Chapter 1549 Signal Flares in the Night

  Julis was a bakery owner. During the war, he secretly took in 32 Jews and hid them in his attic. Fortunately, I own a bakery, so I can provide the necessary food for these poor Jews.

  When the Soviet army recaptured Klemenchug some time ago, Julis couldn't help feeling ecstatic, because in this way, the Jews hiding in the attic would have a chance to see the sun again.

   Unexpectedly, not long after he was happy, a group of soldiers wearing blue hats broke into the house and took him away from the house in the name of assisting the Germans during the fall of the city. Fortunately, the other party came to the bakery only to arrest people, but did not conduct a search, so the Jews hiding in the attic were not found.

  After Julis was put in prison, he seemed to be forgotten by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and no one came to interrogate him at all. In this way, he was locked up in prison for five days.

  Just as he was worried about the Jews hiding in the attic, he heard the inmates in the same cell whispering: "Have you heard?"

   "What did you hear?"

   "Tomorrow, all our people will be dragged out and shot."

   "Ah, shoot them all. Why?"

   "Why? Their crime is that we helped the Germans during the German occupation of Klemenchug."

The conversation between the two scared Julis out of his wits. He rushed to the door, shook the iron fence vigorously, and shouted loudly: "Let me out, let me out!" His shout echoed in the empty corridor Echoed, but never saw even a soldier from the Ministry of Internal Affairs appear.

   "Stop barking, friend." The middle-aged man among the chatterers said to Yulis, "Even if you bark your throat, no one will pay attention to you."

   Julis quickly returned to the man and squatted down, impatiently asking: "Friend, is what you just said true?"

"Yes," the man nodded and replied, "When I was refreshed today, I heard people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs saying that anyone who does things for the Germans should be severely punished. Tomorrow there will be a mobile Military courts examine and approve the detainees in prisons, and they are all shot after the verdict is over."

  After confirming the bad news, Julis fell to the ground, as if all the strength in his body had been drained. He never dreamed that he, the owner of a bakery, who has always been aloof from the world, would end up in such a fate.

   Just when he was heartbroken, he suddenly heard the sound of the prison door opening from a distance, and then a burst of chaotic footsteps sounded in the corridor. The middle-aged man sitting opposite Julis stood up, came to the prison door and looked out, and said, "It's strange, why are there so many people here, are they going to shoot us early?"

Julis heard footsteps stop at the door, and then there was a loud bang, the cell door was opened from the outside, and then a majestic voice came: "Is Ulis inside?" It was like a death talisman, his legs were so frightened that he couldn't stand up.

  The people outside waited for a while, but there was no movement in the cell, and then a few people walked in. As early as the front is a lieutenant general wearing a blue hat, followed by a lieutenant who also wears a blue hat. And the lieutenant of the Ministry of Internal Affairs that everyone knew was nodding and bowing behind the two of them.

  The lieutenant standing beside the general stepped forward and asked loudly, "Ulis, who is Ulis?"

   However, there is still no reply.

The lieutenant who spoke was Samoilov, and the general who entered the cell first was naturally Lunev, Sokov's military commissar. The two of them came here to rescue Yulis under the order of Sokov. .

After Samoilov yelled a few times, seeing that no one answered, he glanced over the dozens of prisoners in the cell one by one, and said to Lunev in a low voice: "Comrade military commissar, did you make a mistake?" Well, maybe he's not in this cell at all."

   Lunev agrees very much with Samoilov's statement. There are only a dozen people in the cell. If Yulis is really there, after hearing Samoilov yelling for so long, he should squeak. Thinking of this, he turned his head and asked the lieutenant of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: "Comrade Lieutenant, didn't you say that Julius is locked in this cell?"

"That's right, Comrade General." The lieutenant of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was also quite puzzled. According to the prison records, Julius, the owner of the bakery, was indeed locked in this cell. Why did the lieutenant who came with the general shout After a long time, no one answered? "He's in this cell."

   Before Lunev could speak again, the lieutenant turned around and told his subordinates outside the door: "Quickly check the records and see where that Julis is locked up?"

  After hearing the lieutenant's order, the soldiers outside quickly flipped through the prison records. After seeing clearly the cell where Julis was held, he looked up at the number above the cell door, and then replied in an affirmative tone: "Comrade Lieutenant, yes, he is locked in this room."

   "Really?" The lieutenant didn't believe his subordinate's words, grabbed the registration book in his hand, and checked it carefully. Sure enough, I saw Julis's name on it, and even the cell where he was held was the same. He hurriedly approached Lunev, pointed to the record above and said, "Comrade General, you see, Julis is indeed being held in this cell."

   "Since it is this cell, why did Lieutenant Samoilov shout so many times, but no one answered?"

The lieutenant rolled his eyes and immediately thought of a good way, so he said to Lunev: "Comrade General, there are only 12 people in this cell anyway, so why don't we name them one by one, and the rest of the people who didn't agree should be the ones you want." looking for someone."

  After obtaining Lunev's consent, the lieutenant asked his subordinates to start the roll call. The prisoners who were called were driven to the other side of the cell. Soon, only Julis was left sitting on the ground in a daze, his eyes unfocused.

  The lieutenant stepped forward and bent down to slap the opponent. The severe pain woke up Julis from his distraught state. He looked blankly at the lieutenant standing in front of him, not knowing why the opponent wanted to slap him.

   Lieutenant saw Julis woke up, and asked sharply, "What's your name?"

   "Ulis!"

   "Ulis?!" Hearing Julis say his name, the lieutenant couldn't help but burst into ecstasy. He stood up straight and said to Lunev: "Comrade General, he is Julis!"

   But Lunev did not express his position recklessly, but winked at Samoilov beside him, signaling him to step forward for questioning. Samoilov, who understood, nodded, walked up to Yulis and squatted down: "You said your name is Yulis?"

   "Yes, Comrade Commander."

"what do you do?"

   "The owner of the bakery."

  Seeing that the name and occupation matched, Samoilov turned his head to look at Lunev, wanting to see his reaction.

   Lunev came to Julis, looked down at him and asked: "Since you said you are the owner of the bakery, how many Jews live in the attic?"

When Lunev asked about the Jews, Julis jumped up from the ground and asked in surprise: "Comrade General, have you found the Jews hiding in my attic?" I have a chance of survival.

   "Julis," Lunev did not answer his question, but continued to ask: "You said that there are Jews hidden in your attic, but you haven't told me the specific number yet."

Although Yulis didn't know why Lunev asked this question, he also knew that this might be a chance for him to escape from death, so he quickly replied: "There are 32 people in total, including 17 adult men and 12 women. people, and 3 children."

   Lunev knew that the number of rescued Jews was 32, but it was not clear how many of them were men and women. Seeing that Julis spoke so clearly at this moment, he confirmed that he was the person he was looking for, and said to him, "Ulis, come with us."

   Julis suddenly remembered what the middle-aged man said just now, and asked nervously, "Comrade General, where are you taking me?"

Before Lunev could speak, Samoilov said first, "Of course it's back to your bakery, where else do you want to go?" As he spoke, he grabbed Lunev's arm and dragged him outside. Go, "What are you still doing, do you want to stay here forever?"

   Knowing that he could go back to his bakery, Julis couldn't help being overjoyed, and he followed Samoilov out of the cell. As he walked along the corridor, he asked Samoilov in a low voice: "Comrade Lieutenant, didn't you say that everyone in the cell will be shot? Why did you let me go?"

"I let you go because you saved the lives of 32 Jews." Samoilov said to Yulis sternly: "You saved their lives out of kindness. Now, it is these who get you Helping the Jews, saved your life."

Lunev, who was following the two of them, heard what Samoilov said, and began to mutter in his heart: If a kind bakery owner like Julis would go to prison for being suspected of helping the Germans, then he would be locked in a prison cell. There may be more prisoners who were wronged.

  When Lunev took Samoilov to rescue Yulis, Sokov received a call from Zhukov.

   Zhukov asked straight to the point on the phone: "Misha, I heard from Konev that you plan to organize people to make counterfeit banknotes and then put them in German-occupied areas to disrupt their economy. Is there such a thing?"

  Zhukov’s phone call had long been expected by Sokov, and he replied happily: “Yes, Comrade Marshal, I do have such a plan. When counterfeit banknotes are produced, we can use them…”

Unexpectedly, before he finished speaking, Zhukov said sharply: "Nonsense, it is simply nonsense. Comrade Sukov, don't forget your identity. You are the commander of the group army, not the director of the banknote printing factory." , Don’t do such things that have nothing to do with combat.”

"But, Comrade Marshal." Faced with Zhukov's criticism, Sokov was a little dazed, but he still tried to defend himself and said: "A currency war is also a war. As long as the German economy is destroyed, it will affect our future operations." It's very beneficial."

Then Zhukov couldn't hear his justification at all, but continued to say sternly: "Let's leave this kind of thing to professionals. Your task is to command the troops to fight, and strive to destroy more enemies and liberate more cities." , to build even greater feats. Do you understand?"

Now that Zhukov has said this, Sokov knows that no matter whether he will make counterfeit banknotes and put them in the German-occupied areas in the future, but this matter has nothing to do with him for half a kopeck, so he can only bite the bullet and reply: "Understood." .”

  Seeing that Sokov agreed, Zhukov asked in a slow tone: "When will all your troops arrive in Kremenchug?"

  Sokov silently calculated the existing transportation capacity in his mind, and then replied: "It will take about a week."

   "Another week?"

"That's right, Comrade Marshal." Sokov heard Zhukov's displeasure, and quickly argued, "It's mainly the transportation of artillery and tanks, which will take up a lot of transportation force. All of them will arrive in Kremenchug within a week. It's pretty fast."

   "What about the 53rd Army?" Zhukov continued to ask, "When will they arrive?"

  Sokov hurriedly covered the microphone with his hand, and asked Managarov who was sitting opposite: "Comrade General, Marshal Zhukov asked, when will all your troops reach Kremenchug?"

   "It will take about the same amount of time." Managarov said: "After all, we don't have so many transport vehicles. The commanders and fighters of the infantry division can only march towards the Dnieper River on foot."

  After listening to Managarov's answer, Sokov released his hand covering the microphone and reported to Zhukov: "Comrade Marshal, it will take them almost a week to reach the left bank of the Dnieper River."

   "It's already September." Zhukov sighed softly, and said, "The weather is starting to turn cold. If we don't act quickly, the following climate will have an adverse impact on our operations."

"Comrade Marshal, you can rest assured about this." Sukov knew what Zhukov was worried about, and quickly comforted him, saying, "I assure you, before the snow starts to snow in October, our troops will not only be able to land on the right bank station Get a firm foothold and capture more cities on the right bank."

  …

  After dark, Lunev returned with Samoilov and reported to Sokov on the process of rescuing Yulis. Finally, he frowned and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I think those prisoners in prison should be released. Their crime is nothing more than working for the Germans during the German occupation of the city." I don't think it's a big deal, if they don't cooperate, I'm afraid they will get themselves killed."

For Lunev's statement, Sokov very much agrees: "You are right, Comrade Military Commissar. If the residents of the city do not cooperate with the Germans during the German occupation, I am afraid that not only themselves will be killed. It will even affect your own family. I will leave it to you to take full responsibility for how the prisoners in the prison will be dealt with."

   Just as Sokov was about to return to his headquarters, the roar of an aircraft engine came from the air.

Hearing this voice, Managarov rushed to the window, looked up at the dark night sky, and said in his mouth: "No, it's the German night bomber. It seems that they are going to take advantage of the night , to bomb the city."

"Comrade Commander," Gorokhov walked behind Managarov, and said disapprovingly, "The power in the city has not been restored, and there are black lights everywhere. The German bombers can't find the bombing target." .”

  Unexpectedly, as soon as his voice fell, three blue flares flew up from not far away, as if indicating the attack target for the German bombers that were about to arrive over the city.

  (end of this chapter)