With the help of Yakov, Sokov went to watch the development process of the hovercraft. At the same time, he also put forward some personal opinions to the developers. During the trip, I also visited several factories that produce bicycle trains to learn about the production conditions there.
In this way, Sokov stayed in Moscow for a month without knowing it. On December 24, the day before Christmas in the West, he went to Yakov's office as usual, only to find that the office door was locked.
Sokov grabbed a passing officer and asked politely: "Do you know where Lieutenant Colonel Yakov went?"
The officer saw clearly that the person asking the question was Sokov, and quickly straightened up and replied: "Comrade Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel Yakov came to the office, took a phone call and left."
Sokov felt a little embarrassed when he didn't ask the officer about Yakov's whereabouts. Stay and wait, I don’t know when Yakov will come back; just leave, in case Yakov comes to find me for something, I will make one more trip.
He raised his hand and looked at his watch and found that it was almost nine o'clock, so he decided to stay and wait for a while. If Yakov is not seen back by nine-thirty, he will immediately turn around and go home.
Time passed minute by minute, and soon it was half past nine, and Yakov was still not seen coming back. Sokov sighed softly, turned around and walked outside, still wondering whether he should go shopping alone or go to the military hospital to see Tonya and Anne and have lunch with them.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he reached the gate, he saw a jeep rushing over like lightning and stopping five or six steps away from him. As soon as the car stopped, the rear door opened. Yakov poked his head out and said loudly to Sokov: "Misha, you are indeed here, hurry up and get in the car!"
Sokov thought Yakov was taking him to some research institute, so he walked over quickly, bent down and got into the car. As soon as he closed the car door, he heard Yakov say to the driver: "Go to the airport."
"Go to the airport?" Sokov was stunned for a moment when he heard what Yakov said, and then asked: "What are we going to the airport for?"
"What else can be done, of course, is to go to Stalingrad." Yakov said very quickly: "I just received an order from my superiors to return to Stalingrad immediately. I also want to go there to inspect the use of new weapons. The situation is exactly the same as yours."
"Why is it so sudden?" Sokov remembered that he should say hello to Tonya and the others, so he said to Yakov: "Can you let me go home first?"
"No, it's too late." Yakov raised his hand and looked at his watch: "The plane will take off in forty minutes."
Sokov found it quite strange. Some time ago, he asked to return to the army many times, but he was rejected every time. As a result, he was suddenly ordered to return to the army today. Something must have happened. In order to understand the reason, he looked at Yakov and asked: "Yasha, can you tell me why you let me return to the army so suddenly?"
Yakov glanced at Shi who was concentrating on driving, and replied cautiously: "I will tell you the reason when we get on the plane later."
The jeep entered the airport and drove directly to a passenger plane parked next to the runway. When Sokov got out of the car, he saw that it was a coincidence that it was the plane that took him to Moscow.
The stewardess in military uniform on the plane still remembered Sokov. When she saw him walking up the gangway, she quickly raised her hand to salute him and said respectfully: "Hello, comrade colonel."
"Hello," Sokov smiled and nodded at the other party: "Nice to see you again."
Under the guidance of the flight attendant, Sokov and Yakov came to the cabin and found that more than a dozen officers were already sitting there. However, their highest military rank is only major, and they are basically all lieutenant-level officers.
Yakov explained to Sokov in a low voice: "They are all members of the Weapons and Equipment Department, and they went with me to perform the mission in Stalingrad."
After Sokov sat down, he remembered that Yakov had not yet answered why he was so eager to send him back to Stalingrad, and asked again: "Yasha, you can tell me now why you are so eager to send me Send him back to Stalingrad?"
"That's it." On the plane were all Yakov's subordinates, who also went to Stalingrad with him. There was no need to worry about leaks, so Yakov said truthfully: "As the situation in Stalingrad becomes more and more serious, In order to stabilize the situation, some of the troops under the 62nd Group Army, which suffered serious losses, will withdraw from Stalingrad today and go to the rear for repairs. Some division-level commanders with rich combat experience will also withdraw with the troops. City."
"I understand." Before Yakov could finish speaking, Sokov understood the reason why his superiors urgently sent him back to Stalingrad. So many division commanders with rich combat experience would withdraw from the city with the troops. . Their evacuation will definitely have some bad effects on the fighting in the city. The superior sent me back to take charge in the hope of stabilizing the situation in the city: "The superior wanted me to go back and take control of the troops to ensure the situation in the city. Is it stable?"
"That's right." Regarding Sokov's guess, Yakov smiled and nodded: "That's exactly what happened."
Even though Sokov had always wanted to return to Stalingrad, he actually became nervous when he really wanted to go back. He didn't know whether Chuikov would adjust his position when he went back this time, transferring him from the 41st Guards Division and assigning him as a division commander in another division.
"Misha," Yakov obviously saw Sokov's worry, so he comforted him and said, "Don't worry, no one can take away your position as division commander. When you go back this time, you should continue to command the guards. The 41st Division is responsible for the defense tasks in the Mamayev Heights area." After confirming that he would not be transferred from the original unit, Sokov couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
When the plane was still more than a hundred kilometers away from Stalingrad, it was intercepted by German fighter jets. The two escorting fighter jets immediately rushed forward and bravely started a fierce aerial battle with the German fighter jets.
This was probably the first time that the flight attendant had encountered such a situation. Seeing the enemy planes passing by outside the window, her heart was in her throat. She was deeply afraid that the enemies would attack the passenger plane. In that case, she might be shot down. Danger.
"Don't worry," Sokov stood up and walked to sit next to her, comforting her and saying, "You have to believe in our pilots. They will definitely be able to drive away these damn German planes."
Hearing Sokov's comfort, the stewardess calmed down a lot. However, she still asked worriedly: "Colonel Sokov, there are six enemy planes, but we only have two escorting fighter jets. Can we defeat the enemy planes?"
Sokov was also panicking at the moment, but he knew very well that in the current situation, panicking was of no use, and everything could only be left to fate. He tried his best to put a smile on his face and said to the stewardess: "I believe in our pilots. They have been able to destroy the German planes that intercepted us."
The Soviet pilots performed very bravely, but they were at a numerical disadvantage after all. In less than five minutes, after they shot down two enemy planes, a Soviet plane was also shot down, and another one was damaged. The pilot flew a black smoke fighter plane and fought tenaciously against enemy planes that were several times his size. to fight.
Just when the people on the passenger plane were on the verge of despair, two clusters of four aircraft suddenly appeared in the sky. An officer sitting by the window had sharp eyes. After he saw the incoming plane clearly, he turned to everyone and said excitedly: "The plane is our plane. The nearby garrison dispatched planes to rescue us."
Hearing the officer's shout, everyone lay down at the window and looked outside. With the arrival of Soviet fighter planes, the enemy and friendly forces in the air changed, and the Soviet fighter planes occupied a numerical advantage.
After the remaining four German aircraft chased the Soviet fighters for several minutes, three of them were shot down one after another. The remaining one was also injured. Seeing the overwhelming number of Soviet pilots, the German pilots knew that they were no match and dared to fight. They immediately changed direction and flew towards the west.
Seeing the remaining enemy planes fleeing hastily, the passengers who saw the entire battle scene clearly raised their arms and cheered.
After the plane landed at the airstrip on the left bank of the Volga River, Yakov said to Sokov: "Misha, I will immediately take my people and go to the front headquarters to find Commander Yereomenko. You go back to the army first. Go ahead and let’s leave this alone.”
Sokov originally thought that he could only choose to walk from the airport to Mamayev Kurgan. Unexpectedly, not far away, he saw a convoy of trucks, which seemed to be preparing to drive towards the city. Sokov quickly raised his hand to stop the car. After the leading car stopped beside Sokov, a lieutenant sitting in the passenger seat stuck his head out and asked Sokov politely: "Comrade Colonel, what do you have?" instruct?"
When Sokov heard the other party calling him a military rank, he lowered his head and glanced at his tightly buttoned military coat, wondering how the other party saw the military rank on his collar badge. But then I thought about it, I was wearing a new military uniform now, and I was wearing epaulettes with military rank, so the other party could clearly see it at a glance.
He looked up at the lieutenant sitting in the co-pilot seat and said: "I am Colonel Sokov, commander of the 41st Guards Division. Comrade Lieutenant, can you give me a moment?"
Knowing that the person in front of him was the commander of the 41st Guards Division, the lieutenant quickly opened the car door, jumped into the snow, raised his hand to salute Sokov, and said politely: "Comrade Colonel, please get in the car."
In addition to the driver, two more people can sit in the cab. After getting on the bus, Sokov sat between the driver and the lieutenant and asked, "Are your convoy going to the city on the other side?"
"Yes, Comrade Colonel." The lieutenant replied in a positive tone: "We are ordered to bring the supplies to the Red October Factory and hand them over to the 62nd Group Army Logistics Department at home." After learning that the convoy was going to the Red October Factory, Sokov couldn't help but secretly cheer in his heart. In this way, he would be able to walk less.
When the car arrived at the river, Sokov found that it was particularly lively. There were not only cars and carriages heading into the city from the Left Bank, but also some organized troops. Similarly, there were also soldiers marching on foot in a queue, with tired faces, coming out of the city and heading towards the left bank.
The lieutenant sitting next to Sokov saw that Sokov had been staring out the window, so he explained to him: "Comrade Colonel, according to the orders of the superiors, while replenishing supplies and soldiers to the city, we must remove those who have been severely reduced and The troops who had almost lost their combat effectiveness were withdrawn from the city and sent to the rear for replenishment. The infantry you see are those who have just withdrawn from the city."
As soon as the convoy crossed the Volga River, Sokov pointed to the roadside and said to the lieutenant: "Comrade Lieutenant, please stop by the roadside. I want to get off there."
The lieutenant was stunned for a moment, and then asked: "Comrade Colonel, this is still some distance from the Red October Factory. I'm afraid you have to walk a long way to get off the car."
Sokov waved his hand to the lieutenant and said: "I need to rush to the army headquarters immediately. I will not return to the Red October Factory for the time being."
After getting off the car, Sokov walked towards Chuikov's headquarters. He wanted to find out whether Chuikov would still let him return to his original army as the division commander.
When Sokov arrived outside the headquarters, he found that the place was heavily guarded, and there were at least five times more soldiers standing guard than before. Seeing Sokov striding over, an officer on duty immediately stepped forward and asked Sokov politely: "Comrade Colonel, what's the matter with you?"
Seeing that the other party looked unfamiliar, Sokov guessed that he might have just been transferred from the other side and did not even recognize him. He could only identify himself: "I am the commander of the 41st Guards Division. I just came back from Moscow. I have It’s important to see Commander Chuikov.”
"Comrade Colonel, please wait a moment." The officer on duty said matter-of-factly: "Please wait until I make a phone call to confirm. If your superiors agree to let you in, I will let you go."
Seeing the officer on duty making a phone call, Sokov couldn't help but sigh secretly. He had just left the city for a month, but all the security forces in the headquarters were replaced by new ones. So he had to go through layers of inspections if he wanted to see Chuikov. .
Fortunately, it didn't take long for the officer on duty to call before he got Krylov's order to take Sokov to see him. After the officer put down the phone, he immediately trotted to Sokov and said with a smile: "Colonel Sokov, your identity has been confirmed. I will take you to the headquarters to meet the Chief of Staff, General Krylov." .”
Perhaps because he was worried that Sokov would be angry, on the way to the headquarters, the officer on duty also explained to Sokov: "Several troops were ordered to withdraw from the city today, and now their commanders are in the headquarters, talking to the commander , Chief of Staff and the others are reminiscing about old times."
It turns out that a division commander came here to say goodbye to Chuikov and the others! After listening to the officer on duty's explanation, Sokov immediately understood that Chuikov was very busy now and didn't notice his appearance at all.
After a while, the officer on duty brought Sokov to the door of the headquarters. Seeing that he had arrived, Sokov waved his hand to the officer on duty and said, "You have nothing to do here, go and do your business."
The star-duty officer was responsible for his duties and did not dare to stay too long. He raised his hand to salute Sokov and turned around to leave.
