Chapter 828 Eating dumplings during the festival

  The next morning, Sokov woke up from his sleep. He sat up from the camp bed and was bending over to put on his boots when he heard a surprised voice: "Comrade commander, you are awake!"

   Sokov looked up and found that at the table not far away, apart from Sidolin and Ivanov, there was actually Anisimov, the division political commissar who hadn't shown up for a long time. And the person who greeted him was Anisimov. He quickly sat up straight, nodded at the other party, and responded politely: "It's Comrade Political Commissar, I haven't seen you for a long time, how are you doing recently?" ?”

"Not bad." After Anisimov answered casually, he got up and picked up an aluminum lunch box with a lid on the table, walked towards Sokov, and said with a spring breeze: "Comrade commander, I wish you the October Revolution!" Happy Holidays!"

Hearing what Anisimov said, Sokov was briefly absent-minded, but soon remembered that today is November 7th, which is the anniversary of the great October Revolution of the Soviet Union, so he got up and said to Anisimov : "Comrade Commissar, I also wish you a Happy October Revolution Day!"

  Anisimov came to Sokov, lifted the lid of the lunch box, and said with a smile: "This is the Siberian dumpling we prepared for you, try it."

  Looking at the steaming dumplings in the lunch box, Sokov remembered that he had discussed some time ago that all commanders and fighters of the division could have a meal of dumplings during the festival, and even applied to the logistics department of the group army to receive meat. He took the lunch box from Anisimov's hand, picked up a dumpling and put it in his mouth. After two bites, he felt that it was really delicious. For such a long time, I either gnawed rusks or potatoes every day. Now I can eat a hot meal of dumplings, which is considered an improvement in food.

  After eating a few dumplings, Sokov suddenly remembered something, stopped, and asked Anisimov standing in front of him: "Comrade political commissar, have all the comrades in the division eaten dumplings?"

   "Don't worry, Comrade Commander, these are dumplings reserved for you." Anisimov said with a smile on his face, "As for the dumplings of other comrades, the cooking soldiers are cooking them."

"Chief of Staff," Sokov waited for Anisimov to finish speaking, then tilted his head and looked at Sidolin sitting at the table, and asked, "Will the cooking soldiers have to cook so many dumplings? Lack of oxygen?"

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Hearing Sukov's question, Sidolin replied with a smile: "The political commissar has already solved this problem. He found two small blowers from outside and put them in the cooking class. Near the exit of the tunnel where it is located, it is constantly ventilating to the outside, which will definitely not lead to lack of oxygen in the tunnel.”

  Sokov put on his boots, walked to the table, put the lunch box on the table, and asked with concern: "Chief of Staff, where is Captain Guchakov now?"

  Yesterday Sokov asked Sidolin to send a telegram to Guchakov, telling them to evacuate immediately after blowing up the supplies in the station, and return to Mamayev Post as quickly as possible. After Guchakov received the telegram, he ordered the guerrillas to withdraw from the station, and then the members of the squad detonated the explosives. As soon as the explosives piled in the oil barrel exploded, the entire warehouse instantly became a sea of ​​flames.

   After all the warehouses in the station began to burn, Guchakov led the members of the squad to withdraw from the station, and did not chase the guerrillas who had withdrawn first, but rushed to the designated place to join Taflin and the others. Since then, the division has lost contact with him.

Seeing that Sokov was so concerned about the whereabouts of Guchakov and the others, Ivanov quickly said: "Comrade commander, don't worry. Captain Guchakov is also an experienced commander. He knows how to lead a small unit from behind the enemy. return."

"That's right, what the deputy commander said makes sense." As soon as Ivanov finished speaking, Sidolin echoed: "Comrade commander, don't worry about Captain Guchakov and the others. Anyway, they They are still wearing German uniforms. If they want to come back from behind enemy lines, there must be no big problem. As for the fact that they have not contacted us for a long time, they may be worried about exposing the target on the way back. Maybe in a while, he will appear in front of you in front of."

  Probably in order to ease the tense atmosphere in the headquarters, Anisimov promptly changed the subject: "Comrade Commander, were you in Moscow at this time last year?"

   "Yes," Sokov nodded, and replied: "I was a corporal at the time, and I led a garrison squad, responsible for the security of the town of Khimki, north of Moscow."

   "I want to ask you, did your unit participate in the military parade on Red Square at that time?"

  Anisimov's question is also what Sidolin and Ivanov want to know. Although none of them were qualified to participate in the military parade last year, it would be a matter of pride for them if their immediate superiors had participated in this historically recorded military parade. So all eyes turned to Sokov, eager to hear his answer.

Seeing that the three of them were all looking at him, Sokov couldn't help but smiled wryly, and replied: "Unfortunately, I was not qualified to participate in that great military parade. After all, the troops used for defense in various parts of the city were tight at that time, and they could not be dispatched." participated in the parade."

   Knowing that Sokov did not participate in the military parade last year, the three of them were somewhat disappointed. Anisimov sighed even more, and said with regret: "That's such a pity. Not only will there be many military parades in the future, but none of them can be compared with last year's military parade. National parade."

"I heard that as soon as the troops participating in the military parade left Red Square, they were transported directly to the front line in trucks parked by the Moskva River." Regardless of the presence of division commanders, there are some things that they are no better than those at the grassroots level. of commanders know better. Sidolin said with emotion: "It is precisely because of this military parade that inspired people's hearts and morale that the confidence of the army and the people in defeating the enemy has been strengthened."

A sentence immediately popped up in Sokov's mind, and he said it instinctively: "For the Soviet military and civilians, this military parade is unexpected and exciting. Although it is a traditional military parade in form, it is It has a completely different meaning. It shows the contempt of the Soviet people for Faxi Temple. Although the victory is still far away, the people have seen the dawn of victory. For Faxi Temple members, this military parade is like a bolt from the blue. "

   "That's really good." Anisimov asked curiously: "Comrade commander, who said this, why have I never heard of it before?"

"It was said by General Rokossovsky, the commander of the Don Front." As soon as the words came out, Sokov remembered who said the words, and he said to Anisimov: "At that time, the army he was commanding The 16th Army, stationed just northwest of Moscow, stubbornly resisted the enemy's ferocious attack."

As soon as Rokossovsky was mentioned, Ivanov said with emotion: "Comrade commander, if there is no strong support from General Rokossovsky this time, I think Captain Guchakov will be able to successfully occupy the two countries." It’s probably not an easy task to find a station.”

"According to the information we have, in order to successfully attract the attention of the German army, Rokossovsky first sent the air force to bomb the front of the 113th Infantry Division of the German army, and then bombarded the position of the 60th Motorized Division. Two infantry divisions launched an attack." As the chief of staff, Sidolin naturally knew a lot of details: "It was a series of actions he took that caused a misjudgment to the German army, thinking that our army was preparing to attack them again. , and hastily mobilized troops to go north to deal with the threat from the north."

"What a pity, what a pity." Hearing this, Ivanov shook his head and said, "Although the fight was lively, it was still a false attack, and we don't know when the real counterattack will start. "

"Don't worry, my deputy division commander." Sokov knew that it was less than two weeks before the big counter-offensive started, so he smiled and said to Ivanov: "I think at the end of the month, what you said The big counter-offensive will be officially launched."

  Sokov's words made the eyes of the three people brighten, and Anisimov even pulled Sokov and asked impatiently: "Comrade commander, did you hear any news when you said that?"

"I haven't heard anything." Naturally, Sokov would not tell the three of them the truth, but pointed to the map on the table and pretended to analyze it: "I speculated based on the actions of the Don Front Army this time. "

Seeing the bewildered expressions on the faces of the three of them, he continued to say: "Look, the two German positions that were breached should be stationed by elite German troops, right? Think about it, the friendly forces can fight in such a short period of time. What does an internal breakthrough mean?"

   "What does it mean?" Anisimov asked instinctively.

"Being able to break through the enemy's defenses in such a short period of time shows that our army has assembled enough attacking forces in front of the enemy." Although Sokov knew the date when the counter-offensive began, he did not know the counter-offensive forces everywhere. I can only continue according to my own thoughts: "Before attacking the front of the 113th Infantry Division, General Rokossovsky even sent the air force to carry out bombing. It can be seen that they now have the ability to attack the German army." The basis for the counter-offensive. Based on this, I analyzed the big counter-offensive of the higher-level organization, which will be formally launched in the near future.”

  Ivanov was dubious about Sokov's statement. He stared at the map for a long time, looked up at Sokov and asked, "Comrade Commander, I don't understand. You said that the big counterattack will start at the end of the month. How did you come to this conclusion?"

"It's very simple." Sokov pretended to be innocent, pointed to the map and said to Ivanov: "I just said that the troops of the Don Front Army already have the strength to fight back against the enemy. Presumably we Stalin The counterattack force of the Gele Front Army also completed its assembly on the east bank.

  The reason why I said it might be at the end of the month is because the Group Army Command has not notified us to go to the meeting until now. According to the usual practice, ten days or even a week before the start of the major counter-offensive, commanders at all levels will be called to the headquarters for a meeting, and everyone will be assigned their own combat tasks. "

After Sokov's analysis, Ivanov was convinced, he nodded and said: "Comrade commander, you are right, if such a large-scale military operation is to be carried out, combat mobilization and deployment must be carried out in advance." Combat missions. And the headquarters has not notified us of a meeting until now, indicating that it will not launch a counterattack against the enemy in the next few days."

  After chatting with the three of them, Sokov picked up the lunch box on the table and said to them: "Because there is no fighting now, I will go to the health team first, and the work here will trouble you."

The three of them knew that Sokov was going to the health team to see Asiya, so they nodded neatly, and Anisimov said, "Go, comrade commander, we are here, you don't need to come back in a hurry, You can spend more time with Asiya in the health team and talk to her."

  Before going out, Sokov specially emphasized: "Remember, leave some dumplings for Guchakov's squad, so that they can feel the festive atmosphere today when they come back."

   "Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Anisimov replied with a smile: "I have already left enough dumplings for them, enough for the squad to eat."

Sokov came to the health team, found Asiya who was resting, handed over the lunch box in his hand, and said to her with a smile: "Asiya, these are Siberian dumplings made by the teacher. I brought them here specially. For you to eat."

Asiya opened the lunch box, grabbed a dumpling with her hand, tasted it, and said it was delicious: "It's delicious, it's delicious. I didn't expect that I could still eat meat-filled dumplings. The other comrades knew about it." , I will definitely die with envy."

  Sokov was taken aback when he heard what Assia said. He had asked Anisimov before. The latter said that every commander and fighter in the whole division had dumplings to eat. Could it be that what he said was incorrect, that the wounded in the health team could not eat dumplings? Thinking of this, he tentatively asked Asiya: "Asiya, haven't you eaten dumplings today?"

   "Eat it!" Assia asked in surprise, "Did I tell you that we didn't eat dumplings today?"

   "But, what you just said..." Sokov didn't know how to reply to Asiya for a moment: "I thought, I thought you didn't have any dumplings to eat."

"Before you came, the cooking soldiers brought us dumplings." Assia saw that Sokov had misunderstood, and quickly explained to him: "But because the meat dumplings are limited, Comrade Captain made a decision. Dumplings stuffed with meat are given to the wounded. We medical staff eat dumplings stuffed with mashed potatoes."

  Sokov originally thought that today was the holiday, and the whole teacher would eat dumplings, all of which were mixed with meat. Unexpectedly, many of them were mashed potato dumplings. Everyone nestled in the tunnel and ate potatoes for several months, and they probably got tired of eating long ago. Now that they are finally looking forward to the holidays, they thought they could eat meat dumplings, but in the end, they actually ate mashed potato dumplings.

   Seeing Sokov staring at the front without focus, Assia raised her hand and patted him on the shoulder, and asked curiously, "Misha, what are you thinking? Is something wrong?"

Sokov woke up from his contemplation, looked at Asiya and said, "It's nothing, I just thought you didn't have meat dumplings, and I was lost in thought. I'll go back and ask the political commissar later to see if I can make another batch." Meat dumplings, let someone bring them to you. Everyone can’t eat meat dumplings, but let the medical staff in our division eat mashed potato dumplings that taste much worse.”

   "Misha, you are so kind!" After quickly kissing Sokov on the cheek, Assia said excitedly, "On behalf of all the medical staff in the health team, I would like to express my gratitude to you!"

  (end of this chapter)