He looked away from the page and glanced at the big clock in the corner. Agreed to meet the poet Vasily? The time for Lebedev-Kumachi, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow City Soviet Yasnov and military engineer Leoshnia was coming. Yasnov headed a working group of the Moscow Soviet, which led the construction of the Amurinsk Line, and Leoshnia was responsible for the construction of the project, assigning tasks to the heads of the sections and supervising the quality of the works. The master of lyrics and the excellent poet Lebetyev-Kumachi was personally invited by Shcherbakov in order to allow the poet to participate in their discussion of this defensive project, and possibly to go with them to the Amuransk area. A few days ago, the Moscow City Soviet sent 20,000 Muscovites to take part in the construction of the fortifications, and now another 70,000 workers are on standby. It is necessary to see their labor, their life in the open and sleeping, and their perseverance and spiritual strength. Boost morale if necessary. Probably, Lebedev-Kumachi had the inspiration to write a new song...... However, the State Defense Committee today wants to check the work of the air defense command of the Moscow air defense district, that is, to check his work.

As the secretary of the Central Committee, Shcherbakov can be said to have spent a lot of effort for the infallibility of Moscow's air defense, but he is still not sure whether these efforts will bear the fruits he wants.

Alexander? Sergeyevich rang the electric bell. His assistant, Chrapivin, walked into his office. He was thin, slender, and had a cheerful expression, but he always looked thoughtful.

"Comrade Krapivin," Shcherbakov said to him. "Inform Yasnov, Leohuinia and Lebedev-Kumachi as soon as possible, and we will reschedule for today at another time. Whether to go to Amuransk or not, we will talk about it in the evening. ”

"Well, Alexander? Sergeyevich. Klapivin turned to leave, but stopped at the door, and said with a smile: "Kobedev-Kumachi is here, and he is reciting poetry to the secretaries in the corridor." ”

"Alas, alas, there is too little time!" Shcherbakov said regretfully, looking at his watch.

"Let me apologize to him." Clappiwin suggests.

"No, ask him to come in and stay for a minute. He was an extraordinary poet, and the whole country sang his songs......"

Lebedev-Kumachi walked into the office, his forehead was high, his smile was full, and he was full of youthful energy.

"Hello, dear Vasily? Ivanovich. Shcherbakov stood up to greet the poet. The Holy War, written by Lebedev-Kumachi and the composer Aleksandrovich, has been a popular song of the Great Patriotic War and an ode to it from the very beginning of the invasion...... Before the Kremlin's bomb shelter was built, the headquarters and the office of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief were located at 37 Kirov Street, an old mansion connected to the entrance to the Kirov metro station. Next to it is the house of the command of the 1st Army of the Territorial Air Defense and the People's Commissariat of Aviation. The exercise of countering the daytime air raids on Moscow by enemy planes was held in Stalin's office.

In the reception room of the base camp, Shcherbakov saw the People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry Shahulin, his two Deputy People's Commissars Dementiev and Yakovlev, the commander of the Air Force, Air Force General Galev, the head of the Red Army Artillery, Colonel-General Voronov, and the commander of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District, Colonel Petov, and others. At 17 o'clock, Zhukov arrived, and a minute later, Stalin and the members of the State Defense Committee also came. Stalin went straight to his office and invited everyone to follow him in. As the people took their seats at one side of the long table, Zhukov nodded to General Voronov, who was standing at the door, and then a number of people with large volumes of maps and tables hurried into the office: General Gromakin, commander of the Moscow Air Defense District, and his chief of staff, Colonel Gerasimov, commander of the First Air Defense Army, and his staff, Colonel Klimov, commander of the Sixth Army of Fighter Aviation, and his assistants. Most of the soldiers looked reserved, looking at Stalin in awe, for the first time they had seen him so close.

Shcherbakov saw that Stalin was in a bad mood and felt a little chagrin. Originally, everything should have been exactly the opposite, and the chart should have been laid out first, and then the leading comrades should have been invited in. But this exercise was presided over by Zhukov, and it was obvious that it was inconvenient for him to enter the office of the Supreme Reince General before Stalin.

Stalin paced in the open space of the room, pausing from time to time to look at the charts as the soldiers spread out them. The first thing that caught his attention was a circular map of communication lines around Moscow, drawn in colored pencils, with several auxiliary communication hubs on this line.

"If the enemy bombs our central telegraph office, will we really be able to maintain reliable contact with the front and rear?" Stalin asked, but not to the man present.

"No problem, Comrade Stalin." Zhukov replied with confidence. "The ring line and the new communication hub will ensure communication in all directions inside and outside the city. Our inspection results show that the communication line is reliable. ”

Stalin's gaze turned to a map nailed to a thin board with the battle sequence of the Moscow Air Defense District and the 1st Army of the Air Defense. There are two red circles around Moscow. The radius of the large circle is 120 km, within which Soviet fighters should take off to meet Chinese aircraft. The second circle is 30-40 kilometers deep from the center of Moscow, and this area is covered by anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns. Stalin pondered in front of the possible road map of the air attack on Moscow and the deployment map of the airfield of anti-aircraft artillery batteries and fighter planes.

He didn't ask any more questions. Shcherbakov felt that Stalin was always at ease with all this, and even suppressed his anger. Then he wasted some time in vain, because there was no longer a chart on the table brought by the head of the combat department of the 1st Air Defense Army. The chief's name was Kulyanov, and he was tall, broad-shouldered, and as strong as an ox. There was simply no room for the Air Force's map, and Colonel Klimov looked uneasily at Zhukov, who was sitting in the corner with Gerasimov and Gromakin. He ordered his assistant to put the diagram on the floor.

After a rustle of unfolding the map, everyone in the office waited for the drill to begin. Stalin said to Colonel Klimov and General Zhuravlyov: "Let's see, Comrade Klimov, your fighter regiment, and you, Comrade Zhuravlev, your ground weapons, can resist the daytime air raids of enemy aircraft on Moscow. Then he nodded to Major General Gromakin and said, "It's time to start." ”

Gromakin was a 42-year-old artillery general who was adept at articulating his ideas clearly and concisely, but had a somewhat peasant appearance. Unhurriedly, he stood up, straightened his belted uniform, and began to speak. At this time, his peasant taste suddenly disappeared.

"Let's talk about the principles of Moscow's air defense first...... "Listening to the tone of Gromakin's speech, one feels that he has been immersed in the scene and has seen the overall situation of Moscow's air defense." The basis of these principles is the circular echelon defense, with the strongest forces in the east and south directions. The outer edge of the air defense zone is in Yaroslavl, Verkhniy Volochok, Velikiya Luki, Smolensk, Orlov, Ryazan and Gorky cities. The command of the First Air Defense Army exercises overall leadership over the capital's air defense forces, and its command consists of the air defense zone command combat group, the air intelligence general outpost, the communications hub, and the command personnel of fighter aviation and antiaircraft artillery. They each command their subordinate units through equipment located at the headquarters of the First Army...... I now declare the units in status one...... I and Colonel Gerasimov represented the attacking side, and General Zhuravlyov and Colonel Klimov represented the defending side......"

As soon as General Gromakin finished speaking, the chief of staff of the Moscow Air Defense District, Colonel Gerasimov, began to read out the prepared data, which were quickly marked on the map to form a tactical situation for the campaign.

The exercises began. General Zhuravlev's thick and solemn voice resounded through the office. Then Colonel Klimov made up his mind and gave the order, according to his order, the brigade of the 6th Army of the Fighter Aviation Corps at an airfield somewhere far away was to take off in a volley...... Shcherbakov sat next to the members of the National Defense Committee, as if he himself were now sitting in the solemn examination room, deeply disturbed by the fear of losing his name. He felt that Stalin was not so much concerned with the process of rapidly changing military exercises as with how General Zhuravlev and Colonel Klimov reacted to these situations. It was as if he was carefully studying their names, talents, and ways of thinking, measuring everything he saw and learned by his own measure. Stalin, however, had no expression on his face except for contemplation. What was hidden in his squinted eyes? In this tense moment, his eyes suddenly flashed with sparks, suddenly like a wildfire burning in a gust of wind, and suddenly the smoke and fire extinguished, as if covered with a layer of ashes...... Stalin was deeply pondered, as if trying to strike a balance between conviction and doubt.

Shcherbakov was both certain and uneasy. He really wanted to be honest with Stalin that these soldiers could be trusted. Daniel? Arsentievich? General Zhuravlyov was a senior artillery specialist, he participated in the civil war, and then went to the military academy for further studies, he served as the director of the Leningrad Second Artillery School and the Ryazan Artillery School, and devoted a lot of effort to training heavy artillery commanders. In his post in the 1st Air Defense Army, he also showed his talent and performed well...... As for Colonel Klimov, not to mention! The staff officers and commanders of the various air forces only need to have half a hint to understand it. He is an authority in the air, that is to say, an outstanding talent.

But, Alexander? Sergeyevich also felt the element that unsettled him. Stalin was currently in contact with an area in which he knew little and was not familiar with, and because of the need to act according to the rules, he could not understand the activity thoroughly and concretely. Report the situation...... Make up your mind...... Give orders...... Another group of hypothetical Chinese bombers appeared from a new direction and from another height...... Reports, determinations, orders...... Everything is clear, secure, and methodical. However, this is a dress rehearsal after all. What about the "real show"? It's great that these generals and officers are up to the task they do. And if someone is not good at acting, who can replace them? And what will happen to Moscow if they are not up to the task?

At times, Stalin cast a puzzled look at General Zhukov. The chief of the General Staff frowned, and the city government was very deep. His voice was as smooth and stern as it had been measured by a precision instrument, without the slightest discount. Did he imagine that this indoor confrontation exercise would have a real effect?

The maneuvers against a hypothetical enemy in the air lasted an hour and a half. After lifting the air raid siren, General Zhukov succinctly summed up the exercise, believing that the participants had basically completed their tasks, and asked Stalin in a deep voice: "Comrade Stalin, do you have any instructions?" ”

Stalin glanced at Zhukov with a slightly reproachful look, and then at Shcherbakov, as if the chief of the General Staff was largely directed at Alexander? Sergeyevich asked. Because it was the Party Central Committee who entrusted him with the responsibility of Moscow's air defense. Stalin began to light his pipes slowly. It seems that he was thinking about something. He threw the extinguished match into the brass ashtray on the table that held the upturned corner of the map. Then, in a casual tone, he said: "Comrade Stalin does not know anything about this area...... God knows, perhaps, everything should be done this way......" He was silent for a moment, and then said to General Gromakin: "Tomorrow, you will show us how it is to fight the night air raids......"

None of the people who participated in this exercise expected that there would be unforeseen circumstances tomorrow...... While the Supreme Commander's Office at No. 37 Kirov Avenue in Moscow was empty, and the people who had participated in and watched the exercises on the map returned to their "shelters" with a sense of relaxation, the Chinese Supreme Command and some military organs in Yanjing, the capital of China, were elated and ecstatic. Quite a few Chinese civil and military officials have been informed that the Air Force has reported to the Presidential Office that, in accordance with Yang Shuoming's orders, the Chinese Air Force is ready to dispatch its specially formed special air group to strike the Soviet capital with a thunderous force on the night of January 22, 1945. According to the Chinese Air Ministry's assumptions, Moscow will be reduced to rubble and scorched earth in this attack.

China's hammer against Moscow is hanging high in the air: the latest heavy bomber brigade loaded with bombs, incendiary bombs and flares has taken off from the airfields of Sverdlovsk, Barayan, Magnitogorsk and Baikonur at the appointed time. They are organized into several large echelons to fly to the target, and each echelon is divided into several groups. Along the way, there were yellow fires and searchlights, and in the territory of the Soviet army, they flew every 30 to 40 minutes according to the flares fired by the infiltrated agents and along the communication arteries to Moscow. The task of the groups was to change course when approaching Moscow, to rush into the city from different directions and bomb the intended targets...... The first echelon, divided into five groups of 300 aircraft, was detected by a Soviet air intelligence post 210 kilometers from the Soviet capital...... At 10 o'clock that night, Sergeant Buranov and Red Army soldier Smirnov spotted the enemy plane and reported to the general anti-aircraft intelligence outpost...... And the 780 Chinese bombers in the follow-up echelon were not found at all...... In Moscow, the calm and stern voice of the announcer came from the loudspeakers: "Citizens! Note! Note! Air raid alert! ......" Then, the screams of sirens sounded over the city, and people felt that the night sky, which had been starry just now, had suddenly become unpredictable and impending a catastrophe. All the people were mentally prepared, but when the air raid sirens really came, they seemed to be shocked. The people were distraught and shivered because of the piercing screams that overwhelmed the noise of the city, and the chill quickly spread to their legs, so that it was no longer pleasant to walk, and the anti-aircraft shelter and the fire station seemed too far away at this time. Anyone who has not been evacuated from Moscow with young children; At the first moment of the alarm, I shuddered at the thought of my child.

And when the Chinese fleet appeared in the sky over Moscow, the whole city was stunned. Even the policemen with flashlights in their hands were stunned and forgot to maintain traffic order. The car stopped at the intersection. Pedestrians on the street stop or slow down, and everyone thinks: where to go? Running home? Or to the nearest anti-aircraft shelter? Stone pillars, shop windows and fences along the sidewalks are marked everywhere with the location of the anti-aircraft shelter.

The scene on the street is like a fast-moving movie. People on the sidewalk began to run in their own directions, and cars screamed as they crossed the sidewalk. The police whistled a piercing whistle, and the fire truck screamed and galloped towards the target protected by the fire brigade amid the sound of the air raid siren. At the entrances and gates, some of them wore canvas gloves and large iron tongs, and some sweepers wore white aprons around their waists and red armbands on their arms, some of whom showed the confused people where to go for the air raids, while others lashed out at a group of children who had to climb up the fire ladder to the roof.

However, most people feel that this is not really an alarm. They thought to themselves, they will never bomb up here, this is Moscow...... Alexander? Sergeyevich? Shcherbakov was preparing to go to Amurinsk at night, and he had been waiting for a call from Yasnov, deputy chairman of the Moscow City Soviet. This was before the air raid siren was raised.

The phone rang. He picked up the earpiece, but instead of Yasnov, he heard the voice of the commander of the Moscow air defense district, General Gromakin: "Alexander? Sergeyevich, here it is! There was a suppressed panic in Grogin's voice.

(To be continued)