"Okay, Captain Sokov, don't criticize the soldiers anymore." Chernyshov had roughly guessed the whole story from the conversations between several people. He quickly said to Sokov: "If it is really A colonel wants to lead people in, not to mention that you only left two ordinary soldiers, even if you personally guard the door, it will be useless. I will report this matter to the commander in detail. But you have to learn this This is a lesson learned, so don’t make similar mistakes in the future.”
"Understood, Comrade Commander." Sokov replied, suppressing the anger in his heart. Then he raised his hand to his forehead and asked Chernyshev: "Comrade division commander, can I leave? I have to go back and count the results of the troops."
As soon as he received Chernyshev's permission, Sokov turned around and left. After walking a few steps, he remembered the cart of art in the central square again, stopped and said to Chernyshev: "Comrade Commander, there is one more thing I forgot to report to you. The Second Company found a truck abandoned by the German army in the central square. There were many famous Russian paintings in the truck. I have ordered the Second Company Commander to lead people to guard there and not allow anyone to approach. "
When he heard that a truck of art had been found, Chernyshov couldn't help but show a surprised expression on his face. He quickly asked: "Captain Sokov, where is the truck now?"
"Stop next to the statue of Peter the Great in the central square," Sokov asked respectfully, "Comrade Commander, do you want me to take you there now?"
Chernyshev hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Not yet, I have to wait here for Comrade Commander to come."
Seeing that Chernyshev had something to do and couldn't get away, and he went back to rush to tally the results, Sokov once again raised his hand to salute him, then turned around and left with the soldiers.
Returning to the truck in the central square, Sokov ordered Seryosha to bring people to summon several company commanders. He was going to count the results here. Before leaving, Seryosha asked Sokov timidly when no one was paying attention: "Misha, do you think the commander will give our battalion the honor of being the first to rush into the city?"
"Seryozha, don't you understand that the first troops to plant the red flag on the German command post are friendly forces, not us, so it is impossible for our superiors to award us the honor of occupying Sushinich." He was holding back. Sokov, who was full of evil fire, finally couldn't help but got angry after hearing Seryosha's question. He said with anger: "When have you ever seen a referee on a football field make a decision?" After misjudgment, will the sentence be revised?" After saying that, he waved his hand at Seryosha and urged, "Hurry up and summon all the company commanders. I want to know as soon as possible what kind of results we have achieved."
Half an hour later, except Saveyev who was in the position outside the city, the rest of the company commanders arrived. When the results were tallied up, it was found that although the entire battalion had captured a lot of supplies, it had only killed a dozen stragglers in total. For such results, several company commanders thought they would be criticized by Sokov, but they unexpectedly found that Sokov looked absent-minded when listening to their report.
As soon as the results of the battle were tallied, a captain came to Sokov with several soldiers. He said to Sokov respectfully: "Hello, comrade captain, I am following the order of Division Commander Chernyshev. Came to receive the truck." After saying that, he took out a square piece of paper from the backpack he was carrying and handed it to Sokov.
Sokov opened the paper and saw that it was Chernyshev who gave him the order to immediately hand over the truck and its contents to the captain. After putting away the order, Sokov pointed to the side and said: "The truck is right there!"
Just as the captain turned to leave, Sokov asked: "Comrade Captain, do you need me to send someone to escort you?"
"Thank you, Comrade Captain, no need." The Captain replied with a smile: "The soldiers I brought are enough to complete this escort mission."
"Comrade Captain, if it does not involve leaking secrets, I would like to ask," Sokov looked at the captain who was about to receive the artwork and asked curiously: "Where do you plan to send these oil paintings?"
"Go where they should go." The captain's answer was impeccable, neither offending Sokov nor revealing his final whereabouts. He smiled and nodded to Sokov, then led the soldier towards the truck.
Chernyshev soon sent another liaison officer, arranged the Istrian battalion in a small school in the south of the city, and ordered them to wait here for the next order.
After the whole battalion was assembled in the square, they set off along the street towards their destination. Many residents walked out of the buildings on both sides of the street. When they saw the marching commanders and fighters, everyone seemed particularly excited. Some elderly women even wiped away tears and kept chanting: "They are our people." , our troops are back. Finally we drove away the damn Germans."
…
The troops arrived at the primary school and lived in spacious classrooms in platoon units. Since the heating boiler in the school was destroyed by the Germans, the soldiers could only chop the broken tables and chairs into small pieces and use them to make fires for heating.
There is a stove in the principal's desk on the second floor, along with two sacks of charcoal. After Seryozha lit the fire, the whole room quickly became warm. Seeing that the environment here was good, Sokov set up the battalion headquarters and communications room here.
As it was getting dark, Sokov received a call from Chernyshov. The division commander said sternly on the phone: "Captain Sokov, come to my place immediately."
When Sokov rushed to the headquarters, he was surprised to find that Rokossovsky was also here. When Rokossovsky saw Sokov come in, he stood up and greeted him. While shaking hands with him, he patted his right shoulder with his hand and said: "Well done, Misha, you are so great." !If you hadn’t taken the offensive decisively, we might not have been able to capture Susinich in such a short period of time.
Just half an hour ago, I sent a telegram to the commander of the front army, General Zhukov, telling him that our army had occupied Sushinich. Unexpectedly, he still didn't believe it and asked me to confirm it to him. So I called him and told him that I was calling him from Susinich, from my own headquarters in the city. Only then did he believe that we had not deceived him. "
After the greetings, Rokossovsky asked Sokov to sit down and continued: "We called you here because we have an important task to give you. For the specific situation, let Division Commander Chernyshov I’ll explain it to you.”
"Comrade Captain, come here." After Chernyshov waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, he called Sokov to the map on the wall, preparing to assign him a new combat mission, "I want to ask you Let me introduce the situation." Sokov stood up and quickly came to the map, waiting for Chernyshev to continue.
"According to our reconnaissance and interrogation of prisoners, von Giles' infantry division has withdrawn to the south of Sushinich, six kilometers away from the city. This is where it is." Chernyshov pointed on the map with his hand. After that position, he continued: "The 972nd Regiment of the 324th Infantry Division was ordered to launch an attack on this area in the afternoon. But unfortunately, their attack was unsuccessful."
Having said this, Chernyshev turned around and faced Sokov and said: "The mission of your battalion is to reinforce them, find a way to seize this German stronghold, and ensure the safety of Sushinich."
Hearing the designation of the 972nd Regiment, Sokov's heart was filled with hatred. It turned out that it was his own unit that made the first contribution to the liberation of Sushinich, but who would have thought that because of a flag, this honor would fall into the hands of others. . At this moment, when he heard that Chernyshev was going to arrange for himself to reinforce this army, Sokov's first thought was to refuse. But when he opened his mouth, what he asked was: "Comrade division commander, I would like to ask, when our battalion goes to reinforce them, will it be under the command of the regiment, or will it fight independently?"
Chernyshov did not immediately answer Sokov's question, but turned to Rokossovsky for help. Rokossovsky stood up, walked to Sokov, and said: "In order to ensure victory in the battle, I allow you to fight independently without accepting the command of the 972nd Regiment."
Hearing what Rokossovsky said, Sokov's mood became happy again. He quickly raised his hand to his forehead and said loudly: "Comrade Commander, please rest assured, I will never let you down." expectations.”
