Red Moscow

Sokov stood up and walked to the door, raised his hand to open the door, and asked the conductor who was bowing outside: "Comrade conductor, are we almost there?"

"Yes, Comrade General." The conductor said: "After crossing the railway bridge, we will reach Warsaw West Station in a few minutes."

"Oh, Warsaw West Station." After hearing this place name, Sokov couldn't help but sighed: "Thinking back then, my troops had occupied Warsaw East Station, Wawel Station and Vilansk Station, but there was no chance to cross the Vistula River and occupy the upcoming Warsaw West Station."

"Comrade General," the conductor showed a surprised expression on his face, and he asked in surprise: "Have you ever participated in the battle to liberate Warsaw? "Yes." "Since we were able to capture the three stations in the east of the city, but we had no chance to capture the Warsaw West Station under the city?" The conductor asked curiously, "What's going on?" "The reason is very simple," Sokov said to the conductor, "When I commanded my troops to attack Warsaw, an uprising was breaking out in Warsaw. Since the bridges on the Vistula River were blown up by the Germans, my troops could not expand their victory after occupying the city on the east bank and could only stop at the bank of the Vistula River." Considering that he and the conductor were not familiar with each other, Sokov did not tell the conductor that the rebels did not keep their promises and did not meet his troops as agreed, which led to the failure of the crossing operation. But the conductor didn't seem to notice that Sokov was keeping something to himself, and continued to ask: "Yes, when the conflict occurred in Warsaw, our army did not complete the crossing operation for some reason. But a few months later, Zhukov organized the troops of the First Belorussian Front to launch a new attack on Warsaw and completely liberated the city. Comrade General, didn't your troops participate in this battle?" "No." Sokov shook his head and said: "Before the new round of attack on Warsaw began, the troops under my command followed Marshal Rokossovsky to The Second Belorussian Front, our new combat direction is East Prussia, so we missed the battle to liberate Warsaw. "

"That's a pity. Although the Germans completely destroyed the city before they withdrew, after more than a year of reconstruction, many places have been restored to almost the same state as before the war." After saying this, the conductor raised his hand to check the time, and then apologized to Sokov: "Comrade General, the train will be in the station soon, and I still have a lot of things to deal with. The train will be inspected and maintained at the Warsaw Station, and the parking time varies from half a day to a day. If you can't find a place to stay in the city , you can go back to the car to rest."

"Okay, thank you, comrade conductor."

After the conductor left, Sokov turned around and asked Ajelina who was sitting by the window: "Ajelina, what are your plans when the train arrives at the station?"

Ajelina had been thinking about this question all the way. When she heard Sokov ask this, she hesitated for a moment and said slowly: "I want to go and see where I used to live, and see if there are any acquaintances."

"Where is your residence?"

"I live on Krakow Suburban Street, not far from Warsaw West Station, and it only takes more than ten minutes to walk. "

I heard that Ajelina The place where Jelena used to live was not far from Warsaw West Station, so Sokov said decisively: "Okay, after the train arrives, I will accompany you to walk along Krakow Suburban Street to see if you can meet your familiar neighbors."

Ajelina had a bitter expression on her face when she heard Sokov say this: "I heard that after the Germans put down the Warsaw Uprising, they decided to wipe the city off the map, so they almost destroyed most of the buildings in the city. I guess the situation of Krakow Suburban Street is similar."

When the train entered Warsaw West Station, a person who had long been forgotten by Sokov appeared.

When Sokov saw this person, he showed a shocked expression on his face: "Captain Menshov, why are you here?"

"Comrade General, I am worried that you will encounter danger on the road, so I personally escorted you here."

"Misha." Adelina, who was standing next to Sokov, quickly explained: "Before the train started, Captain Menshov came to you and was going to tell you that he personally led the team to escort us to Warsaw."

Sokov was stunned after hearing this, and then asked back: "When did this happen, how come I don't know anything about it?" When he said this, he was still secretly thinking in his heart, did he lose his memory, otherwise how could he forget that Menshov came to see him.

Unexpectedly, Menshov on the opposite side grinned and then said: "Comrade General, when I came to report to you, you had already fallen asleep. I was afraid of disturbing your rest, so I only said a few words to the beautiful girl next to you, and then went back to the carriage prepared by the conductor for us." "Comrade Captain, thank you!" Although Sokov had no idea in advance that Menshov was escorting him, he still shook his hand and thanked him, and then asked: "How do you plan to go back?" "I will go to the station duty room later to ask if there are any trains going east. If there are, I will take a ride with my men." Menshov said with a smile: "Maybe the conductor will be very happy to see dozens of our soldiers. At least they don't have to worry about encountering gangs on the road."

"Comrade Captain." Since Menshov mentioned gangs, Sokov couldn't help but want to ask a few more questions: "It's been more than half a year since the war ended. Why are there still so many gangs in Poland and Germany? Do our troops Didn’t the party send troops to clear it up?”

Regarding Sokov's question, Menshov replied with a wry smile: "Comrade General, these gangs are basically made up of local people. They are very familiar with the terrain, and there are many local people who act as spies for them, often us. As soon as the anti-bandit troops set off, the gangs would get the news and make preparations in advance. When we arrived at the pre-detected location, we found that it was already empty. "

After the two chatted for a few more words, Menshov said goodbye and left. Sokov turned to Agelina and said: "Agelina, let's go now."

Agelina glanced at the assault rifle leaning against the corner and the two wooden boxes containing magazines, and then said with some embarrassment: "What should I do with these things?" She was worried that if she left for a long time, the people in the house would be damaged. What can go wrong with weapons and ammunition.

And Sokov's thoughts at the moment were the same as Agelina's. It was definitely not appropriate to go out with an assault rifle; but if he left it in the box and left for such a long time, someone might take it away. It's just a nuisance.

Just when Sokov was in trouble, Sergeant Torba appeared in the corridor. He asked Sokov: "Comrade General, the train has entered the station. Do you plan to stay on the train or go outside and walk around?" Walk?"

"Comrade Sergeant, I would like to go outside for a walk." Sokov pointed into the box with his hand and said to Torba: "But I don't trust these things here. The conductor said, later Someone will come to repair the train in a while. If these weapons and ammunition are seen by the maintenance workers, who knows if any of them will have any ideas. "

Torba understood what Sokov meant, and he hurriedly patted his chest and promised: "Comrade General, these weapons and ammunition will be handed over to me. If anything goes wrong before you come back, you can send me directly." Court martial."

Now that Torba had made the guarantee, Sokov felt much more at ease. After thanking the other party, he took Agelina off the train and walked out of the station.

Polish stations are the same as those in Moscow. No one checks tickets when entering or exiting the station. After all, it is basically impossible to evade fares in these countries. Because the conductors were waiting at the door to check tickets, people without tickets couldn't even get on the train, so naturally no one could evade the fare.

After leaving the station, Sokov looked at the unfinished ruins everywhere in front of him, feeling a little confused. He turned to Agelina and asked: "Agelina, which way should we go to reach the suburban street in Krakow you mentioned?"

Although Agelina has lived in Warsaw for a long time, the city has basically been destroyed by the Germans. Looking at the remaining ruins, she is also a little confused. She doesn’t know which direction to go in order to get there. Return to the suburban streets of Krakow where I used to live.

Fortunately, there was an aunt wearing a headscarf at this moment. From in front of the two of them, Agelina quickly stopped her and communicated with the other party in Polish. And Sokov didn't understand Polish, so he could only stand by like a fool and watch the two of them chatter non-stop.

After finally waiting for the aunt to leave, Agelina took Sokov's hand and walked in the direction pointed by the aunt.

Sokov asked Agelina curiously: "What did you and that aunt talk about just now?"

"It's nothing. I just asked for directions and asked if there are many residents in the city now."

The two of them walked slowly along the street with many bricks and rubbles, meeting many people along the way.

Looking at the oncoming Sokov and Agelina, most of the Poles stopped and stepped aside to make way for the two. The glances directed at the two people ranged from curious to friendly, and occasionally one or two hostile glances were seen.

When Sokov found these hostile eyes directed at him, he couldn't help but wonder in his heart: Why do these people hate him? Did they have relatives who died at the hands of the Soviet army, such as those in the Katyn Forest?

After walking forward for more than ten minutes, the ruins of various buildings were still as far as the eye could see. Sokov couldn't help but sigh in his heart. It was said that after half a year of fierce fighting in Stalingrad, no complete building could be found. The situation in Warsaw is similar to Stalingrad.

"Misha, look quickly, there is a group of Germans ahead."

"Germans?" As soon as Sokov heard the Germans, his hand instinctively reached to his waist, ready to pull out his pistol. But as soon as he put his hand on the holster, he suddenly realized that the war was over. The Germans Agelina mentioned were no longer enemies that he would fight to the death when they met, but just prisoners of war of the Soviet army. He took his hand back and asked, "Where?"

"Here, there." Agelina pointed towards the ruins across the road and said, "They are clearing the ruins over there."

Sokov looked in the direction of her finger, and sure enough he saw a group of German prisoners of war in the ruins, under the supervision of the Soviet army, working hard to clean up the masonry and rubble in the ruins. After the war, this was the first time he saw German prisoners of war. He couldn't help but become interested. He shook his head at Agelina and said, "Come on, let's go over and take a look."

The two crossed the road and came to the ruins.

Sokov suddenly saw a man wearing a gray trench coat, saying something to the Soviet soldiers guarding the prisoners of war. But the soldier seemed very impatient. Not only did he shake his head desperately, he even picked up the rifle in his hand, intending to drive the man away.

"Misha," Agelina also saw the man driven away by the soldiers, and couldn't help but ask Sokov: "Then why did the soldiers drive that man away?"

"I'm not sure." Sokov saw the man walking back towards his position step by step, shaking his head and said: "I guess he wanted to do something with our soldiers, but he was beaten The other party refused. Just in time, he came towards us. You can go over and ask what is going on. "

Agelina nodded, let go of Sokov's arm, and walked towards the man. When she came to the man, she stopped and the two began talking in Polish.

Sokov quickly came to the two of them. Although he couldn't understand what the two were talking about, he still asked Agelina with some urgency: "Agelina, did he say what happened? ?"

The man glanced at Sokov's epaulettes, and an expression of surprise suddenly appeared on his face. Then he said in blunt Russian: "Mr. General, I want to ask you to do me a favor, okay?"

Hearing that the man could speak Russian, Sokov couldn't help but be a little surprised: "You can speak Russian? That's great. Tell me, what can I do for you?"

"That's it, Mr. General." The man began to introduce the situation to Sokov, but due to his average level of Russian, he unconsciously switched to Polish as he spoke. Fortunately, there was Agelina who knew Polish next to her, and she promptly translated what the man said to Sokov.

It turned out that the man was a pianist in Warsaw and a Jew. During the war, he was inevitably persecuted by the Germans. Later, during the Jewish uprising in Warsaw, he luckily escaped from the quarantine area and found a house nearby to hide in, preparing to wait until the end of the war.

Unexpectedly, one day, while he was looking for food, he was discovered by a German captain. After the other party knew his identity, instead of arresting him, he gave him some food. This state of affairs lasted until the Germans withdrew from Warsaw. Since the weather was already very cold when the German troops evacuated, the officer even gave him a military coat, which saved him from freezing to death. He was not saved until the Warsaw army entered the city.

A few months ago, he met an old friend by chance. My friend told me that when I passed through a certain Soviet prisoner of war camp, I met the German captain who helped him and was imprisoned there. He had to do hard labor under the escort of the Soviet army every day, hoping to get his help.

After he got the news, he immediately rushed to the place where German prisoners of war were doing hard labor, looking for the German captain who had helped him, hoping that he would have the opportunity to repay the kindness. But unfortunately, when he arrived at the prisoner-of-war camp that his friend mentioned, he found that the prisoner-of-war camp no longer existed, and the prisoners in it were naturally missing. But he did not give up and often took time to go to the place where German prisoners of war worked in Warsaw to see if he could find a German captain who had helped him.