The train started slowly, gradually accelerated, and drove out of the Belarus Railway Station, heading towards the west of the city.
At noon, the train entered Smolensk and stopped at the city's train station, waiting for passengers to get on and off.
Shortly after the outbreak of the Patriotic War, in order to open the road to Moscow, the German army concentrated heavy troops and launched a frantic attack on the city. The 16th, 19th and 19th Infantry Troops commanded by Konev, Lukin and Yershakov
The 20th Army stubbornly resisted the advance of the German army here. Together with Yartevo to the southwest and the combat group commanded by Rokossovsky, it contained part of the German army and prevented the enemy from letting go.
Fight with hands and feet.
After the two sides were in a stalemate here for a month and a half, in order to avoid being encircled by the German army, the Soviet army forcibly crossed the Dnieper River and successfully withdrew to the left bank area, where they continued to consolidate new defense lines and resist the German attack. But regrettably, these three
A group army unit that escaped from the German encirclement was once again surrounded by the German army in the Vyazma area half a month later. Most of the troops were annihilated. Even Lieutenant General Lukin was seriously injured and unfortunately became a prisoner of the German army.
Seeing Sokov's eyes looking out the window, Adelina couldn't help but asked curiously: "Misha, have you participated in the defense of Smolensk?"
"No." Sokov withdrew his gaze from outside the city and said in a positive tone: "During the Battle of Smolensk, I was still serving as a garrison in Khimki Town. I had no chance to participate in such a great battle.
Battle." At this point, he couldn't help but smile and said self-deprecatingly, "But then again, if I had participated in the battle to defend Smolensk, I might have died or become a prisoner of the Germans. You and I might have
There will be no chance of getting to know each other."
"How is that possible?" Agelina obviously didn't believe Sokov's statement: "I heard that during the Smolensk Defense Battle, our army's commanders and fighters would fire grenades and die with the enemy even if they were seriously injured.
, they would rather die than be taken prisoner."
If someone else had said this, Sokov might have just laughed it off. But since the person who said this was Agelina, he would inevitably have to correct her: "Agelina, our commanders and combatants performed well on the battlefield.
It was indeed very brave, and it did happen that after being seriously wounded, he fired a grenade and died with the charging enemies. But to say that no one of our soldiers was captured in this battle is a distortion of the facts."
But Agelina obviously had great trust in the person who told this story. After listening to Sokov's words, she retorted: "Misha, you said that some soldiers in our army were captured by the Germans. Do you have any evidence?"
"Don't talk about evidence, even if you want witnesses, I can find them for you."
Agelina said with some dissatisfaction: "If you find a random person on the street and say that he was captured by the Germans in Smolensk, others may see the rank on your shoulder straps and follow your lead.
I mean to make up the lies you need."
Sokov looked at Agelina sitting opposite, feeling that the other person suddenly became very strange, and actually had an argument with him over such an insignificant matter. He took a deep breath, calmed down a little and said:
"If I tell you about other people, you may not believe it, but if I tell you that Yasha was once captured by the Germans in Smolensk, would you believe it? If you still have doubts, you will have the opportunity to meet Yasha in the future.
You can ask him face to face."
Seeing Sokov speaking so seriously, Agelina realized that the things she knew before might have been misled by others, so she asked cautiously: "Misha, is this true? Is Yasha really being tricked?"
Were the Germans prisoners?”
"Yes, he was indeed captured by the Germans." Sokov answered truthfully: "He was a lieutenant in the artillery regiment of the 14th Tank Division at the time. After he was captured, he used the name of a fallen comrade.
You also know that at that time, our army was not in a good position in combat, and a large number of personnel were captured almost every day. The Germans simply did not have the time and sufficient manpower to verify the identities of the captured commanders and fighters of our army, so Yasha’s true identity was still unknown.
It was not exposed. Fortunately, after I got the information, I led people to rescue Yasha."
Since the witness mentioned by Sokov was Yakov, Agelina naturally believed a little of what he said: "The reason why you have such a good relationship with Yasha is because you once removed him from a prisoner of war camp.
Rescue him?"
"I have a good relationship with Yasha. Apart from the fact that I once rescued him from a prisoner of war camp, I thought we had been friends growing up together. However, we later separated until I rescued Yasha from a prisoner of war camp.
Only then did we regain contact." Sokov recalled that it was the most correct decision he made when he led troops to rescue Yakov as a prisoner of war. After Yakov later went to the weapons and equipment department, he became his strong backup.
Continuously provide advanced weapons and equipment to your own troops, making your troops' combat effectiveness far superior to that of other friendly troops.
"Oh, so that's it." Agelina nodded thoughtfully after hearing this and said, "No wonder you two are as good as brothers. It turns out there is such a relationship."
"More than four years have passed since the Battle of Smolensk in 1941," Sokov looked out the window again: "Look, most of the bombed-out houses in the city are still in ruins. I don't know when.
Only then can we rebuild.”
"It is not an easy task to rebuild a city." Agelina said: "You must know that this war that lasted for four years destroyed hundreds of cities in the country. To rebuild these cities
, requiring a lot of manpower and material resources, but our military and civilian casualties in this war exceeded 20 million."
Sokov has read information from later generations. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the total population of the Soviet Union was 800 million, 28 million died, 30 million were disabled, one-third of the population was disabled, and men died in almost every household. But at this moment
For reasons of confidentiality, the number of casualties announced to the public is 20 million.
"Well, the price paid is high." Sokov said casually: "But in order to defend our great motherland, no matter how high the price is, it is still worth it."
After the whistle blew, the train started again.
A few minutes later, the train drove onto the Dnieper River Bridge.
"Adelina, do you know?" Sokov said: "Shortly after the Battle of Smolensk began, the Germans occupied the southern part of the city. At that time, Colonel Malyshev, the commander of the Smolensk garrison,
, in order to prevent the enemy from breaking into the north of the city, he decisively ordered people to blow up the bridge, blocking the enemy on the other side of the Dnieper River."
If she were an ordinary woman, when she heard Sokov say this, she would definitely applaud and praise Colonel Malyshev for his good bombing. But Adelina was not an ordinary woman. She looked at Sokov and asked with a serious expression.
: "He blew up such an important bridge without permission from his superiors. Has he been punished?"
“After the news that the bridge on the Dnieper River was blown up came back to Moscow, the Supreme Commander himself became furious and immediately called Marshal Timoshenko, the commander of the Western Front on the front line, and asked him to severely punish this audacious man.
Guy. But since Timoshenko was not in Smolensk, he handed the matter over to Lieutenant General Lukin. After Lukin received this order, after careful investigation, he found that Colonel Malyshev blew up the bridge.
In order to prevent the German army from crossing the Dnieper River and occupying the northern part of the city, the decision made by the German army was completely correct. After figuring out what was going on, Lukin immediately reported to Marshal Timoshenko and explained the bombing of Colonel Malyshev.
He also proposed that Colonel Malyshev should not be punished for his actions, but should also be given the rewards he deserved."
After Agelina heard this, she let out a long sigh, and then said: "This Colonel Malyshev is so courageous. Isn't he afraid that his superiors will blow up important bridges because he makes independent decisions without even conducting an investigation?"
Should he be shot directly for the crime?"
"I think he must have considered this issue." Sokov did not tell Adelina that Colonel Malyshev later became his subordinate. He continued: "But as the garrison commander, he should know very well
, if he loses the city, he will definitely not be able to escape the fate of being court-martialed; if he blows up the bridge on the Dnieper River, he may be sent to a military court, but he can save the city. Therefore, he made the right choice in the end.
"
"He is so brave." Agelina said: "If it were me, I definitely wouldn't be able to make such a decision."
"In fact, during the Great Patriotic War, there were many commanders like Colonel Malyshev who put their personal safety behind in order to defeat the enemy." Sokov gave Adelina an example: "For example, for example
On the day the war broke out, Marshal Rokossovsky, who was also the commander of the Ninth Mechanized Corps and the commander of the Zhitomir garrison, risked his head and opened the door to the National Defense Committee when he was unable to contact the National Defense Committee.
The top-secret files in the safe, and according to the instructions above, promptly dispatched troops to the western border of Ukraine to participate in the battle."
After the two chatted for a while, Agelina felt a little sleepy, so she lay on her bed and closed her eyes to rest. Sokov raised his hand and looked at the time. It was already a little faster, so he asked tentatively: "Agelina
Na, it’s lunch time now, why don’t you eat something before going to bed?”
But Agelina, who was lying on the bed, didn't even open her eyes. She just waved her hands and said, "I got up too early today. I'm a little sleepy, so I won't eat lunch. If you're hungry, just go and eat by yourself."
.”
Seeing that Agelina was unwilling to go to the dining car, Sokov did not force himself, got up, left the box, and walked towards the dining car.
When I came to the dining car, I found that there were really not many passengers dining here. There were only five or six tables occupied out of more than thirty dining tables. I don’t know if the passengers left after eating or if they didn’t come here to dine at all. But Soko
My husband's stomach was growling with hunger, and he didn't think much about it, so he just found the nearest seat and sat down.
Not long after we sat down, a waitress from the dining car came over and asked politely: "Comrade Commander, what would you like to eat?"
Sokov picked up the menu on the table and flipped through it. He ordered Russian pies, oatmeal, vegetable salad, pancakes and kielbasa, and then said: "I'll just order this much first. If there's not enough, I'll order more."
Just when the waitress was about to turn around and leave, Sokov remembered Agelina who was still sleeping in the box, and quickly stopped the waitress: "Comrade waiter, please give me another Tula gingerbread and red beef stew"
And bring the blintz to my box."
When the waitress heard what Sokov said, she asked strangely: "Comrade commander, will you also deliver the things you just ordered to your box?"
"No." Sokov shook his head: "The first things I ordered were eaten here. The three things I ordered later were ordered for my companion. She was a little tired and was resting in the box.
"
"I understand, Comrade Commander." the waitress said, "I will go and prepare it for you immediately."
Shortly after the waitress left, a sergeant carrying a submachine gun walked into the dining car with two soldiers.
Seeing Sokov sitting at the table, the sergeant quickly came over and saluted: "Hello, comrade general! I am Sergeant Torba, the squad leader of the train guard squad. I wonder if there is anything I can do for you."
Sokov thought that the food he ordered would have to wait a while before it could be delivered, so he asked Torba to sit down opposite him and asked him about some information he was eager to know: "Comrade Sergeant, I didn't know you were on this line.
Sokov calculated in his mind that it took 33 hours to go from Moscow to Berlin. He could make almost two round trips a week, which meant that Torba had already made more than ten round trips. He should have a clearer idea of the situation on the road. He nodded and then asked
Said: "Comrade Sergeant, I heard that the road is not peaceful. Especially after entering Poland or German territory, you may encounter the remaining gangs. I wonder if you have encountered any gangs after running on this line for so long.
Attack?"
"Comrade General, the situation you mentioned did happen, but this train I took has never encountered such a situation."
"Oh, so that's it." Sokov thought to himself. Since Torba had been on duty on this train for more than two months and had not encountered the gangs who attacked the train, he would not recite it like that, but he happened to encounter it.
Bar.
When Torba saw Sokov silently thinking, he thought that the general sitting opposite him was scared, so he took the initiative to comfort him and said: "Comrade General, there is a garrison squad led by me in the car. Even if it encounters a sneak attack by gangs,
We can easily repel their attacks."
"Comrade Sergeant, how many people do you have under your command?"
"Including me, there are a total of fifteen people." Torba said confidently: "Comrade General, the gangs along the way are just a mob and have no fighting power at all. Although we only have a dozen people, we have to deal with a large group of people.
A gang of hundreds of people still doesn’t have much of a problem.”