Not long after the representatives of the Propaganda Department left, Weidling, accompanied by General Glazunov, commander of the 28th Guards Army, came to Chuikov's headquarters.
Chuikov, who was sitting on the sofa, saw Weidelin and did not stand up. He just nodded to him and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, General Weidelin. I have an injury on my leg and cannot get up to greet you. Please forgive me for my inability to greet you." present!"
Weidelin knew about Chuikov's injury before he came here. He even knew that the reason why the defense area in the direction of the zoo was bombarded for more than ten hours was entirely because someone there fired a cold shot at Chuikov, and Chuikov's artillerymen were seeking revenge for their commander. Precisely because he understood the situation, Weideling said reasonably: "General Chuikov, you are injured, please sit down and talk."
"General Weidling, I would like to ask you, what is your identity?"
"I am the commander of the 56th Armored Corps and was appointed commander of the Berlin City Defense by the Führer six days ago." Weidling replied.
Chuikov thought that although the other party had the position of city defense commander, he had only been in office for too short a time and might not have much prestige among the Berlin defenders. If you want the German defenders in Berlin to surrender, you must find someone with high prestige. But now Goebbels has committed suicide and Hoffman is also dead. Among the people he knows, General Krebs is probably the only one left. Although the chief of staff of the German army has been replaced, no matter what , he had served as the chief of general staff for a period of time, and the orders he issued were definitely more effective than Weidelin's orders.
Thinking of this, he looked up at Weidling and asked, "General Weidling, where is General Krebs?"
Upon hearing Chuikov's question, the muscles on Weideling's face twitched violently several times, and then he replied with a dark expression: "General Krebs shot himself after returning from here yesterday."
"What, General Krebs also committed suicide?" Chuikov couldn't help being shocked when he heard the news, and then asked: "Why?"
"Because it is a shame for us to negotiate surrender with the enemy." Weidling said expressionlessly: "General Krebs may have brought shame to his military career by negotiating with you yesterday. In order to wash away this Humiliated, he chose to commit suicide."
"So that's it." After figuring out the reason for Krebs' suicide, Chuikov sighed softly, and then said, "What a pity."
At this time Sokolovsky came in from the outside. He first said hello to Chuikov, then looked at Weidling and asked: "Chuikov, who is he?"
Chuikov quickly introduced: "This is General Weidling, commander of the German 56th Armored Corps. Now he also serves as the commander of Berlin City Defense."
After figuring out Weidling's identity, Sokolovsky looked at Weidling and asked, "Mr. General, how long have you been in the army?"
"It started in 1911, when I was just an ordinary private."
After hearing this, Sokolovsky nodded and said, "You have been a soldier for 34 years, and you have finally grown from a private to a general. It is really amazing."
"Yes." Chuikov echoed from the side: "In today's war era, some people even die one day after joining the army. Let alone generals, even company commanders and platoon commanders have no chance of him."
"General Weidling, you have been in the army for 34 years. I think you must have a lot of connections." Sokolovsky said to Weidling: "You should give an order to the troops in Berlin and ask them to all lay down their weapons and fight. We surrender."
"I'm sorry, General." Sokolovsky's suggestion made Weidelin very embarrassed: "I can't issue a surrender order to all the troops because there is no communication tool. They will continue after I announce the surrender order. Resistance. Also, not many people know that the Führer is dead so far, because Dr. Goebbels strictly suppressed news of his death.”
Sokolovsky said: "We have stopped all military operations, and even the aviation has stopped bombing. The 56th Armored Corps under your command has begun to surrender, and the negotiation team sent by Fritsch also announced Surrender. Precisely because they showed their attitude of surrender,
We just gave the troops a ceasefire order. "
After Weidling waited for Sokolovsky to finish speaking, he expressed his position: "I am willing to do my best to make the troops still resisting in the city stop fighting, lay down their weapons and surrender to you."
But then, he pointed to a place and said to Sokolovsky and Chuikov: "The remnants of the SS are stationed here, and I have no right to command them. If they know that I ordered the surrender, they may Will break out towards the west."
"Why?" Chuikov couldn't help but ask after hearing this: "Why did the SS break out to the west?"
"The reason is very simple, General Chuikov." Weideling explained to Chuikov: "As long as your troops capture the SS, they will be shot without mercy. If they want to survive, they can only escape westward to Allied control. Area."
"We will deal with these SS soldiers," Sokolovsky said. "Your task now is to draft a surrender order."
"Okay, General." Weidelin nodded, and then said, "I will draft a surrender order immediately."
Seeing Weidelin holding a pen and paper in a dilemma, Chuikov couldn't help but ask: "General Weidelin, do you need me to find someone to help you?"
Hearing what Chuikov said, Weidelin nodded vigorously and said, "It would be great if there was someone who could help."
Soon, Colonel Dufvinger, chief of staff of the 56th Armored Corps, walked in from outside. He came to Weidling and asked: "Your Excellency, Army Commander, what are your instructions?"
"The Russians want me to draft a surrender order," Weidling said. "I have never written anything like this, so I hope you can help me."
"Your Excellency, Army Commander." Dufvinger became panicked when he learned that Weidelin had called him in and was preparing to draft a surrender order with him. He did not want to bear the eternal infamy, so he hurriedly waved his hands and said, "Me neither. If you can write this kind of thing, you’d better find someone else.”
"Okay, stop dawdling." Seeing his chief of staff resisting, Weideling was a little unhappy: "Someone has to write the surrender order for the troops. General Krebs was reluctant to issue the surrender order. So I chose to commit suicide. Do you also want to watch me commit suicide?"
Weidling's harsh words made Colonel Dufvinger change his mind: "Okay, Your Excellency, Army Commander, then I will draft this surrender order with you."
Ten minutes later, Weidling stopped writing and handed what he had written to the translator standing aside, indicating that he would hand it over to Sokolovsky and Chuikov.
Sokolovsky did not accept the order handed over by the translator, but asked him to read it out in public. The translator did not dare to disobey Sokolovsky's order and began to read aloud:
"On April 30, the Führer committed suicide. He abandoned those of us who had sworn allegiance to him. According to the Führer's orders, we should continue to fight for Berlin, but our ammunition has been exhausted, and the overall situation has made it so It becomes meaningless for us to continue to resist. I order: Stop resisting immediately! Signed: Artillery General Weidling, former Berlin City Defense Commander!"
After listening to this, Sokolovsky smiled and said, "Why do you say 'former city defense commander'?" You know, you are still the city defense commander of Berlin. "
Regarding what name this surrender document should be given, Weidelin felt very embarrassed: "General, do you think it is an "appeal" or an "order"? "
Before Sokolovsky could finish speaking, Chuikov said first: "Write an 'order'!" "
"Your Excellency, two generals," Weideling said, "I have a lot of people in my headquarters. I have two chiefs of staff and two retired generals, but they still remain loyal to me and are willing to take orders from me. I plan to let them do it. Help me arrange the surrender."
"General Weidling," Sokolovsky said, "We plan to send someone to carry your surrender order and read it in a broadcast truck throughout the city. Do you have any objections?"
"No," Weideling said in a low voice, "I don't have any objections."
"In order to avoid unnecessary
Misunderstand. Sokolovsky continued: "Do you think it's okay to have a German officer in each radio car?"
"Okay." Weidelin said weakly, "My subordinates will make arrangements."
Chuikov saw that Weidelin was in poor spirits and quickly asked someone to take him to rest next door. After he left, Chuikov said to others present: "Have you noticed that Weidelin's mental state is a little bad."
"I saw it." Sokolovsky nodded and said: "He personally drafted an order ordering the Berlin defenders to surrender. This is an indelible stain on his military career. He has no choice. It's not easy to commit suicide like Krebs did."
Soon, a staff officer came in and reported, "The propaganda vehicle is ready and ready to go at any time."
"Let's go," Chuikov said. "Let the Germans who are still resisting hear the propaganda as soon as possible to save their precious lives."
When the radio truck started broadcasting the surrender document drafted by Weidling on the streets of Berlin, Chuikov's adjutant came in and reported: "Comrade Commander, the German Propaganda Minister Fritsch is here."
"Hurry up and invite him in!"
Soon, a short man wearing a gray woolen coat and round-rimmed glasses walked in from outside. After he came and sat down on the sofa opposite Chuikov, he began to introduce himself: "General Chuikov, I am the new Propaganda Minister Fritsch. You must have heard of my name."
"Yes, Mr. Fritsch, I have heard of your name." When Chuikov said this, he whispered in his heart: Your subordinates have been mentioning your name constantly since they entered my command post. Even if you want to know, you can’t do it.
"Mr. Fritsch," Sokolovsky said next to him: "We have sent propaganda vehicles to the streets to broadcast the surrender order of the city defense commander General Weidling, asking the German officers and soldiers who are still resisting in the city to put down their weapons. Surrender to us. What do you think of this matter?"
"I think this is what it should be." Fritsch said: "We have already been defeated. If we continue to fight, we will only sacrifice more innocent lives. My mission here is to help you end this damn thing." war."
What Fritsch said made Sokolovsky like him: "Mr. Fritsch, we are very concerned about the safety of this city. Those who are worried that they may be in danger can seek protection from us. .”
After Fritsch waited for Sokolovsky to finish speaking, he immediately added: "Your protection alone is not enough. We should reorganize the escaped police officers and let them perform their duties."
"Mr. Fritsch, you don't understand what I mean," Sokolovsky said. "The Berlin police are as much prisoners of war to us as ordinary soldiers. I'm talking about administrative officials. We They will be protected from anyone. Do you understand what I mean?"
Unexpectedly, Fritsch shook his head after hearing this and said in confusion: "General, I don't understand. Now that the war is over, who will come to harm these German officials?"
Sokolovsky sneered and said: "Because the Gestapo has done many evil things in the past and has done too many bad things, we cannot rule out the possibility that individual soldiers of our army, or even persecuted Berlin residents, will carry out brutal revenge on these people."
These words shocked Fritsch into a cold sweat. He discovered that the situation Sokolovsky said was entirely possible. He said in a panic: "Your Majesty General, now that the war is over, I must ask you to prevent this barbaric incident from happening."
After hearing this, Sokolovsky just smiled indifferently, and then said: "Don't worry, Mr. Fritsch. We have encountered the situation just mentioned before. Therefore, we have appointed General Berzalin as the head of Berlin. Security Commander, and have established security offices in each district. In the future, they will take all possible measures against various acts of sabotage in Berlin. What do you think, do you have any other requests?"
"Of course, Your Excellency General." Fritsch continued: "I once wrote you a letter, hoping to stop the bloodshed after the surrender in Berlin."
"Don't worry, Mr. Fritsch.
, we will do our best. "
"Your Majesty General, I would like to convey the news of Berlin's surrender to the new head of state - Admiral Dönitz."
"Mr. Fritsch," Chuikov interjected from the side: "Before you came to us, we received a statement from Dönitz to the country, saying that he had taken over Germany and that he would fight our country to the end. If Britain and the United States intervene, he will fight them to the end."
"Crazy, he is simply crazy." When Fritsch heard the news, he felt bad. He shouted hysterically: "Does he want our country to be completely destroyed?" After shouting this He seemed to realize his gaffe and quickly explained to Sokolovsky and Chuikov: "Two generals, I was very angry when I heard the news. If there is any gaffe, please forgive me. Regardless. No matter what statement Dönitz makes, my Propaganda Department will surrender unconditionally to the Soviet army."
