Seeing that it was getting dark outside, Susaikov said to Sokov: "Comrade Sokov, it's getting late. You should go and rest first. If you have anything else, we'll talk about it tomorrow."
Zakharov called the lieutenant colonel who led Sokov and told him: "Comrade lieutenant colonel, take General Sokov to a nearby hotel. Remember to tell the person in charge to arrange a good hotel for him."
s room."
The lieutenant colonel nodded, and then made a gesture of invitation to Sokov: "Comrade General, please."
The distance from the headquarters to the small hotel was about five hundred meters. Knowing that Sokov's leg was injured, the lieutenant colonel deliberately walked slowly so that the other party could keep up with him.
When they were approaching the small hotel, the lieutenant colonel suddenly asked: "General Sokov, I heard that you are looking for an open-pit mine near Uman. Is there such a thing?"
Hearing the lieutenant colonel's question, Sokov couldn't help but frown slightly, wondering how could an ordinary lieutenant colonel know about such a confidential matter? But on second thought, this person seemed to be very popular with Zakharov.
It is not surprising that he knows some of the inside stories of the headquarters.
Thinking about it again, when the other party asked this question, although there was no one around, he deliberately lowered his voice, as if he didn't want more people to know.
Before answering the question, Sokov asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I don't know how to call you?"
"My name is Georgy Melekhov." The lieutenant colonel replied: "You can call me by my first name or my last name."
Sokov thought that Zhukov's first name was also Georgi, and it would be easy to confuse him if called by his first name, so he decided to call the other person by his last name: "It turns out to be Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov. I want to ask, why are you asking about this?"
"
Melekhov hesitated for a moment, and then asked cautiously: "Comrade General, can you help me keep the secret?"
Sokov nodded, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone your secret."
After receiving Sokov's assurance, Melekhov said: "Comrade General, I have an older brother, a real brother. When the war broke out, he served as the battalion commander of the 97th Border Column of the 12th Group Army of the Southwest Front.
Duty. Since our army could not withstand the German attack in the early stages of the war, his border column followed the main force and moved towards Kiev. However, their troops were later deployed in the Uman area and were finally annihilated by the Germans."
When Sokov heard this, he couldn't help but interrupt and asked: "Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov, was your brother sacrificed or captured?"
"After the Battle of Uman, some commanders and fighters successfully broke through and retreated to Kiev." Melekhov said: "Although I heard that my brother's border column was annihilated by the Germans, I always had a sense of luck in my heart.
, thinking he was still alive, he specifically asked those commanders and fighters who had successfully broken through to see if anyone knew the whereabouts of my brother."
Seeing the sad expression on Melekhov's face, Sokov understood that the other party must not have found his brother among the survivors. After a pause, he then asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you think you
My brother is still alive and is even being imprisoned in the open-pit mine in Uman?"
"That's right." Melekhov nodded vigorously and said in a positive tone: "I think this is very likely. After all, according to the information obtained, the enemy is holding tens of thousands of our prisoners of war in that mine."
"Okay, Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov." Sokov felt that as long as his troops could find the open-pit mine and rescue the commanders and fighters trapped inside, it would be just a piece of cake to help Melekhov find his brother, so he was happy
He said: "As long as my troops liberate the open-pit mine, I will personally inquire about your brother's affairs."
"Thank you, General Sokov. Thank you very much."
The two people soon arrived at the small hotel. The person in charge of the hotel was a lieutenant. Seeing Melekhov's arrival, he quickly stepped forward to greet him and greeted with a smile: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are here!"
When he saw Sokov following Melekhov, he quickly stood at attention, raised his hand in salute, and said respectfully: "Hello, Comrade General, welcome to your arrival!"
"The general will stay with you tonight." Melehov said to the person in charge: "Please help him arrange a good room."
"Don't worry, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." The person in charge of the hotel said, "I will arrange the best room for him."
…………
Early the next morning, Sokov was awakened by a rapid knock on the door.
He sat up straight and did not put on his shoes immediately. Instead, he raised his voice and asked dissatisfiedly outside: "Who, who is outside?"
"Yes, Comrade General." Melekhov's voice came from outside the door: "I am Lieutenant Colonel Melekhov."
Hearing that the person knocking on the door was Melekhov, Sokov did not wear a coat, but bent over and put on his boots, walked slowly to the door, reached out and opened the door.
"Hello, Comrade General!" Melekhov, who was standing outside the door, raised his hand and saluted him when he saw Sokov appear at the door, and said politely: "Chief of Staff Zakharov ordered me to
Came to wake you up."
"What's wrong with him?"
"That's it, Comrade General." Melekhov explained to Sokov: "We received a notification from the Supreme Command saying that Marshal Zhukov will arrive in an hour, so that we can prepare for the reception. Chief of Staff
Comrade said that you have a good relationship with Marshal Zhukov and would like you to go to the airport to greet him."
When he learned that Zhukov was coming, Sokov did not dare to neglect and said to Melehov quickly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please wait a moment. I will leave with you after I finish packing."
A few minutes later, Sokov, who had packed up, walked out of the room and said to Melekhov: "Let's go, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, let's go to see Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army now."
After walking out of the hotel, Sokov saw a jeep parked on the roadside and asked tentatively: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, is this car here to pick me up?"
"Yes, Comrade General." Melekhov replied affirmatively: "After we meet the Chief of Staff, we have to rush to the airport immediately. It is more convenient to have a car."
The distance between the hotel and the headquarters was only over 500 meters, and it took the jeep less than a minute to arrive at the gate of the headquarters. Before the driver could turn off the engine, Sokov saw a group of officers coming out, led by
It was Konev, followed closely by Zakharov and Susekov. He hurriedly opened the car door, intending to go up and greet the three of them.
Before Sokov could speak, Konev saw him, nodded to him, and then said: "No need to go in, we are going to the airport now." After that, he walked towards a jeep parked not far away.
go.
After Zakharov and Susaikov said hello to Sokov, they each got into their own cars. Sokov quickly got back into the car and said to Melehov, who was sitting in the passenger seat: "
Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, follow Comrade Marshal's car."
After arriving at the airport, everyone stood next to the runway according to their positions. Although Sokov was carrying the epaulettes of a lieutenant general, the people present were all important members of the headquarters, so he could only talk to a group of school-level officers.
crowded together.
Soon, a transport plane landed at the airport.
As the cabin door opened, Zhukov appeared at the cabin door.
Konev, Zakharov and Susakov quickly stepped forward to greet him.
After Zhukov got off the plane, he smiled and said to Konev: "Comrade Konev, I really didn't expect that we would meet again so soon."
"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Konev shook hands with Zhukov and replied with a smile: "I didn't expect that we just met the day before yesterday and met again today."
After Zhukov finished shaking hands with Zakharov and Susaikov, he was about to get into an oncoming jeep. Unexpectedly, as soon as he stepped into the car, he accidentally saw Sokov in the crowd.
, quickly put his feet back.
"What's the matter, Comrade Marshal?" Konev saw that Zhukov got off the bus after getting on the bus, and he thought something had happened, so he quickly asked: "Did something happen?"
Zhukov pointed to Sokov in the crowd and said with a smile: "I didn't expect Misha to be here too."
"Yes, he came when we held the commendation meeting yesterday." After Konev explained to Zhukov, he asked: "Do I need to call him here?"
Zhukov thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Forget it, let's see him again later." After that, he re-entered the jeep.
Sokov's station was relatively far back, so it was naturally impossible to hear the conversation between Zhukov and Konev. Seeing everyone getting on the bus again, he also returned to the jeep.
Zhukov came this time to promote Konev and Rotmistrov on orders from the Supreme Command. Therefore, soon after arriving at the headquarters, the promotion ceremony began immediately.
The ceremony was held in a meeting at the headquarters. Only more than thirty people attended the ceremony, which was incomparable to the scale of yesterday's commendation meeting.
The promotion ceremony was very simple. Zakharov spoke a few words as the host, and then the official promotion ceremony began. Konev and Rotmistrov, who participated in the promotion, wore brand-new military uniforms.
Stand in front of everyone with your head held high.
Zhukov walked up to Konev, and after exchanging salutes with him, he picked up the marshal's epaulettes from the tray in the adjutant's hand and put them on Konev. Then he shook hands and said with a smile: "Congratulations,
Marshal Konev!"
"Serve the Soviet Fatherland!"
Zhukov nodded, repeated the action just now, put the epaulettes of the Armored Marshal on Rotmistrov, and congratulated him.
After doing all this, Zhukov turned around and said to everyone: "Comrade commanders, I am here today on the order of the Supreme Command. Except for the promotions of Konev and Rotmistrov,
In addition to the military rank, there is also a new promotion order."
Hearing what Zhukov said, people in the conference room couldn't help but whisper, discussing in low voices that there was another promotion order, and who was it for? But Sokov's heartbeat accelerated unsatisfactorily, thinking that it was Stalin who agreed.
He took Konev's advice and promoted himself to the military rank?
But then I thought about it, this possibility is unlikely. I was promoted to military rank while recuperating. How could I be promoted to another rank just now? Although there is a precedent of Vasilevsky, he is still very
You are self-aware and know that you and the other party are not on the same level. Others can be promoted from general to marshal in less than a month, but for you, such a thing is simply a fantasy.
I saw Zhukov making a gesture to the adjutant. The adjutant immediately understood and took out a square order from his coat pocket and handed it to Konev.
Konev unfolded the order, looked at it, and then began to read it aloud: "In view of the bravery and heroism shown in the fight against the German invaders, Mikhail Mikhailnovitch is specially promoted to
·Sokov is the general!"
After Konev finished reading, the entire conference room became silent. No one expected that after completing the promotion of the two marshals, the commander of the 53rd Army Sokov also received a promotion.
"What's wrong, Comrade Sokov?" Konev saw that Sokov had been sitting in his position without moving, so he deliberately said with a straight face, pretending to be dissatisfied: "Didn't you hear the promotion order I read?
"
Sokov quickly stood up and replied in a panic: "I heard it, Comrade Marshal!"
"Since you heard it, why don't you come over?"
Only at this moment did Sokov confirm that everything he heard was not an auditory hallucination but reality. He quickly grabbed his cane and limped towards Konev's location.
When Sokov came over, Konev took out two gold stars from the tray in the adjutant's hand and solemnly pinned them on Sokov's epaulettes. He then took two steps back and looked at Sokov carefully.
The three gold stars on the epaulette said with satisfaction: "Comrade Sokov, congratulations on becoming the youngest general of our army."
"Thank you!" Sokov hurriedly held Konev's hand and said excitedly: "Comrade Marshal, thank you so much."
Unexpectedly, Konev said sharply: "General Sokov, after receiving a medal or being promoted, have you forgotten how to respond?"
Konev's words reminded Sokov, who quickly stood at attention, straightened his back and said loudly: "Serve the Soviet Motherland!"
"You have served well," Konev said kindly: "Keep up the good work, and maybe you will get another star on your epaulette before the end of the war."
After the simple and almost rudimentary promotion ceremony, everyone dispersed. Sokov still stood there without moving. He and others were almost gone, and then he tentatively asked Konev: "Comrade Marshal, can I go back to the army?"
go?"
"Of course." Konev said cheerfully: "I will ask the chief of staff to arrange a car to take you back."
After Sokov left, Zhukov and others came to Konev's office and began to summarize the lessons learned from the Cherkasy battle.
Although Zhukov knew the situation of the battle well, he still listened patiently to Konev's explanation. After the other party finished speaking, he began to summarize his speech: "The Korsun-Shevchenkovsky battle convincingly proved that,
Our army has completely mastered the highest form of operational science, that is, the art of encircling and annihilating the enemy. This proves that our army's offensive operations are of a high level, and our army's skills in attacking the German Faxi Temple army are improving day by day.
Since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky battle was the second large-scale encirclement battle after the Battle of Stalingrad. I believe that after this, the enemy will suffer this kind of attack more than once.
A battle-style attack.”
Konev agreed with Zhukov's summary. He then asked: "Comrade Marshal, our two front armies will definitely have opportunities for joint operations in the coming days. At that time, my troops and I will
We will all resolutely obey your command."
"Comrade Konev, I have something to inform you. Someone proposed at the meeting at the base camp that in order to more conveniently command the troops, they plan to merge the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts."
This chapter has been completed!