Chapter 1505

The attack of the second armed SS army from kovov was blocked by our troops deployed in the West; Hube's tanks and the 1st group army, which fled into the mountains, also had a close fight with the 38th, 40th and 60th group army, and the 27th group army of konev's Ukrainian second front army.

Seeing the good situation, Zhukov was in a good mood. So in the early morning of the 15th, he took me to krasovsky's Field Airport and took a transport plane from here to Kiev.

Krasovsky saw that Zhukov was going to Kiev by plane. For his safety, he specially sent a large team of fighters to escort him.

On the way to Kiev, Zhukov kept his eyes closed. Considering that he had been working too hard recently and had time to sleep, I didn't disturb him. Instead, I looked out through the porthole. Looking at our fighters in the field of vision, I felt very confident. I said that even if there were enemy planes attacking, the convoy would be enough to solve them.

An hour later, our plane landed at the airport north of Kiev. As soon as the plane stopped on the runway, a black gas car came. After the door was opened, a middle-aged man in military civilian clothes came out. He came to Zhukov and said politely, "Hello, comrade Zhukov, welcome to Kiev."

"Hello, comrade kaganovitch." While shaking hands with each other, Zhukov asked strangely, "I remember that as a member of the National Defense Commission, you were in charge of the national railway transportation in gubishev. When did you come to Kiev?"

Kagonovych grinned and then explained, "the Supreme Commander himself is worried that Khrushchev's work is too busy, so he sent me to Kiev as his deputy to assist him in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine."

"So it is." Zhukov nodded, released his opponent's hand, and continued to ask, "Comrade kaganovic, I don't know where today's banquet will be held?"

Hearing Zhukov's question, Kaganovich's face showed an embarrassed expression. He answered with some embarrassment: "marshal, I'm coming to the airport today. Besides welcoming you, I have another bad news to tell you."

"Bad news?" Zhukov raised his eyebrows and asked gravely, "what's the bad news?"

Kaganovic bowed his head and said in agony: "marshal, an hour ago, general vatukin died in the hospital because of his injury. Comrade Khrushchev has rushed to the hospital. Today's birthday party has been cancelled."

"How could that be?" When Zhukov got the news, he could not help but be surprised. Then he asked miserably: "when I talked with Khrushchev two days ago, he also said that Comrade vatukin's injury was getting better, and he could get out of bed and walk in a few days. How could he suddenly die?"

"I'm not sure about the details." "It's like heart failure caused by sepsis..." kaganovic said awkwardly

"Where is the remains of vatukin?" Zhukov didn't wait for kaganovic to finish, then he walked quickly to the gascar, and at the same time, he said aloud, "take me there immediately."

I quickly walked a few steps to the side of the car, opened the back door, then from the back of the car around to the other end of the car, and opened the door for caganovic. After two people got on, I opened the front door and sat in the co driver's seat.

On the way to the hospital, Zhukov and kaganovic in the back didn't speak. Bored, I looked out of the window and saw that Kiev was very different from the last time I came here. After months of cleaning and reconstruction, although half of the buildings on both sides of the street can still be seen, the messy bricks and stones have been cleaned up, and the pedestrians on the sidewalk are no longer in a hurry. In addition to bakeries and daily necessities stores, even bookstores and clothing stores can also see the bustling crowd.

Our car came to the door of the hospital, the sentry on duty immediately raised the bar at the door, let the gas car smoothly into the hospital.

As soon as he got out of the car, Zhukov turned around and asked kaganovic, "where is the remains of vatukin?"

"It should be in the mortuary," Kaganovich said in an uncertain tone. "People who have passed away will be sent there first. After finishing their appearance, they will be put in coffins and sent to cemeteries for burial."

Zhukov, as soon as kaganovic finished, immediately said in an irrefutable tone: "take me quickly!"

Zhukov and I, led by Kaganovich, walked along the forest trail around the hospital building to the outside of a separate two-story building in the back. There were several soldiers standing guard at the gate. When they saw someone coming, they were ready to stop. But when they found that kaganovic was walking in the front, they immediately stood at attention, straightened their waists and paid attention to us.

After entering the building, I found that the brightly lit corridor was full of people, including medical staff in white coats and soldiers in uniform. They all turned their backs to us and looked at a room with an open door at the end of the corridor. Seeing that our way was blocked, kaganovic quickly raised his voice and said, "please step aside and let Marshal Zhukov pass."

Hearing Zhukov coming, the crowd in front of us suddenly flashed aside and made way for us. As we passed through the crowd, I could see from the corner of my eyes that people on both sides cast awe at Zhukov. When he came to the door of the corpse room, Khrushchev came out to meet us. When he shook hands with Zhukov, he still had a painful expression on his face. It seemed that he was very sad about the death of vatukin. After all, they had been partners for some time“ Come in, comrade Zhukov Khrushchev took one side of his body, made a gesture of invitation to the inside, and then said, "Comrade voroshlov is also in it."“ Voroshlov is there, too? " When Zhukov was about to walk inside, he heard Khrushchev say so. He could not help but stop and asked unexpectedly, "how can he be here?" His meaning is very obvious. Soon after vatukin's death, even if Moscow got the news in time, it is impossible to arrive in Kiev in such a short time. However, Khrushchev's next words dispelled our doubts: "voroshlov is here to honor me."“ Comrade Zhukov, here you are As soon as we entered the morgue, voroshlov came over to shake hands with Zhukov, and said in a sorry tone: "this is really unexpected. Comrade Stalin sent me to honor Comrade Khrushchev. By the way, he visited watujing and asked him when he could return to the army. I didn't expect him to...", He choked so much that he couldn't go on. I saw watujing in a brand-new general uniform, lying on the concrete platform in the middle of the room, looking very peaceful, as if he had not died but just fell asleep. Zhukov came up to him, took off his cap and bowed to watujing's body. I quickly took off my cap and bowed. When Zhukov put on his military cap again, he faced Khrushchev and asked, "I don't know where he will be buried?" Instead of answering Zhukov's question immediately, Khrushchev pointed to a white haired old lady standing next to him and said to us, "this is Vera ifomovna, the mother of Comrade vatukin. This brave Russian woman was informed of the sacrifice of her two sons in February and March this year. Now, comrade watujing is the third... She is a mother who has lost three children in three months. " I went over to the old man who was weeping quietly and gently held his shoulder. I tried to persuade him, but I didn't know how to do it. All I heard was that she kept muttering to herself: "you're dead. My son died for other people's lives. They won't forget you, my child, my dear Falcon..." "Comrade Khrushchev, ”Zhukov asked Khrushchev solemnly, "has the news of Comrade vatukin's sacrifice been reported to Moscow?"“ Yes, comrade Zhukov. " Seeing that Khrushchev was a little out of his wits, voroshlov did not seem to hear Zhukov's question, and hastened to reply: "Comrade Stalin has made a decision to bury vatukin in Kiev. At the moment of his burial, Moscow will salute When Khrushchev heard what voroshlov said, he raised his hand and touched the tears on his face. He went to vatukin's mother's side, grabbed her hands, and said in a choked voice, "I'll go to the cemetery myself later, aunt evmovna. When Comrade watujing is buried tomorrow, I will go to the funeral myself. " Looking up at Khrushchev, the old lady hesitated and said, "but vatukin's wife wants to bury her husband and my son in Moscow. Is it suitable for you to bury him in Kiev?"“ "Right!" Khrushchev said firmly: "Comrade vatukin is a liberator of liberation, so he should be buried in Kiev, so that our future generations will always remember his great achievements."“ When will the funeral be held? " After Khrushchev finished, Zhukov immediately asked, "tomorrow morning or afternoon?"“ The preliminary time is nine o'clock tomorrow morning. " Khrushchev asked in reply, "Comrade Zhukov, will you personally go to his funeral?"“ Yes, comrade Khrushchev. " Zhukov nodded his head and said with certainty, "watujing is my comrade in arms. It's my duty to bury him."