Chapter 2529

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

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

"Oh, Warsaw West Station." After hearing this place name, Sokov couldn't help but said with emotion: "Back then, my troops once occupied Warsaw East Station, Wawel Station and Wilansk Station, but there was no chance to get through. Vistula River, capture the approaching Warsaw West Station."

"Comrade General," the conductor asked with an unexpected expression on his face, "Have you ever participated in the battle to liberate Warsaw?"

"Yes."

"Since we can capture the three stations in the east of the city, but there is no chance to capture the Warsaw West Station below the city?" the train conductor asked curiously: "What is going on?"

"The reason is very simple," Sokov said looking at the train conductor: "When I commanded the 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 were occupying the eastern part of the city. After reaching the Bank City area, they could not expand their victory and could only stop at the bank of the Vistula River." Considering that he and the train conductor were not familiar with each other, Sokov did not think that the rebels had broken their promises and failed to meet his troops as agreed. Tell the train conductor what led to the failure of the river-crossing battle.

But the train conductor did not seem to notice that Sokov had reservations about him, and continued to ask: "Yes, when there was an ambiguity in Warsaw, our army probably did not complete the cross-river operation for some reason. But in a few months After that, Zhukov organized the troops of the 1st Belarusian Front to launch a new attack on Warsaw and completely liberated the city. Comrade General, did your troops not participate in this battle? "

"No." Sokov shook his head and said: "Before the new round of attacks on Warsaw began, the troops under my command followed Marshal Rokossovsky to the Second Belarusian Front, our new combat direction. It was in East Prussia, so we missed the battle to liberate Warsaw.”

"That's such 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 condition as before the war." After saying this, the train conductor raised his hand to look He checked the time and then said apologetically to Sokov: "Comrade General, the train will be arriving at the station soon. I still have a lot of things to deal with. The train will be inspected and maintained at Warsaw Station, and the parking time will range from half a day to a day. If you If you can’t find a place to stay in the city, you can go back to the car and rest.”

"Okay, comrade conductor, thank you."

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

Agelina had been thinking about this issue all the way. When Sokov asked about it, she hesitated for a moment and said slowly: "I want to go to the place where I lived before and see if there are any acquaintances there." "

"Where is your residence?"

"I live on Krakow's Suburban Street, not far from Warsaw West Station. It only takes ten minutes to walk."

Hearing that the place where Agelina used to live was not far from Warsaw West Station, Sokov said decisively: "Well, after the train pulls into the station, I will accompany you to walk around the suburban streets of Krakow. Can you meet your familiar neighbors?”

Agelina had a bitter expression on her face when she heard what Sokov said: "I heard that after the Germans put out the Warsaw Uprising, they decided to wipe the city off the map, thus almost destroying most of the city. Most of the buildings, I guess the situation is similar in Kraków’s suburban streets.”

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

Seeing this man, Sokov 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 will personally escort you here."

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

Sokov was stunned after hearing this, and then asked: "When did this happen? How come I don't know anything about it?" When he said this, he was still thinking secretly in his heart, could it be that he had lost his memory? Otherwise, how could he continue to remember it? Shaofu had forgotten everything about him coming to see him.

Unexpectedly, Mensov grinned across from him and then said: "Comrade General, when I came to report to you, you were already asleep. I was worried about disturbing your rest, so I only talked to this beautiful girl next to you. After saying a few words, we went back to the carriage the conductor prepared for us."

"Comrade Captain, thank you!" Although Menshov did not know anything about escorting him, Sokov still held the other person's hand, expressed his gratitude to him, and then asked: " So how do you plan to go back?"

"I will go to the station duty room later to ask if there is a train going east. If there is, I will hitch a ride with my subordinates." Menshov said with a smile: "Maybe the train conductor will see him Having dozens of soldiers like us is a blessing. At least they don’t have to worry about encountering gangs on the road.”

"Comrade Captain." Since Menshov mentioned the gangs, Sokov couldn't help but ask a few more questions: "The war has been over for more than half a year. Why are there still so many gangs in Poland and Germany? Didn't our military send troops to clear them out?"

In response to Sokov's question, Menshov smiled bitterly and said, "Comrade General, these gangs are basically composed of locals. They are very familiar with the terrain, and there are many locals who act as spies for them. Often, as soon as our anti-bandit troops set out, the gangs can get the news and make preparations in advance. When we arrived at the place we had scouted in advance, we found that there was no one there."

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

Ajelina glanced at the assault rifle leaning against the corner and the two wooden boxes with magazines, and then said with some embarrassment, "What should we do with these things?" She was worried that if she left for a long time, there would be problems with the weapons and ammunition in the house.

Sokov's thoughts at the moment were the same as Ajelina's. It was definitely not appropriate to go out with an assault rifle. But if he left it in the box and was away for such a long time, someone might steal it, which would be a troublesome matter.

Just when Sokov was in a dilemma, Sergeant Torba appeared in the corridor and asked Sokov, "Comrade General, the train has arrived. Do you plan to stay on the train or go out for a walk?"

"Comrade Sergeant, I would like to go out for a walk." Sokov pointed to the compartment and said to Torba, "But I am worried about leaving these things here. The conductor said that someone will come to repair the train later. If these weapons and ammunition are seen by the maintenance workers, who knows if anyone among them will have any ideas."

Torba understood what Sokov meant, and he patted his chest and promised, "Comrade General, these weapons and ammunition will be handed over to me. If there is any mistake before you come back, you can send me directly to the military court."

Since Torba made a guarantee, Sokov felt more at ease. After thanking him, he took Ajelina off the train and walked out of the station.

The station in Poland is the same as Moscow. No one checks tickets when entering and leaving the station. After all, it is basically impossible to evade tickets in these countries. Because the train attendants were standing by the door to check tickets, people without tickets couldn't even get on the train, so naturally no one could evade the ticket.

After leaving the station, Sokov looked at the ruins that had not been cleaned up everywhere in front of him, and he was a little confused. He turned his head and asked Ajelina: "Ajelina, which direction should we go to get to the Krakow Suburban Street you mentioned?"

Although Ajelina had lived in Warsaw for a long time, the city has now been basically destroyed by the Germans. Looking at the remaining ruins, she was also a little confused. She didn't know which direction to go to get back to the Krakow Suburban Street where she used to live.

Fortunately, there was an old lady with a headscarf in front of the two of them. Ajelina quickly called her and communicated with her in Polish. Sokov didn't understand Polish, so he could only stand by like a fool, watching the two people chattering non-stop.

After waiting for the old lady to leave, Ajelina took Sokov's hand and walked in the direction the old lady pointed.

Sokov asked Ajelina curiously: "What did you talk about with that old lady just now?"

"Nothing, I asked for directions and asked if there are many residents in the city now."

The two walked slowly along the street with a lot of bricks and rubble, and met many people along the way.

Looking at Sokov and Ajelina coming towards them, most Poles stopped and stepped aside to make way for the two. There were curious and friendly eyes looking at the two, and occasionally one or two hostile eyes.

When Sokov found these hostile eyes cast at him, he couldn't help but mutter in his heart: Why do these people hate him? Did they have relatives who died in 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 endless. Sokov couldn't help but sigh in his heart. It is said that after half a year of fierce fighting in Stalingrad, there is no complete building, and the situation in Warsaw is similar to Stalingrad.

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

"Germans?" When Sokov heard about Germans, his hand instinctively reached for 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 that Ajelina was talking about were no longer the enemies that he would fight to the death when they met, but just Soviet prisoners of war. He took his hand back and asked, "Where are they?"

"Look, there." Ajelina pointed to the ruins across the street and said, "They are cleaning up the ruins over there."

Sokof looked in the direction of her finger, and sure enough, he saw a group of German prisoners of war in the ruins, working hard to clean up the bricks and rubble in the ruins under the supervision of the Soviet army. It was the first time he saw German prisoners of war after the war, and he couldn't help but get interested, so he nodded to Ajelina and said, "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. He shook 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.