Red Moscow

"Please sit down, Lieutenant." Since the other party came to discuss surrender matters, Surodenko was naturally very polite to him. After asking him to sit down, he ordered a staff officer beside him: "Pour this guest a glass." Come over with hot tea."

After the staff officer brought the hot tea, Surodenko took the teacup, put it in front of Evrem, and said politely, "Lieutenant, I don't know what to call you?"

Efrem stood up abruptly, and replied loudly: "Mr. Colonel, I am Lieutenant Efrem, deputy commander of the reconnaissance company of the 18th Division of the Romanian Army."

"So it's Lieutenant Efrem. I'm Colonel Surodenko, Commander of the 130th Infantry Division." After revealing his identity, Surodenko directly asked the other party why he came: "I don't know if you came to my defense area. ,What's matter?"

"That's right, Mr. Colonel." Ephrem said respectfully: "I am here to discuss with you the transfer of Otac's defense on the order of the division commander, Major General Antoneta."

"Oh, hand over the defense to us?" Surodenko looked at Efrem, and said with a half-smile: "If I remember correctly, our country and Romania are still in a state of hostile war at the moment. Where should I start?"

"Mr. Colonel," Efrem blushed slightly, pretending to be calm and said: "Our division commander feels that it is unwise to continue fighting with your army. In order to prevent the city from being destroyed by artillery fire, in order to avoid More lives were lost in pointless battles, so he decided to surrender the defense of the city to your army."

"Please sit down, Lieutenant Efrem. If you have anything to say, sit down and continue." Surodenko waited for Efrem to sit down, and then asked: "I think you want to hand over the city's defense to us, There must be some additional conditions. Tell me, what are your conditions?"

Since Surodenko asked about his own conditions, Evrem repeated the conditions Antoneta said one by one. Finally said: "Mr. Colonel, this is the prerequisite for our army to hand over defense to your army."

If it was a German officer standing in front of Surodenko at this moment, he would definitely say without hesitation: "I will not agree to any of your conditions. All you can do is surrender unconditionally." But now talk to yourself It was not a German officer, but a Romanian officer, so Surodenko had to treat it with caution.

"Lieutenant Efrem, you must have worked hard all the way here." Surodenko said politely to Efrem, "Why don't you go rest and have something to eat, and we will talk in a few hours."

Efrem wanted to say that he hadn't worked hard on this journey, but when he got to his lips, he realized that Surodenko was frowning and thinking about something, and he immediately understood that this matter was of great importance. Even a colonel can't make the decision. He must first ask his superiors for instructions before he can give himself a definite answer.

So he said smoothly: "Okay, Mr. Colonel, then I will go to rest first. I look forward to the negotiation between you and me as soon as possible."

After asking the staff officer to take Efrem away, Surodenko did not dare to neglect, and quickly connected the phone of the army headquarters, and reported what happened here to the army commander, Major General Melekhov.

After listening to Surodenko's report, Melekhov felt that the matter was of great importance, and he did not dare to make decisions casually, so he said into the microphone: "Colonel Surodenko, I need to report this matter to the headquarters. I'll call you again after I get an answer from the commander."

After finishing speaking, he hung up the phone, and then ordered the communications soldier to help him connect to the army headquarters. He wanted to report this matter to Sokov in the shortest possible time.

After receiving the call, Sokov was also surprised. He was afraid that he had heard it wrong, and asked specifically, "General Melekhov, are you sure that the Romanian army intends to surrender to our army?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander, they are planning to surrender to our army." Melekhov asked Sokov for instructions on the phone: "How should we answer the other party?"

After confirming that he had heard correctly, Sokov felt that this matter should be treated with caution, and he could not make any promises to the other party's negotiators casually, so he said into the microphone: "General Melekhov, we need to study this matter. It will not be too late to inform you of the result."

Sokov put down the phone, called Smirnov and Gorokhov over, and said to them: "Chief of Staff, Comrade Military Commissar, I have important news for you. The Romanian army stationed in Otac , ready to surrender to our army."

"The Romanian army in Otac is about to surrender to our army?" Gorokhov became excited when he heard Sokov say this: "Is this true?"

Sokov nodded and gave him an affirmative answer: "Of course it is true, my Comrade Military Commissar." After a short pause, he asked the two of them again, "I want to hear what you two are talking about in this matter." What's your attitude on the matter?"

"I think," said Military Commissar Gorokhov, who was the first to speak: "If the Germans want to surrender to us, we will definitely not agree to these conditions, but if it is the Romanian army that wants to surrender, we must treat it with caution." .”

Smirnov heard a hint of implication from Gorokhov's words, and couldn't help asking curiously: "Comrade Military Commissar, did you hear some special news from a certain channel?"

Since there are no outsiders here, Gorokhov did not hide it, but replied truthfully: "According to what I have learned from Moscow, after our army entered Romania, it attacked the country's army. We will no longer focus on military strikes, but use political offensives to disintegrate the enemy, make them give up their hostile position with our army, and win them to stand on our side."

Sokov was not at all surprised by Gorokhov’s statement. When the Romanians saw the German army retreating steadily, they would naturally no longer be loyal to Mustache. With the overthrow of the pro-German faction, Romania and Germany were cut off. He established a relationship and joined the Soviet side without hesitation, and together with the Soviet army liberated the European lands occupied by the Germans.

But Smirnov was hearing about this for the first time, so he was a little surprised. He asked Gorokhov in amazement: "Comrade Military Commissar, so we can consider accepting these conditions from the Romanian army?"

"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." When Gorokhov said these words to Smirnov, his eyes were fixed on Sokov who was standing aside: "In order to occupy more cities and reduce the casualties of troops, for Some of the other party's not-so-excessive conditions are acceptable to me."

"Comrade Military Commissar, your words are very reasonable." Sokov first agreed with Gorokhov's statement, and then expressed his doubts: "However, before the Supreme Command issued new regulations, how to treat those who are ready to surrender? For the Romanian army, we still cannot make our own claims, we must ask our superiors for instructions."

Sokov's proposal was immediately approved by Smirnov and Gorokhov, who said in unison, "Then let's report this to Marshal Konev and let him make up his mind."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov saw that the two had the same opinion, and began to issue orders: "Call Marshal Konev, report the matter to him, and listen to his opinion."

While Smirnov was calling Konev, Sokov picked up the phone, connected to the 49th Army Command, and said bluntly: "General Melekhov, please inform Surodenko Colonel, let him send someone to send that Romanian negotiator to me, and I will negotiate with him personally."

Melekhov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and immediately replied: "Understood, Comrade Commander, I will immediately notify Colonel Surodenko and ask him to send the negotiators to the Army Group Headquarters."

Soon, Surodenko received a call from Melekhov. He put down the phone, immediately ordered someone to find Efrem, and said to him politely: "Lieutenant Efrem, I just received an order to send you to the army headquarters."

Hearing that he was going to be sent to the Army Group Headquarters, Efrem couldn't help but thumped in his heart. He thought to himself that the negotiations had not made any progress so far, but he suddenly wanted to send himself to the Group Army Headquarters. What does this mean? , Do you want to shoot yourself?

With such doubts, he asked Surodenko curiously: "Mr. Colonel, can you tell me why you sent me to your army headquarters? Are you going to shoot me there?"

After listening to Efrem's words, Surodenko couldn't help laughing: "Lieutenant Efrem, your imagination is so rich, it is our commander who wants to talk to you in person, not shoot you."

"Your commander wants to talk to me?" Efrem asked nervously, "May I ask, is your commander General Sokov?"

"That's right, that's him." Surodenko continued to smile and said, "Don't worry, Lieutenant Evrem, our commander never shoots people casually. Of course, except for the notorious German SS. "

Hearing what Surodenko said, Efrem's heart hung in his throat, and finally put it back in his stomach. He boldly followed Surodenko's subordinates and drove to the group army headquarters.

When he went to Tulchin this time, Surodenko didn't let Evrem's eyes be blindfolded. After all, the other party had spent a lot of time in this area. Know where you are based on the surrounding environment and buildings, so you don't have to.

When Efrem came to the army headquarters and saw Sokov, he was completely dumbfounded. He always thought that such a seasoned commander was at least a middle-aged man in his early forties, but he never expected that the person standing in front of him was actually a young man in his twenties.

At that moment, he thought he was dreaming, how could there be such a young general? Moreover, he is a general who has won many battles on the battlefield and has basically never lost a battle.

"I'm Sokov!" Seeing that Efrem was in a daze, Sokov took the initiative to say, "Are you the negotiator sent by the Romanian 18th Infantry Division?"

"Yes, Mr. General!" Hearing Sokov talking to himself, Efrem straightened his body as if he had just woken up from a dream, and quickly replied, "I am Efrem. Order, come to negotiate with your army."

"Negotiation?!" Sokov asked with a smile after hearing Efrem say the word, "What can we negotiate?"

Efrem was taken aback, he didn't expect Sokov to ask such a question, which disrupted his train of thought. After reorganizing the vocabulary in his mind, he said: "Mr. General, our division commander thinks it is an unwise move to fight your army. In order to prevent the city from being destroyed in the flames of war, in order to let more innocent people If you can survive, our army intends to hand over the defense of Otac to you. Of course, we hand over the defense to your army, but there are still conditions..."

"Lieutenant Efrem, you don't need to say any more." Sokov raised his hand and interrupted Efrem's words: "I know all the conditions you want to put forward."

"Then can you accept it?"

"Lieutenant Efrem," Sokov didn't answer the question immediately, but asked rhetorically, "If you are attacking a city, and the defenders in the city want to surrender to you and ask you a lot of conditions, what would you do?" agree?"

Efrem thought for a while, then lowered his head and replied, "No."

"That's right." Sokov said with a smile: "Since none of you can agree, why does your teacher think that we will agree to similar conditions?"

Efrem was silent for a long time, and finally asked quietly: "Mr. General, I want to ask, what are you going to do?"

Before Efrem's arrival, Sokov had already received clear instructions from Konev to keep the defenders in the city of Otac without disarming or dispersing.

The reason why Konev made this arrangement was because he considered that he might one day fight side by side with the Romanian army. If the defenders in the city of Otac are disarmed at this moment, some contradictions will inevitably arise when the two armies fight side by side, which will have some adverse effects on the next battle.

Just because of Konev's instruction, Sokov understood how to deal with the troops who were about to surrender to him: "Otatz, our troops must go in. Our troops entering the city will not treat you To disarm, but to manage the city together with you."

"Joint management of the city?" Efrem was confused by Sukov's words, and he asked puzzledly, "How to jointly manage?"

"A city under joint management refers to every street and every square in the city. Wherever there are your troops, there are also our troops." Sokov explained to the other party: "Even the command headquarters will cooperate with you." Your division headquarters are in the same building. The sentry at the gate is divided between you and me. How about it? Can I explain it to you clearly?"

"Clear, clear!" Efrem nodded vigorously, and said in a positive tone: "The explanation is very clear. So, you don't plan to disarm our army, but just defend the city with us? "

"That's right, we won't disarm you. Your troops can stay in the city and manage the city together with our troops stationed in Otac."

After figuring out that the two sides jointly managed the city, Efrem tentatively asked: "What should we do if the Germans come to attack?"

"At that time, our troops will meet the German attack." The reason why Sokov said this is because the combat effectiveness of the Romanian army is too weak. If they go to the battlefield together, they will definitely be hindered. It is better to let them be honest. Stay in town. But Sokov did not explain the matter, but said euphemistically: "And your task is to be responsible for the security of the city and prevent the residents from causing panic."