Chapter 1794

   When Sokov returned to the headquarters, he saw Ponedelin chatting with Smirnov and Gorokhov, and raised his voice to greet the three: "Commanders, how are you!"

  The three people who were talking turned their heads in unison, looking in the direction where the voice came from. Seeing clearly that it was Sokov, the three of them stood up straight, and Ponejielin, who was the closest, greeted him first: "Comrade Commander, you are back!"

   "Yes, I'm back." Sokov reached out and shook hands with Ponegerin, and asked impatiently, "How is it? Is there any news from the scouts we sent?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Smirnov nodded and said, "We are studying the report sent back by the scouts... My God!" There is an extra gold star, "Comrade Commander, am I not mistaken, there are three stars on your epaulets?"

  After Smirnov reminded, Ponedelin and Gorokhov also discovered this detail. Pornegelin asked in surprise: "Comrade Commander, you are actually wearing the epaulets of an admiral! What's going on here?"

  Sukov was suddenly promoted to the rank of admiral, and he couldn't help but feel a little proud. Hearing Pornejelin's question at this moment, he told the three people what happened in detail.

  After listening to Sokov's narration, Gorokhov first extended his hand to him: "Comrade Commander, please accept my congratulations! Congratulations on obtaining a higher military rank."

   Then Smirnov and Ponejielin also expressed the same meaning, congratulating Sokov on being promoted to general. After the congratulations of the two ended, the staff officers and communications personnel in the headquarters who knew about the incident, regardless of their ranks, stepped forward to congratulate Sokov.

   You must know that the promotion of a group army commander to general means the recognition of the unit by the superior. As a member of the 53rd Army, each of Sokov's subordinates is honored.

  Just after accepting the congratulations from the members of the headquarters, the phone on the table rang again. This time it was Kurishenko, the commander of the 41st Guards Division. He said sincerely: "Comrade Commander, I heard that you have won the rank of general. On behalf of the commanders and fighters of the whole division, I would like to extend my congratulations to you!"

  After Sokov expressed his gratitude to the other party, he suddenly thought of a very important question. Only the people in the headquarters knew about his being promoted. How did Kurishenko, who was more than ten kilometers away, know? With this question in mind, he asked, "Comrade General, I would like to ask, how did you get this news?"

  Unexpectedly, Kurishenko smiled and said, "Comrade Commander, I naturally have my own news channel."

Hearing that the other party said that he had his own news channel, Sokov couldn't help but glanced at the busy staff and communication personnel not far away, wondering if it was one of these people who revealed the news to Kurishenko .

Hearing that Sokov was silent, Kurishenko immediately guessed that he might be suspicious of someone in the headquarters, so he smiled and said: "Comrade commander, you must never doubt the comrades in the headquarters, they can I was not informed. I got the information about your promotion from the Front Army Command."

   Hearing what Kurishenko said, Sokov realized that he had wrongly blamed his subordinates, so he laughed twice, chatted with Kurishenko for a few more words, and then put down the phone.

   But to my surprise, just as the phone was put down, the bell rang again. This time it was Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov, commander of the 252nd Infantry Division, who also congratulated Sokov.

   Just like that, the commanders of the infantry divisions and tank brigades all called the army headquarters to express their heartfelt congratulations to Sokov who was promoted.

   Finally, no calls came in, and Sokov returned to the subject: "Comrade Chief of Staff, tell me, what information does our scout send back?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Smirnov pushed the map in front of Sokov, pointed to the southwest direction of Uman and said, "According to your instructions, our scouts carried out reconnaissance in this area overnight. On the edge of the forest, they found a heavily guarded area, which may be an open pit where our prisoners of war were held."

   "Maybe it is?" Sokov frowned and said, "Why, didn't they come to scout at all?"

"There is no way to get close." Smirnov shook his head and said, "There are multiple layers of barbed wire on the periphery of that area. According to the scouts' observations, there are even minefields. At the same time, the German patrols with military dogs have been Patrolling this area, our scouts simply cannot get close."

"The German army's defense here is so tight, it must be an important target." When Sokov learned that the German army had barbed wire and minefields in the area, and there were even patrols with dogs, he did not blame the scouts. After completing the task, he continued to ask: "Besides this purple, did the scouts send any other useful information back?"

  Smirnov thought for a while, and replied: "There is another situation, I don't know whether I should report it."

   "Let's talk, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov looked at Smirnov and said, "Every detail that the scouts report back is very important."

"Our scouts found a device similar to a conveyor belt in that area." Smirnov organized the vocabulary in his mind, and continued: "According to the scouts' description, this teleportation device is very short, probably It's only 20 meters long. I've been thinking about it for a long time, but I can't think of any use for such a device."

  Sokov became more and more confused the more he listened: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what kind of teleportation device can you draw?"

Smirnov nodded, then called a staff officer, and said to him: "Comrade staff, you have read the report sent back by the scouts. You can spend the transmission device described by the scouts to the commander Do you want to see?"

   "No problem." The staff officer agreed, immediately picked up a pencil, and started to draw on the blank paper.

When he saw the teleportation device formed by the staff, Sokov couldn't help but become short of breath, and a terrifying thought suddenly flashed in his mind: Oh my god, this is not the launch track of the German V1 missile ?

  But on second thought, probably not. You know, the first time the Germans used V1 missiles was on June 12 after the Allied forces landed in Normandy. They launched 10 V1 missiles to London from the military base in Edam in northern France, but only four of them flew over England. The strait fell on the land of the British Peninsula, causing 6 deaths and 9 injuries. Although the direct casualties and damage were not too serious, it caused panic in the city.

   "Comrade Commander," Smirnov and other staff members drew the picture, handed it to Sokov, and said, "According to the description of the scouts, this is the teleportation device they found."

   "Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov snatched the picture from Smirnov's hand, and asked while looking at it, "Can you confirm that this is what the scout saw?"

  Smirnov did not answer, but turned his questioning gaze to the staff officer who had just finished drawing the picture. The staff officer who understood it quickly took a step forward, and replied loudly in an affirmative tone: "That's right, Comrade Commander. When I was talking to the scouts, I checked the details repeatedly. There is absolutely no mistake in this drawing."

   Seeing Sokov frowning, Ponegerin asked quickly: "Comrade Commander, does this drawing remind you of anything?"

   "I think this should be a new type of weapon of the Germans." Although Sokov doubted this device in his heart, it was prepared for the V1 missile. He pointed at Smirnov with his hand and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, please contact the scouts immediately and let them carry out further reconnaissance on this transmission device."

   "Further reconnaissance on the teleportation device?" Sokov's words made Smirnov feel very confused: "Then the open pit is no longer found?"

   "Rescuing the commanders and fighters in the open pit is of course very important." Sokov frowned and said: "But our current task is to find out what the German teleportation device is for?"

   "Maybe the Germans plan to mine nearby," Smirnov said according to his own analysis: "This transmission device is used for mineral processing."

"It's not that simple, my Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov waited for the other party to finish speaking, and immediately denied his guess: "According to my judgment, the transmission device seen by the scouts was the Germans' intention to launch a certain For a new type of weapon."

   "Firing a new type of weapon?" Smirnov asked blankly, "What weapon?"

  Sokov thought for a while, and then replied: "I think it should be similar to our new rockets, but the German rockets fly farther and are more powerful."

  Smirnov heard what Sokov said, and asked dubiously: "Comrade Commander, tell me, where can this new German rocket reach?"

   "How far is it from Uman to Kyiv?"

  Although he didn’t understand why Sokov asked about the distance from Uman to Kyiv, Smirnov still truthfully replied: “The straight-line distance between the two places is 210 kilometers.”

   "How far is it from Uman to us?"

   "102 kilometers."

After understanding the data he wanted to know, Sokov said: "I boldly guess that if the Germans really choose the southwest direction of Uman as the launch point, then their strike range should be able to cover Kyiv and Cheshire. vast area of ​​Elkasyr."

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Smirnov laughed, "Comrade commander, you really know how to joke. You know, the longest range of Katyusha rocket launchers and new rockets is only 8,500 meters. German-made weapons No matter how powerful it is, can it hit a target two to three hundred kilometers away?"

Seeing that the other party didn't believe his words, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little angry: "Comrade Chief of Staff, in the past, apart from airplanes, there was indeed no weapon capable of attacking targets one or two hundred kilometers away. But it didn't exist before, which doesn't mean it won't be in the future." No, the conveyor belt-like device discovered by the scouts this time is the track for launching this weapon."

   "Impossible, this is absolutely impossible." Smirnov retorted: "I don't believe that the Germans can create targets that can be attacked one or two hundred kilometers away."

"Facts speak louder than words, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov didn't want to quarrel with Smirnov over such a matter, so he said calmly: "You immediately contact the scouts and ask them to abandon their original plan and concentrate all With the power to conduct a detailed reconnaissance of this conveyor belt-like device."

Don't look at the dispute between Smirnov and Sokov just now, but it was just a difference of opinion, and there was no contradiction between the two, so when they heard Sokov's order, they readily agreed: "Okay Yes, I will immediately ask the Director of Reconnaissance to give the scouts an order to let them figure out what kind of device it is."

   "Wait a minute, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov finally told Smirnov: "You have to tell them to see if the Germans put something similar to an airplane on the conveyor belt."

  Although Smirnov agreed very simply, he didn't take it seriously in his heart. He thought how the plane could be placed on the conveyor belt. The commander's idea is really weird. But after thinking about it, since Sokov issued an order, Smirnov still had to strictly implement it. He immediately called the chief of the reconnaissance department and asked him to notify the scouts near Uman to temporarily abandon the search for the open pit. , Concentrate on figuring out the reasons why the Germans are so heavily guarded.

   Unexpectedly, the telegram from the director of reconnaissance had not been sent yet, and the scouts near Uman sent a new telegram first. After reading the telegram, the director of reconnaissance immediately went to the headquarters, preparing to personally report the latest situation to Sokov and Smirnov.

  Smirnov saw the chief of reconnaissance walking in from the outside, and asked quickly: "Comrade chief, has the telegram to the reconnaissance team near Uman been sent?"

   "Not yet, Comrade Chief of Staff."

  Smirnov sternly said, "Didn't I tell you that this matter is urgent? Why didn't you obey my order?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, please listen to my explanation." The chief of reconnaissance said quickly: "Before I had time to send a telegram, the scouts near Uman sent me a telegram. After reading the content, I think it is very important , I will personally report to you and Comrade Commander."

   "Where is the telegram?"

  The director of reconnaissance quickly passed the telegram in his hand to Smirnov: "Here, here it is."

  Smirnov took the telegram and quickly glanced at the content, the more shocked he looked. After reading the telegram, he looked at Sokov and said with a strange expression: "Comrade commander, you have guessed everything. After dawn, I saw something similar to an airplane put by the Germans on the conveyor belt." Come on." With that, he handed the telegram to Sokov.

  After reading the telegram, Sokov breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. It seemed that his judgment was correct. The device similar to the conveyor belt that the scouts saw at night was the track used by the Germans to launch the V1 missile.

   But he was only happy for a moment, and he couldn't help frowning again. Although he knew the existence of the German V1 missile, according to the situation reported by the scouts, the Germans were preparing to launch it. But Sokov didn't know where the attack target was. Even if he wanted to warn him, he didn't know where to contact him. If you can't help but notify all places that may be attacked, it may cause unnecessary panic.

"Comrade Commander," Smirnov saw that Sokov was holding the telegram in a daze, and quickly pushed him with his hand. When the other party looked at him, he continued to ask: "What should we do next? "

  (end of this chapter)