Chapter 2261

  "Lieutenant Rednikova," Sokov saw Rednikova looking eager to try, worried that her appearance would expose the target, he quickly pulled her to hide behind the jeep, and said to her: "The Germans know you, so you can't show up, otherwise they will run away if they find something is wrong. I'm afraid it will not be so easy to catch them."

  After hearing this, Rednikova gave up her plan to catch the German agent with her own hands. She just poked her head out and observed the movement in the distance.

   And Sokov watched Koshkin walking towards the food distribution location with a dozen soldiers talking and laughing, wondering if Rednikova was spotted by German agents when she got off the car just now. If spotted, the pair would turn around and run away before Koshkin could get close.

   But what Sokov worried about did not happen. Anyway, Koshkin is from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and how to arrest people is what he is best at. He did not take anyone directly to the location of the German agents, so as not to startle the snake. Instead, they came to the place where the food was distributed and asked loudly to the cooking soldiers: "Hey, comrade soldier, we have more than a hundred people who want to eat, do you have enough food here?"

   "Enough, enough, of course." The cooking soldier replied, "Soup is being boiled in the tent behind. You can still drink hot red cabbage soup after a while."

   After Koshkin and his men received the food, they approached the German agent's position while eating. Soon, more than a dozen people blocked the escape route of the two German agents. Even if they did it immediately, the other party could not escape.

   Seeing that all his subordinates were in place, Koshkin blew a whistle, drew his gun and rushed to the fake major, grabbed his skirt and aimed the gun at his forehead. The rest of the guard soldiers also rushed forward and arrested another fake second lieutenant.

  Due to the rapid arrest of Koshkin and others, none of the surrounding soldiers recovered their senses. When they saw a major and a second lieutenant being arrested by more than a dozen people, some stood there in a daze, while others pointed their guns at Koshkin and his subordinates.

   "Everyone put down your guns," Koshkin shouted at the crowd: "These two are German agents. Not long ago, they killed several soldiers in several of our checkpoints and fled here. We are here specifically to arrest them."

   "You said they were German agents, so they are German agents!" The soldier who had served the fake major with lunch boxes aimed his gun at Koshkin and said unconvinced, "Who will verify your identities?"

   "Let me confirm their identities." As soon as the soldier finished speaking, Sokov's voice came from behind.

  The soldier turned his head and saw the three gold stars on Sokov's epaulettes, which shocked the soldier immediately. Even if he didn't know Sokov, he knew in his heart that in the entire 48th Army, only Commander Sokov held this rank. He quickly lowered his gun and raised his hand to salute Sokov: "Hello, Comrade Commander."

  When the surrounding soldiers saw Sokov appearing, they also lowered their guns, stood at attention facing Sokov, raised their hands in salute, and shouted in unison: "Hello, Comrade Commander!"

   "Comrade soldier," Sokov said to the soldier: "I am Sokov, Commander of the Army Group, and I can prove to you that the people you pointed at with your guns belong to the security forces of our Army Group. I ordered them to arrest these two German agents."

  Although Sokov had explained to the soldier that the arrest operation was his own order, the soldier still said unwillingly: "I know this commander, he should not be an enemy..."

   "Do you know him?!" Sokov thought of the scene where the soldier helped the fake major with lunch, so he sneered and said, "Comrade soldier, let me ask him, what is his name, what position does he hold in which unit? How long have you known each other?"

  Sokov's words stopped the soldier. He had only known the fake major for an hour. At that time, he was on his way when a wounded major came to ask him the way. Out of kindness, I pointed out the location of the supply point for him, and offered to act as a guide for him when he saw that the other party was injured. Then the two came to the supply point talking and laughing like this, where they received food. But he never dreamed that the other party was actually a German agent, and he couldn't accept this reality for a while.

  In order to dispel the doubts in the hearts of the soldiers around him, Sokov turned around and called Rednikova, and said to her: "Comrade Lieutenant, tell everyone, are these two German agents who attacked you?"

   "That's right, Comrade General, it's them." Rednikova gritted her teeth and said, "They stole our weapons, documents, and vehicles, and even pretended to be our name and killed several soldiers on duty at the checkpoint, so that we were almost shot by our own people."

  The words of the female officer seemed to be more convincing than what Sokov said. The soldiers who were still skeptical about the matter realized that the two officers who were arrested might really be Germans in disguise, so they cast hostile glances at them.

   "Captain Koshkin, tie them up first, and then find a place for interrogation." Sokov told Koshkin: "Be sure to find out the whereabouts of their accomplices."

   "Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Hearing that Sokov handed over the task of interrogation to himself, Koshkin immediately became excited. You must know that he is best at interrogating prisoners.

   After Koshkin took the German agents to a nearby empty tent, Sokov ordered someone to bring food to Rednikova, and said enthusiastically: "Comrade Lieutenant, I think you must be hungry, eat something quickly."

   After thanking Sokov, Rednikova took the food in his hand and asked curiously while eating: "Comrade General, where did you say the remaining three German agents went? Have they already passed through the defense line and returned to their own defense zone?"

   "I don't think this is very likely." Sokov shook his head and said, "This fake major should be the highest rank among German agents. The Germans have no tradition of throwing away their officers and leaving alone. Since he is still in our defense zone, it means that other people have not left. It depends on whether our soldiers can find the remaining three."

   "Comrade Commander," at this time the cooking soldier walked up to Sokov with a lunch box and said enthusiastically, "This is the red cabbage soup that has just been boiled. You can drink it while it is hot."

   Sokov took the lunch box from the cook soldier and handed it to Rednikova: "Lieutenant, it's cold, drink something to warm yourself first."

   "Comrade General, how can this work?" Rednikova said in a panic: "This is soup prepared for you, how can I drink it."

   "It's okay, you can drink it first. I'll ask the cook to bring me another one later." Sokov turned to the cook soldier: "You should have some there, right?"

   "Yes, yes, Comrade Commander." The cook nodded vigorously, and replied in an affirmative tone: "There are still many."

   Soon, the cooking soldier held another steaming lunch box and handed it to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, your red cabbage soup."

   Koshkin walked out of the tent before Sokov and Rednikova finished their soup.

   Seeing Koshkin approaching, Sokov asked straight to the point: "How is it? Have you found any useful information?"

   "Yes, Comrade Commander, both of them confessed." Koshkin said: "They were ordered to go deep into our army's defense area for reconnaissance, and they got the artillery deployment map of our department, as well as the garrison maps of each division and brigade..."

  Sokov waved his hand when he heard this, and said disapprovingly: "Even if they bring this information back, it will be useless. Our troops and artillery positions have already moved forward by more than ten or twenty kilometers. Even if the German air force bombed based on this information, they would not be able to achieve any results."

   "Comrade Captain," Rednikova asked Koshkin eagerly after Sokov finished speaking, "Did they say where the remaining three people went?"

   "This is exactly what I'm going to report next." Koshkin continued: "After they crossed the river through the pontoon bridge, when they saw our army's plane flying overhead, the driver was nervous and drove the car directly into the ditch on the side of the road. As a result, after the driver was thrown out of the car, his neck was broken and he died directly. The false major's arm was injured, and the other three agents were also injured to varying degrees.

  Considering that the car had been reimbursed and the driver was dead, the fake major divided the people into two groups. He and a fake second lieutenant went east, while another fake captain and a fake second lieutenant went west. What he considered was that even if something happened along the way, the rest of the way could bring the information back to the defense zone smoothly. "

   "It turned out to be like this." After listening to Sokov, he finally understood why he saw only two German agents here. It turned out that the other two were taking another route. But whether they can be caught is not important anymore. Even if the information they have obtained is brought back to the Germans, it is meaningless. "Koshkin, let your people come out to eat, and after eating, hurry up and hurry."

   "Then how to deal with these two German agents?"

   "According to international practice, once the enemy agents in our military uniform are captured, they can be shot directly." Sokov said lightly: "After the shooting, find a place to bury them all."

   "Okay, Comrade Commander." Koshkin nodded, and then took the two soldiers to perform the task.

   "Comrade General," Rednikova said with some hesitation when she heard Sokov's order, "In any case, they are all prisoners of our army. I'm afraid it would be appropriate to shoot them all?"

   "Lieutenant Rednikova, have you heard of Nathan Hale?"

  "Nathan Hale?" After repeating the name, Rednikova asked tentatively: "Comrade General, are you talking about the famous spy during the American Revolutionary War?"

   "That's right, that's him." Sokov nodded and said, "I remember one of his famous sayings: My only regret is that I only have one life to dedicate to my motherland. As an American agent, after being captured by the British, he was directly hanged for espionage. From then on, as long as spies were arrested, they were not eligible to enjoy the treatment of prisoners of war. Those who captured them could decide their fate at will."

   Hearing what Sokov said, Rednikova stopped talking. She may not know other things, but she knows the story of Nathan Hale very well. She felt that Sokov was right. The life safety of spies captured during the war could not be guaranteed, and those who captured them could shoot them at any time.

   Half an hour later, the convoy set off again, heading towards the defense zone of the infantry brigade and the tank brigade.

   "Lieutenant Rednikova," Sokov became more and more curious about the missions that Rednikova and the others performed. He tentatively asked, "Can you tell me what mission you are here to carry out this time?" Seeing Rednikova's embarrassed expression, he added, "If you find it inconvenient to answer, I won't ask."

   "Comrade General," Rednikova said after a fierce ideological struggle, "I can tell you, but you must keep it secret."

   "There are only four people in the car," Sokov said, "Whether it is Captain Koshkin or the driver, they are people I trust. If you have anything to say, just say it. I believe they will never reveal a word."

   "Okay, Comrade General, then I will tell you." Rednikova said cautiously: "Our task here is to go deep into the German defense zone, contact a senior general of the German army, and persuade him to surrender to our army."

  Sokov couldn't help being a little surprised after hearing this: "Lieutenant Rednikova, is what you said true? The mission you are performing this time is to persuade a German general to surrender?"

   "That's right, that's what we're doing."

  Sokoff showed a sneer on his face: "Comrade Lieutenant, please forgive me, I think even if you meet the German commander, it may not be easy to persuade him to surrender. You know, the family members of the senior German generals live in Berlin. If they want to surrender, their family members will definitely be severely punished, so before they make any decision, they will go through repeated thinking and weigh the pros and cons."

   "Comrade General, the intelligence of the German commander we want to contact is different." Rednikova said: "His family members all live in Königsberg. With the fall of the city, he was worried about the safety of his family, so he sent us a signal for peace through special channels. Our team, after receiving orders from our superiors, went to his defense area to negotiate with him and discuss some details of the troops' surrender."

   "Oh, so that's the case." Since the German army took the initiative to reveal the intention to surrender, it is indeed possible for Rednikova and their special team to achieve the mission. But Sokov continued to ask: "Don't you just wear our military uniforms and swagger through the defense lines of the two armies and enter the German defense zone?"

   "The German general made an appointment with us. We will go to a location near his defense zone, where he will send people to meet us." Rednikova explained to Sokov: "We will change the German military uniforms at that time, and go to the German army station to negotiate with him."

  (end of this chapter)