Chapter 2186: The Missing Pilot (Part 1)

   "Comrade Deputy Commander received a call from General Potapov, and then went out." Sidolin replied: "I guess the two of them should have gone drinking."

"Oh, the two of you went drinking?" Sokov thought to himself, he and Ponegerin have been partners for a long time, but he has never seen him drink, and he did not expect Potapov to come After his own troops, Ponejielin actually started to drink: "I don't know how much the deputy commander can drink. The two of them drank until the end, and whoever drank the other."

"I think both of them should drink a lot." Sidolin said to Sokov: "After all, both of them were army commanders before the war, and they usually spend a lot of time drinking. Maybe one or two bottles of wine are not enough. Can't drink them down."

   "Okay, I'm going back." Sokov waved his hand at Sidolin: "I'll leave this to you."

   Nothing to say all night.

  The next day just after dawn, Sokov came to the headquarters and asked Sidolin, who was on the night shift, "Chief of Staff, did something happen last night?"

   "No." Sidolin shook his head and said, "Last night was calm and nothing happened."

Sokov nodded after hearing this, and then said to Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you must be very tired after staying up all night, go back and rest quickly. The deputy commander and I will be responsible for the affairs here. .”

   "I'd better wait." Sidolin raised his hand and looked at the time: "After the deputy commander comes, it will not be too late for me to leave."

   Said Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrived, and as soon as Sidolin mentioned Ponejelin, the latter came in from the outside.

   Still far away, Sokov smelled the alcohol on the other party, and said with a smile: "Comrade Deputy Commander, where did you drink last night, why is there such a strong smell of alcohol?"

Hearing what Sokov said, Ponejielin grinned, and replied with some embarrassment: "Potapov called me last night and asked me to go to his place for a drink. I think that from the outbreak of the war to the present , I haven't had a drink with him for almost four years, and I want to see if his drinking capacity has improved."

  Pornegelin's words aroused the interest of the two, and Sidolin asked curiously: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I wonder how much you drank yesterday?"

   "Not much, just eight bottles of wine."

   "What, you drank eight bottles of wine last night?" Pornegerin startled Sokov, and the two of them drank eight bottles of vodka. If the drinker is not good enough, he would just drink to death. He asked tremblingly, "Are you two all right?"

Ponegerin saw the worry on Sokov's face, and said to him with a smile: "Don't look at the two of us drinking eight bottles of wine, but only one of them is vodka, and the rest are wine." Maybe Worried that Sokov didn't understand, he also specifically emphasized, "It is said that after the Battle of Stalingrad, after Marshal Paulus became a prisoner of our army, a request to Marshal Rokossovsky will be able to I hope to drink wine from Ukraine every day. But Comrade Marshal told him that because the place where the wine is produced is still in the German-occupied area, he cannot provide him with the wine he needs.”

   “I only know that French wines are good,” Sidolin said, “but I don’t know much about Ukrainian wines.”

   Sokov agrees with Sidolin's statement. His descendants stayed in Russia for more than ten years. Every time he went to the supermarket to buy something, the wines on the shelves were basically from Georgia, and he had hardly seen wine from Ukraine.

Seeing that Sidolin seemed to look down on Ukrainian wines, Pornegerin said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't underestimate Ukrainian wines. You know, the delicious wines on the Tsar's table come from Ukraine."

   "Even if there are seven bottles of wine, your drinking capacity is astonishing." Sokov said with emotion: "Drinking wine all night, I don't think you are drunk at all."

   "By the way, Comrade Deputy Commander." Sidolin asked curiously, "Who wins the drink between you and General Potapov?"

"Needless to say, of course it's me." Pornegerin said triumphantly, "We're at about the same level in war. But when it comes to drinking, he's no match for me. We drank the first bottle." He was fine with the vodka. But after we drank three bottles of wine in a row, he got a little drunk. After throwing up once, he lay there and slept for another two hours. After waking up, he continued to drink with me. "

   "Comrade Deputy Commander, how is General Potapov's current status?" Sokov thought that there are still combat missions today. If the artillery director is drunk, who will command the artillery operations? So he asked nervously: "Can you continue to command operations?"

"Comrade Commander, you can rest assured about this." Ponegerin said: "Although he is drunk, he will be sober after a night of sleep. I just watched him sober before returning to Commander. Ministry."

"Comrade Deputy Commander," Sokov knew that it was reasonable for old comrades to gather and drink, but now that he was fighting, he didn't want anyone to get in trouble because of drunkenness, so he euphemistically reminded Ponegerin: "Attack East Prussia Not long after the battle started, we have a heavy responsibility on our shoulders, so don't get drunk and make mistakes."

"I understand." Ponegerin nodded and explained to Sokov: "We are old comrades-in-arms gathering and drinking openly. We still know how much we drink, and we won't delay our business because of getting drunk. "

   Just when Sokov was about to let Sidolin go back to rest, the phone on the desk rang, and Sidolin picked up the receiver: "I am Sidolin, who are you?"

After answering the call, Sidolin reported to Sokov: "The call came from the headquarters of the Front Army. They said that in the air battle this morning, two fighter planes of our army were shot down by the German army in the defense area of ​​our army. One is a pilot of our army, while the other pilot has failed the French 'Normandy Regiment'. Now the air force command has lost contact with them, so I hope we send people to help them find the missing pilot."

Knowing that two pilots were missing in his defense zone, Sokov naturally would not stand idly by. He called Koshkin and told the other party: "Captain Koshkin, we have been notified by our superiors that there are two pilots. The plane he was driving was shot down by the Germans over the defense zone of our group army. Now the Air Force Command has lost contact with the two pilots. I order you to take two companies and search for the area where the pilots parachuted. See the corpse, understand?"

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." Koshkin replied loudly: "I will immediately search the area where the pilots parachuted, and we must find all these pilots."

Just as Koshkin turned to leave, Sokov stopped him and said to him: "One of the pilots is French, from the 'Normandy Regiment'. I don't know if the other party understands Russian, anyway, you have to tell the soldiers Be careful when searching, and don't accidentally hurt your own people."

"Comrade Commander, if the pilots really lose contact with the Air Force Command, it proves that they are in danger. It is far from enough to rely on the two companies led by Captain Koshkin." Sidolin said next to him: " I suggest notifying the local forces to also deploy manpower to assist Captain Koshkin in the search mission."

"I think it's okay." Sokov also felt that it was not enough to use only two companies to search for the missing pilots, so he agreed to Sidolin's proposal: "There are three infantry brigades stationed nearby, let them transfer Manpower, to assist Koshkin's troops to participate in search and rescue operations."

When Sidolin called the three infantry brigade commanders and arranged for them to dispatch manpower to search and rescue the missing pilots in the defense zone, Pornejerin said with a smile: "We just mentioned French wine, but the next moment, The superiors told us that there was a French pilot missing, and it was a coincidence that we sent people to search and rescue."

"Yeah, yeah, it's a coincidence." Sokov thought it was true, so he said something about French wine casually, and a French pilot appeared: "I don't know yet, Among the pilots who provide us with air cover in the sky every day, there is actually a French "Normandy Regiment"."

  Shortly after the search and rescue work began, the German army launched an offensive towards the south of the town of Puutusk. Fighting took place on the defensive positions of the 120th Guards Division and the 3rd Infantry Division. Fortunately, after capturing these places yesterday, Sokov's order to the two divisions was to seize the time to build fortifications and switch to defense on the spot. It is precisely because of the defensive preparations made in advance that in the face of the crazy German attack, the Soviet commanders fought in an orderly manner, relying on fortifications to repel the crazy German attack.

Rokossovsky called Sokov. He didn't ask how fierce the fighting was in the south of Pultusk town, but asked the two missing pilots directly: "Misha, did you send Has anyone gone out to search and rescue the two pilots?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal, I have sent people to start searching in that area." Sokov quickly replied, "I believe we will be able to find the two missing pilots in a short time." Having said that, But Sokov knew very well that he didn't even know where the pilot parachuted, so he rashly dispatched a large number of troops to search, not only wasting people and money, but also extremely inefficient.

After finishing the conversation with Rokossovsky, Sokov walked to the radio, put on the headset, and said into the microphone: "Koshkin, I am Sokov. How is the situation there? Find out Are the two pilots there?"

"Not yet, Comrade Commander." Koshkin replied: "So far, we only know that the two pilots disappeared over the forest. It will take a lot of time to search such a large forest. .”

"No matter how long it takes, it is completely necessary." Sokov said loudly: "The troops involved in the search and rescue operation now have three battalions and two companies. No matter how large the forest area is, with so many people, To find the two missing persons, I think that should be enough."

   "It may take longer..."

"Captain Koshkin," Sokov interrupted Koshkin's words, and said sharply: "The troops you are leading now are enough to search the entire forest. No matter how long it takes you, you must find this Two missing pilots, understand?"

   Koshkin rarely heard Sokov speak to himself in such a stern tone, and quickly replied: "Understood, Comrade Commander, I will overcome all difficulties and find these two missing pilots."

   Knowing that the battle had started, Sidolin, who was resting, couldn't sleep anymore. He returned to the headquarters to assist Sokov in commanding the troops.

   As soon as he entered the door, he heard what Sokov said to Koshkin. After Sokov put down the headset and microphone, he said cautiously: "Comrade commander, although we dispatched a lot of troops, the forest is not completely controlled by our army. If the two pilots landed The place is within the scope of our control, so there is no big problem. But if you are unlucky and fall into the side controlled by the enemy, I am afraid it will be a disaster."

"You're right." Sokov agreed with Sidolin's statement. He was worried that the pilot landed right in the middle of the two armies. In case the pilot was caught before his troops arrived I couldn't complete the task that Rokossovsky assigned to me: "We have to take into account all possible situations."

   "I think we have immediately formed a special team." Pornejelin reminded Sokov: "If our pilots unfortunately fall into the hands of the Germans, we must find a way to rescue them."

"Immediately draw personnel from the troops directly under the group army to form a special team." Sukov followed suit and immediately ordered Sidolin: "Get them ready to go, once it is confirmed that the pilot has fallen into the hands of the Germans, immediately Go and rescue them."

   "Okay, Comrade Commander." Sidolin nodded and said, "I will arrange this immediately."

   While Sidolin was busy, Sokov asked Ponejielin: "What is the situation in the south of Pultusk now? Has the German attack been repelled?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander, the enemy's offensive has been repulsed." Ponedelin reported to Sokov: "According to the reports of the two division commanders Kirillov and Nikitin, the German offensive is not It was too violent. As soon as they encountered resistance from our army, they chose to retreat."

   "The behavior of the Germans is a bit abnormal." Sokov said: "Let Kirillov and Nikitin be more vigilant, and be careful that this is a trap set by the Germans for us."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Pornegelin nodded and said, "They are all veteran commanders with more than 20 years of military experience and have rich command experience. They must have known about the abnormal behavior of the German army long ago." notice."

   After humming, Sokov stared at the map in front of him again, and began to think in his mind, where are the two missing pilots now, and can the troops led by Koshkin find them smoothly?

   "Comrade Commander, I have an ominous premonition." Ponegerin said suddenly, "Do you think the two pilots who lost contact with their superiors have already died?"

"Ah, sacrificed?" Sokov couldn't help being stunned after hearing this. He felt that Ponegerin's statement was not groundless. If the pilot's plane was just shot down, they would definitely rush to the nearby friendly military base as soon as possible, but now No sound at all, maybe something really happened.