The reconnaissance team returned to the river and was preparing to cross the river. Azamat said to Stone: "Comrade Sergeant, if we get on the boat and row back directly, we will definitely be discovered by the Germans. If they come to fire, There is a possibility that our entire army will be annihilated.”
"Azamat, tell me, what should we do?"
"When I came here yesterday, I tested the depth of the water in the Theod River." Azamat said: "The water level in many places just reached our chests. I suggested that we turn the boat over, and then we hide in the boat. Li carried the edge of the boat toward the middle shoal."
Regarding Azamat's whimsical idea, Stone shook his head and said: "No, Comrade Azamat, the method you mentioned can indeed allow us to avoid German shelling, but have you ever thought about it? Including the prisoners, there are nine people in total, how long can the oxygen in such a narrow space be maintained?"
Azamat had not considered the situation that Stone mentioned. He only thought about the boat turning over, people hiding in the boat, and wading to the shallows. They would definitely not be discovered by the Germans on the west coast, but he ignored it. Due to the limited space in the hull, the oxygen inside could not last long. For a moment, he seemed extremely embarrassed.
"Azamat," Fortunately, Stone saw his embarrassment and comforted him: "You are also thinking about the safety of all of us, but if you do this, we may suffocate due to lack of oxygen halfway. So we must find other ways to quietly complete the river crossing operation."
But Ston thought for a long time and could never come up with a better plan than Azamat. But in order to send the prisoners and documents to the other side as soon as possible, he decided to take a risk: "Comrades, the headquarters is still waiting for the prisoners we captured and the documents we captured. No matter how dangerous the crossing operation is, we must take the risk." .Now, everyone listen to my command: stand at attention! Turn right, everyone board the ship in order!"
After everyone had finished boarding, Ston whispered: "In order to prevent being discovered by the Germans, we row less loudly!"
When the boat arrived in the middle of the West River, a flare suddenly rose in the sky, illuminating the sky above the boat, and then the German artillery opened fire! The shells landed around the boat and exploded, raising water columns into the sky. The whole river was like a boiling pot. The falling water drenched everyone in the boat.
Seeing that his whereabouts had been discovered by the enemy, Stone quickly said loudly: "Speed up and drive away from the German artillery blockade area as quickly as possible."
It’s easy to say, but difficult to do. Rowing on the river can't go very fast, and the German artillery shells kept falling into the river and exploding, causing huge waves that bumped the boat up and down. The soldiers rowed desperately for a long time, but the boat only moved forward a dozen or two times. Ten meters away.
Seeing that the boat was still unable to escape the German shelling area, Ston couldn't help but become anxious. He began to secretly regret in his heart. He should have followed Azamat's advice and turned the boat upside down, hiding in the boat and wading across the river. Even if there is a lack of oxygen, everyone can take turns to come out for ventilation, which can greatly reduce the possibility of being discovered by the Germans. But there is no regret medicine in the world, and it was too late for Ston to regret it now.
Just when Ston fell into despair, the rumble of artillery suddenly came from the east bank, and then the scream of a cannonball piercing the air overhead was heard. "Artillery, our artillery." A scout shouted excitedly: "It was our artillery that suppressed the German artillery positions."
Hearing that it was our own artillery that was suppressing the German artillery positions, Ston couldn't help but be overjoyed. He shouted at the top of his voice: "Comrades, our artillery is suppressing the enemy's artillery with artillery fire. Everyone, row hard and try to row as soon as possible." Get out of the blockade of German artillery fire.”
In fact, what he said was superfluous. Since they were bombarded, all the scouts had used all their strength and rowed the oars in their hands desperately, trying to get out of the area of the artillery fire as quickly as possible. But after the Soviet artillery on the east bank opened fire, the Germans had no time to bombard the river. After all, there was only one small boat, and it might not be able to hit it even during the day, not to mention it was still a night with extremely low visibility.
Even though they were no longer under German shelling, the scouts still rowed desperately for almost an hour before reaching the east coast area.
As soon as everyone landed on the east bank, they immediately collapsed on the ground in a mess, gasping for air to regain the energy consumed while rowing.
At this time, a patrol of more than a dozen people ran towards them. They were still far away, and they asked loudly: "What section are you from?"
Stone sat up with difficulty and shouted to the other party: "We are scouts sent to the West Bank by the Reconnaissance Office, and we have just returned from the other side."
When the captain of the patrol learned that they were scouts who had just returned from the West Bank, he hurried over and asked with concern: "Do you have any casualties?"
"No." Stone shook his head and replied, "I'm just too tired from rowing. Let's lie down and rest for a while."
The patrol leader was notified to follow the river bank in search of scouts returning from the west bank. After confirming their identities at this moment, they immediately called a soldier and told the other party: "Go back immediately and report that the scouts sent to the West Bank have returned. They are too tired at the moment, and I hope a car can be sent to pick them up."
"Comrade Sergeant," the patrol leader said to Ston, "I have sent someone back to report. You guys have a good rest here first. When the car to pick you up arrives, it will not be too late for you to go to the army headquarters."
After waiting for more than ten minutes, a truck drove over.
After the car stopped, a lieutenant got out of the driver's seat and asked loudly: "Where are the scouts who came back from the West Bank?"
"Comrade Lieutenant," after Ston saw the officer's rank clearly, he climbed up from the ground with difficulty, went to the other party and raised his hand in salute, and then said: "I am Sergeant Ston, the leader of the reconnaissance team."
"Get in the car, Comrade Sergeant." The Captain said politely, "I'll take you to the Army Group Headquarters."
But the scouts were so tired that their hands and feet were weak and could not climb into the truck compartment. Fortunately, the comrades in the patrol did not sit idly by and took the initiative to help them climb into the car.
By the time the truck arrived at the entrance of the headquarters, Stone's physical strength had almost recovered. After getting out of the truck, he took the captured briefcase and asked two scouts, who had almost recovered their physical strength, to escort the German staff officer. , followed him into the headquarters.
Seeing Ston's appearance, Sokov stepped forward to shake hands with him and said politely: "Comrade Sergeant, thank you for your hard work!"
"Serve the Soviet Motherland!" After a loud reply, Ston asked the scouts to escort the prisoners over and handed the briefcase in his hand to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, this is the German staff officer we captured. Unfortunately, we don’t understand German, so we can’t interrogate him, and I can’t understand the briefcase he’s carrying.”
Fortunately, Sokov had received the report in advance and knew that the scouts were heading towards the headquarters with prisoners, so he arranged for a German translator to be on standby. He took the briefcase from Ston's hand and pulled out a stack of documents from it. After seeing clearly that they were all in German, he turned around and handed them to a translator behind him: "Comrade translator, come and see what is written on it. What?"
Then he turned to another translator and said, "Ask him, what is his name, which army he belongs to, and what position he holds in the army?"
After listening to the translation, the prisoner clearly stated his name, military rank, and unit.
Seeing that the prisoners were so cooperative, Sokov was very satisfied. He then said to the translator: "Ask him again about the defense situation on the west bank of the Theod River."
When the prisoners told him about the defense situation, Sokov couldn't help but be surprised. He originally thought that the German army had built a 10-kilometer-deep defense zone on the west bank of the West River, which was their limit, but he did not expect that the actual defense depth had reached 40 kilometers. In other words, even if the main force of the Soviet army successfully crossed the river and successfully broke through the ten-kilometer defense depth on the west bank, it would only barely occupy the German first line of defense. In front of the Soviet army, there was a second and third line of defense thirty kilometers deep.
Sokov had the prisoners taken away, and after praising Ston a few more words, he said to him: "Comrade Sergeant, you have completed the reconnaissance mission very well this time. The Army Headquarters will review your brave behavior and achievements." I will commend you for your achievements. I think you must be tired. Go back and rest first. If I need your cooperation in anything, I will send someone to call you."
After sending Sergeant Ston away, Sokov personally called the front army headquarters, intending to report the intelligence he had just obtained to Rokossovsky.
After the call was connected, Rokossovsky's voice came from inside: "Is it Misha? I'm Rokossovsky. Do you have anything to report to me?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Sokov replied: "Our scouts have successfully returned to the east coast and brought us a German staff officer and several captured military documents, including information about the defensive zone. map……"
"It's great to have a map of the defensive zone." Rokossovsky said: "Misha, please send someone to deliver the documents immediately."
"Okay, I will send someone to send the documents and maps immediately." After saying this, Sokov said cautiously: "After interrogating the German staff, I found out that the Germans were on the West Oder River. The defense depth on the west bank is not only ten kilometers as we have seen, but a full forty kilometers. In other words, what we originally thought was the entire defensive position of the German army is actually just the first line of defense for others. "
When Rokossovsky heard what Sokov said, the expression on his face became serious. He did not expect that the German defense deployment was more rigorous than he imagined. After being silent for a while, he spoke to the microphone again: "Misha, we also encountered the same situation when we liberated Eastern Pomerania. Since we were able to defeat the enemy at the beginning, I believe that in the next battle , we can still defeat the enemy."
"Comrade Marshal," Sokov said cautiously: "The situation today is still different from that before. No matter how deep the enemy's defenses are, there is no river as wide as five kilometers in front of them to block the road. I think if they want to break through The German river defense positions may cause our army to suffer huge casualties.”
"Misha, don't be so pessimistic." Rokossovsky comforted Sokov on the phone: "The river in front of you is indeed too wide, but when the offensive campaign starts, we can let the friendly forces on your left and right flanks Launch the attack first. As long as they can contain and divert the attention of the German army, you can minimize troop casualties when you launch the attack again."
"Yes." Sokov said helplessly: "Only when the Germans' attention is diverted to the direction of friendly forces, our frontal defense force will become weak. When we carry out the forced crossing operation, we will be severely damaged. The resistance will be greatly reduced.”
"Misha, Batov's 6th Army will be stationed on your left wing at noon today. And Fedyuninsky's 2nd Assault Army will also arrive on your right wing in two days." Rokossov Ski reminded Sokov: "Since you are going to conduct cooperative operations in the next few days, you have time to go to them and discuss how to fight. Do you understand?"
"Understood." Sokov hurriedly replied, "I will meet with General Batov and General Fedyuninsky to discuss joint operations."
After Sokov put down the phone, he said to Sidorin and Lunev: "Comrade Marshal just told me that General Batov and Fedyuninsky's troops will arrive at the designated position soon. He instructed us , we must strengthen ties with friendly forces and coordinate operations with each other."
"This is what it should be." Lunev said: "Even if we will not fight together in the coming days, as friendly neighboring forces, I think it is completely necessary to have a good relationship with each other."
After saying this, Lunev paused for a moment and asked Sokov: "Misha, this reconnaissance team that just returned from the West Bank has provided us with a lot of useful information. Do you think we should apply for a commendation for them?" ?”
"Just a commendation order is not bad." Sokov said: "I think it would be best if everyone can be awarded a medal in recognition of the results they achieved during this reconnaissance mission."
"I agree with Comrade Commander." Sidorin immediately echoed: "If this reconnaissance team had not ventured to the West Bank, I am afraid that we would still know nothing about the deployment and equipment of the German army at this time. Give everyone I think it is completely necessary to award them all a medal.”
"If you don't object," Lunev said, "then I will draft a commendation order for them and prepare to award them with medals."
"Comrade Military Commissar," Sokov added: "Their commendations and decorations must be announced within the entire army group to boost the morale of our troops."
