Red Moscow

Sameko nodded and replied firmly: "Okay, I will immediately send a telegram to General Fomenko, ordering them to stop their offensive operations."

At this moment, Lunev, who had just entered the door, happened to hear what Sameko said behind him, and couldn't help asking curiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what happened, what offensive operation should be stopped?"

Sameko, who was in a hurry to send a telegram, pointed at Sokov and said, "Comrade Military Commissar, this is a long story. I still have to send a telegram to General Fomenko. You should ask the commander first." Bar."

"Comrade Military Commissar, come here." Seeing that Lunev was eager to know what happened, Sokov waved to him and said, "Let me explain to you what's going on."

When Lunev came to sit next to Sokov, Sokov said: "Comrade Military Commissar, General Fomenko, the commander of the 84th Division, received a report from the division's reconnaissance team, saying that Svet in the southwest of the landing site The defense of the Lovodsk district was weak, with only one infantry battalion of the German army and more than 20 old tanks. In order not to miss the opportunity, he made an attack plan in time and reported it to us.

Just at that time, the troops of the third echelon arrived at Kremenchug. After some research, the chief of staff and I decided that the newly arrived troops would take over the defense of the landing field, so that the 84th Division could concentrate all its forces and attack Svetlow. The Vodsk District attacks. The attack time is set at nine o'clock this morning, which is more than fifty minutes later. "

Hearing this, Lunev couldn't help interjecting: "Comrade commander, isn't this great? But why did the offensive plan end? Did something go wrong?"

"That's right, not long ago, I received a telegram from Colonel Belkin. The information he provided was quite different from the information Fomenko provided us." Sokov said very quickly : "If the strength of the German army is really as Belkin said, the attack launched by the Fomenke Division is to kill itself."

"Colonel Belgin?" After Lunev repeated the name, he suddenly remembered that the colonel had been Sokov's partner before, and Sokov would definitely pay attention to the telegram he sent. In order to find out what was going on, he couldn't wait to ask: "What is the situation of the German troops in the Svetlovodsk district? Is General Fomenko's situation correct, or Colonel Belkin's information accurate?"

"The most ridiculous thing is," Sokov did not immediately answer Lunev's question, but continued: "It is the same reconnaissance team that provided two completely different pieces of information."

"What?" Lunev was startled by Sokov's words: "Comrade Commander, you mean that the reconnaissance teams that provided two different intelligence contents are actually the same one?"

"That's right, that's exactly what it is."

"What's going on here?" Lunev asked blankly, "I'm confused."

"Look at this telegram." Sokov handed the telegram just in his hand to Lunev: "This is the telegram just sent by Colonel Belkin. You will understand what's going on after reading it." gone."

Lunev took the telegram from Sokov and checked it carefully. After Sameko explained to the radio operator, he walked back to Sokov and reported to him: "Comrade Commander, the telegram has been sent. I believe it will not be long before Fomenko will send a telegram."

"That's for sure," Sokov said: "If it was me, and I suddenly received an order from my superiors to suspend the attack less than an hour before the start of the attack, I would definitely try to find out what happened. If the 84th Division is stationed close to us, it is estimated that General Sameko will directly rush to the headquarters and come to us to ask what happened."

"It's a pity that they are more than 300 kilometers away from us." Sameko said, "If he wants to find out what's going on, he can only call and ask."

The two were talking when the phone on the table rang.

Sameko glanced at the phone and found that it was a high-frequency phone specially used to receive outside lines. He also asked Sokov with a smile: "Comrade Commander, do you think this call is from General Sameko?"

"No, it definitely won't be him." Sokov also explained: "Now that they are deep behind enemy lines, the communication between us and them can only be through telegrams. If we want to make a phone call, I am afraid we have to wait for friendly troops. After taking Poltava."

After Sokov finished speaking, he stretched out his hand to grab the microphone, put it close to his ear and said, "I'm Sokov, where are you?"

"Comrade Sokov, I am Konev."

"Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Hearing Konev's voice, Sokov straightened his back and asked, "What instructions do you have?"

"I don't have any instructions." Konev said with a smile: "I called you just to tell you that the Air Force's reconnaissance plane has taken off. I believe it will not be long before Svetlovots I will report back to you the situation in the Ke area."

"Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I don't think it makes much sense to send the air force for reconnaissance." Knowing that the air force had already attacked, Sokov said to Konev apologetically: "I have ordered the troops to suspend the attack."

"Pause the attack?" Konev couldn't help frowning when he heard this: "Comrade Sokov, why did you suddenly make such a decision? Is there any reason?" The reason why he asked this was because Soko A few minutes ago, the husband called himself and asked him to send the Air Force's reconnaissance plane to reconnaissance. Just a few minutes later, Sokov suddenly made the decision to suspend the attack. He must find out what happened.

"Comrade Commander of the Front," Sokov understood Konev's question and wanted to find out what happened, so he explained to him: "I have just received a telegram from Colonel Belgin, in which he detailed In a word, the so-called empty defense of the Svetlovodsk district is just a trap set by the Germans, waiting for us to jump inside."

"Colonel Belkin?" Konev repeated the name Sokov said, and felt it was very familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had heard it before, so he covered the microphone with his hand and asked the seat. Zakharov on the side: "Comrade Chief of Staff, have you heard of the name Belkin?"

"Is it Belgin, Sokov's former deputy?" Zakharov asked back.

Hearing what Zakharov said, Konev immediately remembered who Belkin was and the position he held now, so he let go of the hand covering the microphone and asked Sokov on the other end of the phone: "So Comrade Kov, is the Colonel Belkin you speak of your former partner?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Sokov replied truthfully: "Because he used to be my partner, I know him well, so I have no doubts about the information he provided."

"Okay, then tell me." Konev said, "What did your old partner say to you in the telegram?"

"Comrade Commander of the Front Army, please listen to my report." Sokov coughed lightly, cleared his throat, and began to report to Konev the contents of Belkin's telegram: "The reconnaissance team of the Fomenko Division Taking advantage of the darkness, the detachment approached the Svetlovodsk district to conduct reconnaissance of the German defensive positions and troops there. They attacked a German staff officer and seized a defense map from him, and found that the area only had An infantry battalion, and more than twenty old Panzer III or Panzer IV tanks, promptly reported this information to General Fomenko."

What Sokov said at this moment had been reported to Konev not long ago, so Konev did not interrupt him, but simply said: "Go ahead."

"Just as they completed their mission and began to retreat, they were ambushed by the German army. After a fierce battle, five people in the reconnaissance team died, including the captain and radio operator, and the radio station was also damaged. The deputy captain Sergeant Iva led four scouts, broke through the encirclement and fled into the nearby forest.

If this happens to anyone else, the consideration must be to return to the army as soon as possible to get rid of the danger they are currently facing. But the deputy captain, Sergeant Iva, felt that something was wrong, because the process of obtaining the information was really smooth. The battle that took place on the way back was not an encounter, but a premeditated ambush by the German army.

In order to find out what was going on, he quietly returned to the Svetlovodsk district with the remaining scouts. When he arrived at the place, he was stunned by the scene in front of him. He saw a large number of German tanks approaching continuously. According to his rich reconnaissance experience, he recognized the German Panther tanks at a glance. Along with the tanks, there were also a large number of trucks with tarpaulins, and there were infantry in the cars. "

When Konev heard this, he couldn't help interjecting and asked, "Then how did they pass the information they detected back to the 84th Division headquarters?"

"Taking advantage of the time when the Germans were mobilizing, they quietly attacked a communication station of the German army and seized a radio station there. Fortunately, Sergeant Iva had participated in radio training before, and he was the only one among them who knew how to use a radio station. people."

"So that's the case." Konev breathed a sigh of relief, and continued, "Is that how Sergeant Iva passed the information back to the division headquarters?"

"No, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Unexpectedly, Sokov said unexpectedly: "Since Sergeant Iva is only the deputy captain of the reconnaissance team, not the radio operator, he does not know the password of our army's radio station. They can only use plain code calls to try to get in touch with the division headquarters.

But it is regrettable that although his call was received by the communications staff of the division headquarters, the other party felt that this clear call was most likely caused by the Germans, so they ignored it. "

When Konev heard Sokov say this, he wanted to get angry, but then he thought about it. If he was in Fomenko's position and suddenly received a call from an unknown person, he would usually ignore it. In order to find out what was going on, he asked anxiously: "Then how did they pass the information back?"

"Iva led people to find a way to get an armored vehicle, and drove towards the direction of our army. Unfortunately, after driving less than two kilometers, it hit a mine. Two scouts died on the spot, and Iva was also injured. He entered the forest with the remaining two scouts, wanting to rush back as soon as possible to warn the division headquarters.

Halfway there, they met a reconnaissance group from Belkin's 258th Regiment. Iva quickly informed the scouts of the reconnaissance team of the information he had detected, and sent telegrams to Major General Fomenko and Colonel Belgin respectively through the radio stations they carried, sending Svetlovodsk The actual situation in the district was reported to them.

But what he didn't expect was that the telegram sent to Fomenko was ignored as false information. After all, it is difficult to convince people that the same reconnaissance team actually provided two pieces of information with completely different contents.

After Belkin received the telegram, he acted very cautiously. He sent a telegram back to Sergeant Iva, asking him to find a way to get the German army's defense map, or grab a tongue and go back to confirm that the information they provided was true. of.

After receiving the order from Colonel Belkin, Sergeant Iva immediately took his remaining two subordinates and the reconnaissance team of the 258th Regiment and hurried back to the area where they had carried out reconnaissance. There, they captured a German staff officer again and seized the real deployment map from him.

After confirmation, Sergeant Iva sent a telegram to Fomenko and Belkin again, reporting the latest information to them. After General Fomenko received the telegram, he still took an attitude of ignoring it; Belgin felt that the problem was more serious, so he reported it to me by telegram, hoping that I could figure out what was going on.

I called you and asked the Air Force to send a reconnaissance plane to carry out reconnaissance. As a result, Belkin's second telegram came, and he described the whole story in detail in the telegram. Sokov explained to Konev: "It is based on this that I temporarily decided to terminate the offensive operations of the 84th Division and wait patiently for new opportunities." "

After listening to the report, Konev did not immediately express his views on the suspension of the offensive, but said to Sokov: "Comrade Sokov, the Air Force sent the most advanced reconnaissance plane with radio communication equipment on it. The detected situation can be fed back to the Air Force Command in a timely manner. I believe that it will not take long before we can figure out the general situation in the Svetlovodsk district."

Konev and Sokov were chatting when another phone on the table rang. Zakharov quickly grabbed the receiver and started talking to the caller.

With little effort, Zakharov put down the phone in his hand and reported to Konev: "Comrade Commander, the Air Force reported that the reconnaissance plane was over the Svetlovodsk district and found a large number of tanks on the ground. According to the analysis, there must be a large number of German armored troops hidden in the nearby forest."

"Thank you, Comrade Chief of Staff." Konev nodded at Zakharov, and said in a grateful tone: "Thank you for providing us with important information." Then he said into the microphone, "Sokko Comrade Husband, according to the reconnaissance of the Air Force, a large number of traces of tank tracks were found on the ground, which proves that there are a considerable number of German armored troops concealed in the nearby forest, and your suspension of the attack is very correct."

Sokov was also very happy to hear that Konev agreed with his decision to stop the offensive. But before putting down the phone, he tentatively asked Konev: "Comrade Front Army Commander, if I find a suitable fighter, can I organize troops to attack the enemy again?"