Red Moscow

"Your Excellency, Commander," Schmidt replied without hesitation, "the transfer, the headquarters must transfer immediately, otherwise it will be too late for us to transfer when the Russian tanks rush over."

"Transfer, that's for sure." Paulus asked with some hesitation: "But in a hurry, where should our headquarters be transferred?"

"Gumrak area, Your Excellency Commander." Schmidt replied: "The transportation there is convenient, we can transfer the group army headquarters there..."

Unexpectedly, before Schmidt could speak, Paulus' face turned red with anger, and he interrupted Schmidt's words impatiently: "Chief of Staff, have you forgotten that not long ago, Russia The people attacked Gumrak Station with their new rockets and destroyed the vast amount of supplies we had stockpiled there. Now that you want me to move the headquarters there, do you want me to be a target for the Russians? "

Schmidt was also confused when he was first scolded. He didn't know what he said wrongly, which made Paulus angry. After listening to Paulus’s words, he realized what the other party was worried about, and quickly explained: “Your Excellency, the attack on Gumrak Station by the Russians was a complete accident. Turned into a ruin, it is no longer the target of the Russians' attention, and we will not attract extra attention from the Russians by moving the headquarters to a nearby small town."

"So it is." After listening to Schmidt's explanation, Paulus knew that he had wrongly blamed the other party, and said a little embarrassedly: "I'm sorry, Chief of Staff, I was too impulsive, please forgive me!"

It was the first time Schmidt heard Paulus apologize to himself, and he quickly waved his hands and said, "Your Excellency, I was wrong. I didn't make my words clear, so you misunderstood. Now that time is running out, let's move quickly." .”

"Wait a minute, Chief of Staff." Paulus had calmed down at this moment, and when he heard Schmidt's urging to transfer, he frowned and thought for a while, and then said: "If the entire army headquarters is heading towards the Gumrak area, Transfer, I am afraid that the Russian scouts will detect it, and then we will be in danger."

Schmidt felt that what Paulus said made sense, and quickly asked him for instructions: "Your Excellency, what should we do?"

"Divide the command into two parts," Paulus said to Schmidt, walking to the wall and pointing to the map. "You and I will move towards the Gumrak area with the communications and intelligence departments of the command. The rest were moved to a new location near the Lower Chir to confuse the Russian scouts."

For Paulus's arrangement, Schmidt felt that it was a bit unnecessary, but considering the other party's identity, he still could only pinch his nose and admit it: "Yes, Your Excellency Commander. I will immediately arrange manpower and bring some members of the headquarters Rush to Lower Chir to establish a new headquarters to distract the Russians."

Half an hour later, the convoy led by Paulus and Schmidt moved towards the Gumrak area. Another headquarters convoy preparing to go to the Lower Chill River was scheduled to depart an hour later.

When the soldiers in this unit responsible for attracting the attention of the Soviet army were busy loading various equipment and supplies into vehicles, a Soviet reconnaissance team of more than a dozen people appeared nearby. This detachment came from Rokossovsky's Don Front Army, led by a second lieutenant named Qiulenin.

Seeing the busy scene of the German Army Command, he realized that the Germans were about to run away, so he quickly ordered a corporal beside him: "Comrade corporal, take a soldier to catch a prisoner and come back."

"Comrade Second Lieutenant," the corporal is Qiu Liening's old subordinate, and he knows him very well. After hearing this order, he tentatively asked, "Are you planning to grab your tongue and find out where the enemy is going to move?"

"That's right." Seeing that the corporal had guessed his intentions, Qiu Liening nodded at him and replied, "Don't arrest any ordinary soldiers, they definitely don't know where the headquarters is going to move. If you want to arrest them, At least one officer with the rank of second lieutenant or higher must be captured and brought back."

The corporal was an old scout, and it was just a piece of cake for him to touch the sentry and catch the prisoner. In particular, the headquarters of the German army is busy transferring, and it is chaotic everywhere. If there are one or two people missing, it will not be noticed at all. He took a soldier and quietly approached the German officers and soldiers who were loading supplies on the truck, looking for a good opportunity to capture prisoners.

After waiting for about ten minutes, he saw an officer wearing a big-brimmed hat coming out of the busy crowd and walking towards his hiding place. The corporal hiding behind the big tree thought he had been spotted by the other party, so he put his finger on the trigger, ready to shoot immediately when he realized something was wrong. But after observing for a while, I found that the other party didn't yell, but casually moved towards where I was, as if something was wrong.

The officer stopped in front of the big tree where the corporal was hiding, turned to face the soldiers who were busy, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, lit a match, and began to puff.

Finding that the officer came here to smoke, the corporal heaved a sigh of relief, and gestured to the soldier hiding behind another tree, signaling him to make some noise to attract the officer's attention. The understanding soldier immediately bent down to pick up a clod, and threw it not far away.

The sound of the clod falling to the ground really attracted the officer's attention, and he walked towards the direction of the sound with a cigarette in his mouth. While walking, he looked down at the ground, trying to see what was making the sound.

The corporal hiding behind the tree saw that the officer's attention had been drawn away, so he jumped out from behind the tree, raised the butt of his submachine gun, and slammed the officer on the back of the head. The officer who was hit hard didn't even groan, and fell straight to the ground like a torn sack. Seeing that the officer was knocked unconscious, the corporal hurried forward with the soldiers, one raised his hand and the other raised his foot, and ran towards the hiding place of the reconnaissance team.

Qiu Liening, who was hiding in the distance, saw the corporal and the others carrying a man running towards his hiding place. He guessed that they must have captured a prisoner, so he ordered two soldiers to come and escort him.

When the corporal came to Qiu Lienin, he couldn't help saying triumphantly: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, look, I caught you alive. If you want to know anything, just ask him."

Qiu Liening glanced at the tongue that was caught back, it turned out to be a lieutenant, and ordered the soldiers next to him: "Wake him up!"

The soldier grabbed a handful of snow from the snow and rubbed it vigorously on the officer's face. After a while, the prisoner woke up. Seeing that the prisoner opened his eyes, the soldier nodded to Qiu Lienin, "Comrade Second Lieutenant, he is already awake."

Qiu Lienin looked at the German lieutenant who was in a state of panic, and asked in German: "Your name, position and rank!"

"Bert, Lieutenant Burt." The German lieutenant looked around at the muzzle pointing at him, and hurriedly replied, "I am the combat staff officer of the Group Army Operations Department."

Seeing that the German lieutenant answered so readily, Qiu Lienin nodded slightly, and said with a smile on his face: "Very well, Lieutenant Burt, I am very satisfied with your answer. Next, I hope we can continue to cooperate!"

"How do you want to cooperate?" Lieutenant Burt, who was still in shock, asked back.

"My question is very simple." Qiu Liening pouted at the convoy ready to go in the distance, and asked, "Tell me, where is this convoy going?"

Lieutenant Burt was still hesitating whether he should tell the Russians in front of him what he knew. I heard the sound of pulling the bolt from behind, and then a cold, hard muzzle was pressed against the back of my head, and then came a sentence in Russian that I couldn't understand: "If you don't say it, I will kill you!"

Qiu Liening waved his hand at the corporal who threatened Lieutenant Burt with a gun, and said, "Okay, comrade corporal, don't scare him. I believe he will tell me the answer I want to know."

Feeling that the muzzle of the gun on the back of his head was removed, Lieutenant Burt felt like he had escaped from death. He hurriedly replied in a panic: "Under the Chill River, we were ordered to move in the direction of the Chill River. As for Where to transfer to, my rank is too low to know."

"Comrade Second Lieutenant," the corporal also understands some German. He heard Lieutenant Bert's confession that the German Army Command would move down the Chir River, and quickly reminded Qiu Lienin: "We should immediately pass this news to the commander of the front army. Ministry report."

"You are right, Comrade Corporal." Qiu Lienin agreed with the Corporal's words, and he quickly ordered the operator behind him, "Immediately send a report to the Intelligence Department of the Front Army Command, saying that Paulus's Army Group The headquarters will be transferred to the Lower Chir River, and the specific location will be reported after we complete the reconnaissance."

Five minutes later, Ma Linin received the information from the scouts. He came to Rokossovsky's office, passed the telegram in his hand, and reported: "Comrade Commander, according to reports from scouts, Paulus's headquarters is moving towards the Lower Chir. "

When Rokossovsky received the telegram, he asked casually: "Where will Paulus's new headquarters be located on the Lower Chir River?"

"We have no way of knowing this yet." Ma Lining shook his head and said, "The German staff officer captured by the scouts was too low-ranking, so he only knew that the headquarters would be transferred to the Chil River, but the specific The location is unknown."

According to Rokossovsky's plan, after confirming the location of the German headquarters, a fast column was sent to carry out an assault. Even if Paulus could not be captured or killed alive, it could completely disrupt the opponent's command system. Who knows whether to hurry or take a step too late, the headquarters of the German army has been transferred.

After quickly scanning the contents of the telegram, Rokossovsky raised his head and said to Malinin: "Chief of Staff, ask the Minister of Intelligence to call back the scouts and ask them to follow the transferred German convoy. Be sure to find out what the German command is about." exact location."

"Understood, Comrade Commander." After nodding in agreement, the chubby Chief of Staff Malinin turned and walked out of the office, preparing to convey Rokossovsky's latest order to the Minister of Intelligence.

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