The white flag waving on the rooftop on the second floor was quickly spotted by Ivanov in the distant observation post.
"The Germans surrendered?" Ivanov said to himself: "Isn't there some conspiracy?"
Anisimov, who came over from Mamayev Hill to watch the excitement, heard what Ivanov said and quickly interjected: "Comrade Colonel, do you think we should report this news to the division commander immediately?"
"You are right, Comrade Political Commissar." Ivanov nodded and said, "Such important information does need to be reported to Comrade Division Commander immediately."
After the call was connected, Ivanov's voice became hoarse with excitement: "Comrade division commander, the enemy who stood in the department store waved a white flag and surrendered to our army?"
"What?" Due to the huge noise coming from the receiver, Sokov did not hear clearly what Ivanov said, and quickly shouted into the receiver: "What did you say? I didn't hear it clearly, please repeat it louder."
"Comrade Division Commander." Ivanov took a deep breath, raised his voice and said, "The enemy who stood firm in the department store has raised a white flag and is ready to surrender to our army."
"Great, this is great." Sokov did not expect that the enemy standing in the building would surrender so quickly. After repeatedly cheering, he ordered Ivanov: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, order the troops to temporarily Stop attacking, stay where you are, and wait for further instructions."
"However, some soldiers from the downsizing regiment have already rushed into the building." Ivanov asked Sokov for instructions: "Should we order them to evacuate the building and wait outside?"
"No, just let them stay in the building." Sokov said into the microphone: "Send them a radio so that we can keep in touch with them at any time. I will rush over immediately."
After Sokov put down the phone, he ordered Sidorin: "Chief of Staff, immediately notify other attacking troops that the enemy has surrendered with a white flag and order them to stop attacking."
"Comrade Division Commander." After seeing Sokov trying to leave in a hurry, Sidorin quickly reminded him: "Our attack was not violent. How could the Germans surrender so easily? Is there any conspiracy in it? "
"I'll find out if there's a conspiracy or not when I go to the frontier."
"Wait a moment, Comrade Commander."
"What else?"
"You are now the commander of the combat group. Even if you want to go to the front line, you should report to the front army headquarters, lest you are not there when they want to find you."
In response to Sidorin's reminder, Sokov nodded and asked the communications soldier to help him connect to the front army headquarters. When a voice came from the receiver, Sokov said bluntly: "I am Colonel Sokov, commander of the combat group. Please help me find Chief of Staff Malinin. I have important military information to report to him."
After waiting for two or three minutes, Malinin's voice came from the receiver: "Colonel Sokov? I am Malinin. Do you have any important military information to report to me?"
"Reporting to Comrade Chief of Staff, my deputy division commander just reported to me. He said that the enemy who was holding on to the department store raised a white flag and surrendered to our army."
"What, you said the enemy raised a white flag?" Ma Lining asked in surprise: "Is this true?"
"It's true, Comrade Chief of Staff..."
Before Sokov could say anything, he suddenly heard Rokossovsky's voice coming from the receiver: "Misha, this is Rokossovsky. Is what you said true?"
"Comrade Commander of the Front Army, are you back from Moscow?"
"Yes, I just came back by plane." Rokossovsky was eager to know the answer, so he urged: "Misha, tell me from the courier, is what you said true?"
"The news that the enemy was flying a white flag was reported to me by my deputy division commander, Colonel Ivanov." Seeing Rokossovsky's doubts about the matter, Sokov quickly explained to him: "He is a As a veteran commander with more than 20 years of military experience, I believe his report is absolutely correct."
Rokossovsky, who has always been steady, continued to ask in order to find out whether this matter was true or not: "Misha, have you verified the accuracy of this information?"
"Comrade Commander of the Front Army!" Sokov replied: "I am preparing to rush to the front to verify the matter myself. I will report to you after I understand the accurate situation."
"Very good." Rokossovsky was very satisfied with Sokov's answer. He nodded and said, "Then I will wait for your good news."
When Rokossovsky put down the phone, Malinin asked him impatiently: "Comrade Commander, do we need to report this good news to Moscow immediately?"
"Don't be anxious yet, Comrade Chief of Staff." Rokossovsky waved his hand and rejected Malinin's proposal. He said: "Even if the German surrender is true, it is still unknown whether Paulus will stay in the building. If we don’t understand the situation and report it to the base camp in a hurry, once something goes wrong, it will be very difficult to make up for it.”
Besides, when Sokov left Mamayev Heights and took an armored vehicle to the forward headquarters of the 41st Guards Division, the fighting near the department store had completely stopped. Apart from the billowing black smoke and fire, no gunfire could be heard on the battlefield. Seryosha, who was sitting next to Sokov, said excitedly: "Misha, listen, there is no sound of gunfire on the battlefield. It seems that the Germans are really going to surrender to us."
As he got closer and closer to the forward headquarters, Sokov's heart beat faster than expected. Although the enemies of the department store had raised a white flag, it was still unknown whether Paulus was still in the building at this moment. If he waited until he led his men to rush in, only to find that Paulus had already escaped, it would be all in vain.
…………
The white flag on the rooftop was not only seen by the Soviet commanders and fighters who attacked the building, but also by the Germans who stayed in the building. Someone immediately reported the situation to Sannei.
When Sannei learned that someone in the building dared to raise a white flag to the Soviet army, he immediately became angry and led a dozen of his subordinates towards the rooftop. Still far away, he saw a group of people standing on the rooftop. Before he could see clearly who they were, he shouted sternly: "Who are you cowards? Who allowed you to raise the white flag to the Russians? "
As soon as he finished shouting, someone in the crowd said leisurely: "I gave the order, General Sannei."
"It's you, Hans Wurz." When Sanneh saw clearly that the speaker was General Hans Wurz, commander of the 144th Artillery Group, he couldn't help being surprised: "Why are you raising a white flag to the Russians? Don't you You know, we can definitely keep fighting. If the Russians want to occupy the department store, they will have to pay at least thousands of lives."
"Sober up, General Sannei." Hans Wurtz shook his head and said to Sannei with a wry smile: "Now the soldiers are not willing to fight anymore. If you put down your weapons and surrender earlier, more people can survive." Come down. Let me tell you the truth, the order to surrender was personally issued by His Excellency the Commander."
"Impossible, this is impossible." Sannei roared: "If the Commander wanted to surrender, he would have surrendered long ago. How could he suddenly announce his surrender while our officers and soldiers are still fighting tenaciously against the Russians?"
"General Sannei," Hans Wurtz raised his voice and said, "I think you did not understand the commander's order. What he said was that after resistance, our army can choose to surrender when it finds that it cannot stop the Russian attack. . Now that the Russian troops have stormed into the building, there is no point in continuing to resist, so I ordered people to fly the white flag."
Seeing a row of black gun muzzles pointing at him on the opposite side, Hans Wurz took two steps forward with his hands behind his back and said to the soldiers: "Soldiers, we are on the verge of running out of ammunition and food. If we continue to fight, If you go down, there is only a dead end. Don’t you all want to return to your motherland alive, to your parents, wives and children?”
It may be Hans Wurtz's last words that moved the officers and soldiers following Sannei. First, one muzzle dropped, and then more muzzles dropped. Soon, no more guns were pointed at Hans Wurz.
Seeing that his words had an effect, Hans Wurtz secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said to Sannei: "General Sannei, stop being stubborn and order the soldiers to stop resisting. Listen to the Russian attack outside. It also stopped. Wait a little longer, and they will send someone to accept the surrender."
"General Hans Wurz," at this moment, a familiar voice came from the stairs: "I was looking for you everywhere, but I didn't expect you to be here."
Everyone turned around and saw that it was Chief of Staff Schmidt walking up from the stairs. He came between Hans Wurtz and Sanneh and said to them: "The latest order from His Majesty the Commander is to stop resisting and surrender to the Russians. General Sanneh, order your troops to stop shooting immediately."
"Not all the defenders in this building are from my 100th Chasseur Division." Sannei said angrily, "I can't order them all to surrender."
"You only need to give orders to the officers and soldiers of the 100th Chasseur Division. The rest of the troops will naturally have their commanders to give orders."
Now that Schmidt had spoken to this extent, Sannei knew that no matter how much he refuted, it would be meaningless, so he could only turn around and tell an officer to notify the troops to cease fire.
After the gunfire in the building completely stopped, Schmidt tidied up his military appearance and said to Hans Wurz: "Let's go, General Hans Wurz."
"Where to go?" Hans Wurz asked puzzledly.
"His Excellency the Commander ordered the two of us to serve as negotiators and go to the Russian command headquarters to negotiate surrender."
A few minutes later, Schmidt and Hans Wurz came down the stairs, followed by a soldier carrying a white flag. They met the commanders and fighters of the downsized regiment on the first floor. Schmidt said to Captain Vasily, the commander of the first battalion who came out of the hiding place: "Mr. Officer, I am the plenipotentiary negotiator appointed by Marshal Paulus. Please take me to see him." Your higher ranking commander."
Although Vasily didn't understand Russian, he guessed three points from Schmidt's tone of voice. After asking for instructions via the radio, they decided to personally bring Schmidt and others to the forward headquarters.
As soon as Sokov entered the headquarters, Ivanov said to him in surprise: "Comrade division commander, it's great that you are here. The Germans will send someone over for negotiations later."
"The Germans are coming to negotiate?" Sokov asked rhetorically: "Who are the negotiators coming and what is the purpose of their negotiations?"
Sokov's question stopped Ivanov. He shook his head with a wry smile and replied: "Comrade division commander, Captain Vasily, the commander who led the troops into the building, doesn't understand German at all. He only knows German Two generals were sent to negotiate with us, and I have ordered them to bring their people over."
Seeing that his words had an effect, Hans Wurtz secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said to Sannei: "General Sannei, stop being stubborn and order the soldiers to stop resisting. Listen to the Russian attack outside. It also stopped. Wait a little longer, and they will send someone to accept the surrender."
"General Hans Wurz," at this moment, a familiar voice came from the stairs: "I was looking for you everywhere, but I didn't expect you to be here."
Everyone turned around and saw that it was Chief of Staff Schmidt walking up from the stairs. He came between Hans Wurtz and Sanneh and said to them: "The latest order from His Majesty the Commander is to stop resisting and surrender to the Russians. General Sanneh, order your troops to stop shooting immediately."
"Not all the defenders in this building are from my 100th Chasseur Division." Sannei said angrily, "I can't order them all to surrender."
"You only need to give orders to the officers and soldiers of the 100th Chasseur Division. The rest of the troops will naturally have their commanders to give orders."
Now that Schmidt had spoken to this extent, Sannei knew that no matter how much he refuted, it would be meaningless, so he could only turn around and tell an officer to notify the troops to cease fire.
After the gunfire in the building completely stopped, Schmidt tidied up his military appearance and said to Hans Wurz: "Let's go, General Hans Wurz."
"Where to go?" Hans Wurz asked puzzledly.
"His Excellency the Commander ordered the two of us to serve as negotiators and go to the Russian command headquarters to negotiate surrender."
A few minutes later, Schmidt and Hans Wurz came down the stairs, followed by a soldier carrying a white flag. They met the commanders and fighters of the downsized regiment on the first floor. Schmidt said to Captain Vasily, the commander of the first battalion who came out of the hiding place: "Mr. Officer, I am the plenipotentiary negotiator appointed by Marshal Paulus. Please take me to see him." Your higher ranking commander."
Although Vasily didn't understand Russian, he guessed three points from Schmidt's tone of voice. After asking for instructions via the radio, they decided to personally bring Schmidt and others to the forward headquarters.
As soon as Sokov entered the headquarters, Ivanov said to him in surprise: "Comrade division commander, it's great that you are here. The Germans will send someone over for negotiations later."
"The Germans are coming to negotiate?" Sokov asked rhetorically: "Who are the negotiators coming and what is the purpose of their negotiations?"
Sokov's question stopped Ivanov. He shook his head with a wry smile and replied: "Comrade division commander, Captain Vasily, the commander who led the troops into the building, does not understand German at all. He only knows German Two generals were sent to negotiate with us, and I have ordered them to bring them over."
