Red Moscow

"Yes, General Sokov." Dürer nodded and said, "I will not go back on my word."

"My condition is very simple." Sokov said: "If you want to return the body of General Stemmelman, then exchange it with 10,000 captured commanders and fighters of our army."

Smirnov looked at Sokov with incredulous eyes, he didn't expect Sokov to put forward such harsh conditions. After a while, he turned his gaze to Dürer to see what kind of reaction the other party would have when he heard this condition.

Dürer's face turned pale. He never dreamed that Sokov would open his mouth like a lion and ask his side to exchange 10,000 prisoners of war for General Stemmelmann's body.

"I'm sorry, General Sokov." Dürer shrugged, expressing his helplessness: "Your condition is too harsh, please forgive me for not being able to promise you."

"Major Dürer, I haven't finished my sentence yet." Sokov said calmly, "In addition to General Stemmermann's body, there are two thousand wounded who can also be exchanged."

"Okay, General Sokov. Please wait a moment, and I will report your conditions to Marshal Manstein." Knowing that there are still two thousand wounded, Dürer hesitated for a moment and said, "Look at his how about."

"Yes, Mr. Major." Sukov knew very well in his heart that Dürer was just a small major, and he could not decide the conditions he proposed. He must ask Manstein for instructions. Only after obtaining the instructions can he be with himself For the next step of negotiation. So he said bluntly, "I'm here waiting for your reply."

Dürer made a gesture of waiting, turned around and walked out of the headquarters, preparing to go back to the car outside and use the radio he carried to report the conditions proposed by Sokov to Marshal Manstein.

"Comrade Commander," Smirnov asked Sokov in a reproachful tone as soon as Dürer left, "how could you propose such harsh conditions? You must know that ten thousand prisoners of war is not a small number. We have added so many experienced commanders and fighters to each unit, and the combat effectiveness of the supplemented units will be greatly improved. The Germans are not fools, and they can definitely take this into consideration. I don’t think they will agree to your proposal. conditions of."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, don't be impatient." Sokov said with a relaxed expression: "The negotiation between us and the Germans is like doing business. I can ask for prices, and they can sit back and bargain. To Manstein Therefore, General Stemmelman, who took the initiative to cut off the body for the soldiers, is a great hero, and he will definitely do whatever it takes to retrieve General Stemmelman's body.

After the war, our army suffered heavy casualties, and there were signs of a shortage of medicines. I once promised General Stemmelmann to give preferential treatment to those wounded Germans, and even if there was a shortage of medicines, their treatment would not stop. Now that there is an opportunity in front of us, not only can we exchange the wounded Germans for our captured commanders and fighters, but also throw this burden on the Germans, so why not do it? "

After understanding Sokov's wishful thinking, Smirnov also showed a smile on his face: "Yes, the more than two thousand German wounded gathered from various places consumed a lot of our medicines. For this The dean of the field hospital even complained to me about it. As long as these German wounded are sent away, our shortage of medicines will be alleviated.”

But his smile didn't last long, and he became sad again: "Comrade Commander, your idea is good, but can the Germans agree? You know, they are not stupid."

"Don't worry, wait for Major Dürer to come back, let's listen to what Manstein said." Sukov still kept a clear head, "With Manstein's character, he would never give ten thousand prisoners Commanders and fighters, it would be great to give us one or two thousand people.”

Dürer came to the car outside the headquarters, and using the radio he carried, he sent a telegram to Manstein about the conditions proposed by Sokov.

Manstein, who received the telegram, was holding a military meeting. After reading the content of the telegram, he slammed on the table and said repeatedly: "Crazy, crazy, this Sokov is simply crazy."

Lieutenant General Huber, the commander of the 3rd Panzer Army, was standing not far from Manstein. He asked tentatively, "Your Excellency, Marshal, what made you angry?"

"General Huber!" Manstein looked at Huber and said, "I ordered Major Dürer to go and negotiate with Sokov as my representative, hoping that he could return General Stemmelmann's body. As a result, He put forward extremely exorbitant conditions, and we will only return Stammerman's body if we agree to it."

"What conditions?"

"He asked us to exchange 10,000 captured Russian soldiers for the remains of General Stemmelmann and 2,000 wounded German soldiers." Manstein said angrily: "Talk about it, it's too much." conditions, can we agree to him?"

"No, absolutely not."

"We can't compromise with the Russians, and absolutely can't exchange prisoners for General Stemmelmann's body."

"Once these prisoners of war are returned to the Russians, they will become a terrible force. We cannot do such a foolish thing."

When many generals in the command objected to compromise with Sokov, General Giller, the commander of the Viking Division, spoke up. He said to Manstein with a solemn expression: "Your Excellency, Marshal, I think we should agree to Sokov's request." .”

Manstein asked with a straight face, "Why?"

"The death of General Stemmelman is a great loss for us." Giller said: "The reason why my troops were able to break through the Russian encirclement smoothly was because the soldiers knew that Stemmelman The general personally came to the rear for us, thus boosting morale and displaying super combat effectiveness in the battle. If we give up exchanging the body of General Stemmelman because the conditions proposed by Sokov are too harsh, I am afraid that it will be harmful to the general. Detrimental impact on military morale."

"General Giller," said Walten Nainen, commander of the 24th Panzer Corps, "we know that General Stemmermann's heroic performance in this breakout battle is why Marshal Manstein sent a special envoy to negotiate with the Russians. , the reason for trying to get back the remains. If we really follow Sokov’s conditions and return 10,000 captured Russian soldiers to him, these veterans with rich combat experience, once added to the army, will make the army’s The great increase in combat effectiveness means that we have added troops to the Russians in a disguised form, and we cannot do such a stupid thing.”

Seeing that Giller was still arguing, Manstein interrupted him by raising his hand: "General Giller, you don't have to say any more. I thought about it, and we can partially agree to Sokov's conditions in exchange for Schieter The remains of General Merman."

Hearing what Manstein said, Giller couldn't help but his eyes lit up, and asked quickly, "Your Excellency, Marshal, what are you going to do?"

"Chief of Staff," Manstein did not immediately answer Giller's question, but turned to ask his chief of staff, "Where is the nearest prisoner-of-war camp to the front line?"

"Your Excellency Marshal!" Hearing Manstein ask himself, the chief of staff quickly replied respectfully: "There is a prisoner-of-war camp for Russian prisoners of war in the Shebinka area, and there are more than 3,000 prisoners of war in it."

"Very good." After hearing this, Manstein ordered the chief of staff to say, "You telegram Major Dürer and tell him that we can exchange the remains of General Stemmelmann with the Russian prisoners in the Shebinka prisoner-of-war camp. And two thousand wounded. This is our final limit, and there is no room for bargaining."

Soon, Dürer received a telegram from the chief of staff, and he hurriedly took the telegram and re-entered Sokov's headquarters.

Seeing Dürer coming in, Sokov asked knowingly, "Major Dürer, did Marshal Manstein have an answer?"

"Yes, General Sokov." Dürer replied respectfully, "The Marshal's call has arrived."

"Oh," Sokov asked slowly, "I wonder what Marshal Manstein said in the telegram?"

"He said that it is obviously impossible to prepare 10,000 prisoners of war for you." Dürer said: "Not to mention, there is no such a large number of prisoners of war. Even if there are, they must be gathered and transported to the junction of the two sides. It may take a lot of time to get there, and some prisoners of war will die on the way because their physique is too weak."

"Marshal Manstein is very thoughtful." Sokov asked in a mocking tone: "Then does it look like he will return the body of General Stemmelmann?"

"Change, it must be changed." Major Dürer said in a panic: "I haven't finished reading the telegram yet, the marshal said that in order to show our sincerity, we can hand over all the 3,000 prisoners of war held in the Shebinka prison camp to you. "

Sokov hurriedly lowered his head to check the location of Shebinka on the ground in front of him, and found that it was less than 20 kilometers away from Height 239. Even if the prisoners marched on foot, it would still take half a day to reach the exchange location.

However, in order not to let Dürer discover the ecstasy in his heart, he deliberately pretended to be casual and said, "There are only three thousand people, which is too small. You know, the number of people I want to exchange is 10,000."

"Exchanging all the prisoners in a prisoner-of-war camp for the general's body and two thousand wounded is already our limit." Dürer raised his voice and said, "This is a condition that cannot be modified."

"No, no." Sokov waited for the other party to finish speaking, then shook his head and said, "Mr. Major, there should be quite a few wounded and sick among the 3,000 people. It's worrying."

"General Sokov," Dürer said anxiously, "If you don't agree to this condition, then our deal will come to an end. Goodbye!" After speaking, he turned his head and walked outside.

"Wait, please wait!" When Dürer sent a telegram to Manstein in the car outside, Sokov and Smirnov discussed it. Later, one would sing a bad face and the other would sing a red face. Sokov has already sung this bad-faced play, so it was naturally Smirnov's turn to play. He quickly walked a few steps, stopped in front of Dürer, and said with a smile: "Major Dürer, if you have something to say, do it well." Say, since you are the negotiator on the German side, we can sit down and talk slowly."

Although Dürer turned around and walked outside, he didn't really want to leave, but just wanted to take the initiative in the next negotiation. Seeing Smirnov appearing now, he pretended to be thinking hard, and finally reluctantly agreed to stay.

After calling Dürer to sit down, Smirnov said with a smile: "Major Dürer, 3,000 people are indeed a little short. Getting rid of 2,000 wounded is equivalent to using the body of General Stemmelmann in exchange for only 3,000 soldiers. One thousand captured commanders and fighters. You see, can you discuss with Marshal Manstein and exchange some more people for us.”

Dürer knew very well that the more prisoners of war the Soviet army brought back, the greater the combat effectiveness of the troops would be. Not a single Soviet prisoner of war wanted to be handed over to Sokov if he could call his own way. But now people have to bow their heads under the eaves. He can only say euphemistically: "General Smirnov, I am just a messenger. Whatever instructions Marshal Manstein gives me, I can only truthfully say it." Let me tell you. Using a prisoner of war camp to exchange the general's body and wounded is already our limit, and there is no possibility of changing it."

After Smirnov tried several times, Dürer firmly insisted that Marshal Manstein issued an order to use all the prisoners in a prisoner-of-war camp to complete the exchange. This is already the bottom line and there is no room for change.

Sokov knew that unless Manstein was sitting in front of him, according to Dürer's staid personality, it would be useless to talk too much, so he quickly winked at Smirnov, signaling that the other party should end this meaningless situation as soon as possible. negotiations.

Smirnov, who understood, nodded slightly, and then said loudly to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, you have also seen that Major Dürer can meet our conditions, that is, all the people in a prisoner-of-war camp and us Make an exchange. Look, what do we do?"

"Okay, Major Dürer, you won." Sokov pretended to be helpless and said: "Just do as you said, and exchange with us with a prisoner of war camp. I want to ask, do you plan to When and where will you exchange with us?"

Seeing that Sokov agreed to the terms of the exchange, Dürer couldn't help but secretly heaved a sigh of relief. He hurriedly said, "General Sokov, if nothing happens, the place of exchange will be near Shebinka. As for the time... you How about two o'clock tomorrow afternoon?"

"Yes." Sukov remembered that the location was near the defense zone of the 5th Mechanized Army, and he readily agreed without fear of the Germans making any fools, but he specifically said: "But I have one condition, you must guarantee The personal safety of all personnel in the camp."

Sokov's words reminded Smirnov that he was worried that the Germans would have bad intentions at that time. If the commanders and fighters detained in the prisoner-of-war camp were massacred, he would be dumb and eat Coptis chinensis. He quickly added: "Yes, Major Dürer, you have to assure us that from now until the end of the exchange ceremony tomorrow, our commanders and fighters in the prisoner-of-war camp will not encounter life-threatening danger."

"Don't worry, two generals!" After Dürer understood the concerns of Sokov and his wife, he assured them: "I assure you as a soldier, all prisoners of war in the Shebinka prisoner-of-war camp, from now until After the exchange ceremony, we will guarantee the safety of everyone."

After getting Dürer's guarantee, Sokov nodded slightly, and added: "Major Dürer, you have a lot of wounded, and you should bring more ambulances, otherwise most of the wounded will be killed." We can only walk back."