Chapter 2753

The situation on the battlefield was very unfavorable to the Soviet army.

The deputy commander of the group army who was sent to command the troops on the flank unfortunately died in the battle on the third day after arriving. Following his sacrifice, the troops assembled here were also defeated by the German army. The vast majority of the commanders and soldiers either died or became prisoners of the Germans. Only less than two hundred people fled to the Yagogin area.

"Comrade Commander," Colonel Del asked Vlasov with some excitement when he learned that the deputy commander was killed in the battle and that the flanks in the Yagotin area were occupied by the Germans: "Now we only have this little thing left in the entire army. We have enough troops, can we stop the crazy attack that the German army is about to launch? "

Before Vlasov could express his opinion, Military Commissar Nikolsky came in from the outside again and placed a piece of paper in his hand in front of the two of them: "Commander and Chief of Staff, look. Look, these are the leaflets that the Germans just dropped on our position."

Vlasov picked up the German leaflet and after just one glance, his pupils shrank violently and a shocked expression appeared on his face.

There are three photos on the leaflet, namely, the commander of the front army, General Kirponos, the member of the Military Commission Burmistenko, and the chief of staff, Major General Tupikov, and they are the portraits of them after their sacrifices. Below the photo is the content of the German army's persuasion to surrender. The general message is that all the senior leaders of your front army have been killed, and there is no point in continuing to resist. It calls on everyone to stop resisting, lay down their weapons and surrender to the German army in exchange for a chance to survive.

After Colonel Del saw the contents of the leaflet clearly, he was shocked. He said to Vlasov: "Comrade Commander, if our commanders and soldiers see such a leaflet, their morale will definitely be shaken and their morale will be low. This behavior of the Germans It’s such a poisonous move.”

"Commander, Chief of Staff." Nikolsky said: "As soon as I get the news, I will arrange for political workers to collect the leaflets on the position and destroy them on the spot. Once someone is found hiding it, he will be severely punished."

"Comrade Military Commissar, even if you do this, I'm afraid the effect won't be very good." Vlasov shook his head and said: "After all, many people have already seen this leaflet, even if we start to collect it and collect it now The ground will be burned, and those who have not seen the flyers will also know about it from other people’s mouths.”

"We can keep it secret for as long as we can." Nikolsky said: "The situation on the battlefield is not good for our army. If these rumors are allowed to spread among the army, it will definitely affect the morale of the army, which will be very detrimental to our next operations. Unfavorable.”

"Report!" At this time, a voice shouting a report came from not far away.

The three of them turned to look and saw Sokov.

"Captain Sokov, you came just in time." Vlasov couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when he saw Sokov arriving, then picked up the leaflet and handed it over: "Have you seen this leaflet distributed by the Germans? ”

Sokov glanced at the leaflet quickly, then nodded and said: "Yes, Comrade Commander, I have read it."

"Then do you think the content on the leaflet is true or false?" Colonel Del asked.

"If there are no photos, it is most likely fake." Sokov replied casually: "But now that there are photos on it, it means it must be true."

"Comrade Military Commissioner has arranged manpower to collect these leaflets, so as not to affect our military morale. Do you think his approach is right?"

Sokov turned his head and glanced at Nikolsky, organized the vocabulary in his mind, and then said: "Comrade Military Commissar's approach has a good intention, but the effect may be counterproductive?"

Hearing what Sokov said, Nikolsky looked unhappy: "Captain Sokov, why do you say that?"

"Comrade Military Commissar, everyone is curious. The more facts are deliberately concealed, the more everyone wants to know." Sokov explained to Nikolsky: "Look at the surrender leaflet dropped by the Germans. There are many commanders and fighters who have passed by. If they are forcibly confiscated at this moment, they will be let go. Some commanders and soldiers who have never seen it are curious, and they will ask around to find out what is written on the leaflet. Those who have seen the leaflet will definitely tell them the content in order to satisfy their curiosity. On the contrary, it will speed up the spread.”

Nikolsky was silent for a long time after hearing this, and then said: "Then what do you think we should do, just let it go?"

"Comrade Military Commissar, I think it doesn't matter much even if we admit that the contents of this leaflet are true." When Sokov said this, seeing that Colonel Del seemed to be ready to say a few words, he quickly speeded up his speech: "We All should be told through political workers Commanders and fighters, our superiors died heroically in the battle against the Germans, but we were not frightened, conquered, or killed. We got up from the ground, wiped the blood off our bodies, and buried the bodies of our comrades. , continue to fight the enemy."

"Okay, well said." Vlasov clapped his hands on the table and said excitedly: "Captain Sokov, what you said is really great. I believe these words will definitely boost the morale and morale of the military. "Comrade Military Commissar," he said next to Nikolsky, "let the political workers convey Captain Sokov's words to every soldier, so that they understand that although the enemy is temporarily stronger than us, , but we still have the ability to continue fighting.”

Nikolsky said excitedly: "Comrade Commander, I understand. I will immediately call the political workers to do political propaganda for the soldiers, boost morale, and let all the soldiers have the confidence to continue fighting the enemy."

After Nikolsky left, Vlasov looked at Sokov and asked: "Captain Sokov, what do you want to see me about?"

"Comrade Commander, my special company now has less than 20 people. I think that with so few people, it is definitely not enough to protect the safety of the headquarters." Sokov looked at Vlasov and said: "I wonder if you can give me some more manpower?"

"Sokov Captain, we need people everywhere on the front line. "Before Vlasov finished speaking, Colonel Del rushed to say: "As far as I know, in some regiment command posts, there is not even a sentry at the door except for the signalman and a few staff officers. This shows how short of manpower they are. Anyway, the troops protecting the headquarters, plus your special company, still have one or two hundred people, which is already pretty good."

"Captain Sokov, I'm really sorry." Vlasov also said apologetically: "You have seen the situation of the headquarters, and I really can't give you additional manpower."

Sokov came to Vlasov today after careful consideration. In three days, the 37th Army in the Yagotin area will be completely wiped out by the Germans. If he has too few people, how can he break through? He doesn't want to be a prisoner of the Germans.

Thinking of this, he continued: "Comrade Commander, we are not bringing hundreds of people from Berezhan, let's pick fifty soldiers from them. If it doesn't work, thirty will do. The current manpower I have is not enough to form a platoon."

"Captain Sokov, I have something important here." But Vlasov didn't seem to want to help Sokov solve this problem. He looked down at the map in front of him and said casually: "If you need manpower, find a way to solve it yourself."

Although he didn't get manpower from Vlasov, he felt much more at ease when he heard this from the other party. If you can't assign me manpower, then I will go outside to accommodate those small troops that have been scattered. When the Yagotin area is occupied by the Germans, maybe I will have a large number of troops in my hands.

After raising his hand to salute Vlasov and Colonel Del, he turned and walked out of the command center.

Seeing Sokov coming out of the headquarters, Lieutenant Zhukov and Major Mira immediately came up to him and asked with concern: "How is it, did the commander agree to give us manpower?"

"No." Sokov shook his head and said: "The commander and the chief of staff said that they don't have any extra manpower and can't assign it to us."

Hearing what Sokov said, Zhukov and Mira showed disappointed expressions on their faces.

Zhu Kewen even said, "Comrade Captain, I have just told you that the front headquarters was annihilated by the German army when it broke through because there were too few troops around it. Judging from the current situation, it can't hold out for long here. If we have to choose to break through in the end, I don't think we can escape the German encirclement with just such a small number of people."

"Comrade Lieutenant, don't worry." Sokov put a hand on Zhu Kewen's shoulder and comforted him, saying, "Although the commander and the chief of staff did not agree to add more people to us, the commander also said that if we want to expand the troops, we can find a way to solve the problem of troops ourselves."

"Where do we find troops to expand our troops?" Zhu Kewen asked with a frown.

Major Mira's eyes lit up, and he immediately asked Sokov: "Captain Sokov, do you mean that we can expand the troops in our own way?"

"Yes, that's it."

Zhu Kewen heard the conversation between Sokov and Mira, but was confused: "What are you two talking about? Why don't I understand?"

"Comrade Lieutenant," After spending some time together, Sokov found that Zhu Kewen was actually a person of good character, but sometimes he was too stubborn. Seeing that he didn't understand what he and Mira meant, he explained to him: "Since the commander has agreed to let me solve the problem of the special company's manpower myself, I plan to take in those scattered troops and incorporate them into the special company to strengthen our strength."

"Is this appropriate?" Sure enough, as soon as Sokov finished speaking, Lieutenant Zhukov, who was not very smart, raised his own question: "The superiors will know that we are doing this, and they will not blame us, right?"

"No, Comrade Lieutenant." Sokov smiled and said to Zhukov: "I got the personal consent of the commander. Even if there are any problems in the future, if anyone wants to hold someone accountable, I will bear it alone."

"Comrade Captain," Major Mira urged: "We must start the reception work as soon as possible, otherwise when the fighting here is fierce, the scattered troops withdrawn from Kiev will withdraw to our army's new defense zone through other areas."

In this way, Sokov took the personnel of the special company and set up checkpoints on the main traffic routes to intercept the officers and soldiers withdrawing from Kiev.

In less than a day, the special company quickly expanded from less than 20 people to 300 people, and most of the officers and soldiers had weapons in their hands.

Someone soon called Colonel Del to complain about Sokov's taking in the fleeing soldiers.

Colonel Del received a complaint call and learned that Sokov's special company had increased to 300 people in less than a day. He was also surprised. He covered the microphone with his hand and reported to Vlasov: "Commander Comrade, someone below complained that Captain Sokov took in the troops withdrawn from Kiev without permission and expanded the special company to 300 people in a very short period of time. "

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Vlasov had a smile on his face: "I knew that this Captain Sokov was not simple. If it were someone else and our request for more manpower was rejected, he would definitely not be able to do anything. . Only Sokov would think of strengthening his own strength by containing defeated troops.”

"So what do we do with him?"

"Why do you want to deal with him?" Vlasov asked.

"He took in the defeated troops without authorization from his superiors, which is against the rules."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I don't think there is anything wrong with Captain Sokov's approach." Seeing that Colonel Del did not have a clear understanding, Vlasov quickly reminded him: "I told him that finding a way to expand the special company by yourself is tantamount to He was given the authorization. Also, the special company is to protect the safety of the headquarters. If the worst happens and the Yagotin area cannot be defended, and we have to choose to break out, the special company in the hands of Captain Sokov Being strong is also good for us.”

Vlasov's words reminded Colonel Del of the scene when he escaped from Kiev. At that time, because there were too few people around him, he did not dare to rashly attack the bridgehead occupied by the German army. If Sokov hadn't been clever and figured out how to impersonate the German Brandenburg troops, they might have become prisoners of the Germans.

After thinking about this, Colonel Del released his hand covering the microphone and said to the commander who complained: "Comrade Commander, Captain Sokov's admission of broken troops was authorized by Comrade Commander, that is to say "What he did was not wrong at all. You don't have to mind your own business." After saying that, he hung up the phone before the other party could speak.

Sokov did not know that he had been snitched, but he discussed with Mira privately: "Comrade Major, although our number has exceeded 300, this strength may be enough to let go. But if we are caught in a German encirclement in the future and want to break out, this strength will still be far from enough. "

"What do you mean, are we still going to contain the troops?"

"Well, that's what I'm thinking about." Sokov nodded and said, "Another point is that so many soldiers from different armies are gathered together and are unfamiliar with each other. If they are not distributed reasonably, I'm afraid that when When there's a war, there's chaos."

"Captain Sokov, I understand what you mean." Hearing what Sokov said, Mira immediately understood: "You and Second Lieutenant Zhu Kewen continue to contain the defeated troops. I will be responsible for reorganizing the commanders and fighters and trying to get them to recover as soon as possible. combat effectiveness.”