red moscow

Chapter 2573

"Misha," Ajelina glanced at Backhouse who was still standing in front of Sokov, and said hesitantly, "If I go to inquire about Officer Bayer, how will you communicate with this officer?"

"It's okay," Sokov said with a relaxed expression, "Among the soldiers who came out with us today, there is one who knows German. He can temporarily act as a translator."

After hearing what Sokov said, Ajelina nodded boldly and walked towards the sheriff in the distance.

Buckhouse was somewhat surprised to see Ajelina leave. He asked Sokov in astonishment, "General, what is that girl doing over there?"

"We came here today with Officer Bayer and his son to look for someone." Sokov explained to Backhouse, "I just saw the sheriff who brought them to see the chief come out, but she didn't see any trace of Bayer and his son, so I asked her to go over and ask."

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Buckhouse showed an embarrassed expression on his face: "General, I think it may not be easy for you to find clues from us."

Sokov was startled, and then asked, "Why?"

"As you know, this is a US military controlled area." Buckhouse and Sokov had dealt with each other twice before, so they were barely acquaintances. He was not so cautious when speaking. He said awkwardly, "The residents here are not very friendly to the Russian army, including the police. If you ask them to help find someone, I'm afraid no one will really help you."

Sokov had been prepared for what Backhaus said. After figuring out what was going on, he calmed down and said lightly, "Mr. Officer, you are right. I also found that the residents of Nuremberg are not very friendly to us. However, the people we are looking for this time are not ours, but the wife and children of a German captain. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, I brought a policeman from Berlin to assist us in our work. If he goes out to look for them, the resistance we encounter should be much smaller."

When he learned that the person Sokov and his team were looking for was actually a family member of a German officer, Backhouse's expression became relaxed: "General, if the person you are looking for is a family member of an officer, then there won't be much of a problem."

Ajelina walked up to the sheriff and asked politely, "Mr. Sheriff, where are the father and son who came with us now?"

"They are in the chief's office." The sheriff explained to Ajelina, "At first, the chief heard that they came here with a Russian general to look for two people, so he was reluctant. But when he heard that the people they were looking for were the officers' families, he immediately called the police officer in charge of household registration and asked him to report to the office. When I came out, the police officer in charge of household registration had already arrived, and he might be helping your people find household registration information at this moment."

Ajelina asked a few more questions, thanked the sheriff, and then returned to Sokov and told him in detail what she had learned.

Sokov was thinking, although Nuremberg is a big city, their chief is at most a colonel, and this is a branch, the chief is at most a lieutenant colonel. If it was a Soviet-controlled area, the chief would definitely come out to greet a general in his police station, but this is a US-controlled area, let alone himself, even if Sokolovsky or even Zhukov came, the other side might not buy it, and would still let them sit on the bench.

After Backhouse and Sokov chatted for a few more words, they left.

As soon as he left, Vaseligov asked anxiously: "Comrade General, what should we do? Should we just wait here?"

Sokov smiled faintly and said casually: "Comrade Major, I just said that it's too cold outside. You don't want to go outside to blow the northwest wind, do you?"

Vaserigov's original intention was to ask Sokov whether he should send someone to the director's office to see how long it would take for the Bayers to come out. Hearing Sokov's words, he immediately realized that he had lost his composure. Sokov didn't say anything, so how could he, the security guard responsible for protecting his safety, have the right to speak? He shut up obediently.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, the Baier father and son finally came out, and with them came a young policeman who still looked childish.

Bayer came to Sokov and said apologetically, "Comrade General, I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting for so long."

Since Sokov had accompanied Bayer here to get information, he naturally had no complaints. He asked straight to the point, "How is it going? Do you have any clues?"

Bayer nodded and replied, "We just checked the relevant household registration information and found that among the families living on Munich Street, there may be the person we are looking for."

After hearing what Bayer said, Sokov immediately stood up and said, "If that's the case, let's go over there quickly."

"Comrade General," Bayer said hesitantly, "It's at least seven or eight kilometers from here to Munich Street. If you walk, it will take at least two hours."

"Is there a car?" Sokov asked.

"Yes," the young policeman said cautiously, "there is a patrol car. We can go there in that car."

Led by the young policeman, they came to the parking lot behind the police station. Sokov saw an extended convertible police car that he saw on the streets of Berlin, so he pointed at the car and asked, "Is this the car?"

"Of course, Comrade General." Bayer said carefully, "It's winter now, and it's a bit cold to ride in this car. I hope you don't mind."

"It's okay." Sokov waved to the people behind him and said, "Don't just stand there, get in the car."

The policeman drove the group to a street with relatively well-built buildings, parked the car next to a building, turned around and said to Bayer, "We're here!"

Sokov said to Bayer, "Officer Bayer, you and your son follow this policeman upstairs to find the person, and we will stay in the car and wait for you." Sokov knew that if so many people went upstairs at the same time, it would definitely cause quite a noise, and the residents might think that they were here to arrest someone.

When Bayer heard what Sokov said, he immediately understood that the other party did not want to scare the residents here, so he nodded, took his son, and followed the young policeman out of the car and into the building.

After Bayer and the others left, Sokov immediately opened the car door and got out, intending to stretch his hands and feet. Although he had not been on the road for a long time, sitting in a convertible in the winter still made his hands and feet cold.

Seeing Sokov getting off the car, Adelina and Vaserigov also got off the car and followed Sokov's example, moving their hands and feet next to the police car. While they were moving their hands and feet, several children ran out from the door of the unit next to them. They came near the police car, looked at these soldiers in Soviet uniforms, and began to whisper. After a while, the children walked to the side, but they still kept talking.

Seeing the children talking and looking at him, Sokov couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about, so he whispered to Ajelina, "Ajelina, go over and listen to what the children are saying."

Ajelina said "hmm", took a few steps towards where the children were, and listened attentively to what they were saying.

A few minutes later, Ajelina returned to Sokov with a strange expression.

Seeing this, Sokov couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Ajelina, what are the children talking about? Are they saying bad things about us?"

"They didn't say anything bad." Ajelina shook her head and said, "They were discussing a problem."

"what is the problem?"

"They were discussing," Ajelina said, "If there were 100,000 Cossack cavalrymen from the Napoleonic era against a current German armored regiment, who would be able to win in the end."

"Needless to say." Upon hearing this, Vaserigov said without hesitation: "How many people are there in a German armored regiment? The 100,000 Cossack cavalrymen in the Tsarist era would have trampled them to death even if they were trampled with their feet."

But Sokov shook his head and denied Vaserigov's statement: "That's not necessarily the case. I think the final result may be just the opposite."

Seeing Vaserigov's incredulous look, Sokov continued, "A German armored regiment has two tank battalions, each of which has a company directly under the battalion headquarters, four tank companies and a maintenance company. The total number of tanks and armored vehicles is more than 200. With such equipment, it is simply a one-sided cavalry against the Cossack cavalry using sabers and muskets."

"No way, Comrade General." After hearing what Sokov said, Vasherigov still said with hope: "Even if the weapons are backward, there are 100,000 Cossack cavalrymen after all, which means they have an absolute advantage in numbers."

"Comrade Major, on the battlefield, we cannot simply look at the comparison of the number of people on both sides." Sokov thought that the question discussed by the children was as stupid as those later generations who said that 200 Guan Gongs could kill ten Tiger tanks. He explained to Vasherigov: "The cavalry charge in the Napoleonic era was very dense. As long as the German tanks opened fire, they could cause huge casualties to the attacking party. I think after a few rounds of artillery fire, the attacking cavalry would have been defeated. The cavalry without organization has no combat effectiveness at all. Facing modern armored forces, they can only become lambs to be slaughtered."

After hearing Sokov's analysis, Vaserigov fell silent. Although he had the shoulder straps of a major, he had never been to the battlefield. He had only known about war through newspapers, magazines, or film and television works. Therefore, when he heard that 100,000 Cossack cavalrymen were facing a German armored regiment, he instinctively believed that the Cossack cavalrymen with superior numbers could win the final victory. But after listening to Sokov's story, he realized that he had thought the problem too simply.

The topic could not be continued and everyone fell silent.

Fortunately, at this time, the Bayer father and son and the young policeman came out of the building, and Sokov hurriedly pulled Ajelina to greet them.

"Officer Baier, what's the situation? Have you found the person?"

"Comrade General," Bayer shook his head and said, "We asked the residents of the building. In April of this year, there were indeed some people from Berlin living here. But after Nuremberg was severely bombed by the Allies, many people were evacuated to the countryside. Maybe Captain Hosenfel's wife and children were among those evacuated."

What Sokov was most worried about finally happened. He asked Bayer with a straight face and expressionless face: "Officer Bayer, what should we do? Should we go to the countryside to look for them?"

"That's impossible, Comrade General." But Bayer shook his head and said, "Due to the critical situation at the time, there was no time to compile an evacuation list. Therefore, even if the captain's wife and children were among the evacuees, we have no way of knowing where they went."

"That's a pity." After listening to Bayer's words, Sokov realized that finding Captain Hosenfeld's wife and children would be more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack. He could only smile bitterly and said, "It seems that we are destined to disappoint Captain Hosenfeld."

"Yes, Comrade General, but there is nothing we can do about it." Bayer said, "I will explain this matter in detail to Captain Hosenfeld when we return to Berlin."

The young policeman waited until Bayer finished speaking and then asked something in a low voice.

After hearing this, Bayer said to Sokov, "Comrade General, this young policeman asked us if we still want to use this car. If not, he will drive back to the police station."

Although it was still quite a long way from here to the hotel, Sokov didn't want to take this car again. It was freezing cold, and there was no shelter in the car. If there was a gust of cold wind, he might catch a cold when he returned to the hotel. So he said to Bayer, "Officer Bayer, please let him leave first, and we can walk back to the hotel. By the way, we still have to thank him for driving us here."

After Bayer thanked the policeman, the policeman raised his hand, saluted Sokov, and drove away.

"Comrade General," Vaseligov asked, "are we going back like this?"

"Yes, Major." Sokov nodded and said, "We don't have anything to do anyway, so let's just take a walk."

As the group was walking back, Ajelina asked Sokov with some concern: "Misha, we came to Nuremberg this time and failed to help Captain Hosenfeld find his wife and children. Will he be particularly disappointed when he knows this news?"

Sokov thought that even if he hadn't appeared, Hosenfeld would not have had the chance to see his wife and children after being captured, and finally died miserably in the Soviet prisoner-of-war camp, and even his body could not be found. He sighed softly and said, "There's nothing we can do. This is the sequelae of war. It's not just him. There are tens of thousands of people who lost their loved ones in this damn war. It's a kind of luck to be able to survive."

"Well, what you said makes sense." Ajelina nodded slowly: "Although we didn't find the captain's wife and children this time, we didn't hear any news of their death, which means they may still be alive. As long as they are still alive, I think they will be reunited with their family sooner or later."

"Yes, yes, as long as we are still alive, there must be hope." Sokov thought to himself. Hossenfeld survived because of him. As long as his wife and children were still alive, maybe one day in the future they would return to their home in Berlin, and that would be the day they would be reunited.