In the next half hour, Sokov continued to receive reports from each division, saying that after launching artillery attacks on the enemy, the enemy threw away the civilians between the two army positions and fled back to the bastion in panic. However, due to various reasons
The reason is that civilians still suffered a lot of casualties.
Although the reports of each division were vague about civilian casualties, Sokov knew very well that the civilian casualties must be very heavy. Konev saw Sokov's melancholy and comforted him and said: "Sokov
Comrade Kove, don't blame yourself, you have done a great job. This is a blood debt owed to us by the Germans, and we will have to repay them sooner or later."
After listening to Konev's consolation, Sokov nodded with a wry smile and asked: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, once we take the Merefa Fortress, what should we do next?"
"After the fortress is captured, you will be responsible for holding it." Konev said: "Your troops have been fighting continuously for such a long time. The commanders and soldiers should be very tired, so they should rest here for a while in Merefa Fortress."
"Then when can we go into battle again?" Samek asked from the side.
Konev looked at the two of them, smiled and shook his head: "I really didn't expect that you are so focused on participating in the battle. Aren't you worried that the troops will be too tired, which will lead to a decrease in combat effectiveness?"
"No, Comrade Commander." Sameko replied: "Most of the commanders and fighters in our unit have passed through German prisoner-of-war camps. They were tortured there and their hearts were full of hatred for the Germans. Even for one day.
There will be no rest and it will not affect the combat effectiveness of the troops."
Samek's words made Sokov think of a problem: most of the commanders and fighters in his unit were rescued from German prisoner-of-war camps. They suffered inhuman torture in the enemy's prisoner-of-war camps, and their hearts were full of sorrow.
Hatred for the Germans. This hatred is used to motivate them to kill the enemy heroically on the battlefield, which is something everyone wants to see. But when the troops enter Germany in the future, will they transfer this hatred to Germany?
On civilians?
After Konev and Samyko chatted for a while, they found that Sokov was silent there, and asked curiously: "Comrade Sokov, what are you thinking about?"
"Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Sokov said, thinking that the problems he was worried about would be common in the future, and it was necessary to inoculate Konev first and prepare him in advance: "I heard the chief of staff say,
The hearts of the officers and soldiers were filled with hatred for the Germans."
"Yes, he did say that." Konev nodded and asked in confusion: "Is there something wrong?"
"This is what I am worried about now." Sokov explained to Konev: "The hearts of the commanders and fighters are filled with hatred for the Germans, which allows them to maintain strong combat effectiveness on the battlefield, but if we wait
When they invade German territory in the future, will it be a disaster if they transfer this hatred to ordinary German civilians?"
"Comrade Commander," as soon as Sokov finished speaking, Samyko retorted: "You underestimate the consciousness of our commanders and soldiers. What they hate is only the enemies who fight us with weapons, not ordinary people.
.I believe that even if our troops enter German territory in the future, they will not do anything excessive against German civilians."
"Yes, Comrade Sokov." Konev waited for Samyko to finish, and then echoed: "I think you are thinking too much. Our commanders and combatants are soldiers, not animals, how could they do something similar to
What about the incompatibility of their identities?”
He turned to look at Samyko and said in a joking tone: "General Samyko, we are still thinking about how to drive the enemy out of our territory. Comrade Sokov has already considered invading Germany. It is indeed better than
We have more vision."
Seeing that neither Konev nor Samyko took this matter seriously, Sokov knew that it would be useless to talk any more. After all, it would take more than a year for the Soviet army to invade German territory. At this time, talking about
It's too early for this to happen.
Without the constraints of civilians, the offensive of the 27th Group Army commanders and fighters became more fierce. From commanders at all levels to the soldiers below, they all knew that new rockets could be directly fired into the bastion, causing internal fires, making it impossible for the enemy to survive the fierce fire and
If you stay in an oxygen-deprived environment, you can only escape from the bastion, and then you can use intensive firepower to eliminate them.
But the subsequent progress greatly exceeded Sokov's expectations. There were six fortresses in Merefa Fortress. The 84th Division, the 254th Division and the 182nd Division each captured one, and the remaining three bastions were captured.
However, when the Soviet commanders and fighters approached the bastion, they stopped shooting and raised a white flag on the roof.
When he learned that white flags had been hoisted in the three bastions still occupied by the Germans, Sokov couldn't help but be stunned: What kind of medicine were the Germans selling in their gourds, and they actually took the initiative to hoist the white flags? Could there be some conspiracy?
Was it planned to wait for the Soviet troops to approach and surrender, and then suddenly start shooting, causing serious damage to the Soviet commanders and fighters?
But then I thought about it, even if this is a German conspiracy, and they want to wait until the Soviet troops are close to surrender, but the damage they can cause to their own side is still very limited. And after they do this, they will be madly attacked by the Soviet army.
Artillery fire, Sokov will definitely concentrate all the artillery fire on the remaining three bastions, annihilate all the German troops inside, and avenge the innocent sacrifice of the commanders and soldiers.
After thinking about this, Sokov ordered Samyko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, tell the division commanders to send people to accept the surrender immediately. Remember, although the Germans have raised a white flag, no one knows whether they have
conspiracy, so the commanders and soldiers who went to accept the surrender must remain vigilant enough to avoid falling into the German army's tricks."
"Comrade Commander," Samyko introduced to Sokov: "How about I call Colonel Koida and ask the 188th Division to accept the surrender first, while the rest of the troops are on standby temporarily so that we can figure out the Germans?"
Why do this?"
"Okay." Sokov agreed with Samek's proposal: "After sending personnel to accept the surrender, they must report to us everything that happened there in a timely manner so that we can make correct judgments."
After receiving the call from Sameko, Koida immediately called Lieutenant Colonel Kleba, the commander of the 564th Regiment, and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, General Sameko, Chief of Staff of the Group Army, called and asked us to
To accept the surrender of the Germans. I will leave this glorious and arduous task to your regiment."
"Comrade Commander," although Kleba also saw the white flag raised on the bastion, he was skeptical: "Comrade Commander, I think there is something wrong with this matter."
"Something's wrong, what's wrong?"
"The enemy was fighting us to the death not long ago. In order to prevent us from occupying the bastion, they even placed civilians in the middle of the positions of the two armies, so that we did not dare to act rashly." Kleba reminded Koida: "But now
But a white flag was raised on the bastion, which looks like a conspiracy no matter how you look at it."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Koida said disapprovingly after hearing this: "I know what you are worried about, but don't worry, since the headquarters has given us the order to surrender, it must have considered all the issues that should be considered. You
Just follow the orders and you’ll be fine.”
Kleba originally questioned the order from the headquarters, but after hearing what Koida said, he could only agree reluctantly: "Okay, comrade division commander, then I will personally take people to receive the prisoners."
After receiving the order from Koida, Kleba returned to the regiment and gave orders to the deputy regiment commander and chief of staff, asking them to set up machine gun and artillery positions. Once they found something wrong with the Germans, they would fire directly. No need.
Worry about your own comfort.
Creba took a translator and a squad of soldiers and walked in the direction of the bastion.
Along the way, he saw people lying dead in various postures near the bastion. Among them were Germans, Soviet commanders and combatants, and even many women, old people and children. These civilians should all be dead.
He died at the gunpoint of the Germans.
Seeing this scene, Creba couldn't help but burst into anger. He wanted to pull out his pistol and knock down every German who appeared in front of him. But in the end, his reason overcame his impulse. He asked the man who greeted him outside the bastion.
German Lieutenant: "Mr. Lieutenant, when can you let us see your commander?"
"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, my commander is waiting for you in his office in the bastion." The German lieutenant who came to greet them knew some Russian and said to him politely: "Please follow me, and I will take you to see him."
Kleba and the translator followed the German lieutenant to the door of a room on the third floor. The lieutenant turned to Kreba and said: "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, please wait here for a moment. I will go in and report to the commander."
The lieutenant pushed open the door and went in, closing the door behind him, leaving Creba and the translator outside the room.
Not long after, the door opened from the inside. The lieutenant came to Creba and asked politely: "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, my major is waiting for you inside. Please come in."
After Creba entered, he saw a bald German commander sitting behind a table. When the bald officer saw Creba coming in, he quickly stood up from his seat and put on the big-brimmed hat that was placed on the table.
On the head.
After seeing clearly that the other party was a major, Creba showed a disdainful expression on his face: "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, are you the highest commander in this bastion?"
"Yes, Mr. Lieutenant Colonel." The German Major nodded and said in a positive tone: "I am the supreme commander of this bastion, and I have been ordered to surrender to the incoming Russian troops."
"Mr. Major," seeing the Germans surrendering so readily, Creba couldn't help but feel a little nervous. He didn't know if the other party had any conspiracy. Not long ago, they were fighting to the death, but now they didn't even mention the conditions, so they just prepared.
Surrendered. He asked puzzledly: "I really don't understand. You obviously still have the ability to continue fighting, why did you suddenly lay down your weapons and surrender?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Lieutenant Colonel." The German Major spread his hands, shrugged, and said helplessly: "I received such an order, so I can only ask my subordinates to stop resisting and surrender to you."
"Who told you to stop resisting?" Creba asked.
The German major hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "It was the fortress commander who gave us an order to stop all resistance, lay down our weapons and surrender to you."
"Can you tell me the reason?" Creba asked puzzledly: "You obviously still have the ability to hold on, so why did you suddenly choose to surrender?"
"Do you think I want to surrender?" Seeing Kleba's endless questions, the German major roared: "If General William, the commander of the 11th Army, had not given us the order to surrender, we would have been the only ones left.
One person will never stop resisting."
Kreba believed the last words of the German major. He knew that there were many stubborn German soldiers who would not surrender easily even if they fought to the last man. Things are so strange now. In order to find out the truth
What happened? He continued to ask: "Can you tell me the reason?"
"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, do you want to know the reason?" the German major sneered and said: "If you were not Sokov's troops, do you think we would surrender to you?"
Kleba was stunned by the German major's words. His feelings for the other party's surrender were related to the fact that he was part of Sokov's army. Such an important matter needed to be reported to his superiors immediately.
He paused for a moment and said to the German major: "Mr. Major, order your people to gather outside the bastion. We will collect your weapons and send you to where you should go."
"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel," the German Major asked hesitantly: "Many of my men are injured. How do you plan to deal with them?" There is a reason for him to ask this. He has participated in previous Kharkov attacks.
During the battle, captured Soviet commanders and soldiers were either beaten or scolded. On the way to escort them to the prisoner of war camp, once someone fell to the ground, the German soldier responsible for escorting them would go up and shoot him in the head to prevent them from becoming
The reserve force of the local guerrillas. It was out of worry that he asked this question.
"Major," Kleba said coldly: "Since you know that we are Sokov's troops, have you heard that we massacre prisoners at will?"
The German major thought that in addition to the captured SS officers and soldiers who were shot by Sokov's men, the prisoners of the Wehrmacht seemed to have received preferential treatment. So he shook his head and replied: "It seems not."
"Since we didn't massacre the prisoners casually, what do you still have to worry about?" However, in order to reassure the German major, Kreba still gave him a reassurance, "Don't worry, major, we will provide for the wounded German officers and soldiers.
Treat them and provide them with adequate food."
"Okay, we surrender." The major took off the pistol from his waist and handed it to Creba by the barrel: "I am willing to lead all the officers and soldiers in the bastion to surrender to you."
Facing the pistol handed over by the major, Creba smiled and shook his head, and then said: "You should keep this gun."
Seeing Kreba's generosity, the German major showed a grateful expression on his face. He put his pistol back into the holster and said to his men: "Lieutenant, immediately notify everyone to gather outside the bastion and surrender their weapons to the Soviet army."
.”
Kleba came out of the German major's office, found a subordinate, and told him: "Go back and report to the division commander now that the Germans have really surrendered."
The subordinates agreed and were about to leave, but were stopped by Kleba. Kreba added: "One more thing, you must tell the division commander that the Germans surrendered on their own initiative because we are the 27th Army."
Although the subordinate did not understand the reason for what Creba said, he still nodded vigorously and replied truthfully: "Don't worry, comrade leader, I will truthfully convey what you said to my superiors."