The vanguard of the 1st Guards Tank Army, after a fierce battle, managed to capture the town of Thorn, located in the middle reaches of the Vistula. After entering the town, the commander of the 14th Motorized Infantry Brigade, Colonel Severian, was surprised to find that there was not a single resident of the town, except for the dead and surrendered defenders.

Reporting to Panov on the results of the battle, Severian said in passing: "Comrade commander, there is not a single resident of the town, probably before the battle began, they fled. ”

Hearing this from Severian, Panov remembered that in the early days of the war, before the fall of the town, the authorities would evacuate the city's residents. Unexpectedly, feng shui took turns, and now when it is the turn of the Soviet army to attack, the Germans will also evacuate the residents of the town first, so as to start a war with the Soviet army without any scruples.

After waiting for Severian to finish speaking, Panov specifically told the other party: "Comrade Colonel, let me remind you that the command of the front army issued an order not long ago to let us pay attention to the military discipline of the troops. Even if the town is empty, our fighters can't just enter the houses of the residents, understand? ”

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Xie Weilian hurriedly replied, "I will reiterate this order to the commanders and fighters. ”

After Panov ended the call with Severian, he sent another telegram to Rokossovsky, informing him that the troops had captured the town of Thorn. At the end of the telegram, Panov specifically mentioned that in the areas occupied by the troops, no trace of German civilians was found.

After reading the phone, Rokossovsky said to Military Commissar Subotin: "Comrade Military Commissar, if you look at General Panov's telegram, there is not a single German civilian in the area they occupy, and it seems that the Germans have moved all their men out early in order to open up this place as a battlefield. ”

"I think the inhabitants of these towns, perhaps as we did at the beginning of the war, were evacuated to the rear." After quickly reading the contents of the telegram, Su Bojing said to Rokossovsky with some trepidation: "Comrade Marshal, I feel the need to repeat once again to our commanders and fighters the order of the last time, lest they loot the houses of the German residents. ”

"It can't be that serious, can it?" Although Rokossovsky knew that the discipline of individual units of the Soviet army was quite lax after entering Berlin, at this moment, when Su Bojing mentioned it, he still said good things for the commanders and fighters below: "I believe that every officer and soldier under my command will strictly follow the orders we have issued. ”

After listening to Rokossovsky and Subotin chatting for a while, Trubnikov interjected: "In my opinion, it is better to send picket detachments to inspect the towns we have seized, so as to put an end to all kinds of violations of discipline and avoid hostility between the local residents and our army." ”

"I agree with the proposal of Comrade Deputy Commander." To Trubnikov's proposal, Subotin immediately agreed, he looked at Rokossovsky and asked: "Comrade Marshal, what is your opinion?" ”

"Since you all think it's time to send a picket team, let's arrange it as soon as possible." Seeing that the two had reached a consensus, Rokossovsky said casually: "I think this matter should be handed over to the Political Department of the Front Army." ”

"Agreed!" As soon as Rokossovsky's words fell, Su Bojing was the first to agree.

"I agree!" Trubnikov immediately agreed.

"Also," Rokossovsky suddenly remembered that in Panov's telegram, the other party had specifically mentioned that most of the houses in the town had been destroyed by artillery fire, and added: "Panov also reported that during the attack on the town of Thorn, due to the stubborn resistance of the German army, they shelled the town with artillery fire for a long time, resulting in the damage to most of the houses." Even if the townspeople return to the town, many are already homeless. Let our soldiers find a way to arrange their accommodation, so that no one freezes to death. ”

"Understood, Comrade Marshal." After recording Rokossovsky's request, Subotin said in an affirmative tone: "I will explain your arrangements in detail to General Okorokov of the Political Department. By the way, Comrade Marshal, there is one more thing I would like to ask you for. ”

Rokossovsky asked rhetorically: "Comrade Military Commissar, what else do you have to do?" ”

"Comrade Marshal, what if...... I mean what if," Su Bojing said with some hesitation, "if the picket team led by our Political Department discovers a serious violation of military discipline during the inspection, what should we do?" ”

"Needless to say? Dispose of it as you would have it. When Rokossovsky heard Subotin's question, he casually said: "If it should be sent to a military court, it will be sent to a military court; Whoever should be shot, he will be shot. We are now fighting in a large corps, and military discipline must be strict, otherwise it will soon be all chaos. ”

Just when Rokossovsky, Subotin and others were discussing how to take military discipline seriously, something happened in the town of Thorn. One of the battalion commanders under Severian wandered the streets with two fighters. Suddenly, I saw more than a dozen soldiers talking and laughing out of a relatively complete two-story building in front of them, all holding a large pile of things in their hands.

Seeing this, the battalion commander hurriedly raised his voice and shouted: "Hey, comrades soldiers, wait a minute. The group of soldiers saw that it was a major who stopped them, and quickly stopped.

The battalion commander walked up to them, carefully looked at the things they were holding in their hands, and found that in addition to clothes and shoes, there were cans and wine, so he asked coldly: "Comrades soldiers, where did you get all these things from?" ”

"Where else can it come from," said a soldier with the rank of corporal, snowing at the house they had just come out of, "and there was a German shop, and we had just gone in to find something useful." ”

"Don't you know the order issued by the Front Command calling for strict military discipline?" The major said, pointing his hand in the direction of the store, and said in a stern tone: "You put everything back at once?" ”

"Comrade Major," the corporal immediately became a little unhappy when he saw the Major speaking to them in this tone: "The Germans in the town are all gone, what is it for us to go to the store and get something......"

"Put it back!" Without waiting for the corporal to finish speaking, the major pulled out the pistol at his waist and said to the corporal: "You immediately put everything in your hands back to its original position." ”

"Comrade Major," said the corporal, throwing the boots and clothes he was holding on the ground and unconvinced at the Major, "the Germans have all escaped, these are our trophies, and I will not put them back." ”

These soldiers around may have a better relationship with the corporal. Seeing that the corporal was pointed at the head with a gun by the major, he also threw the things in his hand on the ground, and aimed the submachine gun around his neck at the three major who were weak and weak, cheering up the corporal.

Seeing more than a dozen guns pointed at him around him, the two soldiers who followed behind the major also raised their guns one after another. And when the major saw that the corporal refused to carry out the order to sentence himself, he couldn't help but be angry, poked the corporal twice with the muzzle of the gun, and said in an ordered tone: "Comrade corporal, I order you, immediately put the things back!" ”

"I don't!" The corporal was also stubborn, and the more the major told him to put things back, the more he had to do it. Seeing the pistol on his forehead, he unconvinced to level the submachine gun hanging on his chest and aimed the muzzle at the major, wanting to scare the other party. Who knew that he accidentally pulled the trigger.

Just listening to a series of crisp gunshots, several bloody holes appeared in the major's chest, and blood gushed out of these holes. The Major stared at the corporal with wide eyes and an expression of disbelief on his face, but he didn't say anything and fell to the ground on his back.

"The major was killed." One of the fighters behind the major shouted in panic. He pointed his finger at the corporal and said in horror: "You, you beat the major to death." ”

The corporal went off and killed the major, and the whole person was stunned. But when he saw that the muzzles of the two fighters on the opposite side were aimed at him, he simply didn't stop doing anything, and without waiting for the other party to shoot, he grabbed the trigger first. As the gun rang out, the two fighters threw themselves into a pool of blood with unwilling expressions on their faces.

Seeing that the corporal had killed first the major, and then the two soldiers of the major, the soldiers behind him were stunned: "My God, you have killed so many people. What do we do now? ”

As soon as the shots rang out, the corporal knew that the matter was irreparable, so he killed the two soldiers who were with the major. At this moment, hearing his companion asking himself, he shook his head and said, "I don't know either."

A private who had a good relationship with him said to him in a bit of a panic: "If you are caught, you will definitely be shot, so you should flee quickly." ”

"That's right, I can't stay here and die." Realizing the gravity of the problem, the corporal turned to look at his companions, and then ran north without looking back. Seeing the corporal leave, the rest of the people also scattered, and only three corpses were left in the street in pools of blood.

Not long after, a patrol passed by and found the body on the ground. At first, the captain thought that the three men had died in battle, but when he and his men tried to move the corpse to the side of the road, they were surprised to find that the corpse was still warm, and it had just been dead for a long time.

One of the fighters said to him: "Comrade Captain, were they killed by the Germans hiding in the ruins?" ”

The captain crouched down, examined the body carefully, shook his head and said, "No, they were killed by bullets from Popov's submachine gun." The Germans did not have such weapons, they must have done it from within us. ”

The fact that a major and two fighters were shot dead in the street was quickly reported to Severian. When the colonel heard this, he couldn't help but be surprised, and he asked the patrol leader who came to report the news: "Comrade lieutenant, are you sure that the three commanders and fighters were killed by Popov's submachine gun?" ”

"That's right, I checked it carefully, and it was indeed killed by Popov's submachine gun." The patrol leader nodded and replied affirmatively, "And it was killed at close range." ”

Xie Weilian thought that this town had just been liberated, and it was too late to establish a people's police organization, so the matter of solving the case could only be carried out by himself. Thinking of this, he then asked, "Are there any clues?" ”

After recalling the situation at the scene, the patrol leader said to Severian: "Comrade Colonel, near the location where the three commanders and fighters were killed, I saw a large number of clothes, shoes, canned food, and so on on the ground. If I'm not misjudged, it's possible that they met a group of looting warriors, and that ended up in a verbal altercation that led to such a tragedy. ”

Regarding the patrol leader's analysis, Xie Weilian thought about it repeatedly for a while, and felt that his statement was very reasonable. So, he called the chief of staff and instructed him: "Chief of staff, immediately call the commanders of each battalion and ask which battalion is the defense area where our comrades were killed?" ”

"Understood, Comrade Brigade Commander, I'll call the battalion commanders." After the chief of staff finished speaking, he paused for a moment, and then said to Xie Weilian, "Comrade brigade commander, this incident is not trivial, I think it is better to report it to the army commander as soon as possible." Otherwise, when he learns about it through other means, we will be in a difficult situation. ”

In fact, even if the chief of staff does not say it, Severian plans to report the matter to Panov, no matter what, one of his battalion commanders died in his own defense area for no apparent reason, and if the case is not solved as soon as possible, once it spreads, it will have a bad impact on his reputation. Therefore, as soon as he waited for the chief of staff to finish speaking, he nodded vigorously and said decisively: "I know, Comrade Chief of Staff. I will report this to the commander immediately. ”

When Panov received a call from Severian, he thought that the other party had some good news to report to him, and asked mockingly: "Comrade Colonel, if you call me now, are you in the cellar of the town and found the German civilians hiding there?" ”

"Comrade Commander," Severian was anxious at the moment, where did he have the heart to joke with Panov, and hurriedly reported in a serious manner: "There is a serious incident in the town of Thorn. ”

"Comrade Colonel," hearing Severian say this, Panov's heart rose to his throat, and he hurriedly asked: "Tell me quickly, what happened?" ”

"Not so long ago, a battalion commander with a major and two fighters died." Severian tried his best to speak in a calm tone: "My patrol found them killed in the street. After inspection, it was found that Wu Qiang, who killed them, was a Popov submachine gun equipped with our army, and it was shot at close range. ”

"What, a battalion commander and two fighters were killed in the street?" Upon learning of such an incident, Panov's brows immediately furrowed, and he hurriedly asked: "Have you found out who did it?" ”