
Sokov felt that Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov's rhetoric was a bit unfounded. According to the information he had, this city had always been controlled by the Romanian army. I'm afraid they didn't bother to do such a little trick of assassination. So he was confident.
Said to the officer: "Please bring that female comrade to me."
Within a few minutes, the officer brought over a woman in ordinary clothes, wearing a floral shawl and a floral headscarf. Before Sokov could speak, Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov, who was standing next to him, suddenly exclaimed