Red Moscow

That evening, Chuikov's adjutant, Captain Klimov, brought a few strangers in civilian clothes to the division headquarters on Mamayev Hill.

After Klimov raised his hand to salute Sokov and the others, he reported: "Comrade Colonel, I am under the order of Comrade Commander to escort Comrade Walter Ulbricht from Moscow to you."

Walter, as soon as he heard the name, Sokov immediately remembered the movie "Walter Defends Sarajevo" he had watched when he was a child, and thought to himself, is this Walter Ulbricht also a Yugoslavian?

Thinking of this, he reached out to shake Ulbricht's hand and asked with a smile: "Hello, Comrade Ulbricht! I want to ask, are you a Yugoslav?"

"No." Ulbricht shook his head and replied, "I'm not a Yugoslav, I'm a German, the leader of the German Anti-Japanese League and the 'Free Germany' National Front." He pointed to several people behind him A person in plain clothes introduced to Sokov, "They are all cadres of the German Communist Party, and they just rushed here from Moscow with me."

"Hello, Comrade Ulbricht." When Anisimov shook hands with Ulbricht, he asked curiously: "May I ask, what is your purpose here?"

"Yes." Ulbricht replied without hesitation: "The purpose of our coming here is to conduct propaganda work on the battlefield against the war of aggression against Faxi Temple to those deceived German officers and soldiers, and call on them to turn their guns away." , against Hitler who led our country and people into the quagmire of war."

Hearing what Ulbricht said, Anisimov couldn't help but his eyes lit up. He turned his head and glanced at Sokov, then turned to Ulbricht and said: "Comrade Ulbricht, our division has been dealing with The enemy conducts propaganda, but the effect is limited. Now with your support, I believe it can achieve better results."

Hearing what Anisimov said, Ulbricht showed a surprised expression on his face: "What, you have already launched a political offensive against the enemy?"

"That's right, Comrade Ulbricht." Sokov interjected with a smile, "I think to defeat the enemy on the battlefield, in addition to military means, political means can also be used to shake the enemy's morale and disintegrate their morale." Morale. Although there are many commanders and fighters in our division who can understand German, if we can get your strong support, then I believe we can achieve better results."

"Comrade Commander, it's getting dark." Ulbricht waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and then continued, "Can you arrange for us to broadcast to the German positions?"

"Comrade Commissar." Sokov did not immediately reply to Ulbricht's request, but turned his head and asked Anisimov, "Can you hear your tweeters from the German positions opposite?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Anisimov nodded and replied, "The enemy's position is only about 200 meters away from us, and now eighteen tweeters are installed at the front of the three regiments. The content of our broadcast is on the opposite side. The Germans in the field could hear them clearly."

"Great, this is really great." Hearing what Anisimov said, Ulbricht couldn't help applauding. He turned to look at Sokov and asked, "Comrade Colonel, where is your broadcasting room?"

Anisimov did not speak, but looked at Sokov, waiting for his order. Sokov thought for a moment, felt that Ulbricht's enthusiasm should not be discouraged, he nodded slightly, and said to Anisimov: "Comrade Comrade Ulbricht, since Comrade Ulbricht wants to immediately spread propaganda against the German troops on the ground, Then you take them to the radio studio."

After Anisimov and Ulbricht left, Sokov told Sidolin: "Chief of Staff, call Ernst and ask him to come to the division headquarters. I have something to talk to him about." .”

"Is there anything you want from him?" Sidolin asked curiously.

"Turn on this radio later." Sokov pointed to the radio hanging above the door and explained to Sidolin: "I want to hear what Comrade Ulbricht said to the German soldiers."

After figuring out Sokov's intentions, Sidolin immediately called Ernst and informed him to come to the division headquarters immediately. After the phone call, Sidolin also turned on the switch of the radio, so that he could hear everything Ulbricht and the others said in the radio room.

Ernst quickly appeared in front of Sokov. After he raised his hand to salute, he asked somewhat restrainedly, "Mr. Comrade, what do you want from me?"

"A few of your compatriots have just come. They are in the radio room at the moment, ready to shout to the Germans on the opposite side." Sokov explained to Ernst: "I want you to translate for me, they all said something."

Not long after, a female singer’s gentle voice came out on the radio. Sokov heard that it was a German song with a nice melody, but he couldn’t understand what it meant, so he asked curiously: “Ernst, What song is playing on the radio?"

"It's Lily Marlene, Comrade Master."

""Lily Marlene"?" Sukov asked unexpectedly when he heard the name of the song for the first time, "What does it mean?"

"The story of this song can be traced back to the beginning of the First World War." Ernst, who was a music student, seemed to be fascinated by this song. He squinted his eyes, looked at the radio on the door, and said to himself Said to himself: "In Berlin in April 1915, on a foggy night, Hans Lepp, a Hamburg poet and young cadet from the military academy who was conscripted to the Russian front, was standing guard outside a barracks, and the street lights on the road Flickering in the fog.

Before going to work, Leip had just left a beautiful girl named Lily. At this moment, he was thinking of his sweetheart, and under the street lamp came a beautiful girl with sea-blue eyes, Marlene, who met Lap in an art gallery. Marlene waved her hand to Laip. At this moment, the patrolling officer came over, and Lapu could only watch helplessly as Marlene disappeared into the thick fog. At night, Lap tossed and turned in bed, thinking of Lily and Marlene, so he wrote a poem combining their names. The original title of the poem was "The Girl with the Lamp", but it was later changed to "Song of the Young Sentinel" when it was published.

The poem tells the story of a soldier saying goodbye to his sweetheart, Lily Marlene, by the light outside the barracks. The soldier is longing for love, but the bugle has already sounded, and the lover can only be reluctant to part. He can't help thinking: What will happen to me when I go to the battlefield? Can my soul still embrace her like this?

Lepp, who was sent to the Russian front, never saw Lily and Marlene again. About 20 years later, he included "The Song of the Young Sentinel" in his own poetry collection, and the Berlin composer Norbert Schulze saw it. The poem was later composed to music and renamed "Lily Marlene". "

"It's really a romantic story," Sidolin said with emotion, and then asked Ernst: "Can you tell us the general idea of ​​the lyrics?"

"Before the barracks

before the gate

has a lamp

still lit

we will meet again there

just stand under that lamp

Once again, Lily Marlene

Once again, Lily Marlene

Once again, Lily Marlene..."

After listening to Ernst's translation of the lyrics, Sokov nodded with a smile, and said, "This is a good song, not worse than the Russian "Katyusha" at all."

Just as he was talking, the music stopped abruptly, and a thick baritone came out on the radio: "Officers and soldiers of the Sixth Army of the German Wehrmacht, are you still waiting for Manstein's rescue, and are you still waiting for the promise he promised? Inspired by the words 'Don't give up, I will come to your rescue'. I am sorry to tell you that you have been deceived. Manstein's troops suffered another defeat in the recent battle. After the fierce Soviet Red Army Under the blow, they retreated a full 200 kilometers, getting farther and farther away from you. …

A tank division and an infantry division that broke into Kotelnikovo have been wiped out under the fierce offensive of the Red Army.

The reason why your superiors concealed such news from you is because they were worried that you would completely lose your fighting spirit if you found out about your situation. They want you to live in a fantasy and continue to defend them desperately and fight to the last bullet. ..."

Listening to Ernst's translation, Ivanov couldn't help asking Sokov curiously: "Comrade Commander, do you think the Germans will take the initiative to lay down their weapons and surrender to us after hearing these propaganda?"

"I don't think it will be an established system of surrender." Sokov knew very well in his heart that although the German army seemed to be at the end of the road at the moment, they still did not give up their last hope. They felt that with their own abilities, they could completely block the Soviet army's attack. , until the friendly army came to rescue him. However, Sokov felt that after this broadcast, there would still be some impact on the German soldiers. The surrender of the established system would not be possible, but there might still be sporadic surrenders. "I think there may be a small number of German officers and soldiers who, after hearing this propaganda, will take advantage of the night to surrender to our army."

Speaking of this, Sukov suddenly realized that there were barbed wire fences and minefields in front of his position. The German troops who surrendered in the dark might be killed by mines. The three regiment commanders called and ordered them to send out German-speaking fighters to the front of the position. Once they found German soldiers who surrendered in the dark, they would lead them through the minefield and enter our position.”

"Comrade Commander," Sidolin said hesitantly upon hearing Sokov's order, "if the Germans use a false surrender method to sneak into our army's position, what should we do?"

"It's easy to handle." Sokov had already considered the problem that Sidolin was worried about: "Every German officer and soldier who came to surrender must surrender all the weapons on his body before entering our position. Soldiers who pretend to surrender, as long as they are disarmed by our army and enter our position, they will not be able to cause any trouble."

"This is a good idea." Sidolin nodded approvingly, and said, "I will immediately notify the three regiment leaders at the front."

Colonel Bely, who was staying in the same command post with Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko, heard the order conveyed by Sidolin, and said to Papchenko with great interest: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, since the division commander said that we may There will be enemies coming to surrender, we might as well go and see if it is really what he said."

The two came to a command post at the front, and Bely stood in front of the lookout, raising his binoculars and looking towards the opposite German position. Under the bright moonlight, Bely saw a lot of steel helmets popping out of the opposite trench. It seemed that they were German officers and soldiers hiding in the trenches. They poked their heads out to hear what was said on the radio.

Seeing more and more German officers and soldiers showing their heads, Bely put down the binoculars in his hand, turned to Papchenko and said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, it seems that the enemies on the opposite side have been alarmed and stuck their heads out." Let's watch the fun."

Papchenko looked at the opposite side and said with a sneer: "It's a pity that the commander didn't order us to shoot, otherwise our machine guns fired at the same time, and at least dozens of enemies could be killed."

After Bieley heard this, he chuckled: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, don't be so short-sighted. If you really shot, wouldn't the comrades who are broadcasting to the enemy have their hard work in vain? Don't worry, just wait patiently." Observe for a while, maybe some German troops put down their weapons and surrendered to us."

"Comrade Colonel, don't you think that the Germans will surrender to us based on what the radio says?" Papchenko asked suspiciously.

"I don't know." Bely replied truthfully: "We broadcast to the enemy every day, but we have never seen a single German soldier running over to us and surrendering. Since Colonel Sokov said so today, then I think a miracle might happen."

The capitulation proclamation, which was being broadcast non-stop, not only attracted the attention of German soldiers, but also aroused the vigilance of German commanders. A few officers in big-brimmed hats appeared in the trenches, holding their pistols high above their heads, running back and forth in the trenches, driving the soldiers listening to the radio back to their shelters.

"You see, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Seeing this scene, Bely smiled and said to Papchenko: "The enemy commander has already panicked, fearing that his soldiers will be bewitched by our broadcast, and they will all come from hiding. ran out of place."

"The distance between us and the enemy's position is only more than two hundred meters." Seeing the officers running back and forth, Papchenko couldn't help but said to Bely: "As long as we find two snipers, we can kill the Germans." officer."

"No, you must not find a sniper." Bely was taken aback, and he quickly stopped Papchenko: "It is very simple for you to let a sniper kill a German officer. But if the Germans use this Make a big fuss about it, tell their soldiers that we are broadcasting to trick them out of hiding, and then let snipers kill them, and then everything that the comrades who broadcast have done will become useless any sense."

Papchenko, who originally wanted snipers to kill the German commander, heard Bely's reminder, and immediately realized that he had thought the problem too simply. He quickly apologized to Bely, and then called the third battalion commander. Instructed him to say: "Comrade Major, you will send a few comrades to cross the minefield and lurk in the snow later to meet those German soldiers who may come to surrender."