Red Moscow

The translator quickly came to the command cabin, picked up the letter Knobelsdorf handed to him, and translated it word by word: "General Knobelsdorf, I am Sokov, your army Hornado The body of General Wolfe is now in the hands of our army. Although you and I are enemies, I still hope that General Hornerdorf can be buried in peace, so I suggest an exchange between the two sides. My conditions are very simple, You exchange 300 captured officers and soldiers of our army (the wounded are also acceptable) in exchange for the body of General Hornerdorf. Signed: Major General Sokov."

After the translator finished reading the letter, Knobelsdorf waved to him, indicating that the other party could leave. He walked back and forth in the command cabin with his hands behind his back, thinking quickly in his mind, should he report this matter to Manstein?

After repeatedly weighing the relationship, he felt that he should report the matter to Manstein. He came to the telephone and ordered the communications staff to help him connect to Manstein's call.

After the call was connected, Knobelsdorf immediately said into the microphone: "Your Excellency, the Russians have just sent me a letter."

"A letter?" Manstein was a little surprised and embarrassed: "What letter, are they going to surrender to us?"

"That's not true." Knobelsdorf quickly argued: "The Russians said that General Hornadorf's body is in their hands, and we need to exchange prisoners of war with them."

"Absurd, it's simply absurd." Manstein felt that Knobelsdorf must have been fooled by the Russians, and said bitterly: "You haven't seen his body with your own eyes, how do you know what the Russians said?" Is it real or fake?"

"Your Excellency Marshal, I think what the Russians said should be true." Knobelsdorf explained: "The person who came to deliver the letter was a captured Second Lieutenant of the Sixth Armored Division. He said that he had seen Huo General Nadolf's remains."

"General Knobelsdorf," Manstein asked with a sneer, "did the second lieutenant who sent you the letter tell you what the number of the Russian unit that obtained General Hornerdorf's body was?"

"I have figured it out, Your Excellency the Marshal." Knobelsdorf replied respectfully: "It is the 188th Infantry Division of the Russian 27th Army."

"The 27th Army?" Hearing this familiar designation, Manstein felt a headache: "Isn't it the 27th Army commanded by Sokov?"

"It's Sokov's troops." Knobelsdorf said while the iron was hot: "He wrote a letter to me and you respectively, all about exchanging prisoners of war for General Hornerdorf's body."

"How many Russians have been captured by the 48th Panzer Corps in recent battles?"

"I don't know the exact number." Knobelsdorf is not very interested in how many prisoners his troops have captured, he only considers how many cities he has captured. Therefore, when he heard Manstein's question, he couldn't give an accurate answer: "I think there are still about five or six thousand people."

"You just said that Sokov sent someone to send me a letter. Where is the letter now?"

"It's in my hand."

"Send someone to send it to me immediately." After Manstein finished speaking, he felt that his expression was not accurate enough, and quickly added: "Let the second lieutenant who came back from the Russians deliver the letter to me." come over."

After Knobelsdorf hung up the phone, he immediately called a staff officer and told him, "You send Second Lieutenant Kahn to Marshal Manstein immediately. His life is safe, and I will leave it to you."

"Yes, Your Excellency Commander." The staff officer straightened up and replied, "I will send him to the Marshal safely."

Twenty minutes later, the military staff brought Lieutenant Kahn to Manstein's residence. After checking the documents of the two, an officer said coldly, "Hand over your guns."

Second Lieutenant Kahn hadn't worn a weapon since he came back, so naturally he didn't need to hand in the weapon at this moment. The staff officer who accompanied him, when he heard what the officer said, couldn't help saying with some resistance: "We are ordered to see Mr. Marshal, you have no right."

Unexpectedly, the officer ignored him at all, but said with a straight face: "Please hand over your gun." The staff officer had no choice but to take out his own pistol and hand it over.

The officer led the two men outside Manstein's command cabin, turned his head and said to them, "Wait here." After speaking, he stepped up the small stairs, entered the command cabin, and reported to Manstein went.

After a while, the officer came out and asked the two of them, "Which one of you is the messenger?"

Kahn quickly stepped forward and replied, "It's me."

The officer glanced at Kahn, then shook his head at him and said, "Let's go." Seeing that the staff officer also wanted to follow, the officer quickly reached out and stopped him: "I'm sorry, the marshal only wants to see the messenger."

Kahn followed the officer into the command cabin. Seeing that Manstein was sitting on a chair smoking a cigar, he quickly stepped forward to salute, and loudly announced his name, military rank and position in the army.

Unexpectedly, before he could finish speaking, Manstein stretched out his hand and interrupted him: "Okay, I'm not interested in your identity. Where is Sokov's letter?"

"Here, Marshal." Kahn took out Sokov's letter from his coat pocket, and was about to hand it to Manstein, but was stopped by a colonel's adjutant. The adjutant took the letter from Kahn's hand, turned and walked out of the command cabin.

Seeing his adjutant leave, Manstein asked slowly: "Second lieutenant, did you really see the body of General Hornerdorf with your own eyes?"

"Yes, Marshal, I saw it with my own eyes." Kahn said while gesticulating: "His chest was blown to pieces, and part of his clothes were burned."

Knowing that Hornerdorf's body was really in the hands of the Russians, Manstein put the cigar in his hand in the ashtray on the table, got up and walked in front of Kahn, asking: "The Russians How was the body of General Hornerdorf treated, was it thrown out on the road for people to see?"

"No, Your Excellency the Marshal." Kahn replied, "Major General Sokov said that although they are in a hostile relationship with us, they should still maintain the necessary respect for senior officers like General Hornadorf. Therefore, He specially ordered someone to make a coffin, and put General Hornerdorf in the coffin."

After listening to Kahn's narration, knowing that Sokov put Hornerdorf's body under observation, Manstein couldn't help but smiled and nodded, and his affection for Sokov increased a bit in his heart.

The officer holding Sokov's letter returned to the command cabin after leaving for a few minutes, and handed Sokov's letter and a translated sheet to Manstein. Manstein took what was in the adjutant's hand and examined it carefully.

After reading Sokov's letter, Manstein raised his head and said to Kahn, "Second Lieutenant, Sokov didn't mention when and where the exchange will take place in his letter?"

"That's it, Marshal." Kahn explained to Manstein: "General Sokov was worried that his proposal would not be accepted by you, so he didn't leave any contact information. But before I left, he He once told me that if our side agrees to an exchange, then I will act as a messenger to and from the positions of both sides."

"Second Lieutenant, I now officially appoint you as my special envoy to be in charge of our liaison with the Russians." Manstein said to Kahn: "Go to the Russians immediately and tell them that I agree to an exchange. But they need to provide the time and place for exchanging the remains and prisoners of war."

"Understood, Your Excellency Marshal, I will return to the Russian position immediately." Kahn said cautiously: "But we are fighting against them, and I am afraid that if I pass directly through the war zone, my life may be in danger. My personal life and death are trivial matters. If I delay the important matter of Your Majesty the Marshal, I will die without redemption."

"I will order the troops to temporarily cease fire," Manstein said, "so that you can safely pass through that area."

In order to show that he attached importance to this matter, Manstein sent his adjutant and several soldiers to the front with Kahn to negotiate with the Soviet army. After everyone left, he picked up the phone and said into the microphone: "General Knobelsdorf, immediately order the Sixth Armored Division to stop attacking the Russian positions."

"Stop the attack?" Hearing Manstein's order, Knobelsdorf couldn't help being stunned. You know, a few hours ago, Manstein had issued a death order to himself, and he wanted to take down the Russians no matter what. position. In order to complete his task, he is transferring the 19th Armored Division on the right wing. How can the attack stop as soon as it says it stops? He asked inexplicably: "Your Excellency Marshal, why did you stop the attack?"

"I've thought about it. As long as I can get General Hornerdorf's body back, no matter how much I pay, it's worth it." Manstein explained to Knobelsdorf: "We stop the attack now, we just need to pay the price." It’s just going to be used there as a place of exchange. It won’t be too late to continue attacking the Russians after General Hornerdorf’s body is brought back.”

"It turned out that the attack was stopped just to facilitate the exchange." After figuring out Manstein's intentions, Knobelsdorf secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He thought to himself that he had finally transferred the 19th Armored Division from the right wing, He hastily ended the attack before he could put them into battle, so that he could not explain himself to the commander of the troops. The current suspension of the attack is just to facilitate the exchange between the two sides. After the exchange is over, it is not too late to launch the attack again.

On the Soviet side, the situation is very grim. The 562 Regiment, which stood firm on the ground, suffered heavy losses after several hours of fierce fighting, leaving less than 20% of its total strength. At this point in the battle, Koida was in tears. He pleaded with Sokov: "Comrade Commander, please allow me to send the 564 regiment to support! If there is no reinforcement, the 562 regiment will not wait until the battle is over. The regiment was smashed to pieces."

Sokov originally thought that when Kahn returned to the Germans, as long as he handed over his own letter, the German army would stop attacking soon. Unexpectedly, after such a long time, the German offensive not only did not weaken, but became even crazier.

"Okay, Comrade Colonel." After thinking for a long time, Sokov finally agreed with Koida to put the reserve team into battle one after another: "In order to prevent being killed by German artillery fire, let the troops enter the front line in batches."

When Koyda picked up the phone and was about to call the commander of the 564 regiment, the rumble of artillery outside suddenly stopped, and even the sound of shooting and the explosion of grenades became sparse. "What's going on here?" In order to find out what happened, Koyda immediately called the head of the 562 regiment and asked, "What's going on outside? Why did the enemy's artillery fire stop?"

"Comrade commander, I don't know either." The lieutenant colonel replied: "Seeing that our position was about to lose its hold, the Germans suddenly stopped their shelling, and then all the tanks and infantry withdrew back."

"I see." After putting down the phone, Koyda said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the enemy not only stopped shelling our positions, but also withdrew the attacking troops."

"I think I should know what's going on." Knowing that the attacking enemy had retreated, Sokov immediately wondered if Manstein agreed to his exchange terms, so he ordered the troops to stop the attack temporarily to make room for the exchange. of time and space. However, the enemy retreated, which was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He quickly ordered Koida: "Comrade Colonel, immediately order the 564th regiment to enter the front line and connect to the defense of the 562nd regiment. At the same time, hurry up and repair the fortifications to cope with the enemy's attack." .”

Just as the 564 regiment entered the position one after another, Koyda received a call from the front: "Comrade commander, two motorcycles came from the German position with white flags on them. What should we do? Shoot them?" ?”

"Don't shoot, don't shoot." When Kuida heard that two motorcycles were coming from the German army, he immediately guessed that they might be the negotiators sent by Manstein, and quickly told the other party, "That's where the Germans come from." The Germans who are negotiating with us, you must not shoot, send someone to meet them immediately."

Sokov heard that Koyda was on the phone, and quickly added: "Tell the commander of the 564th regiment to negotiate with the enemy outside the position, and never let them enter our position. Otherwise, wait until they figure out our position. Going back and letting Manstein report on the truth, it will be very detrimental to our next defense."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Keida heard Sukov's reminder, and quickly added: "Remember, don't let the enemy enter your position, otherwise, you will have no secrets from them in the next battle. It can be said."

The representative who came to negotiate on behalf of the German army was, of course, Second Lieutenant Kahn. When the motorcycle he was riding was fifty or sixty meters away from the Soviet position, it was blocked by commanders and fighters of the 564 regiment. The Soviet army was in charge of negotiating, and it was the head of the 564 regiment. In order to let Sokov and Koyda, who are far away at the division headquarters, know the status of the negotiations in a timely manner, he also specially set up a telephone line for direct reports on the negotiation site.

Sokov heard Kahn tell the head of the 564 regiment through the phone: "Marshal Manstein has agreed to your exchange terms, but you need to provide a specific exchange time and place."

"Comrade Commander," Koyda turned to Sokov when he heard this, "how should we answer the Germans?"

Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then said: "Tell them, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the exchange ceremony will be held 200 meters in front of our army's position. The German army will exchange at least 300 prisoners of war for Horner General Dolph's remains."