Chapter 872

Enrique's tears finally flowed down. After all, it was he who killed his comrades in arms. Even for the sake of relieving the pain of dying robe, it was hard for him to bear psychologically. While wiping his tears, he continued to say, "I didn't know who reported to the superior about killing the wounded soldiers. The next morning, I was called to the battalion.

In the battalion headquarters, in addition to the battalion commander, the company commander is also there. Seeing me appear, the company commander and the battalion commander looked at each other, patted the table and yelled at me: "Lieutenant Enrique, how dare you defy the orders of the superior and help the wounded soldiers commit suicide without authorization? Do you believe I will shoot you immediately?"

The battalion commander stopped the angry company commander and said to me slowly, "forget it, Lieutenant Enrique. If you are not a soldier who is in urgent need of defending the position, I will put you in jail even if I don't shoot you. However, you are not fit to continue to serve as platoon leader. I formally announce to you that you will be removed from the post of second lieutenant. "

I left the battalion and went back to the platoon. I saw that the soldiers in the platoon were hiding in the trenches in the ruins. Several people crowded together to warm themselves with each other's body temperature. And the body of the wounded soldier, I do not know who covered with a layer of rubble, was simply buried. Compared with us, he was lucky, at least he didn't have to die in cold and hunger, and no one destroyed his body after he died. I have heard more than once that in other companies, the bodies of some soldiers who have just died will be dismembered by a group of living soldiers like butchers, pulling out his liver and lungs and eating them.

There was no officer to stop the brutality of the soldiers. Because many of the people who continue to survive in this miserable and desperate environment have lost their senses and become insane. And those sober people, in order not to be frozen to death or starved to death, can only take off the uniforms of their dead companions and eat their bodies. "

When I heard Enrique say that he was eating the corpse, I felt sick. In order to divert my attention, I interjected and asked, "Lieutenant Enrique, please wait a moment. I just heard you say that in order not to be frozen to death, I will go to pick the uniform on the corpse of my dead companion. What's the matter? Don't you have enough winter clothes? "

When I asked this, I thought to myself: during the Moscow campaign, because the German army did not have enough winter clothes, thousands of officers and soldiers were frozen to death when the cold came. If Hitler didn't know how to prevent similar tragedies in the battle of Stalingrad a year later, he would really be a donkey.

Enrique shook his head and replied, "Comrade General, it's not what you think. Shortly after the Soviet counter offensive began, our army had planned to break through the Karachi area which had not yet been lost. Our commander ordered us to be ready to burn all the materials we couldn't take away and never leave anything to the enemy. The commander also said that if you only run in military uniform, you can run faster, so you have a great chance of getting out of danger. So we took our coats, lined up in a long line, and threw them into the fire one by one to burn them

Hearing this, the curious vetkov couldn't help interrupting and asked: "Lieutenant, I want to ask, since you moved to Karachi long before the encirclement was formed, why were you still surrounded in the end?" In order not to hurt Enrique's face, he put it mildly and deliberately said that escape was a transfer.

Enrique gave a wry smile and said in a sarcastic tone: "but when our troops set out near Karachi, they received a notice from commander Paulus, saying that no breakthrough is allowed without Berlin's consent. If it is not stopped immediately, the commander of the troops will be punished.

After receiving this sudden order, the breakthrough operation was cancelled, and we had to return to our original station. Many soldiers complained in private that if Paulus allowed us to break through, he might be sent to a military court or even sentenced to death. But it's better for a German army general to be sentenced to death than for thousands of soldiers to starve to death. "

"You're wrong, lieutenant." When witkov heard this, he said sternly to Enrique, "you don't know these generals. For them, soldiers on the battlefield are numbers, not lives. They will never willingly sacrifice their lives for a pile of boring numbers. And Mannstein, who came to rescue Paulus, was beaten back by us. I don't think anyone will come to rescue the troops besieged in Stalingrad any more. "

Enrique, after witkov finished, nodded vigorously and said in agreement, "you're right, Colonel. We didn't expect that they would abandon us. It's unbelievable to see a whole army fall. Such a thing is totally incredible. I can't believe they will sacrifice 300000 German soldiers. We can't understand such a move. "

"Lieutenant, how did you get... Er, on our side?" I wanted to ask him how he was captured, but when I was halfway through it, I thought it was inappropriate. I was worried that it would hurt his self-esteem, so I changed a more euphemistic word.

When I asked him how he came to us for the second time, Enrique continued to tell his own story: "I stood in front of the remains of my comrades in arms. I didn't know how long I stood. I didn't wake up until someone next to me grabbed my arm and shook it hard. Turning around, it turned out that it was his subordinate, corporal Kuhn. When he saw me looking back, he handed me a folded piece of paper and said, "it's his letter to my family." Said toward the body covered with rubble Nu mouth.

When I opened the letter, it read: "dear, I can't describe to you the pain we are facing in words, and it will only get worse and worse. Many people die here, but their families will never know their final result. If you don't have any news, take me as one of them. Maybe when you received the letter, I was injured and became a prisoner, or I was frozen to death or starved to death. I'm sorry, dear. This letter seems to be our last letter. I don't know how long we can live... "

I put the letter into my pocket, and Kuhn, who was next to me, saw that I had finished reading the letter, looked left and right, approached me and said in a low voice, "Lieutenant, do you know? I've heard that soldiers of other units, without weapons, can sneak into the enemy's positions and get food to satisfy their hunger. "

After hearing this, I frowned and asked, "won't they be shot when they are found by their own officers?"

Kuhn shook his head and replied, "Lieutenant, although they climbed to the enemy's position and asked for food, they finally returned to their own position. If the Russians attack at this time, they will still shoot as before. When it comes to shooting, it's impossible, because when they go to the enemy's side, they all get the tacit consent of their own officers, and when they come back, they don't forget to bring their officers some food. "

Just then, the big horn opposite our position sounded again, and a man with an obvious German accent said in a loud voice: "German officers and men besieged in Stalingrad, are you still waiting for Manstein to rescue you? To tell you the truth, his troops are retreating under the continuous attack of the Red Army. Now they have been driven to your area of 200 kilometers by the Red Army With the collapse of the gumenrac airport, your contact with the outside world has been completely interrupted. The food and ammunition airdropped by the limited transport planes of the Goering air force simply can not meet the needs of your 300000 people. So, German soldiers and officers, your daily rations will soon be reduced to 100 grams of bread and 10 grams of sausage. "

When he heard this, Kuhn spat hard on the ground and scolded angrily: "hell, we can only get 100 grams of bread in about two days now. As for sausages, we can't even see anything except the officials."

When I heard Kuhn whine, a bold idea came to my mind. When I made up my mind, I patted him on the shoulder and asked, "corporal, would you like to take a risk with me?"

Kuhn obviously guessed what I was going to say. He straightened up and said, "Lieutenant, I will obey your orders."

Seeing that he had no objection, I announced to him, "corporal, put down your weapon and follow me across the street to find something to eat."

As soon as I spoke, corporal Kuhn took off his submachine gun and threw it into the trench. Then he took off his belt. Then he stopped and told me, "Lieutenant, I'm ready to go."

I also took off my belt and threw my weapons into the trench. I shook my head at Kuhn and said, "corporal, let's go."

We were not far away from the trench when we heard someone behind us shouting, "Hey, Lieutenant Enrique, corporal Kuhn, where are you going?"

When I looked back, it turned out that two soldiers in my platoon were leaning out of the trench and looking at us. Before I could speak, Kuhn raised his hand and pointed to where we were going. Although he didn't speak, the two soldiers immediately understood. They took off their belts one after another and threw their weapons aside. They ran out of the trench with their hands and feet and ran towards us.

In this way, the four of us walked through the thick snow, toward the ruins covered with snow and the sound of trumpets in the distance. Because of hunger and fatigue, we walked very slowly. We didn't know how far we had gone. Suddenly, there was a solemn low roar around us: "stop, raise your hands."

I looked in the direction of the sound and found that five or six Soviet soldiers in white camouflage came out of the snow at some time. They surrounded us and pointed their weapons at us. Seeing this, my men and I raised our hands obediently.

Maybe I was an officer. An officer in a big cornice hat came up to me and searched me from head to toe. Then he stood up straight, stepped back and put his hand to his waist. When I saw his action, my heart was cold. My heart said that we all laid down our weapons. Would we all be killed? But then I thought, even if we don't come here, we will die sooner or later. It's better to let him die than to wait until then without the strength to commit suicide.

Just as I closed my eyes and waited to die, something hit me on the chest, and then it fell to my feet with a slap. I opened my eyes and saw that there was a paper package on the snow. I looked up at the commander in the cornice hat. He waved from the other soldiers. They packed up their weapons and left. I bent down and picked up the paper package on the ground. When I opened it, it turned out to be a piece of black bread. After I gave the bread to Kuhn and the three of them, I tried my best to put it in my mouth.

After eating the bread, my strength recovered a little. At this time, Kuhn, who was still eating the bread, asked me vaguely, "Mr. lieutenant, what should we do next? Shall we go back to our position?" After hearing this, I said to Kuhn with a bitter smile, "corporal Kuhn, I don't want to go back. I'm going to surrender to the Russians." When I said this, one of the soldiers nervously reminded me, "Mr. lieutenant, you have to think clearly. I've heard that when the Russians catch our officers, they shoot them directly. You can't take risks. " As for the advice from the soldiers, I shook my head and said stubbornly, "didn't you listen to the radio? As long as they lay down their arms and surrender, they will guarantee the safety of all people's lives. Even if I really want to be shot, I will accept my life. Anyway, I will go back to the position now, and I won't live a few more days. If you die sooner or later, it's better to gamble. " After hearing this, Kuhn made up his mind to stay with me, while the other two soldiers shook their heads and returned to our original position. After they left, I took Kuhn into the Soviet position. Under their leadership, I found Comrade ublishi and his comrades in the anti Communist alliance. " After listening to Enrique's story, we chatted for a while. Seeing that it was late, I arranged to take some of them to rest. When ublish and some of them left, vetkov said with some dissatisfaction: "Comrade commander, did you listen to the story of lieutenant Enrique just now? I think he is a speculator. If he is not desperate, he will not surrender to us at all. Therefore, I think we can't let him stay in the anti Communist alliance. We should send him to the prison camp immediately. " I just gave a little smile to wittkov's complaint, and then said, "Comrade chief of staff, don't you find that in the chat with Lieutenant Enrique, we got a lot of useful information, which is very beneficial to our next battle."“ Useful information? " When witkov heard me say this, he couldn't help saying to himself, "but I didn't hear any useful information for us?" I called the 284th division commander, Colonel wachuk, and asked him to come to the headquarters immediately. After putting down the phone, I said to wittkov, "the German officers and men in the city are in a dilemma of starvation and cold because of insufficient supplies. If we launch a military attack and increase the intensity of political persuasion at the same time, we will achieve unexpected results." Although I said that, wittkov was still a little upset: "Lieutenant Enrique, when they came to our army, there were four men. After eating, two soldiers returned to their positions. Maybe in the next battle, the German who ate our food will still shoot our commanders and fighters."“ Chief of staff, you are quite right. " I first affirmed his statement and then expressed my own opinion: "but even if our political offensive only disintegrates a small number of soldiers, the strength of the enemy has also been weakened. In this way, we can reduce the casualties of our officers and men in the battle. " Just then, there was a voice of wachuk calling for a report at the door. I rushed to the door and said, "come in!" I didn't expect that after a minute or two, I didn't see wachuk at the door. I thought he didn't hear me, so I raised his voice and yelled, "is that Colonel wachuk out there? Come in, we are waiting for you