Section 8: The Cruel Arsonist Directive

  Li De had not yet recovered from the disaster of the 26th Division when a new shock hit his brain.

  Rania arrived at the 45th Division Commander's quarters, where Bowman was reclining on the bed, with the division commander lecturing him about something. He listened half-heartedly. The Führer read a newspaper, while his personal flight attendant, Miss Rudvika, served him - peeling an apple for him. When she came in, she accidentally cut her hand, and blood seeped onto the apple.

  Rania placed a document on the newspaper in front of the leader, which was obtained with great difficulty from the Soviet army:

  Supreme Headquarters Directive No. 0428

  Moscow

  The experience of the past month of war has shown that German troops are not equipped for winter conditions, do not have warm clothing and therefore encountered serious difficulties after the onset of frosty weather, being forced to stay in residential areas on the front line. The insolent enemy wanted to spend the winter in the warm buildings of Moscow and Leningrad, but our army stopped them. Faced with the decisive resistance of our troops, the German troops went over to defense in a vast area, occupying defensive positions in residential areas 2-30 kilometers wide on both sides of the roads. In these areas, German soldiers live in towns, villages, villages, farmhouses, sheds, barns and public baths near the front line. And the command posts of the German troops are located in larger settlements and cities, hiding in basements from our bombing and artillery strikes. The German occupiers usually drive out Soviet residents from these places.

  Our urgent task is to create all the conditions for defeating and exhausting the enemy, depriving the German army of the possibility of living in our villages and towns, driving the German occupiers from all residential areas into the cold fields, smoking them out of warm houses to freeze.

  Supreme Headquarters Command:

  Destroy and burn all inhabited localities located in the rear of the German troops at a distance of 40 to 60 kilometers from the front line, and within a radius of 20 to 30 kilometers on both sides of the roads.

  To destroy residential areas in the combat zone, use bombing, extensive artillery and mortar fire, and send out reconnaissance units, ski troops, and diversionary partisan groups equipped with incendiary bottles, grenades, and explosive materials.

  2. In each unit, create a hunting group of 20-30 people, selecting the bravest and most politically reliable fighters, officers, and political workers to participate. The hunting groups will mainly wear captured German army and SS uniforms to carry out this destruction plan, in order to arouse hatred for the fascist occupiers and make it easier to recruit partisans in the rear of the fascists. It is necessary to leave behind living witnesses who can recount "atrocities committed by the German troops". Those who destroy populated areas while wearing enemy uniforms behind the German lines are recommended for awards.

  When our troops are forced to withdraw from a certain area, all Soviet residents must be evacuated with the army and all settlements destroyed so that the enemy cannot use them. For this purpose, hunting teams assigned to each regiment are used first.

  4. The Military Councils of the Fronts and the Armies shall systematically verify the completion of the tasks for the destruction of residential areas within the designated boundaries. Every 3 days, report to the High Command which residential areas were destroyed and how many, as well as what methods of destruction were used.

  General Headquarters of the Supreme Command

  Joseph Stalin

  Boris Shaposhnikov

  This is a cunningly worded but brutally clear order: to stir up the people's resistance against German occupation, disguise yourselves as Germans and perpetrate violence on your own people and property.

  "The German occupiers usually drove Soviet residents out of these places." What a good excuse for themselves. Li De's heart trembled as he passed the document to everyone to see.

  Rania, who had experienced the Soviet occupation, didn't have much indignation. She calmly said that within the defense area of the 45th Division's 478th Regiment, a hunting group was active, and the regiment's reconnaissance team had cleared it once but returned without success.

  Li De said: "That's for sure, only irregulars can deal with irregulars. Call the Kalmyk shock troops and let them select a few crack soldiers to rush over at dawn tomorrow."

  Rania looked very happy, and in her excitement, she said something that shouldn't have been said: "There's one more thing. We caught two saboteurs, they were quite stubborn." Rania said.

  Li De said in a low and angry tone: "Can't even handle a small thief, what's the point of being a full-time agent? I think you only learned one thing from KGB."

  Rania was shocked, he leaned into her ear: "Learned how to be a sex spy, seduce men."

  "Nonsense. But that very pretty female troublemaker might have received the kind of training you mentioned." Rania said, glancing at his expression.

  Li De's eyes sparkled: "Let Byron and the Kalmucks jointly examine, I'll have Shilipei as the supervisor. Alright, it's settled then! Hurry up and inform them, what are you still dawdling for? And why are you smiling, what's so funny?"

  "Byron is still on a business trip in the south," said Rania.

  "What investigation? He and Manshtein are good friends. We have so many things here, he actually eats caviar in the Black Sea, let him come back." Li De said angrily.

  "What's gotten into you." Rania muttered as she went downstairs. She heard Miss Adelheid's stifled giggles behind her.

  The next morning, the elite troops selected by the Kalmyk assault team arrived in a He177. Byron and Rania, who had rushed over early, were waiting, while Lide and Bao Man, who couldn't go out, stood at the window on the second floor to sneak a peek.

  "Don't mention us for now." Li De reminded them again and again.

  The teacher had not finished smoking a cigarette, when an Opel car covered with canvas came into the yard, making a loud screeching sound. They went out to greet them, and Rania hid behind the door to dress up, saying she wanted to give them a surprise.

  In the din of the noise, assault troops wearing Soviet uniforms and carrying PPSh submachine guns jumped off the car. A tall man came out of the driver's cabin and reported to the division commander standing at the door: "I am Lieutenant Colonel Kraskevich Ilyumzhinov, commander of the Kalmyk assault team. Comrade General, please report on the situation."

  Someone shouted into the carriage: "Grubbs, Misha, you two get down quickly, don't lose face."

  A few minutes later, the two scamps got off the bus, Grubbs' pants were still unbuttoned and Misha's butt was wet.

  Tartar jumped in front of Grubbs, mimicking his tone: "My Misha, I can't take it anymore, I've taken care of you so much, let me have some fun, please." Then he jumped to Misha's side, with one hand on his waist and the other pointing at Grubbs, making a face: "Shut up, don't touch me, stay away from me, I've already...".

  Everyone burst out laughing, the thief on the side made a gesture to accompany the words. The team doctor Gou Dan taunted: "What's wrong with him, he scolded you like that, and you still don't cut him off?" Grubbs immediately chased after Tuo Tao, but Tuo Tao ran fast and didn't catch up, so he kicked the thief's butt instead.

  The instructor whispered to Byron, "Is this the task force? It's just a mob, how can the leader treasure them like that."

  Byron turned around and looked at Rania who was hiding in the room dressing up, Rania indicated that she was about to come out.

  Xenia emerged, her golden hair flowing, her smile like a gentle breeze, her hands as soft as a willow branch, and her skin as smooth as congealed fat. Her face was like a thin-skinned pomegranate about to burst, or as if it had been smeared with rouge. She floated towards the group of men who were staring at her with fierce eyes, like a light cloud.

  The Kalmyk man stood with his back to the doorway, lecturing the squad members, who rolled their eyes and made faces behind him. Suddenly, they turned around, startled, and shouted in unison: "Ranya!" "Sheep boy!" The two were overjoyed, embracing each other tightly. The formation below was disrupted, and the squad members rushed over to form a tight cluster, like a beehive.

  The squad leader shouted: "Give each team member two packs of German Fennel cigarettes." Except for Dog Egg, no one took his reward seriously. Dog Egg threw him a pack of American "Camels" and said: "You're an old amateur, German cigarettes are weak, American cigarettes are more powerful and enjoyable."

  The superior looked puzzled and asked Byron, "Is he speaking Japanese? Where did you find a Japanese person?" When he heard that it was a Chinese person, the puzzlement turned into anger: "We are fighting against Russia, what does China have to do with this?"

  Ranya whispered to Kalmek: "The leader is upstairs." He opened his eyes wide, ran up to the second floor with a look of surprise, and soon he opened the window on the second floor and shouted: "Everyone rest, Misha come up."

  After Kalmykov briefly reported on the situation in the north, Li De said straightforwardly: "Soviet saboteurs disguised as German troops, burning and killing behind our army, and then framing the German army. The goal is to provoke the residents' hatred for the German army. Your task: First, find out the saboteurs and expose them to the people; Second, search for evidence, including human and physical evidence, I want to let the British and Americans see what kind of people they are supporting."

  The Kalmyks were skeptical: "These guys won't be taken prisoner, they can only be resolutely eliminated. In fact, even if we had evidence, they would say it was fabricated."

  Li De stared at Rania, who nodded: "They will absolutely find evidence to the contrary, proving that those bad things were done by us."

  Li was shocked and speechless for a while, then said helplessly: "Alright. You go interrogate those two damned saboteurs first."

  The Kalmyk turned to Rennya: "Where is the prisoner?"

  Basement.

  A small group of people came to the dimly lit basement, Li De and Shilang sat in the observation room next to the interrogation room, where there was a glass partition that allowed them to see into the interrogation room clearly, but from the other side it was invisible.

  Li De became impatient, he forgot to bring a cup. He had been thirsty lately and felt like his stomach was burning if he didn't drink water for a while. The considerate Miss Adelaide brought him a glass of water, and he patted her hand encouragingly.

  Miss Adelheid stood beside the leader, one hand on his shoulder. The instructor glanced at him, unwilling to be a light bulb, and also asked to go for interrogation. Li De waved his hand, and Adelheid sat in his position, holding the cup for him.

  In the basement, there was a large iron cage divided into several small compartments. Inside each compartment, a man and a woman were locked up separately. The woman seemed to be asleep, while the man lifted his blood-stained face upon hearing the noise. In front of the cage stood an interrogation table, accompanied by two ornate lamps that had been brought from a photo studio.

  The instructor pulled Byron to the middle position at the table, Byron jumped out and let the instructor sit in the middle. The two lieutenant generals unfolded a game of arm wrestling, Kalmuk people benefited greatly, and carelessly sat in the middle. The two wrestlers stopped moving, and when they released their hands, the instructor still dragged his tone: "You are the superior envoy, you should sit in the middle."