The translator soon came to the command cabin, picked up the letter handed to him by Knobelsdorf, and translated it word for word: "General Knobelsdorf, I am Sokov, your honorable army.
General Wolf's body is now in the hands of our army. Although you and I are enemies, I still hope that General Hornadorf can be buried in peace, so I propose an exchange between the two parties. My conditions are simple,
You will exchange 300 captured officers and soldiers of our army (including the wounded) for the body of General Hornadorf. Signed: Major General Sokov."
After Knobelsdorff waited for the translator to finish reading the letter, he waved to him, indicating that the other party could leave. He walked back and forth in the command cabin with his hands behind his back, thinking quickly in his mind whether he needed to report the matter to Manstein.
Report?
After repeatedly weighing the relationship, he felt that he should report the matter to Manstein. He went to the phone and ordered the communications staff to help him get through Manstein's call.
After the call was connected, Knobelsdorf immediately said into the phone: "Your Excellency, Marshal, the Russians just sent me a letter."
"A letter?" Manstein asked in surprise: "What letter? Are they ready to surrender to us?"
"That's not true." Knobelsdorf quickly defended: "The Russians said that General Hornadorf's body is in their hands and they need us to exchange prisoners of war with them."
"Absurd, simply absurd." Manstein felt that Knobelsdorf must have been deceived by the Russians, and he said with hatred: "You didn't see his body with your own eyes, how do you know what the Russians said?
Is it true or false?”
"Marshal, I think what the Russians said is true." Knobelsdorf explained: "The person who came to deliver the message was a captured second lieutenant of the Sixth Armored Division. He said that he had seen Huo Huo with his own eyes.
General Nadolph's body."
"General Knobelsdorf," Manstein asked with a sneer: "Did the second lieutenant who sent you the message tell you what the number of the Russian unit that obtained the body of General Hornadorf was?"
"It's clear, Marshal." Knobelsdorff replied respectfully: "It's the 188th Infantry Division of the Russian 27th Army."
"27th Army?" Hearing this familiar number, Manstein felt a headache: "It can't be the 27th Army commanded by Sokov, right?"
"It is Sokov's troops." Knobelsdorf said while the iron was hot: "He wrote a letter to me and to you respectively, both of which were about exchanging prisoners of war for the body of General Hornadorf."
"How many Russians did the 48th Armored Corps capture in recent battles?"
"I don't know the specific numbers." Knobelsdorff was not very interested in how many prisoners his troops had captured. He only considered how many more cities he had occupied. So when he heard Manstein's question, he
But he couldn't give an accurate answer: "I think there are probably about five to six thousand people."
"You just said that Sokov sent someone to deliver a letter to me. Where is the letter now?"
"It's in my hand."
"Send someone to deliver it to me immediately." After Manstein said this, he felt that his expression was not accurate enough, so he quickly added: "Ask the second lieutenant who came back from the Russians to deliver the letter to me.
come over."
After Knobelsdorf hung up the phone, he immediately called a staff officer and told him: "Send Lieutenant Kahn to Marshal Manstein immediately. I will leave it to you to take care of his life."
"Yes, your Excellency, Army Commander." The staff officer straightened his body and replied, "I will send him to the marshal safely."
Twenty minutes later, the military staff led Second Lieutenant Kahn to Manstein's station. After checking their IDs, an officer said coldly: "Hand over your guns."
Second Lieutenant Kahn has not been wearing weapons since he came back, so he naturally does not need to hand over his weapons at this moment. When the staff officer who accompanied him heard what the officer said, he couldn't help but resisted and said: "We were ordered to see Mr. Marshal, you have no right.
"
Unexpectedly, the officer ignored him at all and said with a straight face: "Please hand over your pistol." The staff officer had no choice but to take out his own pistol and hand it over.
The officer led the two men outside Manstein's command cabin, turned to them and said, "Wait here." After saying that, he stepped up the small stairs, entered the command cabin, and reported to Manstein.
went.
After a while, the officer came out and asked the two of them: "Which one of you is the messenger?"
Kahn quickly stepped forward and replied: "It's me."
The officer glanced at Kahn, then shook his head at him and said, "Let's go." Seeing that the staff officer also wanted to follow, the officer quickly reached out to stop him: "I'm sorry, the marshal only wants to see the person who sent the message."
Kahn followed the officer into the command cabin and saw Manstein sitting on a chair smoking a cigar. He quickly stepped forward to salute and loudly announced his name, rank and position in the army.
Unexpectedly, Manstein reached out and interrupted him before he finished speaking: "Okay, I'm not interested in your identity. Where is Sokov's letter?"
"Here, Your Excellency Marshal." Kahn took out Sokov's letter from his coat pocket and was about to hand it to Manstein when he was stopped by a colonel's adjutant. The adjutant took it out of Kahn's hand.
He took the letter, turned around and walked out of the command cabin.
Seeing his adjutant leave, Manstein asked slowly: "Second Lieutenant, did you really see the body of General Hornerdorf with your own eyes?"
"Yes, Marshal, I saw it with my own eyes." Kahn said while gesturing: "His chest was blown to pieces and part of his clothes were burned."
After learning that Hornadorf's body was indeed in the hands of the Russians, Manstein put the cigar in his hand in the ashtray on the table, stood up, walked to Kahn, and asked: "The Russians
How were the remains of General Hornerdorf treated? Was he left on the road outside for people to view?"
"No, Marshal." Kahn replied: "Major General Sokov said that although they have a hostile relationship with us, they should still maintain the necessary respect for senior officers like General Hornadorf. Therefore,
He specially ordered someone to make a coffin and placed General Hornadorf in the coffin."
After listening to Kahn's story and knowing that Sokov had kept Hornadolf's body under observation, Manstein couldn't help but smile and nodded, and his favorable impression of Sokov increased a little.
The officer holding Sokov's letter returned to the command cabin after leaving for a few minutes. He handed Sokov's letter and the translated content to Manstein. Manstein took it from the adjutant's hand.
things, look at them carefully.
After reading Sokov's letter, Manstein raised his head and said to Kahn: "Second Lieutenant, Sokov did not mention the time or place for the exchange in his letter?"
"That's it, Marshal." Kahn explained to Manstein: "General Sokov was worried that his proposal would not be accepted by you, so he did not leave any contact information. But before I left, he
He once told me that if we agree to the exchange, then I will act as a messenger and travel to and from the positions of both parties."
"Second Lieutenant, I now officially appoint you as my special envoy to be responsible for liaison between us and the Russians." Manstein said to Kahn: "You go to the Russians immediately and tell them that I agree to the exchange.
But they need to provide the time and place for the exchange of remains and prisoners of war."
"Understood, Marshal, I will return to the Russian position immediately." Kahn said cautiously: "But we are fighting with them, and I am worried that if we pass directly through the war zone, my life may be in danger. My personal life and death is a small matter, if
I will never redeem myself for delaying His Excellency the Marshal's important event."
"I will order a temporary ceasefire," Manstein said, "so you can pass through that area safely."
In order to show that he attached great importance to this matter, Manstein sent his adjutant and several soldiers to go to the front line with Kahn to negotiate with the Soviet army. After everyone left, he picked up the phone and said into the receiver: "
General Knobelsdorf immediately ordered the 6th Armored Division to stop attacking the Russian positions."
"Stop the attack?" Hearing Manstein's order, Knobelsdorf couldn't help but be stunned. You must know that a few hours ago, Manstein had given himself a fatal order to capture the Russians no matter what.
position. In order to complete his mission, he was transferring the 19th Armored Division on the right wing. How could the attack stop so suddenly? He asked in confusion: "Your Excellency, Marshal, why do you want to stop the attack?"
"I have thought about it. As long as we can retrieve the body of General Hornedorff, no matter how high the price is, it will be worth it." Manstein explained to Knobelsdorf: "We will stop the attack now.
We are just preparing to use it as an exchange location. After General Hornadorf's body is brought back, it will not be too late to continue attacking the Russians."
"It turns out that the attack was stopped just to facilitate the exchange." After figuring out Manstein's intention, Knobelsdorf secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He thought that he had finally transferred the 19th Armored Division from the right wing, and was still able to transfer it.
Before he could put them into battle, he ended the attack in a hurry, leaving him unable to explain to the commander of the troops. The attack was suspended now just to facilitate the exchange between the two sides. After the exchange was over, it would not be too late to restart the attack.
On the Soviet side, the situation is very grim. After several hours of fierce fighting, the 562nd Regiment, which held its position, suffered heavy losses in each battalion and company, with less than 20% of its total strength remaining. When the battle reached this point, Coy
Da's tears came down, and he begged Sokov: "Comrade Commander, please allow me to send the 564th Regiment to support! If we don't reinforce it, the 562nd Regiment will be reduced to nothing before the battle is over.
"
Sokov originally thought that after Kahn returned to the German side, as long as he handed over his handwritten letter, the German army would stop attacking soon. Who would have thought that after such a long time, the German army's offensive not only did not weaken, but actually became stronger
Even more crazy.
"Okay, Comrade Colonel." After thinking for a long time, Sokov finally agreed with Koida to put the reserve troops into the battle one after another: "In order to prevent being killed by German artillery fire, let the troops enter the front-line positions in batches."
When Koida picked up the phone and was about to call the commander of the 564th Regiment, the rumbling sound of artillery outside suddenly stopped, and even the sound of shooting and the explosion of grenades became sparse. "What's going on?
In order to find out what happened, Koida immediately called the commander of the 562nd Regiment and asked: "What's going on outside? Why did the enemy's artillery fire stop?"
"Comrade division commander, I don't know either." The lieutenant colonel leader replied: "Seeing that our position was about to be undefendable, the Germans suddenly stopped shelling, and then all the tanks and infantry withdrew."
"I understand." After Koida put down the phone, he said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the enemy not only stopped shelling our positions, but also withdrew the attacking troops."
"I think I should know what's going on." After learning that the attacking enemy had retreated, Sokov immediately wondered if Manstein had agreed to his terms of exchange, so he ordered the troops to temporarily stop the attack to free up exchanges between the two sides.
time and space. However, the enemy retreated, but it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He quickly ordered Koida: "Comrade Colonel, immediately order the 564th Regiment to enter the front-line position and connect the 562nd Regiment's defense. At the same time, seize the time to repair the fortifications.
To cope with the enemy's attack."
Just as the 564th regiment entered the position one after another, Koida received a call from the front: "Comrade division commander, two motorcycles came from the German position, with white flags on them. What should we do? Shoot?
?”
"Don't shoot, don't shoot." When Koida heard that two motorcycles were coming from the German army, he immediately guessed that they might be the negotiators sent by Manstein, and quickly told the other party: "That's what they came for."
You must not shoot the Germans who are negotiating with us, and send people to meet them immediately."
Sokov heard Koida talking on the phone and quickly added: "Tell the commander of the 564th Regiment to negotiate with the enemy outside the position and never let them enter our position. Otherwise, wait until they figure us out.
If we go back and let Manstein report the truth about the situation, it will be very detrimental to our subsequent defense."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Koida quickly added after hearing Sokov's reminder: "Remember, never let the enemy enter your position, otherwise you will not have any secrets from them in the next battle.
It can be said.”
The representative who came to negotiate on behalf of the German army was, of course, Second Lieutenant Kahn. When the motorcycle he was riding was still fifty or sixty meters away from the Soviet position, it was blocked by the commanders and fighters of the 564th Regiment. The negotiator on the Soviet side was the 564th Regiment.
The leader of the regiment. In order to let Sokov and Koida, who were far away from the division headquarters, understand the progress of the negotiations in a timely manner, he also specially held a telephone line for direct reporting on the negotiation site.
Over the phone, Sokov heard Kahn tell the head of the 564th regiment: "Marshal Manstein has agreed to your terms of exchange, but you need to provide a specific time and place for the exchange."
"Comrade Commander," Koida heard this and turned to ask Sokov: "How should we reply to the Germans?"
Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then said: "Tell them that at three o'clock in the afternoon, an exchange ceremony will be held two hundred meters in front of our army's position. The German army will use at least 300 prisoners of war to exchange for Horner."
