The translator soon came to the command cabin, picked up the letter Knobels handed to himself, and translated it word by word: "General Knobelsdolf, I am Sokov, the body of your army General Hornerdolf is now in the hands of our army. Although you and I are enemies, I still hope that General Hornerdolf can be buried in peace, so I suggest that the two sides exchange it for an exchange. My conditions are very simple. You use 300 captured officers and soldiers of our army (and wounded are fine). Signature: Major General Sokov."
After reading the letter, Knobel Stewart and others waved at him and signaled that the other party could leave. He walked back and forth in the command cabin with his hands behind his back, thinking quickly in his mind whether he needed to report this to Manstein?
After repeatedly weighing the relationship, he felt that the matter should be reported to Manstein. He came to the telephone and ordered the communications officer to help him answer Manstein's phone number.
After the phone was connected, Knobel Stewart immediately said to the microphone: "Marson Marshal, a letter from the Russians just sent me."
"A letter?" Manstein was embarrassed in surprise: "What letter, are they going to surrender to us?"
"This is not." Knobel Stewart quickly defended: "The Russians said that General Hornerdolph's body is in their hands, and we need to exchange it with prisoners of war with them."
"Absurd, it's simply ridiculous." Manstein felt that Knobel Steff must have been fooled by the Russians, and said with a grudge: "You haven't seen his body with your own eyes, how do you know if what the Russians say is true or false?"
"Marson, I think what the Russians said should be true," Knobel Stewf explained: "The person who came to deliver the letter was a captured lieutenant of the Sixth Armored Division. He said that he had seen the body of General Hornerdolph with his own eyes."
"General Knobel Stewart," Manstein asked with a sneer, "Did the lieutenant who sent you a letter tell you what the number of the Russian troops who obtained General Hornerdolph's body?"
"It's been figured out, Mr. Marshal." Knobelsdorf replied respectfully: "It's the 188th Infantry Division of the 27th Russian Army."
"27th Army?" Hearing this familiar number, Manstein felt a headache: "It could not be the 27th Army commanded by Sokov, right?"
"It was Sokov's troops." Knobelsdorf struck while the iron was hot, "He wrote me and you one letter to me, all about exchanging prisoners of war for the body of General Hornerdorf."
"How many Russians have the 48th Armored Army captured in recent battles?"
"I don't know the specific numbers very well." Knobel Steff was not very interested in how many prisoners his troops had captured. He only considered how many cities he occupied. Therefore, when he heard about Manstein's question, he could not give an accurate answer: "I think there are about five or six thousand people."
"You just said that Sokov sent someone to send me a letter. Where is the letter now?"
"It's in my hands."
"Send someone to send me here immediately." After saying this, Manstein felt that his expression was a little inaccurate, and quickly added: "Let the lieutenant who came back from the Russians send me the letter."
After Knobel Steffe hung up the phone, he immediately called a staff officer and told him: "Send Lieutenant Kahn to Marshal Manstein immediately. I will leave his life to you."
"Yes, Your Excellency Commander." The staff member straightened his body and replied, "I will send him safely to the Marshal."
Twenty minutes later, the military officer took Lieutenant Kahn to Manstein's station. After checking the documents of the two, an officer said coldly: "Take your guns."
Second Lieutenant Kahn has not worn weapons since he returned, so he naturally does not have to hand over weapons at this moment. The staff officer who accompanied him, when he heard the officer say this, he couldn't help but say with some resistance: "We are ordered to see Mr. Marshal, you have no right."
Unexpectedly, the officer ignored him and said with a stern face: "Please hand over your gun." The staff officer had no choice but to take out his pistol and hand it over.
The officer took the two of them to outside Manstein's command cabin, turned his head and said to them, "Wait here." After that, he stepped on the small stairs, entered the command cabin, and reported to Manstein.
After a moment, the officer came out and asked the two: "Who are you sending the letter?"
Kahn quickly stepped forward and replied, "It's me."
The officer glanced at Kahn, then waved his head at him and said, "Let's go." Seeing that the staff officer wanted to follow him, the officer quickly reached out and stopped him: "I'm sorry, the marshal only wants to see the person who sent the letter."
Kahn followed the officer into the command cabin and saw Manstein sitting on a chair smoking a cigar. He quickly stepped forward to salute and loudly reported his name, military rank and position in the army.
Unexpectedly, before Manstein could finish his words, he reached out and interrupted him: "Okay, I have no interest in your identity. Where is Sokov's letter?"
"Here, Lord Marshal." Kahn took out Sokov's letter from his shirt pocket and was about to step forward and hand it to Manstein, but was stopped by a colonel adjutant. The adjutant pulled the letter from Kahn's hand and turned around and walked out of the command cabin.
Seeing his adjutant leave, Manstein asked slowly: "Lieutenant, did you really see General Hornerdolph's body with your own eyes?"
"Yes, Lord Marshal, I saw it with my own eyes." Kahn said, gestured, "His chest was blown up, and some of his clothes would be burned."
When he learned that Hornerdolph's body was really in the hands of the Russians, Manstein put the cigar in his hand in the ashtray on the table, got up and walked to Kahn, and asked, "How did the Russians treat General Hornerdolph's body? Did anyone visit the road outside?"
"No, Mr. Marshal." Kahn replied: "Major General Sokov said that although they are hostile to us, they should still maintain the necessary respect for senior officers like General Hornerdolph. Therefore, he specially ordered people to make a coffin and put General Hornerdolph in the coffin."
After listening to Kahn's story, when he knew that Sokov had put Hornadolph's body in his observation, Manstein couldn't help but smile and nodded, his favor for Sokov increased a little.
The officer holding Sokov's letter left for a few minutes and returned to the command cabin. He handed the Sokov's letter and a translated content to Manstein. Manstein took the things from the adjutant's hand and looked carefully.
After reading Sokov's letter, Manstein raised his head and said to Kahn: "Second Lieutenant, Sokov did not mention when and where to exchange it in his letter?"
"That's right, Marshal." Kahn explained to Manstein: "General Sokov was worried that his proposal would not be accepted by you, so he did not leave any contact information. However, before I left, he told me that if we agreed to the exchange, I would act as a messenger and travel to and from both sides."
"Second Lieutenant, I now formally appoint you as my envoy to be responsible for the liaison between us and the Russians." Manstein said to Kahn: "You go to the Russians immediately and tell them that I agree to the exchange. But they need to provide the time and place for the exchange of bodies and prisoners of war."
"I understand, Mr. Marshal, I will return to the Russians' positions immediately." Kahn said cautiously: "But we are fighting with them. I am worried that if we pass through the war zone, I may be in danger of life. My personal life and death are trivial matters. If the major affairs of Mr. Marshal are delayed, I will never redeem them."
"I will order the troops to temporarily cease fire," Manstein said. "so that you can pass through that lot safely."
In order to show his importance to this matter, Manstein sent his adjutant with several soldiers to go to the frontier to negotiate with the Soviet army. After everyone left, he picked up the phone and said to the microphone: "General Knobel Stewart, immediately order the Sixth Armored Division to stop the attack on the Russian positions."
"Stop the attack?" Hearing Manstein's order, Knobel Steff was shocked. You must know that a few hours ago, Manstein had issued a death order to take down the Russians' positions no matter what. In order to complete his mission, he was transferring the 19th Armored Division on the right wing. How could the attack stop at the stop? He asked in confusion: "Master, why should we stop the attack?"
"I have considered that as long as General Hornerdorf's body can be retrieved, no matter how much the price is, it is worth it." Manstein explained to Knobel Steff, "We are stopping the attack now, just preparing to use it as a exchange location. It is not too late to continue attacking the Russians after General Hornerdorf's body is transported back."
"It turns out that the attack was stopped just to facilitate exchange." After understanding Manstein's intention, Knobel Steff was secretly relieved. He thought that he had finally transferred the 19th Armored Division from the right wing. Before he could throw them into the battle, he hurriedly ended the attack, making it impossible for him to explain to the commander of the troops. Now the attack is suspended just to facilitate exchange between the two sides. It is not too late to launch a new attack after the exchange is over.
The situation on the Soviet side was very unoptimistic. After several hours of fierce fighting, the 562nd Regiment, who was standing on the position, suffered heavy losses in each battalion company, and the total strength was less than 20%. When the war reached this point, Koida's tears came down. He begged Sokov: "Comrade Commander, please allow me to send the 564th Regiment to support him! If there is no reinforcement, the 562nd Regiment will be defeated before the battle is over."
Sokov originally thought that Kahn returned to the Germans and handed over his own handwritten letter, the German army would soon stop attacking. Unexpectedly, after so long, the German army's offensive not only did not weaken, but instead fought even more crazily.
"Okay, comrade Colonel." After thinking for a long time, Sokov finally agreed to Koida to put the reserves into battle one after another: "In order to prevent the killing and injury of German artillery fire, the troops will enter the front line in batches."
Koida picked up the phone and was about to call the commander of the 564th Regiment, the rumbling cannons outside suddenly stopped, and even the sound of shooting and the explosion of grenades became sparse. "What's going on?" In order to figure out what happened, Koida immediately called the commander of the 562nd Regiment and asked: "What's going on outside? Why did the enemy's artillery stop?"
"Comrade Commander, I don't know either." The Lieutenant Colonel Commander replied: "When our position was about to be unable to be defended, the Germans suddenly stopped shelling, and then all the tanks and infantry retreated."
"I understand." Koida said to Sokov after putting down the phone: "Comrade Commander, the enemy not only stopped the shelling of our positions, but also retreated the attacking troops."
"I think I should know what's going on." When he learned that the attacking enemy had retreated, Sokov immediately guessed whether Manstein agreed to his exchange conditions, so he ordered the troops to temporarily stop the attack and free up time and space for exchange for both sides. However, the enemy retreated was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He quickly ordered Koida: "Comrade Colonel, immediately order the 564th Regiment to enter the front line and connect the defense of the 562nd Regiment. At the same time, seize the time to repair fortifications to deal with the enemy's attack."
Just as the 564th Regiment entered the position one after another, Koida received a call from the front: "Comrade Commander, two motorcycles came from the German position, with white flags on them. What should we do? Do we shoot?"
"Don't shoot, don't shoot." Koida heard that two motorcycles came from the German side, and immediately guessed that it might be the negotiator sent by Manstein, and quickly instructed the other party: "That's the Germans who are here to negotiate with us. Don't shoot, send someone to greet them immediately."
When Sokov heard Koida calling, he quickly added: "Tell the leader of the 564th Regiment to negotiate with the enemy outside the position and never let them enter our position. Otherwise, when they understand our reality and go back and let Manstein report, it will be very unfavorable for our next defense."
"Lt. Colonel," Koida heard Sokov's reminder and quickly added: "Remember, don't let the enemy enter your positions, otherwise you will have no secrets to them in the next battle."
The representative representing the German army to negotiate was naturally Lieutenant Kahn. When the motorcycle he was riding was still fifty or sixty meters away from the Soviet position, it was blocked by the commanders and fighters of the 564th Regiment. The Soviet army was the leader of the 564th Regiment. In order to allow Sokov, who was far away in the division headquarters, Koida also promptly understood the negotiation situation, he also led a telephone line for direct reporting at the negotiation site.
Sokov heard Kahn tell the leader of the 564th Regiment by phone: "Martin Manstein has agreed to your exchange conditions, but you need to provide specific exchange time and place."
"Comrade Commander," Koida turned his head and asked Sokov: "How should we answer the Germans?"
Chapter completed!