red moscow

Chapter 2839

The female soldier looked suspiciously at the soldiers standing behind Sokov. These people were all wearing German uniforms, M35 helmets, and holding MP40 submachine guns or 98K rifles. They looked like real Germans.

She asked Sokov cautiously: "Are you really the commander of the infantry brigade?"

"Yes, I am the commander of the infantry brigade."

"Is it a German infantry brigade or a Soviet infantry brigade?"

Sokov was amused by her question: "Of course it's the Soviet Infantry Brigade. Didn't I just tell you that I'm Major Sokov, the commander of the Infantry Brigade? Why, didn't you listen carefully at that time?"

The female soldier murmured, "But the people behind you, including yourself, are all wearing German uniforms. How can I know whether you are our own people or Germans?"

"We wear this uniform for camouflage." In order to dispel the other party's doubts as soon as possible, Sokov said truthfully: "We have to carry out a mission deep behind enemy lines. If we don't wear German uniforms, we will be discovered by the enemy from a distance."

After saying this, Sokov continued to ask: "You said you are the field hospital of the 18th Infantry Division, but as far as I know, the 18th Infantry Division belongs to the 20th Army. Now the troops of the 20th Army that broke out of the enemy's encirclement are basically concentrated in the Mozhaisk area. How come you are here?"

The female soldier was silent for a while, then replied: "Our field hospital was dispersed by the Germans during the transfer. Two-thirds of the medical staff and wounded in the hospital died in the battle. Now there are only these few people left."

"Why are you staying here?" Sokov asked in confusion, "Aren't you worried that these wounded will fall into the hands of the Germans?"

After hearing what Sokov said, the female soldier explained with a bitter face: "We don't have any medicine. We have seen many wounded soldiers' wounds fester, but we haven't treated them. In this case, we might as well be captured by the Germans. Maybe the Germans can treat our wounded."

As soon as the female soldier finished speaking, Zhukov, who was beside Sokov, said in a stern voice: "Comrade, do you know what you are saying? Asking our soldiers to give up resistance and become prisoners of the Germans is a defeatist argument and the words of a spy. What is your name? I want to report this to your superiors."

The female soldier probably didn't expect Zhu Kewen to suddenly attack her, so she looked at Sokov in surprise, wanting to get the answer she wanted from him.

Sokov noticed the female soldier's gaze and quickly explained to her, "This is Lieutenant Zhukov, from the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

If it were in the past, the female soldier would have been panicked when she learned that Zhu Kewen was from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But at this moment, she looked indifferent, probably because she thought she was trapped behind enemy lines and had no hope of escaping, so she took many things lightly. She glanced at Zhu Kewen and said in a contemptuous tone: "Comrade Lieutenant, these words were indeed said by me. If you are not satisfied with anything, you can arrest me immediately. Anyway, we are surrounded by the German army and we can't escape even if we want to."

When the female soldier was talking to Zhukov, Sokov thought of a movie he had watched before, "Memphis Belle". During a bombing mission, a US bomber was hit by German anti-aircraft fire and one of its members was seriously injured. At that time, someone on the plane tied him to a stretcher and planned to throw him off the plane and make him a prisoner of the Germans so that he could receive timely treatment. The female soldier's thoughts at this moment were probably the same as those of the crew member who was about to throw the wounded off the plane.

Thinking of this, Sokov said to the female soldier: "Comrade, you are wrong, absolutely wrong. Do you really think that if you fall into the hands of the Germans, they will be merciful and use precious medicines to treat our wounded?"

The female soldier was surprised by what Sokov said. She asked in astonishment: "Did the medical staff in the German army forget the Socratic Oath and refuse to treat our wounded?"

"Of course not." Sokov realized that the female soldier had illusions about the Germans, so he said sternly: "If these wounded soldiers fall into their hands, they will not receive any treatment at all. On the contrary, they will be shot by the Germans immediately."

The female soldier was frightened and broke out in a cold sweat. She looked at Sokov and asked excitedly, "Comrade Major, is what you said true? If these wounded soldiers really fell into the hands of the Germans, would they really be shot?"

Sokov did not say anything, but just nodded, indicating that the other party's guess was correct. If these wounded fell into the hands of the Germans, they would definitely be in danger.

After getting the confirmation, the female soldier became flustered: "Comrade Major, what should we do? If the Germans really want to kill our wounded, we must not let them fall into their hands. We must find a way to transfer them."

"Leave this to me. My defense zone is not far from here. I will find a way to get the wounded back to their own territory safely."

"That's great." The female soldier said excitedly, "I'll go find the head nurse and tell her the good news."

Seeing the female soldier turn and run away, Sokov gestured to Zub, indicating that he should follow her so that any problems could be dealt with promptly.

"Comrade Major," Zhukov asked Sokov tentatively after watching the Zubhao female soldier walk away, "What do you plan to do with this field hospital?"

Sokov turned to look at Zhukov and said, "Our brigade was established not long ago, and we don't even have our own medical team, let alone a field hospital. I plan to incorporate this field hospital so that if a soldier is injured in battle in the future, he can get timely treatment."

After a while, Zub came back with the female soldier, and with them came two other female soldiers.

When she came to Sokov, an older female soldier saluted and said, "Hello, Comrade Major. I am Jenna, the assistant military doctor at the 18th Infantry Division Field Hospital. The one next to me is the head nurse Vera."

"Hello, Comrade Assistant Military Doctor." Sokov shook hands with the other party and asked politely, "I believe you have also heard from my subordinates that my defense zone is not far from here. My subordinates and I can escort you to a safe place."

"That's great." Jenna was overjoyed when she heard Sokov say that. "To be honest, we have been trapped in the German encirclement for more than a month. Although we heard from time to time that our army had broken through the enemy's encirclement at a certain location, we were hindered by the wounded, so when we arrived at the location, the gap had been sealed again, and we could only continue to look for a new breakthrough."

"Sergeant Zub," Sokov asked Zub, "are there any enemies nearby?"

"No." Zub quickly replied, "One of the soldiers who came out with me to scout will report back to you. I will stay here to monitor, and the other soldiers will conduct reconnaissance in several directions. When they came back, they said that no trace of Germans was found within a radius of two or three kilometers." Although Sokov didn't understand why there were no Germans in this area, he knew very well that now was the best time to move. He turned his head and asked Jenna, "Comrade Assistant Military Doctor, you heard everything. There is no trace of the enemy around us for the time being. We should leave immediately and rush back to my defense zone as soon as possible."

After hearing what Sokov said, Jenna, Vera and others hurried back to greet the wounded and prepare for departure. Sokov was worried that they would not be able to handle it, so he specially asked Zhu Kewen to bring a platoon of soldiers to help them.

Unexpectedly, the wounded soldiers became nervous when they saw the German soldiers suddenly appearing beside them. Some of the lightly wounded soldiers even raised their guns, ready to fight to the death with the enemy. Fortunately, Jenna saw that the situation was not good and quickly shouted: "Comrades, don't worry, they are not enemies, they are our own people, and they are friendly troops coming to help us return to the defense zone."

After hearing what Jenna said, the wounded soldiers put down their weapons and were very excited. Some seriously injured soldiers lying on stretchers even wiped away tears: "Thank God, after being surrounded by the Germans for such a long time, we finally have the opportunity to return to our own defense zone."

When the soldiers of the infantry brigade helped to transfer the wounded, they soon discovered the problem.

Zhukov came to report to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the carts carrying the seriously wounded had to slaughter all the horses because the field hospital was short of food. Now there are no animals to pull the carts. What should we do?"

"If there are no horses to pull the cart, we can let our soldiers pull the cart."

Zhu Kewen said with embarrassment: "It's not easy to pull five or six seriously injured people on a large cart."

"Comrade Second Lieutenant, tell those soldiers that if they don't pull the cart today, then when they are injured one day, I'm afraid there will be no one to pull the cart for them."

Zhukov was convinced by Sokov's words. He nodded and said, "Okay, Comrade Brigade Commander, I will arrange it right away."

Half an hour later, the soldiers of the special company, escorting the stretchers and carriages of the field hospital, slowly walked along the dirt road towards the defense zone of the infantry brigade.

Soon after they set out, Sokov called Zub over and told him, "Comrade Sergeant, go back and tell the soldiers in the defense zone that we are returning to the defense zone. Ask them to identify us and not to shoot at us at will."

Zub knew very well that the troops of the special company were all wearing German uniforms. If they rashly reached the edge of the defense zone without prior communication, the soldiers on the position would mistakenly think that the Germans were attacking. If the other side accidentally issued a combat alert, the two sides might fight, resulting in unnecessary casualties. But if someone was sent to contact in advance, misunderstandings could be avoided.

On the way back to the defense zone, Jenna came to Sokov and asked curiously: "Comrade Major, where are you going in your German uniforms?"

"I plan to lead the troops to attack the enemy camp." Since the troops were about to return, Sokov had no scruples and told Jenna truthfully: "After searching around, we found no trace of the Germans and we don't know where they went."

"Yeah, it's very strange." Jenna also said in surprise: "After we came here, we also didn't see any trace of the enemy. This is really strange."

Sokov began to wonder in his heart, he led the team for more than ten kilometers, but did not find any trace of the enemy, what was going on?

The enemy retreated? This was impossible. The defense zones on the left and right wings of the infantry brigade were fiercely attacked by the German army, which meant that the enemy did not retreat at all.

It seems impossible that the enemy was afraid and did not dare to attack their own defense zone. You have to know that since the establishment of the infantry brigade, it has only fought two small-scale battles with the Germans. Such low-intensity battles are not painful for the Germans, and they are not afraid at all.

Sokov thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out, so he gave up.

Jenna also asked, "Comrade Major, how do you plan to accommodate us after we enter your defense zone?"

Sokov did not explain his plan, but asked tentatively: "Comrade Assistant Military Doctor, I wonder how many medical staff are left in your field hospital?"

"I am the only military doctor left." Jenna said, "There are about 15 or 16 other medical staff, all of them are nurses."

Sokov originally thought that since they were a field hospital, even if they suffered heavy casualties during the breakout, there should be at least five or six military doctors. But after hearing what Jenna said, he was immediately disappointed to learn that there was only one assistant military doctor and a dozen nurses in the field hospital.

Jenna noticed that Sokov's mood suddenly dropped. She was stunned for a moment, then she understood the reason for his mood swings and said quickly, "Comrade Major, if you want to rebuild the field hospital, it is also very simple. You just need to ask your superiors for a group of medical staff and medicines."

"I have plenty of medicines." Sokov was not bragging. When he first discovered the secret arsenal, it not only contained a large amount of weapons and ammunition, but also a lot of food and medicines. Medicines were not a problem, but where to find suitable medical staff was a headache for Sokov: "But where should we find medical staff? You know, all the troops are short of medical staff. Even if we apply to our superiors, I'm afraid they won't agree."

"Comrade Major, you don't have to worry about that." Seeing Sokov's gloomy face, Jenna comforted him and said, "First, you should report to your superiors and ask them to provide you with medical staff and set up a new field hospital. Second, you should directly recruit experienced surgeons from hospitals in nearby towns to solve the problem of insufficient military doctors."

Jenna's words made Sokov's thoughts suddenly clear: "Yes, if we can't find so many military doctors at the moment, we can recruit experienced surgeons from local hospitals to alleviate the shortage of military doctors." Thinking of this, he nodded vigorously and said, "When we return to the headquarters, I will send a telegram to my superiors, asking them to send me the necessary medical staff, so that we can set up the field hospital of the infantry brigade as soon as possible."

"By the way, Comrade Major," Jenna suddenly asked, "We have known each other for such a long time, but I still don't know which army group your infantry brigade belongs to?"

"Comrade Assistant Doctor, my infantry brigade is affiliated with General Rokossovsky's 16th Army."

(End of this chapter)