red moscow

Chapter 2667

After Sokov was taken to the hospital on Graben Street, Shekhovtsov immediately called the army headquarters to find out whether the army chief of staff had returned so that he could tell him the bad news.

Unexpectedly, the person who answered the phone was a staff officer in the duty room. After recognizing Shekhovtsov's voice, he hurriedly said, "I'm sorry, Comrade Major, the chief of staff is out for inspection and hasn't come back yet. If you have anything to say, just tell me. I will report to the chief of staff as soon as he comes back."

"Something happened, something serious happened." Shekhovtsov said anxiously, "I just accompanied the new commander to the 20th Guards Army, but we were attacked on the way back. Now the commander is seriously injured and has just been sent to the operating room."

The duty officer was shocked when he heard this and asked quickly, "Comrade Major, is what you said true?"

"Do you think I dare to joke about such a thing?" Shekhovtsov knew that the only way to inform the chief of staff who was inspecting the troops of the 21st Guards Army of Sokov's accident was through the communication line in the duty room. He said with a straight face: "You should find a way to contact the chief of staff immediately and tell him the news that the commander was injured."

"Okay, Comrade Major." The duty officer realized the seriousness of the problem and asked cautiously, "Which hospital is the commander in now?"

"The hospital in Grabenstrasse."

After the duty staff officer finished his conversation with Shekhovtsov, he immediately contacted the headquarters of the 21st Guards Army through the military line.

After the call was connected, the duty officer said straight to the point: "I am the staff officer of the group army duty room. I have important matters to report to the chief of staff immediately."

"I'm sorry, comrade staff officer." The person who answered the phone said politely, "After the chief of staff finished his inspection here, he went to the 20th Guards Army. If you need to find him urgently, please contact the 20th Army."

The duty officer frowned, knowing that if he did not report such an important matter in time, he might be in trouble. So he found a colleague and asked him to contact the duty room of the 20th Guards Army, while he contacted the duty room of the Austrian Group.

After the call was connected, a deep voice came from the receiver: "This is the cluster headquarters, what can I do for you?"

"Hello!" The duty officer didn't know the other party's military rank, but he still directly explained the reason for his call: "I am the duty officer of the 1st Guards Army Duty Room. A major incident has occurred here and we need to report it to General Malinin immediately."

"What? You want to report to General Malinin?" But the other party said disdainfully: "You are just a small duty staff officer. What qualifications do you have to talk to General Malinin?"

Seeing that the other party was unwilling to let him contact Malinin, the duty staff officer became anxious: "I'll tell you the truth. Our new army commander was attacked on his way back from an inspection of the 20th Guards Army and was unfortunately seriously injured. If you don't report this to General Malinin in time, if something goes wrong, can you bear the consequences?"

The person who answered the phone was shocked. As a member of the group, he knew about the attack on the border yesterday and Sokov's appointment to the 4th Guards Army today. If something really happened to Sokov, and he didn't report it to Malinin in time, he might be sent to a military court if he was held accountable in the future. But when he reported the matter to Malinin, he still asked cautiously: "Is what you said true? Is General Sokov really injured?"

The duty officer still didn't know who the new army group commander was. When he heard the other party's question, he quickly replied: "When the new commander arrived, the chief of staff went to inspect the troops below, so I don't know the new commander's name yet. I only know that the new commander who just took office today is injured and is now lying in the operating room of the hospital on Graben Street for emergency treatment."

After the person who answered the phone understood the general situation, he quickly said, "I will report to General Malinin immediately."

After receiving the report, Malinin's face was filled with shock. "What? Sokov was attacked and injured. When did this happen? Also, where is my adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Onishchenko? Where is he now? Why didn't he report to me?"

But no one could answer Malinin's questions.

After a brief silence, a staff officer in the office suggested to Malinin: "Comrade General, since the report below says that General Sokov is now in the hospital on Graben Street, why don't we go there directly to find out what happened."

"Your suggestion is good. Let's go to the hospital immediately."

Half an hour later, Malinin arrived at the hospital on Graben Street with several guards.

Downstairs, he met the guard company commander of the 20th Guards Army and asked hurriedly, "Captain, which unit are you from?"

"Comrade General," the guard company commander did not know who Malinin was, but seeing the star on his shoulder strap, he knew that he was a man of great origin. He quickly stood at attention, raised his hand and saluted, and replied, "I am the guard company commander of the 20th Guards Army."

"Since you are the captain of the guard company of the 20th Guards Army, what are you doing here?"

"Comrade General, our company was ordered by the army commander to escort the new army commander back to the headquarters, but we were attacked on the way." The guard company commander reported: "Comrade Commander was unfortunately injured and was sent here."

When Malinin learned that the captain in front of him was the one who escorted Sokov here, he immediately asked him several questions.

Unfortunately, when Sokov and his men were injured, the guard captain was leading his men to search in the forest and did not see them being injured at all. Therefore, when faced with the questions raised by Malinin, he did not know how to answer them.

Malinin was very dissatisfied when he saw that he could not get the answer he wanted from the captain. He snorted heavily and took his men upstairs and went directly to the operating room.

There were seven or eight people standing at the door of the operating room, including Shekhovtsov and Seryokov.

Malinin did not know Seryokov, but he recognized Shekhovtsov as the head of the logistics department of the 4th Guards Army. He walked up to him and asked directly: "Major, tell me, what happened? Why was General Sokov injured?"

When Sokov and his men were attacked, Shekhovtsov was also far away, and he was not very clear about the specific situation. But after hearing Malinin's question, he glanced at Shelyokov next to him, and then said to Malinin: "Comrade Commander, when the attack happened, I was a little far away, so I didn't see the specific situation clearly. But this captain was nearby at the time, maybe he can tell you some more accurate information."

Malinin glanced at Shelyokov and thought he looked very familiar. Although he couldn't remember his name, he vaguely remembered that it was he who came to see him with Sokov yesterday. He nodded at him and said, "Comrade Captain, we meet again. Can you tell me what happened today?"

Seryokov took a step forward and began to report to Malinin about the attack. Malinin couldn't help but frowned, "So it wasn't just Misha who was injured, but also my adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Onishchenko, and Major Vaseligov beside him?"

"Yes." Shelyokov nodded and replied, "At that time, the shells fired by the enemy kept falling and exploding next to the jeep the commander was riding in. The two commanders were worried about the commander's safety, so they helped him escape to the nearby woods. As soon as they entered the woods, they encountered enemy submachine gun fire, and all three of them fell to the ground."

A staff officer who came to the hospital with Malinin had already called the dean over: "Comrade Commander, I called the dean over."

"Dean," Malinin looked at the dean and asked, "How are the injuries of the three people inside?"

"One of them is seriously injured, with two bullets in the chest and abdomen, one of which is only 3 millimeters away from the heart." The dean replied, "The other two are relatively lightly injured, with bullets in the arms and abdomen. They are not in any danger of life. Once the bullets are removed, they can be sent directly to the ward."

As he was talking, the door of the operating room opened and a stretcher was pushed out from inside.

Malinin went forward and saw that it was his adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Onishchenko. He quickly grabbed the other's hand and asked with concern: "Lieutenant Colonel, how do you feel?"

Onishchenko was very touched to see Malinin caring about him so much. His eyes turned red and tears could not stop flowing down: "Comrade Commander, I am so sorry that I did not complete your task. You asked me to protect General Sokov, but I ended up injuring him."

"Okay, okay, this is not your responsibility." Malinin had just learned from Shelyokov's story what Onishchenko had done in the emergency. Even if he was at the scene, he probably couldn't have done better than him. It was just that his luck was a little bad, and he encountered a hidden enemy head-on, otherwise the three of them would not have been injured: "You have fulfilled your duties well, now go back to the ward and have a good rest, and strive to recover and be discharged as soon as possible."

Then, the door of the operating room opened again and another stretcher was pushed out.

Malinin saw that it was Major Vaseligov who was responsible for protecting Sokov. He knew him well from his time in Berlin. Seeing him lying on the flatbed, he approached and asked with concern, "Major Vaseligov, are you okay?"

"General Malinin." When Vaseligov saw Malinin in front of him, he was immediately ashamed. He said in a tearful voice: "Marshal Zhukov asked me to protect General Sokov's safety, but I failed his trust and caused General Sokov to be seriously injured..."

"Major Vaserigov, since it has already happened, it will be useless for you to blame yourself." Malinin said in a kind tone: "You should just focus on recovering from your injuries."

"But General Sokov is still in there trying to save his life." Vasherigov glanced at the closed operating room and said with a painful expression, "I wonder if his life is in danger."

"Don't worry, Major Vaseligov." Malinin restrained the smile on his face and said seriously, "I believe Misha is lucky. Nothing will happen to him this time."

After the stretcher on which Vaseligov was lying was pushed away, Malinin looked at the dean and asked, "Dean, please tell me honestly, what is the chance that the injured inside will survive?"

The dean was silent for a long time, then slowly said: "His injuries are very serious. My doctors are still trying to save him. Whether he can survive depends on his luck."

Malinin raised his hand to check the time, thinking to himself that Sokov's injury was of great importance, and he must report the matter to Marshal Zhukov as soon as possible. Judging from the current situation, the rescue will continue for some time, and even if he returns to the headquarters to make a phone call first, it will not delay things.

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly saw the head of the logistics department, Shekhovtsov, and asked, "Comrade Major, does your chief of staff know that Misha was injured?"

"Maybe I know, maybe I don't..."

"If you know, you know. If you don't know, you don't know." Malinin got angry when he heard this. "What do you mean you may know, but may not know?"

"Comrade Commander, don't be angry." Shekhovtsov said aggrievedly: "After we arrived at the hospital, I immediately contacted the army duty room and told the duty staff officer that the new commander was injured. I also asked him to contact the army chief of staff as soon as possible to inform him of the matter. But now that such a long time has passed, I am not sure whether the army chief of staff has been notified."

"Wasn't your chief of staff at the headquarters when Misha took office?" Malinin asked with a straight face.

"The chief of staff said that a large-scale military exercise will be held soon. He is worried about the situation of the troops below, so he went to inspect the troops below early this morning." Shekhovtsov explained to Malinin: "I don't know if the chief of staff has received any notice from the duty room at this moment."

"Major, I have to go back to headquarters to make an important call. You stay here, and if anything happens, call me immediately to inform me, understand?"

"I see, Comrade Commander," Shekhovtsov said, straightening his back. "If there is any new information, I will call you immediately."

After leaving the hospital, Malinin returned to his headquarters.

Malinin was having a hard time deciding whether to call Zhukov and report Sokov's injury.

He sat behind his desk, smoking one cigarette after another. After a while, he reached into the cigarette box and found nothing. He then realized that he had finished the whole box. At this moment, he made a decision in his heart that no matter how severely Zhukov would criticize him after learning about this, he should report the matter to him.

After figuring this out, he grabbed the phone, picked up the receiver, dialed a number, and heard the operator's voice. He immediately ordered: "This is Malinin, connect me to Zhukov's residence in Moscow immediately. I have important matters to report to him."

The call was answered quickly.

Zhukov's familiar voice came from the receiver: "Is this Malinin? I'm Zhukov. What urgent matter do you want to talk to me about?"

"Hello, Comrade Marshal." Malinin took a deep breath and continued, "I want to report to you about Misha."

(End of this chapter)