Burning Moscow

Chapter 1709 1 twists and turns

Zhukov informed me and asked me to wait for the final news from Moscow, and General Klebs, who was here to negotiate on behalf of the German army, could not leave the headquarters until he got our definitive answer.

In this long and embarrassing night, in order to pass the boring time, we and Klebs chatted together one after another. He looked at Cuikov and asked, “General Cuikov, at the battle of Stalingrad, you seemed to be a military commander, right?”

“No.” Seeing that the other party had mistaken his position, Cui Kefu’s face showed some displeasure: “I was already the commander of the group army at that time. It was the 62nd group army under my command that blocked Paulus The crazy offensive of the 6th Army.”

After hearing this, Krebs nodded and said: “I know this. I read the report on the battle of Stalingrad and the report from Marshal Manstein to the Führer. Our troops have arrived in several places. By the Volga River, but it is impossible to completely wipe you out or drive across the river.”

After he finished speaking, there was a long silence in the room.

To break the silence, I got up and poured Krebs a cup of tea. After thanking me, he said: “General Oshanina, the first time I heard of you was during the Battle of Stalingrad. A division under your command stood firmly at the Mamayev Hill on the Volga River. Turning this commanding height into an insurmountable gate prevents our troops from moving forward. I sometimes think that if we had captured this high ground, perhaps the outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad would be rewritten.”

Although I was a little smug when I heard from Klebs’s mouth that I was proud of the record, but when I heard the hypothesis behind him, I said with a straight face: “General Klebs, even yours The army has taken Mamayev Hill, and our troops will take it back. Every one of our soldiers understands what it means to stick to this city named after the Supreme Commander himself, so even if they sacrifice themselves His life will also protect this city.”

Krebs waited for me to finish talking, stared at me for a long time, finally nodded, and said: “General Oshanina, maybe you are right. You became famous in the Battle of Stalingrad. As for many of our generals, they 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 shouting. The weapon surrendered to you.”

Being able to get praise from the enemy may be the greatest affirmation to a person. When I was about to thank Krebs, I heard the high-frequency phone ringing on the table, guessing it might be a call from Zhukov, and quickly got up and walked over to pick up the microphone.

Zhukov hurriedly said on the phone: “Lida, did the general who came to negotiate with you carry some documents with him?”

“Yes, Comrade Marshal.” I glanced at Krebs sitting at the table in a daze, and said affirmatively: “In addition to a negotiating authorization letter signed by Goebbels himself, there are two other documents: one It is a power of attorney for negotiations with the Supreme Command of our country, signed by Bowerman on March 8, 1945; the other is Hitler’s will, with a list of members of the new German government and the Supreme Command of the German Armed Forces This document was signed by Hitler and the witnesses, and the date noted was: March 7, 1945 at 16:00.”

After Zhukov listened, he immediately told me: “Lida, immediately send someone to send these three documents to my headquarters.”

After putting down the phone, I said to Cuikov: “General Cuikov, the marshal ordered us to immediately send the three documents brought by General Klebs to his front headquarters.” Then I turned my head and looked at Kleber. Si asked, “Your Excellency General, would you not object to it?”

“General Oshanina,” Krebs heard me ask, and immediately said politely: “You can dispose of these three documents as you like.”

As soon as someone sent the documents away, Pozharsky walked in from outside, he came to Cuikov’s side, leaned over and leaned close to his ear and whispered a few words. Cui Kefu nodded, and then said to me: “Lida, except for urgent matters, you come with me outside.”

After we asked Pozharsky to stay with Krebs, we walked to the outside room together. I asked Cui Kefu curiously: “General Cui Kefu, what happened?”

“A call from General Rezhoff, commander of the 28th Guards Corps,” Cuikov may be worried that Krebs in the back room heard it, so he deliberately lowered his voice: “Speaking of the remnants of the German army stationed in the Tiergarten area, prepare Surrender to us and let me send a representative to negotiate. As a result, our representative just arrived at the designated position with a white flag, but was hit by a machine gun, and Major Bersenev, who was in charge of contacting him, was seriously injured.”

While speaking, Cui Kefu walked to the table on the phone, picked up the microphone and said, “Rezhov? This is Cui Kefu. Tell me what is going on?”

“Comrade Commander,” Rezhoff said loudly on the other end of the phone: “Our representative was shot by a fascist machine gun when he was connected to two representatives of the German army. The major was seriously injured, and the other representative was killed and wounded. ”

Rezhoff’s report made me feel a little puzzled. I thought that the enemy lied to us to surrender, and then shot our military negotiators with a machine gun. It was a complete trap, but at the moment it sounds like there is something else inside.

Cui Kefu also asked in a puzzled manner: “Comrade Rezhov, what is going on? The Germans fired at our representatives. I understand this, but why did they shoot at their own representatives at the same time?”

“Comrade Commander,” Ryzhov continued to report: “Now it is all clear. It turns out that the Berlin garrison has split. Some officers and soldiers are preparing to surrender, while another part of the arrogant Nazis not only did not surrender themselves, but also Use force to prevent others from surrendering. Therefore, the representatives of our two sides will be shot by machine guns at the negotiation site.” He finally said, “Comrade Commander, please agree that we will launch a more violent assault as soon as possible to crush the enemy. Rebellion. Perhaps under our strong offensive, those German troops who are ready to surrender can also lay down their weapons earlier.”

“I see.” Although Cui Kefu’s heart is more anxious than anyone else, he cannot easily order the troops to attack before receiving the final order from the front army headquarters: “No one is allowed to attack the enemy without my order. Launch an offense, do you understand?”

Regarding Cui Koff’s severe order, Lei Ruofu could only reluctantly agreed: “Yes, Comrade Commander, I obey your order and let the troops continue to maintain the status quo, and will not attack the enemy until the offensive order is received.”

As soon as we finished the call here, Pozharsky called us at the door: “The phone number of the Front Command.”

I quickly ran into the back room to answer the phone call from Zhukov. Zhukov, who received an order from the High Command, said to me: “Lida, I ask you to find out as soon as possible about Himmler, where Ribbentrop is, and who is now the German chief of staff and Hitler’s body. where?……”

After Zhukov finished speaking, I immediately reported to him what I learned from Krebs: “According to General Klebs’s account, the bodies of Hitler and his new wife are already in the crater outside the bunker. It was splashed with gasoline and burned….”

After listening to me patiently, Zhukov said in a skeptical tone: “We only heard the news of Hitler’s suicide, but no one is alive or dead, so we can’t justify the truth of this information. Let’s pass it on. Krebs, let him announce Hitler’s death and will to the German troops who are still fighting in Berlin.”

Unexpectedly, it was such a simple request, but Krebs was pushing back and forth. He stubbornly said: “I’m sorry, General Oshanina, I have not received such authorization. My mission is only to hope that you can recognize the new German government. And start formal negotiations with us.”

I thought about it and thought I might have to change my mind, so I said to Krebs, “General Klebs, if you want us to recognize the new German government, the best way out is to lay down arms and surrender.”

“Surrender completely?” Krebs asked tentatively.

“Yes, surrender completely.” I nodded and said affirmatively: “Only after you surrender completely, we will start a dialogue with the members of this new German government.”

After hearing what I said, Krebs shook his head negatively: “I’m sorry, General Oshanina, I have no right to surrender. In this way, our government will be annihilated…” He may be a little worried. In a mess, he actually used a mixture of German and Russian when speaking. Fortunately, a translator translated his words in a timely manner.

Our negotiations are at a deadlock, because no matter what we say, Krebs insists that they must first recognize their new German government, otherwise the negotiations cannot continue. Whenever he mentioned the issue of unconditional surrender, he said that he was not authorized.

If according to my character, the negotiation is in such a deadlock, the best way is to let Krebs go back to Hitler’s bunker, and we will reopen the offensive until the stubborn fascists are completely eliminated.

When the phone rang, Zhukov told me that the Supreme High Command had made the final decision, whether the German army surrendered completely or the Berlin garrison surrendered. If they still refuse to surrender, we will launch a new attack in an hour.

After I told Krebs about the reply of the Supreme Command, I again patiently proposed that they should surrender unconditionally, but Krebs screamed, “I didn’t get such authorization. Although I knew I would continue to fight,” We will be annihilated, but Berlin will not surrender. Goebbels will not agree to surrender without Dennitz’s permission…”

At this moment, the German interpreter, who took the communicator back to the bunker to pull the telephone line yesterday, came back. He reported emotionally to Krebs: “Your Excellency, on our way to the bunker, we were shot by our own people on Prince Albrecht Street. The Russian|officer who was pulling the telephone line was killed. Du Colonel Fwenger returned to the bunker alone, ready to find our correspondent to connect to the telephone line there, but he has not yet returned. I will come back first in order not to worry you. The Russians who stayed there Said that if they saw the colonel, they would send someone to **** the colonel back here safely.”

“Go back immediately to ensure that the colonel returns safely,” Krebs ordered, and asked the interpreter: “Who fired the shot?”

The translator shrugged his shoulders, feeling helplessly: “Maybe it was a sniper. The Russian officer was killed on the spot. This is really regrettable…”

We looked for Prince Albrecht Avenue on the map and looked at it carefully.

“It’s right here, next to the’Exzelsio’ hotel.” The translator saw a few of us looking at the map, and pointed to the location of the accident and said to us: “Our snipers shot at us right here. In this entire area, the Russians did not fire a shot.”

Trikov immediately picked up a pen and marked three blocks on the map, and ordered the 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. I went, but the German phone has not been laid out yet.”

I heard that the German colonel has not come back, and the telephone line of the German side under his charge has not been laid. I think the German translator should be sent to to avoid any misunderstandings due to language barriers. So I waved at the translator and said, “Okay, Mr. Translator, you can go back and wait for your colonel!”

However, after listening to what I said, the translator stood still and didn’t move. After taking a look at Krebs, he asked me carefully: “Your Excellency, can you give me a trumpet and a white flag?”

I winked at Vladimirov, who was standing by, and he immediately picked up the translation needed from the table by the wall and handed it over. The interpreter took the things, raised his hand to us for a Nazi military salute, turned around and strode out.

At dawn, Colonel Duffervänger, German translators and our surviving communications soldiers returned to the headquarters. After the correspondent raised his hand to salute, he reported to us with a full face of grief: “Report Comrade General, the telephone line to Hitler’s bunker has been connected!”

Colonel Duffervanger was also reporting something to Krebs. Although I didn’t understand the Russian they were speaking, I could guess that it must have something to do with this telephone line that was erected after all the hard work.

Now that the telephone line with Hitler’s bunker has been set up, I immediately called Zhukov and reported to him: “Comrade Marshal, the special line with Hitler’s bunker has been set up. Do you have any updated instructions? ?”