red moscow

Chapter 2802

"Lieutenant Simon," Lucas called his deputy and ordered him, "Take Captain Otto and his men to the communications room."

"Okay, Mr. Captain." Simon nodded, and then made a gesture of invitation to Sokov and others: "Please follow me."

Sokov looked at Lucas with some curiosity, wondering why the other party didn't accompany him to the telecommunications room?

Lucas and Sokov's eyes met, and he immediately understood his guess. He smiled and explained, "I'm going to deal with the two captured prisoners, so that more people won't follow their example in the future, and then my prisoner-of-war camp will become a mess."

Simon brought Sokov and others to the telecommunications room. When the two radio operators sitting in the room saw him come in, they immediately stood up at attention and saluted him.

"You two go out for a while." Simon said to the radio operator.

When the two radio operators heard the order, they walked out of the telecommunications room without saying a word.

"Okay, Captain Otto, you can use the radio here now." Simon said to Sokov politely, "I'm just outside. If you need anything, just call me."

Sokov didn't say anything, but just nodded at the other party as a way of expressing his gratitude.

After Simon left, Basco hurriedly stepped forward to close the door. When he was about to speak, he saw Sokov put his finger in front of his lips and made a silent gesture, indicating that he should not speak. Basco nodded quickly, stood by the door with his back against the wall, pointed the gun in his hand at the door, and took a defensive posture. Sandor stood by the window, also with his back against the wall, looking out the window with a vigilant look.

Seeing that Basco and Sandor had arranged their defenses, Sokov whispered to Alina, "Lieutenant Alina, you can send a telegram to your superiors."

Alina nodded, sat down in front of the telegraph machine, put on headphones, adjusted the frequency, and started sending the message.

After the telegram was sent, Alina was waiting for a reply from Moscow when a burst of gunfire suddenly came from outside.

Hearing the gunshots, Alina instinctively turned her head and asked Sokov: "What's going on? Where did the gunshots come from?"

"I don't know." Sokov shook his head, and then said to Alina: "Stay here and don't move. I'll go out and take a look."

Sokov walked out of the room and closed the door. Seeing Simon standing not far away smoking, he walked towards him.

Simon saw Sokov walking towards him and asked curiously, "Captain Otto, have you sent the telegram?"

"Yes, the telegram has been sent, and we are waiting for a reply from Berlin." After answering half-truthfully, Sokov asked tentatively: "I just heard a burst of gunfire outside, what's going on?"

"It was the Captain who executed the captured prisoners."

"Didn't they say they only captured two prisoners?" Sokov asked in confusion, "But I just heard a volley of gunfire. It's too extravagant to use so many people to execute two prisoners."

Unexpectedly, Simon said, "Not two prisoners, but ten."

"Ten?" Sokov asked in shock, "How could it be ten?"

Simon showed a proud smile on his face. "This is an innovation of Mr. Captain. In order to warn those dishonest prisoners of war, he adopted the collective punishment method. Every time a runaway prisoner is captured, four prisoners will be randomly selected to die with him when he is shot. Today, two runaway prisoners were captured, plus the prisoners who accompanied them, there are exactly ten people, no more, no less, so when they are shot, you hear the sound of volleys of gunfire."

Sokov couldn't help but feel angry when he heard Simon say that. Isn't this just taking human life lightly? Although he hated Lucas to the core, he still pretended to be calm and asked: "If your superiors know about this, won't they blame you?"

"How could that be?" Simon was surprised by Sokov's words. He said puzzledly, "To us, these Russian prisoners of war are just a group of gray animals. How could our superiors blame us for killing a few of them?"

In order to hide his anger, Sokov took out a cigarette box from his pocket and handed it to Simon: "Would you like one?"

Simon raised his hand and showed Sokov the cigarette between his fingers: "I'm smoking it."

Sokov took out a cigarette, struck a match and lit it, using smoking to adjust his mood.

"Captain Otto," Simon went on, "where have you dealt with the Russians?"

"Have you ever heard of the Brest Fortress?"

"I've heard of it." Simon nodded and said, "It is said that the 45th Infantry Division fought for several days before taking down the fortress. Captain Otto, did you also participate in this attack?"

"I didn't participate in the attack on the fortress, but we took part in the sabotage operation before the outbreak of the war." In order to buy more time for Alina to wait for a call back, Sokov began to brag to Simon about his fictitious achievements: "I led a team at the time, disguised as Russians, went deep into the rear of the fortress, destroyed their communication lines, assassinated officers, and made the Russians lose unified command after the war, unable to organize an effective resistance to our army."

Sokov's words really aroused Simon's curiosity: "Can you be more specific?"

"After the team I led destroyed the communication line between the Brest Fortress and the city, we set up checkpoints on the road..."

"Set up a checkpoint?" Simon asked in confusion, "Captain, I don't understand, why do you set up a checkpoint?"

"Once the Russians in the fortress find that their communication lines with the rear have been cut off, they will definitely send out signal soldiers to repair the lines, or send people to contact the headquarters in the city." Sokov said pretentiously: "The purpose of setting up the checkpoint is to intercept these signal soldiers and prevent them from contacting their headquarters."

Sokov told Simon about the Brandenburg Regiment's achievements that he had heard about in later generations, and changed them to his own achievements. The other party could not verify them anyway. His nonsense made Simon stunned, and he really believed that these achievements were established by Sokov.

Just when Sokov was bragging until his mouth was dry, he suddenly saw the door of the communication room opened, and Basco poked his head out and nodded at him. Seeing this, Sokov guessed that Alina must have received a call back from Moscow, so he quickly stopped bragging and said to Simon: "It may be a call back from Berlin. I'll go check it out first and come back to continue later."

As soon as he entered the communications room, Sokov lowered his voice and asked Alina: "Did you receive a call back from Moscow?"

"Yes." Alina nodded and said, "The order from Moscow is for us to look for Yakov's whereabouts in the POW camp. Comrade Major, do you have any way to get the Germans to agree to let us look for people in the POW camp?" Sokov rolled his eyes, and then said to Alina, "I have an idea. Let's say we received an order from Berlin to take a few prisoners to Berlin for propaganda. I think Lucas will not refuse my request."

Hearing what Sokov said, Alina's eyes suddenly lit up: "Comrade Major, you still have a solution. When the German captain learns that Berlin needs to send a few prisoners to Berlin, he will definitely be very happy and will naturally open the camp for us to choose at will."

Seeing that Alina agreed to his proposal, Sokov continued, "Comrade Lieutenant, since you have no objection, let's go together to pick someone. You know, I don't know any Yakov."

"Don't worry, I will definitely go with you." After Alina said this, she suddenly remembered the volley of gunfire she had just heard and couldn't help asking, "By the way, what was that gunfire we just heard?"

Since Alina asked about this, Sokov did not hide it and told Alina in detail what he had heard from Simon.

After hearing this, Alina was so angry that she punched the table with her hand and cursed fiercely: "Damn Germans, this is another blood debt they owe us. Sooner or later, we will get it back from them with interest."

"Well, we will definitely be able to avenge our blood debt."

When everyone came out of the communication room, Sokov walked up to Simon first and said casually, "Lieutenant Simon, we just received an order from Berlin to select several prisoners from your prisoner-of-war camp and send them to Berlin for propaganda purposes. Please take us to see Captain Lucas. I want to explain this matter to him in person."

Hearing that there was an order from Berlin, Simon dared not neglect it and immediately took Sokov and others to see Lucas.

When passing by the kitchen that provided meals for the prisoners of war, Sokov could not help but stop and asked Simon: "Lieutenant Simon, is this the kitchen that provides meals for the Russians?"

"Yes."

"Can I take a look?"

"Of course, of course."

Sokov and Alina followed Simon into the kitchen, while Basco and Sandor stayed outside to wait. The German guards passing by saw two men in Soviet uniforms standing at the door of the kitchen with weapons in hand. Although they felt very strange, no one dared to question them.

When Sokov entered the kitchen, he soon felt as if he had entered a workshop that produced inferior food in the future. There were dozens of bags of flour piled in the corner, and rats were crawling around. They were not afraid of people coming. In the two open flour bags, you could clearly see straw and garbage in the flour.

Seeing this, Sokov's mouth twitched a few times, and he asked Simon with a wry smile: "Is this what you feed the Russians?"

"This is the 'Russian bread' we provide to the prisoners of war," Simon explained, perhaps worried that Sokov didn't understand what he meant. "The so-called 'Russian bread' is a mixture of rotten potatoes and moldy bread."

"Oh, so that's how it is." Sokov laughed dryly twice and muttered to himself, "When you become our prisoners, I will definitely ask the person in charge of the prisoner-of-war camp to provide you with 'Russian bread' every day, so that you can also experience the miserable life of Soviet prisoners of war."

Lucas was sitting in his room drinking coffee. When he saw Simon and Sokov and others come in, he quickly stood up and asked, "Captain Otto, would you like a cup?"

Sokov was in a hurry to find Yakov at the moment, so he had no time to drink coffee. He waved his hand and said, "Captain Lucas, we just received an order from Berlin to take away several prisoners from your prisoner-of-war camp and send them to Berlin for propaganda purposes."

"It's a small matter." Lucas said to Simon nonchalantly, "Simon, go pick a few prisoners and hand them over to Captain Otto."

"Wait a minute, Lieutenant Simon." Seeing Lieutenant Simon turning to leave, Sokov hurriedly stopped him and then said to Lucas, "Captain Lucas, these prisoners of war are actually going to be sent to the Führer for his personal inspection, so we can't bother you. I hope you can allow us to choose them ourselves."

Lucas originally wanted to pick a few prisoners and hand them over to Sokov to deal with the matter, but when he heard that these prisoners to be taken to Berlin would be sent to the Führer, he had to pay attention: "Captain Otto, let us go with you to select."

A few minutes later, Lucas and Simon brought Sokov and his group to the area where the prisoners were gathered.

When the prisoners of war saw several soldiers in Soviet uniforms, surrounded by German troops, coming to the area where they had gathered, they couldn't help but show expressions of surprise on their faces. They didn't understand who these people were and why they were wearing their own uniforms.

"Captain Lucas," Sokov only remembered that Major General Romanov was wounded and captured during the breakout, and he didn't know whether he was held in this prisoner-of-war camp, so he asked tentatively: "I heard that the commander of the Russian garrison in Mogilev was captured by our army because he was wounded during the breakout. I wonder where he is being held?"

"In our prisoner-of-war camp," Lucas said. "He was captured at the end of August and was seriously injured when he came in. Fortunately, a military doctor treated him in time and saved him. Now his injuries are almost healed. The superior called me a while ago and asked about him. He said they were going to send him to Berlin."

"That's a great coincidence," Sokov was overjoyed when he learned that Major General Romanov was still in the prisoner-of-war camp. However, he tried his best to control his emotions and said in a calm tone, "We are taking a few prisoners to Berlin, so let's take him with us."

When Lucas was about to take Sokov to see Romanov, Sokov deliberately raised his voice and said to Alina: "Leya, go around the prisoners and pick out a few suitable ones."

Alina quickly pretended to agree: "Yes, Captain!"

In this way, Sokov followed Lucas to the place where Major General Romanov was imprisoned, while Alina and the other two followed Simon to search for Yakov's whereabouts among the prisoners of war.

Before entering the tent where Romanov lived, Lucas suddenly said, "By the way, the last name Romanov seems to be the last name of the Tsar."

"Completely correct."

"But I heard that after the Tsar's family was killed, almost all people with this surname were killed." Lucas said with interest: "Even those who survived fled abroad. How come there is still a surname of Romanov in their army?"

"I'm not sure about this."

"By the way." As Lucas reached out to lift the curtain, he asked again, "Captain Otto, do you speak Russian?"

"Of course." Sokov replied with a smile, "Since we want to pretend to be Russians and penetrate deep into their defenses, we have to speak Russian. If we do that, we will reveal our true identity as soon as we open our mouths."

"Since you can speak Russian, that's fine. This way I don't have to find a translator." Lucas said, lifting the curtain and making a gesture to Sokov: "Captain Otto, please come in!"

(End of this chapter)