After Onupryenko returned to his division headquarters, he immediately ordered someone to call Lieutenant Colonel Miresiev, the commander of the 25th Guards Regiment, and said that he had important combat tasks to be completed by him.
When Miresiev learned that Onupryenko had combat tasks assigned to him, he dared not neglect him. He hurriedly ran over to see Onupryenko and asked: "Comrade division commander, what do you want from me?" What's the matter?"
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Onupryenko called Milesiev in front of him and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, according to the report of the scouts, the Germans have a prisoner of war camp here, which contains There are four to five thousand captured commanders and fighters of our army. The task of your regiment is to rush there immediately, seize the prison camp from the Germans, and rescue the detained commanders and fighters."
Knowing that there was a German prisoner-of-war camp dozens of kilometers away, Miresiev suddenly became excited: "What, there are four to five thousand of our army's commanders and soldiers detained in the prisoner-of-war camp. There are really a lot of them."
"Yes, there are indeed a lot of people." Onupryenko said to him: "Let me remind you, in order to prevent the Germans from murdering the commanders and fighters in the prisoner of war camp, do not launch a force attack easily unless it is absolutely necessary."
Hearing what Onupryenko said, Miresiev couldn't help but be stunned, and then asked: "Comrade division commander, didn't you order our regiment to liberate the prisoner-of-war camp? How can we liberate the prisoner-of-war camp if we don't launch an attack?"
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you misunderstood me." Seeing that the other party had misunderstood his intentions, Onupriyenko quickly explained to him: "When I was at the headquarters just now, the commander personally confessed to me, saying It is best for you to disguise yourself as the enemy, quietly approach the prisoner of war camp, and wait for the right moment to launch a surprise attack on the enemy."
"Ah, Comrade Commander, when did you go to Minsk? How do I know?"
"Why go to Minsk? I'll always be here, okay?" Onupriyenko said with a straight face: "If I leave, who will command the troops in combat?"
Hearing what Onupryenko said, Miresiev couldn't help but show a puzzled expression on his face: "Comrade division commander, isn't the commander in Minsk? If you want to accept his order, naturally you can only go to Minsk." ah."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I was just about to tell you that Comrade Commander is not in Minsk now, but has come to us." Onupriyenko explained to the other party: "I only found out about him when I just went to the headquarters. Already here, we even brought two divisions and two brigades of troops.”
Since the liberation of the prisoner-of-war camp was the order given by Sokov himself, Miresiev naturally did not dare to take it lightly. He quickly stood up straight and said to Onuprienko: "Comrade Commander, I have understood your intention. This will force the troops to prepare."
"Wait a minute." Seeing that Miresiev was about to leave, Onupryenko asked specifically: "When can your group set off?"
"It will take an hour and a half at the fastest, Comrade Division Commander." Miresiev replied: "It takes time to assemble the troops and replenish ammunition. One and a half hours is already the limit."
Fortunately, Onupryenko is a reasonable person. He did not blindly give any unrealistic orders to Miresiev, but took the initiative and said: "I will give you two hours, not only to complete the Assembling troops and replenishing ammunition, we must also find ways to prepare German military uniforms. By the way, do you have anyone in your regiment who understands German?"
"No, Comrade Division Commander." Upon hearing Onupryenko's question, Miresiev shook his head and replied: "There is no one in our regiment who understands German."
"Let's do this." Onupryenko knew very well that during this disguised German operation, he would definitely encounter sporadic German troops on the road. If there was no one who knew German, his identity would be exposed. In order to avoid this situation, he ordered someone to call the translator from the division and explained to him: "Comrade translator, the 25th Guards Regiment is about to go on a mission behind enemy lines. Due to the special mission, they need to dress up as Germans. Unfortunately, no one in the group understands German, so I have to force you to follow him. Do you understand?"
"Understood, Comrade Commander." After the translator waited for Onupriyenko to finish speaking, he replied loudly: "I will cooperate with Lieutenant Colonel Miresiev to complete this task."
Before Miresiev left the division headquarters with his translator, Onupriyenko gave him one final warning: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, remember to keep in touch and send me your latest situation at any time."
Miresiev returned to the army, explained the upcoming mission to his three battalion commanders, and then hurried to the headquarters. He felt that if he wanted to successfully capture the prisoner of war camp and rescue the prisoners of war held inside, he must ask Sokov for advice and let him teach him what to do.
If it were someone else who went directly past the division commander and went to the commander, he would definitely be criticized by his superiors. But Miresiev and Sokov were both classmates at the Frunze Military Academy. This time he went to ask for advice, which could be regarded as a kind of communication between classmates, and no one could gossip.
When Sokov saw Miresiev appearing in his headquarters, he showed an expression of surprise on his face at first, but he soon guessed the purpose of the other party's visit: "Lieutenant Colonel Miresiev, Onupuri General Yenko is planning to send you on that mission, right?”
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Miresiev nodded, confirming Sokov's guess: "The division commander indeed ordered me to lead the troops to liberate the prisoner of war camp."
At this time, Ponedelin came over, looked at Milesiev and asked displeasedly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, since your mission has been clear, what are you doing here?"
"Comrade Deputy Commander, the situation is like this." Seeing Ponedelin's displeasure, Miresyev quickly explained: "According to my opinion, it is easiest to directly attack the prisoner of war camp. But When the division commander assigned the task, he told me that we could not attack by force, but could only outwit us, and even asked us to dress up as German soldiers..."
After listening to Miresiev's story, Sokov nodded and said: "Yes, I did instruct General Onupriyenko like this. It is best to be smart and take measures only if it is absolutely necessary." storm."
Seeing Miresiev's thoughtful expression, he added: "The prisoner of war camp is behind enemy lines. If you wear our uniforms and walk over in a swagger, you will definitely attract the enemy's attention. Maybe the Germans will The commander will mobilize troops to besiege you. By then, you will be too busy to take care of yourself. How can you have the energy to liberate the prisoner of war camp?
But if you march in makeup, it's different. The German army has just suffered a defeat, and many troops have been dispersed. When an organized unit like you appears, they will definitely think that you have retreated from the front line, and they will not be suspicious of you. In this way, you can easily approach the prisoner of war camp..."
Unexpectedly, before Sokov finished speaking, Miresiev rushed to say: "When we approach the prisoner of war camp, will we take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness and suddenly attack them?"
"Lieutenant Colonel Miresiev, it seems that you still don't understand what I mean." Sokov explained to the other party with a wry smile: "Since you have successfully arrived at the gate of the prisoner of war camp, you can tell me openly German guards, you are sent from the top to take over the prisoner of war camp and ask them to hand it over immediately.
To carry out the handover, the leader of the prisoner of war camp will definitely come out to greet you. Once they appear, take control of them and disarm all guards in the prison camp. If we're lucky, we might be able to take out the guards in the prisoner of war camp and rescue our commanders and soldiers without firing a single shot. "
After Sokov's detailed account, Miresiev finally understood his intention, nodded and said: "Comrade Commander, I now fully understand why you do it every time you command the troops to make a sneak attack. It turns out that we can achieve good results."
After chatting for a few more words, Milesiev said goodbye and left.
After Miresiev walked away, Sokov asked Ponedelin with some confusion: "Comrade Deputy Commander, what did Lieutenant Colonel Miresiev say just now?"
"What sentence are you asking about?"
"He said that every time I led my troops in makeup and sneak attacks, I could achieve good results." Sokov said: "He finally said: So that's it. I just wanted to find out what he meant by this. "
"Oh, so that's what he said." Ponedelin happened to know the answer, so he explained to Sokov: "I think you still remember that Miresiev said that he would immediately launch a storm as soon as he got close to the prisoner of war camp. ?”
"Yes, I remember." Sokov asked doubtfully; "What's wrong?"
Ponejelin smiled: "Comrade Commander, to tell you the truth, our so-called makeup reconnaissance or attack is pretty much what he said. When you feel the time is right, you immediately launch an attack on the enemy. And what you do is Find a way to gain the trust of the Germans and then disarm them without any blood."
"Is there anything wrong?"
"There's nothing wrong with this, it's just that my personal style of doing things is different." Ponedelin said thoughtfully: "I was thinking about what would have happened on the day I, Muzichenko and Kirillov were rescued. Your troops did not use disguised sneak attacks, but directly adopted the tactics of forceful attack. Whether we can survive is still unknown."
Hearing Ponedelin mention Muzichenko and Kirillov, Sokov couldn't help but ask: "By the way, Comrade Deputy Commander, do you have any news about Colonel Muzichenko?"
Ponjelin nodded and said: "I heard that the new army commander dismissed Division Commander Muzichenko from his post, and now he is idle. Hey, as a friend, I want to help him. .”
When Sokov heard that Muzichenko had been dismissed, he couldn't help but feel a little regretful. He was a pretty good commander, but he was dismissed as soon as he was dismissed. Although Muzichenko is currently idle, Sokov does not intend to recruit him. After all, it is he who makes the choice. He is responsible for the decisions he makes.
After talking about Muzichenko’s situation, he went on to talk about Kirillov: “Comrade Commander, although the search team commanded by Kirillov did not find the military warehouse, it did find the jewelry sunk in the swamp. It can be considered a great achievement.”
Hearing what Ponedelin said, Sokov realized that the other party was reminding him that Kirillov should be assigned a more important position.
"Comrade Deputy Commander, I understand what you mean." Seeing that Ponedelin had spoken his mind, Sokov did not beat around the bush and asked straight to the point: "What position do you plan to assign to Colonel Kirillov?" ?”
"Comrade Commander, among the trainees who came with us from the Second Ukrainian Front this time, only Milesiev and Victor have assigned positions." Ponedelin said: "Among them, Milesiev serves as the nearest The commander of the guard regiment, Victor serves as the commander of the infantry brigade. If Colonel Kirillov is to be assigned a position, I think it should be at least higher than the two."
"I agree." In any case, Kirillov was the commander of the army before the war, and it would be too unfair for him to serve as regimental commander or a lower position now. So Sokov is considering that if he wants to assign a position to the other party, he must at least be a division commander: "I think there is a chance to assign him a division commander position."
"But the positions of division commanders in the entire group army are full." Ponejelin reminded Sokov: "We can't remove the position of a certain division commander for his sake, right? Then even if he assumes the position of division commander, the division's Commanders and soldiers will also be resistant to him."
"Comrade Deputy Commander, I understand what you mean." Seeing that Ponedelin misunderstood what he meant, Sokov thought that he would let a certain current division commander give way to Kirillov, which resulted in Kirillov being punished. Hostile, he explained to him: "We have many battles to fight next. Maybe a division commander will be injured in the battle and unable to continue to command the battle. At this time, an officer with rich command experience is needed to Colonel Kirillov is undoubtedly the best candidate to succeed him."
After listening to Sokov's explanation, Ponedelin smiled: "Comrade Commander, it seems that I misunderstood what you meant. If Colonel Kirillov is just used as a substitute, there will be no problem. "
"Also, now that our troops are advancing towards the national border every day, the continued existence of the search team commanded by Colonel Kirillov does not make much sense." Regarding Kirillov's next arrangements, Sokov asked Ponedelin’s opinion: “I think it’s better to disband and let Kirillov work at the headquarters for a while. What do you think?”
"I think it's okay." Ponedelin had a good personal relationship with Kirillov, and he had been worried about his future all day long. After listening to Sokov's arrangement, he nodded quickly and agreed: "Let him Working at the headquarters for a period of time will help him become familiar with the current battlefield situation, which will also be of great help to him in taking on new positions in the future."
"Then I'll call him now and tell him the good news." Ponegelin said, picking up the phone and preparing to call Kirillov, but the next moment, he laughed awkwardly : "Comrade Commander, I forgot that his whereabouts are unpredictable every day. Even if I want to call, I don't know where to find him."
"Since you can't make a phone call, then find a communications soldier to look for Colonel Kirillov in the area where they are active." Sokov said: "After you find him, ask him to rush to the army headquarters as soon as possible to report." After that, He took out a pen and paper, wrote a few lines of words on it, called the director of the communications corps, and handed the note to him, "Immediately send someone to find Colonel Kirillov and give him this note. "
