Belkin was worried that he would not be able to find the armored vehicle in the camp in front, so he used the accompanying radio station to send a telegram to Rokossovsky's headquarters, reporting what happened on the road today, hoping that the other party could provide some information.
An armored vehicle.
Although Sokov was now a member of the Steppe Front Army, Rokossovsky was still shocked when he learned that he was in danger on the way. He quickly ordered the tank brigade near Sokov's station to send two armored vehicles overnight.
past.
With these two armored vehicles, when the convoy set off the next morning, not only Sokov and Belkin sat in the armored vehicle, but also all commanders above the captain level sat in the armored vehicle. And those sitting in the carriage
The officers also took off their epaulettes to avoid becoming targets of German snipers.
The two armored vehicles in the convoy that are re-departing are particularly conspicuous. If there are German snipers along the way, their eyes will be attracted by the armored vehicles, and the commanders sitting in the carriages will be directly attracted by him.
Ignore it.
While the convoy was marching, it once again encountered the German sniper who had survived yesterday. The cunning sniper knew very well that there must be a big shot of the Soviet army inside the armored vehicle, and his gun could not penetrate the steel plate of the armored vehicle, so he aimed
The truck wheel in front of the armored vehicle was deflated with one shot.
Seeing the vehicle in front suddenly stopped, Seryosha, who was sitting in the car with Sokov, wanted to get out of the car to check. Sokov quickly grabbed him and said to him: "Seryosa, don't you think this tire
Air leakage, is the air leakage too strange?"
Seryosha, who had experienced what happened yesterday, immediately understood what Sokov meant. He quickly ordered the soldiers in the truck in front through the vehicle loudspeaker: "Battle alert, combat alert. There may be German snipers in the nearby woods, a platoon of
Immediately expand the battle formation and enter the forest to continue searching."
When the soldiers of the guard company sitting in the car heard Seryosha's shouting, they quickly jumped out of the truck they were riding in. The second and third rows set up security on the spot, while the more than fifty soldiers in the first row
A group of five people went into the forest to search.
When the German sniper saw the convoy stopped, he aimed his gun at the door of the armored vehicle. He planned to wait for the door to open and then shoot at the people coming out of the door. But what he didn't expect was that the people in the armored vehicle were not there.
came out, but the officers and soldiers sitting in the truck got out of the car and formed a formation to search the forest.
Seeing that the situation was not going well, the sniper cursed in a low voice and ran quickly towards the depths of the forest with his gun in hand. He knew very well that if he continued to stay here, many of them would be discovered by the search troops. If so,
In summer, the shrubs and weeds in the forest were the best cover for him. But now it was still winter, and the forest was full of unmelted snow. The searching Soviet troops could easily find him based on his footsteps.
After some running, the sniper got rid of the search force and sadly found that he was in a position where he couldn't see the road clearly, let alone conduct any sniping. He stood there in a daze for a while, and finally decided to go back.
There might be something to gain from the nearby spot yesterday.
Soldiers from the guard platoon discovered the footprints left by the German snipers during the search. They followed them for a while and came to a creek. The footprints disappeared when they reached the creek. Obviously, the German snipers followed the creek.
Xi escaped, and the platoon leader who led the team ordered the soldiers to search upstream and downstream, but without any results, they could only announce a retreat.
The platoon leader returned to the armored vehicle and reported to Seryosha with a grimace: "Comrade company commander, although we found traces of the German sniper, we lost his footprints when we chased him to a creek."
"Why are you so stupid?" When a platoon leader said that he had lost track of the enemy, Seryozha said angrily: "There are so many of you and you can't catch even one enemy. What do you do for food?"
"Seryozha," Fortunately, Sokov felt that using a group of infantry to search for a sniper in the forest was a very difficult task. It was normal for him to be thrown away by the enemy, so he interrupted Xie
Liao Sha's words comforted the platoon leader: "Platoon leader, although you have lost the trace of the enemy, it just shows that the search you conducted frightened the enemy so much that he had to escape."
Far away."
At this point, he asked Seryozha, who was sulking on the side: "Have the tires been changed?"
"It's changed."
"Now that the tires have been changed, let's continue setting off." Sokov waved his hand to the platoon leader and said, "You can also go back to the army."
After the German snipers were scared away, the next trip went extremely smoothly. Although the road conditions along the way were very bad, the convoy arrived at a town called Shigre at noon on the third day.
At the entrance of the town, there is a checkpoint. Not only does it have a crossbar, but there is also a wooden fence with wires in front. There are also sandbag fortifications on both sides of the checkpoint, and a turntable machine gun is mounted. The soldiers use vigilance to
His eyes were fixed on the road ahead.
Seeing Sokov's convoy approaching, a second lieutenant immediately stepped forward to block the way. He waved the green and red signal flag in his hand, signaling the convoy to stop for inspection.
Since he knew that he could reach his destination today, Seryosha did not ride with Sokov in the same car, but sat in the front jeep, specifically responsible for contacting friendly forces.
The second lieutenant walked to the jeep, bent down and looked into the car, then took a step back, raised his hand to salute Seryosha, and asked politely: "Hello, comrade captain."
"Hello, Second Lieutenant!" Seryozha said, opened the door and got out of the car, looked at the wooden fence in front, and said to the Second Lieutenant: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, please call your people to remove the things blocking the road.
Everyone move out, we have to rush to Castornoe."
The second lieutenant knew that Kastornoye was the location of the front army headquarters, so he asked cautiously: "Which section are you from, and what are you doing in Kastornoye?"
"Comrade Second Lieutenant, we used to be part of the Sixth Army, but now we have been transferred to the Steppe Front Army. Now we are going to the headquarters to report to General Konev."
The second lieutenant didn't believe even a single punctuation mark about Seryozha's statement. After looking Seryosha up and down, he asked warily: "Comrade Captain, where are your documents?"
"Here, here is my ID." When Seryosha took out the ID and handed it to the second lieutenant, in order to avoid unnecessary arguments, he even handed over Sokov's transfer order: "This is our commander.
Comrade's transfer order, please take a good look at it."
The second lieutenant took the military ID and the transfer order. After checking them carefully, he frowned and said to Seryosha: "Comrade Captain, this is the transfer order from General Sokov. You will never tell me that you are Sokov."
Major General."
"Of course I am not." Seryosha said plausibly: "But I am his guard company commander, and he ordered me to be responsible for contacting friendly forces along the way."
"I'm sorry, comrade captain." The second lieutenant handed the certificate and transfer order back to Seryosha, and said expressionlessly: "I can't let you pass until you see General Sokov."
Sokov, who was sitting in the armored car at the back, saw that the convoy was parked in place and had not moved. He guessed that Seryosha might have encountered a bully who didn't know how to adapt. If he didn't come forward, I'm afraid how much time would be wasted. He thought
Here, he raised his hand and pushed open the car door, ready to get out of the car!
Seeing Sokov getting out of the car, Belkin was startled. He quickly grabbed Sokov and reminded him: "Misha, be careful of German snipers."
"Don't worry, my comrade political commissar." Sokov smiled and said to Belkin: "This is our army's defense area, and there are open areas nearby. The enemy's snipers cannot hide at all. I will be fine."
Hearing what Sokov said, Belkin quickly put his head out to look around, and saw that the surrounding terrain was indeed as Sokov said, it was an open area, and the position where the sniper could be ambushed was at least five hundred meters away. Even if it was further
For a good sniper, the probability of hitting the target at such a long distance is very low.
After confirming that there would be no danger when Sokov got off the car, Belgin let go of Sokov's hand and said to him: "Misha, let me accompany you there."
Seryosha, who was checking the checkpoint and arguing with the second lieutenant, was shocked when he saw Sokov and Belkin approaching. He quickly said: "Comrade Commander, why are you here? You must know that there may be enemy snipers hiding nearby.
, you’d better get back to the car quickly.”
"Don't worry, this is our army's defense area, and there is an open area nearby. It is impossible for German snipers to appear." Sokov came to the second lieutenant, stretched out his hand to him, and introduced himself: "Hello, comrade second lieutenant.
.Let me introduce myself. I am Major General Sokov. I just resigned as commander of the Sixth Army not long ago and am now preparing to go to Kastornoye to accept a new position from General Konev."
"I'm sorry, Comrade General." Although Sokov had already identified himself, the second lieutenant still said reluctantly: "I don't know you, please show me your ID."
From the tone of the second lieutenant's words, Sokov could tell that the other party was a dull person, but he did not argue with him. Instead, he took out his military ID card quite cooperatively and handed it to him: "Comrade second lieutenant, this is
My military ID."
After reading the certificate, the second lieutenant stretched out his hand again: "Comrade General, where is your transfer order?"
"Tiao Ling, didn't I show it to you?" Seryozha said angrily, "Why do you still want to read it?"
"I'm sorry, Comrade Captain, this is a necessary procedure." The second lieutenant said reluctantly, "Please cooperate with me."
Seeing that Seryosha was about to argue with the other party again, Sokov raised his hand to stop him, took the transfer order from his hand, and handed it to the second lieutenant again.
The second lieutenant slowly compared the name on the transfer order with the name on the military ID. After confirming that they were correct, he returned the ID to Sokov, raised his hand in salute, and said apologetically: "I'm sorry.
Comrade General, I did not recognize you."
Sokov knew that the other party was an old-fashioned person, so he did not argue with him. Instead, he waved his hand and said, "It's okay. You are performing your duties and you are doing the right thing."
After verifying the identities of Sokov and others, the second lieutenant quickly ordered the soldiers in the checkpoint to come out and move all the obstacles in the middle of the road aside.
After the vehicle was back on the road, Berkin, who was sitting with Sokov, shook his head and said: "Misha, I haven't encountered such a dull officer in a long time. Fortunately, he is not in my unit, otherwise I would definitely
Let him serve as an anti-tank pilot and blow up tanks according to the methods learned in the textbook."
When Sokov heard Belkin's angry words, he couldn't help laughing. He immediately said: "My comrade political commissar, although the second lieutenant just now is dull and does not know how to adapt, he is not without merit. A strict interrogation like his
, the enemy who pretends to be our army may reveal flaws, thereby preventing the enemy from sneaking into our defense zone."
"Misha, you are really generous." Belkin shook his head and said, "If I were to be interrogated again and again like this, I would probably scold him. How can I be so easy to talk to as you?"
The convoy continued to drive forward for half an hour and passed three more checkpoints. However, the inspections at these checkpoints were not as strict as the first checkpoint. Basically, Seryozha showed his identity without even checking his documents.
It was released directly.
When the convoy came to Kastornoye, the interrogation here became strict again. The checkpoint officer guarding the entrance of the town did not allow the convoy to enter the town at all. Even Sokov showed his ID and transfer order.
He still didn't buy it. He said that in order to protect the safety of the front army headquarters, no outside vehicles were allowed to enter. However, considering that this place was a bit far from the headquarters, he made an exception and allowed Sokov and a driver to take a jeep.
In desperation, Sokov had no choice but to let Samoilov act as his driver and take a jeep to the front headquarters.
Soon, the jeep arrived at the church in the center of the town. Still far away, Sokov saw sandbag fortifications arranged on the steps of the church, and there were patrols walking back and forth at the door.
The jeep Sokov was riding in was stopped again. A lieutenant leading the patrol, after reviewing Sokov's ID and transfer order, shook his head at him and said: "Comrade General, please come with me.
, I’ll take you to the headquarters.” When he saw Sokov getting out of the car with an assault rifle, he kindly reminded him, “Comrade General, I think it’s better for you to leave your weapon in the car to avoid entering the church.
, you still have to hand over your weapons."
Sokov was very cooperative with the strict security checks conducted by Konev Command. Not only did he put the assault rifle in the car, he even took off the gun, handed it to Samoilov, and said
He said: "Comrade Lieutenant, just stay here and wait for me. I will be back soon."
"Yes, Comrade Commander." After putting Sokov's weapon away, Samoilov replied, "I will stay in the car and wait for you."
Sokov was satisfied with Samoilov's answer. He nodded at the other party, then turned to the lieutenant and said: "Comrade Lieutenant, please take me to the headquarters now."
This chapter has been completed!