Red Moscow

Early the next morning after Sokov received his military ID, Vlasov called him to the headquarters.

After raising his hand to salute the other party, Sokov said respectfully: "Comrade Commander, I have been ordered to report to you. What instructions do you have?"

"Captain Sokov." Vlasov said: "The situation in the defense area of ​​our army group is not ideal now. I want you to serve as my representative and go to the garrison of each division to understand the actual situation of the troops, and then come back to report to I report.”

"Ah, let me, as your representative, go to inspect the divisions?" Sokov was a little confused when he heard Vlasov's name. He asked hesitantly: "Is this appropriate? "

"Colonel Sokov," Colonel Del interrupted before Vlasov could speak: "Asking you as a representative of the Army Group Headquarters to inspect each division is a decision made by the commander and me after careful study. Final decision.”

When Sokov heard what Colonel Del said, he immediately understood that it had been their decision long ago to let him serve as the representative of the group army and go on inspection tours in each division. Tell yourself at this moment that you are not negotiating with yourself, but giving yourself orders directly.

After thinking about this clearly, Sokov did not pretend to be pretentious, but asked directly: "I wonder where you plan to send me?"

"Here, here." Colonel Del pointed to a location on the map and said to Sokov: "The headquarters of the 295th Infantry Division is stationed there."

Sokov looked at the map. The 295th Infantry Division was located on the left bank of the Dnieper River, on the edge of the Soviet defense area. If he wanted to go there, he might encounter danger on the way, so he asked again: "I wonder how many people can be sent to follow me?"

"A platoon!" Colonel Dell said. "We will send a platoon of guards to follow you."

Sokov calculated the distance from the headquarters to the division headquarters in his mind, and found that if there was no suitable transportation, he would probably waste a lot of time on the road. He then asked: "When will we set off and what kind of ride will we take?" means of transportation?”

Colonel Del picked up an envelope, walked up to Sokov, and handed it to him: "This is a special pass prepared for you. With this pass, you can pass unimpeded within our defense zone."

When Sokov came out of the headquarters, he found a long row of three-wheelers parked at the door, and heavily armed soldiers were standing next to the vehicles.

Seeing Sokov come out of the building, a second lieutenant standing next to the side three-wheeler quickly jogged to Sokov. After raising his hand in salute, he asked politely: "Hello, Comrade Captain! Who are you?" Captain Sokov?"

"Yes, I am Captain Sokov." Sokov nodded and gave the other party a positive answer.

Although Sokov had already revealed his identity, the second lieutenant was still dubious: "If you don't mind, can you let me see your ID?"

Sokov knew that the war was tense now and it was absolutely necessary to maintain the necessary vigilance. He quickly took out his military ID and special pass and handed them over.

The second lieutenant read Sokov's military ID and special pass, and after confirming Sokov's identity, he saluted again and said: "Captain Sokov, I am the guard platoon commander, second lieutenant Konstantin. From now on, I and my The commanding security platoon is at your disposal."

"Second Lieutenant Konstantin," Sokov looked at an open jeep in the middle of the three wheels and couldn't help but asked curiously: "Is that jeep prepared for me?"

"That's right, Comrade Captain." Constantine replied with a smile: "We were worried that you wouldn't be able to get used to riding a motorcycle, so we specially prepared a jeep for you."

"Time is running out, let's set off now." When Sokov passed by Constantine, he put his hand on his shoulder: "You ride in the jeep with me!"

The motorcycle team set off and headed out of the city along the highway.

Although they passed many checkpoints along the way, the soldiers on duty saw this convoy coming from a long distance away, so they pulled up the crossbar across the road to let them pass.

"Second Lieutenant Konstantin." Seeing this situation, Sokov guessed that Vlasov might have said hello to the checkpoints along the way not to block his convoy: "Our journey seems to be going smoothly. It should be the superior. Have you said hello to these checkpoints along the way?"

"That's right, Comrade Captain." Constantine nodded and said, "In order to prevent enemies from infiltrating into the city, the garrison headquarters has set up many checkpoints in the city, and strict checks are conducted on passers-by. If If you don't greet them in advance and let them clear the convoy, it will take a lot of time just to undergo inspection. "

Since the road was smooth, the convoy only drove for more than half an hour before arriving outside the city and heading towards the headquarters of the 295th Division.

"Comrade Captain," Konstantin looked at the Order of Lenin on Sokov's chest and asked curiously, "Have you ever fought in a war?"

"Yes." Sokov looked into the distance. This place was less than 20 kilometers away from the town where he captured 12 German tanks. The corners of his mouth raised slightly, and then he said: "It's only two kilometers away from here. In a small town more than ten kilometers away.”

"A small town more than 20 kilometers away from here?" Hearing what Sokov said, Constantine frowned and thought about whether there had been any large-scale battles nearby. But after thinking for a long time, I couldn't figure out the reason. I couldn't help but said doubtfully: "Comrade Captain, I don't seem to have heard of any large-scale battles taking place in that direction."

Sokov was stunned for a moment when he heard what he said, but soon understood the reason why he said that. Then he smiled and explained: "Second Lieutenant Konstantin, I think you must think that the Order of Lenin on my chest was won in a large-scale battle?"

"Well, that's right." Constantine clicked and said in a positive tone: "If you hadn't achieved brilliant results in large-scale battles, it would have been impossible to win the Order of Lenin. After all, this medal represents The highest honor.”

"Lieutenant Constantine, if I told you that I was able to receive this medal only because of a battle that was extremely small, would you believe it?"

Regarding Sokov's question, Constantine thought for a while, then shook his head and said: "I'm sorry, Comrade Captain, I really can't imagine what kind of small-scale battle can allow you to get a medal representing the highest level." Honorable Medal of Lenin. And when I just looked at your military ID, I found that your enlistment date was a few days ago, which made me even more confused."

Seeing that Constantine was so interested in receiving the medal, Sokov did not hide anything and told him everything that happened at that time in detail.

As expected, when Constantine listened to Sokov's story about the battle, he was stunned.

After a long time, he asked: "Comrade Captain, didn't you feel scared at that time?"

"Be afraid, what's there to be afraid of?" Even though Sokov thought about the battle afterwards, he couldn't help but feel scared. But at this moment, in front of his subordinates, in order to maintain his image, he naturally would not admit this: "I didn't think so much at that time, I just thought that there were tanks of our army behind me. Even if they encountered danger, they could Cover my retreat to safety."

Although Sokov spoke in an understatement, Constantine and the driver still broke out in a cold sweat.

"Comrade Captain," Constantine said with emotion: "You are so brave. If it were me, let alone two tanks around me, even if there were twenty tanks and enough infantry, I wouldn't dare." Attack the enemy without permission."

The convoy drove along the road for more than thirty kilometers and was very close to the 295th Division headquarters. Sokov suddenly saw two people standing on the roadside.

One is a man of medium height, wearing a peaked cap, a gray coat, and a backpack on his back; the other is a child, who is about a head lower than the man, and has the man's shoulder bag on his shoulders. hand. Seeing the appearance of the motorcade, the child's face showed a panic expression.

Constantine also saw two people on the roadside and said to Sokov: "They are a father and son, they should live in a nearby village."

When the jeep Sokov was riding passed in front of the two of them, he noticed that although the other party's face was expressionless, his eyes kept glancing at the three-wheelers passing by, as if calculating how many motorcycles there were in the convoy and how many there were. warrior.

"Stop!" Sokov gave the order decisively.

As the order fell, the jeep stopped, and the motorcycles following behind also stopped. The motorcycles driving in front drove forward for a while before stopping one after another.

"Comrade Captain, what happened?" Constantine asked curiously.

"I think there is something wrong with this father and son. Let's go down and check on them." After saying that, Sokov got out of the jeep and walked towards the father and son.

"Comrade Citizen," Constantine got out of the car, took a few steps towards the two father and son, and then said, "Please show your citizenship certificate."

Hearing what Constantine said, the man quickly took out a citizenship certificate from his coat pocket and handed it to Constantine.

While Constantine was checking the other party's ID, Sokov looked around and saw that most of the soldiers were still sitting on their motorcycles. He couldn't help but frowned secretly, thinking that if this man was an enemy and suddenly attacked, the commanders and fighters in the convoy would There may be considerable casualties.

After Konstantin checked the documents, he turned to Sokov and said: "Comrade Captain, no problem, it's a collective farm estate in a nearby village."

When he saw the man taking the ID that Constantine handed back to him, Sokov asked the child coldly: "Child, what is your father's name?"

When the child heard Sokov's question, a nervous expression appeared on his face. He instinctively looked sideways at the man beside him and did not bother to answer Sokov's question.

Seeing the man pushing the child aside and then reaching for his waist, Sokov immediately yelled, rushed forward sideways, and hit the other man's chest hard with his shoulder, knocking him around. Feet in the air.

While the man was lying on his back, he had already drawn the pistol from his waist and was preparing to shoot at Sokov and others. But due to the huge inertia, his hand instinctively leaned back. Although he pulled the trigger, the bullet flew to nowhere.

When Sokov fell to the ground, he hit the opponent's abdomen hard with his elbow, causing the opponent to scream in pain. After suppressing the opponent, Sokov immediately shouted loudly: "Second Lieutenant, what are you still doing? Why don't you come over and help quickly?"

At this point, Constantine finally understood that they had encountered Germans in disguise, and immediately rushed forward and snatched the gun from the German spy. The soldiers sitting on motorcycles also jumped off and ran towards here.

After the soldiers who came over took control of the man, Constantine helped Sokov sit up and asked curiously: "Comrade Captain, how did you find out that something was wrong with this man?"

After taking two deep breaths, Sokov said: "Usually when a father takes his child out, even if he puts his hands on the child's shoulders, he puts his right hand on the right shoulder and his left hand on the left shoulder. But his left hand is on the child's right shoulder, and his right hand is placed near his waist, looking like he is ready to draw his gun at any time."

After hearing Sokov's explanation, Constantine immediately realized why Sokov asked the child directly what his father's name was after checking his documents. Because from all indications, the child was a hostage held by German spies. When he saw the convoy, he was full of hope, but he didn't dare to speak casually, lest he be murdered by the German spy who held him hostage.

Constantine called the child over to ask, and learned that the other party came out of the village to play, but was held hostage by the German spy disguised as a villager. Fortunately, Sokov saw through it and caught the German spy, otherwise he would not escape the fate of being silenced in the end.

When the soldiers searched the spy, they found grenades, maps, explosives, and several fake certificates in his backpack. From these things, it can be judged that he was going to carry out a sabotage mission somewhere. Unfortunately, he was unlucky and was discovered by Sokov who passed by halfway.

"Comrade Captain," Constantine asked Sokov, "How should we deal with him?"

"Take him and send him to the division headquarters." Sokov said, "Let the comrades in the division interrogate him, maybe they can get a lot of useful information."

In this way, the spy was tied with ropes and thrown into the jeep, and followed the convoy to the headquarters of the 295th Division.

Seven or eight minutes later, the convoy arrived at the checkpoint outside the division headquarters.

A sergeant walked out of the post. He came to the jeep, raised his hand to salute Sokov, and asked: "Comrade Captain, which unit are you from and what are you doing here?"

Sokov took out his military ID and special pass and handed them over, saying: "We are sent by the 37th Army Headquarters to see your division commander. This is my ID."

After reading the ID, the sergeant did not return it to Sokov immediately, but said politely: "Comrade Captain, please wait a moment, I will make a phone call."

Sokov knew that he was going to call to verify, so he nodded and said reasonably: "No problem, go and call quickly."

Watching the sergeant walk into the sentry box to make a phone call, Constantine said to Sokov: "Comrade Captain, the 295th Division is very heavily guarded. Even if a German spy comes, it may not be able to get in."

Sokov turned his head and glanced at the German spy sitting in the back row, sneered and said: "Second Lieutenant, that's not necessarily true. If they infiltrate from other places, it will be hard to prevent."