Chapter 977 White Flag

  In order to bypass the large and small craters, ruins, and some damaged tanks or other vehicles, the tanks of the tank brigade had to slow down and approach the department store slowly.

  Bely, who was sitting in the tank, thought that his tank brigade would advance at this speed, and it would definitely suffer heavy losses from the enemy's artillery fire. However, he soon discovered that the development of things was different from what he had imagined. The closer he was to the department store, the less threat the enemy's artillery fire posed to him.

  At first, he thought it was a hallucination, but after careful observation, he found that it was actually real. According to his analysis, the German artillery deployed in the building did not have enough depression angle, and when their tanks approached the department store, they could not hit themselves. After discovering this problem, he immediately got in touch with Sokov's command through the car phone.

  As soon as the phone was connected, he said excitedly: "Misha, I found that the closer our tanks are to the department store, the less threat the artillery in the building will pose to us."

   "What's going on here?" Sokov asked puzzled.

   "The depression angle of the German artillery is not enough, so as long as we get closer to the building, it will be difficult for the enemy artillery to hit us." Bely reported: "But we can bombard the windows where the artillery is deployed."

"You observe carefully, Colonel Bely." Sokov was worried that the tanks rushing towards the department store would suffer heavy losses from the enemy's artillery fire, but now he knows that the depression angle of the enemy's artillery is not enough. After reaching a certain position, the enemy's artillery can no longer attack the target. "Then you try to use artillery fire to suppress the firepower of the German army and cover the infantry's charge."

"clear."

After finishing the call with Bely, Sokov said to Sidolin: "Chief of Staff, call Colonel Sivakov and say that the enemy's artillery depression angle is not enough. As long as our army's tanks are closer to the building, the enemy's cannon The artillery can no longer threaten the tanks downstairs. Order the tank brigade under his command to immediately attack the department store."

   "Okay, Comrade Commander." Sidolin nodded and said, "I will immediately call Colonel Sivakov and ask him to use your tactics to quickly rush to the department store with tank troops."

  Sivakov was worried when he received the call from Sidolin. As the smoke dissipated, his attacking troops were exposed to the sight of the German army, and were immediately intercepted by shelling and machine gun fire, causing a large number of casualties.

  After hearing the order from Sidolin, he decided to take a gamble, and quickly issued orders to the tank brigade and the vanguard. Let the tanks stop close to the building and fire at the firepower points in the building, while the infantry, under the cover of tank fire, stormed the building.

  The artillery deployed in the building cannot bombard the Soviet tanks close to the building; but the Soviet tanks can bombard the firepower points in the building. This information was immediately reported to Schmidt. When he heard the news, he immediately ran over to report to Paulus: "Your Excellency, the situation is not very good. The Russian tanks are only two meters away from the building where we are." Three hundred meters away."

"What, there are still two or three hundred meters away from us?" After hearing Schmidt's report, Paulus turned his head and looked at the commander of the 144th Artillery Group, Hans Wurz, who was sitting aside, and said sharply: "You What are you doing sitting here, and not immediately organizing artillery fire to destroy the Russian tanks."

   "Your Excellency, Commander," Hans Wurz said that although he had been sitting at the headquarters, he still understood what was going on after listening to Schmidt's report. Seeing that Paulus was having a fit at this moment, he explained euphemistically: "The artillery we deployed in the building bombarded distant targets, and the effect was very good. But if they entered our shooting blind spot, our artillery would take them out." They have no choice. The rest of the battle can only be solved by infantry."

"Where is Sanne?" Paulus asked Schmidt again after hearing what Hans Wurz said: "Let him immediately prevent the troops from counterattacking, and the Russians must be driven from the vicinity of the department store. "

   "Your Excellency, Commander, I have something to say, I don't know whether to say it or not." Hans Wurz said cautiously.

"Don't say what you shouldn't say." Paulus slapped the table hard, and said to Hans Wurz: "If you persuade me to surrender again, I advise you to save yourself. I will The last person in the battle is the one who fires the last bullet."

   Seeing Paulus being so stubborn, Hans Wurz understood that whatever he said was useless. At this moment, he felt a little regretful in his heart. When Kurzbach contacted him two days ago to persuade him to hold a remonstrance, he refused without hesitation. Even during the process of military remonstrance, he pretended to be inspecting the defense and went to other areas.

   "Your Excellency, Commander," Schmidt reminded Paulus: "We only have more than 10,000 troops in this area. If we launch a counterattack, the effect may not be satisfactory."

"Isn't there other troops coming here?" Paulus said a little angrily, "When they arrive, our total strength will reach more than 30,000, and we can deal with the same number of Russians. We still have a good chance of winning.”

"Your Excellency, Commander, although we have sent a signal for help to the nearby troops from the beginning of the Russian offensive." Schmidt sighed and said, "Those directions have also been attacked by the Russians. How many troops can they draw?" The strength of the troops is still unknown."

  Schmidt's words brought Paulus back to his senses. As a commander, how could he not be clear about the situation around him. But he always had illusions in his heart, thinking that the troops of Manstein and Holt would still come to rescue him, and the attacking Russians would soon be defeated by reinforcements.

  He sat on his seat and finished smoking a cigarette before he said: "Chief of Staff, you should immediately formulate a breakout plan. When it is determined that the department store cannot be defended, we will organize troops to break out."

"Breakout?" Schmidt asked with a wry smile, "Your Excellency, we are surrounded by Russians on all sides. Where can we break out? Besides, our supplies are seriously insufficient, and a large number of soldiers are too hungry to walk. , even if the Russians give us a way, most of them will probably not be able to get out of the encirclement alive."

   "Then what shall we do?" Paulus murmured.

"It doesn't make much sense to continue fighting." Hans Wurz interjected, "It's better to send someone to negotiate with the Russians. The frontal offensive troops are commanded by Colonel Sokov. I believe he will not tell us put forward too harsh conditions."

Hearing Hans Wurz's suggestion, Schmidt couldn't help but smiled wryly: "General Hans Wurz, you don't know that he tried to persuade us to surrender twice, but we rejected both of them. At this moment If we ask them to negotiate again, I'm afraid they won't talk to us."

   "Then what should we do?" Hans Wurz asked: "Should we just sit and wait for death?"

   "Continue to fight." Paulus stood up and said: "As long as the Russians can break into the building, then we will surrender. After all, we have tried our best, and the head of state probably won't say anything."

"Okay." Seeing that Paulus already had the idea of ​​surrender, Schmidt felt that he could talk to Sanne, who was in charge of the building's defense, whether it was possible to properly release water so that the Russians could storm into the building, so that they could Surrendered logically. "I will pass on your order at once."

  According to Schmidt's thinking, since Paulus proposed this matter, Sanne, as a subordinate, would definitely implement it without hesitation. Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Sanne shook his head and said: "No, Your Excellency Chief of Staff. As a soldier, how can I easily hand over my position to the Russians? I will order my subordinates to be tenacious." Fight and hold here as long as possible."

  Schmidt did not expect Paulus to have the idea of ​​surrendering, but Sanne got into a dead end again, wanting to fight to the end with the superior Russians. Knowing that it would be of no use to persuade him any further, he returned to the basement and ordered the officers of the guard force to close the gate so that no one in the building could enter the basement.

Hans Wurz saw Schmidt coming back from the outside with a look of silence on his face, so he knew that the result of his conversation with Sanne was not good, so he quickly pulled him and asked, "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, what did General Sanne say?" Is he willing to put water on purpose so the Russians can break into the building as quickly as possible?"

"He said he was going to fight to the end." Schmidt smiled wryly and shook his head, and said, "I'm worried that he may have some radical actions then, so I have ordered the guards to close the door to the basement to prevent outside troops from entering. "

   "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff," Hans Wurz said cautiously: "I still have some subordinates in the building outside, why don't I go and get in touch with them. If you see that the situation is not right, surrender to the Russians immediately."

   "Surrender, how to surrender?" Schmidt asked puzzledly: "There is a crowd on the battlefield. If you go out and surrender, you may be killed by stray bullets. I think it's better to forget it."

"Did you see the roof on the second floor?" Hans Wurz said to Schmidt: "I let a few soldiers hide near the roof, and when I saw that the Russians had the upper hand, I flew a white flag at them. I think the Russians People will stop attacking when they see our white flag."

"Isn't it too risky to do this?" Schmidt reminded Hans Wurz: "I'm afraid your men are waving the white flag, while Sanne's soldiers are still shooting at the Russians. The Russians who attacked the building If you can't figure out the situation, you won't accept your surrender at all, so how are you going to end up then?"

"Time is running out." Even though the basement door was closed, Hans Wurz could still hear the gunshots becoming more and more intense, which proved that the Russian troops were about to rush into the building, so he hurriedly said to Schmidt : "I'll do it myself, don't worry."

   Hans Wurz heard right. A company of the 122nd Regiment, under the cover of tank fire, had rushed to the door of the building and was about to step up the steps and rush into the building. In order to hit the target below, the defenders in the building had to lean out and shoot down. As a result, many people were hit by Soviet snipers in the distance, and they fell downstairs with a scream.

  The rest of the soldiers saw their comrades kept being shot and fell, and knew that there were Soviet snipers in the distance, so they quickly shrank back. Since the guns couldn't hit the soldiers charging below, they threw the stringed grenades downstairs one by one. The grenade fell on the steps and exploded, sending up countless dazzling fireballs and **** of dazzling light. The soldiers shrouded in gunpowder were either cut down by the flying shrapnel, or rushed into the building and were knocked down by the enemies hiding in the hall.

   Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko saw that the troops he rushed up were covered by the grenades thrown by the enemy downstairs, and he was impatient. He quickly issued a new order to suppress the enemy with firepower, and at the same time sent more soldiers to rush up.

  The firepower composed of tank fire and machine gun fire successfully suppressed the enemies in the building, allowing more soldiers to rush into the building. However, just as a smile appeared on Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko's face, Sanne organized troops to launch a counterattack against the Soviet commanders who rushed into the building. In less than ten minutes, more than two hundred soldiers who rushed into the building were either killed or driven out.

   Ivanov, who was watching the battle from the rear, saw that the 122nd regiment's attack was frustrated, and quickly ordered the 125th regiment to attack to assist the 122nd regiment to continue the attack.

   "Comrade Deputy Commander," Ivanov had just given the order when he heard someone talking at the door: "Can you come in?"

  Ivanov turned his head and saw that it was Belkin. He nodded quickly and said, "Come in, Lieutenant Colonel Belkin."

   "Comrade Deputy Division Commander," Belkin walked up to Ivanov, straightened his body and asked, "I want to ask, when will we let the reduced regiment go up?"

"Downsizing regiment?" Ivanov couldn't help shrinking his pupils violently when he heard Belkin's question: "What, didn't your regiment take part in the battle?" The 122nd Regiment merged.

   "No." Belkin shook his head and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko said that his regiment was sufficient to deal with such an attack, so he let the commanders and fighters of our downsized regiment stay as a reserve."

   "Nonsense, this is simply nonsense." When Ivanov heard it, he immediately understood what was going on. In the entire defensive battle, the regiment with the most outstanding military exploits in the whole division was none other than Belkin's downsized regiment. Papchenko may have worried that the regiment would take the credit for capturing Paulus alive, so he let them stand still. At this moment, since the 122nd Regiment's attack was frustrated, it had to use the downsizing regiment. Thinking of this, he said to Belkin: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I order you to immediately lead the drawdown group to attack the department store, and must rush into the building in the shortest possible time."

   Following the order, the drawdown group launched an attack towards the building. They adopted Sokov's three-three tactic, a group of three, alternately covered and rushed towards the building. The machine gunner hiding in the building couldn't help being a little dumbfounded seeing such a battle formation. If the offensive formation is dense, they can immediately shift positions after a frenzied strafing. But with such a loose formation, the time they need to shoot has increased virtually, which also increases the chance of being destroyed by tank fire outside.

  In less than five minutes, the first battalion and the second battalion of the downsizing regiment entered the building one after another, and started close combat with the enemy on the first floor. Hearing the dense gunfire from downstairs, Hans Wurz knew that the situation was over, so he ordered his confidantes: "Shoot the white flag out."

  His confidant heard it, and quickly agreed, and stretched out the white flag that had been tied to the wooden stick long ago, out of the roof, and shook it desperately towards the outside.

  (end of this chapter)