Chapter 879

"General oshanina, here you are." A familiar voice suddenly rang out behind the Lieutenant with baby face. Then the adjutant of trakov, Captain krimov, came to me through the crowd and urged, "come on up, commander. They've been waiting for you for a long time."

When the lieutenant saw that crimov knew me, he waved to his men and made way for me. I politely said thank you to lieutenant baby face, and then followed krimov along the wide corridor.

When the Lieutenant with the baby face was a little away from his soldiers, I asked Klimov in a low voice, "Comrade captain, who are the people guarding the stairway?"

"It's from the front command." Klimov answered my question cleanly: "that German general sedlitz was escorted by them."

In a conference room on the fourth floor of trakov's observation room, there was a huge hole in the south wall, but it had been stacked with sandbags that were chest high. There was a long conference table with a circle of chairs around it. Trekov and gurov sat on two of the chairs, while general sedlitz sat opposite them, with an interpreter standing behind him.

I went to the table, raised my hand to salute trekov and gurov, and at the same time, I loudly reported: "commander, comrade military commissar, major general oshanina, commander of the 79th infantry army, has been ordered to report here, and is waiting for your instructions!"

After a few words of greeting with trikov, I took the initiative to say hello to sedlitz. And the German general got up from his seat when I saluted them. Seeing that I said hello to him, he responded politely: "Hello, general oshanina, I'm glad to see you here!"

Sedlitz and I shook hands and sat down next to guroff. I pretended to be very casual, leaned slightly towards gurov, and then asked in a low voice, "Comrade commissar, do we really want to cooperate with general sedlitz?"

"Absolutely right," gurov also told me in a low voice: "commander rokosovsky has agreed in principle to cooperate with general sedlitz. The reason why he was sent here today is to use him to persuade commander Strecker of the 11th army to surrender 50000 German troops trapped in the" barricade "factory."

"Fifty thousand German troops?" To tell you the truth, I was startled by this number. Although I knew that the barricade factory and dormitory area were equivalent to a medium-sized city, I was surprised that there were so many German troops in this area.

I looked around and found that in addition to a few of us, on the other side of the conference room, there were a lot of signalmen, who had set up two telephone sets, and there was a wired telephone beside the wall. It seems that today, trakov is not only here to watch the progress of the battle, but also intends to direct the battle here.

When I entered the room, they were talking with sedlitz, and they temporarily interrupted the meeting because of my arrival. Now that everyone is seated again, the conversation between trikov and sedlitz can continue.

Trikov asked sedlitz with a smile, "how are you thinking, general?"

Although trikov's questions were endless, I guessed that it must have something to do with persuading him to surrender. I watched sedlitz carefully to see how he would react. After listening to the translation, the latter said in a loud voice: "Your Highness, I think it is unrealistic to persuade general Strecker and his men to lay down their arms. You know, he still has at least 50000 troops and solid fortifications. It's very difficult for you to eat him in one bite. "

With a smile still on his face, trakov asked, "general sedlitz, how long do you think we can wipe out the troops trapped in the barricade factory area if we attack?"

Hearing this question from trakov, sedlitz frowned and thought for a moment, then resolutely replied: "Your Highness commander, according to my understanding of the combat effectiveness of the two armies, if you want to completely eliminate general Strecker's troops, even with the support of artillery and air force, it will take at least a week. This is already a very optimistic estimate. The time can't be any shorter. "

Trikov and gurov looked at each other and said with a smile, "general sedlitz, we don't have that long. Our superiors asked us to end the battle as soon as possible. That is to say, we only have two days at most. "

"What, two days?" Sedlitz almost jumped out of his seat when he heard what trakov said. "Excuse me, commander. This is impossible."

"Nothing is impossible, general sedlitz." With a wave of his hand, trikov said confidently: "in order to eliminate the German troops in the factory area and dormitory area of the" barricade ", today our group army will take part in the attack with gorishner division, Sokolov division, guriyev division, rodimzev division and stegori brigade. The friendly army will also have the same number of divisions or brigades to attack from the West and northwest at the same time. In addition to the support of the air force, we have also concentrated a large number of artillery units, with an unprecedented number of 338 guns per kilometer. "

Sedlitz listened to trakov finish, suddenly the whole person fell into a state of shock. Seeing his expression, gurov said while the iron was hot: "Sir, in order to avoid unnecessary sacrifice of your compatriots, I suggest you call lieutenant general Strecker, commander of the 11th army."

Sedlitz bowed his head and thought for a long time. At last, he nodded helplessly and said, "well, I'll call general Strecker right now. I hope he can listen to my advice and let the troops lay down their arms and surrender to the Soviet army. Don't let the German boys make unnecessary sacrifices."

Trekov immediately ordered the signalman to get through to the headquarters of the encircled 11th German army. When sedlitz was calling his former colleague, gurov asked me in a low voice, "Comrade oshanina, are the attacks on the other side of the tractor factory arranged?"

I nodded and said with confidence: "please put down the military Commissar. After yesterday's battle, the remaining German troops in the tractor factory have been compressed into several workshops in the west of the factory. The offensive forces were under the command of the chief of staff, Colonel wittkov. If there's no accident, we can get rid of the remaining two thousand German remnants before noon. "

After I reported the situation in the army, I saw that sedlitz was still on the phone and asked gulov in a low voice: "Comrade military commissar, I don't know what the commander of the front army is going to do with the captured German general."

Gulov looked at sedlitz, who was calling from the other side, and then whispered, "commander rokosovsky said that he would come here in person after we have completely annihilated the enemy surrounded in the" barricade "factory area. At that time, he will take sadlitz to the newly established prisoner's camp and select the right soldiers to form a special force. The military officers at all levels will be our men, while the officers in the German captives can only serve as deputy. "

Before I could comment on the upcoming German POW unit, sadlitz had finished his call. He spread his hands, shrugged his shoulders, and said reluctantly, "Your Highness, I regret to tell you that my request to persuade general Strecker to lay down his arms has been rejected. He said that for the honor of German soldiers, he will lead the troops to fight to the last moment. "

Although the failure of persuasion has been expected for a long time, we are still a little disappointed when we can hear sedlitz personally testify.

"Since the enemy does not surrender, we will wipe them out thoroughly!" After finishing this sentence, trakov turned to his adjutant and said, "Captain kerimov, call Comrade ublishi of the anti Communist alliance and ask him to take people to the front line for radio propaganda." At this point, he raised his hand, looked at his watch, and then said, "no matter how effective the broadcast propaganda to the enemy is, it should end at 11:50."

What trikov discussed with us next was actually where the prisoners should be placed after the total annihilation of the enemy. With a scornful expression, he said: "the capture camp should be located on the East Bank of the Volga River. Let the captured soldiers and officers march towards the Volga River, which they have been trying to break through for nearly six months, and go to the other bank of the river through the frozen river."

"I agree with you." As a good partner of trakov, gurov immediately and unconditionally expressed his support for the plan: "since they have not given up their attempt to reach the east coast for a long time, we will now satisfy their wishes and send them all to the captivity camp on the other side."

Towards twelve o'clock, trakov called us to the big hole, stood in front of the chest high sandbag fortification, and together raised the telescope to watch the upcoming battle. In order to let general sedlitz see how the rest of the German army was destroyed, trakov specially selected a high-power telescope for him.

When the needle was pointing at 12 o'clock, thousands of cannons deployed around the factory area of "barricade" opened fire at the same time.

I saw through the telescope that the whole factory area suddenly turned into a sea of fire. On the fire, thick black smoke rose, making the clear sky dim. Although our conference room was far away from the shelled area, my ears were still hurt by the earth shaking explosion, and the dust wave and shock wave on the wall and ceiling kept falling.

When the shelling stopped and the enemy was still scurrying in the smoldering ruins, our army, which was already ready to go, launched an attack, and the infantry, under the cover of tanks, launched an attack on the enemy's position.

Although the preparation time for artillery fire was very short, the enemy's fortifications suffered heavy losses. In the front line of fortifications full of ruins, we saw our troops rushing up, only a few sporadic resistance. Because of the weak resistance, our troops quickly occupied the front line position.

At this time, the German troops in the second line of defense slowed down and bravely launched a counterattack in an attempt to drive our army out of their front line. In the face of the German troops separated from the solid defensive position, our army's aviation formation, which just appeared in the sky, immediately dived down from the air and launched bombs and strafe. In addition, the artillery deployed on the starting position opened fire again, forming an insurmountable wall of fire between the two positions, and the German officers and men who launched the attack were instantly destroyed.

By three o'clock in the afternoon, the offensive forces of our group army had successfully occupied most of the factory area, and joined forces with the friendly forces coming from the West and northwest, compressing the remaining German troops in a narrow area.

In the face of the continuous attack launched by our army, the German army was finally unable to resist. Almost at the same time, countless white flags were raised within my field of vision.

When he saw this, he put down his telescope and breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to sedlitz, who was standing beside him, and said, "Mr. general, do you see that? Although general Strecker still has 50000 officers and men under his command, they can't resist under our powerful attack force. You see, didn't they just put down their arms and surrender? " With these words, he turned around and walked quickly to the telephone beside the wall, and told the messenger: "the telegraph operator, contact all the division and brigade commanders immediately, and let them report to me after the battle."