The German soldiers who sent Sokov back did not point their guns at them. When the car drove to the Soviet position, the German lieutenant stopped the car, turned around and said respectfully to Sokov: "Sir Colonel, you have arrived at the place."
After listening to Ernst's translation, Sokov pulled off the black cloth covered with his eyes, blinked hard, adapted to the surrounding light, and found that he had indeed reached the front of the reduction team's position.
Seeing that he had arrived at the place, Sokov nodded at the German lieutenant who had 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 and saluted Sokov, turned around and walked into the car parked aside. After getting in the car, he ordered the driver: "Drive!"
As soon as the German car left, a man jumped out of the trench and trotted over, shouting: "Comrade Commander, thank goodness, you finally came back safely."
Sokov heard the driver's voice and hurriedly shouted: "Comrade Driver, hurry up and drive the car to the regiment command post."
A few minutes later, Sokov walked into Belkin's regiment command post. Seeing Sokov appear, Belkin threw down his work, stepped forward and hugged him with a warm hug. Then he asked with some concern: "Misha, why have you been there for so long? I'm still worried that something happened to you."
"What can I do?" Sokov smiled faintly and replied: "Now the Germans have reached the point where they are desperate. I wish our army would send representatives to negotiate with them. How could it be detrimental to me?"
"How is it?" Belkin couldn't wait to ask: "How did the Germans answer?"
Sokov did not immediately answer Belkin's question, but glanced around the room with his eyes. Belkin, who understood it, immediately said to the staff and the correspondents in the command post: "You all go out first, I have important things to talk about with the division commander."
Hearing Belkin's order, the staff and the correspondents stood up and turned around and walked out of the command post. Only Sokov, Belkin, Chief of Staff Captain Vanya and the regiment political commissar Dmitry were left in the command post.
Seeing that the most important leaders in the regiment were left inside, Sokov said truthfully: "I saw Paulus. He was very pessimistic about the current situation and had the idea of ​​surrendering. But..."
"But what, comrade of the division?" Vanya couldn't wait to ask before Sokov finished speaking.
"Paulus is a professional soldier. He always adheres to the principle that the soldiers are obeying orders as their duty." Sokov said with a wry smile: "Although he has the intention to surrender, he still wants to ask Hitler for instructions to order the troops to put down their weapons and surrender."
"Ask Hitler for advice." Belkin sneered, "In my opinion, it would be strange if the other party could agree to Paulus' request."
"You are right, Comrade of the Political Commissar," Sokov continued: "Paulus asked his chief of staff General Schmidt to send a telegram to Berlin to report the situation here in detail. However, his application was rejected by Hitler, who ordered him to fight to the last man and the last bullet."
"If the Germans really want to fight with us to the end," Belkin said with a frown: "If we want to eliminate so many enemies, our army's casualties will definitely be small."
"Yes, the Germans still have at least 200,000. We will definitely pay a huge price to destroy them." Sokov remembered that there were only more than 90,000 German troops who were captured in the end, which means that in the remaining half month, there were still more than 100,000 German troops to be killed, and the price paid by the Soviet army would be equivalent to the enemy: "But in order to achieve the final victory, this price is still very worth it."
"It's getting late." Berkin saw that it was already dark outside, so for Sokov's safety, he persuaded: "You should stay in the regiment headquarters for a night and leave after dawn."
"No need, I still need to rush back to the division headquarters and report the negotiations to General Rokosovsky."
Seeing Sokov insisting on leaving, Belkin did not persuade him. He asked Sokov for the next battle mission: "What should we do in the next battle?"
"From the current situation, the German army has basically been compressed by us to the vicinity of Stalingrad city." Sokov felt that since Paulus had entered the trap, the shrinking regiment would not have to be as low-key as before. He could take some active actions and approach Paulus headquarters as soon as possible: "It is not very meaningful to hide your whereabouts, so the tactics need to be adjusted."
“How to adjust?”
"It turns out that I ordered the Third Battalion to repeatedly compete with the enemy for important buildings to consume the German army's vitality." Sokov said: "Now after changing the tactics, you must seize buildings as your main task. After clearing the enemy and 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, but when he thought that he had only more than 2,000 troops in his hand, he couldn't help but frown again: "But, Misha, I only have more than 2,000 people in my hand, and they are basically light weapons. If I want to seize buildings from the enemy, I'm afraid it will cost a lot."
"This is simple, I will transfer your own artillery to you tomorrow." Sokov said confidently: "When you encounter a building with a strong fire point, you can inform the artillery and let them directly destroy the enemy's fire point with artillery fire."
If another commander is replaced, he will definitely ask Sokov how to establish contact with the artillery in time. But as Sokov's old partner, Belkin naturally knew what to do, so he nodded and replied: "Don't worry, Misha, with the cooperation of the artillery, we will definitely not disappoint you."
After handling the matter of the reduction regiment, Sokov hurried back to the division headquarters with Samoilov and the guard platoon.
Since Sokov left, several division leaders of the division headquarters were still uneasy. After all, Sokov went to the German headquarters. If something happened, they would be to blame. At this moment, seeing Sokov come back safely, the three of them breathed a sigh of relief.
"Comrade instructor," asked Cidolin on behalf of everyone, "have you seen Paulus?"
"Yes, I saw it."
"What's his attitude?" Although he felt that the German army might not surrender, Cidolin asked with a fluke mentality: "Will he surrender voluntarily?"
"He wanted to surrender," Sokov took the hot tea handed to him by Anisimov, took a sip, and continued: "But Hitler did not allow him to surrender, and ordered him to fight to the end of the army and soldiers."
"How did he answer you?"
"Paulus dared not disobey Hitler's orders because he was worried that once he surrendered, the families of the Sixth Army officers and soldiers who remained in Germany might be persecuted or even sent to concentration camps." Sokov explained to the three: "So, he made it clear that he would continue to fight with us for a while. When he really couldn't hold on, it would not be too late to surrender to our army."
"Comrade Commander." Sokov was talking to the three of them about the negotiation details. The communications company commander Maxim, who was sitting in the distance, stood up with a microphone and reported to Sokov: "The phone number from the commander of the front army."
Sokov guessed that Rokosovsky must be asking about the details of the negotiations, so he quickly walked over and took the microphone: "Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I am Sokov."
"Col. Sokov." Rokosovsky asked in an official voice: "How is the situation when you go to the enemy headquarters to negotiate?"
Hearing Rokosovsky say this, Sokov recounted what happened to him in the German Command, and finally said: "Paulus has made it clear that he will continue to fight with our army for a while, and when he really can't stand it, he will surrender to our army. In this way, he has an explanation to Hitler and will not contact the families of the officers and soldiers of the Sixth Army in Germany."
"Paulus's reason is really sufficient." Rokosovsky sneered and asked back, "Misha, how long do you think it will take us to completely eliminate Paulus' troops?"
Sokov remembers that Paulus and the troops in the south of the city surrendered on January 31, while the troops in the factory surrendered on February 2, which is only half a month away. However, in order to prevent Rokosovsky from treating himself as a charlatan, he deliberately extended the deadline: "Commander of the Front Army, according to my observation, the supply of the Germans has reached a very difficult point. I believe that they will not last long. At most, we can completely eliminate Paulus' troops in one month."
"What, it takes another month?" Rokosovsky was obviously not satisfied with Sokov's answer. He shook his head and said, "If we really wait until a month to eliminate Paulus, then the German troops in the Caucasus region will escape. Therefore, we must completely eliminate Paulus's besieged enemy within half a month to twenty days."
Sokov did not ask for the time Rokosovsky said. After chatting for a few more words, he put down the phone. Cidolin asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, from the commander of the Front Army, he is planning to completely eliminate Paulus's troops within half a month to twenty days. Do you think he can do it?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov looked at Cydolin and said with a smile: "General Rokosovsky is a commander who is good at creating miracles. I believe that under his command, the Don Front will surely annihilate Paulus's troops. As for the deadline he mentioned, I don't think it is impossible."
"Is this true?" Cidolin was skeptical about Sokov's statement. After all, through the past few months of fighting, Paulus's troops once beat the Soviet army that exceeded their numbers to the ground for their teeth. Even if he is facing a desperate situation, it is probably not a pity to destroy him.
Seeing that Sidolin didn't believe his words, Sokov called him back to the table, pointed to the map on the table, and said to him and Ivanov and others: "I want to tell you good news. Today I went to the German Command to negotiate and found out the specific location of their command."
"What, you found the exact location of the German Command?" Sokov's words made Ivanov's eyes lit up. He couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade Commander, where is it?"
"Here." Sokov pointed at the department store in the central district and looked up to the three of them, "According to my observation, the German headquarters is located in the basement of the department store."
"But, comrade, I have a problem." Anisimov was obviously not as optimistic as Sidolin and Ivanov. He frowned and asked, "I think the enemy will definitely blindfold your eyes on the way to their headquarters in order not to let you notice the location of their headquarters. Since you are blindfolded, how do you know where the enemy headquarters is?"
Anisimov's problem made Sidolin and Ivanov stunned. They thought about it carefully and it seemed that this was the case. When the division commander went to the German Command to negotiate, he must have been blindfolded by the enemy. Since he couldn't see outside, how did he judge the location of the German Command?
Seeing that all three of them cast doubtful eyes at him, Sokov laughed and said, "Comrade Political Commissar, you are right. I was indeed blindfolded by the enemy on my way to the German Command. But blindfolded does not mean that I cannot find the location of the enemy Command."
Seeing that the three of them were getting more and more serious, Sokov continued, without waiting for their questions, "Before the start of the Stalingrad defense battle, I had surveyed the terrain of the city and looked for somewhere suitable for establishing a command center. Therefore, I have visited the department store many times, which is a stone building, which is very strong. If the command center is built there, it can withstand artillery and bombardment, and it is a very ideal defense point."
After hearing Sokov's words, Ivanov, who had been to the department store, nodded and echoed: "The division commander is right. I have also gone to the department store, but I did not go to the department store to survey the terrain, but to buy things there before the war. The building is surrounded by open land, and just a few machine guns can be installed in the building to block the entire area. I think it is entirely possible for the Germans to set up the headquarters there."
After Sidolin waited for Ivanov to finish speaking, he said with concern: "Comrade Deputy Commander, do you think the Commander is not wrong? You must know that once we cannot determine the exact location of the Paulus Command and launch an attack in the wrong direction, we may miss the opportunity to capture Paulus."
"Chief of Staff, don't worry." Sokov saw Sidolin's look of worrying about gains and losses, and comforted him, "I just said that before the battle of defense of the city, I had visited the department store many times. I kept it in mind how many steps there were at the door and how many steps the hall inside would take. When I was blindfolded by the enemy, I counted the steps outside the door and how many steps I took in the hall. There was no difference from my memory, so I can be sure that Paulus's headquarters was located in the basement of the department store."
Out of caution, Sidolin still proposed to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I think for the sake of safety, I will give Commander Belkin an order, asking him to send reconnaissance personnel to the direction of the department store to conduct reconnaissance, and thoroughly find out whether the enemy has really set up the headquarters there."
Chapter completed!