Chapter 2259:

  Rednikova asked curiously: "Comrade General, I would like to ask you a question."

   "Excuse me, Comrade Second Lieutenant."

   "Those Germans who pretended to be dead, after being shelled by our army, why didn't they take the opportunity to charge, but ran towards their positions?"

  Hearing Rednikova's question, Sokov smiled slightly, then turned around and said to everyone: "You are all people who have been on the battlefield. Who will tell Second Lieutenant Rednikova what is going on?"

  Although everyone present understood what was going on, they still gave Koshkin the opportunity to explain. After all, he was from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and he would not have any scruples when he spoke: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, let me explain to you. After the enemy pretending to be dead is discovered by us, if they charge towards our position, because they are not covered by firepower, their action is tantamount to death. Our soldiers can destroy them all with a single volley. On the contrary, after they are exposed, they turn around and head towards us Although there were still casualties, some people managed to escape back alive.”

   "Comrade Second Lieutenant," Sokov looked at Rednikova and asked, "I think this is your first time on the battlefield?"

   "Yes, Comrade General." Rednikova replied truthfully: "I also performed this mission, so I had the opportunity to come to the front. How did you know?"

   "The reason is very simple." Sokov said: "It is basic common sense to pretend that the dead body has been spotted, which direction to run in, and you don't even know this, so I think you should have never been to the front line."

  Rednikova nodded, and said embarrassedly: "Comrade General, I used to work in logistics, and I don't know much about things on the battlefield. This time I came to the front line, and I really gained a lot of knowledge."

  Sokov heard Rednikova say this, and he couldn't help muttering to himself: "No, if I didn't happen to pass by, all of you would have lost your life."

   Lunev felt that he had seen everything he needed to see, and there was no point in staying here any longer, so he asked Sokov, "Misha, where shall we go next?"

   "Let's go to the 120th Guards Division and meet General Nikitin." Sokov said, "I want to know what his next plans are."

  However, before leaving the infantry brigade's defense zone, Sokov specifically told Sukharev: "Major, your brigade is responsible for protecting the right wing of the army group. Don't let your guard down, lest you be caught off guard by the Germans."

   "Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Sukharev saw the enemies disguised in the corpses with his own eyes, and after Sukov saw through them at a glance, his heart was full of guilt. If there was no timely arrival of Sokov, these German soldiers would touch their own positions, which might endanger the safety of the defense line. Therefore, he stated to Sokov: "We will increase our vigilance to prevent similar incidents from happening again."

  When Sokov drove to the defense line of the 120th Guards Division, he thought of the enemies who pretended to be his subordinates and sneaked into the West Bank, so he asked Koshkin, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, "Koshkin, what's the latest news?"

   At first, Koshkin was also confused, not knowing what Sokov wanted to ask himself. After hearing Sokov talk about the five Germans disguised as Soviet soldiers, he quickly replied: "No, Comrade Commander. I haven't received any reports so far."

   "Misha, don't worry." Seeing Sokov's worried expression, Lunev comforted him and said, "Just five Germans, even if they wreak havoc within our defense zone, they probably won't cause much harm, so don't worry about it."

   "Well, Comrade Military Commissioner, you are right." Sokov agreed with Lunev's statement: "No matter what purpose the enemy came with, there are only five of them, and there is no big wave at all."

   When he came to the headquarters of the 120th Guards Division and saw Nikitin, Sokov stepped forward to hold his hand and said with a smile: "General Nikitin, your division did not fight much, and the results achieved far exceeded my expectations. In recognition of your achievements, I will ask my superiors to award your division the Order of the Red Banner."

  When Sokov said that his superiors were going to award the 120th Guards Division the Order of the Red Banner, Nikitin immediately became excited. If he really got the search, then when calling the unit's designation, he would say "a certain division that has received the Order of the Red Banner". He grinned and said, "Comrade Commander, it would be even better if Berlin could be added to our division's designation."

  According to the tradition of the Soviet Army, it is the highest honor to include the place name in the unit's designation. No division commander wants his unit to receive such an honor, even Nikitin is no exception.

   "I'm sorry, General Nikitin." Hearing Nikitin's request, Sokov smiled bitterly and said, "Don't say you can't get this honorary title. Even our entire Belarusian Second Front Army, no unit can get such a title."

   "Why?" Nikitin asked puzzled.

  Sokov asked with some surprise: "Didn't the chief of staff call you yesterday?"

   After hearing this, Nikitin asked blankly, "I wasn't at the headquarters yesterday. I was in command of the 339th regiment. Is there anything important?"

  "General Nikitin, if you were at the division headquarters at that time, you should have heard the important announcement from Chief of Staff Sidolin." Sokov said with a serious expression: "Marshal Zhukov's Belarusian First Front Army and Marshal Konev's Ukrainian First Front Army troops have already reached the outskirts of Berlin. If nothing else, their vanguard troops have rushed into Berlin at this moment."

  Hearing what Sokov said, Nikitin showed a shocked expression on his face: "What, all friendly troops have entered Berlin? What about us? Do we still have a chance to enter Berlin?"

  Sokov was unwilling to give the other side illusory hopes, so he said truthfully: "No, Comrade General, I can tell you responsibly that we have no chance to enter Berlin. It cannot be said that there is no chance at all. When our army liberates Berlin and holds a grand military parade in the city, one or two troops from our army may be drawn to participate, and qualified troops will be able to enter Berlin smoothly."

  After hearing this, Nikitin's face turned ashen. He commanded the troops to push forward with difficulty, just to reach Berlin earlier. After all, his frontier was only less than 50 kilometers away from Berlin. If it goes well, it will take at most two days to reach the outskirts of Berlin. Unexpectedly, Sokov told himself that the troops of the friendly army had already reached the outskirts of Berlin, and even entered the city of Berlin at this moment, so how could he not be discouraged.

   "General Nikitin," Sokov sighed softly, and continued: "The task of our army group is to continue to advance westward, rush to the Elbe River northwest of Berlin, and join forces with the oncoming Allied forces."

  "Joining forces with the Allied forces?" But Nikitin didn't show much interest after hearing this: "When we launched an attack on Berlin, the Allied forces were only 60 kilometers away from Berlin, while our army was hundreds of kilometers away. Now our friendly forces have reached the outskirts of Berlin, and even entered the city of Berlin, while the Allied forces are still standing still. Let us fight with the Germans, but they are watching the fun. When we wipe out the Germans, they will come to pick up ready-made. Fine."

   "The Allied forces have carefully calculated that if they want to attack Berlin, the number of casualties will not be less than 100,000." Sokov said to Nikitin: "Such casualties are unacceptable to them. In order to reduce their own casualties, they deliberately stayed in the existing area and did not take any military action against the Germans. They just watched us and the Germans desperately."

   "If the casualties of our army are too heavy, what are the benefits to the Allied forces?"

   "Of course there are benefits." Sokov sneered: "If our army suffers heavy casualties, then after the war, we will not be able to send troops to occupy more areas, and this is what the British and American allies want to see. So they gave us the priority of attacking Berlin on the surface. In fact, they want the Germans who defend the city to consume a lot of our vitality and lay the foundation for them to gain a firm foothold in the European continent in the future."

   "But we are allies." Nikitin asked puzzledly: "Why do they calculate us like this?"

   "General Nikitin, as I just said, the Allied forces did this to prevent post-war Europe from being under our control." Sokov said: "And if our army suffered huge casualties in the battle to liberate Berlin, then the number of troops deployed in Europe in the future will be greatly reduced, which is more in their interest."

   After Sokov finished speaking briefly, he asked Nikitin: "Comrade General, can you contact the Army Group Command on your phone?"

   "Of course," Nikitin nodded vigorously, and said in an affirmative tone, "Of course we can get through to the army headquarters."

   Knowing that the phone here can reach the headquarters of the Army Group, Sokov picked up the phone and called Sidolin. After hearing Sidolin's voice, he said bluntly: "Chief of Staff, I think you already know what happened to us on the road. How is it? Do you have any news about those Germans?"

   "Not yet, Comrade Commander." Sidolin replied truthfully: "I haven't received any calls yet, and I guess I haven't found any trace of them yet."

   After listening to Sidolin, Sokov couldn't help frowning, and said, "Strange, how could this happen? Whether they are planning to wreak havoc in our army's defense zone, or planning to sneak back to their defense zone, it is most convenient to take a jeep. How could they suddenly disappear without a trace?"

   "Comrade Commander," Sidolin waited for Sokov to finish, and said cautiously, "Could it be that the Germans felt that the jeep's target was too big, and if they continued to ride, they might be noticed by us, so after they finished crossing the river, they found a hidden place to abandon the jeep and switched to marching on foot?"

   One word awakened the dreamer, and Sokov gave orders to the West Bank troops to search for five soldiers in jeeps, including a major, a captain, two second lieutenants and a driver. But if the Germans really did what Sidolin said, in order to prevent their targets from being exposed, they would find a place to hide their jeeps as soon as they crossed the river, and the soldiers on duty at the checkpoints would definitely not be able to find any suspicious personnel who matched the conditions they proposed.

   "Comrade Chief of Staff, what you said is very reasonable." Sokov slapped the table with his hand, and continued: "Maybe they were worried about exposing their targets, so when they reached the West Bank, they decisively abandoned the jeep and left on foot. I think they may even break up into pieces, in groups of two or three, and leave in different directions at the same time."

   "Then shall we continue to search for them?" Sidolin asked tentatively, "How about I send a special force to search for them where the enemy disappeared?"

   "I don't think it's necessary." Sokov knew very well in his heart that if German agents really went to the West Bank and mixed with tens of thousands of troops, finding their whereabouts would be like finding a needle in a haystack. After thinking about this, he gave up his plan to continue the search: "Since we haven't found any trace of the enemy until now, it would be a waste of manpower and material resources to continue the search. If you continue to inform, the original order will be cancelled, and let the commanders and fighters do what they should do."

   "Okay, Comrade Commander." Sidolin actually had the same thought in his heart. After all, the enemy has infiltrated the area with the largest number of troops. It is almost impossible to find a single person. Seeing that Sokov gave up voluntarily, he said smoothly, "I will pass on your order immediately."

   "Comrade General." When Sokov put down the phone, he followed him in. Rednikova was in a hurry and said loudly to Sokov: "How can we stop the search for German secret agents? You know, we almost died at their hands."

   "Second Lieutenant Rednikova," facing Rednikova's question, Sokov said earnestly: "Think about it, these enemies can hide from the eyes of your Ministry of Internal Affairs, and even confuse you with drugs, and rob you of your weapons and documents, which proves that they are very shrewd people. After they killed the soldiers on duty at the checkpoint, they fled to the West Bank. , They must be broken into pieces at this moment, scattered to the enemies that we can't find. If we continue to search, it will be a waste of time."

   Sokov finished speaking so many words in one breath, seeing Rednikova's face full of grievances, he explained to her: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, our task is to continue the offensive, completely defeat the enemy in front of us, and rush to the Elbe River to join the Allied forces. As for these German agents, even if they want to do something in our defense zone, I am afraid they will not be able to do what they want."

   "But if they stole your battle plan and brought it back to the German headquarters, wouldn't that have a negative impact on your next attack?"

   "Comrade Second Lieutenant." Sokov said confidently: "Even if the German army has obtained our information, but with their current strength, there is no way to stop our progress. In my opinion, don't worry about it."