Chapter 1574

The prisoner's tour took place at 10 a.m., while Khrushchev and I appeared in the corridor of the office building at 9:30 on time, standing at the window facing the street and looking down.

On both sides of the street, soldiers were sent by the garrison headquarters. They mainly prevented German prisoners from escaping when they were touring the street, or prevented the onlookers from throwing stones at the prisoners. The loudspeakers on the side of the road are playing all kinds of exciting songs.

Khrushchev looked at the crowds gathering on both sides of the street and said with emotion, "Rita, when I left here in '41, I never thought that I would come back here one day."

I first looked at the empty corridor and saw that there were only Khrushchev and I, so I boldly asked, "did you think we could not defeat the Germans?"

Hearing my question, Khrushchev turned to look at me, remained silent for a moment, then nodded slightly and said truthfully, "Rita, there is no outsider here, so I won't hide it from you. I have never doubted that we can defeat the Germans, but I have no confidence that I can live to see Kiev return to the hands of the people. "

"So it is. I see." After listening to Khrushchev's words, I nodded and agreed: "in order to defend our motherland and defeat the Communist aggressors, we have paid a huge price and sacrificed millions of soldiers and civilians. When I was on the battlefield, I was worried that I would die at any time. But fortunately, after countless fierce battles, I am lucky to survive, and I may be able to see the final destruction of the Communist aggressors with my own eyes in the future. "

"Yes, I think we can all see this day." When Khrushchev finished this heavy topic, he suddenly changed the topic: "Rita, are you still used to staying in Kiev recently?"

Although I don't know why Khrushchev asked this question, I answered truthfully, "thank you for your concern. I had a very happy life in Kiev. In the well-equipped room of the hotel, I'm used to living in cars and bunkers. There are hot water for bathing at any time, beds with clean sheets, and bright and quiet rooms. I can't hear the sound of guns, shells and bombs

Speaking of this, I raised my hand and pointed downstairs, and continued: "look, although there are scattered anti tank tripods on the roadside, the ramparts everywhere have been demolished. Today, all factories, big and small, are fully engaged in production, and the workers faithfully fulfill their obligations to the motherland. They work selflessly in this city, providing all necessities to the troops fighting near Belarus and Ukraine. "

"The current situation in Ukraine is not optimistic." With a sigh, Khrushchev said: "the war has brought huge losses to Ukraine. According to the latest statistics, more than 5 million people have been lost. In addition, nearly 20000 industrial enterprises and 30000 collective farms have been destroyed. At present, our primary task is to re strengthen the party's leadership, rebuild collective farms, resume production in factories and mines, and crack down on nationalist guerrillas in western Ukraine. "

Before Khrushchev had finished speaking, there was a rush of footsteps in the corridor. The two of us turned and looked in the direction of the voice. The commander of the garrison was coming towards us in a hurry along the corridor.

He came to us, stopped, straightened his back, and reported to Khrushchev, "Comrade Khrushchev, the prisoners of war have been assembled. We can let them go at any time."

Khrushchev raised his hand and looked at his watch, then said: "although it is not the scheduled time, since they have assembled, let them start now." Seeing that the commander of the garrison was going to leave, he also told him, "the garrison must ensure the smooth progress of today's prisoner of war parade, and never let the prisoner of war escape."

"Don't worry, comrade Khrushchev." The garrison commander grinned and confidently replied, "I will never let a German prisoner of war escape." With that, he raised his hand and turned to leave.

After the two of us turned our attention to the outside again, I looked at a building destroyed by gunfire in the distance and said with emotion: "Comrade Khrushchev, look at how many buildings in the city were destroyed by the war. When the residents who fled Kiev returned to their homes, they did not know where to find a place to settle down."

"Don't worry, Rita." Khrushchev looked ahead and said firmly, "I will not make those refugees who return to Kiev homeless. After the war, I will rebuild new houses for them within my jurisdiction."

I have no doubt about what Khrushchev said, because in a few decades, three or five storey brick and concrete buildings can be seen everywhere in Moscow. These houses were built on a large scale when Khrushchev was in power. The kitchens, toilets and bathrooms in the houses are complete. In a few short years, The housing problem of tens of millions of people across the country has been solved.

"By the way, Rita, I'm going to arrange a house for you in Kiev." While I was thinking, I heard Khrushchev asking me, "which area do you want to choose?"

Recently, I was ordered to stay in Kiev to cooperate with Khrushchev on the street tour of prisoners of war. I have been living in the guest house he arranged for me. At the moment, I was stunned to hear that he was going to arrange a house for me. After a long time, I was at a loss and said, "no, comrade Khrushchev, I will go back to the front line soon after I stay in Kiev. Even if you arrange a house for me, it will be idle all the time. "

"It's not only my idea to arrange housing for you, but also Comrade Stalin's idea." Seeing my blank face, Khrushchev specially explained to me, "he said that you are the liberator of this city and are entitled to own your own house in this city."

At this point, he deliberately stopped to observe my expression. Seeing that I was still at a loss, he continued: "the war will end sooner or later. You have your own house in Kiev. You can not only bring the children here from the rear for resettlement. What's more, if you capture any booty later, you will have a place to store it. "

Khrushchev's words made my heart beat, because before long, we will cross the border, enter Poland, and then enter Germany. As a senior commander, I'm sure I'll get some unexpected spoils. It's better to have a place to store them than to run around with a pile of things on my back. Although I wish I could immediately agree with Khrushchev's proposal and ask him for a house of my own, I still have to pretend to be embarrassed: "Comrade Khrushchev, as you know, I spend most of my time in the army. If this house is always empty..."

Although I didn't finish my words, Khrushchev understood my intention. He nodded his head and said, "don't worry, I will send someone to look after your house while you are away from Kiev. Even if there are any valuables stored, you don't have to worry about losing them. "

As we were talking, the downstairs suddenly became noisy. I looked down and saw that the German prisoners of war on the street had already appeared in our view.

As the endless line came closer and closer, I could clearly see that six Cossack cavalry of our army were driving ahead. The Cossack soldiers sitting upright on horseback are all dressed in brand-new military uniforms, carrying a lance behind them, holding the reins in their left hand and an unsheathed sabre in their right hand. The sharp edge of the sabre is shining in the sun.

Behind them was the German army's square of officers. More than 700 officers at or above the school level were dressed in neat uniforms and their medals. Escorted by soldiers with bayonets and long mosinlagan rifles on both sides, they followed the cavalry and walked slowly. Then there is the low-level officers' square array, and one soldier's square array after another.

"Come on When Khrushchev saw this, he suddenly turned to the empty corridor and called out.

With his shouts, a young clerk ran out of an open office next to him. The young man in military civilian clothes stopped in front of Khrushchev and asked respectfully, "do you have any instructions?"

"Call the sanitation forces," Khrushchev told the clerk, "and ask them to send a sufficient number of sprinklers to clean the area where the German prisoners of war pass."

After I waited for the clerk to leave, I asked Khrushchev in a low voice, "Comrade Khrushchev, I don't understand why we need to send a sprinkler truck to clean the area where German prisoners of war pass by?"

Khrushchev gave me a smile and said, "Rita, you may not know that during the march in Moscow, there were many dirty prisoners of war defecating in the streets, which made the streets stink. The environmental sanitation department in Moscow once sent many watering carts to clean the area where the German prisoners of war passed. Now, we also need to do enough preparatory work. "

I couldn't help laughing when I heard him say that. If Khrushchev didn't take the initiative to mention this, I almost forgot. I remember what post later generations read that many prisoners of war drank cabbage soup with laxatives before the Moscow prisoner of war parade, and as a result, they began to have diarrhea when they were touring the streets. The excrement and urine were everywhere along the way. That's why the environmental sanitation department of Moscow sent a watering cart to clean the streets.

I looked downstairs to see if the German prisoners of war who were on the street were enjoying the same treatment. I saw the crowd on both sides of the street, no one shouting slogans, no one throwing stones at the prisoners passing by. There were some old women in headscarves who went over the soldiers on the roadside and brought blankets, coarse salt and black bread to the prisoners of war.

After all the prisoners of war passed under the office building, Khrushchev and I returned to his office. He picked up a folder from his desk, opened it, looked at me and asked, "Rita, there's an apartment with three bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, a bathroom and 24-hour hot water supply. Would you like to accept it?"

I knew that Khrushchev was arranging for me to live in Kiev. When he finished, I asked faintly, "I don't know where this apartment is?"

"It's next to October square." Khrushchev closed the folder and continued: "it's an old house. The landlord disappeared after the war broke out. It's a German colonel who lives there. The furniture inside is complete, you can check in directly. "

"When can I see the house?" I asked directly, without being polite to Khrushchev.

"You can go now." Khrushchev finished and rang the call bell on the table. Soon the door was pushed open, and his secretary stood upright at the door, waiting for his next order.

Khrushchev pointed at me with his hand and told his secretary, "find someone and take Rita to see her new residence."

A few minutes later, guided by the staff arranged by my secretary, I left the office building, crossed the October square and came to a four story building next to the square. We came to a closed iron gate, and the staff went up and rang the doorbell. Soon a small window on the iron door opened, and an old lady's face appeared in the window. She looked at the staff and me standing outside and asked warily, "what's the matter with you?"“ Hello The staff gave her a smile and politely said, "I came to see the house."“ What house are you looking at? " Asked the old lady coldly. The staff turned to point at me and continued to say to the old lady, "I'm accompanying the general to see the house. I've been ordered by the superior."“ Is there any proof? " Asked the old lady. Staff quickly nodded, and then from the armpit briefcase, took out a document to pass. The old lady took the document, looked at it carefully for a while, then closed the small window. A moment later, the iron door opened. A chubby old lady stood at the door and said to me with a smile, "come on in, comrade headquarters. I'll take you to your apartment." Seeing that I was ready to enter the building, the staff politely said to me, "Comrade General, since you have this old lady to accompany you to see the house, I won't go in. Good luck to you!" After thanking the staff, I walked quickly into the gate. There is a small room on the right side of the door, in which there is a table and chair, which should be the place where the old lady is on duty. She took a bunch of keys from the wall and said to me in a friendly manner, "Comrade commander, please follow me. Your apartment is on the third floor." I followed the old lady up to the second floor. The old lady came to the door of the room on the left, opened the door with the key in her hand, and turned on the light in the room. I stood at the door and carefully looked at my apartment. There was a 20 square meter living room on the front, a white table on the floor, and six chairs around the table. There are three closed doors on the front and left, which should be the bedroom. On the right side of the corridor is a four or five meter long corridor. There are two doors on the right side of the corridor. I opened them and looked at them. They are toilet and bathroom in turn. At the end of the corridor is a large kitchen. The old lady standing on one side, seeing me looking around, quickly asked me: "Comrade commander, are you satisfied with this apartment?"“ Yes, yes Hearing the old lady's question, I replied busily, "satisfied, I'm very satisfied." The old lady gave me the key with a smile and said, "here is your key. Please keep it. If you have something to go out, please leave the key in my duty room so that you don't have to worry about losing it. "