Chapter 1432 Clue

"Chief of Staff, send a telegram to Colonel Shechtman immediately." Sokov said to Sameko: "Let him ask the residents who have escaped from the city if anyone has seen the Germans transporting large quantities of supplies in trucks." Into the city..."

"Comrade Commander, there is no need to send a telegram." Sameko said with a smile: "After the efforts of the communications soldiers, the telephone line between us and the 254th Division has been connected. You can call Colonel Shechtman Call and assign this task to him in person."

   "Oh, the telephone line has been set up?" Sokov asked with some surprise: "Why didn't I know?"

   "The director of the communications corps just reported to me not long ago that the telephone lines with all divisions have been connected. I haven't had time to report to you yet."

  Sokov nodded and gestured to Sameko, signaling him to help him connect to the 254th Division headquarters.

   Not long after, Sameko took the microphone and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the 254th Division headquarters has been connected, and you can talk to Colonel Shechtman."

   As soon as Sokov put the receiver to his ear, he heard the voice of Colonel Shechtman from inside: "Comrade Commander, what instructions do you have?"

   "Colonel Shechtman, let me ask you, how many residents escaped from the city with the 762nd regiment?"

   Shechtman

Unexpectedly, Sokov did not ask when the troops started to attack, but asked about the residents who had escaped from the city. After a short period of confusion, he reported: "Comrade Commander, I haven't counted carefully. It is estimated that there are several Hundreds of people."

   "Where are they all?"

   "They are all placed in the defense zone of our division." Shechtman replied: "Because it is too close to the city, I am arranging manpower to send them to a safe place."

"Colonel, don't let them leave yet." Sokov worried that Shechtman would not be able to find useful information after sending everyone away, so he hurriedly said: "Gather them all immediately, I have something to do." Need their help."

"Do you need their assistance?" Hearing what Sokov said, Shechtman was full of doubts. He didn't understand what the commander wanted these residents who had fled their homes to assist him with. He asked with puzzlement : "Comrade Commander, can you tell me what's going on?"

Investigating where the German army kept the treasure in the city required the full cooperation of the 254th Division, so Sokov did not hide it from Shechtman, but said truthfully: "The superior just gave me an order, Dergach There are a number of precious cultural relics stored in the city, and we are ordered to avoid bombarding the buildings storing cultural relics with heavy weapons when attacking the city, and try our best to ensure the safety of all cultural relics."

   "Cultural relic, what cultural relic?"

"Of course they are precious cultural relics that were snatched by the Germans." Sokov said with a serious expression, "Apart from many world-famous paintings, there are also manuscripts of Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky and Chekov among these cultural relics." , is a precious cultural relic of our country. If it is destroyed in the fire of war, you and I are unforgivable sinners."

  Hearing this, Shechtman's breathing became short of breath: "Comrade Commander, where are these cultural relics in the city, I will definitely not let the soldiers open fire on that building."

"I don't know either." Sokov shook his head and continued: "Otherwise, my grandfather would not order you to gather the residents who escaped from the city. You send someone to ask these residents if they have seen people transporting goods into the city. Convoy. Maybe we can get through them and figure out where the Germans are hiding these artifacts."

  After Sokov hung up the phone, Sameko handed him a cigarette and comforted him and said, "Comrade Commander, since you have conveyed the order, all you can do is wait patiently."

   "Yes," Sokov lit a cigarette and said after taking a puff, "We can only wait patiently for the results of Shechtman's investigation so as to find out exactly where the cultural relics are stored."

Sameko raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I estimate that it will take at least one or two hours for the results to come out. Let's analyze it. The enemy will put Dong XZ in Where."

"Churches, municipal buildings, opera houses, movie theaters, and sports venues." Sokov said without hesitation: "The buildings in these places are solid, and there are huge basements, which are perfect for storing looted cultural relics. "

"Since you think these places are likely to store cultural relics, let's analyze where the cultural relics are most likely to be hidden." Sameko first mentioned the municipal building: "The municipal building was once occupied by our army. If The cultural relics are hidden in this building, and must have been discovered by our military commanders long ago..."

   "Wait a minute, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sameko's words gave Sokov a hint of inspiration. He quickly interrupted the other party and asked: "After our army occupied the municipal building, did they search the building?"

   "This... this?" Sameko said with some hesitation, "I think... I think it must have been searched."

"What I need is not a guess, but an accurate answer." Sokov told Sameko: "Call Shechtman again and let him know whether our troops occupying the municipal building are in the building Searched?"

  Sameko didn't dare to neglect, and quickly picked up the phone to call Shechtman. As soon as the call was made, he rushed to ask without waiting for the other party to speak: "Colonel Shechtman, this is Sameko. I want to ask you, after your troops occupied the municipal building in Jergachi, are you okay? Has the building been searched?"

   "I don't know, Comrade Chief of Staff." Even though Shechtman is the division commander, he really doesn't know whether he has conducted a thorough search of the municipal building after the troops occupied it. But he knew very well in his heart that Sameko was eager to ask this matter, and it must have something to do with the search for cultural relics, so he said quickly: "Please give me five minutes, and I will definitely give you a satisfactory answer."

   "Okay, Colonel Shechtman, I will give you five minutes, and I hope you can give me a satisfactory answer then."

As soon as Shechtman finished talking with Sameko, he called his chief of staff and told him, "Call the commander and chief of staff of the 762nd Regiment to me immediately. I have something important to ask. them."

  Prochenko and Vanya have been staying at Shechtman's division headquarters since they escaped from the city. The soldiers sent by the division chief quickly found the two and brought them to Shechtman and Billing.

   "Colonel Prochenko, Lieutenant Colonel Vanya." Seeing the arrival of the two, Shechtman did not go around in circles, but asked straight to the point: "I have a question, I hope you can answer me truthfully."

   "Excuse me, Comrade Commander." Prochenko thought that the other party wanted to investigate the reasons for his defeat, so he said politely: "I will answer your question truthfully."

"Which of you two can tell me?" Shechtman asked after scanning the two of them back and forth several times, "Whether your regiment has searched the building after occupying the municipal building. "

Prochenko did not expect that Shechtman called the two of them here, not to pursue responsibility, but to ask about this matter. He quickly turned his eyes to Vanya, and said to Shechtman: "Mr. , I think this question should be answered by my chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Vanya."

Vanya hurriedly stepped forward and reported to Shechtman: "Comrade Commander, please allow me to report to you. After our regiment occupied the municipal building, in addition to ordering people to plant a red flag on the roof, we also ordered people to plant a red flag on the roof. Every floor has been searched..."

  The phone beside Shechtman rang again. He picked up the microphone, and this time he heard Sokov's voice from inside: "Colonel Shechtman, have you got any results from your investigation?"

   "Report to Comrade Commander!" Shechtman replied respectfully: "I am asking Lieutenant Colonel Vanya, he is the chief of staff of the 762nd regiment..."

  Unexpectedly, before he finished speaking, Sokov interrupted him: "Give the phone to Lieutenant Colonel Vanya, and I will ask him about this matter myself."

   Shechtman handed the microphone to Vanya: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the commander wants to speak to you."

  Vanya took the microphone, put it close to his ear, and said emotionally: "Hello, Comrade Commander, what do you want to know?"

   "Vanya," Sokov asked bluntly for his old subordinate: "Is it the municipal building occupied by your regiment? After occupying the building, have you conducted a search for the building?"

"Comrade Commander, when you called, I was reporting this matter to the division commander. After our regiment occupied the building, in addition to sending people to the roof to plant the red flag, we also searched every floor." Speaking of this, Vanya flattered Sokov without any trace: "You told us before that every time you occupy a building, you need to search the building, clear out the remaining enemies inside, and turn the building into a Our solid fortress."

   "That's right, I did say that." The corners of Sokov's mouth turned up slightly: "I didn't expect you to remember it so clearly."

   "Comrade Commander, not only me, but also the other commanders and fighters from the 73rd Infantry Brigade remember what you said."

"Lieutenant Colonel Vanya, I have good news for you. The superior has rebuilt the 73rd Infantry Brigade, and the new brigade commander is the familiar Major Guchakov. During this battle to liberate Kharkov , if you and your subordinates perform well, maybe after the battle, you can get a brigade commander or even a division commander."

  The big pie drawn by Sokov made Vanya feel a little grateful: "Comrade Commander, don't worry, I will definitely live up to your expectations. I will definitely make new contributions in the battle to liberate Kharkov."

  After the simple greetings, Sokov withdrew the topic again to the municipal building: "Lieutenant Colonel Vanya, you haven't told me whether you found any unexpected gains when you searched the municipal building?"

   "An unexpected harvest?" Vanya asked in a daze, "Comrade Commander, what are you talking about? Why can't I understand anything?"

   "Did your fighters search the basement of the building? Did you find anything important inside?"

   "No," Vanya replied innocently, "The basement is empty and there is nothing. Our soldiers went in and took a quick look before coming out."

   "Nothing?" Sokov asked in surprise, "Lieutenant Colonel Vanya, can you confirm it?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander, I can confirm it." Vanya said confidently: "I was worried that there might be enemies hiding in the basement, so I personally brought a dozen soldiers into the basement and conducted a careful inspection. Indeed, no German soldiers were found. traces of people."

   Knowing that no cultural relics were found in the basement, Sokov felt a little disappointed. This proves that the Germans did not hide these precious cultural relics in the basement of the municipal building.

Putting the microphone back on the phone base, Sokov looked at Sameko and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, according to the report of Lieutenant Colonel Vanya, nothing special was found in the basement of the municipal building. It seems that these cultural relics It's somewhere else."

   "Comrade Commander, when you were on the phone, I thought about it carefully and found that the most likely place to hide cultural relics is the church."

"why?"

   "The basement in the church is large, which is very suitable for storing important things. In addition, the church is a stone building, which can resist the blows of small-caliber artillery. It is safe to store cultural relics inside."

   Regarding Sameko's statement, Sokov could not disagree. After all, every time he occupied the church, he would find a lot of good things in the basement below. And these cultural relics are so precious, presumably the Germans will also store them in the church.

  Seeing Sokov's delay in speaking, Sameko asked with some guilt: "Comrade Commander, what are you thinking?"

Sokov turned his head and looked at Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I was thinking about one thing. These cultural relics should have been snatched by the Germans around October 1941. Why didn't they transport them back to Germany, but kept them And in the small cities outside Kharkov?"

  What Sokov couldn't think of an answer to, Sameko couldn't think of an ugly one either. Fortunately, he did not pretend to understand, but shook his head and replied truthfully: "I don't understand either."

   After more than an hour of long waiting, Shechtman finally called. The colonel reported on the phone to Sameko who answered the phone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have found out everything. Half a month ago, some residents saw a convoy of more than fifty covered trucks parked in Next to the church in the city center, something seems to be unloading..."

   "Do they know what's in the truck?"

  “Because the Germans imposed martial law on the square, they couldn’t get close at all. But one of the old people vaguely saw that the German soldiers moved into the church were some wooden shelves, and I guessed it might be oil paintings.”

The clues provided by Shechtman were very valuable. More than 50 covered trucks were parked outside the church gate. When the soldiers moved things inside, they also set up guards on the church square, which shows how serious these things are. precious.

   After reporting to Sokov, Shechtman asked cautiously: "Comrade Commander, do I need to send someone into the city for reconnaissance?"

"There is no need for this." Although the matter has not yet been verified, Sokov determined that the batch of precious cultural relics was hidden by the Germans in the church in the city center, so he ordered Shechtman: "Your division immediately Start attacking the city, and try every means to occupy the church in the city center in the shortest possible time.”

  (end of this chapter)