"No, absolutely not."
"It's too dangerous and I don't agree with it."
"Yes, we can't let you take such a risk."
As soon as Sokov said that he planned to go to the German positions to negotiate in person and persuade the enemy to lay down their weapons and surrender, he encountered firm opposition from Sidorin, Ivanov, and Anisimov.
Regarding the heartfelt concern of the three people, Sokov felt warm in his heart, but at the same time he also understood very well that if you don't enter the tiger's den, you won't get the tiger's cubs. How can you know whether Paulus is real if he doesn't go there himself? As was historically the case, the new headquarters was located in the basement of a department store.
"Comrades, thank you for your relationship with me." After expressing his gratitude to the three of them, Sokov said his reasons: "After the enemy suffered a heavy blow from our army, its military spirit and morale are already low. They are eager for us to send people to negotiate. Therefore, we will definitely not encounter difficulties from them when we go to the German positions this time."
Seeing Sokov being so stubborn, Sidorin knew that even if he continued to persuade him, there might be no results, so he said cautiously: "Comrade division commander, do you think this will work? We will report the matter to Commander Chuikov. If If he agrees, it’s not too late for you to go.”
"I don't think it's necessary." Sokov shook his head and said, "It was the commander of the front army, General Rokossovsky, who personally gave the order for me to go to the enemy to persuade him to surrender. Even if Commander Chuikov knew about it, he would There will be no objection. There is no need for us to disturb him for such a trivial matter."
Now that Sokov has moved Rokossovsky out, it’s hard for everyone to say anything. After a while, Ivanov asked: "Comrade division commander, from where do you plan to enter the German defense area? Or from the position of the 122nd Regiment?"
"No, I won't go through the 122nd Regiment's defense area this time." Sokov thought that the 122nd Regiment's defense area was close to the factory area and was at least 20 kilometers away from Paulus' new headquarters. There was no need to take such a long journey. Big circle. He decided to enter the German defense line from the area controlled by the downsized regiment. In order not to arouse everyone's suspicion, he pretended to be thoughtful and said: "Since we analyze that Paulus may locate his new headquarters in the south of the city, Residential areas or central areas, then the most suitable location is in the defense area of the Belkin Regiment."
Sokov's statement did not arouse anyone's suspicion. Sidorin quickly asked: "Comrade division commander, how many people do you plan to take with you to Paulus' headquarters?"
"I'm going to persuade me to surrender, not to fight, so I don't need to bring anyone with me." Sokov said to Sidorin: "First let Samoylov lead a guard platoon to escort me to the Belkin Regiment. When I get there, Ernst and I then drove to the German defense zone."
"Comrade division commander, I will first call Commander Belkin and ask him to send someone to inform the Germans on the other side that we will send someone to negotiate with them." As the chief of staff, Sidorin considered the issue very comprehensively: "In case of this, we will send someone to negotiate with them." When you were driving to the German defense zone, you were shelled or machine-gunned by the enemy."
Sokov felt that what Sidorin said was very reasonable, so he nodded in agreement: "In that case, Comrade Chief of Staff, please call Commander Belkin and ask him to send someone to contact the Germans first. Let the enemy know that we will send negotiators into their zone."
…………
An hour later, Sokov appeared at Belkin's regimental command post.
After Sokov and Belkin hugged each other, he asked: "My comrade political commissar, how is the situation here? Has the enemy discovered your presence?"
"No." Belkin replied with a smile: "Since you told me not to make any big noise after entering here, the three battalions I brought here have been on standby and have never participated in any battles. It is estimated that the enemy has arrived. Until now, everyone thought we only had one battalion here."
After reporting the regiment's intelligence, Belkin hesitated for a moment, and then tentatively asked Sokov: "Misha, do you really plan to go to the enemy's positions and negotiate with them?"
"Yes," Sokov nodded: "This is a task personally assigned by Front Commander Rokossovsky."
"Can your safety be guaranteed?" Knowing that this order was personally issued by the commander of the front army, Belkin's muscles on his face twitched violently a few times, and he asked cautiously: "If it cannot be guaranteed, why not let me Shall I go in your place?"
"Thank you for your kindness, Comrade Political Commissar." Sokov felt very grateful for Belkin's concern. It is definitely dangerous to go to the German defense zone to negotiate this time, but if you can find out the location of Paulus' headquarters, no matter how big the risk is, it is completely worth it. "This is my mission and I must complete it myself."
"By the way, have you said hello to the enemy position?"
Belkin nodded and replied: "Captain Vanya, the regiment's chief of staff, went to contact you personally. The enemy will send someone to pick you up between the two army positions."
"It's getting late," Sokov saw that it was getting late, so he stood up and said to Belkin: "Let's go there now. Otherwise, when we come back later, it will be too dark to do anything. If the jeep is not careful, If you run over a landmine, you’ll be in trouble.”
Belkin accompanied Sokov to the front, and the jeep stopped less than three hundred meters away from a damaged building occupied by the Germans. Sokov turned his face sideways and said to Belkin: "My comrade political commissar, just send him here. It will be unsafe to go any further."
"Misha." Belkin held Sokov's hand and said in a choked voice, "You must come back alive. I will always be here waiting for you."
"I understand." Sokov let go of Belkin's hand and said to him: "Hurry up and hide in a safe place. I'm worried that there will be enemy snipers nearby. Don't let him think you are a human being." target."
After Belgin left, Sokov ordered the driver to drive and arrived in front of the enemy's building. A German lieutenant came out of the building, followed by a soldier holding a submachine gun. Ernst quickly jumped out of the car, ran quickly to the other party, danced and talked.
Not long after, Ernst returned to the jeep with the German lieutenant and said to Sokov: "This is the staff officer sent by the chief of staff, General Schmidt, to pick you up. He said that the driver will stay and he will drive us Let’s go to the headquarters. But before that, we need to cover our eyes.”
Sokov had long expected that the Germans would blindfold themselves. He knew very well that Paulus would definitely order someone to blindfold himself in order to prevent him from discovering his headquarters. Anyway, I have been to the department store several times, and I am very familiar with the terrain there. I can identify it even if I am blindfolded.
Sokov sent the driver away and asked the German lieutenant to blindfold himself and Ernst and sit in the back of the jeep. After the German lieutenant finished all this, he started the car and fired towards the location of the headquarters. The soldier was sitting in the passenger seat, half-turned around and staring at Sokov and Ernst, his gun pointed at them at all times, ready to shoot at any time.
After driving for more than ten minutes, the jeep stopped. However, the German lieutenant did not immediately remove the blindfold from Sokov. Instead, he called two soldiers and helped Sokov and Ernst follow him toward the building.
Arriving at the door of the room at the end of the corridor, the German lieutenant reported to a major sitting at the door: "Mr. Major, the Russians we are negotiating with have arrived."
"Yes, I will report to the commander immediately." The major nodded, stood up, opened the door next to him, walked in, and closed the door behind him.
After a while, he walked out and said to the lieutenant: "There is nothing for you to do here. You go down first. I will call you when I need you."
After sending away the lieutenant and the soldiers supporting Sokov and Ernst, the major stepped forward and pulled off the blindfolds of the two men, and said coldly: "Russian, follow me!"
When Ernst heard this insulting title, he couldn't help but smile bitterly and said to Sokov: "Comrade division commander, he asked us to follow her."
After pushing the door open, Sokov saw a long conference table in the room, with people sitting on both sides of the table. While Sokov was looking at the generals present, he suddenly heard the general sitting at the other end of the conference table say: "I am Paulus. Russian, tell me your name, rank and position, and the purpose of coming here. .”
After listening to Ernst's translation, Sokov sneered and replied: "I am Colonel Sokov, commander of the 41st Guards Division. The purpose of my coming here today is to urge you to surrender unconditionally to our army."
If anyone else had said this, they would have been ridiculed by the generals present. But when these people heard that the Russian standing in front of them was Sokov, who made them frightened, the room suddenly fell into silence.
After a while, a general sitting on Paulus's right stood up, walked quickly to Sokov, leaned forward slightly, stretched out his hands, and said in a friendly tone: "Hello, Colonel Sokov, nice to see you here. By the way, let me introduce myself, I am General Schmidt, Chief of Staff of the Sixth Army."
"Hello, General Schmidt." Since Schmidt greeted him with a smile, Sokov naturally couldn't be too cold towards him. He smiled and said, "I'm very happy to see you, too."
After Schmidt shook hands with Sokov, a tall German general sitting not far away also stood up and walked to Sokov. He said respectfully: "Hello, Colonel Sokov. I am Commander Kurtzbach of the 51st Infantry Corps, among Russian officers, apart from Zhukov, you are the person I admire the most. Because whenever my troops encounter your troops, they will never gain any advantage."
Facing Kurtzbach's compliment, Sokov smiled and replied: "General Kurtzbach, I am just an ordinary Soviet commander. How can I be compared with General Zhukov. As for you saying that your troops every Every time you encounter my troops, you will suffer hardships. That is because you are not familiar with my tactics and still use the tactics used against other Soviet troops to fight us. It would be strange if you do not suffer losses."
After Sokov and Kurtzbach chatted, Schmidt quickly asked Sokov to sit down at the other end of the conference table, just face to face with Paulus.
As soon as Sokov sat down, Schmidt put a cup of coffee in front of him and said apologetically: "Colonel Sokov, I'm sorry, our conditions are very poor now and we can't entertain him with anything better." you."
After thanking Schmidt, Sokov looked at Paulus opposite and said: "General Paulus, you must be very clear about the current situation. If you continue to resist, you will only pay greater casualties. , if you can respond to our army's ultimatum and lay down your weapons and surrender in time, you can save the lives of more soldiers. I believe that after the war is over, the families of these surviving soldiers will be grateful to you for the rest of their lives."
The generals present, after hearing Sokov's words, all turned their attention to Paulus, wanting to hear his reply. Frankly speaking, when supplies are on the verge of being cut off, there is no point in continuing to resist. If Paulus can really agree to surrender, tens of thousands of lives can be saved.
But after Paulus was silent for a long time, he said with difficulty: "Colonel Sokov, everything you said makes sense. But it is the duty of a soldier to obey orders. I will never surrender before I get the permission of the head of state to surrender." Surrender to you. Then we will fight until every soldier is killed and use up the last bullet, and we will never surrender."
Hearing Paulus say that he would not surrender, the generals present showed disappointed expressions on their faces. They did not expect that Paulus would refuse so simply. Especially Kurtzbach. He even stood up and said to Paulus regardless: "Your Excellency, Commander, I think Colonel Sokov's words are very reasonable. It is meaningless for us to continue to resist. It is better to give up as soon as possible." Surrender the weapons and save the lives of more soldiers.”
"General Kurtzbach, I just made it very clear." Paulus did not expect that Kurtzbach would actually contradict him. He gritted his teeth and said: "I will never do this without the permission of the head of state." Surrendered to the Russians.”
"Your Excellency, Commander." Seeing that today's negotiations were about to collapse, Schmidt quickly came out to smooth things over: "Since everyone feels that they can accept the conditions proposed by the Russians, why don't we send a telegram to Berlin and ask the Führer for instructions to see if surrender is possible. Save more soldier lives.”
"The Chief of Staff is right." As soon as Schmidt finished speaking, there was a chorus of echoes in the room: "Your Excellency, Commander, you should immediately send a telegram to the Führer to report to him the situation here and ask him to allow it. We surrendered to the Russians."
"Chief of Staff," Paulus saw that his subordinates were unanimous, so he stopped being stubborn and ordered Schmidt: "You should immediately send a telegram to Berlin and report our current situation to the Führer. Please ask him, Allow us to surrender to the Russians to save the lives of more soldiers."
