After receiving the order from the battalion commander, the company commanders of each company immediately took action with their platoon leader and carefully searched each shelter, anti-aircraft shelter, and fortifications in their area under their jurisdiction.
The first one to achieve the results was the company commander of the Third Company. Shortly after dark, he had visited various parts of the company and knew how many people were in the shelter and anti-aircraft shelter. When he checked the third shelter, he found that one more person was. After careful examination, he found that the soldier sleeping was a naive face. He stepped forward and pushed the other person's shoulder, woke him up and asked with a stern face: "Comrade Warrior, what's your name?"
The German soldiers who had just woken up from their sleep saw several Soviet soldiers holding guns standing in front of them, and immediately realized that they had been exposed. They quickly pulled out the dagger hidden under them and stabbed them at the third company commander. The third company commander turned sideways and dodged the dagger stabbed by the other party. Before the German soldiers could take back the dagger, a platoon leader standing next to him swung his rifle and slammed him into the back of the head, smashing him fainted on the spot.
When the platoon leader saw the German soldiers sank to the ground, he quickly squatted down, reached out to find out his breath, then raised his head and said to the third company commander: "Comrade Commander, he is not dead yet."
"Second Lieutenant, take him to the battalion headquarters and hand him over to the battalion commander."
The platoon leader was extremely nervous because the Germans were infiltrated in the shelter in his platoon. He was thinking about how to atone for his merits. When he heard the company commander's order, he quickly agreed loudly, called out the two soldiers, raised the German soldiers like dead dogs from the ground, searched carefully, and confirmed that there were no other weapons, he dragged them out of the shelter.
After the platoon leader took the German soldiers away, the company commander said to the squad leader who lived in the shelter: "Comrade Sergeant, from now on, you sleep at the door, see clearly everyone coming in, and stop letting the Germans get in."
After the squad leader waited for the company commander to finish his speech, he asked in confusion: "Comrade Commander, how do you know that he is a German?"
"Although there are hundreds of people in the company, I know everyone." The company commander replied: "But as the squad leader, you didn't even find the Germans sneak in the shelter. It seems too incompetent."
The squad leader, who was criticized, blushed with shame, and didn't know how to answer for a moment. Fortunately, another platoon leader who was familiar with him came out in time to rescue him: "Comrade Commander, the battalion headquarters said that at least two German soldiers had mixed in between us. Now that we have only caught one, we have to continue searching so that the enemy will not escape after they notice it."
As soon as the platoon leader reminded him, the third company commander immediately realized that his mission had not been completed and did not care about criticizing the dereliction of duty anymore, so he took his people out of the shelter.
When the Second Company was searching, he also found a German soldier disguised as a Soviet soldier and hiding in a warm shelter. However, the German soldier was very vigilant. He heard the sound of messy footsteps outside, and quickly grabbed the submachine gun that was placed aside in his hand and quietly opened the insurance.
When the second company commander led his men into the shelter and began to conduct inspections, the German soldiers pulled the trigger at the crowd without hesitation. The crowded officers and soldiers did not expect that someone would suddenly shoot, and they were knocked down immediately without time to react. The German soldiers rushed out of the shelter and ran along the trenches.
After a while of panic, seven or eight soldiers rushed out of the shelter. After looking around, they saw the German soldiers who were fleeing along the trenches and chased after them. Their shouts alarmed the commanders and fighters in the shelter in front. When the curtains were lifted, the commanders and fighters rushed out from inside.
Seeing that the situation was not good, the German soldiers pulled the trigger in that direction, and without even having to check whether they hit the target, they climbed out of the trench with their hands and feet, fled towards the German positions with deep and shallow feet. The chasing Soviet commanders and soldiers saw that the German soldiers left the trench, raised their weapons and shot at his back.
Sokov and Starcha, who were staying in the battalion command post, were alarmed by the sudden burst of gunfire. Starcha was afraid that Sokov would get angry, so he rushed in front of the other party to question the battalion commander: "Comrade Battalion Commander, where is the gun fired outside?"
The first battalion commander had been staying in the command post. He didn't know what was causing the shooting outside. In order to find out what happened, he quickly picked up the phone on the table and tried to ask the company commanders of each company, what was going on. However, as soon as he picked up the phone, Sokov waved his hand to stop him: "Comrade Battalion Commander, you don't need to make a phone call. Those company commanders are now leading people to search for hidden Germans. There must be no one in the company command post."
"But, Comrade Commander." Hearing Sokov say this, the battalion commander said in embarrassment: "If you cannot contact the company commanders, you will not be able to figure out what is going on outside."
"Actually, the reason for the gunfire is very simple." After the gunfire sounded, Sokov listened carefully to the movement outside. Hearing that the shooting was all Soviet weapons, there were no German weapons, and he said confidently: "It must be that when the company commanders searched for the enemy, the enemy jumped over the wall and wanted to escape, so our commanders and soldiers fired."
"Comrade Battalion Commander, Comrade Battalion Commander." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, a hurried shout came from outside the door.
The first battalion commander listened for a moment and said to Sokov and Starcha: "It is the second platoon leader of the third company." After that, he walked to the door and asked loudly outside: "Comrade Platoon Commander, what's the matter?"
"Report to the battalion commander, we caught a disguised German." The second platoon leader said excitedly outside: "The company commander ordered me to send him to the battalion headquarters."
When the first battalion commander was overjoyed when he learned that he had captured a German soldier, he hurriedly ordered: "Take him in quickly."
After being dragged into the battalion command post, the German soldiers were thrown directly to the ground. Seeing the German soldiers lying motionlessly on the ground, Sokov couldn't help but frown slightly and asked, "Is he still alive?"
Hearing Sokov's question, the second platoon leader squatted down, reached out to the German soldiers' nose and looked at them, then nodded to Sokov and replied, "Comrade Commander, he is still alive."
After Sokov asked the second platoon leader how to capture the German soldiers, he said to the first battalion commander: "Comrade Battalion Commander, go find a comrade who knows German. I will interrogate him personally. Also, find a way to wake him up first."
The second platoon leader turned around and walked out of the command post without saying a word. Before Sokov came to his senses, he saw him walking in with a handful of snow in his hands and ordered the two soldiers who followed him to the camp headquarters: "Pull the German guy to the wall!"
The two soldiers did not dare to neglect them, so they quickly pulled the German soldier who was lying on the ground and asked him to sit down against the earth wall. The second platoon leader stepped forward and wiped the snow in his hand against the German soldier's face. After a while, Sokov saw that the German soldier began to cough violently. Although his eyes had not opened, he should have woken up.
As soon as the German translator arrived, Sokov signaled to start interrogation. He did not ask the other party's name, military rank and position as usual, and asked in a straightforward manner: "Which part of you are from, what are you doing in our position?"
According to Sokov's idea, perhaps the German soldier would swear to death. Even if he was tortured by him, the other party would just keep saying his name, military rank and position. Apart from that, he would not say a word. But to his surprise, the German soldier would honestly answer: "I am the scout of the 71st Infantry Division's Reconnaissance Battalion. We were ordered to sneak into your position and find out your defense situation."
"Have you figured out the defense situation?"
"I figured it out." The German soldier said carelessly: "You know, this place was our position before, and my familiarity with it is definitely not inferior to you. You only need to look at a few places roughly to determine your detailed defense situation."
"Since we have figured out the deployment of our army, why don't you leave immediately?" Sokov asked in confusion: "But we stayed in the shelter, so easily that we were captured by us?"
"According to the order of the boss, we will return at 0:30. At that time, they will send engineers to pick us up next to the minefield." The German soldiers hesitated for a long time and continued, "It's still early to get the time to pick up, and it's so cold outside, so I found a cover to go in and go to bed, and prepared to return to the pickup location after the time is up."
"You are so brave that you actually entered the shelter with a swagger," Starcha snorted coldly and said disdainfully: "Aren't you afraid of being discovered by our people?"
After the German soldier's eyes were on Starcha's body for a while, he continued, "Lieutenant Colonel, please be honest, there are people entering and leaving your shelter at any time, and everyone is not familiar with each other. Even if there is an extra strange face, it will not attract attention. It is because I took advantage of this that I lie in the shelter and sleep boldly. If you hadn't suddenly conducted a search, I would have quietly rushed to the reception location at the prescribed time."
"The reason we conducted a sudden search is because I found that two sentries were killed by you. Their military uniforms, boots and helmets were taken away." Sokov slapped the table with his hand and said sternly: "If you leave immediately after just reconnaissance, you will definitely not have the idea of making trouble for their military uniforms. Since the military uniforms are all in your hands, you must be on the position temporarily, so I sent someone to search."
"So that's how it is." After hearing Sokov's explanation, the German soldier sighed secretly and said, "If we had known that it would be exposed, we would not kill the two sentries. We just need to bypass them quietly. Maybe we are hiding where we are now."
"How many of you guys?" Sokov continued to ask, glaring at the German soldiers, "Where are the others?"
"There are only two people." The German soldier stretched out his finger and gestured, and then said, "I really don't know where he is. But we made an appointment to meet at the receiving point."
As soon as the German soldiers confessed, the phone ringing on the table suddenly rang, which scared everyone. The battalion commander picked up the phone and listened for a while, and reported to Sokov: "Report to the division commander, when the Second Company was conducting the search, they were arrested by the German soldiers and shot us first, causing three deaths and five injuries,..."
"Where is that German soldier?" Starcha asked first without waiting for the battalion commander to finish his sentence: "Have you caught it?"
The battalion commander shook his head and continued to report: "Under the siege of commanders and soldiers, the opponent jumped out of the trench and fled in the direction of the enemy, but was shot to death. After searching, a defense map of our battalion was found on him."
Compared with Starcha, Sokov was more concerned about the safety of the commanders and fighters. As soon as Starcha finished speaking, he immediately asked the battalion commander: "Who are the sacrificed and injured commanders?"
"The second company commander, the ninth squad leader and a soldier died, and the two platoon commanders and three soldiers were injured."
"I guess the enemy will soon launch an attack on your battalion's position." Sokov, after reporting to the first battalion commander, said to him: "The army cannot be without military commanders. You can arrange personnel immediately to replace the sacrificed second company commander."
"Don't worry, comrade of the division commander." The first battalion commander nodded and replied, "I will let the deputy company commander of the second company take over the position of company commander. He is an old Bolshevik and has absolutely no problem with loyalty."
After someone took the German soldiers down, Sokov turned his head and asked Starcha: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you report to me that the minefield has been laid in front of the position. Is this true?"
"Yes, the division commander has indeed laid a minefield." Starcha explained to Sokov: "After my regiment occupied this place, I found a large number of landmines from the underground warehouse. I don't know if it was left by the Romanian army or the Germans, so I will order all of them to lay them in front of the position."
"The German scouts can successfully enter your regiment's defense zone," Sokov said thoughtfully: "I believe the enemy's engineers have already opened up a road in the minefield."
"This is for sure, comrade of the division commander." Starcha agreed with Sokov's statement: "Otherwise their scouts would not be able to cross the minefield."
"Since the roads opened in the minefield can allow scouts to pass, the sneak attack troops can also pass." Although Sokov was unwilling to command the troops above the level, he saw that Starcha and others were not very vigilant, so he reminded them: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, immediately order at least one-third of the troops to enter the combat post to prevent possible sneak attacks from the enemy."
"Comrade Commander," said Starcha with a bitter face when he heard Sokov's order: "Just searching for hidden German soldiers, everyone was unable to sleep well. If one-third of the soldiers were ordered to enter the position at this moment, I was worried that the soldiers would be in emotions."
"Even if they are in a mood, they must enter the position as soon as possible." Sokov said in an unquestionable tone: "Don't look at the number of sentries you have increased, but once the Germans launch a large-scale sneak attack, your sentries will not be able to block the enemy at all."
"Yes, comrade of the division commander." Seeing that Sokov had been sticking to his opinion, Starcha did not argue anymore, but straightened his body and replied: "I will arrange the troops to enter the position immediately."