Chapter 979 Paulus Surrender

  Unexpectedly, after the telegram was sent, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, without any movement.

  Sokov looked at the time, almost ten minutes had passed, and he couldn't help feeling anxious. He also called the communication company commander over and asked, "Comrade company commander, why hasn't the front army headquarters responded to the telegram yet? Could it be that they haven't received our telegram?"

   "Comrade Commander," the communication company commander straightened his body and replied in an affirmative tone: "The other party has completely received the telegram we sent."

   "But why haven't you called back after so long?" Ivanov, who was standing beside him, couldn't help asking.

  The communications company commander opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say, so he stood there silent.

"Comrade deputy commander, this is not the responsibility of the communications company commander. We are too anxious." Sokov sighed and said to Sidolin: "The surrender of Paulus to us has a lot to do with it, even if Rokosovs General Ji is the commander of the front army, and I am afraid that some things cannot be decided by himself. I guess he should be asking for instructions from the headquarters of the Supreme Command at this moment, and he will give us an order after he has an answer."

   After another quarter of an hour of suffering, the phone on the table rang. Ivanov thought it was a call from the head of the regiment at the front, so he went over to pick up the phone, and said into the microphone, "I'm Ivanov, the deputy division commander. Where are you?"

   "I'm Rokossovsky." Unexpectedly, Rokossovsky's voice came out of the receiver: "Is Sokov there?"

"Commander of the Front Army, please wait a moment, I will ask the division commander to answer the phone immediately." After Ivanov finished speaking, he covered the receiver with his hand and shouted to Sokov who was standing by the intercom: "Comrade commander, the commander of the front The Commander wants to speak to you."

   "Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Sokov walked over and took the microphone, and said in his ear, "Do you have any instructions?"

   "Misha, I have reported the content of your telegram to the Supreme Command." Rokossovsky said, "The Supreme Commander is very satisfied with the results you have achieved."

   Knowing that Stalin was satisfied with the results he had achieved, Sokov couldn't help feeling a little elated. However, he still tried to ask in a calm tone: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I wonder if the headquarters will allow me to accept the surrender of the German army?"

"Go, Misha, this is an opportunity that can be recorded in history, don't miss it." After saying this, Rokossovsky said enviously: "To be honest, if it weren't for my headquarters It's too far away from you, and I want to go to the department store myself and accept Paulus' surrender there."

  After putting down the phone, Sokov said to Ivanov: "Comrade deputy commander, you stay here and sit in command. I am ordered to go to the department store to accept the surrender of the German army."

   "Okay." Although Ivanov dreamed of participating in such a surrender, after all, the distance is only a few hundred meters. However, due to his responsibilities, he could only choose to stay at the forward headquarters, but he still told Sukov: "Comrade commander, you must pay attention to safety."

"Don't worry, Comrade Deputy Commander." Sokov grinned at Ivanov, "I should be safer now than ever. Not only our soldiers will protect my safety, even the Germans who are about to surrender, I also don’t want any accidents to happen to me. I believe that today’s surrender will be very smooth.”

   "Comrade Colonel." As soon as Sokov walked to the door, a person came from the other side of the traffic trench and said loudly to him: "Let me go together."

  Sokov turned his head and saw clearly that the speaker was Ulbricht, the leader of the Anti-Fasi Temple Alliance. Thinking that when I am surrendered later, I need someone who understands German to be an interpreter. He shook his head at the other party and said, "Let's go, Comrade Ulbricht, come with us to accept Paulus' surrender."

  Ten minutes later, Sokov and Ulbricht walked into the department store with a guard platoon of soldiers. As soon as he entered the door, Schmidt greeted him and said flatteringly: "Colonel Sokov, our commander is waiting for you in the basement, please come with me."

   When Sokov followed Schmidt to the entrance of the basement, he found that the two iron doors at the entrance were closed tightly. Sokov frowned slightly, and asked back: "Chief Schmidt, didn't you say you would surrender to us? Why did you close the door?"

"Colonel Sokov, don't get me wrong." Seeing that the door was closed when he came out, Schmidt was also a little flustered, and he quickly explained to Sokov: "It may be that some people don't want to surrender. The officers and soldiers did something wrong, I immediately asked them to open the door."

   As he spoke, Schmidt called a soldier and told him to come forward and call the door. The soldier stepped forward and slapped the iron gate with his hands vigorously, making the door crack, but the iron gate never opened.

   Seeing that the people inside refused to open the door, Sokov turned his head and said to Samoilov who was following him: "Comrade Lieutenant, go and call the door. Remember, let the enemy open the door and surrender in Russian."

  Samoylov nodded, walked to the door a few steps, beat the door heavily with his fist, and shouted sharply: "Open the door, I order you to open the door immediately."

  When Samoilov knocked on the door, Sokov wondered in his heart, if the Germans inside refused to open the door, should he order someone to blow the door open with explosives? As for whether the German soldiers staying near the door are dead or alive, I can't care about it.

   Before Sokov ordered the use of explosives, several gunshots were heard from the door. With sharp ears, Sokov heard the guns fired inside, including pistols and submachine guns. Just as he wanted Schmidt to come forward and ask what happened inside, the two closed iron doors had already been opened from the inside.

  Those who opened the door were several soldiers wearing steel helmets. After opening the door, they threw the weapons in their hands on the ground and stood on both sides of the door. "Come in, Colonel Sokov." Now that the door was open, Schmidt hurriedly took a step forward, making a gesture of invitation: "Our Commander is still waiting for you."

   When Sokov walked into the iron gate, he saw the body of a German officer lying at the door, with a pistol still in his hand. Five or six steps away from him, a soldier without a helmet was sitting, and a companion was bandaging the wound on his arm. In Sokov's mind, he immediately connected the wounded soldier with the German officer who was killed. He guessed that the soldier wanted to open the iron gate, but was stopped by his officer, and a fight broke out between the two sides. The officer shot him in the arm, and the submachine gun in his hand killed the officer who prevented him from opening the door.

   After thinking about the cause and effect, Sokov stopped, turned around and said to Samoilov: "Comrade Lieutenant, let someone bandage the wound of this wounded soldier. Also, give him some food."

"Comrade commander, why on earth is this?" Samoilov didn't understand why Sokov suddenly issued such a strange order, and he asked back: "Why did you treat this wounded soldier and give him food?" ?”

"It's very simple, Comrade Lieutenant." Sokov looked at the wounded soldier sitting on the ground and said, "If it wasn't for him, we might still be locked out at this moment. It is precisely because he shot and killed the officer who tried to prevent the door from opening, Only then can we enter the basement smoothly. Do you understand?"

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." Samoilov said, took out a first-aid kit from his pocket, bent down and handed it to the wounded soldier with a wounded arm. Seeing that the wounded soldier had accepted the first aid kit, he took out a piece of black bread the size of a fist from his pocket and stuffed it into the wounded soldier. The wounded soldier didn't expect the Soviet army who came in to give him food in addition to the first aid kit, and he was so excited that he thanked Sokov.

  The last time Sokov came to persuade him to surrender, the basement was still well ventilated and there was no peculiar smell. But only a few days later, the basement was full of stench, the smell of blood and shoes and socks mixed in the dirty air, like a huge garbage dump.

  Schmidt led Sokov along the corridor crowded with officers and soldiers to the door of a room, stopped and said to Sokov, "Colonel Sokov, Your Excellency the Commander is waiting for you in the room."

  Sokov nodded, reached forward and pushed open the door, and strode in. Ulbricht and Samoilov behind them also quickly followed in.

When he came into the room, with the help of the dim light, Sokov saw a soldier wearing an officer's overcoat and a otterskin cap, standing by the wall with his back to the door, looking up at the map hanging on the wall .

"Marshal Paulus," Sokov knew that this person was Paulus, walked behind him, and said righteously: "I am Sokov, the colonel of the Soviet Red Army. I was ordered to accept the surrender of the German army and Take you all captive."

  Paulus, who was facing the wall, turned around slowly after listening to Ulbricht's translation. Sokov saw clearly that he was still wearing the general's uniform. It seemed that Hitler hadn't had time to let the Air Force drop the field marshal's uniform. Paulus took off the **** hat on his head and put on a big-brimmed hat. After raising his hand to salute Sokov, he said loudly: "Marshal Paulus surrenders to the Soviet Red Army!"

"Samoilov," Sokov took the pistol handed over by Paulus, turned around and handed it to Samoilov who was following him, and ordered him to say, "Order all the soldiers outside to come in and take the pistol with you." All the German officers and soldiers in the basement were taken out."

After Samoilov left, Sokov pointed to the chair by the conference table and said politely: "Marshal Paulus, it will take a long time to accommodate so many troops, why don't we sit down and talk?" Let's talk."

"Mr. Marshal." After Paulus sat down, Sokov sat down on a chair not far away, looked at him and asked, "I want to ask you, there are obviously many opportunities to break through, why don't you organize The troops broke through?"

"We lack fuel, ammunition and food." Hearing this question, Paulus replied with a wry smile, "If we want to break out, we can only throw away all the technical equipment and flee lightly. But in such a cold climate, our Even if the troops break through your siege, they will be wiped out by you in the snow and ice."

Sokov did not object to Paulus's statement, but nodded. He also felt that once the enemy who had lost their heavy weapons broke away from the position they were relying on and fled in a hurry in the snow, they would soon die. The pursued Soviet army was defeated.

Seeing that Sokov agreed with his statement, Paulus continued: "During the retreat, the troops are vulnerable to heavy damage from you, and even annihilation is one aspect. More importantly, I have sent telegrams to the head of state many times, I asked him to let the troops break out, but he refused without hesitation."

"Marshal Paulus," Sokov waited for Paulus to finish speaking, he was silent for a while, and said, "If I were you, I would definitely not take Hitler's order into account and decisively order the troops to break through. Don't forget Yes, as early as December 1941, in order to prevent his troops from being annihilated by us, General Guderian blatantly violated Hitler's order and led the troops to the rear. This preserved a large number of effective forces, and the counterattack launched by our army had to be an early closure."

   "Colonel Sokov, didn't you hear what I just said?" Paulus argued unconvinced: "We must discard all technical equipment and escape from the encirclement on foot..."

"Marshal Paulus, I understand everything you said just now." Sokov said with a sneer, "If I were you, I would lead the troops to break through as soon as possible and meet Manstein's troops who came to meet us." Convergence. Then the two troops joined forces to defend the Soviet army's attack on a broad front, and then dispatched troops to attack the Soviet army's flanks like the Battle of Kharkov. You know, the Sixth Army's more than 200,000 troops After joining the Manstein Army, what a terrifying combat power will be formed. Once the main counterattack assembled by the Soviet army is wiped out through a flank counterattack, then the German army will win a decisive victory on the Soviet-German battlefield at this moment."

Paulus was dumbfounded after listening to Ulbricht's translation. After a long silence, he said, "Colonel Sokov, maybe you are right. At that time, Manstein's troops were only tens of kilometers away from us. As long as we If even one division is dispatched to attack each other, your encirclement may have been broken long ago. As long as the forces of both sides are combined, an advantage can be formed locally.

  Colonel Sokov, let me say something that is not afraid of your anger. From the beginning of the attack on Stalingrad to the present, the only person my subordinates are convinced is you. No matter who received the task of attacking Mamayev Gang, they would have a sad face, because they knew in their hearts that it was almost an impossible task to conquer Mamayev Gang. "

"Thank you, Marshal Paulus." Hearing Paulus' appreciation for him, Sokov felt a little proud in his heart. It is the greatest honor for a soldier to be praised by the enemy: "Actually, I It is judged that after your victory in the Kharkov area, the next target of attack is Stalingrad, so a complete underground defense was built on Mamayev Hill early on."

"It's your underground fortifications that make us feel helpless." Paulus said with a wry smile: "Whether it's shelling or bombing, watching your surface positions be razed to the ground. But as soon as our soldiers boarded Mamaye Fugang, you will come out of the ground and shoot at our soldiers, knocking them down like targets."

  (end of this chapter)