Burning Moscow

33 Zhukov’s Inauguration

I followed Zhukov and walked along the long corridor.

At the end of the corridor, there was a room with a closed door. There was a table at the door, and a lieutenant without a military cap was sitting there. Seeing us coming, I quickly stood up and whispered to Zhukov: “Comrade General, they are all waiting for you inside, please come in.” Then he turned and opened the door.

Watching Zhukov walk straight into the door, I immediately stopped consciously, ready to stop here and wait for him to come out. After all, this kind of place is not something that a small person like me can enter casually.

I didn’t expect that Zhukov’s foot had just stepped into the room, he stopped, looked back at me, frowned and said: “What are you standing there for? Come in with me.” Since Zhukov let me in, then I You don’t have to stand at the door waiting for him, and trot a few steps to come to him. When I was about to enter the door, I felt that the image of myself carrying a submachine gun was a bit unsightly, so I took off the weapon hung around my neck and handed it to the indicator lieutenant standing aside, and then followed Zhukov into this mysterious room. .

Zhukov didn’t speak after entering the door, took off the military coat and hat he was wearing, and handed it to me, then put his hand in his trouser pocket and leaned against the wall to watch the people in the room speak. I took the clothes and hat in his hand, hung them on the coat rack next to him, closed the door and stood beside him.

In the room by the window, several people were sitting around the table, and a dusty general was standing in the middle of the room. I took a closer look. Sitting in the center of the table was a round-faced old man in a straight suit, gold-rimmed glasses and a beard. His left hand was Marshal Voroshilov, and his right hand was a thin middle-aged man in military casual clothes. People, and General Konev, the former commander of the Western Front, sat opposite them. The standing general was a lieutenant general. His army coat was covered with mud, and he looked particularly embarrassed.

I heard Marshal Voroshilov ask the general unhappily: “…General Rokosovsky, why did you leave the 16th Army and stand out the German encirclement alone?”

Facing the Marshal’s reproach, General Rokosovsky defended himself neither humble nor arrogant: “Comrade Marshal of the Soviet Union, I was ordered to Vyajima to accept the 16th Army. The order said there were five divisions waiting for me. Go and command. I didn’t know that I found out after I arrived, there was no our troops there at all.”

“What?” The marshal asked in surprise: “There is no our army there? Whose order are you accepting?”

“Yes, I didn’t see any troops.” The general said, took out a folded paper from his coat pocket, and handed it to the position of the marshal. “This is the order I received. It is an order signed by General Konev, commander of the Western Front.”

Marshal 　　 stood up and took the file in the general’s hand, opened it and looked at it, then frowned and looked at Konev who was still sitting there. Seeing the marshal’s unfriendly expression, the admiral hurriedly stood up and explained: “Yes, I signed the order. Originally, Lieutenant General Rokosovsky was able to obtain five divisions in Vyajima. However, these troops were entangled in the battle with the Germans, so they could not arrive at Viajima on time.”

“Pop!” Hearing this, the marshal became furious, slapped the paper on the table, and yelled at Konev angrily: “Do you know this is a crime? Let an excellent Commanders of the United States went to command troops that did not exist. This irresponsible written military deployment directly led to a deviation in the command’s judgment of the enemy and our situation. Do you know how much damage this will bring to our army? what?”

Facing the marshal’s criticism, Konev just opened his mouth to argue: “The enemy’s power is too strong, and they have mastered the initiative in the war….” The middle-aged man in military uniform stood up and interrupted him. “Enough, Comrade Konev, this is a defeatist argument. It seems that you have been frightened and panicked by the enemy. In the current complex situation, I declare on behalf of the People’s Committee of the Interior: You have been arrested!” Turning his head to the round-faced old man next to him, he said, “I think the case of Admiral Konev should be submitted to the military court immediately.”

As soon as the middle-aged man from the Ministry of Internal Affairs spoke the words, the room fell into silence. Konev stood there without saying a word, and the Marshal sat back in his place in silence. Only General Rokosovsky looked at the frustrated general with sympathetic eyes. After all, the cleansing movement that has only recently passed has made everyone remember it. People who have frightened the courage, even if they know that the people of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are acting arbitrarily and mischievously, they still dare not say anything.

I couldn’t help but look at Zhukov next to him. He stared at the people in the room blankly, as if everything that happened just now had nothing to do with him.

At that moment, a telephone rang by the wall in the room. The round-faced old man in a suit who had been silent for a while stood up, walked slowly to the phone, and picked up the receiver.

“Hey, who?” The round-faced old man asked straightforwardly. The voice coming from the receiver was loud, loud enough for the whole room to hear the conversation between the two parties on the call.

“Molotov?” Stalin’s voice came from the microphone.

“Yes, Comrade Stalin.” Although the opponent couldn’t see it at all, the round-faced old man nodded habitually when he answered. I thought to myself that this old man was called Molotov. His name sounded quite familiar, but I just couldn’t remember what position he held?

“Is Zhukov here?” Stalin asked.

“Zhukov?!” Molotov asked in a puzzled way, and then looked over where we were standing. It turned out that we had been in for so long and no one in the house had noticed it. He saw Zhukov standing at the door and quickly replied: “Yes, he has arrived, he will come right away.” Then he took the earpiece away from his ear and stretched it in our direction.

Zhukov walked over with heavy steps, took the phone in Molotov’s hand, and said to Stalin who was opposite the microphone, “I am Zhukov, Comrade Stalin.”

“From the current situation, the decision of the base camp to appoint you as the new commander of the Western Front is correct. You have no opinion on our appointment, do you?”

“I obey!” Zhukov was still expressionless, and said in a steady tone: “I have a request to appoint Admiral Konev as my deputy, as the deputy commander of the front army.”

There is no sound on the microphone. It is estimated that Stalin is considering this issue. The staff of the Ministry of the Interior just said that he was arresting Konev and sent him to a military court. The decision was not a whim, and it was insidious from a higher-level person in all cases.

“Are you still there? Comrade Stalin.” Zhukov couldn’t help but ask without hearing the other party’s voice.

“The members of the National Defense Committee have great opinions on Konev.” I heard Stalin say this from a distance, and thought to myself: I am afraid that it is not the members of the National Defense Committee who have opinions on Konev, but you are not satisfied with him. ! But these words can only be thought of in my heart, absolutely cannot be said.

“Konev is very familiar with the combat area.” Zhukov turned to look at Konev and tried to persuade Stalin on the other end of the telephone line. “I think Konev should be assigned to lead the troops in the direction of Kalinin.” Zhukov said. While speaking, I found that Admiral Konev had a grateful expression on his face, and his eye circles were a little red. “This area is very far apart, and I need to have my own deputy there.”

“Okay!” After a while, Stalin finally agreed to Zhukov’s proposal. He continued: “You will mobilize all the remaining troops of the reserve front army, and take over the troops as soon as possible.” Then the phone was hung up. .

After Zhukov put the microphone down, he faced a few big figures from the headquarters of the headquarters and said: “As the new commander of the Western Front, I want to talk to the members of the National Defense Committee about my views.” Hearing what he said, It suddenly dawned on me that these were committee members who had opinions on Konev! Zhukov took another look at Konev and then said: “The troops of the Western Front fought bravely and tenaciously. The main thing is that they did not escape. I think…” He took two steps forward and pointed to Konev. “This is also the merit of the former leader of the Western Front….”

He walked to the table, put his hands on the table, looked at the three members of the National Defense Committee, and continued: “They saved Moscow with their precious lives. We should fight to the end in the cruel defense war, and Pay tribute to the soldiers who fought desperately in the encirclement. UU reading www.uukanshu.com they contained the main force of the German army, and they delayed the German offensive for eight days. We should make full use of this achievement in Moscow. A new front is established.” At this point, he stood up straight and turned around to greet General Rokosovsky standing aside: “Comrade General Rokosovsky, commander of the 16th Army, “When he heard him calling his name, the lieutenant admiral hurriedly walked up to him and stood in front of him. “Now I will set up a combat mission for you. You have to cut off the enemy’s road to Moscow….”

“Are there troops?” Rokosovsky asked impatiently.

Zhukov groaned, then nodded, and replied with a certain tone: “There should be!” After a pause, he said, “The Minsk highway on your left will be cut off by other troops…”

After Zhukov arranged the task to Rokosovsky, the lieutenant general saluted everyone and turned to walk outside. I hurriedly opened the door for him, and after he left, I closed the door smoothly.

Konev left with the three members of the National Defense Committee. He will follow Zhukov’s order and immediately set off from here to command the Kalinin Front in a new area.

When Marshal Voroshilov was about to leave the house, he suddenly stopped me and said, “Major Oshanina, when Comrade Zhukov went to the hotel to see you in the morning, he forgot to bring an important thing. Now I have brought it for you. Keep it away!” He handed me a red certificate. Shaking hands with me, he strode out.

I opened the ID and found out that it was a new military ID card. The photo posted in it was the one I took in the Kremlin security room yesterday.