red moscow

Chapter 2749 Rescue of Prisoners of War
"Captain Sokov, I beg you," Vlasov said with a serious expression, "We must find a way to rescue them. One more officer will give us more strength in the next battle."

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Although it is very difficult to rescue these captured Soviet commanders and fighters from the Germans, it does not mean that they cannot be rescued. However, it requires careful deployment to ensure that there is no risk of error: "I will find a way to rescue them all."

Then, Sokov called Lieutenant Zhukov, Jubro, Chulsin and Romanov to his side and asked them directly: "How are your marksmanship?"

"Comrade Captain, you should remember that I was born a hunter, and hunting is what I am best at." Giubro patted the Mosin-Nagant rifle in his hand and said confidently: "Within a range of 50 meters, I will never let a German escape."

"Ziubro, if we really want to ambush this group of Germans, the shooting distance must not be 50 meters, maybe 30 meters is possible." After Sokov was sure that Ziubro's shooting skills could help him effectively eliminate the enemy, he asked the other three: "How about your shooting skills?"

"Comrade Captain, I am from the Internal Affairs Force, and I am not good at shooting." Zhu Kewen said truthfully: "If I participate in an ambush, I can't guarantee that I won't accidentally hurt my own people."

"Although I am a machine gunner, my shooting skills are not bad." Chulxin continued: "If you want to ambush this group of Germans, I believe I can help you."

There was only one Romanov left. Sokov did not ask him any more questions, but directly stretched out his hand to him: "Romanov, give me your gun."

In Sokov's mind, Romanov was a man of domestic affairs, and he would have no problem managing a city or even a country. But asking him to take up arms and ambush with him would be a bit too much, so he did not intend to let him participate in this operation.

"Giubro, Chulhin, there are only three of us directly involved in the battle this time." Sokov looked at Jiubro and Chulhin and asked directly, "Three against 3. We are at an absolute disadvantage in terms of equipment and numbers. What do you think? Are you afraid?"

"Comrade Captain, I think your statement is wrong." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Chulxin rushed to say: "Although there are only three of us, as long as the gunfire is heard and the Germans escorting our prisoners of war are killed, the prisoners of war may riot and help us kill the remaining Germans."

Sokov felt that what Churhin said made sense. After all, there were hundreds of captured Soviet commanders and fighters. When they saw the Germans around them being killed, some of them would definitely rush out and fight with the remaining Germans. After all, no one wanted to be sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.

After selecting the nearby personnel, Sokov began to deploy the ambush position: "Chursin, you ambush on the right side of the road, and Jubro and I hide on the left side of the road. When you see me shooting at the Germans, you should also shoot immediately to eliminate the enemy who poses the greatest threat to the prisoners of war. Be careful not to accidentally hurt our own people when shooting."

Having said that, Sokov knew very well in his heart that if gunshots were heard, the entire group of prisoners would flee in all directions like a nest of explosives, and it would be difficult to avoid accidentally hurting their own people.

"I understand, Comrade Captain." Chulxin replied expressionlessly, "I will try my best not to hurt any of my own people."

After arranging the ambush personnel, Sokov said to Vlasov and others: "Comrade Commander, although you only have a few pistols, if the prisoners of war run around after the explosion, you will need to come forward to stop the enemies chasing them and round them up."

"No problem." Vlasov agreed readily: "I will gather as many soldiers as possible."

Sokov and others quickly entered their ambush positions, waiting for the opportunity to come.

Dyubro, who was lying next to Sokov, muttered in a low voice: "Comrade Captain, which German should I shoot?"

Sokov's eyes swept across the German soldiers and finally stopped on a German sergeant, who seemed to be the highest-ranking officer among all the German soldiers. He decided to make him his first target.

At this moment, he heard Jubro talking in his ear non-stop, and he replied impatiently: "Do you see the German corporal on the left? There is a German soldier with a submachine gun behind him. He is the biggest threat. After the sound of my gun, I will kill him. Do you understand?"

"understood."

Seeing the prisoners getting closer and closer, Sokov remained silent, locking his gun on the German sergeant, ready to wait until they got closer before shooting. But Sokov hesitated whether to shoot him in the head or chest.

After thinking for a long time, he decisively chose to shoot at the opponent's chest. After all, the head was too small a target, and the opponent was still walking, so his head was shaking. Even if he aimed at his head, the bullet might not hit the target after it flew out.

"Comrade Captain," Dyubro, who was standing beside him, saw that Sokov had not made any move, and became anxious. He kept urging him, "The Germans are getting closer and closer to us. If we don't open fire, they will be in front of us."

Sokov held his breath, silently calculated the distance between the Germans and himself, and waited for the best time to shoot. At this moment, he suddenly remembered that during the last crossing, he was also hiding in the trenches, pointing his gun at the chest of a German soldier sitting on a motorcycle, and shot him dead, firing the first shot to defend the town of Khimki.

When the prisoner team was less than 20 meters away, Sokov decisively pulled the trigger, and the bullet accurately hit the German sergeant's chest. The German sergeant, who was walking, couldn't help but shudder, then covered his chest, a painful expression on his face, and then fell softly to the ground.

Almost at the same time as the German sergeant fell to the ground, three more gunshots were heard, and three more German soldiers fell to the ground.

After a brief panic, the Soviet prisoners of war escorted by the German army heard someone shouting, and several brave soldiers suddenly pounced on the German soldiers around them and began to fight for the weapons in their hands.

Seeing that the prisoners of war in front of him were already in chaos, Sokov knew very well that if he continued to shoot, he would definitely hurt his own people by mistake. He quickly got up from the ground and rushed to the prisoners of war, shouting: "Kill the Germans around you, kill the Germans around you!"

But his shouts were drowned out by the roars of the prisoners.

The German soldiers who were attacked immediately launched a counterattack. A German corporal pulled the trigger, and the bullet penetrated the chest of the Soviet soldier who was trying to grab the gun from him, and knocked down another soldier behind him. But just as he pulled the bolt to eject the shell, another soldier bravely rushed forward and knocked him to the ground.

Sokov happened to rush over at this moment. He pulled out the pistol from his waist and fired two shots at the German corporal on the ground. He didn't care whether the other party was dead or not, and went to look for a new target.

The following battle was a foregone conclusion. Although the remaining German soldiers continued to resist, the prisoners easily killed all of them with the help of Sokov, Dyubro and Chulsin. After all the German soldiers were lying on the ground, Sokov shouted to the prisoners: "Comrades, comrades, I am Captain Sokov, everyone return to the road and line up, return to the road and line up!"

Although many prisoners rushed to the German soldiers around them and fought with them after the gunshots, some timid ones took the opportunity to run to the side, trying to get out of this dangerous area as soon as possible. Fortunately, Vlasov and others were hiding nearby and came out in time to stop them from running around.

Soon, more than a hundred surviving Soviet soldiers lined up on the road.

Vlasov and Colonel Del, who had put on their military ranks again, appeared at the front of the queue.

"Comrade General," someone in the queue shouted, "Let's move quickly. If the Germans hear the gunfire and rush over, we won't be able to escape."

Vlasov looked in the direction of the voice and said seriously: "Why, after being captured by the Germans once, are you scared out of your wits by them?"

After the questioning voices in the queue disappeared, he continued: "I am the commander of the 37th Army and the commander of the Kiev garrison. We jumped out of the German encirclement yesterday with great difficulty. We are preparing to rush to the area where the troops are assembled to establish new defenses to prevent the Germans from occupying more areas. Although we have fewer weapons, as long as we can return to our own side, we can re-arm and continue to fight the Germans."

Sokov saw that many soldiers in the queue had numb expressions on their faces. He guessed that since they became prisoners of the German army, they must have suffered a huge psychological blow and lost their fighting spirit. Such troops, even if they were rearmed, would probably collapse at the first blow on the battlefield.

Thinking of this, he hurriedly took two steps forward and said loudly to the soldiers in the queue: "Comrades, I want to ask you a question, do you hate the Germans in your heart?"

"Hate!" The responses in the queue were sparse and sounded weak.

"You are lucky that you were not sent to a prisoner-of-war camp." Sokov knew that if he could not encourage these soldiers to regain their courage, then there would be little use for them. Even after returning to the new line of defense, their negative emotions would affect other soldiers. Therefore, he had to find a way to boost morale: "As far as I know, there are usually only two endings for our prisoners of war who enter the prisoner-of-war camp.

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Political workers and Jews will be shot directly, while others will be assigned to hard labor. Since the food provided every day is very little and the labor is heavy, it won't be long before many people die from overwork. The fate of the remaining people is not much better. The Germans will continue to enslave you and make you do heavier work until you are all exhausted to death. "

After saying this, Sokov paused for a while, allowing the soldiers in the queue to digest what he said.

When the time was almost up, Sokov raised his voice and asked, "Comrades, are you willing to be bullied among the prisoners of war and finally die of hunger and exhaustion?"

As soon as Sokov finished speaking, a sergeant in the queue shouted loudly: "No, we don't want to!"

Someone took the lead, and the rest of the soldiers followed suit and shouted: "No, we don't want to!"

At the beginning, the soldiers' shouts were a little messy, but they became more and more orderly and louder and louder.

Colonel Del, who was standing nearby, asked Vlasov with some concern: "Comrade Commander, aren't we afraid of alerting nearby enemies by making such a big noise?"

Vlasov knew that there had just been a burst of gunfire here, and now there were so many people shouting here. If there were Germans nearby, they would appear soon. But thinking of the soldiers' weak voices, he felt that Sokov's actions would help boost morale, so he said to Del: "Chief of Staff, don't worry, I think Sokov has his reasons for doing this, let's wait and see."

Sokov waited until the queue quieted down before continuing, "Now that you are saved, you have a chance to seek revenge. When you reach the area where our troops are gathering, you can choose to pick up your weapons again and demand revenge from the Germans; or you can be like a coward, take off your military uniform, return home in disgrace, and live the rest of your life with the crime of desertion."

"Comrade Captain," the sergeant who had just led the call squeezed out of the queue and said to Sokov with a firm expression, "No matter what others think, I am willing to follow you back to our army's defense line."

Seeing someone step out of line and express his willingness to follow him, Sokov smiled and asked in a friendly manner: "Comrade Sergeant, what should I call you?"

"Zub." The sergeant stood at attention and said, "Comrade Captain, you can call me Sergeant Zub."

"Very good, Sergeant Zub." Sokov nodded to Zub and said, "After we reach our defense line, the people present will definitely be reorganized. I don't know how to arrange the rest of the people, but I promise you that you will be able to stay by my side and serve as a platoon leader."

"Really, Captain?" Zub asked in surprise, "You really want me to be the platoon leader?"

"Sergeant Zub," Vlasov came over and said before Sokov could speak, "I promise you, as long as you follow us back to our defense line, you will definitely be promoted to platoon leader."

"Great, that's great." Zub's face was full of joy after receiving Vlasov's promise. He turned to the queue and asked, "Who else is willing to follow me back to our army's defense line?"

“Me!” “Me, me, me!” “And me!”

Countless hands were immediately raised in the queue, expressing their willingness to follow Zub back to the Soviet defense line.

Seeing that most people were willing to follow him, Sokov felt very relieved. As for the remaining few, he was not worried at all. Could it be that after the main force left, those who were unwilling to return to the defense line could still stay here?
So he decisively issued an order: "Everyone listen to my command: Stand at attention! Turn right, form three columns, and march in unison!"

Zhu Kewen walked up to Sokov and gave him a thumbs up: "Comrade Captain, you are really great. With just a few words, you have restored the morale of the troops."

(End of this chapter)