Hearing Zakharov's question, Sokov couldn't help but be startled, "He went outside to perform a mission!"
"Where did you go on your mission?"
"Because we wanted to eliminate two German sniper teams," Sokov hesitated and decided to tell the truth to avoid any misunderstanding and unclear explanation in the future: "So we formed two sniper teams and went to different places.
, but eliminated the German sniper team. Among them, Lyudmila led five outstanding snipers to form a team, while the other team was composed of Vasily and the old man leading four snipers."
"I told you when I sent the old man to your place," Zakharov said angrily after listening to Sokov's explanation: "The old man is the treasure of our country. We must ensure his safety."
, there must be no problems. But what about you, have you taken my orders to heart?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army," Sokov took advantage of the gap between the other party's words to defend himself and said: "I just sent him out to perform the task, and nothing happened to him?"
Zakharov snorted twice on the other end of the phone, and then said: "Comrade Sokov, according to my judgment, the two sniper teams organized by you are definitely not performing missions near Otac?"
Tell me, where did they go?"
"Lyudmila's group went to Chernivtsi, while Vasily and the old man's group went to Wingene." Sokov argued: "But I have recalled them urgently, tonight at the latest
To be able to return to Otac."
"It's nonsense, it's nonsense." Zakharov criticized Sokov and said: "The old man is already ninety years old, and you still send him to perform tasks hundreds of kilometers away. If something goes wrong, you will bear the responsibility."
Do you take this responsibility?"
Sokov was well aware of the matter and knew that if something went wrong with the old man, he really couldn't bear the responsibility, so he answered truthfully: "I can't."
"Since you know you can't take responsibility, why did you send the old man to such a far place to perform the task?" Zakharov almost roared on the other end of the phone: "Believe it or not, I will punish you?!"
Regarding Zakharov's threat, Sokov didn't care at all. He would be punished no matter how big the deal was. In order to divert the other party's attention, he took the initiative to say: "Comrade Commander, our unit is already in Chernivtsi."
The region launched a counterattack against the Germans."
"Oh, a counterattack was launched in the Chernivtsi area?" Sokov's words really diverted Zakharov's attention: "How is the progress now?"
Sokov raised his head, looked at Sameko opposite, and asked with his eyes if he had any recent battle reports? Fortunately, the chief of staff had been working with Sokov for a long time, and he actually understood what Sokov meant.
He quickly handed Sokov a copy of the telegram he had just received.
After quickly reading the contents of the telegram, Sokov said into the microphone with a relaxed expression: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, let me tell you good news: General Bogdanov's troops have successfully broken through the German defense line and are moving toward
The enemy's defenses develop in depth."
"This is really exciting news." Zakharov forgot that he called to blame Sokov, but couldn't wait to ask about the battle situation in the Chernivtsi area: "Can the enemy be removed from the city?"
Are you going to be chased away nearby?”
"There should be no problem." Regarding this, Sokov is still very confident: "The enemy may not have expected that they will encounter our tenacious resistance in the Chernivtsi area. Once the attack is frustrated, they will have to stay on the spot.
We turned to defense, but the time we left them was too short, and they had no time to build strong defenses, so they had no choice but to retreat in the face of our army's powerful counterattack."
"If the Germans can be completely driven away from the Chernivtsi area, then the next battle will be easy to fight." Zakharov said: "You can allow more troops to enter Romania and carry out our next step.
Phase one combat deployment.”
"Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, the battle group commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Ponedelin has all entered Romania." Sokov remembered that when Ponedelin's battle group entered Romania, they had not had time to report to their superiors.
Taking the opportunity, he said: "Now they are preparing for battle and preparing to expand the area they occupy."
"Oh, the Ponejelin battle group has all entered Romania?" Zakharov asked in surprise: "When did this happen?"
"In the early hours of this morning," Sokov replied: "It was precisely because they all entered Romania that I made up my mind to launch a counterattack in Chernivtsi."
"You did the right thing, Comrade Sokov." Zakharov had just praised Sokov when he suddenly realized something was wrong. He seemed to have called specifically to scold him, but why did it turn into a compliment in the blink of an eye? "
By the way, let’s continue talking about the old man.”
Seeing that Zakharov had withdrawn the topic to the old man again, Sokov was a little dumbfounded: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, didn't I tell you that the old man will be able to return to Otac tonight at the latest?"
"Comrade Sokov, I tell you very seriously, you must ask this old man to appear at your headquarters before noon tomorrow." Zakharov said in a stern tone: "Otherwise, you will wait to be punished."
Sokov didn't expect that Zakharov would actually mention punishing him twice today. He couldn't help but wonder in his heart. What happened to make Zakharov behave so abnormally?
Zakharov must have guessed what Sokov was thinking, and took the initiative to say: "Comrade Sokov, are you wondering in your heart whether this Zakharov committed a military crime today and is always pestering the old man?"
Before Sokov could answer, he continued: "Let me tell you, there will be a condolence group coming from Moscow tomorrow, and they want Otac to inspect and pay a visit to the old man. I also know that the people coming this time are some big shots.
, if they can’t see the old man’s figure, I’m afraid not only you, but also Marshal Konev will be punished.”
"What, a big shot is coming tomorrow?" Sokov couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart when he heard what Zakharov said. Could it be that the German ace sniper lurking in the city is targeting the big shot who will appear tomorrow?
Coming?
"Yes, they have all held important positions. So it is not an exaggeration to say that they are big shots." Zakharov explained to Sokov: "They and the old man are old acquaintances. I heard that the old man is now with you.
I'm in the army, so I wanted to go see him specifically and talk to him about old times and so on."
"Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army," Sokov said nervously: "We are close to the front line, and there are still enemies in the city that have not yet been eliminated. If these big shots want to come, it may be difficult to guarantee their safety."
"Comrade Sokov, you now command a combat group of hundreds of thousands of people, not a guard platoon." After hearing Sokov's obviously evasive words, Zakharov said with dissatisfaction:
"Isn't it possible to ensure the safety of the members of the condolences group?"
Hearing that Zakharov was angry, Sokov could only bite the bullet and replied: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I will immediately strengthen the security in the city and ensure the personal safety of all members of the condolences group."
"That's right." Zakharov nodded with satisfaction at Sokov's answer and said, "They will arrive at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. You must do a good job of guarding and receiving them. Do you understand?"
Sokov put down the phone, glanced at the people at the table, and his expression became serious: "Comrade commanders, the situation is not good. There will be a condolence group from Moscow tomorrow, and there are some important people in it.
leaders. Can you tell me how we can ensure their personal safety?"
"I think the safest way is to place our soldiers on both sides of the street where the condolences group passes to guard." Sameko suggested: "Of course, if we want to deal with German snipers, we can only pin our hopes on
For those sniper trainees, let them occupy the commanding heights on both sides to prevent possible sniping operations."
"Master, aren't they going to come back tonight?" Trofimenko interrupted: "Let the three of them each bring a few snipers, choose important positions to hide, and when the enemy's snipers show up, they will decisively kill them.
.”
"Comrade Deputy Commander," Sokov interrupted Trofimenko's words and said to him: "The reason why the condolences group came here is because of the old man. They came to Otats specially because they wanted to see the old man and
He reminisced about old times."
"So, the old man doesn't need to participate in tomorrow's security mission?"
"Yes," Sokov nodded to Samyko and said, "When the old man returns to Otac, don't arrange any more work for him. The Chief of Staff of the Front Army is right, the old man is ninety years old.
If anything happens to us as human beings, none of us can bear the responsibility."
"Comrade Commander, I have a suggestion." Trofimenko said: "For the sake of the old man's safety, how about letting the old man go with them when the consolation group leaves this time? As long as he leaves Otats,
What happens next will have nothing to do with us. What do you think?"
Although Trofimenko's statement may seem like a burden-dropping, under the current circumstances, it is undoubtedly the best choice. So Sokov only hesitated for a few seconds before readily agreeing: "
Okay, just do what Comrade Deputy Commander said. When the condolences group leaves, let the old man leave with them. After all, he is ninety years old. Life on the front line is too hard and there are many dangers everywhere. He really doesn't want to
It’s suitable to stay here.”
Seeing that the two commanders had reached an agreement, neither Samyko nor Smirnov could say anything. They could only acquiesce in the decision made by the two and planned to wait for the old man to come back and not make any arrangements for him.
work, and asked him to leave Otac with the condolences group.
I thought that the old man and the others would not come back until after dark, but unexpectedly, the old man and Vasily appeared in the headquarters just after dusk.
Seeing the two people appear, Sokov was surprised: "Old man, Vasily, why are you back so early?"
"We took a shortcut back," the old man said to Sokov excitedly: "I discovered this road accidentally. Not only can it save nearly an hour's drive, but we also made huge discoveries on the way.
.”
"A huge discovery?" Sokov was stunned after hearing this, and then asked: "What a huge discovery, tell me about it!"
"Vasily, I think it's better for you to report this matter to Comrade Commander. You can be more detailed than me."
After hearing what the old man said, Vasily did not shirk and took the initiative to report to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, when we were taking a shortcut, we unexpectedly discovered two huge warehouses. The entrances to the warehouses are two mounds of earth.
It’s covered with weeds and shrubs, and you can’t even spot it if you don’t look carefully.”
"What's in the warehouse?" Trofimenko asked eagerly.
"Comrade Deputy Commander, I was about to say something." Vasily glanced at Trofimenko and continued: "The lock on the big iron door at the entrance was rusty, and we broke the lock easily.
After entering the warehouse, we found the power generation room and turned on the lights inside. With the help of the lights, we discovered that this was a huge arsenal. I pried open a wooden box and found that it contained Mosin Nagant.
rifle."
"Oh, weapons depot?" Sokov said with some surprise: "This place has been occupied by the Germans for more than three years. How come there are two huge arsenals?"
"Comrade Commander, the reason is very simple." The old man heard Sokov talking to himself and explained to him: "I have just said that the location is in the forest, and there are two soil bags at the entrance.
, and it was covered with weeds and shrubs. When the Germans occupied this place, it happened to be the end of June and the beginning of July. At that time, the forest vegetation was dense. If the Germans did not conduct a careful search, they would not be able to find the two munitions.
Library."
When the old man explained this, Sokov immediately understood. When the Germans first occupied this place, they did not discover the hidden arsenal at all. In addition, the place was remote and inaccessible. As time went by, no one discovered the location of the arsenal.
. If the old man and Vasily hadn't taken a shortcut today, I'm afraid they wouldn't have been able to discover these two arsenals.
While Sokov was guessing, he heard Smirnov say: "Old man, you are so lucky. Now the weeds in the forest are withered and yellow, and only bare bushes are left. That's why you were lucky enough to find the arsenal."
Entrance. If it were half a month earlier or more than half a month at night, you wouldn't be able to find this place, so the snow and dense grass will cover up the entrance to the arsenal."
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, you are right." The old man agreed very much with Smirnov's statement: "It was pure luck that we found the arsenal today. As you said,
If it were a different time period, we might not have discovered it."
"Vasily," Samyko came over with a map and asked Vasily politely: "Can you point out to me the location of the arsenal?"
"Here." Vasily looked at the map for a while, and then decisively pointed to a location, but he still said uneasily: "The location there is too remote. If you just rely on the map, you can't find it at all. How about this?
Well, if I serve as your guide, we can find the location of the arsenal in the shortest possible time."