Red Moscow

Although the major said that it was the defense area of ​​the third battalion and there were secret sentries deployed, Nikitin was not at ease at all. He immediately called the head of the 334th regiment and asked him to instruct the third battalion to strengthen its vigilance, so that the Germans must not be allowed to attack. The scouts fled.

After making the phone call, Nikitin did not stay here to wait for the news, but explained a few words to the major, and hurried back to the division headquarters. The major was worried that something might happen to him on the road, so he specially sent a squad of soldiers to escort Nikitin back to the division headquarters.

Seeing Nikitin appearing at the division headquarters, the chief of staff of the division rushed up to greet him and asked with concern: "Comrade commander, are you okay? I really didn't expect such a thing to happen."

Nikitin shook his head and said, "I'm fine." After a short pause, he added, "This also shows a problem, our defense has a lot of loopholes, so that German scouts can come and go without any hesitation. free."

The division chief of staff nodded after hearing this: "Although I don't know when this German scout sneaked into our division defense area, I think he must have a certain understanding of our defense deployment. If he escapes, Tomorrow the Germans will attack our weakly defended areas, and we must not allow that to happen."

"What happened tonight needs to be reported to the commander immediately." Nikitin said to the chief of staff: "Let the signaler help me connect to the army headquarters."

Knowing that Nikitin planned to report the matter to the Army Group Headquarters, the division chief of staff hurriedly persuaded him: "Comrade commander, you were only criticized by the commander during the day. If the German scouts escaped from our noses at night , report to him, I'm afraid it will make him fly into a rage."

What the division chief of staff said made Nikitin hesitate. He had just been criticized during the day, and if he reported this kind of thing to him at night, it would be impossible for the other party not to get angry. For a moment, a thought came to his mind: Otherwise, let this matter go, maybe the German scout didn't get any information, and it didn't matter whether he caught him or not.

But the next moment, Nikitin remembered what Sokov told him before he left, no matter what happened, he had to report to him in time, otherwise he would bear the consequences.

After trying to understand this, he said to the chief of staff: "Comrade chief of staff, I think this matter is of great importance, and it is still necessary to report to comrade commander." Seeing that the other party seemed to want to say something, he raised his hand to stop him, He continued, "I know what you are going to say. I may be criticized by the commander if I report this matter; The consequences are not something you and I can bear."

The chief of staff of the division really wanted to persuade Nikitin not to report the matter, but after hearing what he said, he remained silent. After a long time, he raised his head and looked at Nikitin and said: "Comrade commander, you are right. Even if you are criticized for this, you should report the matter truthfully, lest the higher-level commanders make mistakes due to lack of information. wrong judgment."

The phone was connected, and Sidolin's voice came from inside: "I am Chief of Staff Sidolin, where are you?"

"Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff." Nikitin asked with some guilt, "Has Comrade Commander rested yet?"

Sidolin turned his head and glanced at Sokov who was sitting at the table talking to Ponejielin, shook his head and said, "Not yet, do you have anything to ask him?"

Sokov happened to hear what Sidolin said, turned his head and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, who is looking for me?"

"It's Major General Nikitin, commander of the 120th Guards Division."

"Major General Nikitin is looking for me?" Sokov thought to himself, Nikitin called him at this moment, could it be that he wanted to check on the phone, after all, before he and Rokossovsky left today, he had severely criticized him. "Hey, General Nikitin! It's so late, what can I do for you?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Nikitin heard a hint of displeasure in Sokov's tone, and quickly argued, "I have important information to report to you. I'm going to check the post tonight and want to Checking the security situation of the troops at night, I did not expect to be attacked by German scouts on the way..."

"What, you were attacked by German scouts?" Sokov, who had been attacked by German scouts and almost lost his life, couldn't help but feel sorry for Nikitin, and hurriedly asked: "You Are you not injured?"

"No, Comrade Commander." Nikitin replied, "Fortunately, the accompanying guard reacted quickly and blocked a shot for me in time, so I was not injured."

"Did the German scouts catch it?" Although Nikitin was not injured, Sokov knew very well that the German scouts who would casually injure people in the Soviet defense zone must have obtained the information they wanted , I can’t help but say nervously: “I think he may have collected information about your defenses. If you let him escape, the Germans will grasp the weaknesses of your division’s defenses and launch targeted attacks.”

"You're right, Comrade Commander." Nikitin said helplessly, "I think so too, if I can't catch this German scout before dawn, I can only consider readjusting the defense. "

"Maybe there will be a delay until dawn." Sokov said with a straight face: "Well, I'll give you two more hours. If you can't catch the German scouts at three o'clock in the morning, then your division It is necessary to adjust the defensive deployment immediately, and the German army must not be given an opportunity."

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Nikitin understood in his heart that the plan mentioned by the cross-border fee was a last resort. Under the current situation, adjusting the defense would definitely cause some unnecessary confusion. When changing defenses, the Germans took the opportunity to launch an attack, which would inevitably make their defense line precarious.

Nikitin assured Sokov: "Comrade commander, please rest assured. If we fail to capture the German scouts within the specified time, I will immediately adjust the defense of the troops."

"Very well, General Nikitin," Sokov said lightly, "I wish you good luck!" After finishing speaking, he hung up the phone without waiting for the other party to speak.

"Comrade Commander." Seeing Sukov's serious expression, Ponegerin asked with concern, "What happened?"

"General Nikitin reported that he was attacked by German scouts during his night inspection." Sokov said: "The scout has escaped now, and he is organizing a manpower search."

When Ponegerin heard this, his expression immediately became serious: "Comrade Commander, it seems that the Germans have always been thinking about our Luran landing site, and they want to drive our troops into the river at any time. We can't let them do what they want. "

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Sidolin also agreed: "Or, we will transfer a division to the riverside overnight, ready to cross the river at any time to meet the 120th Guards Division."

Sokov was also worried that the German army would send troops to attack after learning about the defense situation of the 120th Guards Division, but in any case, the division was not fighting alone on the left bank. Once attacked, the guards on the left and right wings The 1st and 6th divisions will definitely support them. In this way, Niki Jingshi can last long enough, and he can calmly dispatch troops across the river to reinforce.

Thinking of this, he waved his hand and said to the two of them: "Comrade Deputy Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff, don't worry, the situation is not at its worst yet. Now General Nikitin is sending people to search for the escaped man in the defense area." The Germans, I believe it will not be long before they will have a clear answer. If they really let the German scouts escape, it will not be too late for us to discuss the issue of reinforcements."

Besides, after Nikitin finished the phone call, as soon as he put down the phone, his chief of staff asked in a panic, "Comrade commander, do we really need to adjust the defense of each regiment?"

Regarding this question from the chief of staff, Nikitin shrugged his shoulders and said rather helplessly: "Comrade chief of staff, to be honest, I don't want to adjust the defensive deployment of the troops at this time, even if we are prepared Any amount of it would have caused a certain amount of confusion, let alone such a hasty adjustment at night."

Hearing what he said, the chief of staff couldn't help asking nervously: "Can our soldiers catch the German scouts?"

Nikitin shook his head, smiled wryly and said, "I don't know, I can only resign myself to fate."

Time passed minute by minute while Nikitin anxiously waited, but the expected good news did not arrive for a long time. Seeing that the hour hand was pointing to three o'clock, he sighed softly, turned his head and said to the chief of staff who had been waiting for orders, "Comrade chief of staff, call the heads of the regiments and ask them to make immediate deployment adjustments and prepare for all battles." Prepare."

"Comrade commander," the chief of staff looked at Nikitin and asked unwillingly: "Is there really no room for recovery? You must know that the adjustment and deployment of the three regiments at the same time, especially at night, will definitely be inevitable." There will be chaos..."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Nikitin interrupted the other party: "Do you think I am willing to order the troops to adjust the deployment overnight? This is not something that can be done." After finishing speaking, he rolled up the order in his hand, Handed it to the Chief of Staff, "Give the order, Comrade Chief of Staff."

The chief of staff took over the order to adjust the deployment of troops drafted by him and Nikitin, heaved a long sigh, and was about to pick up the phone to call the heads of the regiments. Unexpectedly, as soon as he put his hand on the microphone, the phone rang. He quickly grabbed the microphone and said loudly to his ear, "Hi, I'm the chief of staff of the division. Where are you?"

After listening for a while, he suddenly passed the microphone to Nikitin, and at the same time said pleasantly, "Comrade commander, the commander of the 334 regiment reported that they had found the German scout."

Nikitin, who had just made a difficult decision, couldn't help but smile when he heard what the chief of staff said. He answered the phone and asked with a smile, "Comrade commander, have you caught that German scout?"

Unexpectedly, the other party was stunned for a moment when he heard this question, and then replied: "No, Comrade Commander, we didn't catch him..."

"Snap!" Hearing what the regimental commander said, Nikitin slapped the table heavily, and said angrily, "Then why did you tell the chief of staff that you found the German scouts? You came here on purpose to tease me." Did I play?"

"Comrade Commander, please don't be angry. Although we didn't catch the German scout, we found him," the regiment commander said out of breath, "To be precise, we found his body."

"Found his body?!" The commander's words confused Nikitin, he frowned and asked in puzzlement, "Who beat him to death?"

"Who didn't kill him. Our soldiers heard a few explosions in the minefield at the front, ran over to check, and found a broken and incomplete body." The regiment leader continued: "After inspection, he should be We hunted down German scouts in the middle of the night."

Nikitin did not take it lightly, but asked cautiously: "Major, can you confirm?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander, I can confirm it." The major said in an affirmative tone: "Although he was wearing our military uniform and was bombed beyond recognition, after our careful search, we found several A damaged map, marked on it is the defense deployment map of our division."

"Very good, Comrade Commander, you have done a good job!" Although Nikitin was very happy to hear that the regiment commander had found the defense deployment plan from the corpse, he was still a little uneasy, so he decisively ordered: "You Immediately send someone to send the picture to me, hurry up, understand?!"

"Understood, Comrade Commander." The head of the regiment replied very simply: "I will send it over personally, and I will be able to send the picture to you in five minutes at most."

When Nikitin put down the phone, the chief of staff immediately asked him for instructions: "Comrade commander, since we have found the German scouts, then we don't need to order the regiments to adjust their deployment?"

"Wait a minute, Comrade Chief of Staff." Nikitin said to the chief of staff with a serious expression: "We should not take any action until the commander of the 334th Regiment brings the captured defense deployment map."

A few minutes later, the regiment leader ran into the command post out of breath, handed over several hand-drawn maps in his hand to Nikitin, and breathlessly said: "Mr. Comrade Commander, I...we seized The land... map, all... are here."

Nikitin nodded, put the hand-drawn maps on the table, and examined them carefully with the chief of staff. After watching for a while, the two raised their heads and looked at each other, and they both saw expressions of relief in each other's eyes. In the end, the Chief of Staff spoke first: "Comrade Commander, that's right, these are the troops deployed by the regiments in our division's defense area." Figure. Since the information has not been leaked, I don’t think the regiments will be notified to adjust their deployment, right?”

"Now that the troop deployment map has been brought back," Nikitin said in a relaxed tone, "then there is no need for the regiments to adjust their troop deployment."

Before he could finish speaking, a telephone in front of him rang. While picking up the receiver, he thought to himself: This call is not from the commander, is it? As soon as he heard the other party speak, he knew that he had guessed right.

Sokov on the other end of the phone heard his voice and asked impatiently, "General Nikitin, have you captured the German scouts?"

"Report to Comrade Commander." Nikitin looked down at the hand-drawn map on the table, and reported in a calm tone: "When the German scouts tried to cross our defense line and return to their side, they stepped on the ground. He was killed by a landmine. The defense deployment map he carried is on the table in front of me right now."

"Very well, since your defensive deployment has not been known by the Germans, then continue to prepare for battle." Sokov heard that the German scouts had been killed, and his heart suddenly became more at ease. He solemnly ordered Said: "No matter what scale the enemy launches against you, I hope you can firmly block them. How about it, are you confident?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." The situation of the defense was not leaked, and Nikitin suddenly became more confident: "No matter what scale the enemy launches, we have the confidence to stop them."