Chapter 1436 Cultural Relics (Part 2)

  Sokov and Lunev followed Shechtman into the church. When they came to the hall, they saw that there were huge wooden shelves here. He stepped forward and observed carefully. After looking at it for a while, he stood up straight and asked Shechtman: "Comrade Colonel, you haven't opened the seal yet, how do you know it contains world famous paintings?"

"Comrade Commander," Shechtman explained to Sokov, pointing to a label on the wooden shelf: "The Germans put a label on each wooden shelf with a set of numbers on it. We just put the Compare this set of numbers with the numbers in their list, and you will know what paintings are on the wooden shelf."

   "Oh," Sokov asked with great interest: "Comrade Colonel, tell me, what kind of paintings are in this wooden shelf?"

   Shechtman turned around and ordered a staff officer: "Bring me the list."

   Soon, the staff officer handed a booklet to Shechtman: "Comrade Commander, the list you want."

   "Thank you, Comrade Captain." After thanking the staff officer, Shechtman looked at the number on the wooden shelf, and began to flip through the booklet, looking for the corresponding number on it.

   Soon, his finger stopped on a position on the booklet, and Sokov hurriedly leaned over to read it, but it was written in German, and he couldn't understand it at all: "Comrade Colonel, what is written on the list?"

   "It's Surikov's Noble Lady Morozova."

   "How is this possible?" Sokov also happened to know the famous painting that Shechtman mentioned, and he remembered that the painting showed a woman in a black robe, lying on a sled, surrounded by crowds of onlookers. And this painting was seen in the Tretyakov Gallery. The Germans never entered Moscow. How could they get this painting? Thinking of this, he shook his head and said, "Isn't this painting stored in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow? How did the Germans get it? Comrade Colonel, have you made a mistake?"

"Comrade Commander, that's right!" Shechtman said convincingly: "Before you came, the translator of the Ministry of Division and Enemy Industry specially translated it for me. He said that this painting was originally stored in the museum in Smolensk. It may have been plundered by the enemy after they occupied the city."

"Oh, so that's the case." After listening to Shechtman's explanation, Sokov realized that he might have made a low-level mistake, although his later generations saw this painting in the Tretyakov Gallery, But it is possible that the painting was stored in a museum in Smolensk before it was looted by the Germans.

   Sokov looked at the pile of wooden shelves in front of him, smiled and nodded, and said thoughtfully: "The Germans have protected the cultural relics very well, and they didn't even take down the picture frame."

"You are right, Comrade Commander." Shechtman continued: "If the Germans took off the frames of the oil paintings and put them in the microphone, although it would not take up much space, it would not be easy to preserve. When exposed to moisture, oil paint can turn into a paste that even the best repairer cannot repair.”

   "How do we deal with these cultural relics?" Billing took two steps forward, came to Sokov, and asked, "We can't just let them be piled up here, can we?"

"Don't worry, Comrade Colonel." Sokov knew very well in his heart that since his superiors had greeted these cultural relics, there would obviously be someone specially assigned to take them over, so he said to Bilin, "I have ordered Chief of Staff Sameko to report to the Front Army Command After reporting this matter, I believe the superiors will definitely send special personnel to take over these cultural relics."

  Sokov walked up to a wooden box, turned his head and asked Shechtman: "Comrade Colonel, I wonder what is in this wooden box?"

"The manuscripts of Tchaikovsky and Pushkin. Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, Symphony No. 5 and Eugene Onegin, and Pushkin's Eugene Onegin Onegin."

"The manuscripts of Tchaikovsky and Pushkin?" Sokov asked with some surprise: "The two people are not from the same era. When Pushkin died, Tchaikovsky had not yet been born. How could the manuscripts of the two put together?"

"Comrade Commander, let me explain to you." Lunev, who was only going to be a spectator, heard Sukov's question and said with a smile: "The music composed by Tchaikovsky The three-act lyrical opera "Evgeny Onegin", the script was adapted by the composer and Konstantin Silovsky based on the novel of the same name published by Pushkin in 1830. I have read a document, Chai During the writing of the songs, Kovsky bought the manuscripts of Pushkin's novels for a large sum of money."

After saying this, Lunev walked to the wooden box, bent down and patted the lid, and said with regret: "It's a pity that no one can open this box before the people who receive the cultural relics arrive, otherwise I really want to See for yourself what Pushkin's manuscripts look like."

"Comrade Colonel, you did a good job!" Sokov turned around the mountain of cultural relics, and said to Shechtman seriously: "The negotiator you sent is very good, and you can actually persuade the enemies in the church Put down your weapons and surrender to us without damaging the cultural relics. I wonder if those people came here to negotiate?"

   "There are two commanders and fighters who entered the church to negotiate with the Germans." Shechtman replied: "One is Captain Mikhaiev, the deputy battalion commander of the 764 regiment, and the other is the translator Sergeant Vadim."

   "Where are they, I want to meet them."

Mikhaiev and Vadim were the biggest contributors to the seizure of the church. Shechtman originally wanted Sokov to commend them, but when he heard Sokov asking about them, he quickly called a staff officer and ordered He said: "Go and call Captain Mikhaiev and Sergeant Vadim here and say that Comrade Commander wants to see them."

  The two were just outside the church. When they heard the staff officer say that Sokov wanted to see them, they immediately followed into the church.

Sokov waited for the two to come before him, took the initiative to shake hands with them, and said: "Well done, Captain Mikhaiev, Sergeant Vadim, both of you are well done. Thanks to your outstanding performance, our batch of cultural relics have been preserved, and in order to commend the achievements of the two of you, we will soon award medals equivalent to your honor."

  Hearing what Sokov said, both of them showed excited expressions on their faces, and then said in unison: "Serve the Soviet motherland!"

   "Comrade Military Commissar," Sokov said to Lunev, who was standing beside him, "you will be solely responsible for awarding them with honors."

   Lunev nodded, "Okay."

  Sokov turned his head to Mikhaiev and Vadim again, and asked with a smile: "You can make any requests, and I will try my best to satisfy you."

   Mikhaiev waited for Sokov to finish speaking, hesitated for a moment, then raised his head and said, "Comrade Commander, I have a request, I hope you can agree."

   "What's the matter, just say it."

"It's like this. When we entered the church to negotiate, the German commander who was guarding the church nearby was called Grams, and he was a captain of the Wehrmacht..." Mikhaiev clearly reported what happened in the church to Sokov. After repeating it, he finally said: "Comrade Commander, although Captain Grimes led people to set fire to the north of the city, which caused some casualties to our officers, soldiers and residents. But it seems that he can wake up and take the initiative to order his subordinates to put down their weapons. If our army has reduced the number of casualties, can we spare him from death?"

   "Comrade Military Commissar," Sokov recalled that when he entered the city by car, he still vowed to Lunev that if the German officers and soldiers who set fire to the north of the city were caught, they would never be lenient. But the words were still in my ears, but things turned around. A German captain who had participated in arson reduced the casualties of the 254th Division because he took the initiative to order his subordinates to surrender. If he insists on going his own way and insists on killing the German captain, I am afraid there will still be some negative effects, so he handed over the problem to Lunev: "How do you think this German captain named Grams should be dealt with?"

"He led people to set fire to the north of the city, which indeed caused a lot of casualties to our army and the residents of the city. But he actively cooperated with our army's persuasion to surrender, so that the troops stopped resisting, put down their weapons and surrendered to our army, which not only reduced our army's It also protected these precious cultural relics." Lunev said cautiously: "I think the merits and demerits can be offset, so let's not pursue it anymore."

"Okay, Comrade Military Commissioner." Sokov said smoothly: "Since you said so, then we will spare this Captain Grimes and send him and his men to a prisoner of war camp. Wait until the war is over." Then, send them back to their home country."

  Hearing that Sokov agreed to let Grams go, Mikhaiev couldn't help being overjoyed. He quickly raised his hand to salute Sokov: "Comrade Commander, on behalf of Captain Grams, thank you."

   "Comrade Commander," Shechtman asked Sokov again after dealing with the captives, "Our army has already occupied Dergach, so what is the next combat goal?"

"Comrade Colonel, now that we have taken Dergach, our next combat goal is to attack Kharkov. You let the commanders and fighters hurry up and rest, I am afraid that we will not wait long, and we will attack Kharkov. Husband is attacking."

   "Comrade Commander, your phone number." Sokov and Shechtman were talking when a staff officer trotted over and reported to Sokov, "It's a call from the Chief of Staff of the Army Group."

  Sukov guessed that something serious might have happened, so he walked quickly to the table, picked up the phone on it, and asked straight to the point: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what happened?"

   "Reporting, Comrade Commander, I just received a notification from my superiors that Moscow will send an expert team to Gergach to receive the cultural relics tonight. We are ordered to ensure the safety of the cultural relics before the expert team arrives."

  (end of this chapter)