"Stop screaming, Your Excellency Commander." Seeing Paulus shouting loudly outside, Kurtzbach said coldly: "Even if you scream at the top of your lungs, no one will come to save you."
"Yes, Your Excellency Commander." Schmidt was worried that Kurtzbach would be disadvantageous to Paulus, so he quickly stood up and said: "Your guard troops have been transferred. No matter how much you shout, no one will come.
Save you."
"What did you say, my security force was transferred?"
"Yes." Schmidt replied with a face of shame: "I ordered them to switch defenses with the troops of the 100th Chasseur Division. Now the officers and soldiers of the 100th Chasseur Division are serving as guards outside."
"Okay, Chief of Staff." Seeing that Schmidt was actually involved in the conspiracy against him, Paulus said angrily: "You are the person I trust most. I didn't expect you to be involved in this shameful conspiracy."
"Your Excellency, Commander, actually I don't agree with them using such extreme measures." Facing Paulus's accusation, Schmidt quickly defended: "But in order to save more people's lives, I still choose to stand with them.
"Your Excellency, Commander, we can't continue the fight. It's better to quickly order the troops to stop resisting and let them surrender as soon as possible."
After learning that Kurtzbach and others had taken such extreme measures in order to surrender, Paulus fell weakly on his seat and said with a sad face: "It's useless for you to do this. Even if you implement military remonstrance,
But the head of state will not agree to our surrender."
"Your Excellency, Commander," Sannei saw that Paulus' tone had softened, and he immediately saw a glimmer of hope. He quickly stepped forward, raised his hand, lowered the muzzle of Kurtzbach's gun, and said to Paulus: "I want to
We will no longer send a telegram to the Führer, reporting our plight here to him in the hope that he will change his mind."
After Paulus heard Sannei's proposal, he didn't say anything, but looked at Schmidt on one side. As Paulus's chief of staff, Schmidt immediately understood the intention of the other person's look and quickly ordered a
Soldier: "Find a radio station and come here. Your Excellency, Commander, will report to the Führer here."
After hearing the order, the soldier stood still and turned his questioning eyes to Kurtzbach. After seeing the other man nodded slightly in agreement, he turned and left the room.
A few minutes later, a radio station was placed on the conference table, and a skilled operator sat in front of the radio station, quietly waiting for the commander to dictate the content of the transmission.
Seeing that everyone was turning their attention to him, Paulus stood up with a wry smile, staggered behind the operator, and said to him: "Operator, send a message to Berlin."
After the operator was ready to send the message, Paulus began to dictate the telegram to Berlin. He finally said: "... there is no point in continuing to resist. Tragedy is inevitable. In order to save the living. I request that you immediately
Approving our surrender is also to save our nation and people. Paulus."
The officers and soldiers present quietly listened to Paulus's dictated orders, and their hearts were full of hope. They knew very well that their commander had no hope of continuing to resist. As long as Berlin agreed, the remaining members of the entire army would be able to resist.
The troops can justifiably lay down their weapons and surrender.
A few minutes later, Berlin's call back arrived.
After the telegraph operator finished copying the telegram, he was about to hand it to Paulus, but he waved his hand and refused: "Give the telegram to the chief of staff and ask him to read it out in public."
In full view of everyone, Schmidt stepped forward to take the telegram from the operator's hand. After he quickly read the contents above, his face turned livid. From his expression, Paulus guessed Berlin's reply.
He said to him in a stern tone: "Chief of Staff, read the telegram to everyone."
Schmidt did not dare to neglect, and quickly raised the telegram and began to recite loudly: "I will never allow surrender. The troops of the Sixth Army must hold their positions until all the ammunition is exhausted. Hitler."
The hopes in everyone's hearts were shattered like a crystal glass dropped to the ground with this telegram sent by Hitler himself. Some people who were originally opposed to the military advice began to waver in their hearts, feeling that they should not do this.
The following mistakes were made, and as a result, the goal was not achieved in the end.
"Gentlemen!" Paulus said to everyone when he saw everyone looking downcast: "You have all heard the Führer's reply. What are you going to do next? Continue to follow Kurtzbach's nonsense
, or go back to your respective units and command your men to fight the Russians? You make your own choice."
"I'm sorry, General Kurtzbach." Sannei pulled out his pistol and pointed the gun at Kurtzbach. The soldiers who followed Kurtzbach in saw Sannei pulling out their guns and pointed their guns at him.
, just after Kurtzbach gave an order, he beat him into a sieve. Sannei did not care at all about the gun pointed at him, but continued: "It is the bounden duty of soldiers to obey orders. Since the head of state ordered us to continue fighting,
We can only obey his order."
The soldiers holding guns showed hesitant expressions on their faces when they heard Sannei mentioning the head of state, and they lowered their guns aimed at Sannei. Paulus saw that the morale of the other party was in chaos, so he came out in time to finish the attack.
: "Soldiers, if you put down your weapons now and commit the following crimes against you, I will forgive you, otherwise..."
What would happen otherwise? Paulus didn't say anything, but the soldiers had already obediently thrown their weapons on the ground. Sannei walked to the door and shouted outside. Soon, there was chaos outside.
The sound of footsteps and shouts one after another.
Hearing the sound coming from outside, Paulus frowned and asked Schmidt: "Chief of Staff, what happened outside?"
Schmidt also knew nothing about what was happening outside. He could only shake his head and replied truthfully: "I'm sorry, Commander, I don't know what happened outside either."
It wasn't until an officer carrying a submachine gun entered the room that Sannei came to Paulus and reported to him: "Your Excellency, Commander, I have deployed a company in a nearby room. Now they have put Kur
The people brought by General Zbacher have all disarmed, what should we do with them?"
"Lock them all up." If it were in the past, Paulus would not hesitate at all if the following crimes occurred and ordered them all to be shot. But these are extraordinary times. In order to avoid causing unnecessary
Panicked, Paulus could only give them a lenient sentence. He ordered Sanneh: "Lock up General Kurtzbach as well, and report what he did to the entire army. If a similar incident happens again."
, shoot without mercy."
In this way, the military remonstrance initiated by Kurtzbach ended comically because of a reply from Hitler. The instigator, General Kurtzbach, was also locked in a separate room, waiting for Paulus's disposal.
Naturally, Sokov had no way of knowing what was happening at the German headquarters. He was still explaining the attack after dawn to several division commanders over the phone.
Just before dawn, the phone in the headquarters rang.
The call came from Rokossovsky who was far away in Moscow. He asked on the phone: "Colonel Sokov, are you ready?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Sokov replied respectfully: "We are ready to launch an attack on the department store."
"I have already told Malinin. If you have any needs, just call him and he will try his best to help you." Rokossovsky said: "I wish you good luck!"
The time for the attack had arrived. As Sokov's order was issued, all participating troops launched attacks on the Germans in their respective areas.
"Comrade division commander," Sidorin asked Sokov curiously after confirming that all divisions had launched an attack: "How many days do you think our troops can capture the department store?"
"It's hard to say." Sokov knew very well in his heart that although the main target of this attack was a department store, the German firepower in the surrounding buildings was a tough nut for the attacking troops to gnaw on. Although there were many troops attacking at the same time,
There are three infantry divisions, two tank brigades and artillery regiments, but Sokov still has no confidence at all: "We can only do our best."
Since the attack carried out by Sokov did not carry out any artillery preparations before the attack, it also caught the German troops who were holding the position by surprise. The 41st Guards Division, which attacked from the southwest, took the lead in breaking through the German defensive positions and rushed
Entering a community controlled by the German army, we started a battle with the enemy in the building.
Knowing that his troops had rushed into a community controlled by the enemy, Sokov quickly called Ivanov over and said to him: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, our troops are making good progress at present. But in order to prevent the appearance of four regiments each
In order to fight, if there is a lack of coordination between them, you need to rush over immediately and implement unified command over them."
"Don't worry, comrade division commander." Although Sokov is the commander of the combat group, Ivanov and others still like to call him division commander, and Sokov has not corrected this title. Ivanov said
Knowing that he had another chance to show off his talents, he immediately said excitedly: "I will let our troops be the first to rush into the department store."
The battle that took place near the department store concerned not only Rokossovsky in Moscow, but also Chuikov in the city, Shumilov of the 64th Army and Batov of the 65th Army. In order to avoid
This affected Sokov's command, and instead of calling to inquire about the battle situation, they each sent their own reconnaissance troops to conduct reconnaissance in the combat area in order to provide timely feedback on the battle situation.
There were more than 10,000 German troops deployed around the department store. In addition to infantry, there were also artillery and tanks. Facing the onrushing Soviet troops, the German artillery and tanks did not consider saving ammunition at all and desperately bombarded the Soviet troops with artillery shells.
The army's offensive route is used to intercept the attacking troops with fire.
The 41st Guards Division is Sokov's unit. Faced with the enemy's fire interception tactics, it knows how to disperse in time and use craters or ruins to approach the enemy's position. The other two infantry divisions still maintain a dense formation.
, braving fierce artillery fire, bravely rushed towards the enemy's position.
When he learned that the attacking force of the 23rd Infantry Division had lost a battalion to artillery fire in less than ten minutes, Sokov became a little anxious. He quickly answered the phone at the division's headquarters and shouted loudly to the person who answered the phone.
Say: "This is Sokov, let Colonel Sivakov answer the phone."
Sivakov's voice soon came from the receiver: "Comrade Commander, what are your instructions?"
"Colonel Sivakov, how did you fight this battle?" Sokov asked angrily: "In less than ten minutes, you lost a battalion of troops? Your division has few troops. According to your
With this kind of attack, your division should be disbanded before it even gets close to the department store."
Faced with Sokov's accusation, Sivakov said aggrievedly: "Comrade Commander, the enemy's resistance is very tenacious. If we want to break through their defenses, casualties are inevitable."
"You are right. To break through the enemy's defense line, casualties are inevitable." Sokov continued: "But when we fight, we cannot just rely on violent attacks. No matter how brave our soldiers are, they are still flesh and blood.
Your body cannot stop the enemy's shells and bullets. Therefore, when attacking, you must learn to use your brain more to minimize the casualties of your troops."
"But, what should I do to reduce the casualties of the troops?"
"The enemy bombards your offensive route and uses artillery fire to intercept it." Seeing that the other party did not understand what he meant, Sokov could only patiently explain to him: "In order to reduce unnecessary casualties, when you attack, do not use dense
Instead of charging in a thin formation, we should use a sparse formation and use craters and ruins as cover. Do you understand?"
"Understood."
Seeing that Sivakov agreed so readily, Sokov continued: "After you rush into the community, don't let the troops crowd the streets and charge. In that case, the Germans hiding in the buildings on both sides will be like target practice.
I’ll wipe you all out. You have to have the soldiers form groups of three or five, stick to the buildings on both sides, and push forward little by little. It doesn’t matter if the speed is slower, but it can reduce unnecessary casualties..."
Sidorin waited for Sokov to put down the phone and said to him with a wry smile: "Comrade division commander, isn't it a little too late for you to teach Sivakov your experience now? Moreover, this kind of tactics cannot be trained for a period of time.
, I’m afraid the effect will be greatly reduced. I think it won’t be long before those commanders and fighters who are fighting separately will be crowded together again and become the target of the enemy’s attack.”
"I have reminded you of everything I can." Sokov sighed and said, "Although it is a bit late to impart experience, it should still allow more warriors to survive such a cruel battle."
After saying this, Sokov suddenly remembered that he had not received a report about the 321st Infantry Division at his current location, and quickly asked Sidorin: "Chief of Staff, how is the progress of General Makarenko's troops? Why are they up to now?
, haven’t received any battle reports about them yet?”
"The terrain in the area where they are attacking is very complex," Sidorin explained to Sokov: "And during the attack, they were constantly intercepted by German artillery fire, so that until now, they have not been able to break through the enemy's
