On the way back to the headquarters, Sokov was thinking about how to deal with the patrol leader. Although he did not dare to take things belonging to ordinary people without authorization, according to Jamon, the Odzanski family was suspected of collaborating with the enemy. Did the German scouts enter his house by accident, or did his son arrange it for them? Accommodation, this is hard to say.

  If this family is really collaborating with the enemy, there seems to be nothing wrong with their subordinates taking things from his house. The things they took belong to the enemy, and in their hands, they should be regarded as spoils of war.

   Just as Sokov was thinking wildly, he suddenly felt someone touching his arm. He turned his head and saw that it was Ponejelin. Seeing Sokov looking at him, Ponegerin asked quickly, "Comrade Commander, what do you plan to do with that captain?"

  If Ponejelin asked this before going to the village, Sokov would definitely say that he would deal with it seriously without hesitation. But at this moment, he seemed very hesitant, not knowing whether he should deal with the captain. After a long time, he sighed softly, and said, "Forget it, let's not make an example, just forget it this time."

  As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Koshkin, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, seemed to let out a long sigh, feeling relieved.

"Comrade Commander." Although during this trip to the village, Ponejielin also felt that the patrol captain should not be punished, but at this moment, after hearing what Sokov said, he was a little uncertain why the other party would do this, so he tried He asked eagerly: "Do you really think that what the village chief Jamong said is true?"

Sokov knew very well in his heart that Jamon hated Odzansky's son very much. This pig took away his own pig no matter how much it stole its own cabbage. It is estimated that when Weng and his son-in-law met, he would bite him to death I have every idea. In this case, what he said must have a certain tendency.

"Comrade Deputy Commander, I understand what you want to express." Sokov said to Ponejerin: "The situation here is very complicated now. Whether what Jamon said is true or not, we can only believe Half. Koshkin." What he said later was to Koshkin who was sitting in the passenger seat.

   "Comrade Commander," Koshkin asked hastily, half-turning his body, "what instructions do you have?"

"Send two people to monitor that Odzansky." Sokov said to Koshkin: "Although I haven't seen him today, I always feel that there is something wrong with him. We must keep a close eye on him. If you find anything, report it to me in time."

  As soon as Sokov returned to the headquarters, he heard Sidolin say to himself: "Comrade Commander, you are finally back. Comrade Marshal has called you twice."

   "Marshal called me?" Sokov asked back: "Is there anything he wants?"

   "I don't know." Sidolin shook his head: "Comrade Marshal didn't say anything, but asked you to call him immediately after you come back."

  Although Sokov didn't understand why Rokossovsky was in a hurry to find him, but during the time he was away, he actually called twice, so there must be something important. He didn't dare to be negligent, and quickly ordered the director of the communications corps to get through the phone of the front army headquarters.

  After hearing Rokossovsky's voice, he hurriedly said: "Hello, Comrade Marshal, I am Sokov. Please call me, do you have any important instructions?"

   "Where did you go and how did you come back?"

   "I went to a nearby village." Sokov felt that it was not appropriate to talk about the patrol captain at this moment, so he said lightly, "I also had a meal at the village chief's house."

"It seems that you have a good relationship with the local people." After Rokossovsky said this, he got back to business: "Misha, I called you for two purposes. One is to congratulate you New Year; Second, I would like to ask, are your troops ready for battle?"

  Hearing Rokossovsky's question, Sokov suddenly thought of an important thing. The Ardennes counterattack launched by the Germans in the later period of the war should be during this period. He silently calculated that in the early stage of this battle, because the U.S. military did not expect that the dying German army would come back with a Jedi counterattack, they were immediately beaten to the ground, and even two regiments of the elite 106th Infantry Division were organized to fight back. German troops surrender.

  Since thinking of the Ardennes counterattack, Sokov guessed the main reason for Rokossovsky's call. Because of the critical situation of the U.S. military, Roosevelt asked Stalin for help, hoping that the Soviet army could act in time to contain the German army so that they could not send more troops to the Ardennes area, thereby easing the pressure on the Allied forces in the area.

  Thinking of this, Sokov tentatively asked: "Comrade Marshal, is the offensive going to be advanced?"

"Yes, Misha." Seeing that Sokov guessed his intention so easily, Rokossovsky did not hide it, but nodded and said: "Maybe in the near future, we will have The enemy is launching a new round of attack. Before that, I must first understand how prepared you are."

"Please rest assured, Comrade Marshal." After such a long period of preparation, Sokov knew very well that even if the offensive campaign starts tomorrow, his troops can still go into battle, so he said confidently: "My troops have already done Everything is ready for battle, and you can go into battle at any time."

"Very good! Very good!" After Rokossovsky said two things were very good, he suddenly said: "By the way, Chuikov called me not long ago and said he wanted to chat with you. If you have time If so, remember to give him a call."

  When Sokov put down the phone, Ponejielin leaned over and asked curiously: "Strange, why did our offense advance?"

   As an insider from later generations, Sokov naturally would not tell them that the U.S. military was beaten by the Germans in the Ardennes area to the point of crying, and they had to ask the Soviets for help. The purpose of launching an offensive campaign in advance is to attract the attention of the German army and prevent the German high command from diverting its attention to the west.

But since Ponegerin asked this question, Sokov couldn't answer it. He could only pretend to think about it, and then said: "I don't know the specific situation. But since an offensive campaign is going to be launched in advance, I think it must have been ordered by the Supreme Command."

  As soon as Sukov mentioned the Supreme Command, Ponegerin knew that even if he kept asking about this matter, he might not get the answer he wanted, so he shut his mouth wisely.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov turned to Sidolin and said, "Just now the Marshal told me that when Chuikov was going to call him, he hoped that I could call him back. You have a way to get through the call over there. ?"

  Since Sokov's troops are still in the First Belarusian Front, calling Chuikov is a piece of cake. But now they belong to different fronts, and it is much more troublesome to make a phone call. Sure enough, after hearing Sukov's words, Sidolin seemed a little hesitant: "Although it is a bit troublesome, it is not a big problem to call General Chuikov."

   With the help of the communications chief, Sokov finally got through to Chuikov's headquarters.

The person who answered the phone was Chief of Staff Beleyavsky. He was very happy to hear Sokov's voice and said loudly: "General Sokov, Happy New Year! I am very happy to hear your voice. May I ask you What's the matter?"

"Hello, General Beleyavsky. I wish you a happy new year too!" After expressing the basic greetings, Sokov went straight to the point: "Is General Chuikov there? I called him specifically. .”

"Comrade Commander is not here." Hearing that Sokov wanted to find Chuikov, Beleyavsky said apologetically, "If you have anything to do, you can tell me. he."

"It's fine if he's not here." Sukov thought that it was Chuikov who called him, and since he was not here at the moment, he couldn't say something clearly for a while, so he replied vaguely: "Then I will call later." .”

Just when Sokov was about to hang up the phone, he heard Belevsky exclaim: "General Sokov, please don't hang up the phone yet, the commander seems to be back." Then, Soko The husband heard Beleyavsky shouting loudly on the other end of the phone, "Comrade Commander, phone, your phone."

  Sokov first heard a rush of footsteps, and then came Chuikov's familiar voice: "Chief of Staff, who is calling?"

   "It's General Sokov, commander of the 48th Army, calling. He seems to have something to ask you."

   "Hello, General Sokov." Chuikov's clear voice came from the receiver: "I am Chuikov!"

   "Hello, General Chuikov!" Sokov was stunned for a moment after saying this, and hurriedly added: "Happy New Year!"

"Happy New Year!"

"General Chuikov," after saying hello, Sokov began to ask questions he cared about: "When I called Comrade Marshal, he told me that you had called him before and asked me to call him at a convenient time. Give you a call."

   After hearing Sokov's question, Chuikov fell silent.

   Noticing that there was no sound in the receiver, Sokov's first reaction was that the other party hung up the phone, but after listening carefully, he found that he could still vaguely hear some movement from the other party's headquarters. Obviously, Chuikov didn't hang up the phone, he just didn't speak.

  Sokov became more and more curious. Cuikov asked himself to call him, but he didn't say a word after the phone call. What does this mean?

   Just when Sokov was about to ask a question, Chuikov spoke first: "General Sokov, actually I asked you to call me, it is a difficult thing, I want to ask you for help."

   "An embarrassment?!" Sokov said in his heart: You have an embarrassment, how can I help you? Thinking of this, he tentatively asked: "General Chuikov, what embarrassing things do you have?"

   "It's about Sidolin."

Hearing this, Sokov couldn't help being startled. He glanced at Sidolin and Ponejielin standing not far away, then covered the microphone with his hand, and said to the two: "Comrade Chief of Staff, Deputy Commander , I have something important to tell General Chuikov, please avoid it for a while."

   You know, when Sokov called, there was never a situation where others avoided him, so Sidolin and Ponejielin couldn't help showing strange expressions on their faces when they heard what Sokov said. But since he had already spoken, it didn't seem good to stand here any longer, so the two nodded and turned to leave. At the same time, he ordered the staff in the room not to approach Sokov, so as not to disturb his conversation with the friendly commander.

After Sidolin and Ponedelin left, Sokov let go of his hand covering the microphone and said, "General Chuikov, my chief of staff and deputy commander have gone away. If you have anything to say, please Straight up."

"That's right, General Sokov." Chuikov continued: "Yesterday I received an order from Marshal Zhukov to intensify our reconnaissance behind enemy lines. In order to effectively implement the Marshal's order, I sent many reconnaissance teams , one of the teams is Lieutenant Sidolin..."

"Wait a minute, General Chuikov." When Sokov heard Chuikov mention the surname Sidolin, he interrupted him and asked tentatively, "Is the Lieutenant Sidolin you are talking about my chief of staff?" General Sidolin's son?"

   "That's right, that's him." Chuikov said in a positive tone: "He is the youngest lieutenant in our army, and he just turned 18 this year."

  Sokov understood at this time that the embarrassment Chuikov said must have something to do with little Sidolin. After humming, he said: "Please continue."

"His reconnaissance team captured a staff officer of the German army and seized an important piece of military intelligence during the mission." Cuikov continued on the other end of the phone: "But on the way back, the German army discovered In order to ensure that the information can be sent back smoothly, Little Xidolin led three scouts to cover the transfer of two scouts carrying information."

  Hearing this, Sokov couldn't help but thump in his heart, wondering if little Sidolin died while covering the transfer of his comrades-in-arms? Although he remembered that Sidolin lived to the end of the war and even served as a regimental commander in the 1950s. But he was worried that the fate of little Sidolin might change because of his appearance. You know, as Chuikov’s subordinate Sidolin, he died in the battle of Stalingrad, but because of his own existence, Not only did he survive, he is now his own chief of staff and a general. Could it be that the fate of sacrifice will be passed on to little Sidorin?

  But the next moment, Sokov realized that his guess was wrong, and it was very wrong. Chuikov continued: "At that time, a nearby army heard the sound of firefighting nearby, and immediately rushed to the rescue, drove away the enemy, and rescued Xiao Siduolin and the others."

   "So, little Sidolin and the others are out of danger."

   "Yes, escape."

Hearing this, Sokov couldn't help but wondered: "General Chuikov, little Sidorin encountered a little danger during the mission, but he is now safe. If you have anything, you can tell my chief of staff directly. , there is nothing to worry about."

"General Sokov, if it really went so smoothly, that would be great." Chuikov continued: "When they returned to our army's position, they were bombarded by the Germans. There was an explosion not far away, and the two soldiers next to the bombing point were blown out of sight at that time, and Xiao Siduolin was also cut down by the flying shrapnel."

Hearing this, Sokov confirmed that his guess was correct. The reason why Cuikov didn't dare to call his headquarters directly was probably because something happened to Sidorin, and he didn't know how to face his former subordinates. .