Novikov, as Rokossovsky's subordinate, must have sided with his army commander at such a time. He waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, and then echoed and said: "General Scherstyuk, I trust the judgment of Comrade Commander of the Army, he said that the information provided by this civilian is reliable, then it must be reliable, and there is no doubt in the slightest. ”

Scherstyuk looked at Novikov and said-for-tat: "We are now alone behind enemy lines, and if we make a mistake in judgment and make a wrong decision, then we are in danger of being completely annihilated." ”

"There are no what-ifs." Novikov said disdainfully: "Don't you forget, why could the troops of our two armies rush to the border and go into battle in a few hours after the outbreak of war?" If it weren't for the fact that Comrade Commander had not come to the conclusion that the German army was about to launch a war against us through analysis and had prepared the troops for battle, perhaps our two armies would still be marching with difficulty on the road. ”

Novikov's words left Scherstyuk speechless. He thought about it for a moment, and it was true. I remember that at that time he also specifically asked Fedyuninsky: "Why did you send a combat ****** to your troops a few hours before the outbreak of the war and start to gather troops?" And Fedyuninsky's answer was simple: "Rokossovsky is a reflex person, he said that there will be a war, then it will definitely break out, I trust Rokossovsky!" ”

Remembering Fedyuninsky's phrase "I trust Rokossovsky," Scherstyuk immediately stopped dwelling on the reliability of the source of the news, but seriously studied the details of the operation.

After some discussion, a plan for a surprise attack on the prisoner of war camp was finally formulated. According to the plan, an hour before dawn, the motorized battalion of the 35th tank division, along the road, advanced towards Koskovola, cleared the German checkpoints along the way, and stopped the advance after capturing Kuruf. The motorized battalion of the 20th Tank Division followed up as the second echelon, and after arriving at Kuruf, it took over the defense of the first echelon and constructed simple defensive positions to ensure that the retreat route was clear after the rescue mission was completed. The third echelon consisted of a tank battalion of the 35th Tank Division, which drove the captured German tanks to Kuruf, joined up with the motorized battalion waiting there, and launched a direct attack on the POW camp, making sure to completely annihilate or severely damage the defenders and rescue the POW battalion.

At half past two in the morning, the assault troops began to set off one after another. Ensign Kochetov, who was fluent in German and familiar with the local terrain, disguised himself as a German captain and sat in the sidecar of his first motorcycle. At first, he was very nervous, but as the convoy got closer and closer to Kuruf, the first city of the German army, his mood became calmer.

Soon in the light of the headlights, he saw a checkpoint appear in front of him. A German in a boat-shaped cap stood in front of the railing, raised his right hand high, and motioned for them to stop for inspection.

When the long motorbike convoy came to a halt on the side of the road, the German soldier beckoned to the side, and a German soldier with a rifle on his back stepped out of the wooden guard box on the side of the road and followed him towards Kochetov's location.

When the Germans approached, Kochetov saw the rank on the other party's collar badge with the help of the headlights, recognized that it was an SS assault squad leader, and greeted him with a smile and said: "Hello, Mr. Assault Squad Leader, may I ask you to stop our convoy, is there anything you can do?" ”

The assault team leader slowly approached Kochetov with his hands behind his back and asked businessmanlikely: "What part are you from, and where are you going at this time?" ”

Kochetov said with a smile: "We are troops stationed in Lublin, and we have just received an order from our superiors to immediately rush to Koskovora to perform important tasks. Look," he said, gesturing to the pole in the middle of the road in the distance, "can you pull that railing up and let us pass?" ”

Unexpectedly, the assault team leader ignored him at all, and after looking him up and down, he suddenly said vigilantly: "Who are you?" Why have I never seen you in Lublin? As he spoke, he reached for the pistol on his waist.

"Do it!" Seeing that his identity was revealed, Kochetov let out a low roar, and then jumped out of the sidecar, clenched the dagger in his hand and stabbed it at the assault team leader, the assault team leader's hand just touched the pistol, and before he could pull it out, he felt a pain in his chest, and then the strength of his body seemed to be quickly withdrawn from this wound, he opened his mouth wide and wanted to shout something, but he didn't make any sound, so he covered his chest and fell to the ground.

Another German soldier, seeing that his assault team leader had been killed, hurriedly removed the rifle from his shoulder, and was about to pull the bolt when the soldier on the motorcycle pounced on him and stabbed him in the throat with the dagger in his hand. The German soldier threw away the rifle in his hand and covered his neck with both hands, trying in vain to plug the wound where blood was gushing out, and after struggling for a moment, he fell limply.

Kochetov waved his hand behind him, and immediately a dozen more fighters rushed into the sandbag fortifications next to the checkpoint. A moment later, there was a thick smell of blood. After the German soldiers at the checkpoint at the clearance point, a soldier ran up and raised the crossbar in the middle of the road to allow the motorbike convoy to pass.

Kuruf was just a small town, and a platoon of the German army was stationed in it, and when the first echelon of the Soviet troops arrived, the absolute majority of them, except for the sentries, were still asleep. After clearing the sentries, the soldiers of the motorized battalion began to use cold weapons to send the sleeping Germany to God one by one. The whole battle went smoothly, and the Germans were annihilated without the slightest resistance.

By the time the troops of the second echelon and the tank units arrived, and the raiding troops set out again, it was already dawn, and there was no need to hide any more at this time, so the troops put themselves in formation and swaggered along the road towards Konskovola.

Although several German outposts were encountered on the way, the enemy saw tanks in the marching procession, thought it was his own troops, and let them go without even checking them. As a result, the raiding force arrived at its destination half an hour earlier than scheduled.

Sitting on the first motorcycle, Kochetov quickly saw the prisoner of war camp as it was, there were no walls or watchtowers, only a ring of barbed wire, and the Germans did not have a house for the prisoners of war to live in. All the people were housed in the open air.

Seventy or eighty meters from the barbed wire, hundreds of German soldiers were in formation, the SS guards who were responsible for guarding the prisoners of war. After being transferred from Lublin yesterday, he was in charge of the prisoner of war camp fenced with barbed wire. At this moment, the supreme commander of the unit, the commander of the 1st SS commando squadron, had just gathered his subordinates and was ready to complete the roll call, and then he exchanged guards with the incoming Wehrmacht troops.

At this moment, he saw a large group of tanks and motorcycles, parked fifty or sixty meters away from him, lined up in a neat row. After a puzzled look, he asked his deputy to ask if it was the unit that was about to change guards with them. At this moment, the machine guns on tanks and motorcycles suddenly clicked, and immediately knocked down a small part of the German troops who were standing in order.

The Germans were taken by surprise and scattered in all directions in a panic. You can run to the left, and the machine gun bullets will shoot to the left; Running to the right, the bullet swept to the right again. When the fleeing soldiers were scattered and driven to one place by bullets, a shell landed in the middle of them, blasting the SS soldiers who were huddled together to pieces.

In less than five minutes, the German army was wiped out. Several motorcycles came to a stop next to the corpse, and the soldier who jumped out of the car looked carefully at the corpse, and when he saw that there was movement and was not yet dead, he closed a shot or stabbed a bayonet.

The prisoners of war, held in barbed wire, were stunned by what was happening before them. They couldn't figure it out, how could the Germans kill each other? And the winning side did not spare even the wounded soldiers of the SS.

Just when everyone was confused, several German tanks rumbled over. Seeing that they were about to crash into themselves, the prisoners of war who were surrounding the barbed wire fence immediately scattered and ran towards the middle. However, the tank only rushed over and broke the pillar of the bolted wire, and then stopped moving forward. Taking a few steps back, he turned around and slammed into a stake in a different position. It didn't take much effort, and a gap of hundreds of meters wide was installed.

At this moment, the roof of a tank turret was lifted, and a tank soldier leaned out half of his body from inside, shouting at the prisoners of war who were still standing in a daze: "Comrades, what are you still doing in a daze, we are here to save you, hurry up and run out!" ”

"Our people, it turned out to be our people! They've come to our rescue! "Many people were moved to tears when they heard the Russian language shouted by the tankmen. I don't know who took the lead and ran first, but soon all the people in the prisoner of war camp were running out in a hurry, running towards the tanks and motorcycles parked in the distance. Someone, when running past the corpses of the Germans, did not forget to bend down to pick up the weapons that had fallen on the ground.

Soon, there were only two or three hundred people left in the original full prisoner of war camp. The tankmen who poked out half of their bodies from the turret saw that the rest were almost all wounded, and it was estimated that it would be difficult for them to get out of here without help.

The tanker sighed, climbed out of the turret and was about to walk over to the wounded to take a look. Suddenly, there was a screaming sound in the air, and he heard the sound of a cannonball cutting through the air, and quickly fell to the ground. Almost as he lay down, a cannonball landed not far from him and exploded, splashing him all over his head by the dirt kicked up by the air wave.