"Your Excellency, Commander," Schmidt replied without hesitation: "Transfer, the headquarters must transfer immediately, otherwise when the Russian tanks rush over, it will be too late for us to transfer again."
"Transfer, that's for sure." Paulus asked in confusion: "But where should our headquarters be transferred in a hurry?"
"The Gumlak area, Your Excellency Commander." Schmidt replied: "The transportation there is convenient, and we can transfer the group army headquarters there..."
Unexpectedly, before Schmidt could say anything, Paulus's face turned red with anger. He impatiently interrupted Schmidt's words: "Chief of Staff, have you forgotten that not long ago, Russia The people used their new rockets to attack the Gumlak station and destroyed a large amount of supplies we had stored there. Now that you ask me to transfer the headquarters there, do you want me to be a target for the Russians? "
Schmidt was confused when he was first scolded. He didn't know what he said wrongly, which actually made Paulus angry. After listening to what Paulus said, he understood what the other party was worried about, and quickly explained: "Your Excellency, Commander, it was a complete accident that Gumlak Station was attacked by the Russians. Now the building at the station has It has become a ruin and is no longer a target of concern to the Russians. If we move the headquarters to a nearby small town, it will not attract special attention from the Russians."
"So that's it." 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!"
This was the first time Schmidt heard Paulus apologize to him, and he quickly waved his hands and said: "Your Excellency, Commander, it was my fault. I didn't speak clearly, and you misunderstood. Now that time is running out, we'd better move as soon as possible." .”
"Wait a minute, Chief of Staff." Paulus had calmed down at this moment. Hearing Schmidt's urging to move, he frowned and thought for a moment, and then said: "If the entire army headquarters heads towards the Gumlak area If we move, we may be noticed by Russian scouts, and then we will be in danger."
Schmidt felt that what Paulus said made sense and quickly asked him for instructions: "Your Excellency, Commander, what should we do?"
"Split the command into two parts," Paulus walked to the wall, pointed at the map and said to Schmidt: "You and I will take the communications and intelligence departments of the command and move towards the Gumlak area. The rest The men were moved to new locations near the Lower Chil River to confuse the Russian scouts."
Schmidt felt that Paulus's arrangement was a bit unnecessary, but considering the identity of the other party, he could only hold his nose and admit it: "Yes, Your Excellency, Commander. I will immediately arrange manpower and bring some members of the headquarters with me." Rush to the Lower Chil River to establish a new headquarters to distract the Russians.”
Half an hour later, the convoy led by Paulus and Schmidt moved towards the Gumlak area. Another headquarters convoy preparing to head to the Lower Chir River was scheduled to depart an hour later.
While the soldiers in the unit responsible for attracting the attention of the Soviet army were busy loading various equipment and supplies into the truck, a Soviet reconnaissance team of more than a dozen people appeared nearby. This detachment came from Rokossovsky's Don Front and was led by a second lieutenant named Qiu Lienin.
Seeing the busy scene in the German headquarters, he realized that the Germans were about to escape, and quickly ordered a corporal next to him: "Comrade corporal, take a soldier to capture a prisoner and bring him back."
"Comrade Second Lieutenant," the corporal was Qiu Liening's old subordinate and knew him very well. After hearing this order, he asked tentatively: "Are you planning to catch a tongue to find out where the enemy is planning to move?"
"That's right." Seeing that the corporal had guessed his intention, Qiu Liening nodded to him and replied, "Don't arrest any ordinary soldiers. They must not know where the headquarters is going to move. You have to arrest, At least one officer with a rank of second lieutenant or higher must be brought back.”
The corporal was an old scout. It was just a piece of cake for him to touch the sentry and capture the prisoners. Especially since the German headquarters was busy relocating, there was a lot of chaos everywhere, and if one or two people were missing, they would not be noticed at all. With a soldier, he quietly approached the German officers and soldiers who were loading supplies into the truck, looking for opportunities to capture prisoners.
After waiting for about ten minutes, he saw an officer wearing a large-brimmed hat walking out of the busy crowd and walking towards his hiding place. The corporal, who was hiding behind a big tree, thought he had been discovered by the enemy. He put his finger on the trigger, ready to shoot immediately if he found something was wrong. But after observing for a while, I found that the other party did not yell, but walked towards his location nonchalantly, as if something was going on.
The officer came to a stop in front of the big tree where the corporal was hiding, turned around and faced the busy soldiers, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, struck a match, lit it, and started puffing away.
Discovering that the officer had come here to smoke, the corporal breathed a sigh of relief and made a gesture to the soldier hiding behind another tree, telling him to make some noise to attract the officer's attention. The warrior who understood the situation immediately bent down to pick up a clod of soil and threw it not far away.
The sound of clods of soil falling to the ground indeed attracted the officer's attention. He walked toward the direction of the sound with a cigarette in his mouth. As he walked, he looked down at the ground, trying to see what was making the noise.
The corporal who was hiding behind the tree saw that the officer's attention was drawn away. He suddenly jumped out from behind the tree, raised the butt of his submachine gun, and hit the officer hard on the back of the head. The officer who suffered the heavy blow didn't even make a sound, and fell straight to the ground like a torn sack. Seeing that the officer was knocked unconscious, the corporal and the soldiers quickly stepped forward, one raised his arms and the other raised his feet, and ran towards the place where the reconnaissance team was hiding.
Qiu Liening, who was hiding in the distance, saw the corporal and others carrying a man running towards his hiding place. He guessed that they must have captured the prisoner, so he ordered two soldiers to come and pick him up.
When the corporal came to Qiu Liening, he couldn't help but said proudly: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, look, I caught a live one for you. If you want to know anything, just ask him."
Qiu Liening took a look at the tongue he had captured and found that it was a lieutenant. He then ordered the soldier 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. In a moment, the prisoner woke up. Seeing that the prisoner opened his eyes, the soldier nodded to Qiu Liening, "Comrade Second Lieutenant, he is already awake."
Qiu Liening looked at the panicked German lieutenant and asked in German: "Your name, position and rank!"
"Burt, Lieutenant Burt." The German lieutenant looked around at the guns pointed at him and replied hurriedly: "I am the combat staff officer of the group army's operations department."
Seeing that the German lieutenant answered so readily, Qiu Liening nodded slightly and said with a smile on his face: "Very good, Lieutenant Bert, your answer is very satisfying to me. Next, I hope we can continue to cooperate!"
"How do you want to cooperate?" Lieutenant Burt asked in shock.
"My question is very simple." Qiu Liening pursed his lips towards the motorcade that was getting ready to go in the distance and asked, "Tell me, where is this motorcade going?"
Lieutenant Burt was still hesitating whether he should tell the Russians in front of him what he knew. He heard the sound of the gun bolt being pulled from behind, and then a cold, hard muzzle was pressed against the back of his head, followed by a sentence in Russian that he didn't understand: "I'll beat you to death if you don't tell me!"
Qiu Liening waved his hand towards 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 had been removed, Lieutenant Burt felt as if he had narrowly escaped death. He quickly replied in a panic: "Down to the Lower Chil River, we were ordered to move in the direction of the Lower Chil River. As for the Where to transfer to, my level is too low to know."
"Comrade Second Lieutenant," the corporal also knew some German. He heard Lieutenant Bert's confession that the German headquarters would be transferred to the Lower Chir River, and quickly reminded Qiu Liening: "We should immediately report this news to the commander of the front army. Ministry report.”
"You are right, comrade corporal." Qiu Liening agreed with the corporal's words. He quickly ordered the radio operator who was following him, "Send a report immediately to the Intelligence Department of the Front Army Headquarters and tell Paulus's Army Group The headquarters will be moved to the Lower Chil River, and the specific location will be reported after we complete our reconnaissance."
Five minutes later, Malinen received the intelligence sent back by the scouts. He came to Rokossovsky's office, handed over the telegram in his hand, and reported at the same time: "Comrade Commander, according to the report of the scouts, Paulus's headquarters is moving towards the Lower Chir River. "
When Rokossovsky received the telegram, he casually asked: "Where will Paulus's new headquarters be located on the Lower Chir River?"
"We have no way of knowing this yet." Malinen shook his head and said: "The German staff officer captured by the scouts was too low-level and only knew that the headquarters would be transferred to the Lower Chir River, but the specific details The location is unknown.”
According to Rokossovsky's plan, after confirming the location of the German headquarters, a rapid 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 if we hurry up or hurry up, we will be a step too late. The German command headquarters has been transferred.
After Rokossovsky quickly read the contents of the telegram, he 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 doing. Specific location.”
"Understood, Comrade Commander." After the chubby Chief of Staff Malinin nodded in agreement, he turned and walked out of the office, preparing to convey Rokossovsky's latest order to the Minister of Intelligence.
