Red Moscow

  Chapter 1450 The Mystery of the Missing Troops

"Here, Fesky Kolkhoz." After glancing at the location on the telegram, Sameko pointed out the location on the map: "There are a large number of German supply warehouses here, and West is responsible for defending this area. General Hoffin's 3rd Armored Division."

   "The 3rd Armored Division of the German Army?" When Sokov heard the German designation, he couldn't help but thumped in his heart, wondering if the two units were annihilated by the German army, right? He hesitated for a while, and finally expressed his concern: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you think it is possible for them to be wiped out by the German 3rd Armored Division?"

  Sameko also has the same worries as Sokov in his heart. He knew very well that some Soviet commanders had limited abilities, and they only knew how to fight and rush blindly, and they didn't know what strategy and tactics were. It was not uncommon for one's own troops to be wiped out by the enemy when their strength was equal.

  Sokov didn't know the situation of the 3rd Armored Division. Before making a decision, he had to understand the combat effectiveness of the division: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you have any information about the 3rd Armored Division?"

"The intelligence department should have information on the 3rd Armored Division, and I'll ask them to send it over immediately." After Sameko finished speaking, he picked up the phone and called the intelligence department: "I'm Sameko, and you have information about the 3rd Armored Division of the German Army." Do you have information on the Armored Division? ... Oh, yes ... Comrade Commander wants to see it, so send someone over immediately."

  After putting down the phone, Sameko reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the Intelligence Department does have information about the 3rd Armored Division, and I have ordered them to send someone over."

  Sokov nodded, and then asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you haven't told me, what is the serial number of the missing unit?"

   Hearing what Sokov said, Sameko immediately realized that he had forgotten such an important thing, and quickly added: "It is the 300th Infantry Division and a tank brigade under the Seventh Tank Army."

After listening to Sokov, he just hummed softly, and then told Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately notify the Reconnaissance Office to send capable scouts to conduct reconnaissance in the area, and we must find out what happened .”

   Before Sameko finished his call, the director of the intelligence department personally sent over the information about the 3rd Armored Division. He came to Sokov and raised his hand to salute, and reported: "Comrade Commander, I have brought you the information you asked for about the 3rd Armored Division."

   Sokov took the information in the other party's hand and flipped through it casually. Seeing that the content was too messy, it would take at least half an hour to understand it. Then he closed the file, looked at the Director of Intelligence and said, "Comrade Director, let me briefly introduce the situation."

   "Comrade Commander," the Intelligence Director reported: "The commander of the German 3rd Armored Division is General Westhofen, and it has the 3rd and 394th Panzergrenadier Regiments under it, which are the two most powerful regiments in the division.

  Three days ago, the 3rd Panzergrenadier Regiment repelled an attack by the 5th Shock Army and the 2nd Guards Army in the village of Polevoye. It caused our army to lose more than 50 tanks and more than 2,000 soldiers..."

Listening to the intelligence director's report, Sokov became more and more worried. Since a regiment of the German 3rd Armored Division could repel the attack of the two Soviet armies three days ago, and wiped out more than 50 tanks With more than 2,000 commanders and fighters, it proves that their combat effectiveness is not weak. Now it is not a piece of cake to use a whole division to deal with an infantry division and a tank brigade of the Voronezh Front Army.

  Although his heart was heavy, in front of his subordinates, Sokov tried his best to hide his emotions in his heart, but waved at the other party, "Comrade Director, you have nothing to do here, you go back first."

After the Chief of Intelligence left, Sokov said to Sameko, who had just finished the phone call: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the situation does not look good today. Two units of the friendly army disappeared in the defense zone of the 3rd Armored Division. , It seems that there is more bad luck than good luck."

"Yes, Comrade Commander, I think so too." Although Sameko agrees with Sokov, his heart is still full of doubts: "But what I am surprised is that before they were wiped out by the enemy, did they Didn't they report the situation to their superiors through the radio? More than 10,000 people just disappeared for no reason?"

   "I think it's better to wait for the scout's report. Our most important task now is to cross the Oud River at night and establish a new landing site on the east bank."

"You are right, Comrade Commander." Sameko nodded and said, "As long as the 348th Infantry Division can successfully complete the task, then we will have two landing sites on the east bank. Wait for the friendly forces to approach Harko When the city falls, we can advance to the city from both landing sites at the same time, so that the enemy cannot concentrate his forces to stop our advance."

   "It is of course very important to establish a new landing field on the east bank of the Oud River. But we still have to try to find out where the two missing troops are going before that."

At this moment, Sokov still thinks about the two missing troops. Although the reconnaissance office will dispatch capable scouts as soon as possible to find out the mystery of the disappearance of the friendly troops, Sokov is still not at ease in his heart. He picks up the phone, The headquarters of the 73rd Infantry Brigade was dialed.

   "Hello, this is Sokov, let Guchakov answer the phone."

   "Comrade Commander, this is Guchakov, what instructions do you have?"

"Come to my headquarters immediately. I have important tasks to assign to you." Sokov felt that there were some things that were difficult to say on the phone, so he wanted to tell Guchakov face to face, so he told him, "You come here." When the time comes, take the new first battalion commander, Captain Mikhaiev."

   Guchakov was stunned for a moment when he heard Sokov asked him to take Mikhaiev with him, and then asked tentatively, "Comrade commander, are you talking about the new deputy brigade commander?"

   "That's right, that's him." Sokov said with some displeasure: "Major Guchakov, what did you do? Don't you even know your own commander?"

   "Comrade Commander, you misunderstood." Guchakov quickly explained: "Lieutenant Mikhaiev has just served as the first battalion commander for a short time. I didn't expect you to assign him a task so soon."

   "Okay, time is running out, so stop talking nonsense." Sokov said to Guchakov: "You two come here immediately."

   Guchakov knew that Sokov had nothing important to do, so he would not call himself. After putting down the phone, he immediately sent someone to call Captain Mikhaiev, and took him to Sokov's headquarters.

  The two came to the headquarters and saw Sokov and Sameko standing at the table, looking down at the map above. Guchakov hurriedly stepped forward and raised his hand to report: "Comrade Commander, Major Guchakov, commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, is here on your order, please give me instructions!"

"Comrade Major, come to me, and I will explain your tasks to you." After Sokov finished speaking, he saw Guchakov walking towards him, while Mikhaiev was still standing there. Then he added, "And you, Comrade Captain, please come to my side."

   After the two came to his side, Sokov said to them with a serious expression: "I called you here because there is a difficult task, and I have to entrust you to complete it."

He picked up the red and blue pencils on the table, drew a circle at the location of the Fisky collective farm, and said to the two: "The two units of the Voronezh Front Army have lost contact with their headquarters here. I will give you My mission is to rush to the area immediately to find out the mystery of the disappearance of friendly troops."

   Guchakov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, then tilted his neck and asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, may I ask the numbers of the German troops stationed in this area?"

"It's the 3rd Armored Division of the German Army." Since Sukov wanted to entrust Guchakov with such a difficult task, he regarded him as someone he could trust, and naturally he would not hide anything from him: "The two divisions of the division Near the village of Polevoye three days ago, we repelled the attack of two friendly armies, destroyed more than 50 tanks, and caused the sacrifice of more than 2,000 commanders and fighters of our army."

Hearing what Sokov said, Guchakov couldn't help taking a breath. The attacks of the two armies were repelled by an armored division of the German army. If his own infantry brigade passed by, it might not be enough for others to stop. sewn. However, out of trust in Sokov, he felt that the commander would not let his subordinates go to die, so he asked with a normal expression: "Comrade commander, what is the mission of our brigade?"

"Let me correct one thing, I'm not going to transfer all of your brigade to the Fesky collective farm." When Sokov said this, he looked at Mikhaiev at the side: "I plan to send Captain Mikhaiev The first battalion of the team will go to the place to execute and find out the mystery of the disappearance of friendly troops. If necessary, search for survivors nearby."

   "Lieutenant Mikhaiev," Sokov asked Mikhaiev after briefly introducing the mission, "Are you confident in completing this mission?"

"Please rest assured, Comrade Commander." Mikhaiev, who had just been promoted by Sokov, was very grateful to Sokov in his heart. Leading the troops to conduct reconnaissance near the Fiski collective farm, he said with a vow: "On behalf of the first battalion, I would like to express to you that all our commanders and fighters will never disappoint your trust and promise to complete this arduous and glorious task."

   Mikhaiev's statement made Sokov very satisfied. He shook his hand and said with a smile: "Comrade Captain, since you are so confident, I will wait here for the news of your victory."

   Guchakov and Mikhaiev, who accepted the mission, immediately returned to the army and began to assemble the first battalion, wanting to rush to the Fisky collective farm as soon as possible to find out the mystery of the disappearance of friendly troops.

   But before they set off, the director of reconnaissance sent Sokov and Sameko the intelligence sent back by the scouts. The above information is very simple. The scouts were hiding near the Fesky collective farm. Through binoculars, they found that there were a large number of corpses of friendly soldiers lying on the ground inside and outside the collective farm. The outside of the farm.

  After reading the information, Sokov quickly noticed a key question: "Comrade Director, the scout report said that they found some intact tanks of our army parked outside the farm?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander." The chief of the reconnaissance department had carefully checked the information sent back by the scouts before he came here, and naturally he would not be stumped by Sokov's question: "There are some vehicles parked outside the farm. The tanks are all intact."

   "Where is the enemy, where is the enemy?"

  The head of the reconnaissance department was taken aback, and then replied: "In the scout's report, there is no mention of where the enemy is. I think the enemy may be resting in the village."

   "Comrade Director, if you were the commander of the German army, would you allow your subordinates to place some intact local tanks outside the farm?"

Regarding the question raised by Sokov, the Director of Reconnaissance thought for a while, then shook his head and said: "If these tanks are intact, I will definitely send someone to drive them to other places to hide, or place them at the entrance of the village as a fixed fort. , will definitely not leave it there and ignore it.”

"Comrade Director, it seems that you have also discovered the problem." Sokov said to the Director of Reconnaissance: "Then your task now is to immediately notify the scouts who have arrived outside the village and let them find a way to sneak into the village." Reconnaissance, to find out exactly where the enemy is and what kind of troops it has."

  As soon as the head of the reconnaissance department left, Sameko asked Sokov: "Comrade commander, according to the feedback from the scouts, this matter is a bit strange. Look, do you want to suspend the departure of the Mikhaiev battalion?"

   "No." Sokov shook his head and said: "It is precisely because of the weirdness of this matter that we must send troops to the Fesky collective farm as soon as possible to search for the surviving commanders and fighters, and find out what happened."

   "Understood, then I will immediately call Major Guchakov and let his troops set off as soon as possible."

  Sokov and Sameko stood on the bell tower of the church, watching the troops marching in the twilight, their hearts full of expectations. Sameko said with emotion: "Comrade Commander, I hope Captain Mikhaiev will not disappoint our expectations and can figure out what happened."

   "I trust them, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov looked at the troops looming in the distance, "I believe they will successfully complete the tasks I entrusted to them."

   "Comrade Commander, Comrade Commander," said a man rushing out of the stairwell, panting, "I finally found you, there is new information from the Fesky collective farm!"

  Sokov saw clearly that the person who came was the director of reconnaissance, so he asked curiously: "Quickly tell me, what's the latest information?"

   "Our scouts have successfully entered the farm. They didn't see a single German in the village. All they saw were friendly commanders..."

   "Comrade Director of Reconnaissance," Sameko couldn't help interrupting what the Director of Reconnaissance said after hearing this: "You said that there is no German in the village, and all the corpses of our army's commanders and fighters?"

   "It's not a corpse, Comrade Chief of Staff." The reconnaissance chief shook his head and said, "They're all alive, and they're all alive."

"They're still alive?!" Even if a shell landed beside Sokov and Sameko and exploded at this moment, the shock it brought to them was definitely not comparable to the words of the director of reconnaissance: "How could it be possible? Alive? Since they are still alive, why did they lose contact with the front army headquarters?"

   "The reason is simple, they are all drunk."

   "Drunk?!" Sokov couldn't help raising his voice and said, "It's impossible. I can understand that one or two people get drunk, but more than 10,000 people are drunk. How much vodka does it take?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander, this is all true." The reconnaissance director said aggrievedly: "When I received this report, I also thought it was a mistake made by the scouts, and I specially ordered the operator to send a telegram to verify, but they The call back is still the same. I think this matter is of great importance and I need to report to you immediately, so I rushed over immediately."

  (end of this chapter)