red moscow

Chapter 2901 An unexpected gain

The train, loaded with officers and soldiers, was pulled by two locomotives and sped towards the east.

The scenery outside the window was moving rapidly backwards. After staring out the window for a while, Politic retracted his gaze and looked at Sokov and asked, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, there is one more very important thing I forgot to ask you."

"whats the matter?"

"Our division has suffered heavy casualties after months of fighting. There are still hundreds of wounded soldiers retreating with us today." Politic said with a painful expression, "Some wounded soldiers who were not seriously injured died because they could not receive timely treatment due to our lack of medical care and medicine. I wonder if you can get some medicine to treat the remaining wounded?"

"Comrade Colonel, you don't have to worry about that." After understanding what Politik was worried about, Sokov comforted him, "Although my unit is only a brigade-level organization, we have a field hospital. The number of medical staff may be a little small, but the amount of medicine is quite abundant, enough to treat a large number of wounded."

"That's great." Politic said with tears of gratitude, "This way, more lives of the wounded can be saved."

"Comrade Colonel, your division should have at least three regimental commanders, right? But so far, I have only met Lieutenant Colonel Baranchuk, the regimental commander. Where are the other two regimental commanders?" Sokov asked tentatively, "You are not staying with the wounded all the time because of your injuries, right?"

"You guessed right." Politic nodded and said seriously, "The other two regiment commanders were injured in the battle, and their injuries are quite serious. After the troops return to our defense zone, I hope to send them to the military hospital in the rear for treatment as soon as possible, otherwise their lives will be in danger."

"I can make the decision on this matter," Sokov assured Politik, "Once we enter the defense zone, I will immediately arrange for someone to send them to the military hospital in the rear."

Politik shook Sokov's hand and said gratefully: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, on behalf of my two old comrades, I would like to express my gratitude to you!"

At the current speed, the train will reach its destination in four hours.

Unexpectedly, after just one hour of traveling, the train stopped.

Politik raised the window and looked out, while instructing Haranchuk: "Haranchuk, call the front and ask what happened and why the train stopped."

Since the train had more than 30 carriages, and the carriage where Politic was was at the end of the train, he could not see anything except that the train had entered a station and there were traces of German soldiers on the platform. Therefore, he could only use the phone on the train to find out what was going on.

The person who answered the phone was Zhu Kewen, who was arranged by Sokov to be in front.

He heard that the caller was Haranchuk, and he quickly replied: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, we have entered a small station. Someone on the platform gave us a signal to stop!"

Haranchuk became nervous when he heard this: "Comrade Lieutenant, do you know why we were asked to stop the car?"

"I'm sorry, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I'm not sure." Zhu Kewen said, "I saw two Germans coming towards me. I have to deal with them first. I will report to you later if there is anything."

Politik rolled down the car window, turned around and asked Haranchuk, "What did it say in front?"

"Our train has entered the station. Someone on the platform gave us a signal to stop the train," Haranchuk reported. "The specific reason for the stop is not clear yet. Lieutenant Zhukov said that he would report to us as soon as he found out what happened."

When Sokov learned that it was the Germans who signaled the train to stop, he immediately had a bad feeling. He was worried that Zhukov would not be able to cope with the emergency, so he said to Politic: "Comrade Colonel, you stay here and prepare for battle. I will take some people to take a look."

After hesitating for a moment, Politic agreed with Sokov's idea and reminded him, "Be careful."

"Don't worry, Comrade Colonel, I will take care of my safety. After I leave, you should stay hidden and don't expose your target." After Sokov finished his instructions, he pointed at Sergeant Zub and Chulsin and said, "You two, follow me to deal with the Germans."

So, after getting off the train, Sokov walked towards the locomotive with two soldiers.

After getting off the train, Sokov saw clearly that there were not only German soldiers in the station, but also on both sides of the tracks in some areas. On the platform, supplies were piled up like a rockery, and there seemed to be a lot of them.

Although some German soldiers tried to stop him along the way, after seeing the military uniform Sokov was wearing, they immediately returned to their original positions and stood at attention to salute.

Arriving at the front of the train, Sokov saw Zhukov standing next to the first carriage, talking to a German officer. Worried that the other party might say something wrong, he quickly quickened his pace and asked loudly, "Second Lieutenant, what happened here?"

The German officer who was talking to Zhu Kewen breathed a sigh of relief and said to the German officer: "Captain, our commander is here. If you have any questions, you can ask him in person."

"Major." After the German officer saw Sokov approaching, he immediately stood at attention and saluted him: "Excuse me, are you the highest commander here?"

"Yes, I am the supreme commander." With the help of the light on the platform, Sokov saw clearly that the person standing in front of him was a German captain, so he deliberately asked with a stern face: "Captain, what can I do for you?"

"Mr. Major, which unit are you from? What's your destination?"

"We are reinforcements heading to the Volokolamsk region." Sokov looked at the German captain and asked, "Captain, what is the specific mission? This involves military secrets, so I can't tell you."

Fortunately, the German captain did not ask too many questions, but politely asked: "Major, it would be great if you were going to Volokolamsk."

Sokov was shocked when he heard what the other party said. He thought to himself, "Would the German soldiers want to hitchhike?" If that was true, then the officers and soldiers hiding in the sealed carriage would be in danger of being exposed. He pretended to be calm and asked the German captain, "Captain, what do you mean by that?"

The German captain pointed to the mountains of supplies on the platform and said, "These are ammunition and supplies bound for Volokolamsk. The vehicles originally scheduled to transport the supplies have not arrived yet. I wonder if you have any extra carriages that can transport these supplies." When Sokov learned that the German captain intended to ask him to help him transport a batch of supplies to Volokolamsk, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that the enemy asked about his identity not because they had discovered any flaws, but because they wanted to borrow the carriages to transport ammunition and supplies to Volokolamsk.

"Of course." Sokov thought that since there were many carriages being mobilized, there would be three empty carriages left after all the troops boarded the trains. He quickly pointed to the empty carriages and said to the German captain, "You can move the ammunition and supplies onto those carriages."

After receiving Sokov's permission, the German captain smiled happily and said quickly, "Major, please wait a moment. I will immediately arrange for people to move the ammunition and supplies on the platform to the car."

As soon as the German captain left, Sokov whispered to Chulhin: "Churhin, go back and tell Colonel Politik that the Germans intend to have us help them transport a batch of weapons and ammunition to the Volokolamsk area. I have agreed to the Germans' request and asked them to move the things onto the three empty carriages."

Chulsin agreed, turned around and walked quickly to the rear of the train, ready to report the information to Politic in time to prevent him from worrying.

When Sokov got off the train to negotiate with the Germans, Politic and others sitting in the back car were not idle either. They closely observed the situation in the station and were ready for battle. Once they found something wrong, they would immediately open fire on the Germans on the platform and leave this troubled place as soon as possible.

Haranchuk, who was standing by the window, saw Chulsin walking quickly towards him, and immediately turned to report to Politic: "Comrade Commander, the soldier named Chulsin is walking towards us. It seems that he has some important information to report to us."

Seeing Churhin approaching, Haranchuk quickly opened the car door and let him get in.

As soon as Churxin entered the carriage, Politic came forward and asked anxiously: "Comrade Churxin, what happened up ahead?"

"Comrade Colonel," Chulsin reported to Politic, "The Germans stopped our train because they have a batch of weapons and supplies that need to be transported to the Volokolamsk area immediately. Since the vehicles responsible for transportation have not arrived yet, in order not to waste time, the German commander hopes that our train can help them transport ammunition and supplies. Comrade Brigade Commander has agreed to their request and asked them to move the ammunition and supplies onto the three empty carriages."

After listening to Chulsin's report, both Politik and Haranchuk had complicated expressions on their faces.

By letting the Germans load the ammunition and supplies onto the train, they could take them for themselves. But there was also a problem. If the Germans sent people to escort the train, a small-scale battle might break out when the train arrived at its destination. Sound traveled very far in the dead of night, and Politic was worried that if he really clashed with the enemy escorting the train, the gunshots might alert nearby enemies, causing the plan to fail.

"Comrade Commander," Haranchuk had the same idea as Politik, and he whispered, "If the enemy sends troops to escort the vehicle, a small-scale battle may occur after we reach our destination. Then it may alert nearby enemies, causing changes in our return to the friendly defense zone."

Politik thought for a moment, then sighed and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Haranchuk, I think Sokov must have had his reasons for agreeing to let the Germans load the ammunition and supplies onto the vehicles. Maybe he already has a detailed plan. I think we should stop worrying about it."

After hearing what his commander said, Haranchuk could not raise any objections. He could only nod and said with a wry smile: "I hope so."

The Germans put up a gangplank at the door of the empty carriage and began to move ammunition and supplies. Since many local porters were recruited, it took less than an hour to move all the ammunition and supplies on the platform into the carriage.

Seeing that everything was loaded onto the truck, Sokov calmly asked the German captain, "Captain, please ask the guards to get on board."

The captain did not suspect anything and quickly called over thirty German soldiers to board three carriages.

After all the German soldiers who were escorting the car got on board, Sokov said to the captain, "Captain, we may encounter guerrillas along the way. For safety reasons, lock the car door from the outside and open it to let them out when we reach our destination."

After hearing what Sokov said, the German captain agreed with him and quickly ordered his subordinates to close the door of the carriage filled with ammunition and supplies and lock it from the outside.

Seeing the enemy's cooperation, Sokov's mouth curled up slightly, and he said to the German captain: "Okay, Captain, it's time for us to set off!"

The signal to start was given on the platform and the train started slowly.

Sokov did not rush to the rear carriage immediately, but stood there chatting with the German captain, preparing to jump onto the train when the carriage passed by him.

Soon, the last carriage passed Sokov.

Sokov waved to the German captain, then called Sergeant Zub to jump into the car with him.

The German captain standing on the platform looked at Sokov with gratitude and waved at him.

As soon as Sokov returned to the carriage, Haranchuk immediately came forward and hugged him, saying, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you are really great. You managed to fool the Germans so easily. Even when we left, the Germans thought we were their own people."

Politic, who was standing next to him, also laughed and said, "Yes, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you are really great. Not only did you successfully deceive the Germans, but you even got a batch of weapons and supplies from them. In this way, our shortage of ammunition can be alleviated to a certain extent."

After Sokov and Politic hugged, he said, "Comrade Colonel, I need to send a telegram to my brigade immediately and ask them to send more trucks when they come to support us. Not only can they carry the wounded, but they can also transport the weapons and supplies that the Germans gave us back to our defense zone."

"That's right, we should send a message immediately." Politic said urgently, "With so many supplies, if there are not enough vehicles, our soldiers won't be able to bring all of them back to our defense zone, and they will just be lost to the Germans."

Sokov asked Morozova to sit down in front of the radio and said, "Morozova, send a telegram to the brigade immediately, saying that we have a large amount of weapons and supplies on board and that the troops coming to meet us need more trucks to transport the supplies back to the defense zone."

While Morozova was sending the telegram, Haranchuk smiled and said to Politik: "Comrade, if the Germans knew that it was us, not their own people, who helped them transport ammunition and supplies, what kind of expression would they have?"

"I can't guess what the enemy's expression is like." Sokov stood up and said to Haranchuk, "But the German captain who spoke to me on the platform will definitely be sent to a military court for trial."

(End of this chapter)