Chapter 945 Operation Ring (Part 2)

   Early the next morning, Rokossovsky sent someone to deliver a letter of persuasion written by himself. To be precise, it was an ultimatum to Paulus.

It was Lieutenant Colonel Chernyakov, Rokossovsky's adjutant, who came to deliver the ultimatum. After shaking hands with Sokov, he said straight to the point: "Colonel Sokov, Comrade Commander sent me to send you Is the ultimatum to Paulus, the personnel sent to the enemy's position, ready?"

   "Yes, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I have already arranged for the personnel to go to the enemy's position to persuade them to surrender." Sokov said politely: "Please give me the ultimatum given to Paulus by the commander of the front army."

Lieutenant Colonel Chernyakov took out two sheets of paper from his briefcase, handed them to Sokov, and said: "Colonel Sokov, I strongly recommend that you immediately copy this ultimatum and Make leaflets and put them on the enemy's positions in various ways, so that more German officers and soldiers can see it, which will help disintegrate their morale and morale."

   Sokov took the paper in the opponent's hand and looked at it. It was written in German, and he couldn't help saying embarrassingly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, it's all in German."

"The top piece of paper is in German, and the bottom one is in Russian." Chernyakov explained to Sukov: "The German ultimatum is for German officers and soldiers; The copy is for our own commanders and fighters to see."

   Sokov removed the upper paper, and saw that the lower one was indeed written in Russian. Seeing that other people were also eager to know the above content, he read it aloud: "To General Paulus, commander and deputy commander of the German Sixth Army besieged at Stalingrad:

  The 6th Army of the German Army, the 4th Armament Corps of the Tank Group and its attached reinforcements have been completely encircled since November 23, 1942.

  …

  …

  The situation is very difficult for your besieged forces. They suffered from hunger, disease and cold. The harsh winter in Russia has arrived, freezing cold, biting winds and blizzards are approaching, but your soldiers have no winter clothes and are exposed to unhealthy conditions.

  As the commander, you and the officers of the besieged troops are very clear: it is impossible for you to break through the siege, your situation is hopeless, and it is meaningless to continue to resist. In view of the difficult situation you are in, in order to avoid unnecessary casualties, I hope you accept the following terms of surrender:

  1. All besieged German troops headed by you and your headquarters must stop resisting.

  2. You must hand over all troops, weapons, all technical weapons and military supplies to us in an organized manner. We guarantee the safety of the lives of all officers, soldiers and soldiers who give up resistance. After the war, they can return to Germany or choose where they want to go according to their wishes. Keep the military uniforms, symbols, medals, personal items and valuables of all members of the surrendered troops, and keep the cold weapons of senior officers. All surrendering officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers will soon be given normal meals. All wounded, sick and frostbitten will be treated.

If you have received this ultimatum, please send a representative to take a car with a white flag at 15:00 Moscow time on January 9, 1943, along the road from Connejang Station to Struban Station Send responses in writing. Your representatives will be greeted by representatives of the Soviet army in the area 0.5 kilometers southeast of the 564th stand.

  If you refuse to surrender, our Red Army and Red Army Air Force will be forced to wipe out the besieged German troops, and you will bear all the consequences. We hereby warn you. "

The signatures behind    are: Representative of the headquarters of the Supreme Command of the Red Army, Artillery General Voronov, and Lieutenant General Rokossovsky, Commander of the Don Front Army.

After seeing the ultimatum to Paulus, Sokov handed it to Anisimov, and said to him: "Comrade political commissar, immediately arrange for manpower to print this ultimatum in Russian and German." Leaflets in two languages, we must use possible methods to disrupt the enemy's military spirit and morale."

After Anisimov left with the ultimatum, Sokov nodded at Sidolin and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, call Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko and ask him to release all the prisoners he has prepared. .”

   Lieutenant Colonel Chernyakov, who was sitting on the side, asked curiously after Sokov gave the order: "Colonel Sokov, I don't understand, why did you release the German prisoners at this time?"

"The reason is very simple, let them go back to report the news." Sokov was afraid that the other party would not understand, and he explained specifically: "If we rashly send people to persuade the surrender, the comrades we send may be shot by the Germans. Now release some German prisoners, let them go back and inform their superiors that someone from us is going to negotiate, so as to prevent the enemy from shooting at the negotiators."

"Colonel Sokov, you are very thoughtful." Chernyakov nodded and said approvingly, "In this way, the German army will know that we will send people to negotiate with them. When they are in front of their positions, they will not shoot casually."

  Although Anisimov quickly arranged manpower to print the leaflets, it still took more than two hours to complete the printing of the leaflets. Just when he came back to report to Sokov, Rokossovsky called Sokov and said to him: "Colonel Sokov, have your people been sent out?"

"Not yet, Comrade Front Army Commander." Sokov heard the call from Rokossovsky, and quickly replied respectfully: "We have just finished printing the leaflets, and I am afraid we will have to wait a while before sending them out." to the German positions."

"Then you need to speed up a little bit," Rokossovsky said on the phone: "I have sent two reconnaissance planes with loudspeakers to the air above the enemy's defense zone to broadcast my last letter to Paulus. Ultimatum."

After finishing the conversation with Rokossovsky, Sokov took the ultimatum written by Rokossovsky from Anisimov and handed it to Guchakov who was standing next to him. : "Comrade Captain, this is an ultimatum given to Paulus by General Rokossovsky, the commander of the front army. If possible, I hope you can hand it over to Paulus."

   "Comrade commander, please rest assured." Guchakov straightened his body and assured Sokov: "I will definitely complete the task you assigned me satisfactorily."

According to Sokov's idea, he had already ordered someone to release a group of German prisoners, and asked them to go back to the German command to inform them, and then sent Guchakov and Ernst to take a jeep with a white flag. The enemy's position will definitely go well.

   Unexpectedly, less than half an hour after Guchakov and the others set off, he received a call from Bely from the position: "Misha, the comrade you sent to negotiate with the German army seems to be in trouble."

   "What, are you in trouble?" Sokov suddenly seemed a little flustered when he heard what Bely said, "Colonel Bely, what trouble did they encounter?"

"I don't know if it was the released German prisoners who didn't convey our intentions to their superiors; or the enemy didn't want to negotiate with us." Bely said on the phone: "The car that Captain Guchakov was riding in was from the car that left us. From the very beginning, the position was bombarded by German mortars twice. But the enemy didn’t seem to want to hurt them, and the shells were at least 50 meters away from their cars, probably warning them not to approach.”

   "Close monitoring," Sokov said into the microphone: "If you have any latest information, report it to me immediately."

  After putting down the phone, Sokov said to Chernyakov with a serious expression: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the Germans don't seem to want to negotiate with us. They shelled the jeep the negotiators were riding in and warned them not to approach."

"Colonel Sokov, I think there may be some misunderstanding." Regarding Sokov's statement, Chernyakov was somewhat disapproving: "Maybe the enemy thought we were going to attack them, so they used Let's test the mortar."

"No, the captives we released back should have reported our intentions to their superiors." Sokov replied: "And the location where the enemy shells fell is still far away from the jeep. Just a warning, not trying to hurt them. I think we'll have to wait a little longer to figure out what's going on."

   Ten minutes later, the phone rang again. The person who called this time turned out to be Guchakov, and he reported with a dejected expression: "Comrade commander, I'm sorry, our mission has failed."

   "Failed?" Although Sokov had long realized that the success rate of this mission was not high, it was still difficult for him to accept the failure so soon, "Tell me what's going on?"

"I am now at the regimental command post of the 122nd Regiment. Colonel Bely and Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko, the regiment leader, are by my side." Guchakov first reported his location, and then continued: "We take the The jeep of the 122nd regiment was hit by German mortar shells as soon as it left the position of the 122nd regiment. At that time, I found that the enemy’s shells were falling far away from the car. I guessed that they must be just warning us, but not hurting us. , let the driver continue to drive forward.

  When we advanced to a place only more than 50 meters away from the German position, the enemy used two machine guns to shoot cross-fire, blocking the way for the jeep to advance. When we stopped, the enemy also stopped shooting, and a German soldier shouted at us with a loudspeaker: Russians please pay attention, Russians please pay attention, our commander does not want to negotiate with you, please leave immediately. Otherwise, we will open fire on you.

  Seeing that it was impossible to move forward, I got out of the car and put the ultimatum to Paulus on a tree stump. In order to prevent it from being blown away by the wind, I also specially found a soil block to press on it. Before leaving, I asked Ernst to tell the other party that the letter for their commander should be placed on the tree stump and asked them to come and pick it up later. Then, we drove back to the position of the 122nd regiment. "

   "Comrade Captain." Lieutenant Colonel Chernyakov took the phone in Sokov's hand and asked Guchakov with a straight face: "Did the enemy take the ultimatum?"

"It's taken, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Guchakov heard a relatively unfamiliar voice, and immediately remembered the lieutenant colonel sitting in the division headquarters, and quickly replied with a respectful attitude: "I saw two German soldiers with my own eyes. Get out of your position, go to the stump and take the ultimatum I put there."

   "Good job, Comrade Captain." After listening to Guchakov's answer, Lieutenant Colonel Chernyakov said with satisfaction: "I will report your brave behavior to the commander of the front army."

  ...

  After the ultimatum was sent, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, without any movement.

  On the afternoon of January 9, the Chief of Staff of the Front Army, Ma Lining, called the officer in charge of receiving the German negotiators and asked, "Have you seen the German representatives who came to negotiate?"

The    officer replied: "No, Comrade Chief of Staff. The enemy's position is very quiet, there is no movement at all."

Ma Linin put down the phone and reported to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, I have already asked the officer in charge of receiving the German negotiators. He said that so far, he has not seen any movement on the German positions. Obviously , Paulus did not take your ultimatum seriously."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I have already said it." Rokossovsky waved his hand and said disapprovingly: "Since the enemy does not surrender, we will completely destroy him. Immediately notify the commanders of the various armies, 'Operation Ring 'On time, we want to make Paulus understand what kind of fate awaits him if he refuses to surrender in the shortest possible time."

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." Ma Linin replied with a smile: "This time, we can have a complete break with the besieged Germans."

  (end of this chapter)