Sokov took the Istrian Battalion and took the truck provided by the 16th Army to Tula. After getting off there, they marched for three days, walked more than 200 kilometers southeast, and arrived at the Front Command east of Yeretz.
However, when they were about to arrive at their destination, they were stopped by a checkpoint. The leader was a corporal. He was not affected by Sokov's rank being higher than himself. Instead, he asked dryly: "Comrade Commander, which part of you are from? Where are you going?"
"We are Battalion Istria." Belkin replied, "We are preparing to go to the Front Command."
"Istra Camp, I've never heard of it." Unexpectedly, the corporal did not react at all to Belkin's words, but instead asked in an official voice: "Command!"
"No, nothing." Sokov said with some amusement when he heard the corporal's series of questions, "We have just arrived from Zedra, how could we know your command?"
"No," said the corporal, "without a command, you cannot pass through us."
Captain Vasily, the commander of the second company, who had been tolerant for a long time, became angry. He pointed his finger at the other party's nose and said sternly: "Which part of you are? Come here immediately. I want to ask how he educated his subordinates and treated his friendly forces with this attitude."
"I'm sorry, comrade Captain." The corporal was also a lord who bullied the weak and feared the strong. Seeing Vasily getting angry at him, he replied in a panic: "Our company command post is four or five kilometers away from here..."
"Call your company commander immediately," Vasily pointed to the wooden guardhouse not far away and said, "Call him immediately and tell him the number of our troops."
"But, but..." Seeing Vasily's fierce look, the corporal became more and more panicked: "I'm worried that if I call the company commander rashly, I will be criticized by him."
"Comrade Corporal, I order you." Vasily raised his voice and said to the Corporal: "What do you think I'm doing for him? I want to confirm my identity as soon as possible. Do you understand?"
"Yes, comrade Captain." The corporal, who was scolded, ran to the guard booth with a tough bullet and called his company commander. He was about to report to him about a unit here.
When the corporal went to call, Asia squeezed from behind to Sokov and asked curiously: "Misha, what happened? Why didn't they let us go?"
Before Sokov finished speaking, Selyosha, the platoon leader of the police communication platoon, said angrily: "I met a lunatic and actually asked us for a password. Without a password, we would not pass here."
After the call, the corporal soon ran over from the guard post and said to Sokov with a smile: "Comrade Major, I have called the company commander. He said he will come here soon, please wait a moment."
"I'm talking about comrade Corporal." As soon as the corporal finished speaking, Vasily attacked him again: "We have walked more than 200 kilometers in the past few days, and the soldiers are very tired. I want to go and rest as soon as possible. I've been stopped here again by you. How long will it take to wait before we can pass?"
After waiting for more than ten minutes, a convertible jeep drove over. As soon as the car stopped, the officer sitting in the passenger seat, without even opening the door, jumped out of the car and came to Sokov, raised his hand and saluted, and said, "Hello, Comrade Major, I am Captain Sergey, the commander of the First Company of the Front Military Guard Regiment."
"Hello, comrade Captain." Sokov raised his hand and returned the salute, and said politely to Sergei: "I am Major Sokov. At the order of the new commander General Rokosovsky, he led the Istrian battalion to the headquarters of the Front Command."
"Sorry, Comrade Major, I have not received any notice about your coming." After Sergey waited for Sokov to finish speaking, he said in a humble manner: "It's 1:00 pm now. Please stay here for another half an hour. My subordinates will let you pass." After that, the captain raised his hand to salute Sokov again, and then got in the car and left again.
Seeing that the captain didn't play according to the routine, Sokov was also a little stunned. He thought to himself what was going on. Why did the company commander of the guard company come over to meet him, without saying anything in detail, just asked himself to wait for another half an hour before leaving?
The corporal standing beside him saw Sokov throwing inquiring eyes at him, smiled awkwardly, and then replied: "Comrade Major, it is said that a special force will pass here later. Before they pass, no one who has no command will be allowed to pass from now on."
The mysterious army mentioned by the corporal aroused Sokov's great curiosity. He quickly asked, "Comrade Corporal, can you tell me what special army it is?"
"Sorry, Major, I can't tell you." The muscles on the Corporal's face twitched violently, "Don't say I don't know, even if I know, I can't tell you. This is a secret."
"Okay, okay. Corporal Comrade." Sokov didn't want to make things difficult for the other party, so he waved to him and said, "I won't ask anymore, so that you won't make things difficult for you." Then Sokov turned around and said, "Comrade Belkin, the soldiers have walked so far, and must be tired and hungry. Let them rest in place after they disband and hurry up and eat and drink water."
Belkin nodded, turned around and shouted loudly at the marching queue behind him: "Everyone listens to my order: stand at attention! Rest in place and disband!" With Belkin's order, all the commanders and soldiers of the battalion dispersed one after another, found a place to sit in the woods on both sides of the road, and seized the time to drink water and eat dry food.
Half an hour later, a convoy drove from a distance. In front was an armored vehicle and three dark green buses in the middle, but with curtains on the window, I couldn't see who was sitting inside. Behind the bus were two trucks loaded with soldiers.
When the corporal saw the convoy coming, he quickly ordered the soldiers in the checkpoint: "Come off the barricade quickly." When the soldiers in the checkpoint heard the corporal's order, they quickly ran out of the resting place, moved the wooden frame with barbed wire tied in the middle of the road away, and gave a passage for the convoy.
As the convoy passed by, Belkin whispered to Sokov: "Comrade Major, who do you think of the person in the car? Why are there armored vehicles opening the way for them, and there are two warriors behind them to protect them?"
Since he couldn't see the situation in the car, Sokov had no idea who was in the car. He casually said, "Maybe it was a condolence group?"
"No, it's definitely not a condolence group." Belkin, who had worked in the Political Department of the Group Army for a period of time, said: "I have seen many condolence groups, but I have never seen so many condolence groups protected by officers and soldiers."
Selyosha next to him interrupted again and said, "The corporal at the checkpoint just now said that there is a special force. I think the one who rides in the bus is that mysterious special force."
After the convoy passed the checkpoint, the corporal ran over and said to Sokov: "Comrade Major, the convoy has passed the checkpoint, and your troops can continue to move forward."
Chapter completed!