Red Moscow

"Can you help me get out of this prisoner of war camp?" Perhaps because he was worried that Sokov would not agree to his promise, Peterson added in a low voice: "I won't let your help go in vain. I will definitely thank you again after it is done." !”

"Oh, thank you very much afterwards?!" Sokov couldn't help but laugh when he heard what Peterson said. Now the German Marks are almost useless. Even if you give me more Marks, they are just a pile of paper. Waste paper, he asked in a joking tone: "Mr. Major, I wonder how you plan to thank me again?"

"Mr. General," Peterson said: "With the defeat of Germany, the currency originally in circulation will definitely depreciate significantly, and it is not impossible that it will even become waste paper. Therefore, after you rescue me from this prisoner of war camp, I will definitely No deutsche marks will be paid to you.”

Sokov felt that Peterson's understanding was quite clear. After Germany's defeat in World War I, the domestic economy collapsed, unemployment increased, and the currency depreciated wildly, so much so that a loaf of bread sold for 500,000 marks. Although he didn't know the purchasing power of the German mark after he came to Berlin, it must have been no better than waste paper. He was very curious about how he planned to reward himself if he really rescued Peterson from the prisoner of war camp.

"Since you won't pay me German marks, then what, gold?" Sokov said casually.

Unexpectedly, Peterson's eyes widened in surprise after hearing this: "Mr. General, how did you know?"

Naturally, Sokov would not tell the other party that he was just talking casually, but instead asked: "How much gold do you have?"

When Agelina helped Sokov translate this sentence, a look of disgust flashed across her face. She did not expect that Sokov was so greedy for money. For gold, he actually wanted to remove a German officer from a US military prisoner of war camp. rescued from inside. After she finished translating this sentence, she lowered her voice and said to Sokov: "Misha, if you really rescue him from the prison camp for gold, you will get yourself into trouble."

Peterson answered quickly, but because Agelina didn't translate, Sokov didn't understand what the other party said. He touched Agelina's arm with his hand: "Agelina, what is Major Peterson talking about?"

Unexpectedly, Agelina snorted coldly, "Misha, I don't want you to make mistakes, so I won't continue to be your interpreter."

"Agelina, don't be angry." Sokov smiled and said to Agelina: "I'm just asking casually, do you really think I have the ability to rescue a German prisoner of war from a US military prisoner of war camp?" ?"

Hearing what Sokov said, Agelina asked hesitantly: "Are you really just asking casually?"

"Of course." Sokov nodded and said, "Do you think that with his family background, he can own a large amount of gold? I think it is most likely that he got it from the occupied areas."

Agelina hesitated and finally translated what Peterson said to Sokov: "He said that he has five kilograms of gold. If you can rescue him from the prisoner of war camp, then all the gold will belong to you."

"Ask him," Sokov said in a joking tone: "If he really leaves the prisoner of war camp, which country does he plan to go to?" The reason he asked this is because in real history, the German executioners After the war, they all fled to South America and sought asylum in countries such as Argentina, Chile and Peru. He wanted to know which country Peterson would seek refuge in once he was free.

"I am also considering this issue." After listening to Agelina's translation, Peterson said slowly: "One is to go to France..."

"Oh, I want to go to France." Sokov said with a smile: "Today's France only has romance and luxury goods. If you want to live there, the cost is not low. If you give all your savings to "How do you plan to survive after going to France? Moreover, the French seem to be unfriendly to the Germans. If you go there, you may not even be able to guarantee your basic personal safety."

Peterson sighed and said: "Although Berlin is in ruins, if I have the chance, I still hope to return to my home in the east of Berlin."

"Major Peterson," Sokov looked over Peterson's shoulder and saw that the inspection team was already some distance away from him. If he didn't catch up, Patton might send someone to call him. He quickly spoke faster. : "I will talk to Colonel Jones about letting you leave the prisoner of war camp. I don't know if he agrees."

"Thank you so much." Peterson said with tears of gratitude: "As soon as I leave the prisoner of war camp, I will take the gold with my own hands..."

Before he could speak, Sokov raised his hand and interrupted what he was saying: "Major Peterson, I'm not here for your gold, but I heard you said you planned to return to your home east of Berlin. If you can leave Prisoner of war camp, return to your home, I hope you can cooperate with us to turn this ruined city into a prosperous city again. "

After saying that, he raised his hand and patted Peterson on the shoulder, leading Agelina and Vaselgov forward to catch up with the other members of the inspection team.

"Comrade General," Vaselgov said after the three of them had walked a certain distance, "I don't think you should agree to the German major's request."

Sokov turned his head and glanced at Vaserigov, and said calmly: "Major, tell me your reasons."

"This huge prisoner of war camp holds at least tens of thousands of prisoners. The number of prisoners of war we saw today is no more than 200. The rest of the prisoners of war should be locked in the barracks." Vaserigov said: "And Major Peterson and The fact that the other two officers were selected by the US military guards as representatives to communicate with the inspection team shows that they are highly regarded by the US military. I think if they go to our controlled area, they are probably going with a mission. "

"Major, what you said makes perfect sense." Sokov nodded in agreement with Vaseligov's guess. "If the U.S. military really agrees to let Major Peterson leave the prisoner of war camp and let him enter the area under our control, it will definitely give He assigns tasks. For example, he steals our intelligence and provides it to the US military. "

"Comrade General, since you have seen through their conspiracy, why did you still promise Major Peterson that you would try to rescue him?" When Vaselgov said this, he seemed very hesitant: "Is it what he said? Did those five kilograms of gold impress you?"

"How is this possible?" Sokov shook his head and said: "Although five kilograms of gold does not occupy a large area, it is impossible for him to carry it with him. If it had been stored in a bank, it would have been confiscated by the occupying forces long ago. He Now that I have nothing, what can he pay me? The reason why I agreed is to see if I can let him play some role after he returns to our control area. "

"Misha," Agelina, as a woman, naturally thinks about the problem from a different angle than Vaselgov. She waited for Vaselgov to finish and then asked tentatively: "You said it was for Major Peterson's sake?" We need to talk to Colonel Jones, the person in charge of the prisoner of war camp. Why not talk to General Patton directly? You know, his military rank is much higher than Colonel Jones?"

"Agelina, high military rank does not necessarily mean great power." Sokov explained to Agelina: "Although General Patton is now a four-star general, he is only the commander of the 15th Army, not The top military commander of the US military stationed in Germany, he may not be able to speak to Colonel Jones in a prisoner of war camp. "

"So when are you going to talk to Colonel Jones about this?"

"No rush, no rush." ​​Sokov said with a smile: "It will be lunch time soon. I believe Colonel Jones will arrange for us to have dinner in their officers' mess. Then I will take time to talk to him Let’s talk alone.”

"Then do you think he will agree?"

"Of course it's good if you agree. If you don't agree, it doesn't matter to me." When Sokov said this, he shrugged his shoulders and said with an indifferent expression: "Anyway, I have nothing to lose."

After Sokov caught up with the inspection team, Patton came over and asked with some displeasure: "General Sokov, what did you just say to the German major?"

"I didn't say anything, just chatting for a while." Sokov said lightly: "After all, I once defeated his unit. Let's chat with him to find out whether his unit was reorganized later and its combat effectiveness was the same as before. Compared with the troops, whether it has improved or declined, etc. "

Patton saw the attitude of the German prisoners of war towards Sokov just now, so he did not have any doubts about Sokov's words.

The inspection team, led by Colonel Jones, continued to patrol the prison camp. However, in the depths of the prisoner-of-war camp, everyone saw many working prisoners of war. Jones took the initiative to explain: "The number of prisoners of war in our prisoner-of-war camp exceeds the maximum capacity of the prisoner-of-war camp, so it must be expanded so that they can smoothly Get through the coming winter. The prisoners you see here are building their new barracks."

"Mr. Kolb," Tassini walked up to Kolb and said to him with a smile: "Look, these German prisoners of war who are working are in pretty good physical condition. This shows that there are no prisoners in the prisoner of war camp. Whatever the hell happened, people with ulterior motives are spreading rumors to damage the reputation of the U.S. military."

Kolb nodded and said in agreement: "General Tarsini, you are right. Based on what we saw today and our conversations with prisoners of war, we can draw a conclusion that this prisoner of war camp on the Rhine River , there is indeed no case of prisoner abuse. I think the reports we received are false. When I return to Switzerland, I will write a detailed report on what I saw and heard today. To the head of the committee.”

Vasergov, standing next to Sokov, sneered and said: "I heard that due to the shortage of food in the prisoner-of-war camp, prisoners of war starved to death. After the nearby residents learned about this situation, they took the initiative to They sent valuable food out of the house to the prisoners of war, but whenever they found someone giving food to the prisoners of war, they would shoot without hesitation. It was said that at most, forty or fifty civilians were killed in a day."

Regarding the fact that German civilians who brought food to German prisoners of war were shot and killed by US military guards, Sokov had seen it from historical data of later generations, but when he heard it mentioned by Vaselgov, he was still shocked. He sighed softly and then asked: "Comrade Major, if soldiers in our army's prisoner-of-war camp see civilians giving food to prisoners of war, what would they usually do?"

"Shooting will definitely not happen." Vaserigov replied without hesitation: "Once we find civilians trying to deliver food to prisoners of war, our soldiers will come forward to confiscate their things and drive them far away."

"Comrade Major, I also heard something. I don't know whether it is true or not. I want to confirm it with you." Agelina said.

"What's the matter, Comrade Agelina?"

"I heard that individual soldiers of ours often break into Germans' homes and steal their valuables. If there happens to be a beautiful woman in the house, then the woman will suffer." Adelina looked at Vaselgov. , asked with a serious expression: "Is this true?"

The question raised by Adelina made Vaselgov's face turn red. He murmured: "Comrade Adelina, the situation you mentioned did indeed occur when Germany was first occupied. Yes, but it is an isolated phenomenon and not common. Now that we have occupied the German army for half a year, this situation has disappeared. "

When Sokov heard this, he muttered to himself: "It's strange that this situation can disappear. As a translator for the Soviet army, Ernst had to move his wife and children to other cities, which shows that Agelina Questions like this still happen from time to time in Berlin.”

"Gentlemen!" Colonel Jones said loudly at this time: "It's getting late. Please follow us to the officers' mess and taste our food."

"Mr. Colonel," Kolb said, "the officers' mess you are talking about, is it true that only officers of the US military can enter?"

Kolb's question put Jones in an awkward position. After a while, he said: "Mr. Kolb, our officers' mess is not just for our officers, sometimes German officers come to eat. For example, Major Peterson, who just chatted with you They often dine in our restaurant and even chat and laugh with our officers.”

Sokov couldn't help laughing, thinking that Kolb was putting Jones on the fire. If the other party wanted to prove to everyone that what he said was true, then he would have to send someone to inform Peterson and the others. Let them dine in the officers' mess and act casually as if they go there regularly.

And Agelina touched Sokov with her elbow and whispered: "Misha, this is a good opportunity. In order to cover up the lies he told, Colonel Jones will definitely let Peterson and the others come here to dine. To confuse Mr. Kolb. If you take this opportunity to talk to him about Peterson, you may have unexpected results."