Red Moscow

The 62nd Army, to which Chuikov belongs, is fighting against the Germans who stand here in the factory area. Suddenly received an order to suspend the attack, and the commanders at all levels were puzzled. They were playing well, why should they stop the attack?

Just when everyone was full of doubts, the horns that had been placed everywhere just a few days ago rang: "All the commanders and fighters of the 62nd Army, I want to tell you a piece of good news: the battle commanded by Colonel Sokov, the commander of the 41st Guards Division The cluster, a few hours ago, successfully captured the location of the German headquarters, or Commander Paulus, Chief of Staff Schmidt, and many of their corps and division commanders. The tens of thousands of enemies entrenched in the south of the city have already Put down your weapons and surrender to our army, the specific results are still being counted..."

The commanders and fighters were stunned when they heard the broadcast: What, Paulus was captured? The German army in the south of the city was wiped out? They thought they heard it wrong, and asked each other: "Did you hear the broadcast just now? Paulus was really captured alive?"

"You may have heard it wrong. If Paulus was really captured alive, why didn't the enemies here surrender?"

"It's also possible that they didn't even know that Paulus was captured!"

Just when everyone was discussing, the broadcast rebroadcasted the content just now. This time, everyone could hear clearly. After a short silence, the sound of "Ulla" resounded through the sky one after another, startling the nearby enemies.

Although many German officers and soldiers heard the broadcast, they could not understand what was said on the Russian broadcast. And the officers and soldiers who knew Russian didn't say a word when they heard it. According to their thinking, this must be a conspiracy of the Russians, trying to disintegrate the morale and morale of their own troops in this way.

After the radio link on the battlefield was broadcast three times in Russian, it was broadcast again in German. In this way, not only the German officers and soldiers who understood Russian understood, but even those who did not understand Russian knew that the headquarters was taken away, and the commander, chief of staff, some army commanders, division commanders and tens of thousands of officers and soldiers became prisoners.

Hearing this bad news, the German officers and soldiers couldn't help but panic, and the small-scale counterattack originally planned was terminated. At the same time, this news was also passed to the ears of Karl Strekel, commander of the 11th Infantry Corps, through various means.

Regarding the news that Paulus had been captured, his first reaction was a conspiracy. It must have been a conspiracy carefully planned by the Russians in order to disintegrate his military spirit and morale. He quickly ordered someone to call several teachers in the factory area for a meeting.

Fortunately, the headquarters of these division commanders are not far from Karl Strekel's army headquarters, and it took only a few minutes for them all to arrive.

After everyone arrived, Lensky, the commander of the 24th Armored Division, couldn't wait to ask: "Your Excellency, is it true that what the Russians said on the radio is that the commander and tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in the south of the city have been captured? "

Karl Strekel said with a serious expression: "As soon as I learned the news, I ordered the operator to send a telegram to the headquarters. Unfortunately, so far, there is no news. It seems that the Russians said on the radio may be true."

"Your Excellency, Admiral, what should we do?" The commander of the 60th Motorized Infantry Division, von Aronstorf, said worriedly: "We are short of food, and our ammunition is almost exhausted. I'm afraid we won't be able to last for a few days."

"Yes, Your Excellency, Admiral." Martin Latterman, who had just served as the acting commander of the 389th Infantry Division, echoed: "Our situation is very difficult, and I am afraid we can't last long. In addition, the division commander, General Magnus, was injured yesterday. , It also has a great impact on the morale of our teachers."

"Surrender is impossible." Lensky expressed his opinion again: "I think I should contact Berlin immediately and report to them what happened here, and then wait for their further instructions."

Aronstorf snorted coldly, and asked back: "General Lensky, I don't know what you mean by waiting for further instructions? Let us hungry and poorly clothed soldiers continue to wait in the Russian encirclement." dead?"

"Even if we surrender to the Russians, do you think we can get the food and medicine they promised?" Lensky retorted unconvinced: "If you continue to fight, you will die, and if you surrender, you will only live a few more days. I I feel like reporting to Berlin about our situation here might divert things."

"General Lensky, I ask you to give up this unrealistic fantasy." Aronstorf retorted again: "Even if we reported our plight to Berlin, what can they do? Marshal Manstein And General Huot's troops have retreated to the original starting point, can Goering's air force turn the tide of the battle?"

"Okay, stop arguing." Strekel was worried that the two division commanders would be arguing endlessly, so he interrupted the two of them and said with a serious expression: "I have decided to report the situation here to the Berlin side immediately." Report. As for what we should do next, let’s wait for Berlin’s reply to come back.”

Now that Strekel said that he would send a telegram to Berlin for instructions, everyone fell silent. On the surface, he was sitting and waiting for Berlin's reply, but in fact he was thinking in his heart, what should he do if Berlin still refused to approve the surrender of the remaining troops after learning that Paulus had been captured?

After waiting for about half an hour, the reply from Berlin finally arrived. Although the other party has confirmed that Paulus was captured as a fact, Hitler still has no intention of giving up Stalingrad. After emphasizing the importance of sticking to Stalingrad in the telegram, he announced that Strekel was officially promoted to the rank of general and ordered He can command troops to hold on to the north of Stalingrad until the last moment.

"Gentlemen," Strekel asked feebly after he had circulated the telegram, "what do you think about this telegram from Berlin?"

After reading the contents of the telegram several times, Lensky couldn't help feeling cold because he didn't see what he wanted to read. Even though he just insisted that he would never surrender, in fact he was just looking for a step. Now the 24th Armored Division is already weak and cannot be compared with the beginning of the war. I am afraid that it cannot even support small-scale battles. It was for this reason that Lensky did not speak, but remained silent.

Seeing that none of the teachers present said a word, Strekel realized everyone's fighting spirit and was crushed by the telegram from Berlin. Obviously, even if he proposes to surrender at this moment, I am afraid that the people present will not object. However, Strekel kept his eyes open and did not announce his decision immediately. Instead, he announced the adjournment of the meeting and said to everyone: "Everyone, go back and rest. As for what to do, we will discuss it tomorrow."

As soon as the division commanders left, Strekel called his chief of staff and asked, "Chief of staff, is there any way you can get in touch with the Russians on the opposite side?"

"Your Excellency, General," the army chief of staff asked in surprise, "are you really planning to surrender to the Russians? You know, with the strength of our army, we can hold out for at least a week or longer."