Red Moscow

  Chapter 236 Disposal Programs

  As Rokossovsky tore up the telegram, the commanders present forgot about the matter and listened intently to Malinin's assignment of combat tasks to his troops. Only Sokov seemed a little absent-minded, still thinking about this inexplicable clear-coded telegram.

   Rokossovsky noticed Sokov's strangeness, but he didn't point it out in public. After Ma Linin finished assigning the task, he stood up and asked, "Do you have any questions?" After saying this, he waited for a while, and when no one spoke, he announced, "Since everyone has no questions, then Let's adjourn the meeting and go back to our respective troops to prepare for battle."

Seeing that Sokov also stood up and was about to go outside, Rokossovsky specifically stopped him: "Major Sokov stay here, I have something to tell you." When the officers heard what Rokossovsky said, they all involuntarily slowed down and cast envious glances at Sokov.

   When all the officers at the meeting had left, Rokossovsky came to Sokov and asked with concern: "Misha, I saw that you were a little absent-minded during the meeting. Is there something on your mind?"

"Does it need to be said, Comrade Commander, he must have something on his mind." Ma Lining interjected, "He must be thinking about when we will remove the 'agent' in front of his position and let him be a legitimate A real teacher." As soon as Ma Lining finished speaking, there was a sound of good-natured laughter around him.

   After the laughter stopped, Sokov shook his head and said, "As long as I can defeat the Japanese invaders, it doesn't matter whether I am a division commander or a battalion commander. I am thinking about other things."

   "Another thing?" Rokossovsky showed a curious expression on his face: "Can you tell me what it is?"

   "The telegram, the clear telegram." Sokov looked at Rokossovsky and said, "I think this telegram appeared very strange, and it just happened that we were preparing to pursue the victory, and the telegram appeared."

   "Major Sokov, I think you have forgotten about the telegram." Orel said with a serious expression: "I think this is a conspiracy by the Germans to disrupt our combat deployment."

"Misha, I think General Orel is right." As soon as Orel finished speaking, Malinin went on to say: "The Germans must have seen us break through their Zizdra line of defense. Unable to mobilize enough troops to fill the gap, this false telegram was created to confuse us and prevent us from sending troops deep into their defenses in time. This way, they would have enough time to Bring in new troops to strengthen their defenses."

  If other commanders questioned this plain-coded telegram of unknown origin, they would definitely be criticized or even scolded by the chiefs of the group army. But Sokov is a different situation. He is not only an excellent commander who has made many achievements on the battlefield, but also the son of an old comrade-in-arms of these chiefs, so everyone has shown enough patience with him.

   Rokossovsky waited for Orel and Malinin to finish speaking, looked at Sokov and asked, "Misha, do you think there is any problem with this telegram?"

"I can't tell." Sokov remembered that he had watched a TV series made in Germany in later generations. In it, there was a female radio operator lurking inside the German army. In order to transmit information to the Soviet army, because there was no communication code, he had to use Fortunately, she finally met a Soviet reconnaissance team, and the information was successfully passed on. Sokov felt vaguely in his heart that the clear-coded telegram received by Rokossovsky might be in a similar situation: "I think this may be a message sent by comrades lurking inside the German army who risked their lives. , we should draw the necessary attention.”

  After Sokov finished speaking, Rokossovsky couldn't help but fell into deep thought. He felt that the way he handled the clear telegram seemed a bit too hasty. After thinking for a while, he raised his head and said to Malinin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you call General Zhukov and report the telegram to him. By the way, do we have any guerrillas near Korenevo?" Activity."

When Malinin turned to make a phone call, Rokossovsky asked Sokov a little strangely: "Misha, if according to what you said, it was our comrades lurking inside the enemy who risked their lives to send out information, Why did he use plain code instead of password?"

"Comrade Commander," Sokov immediately replied upon hearing Rokossovsky's question, "According to my judgment, some urgent incident may have occurred. This information cannot be issued. Comrades who have obtained the information and do not know the password can only use this most dangerous method to send us a warning."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, is the phone connected?" Rokossovsky waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and immediately turned to ask Ma Linin who was dialing the phone. In front of him, he took the microphone and said: "This matter is of great importance, I should report it to General Zhukov personally."

But when Zhukov's voice came out of the receiver, Rokossovsky immediately said into the microphone: "Hello, Comrade Zhukov. I have an important matter to report to you. A few hours ago, we received A plain-text telegram that the enemy has deployed an armored division in the forest near Kolenevo..."

   "I also received this telegram." Zhukov waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, and asked noncommittally: "Comrade Rokossovsky, what do you think of this matter?"

"My comrades at the headquarters and I believe that this is a conspiracy by the Germans, an attempt to slow down the pace of our army's march, so that they can gain precious time and draw troops from other areas to fill the gaps opened by our army. gap." After Rokossovsky finished his opinion with other army chiefs in one breath, he hesitated for a moment, and then said with difficulty: "But..."

   "But what?" Zhukov asked briefly: "Does anyone have a different opinion?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Rokossovsky stared at Sokov, who was sitting aside, and said into the microphone: "Major Sokov feels that what is said in this clear telegram may be real."

  After hearing this, Zhukov briefly ordered: "Give him the phone, I want to talk to him."

As soon as Sokov put the receiver to his ear, he said: "I am Sokov..." Zhukov quickly interrupted him, and asked directly: "Major Sokov, tell me about your speculation."

"Comrade General," Sukov saw that Zhukov had personally intervened in this matter, so he could only bite the bullet and express his guess: "I think it may be a comrade of our army lurking inside the enemy who obtained this top-secret information. According to According to the regulations of underground work, he should hand over this information to a special operator. The reason why we see a clear telegram, according to my analysis, may have happened to the operator who sent the report, such as sacrifice or death. I was arrested, and the comrade who got the information didn't know the password of the radio station, so I had to take the risk and send this clear telegram."

   "Your analysis is very reasonable." Regarding Sokov's statement, Zhukov felt that it was reasonable, so he asked Sokov to hand over the microphone to Rokossovsky again. Then he explained to Rokossovsky how to deal with the telegram: "You immediately send scouts to the forest area near Korenevo to reconnaissance and find out what is going on. Since the German army is an armored division, No matter how they hide, there will always be clues, understand?"

"Understood, Comrade General." Rokossovsky replied loudly, and then asked: "Should we temporarily postpone our attack in the direction of Bryansk for a while, and wait for the results of the reconnaissance to come back before taking action?" Offensive action, okay?"

   "The attack in the direction of Bryansk will be postponed for 24 hours." Zhukov said after a moment of silence: "When the time comes, regardless of whether the scouts have fed back the reconnaissance information, we must immediately launch an attack on the German defense line in the direction of Bryansk."

  (end of this chapter)