In the evening of that day, Captain Klimov, the adjutant of Cuikov, came to the division command center in Mamayevgang with several strangers in casual clothes.
After Klimov raised his hand and saluted Sokov and the others, he reported: "Comrade Colonel, I will escort Comrade Walter Ublich from Moscow to you by order of Comrade Commander."
Walter, when he heard this name, Sokov immediately remembered a movie called "Walter defended Sarajevo" he had watched when he was a child, and thought to himself that Walter Ubricht, could it be that Walter Ubrich is also a Yugoslav?
Thinking of this, he reached out to shake hands with Ublich and asked with a smile: "Hello, Comrade Ublich! I want to ask, are you Yugoslav?"
"No." Ubrich shook his head and replied, "I am not Yugoslav, I am a German, the leader of the German anti-*** alliance and the National Front of the 'Free Germany'." He pointed at the men in plain clothes behind him and introduced to Sokov, "They are all cadres of the German Communist Party, and they have just arrived here from Moscow with me."
"Hello, Comrade Ublich." Anisimov asked curiously when shook hands with Ublich: "Can I ask, what is your purpose here?"
"Yes." Ubrich replied without hesitation: "The purpose of our coming here is to carry out propaganda work on the blinded German officers and soldiers on the battlefield to oppose the invasion of the Faxi Temple, and call on them to turn the guns and aim at Hitler who brought our country and people into the quagmire of war."
Hearing Ublich say this, Anisimov couldn't help but lit up. After turning his head to look at Sokov, he faced Ublich and said to Ublich: "Comrade Ublich, our division has been promoting the enemy, but its role is limited. Now with your support, I believe it can have a better effect."
When Ubrich heard Anisimov say this, he showed a surprised expression on his face: "What, you have launched a political offensive against the enemy?"
"That's right, Comrade Ublich." Sokov interjected with a smile: "I think that in order to defeat the enemy on the battlefield, in addition to using military means, we can also use political means to shake the enemy's morale and destroy their morale. Although there are many commanders and fighters in our division who know German, if we can get your strong support, I believe we can achieve better results."
"Comrade Commander, it's already dark." Ublich and Sokov finished speaking, and then said: "Can you arrange for us to broadcast the German positions?"
"Comrade Political Commissar." Sokov did not immediately reply to Ubrich's request, but turned his head to ask Anisimov: "Can your tweeter be heard on the German positions opposite?"
"Yes, comrade of the division commander." Anisimov nodded and replied: "The enemy's position is only about two hundred meters away from us. Now the frontiers of the three regiments have eighteen tweeters installed. The content we broadcast is clearly heard by the Germans on the opposite position."
"Great, this is great." Ubrich couldn't help but cheer when he heard Anisimov say this. He turned to look at Sokov and asked, "Comrade Colonel, I wonder where your radio room is?"
Anisimov did not speak, but looked at Sokov and waited for his order. Sokov thought for a moment, feeling that it should not be depressed by Ublich and his enthusiasm, so he nodded slightly and said to Anisimov: "Comrade Political Commissar, since Comrade Ublich wants to immediately promote the German troops on the battlefield, then you can take them to the radio room."
After Anisimov and Ubrich and others left, Sokov ordered Cydolin: "Chief of Staff, call Ernst and ask him to come to the division command center. I have something to ask him."
"Do you have anything to do with him?" Cidolin asked curiously.
"Let this broadcast be turned on later." Sokov pointed to the broadcast hanging above the door and explained to Cidolin: "I want to hear what Comrade Ublich said to the German soldiers."
After understanding Sokov's intentions, Sidolin immediately called Ernst and informed him to arrive at the division command immediately. After making the call, Sidolin also turned on the radio switch so that he could hear everything Ubrich and the others said in the radio room.
Ernst soon appeared in front of Sokov. After raising his hand to salute, he asked with some restraint: "Comrade instructor, don't you know what you are asking me for?"
"A few of your compatriots just came, and they are in the broadcast room, ready to shout to the Germans opposite." Sokov explained to Ernst: "I want you to translate it for me, what they have said."
Not long after, a gentle singing voice of a female singer came from the radio. Sokov heard it was a German song with a nice melody, but he couldn't understand what it meant, so he asked curiously: "Enst, what song is played on the radio?"
"It's Lily Marlin, Comrade Master."
"Lily Malin?" Sokov couldn't help but ask unexpectedly when he heard the name of this song for the first time: "What does it mean?"
"The story of this song goes back to the beginning of World War I." Ernst, who was a music student, seemed to be fascinated by this song. He narrowed his eyes, looked at the radio on the door, and said to himself: "In Berlin in April 1915, on a foggy night, a Hamburg poet who was summoned to the Russian front, a young officer's school student Hans Lep was standing guard outside a barracks, and the street lights on the road were flashing in the thick fog.
Before he started working, Lep had just left a beautiful girl named Lily. At this moment, he was missing his lover. Under the street light, a beautiful girl with sea blue eyes came Marlene, who met Lep in an art gallery. Marlene waved to greet Lep. At this moment, the officers who were patrolling the post came over. Lep had to look at Marlene disappearing in the thick fog. At night, Lep lay on the bed and tossed over and over, with Lily and Marlene wandering in his mind. So he wrote a poem that was combined with their names. The original name of the poem was "The Girl Under the Lantern", which was later changed to "The Song of the Young Sentinel" when it was published.
The poem tells the story of a soldier saying goodbye to his sweetheart Lily Marlin under the light outside the barracks. The soldier longs for love, but the warlock has sounded, and the lover can only separate reluctantly. He can't help but wonder: What will happen to me who walks onto the battlefield? Can my soul still hug her like now?
Lep, who was sent to the Russian front, could not see Lily and Malin again. About 20 years later, he included "The Song of the Young Sentinel" in his collection of poems. Berlin composer Noble Schultzer wrote a song for it after seeing this poem and renamed it "Lily Malin."
"What a romantic story," Cidolin said with emotion and asked Ernst: "Can you tell us the general meaning of the lyrics?"
“Before the barracks
Before the gate
Have a lamp
Still lit
We're going to see you again there
Just standing under that light
Once again, Lilimalian
Once again, Lilimalian
Once again, Lilimalyn…”
After listening to Ernst's translation of the lyrics, Sokov nodded with a smile and said, "This is a good song, which is worse than Russia's "Katyusha"."
As he was speaking, the music had come to an abrupt end. A strong baritone came out of the radio: "People and soldiers of the Sixth Army of the German Wehrmacht, are you still waiting for Manstein's rescue, and are still inspired by his promised words, "Don't give up, I will come to save you." I here regret to tell you that you have all been deceived. Manstein's troops have suffered another defeat in recent battles. Under the fierce attack of the Soviet Red Army, they retreated 200 kilometers and were getting further and further away from you...
A tank division and an infantry division of Kotelinikovo that broke into the army were wiped out under the fierce offensive of the Red Army.
The reason why your superiors hide such news from you is because they are worried that you will completely lose your fighting spirit after knowing your situation. They want you to live in fantasy, continue to defend for them desperately, and fight to the last bullet..."
Ivanov couldn't help but ask Sokov curiously, "Comrade Commander, do you think the Germans will take the initiative to put down their weapons and surrender to us when they hear these propaganda?"
"I don't think the surrender of the establishment is not." Sokov knew very well. Although the German army seemed to be at the end of the road at this moment, they still did not give up their last hope. They felt that with their own ability, they could completely block the Soviet attack until friendly forces came to rescue them. But Sokov felt that after this broadcast, it would definitely have some impact on the German soldiers. The surrender of the establishment is not enough, but there may be sporadic surrender. "I think there may be a few German officers and soldiers who will take advantage of the night to surrender to our army after listening to this propaganda."
Speaking of this, Sokov suddenly realized that there was a barbed wire and minefield in front of his position. The German army who surrendered while the night might be killed by landmines. He quickly ordered Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately call the three regiment commanders on the front line and order them to send German-speaking soldiers to the front of the position. Once a German soldiers who surrendered while the night was discovered, lead them through the minefield and enter our position."
"Comrade," Cidolin said hesitantly when he heard Sokov's order: "What if the Germans used fake surrender to get into our position?"
"This is easy to deal with." Sokov had long considered the issue that Sidolin was worried about: "Every German officer and soldier who came to surrender must hand over all the weapons they had on his body before entering our position. In this way, even if there are soldiers who fake surrender, as long as they are disarmed by our army, they will not cause any storm after entering our position."
"This is a good idea." Cidolin nodded in praise and said, "I will notify the three leaders of the front line immediately."
Colonel Bere, who was staying in a command post with Lieutenant Colonel Papchinko, heard the order conveyed by Cydolin, and said to Papchinko with interest: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, since the division commander said that there may be an enemy to surrender tonight, we might as well go and see if it will be as he said."
The two came to a command post at the front. Beliet stood in front of the lookout, raised his telescope and looked at the German position opposite. Under the bright moonlight, Beliet saw a lot of steel helmets appearing in the trenches opposite. It seemed that German officers and soldiers were hidden in the trenches, protruding their heads to hear clearly what was said on the radio.
Seeing more and more German officers and soldiers emerging, Be Lei put down the telescope in his hand and turned his head to Papchinko and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, it seems that the enemies on the other side have been alarmed, and they all poked their heads to watch the fun."
Papchinko looked at the opposite side and sneered: "It's a pity that the division commander did not order us to shoot, otherwise our machine gun would fire at the same time, and at least dozens of enemies would be killed."
After hearing this, Bie Lei smiled: "Ltd Colonel, don't be so short-sighted. If you really shoot, then will the comrades who are broadcasting the enemy be in vain? Don't worry, observe patiently for a while, maybe the German army really put down their weapons and surrendered to us."
"Comrade Colonel, don't you think that just by what the broadcast said, the Germans will surrender to us?" Papuchinko asked in a skeptical tone.
"I don't know." Belle replied truthfully: "We are broadcasting the enemy every day, but we have never seen a German soldier come to surrender to us. Since Colonel Sokov said so today, I think there will be a miracle."
The declaration of persuasion to surrender that was being broadcast continuously not only attracted the attention of German soldiers, but also attracted the alertness of German commanders. Several officers wearing large-brimmed hats appeared in the trenches. They raised their pistols high above their heads, ran back and forth in the trenches, and drove the soldiers who were listening to the radio back to the cover.
"See it, comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Seeing this scene, Bere smiled and said to Papchinko: "The enemy's commander was already panicked, afraid that his soldiers would be deceived by our radio, and they all ran out of their hiding place."
"We are only more than two hundred meters away from the enemy's positions." Seeing the officers running back and forth, Papuchinko couldn't help but say to Bere: "Just find two snipers, you can kill these German officers."
"No, don't look for snipers." Belle was startled and quickly stopped Papchinko: "It's very simple to ask the sniper to kill the German officers. But if the Germans use this to make a big fuss and tell their soldiers that we are broadcasting in order to trick them out of their hiding place and then let the snipers snipe them, then everything the comrades doing on the radio will make it meaningless."
Chapter completed!