Chapter 2239

  The next night, Sokov received a telegram from the scouts on the other side, which introduced in detail the enemy situation they had detected.

After seeing the contents of the telegram, Sokov couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise: The fortifications built by the German army on the west bank of the West Oder River reached a depth of ten kilometers, consisting of two to three positions, each with one or two lines Long trenches. There is a firepower point every 10 to 15 meters on the river bank, and they are connected with each other by traffic trenches and trenches.

   At the end of the telegram, it was specifically mentioned that they captured a German staff officer and found important documents of the German army from the briefcase he was carrying. However, since no one in the reconnaissance team could speak German, he could not be interrogated. Ask if the German staff officer should be sent back, and the headquarters will send someone for interrogation.

  After reading the telegram, Sokov handed it to Sidolin, and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, among the scouts sent to the enemy's rear this time, is there anyone who knows German?"

Sidolin didn't understand what Sokov meant when he asked this question at first, but after quickly browsing the contents of the telegram, he finally understood what was going on, and quickly said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I will give the Reconnaissance Office Give me a call and find out what's going on."

A few minutes later, Sidolin, who finished the phone call, reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, among the five groups of scouts sent, there were two interpreters. However, they were all killed when they encountered German artillery shelling. And The group that managed to cross the river happened to have no German translation."

"That's such a pity." Sokov knew very well that if the scouts didn't understand German, they wouldn't be able to understand what was written in the German army documents, and they wouldn't be able to interrogate the captured German staff officers. , He could only say to Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the scouts have completed their own tasks, let them all withdraw."

   "Okay, Comrade Commander." Sidolin nodded and said, "We will immediately ask the Director of Reconnaissance to send them a telegram, and let the reconnaissance team withdraw with the German prisoners."

   Taking advantage of Sidolin's phone call, Sokov called the Front Army Command and reported the information detected by the reconnaissance team to Rokossovsky in detail. Rokossovsky was reading a reconnaissance report from the Air Force before receiving the call from Sokov. After waiting for Sokov to finish speaking, he added: "Misha, don't let your people withdraw in a hurry. I just received a reconnaissance report from the Air Force. There are many photos in it. To the southwest, there is a large armored force. I want your men to go to the area and find out the size of the German armored force."

"Okay, Comrade Marshal." Knowing that a huge German armored force was deployed to the southwest of the reconnaissance team, Sokov immediately became restless. The enemy will be this armored force. He doesn't think that a force lacking heavy weapons is capable of repelling such a large armored force. Therefore, we must first figure out the real strength of the enemy before we can formulate corresponding countermeasures. "I will send a reconnaissance team to the area to verify."

Seeing that Sidolin's call hadn't finished, Sokov quickly stopped him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the order to withdraw the reconnaissance team is cancelled. Let them use the cover of night to move to the southwest, where the German troops are deployed. Let them find out the real strength of the German army."

Sidolin was taken aback by Sokov's words. He nodded subconsciously, and then said into the microphone: "Comrade Chief, the situation has changed. The reconnaissance team should not withdraw for the time being. The commander said that in the southwest direction of the reconnaissance team, The Germans deployed a large armored force, and you sent a reconnaissance team to go to the area to conduct reconnaissance and find out the size of the German armored force."

After Sidolin put down the phone, he asked Sokov in surprise: "Comrade Commander, if the German army really deployed a huge armored force on the other side, and they attacked after our army landed, would we, who lack heavy weapons, Army troops would be driven into the Siode River by the enemy."

"Yeah, I think so too." Sokov nodded and said, "That's why we need to send scouts to carry out reconnaissance. If the German army really deploys a huge armored force, it can only be done when our army lands. Please ask the Front Army Command to dispatch the air force to bomb the German armored units deployed here, so as to reduce the attack strength of our army after landing."

  The leader of the reconnaissance team performing reconnaissance missions on the west bank of the West Oder River is a sergeant named Ston. After receiving a telegram from the chief of the reconnaissance department, he said to the other scouts: "Comrades, I have just received an order from my superiors, let us immediately go to the southwest to carry out reconnaissance. There may be a strong German army deployed there." They may cause huge casualties to our landing forces, and our task is to find out their strength and guide the air force to bomb them."

  The other scouts were naturally quite surprised when they learned that there was a huge armored force deployed nearby. In order to find out what was going on, they simply ate something and prepared to go to a new location to carry out reconnaissance missions.

But just when the reconnaissance team was about to set off, an old scout named Azamat said: "Comrade Sergeant, we still have a prisoner here, what should we do with him? It will affect our marching speed."

  Ston very much agrees with Azamat's statement. He thought for a while, then called two soldiers, and told them: "You two stay, take the captives to find a hidden place to hide, and return to the other side together after we come back."

"Comrade Sergeant," Azamat saw that Ston had arranged for two soldiers to guard the prisoners, and quickly reminded him: "We only have eight people in total, and if you leave two guards, it does not mean that the strength of the reconnaissance team will be weakened." A quarter?"

Regarding Azamat's statement, several soldiers immediately expressed their agreement: "Yes, Comrade Sergeant, if we want to take care of the German prisoners, one person is enough, why should we keep two people? Is there a shortage of manpower?"

"Comrade Azamat, this prisoner is very important to us." Ston said to Azamat and the other scouts: "If we only leave one person to guard, in case something goes wrong, let him escape. I am afraid that our whereabouts will be exposed. You know, this is the territory of the Germans after all, and anything can happen."

"Okay, Comrade Sergeant." Hearing what Ston said, Azamat couldn't say anything more, so he nodded and said helplessly, "Then follow your arrangement and leave two scouts to guard the place." captured."

  The reconnaissance team came to the area where the German armored troops were deployed, and unexpectedly found that the enemy's defense here was very tight. In addition to fixed posts, there were also patrols with wolf dogs walking back and forth. It is obviously impossible to approach and reconnaissance without anyone noticing. Ston had no choice but to hide in the distance and observe with a telescope, silently counting how many tanks and assault guns the German army had.

  After more than half an hour of observation, he roughly counted the number of German tanks and assault guns, and there were 125 of them. If the 48th Army was attacked by such a large German armored force when it landed, then the landing force would definitely not escape the annihilation of the entire army.

   "Comrades, the situation is clear." Ston turned to the scouts lying beside him and said, "Let's go back."

   Just when everyone was about to leave, a gust of wind blew, and then snowflakes floated.

   "Damn the weather," Ston muttered softly, "it's already April, and it's still snowing."

Azamat, who was lying beside him, said in a low voice: "Isn't the weather in Moscow the same? Sometimes in the beginning of May, there will still be heavy cooling or heavy snowfall..." But before he finished speaking, he It stopped abruptly, as if something interrupted his words.

  Ston pushed his shoulder with his hand and whispered, "Azamat, what's wrong with you?"

   "Comrade Sergeant, I seem to see something strange."

   "Strange thing?" Ston asked puzzledly, "What strange thing?"

   "I see tanks and assault guns in the distance, why are they moving?"

   "What, tanks and assault guns are moving, you can't see it wrong, right?" Ston said, raising the binoculars and looking in the direction of the parked tanks and assault guns.

   Seeing this, I was shocked immediately. The tanks and assault guns I saw just now were shaking in the wind, as if they were about to be blown away. He stared intently at one of the tanks for a long time, and found that the tank seemed to be fixed by several ropes. No matter how the wind blew, it would not be blown away at all due to the fixation of the ropes.

At this moment, he finally understood, what kind of German equipment is this? It's just a pile of foam models of tanks and assault guns. If you put it there, the reconnaissance planes in the air will definitely regard them as real tanks and assault guns .

"Damn the Germans," Ston cursed through gritted teeth, "it's a good thing there was a sudden wind, otherwise I would have given the wrong information to my superiors and sent our air force to bomb a pile of foam models, wasting bombs in vain. "

   "Comrade Sergeant, since the situation has been clarified, we will withdraw first." Azamat said to Ston: "Report the situation observed here to the superior as soon as possible."

After the reconnaissance team withdrew to a safe place, Ston immediately drafted a telegram and handed it to the operator: "Hurry up and send it back to the reconnaissance office to let them know that the so-called armored forces are just a pile of foam models." .”

   After receiving the intelligence from the reconnaissance team, the reconnaissance director personally ran to the headquarters to report to Sokov and Sidolin.

  After reading the contents of the telegram with his head tilted, Sidolin said in surprise: "Damn it, the armored units detected by the Air Force are just a bunch of foam models. This damned German is really cunning."

"Well, Comrade Chief of Staff, you are right, the enemy is indeed very cunning." Sokov nodded and said, "We need to report this situation to the Front Army Command to prevent Comrade Marshal and others from being deceived by this wrong information. .”

After receiving the call from Sokov, Rokossovsky couldn't help being surprised: "Misha, you mean that the armored units detected by the Air Force are nothing more than a pile of foam deployed by the German army there. Model?"

  "That's right, Comrade Marshal." Sokov said in a positive tone: "My scouts reported this to me. I believe their information will not be wrong."

   "When they were reconnaissance on the other side, did they seize any documents from the German army, or captured any prisoners?" Rokossovsky asked.

"A staff officer of the German army was caught and the important military documents he was carrying were seized." Sokov replied with some embarrassment: "But unfortunately, no one in the reconnaissance team understands German. This means that , they could not interrogate the prisoners, let alone see what was written in the German documents."

   "Then why don't you equip a scout who understands German in the reconnaissance team?" Rokossovsky said displeasedly: "In this way we can learn the real situation of the German army in time."

   "Comrade Marshal, in fact, in the reconnaissance team sent this time, there are indeed scouts who understand German." Sokov hurriedly explained to the other party: "But they were shelled by the German army while crossing the river, and unfortunately died."

"Oh, it turned out to be like this, what a pity." Rokossovsky said into the microphone: "Since the mission of the reconnaissance team has been completed, let them return with the prisoners and documents as soon as possible, and you must organize people to deal with the prisoners as soon as possible." Conduct interrogations to find out the deployment and equipment of the troops on the other side."

   "Okay, Comrade Marshal." Sokov said, "As soon as the reconnaissance team returns, I will have the German prisoners interrogated immediately."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov said to Sidolin after putting down the phone, "immediately order the reconnaissance team to return with the prisoners and documents. In addition, give the artillery director Potapov a bonus call. Once the German army is found When the artillery fires into the river, it will suppress the artillery fire immediately, and we must ensure that our scouts can return safely."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Sidolin assured Sokov: "This time we will let the artillery prepare first. Once we find that the Germans on the other side are firing again, we will immediately suppress them with firepower to ensure that they cannot attack the enemy. Returning scouts deal damage."

   "Very good." Sakov was very satisfied with Sidolin's answer, nodded and said: "Then you should hurry up and make a call."

"Misha, I want to talk to you." Lunev waved to Sokov, motioned him to sit down beside him, and said, "Even if we figure out the deployment and deployment of the German troops on the west bank of the West Oder River, In terms of equipment, we still face great difficulties if we want to successfully carry out forced crossing. The five-kilometer-wide river alone will become an insurmountable moat.”

"You're right, Comrade Military Commissar." Sokov was still having a headache about this matter, but thinking of the friendly troops on the left and right flanks that were about to arrive, he said with luck: "Perhaps after the offensive begins, the Front Army Command will Order the troops on the left and right flanks to attack first to attract the attention of the German army. When the enemy has turned its main force and attention to the direction of the friendly army's attack, we will launch a forced crossing, which may reduce the casualties of the troops."

  (end of this chapter)