"Stop calling, Commander." Seeing Paulus shouting loudly outside, Kurtzbach said coldly: "Even if you scream, no one will come to save you."
"Yes, Commander." Schmidt was worried that Kurtzbach would be unfavorable to Paulus, so he quickly stood up and said, "Your guard troops have been transferred. No matter how much you shout, no one will come to save you."
"What did you say, my guards were transferred?"
"Yes." Schmidt replied with a shame: "I ordered them to change defenses with the 100th Hunter Division. Now the guards outside are all officers and soldiers of the 100th Hunter Division."
"Okay, Chief of Staff." Seeing that Schmidt was also involved in the conspiracy against him, Paulus said angrily: "You are the person I trust the most, and I didn't expect you to participate in this shameful conspiracy."
"Commander, I actually don't agree with them using such extreme means." Schmidt faced Paulus' accusations and quickly defended himself: "But in order to save more lives, I still choose to stand on the side with them. Commander, you can't fight any longer. Please order the troops to stop resisting quickly and let them surrender soon."
When he learned that Kurtzbach and others had adopted such extreme measures to make themselves surrender, Paulus fell into his seat powerlessly and said with a frown: "It is useless for you to do this. Even if you implement military remonstrance, the head of state will not agree to our surrender."
"Hisser Commander," Sanne saw Paulus' tone relaxed, and immediately saw a glimmer of vitality. He quickly stepped forward, raised his hand to lower Kurtzbach's gun, and said to Paulus: "Why don't you send a telegram to the head of state to report our difficulties here to him, and hope he can change his mind."
After hearing Sanne's proposal, Paulus did not speak, but turned his eyes to Schmidt on one side. As Paulus' chief of staff, he immediately understood the intention of the other party's eyes and quickly ordered a soldier: "Go and find a radio station, and the commander will report to the head of state here."
Hearing the order, the soldier stood still without moving, but turned his inquiring eyes to Kurtzbach. After seeing the other party nodding slightly to agree, he turned around and left the room.
A few minutes later, a radio station was placed on the conference table, and a skilled radio operator sat in front of the radio station, quietly waiting for the superior to dictate the content of the sending of the newspaper.
Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Paulus stood up with a wry smile, staggered to the radio operator, and said to him: "Runner, send a message to Berlin."
After the radio operator was ready to send the newspaper, Paulus began to dictate the telegram to Berlin. He finally said: "...It is meaningless to continue to resist. Tragedy is inevitable, in order to save the living. I request that we be immediately approved to surrender, and it is also to save our nation and people. Paulus."
The officers and soldiers present quietly listened to Paulus's oral orders and were filled with hope. They knew very well that their commander had no hope for continuing to resist. As long as they obtained the consent of Berlin, the remaining troops of the entire army could just put down their weapons and surrender.
A few minutes later, the call from Berlin arrived.
After copying the telegram, the radio operator was about to hand it to Paulus, but he waved his hand and refused: "Take the telegram to the Chief of Staff and let him read it out in public."
Schmidt stepped forward and received the telegram from the radio operator in full view. When he quickly read the contents above, his face turned pale. From his expression, Paulus guessed what the answer from Berlin was, and said to him in a stern tone: "Chief of Staff, read the telegram to everyone."
Schmidt dared not neglect, so he quickly raised the telegram and began to recite loudly: "I will never allow surrender. The Sixth Army troops must stick to their positions until the bullets are exhausted. Hitler."
The hope in everyone's hearts was shattered like a crystal cup falling on the ground with this telegram sent by Hitler himself. Some people who were originally opposed to the military admonition began to shake their hearts, feeling that they should not do such a mistake, but in the end they could not achieve their goal.
"Gentlemen!" Paulus saw that everyone looked dejected, and said to everyone: "You have heard the reply from the Head of State. What are you going to do next? Should you continue to make trouble with Kurzbach, or return to your respective troops and command your subordinates to fight against the Russians? You can choose for yourself."
"I'm sorry, General Kurtzbach." Sanne pulled out his pistol and pointed the muzzle at Kurtzbach. The soldiers who followed Kurtzbach, saw Sanne pulling his gun, pointed the muzzle at him one after another. He heard that Kurtzbach ordered him to make a sieve. Sanne did not care about pointing at his own muzzle at all, but continued: "The soldiers are obeying orders. Since the head of state ordered us to continue to fight, we can only obey his order."
The soldiers holding guns, hearing Sannei mention the head of state, showed a hesitant expression on their faces, and they also put down the guns at Sannei. Seeing that the morale of the other party was in chaos, Paulus came out to finish the attack in time: "Soldiers, if you put down your weapons now and commit the superior behavior to your subordinates, I can leave it alone, otherwise..."
What else would happen? Paulus didn't say it, but the soldiers had already obediently threw the weapons in their hands on the ground. Sonne walked to the door and shouted outside. Soon, there were messy footsteps and shouts from outside.
Hearing the sound from outside, Paulus frowned and asked Schmidt: "Chief of Staff, what happened outside?"
Schmidt knew nothing about what was happening outside, so he could only shake his head and answer truthfully: "I'm sorry, Commander, I don't know what happened outside."
It was not until an officer carrying a submachine gun entered the room that Sanne came to Paulus and reported to him: "Master Commander, I have deployed a company in the nearby room. Now they have disarmed all the people brought by General Kurtzbach. How should they deal with them?"
"Card them all." If such a crime occurred in the past, Paulus would not hesitate at all, so he ordered people to shoot them all. But now it is an extraordinary period. In order to avoid unnecessary panic, Paulus could only give them a lighter resignation. He ordered Sanne: "Card General Kurtzbach and inform the entire army of what he did. If there is another similar incident, kill them."
In this way, the military admonition initiated by Kurtzbach ended funnyly because of Hitler's call. General Kurtzbach, the initiator, was also locked up in a separate room, waiting for Paulus's disposal.
Sokov naturally had no way of knowing what happened in the German headquarters. He was still explaining the attack after dawn to several division commanders by phone.
When it was almost dawn, the phone in the command center rang.
The phone call was from Rokosovsky, who was far away in Moscow. He asked on the phone: "Col. Sokov, are you ready?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander of the Front." Sokov replied respectfully: "We are ready to launch an attack on the department store."
"I have explained to Malining. If you have any needs, just call him and he will do his best to help you." Rokosovsky said: "I wish you good luck!"
The time for the attack was up, and with the issuance of Sokov's orders, the participating troops launched an attack on the German army in their respective areas.
"Comrade Commander," Cidolin asked Sokov curiously after confirming that the divisions were attacking, "How many days do you think our troops can take the department store?"
"It's hard to say." Sokov knew very well. Although the main attack target was the department store, the German firepower point in the surrounding buildings was the hard bones that the attacking troops had to chew. Although the attacking troops at the same time had as many as three infantry divisions, two tank brigades and artillery regiments, Sokov was still unsure at all: "We can only do our best."
Because Sokov's attack did not make any artillery preparations before the attack, he also caught the German army off guard and attacked from the southwest. The 41st Guard Division, which was the first to break through the German defensive position, rushed into a community controlled by the German army, and fought with the enemy in the building.
When Sokov learned that his troops had rushed into the community controlled by the enemy, he quickly called Ivanov and said to him: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, our troops are currently making good progress. But in order to prevent the four regiments from fighting on their own and lack of cooperation with each other, you need to rush over immediately and implement unified command on them."
"Don't worry, comrade of the division commander." Although Sokov was the commander of the combat cluster, Ivanov and others still liked to call him the division commander, and Sokov had never corrected this title. Ivanov learned that he had another chance to show his strength, and immediately said excitedly: "I will let our troops be the first to rush into the department store."
The battles that took place near the department store were not only Rokosovsky, far away in Moscow, but also Cuikov in the city, Shumilov of the 64th Army and Batov of the 65th Army. In order to avoid affecting Sokov's command, they did not call to ask about the situation of the war, but each sent their own reconnaissance troops to the combat area for reconnaissance in order to promptly feedback the situation of the war.
The German army deployed in the department store area had more than 10,000 people, in addition to infantry, also artillery and tanks. Faced with the rushing Soviet troops, the German artillery and tanks did not consider the issue of saving ammunition at all, and desperately used artillery shells to bombard the Soviet offensive route and fired intercept the offensive troops.
The 41st Guard Division was Sokov's troops. Facing the enemy's fire interception tactics, they knew how to disperse in time and used craters or ruins to approach the enemy's positions. The other two infantry divisions still maintained a dense formation and braved the fierce artillery fire to rush towards the enemy's positions.
When Sokov learned that the attacking troops of the 23rd Infantry Division had lost a battalion in artillery fire in less than ten minutes, he was a little anxious. He quickly answered the phone number of the division headquarters and the person who answered the phone said loudly: "I am Sokov, let Colonel Shivakov answer the phone."
Shivakov's voice soon came from the earpiece: "Comrade Commander, do you have any instructions?"
"Col. Sivakov, how did you fight this battle?" Sokov asked in a angrily voice: "In less than ten minutes, you lost the strength of a battalion? Your division has few soldiers. According to your fighting style, your division should abolish its establishment before it approaches the department store."
Faced with Sokov's accusation, Sivakov said aggrievedly: "Comrade Commander, the enemy's resistance is very tenacious. To break through their defense, casualties are inevitable."
"You are right. To break through the enemy's defense line, casualties are inevitable." Sokov continued: "But when we fight, we cannot rely on fierce rushing. No matter how brave our soldiers are, they are flesh and blood, and they cannot stop the enemy's shells and bullets at all. Therefore, when attacking, you must learn to use your brain more and minimize casualties in the troops."
"But, what should I do to reduce casualties in the troops?"
"The enemy shelled your offensive route and used artillery fire to intercept it." Seeing that the other party did not understand what he meant, Sokov could only explain to him patiently: "In order to reduce unnecessary casualties, when you attack, you should not use dense formation charges, but use sparse formations and use craters and ruins as cover. Do you understand?"
"Understood."
Seeing that Shivakov promised so readily, Sokov continued: "After you rush into the community, don't let the troops squeeze into the streets to charge. In that case, the Germans hiding in the buildings on both sides will destroy you all like shooting a target. You must let the soldiers in groups of three or five, push forward little by little against the buildings on both sides. It doesn't matter if the speed is slower, but it can reduce unnecessary casualties..."
After Sidolin waited for Sokov to put down the phone, he smiled bitterly and said to him: "Comrade Commander, you are just teaching Sivakov experience at this moment. Is it a bit too late? Moreover, this tactic will probably be greatly reduced without a period of training. I think it will not take long. Those commanders and fighters who are dispersed in combat will be crowded together again and become targets of the enemy's attack."
"I've reminded you all." Sokov sighed and said, "Although it's a bit late to impart experience, it should still allow more soldiers to survive such a cruel battle."
After Sokov said this, he suddenly remembered that he had not received a report about the 321st Infantry Division. He hurriedly asked Sidolin: "Chief of Staff, how is General Makarenko's troops progressing? Why haven't he received any reports about them yet?"
Chapter completed!