red moscow

Chapter 2639 Reunion of old friends

"Misha," Lukin came closer, glanced at the roster in front of him, and then asked in a tentative tone: "Could you really have seen it wrong?"

Sokov closed his eyes and began to think about this question. At that time, he just thought that the man's back looked like Seryosha. Now that he thought about it carefully, the more he looked at him, the more he looked like him. He should be right. As for not being able to find his name in the labor camp, there are two possibilities. One is that he is not a labor camp inmate, and the other is that he entered the labor camp but used someone else's identity.

"Lukin, this is what I think." Sokov decided to use the process of elimination to determine why Seryosha could not be found: "Could he have been transferred here from somewhere else?"

As soon as Sokov's hypothesis came out, Lukin denied it: "That's impossible. Think about it, given your friendship with him, even if he couldn't contact you during the war, the war has been over for so long, wouldn't he take the initiative to contact you? So I think your guess is wrong."

Seeing that his hypothesis was denied, Sokov was not discouraged and immediately put forward a second hypothesis: "Could it be that he did enter the prisoner-of-war camp, but for various reasons, he did not use his own identity, but used someone else's identity?"

Sokov proposed this hypothesis because he thought of Guzidi in "Assembly". He was wearing the enemy's uniform. After being captured by our soldiers, no matter how he defended himself, our personnel still called him by the name on his uniform. After Seryosha was wounded and captured, could it be that because his uniform was too tattered, he wore someone else's uniform, and when others identified him later, they determined his identity based on the information of the owner of the uniform?

Lu Jin did not immediately express his opinion after hearing this. Instead, he turned his head and asked the older document clerk: "Comrade Lieutenant, is there such a situation?"

Hearing Lukin's question, the data clerk pondered for a moment, then nodded slowly and said in an affirmative tone: "Yes, Comrade General. And I can say responsibly that such cases are not uncommon."

"Why?" Vitali, who was standing next to him, became interested when he heard his subordinates say this: "Why do they want to borrow someone else's identity?"

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," the data clerk did not dare to neglect the question when he saw that it was his superior who was asking the question. He quickly answered, "Among the captured officers and soldiers, not all of them were captured because of injuries. Some of them had to choose to surrender after their troops ran out of ammunition and food. There were also a few panicked elements who chose to surrender on their own initiative when they saw the huge enemy forces. When our army liberated the prisoner-of-war camps, these people were worried that their identities would be exposed and they would receive due punishment, so they would impersonate others. Since these officers and soldiers whose identities were impersonated basically died in the German prisoner-of-war camps, it was not easy for these people's disguises to be exposed."

After listening to his subordinate's explanation, Vitali turned to Sokov and said, "Comrade General, could it be that the person you are looking for also surrendered to the enemy voluntarily and was worried about being liquidated by us, so after being rescued, he deliberately used someone else's identity?"

"No, Seryosha will never surrender to the Germans under any circumstances." Sokov was worried that Vitali would not believe him, so he deliberately raised his voice: "When I led the troops to hold on to Mamayev Kurgan, the situation was the most dangerous. At that time, he did not surrender to the enemy on his own initiative. How could he surrender to the enemy when our army had already turned to counterattack? Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, if you were in his position, would you surrender to the Germans?"

"I definitely won't," Vitali said firmly, "Even if I am surrounded by the Germans, I will fight to the last bullet and will never surrender to the enemy."

"I believe the same is true for Seryosha." Sokov continued, "I guess he was captured by the Germans because he was seriously injured and lost consciousness. Otherwise, the rumors I heard later would not have said that he died heroically on the battlefield."

"Unless we can see the photo, we have no way of knowing whether he entered the labor camp under someone else's name." After saying this, Lu Jin turned to the data clerk and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant, do you have detailed information on the prisoners?"

"Comrade General, yes, there are, but there are too many." When the data clerk said this, he couldn't help but turn his head to look at Vitali and said hesitantly: "If we search them one by one, I'm afraid it will take at least a day."

Sokov, who was anxious to find Seryosha's whereabouts, heard the information clerk say: "Comrade Lieutenant, since you have detailed information here, could you please send it to me? Even if it takes me two or three days, I will find my good friend."

"General Sokov," Vitali said quickly when he heard that Sokov wanted to check all the information, "If you want to check the detailed archives, I'll have to ask you to go to the archives room. You know, the archives of thousands of people take up a lot of space, and it's unrealistic to ask them to move them here."

After hearing what Vitali said, Sokov immediately realized that he had thought the problem too simply, and quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I didn't think it through. I will follow these two data clerks to the archives room and look for the person I'm looking for there."

When Sokov stood up and prepared to leave, Lukin also stood up with difficulty and wanted to follow Sokov, but was stopped: "Your legs are not in good condition, you should stay here and chat with Lieutenant Colonel Vitali. Maybe I will be back soon."

Seeing that Sokov didn't want him to go, Lukin didn't force him. Even though he had a prosthetic leg, the amputated part still hurt a lot when he walked or stood for too long. "Okay, I'll stay here and wait for you."

  Sokov and Vaseligov followed the two data clerks to the archive room not far away. After entering the room, Sokov was stunned by the files that were packed full. With so many files, how long would it take him to finish reading them?

But even if he wanted to ask for help, he couldn't. No one except himself had seen Seryosha's true face. Asking them to help would only make things worse. Sokov had no choice but to ask the document clerk to bring a stack of files over, open them one by one, and check the photos of the people inside to see if Seryosha was among them.

Before he knew it, Sokov had checked seven or eight hundred files, but still couldn't find any photos of Seryosha. He looked up at the pile of files in the distance, and he couldn't help but feel a little regretful. If he had known that he would have to look at so many files, he might not have come here. You know, Seryosha had been to the labor camp here, but it was just his guess. Maybe he would spend a day looking through all the files and still not find any records about Seryosha.

Although the two data clerks didn't say anything, Sokov could tell from the expressions on their faces that they were already very impatient. If it weren't for the fact that his rank was too high and even Lieutenant Colonel Vitali had to show respect to him, they would have probably found a reason to get rid of him long ago.

When Sokov finished reading the thousandth piece of information, he couldn't help but back down: How about looking at another hundred? If he still can't find Seryosha's photo, he will give up completely to avoid causing trouble for the people here.

So he picked up the pile of files that had just been placed in front of him and checked them one by one. The first one was not him; the second one was not him either; the third one… the tenth one… the thirtieth one, none of the photos in them were of Seryosha.

When he saw the 95th file, Sokov threw it aside without even looking at the photos on it. When he reached out to take the 96th file, he suddenly felt that something seemed wrong, so he quickly picked up the file that was thrown aside and opened it to check the photos inside.

The next moment, a photo that couldn't be more familiar appeared in front of him. He even looked at the name, which was not "Seryosha" but "Bogdan". He slapped the file hard and said excitedly: "I found it, I found it, it's this file!"

The older data clerk came over to look at the file and asked Sokov cautiously: "Comrade General, are you sure this is the person you are looking for?" "Yes, Comrade Second Lieutenant." Sokov said in an affirmative tone: "He is not only my neighbor, but also one of my best friends. I will never make a mistake." He glanced at the notes below and continued, "He was released last month. Do you know his whereabouts now?"

"Of course I know, Comrade General." The data clerk replied, "Usually, only a few of the released personnel will choose to leave here and return to their hometowns. Most of them will stay and be arranged by us to work in leather factories or food factories. For example, this Bogdan, no, it should be Comrade Seryosha you are looking for, he is now working in a food factory."

"Comrade Lieutenant, can you give me his address?" Sokov asked tentatively.

"Of course." The data clerk agreed readily. He found a register, opened it and found the place where Seryosha was working now. He wrote down the address and handed it to General Sokov: "Comrade General, this is his current address."

"That's great, Comrade Lieutenant, that's really great." Sokov grabbed the clerk's hand, shook it vigorously, and said in a grateful tone: "Thank you, on behalf of Seryosha, thank you for everything you have done for us."

Sokov returned to Vitali's office happily with the address.

Seeing Sokov come in, Lukin immediately asked with concern: "Misha, have you found any clues?"

Sokov raised the small piece of paper in his hand and said proudly: "Found it, this is where Seryosha is now."

When Lukin took the note and looked at the address, Vitali came over. He took one look and said in surprise: "What? He actually works in a food processing factory?"

"Yes." Sokov nodded and said, "Fortunately, you have arranged jobs for these released officers and soldiers, otherwise Seryosha and I would have missed each other again. If we really missed each other, we would never know if we would have the chance to meet again in this life."

After Sokov and Lukin came out, they immediately ordered the driver to drive to the address on the note.

After nearly an hour of bumpy ride, Sokov found that the car stopped not far from where he fell, so he pointed to the front and said to Lukin: "Lukin, that's where I fell today."

But at this moment, Lukin's mind was on where Sokov had seen Seryosha: "Misha, you were here at the time and saw Seryosha's back?"

"That's right." Sokov pointed forward again and continued, "He turned into that alley, but when my men chased after him, they didn't see him."

"There is a food processing factory in there." Lukin seemed to be very familiar with the terrain here. He said without hesitation: "You also know that the weather here is too cold. After entering the house, people will definitely close the door. When Major Vaseligov led his men to chase after him, Seryosha should have just entered the house and closed the door, so they didn't see him in the alley. But if we continue to have the exact address, we will definitely find him."

This time the jeep stopped at the entrance of the alley. After Sokov got out of the jeep, he turned around and helped Lukin, who had just gotten out of the jeep, and said, "Lukin, your legs are not in good condition. I think you should stay in the car and wait for me."

"Misha, you said Seryosha is your best friend. It is absolutely necessary for me to go with you to see him." Lukin said, "If I stay in the car, you will be worried that I will be waiting anxiously in the car after meeting Seryosha, and you will definitely not dare to stay for a long time to chat about the past. In this case, I might as well go with you, so that you can chat for as long as you want."

Seeing that Lukin was so considerate, Sokov couldn't refuse, so he nodded and agreed: "Okay, then we'll go together." In order to prevent Lukin from falling, he stretched out his hands to support Lukin, and walked carefully into the alley.

Entering the alley and coming to the door of one of the houses, Lukin said to Sokov: "Misha, the food processing factory is here, let's go in."

When he opened the door, he saw a long corridor. Near the door, there was a duty room where a soldier with a weapon was sitting. He saw so many people suddenly pouring in from outside, and quickly stopped them with a gun in hand: "Stop, what are you doing?"

"Comrade soldier," Lukin said to the soldier with a smile, "I am Lieutenant General Lukin, this is Admiral Sokov, we are here to look for someone."

After hearing Lu Jin's statement of his identity, the soldier put down his gun but still stood in front of the crowd: "Looking for someone, who?"

"Where is the person in charge here?" Sokov was somewhat dissatisfied when he saw the soldiers blocking the way and not letting everyone in. "Tell him to come out and see me."

After hearing what Sokov said, the soldier did not dare to delay and hurried back to the duty room and picked up the phone to report to the person in charge.

A few minutes later, two people came out hurriedly.

The one walking in front was a lieutenant, who was probably the person in charge of the food processing factory. Behind him was a middle-aged man in military uniform. The two were walking hurriedly towards the door.

After Sokov saw the middle-aged man behind the lieutenant, he was shocked. Before coming here, he was a little nervous, worried that he would not see Seryosha here. But at this moment, when he saw the familiar face, his heartbeat accelerated. He hurriedly took two steps forward and asked loudly to the person opposite: "Seryosha, is that you? Is it you or your ghost?"