Red Moscow.

Chapter 2735

"Oh my God!" The captain quickly crossed himself on his chest and murmured, "This is incredible."

"Yes, Comrade Captain, I joined the army on August 19, 1941." Seeing the captain's dumbfounded expression, Sokov explained to him: "But by chance, I achieved some meritorious deeds, so As an exception, he received the Order of Lenin and the rank of captain.”

The captain stared at the Order of Lenin on Sokov's chest, nodded slightly, and said: "Captain Sokov, it seems that you have made great contributions. I have seen many of the Red Banner Orders here in the 37th Group Army. Very young, but this is my first time seeing the Lenin Medal.”

After filling in the information, the captain asked Sokov for a photo. But where could Sokov get the photo? He could only say apologetically, "I'm sorry, Comrade Captain, I don't have any ready-made photos. Is there a photo studio somewhere in the city?" , I’ll go over and take a photo now.”

"Many shops in the city are closed." The captain shook his head and said, "Even if you are lucky enough to find a photo studio that is not closed yet, but you don't have a military ID card on you, if you are caught by the patrol, you will be in danger. It’s troublesome.”

"Then what should I do?"

"Captain Sokov, don't worry, we have people here who specialize in taking pictures." The captain said to Sokov: "I will call the person in charge of taking pictures and ask him to take pictures of you."

The captain picked up the phone on the table, dialed a number and said, "Send a comrade to take pictures to our office. There is someone here who wants to take pictures."

After putting down the phone, the captain took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handed it to the staff officer and Sokov: "Do you want to smoke?"

The staff officer reached out and took out a cigarette from the cigarette case, holding it in his mouth. But Sokov waved his hand and refused: "Thank you, I don't smoke."

After the captain and staff lit their cigarettes, they looked at Sokov and asked: "Captain Sokov, when you come to Kiev this time, I wonder what position your superiors have assigned you?"

"I came here with the new commander, General Vlasov." Sokov knew very well that the captain seemed to be chatting, but in fact he was inquiring about his background. He pretended to be casual and said: " Before coming here, Comrade General told me that I might be given the position of guard company commander in the security force of the headquarters.”

"This is a good job." After listening to Sokov's story, the captain grinned: "Not only can you have frequent contact with the group army leader, but it is also not very dangerous. If I ask you for help with anything in the future, you can You can’t pretend you don’t know me.”

"Don't worry, Comrade Captain." Sokov had just arrived, and naturally he was eager to make more connections. Since the captain took the initiative to come, he would not refuse anyone who came: "If you have anything to do, just ask. As long as it's in I will definitely help you if it is within my ability.”

"That's what we said."

Not long after the two chatted, a photographer appeared at the door. He straightened his body and reported to the captain: "Comrade Captain, I have been ordered to report and I am waiting for your instructions. Which comrade wants to take the photo?"

"This is the captain." The captain pointed at Sokov and said, "Take a photo of him for a military ID."

"Understood, Comrade Captain, I will take pictures for him right now." The photographer said politely to Sokov: "Comrade Captain, please follow me to the corner. There is enough light here, which is very suitable for taking pictures of you."

A few minutes later, the photo was taken. Sokov asked tentatively: "I wonder when I can get the photos?"

"Three days." The photographer replied: "You can get your photos in up to three days."

"No, three days is too long." Before Sokov could speak, the captain said first: "I can only give you three hours at most. You know, Captain Sokov does not have a military ID, but as a The security personnel directly under the group army have to go out to do things frequently. If they are caught by the patrol, it will be troublesome, so you have to develop the photos as soon as possible. "

"I'm sorry, Comrade Captain." The photographer said with a wry smile, "I can't develop the photos within three hours."

"How long will it take you?"

The photographer thought for a moment and replied: "Four and a half hours at the fastest."

The captain hesitated for a moment, and then said: "I will give you five hours. You must develop the photos as soon as possible."

"Yes, Comrade Captain."

After the photographer left, the captain said to Sokov: "Captain Sokov, you can come here to get your military ID in five hours."

Sokov followed the staff back to the headquarters.

At this moment Vlasov had already learned about the current situation from the chief of staff.

Seeing Sokov reappearing in front of him, he said to Chief of Staff Del: "Colonel Del, this is Captain Sokov. I have just introduced him to you. I want him to serve as a guard directly under the group army." In the army, you serve as the commander of the security company, right?"

"No, Comrade Commander." Del answered very readily: "I think with Captain Sokov's ability, there should be no problem in serving as a guard company commander."

"By the way, the defense around the headquarters is too weak. I plan to put Captain Sokov in charge of consolidating the defensive positions so that the enemy cannot get close to my headquarters." Although Colonel Del agreed with Sokov as the guard company commander, Now after hearing what Vlasov said, he raised his own objection: "Comrade Commander, I don't think it is appropriate to let Captain Sokov be responsible for strengthening the defense around the headquarters."

"What's inappropriate?" Vlasov asked dissatisfied.

"Comrade Commander, you don't know something. The engineering department of the Front Army Headquarters is responsible for the defense deployment near the headquarters." Del said helplessly: "If we want to adjust the deployment, we must apply to the Front Army Headquarters. After they pass, they will order the person in charge of the engineering agency to come over. According to the problems existing in the defensive positions, we should make corresponding adjustments. The defense level near our headquarters is similar to that outside the front army headquarters building. Even if we apply, I am afraid it will not be approved. I think it is best. Let’s maintain the status quo to avoid unnecessary trouble.”

When Sokov heard this, he felt relieved. Although on the way here, he promised Vlasov that he would find ways to strengthen the defense around the headquarters. But this kind of thing seems simple, but it is quite troublesome to do it, and it is bound to encounter a lot of resistance. At this moment, hearing Del say that he was not suitable to take charge of this matter, Sokov wanted to give him a thumbs up.

However, in front of Vlasov, Sokov still had to pretend to have a regretful expression: "So that's it, that's such a pity. I'm sorry, Comrade General, I may not be able to fulfill your wishes. I helped you, please forgive me.”

Vlasov obviously did not think that he just wanted to strengthen the defense around the headquarters to prevent the German army from breaking into the city and the existing defenses could not stop their attack. After listening to what Colonel Del and Sokov said, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

"Comrade Commander," Del continued when Vlasov did not speak, "Actually, you are really worrying too much. Our army has as many as 700,000 or 800,000 troops in and around Kiev, while the German army is said to have less than 30,000 troops. One hundred thousand. We have an absolute advantage in terms of military strength. If there is a fight, the balance of victory will definitely tip to us. "

Sokov looked at Colonel Del, feeling as if he had transformed into a familiar bald man, saying plausibly: Eight hundred thousand versus six hundred thousand, the advantage is mine!

I am afraid that among the people present, no one understands the comparison of military strength between the Soviet Union and Germany better than Sokov. The German army invested 500,000 troops, while the Soviet army had 850,000 troops. Although the Soviet army had a clear advantage in terms of strength, due to strategic and tactical mistakes, the Soviet army failed to effectively utilize its numerical advantage, which ultimately led to the failure of the battle and made this battle because the Soviet army had the largest number of prisoners. And was recorded in the history of human war.

The German army used aircraft, artillery and tanks to straf and crush the Soviet troops in the encirclement. Although the Soviet commanders and fighters put up a brave resistance, the battlefield situation was extremely unfavorable to them at this time. In addition, the performance of Soviet equipment was not as good as that of the German army. The scene soon became one-sided. After several days of fierce fighting, the German army successfully occupied Kiev and captured 660,000 Soviet troops.

The Battle of Kiev ended with a great victory for the Germans. From a tactical perspective alone, this was a great victory. But looking at the overall situation, the Battle of Kiev was a big pit for the Germans. From a strategic perspective, the German occupation of Moscow was far more important than the occupation of Kiev.

After the German Army Group Center captured Smolensk, it could have driven straight in and quickly rushed to Moscow. However, Mustache believes that the industries and coal mines in Ukraine's Donets Basin should be occupied first, and the Soviet army's supply lines from the Caucasus oil fields should be cut off before it is too late to launch an attack on Moscow.

Although the Germans succeeded in achieving this goal, they wasted the best two months of the summer. It was not until the end of September that the German army marched towards Moscow again. But at this time, the rainy autumn had arrived, and the road to Moscow was full of mud. The German advance was seriously delayed, and they had to face winter combat problems for which they were not originally prepared. The Soviet army took advantage of this period of time to mobilize a large number of troops from the rear and rushed to Moscow, completed the defense before the arrival of the German army, and finally won a great victory in the defense of Moscow.

When Sokov was recalling relevant historical data, Del once again told Vlasov what he had said not long ago: "Comrade Commander, our army not only has a numerical advantage, but it is also on the defensive side. The German army is not It is impossible to capture Kiev with more than twice our troops.”

Sokov happened to hear Colonel Del's remarks, with a bitter smile on his face. He did not expect that Colonel Del, as the chief of staff of the group army, would have such a confused understanding of the current situation.

Vlasov noticed the change in the expression on Sokov's face, and after all, he was slightly stunned. After a moment of silence, he looked at Sokov and asked: "Captain Sokov, you have had a real battle with the Germans. Do you think that with our current strength, we can defeat the German attack on Kiev?" "

"It's hard to say, Comrade Commander."

Vlasov did not expect Sokov to answer him like this, so he asked: "Why?"

"Yes, our army has strong troops and is responsible for defense. No matter how you look at it, the situation is very beneficial to our army." Sokov reorganized the vocabulary in his mind and said cautiously: "But everything We have to consider the worst aspects. Now the air supremacy on the battlefield is in the hands of the Germans. In addition, our armored forces were basically lost in the Battle of Uman. Therefore, in a real fight, who will win and who will lose? It’s hard to say.”

"Captain Sokov, why do you say that?" Unexpectedly, after Sokov finished speaking, before Vlasov expressed his position, Colonel Del became anxious: "How can you be so pessimistic and disappointed? The battle has not started yet. , you knew we would lose to the Germans? It's very dangerous. To put it mildly, you are frightened by the Germans and have become panicked; to put it more seriously, your argument is completely defeatist. Fortunately, if you said these words in front of us. Let the Ministry of Internal Affairs hear it and you could be court-martialed."

Hearing what Colonel Del said, the muscles on Sokov's face couldn't help but twitch a few times. He thought to himself that his words were very tactful, but Colonel Del, as the chief of staff of the group army, still couldn't control his emotions when he heard what he said. If Vlasov hadn't been by his side, the other party might have handed him over directly to the Ministry of Internal Affairs personnel.

"Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff. Stop scaring Captain Sokov." Vlasov said with a smile: "We just speak freely and say whatever comes to mind. Even if we say something wrong, it doesn't matter, at least give We were given a heads up to see where we were falling short.”

Then he turned to Sokov and asked: "Captain Sokov, when will your military ID be available?"

"The officer in charge of applying for the certificate has already made special arrangements for me. However, since I took the photo temporarily, it takes a lot of time to develop the photo, so it will take at least five hours to obtain the military ID card. "

"Oh, that's it." Vlasov nodded slowly after hearing this.

Sokov saw that Vlasov seemed to want to arrange other tasks for himself, so he asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, I wonder what tasks you are planning to arrange for me?"

"I want you to take a few people to the frontier to understand the situation." Vlasov said: "Let's see if there are any shortcomings in our army's defense work at the frontier. But now you haven't got your military ID card. Just wait for now. If you are in the city and are found out by the patrol that you don’t have a military ID, they will at most lock you up. But if you are caught by a patrol at the front and they find that you don’t have a military ID, they can just lock you up. Just shoot him as a German spy."

Hearing what Vlasov said, Sokov couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. He really didn't know that the forward patrols had such great power and could shoot suspicious people who might be German spies at will.

"Comrade Commander, is everything you said true?" Colonel Del asked in surprise: "If the patrol team at the front catches a suspicious person, can they really just shoot them without even interrogating them? What if they kill them by mistake? People, what should I do?”

"What else can we do?" Vlasov shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said helplessly: "He can only count himself unlucky."

(End of chapter)