"Chief of Staff," Strecker said with a bitter look on his face: "The troops commanded by Your Excellency the Commander have been completely destroyed. The tens of thousands of us who are left are short of winter clothing, and their food and ammunition have been basically exhausted.
Even if the Russians don't attack, most of the people will die of hunger and cold in less than a week."
Regarding Strecker's statement, the Army Chief of Staff felt that he could not refute it at all. After the Russians took offensive actions in the Don River Basin, in order to speed up the retreat, they had ordered the soldiers to remove their military coats during the transfer process.
It was burned. I thought that if I jumped out of the Russian encirclement, I would be able to get replenishment in the reserve warehouse. Unexpectedly, the breakout ended in failure. Even the troops on the right bank of the Don River were ordered to abandon their original positions and rush to
Come and join the troops in the encirclement.
Thinking of this, the Army Chief of Staff was no longer stubborn. He had already made a decision. If he continued to stick to it, there was only one way to die. So after thinking for a while, he said to Strecker: "Your Excellency, General, I think the combat situation
Lieutenant Colonel Miller, you can go on this mission."
"Call him over."
A few minutes later, the tall Lieutenant Colonel Miller appeared in the military headquarters. He stood upright in front of Strecker, raised his hand in a salute, and said loudly: "Your Excellency, General."
, Lieutenant Colonel Miller, Chief of Operations, was ordered to come."
"Lieutenant Colonel," Strecker said to him in a serious tone: "I called you here today because I have a difficult task that I have to give you to complete. You take a Russian translator and go to the Russians.
Go and negotiate with them."
"Negotiate with the Russians?" Hearing Strecker's order, the muscles on Miller's face twitched violently. As the chief of operations, he was qualified to know Berlin's call back.
.I thought that after receiving this telegram, General Strekel would choose to fight the Russians to the end. Unexpectedly, he ordered himself to negotiate with the Russians. It was obvious that the other side did not intend to continue fighting and was preparing to
Being a shameful traitor. "Your Excellency, General, we still have tens of thousands of people, so we can continue to fight. Besides, didn't Berlin just send a telegram asking us to fight until the last moment?"
"Yes, we do have tens of thousands of people, but we are running out of food and ammunition, and most of the soldiers don't have winter clothing." Strecker said sternly: "If we follow Berlin's instructions
If we continue to resist the orders given by our side, I am afraid that the whole army will be destroyed in two or three days at most. Even if the Russians do not attack, most of our soldiers will die of cold and starvation in less than a week."
Miller suddenly fell silent when he heard what Strecker said. He was very clear about the supply situation of the army. Not to mention that ordinary soldiers did not have enough to eat, even he, a lieutenant colonel, often had enough to eat.
He was so hungry that he either had stars in his eyes or broke into cold sweats all over his body.
Seeing that Miller stopped talking, Strecker continued: "Lieutenant Colonel, we have done our duty. What's left is to find ways to save the people who are still alive so that more people can survive the war.
Later, he returned to his homeland."
Strecker's last words completely moved Miller. He nodded slightly and said solemnly: "Understood, General, I will obey your order and go to negotiate with the Russians."
"The defenders of Stalingrad are Chuikov's 62nd Army. You must find a way to meet Chuikov and tell him that as long as we provide us with enough food and medicine, we can lay down our weapons and surrender to them." Strei
Kerr said, and explained some surrender conditions to Miller.
Miller left the army headquarters, took an interpreter with him, and entered the barricade factory under a white flag. He planned to contact the defenders here and then go to see Chuikov.
Unexpectedly, not long after they entered the barricade factory, they were fired upon by machine guns. Miller and the translator hurriedly hid behind a pile of bricks and escaped. A moment later, he heard a rush of footsteps, and then
A dozen well-armed German soldiers rushed over and pointed their guns at them.
It seemed that they were all German soldiers. Miller felt that there must be a misunderstanding, and quickly asked the officer leading the team: "Which unit are you from?"
After seeing Miller's epaulettes clearly, the officer with the bandage on his head replied loudly: "I am Lieutenant Steiger, commander of the third company of the 305th Engineer Battalion. Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, why are you flying the white flag?"
Miller stood up and said to Lieutenant Steiger: "Lieutenant, I am Lieutenant Colonel Miller, chief of military operations. On the order of General Strekel, I went to the Russian positions to negotiate with them."
"Negotiation?" Steiger asked puzzledly: "Under current circumstances, what is there to talk about with them?"
"Lieutenant, do you think we can continue to fight?" Before Steiger could answer, he asked himself: "I don't think we can continue to fight. Maybe the best way out is to put down our weapons."
."
Hearing what Miller said, the soldiers lowered their guns one after another. They agreed very much with what the other party said. If they continued to fight, they would be dead. Only by laying down their weapons and surrendering could they have a chance of survival.
Seeing that his soldiers had put down their weapons, Steiger still said with a strong attitude: "Lieutenant Colonel, how can you prove that you are from the military headquarters?"
"Here is my ID." Miller took out his ID and handed it over, and said to Steiger: "Lieutenant, if you don't believe it, you can check my ID."
Steiger took Miller's ID, opened it and took just one glance to confirm that the other party's identity was correct. After he handed the ID back to the other party, he asked curiously: "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, why are you two going to fight with the Russians?"
People are negotiating?"
"Your Majesty the General is worried that too many people go there, which may cause misunderstandings among the Russians." Miller explained: "After all, it is already night, and the visibility cannot be compared with that during the day. If too many people go, the Russians will
They will think that we are here for a sneak attack, and maybe the two sides will fight."
"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, there is a Russian division headquarters in the factory." Steiger said to Miller, "I can send you there."
"No need." Miller waved his hand to Steiger and said, "There are too many people, I'm afraid it will arouse the suspicion of the Russians."
"It's okay, Mr. Lieutenant Colonel." Steiger replied: "We can go there with flashlights, so no one will expose themselves with flashlights during a sneak attack."
"Okay." Miller was actually worried not about being killed by the Russians on the opposite side, but about being shot coldly by the diehards on his own side who were unwilling to surrender, so he agreed to Steiger's proposal: "You send us to
The Russian positions, just come back."
Miller and Steiger, with more than a dozen soldiers and flashlights, walked cautiously towards the Soviet position on the opposite side. Halfway through, Steiger cautiously asked: "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, listen to the Russian radio.
It is said that the Commander has been captured by the Russians, is this true?"
"It's true." The matter has reached the point where it is no longer meaningful to hide the officers and soldiers below, so Miller told the truth: "The headquarters has been captured by the Russian troops commanded by Colonel Sokov. Your Excellency, Commander
I was also captured by Sokov himself. With the few troops we have left, ammunition and food are almost exhausted. Even if the Russians don't attack us, I'm afraid many people will die of cold and starvation in less than a week.
Death. In order to save more lives, General Strekel decided to go against Berlin's wishes and voluntarily lay down his arms and surrender to the Russians."
"Da da da da", everyone was walking forward, and suddenly there was a burst of machine gun shooting in front of them. When they heard the gunfire, everyone instinctively fell down on the spot and quickly looked for a hiding place.
As soon as he lay down, shouts came from the other side. Miller quickly asked the translator: "What are the Russians talking about?"
"The other side told us to stop, otherwise they would shoot at us." The frightened translator replied: "They just shot into the sky to warn us. If we go further, they will be rude."
"Tell them, just say we are here to negotiate," Miller said to the translator: "Tell them not to shoot."
The translator quickly lay down on the pile of bricks and shouted tremblingly to the other side: "Don't shoot, don't shoot. We are here to negotiate with you."
The Soviet commanders and fighters hiding in the fortifications did not dare to make decisions on their own after hearing the Germans' shouting, so they called Lyudnikov to report. Lyudnikov learned that the Germans had sent representatives to negotiate and quickly gave instructions.
The soldier who called: "Let them come over, but for safety reasons, they can only send two people over."
The soldier who received the call quickly shouted towards the square where Miller and others were hiding: "Our division commander agrees that you can come to negotiate, but you can only come with two people."
As soon as he heard that only two people could come, Miller stood up and said to Steiger: "Lieutenant, thank you. Just send them here, and leave the rest to me." Then he bent down and returned the goods.
The translator who was lying on the ground picked it up, dragged it and walked towards the Soviet position.
Soon after, Miller and the translator were brought in front of Lyudnikov. After looking at the two of them, Lyudnikov asked: "What department are you in and what are you doing here?"
"I am the Chief of Operations of the 11th Infantry Corps. I have come to negotiate surrender with you on the order of General Strekel." Miller asked respectfully: "I wonder if you can send me to
Are you going to General Chuikov?"
Lyudnikov was silent for a moment, picked up the phone on the table, and said into the receiver: "I am Lyudnikov, call me Comrade Commander." The call was quickly connected, and he reported to Chuikov.
Said, "Comrade Commander, I have two negotiators from the German army here, and they want to see you."
"Talk about sending representatives?!" Chuikov had obviously guessed that the German army would send representatives to negotiate, and asked without any surprise: "Who is coming?"
"It's Lieutenant Colonel Miller, the chief of operations of the 11th Army." After explaining the identity of the visitor, Lyudnikov asked Chuikov for instructions: "Should we send them to your headquarters?"
"Bring them here." After Chuikov said this, he emphasized: "Bring them here personally."
"Let's go, Lieutenant Colonel Miller." After putting down the phone, Lyudnikov said to Miller: "Our commander has agreed to meet you."
In this way, Miller followed Lyudnikov to Chuikov's headquarters.
"You must be the negotiator of the German army." As soon as he walked into the headquarters, a general came forward. After sizing Miller up, he asked straight to the point: "How are you going to negotiate with us when you come here?"
Miller thought the person he was talking to was Chuikov, so he quickly raised his hand in salute and said politely: "Hello, General Chuikov, I am Miller, the negotiator sent by General Strekel, commander of the 11th Infantry Corps.
Lieutenant Colonel."
"I am Chief of Staff Krylov." The general pointed to the side: "This is General Chuikov."
"Tell me, what's the purpose of General Strekel sending you here?"
"General Strecker hopes that you can temporarily stop combat operations against us and provide us with enough food and medicine. After getting these things, we can stop resisting, lay down our weapons and surrender to your army," Miller said.
Strekel's explanation put forward some preconditions for surrender to both Chuikov and Krylov.
"What you can do is to surrender unconditionally." Chuikov waited for Miller to finish and said unceremoniously: "After we confirm that you have laid down your arms and surrender, we will provide you with basic food and medicine, and the sick and wounded will also be provided."
Get the necessary treatment.”
"But, Mr. General." Miller heard Chuikov say this and said with some embarrassment: "I have not received such authorization..."
"If you don't get authorization, then we can only continue to fight." Chuikov said sternly: "You will be responsible for all casualties and material losses caused during this period."
Seeing Chuikov say these words in an unquestionable tone, Miller realized that he might not be able to complete the task assigned by Strekel. After being silent for a long time, he murmured: "I'm sorry, Mr. General, I got it."
Our order is to lay down our arms and surrender to you after you meet our conditions."
"Under the current circumstances, do you think you still have a chance of winning?" Krylov sneered and said: "You are now out of ammunition and food. Even if we don't take offensive action, I'm afraid you won't be able to last for long. One day earlier.
Surrender and more of you will survive."
Miller was silent for a long time again. He thought to himself: If he rushes back to ask Strekel for instructions now, and then rushes back after getting permission, I'm afraid it will be dawn. By then, the Russians will launch another attack on their defensive positions.
Attack, and no one knows how many people will die as a result.
It was out of this consideration that Miller decided to make the decision on his own this time. He looked up at Chuikov and asked: "Mr. General, as the plenipotentiary representative appointed by General Strekel, I agree with your army's proposal.
At eight o'clock tomorrow morning, stop all hostilities in the north of the city, lay down your weapons and surrender. I just hope that you can abide by your promise, provide us with food and medicine, and provide necessary treatment for the sick and wounded."
"No problem," Chuikov said magnanimously when he saw that the other party was willing to surrender, "As long as you surrender, I will fulfill my promise."
This chapter has been completed!