Burning Moscow

Chapter 1298: The Whereabouts of the Amber Room (Part

Standing in a room full of oil paintings, I mumbled to myself: "These oil paintings are priceless, let alone 60 tons of gold, even if you give me 600 tons of gold, I won't change it."

Although the entire base was under our control, and there were a few soldiers standing guard outside the door, my heart was still not at ease. I called Carmela to the front and told him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, these artifacts are very Important, the manpower outside the door is far from enough. You can deploy more manpower as soon as possible to take charge of the security work."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Carmela said with a relaxed expression: "When the base is cleaned up, I will transfer the guards, and they will be the guards here."

I heard that the guard job here will be performed by Carmela's guard company, and I finally feel more at ease. I stood in front of the oil painting of a trackman on the Volga River, carefully examining this world-famous painting, and asked casually: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, besides gold and oil painting, is there anything else important?"

I was just asking casually, and I didn't expect Carmela to give me any more elaborate answers. Unexpectedly, after hearing my question, he nodded vigorously and replied: "Yes, Comrade Commander, at the end of the corridor, there are two large rooms, which are also filled with various cultural relics."

Even if a cannonball fell beside me and exploded at this moment, it was not as shocking as Carmela's words. I grabbed his arm and stammered and asked, "Lieutenant Colonel, what are you talking about, there are still two big rooms?"

Carmela nodded vigorously and said affirmatively: "Yes, Comrade Commander, please let me show you the way." After speaking, he stretched out his hand and made a gesture of asking.

I followed him nervously, and walked along the corridor to the door of another room guarded by many soldiers. I saw him stop, and hurriedly asked, "Is it here?"

"Yes, right here." After he finished speaking, he opened the door of the room one after another and led me in.

He fumbled around the wall and turned on all the lights in the room. Under the bright light, I saw hundreds of wooden boxes neatly stacked in this room, which was more than two hundred square meters wide and seven or eight meters high. I tentatively asked: "Lieutenant Colonel, what is in this box, is it also gold?"

"Although it is not gold, it is similar to gold leaf." Carmela said as she walked to a wooden box alone on the ground, uncovered the wooden lid, gingerly took out something inside, and turned to me. "Comrade Commander, please take a look. We have checked and found that this is all in the rows of wooden boxes outside."

I took what was in his hand and looked at it carefully. This is an extremely beautifully crafted table clock. Except for the gilded body of the clock, the angel sculpture on the top of the clock is all pure gold. After I finished reading, I handed Admiralty back to Carmela, and then asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what is in the box except Admiralty?"

Carmela put the golden bell back into the wooden box and replied, "Ancient Greek and Roman statues, vases, etc. By the way, the most precious thing is the boy with Michelangelo's sculptures curled up in a ball. ."

"Michelangelo's sculptures?" When I heard the name of this master, I couldn't help taking a breath. It took me a long time to recover, and tentatively asked: "Why are his works here?"

Carmela shrugged her shoulders, spread her hands, and said, "I don't know why I am here. As far as I know, this work should be in the Hermitage Museum. This is a treasure of the Hermitage. ."

We were talking, and Yersov, who had just sent a telegram, found us. He entered the door and looked at the wooden box in the room, and then said to me: "Commander, I received a call from Comrade Kirilov, the military commissioner, and he asked me to tell you that these things are of great importance. In order to prevent the Germans from re-approaching To snatch, he has reported to the front army headquarters, and at the same time urgently mobilized the 89th Guards Division to rush here."

I heard that the mobilization of troops was not Kistyakov but Kirilov. I realized that the value of these cultural relics far exceeded my imagination. It seems that it is necessary to deploy immediately to prevent them from being heard. The Germans took it again. So, I immediately told Yersov and Kamera with a serious expression: "Two regiment commanders, you immediately use the base as the center to build a defensive position to prevent possible German offensives."

When the two of them were about to go out, I suddenly remembered Yersov’s time from leaving to coming back. It seemed that it hadn’t been twenty minutes before. I quickly stopped him and asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, where did you just send the message? 'S telegram, why did you come back so soon?"

"That's it, Comrade Commander." Yersov pointed out with his hand casually, and said: "There is a telecom room in the base. The communicator has just set up our radio station there, so I can do it in such a short time. Within a period of time, I received a call back from the group army headquarters."

A few hours later, Kirilov arrived with a company of guards. Accompanied by me, he visited the room where the gold, oil paintings and various cultural relics were stored, and said with emotion: "These **** Germans have robbed so many of our precious cultural relics. But fortunately, God bless, no Let them take these things away, otherwise it won’t be so easy for us to try to get them back in the future."

"Yes, once these cultural relics are transported away, even if we defeat the Germans, some cultural relics will go to the people, and it will be very difficult for us to collect them." I said to Kirilov with some worry. : "Before Trafkin discovered this base, they had no idea how many cultural relics were taken away by the Germans."

"Don't worry, it will be clear soon." Kirilov raised his hand and patted my shoulder, and said: "Lida, after receiving a telegram from Lieutenant Colonel Yersov, I immediately The matter was reported to Vatutin and Moscow, and Comrade General said that he would be here soon."

I know that Kirilov reported this to Vatutin, but I didn't know that he also reported this to the relevant authorities in Moscow. After hearing this, I asked in astonishment: "Comrade Military Commissioner, I don't know what department in Moscow you are reporting to?"

Kirilov smiled at me, and then said: "Lida, have you forgotten that I came from the Central Committee? Of course it was to report this to the head of my previous unit. I believe he will pass Persia. Comrade Klebeshev, let Comrade Stalin also understand this matter."

Hearing what he said, I nodded immediately, and said in agreement: "Not only do we have no right to dispose of such a large amount of gold and cultural relics, but it may be difficult even for General Vatugin, so I will direct this matter to It’s most appropriate to let them decide what to do with the report from the superior."

While we were talking, a soldier brought by Kirilov came in and reported to us: "Commander, military commissar, we received a call from the observation post on the base, saying that a convoy was approaching us in the distance. When we drove over, there were three armored vehicles and seven or eight trucks inside. The vehicles were full of our soldiers."

After hearing this, Kirilov turned his head and said to me: "Lida, I guess it is Commander Vatutin who is here. Let's go, let's go out to meet them."

We walked out of the gate of the base and saw the oncoming convoy, stopping one after another 50 or 60 meters away from us. The door of the armored car in the middle opened first, and a commander jumped out of it, and I recognized General Vatutin with a sharp eye. I quickly said to Kirilov: "Comrade General is here." After finishing speaking, I trot towards Vatutin.

I came to Vatutin, raised my hand in salute, and reported in accordance with the regulations: "Comrade General, Lieutenant General Oshanina, Commander of the Sixth Guards Army, report to you, I"

"Come on, Comrade Oshanina, don't be so polite." Vatutin interrupted me, pulled my hand from my forehead, held it tightly, and shook it vigorously. : "Comrade Stalin is very happy to know that you have seized the cultural relics looted by the Germans. I especially let me convey his gratitude to you!"

"Serve the Soviet motherland!" Upon hearing Vatutin's words, Kirilov and I immediately straightened up and replied neatly.

At this time, from the door of the armored car came out an old man with a top hat, a suit and leather shoes, a pair of round eyes, and a goatee on his chin. When he got out of the car, he asked nonchalantly: "Where is the thing?"

Vatutin smiled awkwardly at me, and then introduced: "Comrade Oshanina, let me introduce to you, this is the curator of the Hermitage Museum."

After Vatutin finished speaking, I reached out to the curator and greeted politely: "Hello, comrade curator, I am glad to see you here!"

Unexpectedly, the curator ignored me at all, and repeated the question just now: "Where is the thing?"

"Comrade curator, are you talking about the relics we seized?" Kirilov asked politely. Seeing the other party nodding in affirmation, he turned sideways in a gesture of please, and then said: "Please come with me, I will take you to see the cultural relics seized by our army."

Seeing the curator and Kirilov walking side by side towards the base gate, I smiled bitterly and shook my head. I was about to follow, but heard a familiar voice from behind: "Hey, why don't you say hello to me? Ah, Lida, don't you know me anymore?"

I turned around and saw a tall and handsome general standing at the door of another armored vehicle. I immediately recognized this general as the Rokosovsky I am most familiar with. I quickly opened my arms and walked towards Rokosovsky, and at the same time exclaimed excitedly, "Hello, Comrade General, Why are you here? I am so happy to see you here."

Rokosovsky and I gave a hug, kissed each of my cheeks politely, then let go of me, glanced at Vatutin, and said helplessly: "I was in the headquarters. Commanding the battle, who knew that I received a call from Marshal Zhukov. He ordered me to report to General Vatutin’s headquarters immediately, saying that there was something important. I didn’t know that you were in the forest east of Zhytomyr until I arrived. , Found an underground base of the German army. Since this base was built under my command, the marshal said that I understand the situation here, so he asked me to come with Comrade Vatutin. How, what did I find in the base ?"

I was taken aback by Rokosovsky's words. I opened my eyes and asked, "Why, Comrade General, don't you know what's in the base?"

"Don't say that Comrade Rokosovsky doesn't know, even I don't know." Vatutin came over and interjected: "From the telegram you sent, I knew that you had seized 60 tons of gold, and At least a few thousand precious oil paintings. I don’t know what else is there."

"Let’s not stand here, let’s talk while walking." Rokosovsky saw that Kirilov and the curator were going through the gate, and urged us quickly: "Comrade Vatutin, for the specific situation, let us Lida will tell you slowly on the road."

I walked between the two front commanders, looked at Vatutin sideways, and said, "In addition to the oil paintings and gold you know, there are also two large rooms in the two large rooms. Sculptures and vases from Greece and Ancient Rome"

"Lida, are the two large rooms in the deepest part of the base?" Rokosovsky suddenly interjected. Seeing that I nodded in recognition, he explained to Vatutin: "The two rooms were prepared to store food, ammunition and drinking water, so they were very large. I didn't expect that after the Germans occupied this place, they would actually be used to store looting. Cultural relics from here."

When we came to the room where the oil paintings were stored, we saw that the curator was holding the Volga tracker's oil painting with tears streaming down his face, muttering to himself: "Yes, that's right, that's it, that's it."

"Comrade General, what's going on?" Seeing the curator who was gaffey, I quietly asked Vatutin next to him: "Where did you find him?"

"Comrade Oshaninna, I'll tell you a secret." Vatutin leaned close to my ear and said, "He came here~lightnovelpub.net~ to get the information that the Germans came from Leningrad’s St. Petersburg Palace. In the Amber Room, the Germans met Kiev. So after learning that we liberated Kiev, he flew from Leningrad to Moscow and then from Moscow to Kiev. I just heard that you found the Germans deposited The base of gold and oil paintings, so he followed us."

Amber, as I have seen, is the resin wrapped in insects or leaves, buried in the ground for thousands of years, and turned into fossils under the action of pressure and heat. However, the biggest amber I have ever seen is nothing more than a fist-rich house built with such high-end things. I really couldn’t figure out what a house was like, so I couldn’t help but curiously asked, "What is an amber house?"

Hearing that I didn’t know anything about the Amber Room, the kind Rokosovsky started to popularize with me: “The Amber Room was King Frederick I of Prussia in 1709. In order to imitate the luxurious life of French King Louis XIV, he ordered Built by the most famous architect in Prussia. The entire amber house covers an area of ​​about 55 square meters, has 12 wall panels and 12 column feet, all made of amber, which was 12 times more expensive than gold at the time, and weighed at least 6 tons. At the same time, the amber room is also decorated with diamonds, gems and silver foil, which can be assembled into various shapes at will. After completion, it is dazzling and magnificent. It is known as the eighth wonder of the world. In 1716, King William I of Prussia, in order to form an alliance with Russia, So he presented this rare treasure to Emperor Peter the Great." To be continued.

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