Chapter 2538

Sokov thought that it was not that far from the hotel to the Brandenburg Gate and he could walk there. He nodded to the soldiers and prepared to walk towards the meeting point. Unexpectedly, as soon as he took two steps, Vaselgov stopped him: "Comrade General!"

Hearing Vaserigov's shout, Sokov stopped and asked: "Major, what's the matter?"

"Are you planning to just walk over like this?"

"Yes." Sokov nodded and gave the other party a positive answer: "It's only a few hundred meters from here to the Brandenburg Gate, and it won't take long to walk there."

"Comrade General," Vaserigov heard Sokov say, and explained with a bit of laughter: "It is indeed not that far from here to the Brandenburg Gate, but we have a close relationship with officials from the International Red Cross and the US military. After meeting with the representatives of the French army, we have to go to the prisoner of war camp on the Rhine River, which is not close to here. "

After Vaseligov's explanation, Sokov realized that he had made a common-sense mistake. He only thought about going to the Brandenburg Gate to meet with Allied representatives and officials of the International Red Cross, but forgot about it. Next, we need to walk a lot to inspect the prisoner of war camp.

"Comrade Major, you are right. If you want to go to the prisoner of war camp by the Rhine River, you will definitely not be able to walk." Sokov waved his hand to Vaselgov and said: "Then let's get in the car."

Sokov, Adelina and Vaserigov got into the first jeep, and several soldiers got into the second.

When the car started, Vaserigov, who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, explained to Sokov: "Comrade General, since the US military has strict restrictions on the number of vehicles and people we can enter their defense area, I only carried two of them today. A jeep, accompanied by two drivers and four guards, I hope you don’t mind.”

Sokov knew very well that although there were still many small German troops in Germany who had not surrendered, they had illusions about the British and American troops and felt that having the other side rule Germany would bring them a better life. Therefore, the targets of these small units were all Soviet troops, but they adopted a non-intrusive attitude toward the U.S. military. This time we went to the Rhine River prisoner of war camp controlled by the US military. We should not encounter harassment from the small remaining German troops, so it was more than enough to bring four guards with us: "Comrade Major, you are very thoughtful."

When the car approached the Brandenburg Gate, the female soldier who was directing traffic here quickly signaled the vehicles traveling sideways to stop and give way to Sokov's vehicle.

When he arrived at the Brandenburg Gate and got off the bus, Sokov saw a group of people standing on the other side of the door. Judging from their clothes, they should be officials from the International Red Cross and the French Army in Berlin. commander.

Sokov turned and asked Vaserigov: "Comrade Major, do you know the commander of the French army?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Vaselgov said in a positive tone: "The French Lieutenant General is Tarsini, and he is the highest commander of France in Berlin."

After figuring out that the French lieutenant general in the distance was actually Tarsini, who was later posthumously awarded the title of marshal, Sokov nodded slightly: "Oh, so it's him."

Vaserigov was stunned, and then asked: "Comrade General, do you know him?"

"I don't know him." Sokov answered very simply, "If I knew him, would I have asked you just now?"

Seeing the arrival of Sokov and others, an American military policeman wearing a white hat came over, raised his hand in salute, and asked politely: "Are you a representative of the Russian side?"

"Yes, Corporal." Vaserigov stepped forward and introduced him: "This is General Sokov. He is Marshal Zhukov's deputy and is here specifically to participate in today's operation."

The military policeman nodded, brought Sokov and others to the crowd, and introduced Sokov's identity to everyone.

"Hello, General Sokov." Even though Tassini is the highest commander of the French army in Berlin, his military rank is one level lower than Sokov, and he is only a lieutenant general, so he kept his attitude calm. Very low: "I am Lieutenant General Tarsini, the commander of the French army in Berlin. Nice to meet you."

"Hello, General Tasini." Sokov shook hands with the other person and said politely: "Me too, nice to meet you."

"General Sokov," Tasini brought Sokov to the officials of the International Red Cross and introduced him: "Let me introduce to you, this is Mr. Charlie Kolb. During the war, , he and his colleague Vladimir Steiger made various attempts to enable Jews to immigrate to Turkey and from there to Pakistan or Latin American countries, with the support of Jewish organizations. The delegates submitted these proposals and made various types of representations with the authorities, but none of this led to any results, as it was simply not possible to obtain the necessary permissions. Despite this, the ICRC delegates managed to save the situation. Some Jews survived the war."

After listening to Tasini's introduction, Sokov had a good impression of Charlie Kolb. He shook his hand and said: "Mr. Kolb, I think those Jews and their descendants who have received your help will definitely Remember the help you gave them.”

"I hope so." Charlie Kolb said with a wry smile: "Actually, compared with my colleague Dr. Maurice Russell, I haven't done enough."

Sokov looked at Charlie Kolb with some confusion, because he was completely unfamiliar with Maurice Russell and had no idea what the other person had done.

Seeing Sokov's expression, Kolb felt that he had not made his words clear, and quickly added: "He and two Danish officials went to Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, accompanied by SS officers. He entered the Jewish ghetto, but because his visits were closely monitored, he had no chance to talk to the Jews there, and naturally could not provide them with the necessary help.

On September 27, 1944, Dr. Rossel went to Auschwitz. There, he talked with the commander of the concentration camp and tried to enter the concentration camp to understand the actual living conditions of the Jews. But unfortunately, his request was rejected by the Germans again, preventing him from entering the concentration camp before the end of the war."

After listening to the other party, Sokov felt that the officials of the International Red Cross were not as powerful as he imagined. They said they wanted to help the suffering Jews, but because of their limited ability, all efforts to help the Jews failed.

Sokov suddenly remembered a movie he had watched, "Downfall", in which there was such a detail. When Germany was about to be defeated, the deputy commander of the SS returned home to have dinner with his wife and daughter. He secretly detonated two grenades under the table, blowing himself and his wife and daughter to pieces. The man who murdered his family was Gravitz, the president of the German Red Cross and the chief medical expert of the SS.

The Red Cross was originally a charitable organization that saved the dying and the wounded and relieved the poor, but Gravitz, the president of the German Red Cross, was an alternative. He was not only keen on conducting medical experiments with prisoners in concentration camps, but also actively participated in the Nazi's genocide plan. The millions of Jews massacred in the Nazi gas chambers were directly related to him. This inhumane and ruthless character served as the president of the Red Cross, and we still expected him to treat prisoners and Jews well according to international conventions?

After Kolb greeted Sokov, he turned around and asked Tasini: "General Tasini, when will the US military representatives arrive?"

"Wait a little longer." Tasini said with a wry smile: "I think they should be on the way now."

The crowd waited at the Brandenburg Gate for more than half an hour, and finally saw a convoy in the distance. In front of the leading jeep, there was a red sign with four silver stars on it. When Sokov saw the other party's posture, he knew that the US military representative who came was a four-star general. He began to wonder who was the commander of the US troops stationed in Berlin now?

The convoy soon stopped not far away, and the US military police on duty at the Brandenburg Gate hurried forward to greet him.

When the car door opened, an elderly general got out of the car. After Sokov saw the other party's face clearly, he couldn't help but be shocked. He had seen this face countless times in later history books. He was the famous General Patton. Sokov looked at him with a puzzled look on his face, thinking, wasn't he appointed as the military administrator of Bavaria? How could he be here? Could it be that his memory was wrong?

"Major," seeing General Patton coming over here, Ajelina whispered to Vaseligov: "Who is this?"

"It's General Patton of the US Army!"

"General Patton?!" Ajelina said in surprise: "Wasn't he appointed as the military administrator of Bavaria? How could he be here?"

"Comrade Ajelina, your information is outdated." Vaseligov explained: "In October, he was relieved of his post as the military administrator of Bavaria because he offended his superiors and was appointed commander of the 15th Army."

"Is he now the commander of the 15th Army?"

"Yes." Vaseligov continued He said: "He seems to have always been hostile to our army. After the meeting at the Elbe River, General Sokolovsky, deputy commander of the First Belarusian Front, went to the Allied controlled area as a special envoy of Marshal Zhukov to meet. At the reception, General Sokolovsky took the initiative to toast General Patton, but was rejected. He even said in front of the general: I won't clink glasses with bastards!"

Sokov was amused when he heard it. Isn't this a scene from the movie "General Patton"? At that time, everyone habitually thought that the person who took the initiative to clink glasses with Patton was Zhukov. In fact, it was just a translation error that made a joke of mistaking the title for the title. Patton was just a four-star general and had no qualifications to be on an equal footing with Zhukov, so Zhukov sent Deputy Commander General Sokolovsky, which was considered to be a great respect for Patton.

Moreover, the promotion of American military officers is divided into two types: permanent promotion and temporary promotion. The rank of permanent promotion is called "permanent rank", also known as "formal rank", which cannot be downgraded, stopped or deprived without legal procedures and is owned by the individual for life; the rank of temporary promotion is called "temporary rank", also known as "job rank". Once the position equivalent to this rank is lost, the temporary rank will disappear and return to the permanent rank. For example, Patton wore the rank of colonel in the late period of World War I, but after the war, he restored his original rank of major.

The last time the two sides met, Zhukov sent a representative with the rank of general, but was hostile to Patton. Therefore, during this meeting, Zhukov deliberately lowered the standard and let himself, the general, contact Patton instead of Sokolovsky.

Patton came to Sokov and Tasini. He glanced at Sokov, with some disdain in his eyes, and then looked at Tasini, trying to squeeze a smile on his face: "General Tasini, we meet again."

Tasini shook hands with Patton, and then introduced Sokov to him: "General Patton, let me introduce to you. This is the representative sent by Russia-General Sokov. He will go with us. Prisoner of War Camp Inspection.”

After hearing what Tasini said, Barton turned his eyes to Sokov again, the expression on his face was full of disdain. He closed his eyes slightly, tilted his chin high, and said to Sokov: "I am Patton, the commander of the 15th U.S. Army."

"Hello, General Patton." Although Patton's face was full of contempt for himself, Sokov still said in a humble and humble manner: "Nice to meet you..."

Before Sokov could finish speaking, Barton muttered: "I don't want to get to know you."

Although Agelina had not yet had time to translate Barton's words, Sokov had already understood. He raised his hand to stop Agelina from continuing to translate, looked at Patton and said in proficient English: "General Patton, I have heard a lot about you and am very interested in you, so I get to know you today. My pleasure."

Patton's eyes widened in surprise. He never imagined that a Russian general he despised could speak such fluent English. After a brief absence, he asked cautiously: "General Sokov, do you speak English?"

"Yes, General Patton!" Sokov said with a laugh: "I heard that I was going to meet such a great military commander like you. Out of politeness, I learned English overnight just to make it easier to communicate with you. "

Although Sokov's answer was far-fetched, a smile still appeared on Barton's face. Seeing this, Sokov quickly struck while the iron was hot and said: "General Patton, there are not many people I admire. Marshal Zhukov is one, Marshal Rokossovsky is also one, and you, too, must be the person I admire."

Barton laughed dryly: "Really?"

"Of course." Sokov nodded and said, "I especially appreciate what you often say."

Sokov's words successfully caught Barton's attention, and he asked with interest: "I wonder which sentence it is?"

"Attack, attack, attack again! Do this at all costs." Before Barton could ask again, Sokov took the initiative and said: "There is no fortress that can be defended in this world. Attack is the best defense. When you continuously If you attack bravely without interruption, the enemy will retreat and be unable to attack, and the purpose of defense will be achieved. "

Patton smiled. He didn't expect that a general from another country would praise him so much. He even remembered what he often said and understood it very thoroughly. This time he took the initiative to reach out to Sokov and said in a friendly tone: "General Sokov, nice to meet you!"