"Comrade Commander, I want to ask." Sokov continued on the phone: "The number of troops that broke through the German defense and how to get in touch with them."
"The friendly forces that broke through the German defense were a tank brigade of the Stalingrad Front." Since the superiors did not provide more detailed information, Cuikov was not sure what the unit that broke through the German defense was, but he said as usual: "The specific unit number, I will tell you before you reach your destination."
"I understand, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Cui Kov could not tell the number of friendly troops, Sokov did not continue to ask, but replied: "I will arrange the departure matters immediately and strive to set off within half an hour."
As soon as he finished his call with Cuikov, Sokov ordered Cydolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately issue a combat alarm to the 192nd Battalion, and we will set out in half an hour."
While Sidolin called Goria, Sokov came to the door and shouted outside: "Come here!"
With Sokov's shout, a soldier standing guard at the door walked in and asked respectfully: "Comrade Brigade Commander, what instructions do you have?"
"Go and call your company commander, Lieutenant Seryosha, or Corporal Ernst." Sokov ordered the other party, "I have important things to find them."
Not long after, Seriosha and Ernst appeared in front of Sokov. Sokov first said to Ernst: "Comrade Corporal, we are about to set off. How is your training going?"
Shortly after entering Mamayev's hill, Sokov considered that after the start of the Stalingrad defense war, he would definitely send his subordinates to pretend to be Germans to perform reconnaissance and sabotage missions. In this case, German was particularly important. Sokov dispatched more than 20 soldiers with language talents and some German-based warriors to learn German with Ernst. This time, people who understand German were necessary to go deep into the enemy's back. Therefore, Sokov called Ernst to ask in order to find out how many people had German skills and could deal with this operation deep into the enemy's back.
Ernst was silent for a moment and said, "Comrade Brigade Commander, although most people can communicate fluently in German for daily communication, they all have different accents. If they interrogate the captives, there is no problem; if they perform missions behind enemy lines, they will be seen through as soon as they open their mouths."
"Corporal Ernst," Sokov did not want to hear Ernst's diplomatic words, so he interrupted and interrupted him: "Tell me, if we were to go to the enemy's back, how many people could be used?"
"Five!" Ernst stretched out a palm and said, "They are not only proficient in speaking, but also able to understand simple German documents. If they are to perform special missions behind enemy lines, they are the best candidates."
Upon learning that five soldiers could not only speak fluent German, but could even see simple German documents, Sokov was overjoyed and hurriedly urged Ernst: "Comrade Corporal, call these five soldiers up immediately. I will lead the team behind the enemy to perform the mission and let them set off with me." Just as Ernst turned around and was about to leave, Sokov felt that it was not a bad thing for more German-speaking people in the army. Since others could speak German, they would just bring them all with them, "There are also those soldiers who are proficient in speaking, and they would also call them over."
When Selyosha was called over, he thought Sokov was going to assign some important tasks to him. But after he came, he ignored him and kept talking to Ernst. After finally waiting for Ernst to leave, Selyosha immediately asked: "Misha, you are so anxious to call me over. Is there anything wrong?"
When Sokov heard Selyosha call his nickname, he realized in his heart that he had just neglected this old friend, and the other party was very dissatisfied with him, so he smiled and said, "Shelyosha, I called you here because I had a task to assign to you."
"What mission?" The troops were about to go deep into the enemy's back and head north to meet with friendly forces breaking through the enemy's defense. Xie Liaosha was also an insider. When he heard that there was a task to him, the expression on his face suddenly became richer: "Is it also to let us go to the rear of the enemy?"
"You send a squad of soldiers to act with the troops." Sokov decided to draw personnel from the guard company to protect them in order to ensure the safety of those soldiers who understand German. "Their mission is to protect those soldiers who understand German. Do you understand?"
"Is it possible to transfer only one class?" Xie Liangsha felt a little depressed when he learned that the guard company had only one class to participate in this meeting: "Can't we draw more people? If necessary, I can lead the team myself."
"Lieutenant Seriosha, I understand your mood very much." How Seriosha made a wishful thinking in his heart, could Sokov still guess? You must know that meeting with friendly forces to break the German siege of Stalingrad is a great achievement. In terms of heart, Sokov is willing to let Seriosha participate in this operation, but considering that the guard company has been split up recently, if too many personnel are drawn, then the establishment can almost be abolished. Therefore, he firmly opposed Seriosha: "But the military strength of the guard company has been almost transferred. If more personnel are drawn, who will protect the safety of the brigade?"
After Sokov said this, he deliberately paused for a moment. Seeing that Selyosha was silent, he continued: "Shelyosha, there are still many days to make contributions in the future. I will never forget you such a good thing."
After hearing Sokov said this, Selyosha was happy again and nodded quickly and said, "Misha, I will go back and draw staff to protect those translators who perform tasks."
Half an hour later, Sokov set off with the commanders and fighters of the 192nd Battalion. Five German armored vehicles were filled with commanders and fighters disguised as German troops. Sokov and Goria were in the second vehicle, Ernst, wearing the uniform of a German captain, sat next to the two. Behind the armored vehicles, more than a hundred infantrymen were walking.
After looking at the infantry behind, Goria asked Sokov tentatively: "Comrade Brigade Commander, is the speed of the armored vehicles too slow? If we march at this speed, we will have to reach the Orlovka area tomorrow morning at the fastest."
"Comrade Captain," Sokov turned his head and looked at Goria and said to him: "Don't you think that when armored vehicles and infantry march together, they look more like the German reinforcements? In this way, even if we are discovered by the Germans along the way, they will not intercept us, and they will even think that we are part of them."
After Sokov finished speaking, Goriya asked carefully: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I don't know which German troops will pass through this time we go north?"
"The first thing we passed was General Velnasanne's 100th Hunter Division," Sokov had done his homework long before he set out. Therefore, when he heard Goriya's question, he immediately replied without hesitation: "The Orlovka we are going to is the area controlled by the 389th Infantry Division of Erich Magnus..."
"If we encounter a cross-examination of the enemy on the road," Goria continued, "How can we answer the enemy?"
"Just say we are from the 295th Infantry Division." Sokov thought that the guards in the first car were wearing the captured uniforms of the 295th Infantry Division of the German Army. It should be the most appropriate to pretend to be the division's troops, so he said confidently: "I believe the enemy will not doubt it."
After walking about three or four kilometers, a German line of defense appeared in front of him. There was a checkpoint on the highway. There was a wooden fence with barbed wire and a sandbag fortification on the side of the road. Seeing that a troops approached, the sentries in the checkpoint immediately came out to stop them. After the vehicle stopped, he asked loudly: "Which part of you are and where are you going?"
Before departure, Sokov asked those skilled German soldiers to wear German officer uniforms, specifically to deal with German inspections. At this moment, he heard the sentry at the checkpoint asking about the number of the troops, and the fake officer sitting on the first armored vehicle stood up and replied: "We are from the 295th Infantry Division, and are ordered to go north to reinforce the 389th Infantry Division."
When the sentry heard that it was going north to reinforce friendly forces, they immediately moved the obstacles blocking the road and allowed the troops to pass the checkpoint smoothly. Goria sat in the car, turned his head and looked at the checkpoint gradually moving away, and said to Sokov with lingering fear: "Comrade Brigade Commander, it's better for your method. Let our commanders and soldiers disguise themselves as Germans, so that we can pass this line of defense so easily."
Don't see the first line of defense traveling so easily, but Sokov didn't dare to take it lightly. He said to Goria: "Comrade Captain, this is just the first line of defense we pass. Whether the lines of defense behind can pass so smoothly is still an unknown number. We must not be careless."
The troops walked for about an hour, and just as Goria was about to make suggestions to Sokov and let the troops stop for a while, the company commander who was staying on the last armored vehicle asked the radio operator to send a telegram to Goria. After reading the telegram, Goria couldn't help but be shocked. He leaned close to Sokov's ear and whispered: "Comrade Brigade Commander, something happened!"
"What happened?!" Sokov's heart skipped a beat when he heard Goriya say this, and he quickly asked, "What happened? Explain it clearly to me."
"That's right," Goria turned his head and looked at the back of the team, while lowering his voice to Sokov, "The enemy was found behind us."
"An enemy happened behind us?" Sokov asked angrily, "How many of them have they seen through us?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander, so far, the enemy has not seen through us." Seeing Sokov's misunderstanding, Goriya quickly explained to him: "There is a platoon of German soldiers who may have regarded our troops as their own people and marched behind our infantry. Do you see, do you order the infantry to kill them all?"
"A platoon of soldiers wants to kill them all, this is a big deal." Sokov, who is now behind enemy lines and is determined to complete the mission, is naturally unwilling to cause trouble. Therefore, he instructed Goria: "Call back the commander behind immediately and tell them not to act rashly, just let the Germans follow us."
"Let the enemy march with our soldiers?" Goriya was shocked when he heard Sokov say this: "Comrade Brigade Commander, would it be too risky to do this? If the enemy finds that the troops they march with were pretending to be our army, our whereabouts will be exposed."
"Comrade Captain," Sokov said to Goria: "If the German army does not look closer today, it will not be able to detect the flaws of our army. But if they are removed, once German soldiers fire, they may alarm the nearby German troops, and instead expose our whereabouts. Immediately convey my orders so that the troops can continue to maintain their existing marching formation and ignore the German troops following behind them."
"Okay, comrade comrade commander." Seeing that Sokov was so stubborn, Goriya couldn't persuade him anymore, so he could only nod and agreed and asked the radio operator to send Sokov's orders out in the form of a telegram.
After sending the telegram, although Goriya didn't say it, he repeatedly whispered Sokov's decision in his heart. Unexpectedly, a new telegram received soon made him realize how wise Sokov's decision was.
Twenty minutes after the telegram was sent, the first company commander sent a telegram to Goria again, in which he said: The number of German troops marching behind our army has increased to two companies.
After seeing this telegram, Goria was frightened and sweated. He thought to himself: If the infantry following the armored vehicles followed him to destroy the German platoon, he might have been hit by the new German army at this moment. Although he was carrying two companies and two German companies, one German company had about two hundred people, and the number was twice that of him. He knew very well that the combat effectiveness of his troops was not necessarily successful even in one-on-one situation, not to mention that the number of people was only half of the opponent. Once the fight started, even if he had machine gun fire support on the armored vehicles, he might suffer a heavy blow.
Thinking of this, he quickly handed the telegram to Sokov, raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, and said with gratitude: "Comrade Brigade Commander, your decision is still wise and you did not let us destroy the German platoon. Otherwise, we would definitely see the flaws by the German army that arrived later, and in that case, we would be in danger of the destruction of the entire army."
After reading the telegram, Sokov said lightly: "Comrade Captain, under the current circumstances, don't act rashly. Don't see two companies of German troops following us, but for us, it increases the safety factor. The enemies along the way will regard us as real Germans, so that we can successfully reach the Orlovka region."