red moscow

Chapter 2741 German Night Bombing

In the middle of the night, Sokov was awakened by Chulsin: "Comrade Captain, wake up! Something happened!"

Sokov squinted his eyes and asked sleepily, "What happened?"

"You'll know when you get to the rooftop." Chulhin must have been worried that Sokov would not want to go out to check, so he emphasized, "Yegor asked me to call you."

Before dark, Sokov asked the soldiers in his direct squad to take turns on duty on the top of the headquarters building to observe the surrounding environment and report to him in a timely manner if they found any problems. Now Sokov heard Chulsin say that Yegor was looking for him, and he guessed that something big might have happened, otherwise the other party would not have sent someone to disturb his sweet dream.

After getting dressed, Sokov followed Churhin to the roof.

Soon, they reached the rooftop and Sokov went directly to the observation point he had set up during the day.

At this moment, Yegor was looking down with a telescope. Hearing footsteps behind him, he quickly put down the telescope and turned his head to look behind him. Seeing that the person coming was Sokov, he quickly turned around and saluted: "Hello, Comrade Captain."

"Yegor," Sokov looked at Yegor and asked, "What happened?"

"Take a look first." Yegor did not answer Sokov's question immediately, but handed the telescope to Sokov: "I will report to you after you have taken a look."

Sokov took the telescope and looked downstairs. He found that a building in the distance was on fire. He quickly raised the telescope and looked in that direction.

"What the hell is going on over there?" Sokov asked, looking at the burning building. "Where is the fire and how long has it been going on?"

"Less than five minutes." Yegor answered from behind: "If I remember correctly, it should be a shared bathroom."

If the fire had started somewhere else, Sokov would not have found it strange, but a fire in the bathroom was very strange: "Have you reported it to your superiors?"

"I called the duty room and reported the fire in the public bathroom. I think they will send a fire brigade to put out the fire soon."

Sokov secretly calculated the distance. The bathroom was about 500 to 600 meters away from the headquarters. Even if the house burned down, it would not affect the headquarters. He put down the telescope and said to Yegor, "Yegor, did you ask Chulsin to call me up here just because of the fire in the public bathroom?"

"Well, Captain, you can say it is, and you can say it is not."

Yegor's words confused Sokov: "Yegor, I don't understand what you mean, can you explain it in more detail?"

"The fire in the public bathroom is just the beginning," Yegor said. "I estimate that it won't be long before there will be fires in other places."

"Are there other places on fire?" Sokov couldn't help laughing when he heard Yegor say that. "Yegor, are you from the Gypsies? Can you tell fortunes?"

"Comrade Captain, please believe me, it won't be long before a nearby building catches fire."

As soon as he finished speaking, Sokov heard Chulsin exclaim, "Look, why is there thick smoke rising over there? Is there a fire there too?"

Sokov turned his head and saw the rising flames and thick smoke in the direction Chulsin pointed.

He quickly ran to the side of the roof, lowered his head and looked down. Sure enough, a building a few hundred meters away was engulfed in flames.

"Yegor, can you explain this to me?" Sokov pointed in the direction of the fire and asked Yegor in confusion, "Why is there a fire here too?"

"The fire broke out in a theater," Yegor said. "The chairs in the theater would burn for quite some time."

"Okay, Igor, stop talking nonsense." Sokov was a little anxious: "Tell me, how did you know there would be another fire?"

"Comrade Captain," Yegor said to Sokov with a serious expression, "If I'm not mistaken, the Germans will soon launch a night bombing on the city."

"How did you know?"

"Comrade Captain," Yegor explained to Sokov, "the city has implemented a blackout. At night, everything is pitch black. Even if the Germans want to carry out night bombing, they can't find the target at all."

"That's right. The city under blackout was completely dark at night, and the German pilots couldn't find their targets at all." Sokov looked at the theater with flames shooting up into the sky, and immediately understood what Yegor wanted to say: "Igor, if I'm not mistaken, it was saboteurs who sneaked into the city who set the fire and gave the German night pilots instructions on where to bomb."

Chulsin, who heard the conversation between Sokov and Yegor, said disapprovingly: "Maybe the fire will be out before the German bombers arrive, and the enemy pilots will still not be able to see the target clearly."

"Churxin, it would be great if things were as simple as you think." Yegor said with a serious expression: "If my judgment is correct, the German spies will also set fires in other directions to indicate the bombing targets for the German bomber groups."

Sokov was shocked when he heard what Yegor said, and then asked back: "Yegor, do you mean that the Germans will take the headquarters as their bombing target?"

"Yeah, that's what I think."

"How could the German pilots know where our headquarters was at night?" Churxin asked puzzledly.

Seeing that Chulsin still didn't understand, Sokov explained to him: "German spies set three fires around the headquarters, which was equivalent to indicating the target for German pilots. When the German bomber group arrived over Kiev, they only needed to bomb in the middle of the three fire points to destroy our headquarters."

After saying that, Sokov turned around and walked downstairs, saying, "Yegor, you and Churhin continue to stay upstairs and observe. I will go downstairs to report to the commander."

When Sokov hurried to the headquarters, although it was quieter than during the day, there were still many staff officers on duty.

"Who's on duty tonight?" Sokov grabbed a staff officer who was walking by and said hurriedly, "I have important intelligence to report."

The staff officer pointed to a closed small door in the corner of the headquarters and said, "The person on duty tonight is Chief of Staff Colonel Del. He is sleeping in there now."

Sokov rushed to the small door and pushed it, but it didn't open. He must have been locked from the inside. He banged on the door and shouted, "Comrade Chief of Staff, Comrade Chief of Staff, I'm Captain Sokov, and I have urgent information to report to you."

The sound of Sokov knocking on the door and shouting woke up the dozing staff and signalmen in the headquarters. Although no one said anything, they all cast dissatisfied glances at Sokov.

The door opened and Colonel Del appeared in military uniform, looking sleepy.

He looked at Sokov and said impatiently: "Comrade Captain, you'd better have something really important to do, otherwise I can transfer you to the front line just because you woke me up." "Comrade Chief of Staff, I'm sorry to disturb your rest." Sokov said hurriedly: "The enemy's bomber formation will soon bomb the headquarters. I'm here to inform everyone to evacuate to a safe area."

"Captain Sokov, are you a clairvoyant?"

"No."

"Then how do you know that the enemy is about to bomb here?" Del said unhappily, "I think you just imagined it."

Seeing that Colonel Del didn't believe him, Sokov got anxious and quickly pulled him to the long table next to him. He found a pen and paper and began to draw a diagram: "Comrade Chief of Staff, look, this is the building where our headquarters is located. Now there are fires in the public bathroom and the theater. According to my analysis, German spies will soon set fire to another building near the headquarters. As long as there are three fire points, it is equivalent to indicating the target for the German night bombers to bomb in the middle of the fire points."

"You said that the German spies tried to set fires in three places around the headquarters in order to indicate the targets for the German night bombers to bomb?"

"Yes, I think so." Sokov said hurriedly: "Although there are only two fires now, according to my judgment, the third fire point will appear soon."

Just as Colonel Del was about to say something, a staff officer sitting by the window suddenly exclaimed, "Come and see, there's a fire in the library."

Everyone rushed to the window and looked in the direction the staff officer pointed, and sure enough, they saw that a three-story building over there was also on fire.

Seeing this, Colonel Del's face turned serious: "Captain Sokov, so your judgment is correct. The Germans are about to bomb the headquarters."

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"Yes, that's right." Sokov nodded vigorously and said in a positive tone: "If we don't move quickly, we will definitely suffer heavy casualties under the German bombing. Comrade Chief of Staff, give the order quickly and have everyone evacuate to the nearby air-raid shelter to avoid the upcoming air raid."

Colonel Del did not hesitate any longer and immediately issued an order to a staff officer beside him: "Sound the air raid alarm immediately and have everyone in the building move to the nearby air-raid shelter."

"Do you need someone to stay on duty?"

"No need." Colonel Del answered straightforwardly: "Everyone knows that the German army is about to bomb this building. If you leave people on duty inside, you are sending them to their deaths. Follow my orders, everyone leave the building and hide in the nearby air-raid shelter."

A few minutes later, the piercing air raid sirens sounded.

Because it was night, the sound of the air raid sirens could be heard from far away.

The front headquarters was only a few hundred meters away from here, and the front leaders in the building were also awakened by the sound of the air raid alarm.

After hearing the air defense alarm outside, the front's chief of staff, Major General Tupikov, immediately called the duty room and asked, "What's going on? Where is the air defense alarm coming from?"

The duty officer quickly replied: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the air raid alarm came from the nearby garrison headquarters building."

"Nonsense, absolute nonsense." Tupikov said angrily, "What's wrong with this Vlasov? He stays up in the middle of the night and keeps sounding the air raid alarm. He deliberately doesn't want us to sleep."

After finishing the call with the duty room, he picked up another phone, dialed a number and said, "Operator, this is Tupikov, connect me to the 37th Army Headquarters immediately."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, please wait a moment. I will connect you right away."

A few minutes later, the operator reported to Tupikov: "I'm sorry, Comrade Chief of Staff, but no one answered the phone at the 37th Army headquarters."

"What? No one answered?" Tupikov was anxious when he heard it. "What about their combat duty room? Is there no one answering the phone either?"

"Yes, I have called the Operations Duty Room, but no one answered."

Tupikov put down the phone, called a staff officer and told him, "Go to the 37th Army headquarters immediately, find out why they sounded the air defense alarm in the middle of the night, and ask their duty officer to call me."

Before the staff officer who received the order left, Commander General Kirponos and divisional political commissar Gurov walked in.

"Comrade Chief of Staff, what happened? Why was the air raid alarm sounded in the middle of the night?" Kirponos asked with a stern face.

"Comrade Commander," Tupikov replied with a bitter face after hearing Kirponos's reproach, "It was not us who sounded the air raid alarm, but the one from the nearby garrison headquarters building. I asked the operator to call them, but no one answered. I was just about to send someone to check it out."

As soon as he finished speaking, a phone on the table rang.

Tupikov picked up the phone and listened for a moment before his face suddenly changed.

Seeing this, Kirponos immediately asked, "Chief of Staff, what happened?"

"The air defense command reported that a German night bomber formation is heading towards Kiev. It will reach the sky over Kiev in a quarter of an hour at most."

"It seems that Vlasov and his men received intelligence in advance and sounded the air raid alarm." After listening to Tupikov, Gurov said to Kirponos thoughtfully: "Comrade Commander, should we order the people in the headquarters to go to the air raid shelter to avoid the German air raid?"

"I don't think it's necessary." Kirponos shook his head and said, "Kiev has already implemented a blackout. After dark, everything is pitch black. Even if the German bombers reach the sky above Kiev, they won't be able to find a target to bomb."

"Do we need to send someone to find General Vlasov?"

"No need." Kirponos continued, "After the enemy planes leave, send someone to call Vlasov over. I will criticize him. As an army commander, how can he be so panicked?"

"Comrade staff officer." Since Kirponos said there was no need to look for Vlasov, Tupikov said to the staff officer, "The previous order is canceled. Go back and rest."

"What about the German air raids?"

"Don't worry about it." Tupikov looked at the staff officer in front of him and said confidently: "Comrade Commander just said that Kiev has already implemented a blackout. Even if the German planes are over Kiev, they are blind and can't even find the target. What can they bomb?"

Seeing that the three leaders of the front were so calm, the staff officer felt that he should not panic because of their behavior, lest he be regarded as a coward. After raising his hand to salute, he turned around and left the command center and went back to his room to rest.

(End of this chapter)