Red Moscow

Based on his own experience, Koshkin divided the troops involved in the search into several patrol teams, each with 25 people, patrolling several streets near the headquarters.

A guard company commander asked Koshkin: "Comrade Captain, are you being too cautious in doing this? You see, the areas patrolled by each team are connected. Our team can see a patrol team to the east. , you can also see a patrol to the west. That is to say, every patrol patrolling the city tonight can see two other patrols at the same time."

"Comrade Captain," Koshkin said sternly, "in order to ensure the safety of the headquarters, even the strictest security measures cannot be overstated. The reason why I let each patrol team see the other two The purpose of establishing a patrol team is to ensure that when a certain patrol team is attacked by the enemy, it can get timely support from other patrol teams.”

The company commander continued to ask: "Comrade Captain, do you really think there will be enemies in the city?"

Koshkin glared at the other party, and then said: "Comrade Captain, we who work as security guards must be vigilant at all times. We have no chance to make mistakes. Once our mistakes are made, the protected people may be in danger. .Once the other party does something good or bad, even if we are shot, it will not help. Do you understand?"

"Understood!" The company commander replied hastily: "We can't make mistakes in our work, otherwise it will be too late to regret."

Besides, in the headquarters, Sidolin still did not believe that there would be a German sabotage team attacking the headquarters at night. He even tentatively asked Sokov: "Comrade Commander, if the headquarters has nothing to do, can I leave?"

Sidolin has a residence in Brest, where he lives whenever he is not on duty at night. It was precisely because Sokov knew this that when he heard Sidolin's request, he refused without hesitation: "No, Comrade Chief of Staff, the situation tonight is special, and you are not allowed to leave the commander-in-chief without my order." department."

Hearing what Sokov said, Sidolin seemed quite helpless: "Comrade commander, although we have not established any decent air defense system in the defense zone, the Germans don't know this. How could they use the night to attack us?" What about the large number of sabotage teams deployed here? I suspect that the prisoners who were interrogated by Comrade Deputy Commander must have lied."

"Although the Germans don't know that we don't have a complete prevention and control system, they must know that our air force will drop supplies to the cavalry army in the fortification area every night. Their planes may have mixed into the middle of these transport planes and sneaked in quietly. It's out of our defense zone, so it makes us hard to defend."

Since Sukov was not allowed to leave the headquarters, Sidolin did not force him, anyway, he was not on duty tonight, so he ordered someone to move a camp bed and put it in a corner of the headquarters, and he lay on it directly.

The troops patrolling outside were full of energy at the beginning, but as time went by, many soldiers began to feel tired and became weak when walking. Seeing this, the commander who led the team ordered the soldiers to sit down and rest on both sides of the street and temporarily stop patrolling.

At two o'clock in the morning, except for the patrol led by Koshkin himself, and the two patrols he could see in his field of vision, the rest of the patrols stopped patrolling and sat on the side of the road to rest. There were even individual patrols, leaving two soldiers standing guard, and the rest lay directly on the side of the street to rest.

And at this moment, in an alley three streets away from the headquarters, a pair of patrols wearing Soviet uniforms appeared. It can be seen from their gestures that they are well-trained. The patrols were no different, if anything it was that the uniforms they were wearing were too new.

Of course, neither the common people nor the sentinels on duty had any doubts about them. After all, they were wearing Soviet uniforms and holding Soviet standard weapons.

When there were two streets away from the headquarters, the leading commander noticed that there were many people sitting on the side of the road ahead, and he could vaguely see that the other party was armed with live ammunition. He quickly ordered to stop, and then carefully observed the situation ahead.

In order to find out what was going on, he sent a soldier to check the situation. A few minutes later the soldier came back and reported to him: "Mr. Major..."

Unexpectedly, as soon as he spoke, he was interrupted by the other party: "Don't forget, we are now on the territory of the Russians, and no one is allowed to speak German anymore, understand? You continue to speak, in Russian."

The soldier nodded and continued to report: "The Russians got the news that we have several sabotage teams that are going to enter the city tonight, so they have deployed heavy defenses near the headquarters. These people are responsible for patrolling these streets Patrol. Tired from patrolling, sitting on the street to rest."

Hearing that the people in front were from the patrol team, the German commander couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart, thinking that tonight's operation might be in vain. At this time, another officer came over and said in a low voice: "Major, there are so many patrols ahead, what should we do next?"

"Our mission is to destroy the Russian headquarters." The German commander whispered: "Now we are only two blocks away from the target, we must not give up like this. We must find a way to continue to approach the target."

The officer pointed at the patrol members who were resting on the side of the road ahead, and said, "Major, there are so many patrols on the periphery alone, I don't know how many checkpoints there are inside and outside the headquarters. lost heavily."

The commander began to think that if the Russians were really heavily guarded on the road leading to the headquarters, even if they led people to fool the patrols in front, it might not be an easy task to reach the destination smoothly.

"Or, let's kill all these patrols." The officer suggested to the commander: "Then we pretend to be their identities and sneak up to the destination."

"It's unlikely." It's not the first time the commander came out to perform such a special mission, and he knows a lot. After he rejected the officer's proposal, he explained to him: "I think there must be some patrols among the patrols. Special password. If we can't get the password, even if we kill this patrol team, but when we meet the next patrol team, can you kill them silently?"

"Then what shall we do?" asked the officer.

The commander thought for a while and said: "According to the map, there is a grain station nearby, we can set fire there. As long as the fire shines, the attention of the nearby patrols will be attracted, then we can take advantage of the confusion and quietly infiltrated near the Russian headquarters."

The commander's proposal was supported by several other officers, so they began to divide and cooperate. Some people went to set fire to the nearby grain depot, while others planned to take advantage of the chaos caused by the fire and sneak to the vicinity of the headquarters.

Ten minutes later, a fire ignited at the location of the grain station, which really attracted the attention of nearby patrols. The people who were sitting on the side of the road resting or taking a nap saw the fire in the direction of the grain station, and immediately rushed over with their guns in hand.

Seeing that the patrol team on the road ahead was indeed transferred away, the German commander showed a smug smile on his face. He waved to the troops staying behind and signaled them to follow him to move on.

Although they met a few patrols along the way, the other party thought they were the same patrols as themselves, so they didn't step forward to question them at all, and let them blend in smoothly to a location only one street away from the headquarters.

When they got here, the German commander found something was wrong. Although there were patrols on the streets here, they were not affected by the fire in the direction of the grain station at all. They still stood at their posts and never left.

Seeing this situation, the German commander realized that the strategy just now would not work here. If he still wanted to attack Sokov's headquarters, he had to think of other ways.

When the food station was on fire, the guard company commander who was training with Koshkin couldn't help asking Koshkin to let him take someone to fight the fire, but Koshkin refused. Koshkin also explained to him: "Comrade Captain, the location of the fire is too far away from them. There are enough troops nearby to participate in the fire fighting, and our task is to defend the safety of the headquarters. Don't forget our duty." .”

Hearing what Koshkin said, the company commander who wanted to take people to fight the fire immediately changed his mind, and quickly ordered people to send a notice to several nearby patrol teams, telling them to stick to their posts, and no one was allowed to go to fight the fire .

And Sokov, who was at the headquarters, also received a call from the chief of the security department and learned that a grain station in the city had caught fire. He realized in his heart that this might be a conspiracy by the enemy to achieve the purpose of diverting the tiger away from the mountain.

After thinking about this point, Sokov decisively said to the chief of the security: "Comrade chief, this may be a conspiracy by the Germans to let the troops deployed near the headquarters rush to fight the fire. Now I announce a Discipline, before getting the permission of the superior, no one is allowed to leave the troops deployed on the street where the headquarters is located. Anyone who violates the order will be dealt with by military law."

Hearing Sokov give orders in such a stern tone, the Chief of Security realized the seriousness of the problem. He knew that the measures for setting fire to the food station were very strict, and it was impossible to catch fire easily. It must have been caused by the German sabotage team sneaking into the city. He quickly agreed: "Yes, Comrade Commander, I will pass on your order."

Just as he was about to hang up the phone, he heard Sokov say again: "Also, report to me immediately after you find out the cause of the fire at the food station."

When Sokov put down the phone, Sidolin stood up and walked over, asking tentatively, "Comrade Commander, have the Germans really started to move in the city?"

"That's right," Sokov stared at the city defense map in front of him, pointed to the location of the grain station, and said to Sidolin: "Look, the fire grain station is only two streets away from the headquarters, which means that this time The fire was not an accident, but someone deliberately set it on fire to divert the attention of troops near the headquarters."

When Sidolin heard this, he couldn't help shivering, and then asked nervously: "Comrade Commander, according to your statement, the enemy will attack the headquarters soon?"

"Yes, that's what I think." Sokov nodded and gave the other party an affirmative answer: "They set fire to the city to create chaos, and after most of the troops near the headquarters left, they launched the attack. moment."

When it came to this matter, Sidolin finally believed in Sokov's analysis: "Then what should we do, let the nearby troops strengthen their defenses?"

"I asked the troops on guard duty near the headquarters not to rush to fight the fire, but to stand by on the spot." Sokov said, "Although I guessed that the enemy might launch an attack, what method would they use and from which So far, the direction of the attack is still unknown, so we can only stop silently, wait for the Germans to attack first, and then take corresponding measures to countermeasures."

If not long ago, Sidolin felt that Sokov’s precautionary measures were a bit too cautious, but at this time, he felt that the measures were not strict enough, so he took the initiative to say: "Comrade commander, should we send more people? Strengthen the defense work of the headquarters, so as not to be attacked by the enemy here?"

In the face of Sidolin's panic, Sokov acted calmly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't worry, I have already greeted the Chief of Security and asked him to strengthen his defenses. There must be no danger. You just Sleep peacefully."

At such a time, Sidolin could not sleep. He simply sat down at the table and waited with Sokov for the report from the Chief of Security.

After waiting for about half an hour, the Chief of Security called: "Comrade Commander, you guessed right, the fire at the food station was indeed not an accident, but someone set it on fire!"

"Comrade Director," although the matter was roughly the same as his guess, Sokov still asked, "Can you confirm?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." The Chief of Security replied affirmatively: "At the scene of the fire, the bodies of six officers on duty were found. They all died with their throats cut."

"Then what measures have you taken?"

"I have mobilized the forces of two companies to carry out a search near the grain station..."

"Wrong, Comrade Director, wrong!" Unexpectedly, the director was interrupted by Sokov before he finished speaking: "The enemy set fire to the grain station just to divert our attention and give them an opportunity to take advantage of it." The enemy who set the fire now must have fled to other places, no matter how many troops you search near the grain station, you will find nothing."

Just as Sokov said this, the sound of submachine gun shooting and the explosion of grenades suddenly came from outside. In the silent night, these voices were very clear, and Sokov said in his heart: "It's finally here!"

"Did you hear that, Comrade Chief?" Sokov said into the microphone: "The German sabotage team is currently carrying out sabotage operations outside the headquarters. You'd better bring someone back to support immediately, otherwise accidents may happen here in the headquarters. .”

After putting down the phone, Sokov walked to the wall, picked up the assault rifle he put on the gun rack, pulled the bolt, and checked the situation in the magazine.

Seeing this, Sidolin hurried over and asked, "Comrade Commander, what are you doing with your gun? Are you planning to go out to meet the German sabotage team in person?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, be prepared." Sokov said to Sidolin: "We have to consider the worst-case scenario. Maybe our security forces outside can't stop the enemy and let them break into the headquarters directly. I don't want to Sit and wait, with a gun in your hand, you can be more at ease in your heart."