Red Moscow

   On the other end of the phone, Sokov, who put down the phone, has already walked to the side of Ponyedelin and Potapov.

The two people who were talking stopped immediately, and Ponejielin pointed to Sokov and said to Potapov: "Misha, let me introduce you, this is Sokov, the commander of the 48th Army. immediate superior."

   Seeing such a young general in front of him, Potapov showed a shocked expression on his face. He didn't expect the other party to be so young, and he looked less than thirty years old. As far as he could remember, there had never been a general under the age of 30 in the Soviet Army's organizational system. There must be something special about this person being able to hold the rank of admiral and hold his current position.

  Although he was full of curiosity, he also knew that this was not the best time to ask the bottom line, so he took the initiative to extend his hand to the other party and said politely: "Hello, General Sokov!"

   Sokov held his hand, and patted the back of the opponent's hand twice with his left hand, "General Potapov, you have suffered for so many years."

   "Thank you for your concern." Potapov's eyes were red: "Compared with those comrades who died, I am lucky. At least I can return to my own people alive."

  Sidorin, who had been standing by the side for a long time, finally found a chance to intervene: "General Potapov, I want to ask you a question, is that okay?"

   "Yes, Chief of Staff Sidolin."

   "I heard that there were as many as 50,000 prisoners of war who were brought here with you back then, but now there are only 2,000 left." Sidolin asked cautiously, "Am I right?"

"You are right, Chief of Staff Sidolin." Potapov nodded, and after affirming Sidolin's statement, he continued: "Although I don't know the exact number, the number of people who were escorted over, Definitely more than 50,000 people. But in the past few years of heavy labor, most of the prisoners of war died of exhaustion or malnutrition, and in the end there were only a few of us left."

   "I don't know what the physical labor you usually do is what?" Sidolin continued to ask.

"What else can be done, of course, is building roads, digging tunnels, repairing fortifications and so on." Potapov said with a bitter face: "Everyone usually eats little, coupled with such heavy physical labor, can we The lucky ones survived."

"Wait a minute, General Potapov." Sokov keenly captured several key words from Potapov's words: "The Germans asked you to build roads, dig tunnels and repair works in East Prussia? "

  Potapov replied in the affirmative: "Yes, it is to do these manual labor."

  Sokov felt a burst of ecstasy at the moment. If Potapov had really been engaged in construction work in East Prussia for several years, he must have a certain degree of understanding of the German fortifications. Thinking of this, he tentatively asked: "General Potapov, so you know the situation of the German fortifications to a certain extent?"

Hearing Sokov's question, Potapov froze for a moment, then understood what Sokov meant, nodded, and said affirmatively: "Yes, General Sokov. Although there are some core fortifications It was built by the Germans themselves, but their main defense system was built by our prisoners of war."

  Sokov asked: "Can you give me some information about the German fortifications?"

"Yes." Potapov readily agreed, his eyes quickly swept across the room, and then pointed to the map hanging on the wall, asking for Sokov's opinion: "General Sokov, I can use your map?"

"Of course, General Potapov." Seeing that the other party was willing to tell the information he knew, Sokov couldn't help being overjoyed, and quickly pulled him to the wall, and stuffed the explaining stick against the wall into his hand Here, let him explain the deployment of the Germans.

   Potapov, who has been engaged in manual labor in East Prussia for three years, naturally knows a lot about the German fortifications. But what he focused on at the moment was the fortifications of the enemy in front of the 48th Army.

  Sokov listened for a while, and felt that the information provided by Potapov was very useful. He quickly called Sidolin and told him: "Chief of Staff, ask some staff members to record the situation introduced by General Potapov."

   "Comrade Commander." Sidolin replied with a smile: "You are too late, my subordinates are now recording what General Potapov said."

Sokov looked to the side, and sure enough, he saw four or five staff officers with notebooks and pens in their hands, looking up at Potapov who was explaining from time to time, and recounting what he heard and saw. Record it in detail in the notebook.

   While Potapov was explaining, Ponederin standing next to him rubbed his hands excitedly. After Potapov finished his narration, he stepped forward and took the other party's hand, and said repeatedly: "It's great, it's simply great. The information you provided is better than what we sent a hundred or two hundred scouts to detect." There are more things.”

Potapov said with a wry smile about Ponedelin's praise: "Pavel, when I saw soldiers dying beside me, I silently swear in my heart that if I could return to my side alive, I would We must avenge them."

  After chatting for a while, Sokov called Koshkin and asked him to take Potapov to rest, take a bath, shave again, and change into clothes that fit.

After Koshkin left with Potapov, Sidolin looked at Sokov and asked: "Comrade Commander, according to regulations, these rescued generals will be sent to Lubyanka in Moscow for review. General Potapov has provided us with so much useful information, do you think we can help him?"

Regarding Sidolin's statement, Sokov did not express his position immediately. After thinking for a long time, he said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately sort out the information provided by General Potapov and arrange for people to send it to the Front Army Command Leave it to the marshal. What kind of fate he will face next depends entirely on how much the superior attaches importance to the information he provides."

  Sidorin immediately understood Sokov's intentions when he heard it. He nodded vigorously and replied, "Don't worry, Comrade Commander, I will sort out the information he provided immediately."

  With the efforts of everyone, it took less than an hour for the information provided by Potapov to be transformed into written materials, and the staff officers even marked the deployment of the German defensive positions in detail on the map.

Sokov carefully looked at the things the staff had sorted out, with a satisfied smile on his face, he handed it to Sidolin, and said: "Chief of staff, send someone to send the information to the front army headquarters immediately. Can we Helping General Potapov depends on whether this information can be approved by the superior."

  Two hours after the communications soldier sent away the information, Sokov received a call from Rokossovsky.

   On the phone, Rokossovsky's voice was trembling with excitement: "Misha, I saw the information you sent. Where did you get these information, is it accurate?"

"Comrade Marshal," since Rokossovsky asked, Sokov naturally wanted to explain to him: "This was provided to us by General Potapov, who and other prisoners of war participated in the construction of these fortifications. Work. I think this deployment map should be reliable."

   But Sokov also understood that Rokossovsky commanded hundreds of thousands of troops to fight, and he would never make a battle plan at will just for a piece of information he provided, and some things must be verified. Thinking of this, he deliberately added: "Comrade Marshal, although the accuracy of this information is very high, for the sake of safety, I still suggest that you send someone to verify it."

   "That's right, Misha, I have the same consideration." Rokossovsky said, "I will send someone to verify the relevant information as soon as possible."

  Before Rokossovsky hung up the phone, Sokov rushed to ask: "Comrade Marshal, I wonder how you plan to deal with General Potapov?"

   "I talked to Marshal Zhukov not long ago." Rokossovsky said slowly: "He said that we should choose the right time and then report the matter to our superiors. Maybe we can achieve unexpected results."

   Rokossovsky's answer seemed to say nothing, but he seemed to have said everything that should be said. Sokov couldn't help being a little confused after hearing this, but he was very sensible and didn't ask further, but said smoothly: "Whenever you want to see him, just call and I will send him there for you."

   Seeing Sokov put down the phone, Ponedelin immediately asked with concern: "Comrade Commander, I wonder how the Marshal plans to arrange Potapov?"

"Stay with us first, and send him there when necessary." After Sokov said this, he said to Ponejielin: "Comrade Deputy Commander, General Potapov is fighting against the Germans." He spent several years in a prisoner-of-war camp, and his physical condition is not ideal. You can find a doctor to help him later, and find a way to recuperate his body. Otherwise, I am worried that his body will not be able to withstand thousands of kilometers. bumps."

   "Don't worry, I will take good care of him."

   Two days later, Rokossovsky called Sokov again. Sokov thought that Rokossovsky was calling because he wanted to send someone to send Potapov there, so he asked: "Comrade Marshal, send General Potapov to you now." ?"

"No, Misha, I called you for another matter." Rokossovsky said on the phone: "We have sent people to conduct reconnaissance in certain areas, and the information we have obtained on the German defensive positions , approximately the same as that provided by General Potapov."

  Maybe he was worried about what Sokov asked, so he took the initiative to say: "The reason why it is roughly the same is that after our prisoners of war built the outer fortifications, the German army added some new fortifications, which led to deviations."

   "Will this deviation have a bad impact on our next attack?" Sokov asked cautiously.

   "No." Rokossovsky replied: "The map provided by General Potapov can provide a reference for our next reconnaissance, thus making the scouts more efficient."

   "Then how to arrange for General Potapov?" Sukov asked tentatively, "Should I let him stay with me, or send him to you?"

"No hurry, no hurry, just wait." Unexpectedly, Rokossovsky said, "Marshal Zhukov has gone to Moscow today, and when he meets with the Supreme Commander himself, he will mention the matter of Potapov by the way. If General Potapov is installed, it depends on the opinion of the Supreme Commander himself."

   Knowing that Zhukov was going to meet Stalin in person, and that he might even bring up Potapov's matter in person, Sokov couldn't help feeling nervous. He tentatively asked, "Comrade Marshal, what do you think will be the result?"

  Sokov's words made Rokossovsky silent for a long time. Just when he thought the other party would hang up the phone directly, he heard Rokossovsky say: "I don't know, Misha, I really don't know. But since Zhukov came forward, I believe there will be a good one." ending."

When Rokossovsky wanted to put down the phone after saying this, he suddenly remembered something: "By the way, when your troops rescued Ponedelin, Kirillov and Muzichenko After they came out, they were also sent to Lubyanka for a period of time for review. Fortunately, you were their guarantee, so they could return to the army. General Potapov this time has me and Marshal Zhukov as guarantees. I believe Things will be better."

  Although Rokossovsky did not give a clear answer, his attitude has shown that he and Zhukov will try to keep Potapov safe, which reassures Sokov. In addition, Sokov tried hard to recall the historical materials about Potapov during this time, and found that after he was rescued and returned to his country, not only was he not punished, but he was promoted instead, which shows that he will survive this time safely.

  The most nervous person is Ponejielin, not only because Potapov is his good friend, but also because he has been examined by Lubyanka. He knows what is going on there better than anyone else. So as soon as Sokov put down the phone, he leaned over and asked with concern: "Comrade Commander, how is the situation? What did the Marshal say? How do they plan to arrange Potapov?"

"Marshal Zhukov went to Moscow to see Comrade Stalin." Sokov said to Ponejielin: "He will raise this matter with Comrade Stalin at the right time, and how he will deal with it in the end depends on how Comrade Stalin treats him. considerate."

"If Comrade Stalin had any thoughts about Potapov, it would mean that Potapov would be imprisoned and subjected to endless scrutiny." Ponedelin said solemnly: "His body is so Weak, how can I bear it."

"Don't worry, Comrade Deputy Commander." Sukov thought that Potapov was safe and sound in the end, and comforted Ponejielin: "I believe that General Potapov will eventually return to the army just like you of."

  The two were talking when the phone on the table rang again.

  The person who called this time was actually Zhukov.

  He asked bluntly on the phone: "Misha, is General Potapov with you now?"

  Sokov heard Zhukov call the other party "General Potapov", and realized that the result of the matter might be better than imagined, and quickly replied: "Yes, Comrade Marshal, he is here with me now."

   "Well, I will send a plane to you as soon as possible." Zhukov said: "When the plane arrives, you let General Potapov take that plane to Moscow. Comrade Stalin wants to see him."