A rough hand stroked the edge of the window in front of him, stirring up the dust on it, and this hand continued along the edge of the window, finally stopping at the point where the edge was broken. The window was clearly damaged, the glass on it had shattered, and only a few sharp shards remained, as nails were attached to the edge.

The hand pressed on the broken edge of the window, and did not continue forward, for there was nothing left in front of the broken edge. More than half of the walls have collapsed, and only half of the walls remain, and some of the windows are still stubbornly standing here. If you are not particularly familiar with this place, no one will realize that it is actually part of the original Kremlin.

The collapsed walls were as eerie as twisted ghosts, and some sappers were using sandbags and other rubble to reinforce the defenses near the Kremlin, which the Germans were only a few kilometers away from, and perhaps in a few days, German tanks would be able to fire shells straight into the Kremlin windows.

Stalin walked out of his underground headquarters early in the morning and saw the Kremlin, which he was familiar with but was now unfamiliar with. It had been bombarded beyond recognition by German artillery fire, and a few Soviet soldiers were reinforcing their defensive positions not far away, and now it was no different from ordinary ruined houses.

Yesterday evening, one German unit captured Lermonosov Street, while another group of soldiers from Army Group A crossed Minsk Street and occupied several houses on Minsk Street, which was only about 6 kilometers from Red Square, the heart of Moscow.

What is even more exaggerated is that the troops of the 13th SS Panzer Division launched a fierce attack along Kutuzov Street all the way to the west, and the Soviet defense line could only gradually retreat with the German offensive, and finally the two sides stabilized their defense near the Young Pioneers Theater, but here was only a pitiful distance of about 4 kilometers from the Kremlin.

Vatutin, who commanded the Soviet troops to continue to lay out the defenses along the streets, bordered on desperate struggle, while Stalin, under the fierce German offensive, silently counted his own last days in the world. Anyone knows that Stalin has completely lost the chance to victory, and he has been dying since a few months ago.

"This turned out to be my favorite meeting room...... Zaitsev. Stalin looked at the broken windows, the broken glass, and the broken floor under his feet, and said to Zaitsev, who was following him: "I never dreamed that this sacred place would become what it is now. ”

"Comrade Stalin, if you want to leave Moscow now, I will personally go to Zhukov and ask him to arrange for the troops to break through to the death...... Maybe we can make a gap, and maybe things will turn around. Zaitsev followed behind Stalin, looked at the Kremlin in front of him, which was no different from the ruins, and said with some sadness.

Zaitsev was not a man who was greedy for life and feared death, but he devoted his life to Stalin in front of him, and he was loyal to his boss and loved him as if he were his father. He had been brilliant, and he had been more powerful than the commander of the military district when he was by Stalin's side, so now he had made up his mind that he would never leave this lonely old man in front of him.

Stalin didn't seem to feel Zaitsev's affection, he just gently stroked the broken window in front of him with his hand, lamenting that the once luxurious palace was now in ruins. After listening to Zaitsev's persuasion, the Soviet leader shook his head and laughed: "Zaitsev...... I'm not going to leave here, after all, this is where I should be, and I really should finish my last path here. ”

After saying this, he paused, and then continued to ask, "How did you handle my stand-in?"

When his stand-in went to inspect the entire Moscow defense system on his behalf, he was surrounded by civilians and soldiers, and finally retreated to the Kremlin, and the entire operation was completely canceled. This small riot made Stalin even more angry, and he even felt that it was not a good thing for him to keep a stand-in.

He was afraid that if he died, the stand-in would be captured alive by the Germans, in which case the Germans would probably use it to make a lot of fuss. Even arrange a decent surrender ceremony to insult Stalin. Stalin also did not want anyone to use his appearance to continue to deceive in the days to come, so he instructed Zaitsev to dispose of the stand-in as soon as possible.

Zaitsev, who was standing behind Stalin, heard Stalin's question, nodded and replied: "Comrade Stalin, I have personally executed your stand-in, and the body was transported to the back garden of the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and burned and buried, as a means of disturbing the sight of the German army. Even if the Germans found the body, they would not prove anything. ”

"I have always been very relieved that you are doing things, and if my generals are as reliable as you, then we will win the war. Stalin withdrew his palm from the window, shook it and stretched it out to Zaitsev's shoulder, and patted it gently: "Accompany me, accompany me through this last time, walk through this last time of the Soviet Union......"

......

"Boom!" a shell landed on the side of a building on the banks of the Moskva River, and a huge wave of air kicked up the sand along the riverside, smashed the floor-to-ceiling windows nearby, and knocked down dummies in the shops on the street. A dozen Soviet soldiers ran along the embankment to the building, holding steel helmets on their heads, and then burrowed into the hole on the side.

Inside the building, Vatutin was standing guard next to his telephone, and about 1,000 meters in front of him, there was already the border between the two countries. Bullets flew everywhere, and every now and then a tank roared to tear down the wreckage of the rubble before being blown up on a street corner.

"Ring, ring, ring!" In the interval between the explosion of the shells, a faint telephone rang sounded, and Vatutin grabbed the receiver of the telephone, and said to Zhukov on the other side of the phone: "Comrade Marshal! The telephone line has been blown off by the shell for a day, and the communication between us may be interrupted again at any time...... I don't know how long the troops in my hands will last, and I will now officially hand over the command of the Moscow City Defense Forces to you...... I will formally send the documents to Comrade Stalin, and then give orders to all the troops that can be contacted. ”

"Boom!" another shell landed not far from where he was, and a huge wave of air rushed into the building, kicking up a cloud of smoke and dust, and Vatuin slapped the dust from his mouth with his hand, and after spitting, he continued to the other side of the phone: "My troops are short of ammunition and do not have many anti-tank weapons...... But they are all warriors who love this country, so please be kind to them. ”

"Hey, hey, hey?" because the German shelling was so intense that before Vatutin could finish what he wanted to say, the telephone line was cut again. Listening to the sound of the telephone receiver, Vatujing regretfully threw the telephone receiver in his hand back to the table covered with maps.

"Is there still troops in the guard battalion? Bring weapons to support the 1st Moscow Division in front! What? No?" Vatutin looked at the desperate combat staff officer, squeezed out a smile, he dusted off his shoulders with his hand, and looked at the mechanical and electrical officers next door: "Comrades! It is really my honor to work with you! The Moscow City Defense Front, as a formed unit, no longer exists...... We have lost effective command of front-line combat units...... Our battle is over......"

He reached out, picked up the military hat instead of the steel helmet from the table, and put it on top of his head, then looked at the civilian and military officers in his command who had turned all their eyes to him: "Grab your weapons and get out of here! There's no need to wait here to die, really!"

"We've been working with you here for so long, and now that you're letting us go on our own, we really don't know where we're going. The chief of staff looked at Vatutin with a smile, not caring at all about the shells falling in the distance, the black smoke that covered the sky and the dense gunshots.

"General, let's follow you!" said some young electricians and officers. They are a group of young people who love the motherland, and they are easily infected and encouraged by the picture in front of them, they are not indifferent to life and death, nor are they not afraid, but no one wants to be cowards, and no one wants to go before others.

Vatutin smiled and looked at his subordinates around him, shrugged his shoulders and said: "Well, I don't want to go to the Kremlin again, and tell Comrade Stalin that we have not been able to hold our positions, that it is really a sinful errand." I just want to rest here and wait for my enemies to step over my corpse. ”

"Yes, we'll stay here, let the Germans step on our corpses!" everyone nodded and said firmly. Young soldiers began to pick up Mosin Nagant rifles from corners, others picked up precious Bobosha assault rifles, and everyone crouched in some corners, watching the movement on the other side of the river in the distance through the rubble.

At this time, going home was already an unattainable word for these officers and Vatutin.

The second update is presented! Long Ling is going to write the third chapter of the supplement, it may be a little late, you can read it again tomorrow morning.