red moscow

Chapter 2742

When Kirponos left the command center, he probably did not expect what disastrous consequences would result from his underestimation of the enemy.

After Kirponos and Gurov left, Tupikov issued an order: "In order to prevent the target from being exposed, everyone must stay in their rooms and not leave the building at will. In addition, in order to prevent saboteurs from sneaking into the building to cause damage, the sentries at the door should strengthen their vigilance. No one is allowed to enter the headquarters building before dawn."

Sokov and others who were on the move naturally had no idea what was happening at the front headquarters.

After everyone entered the air-raid shelter, Yegor suddenly asked Sokov: "Comrade Captain, our headquarters personnel have entered the air-raid shelter, but what about the nearby front headquarters? Did they also enter the air-raid shelter like us?"

Yegor's question really stumped Sokov. If Sokov was the army commander at this moment, he would definitely inform the front headquarters when he moved. After all, the building they were in was also within the bombing range of the German bombers. But at this moment, he was just a small captain, and his words were not taken seriously. Few people would listen to what he said. Although Vlasov and Colonel Del were convinced by him, it seemed that they could not fully trust him for the time being.

Ten minutes later, there were sounds of bombs hitting the ground and exploding, as well as houses collapsing, outside. Countless dust was shaken down from the ceiling and sprinkled on everyone's hats and uniforms.

"Captain Sokov." Zhukov, who was sitting near Sokov, gave him a thumbs up. "If you hadn't persuaded the army group commander in time to sound the air raid alarm and notify everyone in the building to hide in the air-raid shelter, there would definitely be a lot of casualties in the bombing at this moment."

In another room of the air-raid shelter, Vlasov brushed off the dust on his shoulders and said to Colonel Del: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it seems that we don't trust Captain Sokov enough. After he discovered the signs of danger, he immediately warned us and asked us to notify everyone in the building to evacuate to the air-raid shelter. Although we agreed to his proposal, we were still skeptical. I think we should have a good talk with him after the air raid is over. Since we have appointed him to be responsible for the safety of the headquarters, we must give him absolute trust."

"You're right, Comrade Commander." Del didn't bother to dust off the dust on his body, but raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead: "From the noise outside, the scale of the German bombing is not small. If we all stay in the building at this moment, I'm afraid there will be a lot of casualties."

"By the way, Comrade Chief of Staff, I have something to ask you." Vlasov suddenly remembered a key thing and asked hurriedly: "When we notified all personnel to retreat to the air-raid shelter, did you report to the front headquarters?"

Colonel Del was stunned by Vlasov's question. After a long while, he murmured, "Comrade Commander, I thought you reported this to the front headquarters."

"Damn it, I thought you were on duty tonight. If something serious happened, you would definitely report it to the front headquarters." Vlasov's expression became serious. "Not good. If the front headquarters does not retreat, it will definitely suffer huge losses in the bombing. After all, the building they are in is also in the area bombed by German bombers."

"I'll call and ask right away." Del couldn't help but get anxious after hearing what Vlasov said: "See if they have evacuated the building."

Del picked up the phone on the table and ordered the operator to connect him to the duty room of the front headquarters.

But the operator told him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I'm sorry, we can't get in touch with the front headquarters."

"Why?" Del roared into the microphone, "Why can't it be connected?"

"There are two possibilities," the operator said tremblingly, "One is that the telephone line was blown off, and the other is that the personnel on duty at the front headquarters also went out to avoid air raids, so no one answered the phone."

"Send someone to check the line immediately." Del said in a stern tone, "It is imperative to restore contact with the front headquarters as soon as possible."

When Del hung up the phone, Vlasov sighed softly and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, we made two mistakes today."

"Comrade Commander, what do you mean by this?" Colonel Del asked in confusion.

"Because we did not fully believe what Captain Sokov said, we did not report the incident to the front headquarters in time when we arranged for the people in the building to come out and hide." Vlasov said: "After daybreak, I will go to the front headquarters in person to review it with Kirponos."

"Comrade Commander, I will go with you." Del did not evade responsibility, but took the initiative to say: "After all, I also have an unshirkable responsibility in this matter."

The enemy bombing lasted for half an hour and then ended.

After the air raid alarm was lifted, Sokov left the air-raid shelter with the soldiers of the special company.

As soon as he came to the street, he smelled the smell of gunpowder in the air, as well as the unique smell of smoke from collapsed buildings.

A few hundred meters away, the Army Headquarters building was hit by bombs in many places, and flames were gushing out from the windows without windows. Two fire trucks that had just arrived were parked outside the building, and firefighters were using hoses to put out the fire.

"Comrade Captain," Konstantin was somewhat frightened when he saw this situation. He said to Sokov, "If we don't evacuate the building and hide in the air-raid shelter in time, there will inevitably be a large number of casualties."

Before Sokov could speak, Zhukov said, "The damage to the army headquarters building is not that serious. Look at the building where the front headquarters is located. It has turned into a sea of ​​fire."

Sokov turned his head and saw that the building where the front headquarters was located had been engulfed in flames. There were fire trucks parked outside the building, and countless fire hoses were spraying towards the fire, trying to suppress the fire in the building.

Seeing this situation, Sokov's heart couldn't help but skip a beat. If there were people in the building who hadn't evacuated when the German planes bombed just now, they would probably be in danger now.

At this moment, Sokov heard someone shouting loudly: "Captain Sokov, Captain Sokov, where are you?"

Although he couldn't see clearly who was calling him in the chaos, Sokov still responded: "I'm here."

"Comrade Captain," a lieutenant came up to Sokov, raised his hand and saluted him, and said, "The commander and the chief of staff are looking for you. You need to go and see them immediately."

Upon learning that Vlasov and Colonel Del had summoned him, Sokov did not dare to delay and quickly followed the lieutenant away.

Constantine looked at Sokov's back and asked Zhukov, "Second Lieutenant, guess what the commander asked our company commander to do?" "Without the help of saboteurs, the enemy planes will definitely not be able to find the target for tonight's air raid." Zhukov, who was from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, immediately guessed Vlasov and Del's intentions: "Calling the company commander over now must mean that they are planning to arrange for him to search the city and arrest those suspicious people."

"I think it's impossible to find saboteurs," Constantine said. "There are only more than 80 people in our company. It's impossible to find a few saboteurs sent by the Germans in such a big city."

Then Sokov followed the lieutenant to Vlasov and the other two, raised his hand and saluted: "Commander, Chief of Staff, Captain Sokov, the commander of the special company, has been ordered..."

"Okay, stop reporting." Vlasov interrupted Sokov who was about to report according to the regulations, and said with a straight face: "Captain Sokov, we asked you to come here because we have an important task for you."

Hearing Vlasov say this, Sokov immediately realized that the other party might order him to lead his men to search the city to find the arsonist. He quickly straightened his back and said respectfully: "Comrade Commander, please give the order."

"You were the one who reported to us the possibility of an air raid on the army headquarters." Vlasov looked at Sokov and said, "I think you have a way to find the enemy hiding in the city. Now take your special company and search the city. Make sure to find the arsonist. Do you understand?"

"I understand." Sokov agreed and told Vlasov about his difficulties: "But Comrade Commander, I only have more than 80 people under my command. It may not be easy to find a few hidden enemies in such a big city."

"Captain Sokov, I know you are short of people." Colonel Del continued, "But under the current circumstances, we cannot assign more people to you. You can only rely on the existing forces to search for saboteurs nearby."

Sokov knew that it was not advisable to transfer troops from other places to search for saboteurs in the city in the middle of the night. Visibility was already low at night, and the new troops were unfamiliar with his subordinates, so there were huge problems in coordination. If the saboteurs wore Soviet uniforms, it would be even more difficult for him to distinguish them.

It was for this reason that Sokov simply thought about it and accepted the orders of the two men: "Okay, I will arrange personnel now to search for saboteurs lurking in the city and eliminate potential safety hazards."

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When Sokov returned to his unit, Konstantin came over and asked, "Comrade Captain, I wonder what the commander and the chief of staff asked you to do?"

"Let our special company go out immediately and launch a search operation in the war city to capture the arsonists and saboteurs."

After listening to the order conveyed by Sokov, Constantine was embarrassed: "Comrade Company Commander, we only have more than 80 people. How can we find a few saboteurs in such a big city?"

"First Platoon Leader, you are right. We have too few people. It is obviously impossible to catch the saboteurs sent by the Germans in such a big city." Sokov said to the two men, "Now I will assign tasks: First Platoon, go to the theater to investigate the cause of the fire; Second Platoon, go to the library to check the damage. The direct squad will follow me and go to the public bathroom to look for clues related to the fire. Are the tasks clear?"

"It's clear!" Constantine and Zhu Kewen responded loudly at the same time.

"Now that the mission is clear, let's go."

Sokov brought the soldiers of his direct squad to the public bathroom where the fire had broken out. At this moment, the fire had been completely extinguished by the firefighters, but when they walked into the scene, they could still feel a heat.

"Comrade Captain," Chulhin looked at Sokov and asked, "What should we do next?"

"Go into the bathroom and see if anyone is dead in there," Sokov said to everyone, "and find out the cause of their death."

After several soldiers responded loudly, they turned and went into the bathroom to check the situation inside.

Ten minutes later, Jubro came out first and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Company Commander, there are eight charred bodies in the bathroom. After my identification, except for one who is the administrator of the public bath, the rest of the dead should be customers who come here to take a bath."

"How do you distinguish between administrators and customers?" Sokov asked curiously.

"This is very simple. Only one of the dead was wearing clothes. Although they were burned by the fire, it can still be seen that he was wearing an administrator's uniform." Dyubro explained to Sokov: "The other seven people were not wearing any clothes. We checked the wardrobe and found no trace of any clothes."

"What was the cause of their death?" Sokov asked, "Were they burned to death by the fire, or was there some other cause?"

Sokov's words stumped Jubro. He scratched the back of his head, not knowing how to answer Sokov's question.

Fortunately, Yegor came out of the bathroom at this time and rescued Jubro: "Comrade Company Commander, we have figured it out. The eight people inside had already died before the fire in the bathroom. According to my observation, they were stabbed to death with a dagger. After they died, their clothes were taken away. I guess it was taken away by saboteurs."

After listening to the two people's stories, Sokov roughly understood what happened: "I understand. The saboteurs must have been lurking in the public bath in advance, waiting for several soldiers to take a bath here, and then killed them all when they were not prepared. Then they put on their military uniforms, set fire to the public bath, and then headed towards the next target - the theater."

"Comrade Company Commander," Jiubrow asked in confusion, "How do you know that the dead were all soldiers? And why did the people who killed them wear their military uniforms and leave?"

"This is very simple," Sokov explained. "Kiev is under martial law every night, and during the martial law, only soldiers can walk on the streets. These saboteurs killed the soldiers who came to the bathroom to take a bath, put on their military uniforms, and walked around the city without attracting attention."

"Oh, so that's what happened." After listening to Sokov's analysis, Jubro nodded slowly, "Comrade Company Commander, I think what you said makes sense. Those saboteurs put on our soldiers' uniforms, so even if they encounter a patrol on the street, they don't have to worry about exposing their identities. Maybe the patrol captain mistook them for another patrol team."

"Comrade Company Commander, what should we do next?" Yegor asked.

Sokov thought for a moment and then said, "Next, we'll go to the theater and see if we can get some useful information."

(End of this chapter)