Red Moscow

"Comrade Commander, isn't it a bit too risky for her to do this?" Sameko said with doubts in his stomach: "If the old man hit her forehead instead of her shoulder, I'm afraid she would have lost her life."

"That's their brilliance." Sokov said: "They must have investigated our sniper school beforehand, had a detailed understanding of the three teachers in it, and knew their personalities well. Maybe they were worried about Lyudmi. Ra and Vasily liked to hit each other's foreheads when they were sniping, so they sacrificed an airborne team to lure them out of the city."

Originally, Sokov just thought that it would be a bit violent to shoot a woman with such a beautiful appearance like Aliya without any explanation. Later, under the persuasion of everyone, he once considered that if the outside world put too much pressure on him, it would not be impossible to shoot Alia.

But as he unraveled one thing after another, he unexpectedly discovered the frightening truth. I thought it was just an ordinary sniper operation arranged by the German army, but now it seems that there is an amazing conspiracy hidden behind this operation.

"Comrade Commander, since we have realized that this is a conspiracy." Sameko asked tentatively: "Do we need to call Lyudmila, Vasily and the old man back?"

Judging from the current situation, the reason why Aliya mentioned the other two sniper teams in her confession was to make Sokov misjudge and transfer the strongest sniper in the city away. In this way, if the ace sniper of the German army wants to do something in the city of Otac, no one can stop him.

"It can be transferred back." Sokov knew very well in his heart that even if there was a German sniper team in Wengene, they were all worthless targets. Letting Vasily and the old man go there was really a bit overkill. However, in order to prevent the enemies lurking in the city from being noticed, Sokov specifically told Sameko: "But the other members of the sniper team should not come back for the time being, and continue to put on the posture of preparing to destroy the German sniper team, so as to confuse the enemy."

Sameko naturally understood Sokov's intentions, nodded and said, "Don't worry, Comrade Commander, I will secretly recall them, and the enemies lurking in the city will never find out."

Sokov nodded, approved Sameko's statement, and then raised his own question: "Comrade Chief of Staff, where do you think the German snipers are hiding now?"

"It's not easy to say." Sameko replied with some embarrassment: "Maybe he is hiding in the Romanian military camp. Our army never goes there to search. He can wait for the day of the operation safely. There is another possibility, Even if it is lurking inside our army, it will not be easy to be detected."

For these two statements of Sameko, Sokov still agrees in his heart. Regardless of whether the enemy's sniper is hiding in the Romanian military camp or lurking inside, at least under the current circumstances, it is impossible to find him out. What can be done now is to continue to wait patiently, waiting for the day when the enemy can't hold back and jumps out on his own initiative.

"Commander, Chief of Staff," said Trofimenko's voice at the door, "you two came quite early."

"Comrade Deputy Commander, I want to talk to you."

Trofimenko didn't know what happened, but he walked up to Sokov and said politely, "Comrade Commander, what do you want to talk about?"

Sokov told Trofimenko his analysis and the content of his research with Sameko in detail.

After hearing this, Trofimenko couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat: "What, there are still German snipers lurking in the city, even ace snipers?"

"Yes, Comrade Deputy Commander, it is entirely possible." Sokov nodded, and said to him: "I am thinking, in order to avoid the possibility of the entire headquarters being caught by the enemy, should we Consider re-separating the two commands?"

"Ah, to re-separate the two headquarters?" Trofimenko said with a look of shock: "Comrade Commander, in this way, will there be many inconveniences when we command operations?"

"There must be a lot of inconvenience in the separation of the two headquarters." Sokov said helplessly: "But if you continue to stay here, you will definitely become the target of the Germans. Who knows that the enemy's snipers will hide Somewhere, when we were not paying attention, he shot us unpreparedly."

"No, no, Comrade Commander, I do not agree to separate the command." Although Sokov had already said this, Trofimenko's attitude was still clear, and he firmly opposed the separation of the two commands: "If the German army really sent ace snipers to kill us, even if the command department is divided into two parts, they still have an opportunity."

In order to persuade Sokov, he continued: "After the merger of our two headquarters, the troops of several army groups have formed a certain degree of tacit understanding after running-in. If we separate at this moment, it will inevitably cause some unnecessary confusion. I think the status quo is still there.”

"What about the enemy's snipers?" Sokov asked the most important question: "If they really sniper and kill us, I'm afraid we will pay a big price. If the members of the headquarters are wiped out, The troops will be thrown into chaos because of the loss of unified command."

"Actually, it is not difficult to prevent enemy snipers." Trofimenko said: "We can deploy our people in the buildings near the headquarters to ensure that the enemy's snipers cannot get good sniper position, so that our danger can be minimized."

"But, Comrade Deputy Commander, I have to think about your safety."

"Comrade Commander, you don't need to say anything." Before Sokov could finish speaking, Trofimenko interrupted him, "Even if I unfortunately died under the gun of a sniper, it was a worthy death. I have no regrets at all."

Seeing that Trofimenko was so resolute in his reluctance to separate the family, Sokov couldn't say anything more, so he had to temporarily put aside the dispute: "Well, Comrade Deputy Commander, since we can't reach a consensus on this matter, then Put it down for the time being, and wait for General Smirnov to recover from his injuries and then study it."

"Comrade Commander, I think one thing you said is very important."

"whats the matter?"

"The two German sniper teams mentioned in Alia's confession don't seem to be of much value now, so I think Lyudmila, Vasily and the old man should be transferred as soon as possible. With them in the city, Even if the Germans send more snipers, we don't have to worry about it anymore."

"I have asked the chief of staff to send them a report, asking the three of them to return to Otac secretly." Sukov recalled that he hadn't mentioned this to Trofimenko just now, so he explained to him: "However, the people they led The sniper team will continue to stay at a distance to confuse the enemy and make the enemy think that Lyudmila, Vasily and the old man are still outside."

"This is a good idea." Trofimenko approved of Sokov's arrangement very much: "The Germans must have been staring at the sniper team we sent, as long as they see the members of the sniper team appearing, they will instinctively I thought Lyudmila, Vasily, and the old man were all there. But as everyone knows, the three of them have been secretly transferred back by us. When they are about to take action, when they suddenly see the three of them appearing in front of them, what will happen? I can't wait to see such an expression."

"Comrade Commander," Sameko walked over at this time, handed a recently received telegram to Sokov, and said excitedly: "Just received a telegram from General Afunin, his troops We've reached Victoria."

When he heard this British-style place name, Sokov showed a pleasant expression on his face, because the city is no more than 120 kilometers away from Ungerne. Can swagger into Romania.

"This is really great." Sokov took the telegram in Sameko's hand, quickly browsed it, and said excitedly: "It seems that General Afunin's progress is quite smooth, and now they It is only forty kilometers away from the Romanian border. Even if you march on foot, you can cross the border on the same day."

Sameko waited for Sokov to finish speaking before asking tentatively, "Comrade Commander, do you really plan to let them cross the border and enter Romania?"

"That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov nodded, and said in an affirmative tone: "If only a unit of Lieutenant Colonel Pornegerin's troops entered Romania, and if the Romanians were forced by the Germans to Our army's advance action adopts tenacious resistance, and even tries to drive our army out of the country.

But if we have two troops entering Romania from two different directions, then the Romanians have to consider whether to continue to follow the Germans against us, or decisively choose to abandon the Germans who are beginning to decline, And join our camp. "

"So that's the case." Sameko understood what Sokov meant, and then asked: "Comrade Commander, if the 18th Guards Army enters Romania and encounters the Romanian army, what action should it take? "

"Romania has not yet become our ally for the time being, so he is still hostile to us." Sokov looked up at Sameko and said, "I don't need to teach you what to do with the enemy."

"Understood," Sokov said, and Sameko immediately understood: "Comrade Commander, you once said that if the enemy does not surrender, then resolutely destroy him."

"That's right, that's what it means." Sokov nodded slightly, "Since he is our enemy, there is nothing to be polite to him, just shoot him." After saying this, Sokov was silent for a moment , Organized the vocabulary in his mind, and then said, "If our soldiers saw that the people who appeared in front of them were not Romanians but Germans, would they ask such questions?"

"No, definitely not." This time Sameko replied very simply: "Comrade Commander, I understand what you mean. As long as the soldiers who appear in front of us are not our own or friendly troops, we must Treat them like enemies."

Regarding Sameko's statement, Sokov nodded with satisfaction, and then asked, "Is there any news from Lieutenant Colonel Ponejielin?"

Sameko looked at the location of the radio station, and said in an uncertain tone: "I didn't have it when I came here, and I don't know if it's there at this moment. I'll go and have a look."

When Sameko left the table to get his telegram, Trofimenko asked: "Comrade Commander, what are you going to do next? Do you just send all the troops into Romania, or do you clear the Germans first?" Say it again."

"Judging from the current situation in the north, the Germans from Ukraine are trying to prevent our army from entering Romania." Sokov explained: "In this direction, we must first eliminate the enemy before entering Romania to avoid our troops entering Romania." The logistical supply line was cut off by the enemy."

"As for the south, I think we can enter Romania with a big swagger. Because in this direction, we are not fighting alone. In addition to the current 18th Guards Army and the 6th Tank Army, there is also the 52nd Army under the Front Army. It is also cooperating with our department's combat operations."

"Comrade Commander, you seem to have forgotten our troops." Trofimenko complained a little aggrieved: "Except for the 98th Guards Division which is still participating in various battles, the rest of the troops seem to have been forgotten by you. So much so that they can only be responsible for some simple defense work."

Trofimenko’s words reminded Sokov that now in command of operations, he has basically handed over the tasks to the troops of the 53rd Army and the 18th Guards Army, while the troops of the 27th Army were selected by him most of the time. ignored. Hearing Trofimenko's complaint at this moment, he quickly said with a smile on his face: "Comrade Deputy Commander, the reason why I didn't use your troops was that I was going to treat them as a reserve force and wait until the most critical moment of the battle." , and throw them into battle.”

Hearing what Sokov said, Trofimenko really couldn't say anything more. After all, no one can say how long this battle will last. And according to his experience, the troops that usually enter the battle in the later stage of the battle can basically make great achievements, because when the battle progresses to this level, the strength of the German army is almost exhausted.

"Comrade Commander," Sameko came up with a telegram and reported to Sokov: "Just received a telegram from Lieutenant Colonel Ponejerin, all three divisions of the combat group have entered In Romania, they are conducting reconnaissance on the nearby defenders, looking for new breakthroughs in order to expand the area of ​​​​the landing field."

"Good job." Sokov took the telegram, and after reading all the content above, he said with satisfaction: "After all, he was the commander of the group army, and he knows how to find fighters. Now the three divisions are assembled in Romania , This is a force that cannot be underestimated, and it is a huge threat to those German troops who are trying to capture Chernivtsi."

"Comrade Commander, I think that in order to make the war situation develop in a direction that is beneficial to our army, we can consider letting Lieutenant Colonel Pornegelin command the troops to attack the German army's flanks and rears again, completely disrupting their deployment, and making tanks The troops of the 2nd Army can use this time to consolidate the existing defenses and prepare for a protracted war with the Germans."