Chapter 173 Comrades
Since the outbreak of the war, the function of the Belorussky Railway Station has been greatly strengthened. In the past, it mainly arranged trains to Belarus, which is why the station got its name. However, since the fall of Belarus, including a large area of territory west of Moscow, this station has become a real military station, and its military use is naturally much greater than its civilian use.
Yuri's car was parked in the square before the war. Looking out from the car , he could see that most of the people coming in and out were soldiers in uniform.
Arseny got out of the car in a hurry, holding an umbrella and opening the door for Yuri. After Yuri got out of the car and took the umbrella, he took another umbrella to help Angelica get out of the car.
The rain was still pouring down. Yuri stood beside the car holding an umbrella. In just a few seconds, the section of his trouser legs below the knees and above his high combat boots was soaked, and the umbrella in his hand always felt like it would be blown over by the strong wind at any time.
Finally, when Angelica got off the bus, Yuri walked over, took her arm, and walked with her to the entrance of the station.
There were a lot of people coming in and out of the station. Yuri handed Arseny an umbrella at the entrance and was about to take Anjelia up the stairs when he heard a surprised voice calling him from a distance: "Yuri, Yuri Arkhipovich!"
Yuri was stunned for a moment, then turned and looked around, looking for the direction where the sound came from.
"Yuri, here, here!" the voice continued to call.
This time Yuri finally found the source of the sound. He looked in the direction where the sound came from, and found, to his surprise, behind a group of soldiers rushing over, a familiar face was smiling at him.
Seeing this familiar face, Yuri was instantly filled with surprise. He let go of Angelia's arm and walked towards her quickly. When they were still some distance apart, he laughed loudly and said, "Vidim, why is it you?"
"Not just me, but also Daniel," the man came up to Yuri, opened his arms, gave him a tight hug, and patted him on the back twice before letting go and saying, "We just came back from Smolensk."
Yuri quickly turned his head to look, and saw that there was an acquaintance half a step behind the person who came, Daniel Danielovich Grechko.
That's right, the person who came was Vitim Vasilyevich Bashtsky. He and Daniel were both Yuri's former partners. That was when they were in the 239th Brigade, Yuri was the brigade commander, Vitim was the political commissar, and Daniel was the deputy political commissar. Although Yuri did not serve in the 239th Brigade for a long time, the cooperation between them was quite pleasant, so they also formed a friendship.
The relationship between people in the military is like this. As long as they cooperate for a period of time, they can often form a deep relationship, especially in wartime. The reason is that cooperation in wartime often means that everyone has to live and die together, and the relationship between life and death is naturally deeper than other relationships.
"Where have you been these past two years?" Yuri hugged Daniel again, looked them up and down, and saw that they had obviously lost a lot of weight. He asked, "I haven't heard from you since we parted at the 239th Brigade."
"We often hear news about you," Vitim said with a smile, "our heroic commander, the master of defensive operations."
"Soon after the Battle of Kiev, Vitim and I were sent to Pripyat," Daniel didn't joke with Yuri. He answered directly, "We were mainly responsible for unifying the guerrilla organizations in the eastern part of Belarus. We stayed in the jungle for the past two years, so you certainly couldn't hear any news about us."
Yuri suddenly realized that the two political commissars had gone behind enemy lines... Wait, Eastern Belarus? Wasn't that with Angeliya's father?
"Why are you, the Minister of Operations, not working peacefully in the Kremlin? Why are you here?" Vitim glanced at Angela who was standing next to Yuri and asked, "This lady...are you going to introduce her to us?"
"My fiancée, Anjelia," Yuri remembered that he had not introduced Anjelia yet, and said quickly, "You should know her father, Comrade Vadim Vitalievich, who is also leading the guerrillas in eastern Belarus."
"Vadim?" Vadim's eyes widened and he said in a surprised tone, "Ha, of course we know each other, and we have been working together for a long time."
As he said this, he seemed to have thought of something. He turned his head to look around and said, "Oh, right, he just got off the car with us. Now..."
"No wonder Vadim ran away so quickly, it turns out there was someone here to pick him up," Daniel also looked around, but didn't find anyone, so he smiled and said, "And it's my future son-in-law, haha."
Yuri listened to the two men calling Vadim by name, and his tone seemed very casual. He then took a look at their uniforms. Vadim's uniform was brand new, and epaulettes were already placed on his shoulders: a wavy pattern with two vertically arranged golden stars. This should be the rank of lieutenant general. However, considering their status as military commissars, this means that he is already at the level of a military political commissar. Looking at Daniel, he is in the same situation as Vadim, and is also a military political commissar.
Yuri knew a little about the guerrillas. In order to encourage guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, Moscow gave many preferential treatments to guerrilla commanders. These guys were promoted very quickly, but of course, there was a lot of water. In addition, because the German army had special "preferential treatment" for military commissioners in dealing with prisoners, in order to protect the guerrillas' political cadres, the armbands that military commissioners had to wear had long been cancelled, and their uniforms looked no different from those of commanders .
Vadim was the secretary of the Mogilev Provincial Committee before the war. During the war, even if he worked in the guerrillas, he must have been responsible for political work. In this way, his level in the political work system was not necessarily higher than that of Vitim and Daniel. Therefore, it was not unusual for them to talk so casually.
"Don't worry, I'll arrange for someone to look for him. He shouldn't be far away." Vitim held Yuri's arm and said, "Let's find a place to sit down and have a good chat."
"I'll arrange it," Daniel was still as servile as before. He smiled at Yuri, turned and walked away.
Yuri comforted Angela, then turned around and said to Vitim, "You guys are here in Moscow for a mission, right? Can you spare some time?"
"Of course there is a mission," Vitim moved closer to him and said, "It is said that a large-scale operation is to be arranged. Not only us, but also the leaders of the guerrillas in Leningrad, Kalinin and other places are here. However, if you have good wine, you can always find time."
Yuri nodded. He believed that Vidim must know what the upcoming large-scale operation was. However, due to the principle of confidentiality, he could not reveal too much to him. Being able to tell him the approximate scale of the operation was already a violation of discipline.
Of course, even if Vitim didn't say it, Yuri could guess it almost right. At present, a large-scale counterattack in Kursk is about to be launched. In preparation for a rainy day, the Supreme Command and the General Staff began to deploy a comprehensive counterattack in the direction of Leningrad and Kalinin, which is also reasonable.
Since taking up the post of Chief of Operations of the General Staff, Yuri has also made some thorough understanding of the specific situation . As far as he knows, there are more than 150 guerrillas operating in Belarus, with a total force of nearly 150,000. Once these guerrillas gather together, they will definitely be a huge force, and their actions will inevitably have a huge impact on the logistics support of the German army.
"Then let's put it this way," Yuri's thoughts shifted slightly, and he retracted them. He looked at Vidim and smiled, "You go to the Military Committee to report today, and then... By the way, where are you going to live?"
"Who knows?" Vitim shrugged and said helplessly, "But I don't think they will let us find a place to live by ourselves, right?"
"How about this? You and Daniel can both live at my place," Yuri said without hesitation. "After I pick you up, I'll go with you to the Military Committee to say hello. You don't have to wait for their arrangements."
Vitim didn't know about the close relationship between Yuri and Khrushchev, but he believed that Yuri should have some connections in the Military Commission - the commanders of the field department often lack connections in the General Staff because they are always fighting on the front line, so they are not well-informed, and the military commissioners of the field department also face this dilemma. Just like Vitim, although his rank as a military-level political commissar is high enough, on the one hand he was promoted from the guerrillas, and on the other hand he is too far away from Moscow, so in the Military Commission where he is a member, he may not be more familiar with people than Yuri.
"That's fine," Vitim nodded and agreed first. Then, seeing Angelia on the side, he smiled and asked, "But, this won't disturb you, right?"
Yuri naturally understood what he meant, but he did not explain. He just laughed it off and changed the subject.
Daniel left for a few minutes and soon returned with two people. One of them was a second lieutenant, who obviously could not be Vadim, and the other was a middle-aged man in military uniform and glasses, short in stature but well-mannered. Judging from his appearance alone, he had no resemblance to Angelica.
