Golia said in a panic: "Comrade Brigadier, we are still more than twenty kilometers away from our destination. At our current speed, we will have to walk for at least seven or eight hours. During this period, as long as even one soldier does not Be careful what you say, it could lead to us being exposed.”
"Comrade Captain," Sokov was also worried about what Goliya was worried about. But now he was on the verge of death, so he could only pretend to be calm and said: "You know very well that the enemy is following us. As long as someone in the team speaks, the enemy can hear it. In this case, how do we convey orders to the soldiers?"
"Then what should we do?" Goliath asked.
"Maintain the status quo and continue moving forward." Sokov said expressionlessly: "I hope we can have good luck and reach our destination smoothly without being noticed by the enemy."
In this way, this force, composed of Soviet troops disguised as German troops and real German troops, headed north along the rugged road. Although we encountered several German checkpoints along the way, when the enemy saw such a large force, they did not even ask, and simply moved the obstacles on the road to let them pass.
Seeing that the troops passed many German checkpoints so smoothly, Golya felt much more at ease. He felt that what Sokov said was very reasonable. Marching with the enemy's troops could indeed confuse the audience. But not long after he was happy, he began to feel worried again. He asked Sokov in a low voice: "Comrade Brigade Commander, we can certainly pass various checkpoints smoothly while marching with the enemy. But have you ever considered waiting for us?" How do we get rid of this enemy when we arrive at the pick-up location?”
"Don't worry, Comrade Captain." Although Sokov didn't know where the German army was heading, he still said to Golya calmly: "There are so many forks in the road ahead, and you may have to walk. , the enemy separated from us."
"I hope so." Golia murmured: "If we arrive at the meeting point and they still follow us, we will have to find a way to eliminate them."
When the troops had walked almost two-thirds of the way, the operator handed Sokov a telegram and whispered: "Comrade Brigade Commander, this is the telegram just sent from the Army Headquarters."
Hearing that it was a telegram from the Army Group Headquarters, Sokov guessed that the contents might be related to friendly forces, and he quickly used his flashlight to read the contents. The telegram said that the force that broke through the German defense was the 67th Tank Brigade commanded by Colonel Hidjaev. The brigade had 35 tanks and a company of infantry. They successfully broke through the German defense line and were rushing towards the In the Orlovka area, Sokov's troops were ordered to join them after dawn.
After reading the contents of the telegram, Sokov handed it to Golya and began to think about how to get rid of the German troops marching with him. This place is already deep in the defense of the German army. If there is a war with the German army behind them, if they cannot be eliminated in a short time, when the surrounding enemies come in like a tide, it will be my small force of two hundred people that will be wiped out.
Just when Sokov was worried, Golya had already read the contents of the telegram. He said with some excitement: "Comrade Brigade Commander, this is really great. A tank brigade and an infantry company, plus our team troops, we can establish a support point in the Orlovka area and create conditions for the main forces of both sides to join forces."
After Sokov waited for Goliya to finish speaking, he nodded to the German troops behind him and said, "Comrade Captain, the first thing we have to do now is to find a way to get rid of this enemy."
Golia turned his head and looked at the enemy troops behind him, with a troubled expression on his face: "Comrade Brigadier, this group of enemies has followed us for almost twenty kilometers. It seems that they are going in the same direction as us. What should we do?" How to get rid of them?"
"Comrade Brigadier," Ernst, who saw that Sokov and Golya were helpless against the German troops following behind, and who had remained silent since setting off, said, "I think the best way is to order us The troops halted and allowed the German troops to continue their advance."
Hearing Ernst's suggestion, Sokov couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, and then asked: "Corporal Ernst, I wonder if you have ever thought about how we should order the troops to stop? You know, except Except for those you train, the other soldiers don't understand German at all."
Regarding Sokov's concerns, Ernst grinned, and then said: "Comrade Brigade Commander, it doesn't actually matter whether our comrades can understand German. As long as we order all armored vehicles to stop, don't the soldiers behind understand how?" What's going on?"
"It makes sense, it makes sense." When Sokov heard Ernst say this, he immediately realized that he had got into trouble and quickly ordered the operator: "Send a message to the armored vehicles at the front and order them to stop and stay where they are."
The armored vehicles driving in front of the team stopped one after another, and the infantry following the vehicles also stopped advancing and stood there waiting for further orders. "What's going on?" Seeing the troops in front suddenly stopped, a German lieutenant walked out of the German troops behind him and shouted to the Soviet commanders in front: "What happened? Why did you stop?" ?”
"I'm sorry, Mr. Lieutenant." A Soviet soldier wearing the uniform of a German second lieutenant walked out of the queue and replied in proficient German: "We don't know what happened. We just stopped when we saw the armored vehicle in front of us stopped. .”
Seeing that the infantrymen could not ask the reason, the German lieutenant quickly crossed the infantry queue, walked towards several armored vehicles, and asked loudly: "Can any of you tell me what happened?"
"Corporal Ernst," Sokov saw a German lieutenant coming over and yelling, so he lightly kicked Ernst with his toes and ordered in a low voice: "You think of a way to kill this German officer." Send away."
Ernst nodded, stood up, and asked the German lieutenant under the car: "Lieutenant, what are you talking about there?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Captain." After the lieutenant saw Ernst's rank, he quickly stood at attention and saluted, and said respectfully: "I want to ask, why did the troops stop advancing?"
"We have been walking all night, and the soldiers are tired." Ernst waited for the lieutenant to finish, pretending to be impatient and said: "So I ordered the troops to stop and let them have a good rest, and then continue until daybreak. It’s not too late to hurry up. Lieutenant, if you are in a hurry, you might as well leave first.”
The German lieutenant standing under the car only raised his hand to salute Ernst after hearing what he said, turned around and walked quickly back to his unit. Not long after, Sokov and the others saw hundreds of German officers and soldiers walking past the armored vehicles in neat formation.
Seeing that the enemy was far away, Golya exhaled a breath and said to Sokov with relief: "Thank God, Comrade Brigade Commander, the enemy is finally gone. If I continue walking with them like this, I am really worried that something will happen." .”
"Corporal Ernst, you did a good job." Seeing that Ernst sent the enemy away with a few words, Sokov raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder twice, and said approvingly: "If we can do it after dawn, You should be the primary contributor to the successful rendezvous with friendly forces."
Ernst's compliment to Sokov was just a faint smile, "Comrade Brigade Commander, it's just a little effort."
After Golya waited for Sokov to sit down again, he leaned close to his ear and whispered in his ear: "Comrade Brigadier, how long has it been since Ernst tried to surrender?"
Sokov did not expect that Golya would suddenly ask about this matter. He calculated it silently in his mind, and then replied in a low voice: "Not long after the big counterattack under the Moscow city began, he surrendered to our army. So far, there have been It’s been nine months. Comrade Captain, what are you asking about this matter?”
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Golia quickly glanced at Ernst, who was sitting not far away, and then whispered: "Don't you think his military rank is too low?"
After Golya reminded him, Sokov realized that Ernst was still a corporal. Although he has the right to be promoted to a military rank below the school level, due to Ernst's sensitive status, if he wants to be promoted to a military rank, he must obtain the consent of Belkin and Sidorin. He secretly thought that after completing this response mission and returning to the brigade headquarters, he would immediately discuss with Belgin and the others to promote Ernst to the military rank.
Although the German troops were far away, Sokov did not immediately order the troops to set off. He knew that the soldiers must be very tired after walking for most of the night, so he decisively ordered everyone to rest on the spot, seize the time to sleep, and prepare to wait. Set off again after dawn.
Regarding Sokov's decision, Golya once again raised his own questions: "Comrade Brigadier, didn't our superiors order us to join the tank brigade that broke through the German defense line after dawn? If you order the soldiers to rest now, I I’m worried that I won’t be able to reach the designated location after dawn.”
"Comrade Captain, haven't you seen that the soldiers are tired? If they continue on their way, they will become exhausted by dawn. If a battle breaks out, do you think their physical strength can sustain it?" Sokov After saying these words, seeing that Golia still looked hesitant, he added: "I am the brigade commander. If the fighter plane is delayed because of letting the soldiers rest, and the superiors want to blame it, I will bear all the responsibility." bear."
"Okay, Comrade Brigadier." Seeing Sokov's resolute attitude, Golya knew that nothing he said would be of any use, so he called a communications soldier and ordered him: "Immediately convey to the troops behind. My order is for everyone to rest where they are and wait until dawn before setting off."
