red moscow

Chapter 2726

As soon as they finished cleaning the horse manure in the carriage, Vlasov and his guard came back.

His driver came over and asked, "Comrade General, you are going to Moscow by train, so what should I do? Should I follow the truck team back to Nezhin?"

Vlasov then remembered that he had forgotten his driver. He thought for a moment and said, "Comrade driver, you stay here. I may need your car when I return to Kiev."

"Okay, Comrade General." The driver heard what Vlasov said and said helplessly, "Then I'll wait for you here."

After entering the carriage, Vlasov also smelled the stench inside and couldn't help frowning.

Sokov quickly explained to him: "Comrade General, this carriage provided to us by the station was originally used to transport war horses. Just now I saw that the ground was full of hay and horse manure, so I asked the soldiers to clean it up, but the smell could not be dissipated in a short time."

"It's okay." After listening to Sokov's explanation, Vlasov said generously, "It will be fine in a while."

"Comrade General," Sokov asked curiously, "what are our plans after we arrive in Moscow?"

"I just called the garrison headquarters," Vlasov said. "General Artemyev, the commander of the Moscow garrison, will send someone to pick me up at the station."

Sokov felt relieved when he learned that someone would pick him up at the station. This way, this makeshift troop would have a place to stay when it arrived in Moscow.

After eight hours of bumpy ride, the train entered Moscow.

When the soldiers got off the train and were lining up on the platform, a major and two soldiers walked over quickly.

He came to Vlasov, raised his hand to salute, and said politely: "Hello, General Vlasov, I am sent by General Artemyev, the commander of the Moscow garrison, to pick you up. The car is next to the platform, please follow me."

But Vlasov stood still and said to the major: "Comrade Major, what should we do with these soldiers who came with me?"

When the major came over, he saw troops lined up on the platform, but he didn't think much about it. He thought they were troops temporarily transferred from somewhere else. After all, such troops appeared in the train station every day.

Hearing Vlasov say this, he turned his head to look at the troops on the platform and asked in surprise: "Comrade General, are they all following you from Kiev?"

"It's a troop I temporarily recruited in Nezhin." Perhaps because he was worried that the major would look down on this troop, he emphasized, "They have achieved great results on the battlefield, so I temporarily decided to let them escort me to Moscow."

After hearing this, the major turned around and said a few words to a soldier next to him.

After the soldiers left, the major said to Vlasov: "Comrade General, I have asked someone to contact the railway station to see if they can lend us a few trucks so that these soldiers can follow us to the garrison headquarters."

A few minutes later, the soldier came back and reported to the major: "Comrade Major, the vehicle has been contacted and will arrive in a few minutes."

"Comrade General, the car has been contacted." The major said to Vlasov, "Let's go to the parking lot."

The troops arrived at the parking space next to the platform, where there were only two black cars.

The major ran to one of the black cars, opened the back door, and said to Vlasov: "Comrade General, please take this one."

"Wait a moment, Comrade Major," Vlasov said, "I'll wait until all the soldiers are on board. It won't be too late then."

Ten minutes later, the soldiers boarded the trucks that drove over and followed the car in which Vlasov was riding, heading towards the garrison headquarters.

"Sokov," Andrei asked curiously, "How do you think the garrison commander plans to arrange for us?"

Sokov looked out the window and saw many patrols along the way, some were soldiers and some were militiamen. The patrols of soldiers were usually five or six people, while the patrols of militiamen were in platoons.

"Andre, do you see those patrols on the street?"

"I see." Andre nodded and said, "The rifles those militiamen are carrying are probably antiques from World War I. They are OK for scaring criminals in the city, but if they go to the battlefield, such weapons will cause them great harm."

"Andre, I'm thinking that in order to stop the German army's advance, the Supreme Command has already sent out all the troops that should be sent. There are only a few garrison troops and some newly formed militia divisions left in the city. Let alone fighting, I'm afraid they can't even adapt to the task of patrolling in the city. So after we go to the garrison headquarters, we may be incorporated."

"Sokov, is what you said true?" Andrei asked in surprise, "Will we really be recruited by the garrison headquarters? But on the way here, didn't General Vlasov keep saying that he hoped we would serve as his guard and escort him back to Kiev after his new appointment?"

"Before coming to Moscow, I really didn't know that the situation in the city had become so bad." Sokov shook his head and said, "If the enemy rushes into the city in the future, I'm afraid it won't be the regular troops who fight them, but these improvised militias."

"Comrade Soldier," the conversation between Andrei and Sokov was overheard by the driver. When he heard Sokov say that the enemy might rush into Moscow, he couldn't help but say, "You are simply talking about defeatism."

"Defeatism?" Hearing the driver say that, Sokov was stunned. "Why do you say that?"

"Have you forgotten that the city we are in is called Moscow?" The driver said with a straight face, "Except for Napoleon, no other invader has ever entered this city. There has never been one before, and there will never be one in the future." Sokov muttered in his heart, "Didn't the descendants of Genghis Khan conquer this city? Even Kiev on the right bank of the Dnieper River was occupied."

"Although the Germans are coming aggressively, I heard that they have been stopped by the Southwestern Front in Ukraine, and Belarus has been blocked by the heroic Western Front." The driver said confidently: "I believe it won't be long before they are driven out of our land, let alone close to Moscow."

When Sokov heard this, he knew that the driver had probably never seen a real battlefield. All he knew was what he read in battle reports or heard from other people. That was why he was so blindly confident. He had just met the driver and had no interest in arguing with him. Instead, he quietly listened to him explain his views.

"Comrade Soldier," the driver continued, feeling pleased with himself that Sokov had been silenced, "the Germans could never get close to Moscow. Your assumption is totally unfounded. Your thinking is, at best, panic-stricken; at worst, defeatist. Fortunately, you said this in front of me. If the Ministry of Internal Affairs had heard you, you would have been imprisoned in the Lubyanka."

"Comrade driver, how can you say that?" Hearing the driver say that, Andrei was angry: "You can say that about others, but you can't say that about Sokov. You know, he captured a German armored column alone two days ago. If the Supreme Command knew about this achievement, maybe the Supreme Commander himself would personally award him a medal."

Unexpectedly, the driver scoffed at Andre's statement: "Come on, it's amazing that he could destroy a German tank by himself, and he also captured an armored column, which is simply a fantasy."

Seeing that Andrei was still trying to argue with the other party, Sokov raised his hand to stop him: "Andrei, stop talking. Comrade driver obviously doesn't believe that I have such ability. No matter how much you say, he will think we are bragging."

Andrei shut up. He felt that what Sokov said made sense. This driver was simply unreasonable. He was just chatting with Sokov, why did he, a driver, butt in? From the tone of his voice, it sounded as if he was from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Sokov, however, realized a serious problem from the driver's attitude. At this time, the Soviet army had not yet suffered a disastrous defeat in Kiev, and everyone did not have a clear understanding of the cruelty of the war. They thought that the situation would soon be reversed, and the arrogant German army would suffer a devastating blow and then be driven out of the country. It was precisely because of this blind optimism that people like the driver thought that it was impossible for the German army to reach the vicinity of Moscow.

The convoy arrived at the compound where the garrison headquarters was located. After the soldiers got off the vehicles, the driver drove back to the train station.

"Comrade General," Sokov came to Vlasov and asked him, "What should we do?"

"Comrade Major," Vlasov turned to the major next to him and asked, "How do you plan to deal with my men?"

The major called a captain who was in the yard and told him, "Captain, this is a company from the Southwestern Front. You are responsible for settling them in the barracks. After arranging their accommodation, take them to the restaurant for dinner. They have been traveling all day and must be starving."

The captain nodded, turned around and walked to Lieutenant Dennis, and asked, "Lieutenant, you are the company commander of this unit, right? Please bring your people with me, and I will arrange a place for you to stay."

As soon as the captain finished speaking, Vlasov, who was standing not far away, came over and said to him, "Comrade Captain, you are wrong. He is not the company commander, but the deputy company commander. The company commander of this company is someone else."

The captain glanced at the soldiers' collar badges and found that except for Lieutenant Dennis, there was no soldier wearing an officer's rank. He asked in surprise, "Who is it, Comrade General?"

"Here, it's him." Vlasov pointed at Sokov and said to the captain, "He is the commander of this company."

"What? He is the captain of this company?" The captain said in surprise, "But he has no military rank at all?"

"Although he has no military rank now, it doesn't mean he can't be a company commander." Vlasov said briefly and urged the captain: "Captain, take them to the barracks quickly."

"Comrade Captain," the captain said to Sokov respectfully, "please follow me with your company. I will arrange accommodation for you."

After his men left with Sokov's company, the major said to Vlasov, "General Vlasov, the commander must be getting impatient. Let's go over now."

In Artemyev's office, Vlasov shook hands with him and said with a smile: "Comrade Artemyev, the last time we met was before the war broke out."

"That's right." Major General Artemyev, the commander of the Moscow garrison, nodded and said, "To be precise, we met at the May Day parade this year. We had a long talk at that time and discussed whether a war would break out."

"Yes, I remember," Vlasov continued. "I said at the time that the probability of a war breaking out was very small because the Germans could not fight on two fronts at the same time. But now it seems that I underestimated the madness of the mustache. He actually dared to rashly launch an attack on our country when the war with Britain was not over yet."

"What's the situation in Kiev?" Artemyev continued to ask. "I heard that you have successfully crushed the German army's plot to occupy Kiev on the march. I believe that it won't be long before you launch a full-scale counterattack against the Germans."

"Comrade Artemyev, I think you may be disappointed." Vlasov's expression became serious: "Based on my observations and the changes in the battlefield situation, it is simply impossible to launch a comprehensive counterattack against the enemy in a very short period of time."

"Why?" Artemyev asked in surprise. "But the reports we have seen and heard say that the enemy's attack has been successfully contained by our army. There are even anti-war organizations within the German army that are unwilling to continue to participate in this unjust war. In addition, the workers in the rear military factories have begun to slow down and provide substandard ammunition to the front line."

After listening to Artemyev's story, Vlasov couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Comrade Artemyev, these are just propaganda methods to win the hearts of the army and the people. The actual situation on the battlefield is more severe than you think."

"Is the situation in Kiev really as General Zhukov said, that it is beyond redemption?" Artemyev said cautiously, "I heard that General Zhukov suggested to Comrade Stalin that according to the current situation in Kiev, it is no longer necessary to hold on, so he planned to withdraw the main force of the Southwestern Front to the vicinity of Moscow. For this reason, Comrade Stalin dismissed him from his post and appointed him as the commander of the reserve front."

"Comrade Artemyev, General Zhukov said this at the end of July, and the situation in Kiev is even more serious now than it was then." Vlasov said solemnly, "With the mechanized forces of the Southwestern Front being completely destroyed in the Battle of Uman, we no longer have enough tanks to deal with the German armored forces. We can only use infantry to fight tanks. So when facing the enemy's armored assault, our army will pay a heavy price."

As the two were talking, the phone on the table rang. Artemyev picked up the receiver and listened for a moment, then replied: "I understand. I will immediately send General Vlasov to report to the Kremlin."

After hanging up the phone, Artemyev said to Vlasov: "Vlasov, it's time for us to go to the Kremlin."

(End of this chapter)