Sokov and others sat in the car and waited for a while, then saw a convoy full of commanders and soldiers appearing on the road ahead.
Koshkin turned to Sokov and said excitedly: "Comrade Commander, the troops of the 1st Guards Division should be here."
Sokov opened the door and got out of the car, standing on the side of the road to see who was the commander who came first.
When the convoy passed in front of Sokov, the driver deliberately slowed down, flashed the headlights and honked the horn at the same time, paying respect to Sokov in his own way. The commanders and fighters sitting in the carriage also stood up neatly and paid attention to Sokov.
After fifty or sixty trucks passed by, a jeep came from behind. When the jeep was still more than ten meters away from Sokov, the jeep stopped. Major General Tolstikov, commander of the 1st Guards Division, got out of the car and quickly came to Sokov. After raising his hand in salute, he reported respectfully: "Comrade Commander, Major General Tolstikov, commander of the 1st Guards Division, is reporting to you that our division is preparing to receive the defense handed over by the Germans. Please give us your instructions!"
After raising his hand to return the salute, Sokov held Tolstikov's hand and said with a smile: "Comrade General, I congratulate you for being able to easily accept a piece of land that originally belonged to the Germans without spending a single soldier." land."
Hearing what Sokov said, Tolstikov grinned and said: "Comrade Commander, the land that the Germans voluntarily handed over to us has never been more meaningful than the land that they seized. But since he is unwilling to compete with We are the enemy, so it is logical for us to take over their defense zone."
"Comrade General, your troops are about to take over the German defense area. There are some things I think I need to tell you about."
"Comrade Commander, if you have any questions, just tell me."
"Military discipline! Comrade General!" Sokov said with a serious expression: "After you arrive at a new place, you must strictly observe military discipline. You must not let commanders and soldiers harass the people. Do you understand?" I am afraid that Tolstikov will not Knowing what he meant, he nuzzled at the German civilians eating in the supply point opposite and said, "Have you seen those German civilians? They were deceived by the SS and thought that our troops would loot them after they arrived. They gathered their belongings and fled their homes in a hurry. When they discovered that our army was different from what the SS advertised, they gradually returned to their homes."
Tolstikov glanced at the civilians and asked with some confusion: "Comrade Commander, why do they come to our supply point to eat?"
"When they returned to their home, they found that it was in a mess." Sokov said with a wry smile: "Not only were the valuables looted, but even the food was looted. In desperation, they You can only go to our supply point to get food."
"Who did it?" Tolstikov asked through gritted teeth after hearing this: "Who looted their property and robbed their food?"
"It's not clear," Sokov said matter-of-factly: "Because their town was first occupied by the German army, and now it falls into the hands of our army. As for who entered their home and looted it, we don't know. "
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Tolstikov assured Sokov: "Such a thing will never happen in our division."
"That's good." Sokov said and stretched out his hand to him: "I wish you good luck!"
On the way back to the headquarters, Koshkin, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, half-turned around and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the Germans have done a lot of bad things in our homeland in recent years. Now we Troops have entered their territory and I think it is necessary to take some retaliatory measures."
"Comrade Captain, you can't say that." Sokov looked at Koshkin and said seriously: "If military discipline is not restrained and some commanders and soldiers do things that damage the image of our army? What if a certain person If some countries expand these incidents infinitely and smear us, how will the history books of future generations evaluate us?"
"No way, Comrade Commander." Koshkin heard what Sokov said and said with an expression of disbelief: "Our enemies have been defeated, who will discredit us?"
"British Prime Minister Churchill once said: There are no eternal enemies and no eternal friends in the world, only eternal interests." Sokov said: "Today's cooperation between us and the Allied Forces is based on jointly defeating the world. The most evil enemy - Germany. Once this common enemy disappears, former allies may become enemies. In the future, victory or defeat will be decided not necessarily on the battlefield, but also on the propaganda offensive. .”
Koshkin was confused by Sokov's words. He asked in confusion: "Comrade Commander, can you explain in more detail? I don't quite understand what you mean."
"Yes, Comrade General, I don't quite understand what you mean." Lednikova next to her said helpfully.
"Let me give you an example." In order to let the two of them understand what he meant, Sokov used the examples of the civilians he saw at the supply point: "The civilians we just saw said that their homes were destroyed after they left. It was looted by unknown troops and all valuable property and food were taken away. Although the people who did this may be Germans, or they may be some of our commanders and soldiers who violated military discipline. But if some countries do it for propaganda purposes , must use their propaganda media to say that this matter was done by our army, will this seriously damage the image of our army?"
After hearing Sokov's words, the two of them thought about it carefully and nodded slowly, agreeing with Sokov's statement.
Seeing that the two agreed with his statement, Sokov continued: "Also, once we and the Allies occupy a certain city at the same time, each side will occupy half of the territory. Since they are both winners, everyone will use their own way to deal with the defeated civilians.
For example, Allied troops entered the homes of German people, took away valuables, and after a feast, they developed a super-friendly relationship with the women at home, leaving two pieces of chocolate and several eggs for them before leaving. And potatoes and the like.
After our troops broke into other people's homes, took away valuables, and also had a super-friendly relationship with the women at home. But when I left, I left nothing behind, and unexpectedly even searched the ransacked room again..."
"Comrade General, I think what you said makes sense." Lednikova agreed with Sokov's statement: "I have indeed heard of such a thing, so I just heard from civilians that their homes It was looted, and the first thing I thought of was that it was our own people who did it."
"Lieutenant Lednikova, your statement is inaccurate." Sokov said to Lednikova: "Without an investigation, it is impossible to determine who did this. If you want to impose this crime on our army, it will have an impact on the reputation of our army. When I return to the headquarters later, I will arrange personnel to investigate and find out who did it."
"Well, Comrade General, you are right." Lednikova did not contradict Sokov, but followed his intention and said: "It is possible that the troops on both sides did it. Who did it specifically? We still need to investigate before we know.”
"Let's continue the topic we just talked about." Sokov continued: "The Allies' propaganda methods are far better than ours. If what I said is made into a movie for propaganda, what they will do is to communicate with the local residents. A kind of friendly interaction, and we will become their negative propaganda materials."
"No way." Koshkin didn't believe Sokov's statement: "Comrade Commander, no matter what, we are all allies and friendly forces. How could they discredit us on such a matter? Woolen cloth?"
"Nothing is impossible, Captain Koshkin." Sokov said with a sneer: "The reason why we are still allies and friendly forces today is entirely because the common enemy, Germany, has not yet been destroyed. When this enemy no longer exists, The contradiction between us will be exposed, and then the situation I mentioned may occur."
After returning to the headquarters, the first thing Sokov did was to send someone to investigate the looting of the town. He said to Sidorin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately set up an investigation team to go to the town occupied by our army to investigate and carry out investigations. Find out who is responsible for looting residents’ belongings.”
"Comrade Commander, there is no need to say this." After hearing Sokov's arrangement, Sidorin said without thinking: "This kind of
The Germans must have done it. They know that they have failed, and military discipline has lost its binding force on them. They are completely capable of ransacking residents' residences. "
"Comrade Chief of Staff, it is still unclear who did this." Sokov said to Sidorin with a serious expression: "I asked you to form an investigation team just to find out who did this. You did it. You have to tell the responsible comrades to investigate carefully, and no matter what the final investigation result is, they must report it to me truthfully without any concealment. Do you understand?"
Sidorin originally thought that the investigation organized by Sokov was just a formality, but he did not expect that the other party would take it seriously. He could only say helplessly: "Okay, Comrade Commander, I will make it clear and let them do it." Know the truth about this matter."
After saying this, Sidorin saw Lednikova standing behind Sokov and couldn't help but curiously asked: "Comrade Commander, who is this female officer?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, let me introduce to you. This is Lieutenant Lednikova. She was one of the members of the team that persuaded the German 613th Division to surrender. Due to special reasons, I stayed behind and did not follow Mies. Major Chenko and the others are going on a mission."
"Hello, Lieutenant Lednikova." Sidorin extended his hand to Lednikova and said friendly: "Nice to meet you!"
"Me too, Comrade Chief of Staff."
While Sidorin and Lednikova were chatting, Sokov answered the phone at the front army headquarters. As soon as he heard someone speaking, he identified himself: "I am Sokov, please help me." See Comrade Marshal, I have important matters to discuss with him."
Soon, Rokossovsky's voice came from the receiver: "Misha, this is Rokossovsky, what do you want?"
"Hello, Comrade Marshal, this is what happened." Sokov reported what he saw on the West Bank to Rokossovsky, and finally said: "In the area we occupied, things like this There are still a lot of homeless civilians, how do you think we can resettle them and solve their food, clothing, housing and transportation problems?"
"Misha, what you are talking about is indeed a big problem." Rokossovsky said with a frown: "As we occupy more and more areas, the problems we face will multiply. For example, liberation We visited a certain city in Germany and we not only had to solve the problem of food for urban residents, but also the problems of water supply, power supply, and heating in winter. We had to help them solve them one by one. This requires a lot of materials and manpower, and it is not just a matter of solving it. It can be solved."
"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Sokov knew that post-war reconstruction was a big issue: "I am considering whether we can use a food-for-work approach to provide the German civilians in the occupied areas with the food and supplies they need. "
"Work-for-relief?!" Hearing this unfamiliar word, Rokossovsky asked in surprise: "Misha, what does this mean?"
"Work-for-relief is to work in exchange for the food and supplies they need." Sokov said: "The cities we occupy now have been destroyed to varying degrees. The first thing to do is , is to clean up the ruins in the city, this work requires a lot of manpower. And our troops are still busy fighting, and they will certainly not be able to allocate troops to carry out this work, so we can leave this work to German civilians. Then, according to their work situation, they will be given the materials and food they need for daily life."
"A good idea, a good idea. Misha, what you said is indeed a good idea." Rokossovsky nodded and said, "I will report this matter to the High Command as soon as possible to see what their plans are next. .”
Sokov knew that Lao Maozi's work efficiency was low. After reporting the matter, he didn't know how long it would take to get the result. If you dismantle those supply points prematurely, nearby residents may starve because they cannot find food, and some may even starve to death. Therefore, he secretly made up his mind that before the specific plan from his superiors was introduced, the supply point would continue to be maintained in order to provide food for the residents.
After putting down the phone, Sokov looked at Lednikova and asked: "Comrade Lieutenant, what are your plans next? Are you going to return to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, or stay in my army group? If you are willing to stay, I will meeting
I will assign you a suitable position; if you don't want to stay, I will arrange for someone to send you back to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. "
Faced with the choice given by Sokov, Lednikova hesitated for a long time, and finally said: "Comrade General, I am willing to stay. Please arrange work for me."
"The people who came to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the past have all stayed in the security forces." Sokov said to Lednikova: "But it is obviously inappropriate for you to go to the security forces. I think it is better to go to the intelligence service first. What do you think?" "
"Comrade General, I resolutely obey your arrangements!"
