Red Moscow

After the armored convoy passed through the third battalion defense area, it immediately turned around and headed west, preparing to bypass the Romanian army's defense area. After making a big circle, it detoured back to the rear of the German army attacking the factory area and taught them a lesson.

After driving for about five or six kilometers, Guchakov suddenly saw a checkpoint at the intersection in front of him. There was a fortification piled with sandbags on each side of the road, and there were more than a dozen military tents nearby. It seemed that this checkpoint There are still many people. Seeing this situation, Guchakov hurriedly informed Samoilov behind him: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, an enemy checkpoint has been found ahead, and the strength of the troops is not less than one platoon. Please prepare for battle immediately."

"Understood." After Samoilov agreed, he said to the soldiers in the car: "I found an enemy checkpoint ahead, and everyone is ready to fight."

"Comrade Lieutenant," Tuflin asked tentatively when he saw the machine gun in the roadside fortification, "If there is a real exchange of fire, we will expose the target. Do you think it is possible to bypass it from other places?"

"If it's during the day, we can still consider a detour. But now it's night," Guchakov said with a pouted mouth: "The enemy at the checkpoint has spotted our headlights from a long distance. If we divert at this time , On the contrary, it will arouse the suspicion of the enemy. We still continue to look forward, if the enemy finds out, we will forcefully break through the barrier."

The armored vehicle stopped in front of the crossbar at the checkpoint, and a soldier immediately came up to him. After saluting Tavlin sitting in the vehicle, he asked in broken German, "Mr. Second Lieutenant, please show your ID!"

Hearing the non-standard German spoken by the soldier, Tavlin was taken aback for a moment, but when he saw the uniform of the other party clearly, he couldn't help feeling ecstatic, because the checkpoint was not German, but Romanian, even if the enemy saw through it, forcibly The success rate of breaking through the barrier can also be greatly improved.

Before this departure, Sokov specially prepared a military certificate and ID card for Guchakov to deal with the checkpoints along the way. These things were all searched from the captured or killed German officers and soldiers. Even if they were interrogated, they would not be identified. But it was the first time for Guchakov and the others to use their certificates, and they inevitably lacked confidence when encountering the enemy's interrogation at the checkpoint.

Seeing that Tavlin did not have an accident certificate, the Romanian soldier repeated what he had just said: "Mr. Second Lieutenant, please show your certificate."

"This is my ID." Seeing the soldier asking for his ID again, Tavlin took out the military ID that Sokov had prepared for them, and handed it to the soldier calmly.

The soldier flipped through the ID, checked the ID with the help of the photo of the flashlight, and after seeing the content clearly, he had a puzzled expression on his face: "Second Lieutenant Leo, from the 24th Armored Division?"

"That's right," Taflin stared at the other party and asked, "Is there any problem?"

"Hasn't the troops of the 24th Armored Division been transferred to the vicinity of the Russian barricade factory?" The soldier asked vigilantly, "Why did you appear here?"

As soon as the soldier finished speaking, Tavlin heard the sound of pulling the bolt from behind the sandbag fortification next to him. Although Tavlin secretly screamed in his heart, he still pretended to be strong and said: "Where did we appear, do we need to report to you? Where is your chief, call him here immediately."

The soldier was frightened by Tavlin's attitude, and quickly turned his head and shouted into the checkpoint. Soon an officer came out of the checkpoint, and when he came to the armored vehicle, the soldier handed him his ID and muttered something quietly. The officer nodded, looked up from Taflin who was sitting in the car, and said, "Mr. Second Lieutenant, what part do you belong to?"

"Are you blind, Lieutenant?" Tavlin could see clearly that the person talking to him was a lieutenant, but the other party was an officer of the Romanian army, not to mention a lieutenant, even a lieutenant colonel, he didn't need to be polite to him, after all, he Wearing their master's clothes now: "Didn't you see that my ID says it's the 24th Armored Division?"

"Mr. Second Lieutenant," the Romanian lieutenant was overwhelmed by Tavlin's attitude, and he accompanied him carefully and asked, "May I ask, why did you appear here? You know, since you handed over the defense, this is our place. defense zone."

"We came out to carry out the mission. As for the mission, not to mention you, even your regiment leader is not qualified to know." Tavlin pretended to be arrogant and said: "We have now completed the mission and are ready to Return to the defense zone and report back, if we delay our time, can you afford this responsibility?"

The Romanian lieutenant hesitated for a moment, then returned the documents in his hand to Taflin, and said respectfully: "Mr. Second Lieutenant, since you are going to return to your command, I will not delay you." After finishing speaking, he stood upright He waved his hand towards the checkpoint and shouted, "Let go!"

Passing through the checkpoint of the Romanian army without any risk, Tavlin took off his hat, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said to Guchakov: "Comrade Lieutenant, fortunately, it is the Romanian army, If it was the Germans, maybe they would have called to check, and if we wanted to get through the checkpoint, maybe we would have to shoot and break through."

Gutchakov, who had always maintained a high level of tension, was relieved when he saw that he was getting farther and farther away from the enemy's checkpoint, and said to Taflin: "It seems that the certificates prepared by the division commander are still very effective. "

Tavlin waited for Guchakov to finish speaking, and immediately asked, "Where are we going next?"

"Keep moving forward," Guchakov pointed forward with his hand, and said, "This area is the defense zone of the Romanian army. We must find a way to bypass it to avoid trouble."

After driving forward for more than half an hour, the convoy entered a forest. Not long after, two forks appeared. After the driver stopped the car, he turned to Guchakov and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant, which way should we go?"

Guchakov stood up and looked around, but it was a pity that it was still dark and he couldn't see anything. He could only point to the road on the right and said, "Comrade driver, let's take the road on the right."

The driver restarted the vehicle and followed this road on the right. After driving two or three kilometers, another fork appeared in front of him, this time not two but three, so he had to stop again and ask Guchakov for instructions.

Tavlin didn't wait for Guchakov to make a decision, and said first: "Comrade Lieutenant, I found that we seem to have lost our way. If we continue to wander around, I don't know when we will be able to drive out of these forest areas."

Hearing what Tavlin said, Guchakov seemed a little hesitant. Instead of telling the driver which road to take, he called Samoilov on the car radio: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, can you come to the front?"

The armored car that Samoilov was riding in was no more than a hundred meters away from Guchakov's car. Hearing Guchakov's words, he guessed that there must be some problem, so he got out of the car and walked forward. When they came to the front car, they saw Guchakov and Tavlin standing beside the car, talking in low voices. He asked bluntly: "Comrade Lieutenant, why didn't you leave, what happened?"

"Comrade Lieutenant," Guchakov replied grimly, "we seem to have lost our way in the forest."

"Isn't there a compass?" Samoilov thought something serious had happened when he saw the convoy stopped, but after hearing Guchakov's words, he realized that he had lost his way, so he said carelessly: "Just We need to walk northward according to the guidance of the compass, and we will be able to get out of this forest."

"Comrade Second Lieutenant," Tavlin said, "it's too dark. Even with the help of a compass, you will get lost in the forest. In order to prevent you from breaking into the enemy's defense zone, I suggest that we stop here first and wait until dawn Move on."

"What, stay here until dawn?" Samoilov looked at his watch, frowned and said, "You know it's only two o'clock in the morning. Instead of stopping here and waiting, it's better to keep going, maybe wait until dawn." By then, we had arrived near the target."

"If we break into the enemy's defenses," Guchakov said softly, "it will be all over."

Guchakov's words made Samoilov hesitate, and he continued to move forward, and it was indeed possible to break into the enemy's defense zone again. But if you wait here for dawn, then the time to rush to the designated place will be greatly delayed.

For a while, none of the three spoke, and all remained silent.

"I think," said Samoilov resolutely after an indefinite period of time, "we should move on."

"No." Guchakov shook his head and objected, "I can't let the squad take risks. If we really break into the enemy's defense zone, our mission may fail."

Seeing that the two disagreed, Taflin tentatively said: "Comrade two commanders, why don't you send a telegram to the division headquarters and report our situation to them, and ask the division commander to make a decision."

"No!" As soon as Tavlin finished speaking, Guchakov and Samoilov shook their heads at the same time and rejected his proposal. Guchakov said slowly: "We can't send a telegram to the division headquarters now, as this will expose our whereabouts. I think we will stop here temporarily and wait until after dawn to observe the surrounding terrain before moving on. Bar."

Regarding the decision made by Guchakov, Samoilov smiled coldly and said expressionlessly: "Comrade Lieutenant, I reserve my opinion. After I return to Mamayev Post, I will take this report to the master."

"Whatever you want." Guchakov waved his hand at Samoilov, and said weakly, "Comrade Second Lieutenant, you should go back to your car first, take the time to rest, and then go on your way after dawn."

After Samoilov turned and left, Tavlin asked Guchakov with some concern: "Comrade Lieutenant, he used to be from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Will he cause trouble for you in the future?"

Guchakov had been captured by the German army twice, and he had an inexplicable fear of the people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But I am the supreme commander of this small team, if I dare not have my own opinion, how can I complete the next task. So he gritted his molars and said, "It's okay, I believe the teacher will figure out what's going on."

After a long wait, the sky began to gradually brighten. Although the light in the forest was still difficult, the surrounding environment could be vaguely seen. Since there was no reference nearby, Guchakov didn't know where he had come to. He stood in the carriage to check the surrounding environment, looked at the direction with the compass, and finally pointed to the road in the middle. Road, say to the driver: "Let's take the middle road."

After driving forward for half an hour, Guchakov saw a horse-drawn cart appearing on the road ahead. The driver looked like an old man from behind. Guchakov quickly lowered his head and said to the driver: "Driving the car next to that big car and stopping, I want to ask him about me."

After giving instructions to the driver, Guchakov sat up straight again and said to Tavlin: "Comrade Sergeant, in order not to reveal our identities, you will ask us later."

"Hi, old man!" After the armored vehicle stopped beside the carriage, Tavlin stood up straight, leaned over and asked in broken Russian on purpose: "What is this place?"

The old man driving the car saw an armored car parked beside it, and another German officer in the car asked himself, so he quickly reined in his horse and jumped out of the carriage. After bowing slightly to Tavlin on the armored vehicle, he said respectfully, "Hi, sir, what can I do for you?"

"Let me ask you, what is this place?" Tavlin didn't know who the old man was, and he didn't dare to reveal his identity easily. He still asked in broken Russian, "Are there any villages nearby?"

The old man quickly said a difficult-to-pronounce place name, literally translated as "village cemetery". Guchakov, who was sitting in the car, heard the place name that the old man said, quickly took out the map, and quickly searched for the location that the old man said. Soon, he found the village to the southwest of Gumrak Station.

After figuring out where we were, Guchakov hurriedly said to Tavlin in a low voice: "Sergeant, I already know where we are. Let's go on."

Taflin nodded, raised his hand and slapped twice on the bridge, and ordered in German: "Let's go!"

Seeing the dusty armored vehicle looking at him, the bent old man straightened up, took a sip at the armored convoy going away, and cursed viciously: "Damn German devils, our people will die sooner or later." Come back and pack your things."

Tavlin naturally didn't know that the old man spat at them, but asked Guchakov: "Comrade Lieutenant, where are we now?"

"Here, southwest of Gumrak Station." Guchakov pointed to the map on his lap, and said to Tavlin: "I guess there must be a lot of ammunition and supplies here at the station. as the primary target of attack."

Taflin looked up at the sky and asked, "It's already dawn. If we want to sneak attack on the enemy's station, I'm afraid we'll have to wait until dark."

"No need." Guchakov shook his head and said, "Since we have rockets, we can carry out sneak attacks during the daytime, and leave after the attack. The enemy may not even know what happened."