Chapter 1456 The Strength of the German Army

"Comrade Military Commissar," Sokov handed Lunev directly after reading the telegram: "This is a telegram from the Chief of Staff, please take a look. Major General Gritsenko's troops have successfully landed on the river east of Ud." They landed on the shore and established a small-scale landing field; at the same time, the communications unit of the headquarters also intercepted the German telegrams and are urgently deciphering them.”

Lunev took the telegram, and after reading the above content, he raised his head and asked Sokov: "Comrade Commander, since Major General Gritsenko's troops have successfully crossed the river, should you return to the headquarters immediately, so that it is convenient for you?" command troops?"

"Chief of Staff Sameko is at the headquarters. He can handle anything." Sokov waved his hands and said, "This is the most important thing now. If the German army on the western high ground cannot be eliminated, I will not feel at ease. .”

  "Yes, yes, yes," Lunev recalled Sokov's analysis just now, and quickly echoed: "Comrade Commander, you are very correct. This German army poses a great threat to our army, and they must be eliminated as soon as possible."

Sokov didn't remember any German units that performed brilliantly on the battlefield during the Battle of Kharkov, so he didn't take this enemy building fortifications on the western highlands seriously, and felt that as long as he launched an attack, at most half of the troops would The battle could be resolved within an hour, so he said to Lunev: "Comrade Military Commissar, we use 3,000 people to attack hundreds of German soldiers. I believe it will not take long to resolve the battle. After the battle here is over, It will not be too late for us to return to the headquarters."

  When Sokov was chatting with Lunev, he was anxiously waiting for the latest information.

  But Sameko's side was like a stone sinking into the sea, without the slightest movement. Just when he was secretly disappointed, a soldier came in and reported to Mikhaiev who was sitting in the corner: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the first company commander, Captain Narva, has sent someone back."

   "The company commander sent someone back?" Mikhaiev asked in surprise, "How many people came back?"

   "Four people came back, and they also brought a German."

  Hearing that a company of soldiers had brought back a German prisoner, Sokov stood up abruptly from his seat and told the soldier, "Let them in quickly."

   A moment later, four heavily armed soldiers walked in from the outside. Among them was a German SS sergeant who was blindfolded and had his hands tied behind his back.

The leading soldier was a sergeant. After he walked into the room, he looked around and recognized Sokov. He quickly walked up to Sokov and raised his hand to salute: "Comrade commander, I honor the company By order of Captain Narva, I have sent you a prisoner."

   "Remove the cloth strips from his eyes." Sokov asked the sergeant curiously after ordering the soldiers standing beside the prisoner, "How did you catch this prisoner?"

"Report to Comrade Commander, my subordinates and I were ordered to contact the scouts under the high ground, just in time to see this German guy coming out of the position, looking for a place to relieve himself, our soldiers stepped forward and knocked him unconscious and captured him he."

  The captured German sergeant blinked vigorously a few times after his blindfold was removed, and shouted excitedly when he saw that there were actually two Soviet generals in front of him.

   "Comrade Captain," Sokov asked Mikhaiev: "Are there any soldiers in your battalion who understand German?"

  Mikhaiev thought for a while, and then replied: "There is a soldier in the second company who taught German in college before. Let me ask him to translate for you."

  Sokov was eager to know the origin of the German army, so he told Mikhaiev: "Call him here quickly."

   Mikhaiev quickly ordered the soldiers who had just reported to go to the second company to call the soldiers who knew German.

   After two or three minutes, Sokov saw a middle-aged soldier wearing glasses and followed the soldier into the headquarters. He hurriedly stepped forward and said to the middle-aged soldier: "Comrade soldier, do you understand German?"

  The middle-aged soldier was a little overwhelmed by Sokov's question. But he quickly returned to normal, and replied quite confidently: "Yes, Comrade General, I understand all the main languages ​​​​used in Europe, whether it is French, English, or German. I can even read Italian." Wen’s newspapers!”

   "Comrade soldier, Italian is not needed for the time being," Sokov said with a smile. "Since you understand German, please temporarily act as a German translator for me to interrogate this prisoner."

   "It is an honor to serve you, Comrade General."

"Kuzma," Mikhaiev saw the manner in which Kuzma and Sokov were talking, and realized that the other party might not know Sokov, so he quickly reminded him: "This is General Sokov, the commander of the group army. Now you have to cooperate with him and interrogate the German prisoners."

   "Hello, Comrade Commander." Knowing that the person in front of him was Sokov, Kuzma looked extremely nervous: "Please forgive me for not recognizing you. Please rest assured that I will fully cooperate with you."

   At this time, the German prisoners had already been untied and sat on a high-back chair opposite Sokov. Four heavily armed soldiers stood beside him, staring at him eagerly.

   "Mr. German Sergeant, we are officially starting now." Sokov sat at the table, looked at the opposite German Sergeant, and asked straight to the point: "Your name and the unit number you belong to?"

   "My name is Tydel, the rank of sergeant."

   Seeing that the other party only mentioned his name and military rank, but did not mention the unit number, Sokov hurriedly asked: "What is the unit number you belong to?"

   But Tedel gave Sokov a contemptuous look, and did not answer this question, but just snorted softly.

Seeing the stubbornness of the German prisoners, Mikhaiev standing by the table lost his composure. He slapped the table heavily with the palm of his hand and said sharply, "Tell me honestly, what is your unit number, otherwise you will be sent to the police station." You drag it out and shoot it."

  But Mikhaiev's threat had no effect on the German prisoners. Taidel sneered and said, "It's a dream for you to get useful information from me. Now, you can drag me out and shoot me."

  Seeing that Tedel was so fearless of death, Sokov was also a little surprised. He turned to Lunev and said, "Comrade Military Commissar, I really didn't expect that among the Germans, there are such people who are not afraid of death."

   "It's not that he's not afraid of death, but that he's stubborn." Lunev said with a wry smile, "Since he's so stubborn, I'm afraid I won't get any useful information if I ask him any more. I'd better drag him out and shoot him."

Although Tedel couldn't understand what Sokov said, he also knew that the two were talking about himself, so he suddenly stood up from the chair and said sharply: "Hurry up and shoot me, if you delay, I won't Tell you any useful information." Before he finished speaking, two soldiers beside him stretched out their hands and pressed his shoulders, pressing him to sit down again.

"Comrade Commander, this German guy is too rampant." Mikhaiev was filled with righteous indignation at Teidel's arrogance, and he turned to Sokov and said, "Anyway, I can't get any useful information from him. Let him be shot."

"It's very easy to shoot him. As long as any soldier shoots him in the head, he will be completely finished." Sokov said to Mikhaiev with a sideways face: "But after killing him, we will kill him." How do you know which part he belongs to? In order to find out the details of the enemy, we have to send people to capture the prisoners again. One soldier missing may not attract the attention of the enemy, but two soldiers missing in a row may scare the enemy , if the enemy is alarmed, then our next battle will become extremely difficult."

   "Then what should we do?" Mikhaiev asked impatiently, "Don't we just watch him be so arrogant, but we can't do anything?"

   "Comrade Captain, don't worry." Seeing that Mikhaiev lost his composure, Sokov quickly comforted him and said, "Let me try it. If it doesn't work, you can deal with him arbitrarily."

   After saying this, Sokov got up and walked in front of Teidel, sneered and said: "Sergeant Teidel, I forgot to introduce myself to you. My name is Sokov, and I am the commander of the 27th Soviet Army."

"What, you are General Sokov?!" After listening to Kuzma's translation, Tedel jumped up from his chair and asked in surprise: "It is the Russian general who commanded the troops to destroy the Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division. ?”

   "That's right, I, Sokov, was the one who commanded the troops to annihilate the Skeleton Division, the Imperial Division, and several German armored divisions in the Battle of Kursk."

   "General Sokov!" After confirming Sokov's identity, Tedel's attitude became respectful: "It is my honor to meet you in person."

"Sergeant Teidel." Seeing that Teidel's attitude had taken a 180-degree turn, Sokov realized that things had turned around, and then asked, "Can you tell me what your troop number is?" ?”

   "General Sokov!" Hearing Sokov ask this question again, Tedel straightened his body and replied: "I am Sergeant Tedel of the 2nd Company of the 5th Armored Light Infantry Battalion of the Viking Division."

"Viking division?" Although Sokov knew that he was a soldier of a certain SS division when he saw the military uniform Tedel was wearing for the first time, but he thought that the Skeleton Division and the Imperial Division had been annihilated by him, and the Banner Guard Division They were also severely injured, and even if there were any new SS divisions, their combat effectiveness would probably not be too strong.

   But when he learned that the troops building fortifications on the high ground to the west of the farm were actually the German 5th SS Division—the Viking Division, he still couldn't help but gasped. However, in front of the captives, he still forced himself to ask calmly, "Have all your divisions arrived near the high ground?"

   "No." Teidel shook his head, and then replied truthfully: "Now only the 5th Armored Light Infantry Battalion and a battalion of the 9th Panzergrenadier Regiment have reached the high ground..."

   After Sokov inquired about a few more details, he ordered Tedel to stay. Before Tedel left, he deliberately bowed deeply to Sokov. For some reason, when Sokov saw the other party bowing to him, he felt that the other party was saying goodbye to the corpse.

   "Comrade Commander," after Teidel was taken away, Mikhaiev blushed and admitted his mistake to Sokov: "Actually, I should have recognized the number of his unit from his armband."

"Comrade Captain, you don't have to blame yourself." Sokov was actually quite ashamed in his heart. If he had learned more about the symbols of the various German troops before crossing, he might have known Tedel's uniform the moment he saw it. There is no need to waste time on interrogation for the number of the unit he is in. "I didn't recognize their armbands either."

   "Comrade Commander," Lunev had heard about the Viking Division's record before, and when he learned that the enemy he was about to face was actually the Viking Division, he couldn't help feeling hairy. He tentatively asked Sokov: "Do you think you can transfer troops from other places to participate in this attack?"

"Comrade Military Commissar, what's the matter with you?" Sokov looked at him strangely and asked in surprise, "You didn't hear from the prisoners that they only deployed two battalions on the high ground. Could it be that our three Thousand Fingers, are you still unable to destroy or drive away the enemy?"

   "Samoylov," Sokov caught a glimpse of Samoilov standing at the door, and called him loudly: "Come to me."

  Samoilov came to Sokov and asked, "Comrade Commander, what instructions do you have?"

   "Comrade Lieutenant, call the two commanders of the infantry division and the two commanders of the tank brigade to me immediately!"

When Samoilov went to find the four commanders, Sokov said to Kuzma: "Comrade fighter, I think you are a bit too humble to stay in the grassroots company. Let's do this, when I return to the headquarters later , you go back with me, there will be enough room for you to play."

   Hearing what Sokov said, Kuzma dared not express his opinion casually. Seeing his indecisive look, Mikhaiev said impatiently: "Comrade Kuzma, since the commander asked you to follow him back to the headquarters, you have nothing to worry about, just go back with him." .”

   Having obtained the permission of his immediate superior, Kuzma immediately gained confidence, and quickly turned to Sukov and said, "Comrade Commander, I will follow you back to the headquarters."

   Major Bunch and Lieutenant Colonel Chukliko were staying in a room not far away, and they came over immediately when Samoilov called. After the two entered the door, they asked Sokov curiously: "Comrade Commander, do you have any instructions?"

But Sokov did not immediately tell the two people the reason for calling them over, but pointed to the side and said: "You two sit down first, and after the two colonels Weissbach and Atakuz arrive, I will go back to you." I will tell you in detail."

  Since Weissbach and Atakuz were supervising the assembly of troops and arranging for manpower to move equipment to the armory in the south, everyone waited for a quarter of an hour before they appeared in the headquarters.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Sokov said, "Four comrades, I have called you here because I have something important to inform you. Not long ago, Captain Narva's company captured A German sergeant, after interrogation, confessed to us that the designation of the German troops stationed on the high ground was the Viking Division..."

  Sokov paused for a moment when he said this, wanting to see everyone's reaction. But after the four commanders listened to his words, they looked at him with such expressions, as if they were waiting for him to continue.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Sokov immediately realized that although these four are all division and brigade commanders, they don't know anything about the situation of the Viking Division. It seems that he needs to introduce them in detail , Let them all be aware of it, so that they will not suffer in the next battle.

  (end of this chapter)