After Fomenko issued the order to his chief of staff, he felt that it was useless to strengthen his own precautions. If the Germans passed through unknown and hidden areas, they might also threaten the safety of the bridge.
Thinking of this, Fomenko picked up the phone on the table and said into the receiver: "I'm Fomenko. Call me immediately from the headquarters of the 254th Division and ask for their division commander, Colonel Shechtman."
Manoxin on the side couldn't help but ask: "Comrade division commander, why are you calling the 254th Division?"
Fomenko, who was holding the microphone, looked at Manokhin and said: "According to my understanding of Comrade Commander, the 254th Division must have received the same order at this moment. I think Colonel Shechtman is also facing the unknown situation at this moment.
Recognizing the confusion of disguised enemies.”
"Comrade Division Commander," after understanding Fomenko's intentions, Manokhin cautiously reminded him: "Your orders are being carried out within the jurisdiction of our division. If there is any problem, there is still a way to solve it. But if you introduce this method
For friendly forces, if something goes wrong and a friendly fire incident occurs, the superiors may be held accountable."
"Comrade Political Commissar, you are right." Regarding Manokhin's kindness, Fomenko nodded and said, "But under the current circumstances, we can only take risks. Even if there is an unfortunate incident of friendly fire, we will always be safe.
It's much better than letting the enemy pass through our defense zone and blow up the bridge."
Manoxin was silent for a long time, and finally nodded and said: "Comrade Commander, you are right. In order to prevent German infiltration, we can only do this."
Shechtman's voice came from the receiver: "I am Shechtman, where are you?"
"Hello, Comrade Colonel." Fomenko said into the microphone: "I am Fomenko."
"It turns out to be General Fomenko." Shechtman asked with a smile: "I wonder what happened to you calling me so late?"
"Has the headquarters called you to ask you to be more vigilant to prevent German troops from passing through your defense area along the banks of the Dnieper River?"
"That's right, not long ago, I received a call from General Sameko, Chief of Staff of the Group Army, asking us to strengthen patrols and never allow the enemy's sabotage squad to pass through the defense zone." After Shechtman briefly introduced the situation,
He said with some annoyance: "But according to the report, the enemies are wearing the uniforms of our army. How to identify them is a headache for me."
Fomenko did not immediately reveal his solution, but asked: "So you haven't come up with a good solution yet?"
"Hey, I can't think of any good way." Shechtman sighed and said: "If our patrol really encounters the enemy, when they conduct an investigation, the Germans may take action in advance, thus causing us
Huge casualties.”
Since Shechtman had already said that he had no way to identify the camouflaged German troops, Fomenko felt that the time was ripe and openly stated his own method: "Comrade Colonel, don't worry, I have a method that can be used in the shortest time.
Within a short period of time, the disguised enemy can be identified.”
"any solution?"
"According to our intelligence, the Germans are in a group of 20 people, each carrying a big box in their hands." Fomenko said to Shechtman on the phone: "Comrade Colonel, you can tell your subordinates
, as soon as such troops are found appearing, they will immediately shoot without hesitation."
"Comrade General," Shechtman seemed hesitant about the method proposed by Fomenko. Like Fomenko's chief of staff, he was worried that shooting rashly would accidentally injure one of his own people: "Such a hasty shooting.
, you won’t accidentally hurt one of our own, right?”
"No, Comrade Colonel." Fomenko replied: "You should know that our patrol teams are usually 12 people per team, never 20 people per team. And patrolling in the middle of the night, what are you doing with a box in your hand?
?In addition to the explosives used by the enemy to blow up the bridge, what else can be in the box?"
Fomenko's explanation made Shechtman nod his head repeatedly and said: "Comrade General, your method is good. I will immediately notify the patrol team below. As soon as the number of people reaches 20, each person is carrying a big box."
team, they immediately opened fire without hesitation."
Shechtman readily agreed to use Fomenko's method to deal with the German sabotage squad disguised as the Soviet army. However, before he could call the patrol team below, he was stopped by the political commissar Colonel Billing: "Comrade division commander,
What General Fomenko said is indeed very reasonable, but we cannot act rashly. I think we should report it to the army headquarters first, so that the commander can be aware of it. Even if there is an accidental injury, we can still have an explanation to our superiors.
.”
Although Shechtman was willing to adopt Fomenko's method, he still had concerns in his heart. When he heard Billing's suggestion, he nodded and said: "Comrade Political Commissar, what you said makes sense.
, we need to report this matter to the headquarters immediately to see what the commander means."
In this way, Shechtman's phone call reached the headquarters. As soon as he heard Samyko's voice, he reported the method proposed by Fomenko to the other party, and finally said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I want to ask
Ask, can we use this method?”
This matter was of great importance, and Samyko did not dare to make any independent claims. He could only turn around and report the situation to Sokov, and finally said: "Comrade Commander, Colonel Shechtman, please give me permission to use this method to solve the problem."
Dealing with disguised enemies?"
Hearing Fomenko's method, Sokov couldn't help but his eyes lit up. It seems that there are still smart people in this era. They can even think of such a method. He slapped his hand on the table and then said: "Staff
Comrade Commander, please tell Colonel Shechtman to follow General Fomenko’s method of identifying enemies disguised as our troops. Tell him that as soon as he finds a small unit that echoes these two characteristics, he will immediately and without hesitation
Shoot, if any friendly fire incident occurs, I will bear all the consequences."
After receiving Sokov's approval, Shechtman felt much more at ease. However, before he put down the phone, he thought of another situation and quickly asked Samyko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I want to ask,
If, I am talking about a kind of if. If the enemy is wiped out by our troops, our soldiers will definitely take away the enemy's explosive boxes after cleaning the battlefield and preparing to move. If other troops arrive at this time,
Will there be a misunderstanding and a fight between one of our own people?"
"Comrade Colonel, what's wrong with you?" After listening to Shechtman's narration, Samek said with some laughter and tears: "After destroying the enemy, you can't wait to clean the battlefield? Can't you wait for daybreak to have better visibility?
When the time comes, will you send someone to clean it again?"
"Yes, yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, what you said makes perfect sense." Shechtman heard what Sameko said and said repeatedly: "Then I will follow your instructions and wait until dawn before arranging manpower to clean the battlefield.
, collecting explosives from German corpses.”
After ending the call, Sokov handed a cigarette to Samyko and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, according to the information I have received, the troops will be reorganized soon. The troops under the group army will increase the organizational structure of the army. What do you say?
Say, if several corps structures are really added in the future, who among the current division commanders can assume the position of corps commander?"
Samyko took the cigarette and held it in his mouth, lit a match, lit it for Sokov first, and then lit the cigarette in his own mouth. After taking a puff, he said: "After increasing the organizational structure of the army within the group army,
, if the superiors do not directly parachute the new army commander, I think the candidate for the army commander will probably be selected from General Fomenko and Colonel Chuvashov, because the divisions they command have obtained the title of "Kharkov" city
The high honor of naming.”
"I think General Fomenko has the greatest possibility." Sokov said: "If Chuvashov is promoted to commander, he must also be promoted to military rank. We cannot allow an infantry commander to be called a colonel.
Military rank."
"Although the 84th Division has made considerable achievements in the early battles." Samyko said: "But I always feel that General Fomenko's command ability is a little weaker and it is difficult for him to take charge of himself. But after what happened tonight,
My view on him has changed, maybe he is the best candidate for army commander."
Just as Sokov and Samyko were discussing the candidates for future army commanders, more than a dozen patrol teams of the 84th and 254th Divisions received orders from the division headquarters. As long as a patrol team with a number of 20 people was found, a large number of patrol teams would be killed.
The small team, most of them carrying large boxes, immediately opened fire without any hesitation, without any need for any reason.
After receiving the order, Colonel Prochenko, commander of the 762nd Regiment of the 254th Division, immediately called Chief of Staff Vanya for discussion: "Comrade Chief of Staff, this order from the superiors is really strange. It actually allows us to find a group with more than 20 people."
People, most of them were carrying large boxes in their hands, so they immediately opened fire. Aren’t you afraid of accidental injuries if you do this?”
As Sokov's old subordinate, Vanya once followed Sokov disguised as a German army and carried out many missions behind enemy lines. Naturally, he knew that it was not easy to find out the identity, especially at night, which was even more difficult.
.But the order issued by the superiors now seems to be able to effectively distinguish between ourselves and the enemy.
"Comrade Commander, since the superiors have issued such an order, I think we should carry it out unconditionally." Vanya said: "Although there is a possibility of accidentally injuring one's own people, it is the best way to eliminate disguised enemies."
"But I still feel uneasy." Although there was an order from his superiors and Vanya gave an explanation, Prochenko was still worried: "If I really hurt one of my own people, I'm afraid it would be difficult to explain to my superiors.
"
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Vanya inferred from Prochenko's tone that the other party was unwilling to unconditionally carry out the orders of his superiors, so he took the initiative and said: "If you are worried, you can let me command the patrol.
team to block the German sabotage squad trying to penetrate into the rear of our army."
Seeing that Vanya was willing to take over this hot potato, Prochenko was not polite and nodded and said: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, I will leave it to you to command the patrol team to block enemy infiltration.
Hope to hear your good news soon."
As the chief of staff of the regiment, Vanya knew the specific locations of the three patrol teams in the regiment. After leaving the regiment with two soldiers, he rushed directly to the Dnieper River to find the patrol team performing patrol tasks.
A few minutes later, they met a team. Vanya called the captain and told him: "Comrade captain, there is a new order from the superior. Once a team of more than 18 people is found, most of them will carry
The squad with the big box immediately opened fire on them without hesitation."
The reason why Vanya said there were more than 18 people instead of directly saying 20 people was because he was worried that the patrol captains below were all one-sided. If the enemy lost one or two people during the march, the patrol captain would not cause trouble.
enough attention.
After hearing Vanya's order, the captain of the patrol asked with some confusion: "Comrade Chief of Staff, even if these people are wearing the uniforms of our army, will you shoot without hesitation?"
"That's right, even if the opponent is wearing our army's uniform, we will shoot without hesitation."
"You won't accidentally hurt one of your own, right?"
"Don't worry, Comrade Captain." Vanya explained to the other party: "What we want to intercept is an enemy group disguised as our army, and they are wearing the uniforms of our army."
After figuring out what was going on, the captain said: "Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff, once we see a team that agrees with the standards you said, we will shoot immediately."
After Vanya conveyed the order to this patrol, he rushed to the location of the next patrol without stopping. In this way, it took him almost half an hour to convey the order to the three patrols.
When he was about to leave, suddenly a small team appeared vaguely on the river in the distance. The captain of the third team quickly said to Vanya: "Comrade Chief of Staff, look quickly. There is a patrol team coming over there. It's our team."
Of?"
"Probably not." Vanya shook her head and said, "The patrol areas of the other two patrol teams are not in that direction at all. How could they appear there?"
"Could it be that a friendly patrol has crossed the border?" the captain of the third team continued to speculate.
Vanya did not speak, but raised the telescope hanging around his neck and looked into the distance. Through the lens, he saw a patrol with a relatively large number of people, marching in neat steps towards where he was.
He came to the location. He carefully counted the number of people. Yes, there were 20 people. Looking at the other party's hands, they were basically carrying large boxes, and on their chests, they all had MP40 submachine guns. At first glance,
It's a sabotage squad disguised by the Germans.
"They are really here." After saying this to herself, Vanya put down the telescope in her hand and turned to ask the captain of the third team: "Comrade captain, how many people do you have under your command?"
The captain was stunned at first and thought to himself, as the chief of staff, don’t you even know how many people there are in the patrol? But he still answered truthfully: "Including me, there are 12 people in total."
"There are only 12 people." Vanya turned around and glanced at the two soldiers he brought with him, sighed and said: "Maybe we will have a firefight with the enemy soon, but now with me and the people I brought,
There are only 15 people in total, so it may not be easy to eliminate this group of enemies."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, this is easy to handle." The captain said carelessly: "I can immediately send people to contact the first team and the second team and ask them to come here to support. When we face the enemy, we will have a larger number of people.
The advantages."
Vanya considered that the two soldiers who came with him not only knew the location of the other two patrols, but the two captains also knew them. It should be no problem for them to move the reinforcements. So he headed towards the two soldiers
With one finger, he gave them orders: "You go to the first team, you go to the second team. After introducing the situation here to the two captains, I brought them all here. Do you understand?"