After the truck drove away, Aino looked at the intersection more than thirty meters away and saw a sandbag fortification there. Two machine gunners were standing in the sandbag fortification, looking over here and talking quietly. In the middle of the road, there were several wooden fences with barbed wire, leaving only a place for people to pass. Seven or eight German soldiers stood behind them, randomly checking people passing by the barricades and asking them to show their IDs.
Aino came close to Grisa and said in a low voice: "Comrade Lieutenant, the driver just asked me when I would leave the town. I was worried that he would leak our whereabouts to the SS, so I lied to him and said that today's patrol mission has been completed and there is no need to leave the town again." ”
"You did the right thing, Comrade Corporal." After praising Aino, Grisa told the surrounding soldiers: "Comrades, we have arrived in the middle of the enemy. In order to avoid exposing our identities, except for Corporal Aino, the rest Comrades, no one should speak unless it is absolutely necessary, and if anything happens, use gestures to communicate."
"Understood!" the soldiers replied neatly in lowered voices.
"Let's go!" Grisa said in a low voice: "Continue to pretend to be a German patrol, find a way to pass the barricades in front, and search for the target we want to attack."
In order to make the reconnaissance team look more like a German patrol, he also whispered to Aino: "Comrade Corporal, you are now a German second lieutenant. Remember to put your hands behind your back when walking, lower the brim of your hat, and raise your chin. Put on a arrogant look. Later, you can find a way to distract the German soldiers so that we can enter the town smoothly."
Aino followed Grisa's instructions and immediately put on the air of a German second lieutenant. He swaggered to the barricade, pointed at the two machine gunners through the sandbags, and said politely: "Private, you are here Are you on duty here, or are you here for vacation?"
The two machine gunners did not expect that the second lieutenant who had just arrived from outside the town would question them in public. They quickly straightened their bodies and replied: "Mr. Second Lieutenant, we are on duty."
"On duty?" Aino sneered and said, "But I think you seem to be chatting. If the Russians rush in front of you at this time, you probably won't be able to recover."
The soldiers on duty at the intersection originally saw a second lieutenant coming with a patrol and were about to conduct an investigation. Unexpectedly, the other party preemptively criticized the machine gunner for not being serious about his duty. The sergeant in charge quickly walked up to Aino and said to him with a smile: "Mr. Second Lieutenant, they are all at their posts. Even if they are chatting, it will not affect their duty..."
"What did you say?" Aino interrupted the other party before he could finish speaking. He also took out a small notebook from his pocket and asked in a pretentious manner: "What is your name and which army are you from? I will take your actions Report to superiors and let them know how our soldiers neglected their duties while on duty..."
The soldiers standing on duty at the intersection saw a strange second lieutenant reprimanding their sergeants and machine gunners. They didn't care to check Griza's documents and craned their necks to watch the fun. Seeing that no one was checking, Grisa and the others quickly took the opportunity to pass the barricade and continued walking along the street.
Aino saw from the corner of his eye that Grisa and the others had successfully passed the barricade. After recording the names of the sergeant and machine gunner, he closed the book and pretended to be serious and said to them: "Go back immediately. Report today's behavior to your superiors and ask him to put you in solitary confinement for two days. I will intervene in this matter again at the appropriate time." After saying that, he ignored the stunned sergeant and machine gunner and staggered around with their hands behind their backs. Cross the barricade to catch up with the reconnaissance team in front.
Grisa walked at the front of the whole group. He looked around as he walked. With his many years of experience in the army and the keen observation of a soldier, Grisa discovered that the town had become a huge military camp. In addition to the barricades, sandbags were piled on the windows of many buildings on the roadside, and machine guns were mounted. When attacked, a three-dimensional crossfire could be formed to block the street. Seeing this, Grisa couldn't help but think to himself: I really didn't expect that the enemy's defense in the town was so tight. If there were no new rockets, we could only rely on troops to attack. To win this town, at least one regiment would be needed. troops.
The further we walked, the more German soldiers we encountered, and we even encountered two real patrols. Fortunately, the other party regarded Grisa and the others as a real patrol. Not only did they not come over to investigate, but they even waved to them.
The reconnaissance team was approaching the church square in the center of the town, but was stopped by a roadblock in front. In addition to the barricades and machine gun fire points at the intersection, the people responsible for guarding this area were actually SS troops. Behind them, several tanks were parked, and their black muzzles pointed in the direction from which Grisa and the others came.
Seeing the SS guarding the intersection in front of him, Grisa knew that he could not go any further, otherwise his identity would be revealed. He coughed lightly and signaled Aino not to move forward. Aino, who understood the situation, quickly stopped and raised his hand to signal everyone to stop.
After the team stopped, Aino took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, shook one out and held it in his mouth. Grisa quickly took out a match and lit it for him. At the same time, he whispered: "Comrade Corporal, pay attention to the situation in the church square!"
Aino hummed softly, stood up straight, pretended to be casual, and looked towards the church square dozens of meters away. All he saw was a hill of green ammunition boxes. The Germans may have thought that there would be no danger here. When it came to the attack, they didn't even have any disguise. They were all piled directly on the open space in the square. From time to time, cars drove into the square from other directions. When they saw the cars coming, the soldiers responsible for loading and unloading immediately stepped forward to unload the ammunition from the loaded ammunition trucks; or they moved the ammunition piled on the ground forward to pull the ammunition. Empty car.
After confirming the location where the enemy's ammunition was stored, Aino showed a sneer on his lips. He whispered to Grisa: "Comrade Lieutenant, the enemy's ammunition is stored in the open air. As long as one of the new rockets we launch can hit. Target can completely destroy this ammunition depot."
Although it has been seen that the German ammunition is stored in the open air, how much ammunition is stored here cannot be seen clearly because of the angle. So Grisa was silent for a moment and whispered to Aino: "Let's go to several other directions in the town and try to figure out how much ammunition the Germans have stored in the square."
In response to Grisa's order, Aino nodded, threw the unfinished cigarette on the ground, crushed it with his toes, and then led the reconnaissance team into a nearby alley, preparing to walk around the square. Find out how large the enemy's open ammunition depot is.
They walked through the buildings around the square, trying to find a high point to see how much ammunition the Germans had stacked in the square. Then after walking around the town for a long time, Grisa found that he had thought of the problem too simply. The SS troops who were responsible for guarding the open-air ammunition depots were equipped with personnel in the buildings that could clearly see the whole square. When the guard post saw Grisa and the others approaching, he immediately waved them away.
Seeing that it was impossible to observe the situation in the square, Aino asked Grisa for instructions: "Comrade Lieutenant, what should we do next, should we continue to circle around the square?"
Grisa shook his head and said: "The SS's defense around the square is too tight, and we can't get close to the square at all. If we continue to turn around, I'm afraid it will arouse the enemy's suspicion. I think we should find a way to get out of here first." "
Now that they had decided to return to the hiding place, the group turned around and headed back. When Aino saw that there were no enemies nearby, he whispered: "Comrade Lieutenant, if I had known earlier, I would have asked the German driver to wait for us. It would have been much easier to leave the town this way."
"Even if the German driver is willing to take us, we can no longer take his car." Grisa reminded Aino: "That car is used to pull supplies. It must be full of goods when it returns. There are so many of us. Can’t sit down.”
"That's true." After hearing what Grisa said, Aino felt that it was indeed the case. He nodded and then asked Grisa: "Comrade Lieutenant, how do we go back? From the town to where we are hiding, It’s almost ten kilometers. I’m afraid it will be dark by the time we walk back. After we go back, we don’t even have time to rest, so we have to come back again and attack the enemy’s ammunition depot.”
Grisa looked at the German officers and soldiers walking on both sides of the street, and wondered to himself, should he get a car somewhere, get some documents, and then drive the car and leave the town in a big way?
Just as Grisa was in trouble, several trucks parked next to the reconnaissance team. A familiar voice came from the driver's seat of the first car: "Hey, Second Lieutenant, what are you doing?"
Aino looked up and saw that it was the convoy transporting ammunition, and the person who asked the question was the German lieutenant sitting on the bridge. The carriages were all empty at this moment, and the ammunition must have been unloaded in the open-air ammunition depot in the square. He quickly approached the car and said to the lieutenant with a smile on his face: "Mr. Lieutenant, we were ordered to perform a mission outside the city. The road we have to walk is a bit far. The soldiers stopped to take a breath before getting ready to continue setting off."
"Where are you going?" Perhaps because he had fought alongside the guerrillas, the lieutenant had a friendly attitude toward Aino, the fake German second lieutenant. "What can I do for you?"
"That's where we were attacked today." After hearing what the lieutenant said, Aino suddenly had an idea and decided to use the other party's help to leave the town as soon as possible: "It would be great if your convoy could give us a ride."
Hearing that Aino and the others were going to the site of the attack to perform a mission, the German lieutenant said carelessly: "We are all acquaintances. You're welcome. Everyone, please get in the car." As he said that, he raised his hand and pushed the corporal sitting by the door. He said, "Corporal, go to the back compartment and make room for Mr. Second Lieutenant."
"No need, Mr. Lieutenant." Aino quickly raised his hand to stop the corporal. He held the car door and raised his head and said to the lieutenant: "I'd better sit in the carriage with my soldiers." The reason why Aino said this is, He was thinking that if he sat with the German lieutenant and he kept asking himself questions, he might get in trouble. And if the German corporal was in the carriage, sitting with people like Grisa and others who didn't understand German, he might be able to spot the flaw in less than five minutes. Because of this, he strongly requested to sit in the carriage.
When the German corporal heard what Aino said, he quickly turned to look at his commander to see how he would make a decision. When the German lieutenant saw that Aino wanted to sit in the trunk with his men, he hesitated for a moment and then agreed to his request.
Hearing that the German lieutenant agreed to his request, Aino couldn't help but be overjoyed. He quickly waved to Grisa and others and shouted loudly: "Everyone listen to my order and get in the car!"
