Chapter 1967

  Sokov had just finished assigning a mission when a staff officer walked in from the outside. He came to Sokov and reported: "Comrade Commander, General Antoneta has sent a liaison officer to see you."

Knowing that Antoneta sent a liaison officer to see him, Sokov couldn't help showing a surprised expression on his face. He thought to himself: "Strange, why did Antoneta send a liaison officer to see me? Could it be that they also Want to follow my troops into Romania?"

  With such doubts, Sokov said to the staff: "Comrade staff, go and invite General Antoneta's liaison officer in."

   Soon, the staff officer appeared in front of Sokov with a Romanian officer. After the officer stepped forward to salute Sokov, he said respectfully, "Hi, General Sokov. I am General Antoneta's liaison officer, and he asked me to say hello to you."

  Although Sokov was anxious to command the battle, he still showed enough patience to the liaison officer sent by the friendly army: "Liaison officer, please convey my regards to General Antonetta after you go back."

  After the simple greetings, he returned to the subject: "Liaison officer, I don't know if you are here today, what's the matter?"

   "That's right, Your Excellency General." The liaison officer said, "General Antoneta, I would like to invite your subordinates to hold a friendly football match."

   Hearing what the other party said, Sokov almost grabbed the teacup on the table and threw it at him. He was too busy right now, and Antonetta actually had no time to engage in some friendly football matches.

  Smirnov, who was sitting next to him, saw Sokov's dissatisfaction, and quickly got up to smooth things over. He smiled and asked the liaison officer: "Liaison officer, I don't know when will General Antoneta's football friendly match be held?"

   "Three days later." When the liaison officer said this, he took a special look at Sokov. Seeing that he was silent, he quickly added: "If the time is too tight, it can be delayed to five or even seven days later."

  Smirnov didn't wait for Sokov to speak, and said, "I think it will be five days later."

After dismissing the liaison officer, Sameko said with some puzzlement: "What's the matter with this General Antoneta? Why did he suddenly think of some kind of football friendly match? Let's start."

   "Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov asked Smirnov curiously: "Tell me, why did General Antoneta propose to have a friendly football match with us at this time?"

"In my opinion, General Antonetta did this to shorten the relationship with us." Smirnov analyzed to Sokov and the others: "We have been progressing smoothly during this period, and more and more The troops have entered Romania. I think General Antoneta must be very clear about this.

  As we have more troops entering Romania, it is only a matter of time before Bucharest is liberated. General Antoneta realized that if he does not maintain a good relationship with us, he will be marginalized by us sooner or later, so he came up with such a move. "

After listening to Smirnov's analysis, Sokov nodded and said, "It makes sense, it makes sense. At the beginning, General Antonetta was a very important figure to us. But as we occupied The number of cities has increased, and more and more Romanian generals are cooperating with us, so his role is not as good as before."

   At this time, another staff officer came in and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, Colonel Udrea, the commander of the Romanian 52nd Infantry Regiment, has come and said that he has something important to see you."

   "No." Sokov said without hesitation: "Maybe it's for the friendly football match again. I'm so busy now, how can I have time to receive him?"

"Wait a minute," just as the staff officer turned to leave, he was stopped by Smirnov: "Comrade Commander, the friendliest to us in the Romanian 18th Division is Colonel Udrea. I think it's better to meet, if he makes any unreasonable demands, at worst, just refuse him."

  Smirnov's words made Sokov change his mind: "Okay, then see you. Comrade Staff, go and invite Colonel Udrea in!"

   Not long after, Udrea walked into the headquarters under the leadership of the staff officer.

  He came to Sokov, raised his hand to salute, and said respectfully: "Hello, General Sokov, I hope my arrival will not affect you."

   "No, Colonel Udrea." Sokov said insincerely: "Your arrival did not have any bad influence on us."

   "That's good." Udrea nodded, and then said: "I came here today, and I want to ask you to agree to something."

  Knowing that the other party really had something to look for him, Sokov could not help but ask a little coldly: "What is it?"

"It's like this, General Sokov." Udrea said cautiously: "My troops stay in the position doing nothing every day. I'm worried that something will happen after a long time. So I want to ask you to let me troops, fight side by side with your troops against the common enemy."

  Udrea's request surprised Sokov. He didn't expect the other party to make a request to fight side by side. This proposal really moved him, but he still had a lot of worries in his heart: first, how powerful the Romanian army was; second, what kind of reaction would they have when they faced their former comrades-in-arms?

  With such doubts, he asked: "Colonel Udrea, I would like to ask, if your troops encounter the same number of German troops, how long can you last?"

Sokov's question was a bit rude, but Udrea said disapprovingly: "General Sokov, to tell you the truth, our regiment's combat effectiveness is the strongest in the 18th Division. If you encounter the same number of German troops , as long as they don't have tanks or armored vehicles, we can last at least a day."

   "Oh, can it last for a day?" Sokov was also surprised by Udrea's reply. He thought the other party would reply that it was an hour or two. But after thinking about it, this is not Udrea bragging, is it? If I believed him blindly, when the troops went to the battlefield and faced the rushing German army, they would collapse in an instant, and I would tentatively ask: "Colonel Udrea, is this true?"

   "Of course it is true." Udrea nodded and replied in a positive tone: "I have such confidence."

"Comrade Commander," Sameko came over at this time, leaned close to Sokov's ear and whispered: "Aren't we going to deploy two divisions to rescue the 52nd Army? I think it's better to organize his troops into the In the reinforcements, let’s see how strong they are.”

   Sokov agrees very much with Sameko's suggestion. Let Udrea's 52nd Infantry Regiment fight in an area surrounded by Soviet troops, and don't worry that they will come out. The only thing to worry about is how long they can last under the strong German offensive.

However, before formally agreeing to Udrea's proposal, Sokov continued to ask his own concerns: "Colonel Udrea, I wonder if you have ever thought that if you really go to the battlefield and fight with us, you will It is inevitable that you will meet your former comrades-in-arms, what will you do then?"

Udrea obviously considered the questions Sokov would ask before coming here, and said with confidence: "General Sokov, you don't have to worry about this. If you meet former comrades-in-arms, I will persuade them to give up Pointless resistance. If they don't listen, I will cooperate with your troops to wipe them out completely."

To Udrea's answer, Sokov nodded with satisfaction, and then said: "Colonel Udrea, we happen to have troops planning to attack the German army. If you don't object, I plan to incorporate your regiment into This army. I don't know what you want?"

  After hearing this, Udrea showed an excited expression on his face, and he asked urgently: "General Sukov, I wonder where you plan to arrange my troops to fight?"

Sokov called Udrea to the front of the map, pointed to the position where the 52nd Army was blocked by the German army and said: "Colonel Udrea, we are about to launch an attack on the German army here. Now the troops participating in the attack are gathering. , I plan to incorporate your regiment into the offensive force. When the time is right, I can launch an attack on the German defensive positions."

Udrea looked closely at the map, secretly calculated the possible dangers his troops might face after joining the war, finally nodded and said, "General Sokov, my troops are at your command. You want to arrange for us to We will fight wherever we are."

  Since Udrea promised so readily, Sokov was naturally unambiguous. He called Sameko and said: "Immediately put Colonel Udrea's 52nd Regiment into the combat sequence of the 116th Infantry Division."

   "Okay, Comrade Commander." Sameko nodded and said, "I will call Colonel Stirlitz immediately and tell him the good news."

   While Sameko was on the phone, Sokov smiled and asked Udrea: "Colonel Udrea, how did you think of joining us to fight against the Germans?"

"General Sokov, the matter has come to this point, so I won't hide it from you." Udrea said: "Actually, the division commander, General Antoneta, was the first to propose this idea. But he was worried that you would not believe him, So we are going to hold a friendly football match to get closer to each other, and then bring up this matter, so it won’t appear too abrupt.”

Sokov was stunned when he heard what Udrea said. He didn't expect that his judgment on Antonetta was wrong, and he thought that the other party proposed to hold a football friendly match in order to shorten the relationship between them. But now it seems that the opponent is breaking up and letting his troops participate in the battle against the Germans. Maybe he is worried that he will disagree, so he thinks of a football friendly match.

   Wanting to understand this, he asked with some embarrassment: "Colonel Udrea, since General Antonetta intends to fight with us, why didn't he directly mention it, but made such a big circle?"

   "I have already said." Udrea replied: "He is worried that you don't trust him and is unwilling to let our troops fight alongside you."

   "Then you took the initiative to ask me today, is it General Antoneta's instruction, or is it your own behavior?"

"Of course it's my personal behavior." Udrea explained to Sokov: "I asked the liaison officer not long ago, and he said that you plan to arrange the football friendly match seven days later, that is to say, we want to meet with you. It will take at least seven days to fight side by side. I don't have the patience to wait that long, so I hurried over."

"It turned out to be like this." After Sukov figured out the ins and outs, he had a new idea in his heart. He turned to Smirnov and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, I would like to trouble you to go to the division headquarters of the 18th Division and talk to Ann. Talk to General Donnetta. If he really wants to fight with us, he can just ask him directly, without going through such a big circle. You know, the weather today is not suitable for playing football."

   Upon hearing this, Udrea, who was next to him, quickly took the initiative to say: "General Sokov, if you agree, I can send General Smirnov to the division headquarters."

   "That would be the best." Sokov nodded in agreement with Udrea's request, and said to Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, then you can go with Colonel Udrea."

After Smirnov left with Udrea, Sameko said with emotion: "Comrade commander, with the Romanian army fighting side by side with us, the next battle will be much easier. Those who blocked the advance of the 52nd Army There are a considerable number of Romanian troops in the army, if General Antonetta and his troops can disintegrate this part of the enemy army, then the price we pay will be much smaller."

"Well, I think so too." Sokov continued: "That's why I asked General Smirnov to contact General Antonetta as soon as possible. Since they are willing to fight side by side with us, let them join the battle earlier , there is no need to wait another week."

Trofimenko considered the issue from a different angle than Sokov. When everyone stopped talking, he interrupted and asked: "Comrade Commander, it is not a small matter to have the Romanian army fight side by side with us. You see, Should it be reported to the Front Command immediately?"

"That's right, this matter should be reported." When General Antonetta chose to cooperate with the Soviet army, Sokov once reported to Konev. Now the other party directly proposes to fight side by side with his troops and fight together. The German invaders, there is no reason not to report such an important matter, "Director of the Communications Corps, immediately connect me to the Front Army Command."

   A few minutes later, the phone of the Front Army Command was connected, and Sokov reported to Zakharov who answered the phone: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I have something important to report to Marshal Konev immediately."

"Marshal Konev is not at the headquarters, he went to inspect the troops." Zakharov simply said that Konev was not at the headquarters, but did not explain where he went, and then asked bluntly: "Have you It's the same for me when it comes to important things."

"Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, this is the situation." Sokov sent Antonetta to contact him, under the banner of a friendly football match, and asked Zakharov to explain in detail to Zakharov that he wanted to fight side by side with his troops. After reporting it again, he finally said: "I think this matter is of great importance, so I will report it to the Front Army Command in advance."

  (end of this chapter)