Since Captain Augusta Ernst, the most stubborn Captain Augusta Ernst, was ready to surrender to the Russians, there would be no objection to the remaining soldiers. They knew very well that if they continued to resist stubbornly, they would have no way to die. On the contrary, if they put down their weapons and surrender, they would have the opportunity to go back and reunite with their families as soon as the war ended.
Seeing the German army flapping a white flag, it was announced that it would surrender, and the Soviet commanders and soldiers hid and rushed out of their hiding place, carrying weapons to capture the prisoners.
Hundreds of prisoners were soon concentrated and were guarded by some soldiers of the Guard Division. The remaining soldiers stayed to clean the battlefield, clean up the bodies of the dead and collect weapons that could still be used. Countless soldiers stepped on the area and quickly stepped on the ground into a quagmire.
Seeing that the enemies had all been destroyed, Sokov came out of his hiding place and walked forward with Lunev, Merkulov and others. The busy soldiers may not know Sokov, but they knew their division commanders. They quickly stopped their work and stood attentively saluting the three of them.
Hundreds of people stood at the same time and mud and water splashed everywhere. Although a lot of mud and water splashed on Sokov, he was not angry at all. Instead, he waved to the soldiers.
When they arrived at the place where the prisoners were being taken care of, without waiting for the soldiers who were taking care of the prisoners, many German soldiers sitting on the ground stood up and looked curiously at the three Russian generals walking over. Several of the officers guessed Sokov's identity and took the initiative to raise their hands to salute him, but Sokov ignored them and asked an officer who was taking care of the prisoners of war: "Where is Major General Val?"
When the officer heard Sokov's question, he quickly replied: "Report to the commander, Major General Val is not locked up here, but is in a nearby wooden shed."
"Take me over and have a look."
The officer led Sokov and others to a wooden shed not far away. Sure enough, he saw Major General Val sitting inside. "Major General Val," standing outside the wooden shed, and said to Major General Val inside: "We're meeting again."
Hearing Sokov's voice, Major General Val came out of the wooden shed and stood in front of Sokov with shame: "General Sokov, I really didn't expect that we would meet again in this situation."
Sokov knew that Major General Val would definitely have a psychological shadow after being held hostage by his subordinates, so he said to him: "I will now order someone to send you to the rear, where you can get the treatment of a prisoner of war that matches your identity."
If Major General Val had surrendered in an established manner a few hours ago with the remaining troops, he might have been confident at this moment. However, after experiencing the betrayal of his subordinates, he felt that he had become a stray dog. He was even worried that Sokov felt that he had no value in use. Will he directly order someone to shoot him?
Until now, after hearing what Sokov said, the heart hanging in his throat finally returned to his stomach. Although being captured was a shameful thing, as far as he knew, the captured German general enjoyed a good treatment, and he could quietly wait for the day when the war ended in the prisoner-of-war camp.
"General Sokov," said Major General Val cautiously: "I have a request."
“What request?”
"I heard that Colonel Ximeng, the commander of the Skeleton Division, was also captured by you." Major General Val asked carefully: "Can you lock me up with him?"
Sokov originally thought that Mr. Val would make some excessive request, but he didn't expect that the other party just wanted to be locked up with Colonel Xi, so he said carelessly: "No problem, I can satisfy your wish."
Although the final statistics have not been released yet, Sokov knew very well that the imperial army could basically be said to have been destroyed. What he had to do next was to return to the headquarters and report this to Rokosovsky, and at the same time, he would understand the problem of encircling and suppressing the remnants of the Skeleton Division.
Sokov returned to the Army Command and was about to order the correspondents to answer the phone number of the Front Command to him, the phone ringing on the table rang first. Witkov picked it up and listened for a moment, and quickly handed the microphone to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, it is the phone call from the Chief of Staff of the Front."
Sokov took the microphone and put it in his ear and said politely: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff, I am Sokov."
"Hello General Sokov!" Malining said in an official tone: "I have something now that I want to inform you officially. From now on, the number of our front army has changed from the original Don River Front to the Central Front, and we can move our defense towards Moscow."
The Sokov map looked at the intention and thought in his mind that if the main force of the front army moved towards Moscow, they would soon reach the north of Ijum and control the Kursk area, thereby attracting the enemy's attention and reducing the defensive pressure for their troops.
After Malining said a few more words, he heard that there was no movement on Sokov and thought the phone had been disconnected. He quickly raised his voice and asked, "General Sokov, why don't you speak? What happened?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I am considering that if the main force of the Front arrives in the north of Ijum, the enemy will probably concentrate the main forces in your direction. In this way, the pressure we are under here will be greatly reduced."
"Yes, the situation will indeed develop as you said." After saying this, Malining asked back: "A few hours ago, you told me that you were launching a final attack on the Imperial Master. I want to ask, what is the result now?"
"Report to Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov quickly replied: "After fierce battle, our army wiped out the Imperial Division. The division commander Major General Val and more than 300 officers and soldiers under his command were captured."
"What, you even captured Major General Val of the Imperial Master?" Malining asked excitedly.
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov replied: "In fact, before the final attack began, Major General Val had negotiated with us and was preparing to lead the remaining more than a thousand officers and soldiers to surrender to us, but there was a little accident."
"Accident?" Malining asked in surprise: "What accident?"
"Major General Val knew the situation very well and knew that if he continued to fight, his troops could not escape the destruction, so he prepared to lead the troops to surrender." Sokov explained: "But because the time he replaced the imperial division was too short, he had not had time to establish prestige in the division. Therefore, before he was preparing to issue the order for surrender, he was held hostage by a group of fanatical officers and soldiers. The officers and soldiers not only stopped Major General Val from surrendering, but also called on the remaining officers and soldiers to continue to resist. As a result, our battle lasted for a while."
"It's so common." Malinin heard Sokov say this and couldn't help but mutter: "The best way to treat such a fanatical enemy is to destroy them all." He paused for a moment and continued to ask, "How did the enemy surrender in the end?"
"I accidentally discovered that the German officer who held Major General Val hostage and a surrendered translator in my army were brothers. I sent the translator to persuade the surrender, so that the remaining German officers and soldiers could lay down their weapons and surrender."
"General Sokov, what did you say just now?" Malining couldn't help frowning when he heard this, "In your army, there is a surrendered translator, and a brother who is a SS? Have you ever reviewed this translator? Will he be a spy arranged by the enemy within our army?"
"No, Comrade Chief of Staff." Seeing that Malining suspected Corporal Ernst, Sokov quickly defended him: "Corporal Ernst was the one who took the initiative to surrender to our army when our troops attacked the Istria Reservoir. He had been in my army for more than a year. If he were a spy, we would have noticed it long ago."
"Since he has a SS brother, I don't think he is suitable to stay in your troops anymore." Out of caution, Malining specifically reminded Sokov: "I think it's better to transfer him to another place."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I can guarantee him that he has absolutely no problem." Sokov was a little anxious when he heard Malining say he wanted to transfer Ernst: "When I went to persuade Paulus to surrender, he also went with me as an interpreter. He was absolutely loyal to us."
Seeing that Sokov repeatedly spoke good things for his subordinates, Malining couldn't forcefully order him to drive the translator away, so he could only say tactfully: "General Sokov, your military committee member is the deputy minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. How to deal with this translator? I suggest you communicate with him so that you will not have any unpleasant things in the future."
"I understand, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov felt a little more at ease when he saw that Malining no longer pursued the matter, and quickly replied: "I will communicate with the military committee member about this matter."
"General Sokov, I have another thing I want to tell you." Malinin continued: "I heard from the commander that the amazing combat effectiveness shown by your army in the battle to eliminate the Imperial Division and the Skeleton Division made many commanders on the fronts envious. They all proposed to the Supreme Commander himself that he hoped to transfer you and your troops to their fronts and fight against the enemy."
Sokov knew very well that in the place where he is now, the Battle of Kursk, which will change the pattern of world war, will take place in a few months. If he goes to another front at this moment, the results he can achieve will be greatly reduced. He was unwilling to leave his current troops, but in order to find out that it was those people who wanted to let him go, he asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, can you tell me which fronts they are?"
"General Govorov of the Leningrad Front, General Sokorovsky of the Western Front, and General Konev, who had just served as the commander of the Grassland Front." After Malining issued several names, he told Sokov: "They all applied to the Supreme Commander himself, hoping to get your troops to their fronts. General Konev even said that even if the superiors disagree to equip him with the Sixth Army, even if you are transferred alone, it is OK."
Sokov thought secretly that if his superiors were really ready to transfer himself to another army, the best choice was to go to Konev's grassland front. In the eyes of others, Konev's luck was really bad. He was the rank of general as early as before the war. As a result, after two years of war, Zhukov and Vasilevsky became marshals. Rokosovsky and Vatutin, who were lower than him, have now become generals, and he still carried the general's epaulette.
The reason why he was transferred to the Grassland Front as commander was entirely because he felt that the current fighter plane was immature and did not easily attack the German defense line according to Stalin's order. As a result, he was revoked his position as commander of the Western Front and demoted to the Grassland Front, which was of the reserve line.
However, this demotion was not a bad thing for Konev. The troops he had commanded were mainly infantry. In addition to the four infantry armies, the Grassland Front also had General Rotmistrov's 5th Tank Army, which was a steely army that scared the German army and established a special honor in the Battle of Stalingrad.
After the Battle of Moscow, the focus of the Soviet-German war situation had moved to the southern line, and the two sides gathered heavy troops here to prepare for the main decisive battle. This mobilization enabled him to move from the central battlefield to the southern battlefield, which gave Konev, who had the first time he had a powerful armored mechanized force, the opportunity to establish meritorious deeds.
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov asked tentatively after weighing his strength in his heart: "I want to ask, what does the Supreme Commander mean? Will he transfer us to other directions?"
"This is not easy to say." Malining would not easily express his opinions on such a matter of calculating the holy will, but said tactfully: "But if you really want to transfer you away, you will definitely notify you in advance."
Sokov made a secret decision in his heart that if his superiors really planned to mobilize their jobs, they must find ways to go to Konev's troops. In any case, in the last stage of the war, their time to enter Berlin was not much slower than Zhukov's First Front Army in Belarus.
To be on the safe side, he asked cautiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, if my superiors are really ready to mobilize my job, can I be free to choose where I want to go?"
"General Sokov, I just said it casually." Malinin continued: "Unless you are assigned to other troops to command, you can only be the Southwest Front or the Voronezh Front; if you are to be transferred to other fronts, you will definitely not be able to take the troops away. Only a few commanders you can trust after you leave."
After hearing what Malining said, Sokov began to think again. If he could only take a few commanders away when he left, he should take those people away? Because he was so obsessed that he didn't hear clearly what Malining said next.
Fortunately, Malining guessed that Sokov would be distracted, and raised his voice and called him twice. Sokov woke up from his thoughts and asked quickly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you have any instructions?"
"I'll send a plane to your place right away." Malining said on the phone: "Take back the captive Imperial Master and the two division commanders of the Skeleton Division, so as not to be rescued by the enemy if the night is long and dreams are too long."
Chapter completed!