Antonov said that he had heard of Sokov a long time ago, which was not a polite statement. Sokov led his troops to sneak attack on Kursk, which made him amazed. Although this battle was very tricky, it greatly changed the situation between the enemy and ourselves south of Moscow, allowing the Soviet army to gain a crucial protrusion on the German defense line. When conditions were ripe, it would A comprehensive counterattack against the Germans could be launched from here.
It was precisely because he wanted to meet this legendary lieutenant colonel that when he heard that Vasilevsky was going to send someone to the station, he volunteered and accepted the task. After greeting Sokov, Antonov ordered the officer following him: "Go and find the station commander and the military representative."
"Comrade General," seeing the officer turn around and leave, Sokov quickly stopped him and said to Antonov with some embarrassment: "The station commander and the military representative are not here, and the person in charge is a deputy station commander. "
"Then go find the deputy station commander." Antonov ordered the officer: "Let him move quickly."
Not long after, the officer came to the office with the deputy station chief. Seeing Sokov and Belkin standing next to Antonov, the muscles on the deputy stationmaster's face twitched involuntarily. He came to Antonov and asked respectfully: "Comrade General, are you looking for me?"
Antonov looked at the other party and asked: "Comrade Deputy Station Commander, this is Antonov, Deputy Director of the Operations Department of the General Staff. Didn't the General Staff inform you some time ago that the 73rd Infantry Brigade will take a train to Kazan in the near future? , asking you to arrange the train in advance. Why are you notifying them now and having to wait for a month and a half? "
Hearing Antonov's question, the deputy station commander suddenly sweated. He raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and replied nervously: "Comrade General, I don't know about this matter. The arrangement of military ranks has always been made by The comrade station chief is responsible."
"Where is the station chief?" Antonov was obviously dissatisfied with the deputy station chief's answer. He frowned and asked, "Also, where did the military representative go?"
"They went to the city for a meeting!" the deputy station director replied.
"When can you come back?"
The deputy station director raised his hand to look at his watch and said cautiously: "I'll give them a call and ask them when they can come back." After seeing Antonov nodding in approval, he turned around and prepared to walk outside.
"Stop!" Antonov stopped him, pointed to the phone on the table, and said in a commanding tone: "Call right here!"
The deputy station director did not dare to disobey Antonov's order, so he could only walk to the table, pick up the phone, and after dialing the number cautiously, he said into the phone: "I am the deputy station director. Please call me." Mosikin, I have something important to report to him." After a while, Sokov heard an old voice coming from the receiver, "Comrade Deputy Station Chief, I am Mosikin, what happened? Are you so anxious to find me?"
The deputy station commander quickly glanced at Antonov sitting next to him, and said in a panic: "Comrade station commander, General Antonov of the General Staff is in the duty room of the station. He has important matters to discuss with you. You It’s better to come back soon.”
"Damn it, my meeting hasn't ended yet... What, what did you say? Comrades of the General Staff... Just ask them to wait for a while, and I'll rush back immediately." After Semoshkin finished saying this, he didn't wait. The deputy webmaster said nothing more and hung up the phone.
The deputy station director put down the phone, raised his hand again to wipe the sweat on his head, and said with a smile: "Comrade General, the station director will be back soon. Please wait here for a moment."
"Comrade Deputy Station Master, you should go and do your work first." Antonov knew that the station was busy with work every day. If the Deputy Station Master was kept here all the time, it would definitely affect the normal work. Anyway, after a while, The stationmaster was about to come back, so he waved his hand to the deputy stationmaster, "When Comrade Stationmaster comes back later, ask him to come here to find me."
After the deputy station commander left, Antonov also sent his subordinates out. When he saw that he and Sokov were the only two people left in the room, he said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Comrade Sokov." "It was our negligence in work that caused this to happen. On behalf of the comrades at the station, I apologize to you." After saying that, he stood up and saluted the two of them to apologize.
"Comrade General, how can I blame you for this? There is clearly something wrong with the station." Seeing Antonov apologizing to both of them, Belkin quickly winked at Sokov: "You think so? , Comrade Brigadier?"
Hearing what Belkin said, Sokov quickly echoed: "Yes, Comrade General, this is all the fault of the station and has nothing to do with you."
Antonov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, then smiled faintly, and then said: "This time the base camp will send you to Stalingrad for rest and recuperation. Logically speaking, even if you stay overnight for two days, it doesn't matter. But this The deputy station commander went too far and actually arranged the military train to transport you one and a half months later..."
"Comrade General," the speaker was unintentional but the listener was interested. Hearing this, Sokov rashly interrupted Antonov's words: "Do you really think that our brigade arrived in Stalingrad just to rest and recuperate?"
Antonov was stunned by Sokov's words. He looked at Sokov and asked in confusion: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I don't understand, why do you say that? You know, you were transferred to Stalingrad to rest, but The decision was taken by the High Command.”
"Comrade General," Sokov rarely had the opportunity to communicate with senior officers. Since he met it today, Aite would not let this opportunity pass easily: "I want to ask you, do you think the Germans will attack Stalin?" Gullah?"
The room suddenly became quiet, and none of the three people spoke. Antonov and Belkin began to consider the questions raised by Sokov. After a long time, Antonov coughed lightly, breaking the silence in the room. He said softly: "Judging from various signs, the Germans did show signs of attacking Stalingrad, but they did so. , just to divert our attention. Their real target is oil from Moscow and the Caucasus."
"Comrade General, what if I tell you that the real goal of the Germans is to seize Stalingrad in order to obtain food and oil from the south of our country, and at the same time encircle Moscow." In order not to frighten Antonov, Sokov said To put it politely: "Would you believe it?"
Hearing what Sokov said, Antonov couldn't help laughing: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I want to ask you, if the Germans are really as you guessed, the next target of the German attack will be Stalin. Grad, then why do they still stand still with their Army Group Center near Moscow? You know, they are seventy elite divisions armed to the teeth. If they really join the southern front, with the current strength of our army, , can’t stop them at all.”
Belkin was deeply afraid that Sokov would say something outrageous to Antonov, so he quickly and quietly pulled the corner of his clothes to hint that he should not act impulsively. Sokov nodded with understanding, and then said to Antonov: "Comrade General, according to my analysis, the seventy divisions deployed by the Germans near Moscow are just to create a wrong situation for us, thinking that they are going to The target of an attack is Moscow, not elsewhere."
"Okay, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you don't need to say anything." Antonov knew that Sokov's father, more than a dozen big guys in the army, and the supreme commander himself were once comrades-in-arms. In addition, he himself He did have some abilities. I was originally very optimistic about him, but now I heard his alarmist talk, my impression of him was inevitably reduced. He said with a straight face and some impatience: "Where to deploy defenses is something that the Supreme Command and the General Staff should consider, and you only need to obey the orders of your superiors."
After saying these few words, Antonov closed his eyes, leaned back on the chair and closed his eyes to rest. Seeing that Antonov stopped talking, Sokov could only remain silent in this situation, even though he had a thousand words in his heart. But he was not angry with Antonov because of this. He was thinking in his mind: If I were in a different place with him and heard a mid-level officer questioning the judgment of the Supreme Command, how would I react?
The awkward atmosphere in the room did not last long before an old man in his fifties, with gray hair and wearing military uniform, hurried in from outside. Seeing Antonov sitting in the room, he asked tentatively: "Is this General Antonov from the General Staff?" After receiving an affirmative answer, he introduced himself and said, "I am the station commander Sergei. Moxijin, I’m sorry, I went to the city for a meeting today and didn’t come back until now, so I kept you waiting.”
Antonov stood up and shook hands with Semosygin, and then said: "Comrade Station Commander, the situation is like this. Our comrades from the General Staff also called you a few days ago and said that the 73rd Infantry Brigade was going to Kazan , let you arrange a military parade."
"That's right, that's what happened." Semoshikin nodded and said, "I personally answered the call at that time. After answering the call, I specially arranged a military column for them."
Antonov was very surprised to hear Semoshikin say this. He turned to look at Sokov and Belkin standing behind him, and asked in surprise: "But your deputy station director just said that the recent The military queue is already full, and if the troops want to go to Kazan, they will have to wait at least a month and a half."
"Comrade General, since I am in charge of this matter, he may not know much about the situation." Perhaps in order to prevent the family scandal from being publicized, Semoshkin took the responsibility on himself. He smiled at Antonov and said, Said: "I will check now what time is the military queue arranged for them."
Semoshkin said, walked to the wall, took off the schedule book hanging on the wall, put on his reading glasses and looked at it carefully. After looking at it for a while, he put down the dispatch book in his hand and said to Antonov with a smile: "Comrade General, we have found it. The military column arranged for the 73rd Infantry Brigade is to set off at 6:15 tomorrow morning. Troops can board the train at platform nine when they arrive."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you heard everything, right?" After finishing speaking, he turned to look at Sokov behind him and said to him expressionlessly: "The station has arranged military columns for you. It will arrive at 6:15 tomorrow morning. Let's set off. Now take your troops to the waiting hall to rest. Lunch and dinner will be provided by the station." After explaining a few words, Antonov felt that his mission had been completed, so he took his Several men left the station.
