Although the major said that it was the defense area of the third battalion and there were hidden sentries deployed, Nikitin was not at ease at all. He immediately called the commander of the 334th regiment and asked him to instruct the third battalion to strengthen vigilance and not let the Germans The scouts escape.
After making the call, Nikitin did not stay here to wait for news. Instead, he exchanged a few words with the major and hurried back to the division headquarters. The major was worried that something might happen to him on the road, so he sent a squad of soldiers to escort Nikitin back to the division headquarters.
Seeing Nikitin appear at the division headquarters, the division chief of staff hurriedly came to greet him and asked with concern: "Comrade division commander, are you okay? I really didn't expect that such a thing would happen."
Nikitin shook his head and said: "I'm fine." After a moment, he added, "This also illustrates a problem. There are such big loopholes in our defense that German scouts can come and go without any scruples. free."
The division chief of staff nodded after hearing this: "Although I don't know when this German scout sneaked into our division's defense area, I think he must have a certain understanding of our defense deployment. If he is allowed to escape, The Germans will launch an attack tomorrow against our weakly defended areas, and we must not allow this to happen."
"What happened tonight needs to be reported to the commander immediately." Nikitin said to the chief of staff: "Let the communications troops help me get through to the group army headquarters."
Knowing that Nikitin planned to report the matter to the group army headquarters, the division chief of staff quickly persuaded: "Comrade division commander, you were criticized by the commander during the day. If the German scouts escape from our noses again at night , reporting to him will probably make him furious."
The words of the division chief of staff made Nikitin hesitate. He had just been criticized during the day. If he reported this kind of thing to him again at night, it would be impossible for the other party not to get angry. For a moment, a thought came to his mind: Otherwise, let the matter be forgotten. Maybe the German scout didn't get any information, and it didn't matter whether he caught him or not.
But the next moment, Nikitin remembered Sokov's words before leaving. No matter what happened, he needed to be reported to him in time, otherwise he would bear the consequences.
After thinking about this, he said to the chief of staff: "Comrade chief of staff, I think this matter is of great importance, and it is necessary to report it to comrade commander." Seeing that the other party seemed to want to say something, he raised his hand to stop him, He continued, "I know what you are going to say. If I report this matter, I may be criticized by the commander; but if I deliberately conceal it and fail to report it, I am afraid that after the commander learns about the matter through his unique information channel, The consequences are not something you or I can bear."
The division chief of staff did want to persuade Nikitin not to report the matter, but fell silent after hearing his words. After a long time, he raised his head and looked at Nikitin and said: "Comrade division commander, you are right. Even if you are criticized for this, you must report the matter truthfully to prevent the superior commander from making decisions due to lack of intelligence." Wrong judgment."
The phone was connected, and Sidorin's voice came from inside: "I am Chief of Staff Sidorin, where are you?"
"Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff." Nikitin asked with a guilty conscience: "Have you rested, Comrade Commander?"
Sidorin turned his head and glanced at Sokov who was sitting at the table talking to Ponedelin, shook his head and said, "Not yet. Do you have anything to ask him about?"
Sokov happened to hear what Sidorin said, turned around and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, who is looking for me?"
"It's Major General Nikitin, commander of the 120th Guards Division."
"Major General Nikitin is looking for me?" Sokov thought to himself. Could it be that Nikitin was calling him now because he wanted to do a checkup on the phone? After all, before he and Rokossovsky left today, he had sternly said Criticized him. "Hey, General Nikitin! It's so late, what do you want from me?"
"That's right, Comrade Commander." Nikitin heard a trace of displeasure in Sokov's tone and quickly defended: "I have important information to report to you. I'm going to check the sentry tonight. I want to I was checking the troops' security at night, but I didn't expect to be attacked by German scouts on the way..."
"What, you were attacked by German scouts?" Sokov, who had been attacked by German scouts and almost lost his life, couldn't help but feel sad when he heard what Nikitin said, and asked hurriedly: "You Not injured?"
"No, Comrade Commander." Nikitin replied: "Fortunately, the accompanying guards reacted quickly and blocked a shot for me in time, so I was not injured."
"Did the German scouts catch him?" Although Nikitin was not injured, Sokov also knew very well that the German scouts who would casually hurt people in the Soviet defense zone must have obtained the information they wanted. , said nervously: "I think he may have collected information about your defense. If he is allowed to escape, the Germans will know the defensive weaknesses of your division and launch a targeted attack."
"You are right, Comrade Commander." Nikitin said helplessly: "I think so too. If I can't catch this German scout before dawn, I can only consider readjusting the defense. "
"You might be in trouble if you wait until daybreak." Sokov said with a straight face: "Well, I'll give you another two hours. If you can't catch the German scouts at three o'clock in the morning, then your division We need to adjust our defense deployment immediately, and we must not give the German army any opportunity to take advantage of it."
"Understood, Comrade Commander." Nikitin understood in his heart that the plan mentioned by the cross-border fee was a last resort. Under the current circumstances, adjusting the defense would definitely cause some unnecessary chaos. If When changing defense, the German army took the opportunity to launch an attack, which would inevitably make their defense line precarious.
Nikitin assured Sokov: "Comrade Commander, please rest assured. If we cannot capture the German scouts within the specified time, I will immediately adjust the defense of the troops."
"Very well, General Nikitin," Sokov said calmly, "I wish you good luck!" After saying that, he hung up the phone without waiting for the other party to speak again.
"Comrade Commander." Seeing Sokov's serious expression, Ponedelin quickly asked with concern: "What happened?"
"General Nikitin reported that he was attacked by a German scout while checking sentries at night." Sokov said: "Now that scout has escaped, he is organizing a manpower search."
Upon hearing this, Ponejelin's expression immediately became serious: "Comrade Commander, it seems that the Germans have been thinking about our Luran landing site and want to drive our troops down the river at any time. We cannot let them get their way. "
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Sidorin agreed: "Otherwise, we can deploy a division by the river overnight, ready to cross the river at any time to meet the 120th Guards Division."
Sokov was also worried that the Germans would send troops to attack after learning about the defense situation of the 120th Guards Division. However, in any case, the division was not fighting alone in the left bank area. Once attacked, the Guards on the left and right wings would The 1st and 6th Divisions will definitely support them. In this way, Niki's capital army can be sustained for a long enough time, and he can calmly move his troops across the river for reinforcements.
Thinking of this, he waved his hands and said to the two of them: "Comrade Deputy Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff, don't worry, the situation is not at its worst yet. Now General Nikitin is sending people to search for this escaped man in the defense area. The Germans, I believe it won’t be long before they have a clear answer. If they really let the German scouts escape, it won’t be too late for us to discuss the issue of reinforcements.”
Besides, as soon as Nikitin put down the phone after making the call, his chief of staff asked in a panic: "Comrade division commander, do we really need to adjust the defense of each regiment?"
Regarding this question from the Chief of Staff, Nikitin shrugged his shoulders and said rather helplessly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, to be honest, I don't want to adjust the defense deployment of the troops at this time. Even if we are prepared, No matter how adequate it is, it will cause a certain degree of confusion, let alone such a hasty adjustment at night.”
When the chief of staff heard what he said, he couldn't help but nervously asked: "Can our soldiers capture the German scouts?"
Nikitin shook his head and said with a wry smile: "I don't know, I can only leave it to fate."
Time passed minute by minute as Nikitin waited anxiously, but the good news he expected did not arrive. Seeing that the hour hand pointed to three o'clock, he sighed softly, turned to the chief of staff who had been waiting for orders, and said: "Comrade chief of staff, call the commanders of each regiment and ask them to make deployment adjustments immediately and prepare for all battles." Prepare."
"Comrade division commander," the chief of staff looked at Nikitin and asked reluctantly: "Is there really no room for recovery? You must know that the three regiments are adjusting and deploying at the same time, especially at night, which will inevitably happen. There will be chaos..."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Nikitin interrupted the other party: "Do you think I am willing to order the troops to adjust their deployment overnight? There is nothing we can do about it." After saying that, he rolled up the order book in his hand and He handed it to the chief of staff, "Give the order, comrade chief of staff."
The chief of staff took over the order for adjusting the troop deployment that he and Nikitin had drafted together, sighed deeply, and was about to pick up the phone and call the commanders of each regiment. Unexpectedly, as soon as he put his hand on the phone, the phone started ringing. He quickly grabbed the microphone, put it to his ear and said loudly: "Hello, I am the division chief of staff, where are you?"
After listening for a moment, he suddenly handed the microphone to Nikitin and said in surprise, "Comrade division commander, the commander of the 334th Regiment reported that they have found the German scout."
Nikitin, who had just made a difficult decision, couldn't help but feel happy when he heard what the Chief of Staff said. He took the phone and asked with a smile: "Comrade Commander, have you caught that German scout?"
Unexpectedly, the other party listened to his question. After being stunned for a moment, he replied: "No, Comrade Commander, we did not catch him..."
"Bah!" After hearing what the regiment leader said, Nikitin slapped his hands hard on the table and said angrily: "Then why did you tell the chief of staff that you had found the German scouts? You did it on purpose to tease Did I play?"
"Comrade division commander, please don't be angry. Although we didn't capture the German scout, we found him," the regiment leader said, breathing heavily, "To be precise, we found his body."
"His body was found?!" Nikitin was confused by the group leader's words. He frowned and asked in confusion: "Who beat him to death?"
"No one killed him. Our soldiers heard several explosions in the minefield at the front. They ran over to check and found a mutilated body." The regiment leader continued: "After inspection, he should be We hunted down German scouts in the middle of the night.”
Nikitin did not take it lightly, but asked cautiously: "Major, can you confirm?"
"Yes, Comrade Division Commander, I can confirm it." The major said in a positive tone: "Although he was wearing the uniform of our army and was blown beyond recognition, after our careful search, we found several pieces of his body. A damaged map, marked on it is our division’s defense deployment map.”
"Very good, comrade commander, you did a good job!" Although Nikitin was happy when he heard from the commander that a defense deployment map was found on the body, he was still a little uneasy, so he decisively ordered: "You Send someone to send the pictures to me immediately, quickly, do you understand?!"
"Understood, comrade division commander." The regiment leader replied simply: "I will send it to you personally. I will be able to send the picture to you in five minutes at most."
When Nikitin put down the phone, the chief of staff immediately asked him for instructions: "Comrade division commander, since we have found the German scouts, do we no longer need to order the regiments to adjust their troop deployment?"
"Wait a moment, Comrade Chief of Staff." Nikitin said to the Chief of Staff with a serious expression: "We should not take any action until the commander of the 334th Regiment brings the captured defense deployment map."
After a few minutes, the regiment commander ran into the headquarters panting, handed several hand-drawn maps in his hand to Nikitin, and said breathlessly: "Comrade division commander, I... we captured The land...maps are all...here."
Nikitin nodded, placed the hand-drawn maps on the table, and looked at them carefully with the chief of staff. After watching for a while, the two men raised their heads and looked at each other, and both saw relief in each other's eyes. Finally, it was the chief of staff who spoke first: "Comrade division commander, yes, these are the troop deployments of the regiments in our division's defense area." Picture. Since the intelligence has not been leaked, I don’t think we should notify each regiment to adjust their deployment, right?”
"Now that we have got the troop deployment map back," Nikitin said in a relaxed tone, "then there is no need for each regiment to adjust its troop deployment."
Before he could finish his words, the phone in front of him rang. While he grabbed the phone, he was thinking secretly: This call couldn't be from the commander, right? As soon as he heard the other person speak, he knew that he had guessed correctly.
Sokov on the other end of the phone heard his voice and immediately asked impatiently: "General Nikitin, have you captured the German scouts?"
"Report to Comrade Commander." Nikitin looked down at the hand-drawn map on the table and reported in a calm tone: "When the German scouts were trying to cross our army's defense line and return to their side, they stepped on He hit a landmine and was killed. The defense deployment plan he carried is now on the table in front of me."
"Very good. Since your defense deployment has not been known to the Germans, continue to prepare for battle." Sokov felt much more at ease when he heard that the German scouts had been killed. He solemnly ordered Said: "No matter what scale of attack the enemy launches against you, I hope you can firmly block them. How about it, are you confident?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." The deployment situation was not leaked, and Nikitin suddenly felt more confident: "No matter what size of attack the enemy launches, we are confident to stop them."
