"Misha," Assia interrupted the conversation between the two, urging: "Aren't you talking about the story of Lieutenant General Lukin? You talked about other commanders."

"Okay, okay, Assia, I will continue to tell you about the deeds of Lieutenant General Lukin." Sokov said with a smile: "After Lieutenant General Lukin arrived in Smolensk, the task he accepted was to defend the city and ensure that the Western Front and The road to the 20th Golden Microphone Award in Smolensk is smooth. Because once Smolensk falls, not only will the passage to Moscow be opened, but all connections between the 20th Army and the rear will be cut off. The possibility of annihilation.

In the 16th Army of Lieutenant General Lukin, although there were the 23rd Mechanized Army and the 32nd Infantry Army, the Mechanized Army was just a skeleton, with no other troops except the military headquarters and a few units directly under it; The situation is not much better, only the 46th and 152nd Infantry Divisions are under-represented, with a total strength of no more than 10,000. And there are no tanks, and artillery is pitifully small.

In addition, the person in charge of the city of Smolensk underestimated the speed of the German army's advance, so no decent fortifications were built at all. The troops holding on to the city were just three militia regiments temporarily formed by factory workers. Most fighters have no weapons in their hands, and they cannot stop the enemy at all with their strength.

   Fortunately, at this time, the 129th Infantry Division, which originally belonged to the 19th Army, was ordered to come to reinforce the 16th Army. The division has three infantry regiments and two artillery regiments. Their timely arrival relieved Lukin's urgent need. He deployed the division on the line of defense that the German army might break through, and established a new line of defense centered on their defense area.

   On the second day after the deployment was completed, the troops of Guderian's 2nd Armored Group launched an attack on Smolensk. But in the face of Lukin's solid defense, the German offensive not only failed, but also suffered heavy losses. The 18th Armored Division, which was the main attacker, was almost wiped out in two days, and only 12 tanks remained. Guderian had no choice but to withdraw the 18th Armored Division and replace it with the 17th Armored Division to continue fighting.

  In the next two days, the troops commanded by Lieutenant General Lukin continued to withstand the onslaught of the German army. The fierceness of the battle was no less than that of the Stalingrad Defense War a year later. During the battle, the commander of the 17th Panzer Division of the German Army was killed, and the fighting in the city had to be stopped..."

"Misha, I have a question." Since Yakov stayed in a German prisoner-of-war camp during the Battle of Smolensk, he didn't know anything about this period of history. Listening to Sokov at this moment He spoke so vividly that he couldn't help asking curiously: "When the Battle of Smolensk began, you probably had just put on your military uniform and you were still in the town of Khimki, far away from the battlefield. How did you know the situation at that time? ?”

Yakov's question really stopped Sokov. He was stunned for a moment, and then came up with a reasonable explanation: "Yasha, why did you forget, I just told you that the Smolensk garrison The commander later became the director of the armored forces of our group army, and he told me many things."

Sokov's explanation sounds reasonable, Yakov naturally has no doubts, he raised his chin towards Sokov: "Misha, you go on, I want to hear how Lieutenant General Lukin defended Smolensk of."

"Yasha, Lukin was able to defend Smolensk not simply by relying on his own strength, he also received a lot of help." Sokov explained to Yakov: "For example, Guderian's When the troops attacked Smolensk, the 20th Army deployed to the west of the city, and the Rokossovsky combat group in the Yartsevo area to the southwest of the city, were fighting the enemy non-stop. This reduced the enemy's force to attack the city, and to a certain extent relieved the pressure on Lukin."

"The war lasted until the end of July. The Supreme Command found that it was unrealistic to stick to Smolensk. Instead, the troops in this area would be encircled by the German army. In order to prevent the troops in this area from being annihilated by the German army, they decisively issued a Lieutenant General Lukin was responsible for commanding the troops of the 16th and 20th Army Groups who were responsible for the breakout mission. After fierce fighting, they finally established a narrow corridor in the encirclement of the German army.

  Although the German artillery and air force bombarded this corridor mercilessly, the hundreds of thousands of troops of the two armies successfully passed through the corridor and jumped out of the encirclement of the German army and returned to the new defensive zone. However, it is regrettable that during the breakout, Lu Jin ordered the troops to throw away all the heavy equipment to ensure that the lightly equipped troops could jump out of the enemy's encirclement smoothly. "

   "Misha, since General Lukin jumped out of the German encirclement with his troops, how did he get captured?" Assia asked curiously.

Sokov smiled slightly, and then asked back: "I think you may have heard that the commander of the Western Front at that time was Admiral Konev, and he gave an order to Rokossovsky, who succeeded Lukin, It is about handing over the troops of the 16th Army to the commander of the friendly army, and taking the Army Command to Vyazma to receive new troops."

"Of course I've heard of it." Yakov nodded and said, "When I was still working in the General Staff, I once heard a staff member mention this past incident, saying that Marshal Rokossovsky was really lucky. If he Hadn’t received Konev’s order to leave with the Army Group Command in advance, maybe he, like his troops, would have been encircled by the Germans in the Vyazma area. As for what will happen, it’s hard to say .”

Yakov had scruples in speaking, but Sokov said it without hesitation: "I have been thinking about it since I heard about it. If Konev hadn't given the order to Marshal Rokossovsky , but to Lieutenant General Lukin, then what we are looking at today should be Marshal Lukin."

"Misha, you are right." Yakov agreed with Sokov's statement: "With Lieutenant General Lukin's commanding ability, if he continues to stay in the army, he will not be a marshal and will be promoted. As a general, I don’t think it’s too much.”

  Asiya urged: "Misha, you haven't said how Lieutenant General Lukin was captured?"

"Lieutenant General Lukin led the troops under his command in early October and was ordered to withdraw to Viazma. The front troops of the German 3rd and 4th Armored Groups had cut off their retreat. The main forces of our Western Front and Reserve Front The troops, caught in the encirclement of the German army, completely lost contact with the rear, and the troops in the encirclement could not get any supplement at all. In order to avoid the huge forces including the 16th, 19th, 20th, 24th and 32nd armies, Repeating the mistakes of the Kiev campaign, Comrade Stalin ordered Lieutenant General Lukin to serve as the commander-in-chief to command these troops to break through the encirclement of the German army and move to a new defensive zone.

   But it was too late at this moment. The troops surrounded by the enemy not only ran out of ammunition, but also ran out of food. They could only rely on the small amount of food provided by the local residents and killed war horses to satisfy their hunger. Lu Jin, who accepted the command of the troops, persisted tenaciously for three weeks without reinforcements outside and food and grass inside, holding back 25 infantry divisions, 4 armored divisions and 2 motorized divisions of the German army. It was not until the end of October that the troops in the encirclement stopped resisting because of exhaustion of ammunition.

Unfortunately, Lukin's headquarters was hit by German artillery fire. When he woke up, he found that he had become a prisoner of the Germans, and his legs were dripping with blood. It is not known whether he was hit by shell shrapnel or collapsed by the headquarters. At that time, the falling log broke it. "

Having said that, Sokov turned his gaze to Yakov. He remembered that the other party wanted him to come up with an idea to rescue Vlasov a few days ago, so he stared at the other party's eyes and said: "After the capture of Lieutenant General Lukin, after He was amputated in a prisoner-of-war camp. The German general, who valued him very much, tried every means to get him to form a puppet army, and even promised to let him hold the highest position in the pro-German government once the entire Soviet Union was occupied. But in the face of threats and lures from the Germans , Lieutenant General Lu Jin did not give in, but started a tenacious struggle with the enemy.

After many attempts, the Germans found that they could not persuade Lukin to change course. Instead, they chose Vlasov, who was captured in the Battle of Liuban, and helped the biggest rebel general of our army in 1944 to form an army. A puppet army composed of prisoners of war of our army and residents of Tsarist Russia in Europe. "

Assia naturally didn't know about the conversation between Sokov and Yakov. When she heard Vlasov's name, she gritted her teeth and said, "As far as I know, Comrade Stalin trusts Vlasov very much. He even planned to appoint him to a higher position when the time was right. But it was unexpected that after he was captured by the Germans, he surrendered in a very short time, which became a shameful judgment. If If we catch him one day, we must punish him severely."

Sokov smiled lightly, and then asked Yakov, "Yasha, did you hear what Asya said? I think most people think the same as her, to Vlasov the traitor He hated it to the bone. However, what he did to save him later, it is obviously impossible to save his own life."

  After listening to Sokov's narration, Yakov finally figured out one thing, and he was a little impulsive. Just considering that Vlasov was someone he was familiar with, seeing him threatened with death, he tried to rescue him, but he ignored that the other party had committed an unforgivable crime. Even if his father tried to pardon his capital crime for the sake of old friendship, he would probably attract a lot of opposition.

After trying to understand this truth, Yakov nodded and said: "Misha, you are right, as long as a person who betrays the motherland like this is caught by our army, he must not be spared lightly, he must be punished. due punishment."