After Sidorin received the telegram from Liugekov, he fell into deep thought. Seeing this, Sokov asked curiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what did the telegram say that made you so distracted?"
"Comrade Commander." Sidorin came to Sokov with the telegram and said with a wry smile: "Colonel Liugekov sent a telegram saying that his troops had successfully occupied the Majdanek concentration camp.
, freed more than 40,000 prisoners."
"More than 40,000 people were rescued?!" After hearing what Sidorin said, Ponejelin immediately came over and said excitedly: "So, we can at least supplement the army with tens of thousands of soldiers."
"Comrade Deputy Commander, I'm afraid this is disappointing." Sidorin said: "Among the more than 40,000 prisoners rescued, there are only less than 500 commanders and fighters of our army, and the rest are from Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic.
Jews in Slovakia, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and other countries.”
After listening to Sidorin's words, Ponedelin asked with a straight face: "In a concentration camp with more than 40,000 people, even if there are not tens of thousands, there should be seven or eight thousand. Why are there less than five hundred people?"
?”
"Obviously," Sokov interrupted, "the rest of the commanders and fighters were massacred by the Germans."
"Yes, Comrade Commander, you are right." Sidorin agreed: "That's what Colonel Liugekov reported. They also found nearly two thousand corpses in the open space outside the crematorium.
There was no time to burn the bodies.”
"What, there are still two thousand corpses that have not had time to be burned?!" Ponejelin's eyebrows knitted into a knot: "Are the Germans really so inhumane that they carried out wanton massacres in concentration camps?"
"Comrade Deputy Commander, I have long said that the German concentration camps cannot be compared with the prisoner-of-war camps we know." Sokov said: "No matter who they are, as long as they enter the concentration camps, the chances of surviving are very high.
small."
He turned to face Sidorin, and then asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what else did Colonel Liugekov say in the telegram?"
"They captured more than 300 prisoners during the battle..."
Before Sidorin could finish speaking, Sokov interrupted him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, send a telegram back to Colonel Liugekov and shoot all the captured German guards without leaving any one behind. They are not human beings."
, they are just a group of two-legged beasts. To deal with them, we must use the same method as dealing with beasts."
Unexpectedly, after Sokov finished speaking, Sidorin's face showed a smile: "Comrade Commander, I was just about to report this to you. Colonel Liugekov has ordered people to guard the captured Germans.
They were all shot, and at the back of the telegram, he offered to let us punish him."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, please give him a telegram immediately and say what I said, kill well! If you catch SS guards guarding concentration camps like this in the future, you don't need to be polite to them at all, they will all be shot." Sokov said.
After saying this in one tone, he paused for a moment and then continued: "Not only did Colonel Liugekov make no mistakes, he also made merit. When he comes back, I will personally award him a medal."
"Okay, Comrade Commander." Sidorin replied with a smile: "I will send a telegram back to Colonel Liugekov immediately, so that he will not be frightened now and think that you will punish him."
"Where is Colonel Ismailov's 284th Infantry Division now?"
"They have also arrived near the Majdanek concentration camp." Sidorin asked Sokov for instructions: "What should the two divisions do next? Should they rely on the concentration camp to continue their defense, or should they take the initiative to launch an attack on Lublin?
attack?"
"The troops on the left wing of the front are still 70 or 80 kilometers away from Lublin. If they launch an attack rashly, our troops may become alone." After thinking for a while, Sokov said to Sidorin: "Let them
Let’s rely on the Majdanek Concentration Camp to deploy our defenses.”
While Sidorin went to send a telegram to the two division commanders, Sokov answered the phone from the front army headquarters. He planned to continue reporting to Rokossovsky on the latest progress of his troops.
"Comrade General," Sokov said quickly after hearing Rokossovsky's voice: "I have good news to report to you. My two infantry divisions have successfully occupied Mayi near Lublin.
Danek concentration camp and liberated more than 40,000 prisoners in the camp."
"Ah, there are actually more than 40,000 prisoners?!" Rokossovsky couldn't help but be startled after hearing this: "Misha, I wonder how many of these prisoners are our army's commanders and fighters?"
"Less than five hundred people." Sokov said with some difficulty: "The remaining captured commanders and fighters have long been killed by the Germans."
"Damn Germans," Rokossovsky said through gritted teeth: "Sooner or later we will have to repay them for the blood debt they have committed against us."
"Comrade General, during the battle to liberate the concentration camp, my men captured more than 300 German guards." Sokov said: "Since these people are heinous SS soldiers who have done all kinds of bad things, I have ordered them to be captured."
All executed."
"You did the right thing, Misha." Rokossovsky expressed support for Sokov's approach: "If it's the Wehrmacht, we can send them to prisoner-of-war camps. As for the SS, we don't want to do that at all."
Need prisoners."
After a pause, Rokossovsky asked again: "By the way, where are your two infantry divisions now? Are they both in Majdanek concentration camp?"
"Yes, Comrade General." Sokov said with certainty: "It is indeed in the Majdanek concentration camp. Considering that the friendly forces on the left are still too far away from Lublin, if two infantry divisions are used to attack the city, not only
It would be difficult to achieve results, and it might even put them in danger. So I ordered them to rely on the terrain of the concentration camp to temporarily deploy defenses and wait until the friendly forces arrived near Lublin before taking response actions."
"Well, you have thought it through very carefully." Regarding Sokov's deployment, Rokossovsky did not have any opinions, but said casually: "Then after the front left wing troops arrive near Lublin, your troops will
It’s not too late to launch an attack.”
As soon as the call was finished, Sidorin reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, Colonel Liugekov called back and said that a captain was sent back to Brest with two prisoners, probably in the evening.
Can be reached.”
"Bring two prisoners back?" Sokov couldn't help but be confused after hearing this, and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, did Colonel Liugekov say who the two prisoners were?"
Sidorin looked down at the telegram in his hand and replied: "One is a chess player, and the other is a football player."
"A chess player, a football player." Sokov frowned and said, "Why did Colonel Liutikekov send them here?"
"I don't know." Sidorin asked tentatively: "How about I send him another telegram and ask what's going on?"
Sokov almost agreed to Sidorin's proposal and asked the other party to send a telegram to ask Liujikov what was going on with sending these two people over. But then he thought about it and asked Liujikov to send him a message for such a trivial matter.
There seems to be no need to send a telegram. Anyway, the two prisoners can arrive in the evening. When they arrive, they will know what Liukikov's intention is.
"Forget it, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov waved his hand and said, "There is no need to send a report. When they come over, we will know what is going on."
In the evening, a captain came to the headquarters and reported to Sokov respectfully: "Hello, comrade commander, I am sent by Colonel Liugekov."
As soon as he heard the other party mention Lyukikov, Sokov immediately remembered that this person was ordered to send two prisoners here, and asked: "Where are the two people you brought?" In order not to hurt the self-esteem of these newly rescued Jews,
, he did not use the word prisoner in front of the captain.
"They are waiting outside."
"Invite them in quickly!"
Soon, two scrawny men wearing ill-fitting military uniforms and peaked caps appeared in front of Sokov.
The captain introduced the two men: "This is our commander, General Sokov."
When they heard that the young general in front of them was Sokov, the commander of the Soviet Army Group, the two men hurriedly took off their hats, held them in their hands, and bowed to Sokov with a ninety-degree bow.
"Don't make so many tricks." Somehow, when Sokov saw the two people bowing, he immediately thought of saying goodbye to the body, and quickly stopped the two people, then asked them to sit down, and ordered the soldiers to carry it to them.
Tea and snacks came.
"What are your names and what do you do?" Sokov asked.
After hearing Sokov's question, the two people who had originally sat down stood up again. The short man on the left spoke first: "My name is Andrew, and I was a chess master before the war."
Then, the man next to him said: "Mr. General, my name is Kowalski, and I was the captain of the Bisk team before the war."
"I think you must be starving." Sokov said to the two of them: "Please sit down. Please drink tea. There is something to eat on the table. If you want to eat, you can help yourself."
When Sokov said these words, the two people's faces still showed horror. But looking at Sokov's amiable expression, the two became calm. Andrew first picked up the teaspoon, scooped out a spoonful of sugar and put it in
In the tea, I secretly glanced at Sokov and stirred it gently.
Seeing that Sokov still had a smile on his face, he became more courageous, so he put the teaspoon into the sugar bowl again, scooped a spoonful of sugar into the teacup. And Kowalski took it from the basin.
He grabbed a few pieces of sausage, stuffed them directly into his mouth, and chewed them quickly.
Sokov did not rush to ask questions, but waited for the two of them to eat something and drink a few sips of hot tea before asking: "My division commander sent you to me, did you want to
Tell me something?"
Kowalski, who originally reached out to grab the sausage again, retracted his hand when Sokov asked him this question, put his hands on his knees, lowered his head and said nothing.
Seeing Kowalski's reaction, Sokov knew that even if he continued to ask, the other party would probably not dare to speak, so he turned his attention to Andrew: "Andrew, it's up to you to speak."
Hearing what Sokov said, Andrew stood up suddenly, straightened his back and said: "Yes, Mr. General!"
"This is not a concentration camp. If you have anything to say, just sit down and talk!" Sokov, perhaps worried about the psychological burden on the two of them, emphasized: "We chat like friends, you can say whatever comes to mind."
Seeing Sokov's kind attitude, Andrew finally let go of his burden and began to tell Sokov: "Mr. General, I have already said that before the war, I was barely a chess master. Because of this
With this skill, when I entered the concentration camp, I was not sent to the gas chambers, but was arranged to work in other places."
"After staying in the concentration camp for about half a year, a commander named Max Kogel came. He especially liked playing chess, so he often asked me to play chess..."
When Sokov heard this, he couldn't help but interjected and asked: "Andrew, is he threatening you and saying that as long as you lose, he will shoot you directly?"
"No, Mr. General." Andrew shook his head and said, "Maybe he can't bear to have an opponent like me, so he has never threatened me like this."
When Sokov heard this, he said to himself that this commander named Max Kogel is not bad. As long as you play chess with him, your life will not be in danger. He raised his chin at the opponent and said: "Go on.
"
"At the beginning, I thought he was just a chess enthusiast who asked me to play chess with him to kill time every day." A painful expression suddenly appeared on Andrew's face: "But I didn't expect that he asked me to play chess with him.
He plays chess to satisfy his perverted hobby."
"A perverted hobby?" Ponyjelin heard this and couldn't help but interjected and asked: "What hobby?"
"Kill!" Andrew gritted his molars and said, "Before playing chess, he told me that the 'queen' on the chessboard represents a young woman, the 'bishop' represents a man, the 'rook' represents an old man, and the 'horse' represents
Child."
When Sokov heard this, he immediately realized something, but he tried to control his emotions and did not interrupt Andrew, allowing him to continue: "I didn't understand what he meant at the time, so I started playing chess with him.
Soon, he ate an 'elephant' from me, and then he called one of his men to grab a man from among the busy prisoners, and shot him just a few meters away from us.
The man was beaten to death.
Only when I saw the man lying in a pool of blood did I understand what he meant by the 'bishop' representing a man. Every time he captured one of my chess pieces, he would kill the corresponding prisoner according to the preset settings.
It was the first time that I saw someone being killed so close to me. It was a bit of a psychological burden. As a result, I repeatedly lost in the subsequent games. At the end of the first game, there was a woman, two men, an old man and
A child was killed on his order."
Sokov's breathing became rapid. He did not expect that the commander of the concentration camp would actually engage in such a death game to satisfy his perverted psychological needs.
Sidorin on the side was so angry that he slammed the table and said sternly: "Where is this German commander? If I catch him, I will definitely find a chess master to compete with him and take every one of his
As a chess piece, shoot one of his family members and see how he reacts."
"He was transferred as early as last year." Andrew said with a wry smile: "As for where he went, I'm not sure."
"Andrew was forced to play chess by the Germans." Sokov turned to Kowalski and asked: "What about you, what kind of death game are the Germans playing with you?"
This chapter has been completed!