As soon as Sokov said that he planned to go to the German position to negotiate in person and persuade the enemy to put down his weapons and surrender, he was firmly opposed by Sidorin, Ivanov and Anisimov.
Sokov felt warm in his heart about the three of them, but at the same time he also understood that if he didn't enter the tiger's den, how could he know if Paulus really set up his new headquarters in the basement of the department store like in history.
"Comrades, thank you for your relationship with me." Sokov expressed his reasons after expressing his gratitude to the three of them: "After the enemy was hit hard by our army, the morale of the army has been declining and the morale is low. They wished we could send people to negotiate. Therefore, this time we went to the German position, we would definitely not be troubled by them."
Seeing Sokov so stubborn, Sidolin knew that even if he continued to persuade him, there would be no result. He said cautiously: "Comrade Commander, do you think this is OK? We will report this matter to Commander Cui Kov. If he agrees, it will not be too late for you to go again."
"I don't think there is any need for this." Sokov shook his head and said, "It was the order issued by General Rokosovsky, the commander of the front army, who personally issued. Even if Commander Cuikov knew about this, he would not object. There is no need to disturb him for such a trivial matter."
Since Sokov brought out all Rokosovsky, it was hard for everyone to say anything. After a while, Ivanov asked, "Comrade Commander, where are you going to enter the German defense zone from? Or from the 122nd Regiment?"
"No, I won't go to the defense zone of the 122nd Regiment this time." Sokov thought that the defense zone of the 122nd Regiment was close to the factory area, at least twenty kilometers away from Paulus's new headquarters, and there was no need to make such a big circle. He decided to enter the German defense line from the area controlled by the reduction regiment. In order not to arouse the suspicion of the crowd, he pretended to be thoughtful and said: "Since we analyze that Paulus might set up his new headquarters in the residential area of the south of the city or the central area, the most suitable location is the defense zone of the Belkin regiment."
Sokov's statement did not arouse everyone's suspicion. Cidolin hurriedly asked: "Comrade Commander, how many people do you plan to take to Paulus's headquarters?"
"I'm going to persuade me to surrender, not to fight, so I don't need to bring anyone." Sokov said to Sidolin: "Let Samoilov take a guard platoon to escort me to the Belkin regiment. After arriving at the place, I will take a car with Ernst to the German defense zone."
"Comrade Commander, I will call Commander Belkin first and ask him to send someone to notify the Germans opposite, and we will send someone to negotiate with them." As the chief of staff, Cidolin considered the issue very comprehensively: "Stop being fired by the enemy or machine guns when you are on a car to the German defense zone."
Sokov felt that Sidolin was very reasonable, so he nodded in agreement: "Since that is the case, Comrade Chief of Staff, please call Commander Belkin and ask him to send someone to contact the Germans first, so that the enemy knows that we will send negotiators into their defense zone."
…………
An hour later, Sokov appeared in Belkin's regiment command post.
After a hug from Sokov and Belkin, they asked, "My political commissar, how are you doing here? Have the enemy discovered your existence?"
"No." Belkin replied with a smile: "Since you told me to enter here, don't make any big noise. The three battalions I brought with me have been on standby and have never participated in any battles. I guess the enemy still thinks that we only have one battalion here."
After reporting the regiment's intelligence, Belkin hesitated for a moment, then asked Sokov tentatively: "Misha, are you really planning to go to the enemy's position and negotiate with them?"
"Yes," Sokov nodded: "This is a task assigned by Front Commander Rokosovsky himself."
"Can your safety be guaranteed?" Learning that the order was issued by the commander of the front army, the muscles on Belkin's face twitched violently a few times, and asked carefully: "If it is not guaranteed, why don't I go on your behalf?"
"Thank you for your kindness, Comrade Political Commissar." Sokov was very grateful for Belkin's care. It is definitely dangerous to go to the German defense zone for negotiations this time, but it is completely worthwhile to find out the location of Paulus Command, no matter how big the risk is. "This is my mission, and I have to complete it myself."
"By the way, have you greeted the enemy's position?"
Belkin nodded and replied, "If the regiment chief of staff Captain Vanya comes to contact him personally, the enemy will send a special person to the middle of the positions of the two armies to pick you up."
"It's getting late," Sokov stood up and said to Belkin, "Let's go now. If you come back later, it will be difficult to do if it's dark and it will be troublesome if the jeep accidentally crushes the mine."
Belkin accompanied Sokov to the forefront, and the jeep stopped less than three hundred meters away from a broken building occupied by the German army. Sokov said to Belkin with a side face: "My political commissar, just send it here. It will be unsafe to go forward."
"Misha." Belkin held Sokov's hand and said in a choking voice: "You must come back alive, I will wait for you here."
"I get it." Sokov let go of Belkin's hand and said to him: "You can hide in a safe place quickly. I'm worried that there will be enemy snipers nearby, so don't let him treat you as a target."
After Belkin left, Sokov ordered the driver to drive and come to the front of the enemy's building. A German lieutenant came out of the building, followed by a soldier holding a submachine gun. Ernst quickly jumped out of the car, ran to the other party quickly, and started talking with joy.
Not long after, Ernst took the German lieutenant back to the jeep and said to Sokov: "This is the chief of staff General Schmidt sent to pick up your staff. He said that the driver stayed and he drove us to the headquarters. But before that, we must blindfold us."
The Germans wanted to blindfold themselves, as Sokov expected, and he knew very well that in order to prevent him from discovering his headquarters, Paulus would definitely order people to blindfold himself. Anyway, he had been to the department store several times and was very familiar with the terrain there, and even with his eyes, he could recognize it.
Sokov sent the driver away, let the German lieutenant blindfold himself and Ernst, and sat in the back row of the jeep. After doing all this, the German lieutenant started the car and shot at the position of the headquarters. The soldier sat in the passenger seat, half turned around and stared at Sokov and Ernst, pointing at them for a moment, ready to shoot at any time.
The jeep stopped after driving for more than ten minutes. However, the German lieutenant did not immediately untie Sokov's blindfold, but instead called two soldiers to support Sokov and Ernst and walked into the building.
When he arrived at the door of the room at the end of the corridor, the German lieutenant reported to a major sitting at the door: "Mr. Major, the Russians who were negotiating with us have been brought."
"Well, I will report to the commander immediately." The major nodded, got up and pushed open the door next to him, walked in and closed the door casually.
After a while, he walked out of it and said to the lieutenant: "There is no business here, you can go down first. I will call you when you need you."
After sending away the lieutenant and the soldiers who supported Sokov and Ernst, the major walked up and pulled off the blindfolds of the two, and said coldly: "Russian, come with me!"
Ernst heard this insulting title and couldn't help but smile bitterly and said to Sokov: "Comrade instructor, he asked us to follow her."
After the door was pushed open, Sokov saw a long conference table in the room, and the sides of the table were filled with people. While Sokov was looking at the generals present, he suddenly heard the general sitting at the other end of the conference table saying: "I am Paulus Russian, tell me your name, military rank and position, and your purpose."
After hearing Ernst's translation, Sokov sneered and replied: "I am Colonel Sokov, the commander of the 41st Division of the Guards. The purpose of my visit here today is to urge you to surrender unconditionally to our army."
If someone else said this, they would definitely be sarcastic from the generals here. But when these people heard that the Russians standing in front of them were Sokov, they suddenly fell into silence.
After a while, a general sitting in Paulus' right hand stood up and walked quickly to Sokov, leaned forward slightly, stretched out his hands, and said in a friendly tone: "Hello, Colonel Sokov, I'm glad to see you here. By the way, let me introduce myself, I am General Schmidt, Chief of Staff of the Sixth Army."
"Hello, General Schmidt." Since Schmidt greeted him with a smile, Sokov naturally could not be too cold to him. He smiled and said, "I am very happy to see you."
After Schmidt shook hands with Sokov, a tall German general who was sitting not far away also stood up and walked to Sokov, saying respectfully: "Hello, Colonel Sokov. I am the commander of the 51st Infantry Army. Among the Russian officers, you are the one I admire the most. Because as long as my troops encounter your troops, they will never gain any advantage."
Facing Kurtzbach's compliment, Sokov smiled and replied, "General Kurtzbach, I am just an ordinary Soviet commander, and I can't compare with General Zhukov. As for you, your troops will suffer every time they encounter my troops. That's because you are not familiar with my tactics and still use tactics to fight against other Soviet troops to fight us. It would be strange if you don't suffer any losses."
After Sokov and Kurtzbach chatted, Schmidt quickly asked Sokov to sit down at the other end of the conference table and happened to face Paulus.
As soon as Sokov sat down, Schmidt brought a cup of coffee in front of him, and said apologetically: "Col. Sokov, I'm sorry, now we are in poor conditions and cannot entertain you with something better."
After thanking Schmidt, Sokov looked at Paulus opposite and said, "General Paulus, you must be very clear about the current situation. If you continue to fight stubbornly, you will only suffer greater casualties. If you can respond to our army's ultimatum and put down your weapons and surrender in time, you can save the lives of more soldiers. I believe that after the war is over, the families of these surviving soldiers will be grateful to you for your whole life."
After hearing Sokov's words, the generals here all turned their attention to Paulus, wanting to hear how he replied. To be honest, it is meaningless to continue to resist when the supplies are on the verge of being cut off. If Paulus can really agree to surrender, he can save tens of thousands of lives.
But after a long silence, Paulus said with difficulty: "Col. Sokov, everything you said makes sense. But the soldiers take obedience as their duty. I will never surrender to you until I get the surrender permission from the head of state. Then we will fight to the end of one soldier and one last bullet, and we will never surrender."
When Paulus said he would not surrender, the generals present showed disappointed expressions on their faces. They did not expect Paulus to refuse so simply. Especially Kurtzbach, he even stood up and said to Paulus regardless of the situation: "Commander, I think Colonel Sokov's words make sense. If we continue to resist, there is no meaning. It is better to put down our weapons and surrender earlier, so that we can save the lives of more soldiers."
"General Kurtzbach, I've already made it clear." Paulus didn't expect Kurtzbach to sing a opposite tune with him. He gritted his teeth and said, "I will never surrender to the Russians without the permission of the head of state."
"Hisser Commander." Seeing that today's negotiations were about to collapse, Schmidt hurriedly came out to smooth things over: "Since everyone feels that they can accept the conditions proposed by the Russians, it is better for us to send a telegram to Berlin and ask the head of state for instructions to see if we can surrender to save the lives of more soldiers."
"The Chief of Staff is right." As soon as Schmidt finished speaking, a voice of agreement sounded in the room: "Your Excellency Commander, you should send a telegram to the Chief Executive immediately to report our situation to him and allow us to surrender to the Russians."
"Chief of Staff," Paulus saw that his subordinates agreed, and no longer stubbornly believed, but ordered Schmidt: "You send a telegram to Berlin immediately to report our current situation to the Head of State. Request him to allow us to surrender to the Russians to save the lives of more soldiers."