Red Moscow

Solomatin did not expect Sokov to say this, he murmured: "Comrade Commander, are you planning to cancel the counterattack?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Sokov made no secret of his true intentions: "I don't deny that the counterattack you prevent can take back the position from the enemy. But in order to hold the outpost, you have to put Put more troops in. If you put too much troops here, it will inevitably weaken the defensive power in other areas. Once the Germans feel that it is not meaningful to compete for the outposts, they will detour to the rear of the position, which will affect your second line. The defense line launches an attack. Can the second line of defense, whose defense force is severely weakened, block the enemy's attack?"

"..."

After reading these words, Sokov intentionally paused for a moment, wanting to hear how Solomatin replied to him. Seeing that the other party was silent at this moment, he went on to say: "Comrade general, don't care about the gains and losses of a position." , as long as the enemy's vital forces can be wiped out, it is absolutely necessary to voluntarily give up some positions.

Therefore, the more territory the Germans occupy, the more troops they will allocate for defense, thus weakening their offensive strength. After we have consumed a large amount of the enemy's vital strength, we can launch a counterattack and take back the lost positions from the enemy's hands. "

"Comrade Commander, you are right." After Sokov finished speaking this time, Solomatin finally responded: "If I continue to stick to the No. 1 outpost, I am afraid I will have to fill in a brigade of troops. If Deploying these troops on the second line for defense, I am confident that I can block the enemy's attack."

Seeing that Solomatin's thinking had changed, Sokov felt very relieved. When he was about to say a few words, he saw Sameko hurried over and said to him: "Comrade Commander, something has happened!"

"What happened?!" Hearing what Sameko said, Sokov couldn't help but thumped in his heart. He quickly covered the microphone with his hands, and asked nervously, "What happened?"

"This is the reconnaissance information just received by the reconnaissance office." After Sameko handed the telegram to Sokov, he looked down at the map on the table, then pointed to the map and said to Sokov: "According to the intelligence, the enemy Here and here, a large number of armored troops are ambushed, and there seems to be some conspiracy."

Sokov looked towards the position of Sameko's finger, and when he saw the place clearly, he was suddenly startled into a cold sweat. After repeated confirmation, he let go of the hand covering the microphone, and asked Solomatin with lingering fear: " Comrade General, please answer me, are you planning to detour from the west of the No. 1 outpost?"

Hearing what Sokov said, Solomatin couldn't help being stunned for a moment, and asked, "Comrade Commander, aren't you planning to cancel the counterattack? Why are you so concerned about our counterattack route?"

"Don't talk nonsense," Sokov said impatiently: "Tell me quickly, am I right?"

"Yes, you are right." Seeing that Sokov's attitude changed suddenly, Solomatin did not understand what was going on, but he still truthfully planned his counterattack route and reported to Sokov , and finally couldn't help asking curiously: "What happened?"

"Yes, Comrade General, something serious has happened." Sokov stared at the telegram in his hand, panting and replied: "According to the reconnaissance information just obtained, the enemy ambushed an armored division on your counterattack route. If you counterattack according to plan, you will fall into the trap of the Germans, and their armored divisions can easily overwhelm your counterattack forces."

Solomatin was so frightened by Sokov's words that he asked tremblingly, "Comrade Commander, is the news reliable?"

"Totally reliable." After Sokov said this, in order to increase his credibility, he added a sentence: "Comrade General, when you reported to me just now, you didn't mention your counterattack line at all. I just want to lie to you." , I can’t make up these details. Our scouts discovered the German armored units hidden in the valleys and villages during the reconnaissance. Once you counterattacked according to the planned route after dawn, you just entered Germany. Human ambush circle."

Just when Solomatin was terrified, Sokov thought of a possibility and couldn't help shaking. He couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade General, how many people know your battle plan?"

"In addition to the commanders of the troops participating in the war, there are also the intelligence staff and communications staff in the army headquarters, etc..." Solomatin guessed what Sukov would say, and said first: "Comrade commander, do you suspect that they leaked the information?" Is it secret?" Without waiting for Sokov to answer, he said firmly, "Impossible, it is absolutely impossible. My staff officers and commanders are absolutely reliable, and they will definitely not be Germans. spy."

Seeing that Solomatin defended his subordinates involuntarily, and did not push the responsibility for leaking the secrets to his subordinates at all, this made Sokov very admired. After waiting for the other party to be quiet, he said slowly: "Comrade General, there are two other possibilities besides someone from the army headquarters and the participating troops leaking the secret."

"Those two possibilities?"

"One is that the enemy has intercepted your telegrams or tapped your phone calls before they know your battle plan."

"Comrade Commander, in order to prevent leakage of secrets, I did not use telegrams or telephones to issue combat orders to the troops." Solomatin waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and explained to him: "I sent communications soldiers to carry the documents. , to convey the order directly..."

Solomatin's words came to an abrupt end here.

"Did the information leak out from the communicator?" Sokov guessed what the other party was thinking, and said first: "Maybe a certain communicator who sent the information was captured after encountering a German scout on the road. The intelligence carried fell into the hands of German scouts."

"It's possible, Comrade Commander." Solomatin said with a solemn expression, "I'll send someone to check immediately to see if there are any signal soldiers who haven't returned after sending the information."

Sokov was certain in his heart that the leak of the battle plan was inseparable from the communication soldiers sent by the mechanized army, so he said to the microphone: "Comrade General, please take the time to investigate this matter. Inform me."

After putting down the phone, Sokov wiped the cold sweat on his forehead with his hand, and said to Sameko with lingering fear: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it's really dangerous. If you didn't arrive in time and sent scouts, Soloma Jing will definitely send troops to counterattack the enemy, causing his most elite tank brigade 219th and mechanized 19th brigade to be wiped out."

"You need to find out what's going on," Lunev said unexpectedly. "You know, the Germans knew about the information we didn't know in advance, and even set up an ambush on the counterattack route of the mechanized army. If we If we don’t find out, if we continue to follow the original plan and launch a counterattack against the enemy after dawn, I am afraid that thousands of commanders and fighters will die in vain.”

Sameko also agreed with Lunev's statement, and he even suggested to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, it is better to leave it to the military commissar to investigate the leak, and let Samoilov The lieutenant is his assistant, after all they are from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and they are professionals in dealing with hidden enemies."

"Okay," Sokov felt that the matter was of great importance, and he really couldn't take it lightly, so he turned to Lunev who was standing beside him and said, "Comrade Military Commissar, I will leave it to you to investigate the leak. Remember, What we have to deal with is the enemy, not our own people, and we must not engage in the tricks of torture. In order not to hurt our own people, the real enemy is safe and sound."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Lunev nodded and replied, "I know in my heart that I will never disappoint your trust in me. I will definitely find out the truth about the leak in the shortest possible time."

Lunev's work efficiency is still very high. Less than an hour after he left the headquarters, he called Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the leak has been clarified."

Sokov immediately came to his senses: "Comrade Military Commissioner, what's going on?"

"It's like this," Lunev explained: "After the communications troops of the military department sent the information to the tank brigade and the mechanized brigade, the commander of the mechanized brigade ordered the combat staff to order A few copies were copied and distributed to the battalions.”

"Comrade Military Commissar," Sokov heard this, and immediately realized that the channel of the leak was not from the army headquarters or the brigade headquarters, but from the battalion headquarters below, and hurriedly asked: "How did the information leak out?" Woolen cloth?"

"After our investigation, it was found that a staff officer of the third battalion who kept the combat order was missing." Lunev continued: "After sending people to search, his body was found in a nearby forest, along with his certificates, weapons and documents. All of them are missing. Preliminary estimates are that they were kidnapped by German scouts and taken to the forest, where they robbed them of their documents and killed them."

"It's just nonsense." After listening to Lunev's report, Sokov couldn't help being furious: "Why didn't the staff officer who carried important documents arrange for him to protect him, and let him move around so that he was kidnapped and killed by the enemy and lost. file."

Lunev waited for Sokov to explode, and said: "Comrade commander, in fact, this incident cannot be completely blamed on the commanders below. The commander of the third battalion also did not assign tasks to the company below for the sake of confidentiality." , but asked the staff to convey it with documents, who would have encountered a German scout disguised as our army on the road.

German scouts in uniforms of our army established a checkpoint on the road and stopped the jeep in which the staff officer was riding. While checking the documents, they suddenly launched an attack, killed the driver and two guards with a knife, and hijacked the staff officer..."

"Wait a minute, Comrade Military Commissioner." Hearing this, Sokov found a flaw, quickly interrupted Lunev's words, and asked in confusion: "The German scouts pretended to be our commanders and fighters to set up a checkpoint and kill the staff officer. How did you know the process of the entourage?"

"When we sent people to search, we found the bodies of the murdered guards and the driver in the grass on the side of the road." Lunev continued: "One of the guards is still alive, and he finished talking about what happened intermittently. Afterwards, it was sacrificed."

"After such a big incident, the commander of the third battalion obviously cannot continue to hold his current position." Sokov said into the microphone: "Comrade military commissar, let him go to the company as a soldier. As for the position he has vacated , the deputy battalion commander will take over."

After Lunev and Sokov finished talking, they put down the phone and said to Solomatin who was standing next to him: "Comrade General, the commander said that the commander of the third battalion is no longer suitable for the position of battalion commander. I suggest that the deputy battalion commander take over." his job."

Hearing what Lunev said, Solomatin asked nervously: "Then how should we deal with the third battalion commander?"

"He made a big mistake this time. He almost let your two brigades enter the German ambush circle. He must be dealt with." Lunev said: "After he is relieved of his battalion commander, let him Go to the company below and become a soldier?"

"Comrade Military Commissar," Solomatin asked in surprise after hearing Lunev's words, "Let the commander of the third battalion become a soldier?"

"That's right." Lunev frowned and said, "Comrade General, the battalion commander under you should feel lucky. He is now in the 27th Army and has changed to another unit. With the mistakes he made, the He was shot."

But Lunev obviously misunderstood Solomatin's meaning. Solomatin originally thought that his subordinates had made such a big mistake, even if they were shot, it would be considered light, and their family members might be sent to Siberia. But now that he heard that he was just dismissed and transferred to the company as a soldier, he was relieved and said to Lunev: "Comrade Military Commissar, on behalf of the commander of the third battalion, I thank you for giving him a chance to make meritorious deeds. "

Lunev said to Solomatin with a straight face: "Comrade General, in order to avoid similar incidents in the future, I suggest that you formulate some confidentiality measures to ensure the security of information during transmission."

"Understand." Although Solomatin's military rank is as high as Lunev's, the other party is from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He dare not offend easily, so he can only follow the other party's wishes and say: "We will formulate new measures as soon as possible. , to ensure the security of information during transmission.”

Now that his business has been done, Lunev said a few more words, and then took Samoilov out of the army headquarters of the mechanized army.

On the way back to the headquarters, Samoilov, who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, turned around halfway, and asked Lunev, who was sitting in the back row: "Comrade Military Commissar, is this how you understand this matter?"

Lunev, who was resting with his eyes closed, opened his eyes when he heard Samoilov's question, and said with a wry smile: "Comrade Lieutenant, if I follow my idea, not only the third battalion commander will enforce military laws, but even the mechanized The brigade commander will also be punished."

Samoilov is also a smart person. Hearing what Lunev said, he immediately realized that the result of this punishment was probably ordered by Sokov. Do you mean Comrade Commander?"

Lunev didn't speak, just nodded, and then closed his eyes again and began to rest.

Seeing that Lunev stopped talking, Samoilov sat up straight and stared out of the window with vigilant eyes, thinking to himself: I didn't find any checkpoints on the way here. If there are checkpoints on the way back, it proves that The enemy is in disguise, so I will shoot directly, so as not to die inexplicably like the staff officer of the mechanized brigade.