Chapter 2240

The reconnaissance team returned to the river, and when they were about to cross the river, Azamat said to Ston: "Comrade Sergeant, if we just board the boat and row back, we will definitely be discovered by the Germans. We have the possibility of annihilation.”

   "Azamat, tell me, what should we do?"

"When I came yesterday, I tested the water depth of the Siod River," Azamat said. "The water level in many places was just up to our chest. I suggested turning the boat over and we hid in the boat. Carried the edge of the boat toward the shallows in the middle."

Regarding Azamat's whimsical idea, Ston shook his head and said: "No, Comrade Azamat, the method you mentioned can indeed allow us to escape the German shelling, but have you ever thought about it? Including the captives, there are a total of nine people, how long can the oxygen in such a narrow space last?"

Azamat didn't think about the situation that Ston mentioned. He only thought about the boat turning over, people hiding in the boat, wading to the shallow area, and they would definitely not be discovered by the Germans on the west bank, but he ignored it. Due to the limited space in the hull, the oxygen inside couldn't last long, and for a while, he looked extremely embarrassed.

"Azamat," fortunately, Ston saw his embarrassment and comforted him, "You are also thinking about the safety of us all, but if you do this, we may suffocate due to lack of oxygen when we walk halfway. So we must think of other ways to quietly complete the operation of crossing the river."

   Butston thought for a long time, but still couldn't think of a better plan than Azamat. But in order to send the prisoners and documents to the other side as soon as possible, he decided to take a risk: "Comrades, the headquarters is still waiting for the prisoners we captured and the documents we captured. No matter how dangerous the crossing operation is, we must take the risk. .Now, everyone listen to my command: stand at attention! Turn right, all board the ship one by one!"

  After everyone boarded the boat, Ston whispered again: "In order to prevent being discovered by the Germans, we rowed less loudly!"

  When the boat came to the middle of the West Oder River, a flare suddenly rose in the sky, illuminating the sky above the boat, and then the German cannons opened fire! The shells landed around the boat and exploded, setting off jets of water that soared into the sky. The whole river seemed to be boiling, and the falling water drenched everyone in the boat.

  Ston saw that the enemy had discovered his whereabouts, and hurriedly said loudly: "Speed ​​up, and drive away from the German artillery blockade area as soon as possible."

  Easy to say, but hard to do. The speed of rowing on the river cannot be fast, and the German shells continue to fall into the river and explode, causing huge waves to make the boat bump up and down, so that the soldiers rowed desperately for a long time, and the boat only moved forward a dozen or two times. Ten meters away.

   Seeing that the boat was still unable to get out of the German shelling area, Ston couldn't help but feel anxious. He began to regret secretly in his heart. He should have followed Azamat's suggestion, turned the boat upside down, and waded across the river hiding in the boat. Even if there is a lack of oxygen, everyone can take turns to take a breath, which can greatly reduce the possibility of being discovered by the German army. But there is no medicine for regret in the world, and it is too late for Stone to regret it now.

   Just when Ston was in despair, there was a rumbling sound of artillery from the direction of the east bank, and then the screaming sound of shells piercing the air above his head was heard. "Artillery, our artillery." A scout exclaimed excitedly: "It is our artillery that suppressed the German artillery positions."

Hearing that it was his own artillery that was suppressing the German artillery positions, Ston couldn't help but be overjoyed. He shouted at the top of his voice: "Comrades, our artillery is suppressing the enemy's artillery with artillery fire. Everyone row hard and try to row as soon as possible!" Get out of the blockade area under German artillery fire."

  In fact, what he said was superfluous. Since the shelling began, all the scouts had exerted all their strength, rowing the oars in their hands desperately, trying to get out of the area of ​​​​the artillery fire as soon as possible. But after the Soviet artillery on the east bank fired, the German army had no time to shell the river. After all, there was only one small boat, and it might not be able to hit it even during the day, let alone at night with extremely low visibility.

  Even if they were no longer bombarded by the German army, the scouts still rowed desperately for almost an hour before reaching the east bank area.

  As soon as everyone landed on the east bank, they immediately collapsed on the ground, panting heavily, recovering the physical strength that was consumed while rowing.

   At this time, a patrol team of more than a dozen people ran towards them, and they asked loudly, "Which part do you belong to?"

  Ston sat up with difficulty, and shouted at the other party: "We are scouts sent by the Reconnaissance Office to the west bank, and we have just returned from the opposite bank."

  The captain of the patrol team learned that they were scouts who had just returned from the West Bank, so he hurried over and asked with concern, "Are there any casualties?"

   "No." Ston shook his head and replied, "It's just that I'm too tired from rowing. Let's lie down and rest for a while."

  The patrol leader was notified and asked them to follow the river bank to find the scouts returning from the west bank. After confirming their identities at this moment, they immediately called a soldier and told him, "Go back and report immediately. The scouts sent to the west bank have returned. They are too tired at the moment, and I hope a car can be sent to pick them up."

   "Comrade Sergeant," the patrol captain said to Ston: "I have sent someone back to report, you should take a good rest here first, and when the car that picks you up arrives, it will not be too late for you to go to the Group Army Command."

   After waiting for more than ten minutes, a truck drove over staggeringly.

  After the car came to a complete stop, a lieutenant got off the bridge and asked loudly, "Where are the scouts coming back from the West Bank?"

   "Comrade Lieutenant," Ston climbed up from the ground with difficulty after seeing the officer's rank clearly, and raised his hand in front of the other party to salute, and then said: "I am the leader of the reconnaissance team, Sergeant Ston."

   "Get in the car, Comrade Sergeant." The captain said politely, "I'll take you to the group army headquarters."

   But the scouts were already too tired to climb into the truck compartment. Fortunately, the comrades in the patrol team did not stand idly by, but took the initiative to help them climb into the carriage.

When the truck arrived at the entrance of the headquarters, Ston's physical strength had almost recovered. After he got out of the carriage, he took the seized briefcase and asked two scouts who had almost recovered their physical strength to **** the German staff officer. , followed him into the headquarters.

  Seeing Ston's appearance, Sokov stepped forward to shake hands with him, and said politely, "Comrade Sergeant, thank you for your hard work!"

"Serve the Soviet motherland!" After Ston replied loudly, he asked the scouts to **** the prisoners over and handed the briefcase in his hand to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, this is the German staff officer we captured. It's a pity that we don't understand German, so we can't interrogate him, and the briefcase he is carrying, I don't understand what it means."

   Fortunately, Sokov got the report in advance and knew that the scouts were coming to the headquarters with the prisoners, so he arranged a German translation in advance. He took the briefcase in Ston's hand, pulled out a stack of documents from it, and after seeing that it was all in German, he turned around and handed it to an interpreter behind him: "Comrade translator, take a look at what is written on it." What?"

   Then he turned to another interpreter and said, "Ask him, what is his name, which army does he belong to, and what position does he hold in the army?"

   After listening to the translation, the captive stated his name, military rank, and the unit he was in without ambiguity.

  Seeing that the captives cooperated so well, Sokov was very satisfied. He then said to the interpreter, "Ask him again about the deployment situation on the west bank of the West Oder River."

  When the prisoner told the defense situation, Sokov couldn't help being surprised. He originally thought that the German army had built a defensive zone with a depth of 10 kilometers on the west bank of the West Oder River, which was already their limit, but he did not expect that the actual defense depth had reached 40 kilometers. In other words, even if the main force of the Soviet army successfully crossed the river and successfully broke through the ten-kilometer defense depth on the west bank, it could only barely occupy the first line of defense of the German army. In front of the Soviet army, there are second and third lines of defense 30 kilometers deep.

Sokov asked people to take the prisoners away, and after praising Ston a few more words, he said to him: "Comrade Sergeant, you have completed your reconnaissance mission very well this time. I will commend you for your achievements. I think you must be tired, go back and rest first, and I will send someone to call you when I need your cooperation."

  After sending Sergeant Ston away, Sokov personally dialed the phone number of the Front Army Command, intending to report the information he had just obtained to Rokossovsky.

  After the call was connected, Rokossovsky's voice came from inside: "Is this Misha? This is Rokossovsky. Do you have anything to report to me?"

"Yes, Comrade Field Marshal," Sokov replied: "Our scouts have successfully returned to the east bank and brought us back a German staff officer and several captured military documents, including map…"

   "It's great to have a map of the defensive zone." Rokossovsky said, "Misha, send someone to bring the documents over immediately."

"Okay, I will send someone to send the documents and maps over immediately." Sokov said this, and then said cautiously: "After interrogating the German staff, I found out that the Germans were at the West Oder River. The defense depth of the west bank is not only 10 kilometers as we saw, but a full 40 kilometers. That is to say, all the defensive positions we thought were the Germans were actually the first line of defense for others. "

   When Rokossovsky heard what Sokov said, the expression on his face became serious. He didn't expect that the German army's defensive deployment was more rigorous than he imagined. After being silent for a while, he said into the microphone again: "Misha, we also encountered the same situation when we liberated East Pomerania. Since we were able to defeat the enemy at the beginning, I believe that in the next battle We can still defeat the enemy."

"Comrade Marshal," Sokov said cautiously, "the situation today is different from that at the beginning. No matter how deep the enemy's defenses are, they don't have a five-kilometer-wide river in front of them. I think that if we want to break through The river defense positions of the German army, I am afraid that our army will pay huge casualties."

"Misha, don't be so pessimistic." Rokossovsky comforted Sokov on the phone and said, "The river in front of you is indeed too wide, but when the offensive starts, we can let your friendly forces on the left and right wings Attack first. As long as they can divert and divert the attention of the German army, when you attack again, you can minimize the casualties of troops."

"Yes." Sokov said rather helplessly: "Only by diverting the attention of the Germans to the direction of friendly forces will our frontal defense become weaker. The resistance will be greatly reduced."

"Misha, Batov's 65th Army will enter your left flank at noon today. And Feduninsky's 2nd Assault Army will also arrive at your right flank in two days' time." Rokosov Sky reminded Sokov: "Since you are going to cooperate with each other in the next few days, you have time to walk around with them and discuss how to fight. Do you understand?"

   "Understood." Sokov hurriedly replied, "I will meet with General Batov and General Fejuninsky to discuss joint operations."

After putting down the phone, Sokov said to Sidolin and Lunev: "Comrade Marshal just told me that General Batov and Feduninsky's troops will arrive at the designated location soon. He instructed us to , We must strengthen ties with friendly forces and do a good job in coordinated operations with each other."

   "This is what it should be." Lunev said: "Even if we will not fight together in the coming days, as friendly neighbors, I think it is absolutely necessary to improve the relationship between each other."

After saying this, Lunev paused for a moment, then asked Sokov again: "Misha, this reconnaissance team that has just returned from the West Bank has provided us with a lot of useful information, do you think we should apply for an award for them?" ?”

   "It's not bad just a commendation order." Sokov said: "I think it's best for everyone to be awarded a medal in recognition of their achievements in carrying out this reconnaissance mission."

"I agree with Comrade Commander." Sidolin immediately echoed: "If this reconnaissance team hadn't ventured to reach the West Bank, I'm afraid we still don't know anything about the deployment and equipment of the German army at this time. I think it is absolutely necessary to award a medal."

   "If you don't object," Lunev said: "Then I will draft the commendation orders for them and prepare the medals for them."

   "Comrade Military Commissar," Sokov added: "The rewards and honors for them must be reported within the entire army, so as to boost the morale of our troops."

  (end of this chapter)