Belkin was worried that he could not find the armored vehicle in the camp in front, so he used the radio station to send a telegram to Rokosovsky's headquarters, reporting on what happened on the road today, hoping that the other party could provide an armored vehicle.
Although Sokov is now a member of the Grassland Front, Rokosovsky was still shocked when he learned that he was in danger on the way and hurriedly ordered the tank brigade near Sokov's station to send two armored vehicles over overnight.
With these two armored vehicles, when the convoy set off the next morning, not only Sokov and Belkin got into the armored vehicle, but also all the commanders above the captain sat in the armored vehicle. The officers sitting in the car also took off their epaulettes, so as not to become targets of German snipers.
The two armored vehicles in the re-departure were particularly conspicuous. If there were German snipers along the way, their eyes would be attracted by the armored vehicles, and the commanders sitting in the carriage would be ignored by him.
During the march, the convoy encountered the German sniper who survived yesterday again. The cunning sniper knew very well that there must be a big Soviet figure in the armored vehicle, and his gun could not penetrate the steel plate of the armored vehicle, so he aimed at the truck wheel in front of the armored vehicle and directly shot the wheels into air.
Seeing that the vehicle in front suddenly stopped, Selyosha, who was sitting in the car with Sokov, wanted to get out of the car to check Sokov quickly grabbed him and said to him: "Seryosha, don't you think this tire is leaking, it's too strange?"
After experiencing yesterday's incident, Selyosha immediately understood what Sokov meant. He quickly ordered the soldiers on the truck in front of him through the car horn: "Fight alarm, battle alarm. There may be German snipers in the nearby woods. A row of combat formations immediately spread out and enters the forest to continue searching."
The guards and soldiers sitting in the car heard Selyosha's shout and quickly jumped out of the truck they were riding. The second and third rows arranged warnings on the spot, while the more than fifty soldiers in the first row entered the forest in groups of five people to search.
The German sniper had originally seen the convoy stop, so he aimed his gun at the door of the armored vehicle, intending to shoot at the people coming out of the door after the door was opened. But what he did not expect was that the people in the armored vehicle did not come out, but the officers and soldiers sitting on the truck got out of the car and set out to search the forest.
Seeing that the situation was not good, the sniper cursed quietly and ran quickly towards the depths of the forest with a gun. He knew very well that if he continued to stay here, many would be discovered by the search troops. If it was summer, the shrubs and weeds in the forest were the best cover for him. But now it is still winter, and the forest was filled with snow without melting everywhere, and the Soviet army searched easily found itself according to its own pace.
After some running, while throwing off the search troops, the sniper miserably found his location and couldn't see the road clearly, let alone performing any sniping. He stood there and was stunned for a while, and finally decided to go back to the nearby point yesterday, maybe there would be some gains there.
During the search process, the soldiers in the guards found footprints left by the German snipers. After tracking for a while, they arrived at a stream. The footprints disappeared when they arrived at the stream. It was obvious that the German snipers escaped along the stream. The platoon leader led the team ordered the soldiers to search upstream and downstream, but there was no gain, so they could only announce their retreat.
A platoon leader returned to the armored vehicle and reported to Selyosha with a bitter face: "Comrade Commander, although we found the traces of German snipers, we lost his footprints when we chased a stream."
"Why are you so stupid?" Hearing a platoon leader saying that he had lost the enemy, Selyosha said angrily: "So many of you can't catch an enemy, what are you doing?"
"Seryosha," Fortunately, Sokov felt that using a group of infantry to search for a sniper in the forest was a very difficult thing, and it was normal to be thrown away by the enemy. So he interrupted Selesha and comforted the platoon leader and said, "A platoon leader, although you have lost the trace of the enemy, it just shows that the search you conducted has scared the enemy so much that he had to escape far away."
Speaking of this, he asked Seryosha who was sulking, "Have the tires changed?"
“It’s changed.”
"Since the tires have been replaced, let's continue to set off." Sokov waved his hand to a platoon leader and said, "You can go back to the army, too."
After the German snipers were scared away, the next itinerary became extremely smooth. Although the road along the way was in a bad state, the convoy still arrived at a town called Higre at noon on the third day.
At the entrance of the town, there is a check checkpoint. Not only is there a crossbar, but there is also a wooden fence with iron wire in front. There is also a sandbag fortification on both sides of the checkpoint, and a turntable machine gun is installed. The soldiers stared at the road ahead with vigilant eyes.
When he saw Sokov's convoy coming, a second lieutenant immediately stepped forward to block the road. He waved the green and red signal flags in his hand and signaled the convoy to stop and undergo inspection.
Since she knew that she could reach her destination today, Selyosha did not drive with Sokov, but sat in the jeep in the front, specifically responsible for contacting friendly forces.
The lieutenant walked to the jeep, bent down and looked into the car, then took a step back, raised his hand to salute Seryosha, and asked politely: "Hello, Comrade Captain."
"Hello, Lieutenant!" Selyosha said, pushed open the car door and got out of the car, looked at the wooden fence in front, and said to the Lieutenant: "Comrade Lieutenant, please call your people to move away all the things blocking the road. We must hurry to Castornoye."
The second lieutenant knew that Castornoye was the location of the Front Command, so he asked vigilantly: "Which part of you are? What are you doing to Castornoye?"
"Comrade Second Lieutenant, we used to be the Sixth Army, but we have now been transferred to the Grassland Front and are now heading to the headquarters to report to General Konev."
The second lieutenant didn't even believe Seryosha's statement. After looking Seryosha up and down, he asked vigilantly: "Comrade Captain, where is your ID?"
"Here, this is my certificate." When Selyosha took out the certificate and handed it to the second lieutenant, in order to avoid unnecessary verbal talk, even Sokov's transfer order was handed over: "This is the transfer order of our commander, please take a good look."
The second lieutenant received the military certificate and transfer order. After checking carefully, he frowned and said to Selyosha: "Captain, this is General Sokov's transfer order. You will never tell me that you are Major General Sokov."
"Of course I'm not." Selyosha said with a sensation: "But I am his guard company commander, and he ordered me to be responsible for contacting friendly forces along the way."
"I'm sorry, comrade Captain." The lieutenant returned the ID and transfer order to Selyosha, and said expressionlessly: "I can't let you pass before I see General Sokov."
Sokov, who was sitting in the armored vehicle behind, saw the convoy parked in place and was not moving for a long time. He guessed in his heart that Selyosha might have encountered a lever who didn't know how to adapt. If he didn't come forward, he would probably not know how much time would be delayed. Thinking of this, he raised his hand and pushed open the car door and prepared to get off the car!
Seeing Sokov getting off the car, Belkin was startled and quickly grabbed Sokov and reminded him: "Misha, be careful of the German sniper."
"Don't worry, my political commissar." Sokov said to Belkin with a smile: "This is the defense zone of our army, and there are open areas nearby. The enemy snipers cannot hide at all, so I will be fine."
After hearing Sokov say this, Belkin quickly leaned out and looked around. Seeing that the surrounding terrain was indeed an open land, as Sokov said, and could ambush the snipers at least five hundred meters away. Even the best snipers had to shoot at such a long distance, the chances of shooting at the target were very low.
After confirming that there would be no danger in Sokov getting off the car, Belkin let go of Sokov's hand and said to him: "Misha, I'll accompany you."
Selyosha, who was discussing the checkpoint and the second lieutenant, was shocked when he saw Sokov and Belkin coming over. He quickly said, "Comrade Commander, why are you here? You should know that there may be an enemy sniper hidden nearby, so you should go back to the car quickly."
"Don't worry, this is the defense zone of our army, and there is an open area nearby, so it is impossible for German snipers to appear." Sokov came to the lieutenant, stretched out his hand at him, and introduced himself: "Hello, lieutenant. Let me introduce myself. I am Major General Sokov. I just stepped down as commander of the Sixth Army not long ago. Now I am preparing to go to Kastornoy and accept a new position to General Konev."
"Sorry, Comrade General." Although Sokov had already shown his identity, the second lieutenant still said unyieldingly: "I don't know you, please show your ID."
Sokov heard from the second lieutenant's tone that the other party was a dull person, but he did not bother with him. Instead, he cooperated quite well and took out his military certificate and handed it to him: "Comrade Lieutenant, this is my military certificate."
After reading the ID, the lieutenant extended his hand again: "Comrade General, where is your transfer order?"
"Didn't I show you the transfer order?" Xie Liangsha said with some angrily: "Why do you still have to see it?"
"Sorry, comrade Captain, this is a necessary procedure." The second lieutenant said unyieldingly: "Please cooperate with me."
Seeing that Selyosha was about to argue with the other party again, Sokov raised his hand to stop him, took the transfer order from him, and handed it back to the lieutenant.
The second lieutenant slowly compared the name on the transfer order with the name on the military certificate. After confirming that it was correct, he returned the ID to Sokov, raised his hand and saluted, and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Comrade General. I didn't recognize you."
Sokov knew that the other party was a scheming person, so he did not bother with him, but waved his hand and said, "It's okay, you are performing your duties, you are doing it right."
After verifying the identities of Sokov and others, the lieutenant quickly ordered the soldiers in the checkpoint to come out and move the obstacles placed in the middle of the road to the side.
After the vehicle was back on the road, Belkin, who was sitting with Sokov, shook his head and said, "Misha, I haven't met an officer who is so dull for a long time. Fortunately, he was not in my army, otherwise I would have let him serve as an anti-tank player and bomb the tanks according to the methods learned in the textbooks."
Sokov couldn't help laughing when he heard Belkin's angry words. He immediately said, "My political commissar, although the second lieutenant just now was dull and did not know how to adapt, he was not useless. If he checked as strictly as him and pretended to be the enemy of our army, he might reveal his flaws, so as to prevent the enemy from sneaking into our army's defense zone."
"Misha, you are so generous." Belkin shook his head and said, "If it were me who were repeatedly investigated like this, he might scold him. How could he be as easy as you."
The convoy continued to drive forward for half an hour and passed three checkpoints one after another. However, the inspection of these checkpoints was not as tight as the first checkpoint. Basically, Selyosha was released directly as soon as he showed his identity and did not even check his ID.
When the convoy arrived at Kastornoy, the inspection here became tighter again. The officers guarding the entrance of the town did not allow the convoy to enter the town at all. Even Sokov showed his ID and transfer order, but the other party still did not buy it. It was said that in order to protect the safety of the Front Command, foreign vehicles were not allowed to enter. However, considering that the distance from the headquarters here was a bit far away, he made an exception to allow Sokov and a driver to go in a jeep.
Sokov had no choice but to let Samoilov act as a driver for himself and take a jeep to the Front Command.
Soon, the jeep arrived at the church in the center of the town. Along the way, Sokov saw sandbags fortifications arranged on the steps of the church, and patrols were walking back and forth at the door.
The jeep Sokov was riding was stopped again. A lieutenant who was leading the patrol, after reviewing Sokov's ID and transfer order, shook his head at him and said, "Comrade General, please come with me, I will take you to the headquarters." When he saw Sokov get out of the car with an assault rifle, he kindly reminded, "Comrade General, I think you'd better leave your weapons in the car, so that you'll have to hand over your weapons when you enter the church."
Sokov was very cooperative about the rigorous security check of the Konev Command. He not only placed the assault rifle in the car, but also unloaded the gun and handed it over to Samoilov, and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant, just stay here and wait for me, and I will be back soon."
"Yes, Commander." Samoilov answered after putting away Sokov's weapons, "I will stay in the car and wait for you."
Chapter completed!