Red Moscow

Early the next morning, the Director of Reconnaissance and the Director of Intelligence arrived at Sokov's headquarters together.

Seeing the two appearing at the same time, Sameko on duty couldn't help frowning. In his memory, except for a meeting, he has never encountered a situation where two directors appeared at the same time, so he couldn't help asking a little nervously: "Comrades, two directors, you came here at the same time, did something serious happen?" ?”

The two directors looked at each other, and finally the reconnaissance director took a step forward and reported to Sameko: "Report to Comrade Chief of Staff, the scouts we sent to the enemy's rear sent us a piece of information not long ago. After repeated research with the chief of intelligence, I felt that it was a bit too abnormal, so I came here to report to you and the commander."

"What information."

The director of reconnaissance hurriedly stepped forward and handed the telegram in his hand to Sameko.

Sameko quickly read the contents of the telegram, with a shocked expression on his face. He looked down at the map on the table, made a few gestures with his fingers, then picked up the phone and said into the microphone, "I'm Chief of Staff Sameko, call me immediately with the commander."

Soon, Sokov, who was sleeping in the room, was woken up by the soldiers and came to answer Sameko's call. He raised his hand and looked at his watch, and found that it was just four o'clock in the morning, and it was less than two hours before he fell asleep. He came to the telephone in a daze, and tried his best to ask in a calm tone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you are calling me at this time, is something wrong?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander, something unexpected happened." Sameko did not tell Sokov what happened, but said with a serious expression: "Please come to the headquarters immediately."

Hearing that there was something important, Sokov's drowsiness disappeared without a trace. As soon as he put down the phone, he immediately put on his clothes and boots, and walked quickly towards the headquarters.

When he walked into the headquarters, Sokov saw the director of reconnaissance and the director of intelligence standing in front of Sameko, and he couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart. Like Sameko, he had never seen the two directors except for meetings. appeared at the same time. He went straight to the two directors and asked with a straight face, "What happened?"

"Comrade Commander," Before the two directors could speak, Sameko came over and handed the telegram he had read to Sokov: "This is the information from the scouts we sent to the enemy's rear. "

Full of doubts, Sokov took the telegram in Sameko's hand. After reading it quickly, he walked to the table and looked down at the map on the table. After looking at it for a while, he raised his head and asked the two chiefs who remained silent: "Comrades two chiefs, what do you think of this telegram sent back by the scouts?"

After the two looked at each other again, this time it was replaced by the director of the intelligence department. After all, analyzing intelligence is the job of the intelligence department. He straightened his back and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, after repeated discussions with my reconnaissance director, I feel that the contents of this telegram are absurd. But out of my own responsibility, I think it is necessary to Report this to you and the Chief of Staff."

"The enemy has established a new prisoner-of-war camp in the forest outside Jergach." Sokov did not express his opinion on what the intelligence chief said, but picked up the telegram and read to himself: "According to our According to the reconnaissance of the prisoner-of-war camp, no commanders and fighters of our army were found, and the prisoners were all unarmed Italian soldiers, the number of which was probably more than 5,000."

After reading the telegram, Sokov looked at the Chief of Intelligence and asked, "Comrade Chief of Intelligence, you said that this telegram is absurd. Can you explain to me what it means?"

"The reason is very simple, Comrade Commander." The Chief of Intelligence said plausibly: "The Italians are allies of the Germans. If there are only dozens or even hundreds of Italian soldiers detained in the German prisoner-of-war camps, I think it is still a problem." It is acceptable. But now there are more than 5,000 people in the prisoner-of-war camp, how is this possible. I think it should be a conspiracy of the Germans."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov still did not express his attitude, but turned to Sameko and asked, "What do you think of this?"

"Comrade Commander," Seeing Sokov asking himself, Sameko quickly replied, "I agree with the intelligence chief's analysis. This is most likely a conspiracy. Italy and Germany are allies. What happened in the German prisoner-of-war camp Will there be Italian soldiers of this size?"

After asking Sameko for his opinion, Sokov turned his attention to the reconnaissance director again: "Comrade reconnaissance director, this information is sent by the scouts you sent to the enemy's rear, am I right?"

"You are right, Comrade Commander." The chief of reconnaissance suddenly broke out in a cold sweat when he heard Sokov ask himself this, and he explained stammeringly, "When I received this telegram, it was absolutely impossible for me, Then I ordered people to call back the scouts to verify the matter. But the commander who led the team told me that the contents of the telegram were all true.”

"Comrade Director of Reconnaissance," Sokov waited for the other party to finish speaking, looking at the Director of Intelligence, and asked the Director of Reconnaissance: "If I remember correctly, the Director of Intelligence once told me that he and you are here for this telegram. , had repeated discussions, didn't you tell him the truth about the fact that the intelligence has been verified?"

"I said so."

"If so, why did you finally come to the conclusion that you don't believe the scout's report at all?" Sokov said angrily, "If that's the case, then what's the point of the scout reporting the situation to you?" What's the point?"

The reconnaissance director who was blamed hastily lowered his head, not daring to answer Sukov's words.

"Comrade Commander," Sameko hurriedly came out to smooth things over: "Although the information sent back by the scouts has been verified by the chief of the reconnaissance department, I agree with both of them very much. This should be a conspiracy by the Germans, otherwise I really can't figure out why they disarmed as many as 5,000 Italian troops and put them in their prisoner-of-war camps."

According to the intelligence sent back by the scouts, Sokov realized that the reason for this situation should be that the Allied forces landed in Sicily, which beat the Italian army to the ground, and Mussolini's military The failure of the summit and the upsurge of the domestic anti-reaction dilution movement were dismissed and imprisoned on the summit of the Gran Sasso of the Abruzzi Mountains.

Under such circumstances, the Germans worried that Italy, a pig teammate, would stand on the side of the British and American allies, so they planned ahead and controlled the Italian army fighting side by side to prevent them from making any mistakes.

But at this moment, the Italian side has just sent representatives to contact the British and American sides, and no substantive results have been reached yet. If Sokov told his subordinates present that the Germans disarmed and imprisoned them because they were worried that the Italians would fight back, no one would believe him.

Even if what Sokov said is proved to be correct in the future, Sameko and others will have doubts: How did the commander comrade know that the Italians were going to surrender, and the Germans had to surrender in advance to prevent them from being stabbed in the back? They were disarmed and locked up.

In order not to let go, Sokov thought quickly. He wanted to find a logical reason to explain to the three why the German army imprisoned the Italian army.

But after thinking for a long time, all the reasons he could think of had logical loopholes of one kind or another. As long as anyone seriously analyzes it, he can immediately find the flaws in it.

"Comrade Commander," Seeing Sokov's delay in speaking, Sameko thought he had successfully persuaded the other party with his statement: "I think it is completely possible to ignore the report of the scouts. I think they have been captured by the Germans." They have been deluded by the illusion created by man, and therefore provide us with such completely false information."

"No, no, I don't think the scouts are confused by the enemy." Sokov waved his hands desperately, and said impatiently: "On the contrary, what they see may be the most real side. It's just that there are some things we don't know. If you know it, you will mistakenly think that the scout is confused by the enemy."

Hearing what Sokov said, Sameko and the others looked at each other in blank dismay.

After a short silence, Sameko said, "Comrade Commander, can you tell me your reason?"

Sokov sat at the table, tapping the surface with his fingers quickly, thinking about how to answer Sameko's question. After some time, he finally thought of a more reasonable explanation, looked up at Sameko and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, let me give you an example. For example, if I want to attack an enemy fortress, local armed forces will join us." , attack the fort with us.

Due to the tight defense of the enemy, our attack was not successful. At this moment, you learned that the local armed forces that cooperated with you secretly colluded with the defenders in the fortress, and might even join forces with the other party to deal with you. At this time, what would you choose to do? "

After asking this question, Sokov saw Sameko's thoughtful expression, looked at the two chiefs again, and asked, "Comrades, two chiefs, what will you do?"

The Director of Intelligence took a step forward and replied: "There are two options: one is to stop attacking the fortress and choose to withdraw troops; the other is to disarm the cooperative local armed forces and continue to attack the fortress after the troubles have been resolved."

"That's right, Comrade Chief of Intelligence." Sokov waited for the Chief of Intelligence to finish speaking, and after approving him, he continued, "Since you understand this truth, you can trust the authenticity of the contents of this telegram." Do you know how to judge?"

"How do I know how to judge..." Before he could speak, the director of intelligence suddenly thought of what Sokov implied, and then he was shocked, and asked Sokov in an unbelievable tone: "Comrade commander, what are you doing?" Do you mean that the Germans were worried that the Italians would make small moves behind their backs, so they disarmed and locked up the Italian army for safety?"

"But how is that possible?" But the director of reconnaissance asked in confusion: "Although we won the battle of Kursk and took the opportunity to liberate Belgorod, our army did not fight against the Italian army in private. contact, how could the Germans think of guarding against them?"

"Comrade Director of Reconnaissance," Sameko immediately figured out the cause and effect after hearing what the Director of Intelligence said, and couldn't help giving Sokov a thumbs up in his heart. At this moment, seeing that the director of reconnaissance was still obsessed, he explained to him: "On our land, our army has indeed not had any private contact with the Italian army in the future, but you have forgotten that the British and American coalition forces that have landed in Sicily have already taken the Italian army to the ground. The fight is overwhelmed. Maybe at this time they have sent representatives to discuss with the British and American allies about stopping the war."

"If this is really the case, then the information provided by the scouts can be explained clearly." After Sameko said this, he looked down at Sokov who was sitting at the table: "Comrade Commander, I am right. Is it right?"

"That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff, you're quite right." Sokov nodded slightly, and then continued: "I guess at this moment the representatives of the Italian side are already sitting in the headquarters of the British and American Allied Forces, discussing the end of the negotiations between the two sides. War, to deal with the Germans together. The Germans may have heard something, in order to prevent the Italian army from joining forces with us, they acted first, disarmed and controlled the Italian army."

Having said that, Sokov stood up and pointed at the director of reconnaissance: "Comrade director of reconnaissance, immediately get in touch with the scouts behind the enemy and order them to conduct a more detailed reconnaissance of the prisoner-of-war camp. Find out what's really going on inside."

"Yes, Comrade Commander." The reconnaissance director quickly and loudly replied, "I'll go back and send a telegram to the scouts, asking them to find a way to find out the specific situation in the prisoner-of-war camp."

After dismissing the two directors, Sameko looked at Sokov and asked, "Comrade Commander, do you really think that the Italian army will surrender and join the British and American allies?"

"It's entirely possible." Since the thinking of Sameco and others has been guided in the right direction step by step, Sokov has no scruples, but said openly: "If the Italian army The surrender of Europe will certainly join the Anglo-American allied forces directly. And the Italian army in our country, all they can do is cooperate with us. This situation is not what the Germans want to see, so they preemptively, will The Italian army is disarmed and imprisoned, lest the Italian army join us against them."

"Comrade Commander, I have never been optimistic about the Italian army." Hearing that Sokov said that the Italian army might join forces with his own army, he quickly waved his hands and said, "If they really join our side, I am worried that they will be on the battlefield. It will drag us down. At that time, we will have to deploy troops to protect them, which will weaken our army's offensive power."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I don't think we have the chance to cooperate with the Italian army." Sokov clearly remembered that after the Battle of Kursk, the Italian army on the Soviet-German battlefield disappeared, which proved that the Germans rushed to the battlefield before they sent Before the representatives contacted the Soviet army, they were all moved to the rear for detention. "I think the enemy, fearing that the Italian army would cause them trouble, would have moved them all out of our reach before this possibility arose."