red moscow

Chapter 2760

The communications officer quickly placed Vlasov's reply in front of Timoshenko: "Comrade Marshal, this is a telegram we just received. It has been confirmed that General Vlasov, commander of the 37th Army, is indeed following this radio."

After hearing the news, both Timoshenko and Khrushchev showed a relaxed expression on their faces. You know, since the Yagotin area was occupied by the German army, Vlasov has completely lost contact. For this reason, Stalin once called personally and asked Timoshenko to intensify the search and make sure to find Vlasov's whereabouts. Now that Vlasov is confirmed to be alive, when Stalin asks, they can report this good news to him.

After reading the telegram, Timoshenko and Khrushchev whispered to each other: "Comrade Military Commissar, do you think Vlasov will obey our orders and take the plane we send back to the headquarters of the front?"

Faced with the question raised by Timoshenko, Khrushchev thought for a while, and finally said slowly: "We can send a telegram to seek General Vlasov's opinion. If he is willing to come back by plane, it would be great; if he is not willing, it will not be too late for us to send someone to persuade him."

"Okay, let's do it." Timoshenko also made a decisive decision: "Let's ask General Vlasov for his order first."

He turned to the communications officer and said, "Comrade, send a telegram to General Vlasov and ask him to tell us where he is so that we can send a plane to pick him up." At the end, he also specifically reminded him, "Remember, be sure to ask him if he is willing to follow the plane we send back to the front headquarters."

Vlasov, who was in the Lokhvitsa Forest at this moment, received a telegram from the front headquarters. When he learned that an airplane would be sent to pick him up soon, he couldn't help but feel ecstatic.

But he quickly calmed down, knowing that even if the front headquarters sent a plane to pick them up, there would probably not be many people on the plane. And now there were hundreds of officers and soldiers here. If he abandoned them and left, they would probably feel disheartened.

Thinking of this, he called Colonel Del and Nikolsky to him and said to them, "Comrade Chief of Staff, Military Commissioner, Marshal Timoshenko, the new commander of the Southwestern Front, sent me a telegram saying that he would send a plane to pick me up. But I think the plane can only carry a limited number of people, and it certainly cannot take everyone away. If I abandon my subordinates at this time, I am afraid it will make them feel disappointed. Tell me, what should I do?"

"This is indeed difficult, Comrade Commander." Nikolsky said with a serious expression, "Although your safety is very important, if we abandon the troops and run away at this time, the soldiers will definitely think we are afraid of death; but it is obviously impossible to take everyone away."

Colonel Del scratched the back of his head and said, "Comrade Commander, the front headquarters is asking for your opinion. We have no objection to what you want to do."

Vlasov looked at his two deputies and fell into deep thought.

Yes, if he took the plane sent by Timoshenko and left here, he would be out of danger, but how would the soldiers see him? Especially how would Sokov and others who rescued him from Kiev see him?
Seeing that Vlasov was slow to speak, Nikolsky gave him a suggestion: "Comrade Commander, how about you call Captain Sokov over and ask his opinion?"

Colonel Del asked in confusion: "What do you want him to do?"

Nikolsky said: "It was he who rescued the commander and you from Kiev. I think he is different. Facing the difficult choices now, he may be able to give you some good advice."

Vlasov also followed suit and quickly called over a nearby soldier and told him, "Comrade soldier, please call Captain Sokov over."

Sokov was sitting under a big tree a few dozen meters away, chatting with Konstantin, Chulsin, Zub and others. When he heard the soldier say that Vlasov wanted to see him, he quickly got up and followed the soldier to see Vlasov.

"Comrade Commander." Vlasov quickly came to Vlasov, raised his hand to salute, and asked politely: "I wonder what you want to talk to me about?"

"Captain Sokov, take a look at this." Vlasov handed the telegram in his hand to Sokov: "This is a telegram sent by the front headquarters."

Sokov took the telegram and quickly read the contents. When he saw that Timoshenko was planning to send a plane to pick up Vlasov, he immediately raised his head and said, "Comrade Commander, this is really an exciting telegram. If you take the plane sent by the front headquarters, you can jump out of the enemy's encirclement at the fastest speed."

Vlasov raised his eyebrows, thinking that Sokov had not read the contents of the telegram clearly, and emphasized: "Captain Sokov, you should know that even if the front headquarters sends a plane to pick me up, the number of passengers that can be accommodated will not be too large, and it is impossible to take away all the people here."

"Comrade Commander, I can see the contents of the telegram very clearly." Sokov was secretly delighted. This was the best opportunity to get rid of Vlasov. He could take his troops and seek refuge with other important figures. He quickly said, "You are all army group leaders. If you fall into the hands of the Germans, they will use it for propaganda and thus undermine the morale of our army. Therefore, the best way is for you all to take a plane and leave this dangerous place as soon as possible."

"But what about you?" He still had many concerns in his heart about letting Vlasov abandon his troops and leave alone. He was worried that it would disappoint the soldiers, but this was just a polite remark. What he was really worried about was that if Stalin saw him abandoning his troops and escaping the encirclement alone, would he be furious and let him follow in the footsteps of General Pavlov?
"Don't worry." Sokov said with a smile, "After you leave, we won't have to allocate personnel to protect your safety. Even if we unfortunately encounter the enemy, I can put all the personnel into battle."

After Sokov finished speaking, Vlasov was still thinking, and Colonel Del said first: "Comrade Commander, I think Captain Sokov is right. We are now a burden in the army. Without us, they will be able to act more freely."

Nikolsky also echoed: "Comrade Commander, we should immediately send a telegram back to the front headquarters, saying that we agree with their arrangement and ask them to send a plane to pick us up as soon as possible."

"Chief of Staff, Military Commissar, things are not as simple as you think." But Vlasov shook his head and said, "We don't even know our exact location. Even if we ask the front headquarters to send a plane to pick us up, how can the pilot find us?"

Vlasov's words made Colonel Del and Nikolsky look embarrassed: "Yeah, we don't even know where we are, how can we get a plane to pick us up?"

Seeing the three men were silent, Sokov was worried that his plan would fail, so he quickly said, "Don't worry, three leaders. We can send a telegram back to the front headquarters, tell them the approximate area we are in, and then arrange a suitable rendezvous point. Isn't that enough?"

Colonel Del thought what Sokov said made a lot of sense, so he said to Vlasov: "Comrade Commander, what do you think?"

Vlasov looked at Sokov for a while, then nodded and said, "Just do as Captain Sokov said, call the front headquarters back and ask them to arrange a meeting place for us, and we will rush there as quickly as possible."

In this way, a telegram drafted according to Sokov's proposal was sent to the front headquarters.

Ten minutes later, the call came back.

The content of the telegram was simple: the pick-up plane will land in the forest two kilometers west of Romny, and you must arrive within three hours!

"Comrade Commander, the plane that will pick us up is in the forest two kilometers west of Romny." After reading the telegram, Colonel Del urged Vlasov: "We must set off quickly, otherwise we will not be able to reach the designated pick-up location within three hours."

Vlasov did not give the order immediately, but looked at Sokov and asked: "Captain Sokov, can we set off immediately?" "No problem, Comrade Commander." Sokov answered without hesitation: "There are no wounded in the troops, we can set off at any time."

"Then let's go," Vlasov said. "Let the soldiers who are familiar with the terrain lead the way. We must reach the designated meeting point within the specified time."

A few minutes later, Sokov gathered his troops and set off.

Constantine also asked curiously: "Comrade Captain, where are we going?"

"To Romny!" Sokov said briefly, "We have people there."

"Is Romney still in the hands of our army?" Constantine asked in surprise.

"Uh, I didn't express it correctly." Sokov quickly explained, "We are going to the forest two kilometers west of Romny. We have people there."

On the way to the rendezvous point, Sokov was still a little nervous. Because the forest was so large, it might not be easy to find a clearing in the forest for the pilot to park the plane. He might waste a lot of time.

Fortunately, we were lucky and did not encounter any German troops along the way. We successfully arrived at the forest west of Romny.

After entering the forest, Colonel Del became a little uneasy. He looked up into the sky from time to time, muttering, "Is the plane coming or not?"

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"Let's find a clearing in the woods first." Vlasov hesitated for a moment and made a decision: "Then send a telegram to the front headquarters to ask whether the plane has reached the designated location."

"That's fine, just do it."

It took another ten minutes to find a clearing in the woods that was large enough for the transport plane to take off and land normally.

Colonel Del asked the communications staff to send a telegram to the front headquarters, telling them that Vlasov and others had arrived in the forest two kilometers west of Romny, and asking whether they had sent a plane to pick them up.

After two rounds of telegram exchanges, the two sides agreed on a meeting point. Del wiped the sweat from his forehead, walked up to Vlasov and said to him: "Comrade Commander, the front headquarters called back and said that the plane that will pick us up will arrive in about 40 minutes. We are asked to light three fires near the landing site to guide the plane to land."

"Captain Sokov," Vlasov quickly gave Sokov an order, "Immediately have someone set up three firewood piles in the clearing in the forest. If you see a plane in the sky, light them immediately and guide the plane to land."

"Okay, Comrade Commander, I'll arrange it right away."

"Captain, hurry up." Colonel Del reminded Sokov: "The plane will arrive in about forty minutes."

Sokov went back quickly to gather people, picked up dry firewood from the forest, piled it in the open space in the forest, and was ready to light it immediately when the pick-up plane arrived.

Half an hour later, three piles of firewood were piled up in the clearing in the forest. Sokov arranged two soldiers next to each pile of firewood, asking them to light the piles immediately when they saw a plane appearing in the sky, and guide the plane to land safely.

A few minutes later, the roar of an airplane was heard in the air.

Hearing this sound, Colonel Del said to Vlasov excitedly: "Comrade Commander, did you hear that? The plane that will pick us up is here!"

Without waiting for Vlasov to speak, he shouted at Sokov: "Captain Sokov, what are you still standing there for? Hurry up and have your men light the firewood pile."

Since it was an order from Colonel Del, Sokov would naturally not be vague. He quickly signaled the soldiers standing next to the firewood pile, asking them to light it so that the planes in the sky could find the landing site on the ground.

Unexpectedly, just as the three fires were lit, a plane appeared over the forest.

After seeing the shape of the plane clearly, Sokov was shocked. It was not a Soviet plane, but a German reconnaissance plane called "Frame". He shouted loudly: "Hurry up, put out the fire, put out the fire, put out the fire!"

The soldiers who heard his shouts hurriedly pulled out the unburned wood and tried to put out the fire quickly. But a lit fire was not easy to put out, and the smoke produced by the fire extinguishing rolled up into the air.

A German reconnaissance plane was passing by here and suddenly discovered a fire on the ground. Realizing that something was wrong, it immediately turned around and circled over the clearing in the forest, trying to see clearly whether there were any Soviet troops on the ground.

"It's over, it's over." Seeing this situation, Colonel Del couldn't help but feel hopeless. His small unit's whereabouts were discovered by the German reconnaissance plane, and then there would be a group of bombers, and maybe the ground troops would also search for this location, and the situation would be even more unfavorable to him. He asked Vlasov in a panic: "Comrade Commander, what should we do?"

"What else can we do?" Vlasov said with a stern face, "If we continue to stay here, we will become a target for German bombers. We must move immediately."

"But we have already made an appointment with the front headquarters to send a plane to pick us up here." Colonel Del quickly pulled Vlasov aside and reminded him, "If we leave, then the plane that comes to pick us up will be empty-handed, right?"

"We have been exposed. Move immediately." Vlasov said without hesitation: "Even if the rescue plane arrives, do you think an unarmed plane can escape the hunting of German fighter planes?"

(End of this chapter)