Sokov confirmed that the enemies inside and outside the hotel had been completely eliminated before entering the hotel to see Zhukov.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he saw Zhukov, the other party asked sternly: "Colonel Sokov, I want to ask you, why are there so many enemies in your defense zone?"
After receiving Sivakov's report, Sokov had always thought that the number of German troops sneaking into the city was only a dozen. However, he did not expect that there were more than fifty enemies who attacked the hotel last night. Not only did they all Wearing a Soviet uniform and equipped with a submachine gun.
Hearing Zhukov's question at this moment, Sokov could only lower his head and reply: "Comrade General, please give me one day, and I will definitely get to the bottom of this matter."
"Okay, then I'll give you 24 hours. I hope you can give me a satisfactory answer."
"Comrade General," Seeing that Zhukov was willing to give him 24 hours to thoroughly investigate the matter, Sokov couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He continued: "It's too dangerous here. Let's live somewhere else. "
"Where do you think is safer?"
"Go to my headquarters." Sokov was very reassured about the security work near his headquarters, so he said without hesitation: "The various defense measures there are better than those here at the hotel. Don't say More than fifty Germans, even if they come as a battalion, they will never be able to break into my headquarters in a short time."
"Since you say so, let's go to your headquarters."
Sokov returned to the headquarters, and when Zhukov and his men were settling in, Vitkov sent someone to report that the interrogation of the prisoners had been completed and important information had been obtained, and asked him to go back immediately.
After learning that the results of the interrogation had been obtained, Zhukov also became interested. He said to his adjutant: "You stayed up all night yesterday. You must be very tired. Go and rest with the comrades in the communication team." After that, he turned to his adjutant. Sokov said: "Misha, take me to see what important information you have obtained."
Vitkov, who was reading the interrogation records in the headquarters, saw Zhukov and Sokov walking in together. He quickly stood up to greet him. After raising his hand in salute, he respectfully asked: "Comrade General, when the hotel was attacked last night, Are you not injured?"
"I'm not injured." Zhukov urged the other party impatiently: "Bring me the prisoner's interrogation records. I want to know what the enemy confessed."
"Comrade General, there are too many interrogation records. I think it's better for me to report to you."
After Zhukov sat down at the table, he said to Vitkov: "Tell me, comrade colonel, what did the Germans recruit?"
"According to the confessions of the prisoners, the number of people they airdropped this time was 60, but after the parachute jump, some of the paratroopers lost contact. They may have fallen to death, or they may have been shot dead by our troops when they landed." Vitkov The report said: "The remaining enemies gathered in the north direction of the city, where they obtained our military uniforms that had been prepared long ago."
"Wait a minute." Zhukov heard this and raised his hand to interrupt Vitkov: "Did the enemy say how they obtained our army's uniforms?"
Vitkov nodded: "There are two warehouse managers who used to be guerrillas. They were captured by the enemy a few months ago. Yesterday they received a notice asking them to prepare sixty sets of military uniforms and secretly placed them in the warehouse in the north of the city. In a ruins, someone will pick it up in due time." Without waiting for Zhukov to ask again, he continued, "I have notified the police branch to go to the clothing warehouse to arrest the two warehouse managers."
"Chief of Staff, call Captain Kester, the chief of the Civilian Police Branch." When Sokov heard that Witkov said that two warehouse managers who provided military uniforms to the enemy were actually guerrillas who had been captured, he immediately remembered Avdeev, who was detained in the branch, quickly ordered: "Let him send someone to bring that Avdeev over."
Zhukov once heard Sokov report about Avdeyev. Now when he heard him order the police to send this man over, he immediately realized what the problem was. He tentatively asked Sokov: "Misha, do you think the reason why the German agents framed Avdeyev was because he refused to cooperate with last night's action?"
"Yes, Comrade General." Sokov nodded and replied affirmatively: "Other than that, I can't think of any other reason why the enemy would deliberately expose a lurker to us."
"According to my judgment, the number of enemies lurking in the city is far greater than we imagined." Vitkov waited for Sokov to finish and immediately added: "Not only did someone provide them with clothing, but there were also people who provided them with clothing in advance. Reconnaissance was carried out near the hotel. What was even more outrageous was that after the first batch of sneak attack enemies were annihilated, the enemies who arrived immediately pretended to be the troops commanded by Captain Seryosha. The enemy knew so much about our personnel , proves that they have people lurking within our army, I think a large-scale investigation should be carried out."
Sokov knew that Witkov's proposal was a good one, but he was worried that specific personnel would easily go to extremes when executing this order. By then, the hidden enemies would not be discovered, but many of his own people would be accidentally injured. It will affect the morale and morale of the troops. It was out of this consideration that he waved his hand and rejected Vitkov's suggestion: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the situation is tense now. If a large-scale cleanup activity is carried out within the army, it will inevitably shake the morale and morale of the army. I think this matter should be investigated privately. Bar."
Seeing that Sokov disagreed with his suggestion, Vitkov became a little anxious: "Comrade Commander, if we don't find out the enemies hidden in the troops as soon as possible, I'm worried that they will continuously send more intelligence to the German army. , then our situation will become even more difficult.”
"We have added a large number of troops some time ago, and it is inevitable that there will be a few bad apples among them." Sokov explained to Vitkov: "If someone leaks information to the German army, and a large-scale investigation begins, in addition to In addition to alerting the enemy, it will also affect our military morale and morale, which will be very detrimental to the subsequent battle. Therefore, I do not agree to conduct any large-scale investigation at this moment."
"I agree with what Misha said." Zhukov, who had been acting as an audience next to him, clearly expressed his support for Sokov: "It is completely necessary to clean up the enemies hidden among us. But we must pay attention to methods. Don’t make a big show of it. Otherwise, the hidden enemy will not be identified, but people will be panicked. In that case, the gain will outweigh the loss."
"But, Comrade General." Seeing that Zhukov also supported Sokov, Vitkov said helplessly: "Are we just going to watch the enemy hide among us?"
"Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff. No matter how cunning the fox is... no, it's a rabbit." Sokov wanted to say: No matter how cunning the fox is, he can't escape the eyes of the hunter. But just in the middle of speaking, he suddenly remembered that the most cunning animal in Russia is not a fox, but a rabbit that looks harmless to humans and animals. He quickly changed his words and said: "No matter how cunning a rabbit is, it cannot escape the eyes of the hunter. Even if the enemy is well hidden, No matter how deep you go, you will be exposed one day.”
