Red Moscow

The German soldiers who sent Sokov back did not point their guns at them again. When the car reached the Soviet position, the German lieutenant stopped the car, turned around and said to Sokov respectfully: "Mr. Colonel, you have arrived."

After listening to Ernst's translation, Sokov took off the black cloth covering his eyes, blinked vigorously, adjusted to the surrounding light, and found that he had indeed arrived at the front of the drawdown regiment's position.

Seeing that he had arrived, Sokov nodded to the German lieutenant who sent him back, and said politely, "Thank you, lieutenant."

"This is what I should do, Mr. Colonel." The German lieutenant opened the door and got out of the car, raised his hand to salute Sokov, turned and walked to the car parked beside him. After getting in the car, he told the driver: "Drive!"

As soon as the German vehicles left, a man jumped out of the trench, trotted over, and shouted: "Comrade commander, thank God, you finally came back safely."

Sokov recognized the driver's voice, and quickly called out, "Comrade driver, hurry up and drive the car to the regiment command post."

A few minutes later, Sokov walked into Belkin's regimental command post. Seeing Sokov appear, Belgin dropped his work, stepped forward to give him a warm hug, and then asked with some concern: "Misha, why have you been here for so long? I'm still worried about you." problem occurs."

"What can happen to me." Sokov smiled lightly, and replied: "Now the Germans have reached the point of desperation. I wish our military would send representatives to negotiate with them. How could it be against me."

"How?" Belkin asked impatiently. "How did the Germans answer?"

Sokov did not immediately answer Belkin's question, but scanned the room with his eyes. Belkin, who understood, immediately said to the staff officers and communications soldiers in the command post: "You all go out first, the division commander and I have important matters to discuss."

Hearing Belkin's order, the staff officer and communications soldier stood up, turned and walked out of the command post. Only Sokov, Belgin, Chief of Staff Captain Vanya and regimental commissar Dmitry remained in the command post.

Seeing that the main officers of the regiment were left in the room, Sokov said truthfully: "I met Paulus. He was very pessimistic about the current situation and thought of surrendering. But ..."

"But what, Comrade Commander?" Before Sokov finished speaking, Vanya asked impatiently.

"Paulus is a professional soldier, and he always adheres to the principle that soldiers should obey orders as their bounden duty." Sokov said with a wry smile: "Although he was thinking about surrendering, he still has to ask whether he ordered the troops to put down their weapons and surrender." Hitler asked."

"Ask Hitler for instructions." Belkin said with a sneer. "In my opinion, it's strange that the other party can agree to Paulus' request."

"You are right, Comrade Political Commissar." Sokov continued: "Paulus asked his chief of staff, General Schmidt, to send a telegram to Berlin, reporting the situation here in detail. However, his application was rejected by Hitler, who ordered him to fight to the last man, to the last bullet."

"If the Germans really want to fight us to the end," Belkin said with a frown, "to destroy so many enemies, the casualties of our army must not be small."

"That's right, there are at least 200,000 Germans left. To eliminate them, we will definitely pay a huge price." Sokov remembered that only 90,000 German troops were captured in the end. In half a month, more than one hundred thousand German troops will be killed, and the price paid by the Soviet army is bound to be comparable to that of the enemy: "However, in order to achieve the final victory, such a price is still very worthwhile."

"It's getting late." Belkin saw that it was getting dark outside, and for the sake of Sokov's safety, he persuaded him: "You should stay at the regiment headquarters overnight and leave after dawn."

"No need, I still need to rush back to the division headquarters and report the negotiation situation to General Rokossovsky."

Seeing that Sokov insisted on leaving, Belkin didn't persuade him anymore, but asked Sokov about the next battle mission: "What should we do in the next battle?"

"Judging from the current situation, we have basically compressed the German army to the vicinity of the city of Stalingrad." Sokov felt that since Paulus had already entered the trap, the downsizing regiment did not need to be as low-key as before, and could take some active measures. Take action and approach the Paulus headquarters as soon as possible: "It doesn't make much sense to hide your whereabouts anymore, so tactics need to be adjusted."

"How to adjust?"

"It turned out that I ordered the third battalion to consume the vital strength of the German army by repeatedly competing with the enemy for important buildings." Sokov said: "Now that you have changed your tactics, you must take the building as the main task. After clearing the enemy , After occupying the buildings, you must do everything possible to defend these buildings."

Belkin also wanted to seize as many buildings as possible from the enemy's hands, but when he thought that he only had two thousand troops in his hand, he couldn't help frowning again: "But, Misha, I only have two thousand troops in my hand." There are more than a thousand people, and most of them are light weapons. If you want to seize the building from the enemy, you will probably have to pay a lot of money."

"It's simple. I'll send you a self-propelled artillery tomorrow." Sokov said confidently, "When you encounter a building with a solid firepower point, you can notify the artillery to directly destroy the enemy's firepower point with artillery fire."

If you change to another commander, you will definitely ask Sokov how to establish contact with the artillery in a timely manner. But Belkin, as Sokov's old partner, naturally knew what to do, so he nodded and replied, "Don't worry, Misha, with the cooperation of the artillery, we will definitely not let you down."

After dealing with the downsizing of the regiment, Sokov hurried back to the division headquarters with Samoilov and the guard platoon.

Since Sokov left, several division leaders of the division headquarters have always been uneasy. After all, Sukov went to the German Army Command, and if something happened, they could bear the blame. Seeing that Sokov came back safely at this moment, the three of them breathed a sigh of relief.

"Comrade Commander," asked Sidolin on behalf of the group, "have you seen Paulus?"

"Yes, I see you."

"Then what is his attitude?" Although he felt that the possibility of the German army surrendering was unlikely, Sidolin still asked with luck: "Will he voluntarily surrender?"

"He wanted to surrender voluntarily," Sokov took a sip of the hot tea Anisimov handed to him, and continued, "But Hitler forbade him to surrender and ordered him to fight to the last One soldier at a time."

"Then how did he answer you?"

"Paulus did not dare to disobey Hitler's order, because he was worried that if he surrendered, the family members of the soldiers of the Sixth Army who remained in Germany might be persecuted and even sent to a concentration camp." Sokov explained to the three: " Therefore, he made it clear that he would continue to fight with us for a while, and it would not be too late to surrender to our army when he could no longer hold on."

"Comrade Commander." Sokov was discussing the details of the negotiation with the three of them. The communication company commander, Second Lieutenant Maxim, who was sitting in the distance, stood up holding the microphone and reported to Sokov, "The commander of the front army is calling. "

Sokov guessed that Rokossovsky must be asking about the details of the negotiation, so he quickly walked over and took the microphone: "Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front Army, this is Sokov."

"Colonel Sokov," Rokossovsky asked in an official tone, "how did your negotiations at the enemy headquarters go?"

Hearing what Rokossovsky said, Sokov repeated everything that happened in the German headquarters, and finally said: "Paulus has made it clear that he will continue to work with our army. Fight for a period of time, and then surrender to our army when he really can’t hold on anymore. In this way, he will have an explanation to Hitler, and he will not contact the family members of the Sixth Army officers and soldiers in Germany.”

"Paulus's reason is really sufficient." Rokossovsky sneered, and then asked: "Misha, how long do you think it will take us to completely wipe out Paulus' troops? ?”

Sokov remembered that the troops of Paulus and Chengnan surrendered on January 31, while the troops in the factory area surrendered on February 2, which is only half a month from now. However, in order to prevent Rokossovsky from treating himself as a magic stick, he deliberately extended the deadline: "Commander of the Front Army, according to my observation, the Germans' supplies have reached a very difficult point. I believe that they will not be able to hold on." How long. A month at the most, and we'll be able to wipe out Paulus's troops."

"What, another month?" Rokossovsky was obviously dissatisfied with Sokov's answer. He shook his head and said, "If we really wait until one month before destroying Paulus, then the Caucasus The German troops in the area will flee. Therefore, we must completely wipe out Paulus, the besieged enemy, within half a month to 20 days."

Sokov was noncommittal about the time Rokossovsky mentioned. After talking for a few more words, he put down the phone. Sidolin asked curiously: "Comrade commander, according to the commander of the front army, he is planning to completely wipe out Paulus' troops within half a month to 20 days. Do you think he can do it?" "

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov looked at Sidolin and said with a smile: "General Rokossovsky is a commander who is good at performing miracles. Annihilation of Paulus's troops. As for the time limit he mentioned, I don't think it is impossible."

"Is this true?" Sidolin was skeptical about Sokov's statement. After all, through these months of fighting, Paulus's troops had defeated the Soviet army that outnumbered him. Looking for teeth all over the place, even if he is facing a desperate situation, but if he wants to eliminate him, I am afraid it is not a regrettable thing.

Seeing that Sidolin did not believe his words, Sokov called him back to the table, pointed to the map on the table, and said to him and Ivanov: "I want to tell you a piece of good news. Today I Went to the German headquarters to negotiate, and found out the specific location of their headquarters."

"What, you found the exact location of the German headquarters?" Sokov's words caught Ivanov's eyes, and he couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade commander, where is it?"

"Here." Sokov pointed to the department store in the central area, raised his head and said to the three, "According to my observation, the headquarters of the German army is located in the basement of the department store."

"But, Comrade Commander, I have a question." Anisimov was obviously not as optimistic as Sidolin and Ivanov. The location of their headquarters, on the way to take you to their headquarters, will definitely blindfold you. Since you are blindfolded, how do you know where the enemy's headquarters is?"

Anisimov's question made Sidolin and Ivanov stunned. After thinking about it, it seemed that this was really the case. When the division commander went to the German headquarters to negotiate, he must have been blindfolded by the enemy. Since he couldn't see the outside, how did he judge the location of the German Army Command?

Seeing all three of them cast suspicious glances at him, Sokov laughed and said, "Comrade Political Commissar, you are right. I was indeed blindfolded by the enemy on the way to the German Army Command. But Being blindfolded doesn't mean I can't find out where the enemy headquarters is."

Seeing that the expressions of the three people became more solemn, Sokov continued without waiting for them to ask questions: "Before the start of the Stalingrad Defense War, I had surveyed the terrain in the city to find a suitable place to establish a headquarters. Therefore, I I have been to the department store many times, it is a stone building, very strong, if the headquarters is built there, it can withstand shelling and bombing, it is an ideal point of defense."

Hearing what Sokov said, Ivanov, who had been to the department store before, nodded in agreement and said: "The teacher is right. I also went to the department store, but I didn't do it to survey the terrain, but to go there before the war." You can buy things there. The building is surrounded by open land, and as long as you put a few machine guns in the building, you can seal off the entire area. I think it is entirely possible for the Germans to set up their headquarters there."

Sidolin waited for Ivanov to finish speaking, and said worriedly: "Comrade deputy division commander, do you also think that the division commander is not mistaken? You know, once we cannot determine the exact location of the Paulus headquarters, we will move towards the wrong direction." Attacking in that direction might miss the opportunity to capture Paulus."

"Chief of Staff, don't worry." Seeing Sidolin's look of worrying about gains and losses, Sokov comforted him and said, "I just said that before the start of the city defense war, I went to the department store many times. I have memorized how many steps there are and how many steps I have to walk in the hall inside. When I was blindfolded by the enemy and led up, I used to count the steps outside the door and how many steps I walked in the hall. And my memory does not No access, so I'm pretty sure Paulus's headquarters are in the basement of the department store."

Out of caution, Sidolin still proposed to Sokov: "Comrade commander, I think to be on the safe side, I should give Commander Belkin an order to send scouts to the direction of the department store for scouting, thoroughly Find out if the enemy really has their headquarters there."

"Chief of Staff, what you said makes sense." What Sokov said just now was half true and half false. It is true that he was led into the headquarters blindfolded by the enemy; but counting the number of steps and steps is nonsense. He judged the location of Paulus' headquarters based on the records in the history books. In order to be sure, he still decided to follow Sidolin's suggestion and send someone to conduct reconnaissance and verification.