As soon as Oshanin left the observation center, Sokov heard someone shouting outside: "Brigit Commander, comrade comrade comrade, where are you? Who did you see comrade comrade comrade?"
Sokov heard that the person who was calling was a staff officer of the brigade headquarters, so he hurried out of the observation center and shouted in the direction of the voice: "I am here."
When the staff officer saw Sokov standing outside the observation center, he quickly trotted over and reported with some breath: "Comrade Brigade Commander, you can find you. A commander came from the Front Command and said that there is something important to come to you. The Chief of Staff ordered me to come to you."
He had just been unable to contact the Front Command, but someone suddenly came. Sokov guessed that it might have been sent by Khrushchev, so he hurriedly ran to the command center. When he came to the command center panting, he saw a strange major sitting inside. When the major saw him appear, he quickly stood up from his seat and asked, "Are you Lieutenant Colonel Sokov?"
"Yes, I'm Sokov." Sokov looked at the major and asked, "Are you from the Front Command?"
"That's right." The major nodded and replied, "I am Major Elastov from the Front Command. I am sending you orders from the Front Command." After that, he took out a document from his bag and handed it to Sokov.
Sokov opened the file bag, took out a piece of paper from it, and carefully looked at the orders above. But after he finished reading the contents above, he couldn't help but frown: "What? The Front Command ordered us to retreat and retreat to the other side of the Volga River?"
"Yes, comrade Lieutenant Colonel." The major replied expressionlessly, "That's what I received."
"Hey, how can we retreat at this time?" Sidolin couldn't help but ask anxiously after hearing Sokov read the orders in the document: "Once we retreat, the Germans will occupy the Mamayev hills, and the defenders in the city will be divided into two parts by the Germans."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," political commissar Beerkin was also a little impatient. He quickly asked, "Who signed the order?"
Sokov glanced at the signature below and replied: "It is Major General Kovarenko, Chief of Staff of the Front."
When he learned that the retreat order was signed by the Chief of Staff of the Front Army, Belkin was silent. After a moment, he spoke: "Comrade Brigade Commander, since the Front Command ordered us to retreat, we should immediately pass the orders and let the commanders and fighters prepare for retreating."
"Gay Major." Sidolin looked at the major and asked, "Can I ask why the Front Command suddenly gave us the order to retreat?"
"The Front Command is moving," replied the Major: "It may be to establish a new defense in the left bank that you will be ordered to retreat to the other side."
After hearing the major's reply, Sidolin turned his head and asked Sokov, who was still staring at the command, and said: "Comrade Brigade Commander, how did you think about it?"
Sokov felt something was wrong when he saw the order. Both Yelyemko and Khrushchev should be very clear about the importance of the Mamayev gang. How could he give up easily? Once the German army occupied this commanding height, the defenders in the city would be divided into two parts that were not connected, and what awaited them was the gradual elimination of the enemy.
When he heard Sidolin asking himself, Sokov did not answer immediately, but turned his attention to the major who sent the order. The major was very young and handsome, wearing a brand new military uniform and a large-brimmed hat on his head was blue, indicating that he was a member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
"Major Elastov," Sokov asked after a long silence: "A few hours ago, the German army shelled the Mamayev hill, and the way here was not safe. I wonder if you came alone or brought the guard?"
"The Chief of Staff was afraid that I would be in danger on the way, so he sent me a guard. Look, he is there." Major Elastov whined toward the door.
Sokov turned his head and saw a soldier with a big and thick-sized man standing at the door with his body standing there, which was quite intimidating. Sokov retracted his gaze and asked Sidolin: "Chief of Staff, is Seryosha back?"
"I'm back," Sidolin nodded, saying, "He is in the room next door, preparing to execute your order." Perhaps because there were outsiders present, he did not explain what the specific task was, but Sokov and Belkin knew that Selyosha would lead his troops to search for nearby settlements to see if there were deserters or spies sent by the Germans.
"Let him come here, I have a new task to hand him over," Sokov said briefly.
Without asking about any tasks, Cidolin picked up the phone on the table. After the phone was connected, he said to the microphone: "Lt. Selyosha, the brigade commander has a task to hand over to you, come here immediately."
When Selyosha received the call, he immediately ran over from the next door. When he came to Sokov, he straightened his body and asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, I wonder what new tasks do you have?"
"Seryosha, come here." Sokov pulled Seryosha aside and said in a voice that only two of them could hear: "No matter what I say, don't look back or express surprise. I suspect that the two people from the Front Command have problems. You immediately take someone to control the guard at the door and never let him shoot. If he fired with a Popov submachine gun, the people in the room would suffer heavy losses. Do you understand?"
"I understand, comrade comrade commander." After hearing Sokov's words, Selyosha immediately stood up and replied in a loud voice: "I promise to complete the task." After a moment of pause, he asked again, "Are you allowed me to go back and assign tasks?"
Sokov nodded and said, "After you go back, arrange the task as soon as possible."
Seeing Selyosaurus leave, Sidolin couldn't help but ask Sokov curiously: "Comrade Brigade Commander, what mission did you assign to Selyosaurus? Why did it make it so mysterious?"
Sokov grinned and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, the troops are about to be transferred. I asked him to arrange two people to go to the health team. As for the reason, I don't need to say it, you should understand it in your heart."
Cidolin believed in Sokov's explanation, because the brigade commander's wife was in the health team. During the transfer of the troops, she arranged two soldiers to protect her safety. This was completely reasonable.
Major Elastov asked curiously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what's going on? Why should we send soldiers to the health team?" As he spoke, his right hand was placed on the gun holster at his waist.
Unaware of this, Cidolin said with a smile: "Because the brigade commander's wife is in the health team, if she announces in public that she will be sent to protect her, the impact will be bad after all."
"So that's how it is." After hearing Cidolin's explanation, Major Elastov moved his hand away from the gun holster and urged: "A few commanders, please give the troops a retreat order."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Before Sokov could speak, Selyosha appeared at the door again, followed by two live-fire soldiers following him. He asked loudly: "Can you go on the mission now?"
"Wait a minute, Lieutenant Seriosha, please wait." Sokov said this and turned his head to Elastov and said, "Comrade Major, although you are from the Front Command, I have never seen you before. Can you show me your ID?"
Sokov's words made Major Elastov stunned for a moment, and then he nodded vigorously and said, "It's totally OK, comrade Lieutenant Colonel." He also said while taking out his ID: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are very vigilant, which is worthy of praise."
Sokov took Major Elastov's military certificate, opened it and checked it. The name and photos on it matched the major in front of him. Although there was no problem with the certificate, Sokov did not take it lightly. He continued to check the staples on the military certificate. He remembered that the staples on the Soviet military certificate were particularly prone to rust, but the staples on the certificate in his hand did not rust, and it was obvious that they were made of stainless steel staples.
Seeing the stainless steel staple on the inner page, Sokov could almost confirm that the other party was a German spy. He closed the certificate and handed it back to Major Elastov, and said with a smile: "Comrade Major, please pack your military certificate and don't lose it."
"Don't worry, comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Major Elastov received the military certificate and put it in his pocket and said with a smile: "I will protect this military certificate as if I love my eyes."
Sokov turned his head and nodded slightly at Seryosha who was standing at the door, indicating that he could do it. Then he pulled out his pistol at lightning speed, pointed at Major Elastov, and said loudly: "Raise your hand!"
The soldiers at the door saw Sokov's muzzle aimed at Major Elastov. Just as they were about to take some action, a cold muzzle was already pressing against his jaw, and he could only raise his hands obediently. Major Elastov saw Sokov pointing his gun at him, and raised his hand, but he also asked happily: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what's going on?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander, what happened?" Sokov's actions shocked the people around him. He saw him pointing his gun at the major. Although everyone didn't understand what was going on, they also raised their weapons and aimed at the major and his entourage. Only Cidolin and Belkin asked with a confused look on their faces: "Why are you pointing the gun at Major Elastov?"
Seeing that at least ten muzzles of different caliber were pointed at Elastov, Sokov quickly turned his head and looked at Selyosha, and took them away the soldier. He raised his voice and said, "Shelyosha, come here."
When Selyoshao came to him, Sokov ordered him to say, "Check his soles?"
If Sidolin and Belkin had some questions, after hearing the order issued by Sokov, they immediately realized that the major in front of them had a problem. Seriosha walked to Major Elastov, squatted in front of him, raised one of his legs, and checked the nails at the bottom of the boots.
Everyone present knew that the shoe nails on the Soviet military boots were round, while the shoe nails on the German military boots were square. Sometimes to identify whether a person was disguised by a German, you only need to lift his boots and see what the shoe nails on it were. Seryosha only glanced at it, then raised his head and said loudly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, it is square."
As soon as Selyosha said, everyone in the room understood that the so-called major from the Front Command was just a German disguise. The angry Sidolin immediately ordered Selyosha: "Take him next to him and lock him up. If they want to escape, they will be killed on the spot."
After Selyoshao and several soldiers took away the fake officer disguised by the German spy, Belkin asked curiously: "Comrade Brigade Commander, how did you find out that he was disguised by the enemy?"
"I almost believed it was true when I saw this document and the signature below." Sokov saw that his two deputy were full of questions, so he explained to them: "But then he thought that our guards at Mamayev were arranged by the Supreme Command, and even the Front Command did not mobilize our power. Therefore, I doubted this Major Elastov from the Front Command."
When Sokov was analyzing Sidolin and Belkin, there were still many curious staff and correspondents standing next to him. Sidolin originally wanted to drive them away, but Sokov raised his hand to stop him. He continued: "When I checked his military certificate, I found that the staples used on the inner page were stainless steel. You all know that the staples on the inner page of our military certificate were made of very easy rust. How could it be possible to use stainless steel? This is the second doubt."
"After discovering these two suspicious points, I decided to take risks and decisively ordered Selyosha to take action, disarm the soldiers at the door, and then check the major Elastov's studs to determine whether he is our own."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, you are still very risky to do this." Belkin said with lingering fear: "If he really comes from the Front Command, you will offend him."
"I don't understand why the enemy pretended to be an officer of the Front Command at this time and gave us this order to retreat." Cidolin frowned and said, "You know, it is very easy for us to see through doing this."
Chapter completed!