Paulus believed that what Yakov said was reasonable, because there were hundreds of thousands of people in a group army, especially among them there were many different elements of the army... The 6th Army had already exceeded the establishment of the 6th Army because it was the main force attacking Stalingrad.
, although it has only five armies, more than 20 divisions, and more than 300,000 troops, it also commands hundreds of thousands of Romanian and Italian troops. In addition, many mid- to late-stage troops were transferred to Stalingrad for construction.
Airports, engineers who support logistics, airport technicians, logistics personnel, and special operations teams used to maintain public security and order, and search for spies and guerrillas.
Paulus was unable to determine exactly how many men there were, since the number of troops varied rapidly and it was difficult to accurately count on the battlefield (one of the reasons was that too many people surrendered each day), but if all were taken into account, there were nearly a million men.
There is no need to worry about the Romanian army and the Italian army. They have long wanted to surrender and are even doing so.
What Paulus needed to worry about was his own troops... because some of them were SS troops who came for reinforcements later. They were fanatical followers of Hitler and might not obey his orders to surrender.
There are also Einsatzgruppe, who also obey Hitler's orders and often fight to the end... The Einsatzgruppe have more reason to fight to the end, because these people do many evil things, including civilians, so usually the Russians will not treat them
It's hard to tell if there is an amnesty order.
Therefore, Paulus also believed that it would take a few days to prepare, so he agreed without much thought.
Paulus only asked one question: "So, how do we ensure that there are no more casualties along the contact line?"
"Truce!" Yakov replied: "We will order the troops to stop attacking and defend their positions, and you should do the same!"
"No problem!" Paulus replied.
The German "air transport" had just been transferred to the Don River Army. The 6th Army's supplies were running low, so it was time for a truce to take a breather.
"But..." Yakov said: "I can't guarantee that some soldiers will disobey orders and start small-scale conflicts. I hope that will not destroy our agreement!"
Paulus understood this: "Me too, I can't guarantee it either, but I will try my best to control it!"
Things like this are sometimes uncertain on the battlefield. It doesn't mean that the commander yells "truce" and then stops at the front line without firing a shot.
In fact, soldiers on the front line often kill each other because of the sacrifice of their comrades in battle. What the commander can do is to prevent them from launching a large-scale charge, but cannot prevent them from making cold shots, sneak attacks, assassinations, etc.
The people who died in these few days can be said to be truly unjust. As long as they were not blinded by anger, they could have survived until the end of the battle.
So the negotiation ended happily.
Paulus and Colonel Bergmann returned to the headquarters to secretly plan the details of the surrender, discussing how to quickly control the SS and Special Operations Forces as soon as possible and eliminate some unstable factors to avoid more casualties.
What they didn't know was that Yakov's decision to give them three days to surrender was not just a simple matter of preparing them.
Or it can be said that Shulka's idea is not that simple.
In fact, from the Soviet point of view, the Soviet army hoped that there would be inconsistent voices and even bloody conflicts within the German surrendering troops, which would be beneficial to the Soviet army.
On the one hand, the more chaotic the German army is, the easier it is to control it and there will be no sudden resistance.
On the other hand, the German army had bloody conflicts and even a fierce battle between the Wehrmacht and the SS, resulting in casualties on each other. In the end, the number of prisoners taken by the Soviet army would not be so large and they could feed a few fewer mouths.
These three days of preparation time... are actually not for Paulus, but for the Soviet army.
"When the Germans don't know that the 6th Army is ready to surrender!" Shulka said: "The Don Army will still continue to attack Karachi. In the direction of Stalingrad, because we have already negotiated with Paulus
Conditions, Paulus's 6th Army is actively preparing to surrender and the front line has entered a state of truce, which means that we can invest a large number of troops, equipment, and supplies that should have been invested in Stalingrad into the Battle of Karachi!"
"You mean... we should turn our target to Army Group Don?" Trufanov asked.
"Why not?" Shulka replied: "Although Manstein was resourceful and the Don Army was strengthened by the reinforcements of large artillery and new troops. However, Manstein was in a critical situation in Stalingrad.
We have to launch an attack on Karachi, and more importantly... once the Don Army Group knows that Paulus led his troops to surrender, they will feel like they have been cheated!"
"That's right!" Zolotarev agreed: "They will instantly lose the motivation to fight, because their goal is to rescue the 6th Army. If the 6th Army surrenders, they will lose the meaning of continuing the battle.
.In addition, we can even spread the word that the 6th Army reached a surrender agreement with us a few days ago. In this way... the Don Army was actually deceived by the 6th Army into our encirclement!"
Trufanov couldn't help but said "Oh" and said: "At that moment, the morale of the Don River Army will be extremely severely hit, and may even collapse, and we will launch a counterattack at that time?!"
Shulka nodded.
This is exactly what he was thinking about. Zolotarev knew what he was thinking immediately, which shows that Zolotarev has made considerable progress. He already knows how to think about problems from the enemy's perspective.
Shulka does not need to worry about the next thing, Zolotarev will immediately report the plan to the Supreme Command.
The reason why Zolotarev reported it was because it would be faster. Otherwise, if Trufanov came in, he would have to report to the commander of the front army first, and then the commander of the front army would report it, and the level of attention he would receive
It's different... At this time, the political commissar system has not been abolished, and the political commissar still has greater power than the chief official.
As for why Stalin has not taken action against the political commissar, Shulka believes that this is correct.
The reason is that now is the critical moment of the Battle of Stalingrad. The Soviet army and the German army are fighting tensely, and the Soviet army still has a clear advantage. If Stalin suddenly orders the abolition of the political commissar system... I am afraid something will happen.
Facts have proved that Zolotarev was more influential, but the plan was approved within two hours. Even when the plan was approved, the first supply truck bound for the 51st Group Army had already left the Znamensk Railway Station.