After passing through the Third Battalion defense zone, the armored convoy immediately turned around and prepared to bypass the Romanian army's defense zone, and then set up a big circle to detour to the rear of the German army attacking the factory area, and taught them a lesson.
After driving about five or six kilometers, Guchakov suddenly saw a checkpoint at the intersection in front. In addition to a fortification made of sandbags on the roadside, there were more than a dozen military tents nearby. It seemed that there were still many people at this checkpoint. Seeing this, Guchakov quickly notified Samoilov behind him: "Comrade lieutenant, a checkpoint in front of the enemy has no less than one platoon. Please prepare for battle immediately."
"I understand." After Samoilov agreed, he said to the soldiers in the car: "A checkpoint was found in front of the enemy, and everyone was ready to fight."
"Comrade Lieutenant," Tavlin asked tentatively when he saw the machine guns in the fortifications on the roadside: "If there is a fire exchange, we will expose the target. Do you see if we can go around from other places?"
"If it is during the day, we can consider taking a detour. But now it is night," Guchakov said with a pout, "The enemy in the checkpoint found our headlights from afar. If the route is changed at this time, it will arouse the enemy's suspicion. We will continue to look forward, and if the enemy sees it through, we will forcibly pass the barrier."
The armored vehicle stopped in front of the crossbar of the checkpoint. A soldier immediately came up, raised his hand to salute Tavlin, who was sitting in the car, and asked in broken German: "Sir Lieutenant, please show your ID!"
When Tavlin was stunned when he heard the soldiers' unstandard German, he was stunned. After seeing the other party's uniform clearly, he couldn't help but feel ecstatic because the checkpoint was not German, but Romanian, and even if the enemy saw it through, the success rate of forced passage can be greatly improved.
Before departure this time, Sokov specially prepared military ID cards for Guchakov to deal with checkpoints along the way. These things were searched from the captured or beaten to death. Even if they were investigated, their identities would not be discovered. However, this was the first time Guchakov and his friends used their IDs, and when they encountered enemy inspections at the checkpoint, they were inevitably somewhat lacking in confidence.
Seeing that Tavlin had no document of accident, the Romanian soldier repeated the words just now: "Mr. Lieutenant, please show your document."
"This is my certificate." Seeing that the soldiers asked him for the certificate again, Taflin took out the military certificate prepared by Sokov for them, and handed it to the soldiers calmly.
The soldier opened his ID and used the photo of the flashlight to view the ID. After seeing the contents clearly, he showed a puzzled expression on his face: "Lieutenant Leo, from the 24th Armored Division?"
"Yes," Tavlin stared at the other party and asked back, "Is there any problem?"
"Hasn't the 24th Armored Division's troops been transferred to the vicinity of the Russian barricade factory?" the soldier asked vigilantly: "Why are you here?"
As soon as the soldier finished speaking, Tavlin heard the sound of pulling the bolt from behind the sandbag fortification next to him. Although Tavlin secretly cried in his heart, he still pretended to be tough and said, "Where do we appear? Do you need to report to you? Where is your commander? Call me immediately."
The soldier was frightened by Tifflin's attitude and quickly turned his head and shouted at the checkpoint. Soon an officer came out of the checkpoint. When he came to the armored vehicle, the soldier handed him the ID in his hand and muttered a few words in a low voice. The officer nodded and raised his head to go from Tifflin sitting in the car, saying, "Sir Lieutenant, which part of you are from?"
"Are you blind, lieutenant?" Tavlin saw clearly that the person who was talking to him was a lieutenant, but the other party was an officer of the Romanian army. Not to mention the lieutenant, even a lieutenant, you don't have to be polite to him. After all, he is now wearing their master's clothes: "Didn't you clearly see clearly that the 24th Armored Division is written on my ID?"
"Mr. Lieutenant," the Romanian lieutenant was stunned by Tavlin's attitude, and he asked carefully: "I can ask, why are you here? You know, since you handed over the defense, this is our defense zone."
"We are here to carry out the mission. As for what mission, let alone you, even your leader is not qualified to know." Tavlin pretended to be arrogant and said, "We have completed the mission and are ready to return to the defense zone to report. If we delay our time, can you afford this responsibility?"
The Romanian lieutenant hesitated for a moment, returned the document in his hand to Tavlin, and said respectfully: "Sir Lieutenant, since you are going to rush back to report, I will not delay you." After that, he stood up and waved his hand to the checkpoint, shouting, "Let go!"
After passing through the Romanian army's checkpoint without any danger, Tavlin took off his hat, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said to Guchakov: "Comrade Lieutenant, fortunately I met the Romanian army. If it were Germans, they might call to verify. If we want to pass the checkpoint, we might have to shoot and break through."
Guchakov, who had always been highly nervous, felt relieved when he saw that he was getting farther and farther away from the enemy's checkpoint and said to Tavlin: "It seems that the documents prepared by the commander for us are still very effective."
After Taflin finished speaking, he immediately asked, "Where are we going next?"
"Continue to move forward," Guchakov pointed his hand in front and said, "This area is a Romanian defense zone. We must find a way to go around it so as not to get into trouble."
After driving forward for more than half an hour, the convoy entered a forest. Not long after, two forks appeared. After the driver stopped the car, he turned around and asked Guchakov: "Comrade Lieutenant, which road should we take?"
Guchakov stood up and looked around. Unfortunately, it was not dawn at this time and he could not see anything. He could only point to the road on the right and said, "Comrade Driver, let's go to the road on the right."
The driver restarted the vehicle and drove along the road on the right. After driving two or three kilometers, another fork appeared in front of him. This time, there were not two, but three. He could only stop again and ask Guchakov for instructions.
Before Guchakov made a decision, Taflin said first: "Comrade Lieutenant, I find that we seem to be lost. If we continue wandering around, we don't know when we will be able to open this forest area."
After hearing Taflin's words, Guchakov seemed a little hesitant. He did not tell the driver which road to take, but called Samoilov on the on-board radio station: "Comrade Lieutenant, can you come to the front?"
The armored vehicle Samoilov was riding was only a hundred meters away from Guchakov's car. When he heard Guchakov say this, he guessed that something must have happened, so he quickly got out of the car and walked forward. When he arrived at the front car, he saw Guchakov and Taflin standing next to the car and were whispering something. He asked straightforwardly: "Comrade Lieutenant, why don't you leave? What happened?"
"Comrade Lieutenant," Guchakov replied with a bitter face, "We seem to be lost in the forest."
"Isn't there a compass?" Samoilov saw that the convoy stopped and did not leave, thinking that something big had happened. After hearing Guchakov said this, he realized that he could not find the direction, so he said carelessly: "Just follow the compass' guidance and keep moving northward, we can walk out of this forest."
"Comrade lieutenant," Taflin said, "It's too dark. Even with the help of a compass, you will get lost in the forest. To prevent you from breaking into the enemy's defense zone, I suggest we stop here first and continue to act after dawn."
"What, stay here until dawn?" Samoilov raised his hand and looked at his watch, frowned and said, "You must know that it is only two o'clock in the morning. Instead of stopping here and waiting, it is better to continue moving forward. Maybe by dawn, we have arrived near the target."
"If we break into the enemy's defense zone," Guchakov said softly: "that's all."
Guchakov's words made Samoilov hesitate and continued to move forward, and indeed could break into the enemy's defense zone again. However, if you wait for dawn here, the time to rush to the designated location would be greatly delayed.
For a moment, no one of the three people spoke and remained silent.
"I think," said Samoilov with a firm attitude after a while: "We should keep moving forward."
"No." Guchakov shook his head and opposed it: "I can't let the team take risks. If we really break into the enemy's defense zone, our mission may fail."
Seeing that the two of them had their own opinions, Tavlin said tentatively: "Two commanders, why don't you send a telegram to the division headquarters to report our situation to them and ask the division commander to make a decision."
"No!" As soon as Taflin finished speaking, Guchakov and Samoilov shook their heads and denied his proposal. Guchakov said slowly: "We cannot send telegrams to the division headquarters now, as this will reveal our whereabouts. I see, let's stop here for the time being, and wait until dawn, and observe the surrounding terrain before moving forward."
Regarding Guchakov's decision, Samoilov smiled coldly and said expressionlessly: "Comrade Lieutenant, I will keep my opinion. After returning to Mamayev's hill, I will report this to the division commander."
"Whatever you want." Guchakov waved his hand at Samoilov and said weakly: "Comrade Lieutenant, you should go back to your car first, hurry up and rest, and wait until dawn before rushing."
After Samoilov turned and left, Taflin asked Guchakov with some concern: "Comrade Lieutenant, he used to be from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Will he cause trouble for you in the future?"
Guchakov was captured by the German army twice, and he felt an inexplicable fear of the people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But he was the highest commander of this squad. If he did not dare to have his own opinions, how could the next task be completed. So he bit his back teeth and said, "It's okay, I believe the division commander will figure out what's going on."
After a long wait, the horizon began to shine gradually. Although the light in the forest was still difficult, it could vaguely see the surrounding environment. Since there were no references nearby, Guchakov had no idea where he had come. He stood in the carriage to check the surrounding environment, then looked at the direction with a compass, and finally pointed at the road in the middle and said to the driver: "Let's go the road in the middle."
After driving forward for half an hour, Guchakov saw a big horse-drawn cart appearing on the road ahead. The driver looked like an old man from his back. Guchakov quickly lowered his head and said to the driver: "Drive the car next to the big car and stop, I want to ask him."
After instructing the driver, Guchakov sat upright and said to Taflin: "Comrade Sergeant, in order not to reveal our identity, you will ask later."
"Hi, old man!" After the armored car stopped beside the carriage, Tavlin stood up straight, leaned over and asked deliberately in broken Russian: "Where is this place?"
The old man who was driving the car saw an armored vehicle parked next to him. Another German officer in the car asked him, and quickly strangled the horse and jumped out of the carriage. He bowed slightly to Tavlin on the armored vehicle and said respectfully: "Hello, officer, what can I do to serve you?"
"I ask you, where is this place?" Tavlin didn't know who the old man was, and did not dare to easily reveal his identity. He still asked in Russian such as "Is there any village nearby?"
The old man quickly said a difficult place name, which was literally translated as "rural cemetery". Guchakov, who was sitting in the car, heard the place name the old man said clearly, quickly took out the map and quickly searched for the location the old man said. Soon, he discovered the village on the southwest of Gumlak Station.
After figuring out where he was, Guchakov quickly whispered to Tavlin: "Sergeant, I already know where we are. Keep going."
Tavlin nodded, raised his hand and slapped twice above the bridge, and ordered in German: "Go!"
Seeing the dust-raising armored vehicles seen by him, the old man who was originally bent up straightened up, spat at the armored convoy that was leaving, and scolded viciously: "Damn German devils, our people will come back sooner or later to clean up yours."
Tavlin naturally didn't know that the old man spitted at them, but asked Guchakov: "Comrade Lieutenant, where are we now?"
"Here, to the southwest of Gumlak Station." Guchakov pointed to the map spread on his legs and said to Tavlin: "I guess there must be a large amount of ammunition and supplies stored in the station, so that this place can be used as the primary target of attack."
Tavlin looked up at the sky and asked, "It's already dawn. If you want to sneak attack on the enemy's station, you may have to wait until dark."
Chapter completed!