Major General Val looked at his watch, and then said to Sokov: "General Sokov, I will give orders to the troops when I get back. But because the troops are too scattered, it may take some time to regroup them. About an hour and a half.
After that, our troops can officially disarm you."
Regarding the time mentioned by Major General Val, Sokov did not think he could achieve it, so he said generously: "General Val, I will give you two and a half hours. After two and a half hours, we will start to take in the prisoners. Anyone who refuses will
We will resolutely and decisively eliminate the officers and soldiers who lay down their weapons."
In order to grasp the further developments of the Imperial Division in a timely manner, Sokov specially sent two officers, carrying a walkie-talkie, to follow Major General Val back to his temporary command post in the forest.
As soon as Major General Val left, Lunev took the initiative to reach out to Sokov and said enthusiastically: "Comrade Commander, please accept my congratulations on the troops under your command for annihilating the German Imperial Division."
"Comrade Military Commissar, it is still too early to talk about annihilating the Imperial Division." After Sokov said to Lunev, he ordered Merkulov: "Comrade General, order your troops to fight well.
Be prepared, ready at any time to launch a final attack on the enemy trapped in the forest."
"Comrade Commander," upon hearing Sokov's order, Merkulov asked with some surprise: "Didn't the commander of the Imperial Division already agree to lay down his arms and surrender to our army? Why are we still preparing for battle?
Woolen cloth?"
"General Merkulov," Sokov said sternly: "If Major General Val is commanding an ordinary imperial division, then there will not be much problem in fulfilling the terms of the negotiation just now. But what we have to face
They are the most elite SS divisions of the German army. Whether they will obey Major General Waal's orders is still unknown."
"The hierarchy in the German army is very strict, and subordinates will never disobey the orders of their superiors." Merkulov retorted: "Even if they are SS divisions, as long as Major General Wahl gives orders, I think the German officers and soldiers should still obey them.
of."
"General Merkulov, I want to remind you something." Sokov continued: "From the end of February to now, the Imperial Division has had three division commanders. And Major General Val has only been in office for half a month.
, he has not yet formed absolute authority in the division, and since he took office, the Imperial Division has been losing battles. I think many officers and soldiers are unconvinced by him. If they want to make these unconvinced
It may not be easy for officers and soldiers to follow his orders and lay down their weapons and surrender to our army."
After Sokov's explanation, Merkulov immediately realized that he had thought too optimistically about the matter. Even though Major General Val humbly accepted the terms of surrender after negotiation, if the officers and soldiers of the Imperial Division did not buy it,
, then the agreement just reached is just a piece of paper. What can be done now is to prepare the troops for battle according to Sokov's order, and once it is confirmed that the enemy is unwilling to surrender, resolutely eliminate them.
While Merkulov was giving combat orders to the troops, Sokov made a phone call to the headquarters and asked Vitkov who answered the phone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, how is the situation at the 71st Guards Division?
Have they wiped out the defeated Skeleton Division troops?"
"Not yet, Comrade Commander." Vitkov replied: "Although we captured Colonel Shimon, the commander of the Skeleton Division, the main force of the Skeleton Division quickly collapsed after the confrontation between our troops and fled to the nearby
In the forest. You must know that the forest covers an area of dozens of square kilometers. It is very difficult to find thousands of German soldiers hiding in such a vast area."
"Inform Colonel Sivakov," Sokov said in a stern tone: "Intensify the search efforts, be sure to find the scattered officers and soldiers of the Skeleton Division, and eliminate as many of them as possible. If they really escape back to the German positions
, as long as Manstein sends them a new division commander, it won't take long for this army to regain its strength. By then, they will pose a huge threat to our army."
"Understood, Comrade Commander." In fact, even if Sokov didn't say anything, Witkov realized the seriousness of the problem. On the surface, he defeated the main force of the Skeleton Division and captured the division commander Colonel Shimon alive. But now
Let most of the Skeleton Division's troops escape successfully. As long as Manstein sends them a new division commander, I believe it won't be long before they regain their combat effectiveness and become a force that gives the Soviet army a headache.
After Merkulov finished calling his troops, he happened to hear Sokov giving orders to Vitkov. After Sokov put down the phone, he asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, what's wrong with the Skeleton Division?"
Hasn’t the main force been wiped out by our army?”
"When our army's left wing launched an attack on the Skeleton Division's defense area, the Skeleton Division happened to send an armored regiment here to reinforce the Imperial Division that was attacked by you. As a result, the division's defense was empty, leaving our assault troops in the first place.
Time captured Colonel Shimon, the acting division commander of the division.
Their division commander was captured by us, but unfortunately the cunning enemy immediately dispersed and took advantage of the complex terrain in the forest to engage in guerrilla warfare with our troops. Although our army has a large number of troops and high morale, it will take a short time to
Eliminating them is not an easy task."
"So, it is necessary for us to completely annihilate the Imperial Division and bring this offensive battle to a successful conclusion." After Merkulov finished speaking, he tentatively asked Sokov: "
Comrade Commander, am I right?"
"Yes, General Merkulov, you are absolutely right." Since it is difficult to realize the intention of annihilating two SS divisions at the same time, Sokov can only do the next best thing and destroy the Empire first.
The division continued: "The current situation is exactly like this. Two German division commanders were captured, the Imperial Division was completely annihilated, and the Skeleton Division was severely damaged. This way, the Intelligence Bureau will have a lot more confidence when publicizing the results of the war."
"Comrade Commander," Merkulov waited for Sokov to finish and then reported to him: "I have ordered the troops to prepare for the attack. The troops of the 41st Guards Division are also considering heading towards us.
In two hours, they will be able to reach the attack position. Even if the Germans do not surrender, the strength of our two divisions will be enough to destroy them."
Facts have proved that Sokov's worries were completely correct. In less than an hour, a dispatched officer stumbled into the division headquarters and reported to Sokov out of breath: "Comrade Commander
, Oops, something... something happened."
Seeing that the officer's arm was wounded, Sokov knew that something must have happened in the Imperial Division. While calling a military doctor to treat the officer's wound, Sokov couldn't wait to ask: "Tell me quickly, what happened?"
The officer replied: "We followed Major General Val back to the temporary headquarters of the Imperial Division. When he announced to his subordinates that he would lay down his weapons and surrender to us in two and a half hours, except for a few division officers, the rest remained silent.
All the people were firmly opposed to surrendering to our army. A German captain even drew his gun and opened fire on both of us. The translator was killed on the spot and I was also wounded..."
When he learned that the Germans would shoot him at the slightest disagreement, Sokov couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat. Then he asked, "Then how did you escape from danger?"
"The captain shot and killed the translator. When he was about to shoot me again, Major General Val stopped him and asked me to leave quickly through their translator!" The injured officer explained: "That's it, I just
I was lucky enough to save a life."
"Comrade Commander," Merkulov saw that what Sokov was worried about had really happened, and he quickly asked him for instructions: "What should we do next?"
"Didn't I give Major General Val two and a half hours?" Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said with a serious expression: "When the time is up, as long as you don't see the enemy laying down their weapons and surrendering to our army, then
Launch the attack immediately."
Lunev reminded Sokov: "Comrade Commander, our new rockets have been exhausted in the recent battle. If we attack by force, we will probably pay a lot of sacrifices."
"The enemy's supply line has been cut off by us a long time ago," said Sokov. He didn't know how much casualties the trapped Imperial Division would cause to the 67th Division if it launched an attack at this time. But in order to cut off a finger of the German army
, even if he knew that he would pay huge casualties, he could only bite the bullet and go on. "The ammunition they have left now may not be enough to sustain a battle. We can have the advantage in firepower and use powerful firepower to destroy them."
Although there are no more new rockets, there are still a lot of rocket launchers. For those exposed machine gun fire points, there is no need to send people to blow them up, just use rocket launchers to destroy them. I will then see how many fire points the enemy has and how many fire points the enemy can carry.
Can withstand our rocket launcher attack."
Two and a half hours passed quickly. Then there was still no movement in the forest. It seemed that Major General Val's prestige in the army was not enough, so not many people obeyed their orders, laid down their weapons and surrendered to the Soviet army.
After Sokov learned of this situation, he said to Merkulov: "Comrade General, I just said that if the enemy does not surrender, then resolutely destroy them. Since your troops are ready for battle,
Then let’s start the attack.”
After Merkulov agreed resoundingly, he picked up the phone on the table and began to give orders to his subordinates: "Comrade Commander orders: launch a final attack on the enemy who refuses to surrender, and destroy what you see."
Every enemy."
A minute or two later, intensive gunshots and explosions came from outside the house. It seemed that the attack of the 67th Guards Division had begun. Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, turned to look at Runev, and saw him.
With a serious face, he stared at the map in front of him and said jokingly: "My comrade, don't be nervous. It's only a matter of time that the enemy will be wiped out by our army. Let's guess how long it will take."
Destroy all this enemy?"
"Comrade Commander, I don't think we should take it lightly." Lunev said with a solemn expression: "Our troops have surrounded the enemy many times, but in the end, not only the troops suffered heavy losses, but the enemy broke through the encirclement in an organized manner. You
Tell me, something similar won’t happen today, right?”
"I don't think so." Sokov shook his head and said in a positive tone: "In the past, after encircling the enemy, our army was unable to defeat the enemy, and even suffered heavy losses. The main reason was due to tactics.
It is not used properly. And our troops are not only good at defense, but also unique in offense. I believe there is no big problem in killing these thousands of enemies."
There were no fortifications at all in the forest. Faced with the Soviet commanders and fighters coming like a tide from all directions, the officers and soldiers of the Imperial Division could only hide behind the trees and fight back. The few remaining machine guns were hidden in low-lying places, aiming at the charging troops.
The commanders and soldiers fired. The dense bullets knocked down the soldiers at the front. The remaining soldiers quickly fell down on the spot, or hid behind trees and shot.
The anti-tank man who followed the infantry forward discovered the enemy's machine gun firepower point, immediately looked for a safe place, set up the rocket launcher, aimed at the target, and decisively pulled the trigger. After a loud "boom",
The machine gunner and machine gun were blown away by the blast of air. After taking out one fire point, the anti-tank crews quickly looked for the next fire point and continued to use rocket launchers to destroy them one by one.
The officers and soldiers of the Imperial Division, who lost the cooperation of machine gun firepower and lacked the support of tanks, artillery and air force, became panicked. Although they were shooting desperately, their bullets were too large due to insufficient firepower and the obstruction of trees.
Most of them missed their target.
Seeing the Soviet commanders and fighters rushing in front of them, many German officers and soldiers who had run out of bullets quickly threw away their weapons and raised their hands, waiting to be captured. But the commanders and fighters all remembered Sokov's order: "Eradicate"
Every enemy you see." Although the officers and soldiers in front of them put down their weapons, they were still their enemies, so the soldiers either fired at them or stabbed them to the ground with bayonets in their hands.
.
Facing the fierce Soviet attack, the German defense line continued to shrink inward. In less than an hour, the remaining more than 300 German officers and soldiers were compressed into a small area less than a hundred meters long by Soviet troops coming from all directions.
A narrow area no more than thirty meters wide.
But at this moment, Sokov ordered the troops to stop the attack. The German army was in such a narrow area that if they continued to attack, bullets fired from two different directions would most likely accidentally injure their own people, so he ordered the troops to stop the attack.
The attack was temporarily suspended and preparations were made to use mortar fire to eliminate the last remnants of the enemy.
The German troops in the encirclement had already run out of ammunition and food, and most of them were wounded, and had no ability to resist the Soviet attack. Major General Val, who was held hostage by Captain Ernst and Corporal Heinel, finally attacked again at this moment
Given the opportunity to speak out: "Soldiers, there is no point in continuing to resist. Paulus understood this very well and ordered his troops to lay down their weapons. As a result, he and his hundreds of thousands of men survived.
If you had just listened to us and laid down your arms and surrendered to the Russians, at least a thousand of our people would have survived. But now, there are only more than 300 people left. Do you think it is possible to survive if we continue to fight?
