Chapter 1776 Surrender

   At this moment, in the direction of the 239 highland in the distance, a burst of large and small flashes suddenly appeared.

  The flash was in the front, and the roar of the cannon was behind. The shelling that made Stemmelman worry about came inevitably. Cannonballs roared like raindrops, falling on the chaotic and crowded ranks and exploding.

  The artillery fire enveloped all the retreating German troops. The area they were in was limited, thousands of people crowded together, and each shell could kill a lot of people. From time to time, human limbs, broken arms and weapon fragments can be seen flying high, and screams come and go. The originally crowded team became extremely chaotic. Facing the artillery fire of the Soviet army, they had nowhere to hide and could only grit their teeth and be bombed.

  The truck where Stemmelman was standing was overturned by a shell, and immediately burst into flames. Miraculously, however, Stemmerman was not injured. He tried to stand up, and shouted at the highest volume among the pushing crowd: "Don't panic, don't panic!" However, his shout was covered by the rumbling gunfire, and no one heard him at all. .

  In the observation post on the 239th highland, the staff members saw the enemy being blown up by the artillery fire, and they couldn't help cheering loudly. This scene was really exciting. I didn't expect the Germans to have today.

  However, when everyone was happy, Kirillov suddenly issued an unexpected order: "Call the artillery regiment of the division immediately and order them to stop the shelling!"

   "What, stop the shelling?" Kirillov's words made everyone stunned.

   "Comrade Commander," a staff officer asked puzzledly: "The enemy is being bombarded by us at this moment, why stop it?"

   "Didn't you see that not only the Germans were shelled, but also the Ukrainians captured by them?" After finishing speaking, Kirillov firmly ordered: "Order the artillery, stop the shelling immediately!"

   Some of the staff officers didn't believe what Kirillov said, so they raised their binoculars to look at the place where the gunfire was raging. Sure enough, they saw many civilians in plain clothes among the crowd running back and forth amidst the gunfire. Although it was night and visibility was limited, as an experienced commander, he could still tell which soldiers were soldiers by the flames produced when the shells exploded. Which are civilians.

  The shelling of the divisional artillery regiment stopped soon, but the artillery fire from the group army continued to bombard the retreating enemies, preparing to use powerful artillery fire to inflict great damage on them.

  Kililov quickly ordered someone to connect to the commander of the army group. As soon as he heard Sokov's voice, he couldn't wait to say: "Comrade commander, please immediately stop the shelling of the German army!"

  Sokov was stunned for a moment, and asked puzzledly: "Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov, why did I order the artillery to stop the shelling?"

   "Comrade Commander," Kirillov said hastily: "There are a large number of civilians in the shelled area, and our shelling caused them great casualties."

   "What?!" Sokov was shocked: "Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov, how could there be civilians? Did you read it correctly?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Kirillov replied in an affirmative tone: "I looked carefully several times, and they were all people in civilian clothes, and none of them had weapons in their hands. After the shelling started, they They are still running around carrying stretchers, I guess they are local residents forced by the Germans to help me carry supplies and carry the wounded.”

  Sokov figured out what was going on, and before he even had time to cover the microphone, he turned his head and told Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you call the artillery commander immediately and order him to stop the shelling immediately!"

  Smirnov didn't know what happened at the moment. Hearing what Sokov said, he was taken aback for a moment, and then asked: "Comrade Commander, our shelling has just started, why did we stop?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov reports." Sokov said loudly: "In the area under shelling, a large number of Ukrainian civilians were found, and they should be coerced by the Germans. Immediately order the artillery to stop the shelling Otherwise, civilians will suffer heavy casualties."

"I understand." After Smirnov knew what was going on, he also realized the seriousness of the problem. He quickly grabbed the phone in front of him and called Tsarev: "General Tsarev, Comrade Commander ordered to stop immediately." Shelling."

  Although Tsarev didn't know what happened, he was very decisive in executing the order. In less than two minutes, the artillery of the group army stopped firing.

  The German army, who was being bombarded dizzily, couldn't help being stunned when they saw the sudden stop of the shelling. They wondered what happened. Why did the Russians suddenly stop shelling? Could it be that they ran out of shells? The Ukrainian civilians who were coerced first yelled, and then fled in all directions.

  Seeing Ukrainian civilians fleeing everywhere, the German soldiers who escorted them suddenly yelled, wanting them all to return to their front. But their shouts didn't seem to have any effect, and the civilians still ran into the distance without looking back. A few German soldiers were so angry that they picked up their submachine guns and shot at the civilians who were going away. The dense bullets knocked down the few civilians who fell behind.

"Enough, enough, don't shoot anymore." Seeing soldiers shooting at the fleeing civilians, Stemmelman hurriedly stopped them: "Taking them is also a burden, let them go if they want to go Bar."

Although the shelling of the German army was stopped, Sokov would never let them escape easily, and quickly called Selivanov, commander of the 5th Guards Cavalry Corps: "Comrade Commander, the enemy near Height 239 is under attack." Flee, it's time for you cavalry to appear."

  Selivanov heard what Sokov said, and asked casually: "Is there any artillery cover?"

Sokov said a little bit dumbfoundingly: "Comrade Commander, the enemy has already lost its organizational system after being bombarded by our army, and is running around at the moment. Do you think it is necessary to prepare for artillery fire under such circumstances?" ?”

   Knowing that the Germans had fallen into chaos, Selivanov smiled embarrassedly, and then said: "Understood, General Sokov, I will immediately send cavalry to pursue the fleeing German army."

"Comrade Commander, I think it is necessary to remind you." Sokov said: "There are a large number of Ukrainian civilians who are being held hostage, together with these fleeing enemies. When you attack, you must pay more attention and don't hurt to civilians."

   "You can rest assured on this, General Sokov." Selivanov assured Sokov: "I will definitely find a way to rescue all civilians and prevent them from being harmed by the Germans."

   "Very good, Comrade Commander." Sokov was satisfied with Selivanov's answer. He nodded, and then said: "Then I will wait for your good news at the headquarters."

  Sokov's judgment was correct. After receiving the retreat order, the German army wanted to leave this place of right and wrong as soon as possible. They were after the rearguard troops led by Stemmelman were bombarded by the Soviet army. Those officers and soldiers who left early, listening to the rumble of cannons from behind and the flames that illuminated half the sky, were secretly glad that they did not Stay in the rear guard. In order to avoid the same fate, they all accelerated their marching speed.

  Besides, after the shelling by the Soviet army ended, Stemmerman managed to gather his troops together, and found that there were less than 700 people who could fight, and nearly half of the wounded died in the shelling. As for the Ukrainian civilians carrying stretchers and carrying supplies, except for the dead and those who were too injured to move, the rest ran without a trace.

   Seeing this situation, Stemmelman realized that if he wanted to continue the transfer, he would have to discard all the wounded who could not move, so he changed his mind and did not intend to continue to break through, but stayed with the wounded.

   Knowing that Stemmerman was unwilling to continue to break through, the acting brigade commander of the Walloon Assault Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel De Grayle, hurried over to persuade him: "Your Excellency, I think we should give up these wounded."

   "Are you going to throw them at the Russians, or do you want to see them freeze to death in the wild in the snow and ice?"

Degrele shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said helplessly: "Your Excellency, there is no way to do this. You also know that all the Ukrainians who carried stretchers and supplies have run away. We have no The extra manpower can be used to carry stretchers, and perhaps abandoning them is the best choice."

Seeing that Stammelman was still hesitant, Degrelle added: "If these wounded fell into the hands of other Russians, I am afraid that their lives would be in danger. But now the troops closest to us are commanded by General Sokov. The 53rd Army, if they capture our wounded soldiers, I believe they will treat the wounded."

However, Stemmelman thought for a long time, and still rejected Degrele's kindness. He shook his head and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Degrele, although what you said is very reasonable, but as a commander, I cannot stand by Watching the thousands of wounded fend for themselves, I will stay with them."

Seeing Stemmerman's stubbornness, Degrele wanted to persuade him again, but the other party waved his hand at him and rejected his kindness: "Lieutenant Colonel Degrele, thank you for your kindness. You brought your own Let the troops break out, I will stay with these wounded."

   Several wounded nearby thought that they could not get rid of the fate of being abandoned. Some even put grenades in their arms, and they were going to wait for the Soviet army to come to capture them, and they would blow up the grenades and die with them. But at the moment when they heard what Stemmelman said, they were all moved to tears.

   "Your Excellency, you should leave. You can't put yourself in a dangerous situation because of us."

   "Yes, Your Excellency General, you'd better go, we can't let you stay with us."

Seeing the wounded scrambling to persuade him, Stemmerman quickly raised his hands and pressed down, and then said to everyone: "Soldiers, don't persuade me anymore. I am your commander. , I will not abandon you, even if I die, I will die with you."

  Seeing that Stemmerman had made his final decision, Degrelle knew that what he said was useless, so he could only take the remaining 400 officers and soldiers of the Walloon Assault Brigade to chase the breakout troops ahead.

   After receiving Sokov's order, Selivanov quickly led three cavalry divisions to attack.

  Near Highland 239, the 11th and 63rd Cavalry Divisions surrounded the rear guard led by Stemmerman, while the 66th Cavalry Division led by Muzichenko continued to move forward.

  Finally, after half an hour, they caught up with the defeated army led by Lieutenant De Grele.

  Seeing the chasing cavalry, the officers and soldiers of the Walloon Assault Brigade had difficulty organizing a decent resistance, so they could only choose to flee in all directions. Some soldiers lay prone in the snow and shot at the cavalry who rushed over. Although some cavalry were shot and fell off their horses, more cavalry rushed up and trampled these soldiers who were lying on the snow into meat paste.

   Seeing that the situation was not going well, a few soldiers quickly threw away the weapons in their hands, and raised their hands high to surrender to the rushing cavalry. However, they miscalculated. The cavalry who rushed up seemed not to accept their surrender at all. Instead, they continued to brandish their sabers, hacking at them, and directly cut off the arms of some soldiers who were raised high.

   At dawn, Sokov received a call from Selivanov. The commander of the cavalry reported excitedly on the phone: "General Sukov, let me tell you some good news. We have surrounded thousands of Germans, and there is even a general among them."

   Knowing that the cavalry army surrounded thousands of enemies, Sokov felt very happy: "General Selivanov, I congratulate you, you have made a great contribution."

   Selivanov laughed dryly, and asked, "General Sokov, how should we deal with them?"

   "The Germans who are besieged by you, how did they react?"

   "Most of the Germans surrounded by us are wounded. They are lying on stretchers and cannot move at all." Selivanov said: "Even those soldiers who can move seem to have no intention of resisting."

   "So that's how it is." After learning about the situation of the German army, Sokov said to Selivanov: "Comrade Commander, you continue to besiege them, and I will rush there immediately."

Sokov knew that the German army, including thousands of wounded, would never resist, so he did not issue an order to wipe out this enemy, but planned to try it out to see if he could persuade these enemies to surrender to him .

  If he hadn't been injured in the past few months, Sokov would like to ride a horse himself to persuade the Germans to surrender. But now his leg injury has not healed, so he can only choose to go by car.

   After driving for nearly an hour, the jeep in which Sokov was riding finally arrived at the battlefield. He saw through the window glass that on the snow in the distance, there was a large area of ​​German troops standing still, and around them were Soviet cavalry on high alert.

  Seeing the jeep in which Sokov was riding, Selivanov stepped forward and opened the door himself. As soon as Sokov got out of the car, he immediately asked: "How is the situation? Do the Germans have any intention of continuing to break through?"

   "No." Selivanov shook his head and said, "It's been several hours since we besieged them. They neither fight us nor lay down their weapons. It's just like this stalemate."

   "Comrade Commander," Sokov said to Selivanov: "Send a soldier to shout, and say that I want to meet their commander and let him meet in the middle."

"General Sokov," Selivanov obviously did not have much confidence in persuading the German army to surrender, so he said to Sokov: "The reason why these Germans stay here is because they cannot escape. It is obviously very difficult for them to surrender to us, so I don't think there is any need to persuade them to surrender."

  (end of this chapter)