Chapter 2276

When the convoy started again, Rokossovsky, who was sitting in the jeep, looked at the German soldiers passing by the car blankly, thinking to himself: After these prisoners were imprisoned in the prisoner-of-war camp, they would not last long , it will be released again. Some of them will go back to their hometown and live the lives of ordinary people. And some people will return to the cities destroyed by the war to participate in the reconstruction work.

The Soviet major who was in charge of escorting the prisoners looked at the convoy going away and murmured to himself: "These damned Germans, how come none of them resisted, otherwise I could justifiably shoot at the soldiers, for My fallen comrades and comrades are avenged."

  The major shook his head vigorously, trying to drive out such thoughts in his mind. Anyway, the Germans surrendered and the war was over, so it seemed not so legitimate for him to shoot the prisoners. He waved to the soldiers around him, signaling them to **** the prisoners and continue towards the prisoner-of-war camp.

  The adjutant sitting in the co-pilot's seat turned his head and said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, we have entered the defense zone of the 48th Army Group ahead. Should we go to the Group Army Command or go directly to the Elbe River?"

"Go directly to the river." Rokossovsky said lightly: "Based on what I know about Misha, he must be waiting for me in front of the floating bridge on the Elbe River. If we go to the army headquarters, we will definitely Flushed."

Regarding Rokossovsky's statement, the adjutant expressed doubts in his heart. He felt that maybe when the convoy reached the Elbe River, he would not see Sokov at all. People will inevitably waste time.

  When the convoy approached the Elbe River, the adjutant saw that there seemed to be many people standing by the bridge. He squinted his eyes and took a closer look, and found that the people waiting there were basically middle and senior military officers, not only school-level officers, but even several generals. Seeing this situation, the adjutant couldn't help secretly admiring Rokossovsky in his heart, and found that the marshal was right, Sokov and others would really wait for the convoy by the pontoon bridge. If he really followed his proposal and drove to the headquarters of the group army, he would be thrown into vain.

"Comrade Marshal!" Seeing that the jeep Rokossovsky was riding stopped, Sokov immediately led a group of members of the headquarters forward and saluted: "Welcome to the defense area of ​​our 48th Army to inspect Work."

Rokossovsky said with a smile: "Misha, I didn't come to you to inspect the work, I just passed by." After his eyes swept over the people behind Sokov one by one, he finally Stayed on Lunev's body.

   "General Lunev," Rokossovsky looked at Lunev and asked, "I heard that you had an appendix operation a few days ago. How is your recovery now?"

"It's all good, Comrade Marshal." Lunev worried that Rokossovsky thought he was injured and was unwilling to take him to Wismar to meet the British officers, so he hurriedly said: "My current activities It's not affected in the slightest."

  The reason why Rokossovsky asked about Lunev's injury was that he was worried that the bumps along the way would cause his wound to burst. Now that he heard that his injuries had healed, he nodded and ordered: "You all get in the car, and we will go to Wismar after the commanders of the other armies arrive."

   After waiting for about half an hour, the commanders of the army group under the front army all rushed to join Rokossovsky. Seeing that everyone was present, Rokossovsky ordered to set off. The convoy crossed the Elbe River from the pontoon bridge and headed towards Wismar, the headquarters of the British Army.

   When he arrived outside the city of Wismar, Rokossovsky found that a large number of British troops had already lined up to welcome his convoy.

  The officers and soldiers of the British army were all wearing ordinary combat uniforms, not helmets, but all berets.

   Seeing the convoy of Rokossovsky and others appear, the military band immediately played a welcome song to welcome the friendly troops coming from afar.

   Rokossovsky ordered the convoy to stop more than 20 meters away from the welcoming team, then got out of the car and walked towards the welcoming team.

Sokov, who was following Rokossovsky, saw a short officer walking out of the British army, and immediately recognized the famous Marshal Montgomery, and hurriedly approached Rokossovsky's ear Said: "Comrade Marshal, the oncoming is Marshal Montgomery."

  When the distance between the two sides was three or four meters, they both stopped. Rokossovsky said politely to the other party: "Is this Marshal Montgomery?"

   "Yes, Marshal Rokossovsky, my name is Montgomery." The short man took two steps forward, stretched out his hand to Rokossovsky, and said in a friendly manner, "Nice to meet you!"

  After listening to the translation, Rokossovsky took two steps forward and reached out to hold Montgomery's hand: "Hello, Marshal Montgomery, it's a pleasure to meet you."

  After the two sides shook hands, Rokossovsky began to introduce the people who came with him to Montgomery, and Sokov was the first to bear the brunt.

When Montgomery learned that the young general standing in front of him was the illustrious Sokov, he couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise, and said with emotion: "General Sokov, I have known you for a long time. I heard that the Germans Anyone who hears that they are going to fight against your army will feel that they are too unlucky to meet such a strong opponent as Ni. I am very fortunate that we are allies and not enemies, otherwise my army may be defeated by you."

  Sokov's English is not bad. He understood what Montgomery said before the translator could speak. As soon as Montgomery finished speaking, he smiled and said in English: "Hello, Marshal Montgomery, nice to meet you!" After speaking, he reached out to shake hands with the surprised Montgomery.

   Rokossovsky did not expect Sokov to speak English, and he seemed to speak it well. When he waited for Montgomery to shake hands with the other commanders, he asked Sokov in a low voice: "Misha, your English is pretty good. When did you learn it?"

"I learned it when I was studying in university." Sokov tried to pretend to be nonchalant and said, "I thought it was fun at the time, but I spent a lot of time on it. I didn't expect that the English I learned could be useful. Useful day."

  After the officers of both sides met and knew each other, Montgomery ordered the salute to be fired to celebrate the victory. At the same time, Rokossovsky was invited to review his guard of honor.

After inspecting the guard of honor, Montgomery said to Rokossovsky with an apologetic face: "Marshal Rokossovsky, I think you may feel that your army is fighting **** battles with the Germans, while we are staying on the Elbe River." The West Bank is idle. In order to avoid any bad associations, I feel it is necessary to explain to you. My troops have not been rested and replenished for eleven months since the Normandy landing operations, etc. When they hit the Elbe River, they were already exhausted. They wanted to rest for a while, and then cooperate with you to launch an attack on the German army, but they actually surrendered. This is simply beyond my expectation. "

  Sokov could not help showing a mocking look on his face when he heard Montgomery's justification for himself. It has been eleven months since the Normandy landing, and the British army is not iron-clad, so how could it be possible to keep fighting the Germans all the time? Everything Montgomery said just now was nothing more than justifying the recent inaction of his subordinates.

   This truth is not only clear to Sokov, but also to the Soviet commanders present. However, no one pierced this layer of window paper, which can be regarded as saving some face for the British.

   After the welcome song was played, the guard of honor also reviewed it. Next, Montgomery invited everyone to enter the city, to a hall of the municipal building, to participate in the feast that had been prepared long ago.

  Although the long tables in the hall were filled with all kinds of delicacies, everyone's attention didn't seem to be on the food, but started talking and taking pictures.

  In order to avoid the embarrassing scene where the two sides meet again, not only Rokossovsky brought a lot of English translations this time, but even Montgomery also arranged a lot of Russian translations. When British officers and Soviet generals had a conversation, an English or Russian translator would appear beside them, translating what they said into a language that the other party could understand in a timely manner.

  Although Sokov knew English, he had no interest in communicating with British officers, so he didn't have any translators by his side.

"Excuse me, are you General Sokov?" Sokov was hiding in the corner, holding a glass of champagne, looking at the officers and soldiers of both sides on the lawn outside, when he heard someone talking to him behind him, he turned his head and looked behind him. I saw a British major general standing behind me.

   "Yes, I'm Sokov." Out of politeness, Sokov quickly stood up, nodded slightly at the other party, and asked tentatively, "I don't know who you are?"

   "Introduce yourself." The British major general said politely: "I am Major General Wilson, the commander of the airborne division!"

"It turned out to be Major General Wilson!" Thinking that his troops joined forces with the opponent's airborne division, Sokov hurriedly transferred the champagne in his left hand, and then offered to extend his hand to the opponent, saying in a friendly manner: "Nice to meet you .”

"General Sokov, in the prisoner-of-war camp you liberated, not only rescued a large number of pilots, but also rescued many officers and soldiers of our division who were captured by the Germans." Wilson held Sokov's hand and said: "On behalf of These rescued officers and soldiers, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to you!"

"General Wilson, you are very polite." Sokov politely responded: "We are allied forces. Seeing your officers and soldiers being held in prisoner-of-war camps by the Germans, how can we do nothing? Send people to rescue them. By the way, how are the rescued officers and soldiers' physical condition, do you need me to send a military doctor to check their bodies?"

"Thank you for your kindness, General Sokov." Wilson said sincerely: "We have a good medical environment. After these rescued officers and soldiers came back, they were all sent to the hospital immediately, and their physical conditions were thoroughly checked. I believe that even some people in the prisoner-of-war camp had some physical problems due to the brutal treatment by the Germans. But under the care of the medical staff in the past two days, they have also improved to a large extent."

   "Wilson, what are you talking about?" Montgomery walked over with a glass of wine at this moment, and asked with a smile, "I think you and General Sokov had a very speculative conversation."

   "Your Excellency, Marshal," Wilson said to Montgomery, "Not long ago, General Sokov's troops rescued many captured officers and soldiers of our division from the German prisoner-of-war camps. I came here specially to express my thanks to him."

"It turned out to be this matter." After hearing this, Montgomery also said with emotion: "I heard that a group of generals and officers, including the Chief of Staff of the Belgian Army, were still detained in the prisoner-of-war camp. Returned to Belgium quickly."

   "Mr. Marshal." Sokov asked Montgomery curiously: "Do you think this general can continue to serve as his chief of staff after he returns to Belgium?"

"I don't think this is possible." Montgomery shook his head and said, "I think he has been a German prisoner of war for a long time. Presumably his original position has been replaced by others long ago. Even if he returned When we arrive in Belgium, it is basically impossible for the official to return to his original post."

   "General Sokov," Wilson asked Sokov, "Now that the war is over, what are your plans?"

Sokov shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said: "I obey the arrangement of my superiors. If you let me stay in the army, I will stay in the army; if you let me change jobs, I will take off this uniform immediately and go back to the place." Work."

"General Sokov, I think it would be a waste to let you change jobs." Wilson said, "I have heard about your deeds a long time ago, and the Germans would tremble when they heard your name. It would be a pity if you don't continue to be a soldier."

  Sokov knew very well in his heart that even though the war in Europe was over, this **** war was not over yet. The Soviet army will mobilize a large number of troops to the east in a short period of time, preparing to deal a thunderous blow to the Kwantung Army entrenched in the Far East. But before the "August Storm" is officially implemented, everything needs to be kept secret, so as not to be noticed by Japanese pirates and strengthen defenses, making subsequent attacks difficult.

  No matter what Wilson said next, Sokov’s answer was the same, saying that he resolutely obeyed the orders of his superiors, staying if he was allowed to stay, and changing jobs if he was not allowed to stay. Seeing that the talks between the two sides became more and more deadlocked, Montgomery suddenly made a suggestion: "General Sokov, I would like to take a photo with you. I wonder if you are interested?"

   Don't look at Sokov looking down on the British army from the bottom of his heart, but he still admires Montgomery, a famous World War II general. Now that the other party took the initiative to invite me to take a group photo, there was no reason why he refused to agree, so he nodded quickly and said, "Mr. Marshal, that's really what I wish for!"

  Seeing that Sokov agreed to take a photo with him, Montgomery also smiled. He waved to a photographer not far away, signaling him to come over.

   Soon, the photographer came to Montgomery and asked respectfully, "Mr. Marshal, what can I do for you?"

   Montgomery put an arm on Sokov's shoulders naturally, and said to the photographer: "I want to take a photo with this Russian general, remember to take a good picture of us."

  (end of this chapter)