Burning Moscow

　　 As soon as dinner was served, Yegorov, Kistyakov, and Serebryakov, who had handed over defense with friendly forces in Kryukovo, also happened to be back.

　　 Seeing Yegorov’s political commissar appeared, Bakanidze, who was sitting opposite me, stood up excitedly, and then shouted: "Dear Yegorov, is that you?"

　　 The political commissar was startled by the sudden cry. After seeing the other party clearly, he hesitantly asked: "Ledro, is it you or your ghost?"

　　 "Of course it's me! I didn't expect that I could stand in front of you alive!" Bakanidze got up and walked towards the political commissar.

　　 "I heard that you died in the battle to defend Smolensk. I didn't expect to see you here again." Yegorov also greeted him.

After hearing the next conversation between the two, I realized that Yegorov and Bakanidze were actually old acquaintances. They had known each other as early as the exile in Siberia, and they had both participated in the Battle of Nomonkan under the command of Zhukov. The unexpected reunion of old comrades in arms was a separate and affectionate one. Seeing the two people hugging each other tightly and slapped each other's back hard, I immediately got goose bumps all over my body, and said to my heart that you guys don’t show up in the kissing scene, I’m eating, watching The two big men hugged each other and chewed. Even if I knew it was a kind of etiquette, I couldn't bear it psychologically, and I might vomit out all the food I ate. Fortunately, the two old comrades were limited to gestures such as hugging and slapping each other on the shoulders, and there were no scenes that would cause my appetite to discomfort.

　　 "Well, two political commissars, you are all hungry!" I don't know how long they will hug, so I interrupted them quickly: "Sit down and eat something first."

Bakanidze let go of Yegorov and said with a smile: "Oshanina didn't remind the chief of staff. I almost forgot that you didn't eat anymore. Come, sit down and eat." Yegorov sat opposite me with him. Serebryakov sat down on my right, with Lieutenant Colonel Valery, the deputy commander. Kistyakov and Griaznov are sitting on my right.

　　 After everyone was seated, I asked Kistyakov in a low voice, "Comrade Colonel, is the transfer of defense completed?"

　　 Kistyakov just stuffed a piece of bread in his mouth. Hearing my question, he swallowed the bread in his mouth and nodded desperately. After swallowing the bread, he took a deep breath and replied: "Please rest assured, the commander, the defense has been handed over to the comrades of the 16th Army. Our division has all returned to Klin."

　　 I nodded in satisfaction, then made a gesture of please, and said, "I have no problem, you can continue to eat." Then I looked at Colonel Griaznov next to him.

　　 Seeing me looking at him, the colonel put down the bread in his hand in time to avoid another embarrassment like Kistyakov's. I asked curiously: "What happened to the prisoner just now?"

The colonel looked at his political commissar and replied: "That was a lieutenant of the German tank soldier. During the battle, his tank lost contact with other tanks because Klin was still in their hands, so he went straight. He drove towards the city. His tank was destroyed by our soldiers with a rocket launcher in the east of the city. The remaining three crew members were killed on the spot because of stubborn resistance, and were captured by our soldiers because they were injured and unconscious."

After the colonel answered my question, Lieutenant Colonel Valery on the right suddenly said: "Comrade Political Commissar, I heard that you had visited Comrade Stalin in the Kremlin before returning to the army. Can you give us any inside information? "

　　I have seen Stalin, the lethality of this sentence is really big enough, the people who were all eating have stopped chewing, and looked at Bakanidze in unison. I also looked at the old political commissar opposite with interest. You must know that in the Great Purge that began in 36 years, many of Stalin’s close comrades had been purged, and he could survive, except that he was lucky. Maybe his friendship with Stalin is also extraordinary.

　　 Bakkanidze gave his deputy commander a dissatisfied look, looked around, but did not speak.

　　 I also looked around. In addition to the chief officers of our divisions, there were also several staff officers, order soldiers, and guards. He suddenly understood that he was afraid of being crowded and his words would be spread out. The matter was serious. So I coughed, stood up and said to the idlers, "We are going to study important things, you should go out first."

　　 The commanders standing around came and stood at attention, turned and walked out of the room without saying a word.

　　 Seeing the miscellaneous people and others are leaving, Yegorov, who was sitting next to him, couldn't help but curiously said: "I said old man, there are no outsiders here, so just tell everyone."

　　 "Yes, Political Commissar Bakanize." I also echoed: "Just tell everyone. You can rest assured that there are reliable people here, and everything you say will not be leaked."

Seeing everyone looking at him intently, Bakanidze knew not to say anything. Today everyone would not give up, so he cleared his throat and reminded everyone to keep secret what they heard today, and then said: "Before I left Moscow this morning, I received a notice that Comrade Stalin wanted to see me. Of course, this meeting was made by me a few days ago."

Listening to him speaking slowly and methodically, Yegorov beside him seemed more anxious than anyone else, and urged him quickly: "I said my dear Lezho, I won't talk about these irrelevant things for the time being, just talk about the key points. Everyone is waiting."

　　 "I didn't say anything," Bakanidze said unhurriedly: "Comrade Stalin just chatted with me for a while and asked about my family and physical health."

　　 "And then?" Colonel Griaznov asked this time.

　　 "When talking about the differences in technical equipment between our army and the German army, Comrade Stalin mentioned the assistance of American allies to us."

　　 "The assistance provided by the US allies to us is only verbal, and in fact they have not seen any real equipment for us." Valery couldn't help but complain.

　　 "That's not what I said, my deputy commander, comrade." Bakkanidze unceremoniously corrected his statement, "Do you know how much material the American allies help us every month?"

　　 "How much can there be? Isn't it just a few broken jeeps?" Valery retorted somewhat unconvinced.

Bakanidze shook his head and said: "The real aid data is confidential. But after listening to Comrade Stalin, the US allies provide us with 400 planes, 500 tanks, 1,000 tons of armored steel, and 400 tons per month. There are barbed wires, five thousand jeeps. There are also a lot of anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank weapons."

　　 "Are there so many?" The data he said surprised everyone, including me. I thought that the United States’ assistance to the Soviet Union, apart from a large number of jeeps, anti-tank weapons, and the remote and empty promise of sending troops from several divisions to the war and opening up a second battlefield, no one had anything. I didn’t expect it to have anything. So much technical equipment.

　　 There was silence in the room.

After a long time, I opened my mouth to break the silence: "It's late, everyone should go back and rest, and we will leave for Botowo tomorrow. Today I heard what the political commissar Bakanidze said, and went out of this door. Just forget it all, do you understand?"

　　 "Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff (Division Commander) of the Group Army." Everyone present answered in unison. The political commissar of Bakanidze on the opposite side gave me a grateful glance.

　　 I stood up and was about to go out. Colonel Griaznov stopped me suddenly~www.wuxiaspot.com~ He asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Group Army, how will the marching sequence be arranged tomorrow?"

　　 I pondered for a while and replied, "Tomorrow the seventh division will start first, followed by the eighth division, the Far East Independent Division, and finally a few cannon regiments."

　　 After setting up the marching sequence for tomorrow, I went back to the room that Colonel Griaznov arranged for me to rest.

In the early morning of the next day, Kistyakov knocked on the door and woke me up, saying that the first regiment of the seventh division led by political commissar Bakanidze had set off. Colonel Griaznov and Lieutenant Colonel Valery’s The troops followed closely behind. The eighth division has also assembled, and can set off at any time, specially to invite me to act with the division.

　　 I just walked out of the building and suddenly saw a jeep rushing over quickly. I was a little disturbed in my heart. Did something happen again?

The car stopped, and the one who jumped out of the car was Deputy Commander Valery Lieutenant Colonel. He ran to me quickly, saluted in a panic, and whispered: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Group Army, no Okay, something big happened!"

　　 I was frightened in a cold sweat, grabbed his tunic, and asked nervously, "Quickly, tell me, what happened? Did the troops encounter the German ambush?"

　　 Valery shook his head, lowered his head, and said sadly: "The jeep in which the political commissar of Bakanidze was riding was blown up by a German landmine. The political commissar and several soldiers in the same car died."

　　 "What?! Sacrifice?!" The news was like a bolt from the blue sky, shaking my mind. If it hadn't been for Kistyakov from behind to hold me, I would have been paralyzed on the ground.