Major General Val looked at his watch and then said to Sokov: "General Sokov, I will issue an order to the troops when I go back. But because the troops are too dispersed, it may take some time to regroup them. In about an hour and a half, our troops will be officially disarmed to you."
Regarding the time that Major General Val said, Sokov did not think he could do it, so he said generously: "General Val, I will give you two and a half hours. Two and a half hours later, we will start to contain prisoners. We will decisively and decisively eliminate any officers and soldiers who refuse to put down their weapons."
In order to grasp the further developments of the Imperial Division in a timely manner, Sokov also sent two officers to carry a walkie-talkie and followed Major General Val back to his temporary command post in the forest.
As soon as Major General Val left, Lunev took the initiative to extend his hand to Sokov and said enthusiastically: "Comrade Commander, please accept my congratulations, congratulations to the troops under your command for annihilation of the German imperial division."
"Comrades of the Military Commission, it is still too early to say that the Imperial Division is completely wiped out." Sokov finished speaking to Lunev, and ordered Merkulov: "Comrade General, order your troops to be prepared for combat and be ready to launch a final attack on the enemy trapped in the forest at any time."
"Comrade Commander," said Merkulov, and he heard Sokov's order, and asked in surprise: "Has the commander of the Imperial Division agreed to put down his weapons and surrender to our army? Why do you still need to prepare for combat?"
"General Merkulov," Sokov said seriously: "If Major General Val commanded an ordinary imperial division, then the negotiation conditions just now would not be much problem when fulfilling them. But what we have to face is the most elite SS in the German army. Whether they will obey Major General Val's orders is still an unknown."
"The German army has strict hierarchy, and the subordinates will never violate the orders of their superiors." Merkulov retorted: "Even if they are SS, as long as Major General Val's order is issued, I think the German officers and soldiers should still obey."
"General Merkulov, I want to remind you one thing." Sokov continued: "From the end of February to now, the Imperial Division has changed three division commanders. Major General Val has only been in office for half a month, and he has not yet formed absolute authority in the division. In addition, since he took office, the Imperial Division has been defeating wars. I think many officers and soldiers are not convinced by him. It is probably not easy to make these unconvincing officers and soldiers follow his orders and put down their weapons and surrender to our army."
After Sokov's explanation, Merkulov immediately realized that he was thinking too optimistically. Although Major General Val accepted the conditions for surrender after negotiations, if the officers and soldiers of the Imperial Division did not buy it, the agreement just reached would be nothing more than nothing. What can be done now is to follow Sokov's orders to prepare the troops for combat, and once it is confirmed that the enemy will not surrender, they will resolutely destroy them.
Sokov took advantage of the time when Merkulov issued combat orders to the troops, and called the headquarters and asked Vitkov who answered the phone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, how is the situation in the 71st Division of the Guards? Have they cleared the defeated Skeleton Division troops?"
"Not yet, Commander Comrade." Witkov replied: "Although we captured Colonel Ximeng, the commander of the Skeleton Division, the main force of the Skeleton Division quickly defeated after our army confronted us and fled to the nearby forest. You must know that the forest area is dozens of square kilometers wide, and it is very difficult to find thousands of hidden German officers and soldiers in such a vast area."
"Notify Colonel Sivakov," Sokov said sternly: "Increase the search efforts, be sure to find the officers and soldiers of the skeleton division and destroy them as much as possible. If they are really allowed to escape back to the German positions, Manstein will send them a new division commander, and it won't take long to restore the troops. At that time, they will pose a huge threat to our army."
"I understand, comrade Commander." In fact, even if Sokov didn't say it, Vitkov realized the seriousness of the problem. On the surface, he defeated the main force of the Skeleton Division and captured the division commander Colonel Ximeng alive. But now most of the troops of the Skeleton Division have successfully escaped. As long as Manstein sent them a new division commander, I believe that it will not take long before they will regain their combat effectiveness and become a force that will cause trouble to the Soviet army.
After Merkulov called his troops, he happened to hear Sokov giving orders to Vitkov. After Sokov put down the phone, he asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, why hasn't the main force of the Skeleton Division been eliminated by our army?"
"When our left wing attacked the defense zone of the Skeleton Division, the Skeleton Division sent an armored regiment here to reinforce the Imperial Division that you attacked. As a result, the division headquarters was empty in defense, which made our assault troops capture the acting division commander of the division, Colonel Ximeng.
Our division commander was caught by us, but unfortunately the cunning enemy immediately dispersed and used the complex terrain in the forest to fight guerrillas with our troops. Although our army has many troops and high morale, it is not easy to destroy them in a short period of time."
"In this way, it is necessary for us to wipe out the Imperial Division and put a perfect end to this offensive battle." After Merkulov said this, he asked Sokov tentatively: "Comrade Commander, am I right?"
"Yes, General Merkulov, you are completely correct." Since it is difficult to achieve the intention of annihilation of two SS divisions at the same time, Sokov can only settle for the second best and eliminate the Imperial Division first: "The current situation is exactly like this. I captured two German division commanders, wiped out the Imperial Division, and severely damaged the Skeleton Division. In this way, the Intelligence Agency should have much confidence when promoting the results of the battle."
"Comrade Commander," said Merkulov and Sokov, and reported to him: "I have ordered the troops to be prepared for the attack. The troops of the 41st Guards Division are also considering us. In two hours, they can reach the attack position. Even if the Germans do not surrender, with the strength of our two divisions, they will be enough to destroy them."
As it turned out, Sokov's concern was completely correct. In less than an hour, a dispatched officer stumbled into the division headquarters and reported to Sokov in a daze: "Comrade Commander, something is wrong, something happened...."
Seeing that the officer was injured in his arm, Sokov knew that something must have happened to the Imperial Division. While calling the military doctor to treat the officer's wound, he couldn't wait to ask: "Tell me quickly, what happened?"
The officer replied: "We followed Major General Val back to the temporary command of the Imperial Division. When he announced to his subordinates that in two and a half hours, he would put down his weapons and surrender to us. Except for a few division officers who remained silent, the rest of the people firmly opposed surrendering to our army. A German captain also drew his gun and opened fire at us. The translator was beaten to death on the spot, and I was also injured..."
When Sokov learned that the German army had disagreement and fired, he couldn't help but skip a beat. He then asked, "Then how did you escape from danger?"
"The captain shot and killed the translator. When he was about to re-shoot me, Major General Val stopped him and asked me to leave quickly through their translator!" The injured officer explained: "That's how I was lucky enough to save my life."
"Comrade Commander," Merkulov saw that something that Sokov was worried about really happened, so he quickly asked him for instructions: "What should we do next?"
"Didn't I give Major General Val two and a half hours?" Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said with a serious expression: "When the time comes, as long as you don't see the enemy put down your weapons and surrender to our army, you will immediately launch an attack."
Lunev reminded Sokov: "Comrade Commander, our new rocket has been exhausted in the battle not long ago. If we attacked for a strong force, we may have made considerable sacrifices."
"The enemy's supply line has been cut off by us," Sokov also knew how much casualties would be caused to the 67th Division if the attack was launched at this time. But in order to cut off a finger of the German army, even if he knew that it would suffer huge casualties, he could only do it. "The remaining ammunition they have now is probably not enough to support a battle. We can gain an advantage in firepower and use powerful firepower to destroy them. Although there are no new rockets, there are still many rocket launchers. For those exposed machine gun fire points, there are no need to send people to blow them up and destroy them directly with the rocket launcher. I will see how many firepower points the enemy has to withstand our rocket launcher attack."
Two and a half hours passed quickly. Then the forest still had no movement. It seemed that Major General Val had insufficient prestige in the army, so few people obeyed their orders and put down their weapons to surrender to the Soviet army.
After learning about this, Sokov said to Merkulov: "Comrade General, I have just said that if the enemy does not surrender, then we will firmly destroy them. Since your troops are ready for battle, start the attack."
After Merkulov agreed loudly, he picked up the phone on the table and began to issue orders to his subordinates: "Comrade Commander Order: Launch a final attack on the enemies who refuse to surrender, and destroy every enemy you see."
A minute or two later, there were dense gunfire and explosions outside the house. It seemed that the attack of the 67th Guards Division had begun. Sokov raised his hand and looked at Lunev. Seeing his serious look on his face, staring at the map in front of him, he joked: "My military comrade, don't be nervous. It's only a matter of time before the enemy is eliminated by our army. Let's guess, how long will it take to wipe out this enemy?"
"Comrade Commander, I don't think I should take it lightly." Lunev said with a serious expression: "Our troops have also surrounded the enemy many times, but in the end, the troops suffered heavy losses, and the enemy broke through in an institutional way. Tell me, similar things will not happen today, right?"
"I don't think so." Sokov shook his head and said in a affirmative tone: "The main reason why our army was unable to eat the enemy after siegeing the enemy, and even suffered heavy losses was that the tactics were not properly used. Our troops are not only good at defense, but also have unique features in offense. I believe that there is no big problem to eat these thousand enemies."
There was no fortification in the forest at all. Facing the Soviet commanders and fighters who were rushing from all directions like a tide, they could only hide behind the trees and fighters to fight back. The remaining machine guns were hiding in low-lying places, aiming at the charge commanders and fighters to shoot. The dense bullets knocked down a piece of the soldiers who rushed to the front, and the remaining soldiers hurriedly lying down on the ground, or all hiding behind the trees to shoot.
After following the infantry to advance, the anti-tank player who discovered the enemy's machine gun fire point, immediately looked for a safe place, set up a rocket launcher, aimed at the target, and decisively pulled the trigger. After a loud "boom", the machine gunner and the machine gun were blown away by the explosion air waves. After killing one fire point, the anti-tank player quickly looked for the next fire point and continued to use the rocket launcher to destroy it one by one.
The Imperial Division officers and soldiers who lost the cooperation of machine gun fire and could not get tanks, cannons and air force support became panicked. Although they were shooting desperately, most of their bullets did not hit the target due to insufficient firepower and the obstruction of trees.
Seeing the Soviet commanders and soldiers rushing to their fronts, many German officers and soldiers who had exhausted bullets quickly threw away the weapons in their hands, raised their hands, and waited to be captured. But the commanders and soldiers all kept in mind Sokov's order: "Eliminate every enemy you see." Although the officers and soldiers in front of them put down their weapons, they were still their enemies. Therefore, the soldiers either shot them or stabbed them to the ground with the bayonet in their hands.
Faced with the fierce attack of the Soviet army, the German defense line continued to shrink to the inside. In less than an hour, the remaining more than 300 German officers and soldiers were compressed by the Soviet army from all directions into a narrow area of ​​only one hundred meters long and only thirty meters wide.
But at this moment, Sokov ordered the troops to stop the attack. The area where the German army was located was so narrow that if the attack continued, bullets fired from two different directions would likely accidentally hurt his own people. Therefore, he ordered the troops to temporarily stop the attack and prepare to use mortar fire to eliminate the final remaining enemies.
The German army in the encirclement had run out of ammunition and food, and most of them were wounded soldiers, and they had no ability to resist the Soviet attack. Major General Val, who was held hostage by Captain Ernst and Corporal Henell, finally had the opportunity to speak out again: "Soldiers, it is meaningless to continue to resist. Paulus understood this very well and ordered his troops to put down his weapons. As a result, he and his hundreds of thousands of subordinates survived.
Chapter completed!