Miller returned to the command center and told Strakel about the content of the talks with Trekov. After saying it to Strakel, Strakel fell into silence.
The chief of staff on the side was worried that Strakel would change his mind and quickly reminded him: "General, since we have already negotiated with the Russians about surrender, we should implement it firmly. If we change our mind at this moment, we may be frantically retaliated by the Russians."
"Don't worry, Chief of Staff." Strakel saw the Chief of Staff's concern and comforted him, "Since I have made a decision, I will not change it easily. When the agreed time comes, I will naturally go out to surrender to the Russians. But now I am worried that Rensky will interfere, and it will be bad if I cause trouble at that time."
"General, I think it's better to summon all the commanders of the divisions here." The Chief of Staff of the Army suggested to Strakel: "Then inform them of the surrender. If anyone disagrees, they will be arrested on the spot. Anyway, there are no soldiers around them, and even if we shoot all these opponents, it will not cause any confusion."
"You're right." Strakel agreed with the proposal of the Chief of Staff: "Call the division commanders immediately and let them arrive at my command immediately."
Half an hour later, the division commanders who received the notice came to Strakel's command center.
When Rensky entered the door, he was still muttering, "Hey, what happened? I have to call us all here so late?"
The other teachers didn't say anything, and they all muttered in their hearts: Why did Strakel gather himself in the middle of the night? Did something happen?
Seeing that everyone was here, Strakel coughed twice, cleared his throat, and said to everyone: "Gentlemen, there is no intention to continue fighting. In order to save more lives, I am ready to order the troops to surrender to the Russians."
Although before everyone came to the meeting, they guessed that Strakel urgently summoned him, it must be to decide whether to fight or surrender. At this moment, when Strakel gave the final answer, some people felt relieved and felt that Strakel had finally made the right choice; some were nervous, worried that their surrender would affect their families in the country.
After hearing this, Rensky was furious. After slapped the table, he stood up and pointed at Strakel with his finger and said sternly: "General, why do we surrender? We still have tens of thousands of people, so we can continue to fight against the Russians. Have you forgotten the order of the Head of State to fight against the Russians until the last moment?"
"As soldiers, we have done our duties." Facing Rensky's accusation, Straker said calmly: "The only thing we can do is to find ways to save more living people and give them the opportunity to return to their homeland in the future."
Seeing that Strakel's determination to surrender was already made, Rensky's face was so angry that his hair was purple. He pointed at Strakel with his finger and scolded angrily: "You traitor from the German motherland, you dare to violate the orders of the head of state. I want to kill you." As he said that, he reached out and pulled his gun to his waist.
But his hand had just touched the holster, and Arenstov, the commander of the 60th Mobra Division, who was sitting next to him, grabbed his hand and prevented him from pulling out the pistol.
When the Chief of Staff saw that Rensky was about to fire a gun at Strakel, he hurriedly retreated to the door and shouted outside: "Come, come, there is an assassin!"
With his shouts, more than a dozen soldiers carrying submachine guns rushed in from outside. The officers present immediately recognized these people from the military guard regiment from their clothes.
Lensky looked at the black muzzles pointing at him, fearing that the other party would open fire at him, so he quickly let go of his hand on the holster, looked at Straker and gritted his teeth and said, "General Straker, are you really going to be a traitor to the motherland?"
Strakel stood up and said calmly: "I just want to save more living people. As for whether they will become traitors to their motherland, I don't care at all."
When the Chief of Strekel heard what he said, he immediately said to the soldiers with confidence: "Take Rensky away quickly."
The soldiers rushed forward, first seized Rensky's gun, and then cut his hands back and pushed out the command center.
After Rensky was taken away, Strakel looked at the remaining division commanders and asked, "Who has any other opinions?"
Those who were originally undecided in the process of seeing Rensky being dragged out of the command center by soldiers, knew that if they sang against Strakel, they would probably have the same end. They quickly replied in unison: "No more."
"Okay, since everyone has no different opinions, stay here." After saying that, Strakel turned around and waved his head at the Chief of Staff, and said, "Leave that order to them to sign."
When everyone saw the documents handed to them by the Chief of Staff, they realized that it was an order to surrender to the troops. Although Strakel could directly issue a surrender order to all the troops, he still asked these division commanders to sign on it and share the responsibility together.
With the lessons of Rensky, naturally there would be no stubbornness to fight against Strakel. Everyone honestly signed their own names on the order of surrender.
Seeing that everyone signed, Strakel couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He called the Chief of Staff and handed him the full-length order, and said, "Chief of Staff, order all troops to stop all hostilities with the Russians after dawn, put down their weapons and surrender to them."
According to Strakel's idea, after this order was issued, there would definitely be many opposition voices, so he did not dare to put these division commanders who attended the meeting back, so as not to secretly disobey their orders, continue to fight against the Russians, and cause a catastrophe to other troops.
Unexpectedly, after the order was issued, not only did the imagined opposition not appear. On the contrary, the hungry German officers and soldiers began to cheer: "Finally, there is no need to fight, we can go home alive."
"As a captive to the Russians, we should provide food and winter clothes, so that there will be much fewer people who die of cold and starvation."
Some German officers and soldiers who were close to the Soviet position were even more straightforward. They could not wait for the agreed time to surrender, so they came out of their positions with white flags and lined up neatly to surrender to the Soviet army opposite.
The German surrender was so fast that Cuikov had no time to notify all the troops below. The Soviet commanders and soldiers who were staying in the bunker saw a group of German officers and soldiers coming towards him and immediately issued a battle alarm. The soldiers who were still sleeping in the hidden department heard the alarm sound from outside, immediately rushed out of the hidden department with their weapons and quickly entered the position.
With the burning fire on the battlefield, the soldiers saw clearly the German soldiers coming over, not as if they were attacking, but as if they were marching, and they all arrived puzzled. Moreover, the enemy stopped two hundred meters away from their positions, and they all stood there like a telephone pole, with only one soldier in front waving the white flag in his hand desperately.
The commanders and fighters were worried that it was the German conspiracy and quickly reported the matter to their superiors. In this way, what happened at the forefront was reported to Cui Kov at all levels. After reading the report, Cui Kov said in surprise: "Damn it, didn't you say that you would surrender after dawn? Why did you surrender so quickly?"
Sokov, who had just arrived from Mamayev's hill, heard Cuikov say this and immediately analyzed to him: "I guess it was the German commander who issued the order to surrender to the troops. If these soldiers continue to drag on, they may be killed in the battle, so they can't wait to come and surrender to our army."
"Comrade Commander," Krelov asked Trekov for advice: "What should we do? Order the soldiers to accept the surrender of the enemy?"
"Wait a little longer," Cui Kefu waved his hand and said, "We are still not sure whether the enemy surrenders or fake surrenders. If they take advantage of our time to receive prisoners and sneak into our army's defense zone to cause damage, it may cause chaos. I think the soldiers on the positions are on standby and do not accept prisoners for the time being."
"But, just let so many enemies stay in front of our positions?"
"Chief of Staff, please tell the frontier commander that it is not that you do not accept German prisoners, but that if it is not dawn, so many people will enter our position, it may cause chaos." Cui Kev told Krelov: "If you want to accept prisoners, it is better to wait until dawn."
In this way, Krelov issued the orders of Trikov to each division, and the commanders of each division were given the same order to the frontier troops. The frontier troops who received the order immediately shouted to the German prisoners who came to surrender: "German soldiers, we are ordered to accept your surrender after dawn. Before dawn, whoever wants to approach our position without hesitation will shoot without hesitation."
Hearing the Soviet army's shouts, the German officers and soldiers who were in front of the position reacted numbly. Since the Russians asked us to wait until dawn, then we should wait until dawn. No one turned around and left the team, nor found a place to shelter from the cold wind, so he stood there honestly without moving.
After a long wait, it finally dawned. Groups of Soviet commanders and soldiers left the position and ran towards the German officers and soldiers lined up. They were about to start accepting the prisoners. However, they soon discovered that some soldiers with weak constitutions were frozen, and the rest were trembling all over by the cold.
Strakel, who was staying in the command center, saw that it was already dawn outside, and he said to the division commanders sitting at the conference table: "Gentlemen, it is already dawn, and it is time for us to go out and surrender to the Russians."
Rokosovsky, who was in the rear, received a call from Cuikov. He learned that the German troops surrounded in the factory had begun to surrender and was almost happy to jump up. But he quickly recovered his composure and said to the phone: "Comrade Cuikov, since the Germans surrendered voluntarily, you should accept their surrender in person."
"I understand." Cuikov immediately replied, "I'll hurry over and accept the surrender of Strakel and his men."
After putting down the phone, Rokosovsky called Malinin to himself and said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the enemy surrounded by the factory area north of Stalingrad, has begun to surrender. You immediately give orders to the troops in the nearby areas to quickly move closer to this direction and assist the comrades of the 62nd Army to receive the captives."
Strakel and his gang of middle and senior officers left the command center and marched towards the barricade factory, preparing to surrender to the Lyudnikov division stationed here. But when they saw a group of Soviet officers walking towards them, Strakel's troops were stunned because he found several generals from them.
The Chief of Staff approached him and whispered: "General, it seems that Cui Kev has come in person."
The two sides stopped four or five meters apart. Cui Kev walked out of the crowd and said loudly to the opposite side: "I am Lieutenant General Cui Kev, the commander of the 62nd Army. Where is your General Strakel?"
After listening to the translation, Strakel walked out of the crowd, raised his hand to salute, and said respectfully: "Hello, General Choikov, I am Strekel, the commander of the 11th Infantry Army. I am very happy to see you here."
Instead of returning the tribute, Cuikov looked at the other side and said expressionlessly: "General Strekel, I am ordered to come and accept your surrender."
Hearing Trikov say this, Strakel quickly took out his pistol, held it in both hands and handed it to Trikov. Trikov took the pistol from the other party and put it in his pocket, which ended the surrender ceremony. He said to Strakel: "General Strekel, don't worry, I will fulfill my promise, provide your soldiers with necessary food and medicine, and treat those wounded and sick."
The roar of the aircraft engine came from the air. For these officers and soldiers who had been through the battlefield for a long time, everyone could immediately hear the sound of the German transport plane. Cuikov sneered and said, "General Strekel, I guess this is the airdrop for you. Unfortunately, except for food and medicine, you can't use the rest of the airdrop supplies."
Strakel didn't say anything, but just smiled bitterly. He thought to himself: Not to mention a few transport planes, even dozens of transport planes were airdropped, the food dropped by the airdrop might not be able to feed these tens of thousands of mouths. He whispered to Cui Kev: "General Cui Kev, my troops have been out of food for a long time, and all the soldiers are already hungry. If they don't eat, they may not be able to support them."
"Don't worry, General Strekel, we keep our word." Cui Kev raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then said: "Before twelve o'clock in the afternoon, all the officers and soldiers will get the necessary food, and the lucky officers and soldiers can even drink a bowl of hot red vegetable soup."
The German transport plane was scared by the Soviet air defense artillery fire. The pilots did not dare to lower the altitude easily, so they could not figure out what was going on on the ground. Seeing the dense crowds below, the pilot immediately opened the cabin door and poured out the supplies in the cabin. Countless white umbrella flowers bloomed in an instant. They dragged heavy supplies and fell to the ground shakingly.