It was nothing new for the Russians to air-drop leaflets. He didn't understand why the adjutant was so nervous.
It wasn't until the adjutant handed the leaflet to him that Paulus couldn't help but be stunned. Then he raised his head in surprise and asked: "You mean, this is the leaflet dropped by the Russians?"
"Yes, General!" the adjutant replied.
Paulus immediately became nervous.
The reason is that he has never told the truth to the troops, he cannot tell the troops... The situation of Manstein's Don River Army is not optimistic either. Under the attack of the enemy's powerful Southwest Front Army and Southern Front Army, they took off from the Southwest Front Army.
Enemy aircraft have been bombing and harassing the German supply lines, and the guerrillas have also been idle. However, almost all of the German air power has been invested in the direction of Stalingrad for so-called "air transportation", so they are simply ignoring the head and tail.
But could Paulus tell the troops this?
If the truth is told to the troops, I am afraid that the whole army will immediately lose the confidence to resist and surrender.
Therefore, Paulus confidently told his subordinates and even his own staff: "Manstein is winning. As you know, Marshal Manstein has never failed. As long as he wants to seize the goal, he will win."
Definitely! He just needs time to gather his troops, and then Karachi will be run over by his tanks, and we will return home safely!"
The entire German army believed in Paulus's words, so Stalingrad remained relatively stable. Even when there was a severe shortage of supplies and some troops even had no bullets and had to collect enemy guns and ammunition to fight, the German army was still able to fight under such circumstances.
The Russian army launched a counterattack towards Stalingrad and achieved certain progress.
However, now the Russians have airdropped the defense map to Stalingrad...
Although this is just a simple defense map, it can even be said to be very rough and very small, only as big as a palm.
However, it ruthlessly destroyed Paulus's lies.
Paulus knew what this meant. He thought about it and then ordered: "Don't be too nervous. Tell them this is just a Russian lie!"
"Yes, General!"
Paulus's approach was correct, because the calmer he appeared at this time, the more deceptive he was, and the more stable the morale of the troops was.
The problem was that there were not only Paulus' troops in Stalingrad, but also the SS Einsatzgruppe led by Major General Hartmann. At the same time, this force was independent of the Wehrmacht and not under Paulus' command.
Major General Hartmann was not as calm as Paulus. After receiving the defense map, he immediately ordered the action team to search and destroy these leaflets.
This is a bit like "There are three hundred taels of silence here", although Major General Hartmann also asked the action team members to search in the name of "Russian lies".
However, German soldiers are not stupid, and the SS Einsatzgruppe also has a bad reputation. If they say "yes", the answer is often "no".
So this can be said to have done the Soviet army a big favor...
Sometimes secrets are like that, if you don't care about it, then it's not a secret.
But the more someone wants to hide it, the more the German officers and soldiers want to know because of curiosity, so they will try their best to find it and even spread it through word of mouth.
For example, there were immediately rumors among German soldiers that "Don Army Group was about to be surrounded" and "Manstein was about to retreat", even though the fact was that Manstein was preparing to attack.
At the same time, this secret could not be kept secret, because another batch of leaflets fell from the sky that night, and it was still a defensive line.
On the contrary, the Soviet army has become unusually silent these days.
Prior to this, the Soviet frontline propaganda units used loudspeakers to propagate to the German army almost every day:
"Surrender, you are destined to fail, and you will not end well if you continue to resist!"
"We have surrounded you, put down your weapons if you want to survive!"
…
But in the past two days, all these trumpet sounds have disappeared, and the entire battlefield has suddenly fallen into a depressing atmosphere. It seems that there are crises everywhere, and there is a strong trend of a storm coming.
The German army's guess about this phenomenon is: "The Russians no longer expect us to surrender, because our surrender does not make much difference to them, they have already won!"
"They may prefer to kill us all in the near future!"
"We're screwed!"
…
This is exactly what Shulka wanted.
When playing psychological warfare, you should not let the enemy know too much or say too much. You should let the enemy give full play to their imagination and do their best to stimulate their inner fear.
Facts proved that few people could withstand this kind of psychological torture, because the number of prisoners who chose to surrender began to increase from the next day.
"Can an amnesty order be issued now?" Zolotarev asked.
"Wait a minute!" Shulka replied: "We still have time!"
"Only seven days left!" Zolotarev said this with a look of reluctance in his eyes, as if missing one day was like cutting out a piece of flesh from his body with a knife.
But Shulka remained unmoved.
It wasn't until there were only six days left that Shulka said: "It's almost time, let's issue an amnesty order!"
Zolotarev jumped up from his chair as if he had been pricked by a needle, and said to the correspondent: "Right away, airdrop amnesty order! At the same time, front-line propaganda!"
"yes!"
So the amnesty order quickly drifted to Stalingrad like snowflakes, and at the same time, the frontline trumpet that had been silent for a long time sounded again:
"German soldiers, this is the last chance. Comrade Stalin personally signed the amnesty order. Anyone who surrenders during this period, including General Paulus, we promise to ensure your personal safety and give you humanitarian treatment! Attention, you
There are still six days left! Six days!”
This immediately caused a stir in the German troops. Almost all the German soldiers were discussing the amnesty order in low voices, and some soldiers even discussed with officers:
"Sir, if we are destined to fail in this battle and we are unable to change it, why not surrender while the amnesty order is still in effect?"
"We have tried our best, but the current situation cannot be changed!"
"This is the only right choice. Once the amnesty order expires, this opportunity will no longer exist!"
…
"Do you believe this amnesty order?" Some officers asked: "Do you believe what the Russians say? Don't forget that they rarely tell the truth!"
"But does it make any difference?" the soldier asked, "I mean what they told is a lie... Our ending will be the same. So, why don't we take a gamble?!" (To be continued)