The soldiers around him looked at Major General Val with a blank expression. After listening to what he said, no one spoke, but the officers and soldiers who refused to surrender no longer pointed their guns at Major General Val.
Seeing that the row of guns aimed at him were all hanging down, Major General Val couldn't help but feel ecstatic. But on the surface, he tried hard to pretend to be nothing and said, "It seems that everyone understands this truth and continues to fight, there is no point in it. What we can do now is to put down our weapons and surrender to the Russians, so that you have hope of survival."
Since the Germans were surrounded in a very narrow area, what happened there could be clearly seen in the Soviet positions. After learning that Major General Val had lobbied his remaining troops to put down his weapons and surrender, Sokov said to Merkulov: "Comrade General, send an interpreter to follow me. I feel it is necessary to add fire to the Germans and let them make a final choice."
"What?" Merkulov was startled by Sokov's words. He asked in panic: "Comrade Commander, are you going to persuade the Germans to surrender?"
"Yes."
"No, you can't go." Merkulov waved his hands desperately and said to Sokov: "You are the commander of the army. How can you easily go to that dangerous place? What if the enemy's sniper finds you and fires a cold gun at you, right?"
Sokov was originally excited to think of the enemy's position and persuaded him to surrender. After hearing what Merkulov said, he thought the other party was very reasonable. If he appeared in front of the two armies, the German sniper shot him and killed him, the person who posed the greatest threat to the German army, even if the entire army was destroyed next, hundreds of lives were exchanged for his own life, they would still make a profit.
However, Sokov has always been the master who knows that there is a tiger in the mountain and goes to the mountain. How could he give up because the Germans have snipers? He ordered Merkulov: "Comrade General, install a big trumpet in front of the positions of the two armies. I will call the Germans through the trumpet and urge them to put down their weapons and surrender."
Seeing that Sokov was determined to go, Merkulov knew that even if he persuaded him, he would not change his mind. He quickly ordered the soldiers to install a tweeter in front of the positions of the two armies so that Sokov could hide in a safe place and shout at the Germans.
Besides, the besieged Germans saw Soviet troops everywhere, and knew that they had no hope of breaking through. Many people threw away weapons without bullets and sat on the mud to wait for the last moment. At this moment, they suddenly saw the Soviet army opposite erecting a tweeter in front of the position, which aroused their curiosity.
Just as the German soldiers were studying what the Soviet army was doing to erect the tweeter, a sound suddenly came from the horn. The soldiers listened for a while and found that the people inside were speaking Russian. They didn't understand at all, so they had no interest in listening again. But what they didn't expect was that after a moment, another sound came from the horn, repeating the words just now in German.
This time, the German officers and soldiers finally figured out what the other party said: "Soldiers, you are now out of ammunition and food. Whether you are persisting or breaking through, what is waiting for you in the end is a dead end. I order you to put down your weapons and surrender to the Soviet army opposite you. I can guarantee you with my reputation that I will ensure your personal safety and that you can return to Germany after the war is over and reunite with your long-separated family."
If the first half of the call to persuade the surrender made the German officers and soldiers hear the callous content, but the last few words allowed them to reunite with their families in the country after the war ended, many officers and soldiers were moved.
Seeing that the officers and soldiers were bewitched by the shouts from the opposite side, Captain Ernst, who held Major General Val hostage hostage, immediately shouted loudly: "Officers and soldiers, don't believe in the false propaganda of the Russians. As far as I know, when they caught the SS officers and soldiers, they would all be shot on the spot and would not give everyone a chance to survive. Don't be fooled."
The officers and soldiers, who had already been a little shaken, immediately changed their minds when they heard Captain Ernst's words, and felt that this might be a deceptive propaganda by the Russians.
But no matter how many people don’t believe it, there will always be one or two people who will believe it. A German corporal took advantage of the other party’s voice and said, “Who are you? Can you fulfill your promise?”
After hearing the German corporal's call, the translator who was hiding at the forefront, he promptly reported to Sokov, who was hiding in a safe area. When Sokov heard this, he was not considerate and did not express his identity when he shouted, so that the enemy who heard the broadcast did not believe what he said at all.
Lunev, who was staying next to Sokov, asked: "Comrade Commander, tell me, if you report your name to the enemy, will those enemies surrender?"
"Comrade Military Commissioner, if the person who persuaded surrender is ordinary, even if he speaks in a vain, I will not believe what he said." Sokov said to Lunev: "But if the person who persuaded surrender is a person who is familiar to everyone, the effect of persuading surrender may be much better."
After saying this, Sokov shouted loudly to the microphone again: "I am Major General Sokov, the commander of the Sixth Army. I am now broadcasting to the officers and soldiers of the empire again. You have now ordered you to be desperate, and it is meaningless to continue to resist..."
The translator faithfully recorded every word Sokov said and translated it into German for broadcast.
The German officers and soldiers in the encirclement learned through the tweeter that the person who persuaded them was actually the one who was disgraceful to them, and immediately began to discuss: "Do you think this person who is broadcasting is the Sokov we know?"
"It's hard to say," someone immediately retorted: "It's also possible that other Russians pretended to be his name to deceive us, and when we put down our weapons and shoot us as soon as we walked out."
Seeing his subordinates talking a lot, Major General Val was a little anxious and shouted loudly: "What you heard is not the impostor, but Sokov himself. I saw him with my own eyes when I went out to talk about fat a few hours ago."
If it was an ordinary officer and soldier, and if he had seen Sokov, the remaining German officers and soldiers would probably sneer. But if this was said by the division commander Major General Val, the weight would naturally be different. The remaining officers and soldiers were quickly divided into two groups, one of whom was supporting Major General Val, ready to surrender to the Soviet army; the other group was supporting Ernst's soldiers, all of whom participated in the operation of holding Major General Val hostage just now, and knew that even if they put down their weapons and surrendered, they would probably not have any good endings, so they planned to resist to the end.
The German corporal who was calling out at first, immediately threw away the weapons in his hands, held high his hands, and ran towards the Soviet position. While running, he waved his hands desperately and shouted: "Don't shoot, I surrender, I'm here to be a prisoner."
Unexpectedly, after only more than twenty steps, gunfire came from behind him. The running German corporal suddenly stopped and then stopped in place for half a circle, then fell to the ground.
Not far away, Ernst was holding a submachine gun with blue smoke in his hand. He killed the corporal who was trying to surrender and said to the soldiers around him: "If anyone wants to surrender, he will be your fate."
When the German corporal raised his hands and rushed towards the Soviet position, many German officers and soldiers were ignited with hope. They just wanted to see the corporal enter the Soviet position smoothly, and they followed suit and put down their weapons and surrendered. Unexpectedly, the corporal ran away not far away and was actually shot dead by Captain Ernst. The officers and soldiers were stunned, fearing that the other party would find that they also had the idea of surrendering, so they gave themselves a shuttle.
Sokov was clearly seen at the location of the other side. He saw a German corporal running out with his hands high, and thought that with such an example, more people would come over next. But the corporal ran not far and was shot dead by a German captain.
Sokov stared at the captain for a while and called Merkulov who was standing not far away: "Comrade General, are there any snipers in your division? Transfer two here, I want them to kill that damn captain..."
"Comrade Commander," but before Sokov finished speaking, a voice suddenly came from behind him: "Please don't order someone to shoot. I think I can go over and persuade the captain to put down his weapons and surrender."
Sokov looked back and saw that the person who spoke was Corporal Ernst in the guard platoon. The reason why Samoilov arranged this former German soldier who surrendered in the guard platoon was to allow him to act as a translator when necessary. Although Ernst was a surrender, the other party followed him as early as when attacking the Istria Reservoir, so when Sokov spoke to him, he seemed very polite: "Comrade Corporal, do you have the confidence to convince the other party?"
"It's hard to say, but I can try it." Ernst said embarrassedly: "My name is Otto Ernst, and my name is Augusta Ernst, and I'm my brother."
"What, that SS officer is your brother?" Sokov was shocked when he heard Ernst say this: "Is this true?"
"Yes."
Since Ernst gave himself a positive answer, Sokov nodded after thinking for a moment, and agreed: "Well, Corporal Ernst, you can try it. But I remind you that his emotions are not stable. Once you find that he has an unfavorable intention for you, run back immediately. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Comrade Commander." Ernst said, dismantling his weapon and handing it over to Sokov, "I'll go over to see him now."
Ernst appeared at the forefront of the Soviet position, raised his hands high and walked slowly towards the opposite side, and shouted loudly: "Don't shoot, I'm a German." Hearing Ernst's shouts, the German guns that were originally aiming at him were lowered one after another.
"Stop!" When Ernst was less than twenty meters away from the German position, the sound of pulling the bolt came from the front: "Stop, if you don't stop, I'll shoot."
Ernst stopped and shouted to the place where he made his voice: "I'm looking for Captain Ernst, who is my brother."
The soldiers who stopped Ernst were stunned when they heard Ernst's voice. He never dreamed that a man in Soviet uniform would come out of the Soviet position opposite, who would claim to be Captain Ernst's younger brother. Fortunately, Ernst's location was not far from here, so he quickly ordered people to call Captain Ernst over.
The captain stood behind a tree and carefully observed the person who was slowly walking over. He found that it was indeed his younger brother Otto Ernst. He quickly walked out from behind the tree and greeted him and gave him a warm hug. He patted his brother's back and said excitedly: "Otto, where have you been here for such a long time? I thought you were dead."
"Brother," Otto took a step back and looked at his brother and said, "I was captured in the battle to defend the Istria reservoir and stayed in General Sokov's troops."
"What, you have been in Sokov's troops for so long?" Augusta asked in surprise: "Can you say that the person who just called out is really the Sokov who scared us?"
"That's right, it's him." Otto nodded and began to persuade his brother: "Brother, you are now at a desperate situation. If you continue to fight, the entire army will definitely be destroyed. Why not surrender."
"No, I can't surrender." Unexpectedly, as soon as Otto said, Augusta seemed to have changed into a different person. He said with a straight face: "I can't betray the head of state, I want to fight for him until the last moment."
"Brother, there is no point in continuing to resist." Otto said to his brother with a wry smile: "If General Sokov really wanted to destroy you, he just needed to order the troops to fire rockets and he could destroy you all. If it weren't for saving more lives and allowing everyone to return to their homeland after the war ended and reunite with their respective families, the shelling of you would have probably begun."
Several Augusta's confidants saw the two brothers reunited and came over to watch the fun. When they heard Otto say that the Soviet army was about to launch a shelling soon, they were scared to death. Corporal Hainel said to Augusta: "Captain, the area we control now is so narrow. If the Russians bombarded it, I think there are probably not many of us who can survive."
As soon as Hainer said, the rest of the people agreed: "That's right, right, as long as the Russians attack, even if we want to hide, there will be no place to hide. Captain, why not obey the general's orders and surrender to the Russians."
Although Augusta had just killed the corporal who surrendered to the Soviet army, he was more afraid of death than anyone else. Now that he saw that there was a chance to survive in front of him, he couldn't help but feel a little moved. After a long time of silence, he asked, "Otto, is the person who just called on the radio really Major General Sokov?"
"Yes, it's him." After Otto said this, he asked back: "Brother, what did you ask him for?"
"If it was really him on the opposite side, then our resistance would have no meaning." Augusta lowered his head and said, "I can only agree with the general's proposal and order the troops to surrender to the Russians on the opposite side."