Chapter 1449

  When the German firing squad left, they did not take away the bodies of the executed officers, but let them pile up in a corner of the execution ground, planning to send someone to deal with them the next day.

   They left with their front feet, and the scouts under Sokov sneaked up on the corpses with their back feet. Except for two scouts who served as guards, the rest of the people rummaged through the corpses for documents, trying to figure out what unit these dead officers came from.

  But after a lot of tossing, they found nothing, and no documents could be found on the body. The commander could only regretfully lead his subordinates to leave the execution ground and return to his hiding place.

As soon as he arrived in a safe area, the commander ordered the radio operator: "Radio operator, immediately send a telegram to the Army Reconnaissance Office, saying that we have searched the executed German officers, but we have not found any documents that can prove their identity. It was not possible to identify which unit they belonged to."

The telegram was soon placed on Sokov's table. After reading the telegram, he said to Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, since the scouts cannot identify the executed German officer, tell them not to investigate." Yes. They still have a lot to do, there is no need to waste on such unnecessary things.”

   "Comrade Commander," Sameko reminded Sokov: "If General Konev asks, how should we answer him?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov felt that since it is difficult to find out the truth about this matter, there is no need to waste precious manpower, so he said to Sameko: "Our scouts have more important things to do behind the enemy lines. There is no need to waste their energy on this matter. If General Konev presses it, I will explain it to him."

Since Sokov was willing to take responsibility, Sameko no longer insisted on his point of view, but nodded obediently, picked up the phone and called the reconnaissance office, and asked them to convey Sokov's meaning to the scouts behind the enemy. .

  After putting down the microphone, Sameko asked Sokov: "Comrade Commander, when will Colonel Yakov's hovercraft unit head to the 384th Division's night attack site?"

"Wait a little longer, Comrade Chief of Staff, wait a little longer." Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said to Sameko: "If it is not dark today, if they act prematurely, they may be caught The enemy has found their whereabouts. To be on the safe side, I think it's better to wait until after ten o'clock in the evening before setting off."

   "Comrade Commander, I think you should talk to Colonel Yakov." Sameko did not raise any objections to Sokov's words, but reminded him: "Maybe he has other ideas."

  Sokov and Sameko have not been partners for a day or two, so they can naturally hear his overtones, so they pick up the phone on the table graciously. After connecting, he heard Yakov's voice from inside, and said bluntly: "Yasha, please come to my place."

The place where Yakov was staying was not far from Sokov’s command post, and within five minutes he appeared in front of Sokov: “Misha, I’m leading someone to overhaul the hovercraft, tell me what’s going on quickly Bar."

   "Yasha, in order to prevent your whereabouts from being discovered by the Germans, I plan to let you leave after ten o'clock in the evening."

   "That's not acceptable." Unexpectedly, Yakov said unexpectedly: "The speed of the hovercraft is fast, and the driving route is basically forest and swamp. If you operate at night, without lighting, accidents are easy to happen."

After Yakov finished speaking, seeing Sokov remained silent, he continued: "When the hovercraft is driving in the forest, let alone night, even in the daytime, it is inevitable that it will hit the trees, let alone the night. What? In order to avoid such unnecessary losses, I suggest that the hovercraft start now to avoid accidents when passing through the forest at night."

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Sameko had already said what he wanted to say in his heart, and quickly added: "I agree with Colonel Yakov's opinion, it is best to start before dark, so that we can arrive in time Designated place."

   "But, Yasha, what should you do if you are discovered by the enemy?" Sokov said with great concern: "Won't that affect our next move?"

   "Misha, you are worrying too much." Yakov said, "It's really because it's not dark yet, our hovercraft can travel on the road or in the forest at a relatively fast speed, completely avoiding the enemy's aerial reconnaissance."

"Okay, Yasha." Sokov thought about it carefully, and felt that what Yakov said still made some sense, so he nodded and agreed to the other party's request: "Then you should leave early. Be careful on the road , I am waiting for your return."

   Shortly after Yakov returned, he set off with the hovercraft unit.

  Since they set off, Sokov's heart has been hanging in his heart, deeply afraid that something will happen to the other party on the road, and then he may die forever.

However, Yakov's luck seemed to be pretty good. An hour later, he used the radio station of the 384th Infantry Division to send a telegram to Sokov, saying that he had arrived safely, so that Sokov's hanging heart returned to his stomach inside.

  Now that Yakov has safely arrived at the designated place, Sokov is free to focus on other things. He asked Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, has the 299th Guards Regiment, which was acting as a feint, been withdrawn?"

"They are all withdrawn, Comrade Commander." Sameko reported to Sokov: "When the second battalion of the regiment was retreating, a German armored force rushed out from the slanting stab, trying to cut off their retreat. , but was repulsed by our army's fierce artillery fire." Sameko said with emotion, "You still thought carefully and guessed that the enemy might use armored troops to cut off our army's retreat, so you specially arranged for the artillery fire to cover the retreat of the troops. .”

"The Germans are very good at using armored forces on the battlefield. At the beginning of the war, our army paid a heavy price for lack of effective anti-tank means to deal with the German armored forces." Sokov said solemnly : "Although the 299th Guards Regiment is a bait for us to attract the attention of the German army, we cannot make commanders and fighters sacrifice at will. We must find ways to allow more people to come back alive."

"Comrade Commander," Sokov said, touching the past in Sameko's heart, he said with a heavy expression: "I once participated in the Soviet-Finnish War and encountered similar situations. But that branch served as the bait The troops are not as lucky as the commanders and fighters of the 299th Guards Regiment."

   It was the first time that Sokov heard Sameko talk about his experience in the Soviet-Finnish War, and asked curiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please tell me truthfully what happened at that time."

"The situation at that time was similar to today's. The superiors deliberately sent a force to launch an attack on a certain section of the defense line to attract the enemy's attention and cover the main force to break through the enemy's defense line in other areas. Unexpectedly, after the enemy was attacked , Immediately mobilized heavy troops to the area to counterattack our fake attacking troops."

   "Then what did your superior do next?"

"In order to prevent the failure of the plan, the superiors gave us an order not to reinforce the friendly troops who have been counterattacked by the enemy, but to let them fight the enemy to the death." Sameko said with a painful expression: "In this way, due to the lack of support, the false attack troops are very Soon they fell into the encirclement of the enemy, and finally the whole army was wiped out because of the lack of ammunition and food."

   "Comrade Chief of Staff, it seems that you have a deep memory of this matter."

Sameko picked up the cigarette case on the table, took out a cigarette from it, put it in his mouth, lit it and took two puffs, "My own brother and several friends were all in that army. Not even a complete body was found."

  After listening to Sameko's words, Sokov didn't know how to comfort him for a while, so he could only sigh softly, patted him on the shoulder twice, and sat silently beside him without saying a word.

After a while, Sameko finished smoking the cigarette in his hand, put it out in the ashtray on the table, raised his head and looked at Sokov, and resumed his old shrewd expression: "Comrade Commander, I'm fine." Now, is there anything else you need to know?"

   "Has Colonel Chuvashov counted the casualties of the 299th Guards Regiment?"

"Please wait a moment, I'll call and ask." After Sameko finished speaking, he dragged the phone on the table to him, first shook the crank of the base a few times, and then put the microphone against his ear and said, "I am Sameko, get me closer to the headquarters of the 98th Guards Division, Colonel Chuvashov, the division commander."

   Colonel Chuvashov's voice soon appeared on the other end of the phone: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff, do you have any latest instructions?"

   "Have the casualties of the 299th Guards Regiment been counted?"

   "Comrade Chief of Staff, the 299th Guards Regiment suffered heavy casualties in this feint attack..."

  Sameko was not interested in listening to Chuvashov's misfortune, but asked straight to the point: "I asked you about the casualties of your troops, so don't drag the topic away."

Seeing that Sameko had seen through his little trick, Chuvashov was not upset, and after a few dry laughs, he said to Sameko: "The first battalion to attack the enemy suffered more than half of the casualties; The third battalion that attacked in the second wave suffered one-third of the casualties. The second battalion that covered the retreat suffered the most serious casualties, with an astonishing two-thirds of casualties.”

  When Sameko and Chuvashov were on the phone, Sokov stood beside Sameko, listening to their conversation. After listening to Chuvashov's report, Sokov's heart sank suddenly. He knew that this feint attack would definitely cost a lot of casualties, but when he actually heard the number of casualties, he still couldn't bear it psychologically. .

"Comrade Chief of Staff, please tell Colonel Chuvashov," Sokov said to Sameko, "as soon as the battle for the liberation of Kharkov is over, we will replenish them. He lost a soldier, and I Give him another soldier; lose a squad, and I'll give him another squad. Now what they have to do is try to hold the bridge over the Oude from the Germans."

  Sameko relayed Sokov's meaning to Chuvashov, and the other party was overjoyed when he heard the news. Chuvashov believed in Sokov's character and knew that the other party would keep his word.

   "Comrade Commander," Sameko asked Sokov worriedly after putting down the phone, "You said that we let the 299th Guards Regiment launch a feint attack on the enemy today, can the enemy have an illusion?"

"This is for sure, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov said in an affirmative tone: "Before we attacked, we first used intensive artillery fire to carry out fierce shelling on the enemy's arc-shaped positions, and put on a posture The enemy will definitely be fooled by the attacking posture.”

   "Although the shelling is fierce, the troops we use to attack are a bit too small."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, don't forget, we also used a tank battalion to launch an attack together with the 299th Guards Regiment." Sokov reminded Sameko: "And the first battalion to attack is still in tanks. Under the cover of the German Army, he successfully broke through the defense line of the German 320th Infantry Division, causing the enemy to panic for a while.

  As for the fact that we don't have many troops, it is indeed easy to arouse the suspicion of the enemy. But the heroic performance of our commanders and fighters in the battle should dispel the doubts of the enemy. They will think that our purpose of doing this is to expand the area of ​​​​the landing field so that more troops can be deployed there. "

  Sameko thought about what Sokov said, and it seemed that this was really the case. Although their own troops established a landing field on the east bank, which the Germans called a "bridgehead", the area was too small to place more troops. If they wanted to launch a full-scale attack, they had to expand the area of ​​the landing field in advance.

"You are right," Sameko nodded and said, "The combat effectiveness of the 299th Guards Regiment is no less than that of a division of a friendly army. The enemy will indeed think that we have used such elite troops to attack them. The purpose of doing this is to expand the landing field.”

  While the two were talking, a combat staff officer hurried over. He handed a telegram to Sameko and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, there is an urgent telegram."

   "Urgent telegram?" Sameko asked when he took the telegram casually, "Where did it come from?"

   "It is the headquarters of the Voronezh Front Army."

   "Voronezh Front Command?!" Hearing what the combat staff officer said, Sokov was a little puzzled: "What did General Vatutin send me a telegram for?"

"Comrade Commander, it's not good, something serious happened." The answer was soon revealed, and Sameko said with a look of panic: "The telegram said that in order to assist our troops to attack Kharkov from the west, the Voronezh Front Army sent An infantry division and a tank brigade. But these two troops suddenly lost contact with them when they were close to our army's defense zone. General Vatutin asked us to help find the whereabouts of the two troops."

   "What, an infantry division and a tank brigade lost contact with the Voronezh Front Command?" Sokov's first reaction when he heard the news was whether the two troops encountered a wormhole and collectively traveled to other time and space. But he quickly dismissed his absurd idea. It was acceptable for one or two people to travel through, but the two troops added up to more than 10,000 people, so if there is no one, there will be no more. This is too unbelievable. He quickly asked, "Where did they lose contact with General Vatutin?"

  (end of this chapter)