"Comrade General," Belkin said with a smile on his face: "We marched here from Kursk on foot. Since the road is not easy to walk, we inevitably spent a lot of time on the road."
After Kazakov asked the two of them to sit down, he walked back and forth in the room and said: "Two comrades, commanders, the situation is really unlucky. The convoy that was originally going to transport you back to Moscow has now left Ye Lietz. If you want to follow the order and return to Moscow, you will have to continue marching on foot."
"What, marching on foot?" Sokov suddenly jumped up from his seat when he heard what Kazakov said: "Comrade General, don't you know that it is more than 500 kilometers from here to Moscow. If we march on foot, If so, it will take us at least ten days to get to Moscow."
"Comrade Brigadier, please sit down first." Belgin, perhaps worried that Sokov would be impulsive, drew his gun and pointed it at Kazakov, and quickly pulled him to sit down again. Then, Kazakov tentatively asked: "Comrade General, is there really no other way?"
Sokov just drew his gun outside and pointed it at the lieutenant colonel on duty. It was not impulsive, but after careful consideration. Because he knew very well in his heart that if he had not done so at that time, there would be no chance of meeting Kazakov. As for repeating his old tricks and threatening Kazakov with a gun, he had never even thought about it. Just kidding, is pointing a gun at a lieutenant colonel comparable to aiming at a lieutenant general? If he does this again in the house, he will be tried by a military court. Even if Rokossovsky comes forward, he will not be able to protect himself.
But the thought of having the troops walk more than 500 kilometers to Moscow in such a hot season made Sokov feel particularly uncomfortable. If we swallow our anger this time and let the troops march to Moscow on foot; then after arriving in Moscow, if the superiors cannot provide wagons for the troops, will they have to walk to Kazan again? When there is no transport fleet in Kazan, will the troops still have to walk to Stalingrad? When your troops complete the nearly two thousand kilometers and arrive at Stalingrad, they will be in the midst of the most intense days of the fighting. The exhausted commanders and soldiers will rush into battle and can only become cannon fodder. In order to avoid this tragedy from happening, Sokov decided that no matter what, Kazakov would have to find a way for himself today to solve the troop transportation problem.
After listening to Belkin's question, Kazakov shook his head and said awkwardly: "Comrade deputy battalion political commissar, this is not easy to handle. All the trucks have driven away. I will definitely not be able to do it in a short time." You provide transportation. To return to Moscow, perhaps a foot march is your only option."
After receiving Kazakov's affirmative answer, Belkin's face was filled with disappointment. He looked at Sokov and asked: "Comrade Brigadier, what should we do? Do we really have to walk for ten days to return to Moscow?"
"Comrade Political Commissar, after two and a half days of forced march, the officers and soldiers are very tired. If we have to walk more than 500 kilometers, there will definitely be a large number of non-combat attrition." Sokov finished speaking to Belkin. After speaking, he looked at Kazakov again and asked: "Comrade General, if I am not mistaken, Yelets should be an important transportation hub, right?"
"Yes, this is indeed an important transportation hub," Kazakov nodded and replied: "Our army's military supplies are first transported here and then transferred to other areas..."
"Comrade General, since it is an important transportation hub." Sokov said before Kazakov could finish: "In addition to road transportation, railway transportation should also be very developed. Now our brigade has to return by car. Moscow, obviously there is no chance, I wonder if you can arrange military columns for us to send us back to Moscow?"
Belkin's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard what Sokov said, and he said to himself: "Yes, although the convoy has already left, we can still take the military train back to Moscow, which will only take a few hours. "With this thought in mind, he stared at Kazakov intently, waiting impatiently for his answer.
Kazakov stood there and thought for a moment, then turned and walked to his desk, picked up the phone, dialed a number, and said into the phone: "I am Kazakov, pick me up at the station immediately and find the military representative. "
When the military representative answered the phone, Kazakov raised his voice and asked: "Comrade military representative, tell me, are there any empty trains returning to Moscow?... When will the train leave?" Kazakov turned his head and asked in a low voice. Sokov, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, where are your troops?"
Although Sokov did not hear the answer from the military representative at the station, he guessed that the departure time of the military train was coming. As soon as he heard Kazakov and other questions, he immediately replied: "Our troops are currently approaching the headquarters. A street of places on standby.”
"Very good." After Kazakov said this, he said into the microphone: "Comrade military representatives, I order you to postpone the departure for half an hour. An infantry brigade will take the military train to Moscow to report... What, You don’t have the right to change the train’s departure time?… Although you don’t have the right, I think as the garrison commander, I should have this right.… That’s it, when the infantry brigade arrives, when can it leave!”
When Kazakov got angry at the station army representative, Sokov and Belkin couldn't help but smile, because this way, the troops would not have to walk to Moscow.
After Kazakov made the call, he turned to Sokov and Belkin and said: "Two comrades, commanders, according to the dispatch plan, the military train returning to Moscow should leave in ten minutes. I have asked the military representative to postpone it. At the departure time, you should rush there with your troops immediately."
After expressing their gratitude to Kazakov, Sokov and Belkin left the garrison headquarters and hurried back to the place where the troops rested. After learning the location of the station from a patrol, the infantry brigade drove toward the station in a mighty manner.
Sokov originally thought that when his troops arrived at the station, the station commander and military representatives would come out to greet him. But when he arrived at the station, he found that he had thought too much. Military trains continued to drive into the station and parked on the platform. Not long after, with the whistle blowing, military trains loaded with technical equipment and soldiers headed towards the real front line; there were also some trains carrying the wounded. , after returning from the front line, slowly stopped on the platform. As soon as the car stopped, the medical staff waiting here opened the carriage and carried the seriously injured person lying on the stretcher into the carriage.
Seeing the endless scene on the platform, Sokov seemed a little confused. He stopped an officer passing in front of him and asked loudly: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, do you know where the station commander's office is?"
Unexpectedly, after the officer heard this, he waved his hand to Sokov and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, my unit only stopped here temporarily, and I don't know where the station commander's office is!"
Sokov asked several people in succession, but no one knew where the stationmaster's office he was looking for was. Fortunately, Belgin was smart and stopped a middle-aged man in a railway worker's uniform before asking where the stationmaster's office was.
There were soldiers everywhere on the platform. Officers were shouting loudly. The soldiers who heard their orders hurried to the designated gathering place. Sokov and Belkin squeezed through the crowd, and finally came to the door with the sign "Station Master's Room". After identifying themselves to the sentry on guard, they walked into the station master's room.
As soon as he entered the spacious stationmaster's office, Sokov felt like he was in a vegetable market. Countless people were holding phones and shouting into the phone. Sokov's eyes quickly swept across the room, and he found that most of the people were wearing the uniforms of railway employees, with only a few people wearing military uniforms, but these people had low military ranks and were obviously not the people he was looking for. After scanning the room twice, his eyes finally landed on an officer in the corner. The officer who was making the call wore the rank of captain. According to Sokov's analysis, he should be the military representative he was looking for.
Sokov winked at Belkin and walked quickly towards the captain. The captain who was on the phone felt someone walking in front of him and looked up at them. After seeing the ranks of the two men clearly, the captain said a few words quickly, put down the phone, looked at Sokov and asked: "Are you the commander of the infantry brigade?"
"Yes, I am Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, and this is my political commissar Belkin." Sokov replied: "We are here to take the bus back to Moscow."
Unexpectedly, after he finished speaking, the captain gave a faint hum, and then asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, how many people are there in your brigade?"
"There are almost five thousand people." Seeing that the captain looked lukewarm, Sokov withdrew his outstretched hand and replied dryly: "There are no heavy weapons."
"What, you have almost five thousand people?" The captain was stunned by Sokov's words. He looked at Sokov and asked in surprise: "Aren't you an infantry brigade? Why are you about the same number as an infantry division?"
Sokov was in a hurry to get the troops on board, and did not explain in detail to the other party. He just said briefly: "Our brigade was formed under the order of the Supreme Commander himself, so the organization is different from other troops. Comrade Captain, Wonder where we will board the train?”
"The military train you are traveling on is parked at platform five. I will send someone to take you there right now..." Before the captain could finish his words, he changed his words and said, "Forget it, I'll take you there myself. Please wait for me. In a moment, I’ll tell you something and take you there.”
While the captain was explaining the matter to his subordinates, Belkin leaned close to Sokov's ear and whispered: "Comrade Brigadier, I wonder if you have noticed that this military representative originally did not want to take us to Platform No. 5. . But when I heard that our army was personally organized by the Supreme Commander himself, my attitude changed."
Before Sokov could speak, the captain who had finished explaining his work had returned to the two of them and said respectfully: "Two comrades, commanders, let's go to platform No. 5 now. By the way, your troops are now at Where?"
"Outside the station," Sokov replied shortly.
"I understand, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel. I will immediately arrange for someone to take them to Platform 5." The captain said with a smile: "Now, please two commanders, follow me."
I followed the captain to platform No. 5. Compared with the place just now, it seemed much deserted. The captain explained to the two of them with a smile: "This military train is delivering ammunition to the front line. It was supposed to leave ten minutes ago and return to Moscow. But since General Kazakov personally greeted him, the departure time has been postponed. After you board the train. But two commanders, comrades, please move quickly. The train is delayed within an hour, and it will not have much impact. But if the delay is too long, it will affect the overall transportation. Scheduling work, I hope you can understand."
"Understood, understood. I completely understand." As soon as the captain finished speaking, Belkin nodded and said, "We will board the train as soon as possible."
Sokov suddenly remembered a later joke in his mind, saying that no matter how late the Aeroflot plane took off, it would always arrive on time. I wonder if this military train will leave one hour later, can it still arrive in Moscow on time?
When the troops began to board the train, the station army representative said apologetically to Sokov and Belkin: "Comrades, two commanders, according to the usual practice, a special box should be prepared for you. But I didn't expect that a brigade of yours would actually There were so many people that we transferred a few more wagons from other places to fit everyone in. So..."
"Comrade Captain, you don't need to say anything." Before the military representative could finish his words, Sokov raised his hand and interrupted him: "We all understand your difficulties. Since the carriage is so tight, a special box There’s no need, we’ll just be crowded in the same compartment as the soldiers.”
The captain originally thought that he would be scolded if he could not provide a separate carriage for Sokov and the others, but he did not expect that the two of them were so easy to talk to, which surprised him. The captain turned around and waved to a subordinate not far away. When the other person came to his side, he leaned close to the other person's ear and whispered a few words. The subordinate nodded, turned and left.
The scene of the captain chatting privately with his subordinates happened to be seen by Sokov, but he did not pay attention. His main attention was still focused on the commanders and soldiers who were boarding the train. He thought to himself: It takes almost a day and night to get to Moscow from here. At that time, the soldiers could sleep in the car until dawn.
At this moment, the captain's subordinates ran back from a short distance away, holding a paper bag in their hands. It was bulging and it was unknown what was inside. The captain took the paper bag from his subordinate, handed it to Sokov, and said with a smile: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, this is a little bit of my kindness. Please accept it."
Belkin took the paper bag and glanced inside. Seeing that there were more than a dozen apples in the paper bag, he said politely: "Comrade Captain, you arranged the military queue for us. We haven't had time to express our gratitude to you. Why?" I can still accept your gift. Please take it back."
Just when Belkin was about to hand the paper bag back to the captain, Sokov on the side reached out to take the paper bag and said to the captain with a smile: "Comrade Captain, since you are so enthusiastic, I will accept your gift." !”
