Shortly after Paulus surrendered, Berlin received news.
General Zeitzler, chief of staff of the German army, felt that this might be a conspiracy of the Soviet army, to make the German base camp abandon the besieged force.
But when he told Hitler about his speculation, the bearded short man said without hesitation: "Zezler, this is not a conspiracy. Paulus must have surrendered. It is absolutely true, otherwise our soldiers would never let the Russians approach their positions as long as they had a bullet."
"My Head." Zeitzler could never believe the statement that Paulus surrendered. After all, since the outbreak of the war, there has never been a precedent for a marshal to be captured or surrendered. He tried to convince Hitler to prove to him that this was a conspiracy. "Maybe Marshal Paulus was seriously injured at this moment, lying in his command center..."
"No, they really surrendered." Hitler said stubbornly as ever: "In my judgment, Paulus, a coward, will definitely be ordered by the troops trapped in the factory area in the north, to surrender to the Russians."
Just as Zeitzler racked his brains and considered how to convince Hitler, a telegram that he had just received was placed in front of him. The telegram was sent by General Strekel, the commander of the 11th Army who was stuck in the factory area north of the city. He confirmed that Paulus had been captured, and at the same time stated that he was unable to hold on and hoped to approve the surrender of the remaining troops.
"See, Zeitzler." Hitler said angrily after reading the telegram: "I promoted him to marshal, Paulus, in the hope that when the headquarters was occupied by the Russians, he could shoot his pistol at his forehead with a pistol. If he did this, he could set an example for other officers and soldiers, so that they could bravely fight the Russians to the last moment. But he actually surrendered, and the bad example he set had brought great negative impact on our army.
Look at General Straker's telegram. This brave German soldier actually sent me a telegram asking me to approve their surrender. These are all bad examples set by Paulus, a coward and idiot, and have brought bad results..."
When Zetzler heard Hitler scolding Paulus, he was worried that the other party would take his anger and dare not speak, so he could only stand beside him with an embarrassment.
After Hitler scolded him for being tired, he finally stopped. After a while of rest, he looked up at Zeitzler and said, "Chief of Staff, immediately send a telegram to General Straker in the name of the base camp, promote him to the rank of general, and order him to lead the remaining troops to continue fighting."
"However, the air force's supply to Stalingrad has been basically interrupted." Zeitzler carefully reminded Hitler: "It is basically impossible for our soldiers to continue to stick to it without ammunition and food."
"I will call Gorene right away," Hitler said hysterically: "He ordered him to dispatch at least five hundred transport planes immediately to airdrop enough ammunition and food to the German soldiers trapped in the factory area north of the city so that they could continue to fight in the Russians."
Zeitzler wanted to remind Hitler that the air force under Gorene could not dispatch so many planes to airdrop the besieged army. But when he saw Hitler's expression, he swallowed the words he said again.
At the regular meeting at noon the next day, Gorene reported to Hitler proudly: "My Head, I have issued an order to the frontline field airport to airdrop ammunition and food for the besieged troops in the north of the city of Stalingrad. At this moment, there should be thirty transport planes that are airdropping for our officers and soldiers."
For Hitler, the situation reported by Goring was undoubtedly the best news he had heard recently. He tried to squeeze out a smile on his face and said, "Goring, do a pretty 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 outside. As soon as he saw Hitler, he couldn't wait to say, "My head, the Russian Intelligence Agency is broadcasting news about Stalingrad. I think you need to listen." As he said that, he came to the floor-to-ground radio by the wall, twisted the knob, and turned on the radio.
A Russian translator who followed Goebbels in immediately stood by the radio and translated what was said in the radio for those present: "Today, on February 2, the Red Army's Don Front troops had completely eliminated the resistance of the enemy troops surrounded in the factory area north of Stalingrad, forcing them to lay down their weapons and surrender to our army. The last point of the enemy's resistance was shattered, and the historic Battle of Stalingrad ended with the complete victory of our army.
In this great battle, the German army lost a total of 1.5 million troops, 3,500 tanks, 12,000 artillery and 3,000 aircraft. More than 100,000 remaining troops of the Sixth Army, including the commander of the Army, Marshal Paulus and the 23 generals under him, became our prisoners..."
"Switch it off, turn off the radio quickly." Hitler immediately roared when he heard this, and asked Goebbels, who was standing next to the radio to turn off the radio. Goebbels did not dare to neglect, so he quickly turned off the radio, and made a gesture to the translator to tell him to leave the room.
"My Head," Zeitzler stood up before Hitler could speak, and said respectfully to him: "The Russians destroyed our Sixth Army, and their next target was Marshal Manstein's troops. I think it is necessary for us to remind Manstein to prepare for defense in advance."
"Chief of General Staff, you're right." Hitler, who was angry, finally calmed down. He stared at the map on the wall, nodded and said, "The next target of attack by the Russians must be Manstein's troops. They must be prepared for defense as soon as possible to deal with the possible attacks by the Russians."
"My head," Zeitzler continued: "Martin's troops, some time ago, fought fiercely with the Russians to rescue Paulus's troops, and suffered heavy losses in force and technical equipment. Do you see, have we drawn troops and equipment from the Central Army Group and replenished them?"
"No, I will definitely not." Hitler picked up the explanation stick leaning against the wall, knocked on the location of Moscow, and said loudly: "Our Central Army Group is stationed in its current position and has successfully restrained the Russian troops of no less than seventy divisions, forcing them to stay near Moscow and dare not transfer them to other directions casually.
If we really draw troops and technical equipment from the Central Army Group, we will soon be noticed by the Russians, so that they can draw troops from Moscow to join the troops around Manstein. This will make Manstein's situation even more difficult."
"But, my head, we must not 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 to the Russians."
"Drag a batch of tanks to Manstein." Hitler stared at the map for a while, turned to Zeitzler and said, "Drag the newly-factored Tiger tanks and the improved No. 4 tanks to him. See if these improved tanks can restrain the Russian T-34 tanks."
"I understand, my head of state." Zeitzler calculated the transportation time of the tanks in his mind, and felt that it was possible to be equipped with troops within a week. He nodded and said, "I will arrange transportation matters immediately."
…………
In the command center of Mamayev hill, Sokov was chatting with Rokosovsky who was staying here.
Rokosovsky asked Sokov with a smile: "Misha, I want to tell you something interesting."
"Interesting thing?" Sokov asked curiously: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I wonder what interesting thing is?"
"I met General Kurtzbach, the commander of the 51st German Army yesterday." Rokosovsky said with a smile: "He actually suggested that I recruit a group of people from the German prisoners and form an anti-** unit that cooperates with our army's operations."
Hearing Rokosovsky say this, Sokov immediately remembered that it seemed that in real history, Kurtzbach did propose this plan to the top leaders of the Soviet army after being captured. Unfortunately, his proposal was rejected.
Sokov considered this time and space, and many things had changed because of his arrival. For example, the 13th Guard Division, which shined in real history, became unknown due to its own appearance. Even the division commander Rodimtev was rarely mentioned. But Kurtzbach proposed to form an anti-** army, and I don’t know if there will be variables.
"Comrade Commander of the Front," Sokov asked cautiously: "I wonder what you think?"
"I have to admit that General Kurtzbach's starting point is good." Rokosovsky said thoughtfully: "But if such an army is really formed, it is hard to say whether they obey our command in the battle. What's more dangerous is that once our army, who are cooperating with us, do you think they will fight for our army and their compatriots, or will they turn the gun to attack us?"
Sokov deeply agrees with Rokosovsky's concerns. After all, the families of these soldiers are still in Germany, and once their identities are leaked, they will definitely affect their relatives in the country. Just by point, it is destined that even if this army is formed, most of the officers and soldiers will be in Cao's camp and in the heart of the Han Dynasty. During the Three Kingdoms, why did the generals of the Wei army surrender but could not take the army away? It was because the families of the soldiers in the army lived in the heart of the Wei Kingdom, which was equivalent to the existence of hostages.
Thinking of this, Sokov nodded and said to Rokosovsky: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, you are right. Even if the prisoners barely join us, they are an unstable factor on the battlefield and are at risk of turning against each other at any time. Therefore, I think it is completely correct to not form such an army."
Hearing Sokov's answer, Rokosovsky showed a surprise expression on his face. He said to Sokov: "Misha, I really didn't expect that your idea was similar to mine. You may not know that many people in the Front Command agreed to adopt the Kurtzbach's plan to recruit people from the prisoners and form a special German force.
According to their ideas, use this force as a punishment battalion. When encountering dangerous battles, let them charge forward..."
"This is equivalent to letting them be cannon fodder." Sokov interrupted before Rokosovsky finished speaking, "The families of German prisoners are all in the country. They will definitely worry that once they join such an army, they will cause trouble for their relatives. Even if they are barely incorporated into our troops, their loyalty will probably not be too high. If they are used as cannon fodder, I am worried that when an attack occurs, they will take the opportunity to escape back to the enemy's position."
"Misha, your concern is completely correct." Rokosovsky replied with a smile: "I have reported this to the Supreme Commander himself. After hearing this, he put forward the same view as you, that is, he must not use prisoners to form an army, otherwise it will be a huge hidden danger."
"Comrade Commander of the Front," Sokov and others Rokosovsky said, immediately added: "Although the prisoners cannot be recruited to form a new army, those surrendered German generals can be used for some use."
"Use, how to use it?"
"Let them speak on the radio, calling on the German military and civilians to oppose the rule of the ** and stop this meaningless war." Sokov said: "Although these speeches did not help the development of the war, they could understand that they could no longer rush into our motherland like they did in the early stages of the war, and they were at risk of being annihilated at any time."
"It makes sense, it makes sense." Rokosovsky nodded and said, "I will ask the Political Department to arrange this matter as soon as possible."
"Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I want to ask. When will the troops I command be built?"
Thinking that the combat cluster was about to disband, Sokov felt a little disappointed. Although he had not been with several division commanders for a long time, because he had already had a sincere friendship in combat, he really wanted to let them leave.
"In about four or five days, you will return the three infantry divisions, a tank brigade and two artillery regiments in the combat cluster to Batov's 65th Army." Seeing Sokov's look of loss, Rokosovsky comforted him and said, "But I will leave Colonel Bere's tank brigade and continue to be under your command."
Sokov felt somewhat comforted when he heard that Colonel Bere’s tank brigade could stay. Although there was a little less tank brigade, he and Berere are already considered old partners, and there was not much problem with cooperation. When encountering any fierce war in the future, they might be able to break through the siege by relying on the tank brigade.
But as soon as this idea came out, Sokov forced it down: The Battle of Stalingrad had just ended, how could he consider how to break through the siege? This sign is not good.
Chapter completed!