red moscow

Chapter 2578 Emergency Return

In order to make the United States fall into the trap set for them in advance, Soviet spies lurking in the area began to provide false information to American intelligence personnel, saying that Sokov was a secret weapons expert from Moscow, and that he came to Nuremberg this time, ostensibly to attend the trial of German war criminals, but his real purpose was to find suitable military talents to participate in the research and development of new weapons, and that he also carried an important blueprint.

However, after the Soviet Union sent out the false intelligence, the US side never responded, let alone Patton's initiative to invite Sokolov. This puzzled Sokolovsky, and he had to contact Zhukov in Berlin through a confidential phone call to report the matter and asked carefully: "What should we do next?"

The reaction of the US side was also beyond Zhukov's expectations. According to his assumption, since the US side could send agents disguised as plumbers to seduce the Soviet female translator and steal confidential information from her, then when they learned that Sokov was on a special mission and was carrying important documents, the US side would definitely take active measures to find out the content of the document.

Zhukov thought for a moment and replied, "Perhaps the US is verifying the authenticity of this intelligence. I'm afraid we need to wait a little longer before they take action."

Neither Zhukov nor Sokolovsky expected that the reason why the US intelligence personnel did not take any action after receiving this false intelligence was that the Office of Strategic Services, which played a great role during the war, was disbanded by Truman on September 1945, 9, and the director William Joseph Donovan was benched. The disbandment of the Office of Strategic Services caused the US intelligence work to fall into chaos, and the false intelligence provided by the Soviet side had long been buried in the pile of old papers.

After the disbanding of the OSS, without a central coordination and analysis system, the US intelligence activities fell into chaos and dispersion. Truman often found that the intelligence on his desk was disorganized, and various agencies issued many unanalyzed and contradictory reports, which made things more confusing. He began to realize that disbanding the OSS was a mistake.

It was not until January 1946 that Truman ordered the establishment of the National Security Council, whose members were composed of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Army and the Navy, and the President's military adviser, who were fully responsible for the United States' foreign intelligence activities. Under the committee, there was a Central Intelligence Group as an executive agency to replace the original Strategic Intelligence Office's overseas intelligence activities. This Central Intelligence Group was the predecessor of the future Central Intelligence Agency.

If Sokolovsky had asked the spy to provide false intelligence to the United States after January 1945 instead of November 11, the Americans might have fallen into the trap and arranged a meeting between Sokolov and Patton, and then waited for an opportunity to steal the top-secret intelligence carried by Sokolov. But now, due to the collapse of the US intelligence agencies, all the work done by the Soviet side has become in vain.

Sokov, who stayed in his room writing novels every day, naturally didn't know about these changes. As long as Sokolovsky didn't give him orders, he would bury himself in writing novels or talk about life with Adelina, and lived a happy life.

Time passed quickly and it was mid-December. Although Sokov did not receive Sokolovsky's order, the Bayer father and son, who went to the countryside to look for Captain Hosenfeld's wife and children, finally returned.

Seeing the Bayer father and son who had disappeared for half a month, Sokov asked anxiously: "Officer Bayer, how is the situation? Have you found Captain Hosenfeld's wife and children?"

Bayer nodded vigorously and said excitedly, "Found it, Comrade General. We searched the countryside near Nuremberg for a week without any results, so we went to Nuremberg's two sister cities, Fürth and Erlangen. When I was in Fürth, I asked for information in a coffee shop, and a waitress told me that Leoni went to Erlangen after working here for a while, and seemed to be working as a switchboard operator in a telephone company."

"Is Leonie the name of Captain Hosenfeld's wife?" Sokov asked.

"Yes, Comrade General, her name is Leonie." Bayer continued, "After receiving the news, Zorda and I immediately drove to Erlangen and found the local telephone company to ask the person in charge if there was a woman named Leonie. Unexpectedly, I was lucky. The other party told me that he did have a female operator named Leonie, and she had a pair of children."

"Did you see her in person?"

"Of course I did." Bayer said confidently, "If I hadn't seen her in person, I wouldn't have dared to come back and report to you."

"Officer Baier," Ajelina asked curiously after translating for Sokov, "How did she react when she found out her husband was still alive?"

"When she heard me say that Captain Hosenfeld was still alive, she couldn't believe it," Bayer said. "It wasn't until Zolda told her that she was picked out of the prisoner-of-war camp by Captain Hosenfeld that she believed what we said was true and started to cry loudly."

"Where is she now?" asked Sokov.

"Still in Erlangen," Bayer said. "Now that I have found her whereabouts, I think I should report back to you as soon as possible."

"Officer Bayer, you did the right thing." After saying this, Sokov instructed him, "Now that we have found Leonie, don't let her stay in Erlangen any longer. Arrange for her to return to Berlin as soon as possible and let her reunite with Captain Hosenfel. I think Captain Hosenfel has always been thinking about his wife and children."

"Comrade General," Sokov's words made Bayer seem very hesitant: "Do you mean that we should accompany them back to Berlin first, and not stay and wait for you?"

Sokov shook his head and said, "I don't know how long I will stay in Nuremberg yet, so you must rush to Erlangen as soon as possible and bring Leonie and her child back to Berlin so that she can reunite with Captain Hosenfel as soon as possible."

"Okay, Comrade General." Since Sokov had already issued the order, Bayer naturally could not disobey it. He nodded and said, "I will go to Erlangen tomorrow and take Leoni and the others back to Berlin to meet with Captain Hosenfel."

After seeing Bayer off, Ajelina turned to Sokov and said, "Misha, it's been a long time. Why hasn't General Patton invited you yet? Could it be that something went wrong with the intelligence personnel arranged by the deputy commander?"

Ajelina's words reminded Sokov. Yes, more than half a month had passed, and Barton still hadn't contacted him. If he took the initiative to approach him, he would not be able to achieve his original goal. He stood up and said to Ajelina, "I'm going to meet the deputy commander, you stay here."

A few minutes later, Sokov arrived outside Sokolovsky's room, but was stopped by his adjutant: "General Sokov, the deputy commander is resting. If you have anything to say, please tell me. I will pass it on to the deputy commander after he wakes up."

Considering that the trap set for the US military was confidential, Sokov could not even tell his adjutant without Sokolovsky's permission. So when he heard the adjutant's question, Sokov shook his head slightly and said, "I don't have anything to do. I just want to come and see Comrade Deputy Commander. Since he is resting, I will leave first."

When Sokov returned to his room, Ajelina asked in surprise: "Misha, why did you come back so soon?"

"Comrade Deputy Commander is resting," Sokov replied with a wry smile, "It seems that I didn't choose the right time to go. I can only go at another time."

"Misha, the US has not made any move yet. Has something happened?" "I don't know either." Sokov was also confused about the US's lack of response. According to his idea, Sokolovsky had spread the news in the morning, and maybe the US would respond in the afternoon, and then Patton would come forward and invite him to visit his defense zone. But now half a month has passed, and there has been no movement, which made Sokov confused. He didn't know where the problem with this plan came from.

After dark, Sokov suddenly received a call from Sokolovsky: "Misha, what are you doing?"

"Nothing." Sokov asked in a panic, "Comrade Deputy Commander, what can I do for you?"

"Pack up immediately. We'll leave in an hour."

"Leaving in an hour?" Sokov asked in surprise, "Where are we going?"

"Where else can we go? Of course we should go back to Berlin," Sokolovsky said. "We should leave tonight."

"Leaving tonight? What about the trial of war criminals? Are we just going to leave it alone?"

“Who told you to leave the trial alone?” Sokolovsky said somewhat dissatisfiedly, “There are judges and prosecutors here. Even if I am not here, it will not affect the subsequent trial. Something happened in Berlin and we need to return immediately.”

Hearing Sokolovsky say that they needed to return to Berlin immediately, Sokov turned his head and glanced at Adelina beside him, and asked tentatively: "Comrade Deputy Commander, what about Adelina? Should she stay or return to Berlin with us?"

"Why would she stay? Of course she should go back to Berlin with us," Sokolovsky said. "But you and I will fly back to Berlin, and she and your guard unit will go back by car."

Although Sokolovsky asked Adelina to follow Vasherigov and his men back to Berlin, Sokov was not worried at all. He believed that Vasherigov could ensure Adelina's safety on the road.

After hanging up the phone, he said to Adelina: "Adelina, the deputy commander just called me and said that something happened in Berlin and asked us to rush back overnight. He and I will go back by plane, and you and Vasherigov and others will go back to Berlin by jeep."

When Adelina learned that they were going back to Berlin, she was shocked and wondered what had happened. She even gave up the plan to trap the US military and hurried back to Berlin. However, she did not ask Sokov because she knew that Sokov also did not know what happened in Berlin, so it would be useless to ask. She just asked worriedly: "Misha, is it safe to take a night flight back to Berlin? Otherwise, you should tell the deputy commander and go back to Berlin with us?"

To be honest, after Sokov accepted the secret mission, he was like a normal person, writing books or discussing life with Adelina in his room every day, but he was very worried about whether the top-secret mission involved would threaten his safety. For example, in order to keep it secret, his superiors made a car accident on his way back to Berlin; or he accidentally ran into a minefield and all the personnel died. After all, only the dead can truly keep secrets.

Therefore, when he heard that Sokolovsky asked him to take the same plane with him back to Berlin, he was secretly relieved. As long as he stayed with Sokolovsky, his safety would be guaranteed. As for Adelina and Vaserigov, as long as he was not with them, nothing would happen on their way back to Berlin.

"Adelina," Sokov put a hand on Adelina's shoulder and said to her with a smile, "Don't worry, I am returning to Berlin with Comrade Deputy Commander. I believe that the pilots sent by Marshal Zhukov must be the best, and there will be no problems on the way."

Ajelina opened her arms, hugged Sokov's waist tightly, and said reluctantly: "Misha, after we separate today, we won't be able to see each other for at least two days. I really can't bear to leave you."

Sokov patted Ajelina's back gently and comforted her, "It's only two days. When you return to Berlin, we can be together again."

After releasing Adelina, Sokov picked up the phone on the table and called Vaseligov's room: "Comrade Major, come to my room."

Soon, Vaseligov came in from outside, saluted Sokov and asked, "Comrade General, what do you want?"

"Comrade Major, I have just received an order from the deputy commander to fly with him back to Berlin overnight."

"You are going back to Berlin?" Vaseligov asked in surprise. "What about us?"

"You guys go back to Berlin by car," Sokov said. "If you find it inconvenient to drive at night, you can leave after daybreak." At this point, he glanced at Ajelina and added, "Ajelina will go back with you guys. I'll leave her safety to you."

"Comrade General," As a security guard protecting Sokov, Vaseligov naturally knew the position of Adelina in Sokov's heart, and nodded vigorously: "Don't worry, I will definitely send Comrade Adelina to Berlin safely."

"Very good." Sokov nodded and waved to Vasherigov: "There is nothing for you to do here, you can go out first."

After Vaseligov left, Adelina picked up the manuscripts on the table and asked Sokov tentatively: "Misha, what should we do with these manuscripts? Do you want to take them back with you, or should I help you take them back to Berlin?"

Sokov thought about it and felt that he would definitely go directly to see Zhukov when he returned to Berlin. It would be somewhat inconvenient to carry these manuscripts with him, so he said to Adelina: "Adelina, you should take these manuscripts back to Berlin."

"Ok."

(End of this chapter)