Zhukov told me to wait for the final news from Moscow, and general klebsieu, who came to negotiate on behalf of the German army, could not leave the headquarters without our definite reply.
In this long and awkward night, in order to pass the boring time, we had a chat with Klebs. He looked at trakov and asked, "general trakov, at the battle of Stalingrad, you were like a commander in the army, weren't you?"
"No," said trakov, with a look of displeasure as he saw that the other party had mistaken his position. "I was already the commander of the group army at that time. It was the 62nd army under my command that blocked the crazy attack of the 6th army of Paulus. "
Klebsieu nodded and said, "I know that. I read the battle report of Stalingrad and the report of Marshal Manstein to the Fuehrer. Our troops have reached the Volga River in several places, but they just can't wipe you out or drive you across the river. "
After his words, there was a long silence in the room.
To break the silence, I got up and poured a cup of tea for Klebs. After thanking me, he said, "general oshanina, I heard about you for the first time during the battle of Stalingrad. A division under your command sticks to the mamayev post on the Volga River, turning this commanding height into an insurmountable gate, making our troops unable to move forward. I sometimes think that if we had captured this highland, maybe the outcome of the battle of Stalingrad would have been rewritten. "
Although I was a little complacent when I heard from Klebsiella that I was proud of his achievements, when I heard his assumption, I said with a straight face: "general Klebsiella, even if your troops occupy the mamayev post, our troops will take it back. Every one of our soldiers knows what it means to stick to the city named after the Supreme Commander himself, so they will stick to the city even if they sacrifice their lives. "
After I had finished, Klebs looked at me for a long time, finally nodded and said, "general o'shanina, maybe you are right. You became famous in the first World War of Stalingrad, so that many of our generals have a headache when they hear your name. No one wants to be your opponent. Far from it, before the fall of Poznan, many of our soldiers stopped resisting because of your words, laid down their arms and surrendered to you. "
To be praised by the enemy is probably the greatest affirmation of a person. I was just about to say thanks to Klebsiella when I heard the high-frequency telephone on the table ring. I guessed that it might be Zhukov. I quickly got up and went to pick up the phone.
Zhukov said in a hurry on the phone: "Rita, the general who came to you for negotiation, is he carrying some documents?"
"Yes, comrade marshal." I looked at Klebs, who was sitting at the table in a daze, and said with certainty: "in addition to a letter of authorization signed by Goebbels himself, there are also two documents: one is the letter of authorization for negotiation with the supreme command of our country, which was signed by Baumann on March 8, 1945; the other is the letter of authorization for negotiation with the supreme command of our country, which was signed by Baumann on March 8, 1945; The other is Hitler's will, with a list of members of the new German government and the supreme headquarters of the German armed forces. This document was signed by Hitler and the witnesses, and the date is: March 7, 1945, 16 o'clock. "
After hearing this, Zhukov immediately told me, "Rita, send someone to send these three documents to my headquarters immediately."
After I put down the phone, I said to trakov, "general trakov, marshal ordered us to immediately send the three documents that general Klebs had brought to his front command." Then I turned to Klebsiella and asked, "Sir, will you object?"
"General o'shanina," said Klebsiella politely at once, listening to my question, "you can dispose of these three documents at will."
As soon as someone sent the papers away, bozarsky came in from the outside. He came to trakov, leaned down and whispered in his ear. Trekov nodded and then said to me, "Rita, you'll come outside with me except for something urgent."
After we had bozarsky stay with Klebs, we went out to the room. I asked trekov curiously, "general trekov, what's the matter?"
"It's a call from the 28th army commander of the guards, general Ralph." trekov may be worried that klebsieu in the inner room heard it, so he deliberately lowered his voice: "it's said that the remaining German troops stationed in tyre garden district are ready to surrender to us and let me send representatives to negotiate. As a result, our representative just arrived at the designated position with the white flag, but he was shot by machine gun, and major bershenev, who was in charge of contacting, was seriously injured. "
With these words, trekov went to the desk where he put the phone, picked up the phone and said, "Ralph? I'm trekov. Tell me what's going on? "
"Comrades commander," said leirov in a loud voice at the other end of the phone, "our representative was shot by the machine gun of the two German representatives, and the major was seriously injured. The other representative was killed and injured."
I was a little puzzled by Ralph's report. I thought it was a complete trap for the enemy to cheat us into surrender and then shoot our military negotiators with machine guns. But at the moment, it sounds like something else.
Trekov was also puzzled and asked: "Comrade Ralph, what's the matter? I can understand that the Germans shot at our representatives, but why did they shoot at their own representatives at the same time?"
"Comrade commander," leirov continued to report, "it is now clear that the Berlin Garrison has split. Some officers and men are ready to surrender, while the other arrogant elements not only do not surrender themselves, but also use force to prevent others from surrender. That's why the representatives of both sides were shot by machine guns at the negotiation site. " Finally, he said, "Comrade commander, please allow us to launch more violent raids as soon as possible to smash the final resistance of the enemy. Perhaps under our strong offensive, those German troops who are ready to surrender will be able to lay down their weapons as soon as possible. "
"I see." Although trakov was more worried than anyone else, he could not easily order the troops to attack before he got the final order from the headquarters of the front army: "no one is allowed to attack the enemy without my order. Do you understand me?"
For such a severe order of trakov, Ralph could only reluctantly promise: "yes, comrade commander, I will obey your order, let the troops continue to maintain the status quo, and do not attack the enemy until I get the order of attack."
As soon as the call over here was over, bozarsky called us at the door: "the call from the headquarters of the front army."
I ran into the back room to answer the phone call from Zhukov. After receiving instructions from the supreme command, Zhukov said to me, "Rita, I ask you to find out as soon as possible about Himmler, where ribentrop is, who is now the chief of general staff of the German army, and where is Hitler's body?"
After Zhukov finished, I immediately reported to him what I learned from Klebsiella: "according to general Klebsiella, the bodies of Hitler and his newly married wife have been splashed with gasoline and burned in the crater outside the bunker door."
After listening to me patiently, Zhukov said in a suspicious tone: "we have only heard about Hitler's suicide, but we can't explain the truth of this information because we can't see people alive or dead. Well, you tell klebsieu to announce Hitler's death and will to the German army, who is still fighting in Berlin. "
I didn't expect that it was such a simple request, but Klebsiella was trying to get in the way. He obstinately said, "I'm sorry, general oshanina, I didn't get such authorization. My mission is just to hope that you will recognize the new German government and start formal negotiations with us. "
After thinking about it, I thought I should change my mind, so I said to Klebs, "general Klebs, if you want us to recognize the new German government, the best way out is to lay down our arms and surrender."
"Surrender completely?" Klebs asked tentatively.
"Yes, surrender completely." I nodded my head and said with certainty, "only after you surrender completely will we have a dialogue with members of this new German government."
After listening to me, Klebs shook his head in denial: "I'm sorry, general oshanina. I have no right to declare surrender. In this way, our government will be wiped out... "He may be in a state of confusion. He used German and Russian as a mixture when he spoke. Fortunately, an interpreter translated his words in time.
Our negotiations are deadlocked, because no matter what we say, klebsieu insists on recognizing their new German government first, otherwise the negotiations cannot continue. When it comes to unconditional surrender, he says he is not authorized.
If, according to my character, the negotiations are in such a deadlock, the best way is to let Klebs go back to Hitler's bunker, and we will launch a new attack until the stubborn elements are completely eliminated.
When the phone rang, Zhukov told me that the Supreme Command had made a final decision to surrender the German army or the Berlin garrison. If they still refuse to surrender, we will launch a new attack in an hour.
After I told Klebsiella of the Supreme Command's reply, I patiently asked them to surrender unconditionally. But Klebsiella screamed, "I have no such authorization. Although we know that if we continue to fight, we will be completely annihilated, Berlin will not surrender. Goebbels will not agree to surrender until he gets Donitz's permission... "
Just then, the German interpreter who went back to the bunker with the messenger yesterday to pull the telephone line came back. He reported excitedly to Klebs: "Sir, on our way to the bunker, we were shot by our own men in Prince Albrecht street, and the Russian officer who was pulling the telephone line was killed. Colonel duffwenger returned to the bunker alone, ready to find our messenger to connect the telephone line there, but he hasn't come back yet. In order not to worry you, I'll come back first. The Russians who stayed there said that if they saw the colonel, they would send someone to escort him back here safely. "
"Go back at once, and make sure the Colonel returns safely," Klebs ordered, and asked the interpreter, "who fired?"
The translator shrugged his shoulders and said, "maybe it's a sniper. The Russian officer was killed on the spot. It's really a pity... "
We looked for Prince Albrecht Street on the map and looked at it carefully“ It's right here, next to the exzelsio hotel. " The translator saw several of us looking at the map, pointed to the location of the accident and said to us, "our snipers are shooting at us here. In this whole area, the Russians haven't fired a shot." Trikov immediately picked up his pen, marked three blocks on the map, and ordered chief of staff Vladimirov to call the troops stationed there to find out what had happened. After a while, Vladimirov reported to us: "Comrade commander, I have contacted a battalion command post stationed there. They said: the German Colonel has safely returned to the German side, but the German side's telephone has not been laid yet." It is said that the German Colonel has not come back, and the telephone line of the German side in his charge has not been laid. I think we should send the German interpreter immediately, so as to avoid any misunderstanding because of the language barrier. So I waved to the translator and said, "OK, Mr. translator, go back and wait for your colonel." But after listening to my words, the translator stood still. After a glance at Klebsiella, he asked me carefully, "Sir, can I have a trumpet and a white flag?" I winked at Vladimirov, who was standing by. He immediately picked up the translation from the table by the wall and handed it to him. The translator took the things, raised his hand to us, gave us a military salute, turned around and strode out. At daybreak, Colonel Duffing, the German interpreter and our surviving signalmen returned to the headquarters. After the messenger raised his hand to salute, he told us with indignation: "report, comrade general, the telephone line to Hitler's bunker has been connected!" Colonel duffwenger was also reporting something to Klebsiella. Although I didn't understand their Russian, I could guess that it must have something to do with this telephone line that had been set up through a lot of hardships. Since the telephone line with Hitler's bunker has been set up, I immediately called Zhukov and reported to him, "marshal, the special line with Hitler's bunker has been set up. Do you have any latest instructions?"