red moscow

Chapter 2663

There was a sound of thunder in the distance, and Kopalova, who was sleeping in the box, was awakened. She put on a piece of clothing, went to the corridor, looked through the glass in the direction of the sound, and said to herself: "It's not summer yet, how can there be thunder?"

Sokov and Seryosha were standing not far away chatting. Hearing Kopalova's mumbling, Seryosha smiled and said, "Kopalova, you are wrong. It's not thunder. It's the newly arrived tank battalion that is bombarding the bandit's lair with tank guns."

"The new tank battalion?" Kopalova asked in surprise. "When did they arrive? I didn't know about it."

"You were sleeping when they came." Sokov said with concern, "We don't know how long we have to wait before we can leave here. You should go back to sleep first."

After waiting for more than two hours, railway workers from Budapest finally arrived and began to repair the locomotive and rebuild the railway that had been destroyed by the bandits.

The laying of the railroad tracks had not yet been completed when the tank battalion commanded by Yuri drove back in a mighty force.

Yuri boarded the train, came to Sokov, saluted and said, "Comrade Commander, we have fulfilled our mission. The enemies in the bandit nest have been completely wiped out by us."

"Well done." Sokov extended his hand to the other party: "Lieutenant Colonel Yuri, on behalf of those passengers who died on the train, I would like to express my gratitude to you and your men for everything you have done for them."

"Comrade Commander, you are too polite." Yuri said, "If we allow this gang of bandits to continue to exist, there is no telling how many innocent people will die at their hands."

While the two were talking, the infantry commander also came back. He excitedly said to Sokov: "Comrade General, fortunately you sent us the tank troops, otherwise those damn bandits would continue to hide on the hillside and resist stubbornly."

"Comrade Commander," Sokov waited for the other party to finish speaking, then asked tentatively, "What are the casualties of your troops?"

"More than a dozen were killed and dozens were injured." The commander explained to Sokov, "Although the bandits in the lair did not have heavy weapons, the terrain where they hid was relatively good, and our attack was difficult. Fortunately, you later sent us a tank battalion, and under the intensive artillery fire, the bandits' defensive positions were quickly destroyed. Then I ordered the troops to launch a final attack and completely wiped out the bandits in the lair."

"Comrade Commander, thank you." Sokov shook hands with the other party and said with a smile: "I will report your achievements to General Malinin."

Then, Sokov turned to Yuri standing next to him and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, your mission has been completed and you can return to Budapest. Please express my gratitude to General Trofimenko for sending troops to rescue me."

"Comrade Commander," Yuri said hesitantly, "I have received orders to escort you to Vienna."

"No need, Lieutenant Colonel Yuri." Sokov pointed at Major Felix and the commander standing next to him and said to Yuri, "They were sent by General Malinin to pick me up. With them by my side, there will be no danger on the way to Vienna."

"Well, comrade commander." The commander was naturally happy to see that Sokov was unwilling to let him escort him. "Then I will lead the troops back to Budapest. I will convey your opinion to General Trofimenko."

Soon after Yuri left with the tank battalion, the railroad tracks were laid and the damaged locomotive was repaired.

The airborne battalion accompanied Sokov on the train to Vienna, while another unit stayed behind to deal with the aftermath, burying the dead passengers on the spot and marking them so that their relatives could come and look for them in the future.

After two hours of travel, the train finally entered Vienna and stopped at Meidling Station.

After the train stopped, Major Felix and his men set up a cordon on the platform before getting back on the train and inviting Sokov to get off: "Comrade Commander, we have arrived at Vienna's Meidling Station. You can get off now. The car that will pick you up has stopped next to the platform."

After Sokov expressed the agreement to Major Felix, he got out of the car with Kopalova, Seryosha, Vaseligov and others.

As soon as he arrived at the platform, a lieutenant colonel walked out from the side, walked quickly to Sokov, saluted, and said respectfully: "Hello, General Sokov, I am sent by General Malinin to meet you. The car is parked next to the platform, please follow me."

"It's you, Lieutenant Colonel Onishchenko!" Before Sokov could finish, Vaserigov's voice suddenly came from behind him: "I didn't expect to meet you here."

Then, Vaseligov walked past Sokov and gave the lieutenant colonel a warm hug.

"Comrade General, let me introduce you." After Vaseligov separated from the other party, he turned to Sokov and said, "This is Lieutenant Colonel Onishchenko, General Malinin's adjutant. We were good friends in Berlin, and I didn't expect to meet in Vienna today."

Sokov felt relieved when he learned that the person who came to pick him up was actually a friend of Major Vaseligov. Since he was an acquaintance, everything was safe for him before he met Malinin.

But before meeting Malinin, Sokov still needed to settle Seryosha, Kopalova and others, so he said to Onishchenko: "Lieutenant Colonel Onishchenko, I have a few entourage here, I wonder if you can settle them first?"

"No problem." Onishchenko readily agreed to Sokov's request, then called a captain, whispered something in his ear, and said to Sokov, "General Sokov, please ask your entourage to follow this captain, he will help them settle down."

"Seryosha, Kopalova," Sokov turned and said to the people behind him, "Follow this captain. He will arrange accommodation for you."

After Seryosha, Kopalova and others followed the captain and left, Sokov and Vaserigov got into the black car that came to pick them up. After the car started, Onishchenko, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, turned his head and said, "General Sokov, General Malinin was very anxious when he learned that you were in danger, and he immediately sent troops to rescue you. After the troops set out, he basically asked about the progress of the troops every half an hour to see if they had rescued you. Now that he sees that you are safe, I think General Malinin will be happy too."

Ten minutes later, Sokov appeared in front of Malinin.

"Misha!" After seeing the living Sokov, Malinin came forward and gave him a warm hug, then said: "Seeing that you arrived safely, I feel relieved."

"General Malinin, thank you!" Sokov showed due courtesy to his old superior: "If you hadn't sent reinforcements in time, I would have been in great danger."

After Malinin asked Sokov to sit down, he had two cups of coffee brought over and started talking about business.

"Misha, you came from Moscow, so you must know a lot of information." Malinin looked at Sokov and asked, "Can you tell me why the Supreme Command suddenly organized such a large-scale military exercise with real soldiers?"

Hearing Malinin's question, Sokov was stunned, and then asked back: "Why, you still don't know the reason for organizing this military exercise?"

"Of course I don't know." Malinin said somewhat unhappily, "Half a month ago, I received an order from the Supreme Command saying that a large-scale military exercise would be held at the end of April. It would be a live-fire exercise, so I was asked to prepare the weapons and ammunition used in the exercise in advance. I just don't understand. The war in Europe has ended for almost a year. What's the point of holding such an exercise? Are we really preparing to go to war with the Allies?"

From Malinin's narration, Sokov discovered a problem. Although Malinin is now the commander of the Austrian group, his superiors have not informed him of many things, so that until now, he has not figured out the purpose of his superiors' holding of this exercise.

"General Malinin," Sokov felt that some things could be kept secret from the grassroots commanders, but the truth should be told to commanders of Malinin's level: "Earlier this month, former British Prime Minister Churchill, who was visiting the United States, delivered a very unfriendly speech to our country, declaring that we and the Allies are enemies rather than friends. For this reason, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged a severe protest to the British side, hoping that Churchill would retract his speech.

Unfortunately, the British side turned a deaf ear to our protest and ignored it completely. It was for this reason that the Supreme Command, after discussion and research, decided to conduct large-scale military exercises in Europe.

"Oh, so that's how it is." Malinin nodded slowly and then asked, "Do you know what Churchill's speech was about?"

Sokov nodded and repeated to Malinin what he had heard in the speech.

After listening to Sokov's story, Malinin slapped his hand on the table and said angrily: "It's outrageous, absolutely outrageous. We sacrificed millions of officers and soldiers to completely defeat the Germans, but I didn't expect Churchill to turn his back on us and even want to fight us."

"Our exercise is to deter the allied forces and prevent them from taking any rash actions."

"Misha, there are no outsiders here. I want to ask you a question and I hope you can answer me truthfully."

"Please ask, General Malinin."

"If, I mean if." Malinin said solemnly, "If we really go to war with the Allies, how likely do you think we are to win?"

Although there was the August 1st military exercise in later generations, Sokov was not aware that the Soviet army at that moment seemed to have the strength to fight against the Allied forces throughout Europe. He could only say euphemistically: "General Malinin, if we go to war with the Allied forces, Britain and France are not a concern. Our army can easily defeat them."

Malinin obviously didn't think highly of Britain and France either. He nodded vigorously to show his approval after hearing what Sokov said. Then he asked, "Misha, if our army faced the American army, what do you think are our chances of winning?"

"The first person in the US military who knows how to fight is General Patton, but he died in a car accident at the end of last year." Sokov continued: "As for the other American generals, I don't know much, so I can't give you a clear answer."

"The U.S. military has terrifying industrial strength. They can produce enough planes, artillery and tanks, as well as supporting ammunition in a short period of time." Malinin did not seem to have much confidence in the contest between the Soviet and U.S. armies. "Although we have more troops than them, the final factor in winning on the battlefield is not only the number of troops, but also related to the equipment of the troops. Therefore, I doubt whether our army can defeat the U.S. army."

Malinin's statement coincided with what Sokov was thinking.

After Malinin finished expressing his opinion, seeing that Sokov did not speak, he continued to ask: "Misha, if Marshal Manstein and Marshal Zhukov met, who do you think would win in the end if they had equal forces and equipment?"

Sokov didn't expect Malinin to suddenly change the topic to which Soviet or German senior commander was better. After hesitating for a long time, he spoke cautiously: "General Malinin, although I admire Marshal Zhukov very much, if I were to comment from a neutral position, I think that if the troops and equipment were equal, Marshal Zhukov would really not be a match for Manstein. According to my observation, if Marshal Zhukov wants to win the battle, he must mobilize two to three times more troops than the enemy."

After saying this, Sokov paused and stared at Malinin nervously, worried that he would get angry because of his opinion. But after a while, Malinin's expression did not change at all. On the contrary, seeing that Sokov had stopped talking, Malinin urged him, "Misha, why don't you say anything? Keep talking."

"I have finished what I wanted to say." Sokov said carefully: "Marshal Zhukov and Marshal Manstein have never competed face to face, so discussing whose command level is higher requires discussion from many aspects."

"Well, you are right. Marshal Zhukov did not fight Manstein head-on." Malinin thought for a moment and asked a new question: "Then let's change two people. Do you think Model, commanding an army of 500,000, can break through the defense line of Marshal Rokossovsky's army of 1 million?"

Sokov almost laughed out loud when he heard this question: "General Malinin, I remember that you were the chief of staff of Marshal Rokossovsky during the Battle of Kursk. When you had equal forces, Model did not gain any advantage on the northern front, not to mention when you had only half the forces. Model was called the 'Master of Defense' because the troops under his command dealt a heavy blow to the troops under the command of Marshal Zhukov in the Rzhev area, successfully avoiding the fate of the German army being driven out of our borders after the Battle of Moscow. A commander who knows how to defend does not mean he knows how to attack."

To increase the persuasiveness, Sokov continued to give examples: "For example, the commander of our 44th Army was a recognized defense expert. The enemy had to pay a huge price to achieve the goal in the area he defended. But after the Supreme Command appointed him as the commander of a certain front, his performance on the battlefield was so unsatisfactory that he was soon dismissed from his post as commander."