Miller returned to the headquarters and told Strekel the contents of his meeting with Chuikov. Strekel fell silent.
The chief of staff of the army on the side was worried that Strekel would change his mind and quickly reminded him: "Your Excellency, General, since we have negotiated the surrender with the Russians, we should resolutely implement it. If we change our mind at this moment, I am afraid that something will happen to us." Russian revenge."
"Don't worry, Chief of Staff." Strecker saw the Chief of Staff's worry and comforted him: "Now that I have made a decision, I will not change it easily. When the agreed time comes, I will naturally go out and ask for help. The Russians surrendered. But now I am worried that Lensky will interfere with it, and it will cause trouble."
"Your Excellency, General, I think it is better to summon all the division commanders here." The Army Chief of Staff suggested to Strecker: "Then inform them of the surrender. If anyone disagrees, arrest them on the spot. Anyway, they There are no soldiers around, so even if we shoot all these opponents, it will not cause any chaos."
"You are right." Strekel agreed with the proposal of the Army Chief of Staff: "Call the division commanders immediately and ask them to rush to my headquarters immediately."
Half an hour later, the division commanders who had been notified came to Strecker's headquarters.
When Lenski came in, he was still mumbling, "What the hell, what happened to have to summon us all here so late?"
The rest of the division commanders did not speak. They all muttered to themselves: Why did Strecker summon him in the middle of the night? Did something happen?
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Strecker coughed twice, cleared his throat, and said to everyone: "Gentlemen, there is no point in continuing to fight. In order to save more lives, , I am ready to order the troops to surrender to the Russians."
Although before everyone came to the meeting, they had guessed that Strecker had summoned him urgently to decide whether to fight or surrender. Hearing Strecker's final answer at this moment, some people felt relieved and felt that Strekel had finally made the right choice; others were uneasy, worried about whether their surrender would affect the country. family.
After hearing this, Lenski became furious. After slapping the table, he stood up, pointed his finger at Strecker and said sternly: "Your Excellency, why should you surrender? We clearly have tens of thousands more people." You can definitely continue to fight the Russians. Have you forgotten the head of state’s order and want to fight the Russians until the last moment?”
"As soldiers, we have done our duty." Faced with Lenski's accusation, Strecker said calmly: "The only thing left to do is to find ways to save more living people and let They will have the opportunity to return to their home country in the future."
Seeing that Strekel had made up his mind to surrender, Lensky's face turned black and purple with anger. He pointed at Strekel and shouted angrily: "You traitor to the German motherland, how dare you disobey the Führer?" Order, I will kill you." As he said that, he reached out and drew the gun from his waist.
But as soon as his hand touched the holster, Aaronstorff, the commander of the 60th Motorized Rifle Division sitting next to him, grabbed his hand and prevented him from pulling out the pistol.
When the army chief of staff saw that Lensky was actually preparing to shoot Strekel, he quickly retreated to the door and shouted outside: "Come here, come here, there is an assassin!"
Following his shout, a dozen soldiers carrying submachine guns rushed in from outside. The officers present recognized these people from their clothes as members of the military guard regiment.
Lensky looked at the dark muzzles of the guns pointed at him, fearing that the other party would fire at him. He quickly released his hand on the holster, looked at Strekel and gritted his teeth and said: "Streckel General, are you really prepared to become a traitor to the motherland?"
Strekel stood up and said calmly: "I just want to save more living people. As for whether I will become a traitor to the motherland, I don't care at all."
When the Army Chief of Staff heard what Strecker said, he immediately told the soldiers with confidence: "Take Lensky away quickly."
The soldiers swarmed over and first handed over Lensky's gun, then pushed him out of the headquarters with his hands behind his back.
After Lensky was taken away, Strecker looked at the remaining division commanders and asked, "Does anyone have any objections?"
The division commanders who were originally hesitant saw Lensky being dragged out of the headquarters by the soldiers. They knew that if they went against Strekel, they would probably end up in the same fate, so they quickly replied in unison: "No more."
"Okay, since everyone has no different opinions, let's stay here." After Strecker finished speaking, he turned around and shook his head at the chief of staff and said, "Give them the order to sign."
When everyone saw the document handed to them by the army chief of staff, they discovered that it was an order for the troops to surrender. Although Strecker could directly issue a surrender order to all troops, he still asked these division commanders to sign it to share the responsibility.
With Lensky's lesson learned from the past, naturally no stubborn person would come out to confront Strekel. Everyone honestly signed their names on the surrender order.
Seeing everyone sign, Strecker couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief. He called the Chief of Staff, handed him the signed order, and said at the same time: "Chief of Staff, order all troops to cease all hostilities with the Russians after daybreak, lay down their weapons and surrender to them."
According to Strecker, after this order was issued, there would definitely be a lot of opposition. Therefore, he did not dare to put back the division commanders who participated in the meeting, lest they secretly disobey the order and continue to fight against the Russians. Bringing disaster to other troops.
Unexpectedly, after the order was issued, not only the imagined opposition did not appear. On the contrary, the hungry German officers and soldiers began to cheer and cheer: "Finally there is no need to fight anymore, we can go home alive."
"If we become prisoners of the Russians, we should be provided with food and winter clothing, so that many fewer people will die of cold and starvation."
Some German officers and soldiers who were close to the Soviet positions were even more straightforward. They couldn't wait for the agreed surrender time, so they came out of their positions holding white flags and lined up in neat lines to surrender to the Soviet troops on the opposite side.
The Germans surrendered so quickly that Chuikov had no time to notify all the troops below. The Soviet commanders and fighters staying in the bunker saw a group of German officers and soldiers walking towards them and immediately issued a battle alarm. The soldiers who were still sleeping in the concealment department heard the sirens outside and immediately rushed out of the concealment department with their weapons in hand and quickly entered the position.
Through the burning fires on the battlefield, the soldiers could see clearly that the German soldiers approaching did not look like they were attacking, but like they were marching, and they all came to wonder. Moreover, the enemy stopped two hundred meters away from their position, and they all stood there like telegraph poles. Only the soldier at the front was desperately waving the white flag in his hand.
The commanders and soldiers were worried that it was a German conspiracy and quickly reported the matter to their superiors. In this way, what happened on the frontier was reported to Chuikov step by step. After Chuikov read the report, he said in surprise: "Damn it, didn't you say you won't surrender until dawn? Why did you surrender so soon?"
Sokov, who had just arrived from Mamayev Heights, heard what Chuikov said and immediately analyzed to him: "I guess the German commander gave the order to the troops to surrender, and if these soldiers continue to delay, maybe they will He would be killed in the battle, so he rushed over and surrendered to our army."
"Comrade Commander," Krylov asked Chuikov for instructions: "What should we do? Order the soldiers to accept the enemy's surrender?"
"Wait a minute," Chuikov said, waving his hands: "We still don't know whether the enemy is really surrendering or pretending to surrender. If they take advantage of the time we are receiving prisoners to sneak into our defense area and cause damage, I'm afraid It will cause chaos. I think the soldiers on the position should be on standby and not accept prisoners for the time being."
"But, are we going to allow so many enemies to stay in front of our position?"
"Chief of Staff, please tell the forward commanders that it's not that we won't accept German prisoners, but that it's still dark and letting so many people enter our positions may cause chaos." Chuikov told Krylov: "We must accept them. Prisoners, let’s wait until daybreak.”
In this way, Krylov issued Chuikov's order to each division, and the commanders of each division were given the same order to the front units. The forward troops who received the order immediately shouted to the German prisoners who came to surrender: "German soldiers, we are ordered to accept your surrender after dawn. Before dawn, anyone who wants to approach our position without permission will be killed without mercy. Don’t hesitate to shoot.”
Hearing the shouts of the Soviet army, the German officers and soldiers arrayed in front of the position reacted numbly. Since the Russians asked us to wait here until dawn, then let's wait here until dawn. No one turned around and left the team, nor did they find a shelter from the cold wind. They just stood there without moving.
After a long wait, it finally dawned. Groups of Soviet commanders and fighters left their positions and ran towards the German officers and soldiers arrayed in preparation for receiving prisoners. However, they soon discovered that some of the weaker soldiers were frozen to death, while the rest were shivering from the cold.
Strecker, who was staying in the headquarters, saw that it was already dawn outside, so he said to the division commanders sitting at the conference table: "Gentlemen, it is already dawn, and we should go out and surrender to the Russians." .”
The Germans surrendered so quickly that Chuikov had no time to notify all the troops below. The Soviet commanders and fighters staying in the bunker saw a group of German officers and soldiers walking towards them and immediately issued a battle alarm. The soldiers who were still sleeping in the concealment department heard the sirens outside and immediately rushed out of the concealment department with their weapons in hand and quickly entered the position.
Through the burning fires on the battlefield, the soldiers could see clearly that the German soldiers approaching did not look like they were attacking, but like they were marching, and they all came to wonder. Moreover, the enemy stopped two hundred meters away from their position, and they all stood there like telegraph poles. Only the soldier at the front was desperately waving the white flag in his hand.
The commanders and soldiers were worried that it was a German conspiracy and quickly reported the matter to their superiors. In this way, what happened on the frontier was reported to Chuikov step by step. After Chuikov read the report, he said in surprise: "Damn it, didn't you say you won't surrender until dawn? Why did you surrender so soon?"
Sokov, who had just arrived from Mamayev Heights, heard what Chuikov said and immediately analyzed to him: "I guess the German commander gave the order to the troops to surrender, and if these soldiers continue to delay, maybe they will He would be killed in the battle, so he rushed over and surrendered to our army."
"Comrade Commander," Krylov asked Chuikov for instructions: "What should we do? Order the soldiers to accept the enemy's surrender?"
"Wait a minute," Chuikov said, waving his hands: "We still don't know whether the enemy is really surrendering or pretending to surrender. If they take advantage of the time we are receiving prisoners to sneak into our defense area and cause damage, I'm afraid It will cause chaos. I think the soldiers on the position should be on standby and not accept prisoners for the time being."
"But, are we going to allow so many enemies to stay in front of our position?"
"Chief of Staff, please tell the forward commanders that it's not that we won't accept German prisoners, but that it's still dark and letting so many people enter our positions may cause chaos." Chuikov told Krylov: "We must accept them. Prisoners, let’s wait until daybreak.”
In this way, Krylov issued Chuikov's order to each division, and the commanders of each division were given the same order to the front units. The forward troops who received the order immediately shouted to the German prisoners who came to surrender: "German soldiers, we are ordered to accept your surrender after dawn. Before dawn, anyone who wants to approach our position without permission will be killed without mercy. Don’t hesitate to shoot.”
Hearing the shouts of the Soviet army, the German officers and soldiers arrayed in front of the position reacted numbly. Since the Russians asked us to wait here until dawn, then let's wait here until dawn. No one turned around and left the team, nor did they find a shelter from the cold wind. They just stood there without moving.
After a long wait, it finally dawned. Groups of Soviet commanders and fighters left their positions and ran towards the German officers and soldiers in formation, who were preparing to receive prisoners. However, they soon discovered that some of the weaker soldiers were frozen to death, while the rest were shivering from the cold.
Strecker, who was staying in the headquarters, saw that it was already dawn outside, so he said to the division commanders sitting at the conference table: "Gentlemen, it is already dawn, and we should go out and surrender to the Russians." .”
