Red Moscow

After finishing the conversation with Belkin, Fomenko held the receiver in a daze, wondering where all the Germans in the town had gone. You know, according to previous reconnaissance, there is an infantry regiment and a tank battalion of the German army stationed in the town. During the shelling that ended not long ago, the tank was destroyed. Was bombed?

Seeing Fomenko hold the microphone in a daze, Manoxin asked curiously: "Comrade commander, what happened in front, why can't you hear any gunfire?"

"Comrade Commissar," Manokhin's voice woke Fomenko from his contemplation, and after returning the microphone to the communications staff, he said with a frown: "According to Colonel Belkin's report, so far, they have not It was so strange to find a living German."

Even though Manoshin was only a political commissar, he still knew the German military system very well. Hearing what Fomenko said, he couldn't help saying in amazement: "What, there are no more than 4,000 people alive?"

"It can't be said that none of the more than 4,000 people is alive." Fomenko said with a wry smile: "It's just that in the area where the search has been completed, no living person was found. This is simply too strange."

"Then what shall we do?"

"What else can we do? Of course, order the troops to continue searching the town according to the original plan to see if any enemies have survived." After saying this, Fomenko ordered the communication staff: "Comrade staff, help me pick up the Through the Army Command, I will report the situation here to the commander."

Just when the communications staff officer started to connect to the phone of the headquarters, a staff officer next to him exclaimed: "Comrade commander, look quickly, a troop is coming towards us."

Fomenko looked in the direction of the staff officer's finger, and sure enough, he saw a large army marching towards his position. He hurriedly raised the binoculars hanging around his neck, trying to see who was coming.

"Comrade Commander," Ma Nuoxin also raised his binoculars to look at it for a while, and said with a sense of relief, "It's one of our own."

Although the troops who came did not raise their flags, Fomenko guessed that it might be the 188th Division from Koida who had rushed over, so he put down his binoculars, nodded at Manoshin and said, "That's right, it's Colonel Keda. The 188th Division. If I guessed correctly, it was the comrade commander who was worried that our offensive here would not go well, so he ordered them to come here ahead of schedule."

As soon as he finished speaking, a nearby telephone rang. A staff officer picked up the phone and listened, and then reported to Fomenko: "Comrade Commander, the call is from the Chief of Staff."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," asked Fomenko loudly, holding the receiver to his ear, "what's the matter?"

"Comrade Commander, according to the report from the security post we deployed at the rear, the large number of troops that appeared in the rear are Colonel Koyda's 188th Division. They were ordered to enter our division's defense area and are ready to continue to attack."

The report of the chief of staff of the division confirmed Fomenko's guess. He said briefly: "I see." The troops we came from belonged to the 188th Division, and they were ordered to enter our position, ready to take over the task of capturing the town after our attack failed."

After finishing speaking, without waiting for Manoshin to speak, Fomenko asked the communications staff impatiently: "Why hasn't the phone of the headquarters been connected yet?"

"It's connected, Comrade Commander, the phone has been connected." The communication staff hurriedly handed the microphone in his hand to Fomenko, and said, "The person who answered the phone is General Sameko."

"Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Army Group. This is Fomenko." Fomenko said straight to the point: "I want to report to you and the commander about the situation in the Svetlovodsk district."

Sameko had been waiting for the report from the front, and he was burning with anxiety. Hearing what Fomenko said, he hurriedly urged: "Comrade commander, the commander is waiting for your report." He opened the notebook in front of him, Picking up a red and blue pencil, "Tell me quickly, what are your results?"

"I'm sorry, Comrade Chief of Staff." Fomenko replied with some shame: "I'm afraid I will disappoint you. Our troops that entered the Svetlovodsk district did not achieve any success."

"What, no results?" Sameko couldn't help being anxious when he heard this: "One of your divisions rushed into the Svetlovodsk area, but you didn't get any results. What's going on? "

"Comrade Chief of Staff, speak up." Seeing Sameko's gaffe, Sokov hurried out to smooth things over: "Ask General Fomenko, what happened so that they didn't achieve any results."

Sameko took two deep breaths, and said into the microphone in a slow tone: "Comrade Commander, the commander asked me to ask you, what happened that caused you to fail to achieve any results?"

"Our troops entered the center of the town to conduct a search. Except for the bombed-out German tanks, armored vehicles and various military vehicles, as well as countless mutilated corpses, no living person was seen."

"Not a single living person?" Sameko obviously didn't believe Fomenko's report: "Comrade Commander, the German infantry regiment has more than 4,000 people. How can there be no living person?"

"Yes, so far, no living person has been found."

"Is this information reliable?" Sameko was still questioning Fomenko's report.

"Totally reliable." Fomenko heard the distrust in Sameko's tone, and quickly emphasized: "The first troops to enter the town to carry out the search mission were Colonel Belgin's 258th Regiment. You know, he not only He is the deputy division commander of our division and an old comrade-in-arms of Comrade Commander, I think his words are completely trustworthy."

If Fomenko had mentioned other commanders, Sameko might still have doubts, but when the other party said that the first person to report the situation was Colonel Belkin, Sokov's former partner, he couldn't help but fell silent. Although he had never worked with Belkin, he knew very well that the other party had no reason to fabricate a lie that could be easily debunked.

Thinking of this, Sameko covered the microphone with his hand and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, according to the report of Commander Fomenko, the first unit to enter the town to carry out the search mission was Colonel Belgin's No. The 258th regiment, except for the bombed tanks and various military vehicles, as well as countless mutilated German corpses, they did not find a living person."

After hearing this, Sokov frowned and said thoughtfully: "Even if we ignore the tank battalion of the German army, the infantry regiment has more than 4,000 people. As for no one alive?"

"Yeah, I think so too." Sameko looked at Sokov and said, "If it wasn't the person who provided the intelligence, but your former partner, Colonel Belkin, I would definitely think it was a trap set by the Germans .”

"Whether the enemy in the town was wiped out by our artillery fire, or the enemy deliberately gave up half of the town and set up a trap for us, we must find out what is going on." Sokov said here, using Pointing at Sameko, he ordered: "Tell General Fomenko that the search for the town must be completed in the shortest possible time."

"Damn, what's going on here?" Sameko asked Sokov with a confused face after hanging up the phone: "Comrade commander, do you know what's going on?"

"I don't know either." Sokov is not a god, and he doesn't know how to tell fortunes. How could he know what happened in the Svetlovodsk district? Why would there be no more than 4,000 German soldiers alive? "We can only wait for the latest news from the 84th Division."

"Comrade Commander," Sameko waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and reported to him: "Colonel Koida called and reported that his troops have already moved and can enter the 84th Division's headquarters in ten minutes at most. Get out of position and get ready for a new attack."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov felt that the situation in the Svetlovodsk district was unclear at the moment, and if another division was sent in, it might cause unnecessary confusion, so he ordered Sameko: "Give Koida The colonel called back and told them to stay where they were when they arrived at the starting position of the 84th Division's attack, waiting for my latest order."

Koida, who was leading the troops on the march, suddenly heard the radio operator sitting in the back calling himself: "Comrade Commander, your call is from General Sameko, Chief of Staff of the Army Group." The microphone of the walkie-talkie was handed to him.

Koyda quickly ordered the jeep to stop on the side of the road, then put the microphone close to his ear, and said loudly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I am Koyda, and my troops are advancing to the starting point of the 84th Division's attack. In a few minutes, we'll be in position and ready to attack."

"Comrade Colonel, your attack may have to be called off."

"Ah, the offensive is going to be cancelled?" Koyda asked in surprise after hearing what Sameko said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, why is that?"

"Comrades, listen to the direction of the Svetlovodsk district. Is there any movement?"

Keida removed the microphone from his ear, stood up and looked forward. After looking at it for a while, he put the microphone to his ear again and reported to Sameko: "The direction of the Svetlovodsk district is full of gunpowder smoke, but it is strange that there is no sound of gunfire. Could it be that the 84th Division has ended the battle?"

"Comrade Colonel, that's why I asked you to suspend the offensive." From Koida's mouth, Sameko confirmed the fact that there was no fighting in the direction of the Svetlovodsk district, and then sighed and said: " Units of the 84th Division are now searching the town, but sadly they have not seen a single living enemy."

As a military officer, Koida keenly captured the key words in Sameko's words: "There is not a single living enemy? How is this possible, Comrade Chief of Staff, you know, the German army is in Svetlovo There is an infantry regiment in the Cisk District, with a total of more than 4,000 people. No matter how fierce our artillery fire is, how can we destroy them all? I think there may be a serious error in the information you obtained."

"There will be no problem, Comrade Colonel." Sameko emphasized to the other party: "The first person to send back information was Colonel Belkin of the 258th Regiment. He was the former partner of Comrade Commander. I believe that He would never have lied in the report."

"So, there are really no enemies in the town?" Keida asked cautiously after saying this sentence in doubt, "Where did the enemy go?"

"This is exactly what we need to find out." Sameko didn't know what happened in the Svetlovodsk district, and he couldn't talk too much with Koida, so he directly ordered him to say: "Comrade Colonel, After your troops arrive at the starting point of the 84th Division's attack, they will rest in place and wait for our next order. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff." Although Keida has a lot of reluctance in his heart, the orders of the superiors are orders, and they can only be carried out unconditionally, without any room for bargaining: "I firmly obey your orders."

Besides, the search in the town was coming to an end, whether it was searching the 258th Regiment to the west of the town or the 252nd Regiment to the east, they found nothing. Rusuf's 254th Regiment, on the other hand, found several wounded soldiers in the northwest of the town who had not had time to transfer.

In the past, when seeing these wounded German soldiers, the commanders and fighters first went up and searched to see if they had weapons hidden on their bodies. After confirming that there are no weapons, they will be left on the spot to fend for themselves. If these wounded soldiers are not dead after the battle, medical staff will treat them.

But today the situation is different, they may be the only insiders. So someone immediately reported the discovery of the wounded German soldiers to Colonel Rusuf. After receiving the report, Rusuf immediately rushed to the scene in a jeep to find out the whereabouts of the main force of the German army.

Rusuf saw a dozen wounded German soldiers sitting or lying in a coffee shop that hadn't completely collapsed, surrounded by a group of soldiers with assault rifles, watching them intently.

Seeing Ru Sufu walk in, an officer inside quickly shouted loudly: "Everyone is here, listen to my password and stand at attention!" After all the soldiers in the coffee shop stood at attention, the officer came to Ru Sufu, After raising his hand and saluting, he reported, "Comrade commander, I am the commander of the third battalion and the ninth company..."

Before he could finish speaking, Ru Sufu raised his hand and interrupted him, pointing to the group of captives and wounded soldiers sitting on the ground, and asked, "Commander Ninth Company, is this the prisoner you captured?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." The Ninth Company Commander quickly replied, "We searched a lot of places, not to mention the Germans, and we didn't even find a living mouse. Just when we thought the search was useless, we But unexpectedly found that there were more than a dozen wounded German soldiers in this coffee shop, so they reported to the regiment in time."

"Good job, Ninth Company Commander." Ru Sufu raised his hand and patted Ninth Company Commander's shoulder, and said to him with a smile, "I will apply to the division for your credit."

After finishing speaking, Rusuf brought the translator of the regiment headquarters to a German lieutenant who was not wearing a hat, had gauze wrapped around his head, and had a dull expression, and asked with a stern face, "Lieutenant, where have all your living people gone?" ?”

After listening to the translation, the German lieutenant shook his head blankly and said, "I don't know, I don't know anything."

Seeing that the German lieutenant was so stubborn, the commander of the Ninth Company couldn't help being furious, and wanted to beat him with his hands, but was stopped by Ru Sufu: "Commander Ninth Company, maybe what the prisoners said is true. Since our shelling, he should have been They are all avoiding shelling and have no time to care about others, so how could they know where the big troops in the town have gone."