Chapter 1577

   After Fomenko gave the order to his chief of staff, he felt that it was useless to strengthen his own defenses. If the Germans pass through unknown and hidden areas, it may also threaten the safety of the bridge.

  Thinking of this, Fomenko picked up the phone on the table and said into the microphone: "This is Fomenko, immediately connect me to the 254th Division Division, and find their division commander, Colonel Shechtman."

  Ma Nuoxin couldn't help asking: "Comrade commander, why are you calling the 254th Division?"

Fomenko, who was holding the microphone, looked at Manoshin and said: "Based on what I know about Comrade Commander, the 254th Division must have received the same order at this moment. I think Colonel Shechtman is also facing the same problem at this moment. Confusion in identifying camouflaged enemies."

"Comrade commander," Manoshin reminded Fomenko cautiously after figuring out Fomenko's intentions: "Your order is carried out in the jurisdiction of our division. If there is any problem, there is still a way to solve it. But if you introduce this method For the friendly army, if something goes wrong and leads to accidental injury, the superior may be held accountable."

"Comrade Commissar, you are right." Regarding Manoshin's kindness, Fomenko nodded and said: "But in the current situation, we can only take risks. Much better than letting the enemy pass through our defenses and blowing up bridges."

  Ma Nuoxin was silent for a long time, finally nodded and said: "Comrade commander, you are right, in order to prevent the Germans from infiltrating, we can only do this."

   Shechtman's voice came from the receiver: "I'm Shechtman, where are you?"

   "Hello, Comrade Colonel." Fomenko said into the microphone: "I am Fomenko."

   "So it's General Fomenko." Shechtman asked with a smile, "I don't know if you called me so late, what's the matter?"

   "Did the headquarters call you to raise your vigilance to prevent the German troops from passing through your defense zone along the banks of the Dnieper River?"

"That's right, not long ago, I received a call from General Sameko, the chief of staff of the Army Group, asking us to step up patrols and absolutely not allow the enemy's sabotage squad to pass through the defense zone." After Shechtman briefly introduced the situation, Somewhat annoyed, he said, "But according to the report, the enemy is wearing the uniform of our army. How to identify them is a headache for me."

  Fomenko didn't immediately say his solution, but asked instead: "So, you haven't figured out a good solution yet?"

"Hey, I can't think of any good way." Shechtman said with a sigh: "If our patrol team really encounters the enemy, when they conduct interrogation, the Germans may attack in advance, which will cause us serious damage." Huge casualties."

Now that Shechtman has said that he has no way to identify the disguised German army, Fomenko felt that the time was ripe, so he said his way openly: "Comrade Colonel, don't worry, I have a way, which can be done in the shortest possible time." identify camouflaged enemies within a fraction of the time."

"any solution?"

"According to our information, the Germans are in a group of 20 people, and each of them is carrying a big box in their hands." Fomenko said to Shechtman on the phone: "Comrade Colonel, you can tell your subordinates , As long as such troops are found, shoot immediately without hesitation."

"Comrade General," Shechtman seemed hesitant about the method proposed by Fomenko. Like Fomenko's chief of staff, he was worried that shooting rashly would accidentally injure his own people: "Shooting like this hastily , won’t accidentally hurt our own people?”

"No, Comrade Colonel." Fomenko replied: "You should know that our patrols are usually in teams of 12, never in teams of 20. And patrolling in the middle of the night, what are you doing with boxes in your hands? What else could be in the box besides the explosives that the enemy used to blow up the bridge?"

Fomenko's explanation made Shechtman nod repeatedly and said: "Comrade General, your method is good. I will immediately notify the following patrol team. As long as the number of people reaches 20, each of them is carrying a large box. The squad immediately opened fire without hesitation."

Shechtman readily agreed to use Fomenko's method to deal with the German sabotage squad disguised as the Soviet army, but he was stopped by the political commissar Colonel Billing before he called the patrol team below: "Comrade commander, What General Fomenko said is indeed very reasonable, but we can't act rashly. I think we should report it to the Army Group Command first, so that the commander can be aware of it. Even if there is an accidental injury, we can also have an explanation to the superior .”

Although Shechtman is willing to adopt Fomenko's method, he still has concerns in his heart. Hearing Bilin's suggestion at this moment, he nodded and said: "Comrade Comrade Commissar, what you said is very reasonable. , we must immediately report this matter to the headquarters to see what the commander means."

   Just like that, Shechtman's call reached the headquarters. As soon as he heard Sameko's voice, he reported the method proposed by Fomenko to the other party, and finally said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I would like to ask, can we use this method?"

This matter is of great importance, and Sameko did not dare to make a claim, so he turned his head and reported the situation to Sokov, and finally said: "Comrade Commander, Colonel Shechtman asked if this method can be used to Against a disguised enemy?"

Hearing Fomenko's method, Sokov couldn't help but his eyes lit up. It seems that there are still smart people in this era who can even come up with such a method, so he slapped the table with his hand, and then said: "Staff Comrade Chief, please tell Colonel Shechtman to follow the method of General Fomenko to identify the enemy disguised as our army. Tell him that as soon as you find a squad that echoes these two characteristics, you will immediately and without hesitation Shoot and shoot, and if any accidents happen, I will bear all the consequences."

   With Sokov's approval, Shechtman felt more at ease. But before he put down the phone, he thought of another situation, and quickly asked Sameko again: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I would like to ask, what if, what I said is a kind of what if. If the enemy is wiped out by us, we When the soldiers cleaned up the battlefield and were about to move, they would definitely take away the enemy’s explosives boxes. If other troops arrived at this time, would there be misunderstandings and fights between our own people and our own people?”

"Comrade Colonel, what's the matter with you?" After listening to Shechtman's narration, Sameko said, a little bit dumbfounded: "After destroying the enemy, you can't wait to clean up the battlefield? Can't you wait for dawn and better visibility? When the time comes, will you send someone to clean it?"

"Yes, yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, what you said is very reasonable." Hearing what Sameko said, Shechtman said repeatedly: "Then I will follow your idea and arrange people to clean the battlefield after dawn , collecting explosives from German corpses."

After finishing the call, Sokov handed Sameko a cigarette and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, according to the information I have received, the troops will be reorganized soon. The units under the Army Group will increase the organizational structure of the army. You said Said, in the future, several armies will be added, among the current division commanders, who can take the post of army commander?"

Sameko took the cigarette and put it in his mouth, lit a match, lit it for Sokov first, then lit the cigarette in his own mouth, took a sip, and said: "After increasing the organizational system of the army , if the superior does not directly airdrop the new army commander, I think the candidates for the army commander may be selected from General Fomenko and Colonel Chuvashov, because the divisions under their command have all been given the title of "Kharkov" city. A great honor to be named."

"I think General Fomenko is the most likely." Sokov said: "If Chuvashov is promoted to army commander, his rank must also be promoted. A commander of the infantry army cannot be wronged to be a colonel. rank."

"Although the 84th Division has made great achievements in the early stage of the battle." Sameko said: "But I always feel that General Fomenko's command ability is a little weak, and it is difficult to be alone. But after what happened tonight, My opinion of him has changed, and maybe he is the best candidate for the commander of the army."

While Sokov and Sameko were discussing the candidates for the future army commander, more than a dozen patrol teams of the 84th and 254th divisions received orders from the division headquarters. Most of the detachments with large boxes in their hands immediately fired without hesitation, without any reason.

After receiving the order, Colonel Prochenko, the head of the 762nd Regiment of the 254th Division, immediately called Chief of Staff Vanya to discuss: "Comrade Chief of Staff, this order from the superior is really strange. We only need to find a team with more than 20 soldiers. People, most of the squads with big boxes in their hands, immediately shot. Isn’t it afraid of accidental injury by doing this?”

Vanya, as Sokov's old subordinate, once followed Sokov in disguise as the German army and carried out many missions behind enemy lines. Naturally, he knew that it was not easy to see through his identity, especially at night, it was even more difficult . But the order issued by the superior now seems to be able to effectively distinguish between the enemy and the friend.

   "Comrade Commander, since the superior has issued such an order, I think we should carry it out unconditionally." Vanya said: "Although there is a possibility of accidentally injuring our own people, it is the best way to eliminate the disguised enemy."

"But I'm always worried." Although there was an order from the superior and Vanya explained, Prochenko still had a lot of worries: "If I really hurt my own people, I'm afraid the superior will not be able to explain it. "

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Vanya inferred from Prochenko's tone of voice that the other party was unwilling to carry out the orders of his superiors unconditionally, so he took the initiative to say: "If you are not at ease, I can command the patrol to stop the German sabotage squads trying to infiltrate our rear."

Seeing that Vanya was willing to take this hot potato, Prochenko was not polite, so he nodded and said: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, I will entrust you with the task of commanding the patrol to block the enemy's infiltration. Hope to hear good news from you soon."

  As the chief of staff of the regiment headquarters, Vanya knew the exact locations of the three patrols belonging to the regiment. After leaving the regiment headquarters with two soldiers, he rushed directly to the Dnieper River to find the patrols performing the patrol mission.

   After a few minutes, they encountered a team. Vanya called the captain and told him: "Comrade captain, there is a new order from the superior. Once you find a team with more than 18 people, and most of them are carrying large boxes in their hands, you will immediately go to the hospital without hesitation." shot at them."

The reason why Vanya said that there were more than 18 people, but did not directly say 20, was because he was worried that the patrol captains below were all single-minded. enough attention.

  After listening to Vanya's order, the patrol captain asked with some puzzlement: "Comrade Chief of Staff, even though these people are all wearing the uniforms of our army, do you not hesitate to shoot?"

   "That's right, even if the opponent is wearing the uniform of our army, you must shoot without hesitation."

   "You won't accidentally hurt your own people?"

   "Don't worry, Comrade Captain." Vanya explained to the other party: "We are going to intercept an enemy disguised as our army, and they are wearing our uniform."

   After figuring out what was going on, the captain said: "Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff, as soon as we see a squad that echoes the standard you mentioned, we will shoot immediately."

   After Vanya conveyed the order to this patrol team, he rushed to the next patrol team's activity location without stopping. In this way, it took him almost half an hour to convey the order to the three patrols.

Just as he was about to leave, a small detachment appeared vaguely by the river in the distance, and the captain of the third detachment hurriedly said to Vanya: "Comrade Chief of Staff, look quickly, there is a patrol team coming over there, it is our regiment." Is it?"

   "Probably not." Vanya shook his head and said, "The patrol area of ​​the other two patrols is not in that direction at all. How could it appear there?"

   "Could it be that the patrol team of the friendly army crossed the border?" The captain of the third team continued to speculate.

  Vanya did not speak, but raised the binoculars hanging around his neck and looked into the distance. Through the camera, he saw a relatively large patrol team walking towards his position with neat steps. He counted the number of people carefully, yes, it was 20 people. Looking at the other party's hands, they were basically carrying large boxes, and all of them hung MP40 submachine guns on their chests. It looked like a German sabotage team in disguise.

   "They're really here." After Vanya said this to himself, he put down the binoculars in his hand, turned his head and asked the captain of the third team: "Comrade captain, how many people do you have under your command?"

  The captain was taken aback for a moment, thinking that as the chief of staff, don’t you even know how many people are in the patrol team? But he still replied truthfully: "Including me, there are 12 people in total."

"There are only 12 people." Vanya turned and glanced at the two soldiers he had brought, sighed and said, "Maybe we are about to exchange fire with the enemy, but now with me and the people I brought, The total number of people is only 15, and it may not be easy to eliminate this enemy."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, this is easy to handle." The captain said carelessly: "I can immediately send someone to contact the first and second teams, and let them come here to support, and when we face the enemy, we can form a large number of troops." The advantages."

  Vanya considered that the two soldiers who came with him not only knew the location of the other two patrols, but also the two captains knew them, so it should be no problem for them to move the reinforcements. So he pointed at the two soldiers and gave them orders: "You go to the first team, you go to the second team. After introducing the situation here to the two captains, bring them all here. Do you understand?"

   "Understood." The two soldiers replied neatly.

  (end of this chapter)