In early April, Moscow, in the air, has been faintly able to smell the breath of spring, a winter, covering the snow of the whole city, under the sunlight of the day, turned into a pool of water, the whole city, as if from the cold of winter, is about to wake up, and in more than a month, the girls of Moscow, will change into colorful dresses, every spring, is the expectation of Moscow citizens, this year is no exception.

However, the citizens of Moscow did not know that a war had broken out on the western border, thousands of kilometers away from the capital, and more than six million German troops had poured in, Moscow could not smell the smell of gunpowder, and life in the city was as usual, and no one thought that a few hours later, a nightmarish news would spread like wings in every corner of the city.

Not only ordinary citizens of Moscow, but also the top leadership of the Soviet Union, learned the astonishing news from the report of Marshal Petroshilov, Chief of the General Staff, after nine o'clock on the morning of 10 April.

The original meeting of the Political Bureau on the topics of personnel arrangements and military deployment after discussing the war in the Eastern Theater and the occupation of Manchuria and China's Inner Mongolia region blew up all the members of the Political Bureau of the CPSU who attended the meeting out of thin air, and at this time, nearly four hours had passed since the German army attacked the Soviet Union.

The first to receive the telegram was Marshal Petroshilov, chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Army, and before that, Comrade Marshal had eaten a sumptuous breakfast in his villa as usual, and got into a special car sent by the General Staff to go to work.

In the large and individualized office, the Chief of the General Staff Petroshilov first looked at the War Department. The briefing on the battle situation on the eastern battlefield that he routinely sent over, while reading it, he smiled, all the battle situation can be explained in four words, the progress is smooth, the fall of the Japanese Kwantung Army, in just a week, Tang Qiuli's troops who were cowering in the southern region of Outer Mongolia are about to be attacked by General Vasilevsky. The offensive of more than a million troops.

The news that came from the eastern battlefield was very gratifying, Zhukov did a very good job, and he was able to encircle more than 1.8 million Japanese Kwantung Army troops, which was much stronger than that Vasilevsky. For these two commanders with heavy troops, in the hearts of Comrade Chief of the General Staff. I still appreciate Zhukov more. However, Vasilevsky's slight flaws do not affect his appreciation.

The point is that Comrade Stalin liked Vasilevsky, and the attitude of others was insignificant. There is no need to be a villain himself, therefore, this morning, Marshal Petroshilov was in the mood. Pretty good, drinking strong coffee, starting the day's routine.

At 9:15 a.m., the secretary of the Chief of the General Staff knocked on the door and came in, "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, according to today's schedule, at 10 o'clock in the morning, you will go to the Kremlin, Comrade Stalin's office to report on the situation in the Eastern Theater!" ”

Marshal Petroshilov, without raising his head "Hmm! With a sigh, the secretary withdrew knowingly, and he continued to work with his head.

Five minutes later, at 9:20 a.m., "Bang bang! There was a loud knock on the office door, and the thought of Marshal Petroshilov, who was thinking about the content of the report to Comrade Stalin, was completely interrupted by a rough knock on the door.

Marshal Petroshilov raised his head angrily, he felt very unhappy when his train of thought was interrupted, to use a vulgar analogy, it was like being in a young girl, working until he had just played the most critical moment, and suddenly someone patted him on the shoulder, let himself down, as annoying as he was!

"Come in!" Marshal Petroshilov shouted in a rough voice, and he was also ready to reprimand this rude guy harshly, there are no rules?

"Whew!" The door was vigorously pushed open, and a senior officer with a lieutenant general's epaulettes, with the wind, broke in, and Marshal Petroshilov's pale yellow eyebrows were raised at that time, "Comrade Shirponov, what kind of system, as a high-ranking officer of the Red Army, he should have the demeanor of a soldier, so frizzy and rude, he is not afraid that the officers of other departments will see it, and laugh at the generals of our General Staff, are they all rude?" ”

In fact, Lieutenant General Shirponosky, head of the Operations Department of the General Staff, his direct subordinate, therefore, Marshal Petroshilov, dared to reprimand him harshly, and moreover, he was very angry, this Lieutenant General Shirponosky, who was very optimistic about his subordinate, was ready to be recommended at the meeting of the Political Bureau to take up the post of deputy chief of the General Staff in charge of operations, and he was strictly required of him, who comrade was responsible!

Lieutenant General Hilponosky, of course, saw the very unhappy face of his superior, if it was in normal times, he would never make such a low-level mistake, especially at the critical juncture when he was about to be promoted to the chief of the general staff, but today, the report he received was too appalling, too shocking! - It's ......! Can't put it into words!

"Comrade Chief of the General Staff and General Staff, five minutes ago, the War Department received a telegram from the Western Border Military District, saying that at dawn today, a large number of German troops launched a surprise attack on our border garrison, and the Germans attacked us!" Lieutenant General Hilponoski even excused himself with words of apology, and with beads of sweat the size of soybeans, he directly reported the emergency, and his tone was so nervous that he stuttered a little!

"What?" Marshal Petroshilov jumped up from the high-backed chair, as if the red iron had burned his buttocks, knocked over a bottle of ink on the table, and soaked a stack of Ziwen Jiàn, his first reaction was not to believe, it was indeed hard to believe, Beria's assurance, his intelligence department could be sure that the German army was in the British Isles, and the United States and Britain were in a stalemate? How could there be a sudden attack on the USSR?

"Nonsense, how is that possible? Are you sure you are not mistaken, maybe in some areas of the western border, there were sporadic frictions between our fighters and German patrols, have you checked it? Comrade Silponosky, I solemnly warn you that if the General Staff makes an erroneous judgment because of your report, you know very well what the consequences will be! Marshal Petroshilov's roar echoed in the office.

As an old man who had been in the General Staff for many years, Lieutenant General Shirponosky certainly knew the consequences, and he did not want to believe that it was true, but - a snowflake of urgent telegrams flew in, all confirmed this, the Germans had attacked the Soviet Union, and war had broken out.

Hilponosky swallowed saliva with difficulty, his pale blue eyes were full of six gods, and he said with difficulty: "Comrade Chief of Staff, in just five minutes, the War Department has successively received urgent telegrams from the Leningrad Military District, the Baltic Special Military District, the Western Special Military District, the Kiev Special Military District, and the Odessa Military District on the western border, and in the telegram, the commanders of the military districts have also reported that the location of their military district headquarters has been bombed by German bombers!" ”

"The wired communication between the various military districts and the troops in the border areas has all been interrupted, and at present, the front line is in chaos, where the German army is attacking now, what is the situation of the front-line troops, and what the losses are, they do not grasp it at all, and we have no way of knowing, Comrade Chief of the General Staff, I will immediately report to the Political Bureau, the German attack on us is definitely a fact!"

Marshal Petroshilov, still in disbelief, the green tendons on his neck jumped violently, and shouted: "No——! This is not a fact, I will personally call the various military districts to confirm it! As he spoke, he picked up the red confidential phone on his desk.

Lieutenant General Shirponosky said with a wry smile: "It's useless, Comrade Chief of the General Staff, after receiving the telegram, I immediately called the headquarters of the various military districts, but all telephone contacts have been interrupted and I can't get through!" ”

"So, did the Germans really attack the Soviet Union? Did the war really break out? Marshal Petroshilov slumped back in his chair and muttered bitterly, "Why is this happening?" Why wasn't there any forewarning? ”

"Comrade Silponosky, take these telegrams and immediately come with me to Comrade Stalin in the Kremlin, quick!" Petroshilov suddenly jumped up and said hurriedly, but before the two of them could walk out of the office, follow-up telegrams from various military districts in the western border region came one after another.

The content of the telegram was almost the same, "The General Staff and Comrade Stalin, the war broke out, the German attack was very fierce, the location of our headquarters, we can already see the soldiers who have retreated from the front, after verification, they are all border garrison troops, under the attack of the German army, defeated and retreated to this point, the situation is extremely critical, please ask the General Staff to send reinforcements as soon as possible, otherwise, with the current strength and equipment of our department, it will be difficult to resist the German attack!" ”

Among them, especially the telegram of the Kyiv Special Military District located in Ukraine, Marshal Petroshilov was struck by lightning, "The headquarters of our military district, after being bombed by German aircraft, was raided by German tank units, and fierce fighting broke out in the city, and the military district headquarters has withdrawn from the place and moved inland." ”

My God! Kiev is an important strategic town on the road to Moscow, which can be called the bridgehead of Moscow, the Kiev Military District has at least 100,000 troops, stationed in that direction, and now, it has been beaten into the city by the German army, and Kiev is more than 200 kilometers away from the border, that is, nearly four hours after the outbreak of the war, the German army has broken through into the territory of the Soviet Union for more than 200 kilometers.

At 9:40 a.m. on 10 April, Marshal Petroshilov stuffed the urgent telegrams of the various military districts on the western border into his bag, and with Lieutenant General Shirponosky, head of the Operations Department of the General Staff, jumped into the car in a hurry and rushed to the Kremlin like crazy.

(To be continued)(To be continued......