Chapter 1052

Early the next morning, yumashev organized a military band and held a small ceremony at the airport. He arranged for people to solemnly carry the coffin containing the remains of the US pilot and board a transport plane parked on the runway.

After the transport planes, Warren's fighters and two escort naval fighters took off, yumashev accompanied us to another transport plane parked nearby. He apologetically said to khrushiev, "Comrade minister, I'm sorry. Although I also want to prepare a better plane for you, our conditions are limited. This is the best plane I can provide for you."

He waved to his old friend and said, "Dear Ivan stepanovic, we are all old friends. Needless to say, it's good to have such a plane. Don't worry. I'll report to the supreme command when I get back and give you enough supplements. "

When the cabin door was closed, I asked khrushiev, who was sitting opposite me, in a loud voice amid the roar of the aircraft engine: "Comrade minister, can we go back to Moscow today?"

When khrushiev heard my question, he was a little surprised and said, "how can this be possible? Vladivostok is more than 9000 kilometers away from Moscow. Even the fastest plane can't fly in a day. In addition, although the c-46 transport plane we took was converted from the design of a commercial airliner, its speed is no more than 300 km / h, and every 2000 km or so, we need to land at least four times just because we need to replenish fuel before we arrive in Moscow. We can get to Yekaterinburg in the middle of the night, have a rest there, and then go to Moscow in the morning, and we can get to our destination in the afternoon

It's said that I have to fly for nearly 30 hours. My head is big. But there was no way. Our superiors asked us to return to Moscow in the shortest time, and we had to go back all the time. It would have been impossible to stay in Vladivostok for a night if the plane had not been attacked yesterday.

Our plane took off from Vladivostok and headed west. There were two landings along the way, both to refuel at military airports. Except with khrushiev's consent, people can get off the plane and move their muscles and bones. It is forbidden to act casually.

On the third landing, we finally arrived at Yekaterinburg, which lies on the Eurasian border. It was 2 a.m. After greeting the person in charge of the airport and asking them to check the plane and refuel, khrushiev turned to us and said, "I think everyone is tired after flying for such a long time. You can sleep for another four hours, and the plane will take off again at six in the morning. "

As soon as his words were finished, the airport staff came up and took our entourage to the nearby buildings to have a rest. While I was hesitating whether I would follow the staff, khrushiev stopped me: "Comrade oshanina, you don't have to go and squeeze with them. The person in charge of the airport has left us two rooms."

Then he called to a ground crew standing beside him, "Hello, comrade corporal, please come here."

With his shouts, the ground crew who was not far away came running over and stood in front of us. Khrushiev pointed to me and said to him, "corporal, please take the general to the room the commander has arranged for us."

The corporal turned to look at me, nodded, and then made a gesture of invitation to me. At the same time, he said, "please, comrade general, please follow me. I'll take you to where you live."

I live in a row of wooden houses far away from the runway. Before walking towards the row of houses, I looked at the wooden house near the runway and asked him curiously, "Comrade corporal, our comrades are all arranged in the houses near the runway. Why do I live in other places?"

"Well, Comrade General." The corporal replied respectfully, "the pilots and mechanics live near the runway. The place you are going to is where the commanders live. The environment is much better. Although there is no heating, there is a fireplace in the room. It won't be too cold to sleep at night."

After listening to the corporal's remarks, I am very satisfied with the arrangements made by the person in charge of the airport. Although we didn't stay long, only a few hours, he was very considerate, which made me feel a little better for the commander who just didn't see clearly beside the plane.

The next morning, khrushiev, who was sleeping in the room next to me, knocked on the door and urged me to get up and take the plane. After washing and walking with khrushiev towards the plane parked on the runway, I couldn't help mentioning the person in charge of the airport. Khrushiev also agreed: "you're right. The commander has a comprehensive consideration. When he has a chance, he can be responsible for more important aspects."

After flying in the air for more than seven hours, our plane finally landed at a military airport in Moscow. As soon as khrushiev and I stepped down the gangway, an officer in the uniform of a lieutenant colonel came up to khrushiev, raised his hand to salute him, and said in a low voice, "Comrade logistics minister, Stalin is waiting for you. Please follow me."

With that, he waved to the distance, and a black car came to us and stopped slowly. He opened the door and asked khrushiev to get on the bus. As soon as he turned around and saw that I was still standing in the same place, he quickly called me: "general oshanina, why don't you get on the bus?"

"However, comrade logistics minister is going to see Comrade Stalin. Isn't it appropriate for me to go with him?" Hearing the commander's question, I answered in a flurry: "I'd better find another car to go back."

"Comrade Stalin hopes to see you when he meets the minister!" "Please get on the bus, we have to go back to the Kremlin as soon as possible," the commander said stiffly

When we arrived at the Kremlin by car, we came to Stalin's office with the commander. The lieutenant commander handed us over to his chief of staff, poskleberseff, and turned to leave. Bosklebshev stood up from his desk, came to shake hands with us one by one, let our general coat off and hang on the coat rack, then he turned and walked to the door leading to the inner room, pushed the door open and went in, and closed the door behind him.

After a while, the door was opened again. Bosklebshev came out of the room and said to us with a smile, "Comrade minister, comrade oshanina and Comrade Stalin, please go in."

When I followed khrushiev into the room, I was startled by the situation inside. The conference table next to the right wall was full of people. It seemed that some important meeting was being held.

Compared with my confusion, khrushiev had obviously seen such scenes many times. He raised his hand and saluted Stalin, then reached for Stalin's extended hand and said calmly, "Hello, comrade Stalin!"

Stalin shook hands with him and said, "Hello, comrade khrushiev, welcome back."

When Stalin and khrushiev shook hands and came to me, I quickly raised my hand to salute, and nervously said, "Hello, comrade Stalin, nice to meet you!"

Stalin's big warm and powerful hand held mine, shook it hard and said, "Hello, Rita. I heard Comrade Molotov say that your performance in the United States this time is very good. After the meeting, stay and talk to me about what happened to you in America. "

After he let go of his hand, he pointed to one of the directions of the meeting and said to khrushiev and me, "we are in a meeting. Please sit down and listen."

After I found a corner to sit down, I carefully looked at the people sitting around the conference table and found that they all knew Zhukov, Voroshilov, timoshingo, Ustinov, rokosovsky, vatukin and others.

When Stalin announced the continuation of the meeting, Zhukov stood up from his position and said, "Comrade Stalin, our troops have been exhausted after a long battle on the right bank of Ukraine. At present, we need to replenish weapons, ammunition and soldiers urgently, and we can't launch a new attack in a short time. So I suggest that the troops should continue to build fortifications..."

"Comrade Zhukov." Before Zhukov finished, Stalin interrupted him and said impolitely, "we are now discussing how to attack the enemy's defensive positions and rescue the precarious Kiev garrison, not defense."

"The defense I'm talking about is a measure of last resort, comrade Stalin." As for Stalin's duty, Zhukov replied humbly: "the troops can be fully prepared for the attack after finishing the rectification."

"I know that, comrade Zhukov." Stalin said impatiently: "but we are watching the Kiev garrison fighting alone. If we don't take any measures, they will be annihilated by the German army." At this point, he turned to the commanders sitting around the conference table and said slowly, "let's listen to the opinions of the commanders of the front army."

With that, he slowly went back to his seat and sat down, saying, "start with general rokosovsky's central front army. Comrade rokosovsky, do you think Zhukov's view is correct? "

"Yes, comrade Stalin." Rokosovsky stood up from his seat and resolutely expressed his support for Zhukov: "I think Marshal Zhukov's opinion is like this. After my troops suffered huge losses some time ago, the replenishment of soldiers, weapons and ammunition has not been fully completed. It is unwise for me to launch an offensive rashly."

Stalin listened to his words, turned his head to one side, looked at vatukin, who was sitting in danger, and asked noncommittally, "Comrade vatukin, what's your opinion?"

Vatukin also quickly stood up and respectfully replied: "Comrade Stalin, our current forces are to be used for defense against the German attack that may come from Kharkov, so we can't mobilize our forces to participate in the attack against the German central group."

Stalin's face didn't change after listening, but he continued to sweep the commanders one by one. I was thinking about who he would ask next when I heard him calling for my order.

"Rita, you took Kiev under your command." As Stalin filled his pipe with tobacco, he asked me, "at present, neither the central front army nor the Voronezh front army can help them. You can tell me how Kiev's defenders should get out of the present predicament. "

I stood up from my position and tried to ignore the gaze of the senior generals. I looked directly at Stalin and replied, "Comrade Stalin, if the Kiev garrison can't get reinforcements and necessary supplements, I don't think they can support it for long. Instead of letting them be eliminated in the end, general rebalko should not give up Kiev... "

"What, give up Kiev." Stalin sprang up from his seat, pointed to me with his right hand clutching his pipe, then pointed to the door I had just entered, and said without expression, "you go out first." Although I don't know why Stalin let me out, I honestly left my position, opened the door and went out. As soon as I came to the outside room, bosklebshev, who was sitting at the table, stood up, looked over my shoulder and asked in some surprise, "Comrade oshanina, is the meeting over?" I shook my head and replied, "no, the meeting is still going on."“ But why did you come out of it? " Boskhlebeshev was particularly surprised that I suddenly came out of the conference room, so he asked after all, "what's going on?" After I simply told bosklebshev what I had just done, his face showed the same expression, and then he said to me, "I see, comrade oshanina. Just stand in this room for a while. Comrade Stalin will call you in again soon. " Seeing boskelebeshev sit down with a smile and continue to bow his head to do his own work, it dawned on me that what I said just now angered Stalin. He asked me to stand in the room outside. If so, he will let me in soon. After a while, the call bell on the desk rang, and bosklebshev looked up and said to me, "Comrade oshanina, you may go in." After nodding my thanks to bosklebshev, I turned to the door, pushed open the door and went in. Seeing me back in the office, Stalin approached me and asked gently, "Rita, do you have a clear idea? How can we get Kiev's defenders out of the immediate predicament? "“ Comrade Stalin, "I still said stubbornly," I think the only way for Kiev's garrison not to be annihilated by the German forces is to give up Kiev and jump out of the German encirclement decisively under the circumstances of insufficient equipment, limited troops and no foreign reinforcements. "