Chapter 987 Special Troops

   Soon after Paulus surrendered, the Berlin side got the news.

  General Zeitzler, the chief of staff of the German army, felt that this might be a conspiracy of the Soviet army, a conspiracy to make the German base camp abandon the besieged troops.

But when he told Hitler about his speculation, the short man with a moustache said without hesitation: "Zeitzler, this is not a conspiracy, Paulus must have surrendered. Absolutely so, otherwise our Soldiers will never let the Russians come near their positions as long as they have a bullet left."

"My Führer." Zeitzler still couldn't believe Paulus's statement of surrender. After all, from the outbreak of the war to the present, there has never been a precedent for a marshal to be captured or surrendered. He tried to persuade Hitler, Prove to him it's a conspiracy. "Perhaps Field Marshal Paulus is lying in his headquarters at this very moment, mortally wounded..."

"No, they really surrendered." Hitler said with unprecedented stubbornness: "According to my judgment, Paulus, a coward, after surrendering to the Russians, will definitely issue an order to the troops trapped in the northern factory area to let the Russians surrender." They also surrendered to the Russians."

   Just as Zeitzler was racking his brains and considering ways to persuade Hitler, a telegram he had just received was placed in front of him. The telegram was sent by General Strekel, the commander of the 11th Army who stood firm in the factory area north of the city. He confirmed the news that Paulus had been captured, and at the same time stated that he was unable to hold on, and hoped that he would be allowed to lead the army. The remaining troops surrendered.

"See it, Zeitzler." After reading the telegram, Hitler said angrily: "Paulus is a coward, I promoted him to field marshal, just hoping that when the headquarters is occupied by the Russians, he can use a pistol to attack the German army." shot himself in the head. If he had done so, he would have set an example for other officers and soldiers to fight the Russians bravely to the last moment. But he actually surrendered. The bad example he set is for us The military has had a huge negative impact.

Look at the telegrams from General Strekel, this brave German soldier, who also sent me a telegram asking me to approve their surrender. This is a bad example set by Paulus, a coward and a fool It didn't come to a good result..."

  Hearing Hitler yelling at Paulus, Zeitzler was worried that the other party would anger him, so he didn't dare to speak, so he could only stand beside him with an embarrassed face.

   After Hitler was tired of scolding, he finally stopped. After resting for a while, he looked up at Zeitzler and said: "Chief of Staff, immediately in the name of the headquarters, send a telegram to General Strekel, promoting him to the rank of general, and ordering him to lead the remaining troops to continue fighting." .”

"However, the air force's supply to Stalingrad has basically been interrupted." Zeitzler carefully reminded Hitler: "Without ammunition and food, it is basically impossible for our soldiers to continue to hold on. "

"I will call Goering immediately." Hitler said hysterically: "Order him to immediately dispatch at least 500 transport planes to drop enough ammunition and food to the German soldiers trapped in the factory area north of the city so that they can Fight on in the Russian encirclement."

   Zeitzler originally wanted to remind Hitler that the air force under Goering is simply unable to dispatch so many planes to airdrop the besieged troops. But seeing Hitler's expression, he swallowed the words that came to his lips again.

When the regular meeting was held at noon the next day, Goering triumphantly reported to Hitler: "My Fuhrer, I have issued an order to the front field field airfield to drop ammunition and food to the besieged troops north of the city of Stalingrad. .At this moment, there should already be 30 transport planes, which are airdropping our officers and soldiers."

   For Hitler, the situation reported by Goering was undoubtedly the best news he had heard recently. He tried his best to force a smile on his face, and said: "Goring, you did a great job. Although we have lost the defenders in the south of the city, as long as the troops in the north of the city are still fighting, we will not lose this battle... "

   Unexpectedly, before he finished speaking, he saw Goebbels rushing in from the outside in a hurry. As soon as he saw Hitler, he couldn't wait to say: "My head of state, the Russian intelligence agency is broadcasting news about Stalingrad. I think you need to listen to it." Then, he came to the floor-standing radio by the wall , twisted the knob, and turned on the radio.

A Russian interpreter who came in with Goebbels immediately stood by the radio and translated what was said on the radio for the people present: "Today, February 2, the troops of the Red Army's Don Front Army have completely cleared the surrounding area. The resistance of the enemy forces in the factory area north of Stalingrad forced them to lay down their weapons and surrender to our army. The enemy's last point of resistance was smashed, and the historic Battle of Stalingrad, with the complete strength of our army It ends in victory.

  In this great battle, the German army lost a total of 1.5 million troops, 3,500 tanks, 12,000 artillery pieces, and 3,000 aircraft. The remaining 100,000 people of the Sixth Army, including the commander of the army, Marshal Paulus, and his 23 generals, have all become our prisoners..."

   "Turn off, turn off the radio quickly." Hearing this, Hitler immediately growled and told Goebbels, who was standing next to the radio, to turn off the radio. Goebbels didn't dare to be negligent, and quickly turned off the radio, and gestured to the interpreter to let him leave the room.

"My Führer," Zeitzler stood up before Hitler could speak, and said to him respectfully, "The Russians have wiped out our Sixth Army, and their next target is Marshal Manstein's army." Troops. I think we need to remind Manstein to prepare for the defense in advance."

   "Chief of the General Staff, you are right." Hitler, who was angry, finally calmed down. He stared at the map on the wall, nodded and said, "The Russians' next attack target must be Manstein's troops, and they must be prepared for defense as soon as possible to deal with possible Russian attacks. "

"My Führer," Zeitzler continued, "Marshal Manstein's troops fought fiercely with the Russians in order to rescue Paulus's troops some time ago, and lost a lot of troops and technical equipment. You see, we Are troops and equipment drawn from Army Group Center and replenished?"

"No, absolutely not." Hitler picked up the explaining stick leaning against the wall, knocked on the location of Moscow, and said loudly: "Our Central Army Group is stationed at the current location and has successfully contained no less than seventy soldiers. The Russian troops of this division forced them to stay near Moscow and did not dare to move in any other direction.

  If we really draw troops and technical equipment from the Central Army Group, then the Russians will soon be aware of it, so that they can draw troops from Moscow and rush to join the troops around Manstein. In this way, Manstein's situation will become more difficult. "

"However, my Fuhrer, we can't ignore the situation of Marshal Manstein." Zeitzler reminded Hitler: "Once his troops are severely damaged or defeated by the Russians, then the flanks of our Central Army Group will be exposed. before the Russians."

"Send a batch of tanks to Manstein." After staring at the map for a while, Hitler turned to Zeitzler and said, "Send him the new Tiger tanks and the improved Panzer IV. Let's see if these improved tanks can restrain the Russian T-34 tanks."

   "Understood, my head of state." Zeitzler silently calculated the transportation time of these tanks, and felt that the troops could be deployed within a week, so he nodded and said, "I will arrange the transportation immediately."

  ...

  In the command post on Mamayev Gang, Sokov was chatting with Rokossovsky who stayed here.

   Rokossovsky smiled and asked Sokov: "Misha, I want to tell you an interesting thing."

   "Interesting thing?" Sokov asked curiously: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, what interesting thing is it?"

"I met General Kurzbach, the commander of the 51st Army of the German Army yesterday." Rokossovsky said with a smile: "He actually suggested to me to recruit a group of people from the German prisoners and form a team to cooperate with our army. The anti-government troops."

  Hearing what Rokossovsky said, Sokov immediately remembered that in real history, after Kurzbach was captured, he did propose this plan to the top Soviet army. Unfortunately, his proposal was rejected.

  Sokov considered this time and space, because of his arrival, many things have changed. For example, the 13th Guards Division, which shined brilliantly in real history, became unknown due to its own appearance. Even the division commander Rodimtsev was rarely mentioned. As for Kurzbach's proposal to form an anti-government army, I don't know whether there will be variables.

   "Comrade Front Army Commander," Sokov asked cautiously, "What do you think?"

"I have to admit that General Kurzbach's starting point is good." Rokossovsky said thoughtfully: "But if such an army is really formed, will they obey our command in battle? , It’s hard to say. What’s more dangerous is, once our army that they cooperate with is at a disadvantage, do you think they will fight for our army and their compatriots, or will they turn their guns and attack us?”

   Sokov took Rokossovsky's concerns very seriously. After all, the family members of these soldiers are still in Germany. Once their identities are leaked, their relatives in the country will definitely be affected. Just based on one point, it is doomed that even if this army is formed, most of the officers and soldiers will be in Cao Ying and their hearts will be in Han. During the Three Kingdoms period, why the generals of the Wei army surrendered but could not take the army away was because the family members of the soldiers in the army lived in the heartland of the Wei state, which was equivalent to the existence of hostages.

Thinking of this, Sokov nodded, and said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Front Army Commander, you are right, even if the captives reluctantly join us, they are still an unstable factor on the battlefield. The danger of defection. Therefore, I think it is completely right not to form such an army."

  Hearing Sokov's answer, Rokossovsky showed a surprised expression on his face. He said to Sokov: "Misha, I really didn't expect that your ideas are similar to mine. You may not know that many people in the headquarters of the front army agreed with Kurzbach's plan. He recruited men and formed a special German unit.

  According to their ideas, use this force as a punishment battalion. When encountering a dangerous battle, let them charge forward..."

"This is tantamount to letting them be cannon fodder." Sokov interrupted before Rokossovsky finished, "The family members of the German prisoners are all in the country, and they will definitely worry about what will happen to them once they join such an army." They caused trouble for their own relatives. Even if they are barely incorporated into our troops, their loyalty may not be too high. If they are used as cannon fodder again, I am worried that they may take the opportunity to escape back to the enemy’s position when an attack occurs.”

"Misha, your worries are absolutely correct." Rokossovsky replied with a smile, "I have reported this matter to the Supreme Commander himself, and after listening to it, he put forward the same opinion as you. It is determined not to use captives to form an army, otherwise it will be a great hidden danger."

"Comrade Front Army Commander," Sokov waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, and immediately added: "Although prisoners cannot be recruited to form a new army, those German generals who surrendered can be used. "

   "Use, how to use?"

"Let them make a speech on the radio, calling on the German military and civilians to oppose the rule of the Communist Party and stop this meaningless war." Sokov said: "Although their speeches did not help the development of the war situation much, but But it can let the German soldiers understand that they can no longer rampage in the territory of our motherland as they did in the early days of the war, and they are also in danger of being wiped out at any time."

   "It makes sense, it makes sense." Rokossovsky nodded and said, "I will let the Political Department arrange this matter as soon as possible."

   "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I would like to ask. When will the troops under my command return to the establishment?"

  Thinking that the battle group was about to be disbanded, Sokov still felt a little lost. Even though I didn't get along with the teachers for a long time, but since I fought after all, I already had a sincere friendship, and I was somewhat reluctant to let them go.

"In about four or five days, you will return the three infantry divisions, one tank brigade and two artillery regiments in the combat group to Batov's 65th Army." Seeing Sokov's disappointed look Rokossovsky comforted him and said: "But I will leave Colonel Bely's tank brigade and continue to be under your command."

   Hearing that Colonel Bely's tank brigade could stay, Sokov felt somewhat relieved. Although there is a little less tank brigade, I and Belyi are already old partners, and there is no major problem in cooperation. In the future, when encountering any fierce battles, maybe we can rely on the tank brigade to break out of the encirclement.

   But as soon as this idea came up, Sokov forcibly suppressed it: the Stalingrad defense war had just ended, how could he think about how to break out of the encirclement, this omen is not good.

   "Misha." Rokossovsky stood up and said to Sokov: "After your combat group is disbanded, I will immediately prioritize the replenishment of your division."

  (end of this chapter)