red moscow

Chapter 2865 Lots of doubts

"Chief of Staff, let Major Vasya continue." After stopping Karsokov, Sokov said to Vasya, "Just say what you think. Even if you are wrong, I won't blame you."

After getting Sokov's affirmation, Vasya continued to express his doubts: "Faced with the attack of the enemy with superior strength, even veterans will be afraid, not to mention a new recruit who has only been in the army for a short time. Therefore, I think whether he is a hero who holds the position needs to be verified before reporting to the superiors."

After listening to Vasya's story, Sokov asked in confusion: "Major Vasya, since you think Spinachski is not necessarily a hero who defended the position, why didn't you raise this question earlier, but waited until your superiors knew about it before questioning it?"

Facing Sokov's questioning, Vasya hesitated for a moment and explained: "At that time, the deputy brigade commander also rushed to the position with me and the troops."

When Sokov heard this, he turned and looked at Karsokov, wanting to get the answer he wanted from him.

Karsokov nodded and explained to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, Major Vasya is right. When the deputy brigade commander learned that the position of the Fourth Battalion was under fierce attack by the enemy, he immediately mobilized the reserve troops and rushed to the position after dark when the enemy's shelling and bombing stopped. When he saw that there was only one soldier left on the position, he thought that this soldier must have held the position."

"So the deputy brigade commander thinks that the hero who stubbornly defended the position in the face of the enemy's frenzied attack is this new soldier, Spinachsky, who has only been in the army for a few months?" Sokov looked at Vasya and asked, "Am I right?"

"Yes, Comrade Brigade Commander." Vasya did not deny Sokov's speculation, but continued: "I raised this question to the deputy brigade commander at the time, but was criticized by the deputy brigade commander. He said that since there was only Spinachski on the position, he was the hero who defended the position, and did not give me a chance to explain."

"That's right, comrade commander." Karsokov waited for Vasya to finish speaking, and then added, "The deputy commander and I both think that since all the commanders and fighters of the position were killed, only Spinachski was left. If it wasn't him who held the position, who did it?"

"How many people are there in the platoon that is holding the position?" Sokov turned to look at Vasya and asked, "Have the bodies of the fallen soldiers been found?"

"We've found most of them." Vasya said hesitantly.

Sokov keenly grasped a key word: "Major Vasya, you said that 'basically' everything has been found. Does this mean that there are still bodies of soldiers that have not been found?"

"When we were cleaning up the battlefield, I ordered the bodies of our fallen comrades to be collected," Vasya answered, "but after counting them several times, I discovered that one person was missing."

"Who's missing?" Sokov asked.

"Corporal Chevaryanag, deputy squad leader of the eighth squad of the third platoon," Vasya said. "I personally checked the position several times, but did not find his body. I raised my doubts to the deputy brigade commander, saying that the person who held the position might be Corporal Chevaryanag, but the deputy brigade commander refuted me. He said that the other party was either blown to pieces in the enemy's artillery or bombing, or was frightened by the attacking enemy and became a shameful deserter."

"Deserter?" Sokov couldn't help but sneer when he heard the word. "Although the infantry brigade has been established for a short time, there has never been a deserter. I think the deputy brigade commander's guess may be wrong."

"Comrade Commander," Karsokov understood what Sokov meant and knew that he was ready to support Vasya's analysis. He said with some embarrassment, "You and the deputy commander have different opinions. Will there be a dispute when you meet?"

Sokov thought to himself that if he couldn't find the body of Corporal Chevaryanag, his point of view would not hold water at all. In order to convince Belkin, he had to go to the position himself to see if he could find any useful clues.

Thinking of this, Sokov asked Vasya: "Major Vasya, can you take me to the battlefield?"

Vasya was stunned when he heard this, and then he asked: "What, Comrade Brigade Commander, you want to go to the position?"

"That's right. To find out the truth of the matter, I think it is necessary to go to the battlefield in person."

Karsokov quickly persuaded him, "But it's close to the enemy's defense line. It would be dangerous if we go there."

Sokov waved his hand and said firmly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, if I want to find out the truth of the matter, I must go to the position myself to check. As for the safety issue, you don't have to worry about it. I will pay attention to safety."

Coming out of the tent with Vasya, Sokov called Bobrikov and told him, "Comrade Captain, I want to go to the front line of the Fourth Battalion. Please send a few soldiers to go with me."

"Comrade Commander, you're still going out so late?" Bobrikov asked in surprise.

"There is something that needs to be clarified immediately, so we have to rush over right away." Sokov urged, "Okay, time is running out, you should find someone to follow me."

Half an hour later, Sokov and others arrived at the position where fierce fighting had taken place during the day.

Due to the fierce artillery and bombing, a thick layer of loose soil accumulated on the position. When Sokov stepped on it, the soft soil covered his feet.

With the help of the bright moonlight, he looked at the charred land in front of him and asked thoughtfully: "Major Vasya, do you think there is a possibility that after Corporal Chevaryanag died, his body was covered by loose soil, and you didn't find his body when you were cleaning the battlefield?"

"That's impossible." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Vasya retorted: "We checked very carefully, there is absolutely no way we missed anything."

Seeing Vasya's certainty, Sokov didn't want to dwell on the question any more, but asked, "Where did you find Spinachski?"

"Here, over there." Vasya pointed to a spot to the east. "When we came here, he was lying there, shot in the shoulder."

Sokov looked at the place Vasya pointed at and couldn't help but frowning, because people standing at that position couldn't see the entire front battlefield. If Spinachski was really the war hero that Belkin said, he would definitely not appear at that location. Originally, he only had three points of doubt about the authenticity of Spinachski, but now it increased to five points.

But he didn't say anything, but walked towards the highest point of the position. He felt that if he was to hold the position, that would be the most critical position.

After reaching the highest point of the position, Sokov keenly discovered that there was a half-collapsed trench full of shell casings.

He jumped into the trench, bent down to pick up the shells, and said to Vasya who followed him: "Major Vasya, look, there are so many shells piled up here, which means that the soldiers who held the position had fought fiercely here."

Vasya squatted beside the trench, looked down at the shell casings in the trench, and murmured: "But these bullet holes don't prove anything." "The presence of these shell casings means that there were indeed soldiers who fought bravely here and stubbornly blocked the enemy's attack." Sokov looked up and said to Vasya: "Let's go to the field hospital and see that Spinachski. Ask him where he was fighting at the time, and then we can find out whether he is the hero who blocked the enemy."

In this way, the group came to the field hospital again.

When Tonya learned that Sokov had come to visit the injured Spinachski, she hurried over and took the initiative to say, "Misha, we have already performed surgery on Comrade Spinachski. He is not in danger for the time being. He will recover after a month of rest."

Sokov nodded and asked in a low voice: "Donya, can you tell me where the wounded man was injured?"

"The right back shoulder." Dongnia replied: "Based on my many years of experience, the bullet was shot in from a high altitude and entered from the right back shoulder. If there was no internal organs blocking it, it would have passed through the right abdomen."

Sokov's eyebrows rose. "So someone shot him in the back. Right?"

Dongnia nodded and said in a positive tone: "Yes, someone did shoot him from behind, and from a high place."

Sokov crossed his arms and pondered what Tonya said. "If Spinachski was a commander who had served in the army for many years, he might have offended someone in his work, so others would have shot him in the back. But this man is a new soldier who has only been in the army for a few months. Even if he offended someone, no one would shoot him in the back on the battlefield. There must be something fishy about this."

Thinking of this, he asked Tonya, "Tonya, besides Spinachski, are there any other wounded?"

"Of course, of course." Tonya nodded and said, "There was a fierce battle in the defense area of ​​the Fourth Battalion yesterday, and there are quite a few wounded." After saying this, she paused for a moment, then asked curiously, "Misha, why are you asking this?"

Sokov smiled faintly and replied, "Now everyone is saying that Spinachski held his ground alone and repelled the enemy's attack. He is an incredible hero. But I, the Sword in the Stone, also found this to be strange, so I want to find out what it is."

As the two were talking, Belkin came out of the tent and saw Sokov with a look of surprise on his face: "Comrade Commander, when did you come back?"

"I've been back for almost two hours." Sokov said casually, "I heard you were at the field hospital, so I came to see you."

"Comrade Brigade Commander," Belkin said excitedly after hearing what Sokov said, "You don't know that during the time you were away from the brigade, we produced another outstanding combat hero. Now he is lying in the tent inside. I will take you in to see him." After that, he grabbed Sokov's hand and pulled him into the tent without saying anything.

Walking into the tent, with the help of the tent's kerosene lamp, Sokov saw clearly the person he wanted to see, Spinachski. At this moment, he was lying on a stretcher with his right shoulder wrapped in a thick bandage.

"Comrade Commander," Belkin said in a low voice, "he has just fallen asleep. Let's speak softly so as not to wake him up."

Sokov pointed at Spinachski and asked calmly, "Is he the combat hero you reported to the army headquarters?"

"So you knew him from Army Headquarters."

Sokov did not speak, but pulled Belkin out of the tent. He walked forward for a while, and when he saw that there was no one around, he stopped and asked Belkin: "Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, do you really think he is a combat hero who can stop the German attack alone?"

"Is there something wrong?" Belkin's expression froze when he heard Sokov say that. Then he asked back, "When I led my men to the battlefield, he was the only one left. If it wasn't him who stopped the enemy, who could it be?"

"Couldn't it be someone else?" Sokov said lightly, "You know, he's just a new soldier with no combat experience at all. Facing the enemy's heavy bombardment and crazy ground attack, it's already good enough that he didn't wet his pants in fear. How could he possibly stop the enemy's attack alone?"

Belkin was unhappy when he heard Sokov say this: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I have already said that when I arrived at the position, he was the only one left in the entire position. If he was not still alive, I am afraid that the enemy would have occupied the forward position of the Fourth Battalion."

Seeing Belkin so stubborn, Sokov smiled bitterly and said, "Have you ever thought that maybe someone else blocked the enemy's attack and it had nothing to do with him at all?"

"Someone else?" Belkin asked with a sneer, "Comrade Brigade Commander, then who is the person who did this according to you?"

"Major Vasya told me that Corporal Chevaryanag, deputy squad leader of the eighth squad, is missing." Sokov did not argue with Belkin, but calmly told everything he saw: "I just went to the position to check. A trench on the top of the mountain was full of shell casings, indicating that a soldier had been there and had fought fiercely. And you found that Spinachski's position could not see the entire battlefield at all. If he stayed in that position, how could he repel the enemy's attacks again and again?"

"Maybe he moved his position," Belkin argued unconvincedly, "You know, if you stay in one place for too long, you may be hit by enemy artillery fire, so the best way is to fight for a while and then move to another place. Maybe Comrade Spinachsky was unfortunately injured when he moved his position."

"Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, do you know where Spinachski was injured?"

"Of course I know." Belkin said, "It was just a bullet in the right back shoulder."

"Since you know he was shot in the right back shoulder, it will be easy to deal with." Sokov tapped Belkin's right back shoulder twice with his fingers and said, "According to the military doctor, Spinachski was shot in this position. If his internal organs had not blocked the bullet, it would have definitely passed through the right abdomen..."

"Wait a minute, Comrade Brigade Commander." Belkin suddenly realized something was wrong when he heard this: "You said the bullet entered from the right rear shoulder. If there were no internal organs blocking it, the bullet would have passed through the right abdomen?"

"Yes, that's true."

"That's not right." Belkin frowned. "If he was really shot in the back of the shoulder, the bullet should have come out from the shoulder blade. How could it come out from the abdomen?"

"This means that the person who shot Spinachski was standing at a high point at the time." Sokov said expressionlessly, "The only place that meets this characteristic is the highest point of the position. I have carefully asked Major Vasya, and he said that when you arrived at the position, you did not find any enemy bodies at the highest point of the position. In other words, the person who shot Spinachski was not an enemy, but one of our own."

(End of this chapter)