"Comrade Commander, the situation is like this." Hearing Sokov's voice, Solomatin realized that he was not the supreme commander here. There was also a nominal group army commander sitting next to him, and he quickly asked
Sokov reported: "The troops who were ordered to take over the defense at the outpost position met the friendly troops who had withdrawn before they reached their destination. After interrogation, they learned that the other side had handed over the position to other troops."
"Other troops?" Sokov couldn't help but frowned when he heard this: "In addition to this unit to take over the defense, Comrade General, did you also send other units?"
"No, I did not send other troops." Solomatin shook his head and said: "According to the report, the troops taking over the defense of friendly forces should be German troops in disguise."
"What, the defense of the 254th Division was taken over by disguised German troops?" Sokov was shocked, but also tried to confirm the accuracy of the news: "How did they find out that the troops taking over the defense were German troops in disguise?"
After organizing the vocabulary in his mind, Solomatin reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, a staff sergeant of the 254th Division, when he was withdrawing from the high ground with the troops, he accidentally discovered the path up the mountain.
There are several shoe prints. The shoe nail marks in the shoe prints are square, not round."
As a person from later generations, Sokov naturally knew that the military boots used by the German army had square spikes on the soles. The Soviet battlefield patrol team identified the person being inspected based on the shape of the spikes on the bottom of the boots.
Was it one of his own or was it disguised by the enemy? Although he didn't know the name of the attentive sergeant, he secretly kept it in mind and planned to wait until the battle situation stabilized to see the sergeant in person to see if he could be made.
material.
"Comrade General," Sokov said after confirming that the troops taking over the defense were the Germans in disguise, he looked at Solomatin and asked: "How do you plan to regain the position?"
"Comrade Commander, come and see." Solomatin pointed to the map and said to Sokov: "The outpost position where our army is going to take over the defense is five kilometers away from other our army positions. Even if we mobilize our troops at this moment, I am afraid that
It will take more than an hour to launch a counterattack against this position. I am worried that the Germans will use this precious time to rebuild new defenses, making our attack ineffective."
Sokov recognized Solomatin's concerns. The Germans pretended to be their own troops and took over the defense. They must be setting up defenses in full swing at this moment. If they really waited until an hour later to launch the attack, they would have already perfected the defenses.
System will cause heavy casualties to the attacking troops it sends.
Thinking of this, he called the director of the military communications corps and told him: "Please put me through the 254th Division headquarters. I want to speak to the division commander, Colonel Shechtman."
The call was quickly connected. Sokov put the phone to his ear and asked straight to the point: "Colonel Shechtman? This is Sokov. I want to ask you that your troops have completed the handover of defense.
working already?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Shechtman on the other end of the phone answered simply: "My troops completed the handover of all defenses two hours ago."
"Really?" Sokov asked calmly.
"real."
Hearing this, Sokov slammed the table in anger and asked sharply: "What about your No. 1 outpost?"
The outpost position occupied by the camouflaged German troops is marked as outpost position No. 1 on the map. After hearing what Sokov said, Shechtman quickly lowered his head to check the map in front of him, and then replied: "Comrade Commander, according to No. 1
Lieutenant Colonel Ivan of the 764th Regiment reported that he had sent communications troops to Outpost No. 1 two hours ago to inform the troops stationed there about the transfer of defense matters."
Shechtman knew Sokov well. He felt that if nothing had happened, Sokov would not have called him in the middle of the night. After reporting the situation, he asked with some caution: "Comrade Commander, is something wrong?"
What happened?"
Sokov sneered and said: "Comrade Colonel, the No. 1 outpost you mentioned has now fallen into the hands of the Germans."
"How is this possible?" Shechtman said in surprise after hearing this: "If a battle breaks out, the observation posts deployed nearby will definitely report to us as soon as possible. So far, I have not received any
Report on the battle."
"To seize a position, you don't necessarily have to go through a battle." Sokov said through gritted teeth: "If the defenders see the troops taking over the defense wearing the uniforms of our army, they may not even bother to verify their identities.
I surrendered my position directly."
After hearing what Sokov said, Shechtman realized the seriousness of the problem. He raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead and asked Sokov tentatively: "Comrade Commander, what should we do?"
"What should we do? What else can we do?" Sokov said angrily: "Immediately organize forces to take the position back from the enemy's hands and hand it over to friendly forces."
"Comrade Commander, I wonder how many troops the enemy has occupied the position?" Although Shechtman was panicking, he still tried his best to control his emotions and asked in a calm tone: "How many troops do we have nearby?"
"According to the report, there are more than 200 German troops, and they occupy favorable terrain." In order to let Shechtman know, Sokov told the intelligence he had: "And the platoon that your division withdrew from,
Together with the company taking over the defense, there are about 130 people in total. The closest friendly troops to the position are five kilometers away, and it will take at least an hour to arrive."
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Shechtman became more relaxed: "It turns out that the Germans only have more than two hundred people, so there is no problem. I immediately sent a nearby company to support, trying to recover before friendly reinforcements arrived.
A position captured by the enemy."
This time it was Sokov's turn to be confused: "Comrade Colonel, what is going on? Do you think you have the ability to seize positions occupied by the enemy in a very short period of time?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Shechtman replied confidently: "I promise you that we will definitely recapture the positions occupied by the enemy within one hour. But I have a condition."
"What conditions?" Sokov seemed to be in a hurry and sought medical treatment at this moment. "As long as the position can be restored within a short period of time, I can agree to any conditions you have."
"Comrade Commander, my conditions are very simple." Shechtman said: "Before our army regains its position, the nearby troops will be commanded by the people I designate. Is that okay?"
"Of course." Sokov had no objection to the conditions proposed by Shechtman, "The rank of the commander here is..." At this point, he covered the microphone with his hand and asked Solomatin, "General
Comrade, what is the rank of that company commander?"
"Lieutenant, Comrade Commander, has the rank of lieutenant."
After confirming the military rank of the other party's commander, Sokov released his hand covering the microphone: "Comrade Colonel, the company commander who will take over the defense is a lieutenant. The commander you send only needs to have a higher military rank than him.
Already."
Seeing that Sokov agreed to his request, Shechtman secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He vowed: "Comrade Commander, you can start the timer now. Within an hour, I will definitely regain the lost position."
.”
Although Sokov didn't understand who gave Shechtman such confidence, he couldn't pour cold water on him. He could only follow the trend and said: "Okay, then I will wait for your good news."
After Sokov put down the phone, he said to Solomatin: "Comrade General, just now the commander of the 254th Division, Colonel Shechtman, told me that he can retake the position within an hour as long as he sends a nearby company."
"Recapture the position within an hour?" Solomatin asked in surprise: "Comrade Commander, is this true?"
"I don't think he can tell lies about this kind of thing."
"Then shall we send troops for reinforcements?"
"Of course." Sokov nodded and continued: "Colonel Shechtman only has one company nearby, plus the more than 130 people, the advantage in strength is not obvious. It is completely necessary to send troops to support them.
of."
Solomatin winked at his chief of staff and motioned for him to arrange reinforcements. Then he curiously asked Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I am very curious, how does Colonel Shechtman plan to regain the positions occupied by the Germans?"
?”
When Sokov heard this question, he shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said helplessly: "I'm sorry, Comrade General, I don't know what's going on. I want to wait until the battle is over, Colonel Shechtman
He will tell us the answer."
Since an enemy appeared in the original defense area of the 254th Division, proving that the enemy was planning to take action, Sokov called Fomenko again and asked him how the situation was there: "General Fomenko, I'm sorry to wake you up.
Yes. I want to ask, have you found any movement from the Germans there?"
"No, Comrade Commander." The sleepy Fomenko squinted his eyes and replied expressionlessly: "The observation posts I have deployed at the front have no reports in this regard so far."
"General Fomenko, not long ago, an enemy took advantage of the 254th Division's defense change with the mechanized army and pretended to be our army and took over the No. 1 outpost position."
When Fomenko heard this, he couldn't help but trembled. His drowsiness was frightened away, and he became sober: "Comrade Commander, what is going on? How could the outpost position of the 254th Division be attacked?"
What about German occupation?”
Although Sokov didn't know what happened at the beginning, based on his experience, he could still judge the probability: "I think this group of enemies may want to put on makeup and go deep into the hinterland of our military defense zone to cause damage, but the result was a strange result."
By mistake, they arrived at the outpost of the 254th Division, and the defenders who held the position regarded them as friendly forces taking over the defense. In this way, the outpost of the 254th Division fell into the hands of the Germans."
"So that's what happened." Fomenko said seriously after waiting for Sokov to finish: "I immediately notified all observation posts to closely observe the surrounding movements to prevent Germans from infiltrating our division by pretending to be our troops.
Line of defense.”
After calling Fomenko, Sokov called the 73rd Brigade, which entered the landing site after dark. After the call was connected, Sokov said to Guchakov who answered the phone: "Comrade Major, where are you?
How is the situation? Is there anything strange?"
"No, Comrade Commander." Guchakov replied respectfully: "As you know, our brigade only entered the defense area after dark. Since there were no complete defenses, I sent mobile sentries to all directions.
So that the enemy can detect them in time before they approach us."
"You did the right thing, Comrade Major." Sokov praised Guchakov's caution. He continued: "Now there is a group of enemies disguised as our troops and infiltrated into the defense area of the original 254th Division.
and occupied one of the outposts, you also need to be more vigilant to prevent the enemy from repeating the same tactics."
"Comrade Commander, you can rest assured on this." Guchakov said with a chuckle: "After all, I have been with you for such a long time, and I have learned something. In addition to the mobile sentry sent out, I also have
Several patrol teams of 20 people are patrolling around the camp continuously. Once they find that organized troops are approaching, even if they are wearing the uniforms of our army, they will send people to interrogate them after they are ready for battle. "
Sokov was somewhat partial to his old subordinates. When he heard what Guchakov said, he said with relief: "Major Guchakov, you arranged it well. I think even if the Germans put it on
Our army's uniforms can't even get close to your camp."
Solomatin on the side waited patiently for Sokov to finish the call, and then reported: "Comrade Commander, our reinforcements have been dispatched. Since they are traveling in trucks, I believe they can arrive at the battlefield within half an hour.
Fight alongside friendly forces."
Although Shechtman had just vowed that his troops could easily take the high ground, Sokov was still half-convinced. Now that Solomatin said that reinforcements had been sent, he felt more at ease. No matter what,
It is said that the more troops involved in the attack, the greater the hope of victory.
Seeing Sokov drinking tea relaxedly and seemingly not worried at all about the upcoming battle, Solomatin couldn't help but curiously asked: "Comrade Commander, aren't you worried about the upcoming attack at all?"
"
Sokov put down the tea cup in his hand, looked at Solomatin sitting opposite, raised his eyebrows slightly, and asked: "Comrade General, do you think there is anything to worry about?"
"Aren't you worried that the attack will not go smoothly? After dawn, the enemy will use that place as the starting point for the attack?"
"Comrade General, you are worrying too much." Sokov shook his head gently and said with a smile: "I believe in the ability of my subordinates. Since he has assured me that he can easily retake the positions occupied by the Germans,
, then he will definitely be able to do it, so I have nothing to worry about."
Seeing that Sokov trusted his subordinates so much, Solomatin couldn't help but secretly sigh: No wonder the troops commanded by Sokov can always win battles and rarely lose. There seems to be a reason.
"Comrade Commander," Solomatin promptly changed the subject since there was no need to worry about the upcoming battle: "After the main force of the 53rd Army arrives, where do you plan to locate the headquarters?"
"I plan to locate the headquarters in the city of Kremenchug." Sokov said to Solomatin: "I believe that your 1st Mechanized Army, my four infantry divisions, and a tank brigade are
The landing site on the right bank can be completely defended. Seeing that the enemy cannot capture the landing site, they will definitely return to the left bank from other directions and launch an attack on Klementchug in order to cut off our army's retreat. This is why I want to leave the headquarters there
Reasons in the city."
This chapter has been completed!