Struggle in Soviet Russia

White smoke billowed, and the red banner "Fight for Motherland" hung from the front of the train, galloping on the railway from Yelnya to Smolensk. There are 12 levels of carriages in the whole train. Every two carriages, there is a small anti-aircraft position surrounded by sandbags on the roof. The 37mm anti-aircraft gun with the wheels removed is welded on the reinforced roof to protect it. The safety of the train.

Victor’s carriage was the last carriage of the entire train. At this time, war resources were scarce and he could no longer get a dedicated carriage. Therefore, there were many people in this carriage, including Sergey A staff team led by Lieutenant Colonel Pavlovich Tarasov, just this staff team mainly assigned by the Western Front Army Cadre Management Office, has 15 people. In addition, in this carriage, there are also the commander of the 5th Mechanized Army Aleksenko and his staff.

The carriage seemed a little noisy. The staff officers, including Alekshchenko, had been studying the fighting situation in the direction of Smolensk. In this direction, the 20th Army under the command of Kurochkin and The 19th Army, commanded by Konev, is fighting fierce battles with the German mechanized 39th Army and 47th Army and the 5th, 8th, and 9th Infantry Army. The disparity in the forces between the enemy and ours, coupled with the lack of any air supremacy, and the indiscriminate bombing of the heads by the Germans, the fighting of the two armies was very difficult, especially in the direction of Orsha where Kurochkin was located. The damage was serious, and the loss was in danger of being encircled by the Germans.

In the direction of Vitebsk, although Konev's 19th Army fought vigorously and even launched several counter-assaults to try to recapture Vitebsk, it was also unsuccessful and the troop losses were equally serious.

The staff’s opinion is that Smolensk is already unlikely to hold. Considering that the defense lines on the left and right wings are all in danger, the safe way is to withdraw the troops and build a line from Yarzevo to Yelnya. New defensive positions to prevent further German assaults on Lezhev from the left.

The staff members are more concerned about the actual situation on the battlefield. What they have to do is to plan the next battle plan according to the development of the war. These plans and the orders issued by Moscow are often at odds, sometimes even serious. Disagreement. Just like in dealing with the defensive war in Smolensk, Moscow's order requires the Western Front to stand firm, and must not pass this gateway to Moscow into the hands of the Germans.

This kind of divergence is very normal. It belongs to the difference between strategic thinking and combat thinking. You must never easily draw conclusions about who is right and who is wrong.

However, due to the large gap in opinions between each other and the decision-making of the staff can not affect the orders of the base camp, the staff who know more about the frontline war situation will inevitably have some grievances and complaints when discussing the frontline war. come out.

In the past, the military commissioner was responsible for situations like this. If someone said too blatantly, it would attract criticism from the military commissioner. But the problem now is that there is no military commissioner in this carriage, but one wears a blue hat. Representative of the People’s Committee of the Interior.

Yes, as a senior in the military, many people now know the existence of Order No. 53 and also know that the NKVD has quickly established a representative system in the newly formed armies. They know some internal affairs representatives who have disclosed their identities, such as the "blue hat" sitting in the corner of the carriage at the moment, and the female medical soldier who is always sitting opposite him, but as for the next level of troops, especially It is among ordinary soldiers, who is the eyeliner of the NKVD, they have no way of knowing.

The "blue hat" in the car is naturally Victor. He is sitting on a seat close to the back door, with the window on his left. The sun shines in from the window and casts on his side face, making his half of his face appear. A faint golden yellow.

When many staff members began to criticize the command of the base camp again, Lieutenant Colonel Tarasov rubbed his temple helplessly. He glanced at Aleksenko who was sitting not far away, but saw the major general The sketches on a small map in his hand seem to be unheard of what is happening around him.

Lieutenant Colonel Tarasov knew what the blue-hat young man did and knew his identity. Before that, he had also reminded many staff officers who were accompanying him to pay attention to his words and deeds, but such reminders obviously did not serve too much. Multi-effects.

The once-horrifying purge only left not long ago. Although the NKVD was not the initiator of the disaster, it was a loyal executor. Now, the NKVD has begun to establish a representative system in the army. God knows What is their purpose, and what kind of situation will emerge.

Since getting on the car, Tarasov has been paying attention to the blue-hat young man. He seems to be a little taciturn. From getting on the car until now, except for the two words he said during the initial introduction of himself, he has not been on the road. If you speak again, it is easy to think of him as a gloomy person with a performance like this. Of course, in most people's minds, the people in the NKVD are basically guys with gloomy characters.

Of course, the most unpleasant thing is that when the people here are talking enthusiastically, the guy sits in his seat, and there is a crusty little book on the table in front of him, following the people here. , He kept writing and drawing on that little book, as if he was... making notes.

Staring at the "blue hat", Tarasov was thinking about whether he should go over and take a look, at least to get a glimpse of what he recorded in that notebook, oh, don’t be the complaints that came out of everyone’s mouth. if not......

Still thinking about this, Tarasov saw the young man raise his head and glanced at him. There was a smile on that handsome face, and he nodded slightly, as if saying hello. Same.

Taking this opportunity, Tarasov stood up and walked towards the place where the young man was sitting. He remembered that the young man was named Viktor Viktorovich. Therefore, after reaching the young man, he laughed and said: " Comrade Major Victor Victorovich, can I sit here for a while?"

"Of course," Victor moved into his seat and smiled. "You can call me Victor, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel Sergey."

"Well, you..." Tarasov had just said this when a harsh siren suddenly sounded in the carriage. Immediately afterwards, the body of the train trembles violently, and the speed of travel is rapidly reduced. Even in the harsh sirens, it seems that the sound of friction between the wheels and the rail can be heard.

"Evacuate immediately!" Tarasov's heart shuddered, but before he could speak, Victor in front of him had already stood up suddenly, greeted loudly, and rushed over, slamming the back door of the carriage.

The huge inertia pushed the train to move forward, the sound of "hissing" came from under the body, and the roar of the aircraft motor could be heard from time to time-air raid, the first air raid the train encountered after passing through Yelnya , It seems to indicate that the war is not far ahead.

Among the people in the carriage, except for Aleksenko and several of his staff officers, no one has experienced a real war. No matter how enthusiastic these staff officers discussed on the battle map, they faced a real air strike for the first time. , Panic is unavoidable.

"Don't mess up, get off the train one by one," Victor shouted at the doorway. The train hadn't stopped at this time, but was still rushing forward according to its inertia. If he jumped off the train at this time, he would be easily injured.

Victor has experienced war and knows how crazy people can be in order to escape in the face of war. Therefore, at this time, it is very important to keep everyone in the car calm.

"Everyone, keep calm and don't forget, you are all soldiers!" Major General Aleksenko stood up during the noise, he stretched out his hand and patted the table in front of him, and said in a serious tone.

With the reprimand of the major general, the carriage finally became quiet, and at this time, the train finally stopped in a tremor. Victor first exited the car door with Nino who was next to him, and then stood at the door to organize the people to get off the car in an orderly manner. Now, every second is precious, because the whole process from the discovery of a German fighter plane by the air defenses on the roof to the attack on the train by the German fighter plane takes at most two to three minutes. If the German fighter plane carries a bomb at this moment, So staying in the car is extremely dangerous. In other words, the evacuation work must be completed within two to three minutes, otherwise everyone is at risk.

Fortunately, when the last person in the carriage left and Victor jumped onto the roadbed, the German aircraft had not yet launched an attack, but the anti-aircraft guns in front of the car had already started firing. The sound of gunfire shook people's hearts trembling.

People who have not experienced the war do not know how to avoid air raids. Some people get out of the car and lie directly on the roadbed. What is even more outrageous is that some people try to drill under the carriage, which means that hiding under the train will make it even more difficult. Safety.

Victor jumped out of the car, grabbed a guy trying to get under the car, pulled him by the collar and threw him under the roadbed, while shouting loudly: "Stay away from the train, go into the woods, all leave the train. , Go hide in the woods!"

"boom!"

A huge roar came from the front of the train. At the same time, the muffled sound of machine gun fire began to echo above the jungle, and the German plane finally launched an attack.

At this time, the scene became more chaotic. Not only the inexperienced staff, but also the soldiers who ran out of the front carriage, were running around aimlessly.