Chapter 2531: Righteous among the Nations

Chapter 2531 Righteous among the Nations

Sokov's words made Colonel Balanin's eyes light up. "This is a good idea," Balanin said. "Although there are thousands of captured German officers, based on their approximate age, we can narrow them down." "Mr. Spielman," he said to Spielman, "remember the approximate age of the German captain. This will be very helpful for us to find him as soon as possible."

Spielman thought for a moment and said hesitantly: "He is probably between 30 and 40 years old."

"A German captain between 30 and 40 years old." Baranin repeated what Spielman said, and then said with a smile: "Mr. Spielman, since you remember his approximate age, then what we are looking for The scope has been greatly reduced, and I believe we will be able to find this German captain within a week or two..."

"Colonel Balanin!" Sokov heard that Balanin said it would take a week or two to find the German captain who had helped Spielman. He immediately interrupted and said: "I will not stay in Warsaw for a long time." Commander, I may leave here tomorrow. I hope you can find this captain before I leave and leave it to me." Sokov knew very well that the Soviet army might have been faster during the war, but not now. After a war, work becomes procrastinated again. If you don't supervise yourself, it is entirely possible to spend half a year or even a year looking for it. If Balanin were transferred midway, the search for the German captain would probably end in vain.

“Ah, before you leave Warsaw, find this German captain?”

"Yes." After Sokov gave Baranin a positive answer, he asked with a straight face: "Can it be done?"

The muscles on Balanin's face twitched violently a few times, and then he said with a grimace: "Comrade General, we will do our best."

"Then what are you doing? Why don't you work quickly?" Sokov reminded the other party: "If you can't handle it alone, I can ask you to help you."

Sokov's words reminded Balanin, and he quickly called several officers and ordered them: "You should immediately copy down the names of captains and officers aged 30 to 40 years old in the prisoner of war roster."

Although several officers did not know what was going on, since it was an order given by Colonel Baranin, they naturally had to obey it unconditionally. So they took the roster of German prisoner-of-war officers and sat down at the conference table next to them. Start transcribing.

While the officers were transcribing the list, Baranin came over to chat with Sokov, trying to find out the general's resume.

Sokov guessed the other party's intention and said openly: "I have served as the commander of the 27th, 48th and 53rd Army. In August 1944, when I was still serving as the commander of the 48th Army, We once commanded the troops to launch an attack on the city of Warsaw. Although an uprising broke out in the city at that time, due to some problems with the cooperation with the insurgents, our river-crossing troops did not receive timely response. As a result, under the German counterattack, we only Neng retreated to the east coast again."

Although Sokov's words were very euphemistic, as a member of the Warsaw Garrison Command, Balanin naturally understood what was going on. When he learned that Sokov was once the commander of the 48th Army, he couldn't help but said with some regret: "Comrade General, if your troops had not been transferred to the East Prussia area, your troops might have been among the troops that liberated Warsaw. Based on your record, you might be the first unit to rush into the city."

Sokov was not at all interested in whether his troops were the first to rush into Warsaw. What regretted him most was that he was not able to participate in the Battle of Berlin. According to his assumption, if he knew where Mustache was really hiding, he would not foolishly concentrate elite troops to attack the Capitol Building, which had only political significance but no military value. The most correct thing to do is to bombard the Capitol with artillery fire, and the infantry will just rush directly to where Mustache is hiding, maybe capturing him alive before he takes poison and a bullet to commit suicide.

 But there are no what-ifs in history. He never dreamed that he, a time-traveler with the aura of a protagonist, was not even qualified to participate in the Battle of Berlin at the last moment of the war, and missed the opportunity to go down in history.

 Several officers worked very efficiently. In less than half an hour, they compiled a list of German prisoner-of-war officers who met the requirements.

Balanin took it over, turned it over, and then said to Sokov: "Comrade General, there are 48 German captains who meet the standards, including 6 in the North Prague District, 5 in the South Prague District, and 8 in the Mokotov District. , 11 people from Ojota District…”

"Stop! Stop!" Sokov's head hurt when he heard the series of place names that Balanin read out. He quickly stopped the other person from continuing to read, and asked directly: "Which district is closest to here?"

 “Ojota District.”

"Since Ojota District is the closest, we will go there to check first." Sokov said: "I remember you said that there are 11 officers who meet the criteria we are looking for."

"Yes, Comrade General." Balanin said with a smile: "Your memory is really good. Indeed, 11 officers meet the standards we are looking for."

When they were going to the prisoner of war camp, Balanin, who was leading them, would definitely not act alone. He was worried that if there were escaped German prisoners of war in the city, they would see him alone and launch a sneak attack on him, so he specially brought one with him when he went out. Guard Platoon.

In this way, a convoy consisting of a jeep and three trucks left the garrison headquarters and headed towards the prisoner of war camp in Ojota District.

 Not long after, the convoy arrived in front of a prisoner of war camp.

The sentry on duty at the door, after seeing clearly Balanin sitting in the passenger seat of the jeep, hurriedly opened the door of the prisoner-of-war camp and allowed the convoy to enter the prisoner-of-war camp.

The convoy stopped in an open space in the prisoner of war camp. The person in charge of the prisoner of war camp, knowing that Colonel Baranin had arrived, quickly ran out of the wooden house to greet him.

Balanin shook hands with him and introduced Sokov to him: "Comrade Captain, this is General Sokov. He came here to find a German captain."

“A German captain?” the person in charge asked in surprise, “I wonder what his name is?”

"I don't know." Before Sokov could answer, Balanin said first: "So far, we know that the person we are looking for is a captain, aged between 30 and 40 years old. Well, this It's a list compiled by my subordinates, just find the German officers on it."

The person in charge took the roster from Baranin, looked at it, then nodded and said, "Okay, Comrade Colonel, I will immediately arrange for people to find all these German officers."

Ten minutes later, a group of ragged German officers, driven by the bayonets of several soldiers, came to Sokov and others.

 The person in charge counted the number of people, and then reported to Baranin: "Comrade Colonel, there are 11 German officers you are looking for, and there are 9 here. Of those who are absent, one is dead and one is seriously ill in bed."

“Comrade General,” Balanin said to Sokov with a smile, “Look among these people. Is there anyone you are looking for?”

Sokov didn't even recognize what Spielman was talking about as a German captain, so he turned to Spielman and said, "Mr. Spielman, please go and see if there is an officer who helped me?" ” ˆ ˆ The German officer standing opposite could not understand Russian and had no idea what Sokov was talking about. When they saw the man with a hooked nose next to Sokov walking towards them, their bodies could not help but tremble slightly.

Seeing this, Agelina asked in surprise: "Misha, what's going on with these Germans? Why are they all trembling?"

Sokov glanced at Spielman and lowered his voice and said to Agelina: "Agelina, you have also been in Warsaw. Don't you know that a hooked nose is a characteristic of Jews? Spielman took a look. , they knew it was a Jew. These officers probably thought that Spielman was planning to retaliate against them, so it’s strange that they weren’t afraid.”

After figuring out what was going on, Agelina took two steps forward and said to the officers: "Gentlemen, officers, please stay calm. We are here today to find a German captain. He is here During the German occupation of Warsaw, he selflessly helped the Polish pianist Szpilman before you.”

Hearing what Agelina said, the emotions of the officers became much more stable. Since the Jew standing in front of him was looking for the German officer who had helped him, it meant that he wanted to repay the other party's kindness, and he might do it again. Rescue the other party and leave the prisoner of war camp. Thinking of this, the officers all puffed up their chests and raised their chins high, hoping to be selected by Spielman and leave this **** prisoner of war camp as soon as possible.

After Spielman walked back and forth in front of the nine officers twice, he turned around and shook his head at Sokov, with regret written on his face, indicating that there was no one he was looking for here.

Sokov thought about what Balanin had just told him, saying that one of the two absent German officers was dead and the other was seriously ill in bed. Taking a chance, he asked Balanin: "Comrade Colonel, could the people we are looking for be the two absent officers?"

“Captain,” Baranin called the director of the prisoner of war camp and asked, “Do you have information on the two German officers?”

 “Yes, Comrade Colonel.”

 “Then get it quickly!”

After the person in charge left, Balanin explained to Sokov: "Because we have too much information, the roster of prisoners of war is relatively simple. But the information in the prisoner of war camp is much more complete, not only the list you just read There are even photos of prisoners of war.”

Soon, the person in charge came over with two pieces of information: "Comrade Colonel, what you want is here."

Balanin took the information, flipped it through, and handed it to Sokov: "Comrade General, these are the two absent officers. See if the person you are looking for is among them."

Sokov took the information and found that it contained detailed information about the officers, including photos taken when they entered the prisoner of war camp.

"Mr. Spielman," Sokov handed the information to Spielman: "Take a look and see if there is the person you are looking for."

Spielman took the information, looked at the photos above carefully, then shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Comrade General, no."

 Hearing Spielman say no, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. However, he was not discouraged. After handing the information back to Balanin, he raised his hand and patted Spielman on the shoulder: "Mr. Spielman, don't be discouraged. This prisoner of war camp does not have it. We will go to other prisoner of war camps to continue." Look for."

"Comrade Captain, I'm causing trouble for you." After Sokov said this to the person in charge of the prisoner of war camp, he turned to Balanin and said: "Comrade Colonel, let's go to the next prisoner of war camp. Maybe there will be someone there. reward!"

Sokov and others returned to the jeep and were bidding farewell to the prisoner-of-war camp leader when the door of the prisoner-of-war camp suddenly opened and a group of prisoners of war, escorted by Soviet soldiers, walked in from the outside. When everyone heard the commotion, they all turned their gazes over. When they saw clearly that it was a group of prisoners of war returning to the camp, they looked away again.

No one noticed that among the prisoners there was a prisoner wearing a shabby corporal coat, but he turned back as he walked. His eyes rested on Spielman who was standing next to the car, with shock written all over his face. Because he kept looking back, his pace was naturally slower than that of other prisoners of war. Seeing this, a Soviet soldier responsible for escorting him pushed him hard and cursed angrily: "Walk faster!"

Unexpectedly, the prisoner of war actually rushed out of the crowd and rushed directly towards the jeep.

The soldiers standing around Sokov thought that the prisoner of war was going to be detrimental to Sokov, so they all raised their guns, blocked the prisoner's way, and got ready to shoot.

The prisoner of war was holding his arms by two soldiers and dragging him away when he suddenly shouted loudly. Although Sokov couldn't understand what he was shouting, he could tell that he was shouting not in German, but in Polish.

Spielman, who was standing behind Sokov in a daze, could not help but tremble when he heard this voice, and then looked at the prisoner of war who was dragged away by the soldiers with disbelief. After being stunned for a moment, he shouted and stumbled towards the prisoner of war. After he pushed away the two soldiers holding the prisoners of war, he looked at each other and then hugged each other.

Seeing this, Sokov guessed that this prisoner of war might be the German captain Spielman was looking for. He quickly raised his hand to stop the soldier who was about to separate the prisoner of war from Spielman, and then asked: "Mr. Spielman, this is The German captain who helped you?"

"Yes, Mr. General, it's him, that's him," Spielman replied with tears in his eyes.

“Colonel Balanin,” Sokov asked Balanin with a straight face, “Why doesn’t this officer’s name appear on the roster?”

Baranin was stunned. He turned his head and looked at his subordinates with reproachful eyes, as if he wanted the other party to give him a reasonable explanation.

The person in charge of the prisoner of war camp replied in a panic: "Comrade Colonel, what you are looking for is a German captain, and when this prisoner of war was captured by us, he was wearing the corporal's military coat. He said he was a German captain, but But we couldn’t produce a valid ID, so we registered according to the rank of corporal.”

Sokov came to the prisoner of war, looked at him and asked: "What's your name and what's your rank?" After saying that, he winked at Agelina and asked her to translate his words.

"My name is William Hosenfeld." The prisoner of war stood at attention and straightened his body and replied: "The military rank is captain of the Wehrmacht!"

 William Hosenfeld? ! When he heard this name, Sokov couldn't help but be stunned. He knew that many Germans had won the title of "Righteous Among the Nations" after the war, including the famous Schindler, and this captain was one of them.