Hearing the news of the loss of the airport, Paulo Luxon was dumbfounded. He sat limply in his place, his eyes looking ahead, his eyes muttering unfocused, "It's over, it's all over." The supplies can't come in, our wounded can't get out, and it's all over. ”

"Your Excellency, Commander," Schmidt hurriedly reminded Paulus, seeing that he looked lost, "the Gumkole airport is lost, and our last window of contact with the outside world is gone. If we continue to fight like this, sooner or later our troops will be wiped out by the Russians. In order to leave some seeds for the 6th Army, you better make up your mind earlier, right? ”

Paulus looked at his chief of staff blankly and asked puzzledly, "What determination?" As soon as he finished saying this, he suddenly thought of what the chief of staff was implying and couldn't help but be shocked, and asked carefully, "Chief of staff, you mean, let me accept the ultimatum of the Russians?" ”

Schmidt nodded and said affirmatively: "That's right, Your Excellency Commander, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers of our 6th Army, representatives should be immediately sent to negotiate with the Russians......"

Before he could finish his sentence, Paulus raised his hand to stop him. Paulus walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, and Schmidt and a group of officers sitting on either side of the conference table stared intently at their commander, waiting for him to make a final decision. If these high-ranking officers had been thinking of continuing to resist when they received Hitler's telegram two days earlier, at this moment they just wanted Paulus to quickly announce his surrender to the Russians and save them from this hellish city.

Paulus walked back and forth in the room for five or six minutes, and finally stopped, turning to face his senior officers. Just when everyone was full of hope and wanted to hear him announce his surrender to the Russians, he said categorically: "Gentlemen, I have carefully considered that our troops can continue to hold out, and Air Marshal Goering will send the Air Force to provide us with the necessary supplies and weapons and ammunition." As long as we can hold out until mid-February, the troops sent by the Führer to our rescue will arrive. ”

Seeing that Paulus was still stubborn and wanted to hold on, Schmidt and the senior officers sighed helplessly. But now that Paulus had made his final decision, they had no choice but to obey.

After the Soviets seized the Gumkol airfield, there was a heated discussion within the Front Command about which direction to destroy the enemy first.

Deputy Commander Trubnikov was the first to express his opinion: "Comrade commander, I propose to launch an attack on the German army in the south of Group Yugoslav, the south of Stalingrad is mainly residential, and the buildings have almost collapsed after months of bombing and shelling. If we attack this area, we will encounter weaker resistance than the factory area to the north, so that we can clear the enemy south of the city in the shortest possible time. ”

Rokossovsky did not expect that Trubnikov's idea would coincide with his own. Just as he was about to speak, Malinin had already rushed to say: "I think we should first eliminate the enemy in the factory area north of the city, and many small troops of General Chuikov are confronting the enemy in several factories. If we attack the north of the city, these small forces will be able to cooperate with us inside and outside to destroy the enemy entrenched here. ”

Voronov may have seen too much of everyone's disputes, and after the main leaders of the two fronts finished talking about their views, he asked Rokossovsky bluntly: "Comrade Rokossovsky, I would like to hear your opinion, which area do you plan to destroy the enemy first?" ”

Rokossovsky's eyes looked at Trubnikov and said: "I am inclined to the advice of Comrade Deputy Commander to destroy the enemy in the south first, and then turn around and destroy the enemy in the north. Now south of Stalingrad, there is still General Shumilov's 64th Army that has not been used, and the task of destroying the German South Group can be completely entrusted to them. ”

"Comrade commander," Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Malinin immediately asked, "when do you plan to let General Shumilov's troops launch an offensive against the Germans?" ”

"Don't be in a hurry, let them rest for two more days." Rokossovsky waved his hand and said: "Our commanders and fighters have become exhausted after more than ten days of fierce fighting, so I declare that the offensive will be suspended for two days, so that the commanders and fighters can rest well and recuperate before launching the offensive again." ”

"But, comrade commander, if we stop the offensive, we will not give the Germans a respite." Malinin said worriedly about Rokossovsky's decision: "Doesn't this give the enemy the opportunity to readjust his deployment?" ”

"Chief of Staff, don't worry. The Germans were already facing the dilemma of running out of ammunition and food, and even if they were given more time, they would not be able to turn the tables around. Rokossovsky's gaze swept over the commander present, and continued: "I now have a new consideration, the area occupied by the German army, the fire points are both bright and dark, there are both high-rise fortifications and bunkers, and the barricade fortifications are like a fire support point, once the fire is fired, it can form crossfire. The commanders and fighters who were unfamiliar with the terrain rushed forward, which was the end of their death, so I considered using the anti-fascist alliance in Ulbricht to launch a political offensive against the German troops in the city. If we can defeat most of the enemy without bloodshed, then we can greatly reduce the casualties of our army. ”

"The Germans didn't surrender so easily." After hearing this, Military Commissar Terekin said with some hesitation: "But since you say so, then we can still give it a try." ”

"Comrade Military Commissar," Rokossovsky decided to adopt a new way of persuading the Germans to surrender during the period when the troops temporarily stopped the offensive, "because of the blockade of our army, the enemy could not get enough supplies, and many officers and men were faced with the dilemma of hunger and cold. So we had to shout in the trenches close to the German positions, telling the enemy on the opposite side that if they lay down their arms and come over, we would be able to feed them so that they would not starve to death. ”

As soon as Rokossovsky's words came out, there was an uproar, because his statement was so incredible, how could he provide food for the enemy, wasn't this a disguised way to finance the enemy? But seeing Rokossovsky's stern gaze, the room soon became quiet again.

Rokossovsky's arrangement, even Voronov felt a little inappropriate, so he asked on behalf of everyone: "Comrade Rokossovsky, since the German army is already in a situation of starvation and cold, then even if they die of cold and starvation, they deserve it, who made them the initiators of the war?" How can we provide them with food, and what if they are full and take up arms again to fight us? ”

As soon as Voronov's words came out, the commanders sitting next to him nodded their heads, indicating that they also agreed with Voronov's opinion. Rokossovsky smiled slightly, and then said to everyone: "Comrade commanders, I remind you that we are going to eliminate the German fascists, not all Germans. If the plan I have proposed can divide and disintegrate the enemy and reduce the casualties of our army in the offensive, why not? ”