Chapter 1504 Surrender

  In the next half hour, Sokov received reports from various divisions that after shelling the enemy, the enemy threw away the civilians in the middle of the positions of the two armies and fled back to the bastion in a hurry. However, due to various reasons, civilians still suffered a lot of casualties.

  Although the divisions were vague about the civilian casualties in their reports, Sukov knew very well that the civilian casualties must be very heavy. Konev saw Sokov's melancholy, and comforted him, "Comrade Sokov, don't blame yourself, you have done a good job. This is a blood debt owed to us by the Germans. They paid it back."

  After listening to Konev's comfort, Sokov nodded with a wry smile, and asked back: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, once we take down the Meriefa Fortress, what should we do next?"

   "After the fortress is taken down, you will be responsible for defending it." Konev said: "Your troops have been fighting continuously for so long, and the commanders and fighters should be very tired. Let's take a rest here for a while at Meliefa Fortress."

   "Then when can we go into battle again?" Sameko asked from the side.

  Konev looked at the two of them, smiled and shook his head: "I really didn't expect that you are all focused on participating in the battle. Don't you worry that the troops will be too tired, which will lead to a decline in combat effectiveness?"

"No, Comrade Commander." Sameko replied: "Most of the commanders and fighters of our army have passed through the German prisoner-of-war camps. They were tortured there, and their hearts were full of hatred for the Germans. Even for a day There is no rest, and it will not affect the combat effectiveness of the troops."

Sameko's words made Sokov think of a problem: Most of the commanders and fighters in his army were rescued from the German prisoner-of-war camps. They suffered inhuman torture in the enemy's prisoner-of-war camps, and their hearts were filled with Hatred of the Germans. This kind of hatred is used to motivate them to fight the enemy bravely on the battlefield, which is what everyone wants to see. But if they wait until the troops enter Germany in the future, will they pass this hatred on to the German civilians?

   After chatting with Sameko for a few words, Konev found that Sokov was silent there, so he asked curiously, "Comrade Sokov, what are you thinking?"

"Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Sokov thought that the problems he was worried about would be common in the future, and it was necessary to inoculate Konev first so that he could prepare in advance: "I heard from the Chief of Staff that The hearts of the commanders and fighters were filled with hatred for the Germans."

   "That's right, he did say that." Konev nodded, and asked in puzzlement, "Is there something wrong?"

"That's what I'm worried about now." Sokov explained to Konev: "The hearts of the commanders and fighters are filled with hatred for the Germans, which can keep them vigorous on the battlefield, but if we wait Will it be a disaster if they transfer this hatred onto ordinary German civilians when they invade German territory in the future?"

"Comrade Commander," Sameko retorted as soon as Sokov finished speaking, "You underestimate the awareness of our commanders and fighters. What they hate is only the enemy who fights with us with weapons, not ordinary people. I believe that even if our army enters German territory in the future, we will not act excessively against German civilians."

"Yes, Comrade Sokov." Konev waited for Sameko to finish, and echoed, "I think you are thinking too much. Our commanders and fighters are soldiers, not beasts. What about their incompatibility?"

He turned his head to look at Sameko, and said in a joking tone: "General Sameko, we are still considering how to drive the enemy out of our territory. Comrade Sukov has already considered the invasion of Germany. We have more vision."

   Seeing that neither Konev nor Sameko took the matter seriously, Sokov knew that talking about it would not help the matter. After all, it will take more than a year before the Soviet army can invade German territory. It is too early to talk about this matter at this time.

   Without the restraint of civilians, the offensive of the commanders and fighters of the 27th Army became more violent. From the commanders at all levels to the soldiers below, they all know that the new rockets can be shot directly into the bastion, causing a fire inside, making the enemy unable to stay in the fire and hypoxic environment, and can only escape from the bastion. Then you can use intensive firepower to destroy them.

But the subsequent progress has greatly exceeded Sokov's expectations. There are six fortresses in the Merefa Fortress. The 84th Division, the 254th Division and the 182nd Division each won one. But when the Soviet commanders and fighters approached the bastion, they stopped shooting and raised a white flag on the roof.

   Knowing that white flags were raised in the three bastions that were still occupied by the Germans, Sokov couldn't help being stunned: What kind of medicine did the Germans sell in their gourds, and they would take the initiative to raise white flags? Could there be some kind of conspiracy? Could it be that they planned to wait for the Soviet army to approach the surrender and start shooting suddenly, causing serious damage to the Soviet commanders and fighters?

  But after thinking about it, even if it was a conspiracy by the Germans, who wanted to wait until the Soviet troops approached the surrender, the damage they could cause to their own side was still very limited. And after they do this, they will still be subjected to crazy artillery fire from the Soviet army. Sokov will definitely concentrate all the artillery fire and bombard the remaining three bastions, annihilate all the German troops inside, and avenge the innocent commanders and fighters .

After thinking about this, Sokov told Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, tell several division commanders to send someone to accept the surrender immediately. Remember, although the Germans raised the white flag, no one knows whether they have Conspiracy, so the commanders and fighters who go to accept the surrender must be vigilant enough to avoid falling into the tricks of the German army."

"Comrade Commander," Sameko introduced to Sokov, "how about I call Colonel Koida and ask the 188th Division to accept the surrender first, and the rest of the troops are temporarily on standby so that the Germans can be cleared up. Why do you want to do this?"

   "Okay." For Sameko's proposal, Sokov agreed: "After sending people to accept the surrender, they must report to us everything that happened there in time so that we can make a correct judgment."

After receiving the call from Sameko, Koyda immediately called Lieutenant Colonel Kreba, the commander of the 564th regiment, and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, General Sameko, the chief of staff of the Army Group, called and asked us to To accept the surrender of the Germans. This glorious and arduous task, I leave it to your regiment to complete."

   "Comrade Commander," although Keleba also saw the white flag rising from the bastion, he was skeptical: "Comrade Commander, I think something is wrong with this matter."

   "Something's wrong, what's wrong?"

"The enemy fought us to the death not long ago. In order to prevent us from occupying the bastion, they even placed the civilians they had taken hostage between the positions of the two armies, so that we did not dare to act rashly." Keleba reminded Koida: "But now But the white flag was raised on the bastion, which looks like a conspiracy no matter how you look at it.”

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Keida said disapprovingly after hearing this: "I know what you are worried about, but don't worry, since the headquarters has given us an order to accept the surrender, it must have considered all the issues that should be considered, you Just follow orders."

  Kreba originally questioned the command of the headquarters, but when he heard what Koida said, he could only reluctantly agree: "Okay, Comrade Commander, then I will personally take people to receive the prisoners."

After receiving the order from Koida, Kreba returned to the regiment and gave orders to the deputy commander and chief of staff to set up machine gun and artillery positions. Once they found something wrong with the Germans, they would open fire directly. Be scruples about your own comfort.

  Kreba took an interpreter and a squad of soldiers and walked towards the bastion.

Along the way, he saw people lying dead in various positions near the bastion, including Germans, Soviet commanders, and even many women, old people, and children. He died at the gunpoint of the Germans.

   Seeing this scene, Kreba couldn't help being furious. He wished he could draw out his pistol and knock down every German who appeared in front of him. But in the end, his reason overcame his impulse. He asked the German lieutenant who greeted him outside the bastion: "Mr. Lieutenant, when can you let us meet your commander?"

   "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, my officer is waiting for you in the office in the bastion." The German lieutenant who came to meet them knew some Russian, so he said politely to him: "Please come with me, and I will take you to see him."

  Kreba and the translator followed the German lieutenant to the door of a room on the third floor. The lieutenant turned to Keleba and said, "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, please wait here for a while. I will go in and report to the commander."

  The lieutenant pushed the door open and closed the door casually, leaving Keleba and the interpreter outside.

  Not long after, the door opened from the inside, and the lieutenant came to Keleba and asked politely: "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, my major is waiting for you inside, please come in."

   After Kreba entered the door, he saw a bald German commander sitting behind a table. When the bald officer saw Keleba coming in, he quickly stood up from his seat and put the big-brimmed hat on the table on his head.

  Kreba saw clearly that the other party was a major, and showed a disdainful expression on his face: "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, are you the supreme commander in this bastion?"

   "Yes, Mr. Lieutenant Colonel." The German major nodded and said in an affirmative tone: "I am the supreme commander of this bastion, and I was ordered to surrender to the coming Russian troops..."

"Mr. Major." Seeing the Germans surrendering so readily, Kreba couldn't help but feel a little nervous. He didn't know if the other party had some kind of conspiracy. Not long ago, he beat you to death, but now he didn't even mention the conditions, so he directly prepared Surrender. He asked puzzledly: "I really don't understand, you obviously still have the ability to continue fighting, why did you suddenly put down your weapons and surrender?"

   "I'm sorry, Mr. Lieutenant Colonel." The German major spread his hands, shrugged his shoulders, and said helplessly: "I have received such an order, so I can only ask my subordinates to stop resisting and surrender to you."

   "Who told you to stop resisting?" Keleba asked.

  The German major hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "It is the order given to us by the commander of the fortress, let us stop all resistance, put down our weapons and surrender to you."

   "Can you tell me the reason?" Keleba asked puzzledly, "You obviously still have the ability to persevere, why did you suddenly choose to surrender?"

"Do you think I want to surrender?" Seeing Kereba's chattering questions, the German major immediately growled: "If General William, the commander of the 11th Army, hadn't given us the order to surrender, we would be the only ones left. A person will never stop resisting."

  Kreba firmly believed in the last sentence of the German major. He knew that there were many stubborn German soldiers, and even if they fought to the last man, they would not surrender easily. Things are so strange now, in order to find out what's going on, he continued to ask: "Can you tell me the reason?"

   "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, do you want to know the reason?" The German major sneered and said: "If you are not Sokov's troops, do you think we will surrender to you?"

  Kreba was stunned by the words of the German major. He felt that the opponent’s surrender had something to do with his being Sokov’s troops. Such an important matter needs to be reported to the superior immediately.

  He paused for a moment, and said to the German major: "Mr. Major, order your people to gather outside the bastion. We will collect your weapons and send you to the place where you should go."

"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel," the German major asked hesitantly, "Many of my subordinates have been injured. How do you plan to deal with them?" During the battle, the captured Soviet commanders and fighters were beaten or scolded. On the way to **** them to the prisoner-of-war camp, once someone fell to the ground, the German soldiers in charge of the **** would go up and shoot him in the head, lest they become a prisoner of war. The reserve source of local guerrillas. It was out of worry that he asked such a question.

   "Major," Keleba said coldly, "Since you know that we are Sokov's troops, have you heard that we slaughtered prisoners casually?"

  The German major thought about it, except for those captured SS officers and soldiers who were shot by Sokov's subordinates, the Wehrmacht prisoners seemed to have received preferential treatment. So he shook his head and replied, "It seems not."

"Since we didn't slaughter prisoners casually, what else do you have to worry about?" But in order to reassure the German major, Keleba still gave him a reassurance, "Don't worry, major, we will take care of those wounded German officers and soldiers." Treat them and provide them with enough food."

   "Okay, we surrender." The major took off the pistol from his waist, held the barrel and handed it to Keleba: "I am willing to lead all the officers and soldiers in the bastion to surrender to you."

   Facing the pistol handed over by the major, Keleba smiled and shook his head, then said, "You should keep this gun."

Seeing Kereba’s generosity, the German major showed a grateful expression on his face. He put the pistol back into the holster and said to his subordinates: “Lieutenant, immediately notify everyone to gather outside the bastion and disarm the Soviet army.” .”

  Kreba came out of the German major's office, found a subordinate, and told him: "Now go back and report to the division commander. The Germans really surrendered."

  The subordinate agreed and was about to leave, but was stopped by Keleba. Kreba added: "One more thing, you must tell the division commander that the Germans voluntarily surrendered because we are the 27th Army."

  Although the subordinate did not understand the reason why Keleba said that, he nodded vigorously and replied truthfully: "Don't worry, Comrade Commander, I will truthfully tell the superior what you said."

  (end of this chapter)