Sokov clearly remembers that German prisoners were paraded through the streets of Moscow on July 17, 1944. This parade, known as a special military parade, was named "The Great Waltz" by the Soviet side, which severely mocked these Germans from its name.
But somehow, of the 160,000 German officers and soldiers captured in Belarus, only 57,000 were left after arriving in Moscow. There is no accurate record of where the remaining prisoners of war went.
The prisoners of war who arrived in Moscow were divided into 90 square formations by the Soviet army, and the formation stretched for more than 3 kilometers. Walking at the front of the team were 19 German generals. The medals they wore on their chests used to symbolize glory, but now they represent shame.
German officers and soldiers in ragged clothes and haggard faces followed them, their eyes full of fear, in sharp contrast to the Moscow people around them who looked happy with victory.
On the day of the parade, a rare high temperature occurred in Moscow, causing thousands of prisoners of war to suffer from heat exhaustion during the parade. And I don’t know whether it was accidental or deliberate, but there was something wrong with the food the prisoners had the day before, which caused many prisoners of war to have diarrhea during the march. Without a chance to go to the toilet, they pooped directly on the asphalt road. Dignity completely wiped out. The entire "military parade" lasted for nearly 6 hours, and filth accompanied it all the way. Finally, the captive army was disbanded not far from the Kremlin, and was loaded onto trains and transported to various prisoner of war camps.
As soon as the "military parade" ended, Moscow's water convoys were dispatched to clean the streets to prevent the city from being stinky. The dirt symbolizes the German aggression, which devastated the Soviet Union. The cleaning of the water trucks not only cleans the road, but also means to wash away all the shame caused by the invaders.
The next day, the Soviets also publicized the matter in the newspapers and periodicals, with a very eye-catching title: The Germans entered Moscow in this manner.
"Comrade Deputy Commander," Sokov no longer discussed with Ponedelin the relationship between the Soviet Union and Britain and the United States after the war. What he was most concerned about at the moment was how many prisoners could be captured and provided to the front army headquarters: "There are others nearby. How many are enemies of the establishment?”
When Ponedelin heard what Sokov said, he couldn't help but be startled, and then asked: "Comrade Commander, why do you ask this?"
"I just said that the Front Army Command asked us to provide prisoners of war, probably to show our allies the results we have achieved." Sokov said to Ponedelin: "I want to know if there are any organized German troops nearby. , after the chief of staff brings the remaining troops to join us, I plan to conduct an attack to try to capture more prisoners and provide them to the front army headquarters."
After figuring out Sokov's intentions, Ponedelin pointed to the map and said to him: "According to the information provided by the guerrillas, there are German troops stationed here, with about two regiments."
"There are only two regiments," Sokov said with a sneer: "I originally wanted to wait for the chief of staff to bring the remaining troops before attacking the nearby enemies. But I didn't expect that there is a piece of fat right now. There is no reason not to eat him before us."
"Comrade Commander, I think we should wait a little longer." After Sokov finished speaking, Ponejelin persuaded: "We still need to send people to verify whether the information provided by the guerrillas is accurate. It is confirmed that the German army only has two With the strength of a regiment, it will not be too late for us to launch an attack."
"Yes, Comrade Commander, I think the Deputy Commander is right." Kirillov echoed from the side: "Although the information was provided by the guerrillas, it is very true. But we must also consider that the German army We have suffered a heavy blow recently. Many troops were defeated, but they have regrouped in a new place. Although this place only had two regiments some time ago, no one can guarantee whether there are any troops that have been routed. Rush over and fight with them. They merge."
Seeing that Kirillov expressed his concerns, Ponedelin added: "If we do not understand the specific situation of the enemy and launch an attack rashly, we will have fewer troops and cannot defeat the enemy; if we have too many troops, we will not be able to defeat the enemy." It will definitely affect our use of troops in other areas."
"Okay." Sokov felt that what the two people said made sense, and nodded in agreement: "Immediately send out a reconnaissance team to conduct reconnaissance of the German deployment in the area, find out how many troops they have, and then decide how many to use. troops to destroy them.”
Seeing Sokov, Kirillov agreed to send a reconnaissance team to conduct reconnaissance first, and then decide how many troops to send to attack after figuring out the enemy's true strength. He faithfully performed his duties as acting chief of staff, picked up the phone and gave orders to the troops below, asking them to immediately send scouts to the location of the German army to conduct reconnaissance.
Besides, the 122nd Brigade led by Miresiev was approaching the German prisoner-of-war camp at this moment.
Miresiev ordered the troops to stop, then called the translator and said to him: "Comrade translator, take two soldiers over to take a look and find out how many enemies there are in the prisoner of war camp."
The translator, who was wearing the uniform of a German second lieutenant, heard the order given to him by Miresiev and said hesitantly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, if the Germans ask us which part we are in, how should I answer?"
"Just say that the members of our 35th Army came here after going through a lot of hardships after being defeated by the Russians." Seeing that the translator was so timid, Milesiev felt a little more dissatisfied with him. : "Just tell us to go in and change defense and ask them to open the door for us."
"But Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what if they hear that we are here to change defenses and ask me for relevant documents?"
"It's all about me." Miresiev said impatiently: "Stop dawdling, hurry up and get there."
Looking at the backs of the translator and the two soldiers, Milesiev's dissatisfaction with him reached a high point. He regretted that when he met Sokov, he did not ask the other party for two people who knew German, so that he would not be able to speak German. It will be as passive as it is now.
Fortunately, what happened next was not as bad as Milesiev feared. Not long after, the translator who went to the prisoner of war camp came back with his people and reported to Miresiev: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, good news. I have negotiated with the German commander. He will lead the troops at the camp gate. We’ll welcome you outside.”
"Oh, the German commander came out to greet me in person?"
"Yes, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I said the German commander came out to greet you." The translator, who was still nervous when he went to the prisoner of war camp, was in high spirits now: "They got the news and knew that our army has obtained Having won the victory, some soldiers' morale was unavoidably shaken. Now that they saw someone willing to switch defenses with them and take over the job of guarding the prisoners of war, they simply couldn't ask for more. They didn't even bother to ask me for any documents. The commander of the prisoner of war camp even offered to lead someone in the camp. We’ll greet you at the door.”
Now that the Germans had relaxed their vigilance against him, Miresiev naturally wanted what he wanted and immediately led his troops to rush over.
When we arrived at the place, we saw two to three hundred German troops lined up outside the prisoners of war. Standing at the front of the queue was a major. When he saw Milesiev's arrival, he hurriedly came up to greet him. After raising his hands in salute, he started chattering. Milesiev could not understand what he was saying, so he could only turn to the translator for help.
Now the German commander was only two or three meters away from Milesiev. Even if he spoke close to Milesiev's ear, the German officer on the other side might hear him. For a moment, the scene seemed quite embarrassing.
When the German commander saw that Milesiev ignored him, he thought that the other party had not heard clearly, and charged loudly again. But Miresiev didn't say he didn't understand. Even if he understood, he didn't know how to respond to the other party.
Meresiev looked over the shoulder of the German commander and looked into the prisoner of war camp. He saw a sandbag fortification with a machine gun near the door. After entering the door, there was a bungalow on the right side, with clothes hanging to dry outside. From the looks of it, this should be the residence of the German guards. In the distance are the wooden houses where the prisoners of war camp lived, dotted in the middle of the prisoner of war camp.
After looking at the terrain, Milesiev found that except for the four guard towers that were on duty, the rest of the German troops should have been brought out by the German commander to greet him. "Let's do it." Seeing that the enemy was unprepared and had only a quarter of his own strength, Miresyev ordered the people around him: "Capture them all!"
After hearing Miresiev's words, the soldiers immediately swarmed forward and pointed their weapons at the German guards who were lined up outside the prisoner of war camp. When the German commander heard Milesiev giving orders in Russian, he realized something was wrong. When he saw the opposing troops pointing their guns at him, he understood even more that there was something wrong with these soldiers wearing German uniforms.
Although most of the German troops were disarmed, the sentries at the sentry box noticed something was wrong. They pressed the alarm switch, picked up their weapons, and fired at the location of the 25th Guards Regiment.
Miresiev had known for a long time that despite the fact that most of the German guards followed their commanders out of camp to greet him, the greatest threat to the troops was the sentries in the four sentry towers. Therefore, after controlling the enemies at the entrance of the camp, Miresiev divided his troops into four groups and rushed to different guard towers.
When the soldiers on the guard tower saw the incoming troops, they first disarmed the guards and then rushed towards the guard tower where they were standing guard, and then they fired desperately. Although their bullets knocked down some officers and men, the remaining men boldly charged towards the tower.
The battle ended quickly, and all the soldiers in the guard tower were killed, but the Soviet army also paid the price with 2 dead and 18 wounded.
The prisoners of war who were originally staying in the wooden house couldn't help but feel guilty when they saw the door being opened and a group of people wearing German uniforms rushing in from the outside. Based on their experience, another companion was going to suffer.
But what happened next shocked them. An officer wearing the uniform of a German lieutenant shouted to them in Russian: "Comrades, you are trapped, we are here to rescue you!"
After the lieutenant finished speaking, the expected cheers did not appear. All the prisoners of war in the room looked at the lieutenant with numb expressions, as if they did not understand what he said at all.
Seeing this, the lieutenant could only order his men to take all the prisoners of war out of the wooden house.
When they arrived at the open space outside the wooden house, when the prisoners were about to line up according to the previous queue, they were surprised to see the arrogant guards in the past standing dejectedly at the other end of the open space. They were surrounded by people who were also wearing German uniforms. soldiers, whose guns were pointed at the guards of the prisoner of war camp.
A German lieutenant colonel walked into the queue and said to everyone through the loudspeaker: "Comrades, we are from the 25th Regiment of the 6th Guards Division. I am the commander of the regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Miresiev. We are from the 48th Regiment." The commander of the Army Group, General Sokov, ordered me to come here to rescue you. Comrades, you have suffered!"
Although these prisoners of war were captured at different times, they all had heard of Sokov's name to some extent. At this moment, hearing that Miresiev said that he came to rescue them on Sokov's order, a courageous soldier asked tentatively: "Is it the General Sokov who defeated the Imperial Division and the Skeleton Division?"
"Yes, it's him!"
Hearing Miresyev's affirmative answer, the soldier who asked the question suddenly cheered. He shouted to the prisoners who were still in a state of shock: "Comrades, this is one of our own people who was commissioned by Sokov." The general ordered us to come here to greet us.”
The originally silent crowd suddenly cheered when they heard what the prisoner of war said and understood what was going on.
Miresiev did not interrupt the cheers of the prisoners of war, but quietly waited for them to quiet down.
But after the prisoners of war calmed down, Miresiev continued: "Comrades, this prisoner of war camp is still behind enemy lines. We must move immediately, otherwise when the large German troops surround us, we will not be able to leave if we want to." .”
When the prisoners of war heard this, they thought, don't you see that your friendly forces have occupied the prisoner of war camp, but if a large German army comes around, it is still unknown how large-scale the two thousand people can withstand the German attack, so If you can, transfer it as soon as possible.
The transfer began quickly, and since there were no seriously wounded prisoners, the transfer was quick. In less than half an hour, the entire prisoner of war camp was heading in the direction of Baranovich.
During the march, a battalion commander asked Miresyev for instructions: "Comrade Commander, it is basically impossible for such a large unit of ours to walk on the road without being discovered by the enemy. So I would like to ask a question Ask, what should we do if we encounter the enemy?"
"Comrade Major," Milesiev answered simply to the battalion commander's question: "Needless to say, it goes without saying that we should fire directly at the enemy and eliminate them all before they can react."
"Understood, comrade commander." After the battalion commander figured out what was going on, he quickly said: "I will tell the soldiers that as soon as they see the Germans, they should fire immediately. They must kill them all before they react. .”
Just after the battalion commander was sent away, another prisoner of war came over and curiously asked Miresiev: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I would like to ask, how far do we have to go?"
"It's not far," Milesiev said casually, "it's only a few dozen kilometers, so you don't have to worry."
"A few dozen kilometers is not close, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." The prisoner of war reminded Miresiev: "If we encounter the Germans halfway, if we have no weapons, we will not be the opponent of the Germans."
"Don't worry, comrade." Miresiev patted the other party's shoulder twice and comforted him: "Although you have no weapons, don't you still have us? We will protect you and return to our army safely. One side.”
