"Comrade Gumuyev," Sokov felt that Samoylov had spoken his mind, so he said to Gumuyev: "We are waiting for you here. You go and say hello to the guerrilla comrades first. , to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.”
Gumuyev also realized the problem at this moment, nodded quickly, and walked forward faster. After walking about seventy or eighty meters, he suddenly stopped and imitated the duck's call of "Qua~quah~quah!"
A moment later, the same voice came from not far away: "Gah~gah~gah!"
When Sokov heard this voice, he couldn't help but feel secretly happy. This meant that Gumuyev was receiving a coded signal from his comrades. Soon, he heard voices coming from there, but because the light in the forest was too dark, he couldn't see the people clearly and could only see some faint black shadows.
Not long after, Sokov saw Gumuyev walking over with a few people. Gumuyev pointed to the short but strong-looking bearded man next to him and said: "Comrade commander, this is Pilishin, the captain of our guerrilla team."
"Hello, Comrade Pilishin." Sokov waited for Gumuyev to finish speaking, then immediately extended his hand to the other party and said politely: "I am Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade. I’m here to perform a special mission.”
"Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." When Pilishin saw Sokov wearing a German uniform, he was still vigilant enough, but when he heard the other party's proficient Russian and self-reported identity, his face suddenly revealed Smiling, he quickly held Sokov's hand and said with a smile: "On behalf of all comrades in the guerrillas, I welcome you."
"Comrade Captain." After seeing Pilishin and Sokov shaking hands, Gumuyev reminded Pilishin in a low voice: "Let's rush back to the camp as soon as possible."
In this way, Sokov and the others followed their guerrilla comrades and arrived at their station. Deep in the woods, there are several wooden houses with fires in them. For fear of exposing the target in the firelight, a thick curtain was hung at the door. Sokov followed Pilishin, and after entering a room, he suddenly felt warm all over.
"Please sit down, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." There were simple wooden tables and benches in the room. After Pilishin asked Sokov to sit down, he poured them hot tea from the samovar himself, and then asked: "Lieutenant Colonel Comrade, may I ask, what is your special mission this time?"
"Our mission is to find a missing female scout here and bring her and the important information about her back." Sokov thought that since he had told Gumuyev about the mission, even if he didn't say it, he might still get it. Lixin also knew about it and said straight to the point: "I heard from Comrade Gumuyev that you once rescued a female scout. Maybe she is the person we are looking for."
Pilishin did not speak after hearing this, but turned to look at Gumuyev sitting next to him. After seeing the other person nodded slightly, he continued: "Yes, we did rescue a female scout. She said that she had There is important information, I hope we can send someone to the city."
Knowing that the female scout was indeed here, Sokov's heart beat faster. He asked tentatively: "Comrade Captain, can we see her?"
"Here comes someone." Pilishin did not refuse Sokov's request. He stood up and shouted toward the door.
As soon as he finished speaking, a young guerrilla opened the door curtain and walked in. He straightened his body and asked, "Comrade Captain, do you have any instructions?"
"It's like this," Pilishin said to the team members: "You immediately go and invite the female comrade we rescued today. Someone said that someone wants to see her."
Not long after the team members left, they came in again and reported: "Comrade Captain, she is here."
"Invite her in quickly!"
The team member agreed, opened the door curtain, and made a gesture of invitation with his hand: "Please come in, comrade female scout."
After a well-proportioned, slightly plump, and turbaned female scout strode into the room, she was surprised to find three German officers and soldiers sitting at the table. She suddenly pulled out her pistol and pointed it at Sokov. them. At the same time, he loudly asked Pilishin: "Comrade Captain, please give me an explanation, why are there Germans here?"
"Bessu was so excited that he didn't do anything to irritate her. Instead, he sat down and said to her: "Put down the gun. We are our own people and are here to find you on orders from our superiors. "
After Maria heard what Sokov said, although she was extremely shocked, she did not lower her gun. Instead, she asked vigilantly: "Who are you? Why do you know my name?"
Sokov felt much more at ease when he heard Maria admit her identity. He said unhurriedly: "I am Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade under the 62nd Army. On the order of General Krylov, the Chief of Staff of the Army, I came to look for a woman named Maria Vij. Neeva’s female scout…”
Maria lowered her gun, but still asked cautiously: "Are you really sent by General Krylov?"
Sokov stood up, put the assault rifle he was holding in his arms on the table, walked up to Maria and said, "He told me that when you sent him the message, the word 'Top Secret' just appeared in the message. After the words were spoken, contact was suddenly interrupted. He was worried that something would happen to you, so he ordered me to send someone to look for you. I was worried about leaving this important task to others, so I personally led someone to look for you. "
"My relatives, I have been waiting for you to come." Maria waited for Sokov to finish speaking, then hugged him tightly and said emotionally: "I knew my superiors would not give up on me, so I I know..." As he spoke, he burst into tears.
Sokov gently patted Maria on the back a few times, comforted her and said: "Maria, don't worry, you are safe now, we will take you back to Stalingrad immediately."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Maria let go of Sokov, took a step back, looked up at Sokov and said, "Do you have a radio? My information needs to be sent out immediately."
When Sokov heard what Maria said, he couldn't help but asked in surprise: "Comrade Maria, where is the radio station you used to communicate with your superiors?"
"After I got the enemy's information, I originally wanted to seize the time to send the telegram, but the enemy discovered it just as I turned on the phone." Maria replied: "The enemy used a machine gun to shoot at my position, and the bullets destroyed the radio station, causing The contact between me and my superiors has been interrupted. If I hadn’t happened to meet the guerrillas led by Captain Pilixin, you probably wouldn’t have seen me anymore.”
"Where is the intelligence?" Sokov said quickly: "The armored car we are riding in has a radio. You can use that radio to send out the intelligence."
Maria took out the information from her body, handed it to Sokov, and said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the information is here."
Sokov took it and took a look and saw that it read: "...the enemy forces currently operating in front of the 62nd Army and 64th Army's defense lines include 9 infantry divisions, 3 tank divisions and 1 motorized division. This enemy group had a total of 500 tanks, and it was provided with air support by more than 1,000 aircraft of the 4th Air Force.
In addition, they plan to attack the junction of our two armies along the railway from Karpov Truck Station to Sadovaya Station, and capture Stalingrad at all costs..."
For Sokov, who knew the history of the Battle of Stalingrad, it was the same whether he had such information or not. But for the currently overwhelmed 62nd Army Headquarters, it is crucial. Therefore, as soon as he read the contents of the telegram, he said to Pilishin: "Comrade Captain, this is an important piece of information that we need to send out immediately via radio. Regarding your rescue of Maria, on behalf of the Commander of the 62nd Army, I The ministry would like to express its gratitude to you." With that, he raised his hand and saluted Pilyhin and Gumuyev.
Pilishin and Gumuyev also hurriedly returned the courtesy and said politely: "It's no big deal. Everything we do is to protect our great motherland."
Sokov extended his hand and shook hands with the two of them one by one, "Goodbye, comrades, I hope we can meet again on the day when the invaders are defeated." Then he shook his head at Christopher and the others who were standing aside. "Comrades, it's time for us to go back." After saying that, he took Maria's hand and walked outside the house.
