Red Moscow.

Chapter 2772 Commander of the Guards

As the situation worsened, the situation in the direction of Moscow became bad. In order to better protect the city, the Soviet Supreme Command hastily established the 1st Guards Infantry Corps and prepared to appoint Lelyushenko as the commander of the army.

But just when the appointment was about to be issued, something happened. Vlasov and Potapov, who were originally thought to be missing or captured, escaped from the German encirclement. Compared with these two people, Lelyushenko, as deputy minister of the Automobile, Armored and Tank Headquarters, obviously lacks experience in commanding large corps in combat. Therefore, there were three different opinions on the appointment of military commander, and Lelyushenko, who was originally appointed, became one of the candidates.

At the meeting of the Supreme Command, Stalin, who was walking back and forth in the room with a pipe in his hand, asked: "Tell me, among these three people, who should be the commander of the 1st Guards Rifle Corps? ?”

"Comrade Stalin," the first person to speak was Deputy Chief of General Staff General Ivanov: "Since we have long decided to appoint General Lelyushenko as the commander of the army, we should not adjust the original appointment easily."

Stalin waited for Ivanov to finish speaking, but did not immediately express his position. Instead, he asked the silent Voroshilov: "Comrade Voroshilov, what do you think of this appointment?"

Voroshilov raised his head, looked at Stalin walking back and forth, and said hesitantly: "I don't think General Lelyushenko has been to the front line since the outbreak of the war. Let such a commander with no battlefield command experience... Served as commander of the 1st Guards Infantry Corps and shouldered the responsibility of I think it is obviously inappropriate for Major General Potapov to assume the responsibility of defending Moscow. Since the outbreak of the war, he has been commanding operations at the front and has accumulated rich and valuable combat experience. , I think it’s very appropriate.”

"Comrade Marshal," Ivanov immediately countered: "In the leaflets dropped by the Germans on our army's positions, it was mentioned that Major General Potapov, the former commander of the 5th Army, became their prisoner. How could we allow a general who had been a prisoner of the enemy to command such an important force?"

"Comrade Deputy Chief of General Staff, can't you see that this is a German conspiracy?" Voroshilov, who has been sitting on the bench since returning from Leningrad, cannot tolerate a commander who is lower than himself. The commander refuted himself and said with a straight face: "If General Potapov really became a prisoner of the Germans, how could he appear in Moscow? I still stick to my opinion and let Major General Potapov serve as the Commander of the 1st Guards Infantry Corps."

"What about General Vlasov?" Major General Vasilevsky, who was attending the meeting for the first time, expressed his opinion: "Can't he serve as the commander of the army?"

"I think he is not suitable." Voroshilov shook his head and said: "Anyway, before the loss of Kiev, he served as the commander of the 37th Group Army and the commander of the Kiev garrison. If he is allowed to serve as the army commander , which is equivalent to downgrading. What do you think, old man?" His last words were said to Budyonni, who was sitting opposite him.

As we all know, in the famous 1st Cavalry Army in the 1920s, Budyonny was the commander and Voroshilov was his political commissar. The two had a friendship for more than 20 years. At this moment, Voroshilov threw the question to Budyonny, naturally hoping that the other party would support his opinion.

Sure enough, Budyonny nodded after hearing this and said: "I agree with Marshal Voroshilov's proposal that General Potapov will serve as the commander of the 1st Guards Infantry Corps."

Seeing that the two marshals had reached an agreement, Ivanov no longer insisted on his own point of view, but turned his attention to Shaposhnikov not far away, wanting to hear his opinion. If he can agree with his proposal, then the post of commander of the Guards can be held by Lelyushenko.

But the old marshal was silent for a long time, but did not speak. Apparently he was also wondering in his heart who should hold the position of military commander.

Seeing that the conference room became quiet, Stalin returned to his seat knowing that everyone was waiting for him to make a decision. However, he did not sit down, but put his hands on the table and leaned forward slightly: "Since Voroshilov and Budyonny both feel that Major General Potapov is suitable for the position of commander of the 1st Guards Infantry Corps, Then let him take over the position of military commander."

Seeing that Stalin agreed to his proposal, Voroshilov's face showed a smile, and he then asked: "Comrade Stalin, Potapov is now a major general, should his military rank be adjusted accordingly? "

Stalin raised his eyebrows and said nothing. He just looked at Voroshilov quietly, trying to figure out why the other party would make such a suggestion?

"Comrade Stalin, the thing is like this." Voroshilov said: "The commander of the 16th Army Rokossovsky, before the outbreak of the war, was Potapov's subordinate with the rank of major general. Now he has Being promoted to lieutenant general while his original superior, Potapov, was still at the rank of major general, is obviously inappropriate.”

After listening to Voroshilov's explanation, Stalin nodded slightly and said: "In that case, then promote him to the rank of lieutenant general. I hope his performance on the battlefield will not disappoint us."

That afternoon, Potapov, who was staying at the garrison headquarters, was taken to the General Staff Headquarters. Chief of General Staff Shaposhnikov personally talked to him: "Comrade Potapov, after study and decision by the Supreme Command, Appoint you as the commander of the 1st Guards Infantry Corps and immediately go to the direction of Orel-Tula to build new defenses. "

"Thank you to the Supreme Command for trusting me." Potapov vowed to Shaposhnikov: "I will never betray your trust in me and resolutely block the Germans from advancing towards Moscow."

Shaposhnikov was very satisfied with Potapov's statement. He nodded, and then asked politely: "General Potapov, what requests can you make? As long as we can do it, we will satisfy it." your request."

After hearing what Shaposhnikov said, Potapov immediately remembered his conversation with Sokov and said quickly: "Comrade Marshal, I have a request. I hope that Captain Sokov can be placed under my command. There is a lack of talented commanders like him around.”

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Shaposhnikov frowned and asked in confusion: "What does Captain Sokov do? It deserves your attention."

Vasilevsky, who was standing next to him at this moment, asked Potapov: "General Potapov, is the Captain Sokov you are talking about the one who won the Order of Lenin in August?"

"Yes, that's him." Potapov nodded and added: "He was promoted to the rank of captain at the same time as the medal was awarded."

After Vasilevsky figured out Sokov's identity, he quickly approached Shaposhnikov's ear and whispered what he knew to the old marshal in detail. Shaposhnikov didn't take it seriously at first. After all, the war had been going on for so long, and there were countless people who had made meritorious deeds. A medal of Lenin couldn't explain much. But after hearing the meritorious service awarded by Sokov, I couldn't help but be secretly surprised.

After Vasilevsky finished speaking, Shaposhnikov asked: "General Potapov, where is Captain Sokov now?"

"He is at the garrison headquarters at the moment."

"Garrison Command?" Shaposhnikov asked curiously: "Is he affiliated with the Garrison Command?"

"No, Comrade Marshal." Potapov quickly explained: "He is a subordinate of General Vlasov, the commander of the 37th Army. After we escaped from the German encirclement, we were sent by Marshal Timoshenko The plane was returned to Moscow and temporarily settled in the garrison headquarters."

"Oh, so that's what happened." Shaposhnikov nodded and said carelessly: "Since he has nothing to do now, let him follow you. As for Vlasov, I will talk to him Say hello."

In this way, without Sokov's knowledge, he changed from Vlasov's subordinate to Potapov's subordinate.

When Potapov returned to the garrison headquarters, not only did the number of gold stars on his collar badge change from two to three, but he also brought back a transfer order personally signed by Marshal Shaposhnikov.

After getting off the car, he went straight to Vlasov's room. Seeing the visiting Potapov, with an extra star on his collar badge, Vlasov couldn't help but be curious: "Potapov, have you been promoted to military rank?"

"Yes, Vlasov." Potapov said with a smile: "Not only was I promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, I was also appointed commander of the 1st Guards Infantry Corps."

"General Potapov." Vlasov was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then stretched out his hand to Potapov and said enthusiastically: "I would like to express my heartfelt congratulations to you and congratulate you on obtaining a higher military rank. "

"Thank you!" After Potapov shook hands with Vlasov, he took out the transfer order from his pocket: "Vlasov, this is the transfer order personally signed by Marshal Shaposhnikov, asking Captain Sokov to come from Start now and join my 1st Guards Infantry Corps."

Vlasov's expression changed. He was very dissatisfied that Potapov came to poach Sokov in front of him yesterday. Unexpectedly, today the other party actually turned Sokov directly into his subordinate through Marshal Shaposhnikov.

But dissatisfaction was dissatisfaction, and Vlasov also understood that since it was an order from a superior, he could only obey it unconditionally, and there was no room for bargaining.

He handed the transfer order back to Potapov and said with a forced smile: "General Potapov, Captain Sokov has not been in the army for a long time, but through my contact with him, I feel that he is a An excellent commander, if he follows you, he should be able to accomplish more feats.”

Potapov originally thought that even with Shaposhnikov's transfer order, Vlasov would not let Sokov leave easily, but he did not expect that the other party would agree so readily.

When Vlasov sent Potapov out of the room, he happened to meet Colonel Del and Nikolsky coming to Vlasov.

The two were equally surprised when they saw the change in Potapov's rank.

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As soon as the three returned to the room, Colonel Del couldn't wait to ask Vlasov: "Comrade Commander, I see that Potapov's military rank has been changed to lieutenant general. What is going on?"

"He has just been promoted to lieutenant general and also serves as commander of the newly established 1st Guards Infantry Corps."

"Oh my god, he is so lucky. He was actually appointed as the commander of the 1st Guards Infantry Corps." Colonel Del said with emotion: "And the four of us have to stay here to continue to standby. I don't know what our superiors have to wait for." When will new positions be assigned to us?”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, you are mistaken." Vlasov corrected Colonel Der: "It is not four people, but three people. From now on, Captain Sokov is no longer our subordinate."

"What's going on?" Del asked in confusion: "Our new positions have not been arranged yet. Who will assign a new position to Captain Sokov?"

"General Potapov just brought a transfer order, which was personally signed by Marshal Shaposhnikov." Vlasov sighed and said: "Transfer Captain Sokov to the 1st Infantry Guards. Army, that is to say, from now on, Captain Sokov is a subordinate of General Potapov.”

"What, Captain Sokov became General Potapov's subordinate?" Hearing what Vlasov said, Colonel Del frowned: "General Potapov knew that Captain Sokov was a member of the 37th Army An officer, how could he poach us?"

"There is no way." Vlasov shook his head and said: "Starting from today, the 37th Army has officially been disbanded. Our future is still unknown. How can we put such a talented commander as Captain Sokov under his command?" Comrade, he is wasting his time by staying with us. Maybe he can achieve more glorious feats by following Potapov."

"Comrade Commander, you are right." Nikolsky echoed: "With Captain Sokov's ability, there should not be much problem in achieving great achievements. But unfortunately, these achievements It has nothing to do with us anymore.”

Potapov came out of Vlasov's room and immediately rushed to find Sokov.

Sokov, who was chatting with several familiar fighters in the restaurant, saw Potapov coming in from outside.

I saw the other party standing at the door and looking around for a while, and then walked towards his location with long strides. Seeing this, Sokov guessed that the other party might be here to find him. He quickly stood up. When he was about to speak, he unexpectedly discovered that the original two stars on Potapov's collar badge had become three stars. This It means that he has just been promoted to military rank.

"Captain Sokov, do you have time now?" Potapov asked: "I want to talk to you alone."

Sokov quickly replied: "Yes, yes, Comrade General, I have time now."

When the soldiers sitting next to him heard Potapov saying that they had something to talk to Sokov, they immediately got up and left, making room for the two of them.

After Potapov sat down at the dining table, he made a gesture of invitation to Sokov: "Captain Sokov, stop standing, please sit down quickly."

After Sokov sat down, he asked bluntly: "General Potapov, did you come to me to ask me to be your subordinate?"

"Yes." Potapov did not hide anything, but said truthfully: "I do need outstanding subordinates like you. I wonder if you will agree to my invitation?"

"General Potapov," Sokov replied seriously: "I am now a subordinate of General Vlasov. If you can get the order, I will be very happy to become your subordinate."

"Now that you say so, I'm relieved." Potapov said, taking out the transfer order from his pocket and placing it in front of Sokov: "This is your transfer order. It will be sent by Chief of General Staff Shaposhny. Signed by Marshal Koff personally."

(End of chapter)