The white flag waving on the rooftop on the second floor was quickly spotted by Ivanov in the observation post in the distance.
"The Germans surrendered?" Ivanov said to himself: "Isn't there some conspiracy?"
Anisimov, who came over from Mamayev Hill to watch the excitement, heard what Ivanov said and quickly interjected: "Comrade Colonel, do you think we should report this news to the division commander immediately?"
"You are right, Comrade Political Commissar." Ivanov nodded and said, "Such important information does need to be reported to Comrade Division Commander immediately."
After the call was connected, Ivanov's voice became hoarse with excitement: "Comrade division commander, the enemy who was holding on to the department store waved a white flag and surrendered to our army?"
"What?" Due to the huge noise coming from the receiver, Sokov did not hear clearly what Ivanov said, and quickly shouted into the receiver: "What did you say? I didn't hear clearly, please repeat it louder."
"Comrade Division Commander." Ivanov took a deep breath, raised his voice and said: "The enemy who stood firm in the department store has raised a white flag and is ready to surrender to our army."
"Great, this is great." Sokov did not expect that the enemy standing in the building would surrender so quickly. After repeatedly cheering, he ordered Ivanov: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, order the troops to temporarily
Stop attacking, stay where you are, and wait for further instructions."
"However, some soldiers from the downsizing regiment have already rushed into the building." Ivanov asked Sokov for instructions: "Should we order them to evacuate the building and wait outside?"
"No, just let them stay in the building." Sokov said into the microphone: "Send them a radio so that we can keep in touch with them at any time. I will rush over immediately."
After Sokov put down the phone, he ordered Sidorin: "Chief of Staff, immediately notify other attacking troops that the enemy has surrendered with a white flag and order them to stop attacking."
"Comrade Division Commander." After seeing Sokov hurriedly wanting to leave, Sidorin quickly reminded him: "Our attack was not violent. How could the Germans surrender so easily? Is there any conspiracy in it?
"
"I'll find out if there's a conspiracy or not when I go to the frontier."
"Wait a moment, Comrade Commander."
"What else?"
"You are now the commander of the combat group. Even if you want to go to the front line, you should report to the front army headquarters so that you will not be there when they want to find you."
In response to Sidorin's reminder, Sokov nodded and asked the communications soldier to help him connect to the front army headquarters. When a voice came from the receiver, Sokov said bluntly: "I am the commander of the combat group.
Colonel Sokov, please help me find Chief of Staff Malinin, I have important military information to report to him."
After waiting for two or three minutes, Malinin's voice came from the receiver: "Colonel Sokov? I am Malinin. Do you have any important military information to report to me?"
"Reporting to Comrade Chief of Staff, my deputy division commander just reported to me that the enemy defending the department store raised a white flag and surrendered to our army."
"What, you said the enemy raised a white flag?" Ma Lining asked in surprise: "Is this true?"
"It's true, Comrade Chief of Staff..."
Before Sokov could say anything, he suddenly heard Rokossovsky's voice coming from the receiver: "Misha, this is Rokossovsky. Is what you said true?"
"Comrade Commander of the Front Army, are you back from Moscow?"
"Yes, I just came back by plane." Rokossovsky was eager to know the answer, so he urged: "Misha, tell me from the courier, is what you said true?"
"The news that the enemy was flying a white flag was reported to me by my deputy division commander, Colonel Ivanov." Seeing Rokossovsky's doubts about the matter, Sokov quickly explained to him: "He is a
As a veteran commander with more than 20 years of military experience, I believe his report is absolutely correct."
Rokossovsky, who has always been steady, continued to ask in order to find out whether this matter was true or not: "Misha, have you verified the accuracy of this information?"
"Comrade Commander of the Front Army!" Sokov replied: "I am preparing to rush to the front to verify the matter myself. I will report to you after I understand the accurate situation."
"Very good." Rokossovsky was very satisfied with Sokov's answer. He nodded and said, "Then I will wait for your good news."
When Rokossovsky put down the phone, Malinin asked him impatiently: "Comrade Commander, do we need to report this good news to Moscow immediately?"
"Don't be anxious yet, Comrade Chief of Staff." Rokossovsky waved his hand and rejected Malinin's proposal. He said: "Even if the German surrender is true, it is still unknown whether Paulus will stay in the building.
If we don’t understand the situation and report it to the base camp in a hurry, once something goes wrong, it will be very difficult to make up for it.”
Besides, when Sokov left Mamayev Heights and took an armored vehicle to the forward headquarters of the 41st Guards Division, the fighting near the department store had completely stopped. Except for the rolling black smoke and fire, nothing could be heard on the battlefield.
The sound of gunfire. Seryosha, who was sitting next to Sokov, said excitedly: "Misha, listen, there is no sound of gunfire on the battlefield. It seems that the Germans are really going to surrender to us."
"
As he got closer and closer to the forward headquarters, Sokov's heart beat faster than expected. Although the enemy in the department store had raised a white flag, it was still unknown whether Paulus was still in the building at this moment. If he waited until he brought
People rushed in, only to find that Paulus had already fled, which meant that the attempt was in vain.
…………
The white flag on the rooftop was not only seen by the Soviet commanders who were attacking the building, but also by the Germans who were standing in the building. Someone immediately reported the situation to Sonne.
When Sannei learned that someone in the building dared to raise a white flag to the Soviet army, he immediately became angry and led a dozen of his subordinates towards the rooftop. Still far away, he saw a group of people standing on the rooftop.
When he saw clearly who they were, he shouted sternly: "Who are you cowards? Who allowed you to raise the white flag to the Russians?"
As soon as he finished shouting, someone in the crowd said leisurely: "I gave the order, General Sannei."
"It's you, Hans Wurz." When Sannei saw clearly that the speaker was General Hans Wurz, commander of the 144th Artillery Group, he couldn't help being surprised: "Why are you raising a white flag to the Russians? Don't you
You know, we can definitely keep fighting. If the Russians want to occupy the department store, they will have to pay at least thousands of lives."
"Sober up, General Sannei." Hans Wurtz shook his head and said to Sannei with a wry smile: "Now the soldiers are not willing to continue fighting. If you put down your weapons and surrender earlier, more people can survive."
Come down. Let me tell you the truth, the order to surrender was personally given by the Commander."
"Impossible, this is impossible." Sannei roared: "If the Commander wanted to surrender, he would have surrendered long ago. How could he suddenly announce his surrender when our officers and soldiers are still fighting tenaciously against the Russians?"
"General Sannei," Hans Wurtz raised his voice and said, "I think you did not understand the commander's order. What he said was that after resistance, our army can choose to surrender when it finds that it cannot stop the Russian attack.
.Now that the Russian troops have rushed into the building, there is no point in resisting any longer, so I ordered people to fly the white flag."
Seeing a row of black gun muzzles pointing at him on the opposite side, Hans Wurz took two steps forward with his hands behind his back and said to the soldiers: "Soldiers, we are on the verge of running out of ammunition and food. If we continue to fight,
If you go down, there is only a dead end. Don’t you all want to return to your motherland alive, to your parents, wives and children?”
It may be Hans Wurz's last words that moved the officers and soldiers who were following Sannei. First, one muzzle dropped, and then more muzzles dropped. Soon, there were no more muzzles.
A gun continued to be pointed at Hans Wurz.
Seeing that his words had an effect, Hans Wurz secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said to Sannei: "General Sannei, stop being stubborn and order the soldiers to stop resisting. Listen to the Russian attack outside.
It has also stopped. Wait a little longer, and they will send someone to accept the surrender."
"General Hans Wurtz," at this moment, a familiar voice came from the stairs: "I was looking for you everywhere, but I didn't expect you to be here."
Everyone turned around and saw that it was Chief of Staff Schmidt walking up from the stairs. He came between Hans Wurz and Sanneh and said to them: "The latest order from the Commander, stop resisting.
Surrender to the Russians. General Sanneh, order your troops to stop firing immediately."
"Not all the defenders in this building are from my 100th Chasseur Division." Sannei said angrily, "I can't order them all to surrender."
"You only need to give orders to the officers and soldiers of the 100th Chasseur Division. The rest of the troops will naturally have their commanders to give orders."
Now that Schmidt had spoken to this extent, Sannei knew that no matter how much he refuted, it would be meaningless, so he could only turn around and tell an officer to notify the troops to cease fire.
After the gunfire in the building completely stopped, Schmidt tidied up his military appearance and said to Hans Wurz: "Let's go, General Hans Wurz."
"Where to go?" Hans Wurz asked puzzledly.
"Your Excellency, the Commander, ordered the two of us to serve as negotiators and go to the Russian headquarters for surrender negotiations."
A few minutes later, Schmidt and Hans Wurtz followed a soldier holding a white flag and went down the stairs. They met the commanders and fighters of the downsized regiment on the first floor. Schmidt asked from the hiding place
Captain Vasily, the commander of the first battalion who came out, said: "Mr. Officer, I am the plenipotentiary negotiator appointed by Marshal Paulus. Please take me to see your higher-level commander."
Although Vasily could not understand Russian, he guessed three things from the tone of Schmidt's words. After asking for instructions via the radio, he decided to personally take Schmidt and others to the forward headquarters.
As soon as Sokov entered the headquarters, Ivanov said to him in surprise: "Comrade division commander, it's great that you are here. The Germans will send someone over for negotiations later."
"The Germans are coming to negotiate?" Sokov asked rhetorically: "Who are the negotiators coming and what is the purpose of their negotiations?"
Sokov's question stopped Ivanov. He shook his head with a wry smile and replied: "Comrade division commander, Captain Vasily, the commander who led the troops into the building, doesn't understand German at all. He only knows Germans."
Two generals were sent to negotiate with us, and I have ordered them to bring their people over."
After waiting for about ten minutes, Captain Vasily appeared at the forward headquarters with Schmidt and Hans Wurtz.
After Sokov saw the person clearly, he couldn't help but exclaimed: "It turns out to be you, Chief of Staff Schmidt."
Schmidt followed Vasily into the forward headquarters with an uneasy mood, still muttering in his heart about the character of the Russian officer he would deal with later. When he heard Sokov
After the sound, he couldn't help shouting: "It turns out to be you, Colonel Sokov."
After confirming that the person negotiating with him was Sokov, Schmidt's mood suddenly became relaxed. After he raised his hand and saluted Sokov, he said respectfully: "Hello, Colonel Sokov, we
meet again."
"Hello, Chief of Staff Schmidt." Sokov asked with a straight face: "Paulus sent you here, right?"
"Yes, Colonel Sokov." After listening to the translation, Paulus replied respectfully: "It was indeed Commander Paulus who sent me to negotiate with your army."
"Tell me, what conditions does Paulus have?"
"Your Excellency, the Commander, asked me to tell you that, first, provide food for our troops; second, provide medicine and corresponding treatment for the sick and wounded; third, allow officers to carry self-defense weapons..."
"These bastards," Ivanov cursed in a low voice when he heard this: "They are already on the verge of death, and they are still here negotiating terms with us."
"Chief of Staff Schmidt," Sokov said lightly after Schmidt finished all the conditions: "These conditions you proposed were originally in the ultimatum given to you by General Rokossovsky.
They have all been mentioned in detail. Our army means what it says, and as long as you lay down your arms and surrender, we will abide by our agreement."
Schmidt raised his hand and looked at his watch, then bowed and said to Sokov: "Colonel Sokov, since there are still some stubborn generals who need to be persuaded, we still need a little time. The surrender will be carried out on time at one o'clock in the afternoon.
Please send someone to accept our surrender."
"No problem," Sokov nodded and said, "I will take people to the department store myself."
Seeing Sokov declare his intention to go to the department store to accept the surrender in person, Schmidt felt a lot more at ease. To be honest, asking them to surrender to their former defeated generals made everyone feel a little confused. But if the person who surrendered was Sokov,
The situation is completely different. After all, most commanders have suffered losses from Sokov. Surrendering to a victor will not only bring no humiliation, but is also a more glorious thing.
After Sokov ordered Vasily to leave with Schmidt and others, he immediately ordered the telegraph operator: "Send a telegram to the front army headquarters saying that the news has been confirmed and Paulus and others will surrender to our army on time at 1 p.m. I will
Request to go to the department store in person to accept the German surrender."