Chapter 1616

After giving these orders, Zhukov saw that all the staff in the headquarters, from torbhuin to the general staff, were busy nervously, so he nodded with a smile, and then said to me with great interest, "Rita, do you want to see how our troops entered the border of Bulgaria?"

Seeing that I was still hesitating, gertov next to me echoed, "come on, comrade oshanina, let's go and have a look. It's not so easy to see such a peaceful march."

"Comrade military commissar is right." Just after a phone call, torbusin happened to hear gertov's words and said casually, "if conditions permit, I will take a group of people with me. Rita, go ahead, don't hesitate! "

Under such circumstances, it is obviously impossible for me to find any excuse to evade even if I didn't want to go. Therefore, I readily agreed: "marshal, I am very happy to accompany you to witness this historic moment."

Half an hour later, our jeep came to an open field near the Bulgarian border. Zhukov asked the driver to stop, pushed the door open and got out of the car. Standing on the side of the road, he looked at the marching troops passing by with a smile on his face.

Standing beside Zhukov, I saw that the marching troops were divided into two routes. On the left side of the road, there were countless tanks forming a torrent of steel. They were driving along the road at a constant speed, raising a cloud of dust. On the right side of the road is the infantry square with company as the unit. Under the guidance of the bright red flag, they stride towards the frontier line ahead.

Don't know which soldier's sharp eye, immediately saw standing on the side of the road to watch his march Zhukov, immediately called up: "look, it's Marshal Zhukov, he is watching us march to Bulgaria!"

In the roar of the tank engine, Zhukov still heard the voice of the soldier, smiling and waving to his position. His action immediately aroused a series of reactions from the infantry. The commanders in front of the team raised their hands to their forehead and saluted Zhukov; The soldiers, with their chin raised high and their heads held high, passed us with neat steps.

At this moment, I had a feeling that I was participating in the parade. The tanks and infantry lines passing in front of me were the troops being reviewed, while Zhukov and I were the reviewers. I have observed that most of them are decorated with different numbers of medals on their chest. It seems that they are all veteran soldiers and backbone fighters who have experienced many battles. In the fight against the Communist aggressors, they have made immortal contributions.

Zhukov looked at me and asked aloud, "Rita, what do you think of our troops?"

I waited for a tank to pass in front of me. After the noise was a little lower, I said aloud, "this is our mighty and heroic division." After a pause, I added, "it's a pity there's something missing."

Zhukov's face showed a puzzled expression: "what's missing?"

"The Russian people are good at singing and dancing," I said to Zhukov with a smile. "When our great army is marching towards Bulgaria, should there be some music to match our March?"

"Marshal," said gertov, standing behind me, with a smile as soon as I finished, "general oshanina is right. How can there be no music at such an important historical moment?"

Zhukov looked at gertov and asked curiously, "Comrade gertov, what are you going to do?"

"Comrade marshal, please leave it to me." With that, he turned and called a staff officer who came with us. He gave us a few orders in a low voice. After the staff left, gertov explained to Zhukov, "our political work forces have prepared 20 propaganda vehicles, which were originally intended to publicize our policies to the people of Bulgaria after entering the country. Now let them come out first."

More than ten minutes later, twenty propaganda vehicles with loudspeakers in front appeared in our field of vision. They passed the moving tank column and sped forward, but every 300 meters, a propaganda car would stop, turn on the horn and play the songs that had been prepared for a long time.

When the familiar music of "holy war" sounded, the marching infantry soldiers began to sing along. The bloody songs reverberate in the field, and are carried far away by the steel torrent rolling south like a snake.

The smile on Zhukov's face was even worse. He gave a thumbs up to gertov and said with approval, "good job, comrade gertov, your way has made our commanders and fighters more motivated."

"Marshal, you flatter me." Zhertov was a little embarrassed when he heard Zhukov praise him. He looked at me and continued: "if general oshanina hadn't reminded me, I couldn't think of such a good way to boost the morale of the commanders and fighters."

An officer standing not far away came up to gertov and whispered a few words. After listening to the other party's words, gertov's face suddenly showed a happy expression. He quickly said to Zhukov in a loud voice: "Comrade marshal, the Bulgarian people have spontaneously organized to welcome our troops to the border."

When Zhukov heard what zeertov said, he quickly went to a nearby slope, raised his telescope and looked at the other side of the border. I also asked the staff nearby for a telescope. Standing beside Zhukov, I learned from him and raised the telescope in my hand.

I saw that on the other side of the border, about two or three kilometers away, the local people were already crowded. Some young girls, with flowers in their hands, boldly thrust them into the hands of the soldiers passing in front of them. The soldier held the flowers high in his hand and waved them to the welcome crowd by the side of the road.

The tanks on the left side of the road also slowed down, and the tank soldiers searched the entrance and exit of the turret or car one after another, waving desperately at the people on the side of the road, or reaching for the flowers thrown by the girls on the side of the road.

I also saw a lot of long tables on the side of the road, which were covered with white tablecloth, with rolls and small plates of salt on the table. Some elderly people, some officers passing in front of them, and then take up the table of bread and salt, forced into their hands.

I can't help feeling that the gift of bread and salt is the highest understanding of the Slavic people to welcome their guests. The Bulgarians, who belong to Slavic countries as well as Russia, regard our army commanders and fighters as their relatives, so that they can meet the king's division.

"All right, Rita, let's go back." We don't know how long we stood on the slope. Zhukov finally said to me, "we've been away for so long. Maybe something important will happen in the headquarters of the front army."

When we returned to the headquarters of the front army, it turned out that Zhukov's premonition was correct. Tolbuhine had just received a telegram from Stalin and was considering whether to inform Zhukov to come back immediately.

Seeing the two of us coming in from the door, tolbuhine quickly handed the telegram in his hand and said to Zhukov solemnly, "Comrade marshal, this is the telegram I just received. I just want to send someone to invite you back."

"Whose telegram?" Zhukov asked with a frown as he received the telegram.

"A telegram from the Supreme Commander himself," replied tolbusine, "urgent."

After browsing the contents of the telegram quickly, Zhukov asked tolbusin, "according to Comrade Stalin's telegram, the armed forces led by the Bulgarian workers' party will hold a decisive people's uprising in Sofia, the capital, and other major cities where our army has not yet arrived tonight. Have you taken any measures? "

Tolbusin nodded and said, "I have issued a new order to the troops entering Bulgaria, so that they can continue to move forward except leaving a small number of troops to cooperate with the local Bulgarian army to maintain law and order."

"Not enough, comrade torbhuin. It's not enough for you to do so." After hearing what tolbuhine said, Zhukov shook his head and said, "it is obvious that the information we have in our hands about the internal situation in Bulgaria is not enough to make a military conclusion. Although with the entry of our army into Bulgaria and the outbreak of the rest of the people led by the workers' party, Bulgaria will sever its alliance with Germany and join the just camp in the anti Communist struggle.

But at the same time, we should also consider whether the pro German forces in Bulgaria will be willing to withdraw from the stage of history? Perhaps they will use the armed forces they control to launch a counterattack against the armed forces of the workers' party, thus triggering a civil war in Bulgaria. This is something we do not want to see and must avoid. "

"What should we do then?" As soon as Zhukov finished talking, tolbuhine couldn't wait to ask.

"Let the three generals, saroshin, shliemin and Gagan, enter Bulgaria with their troops and move their headquarters forward as far as possible." Zhukov frowned and thought, "let them establish contact with the local workers' party as soon as possible and find out what the pro German forces in Bulgaria are like? What is the attitude of the top commander of the army towards our army and the German army? Also, how much role can the Bulgarian workers' party play in the army? As long as we have a clear understanding of these problems, I believe our troops will be able to gain a firm foothold in Bulgaria. "

After recording Zhukov's orders, torbusin asked, "do you need to report to Moscow immediately?"

"Comrade torbhuin, your current task is to convey my orders to the following units." Zhukov looked at him and said, "as for reporting to Moscow, I'll be in charge."

A few minutes later, Zhukov called Stalin. After repeating the order he had given to tolbuhine, he said to the microphone, "Comrade Stalin, do you have any different instructions?"

"Comrade Zhukov," Stalin said quietly after a long silence, "if you think about the problem comprehensively, then follow your orders. By the way, is our army's march on Bulgaria going well? "

"Yes, comrade Stalin." As soon as he mentioned the marching process of the army to Bulgaria, Zhukov blushed with excitement: "when our army crossed the border and entered the border of Bulgaria, the local residents spontaneously came out to welcome us. They even welcome us with bread and salt according to the Slavic tradition. "

After listening to Zhukov's words, Stalin was also very happy. I heard him say in a relaxed tone: "Comrade Zhukov, although Bulgaria is on the side of the Germans, they did not send a single soldier into our territory in the war, so our army must maintain good military discipline after entering Bulgaria, understand?"“ Yes, comrade Stalin. " Zhukov happily replied: "I believe our soldiers will treat the Bulgarian people as their relatives." After the call with Stalin, Zhukov once again told tolbuhine: "Comrade General, please tell the commanders and fighters that the Bulgarian people are our brothers and sisters. The military discipline of the army must be strict and no burning, killing and looting is allowed. Once found, it will be punished severely. " After hearing Zhukov's words, torbhusin's face muscles twitched violently twice, and then said awkwardly, "don't worry, marshal. In our Ukrainian third front army, there will never be any problems you are worried about."“ If that's the case, it can't be better. " After finishing this sentence, Zhukov slowed down his tone: "Bulgarians, like Russia, belong to the Slavic nation and are the same ancestor. When our army enters Bulgaria, it is tantamount to returning to its own home. How can it do damage in its own home? "“ Comrade marshal, let me say something. " Gertov, who had not put in a word for a long time, said, "what you are worried about is absolutely impossible for me. Today, when our troops entered Bulgaria, you saw with your own eyes the enthusiasm shown by the local residents. Not only do they regard our army as their own liberators, but even our commanders and fighters regard each other as their relatives after receiving such a warm welcome from the other side. Therefore, I believe that the problems you are worried about will never arise. " I was worried that if we continued to talk like this, there might be unnecessary disputes among several people, so I asked in advance, "if our army controls the whole territory of Bulgaria and has a firm foothold, do we need to move the headquarters of the front army to Bulgaria?" My words succeeded in diverting everyone's attention. First of all, tolbusin said: "after the liberation of Bulgaria, we will attack Greece, Yugoslavia and Hungary next. If we move the headquarters of the front army to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, it will be more convenient to direct our troops."