red moscow

Chapter 2574

Sokov and his companions returned to the hotel and were about to go to the restaurant for lunch when they were stopped by Sokolovsky's new adjutant: "General Sokov, you are finally back!"

"What's matter?"

"The deputy commander said that when he saw you come back, he asked you to see him immediately." The adjutant said, "He has something important to discuss with you."

"Where is Comrade Deputy Commander?"

"In his room, you can go find him." After the adjutant said this, he looked at Ajelina and continued, "And Comrade Ajelina, please come with us."

"What? Let Adelina go too?" Sokov was a little surprised when he heard the adjutant say that, so he asked curiously, "Do you know what it is?"

The adjutant shook his head and replied, "General Sokov, I am only conveying the order of the deputy commander. As for why he asked Comrade Adelina to go with him, I am not sure. It is getting late, so let's go now and don't keep the general waiting."

Sokov turned to Vaserigov and said, "Major, I have to go to the deputy commander. You can take everyone to the restaurant for dinner first." After giving instructions, he turned to the adjutant and said politely, "Let's go see the deputy commander now."

Led by the adjutant, Sokov and Adelina came to the room where Sokolovsky lived.

Seeing Sokov coming in, Sokolovsky put down the documents in his hand, stood up and shook hands with Sokov: "Misha, you have been out for the whole morning, what do you think of this city?"

"It's a pretty nice ancient city." Sokov said, "It's a pity that it became a ruin during the war. I don't know how many years it will take to restore it to its pre-war state."

"Yes, it is indeed a pity that a city with an ancient history has become a ruin in the war." Sokolovsky said, "Therefore, we chose to try the war criminals who started the war here."

Thinking of the prisoners of war who were tried at the Nuremberg Military Tribunal, Sokov said with some regret: "It's a pity that the biggest culprits, such as the mustache and Goebbels, have committed suicide, otherwise they would also have been on trial."

"They chose to commit suicide because they were worried about being judged by history." After saying this, Sokolovsky changed the subject to business: "I called you here today because I have something to discuss with you."

Sokov was stunned. He thought, "If you have anything to say, just tell me. Do you need to consult me?" "Comrade Deputy Commander," he said politely, "If you have anything to say, just tell me. You don't need to consult me."

Sokolovsky turned his gaze to Ajelina who was standing behind Sokov. "I called you two here because we are short of translators, and the translator sent by Berlin will have to wait for two days. So before they come, I hope Comrade Ajelina can temporarily work in the translation team. What do you think?"

Although Sokolovsky said this in a negotiating tone, both Sokov and Adelina knew in their hearts that this was an order to them, so how could they not agree to it? Adelina stepped forward and said, "Comrade Deputy Commander, I will resolutely obey your order."

As Ajelina was transferred to the translation team, it became impossible for Sokov to go out shopping as he pleased. Although some of the guards he brought with him could speak German, it was completely different to bring a female translator with you or a male translator. Therefore, Sokov decisively chose to stay in the hotel and not go out.

However, he was not worried about being bored staying in the hotel, because he asked Sokolovsky for enough paper and pen to continue writing his unfinished novel "An Ordinary Soldier", intending to complete the creation of this novel before returning to Moscow.

Seeing that Sokov didn't go out, Vaseligov was worried that he was bored, so he came to see him.

After entering the room, he saw Sokov writing at his desk. He was quite puzzled, thinking that the deputy commander didn't seem to have assigned any work to the general. What was he writing all day long sitting at the table? With such doubts, he tiptoed to Sokov and asked carefully, "Comrade General, what are you writing?"

"Major, it's you." Sokov looked up and saw that it was Vaseligov who came in. He put down the pen in his hand and explained to him with a smile: "I'm writing a novel."

"Writing novels?" Vaserigov was surprised when he heard this. "Comrade General, I never thought you could write novels."

"That's right." Sokov nodded and continued, "Some time ago, my first novel, "The Dawns Here Are Quiet," was published, and it sold well in China."

Vaseligov had been staying in Berlin since the end of the war. He could not find novels published in Moscow here, so he was somewhat surprised when he heard Sokov say the title of the book. He asked in astonishment: "Comrade General, I didn't expect that your novel has been published. I wonder how the sales are?"

"From the current sales momentum, the overall performance is good," Sokov said confidently, "In the future, it will not only be adapted into a play or an opera, but it will even be adapted into a movie."

"You are really amazing." If at the beginning, Vaseligov's words were still perfunctory, now they turned into sincere conviction. As for whether Sokov would lie to him, it was impossible. When friends came from Moscow, he would ask them and they would know whether it was true or not.

"Major, what do you want to see me about?"

"Nothing, I was just worried that you might be bored staying in your room all day." Vaseligov said, "Now it seems that I was worrying too much. By the way, I want to ask, after you finish writing this book, where do you plan to publish it?"

"After I finish writing this book, I will send it back to Moscow," Sokov said. "I wrote part of it before I came to Berlin, and the manuscript of the first half is in Moscow. After I finish writing the rest of the story and send it back to Moscow, they will arrange for someone to publish it."

"Comrade General, I wonder if I would have the honor to read your book once it's finished?"

"Sure." Sokov agreed to Vaseligov's request very readily. After all, when he was writing "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" in Vladimir, many people had read his manuscript: "When I finish writing, I will let you be one of the first readers."

Sokov stayed in his room to create every day, and time passed quickly outside. Before he knew it, it was time for a new trial to begin.

The person who came to inform Sokov was none other than Ajelina, who had been temporarily transferred to the translation team some time ago.

Seeing Ajelina coming in, Sokov immediately stepped forward, grabbed her hands, and said softly: "Ajelina, you're back!" "Yes, I'm back." Ajelina looked at Sokov with a smile and asked: "Did you miss me?"

"Yes, of course." Sokov said with a smile, "I dream about it."

Ajelina saw the paper and pen on the table and asked curiously, "Misha, why are there so many papers and pens on the table? What are you writing?"

"What else could it be? Of course it's a novel." Sokov shrugged his shoulders and continued, "Why not find a way to kill the boring days?"

"Misha, I came to see you because I want you to attend today's trial with me."

After learning that he could attend the trial today, Sokov asked excitedly, "Who is on trial today?"

"According to the original plan, the war criminal on trial today is German Air Force Marshal Goering."

"Then let's set off quickly." Sokov was eager to see how Goering was tried in court, so he urged Adelina: "Don't let Comrade Deputy Commander wait anxiously."

After meeting Sokolovsky at the door, Sokov, Adelina and Vaseligov took a jeep and followed the convoy to the trial venue.

Since Sokov and others were there to listen to the trial, they were arranged in a corner after entering the courtroom. However, from here, they could also see the war criminals sitting in the judge's seat.

Sokov's eyes swept over more than 20 war criminals and finally locked onto a man in a white military uniform. According to the information he knew, Goering was a fat man, but now he seemed a little unworthy of the name. The military uniform was a little empty on him and looked very ill-fitting.

Soon, judges to try war criminals came in one after another.

Four judges from different victorious nations sat in the courtroom. The Soviet judge wore brown military uniforms, while the American, British, and French judges wore black robes. Inside the courtroom, heavy gray velvet curtains hung down, covering the early winter sky of Nuremberg. The entire courtroom displayed a melancholy solemnity.

When the trial began, the chief prosecutor, U.S. Judge Jackson, first read out the general indictment.

Jackson's speech to the court was one of the most important in history: "The crimes we seek to bring to justice were so calculated, so vicious, and so destructive that civilization cannot tolerate that they should be ignored or repeated."

Jackson read evidence and testimony about the mass murder of 3000 Jews suspected of carrying "Bolshevik leaflets" and cited a chilling report of a Gestapo massacre in a Warsaw ghetto by herding countless Jews into shanties and sewers and then blowing them up.

Immediately afterwards, Soviet prosecutor Roman Rudenko began to speak. The facts listed in the indictment were unheard of by the Germans sitting in the gallery, and everyone who listened was shocked.

But soon, German lawyers defending the war criminals began to take action.

When Rom Rudenko declared Goering guilty of aggression, his lawyer came out to argue: "I believe my client is innocent."

  When the people in the court heard what the lawyer said, they were stunned and wondered if he was planning to defend Goering's innocence?

"Yes, I think the respected Marshal Goering is innocent." The German lawyer said proudly: "I can show evidence to show everyone that the war we are fighting with Russia is a war of self-defense to protect the security of Germany."

Sokov was stunned when he heard this. He never dreamed that someone would be so cruel to defend war criminals and try to whitewash them. If he was not worried about causing diplomatic disputes, he would definitely take off his boots without hesitation and hit the German lawyer.

After obtaining the court's permission, the German lawyer picked up a brown paper document bag and said solemnly: "The document in my hand shows that the Russians intend to launch a full-scale attack on the German Empire on June 1941, 6, code-named Operation Thunderbolt."

"Misha." Ajelina couldn't help but feel a little doubtful when she heard this: "Is what this lawyer said true?"

"It's fake, definitely fake." Sokov answered without hesitation, "If our army really intended to launch an attack on Germany, how could it be defeated in the early stages of the war and even let the Germans almost occupy Moscow? This lawyer just wanted to exonerate the war criminals and deliberately fabricated false evidence."

The lawyer took out a piece of paper from his file bag and said to the judges, "This is a top-secret document that our army seized from the command center of the Russian troops in the early days of the war. It records their detailed attack orders." After that, he took a few steps forward and handed the paper to the judge's assistant.

The assistant took the paper handed over by the lawyer, turned around and placed it in front of the judge.

When Sokov saw the paper, he suddenly remembered the movie "Battle of Moscow". A few hours after the outbreak of the war, Rokossovsky opened a top-secret document under the National Defense Committee at the risk of losing his head when he lost contact with his superiors. The order in it was to let his troops launch an assault on the Lublin area in Poland and crush the enemy who broke into the border.

The evidence presented by the lawyer might have been seized by the Germans from the safe of a certain military headquarters, and it did contain information about launching an attack on the German army. If the lawyer made a fuss about this, it would mean that the trial of Goering today would come to nothing.

The judge picked up the document handed over by his assistant, quickly glanced at the contents, and then said to the lawyer: "Why are they all in Russian? Why are they not translated into English and French?"

"Yes, Your Honor." The lawyer took out two more sheets of paper from his file bag and handed them to the assistant to the chief judge again. "Here are the contents that our staff has translated manually. There are two versions, English and French. I think it is exactly what you need."

The chief judge took the translation and read it for a while. He did not express any opinion, but handed it to the Soviet judge and said politely: "Please take a look and see if the content of this translation is completely consistent with the original."

When the Soviet judge was checking the original and the translation, Ajelina said with some concern: "Misha, it seems that this lawyer is well prepared. It will take a lot of time to refute the evidence he provides. It seems that today's trial of Goering will end in such a hurry."

Just as Ajelina analyzed, after the Soviet judge confirmed that the contents of the original and the translation were consistent, the chief judge announced that the trial of Goering had come to a temporary halt and would retry Goering after the Soviet prosecutors collected more favorable evidence.