At two o'clock in the afternoon of June 2, 1943, at the surrender ceremony of the Sevastopol fortress, Major General Petrov finally met his old opponent, Infantry General Gedhardt Heinrich, whom he had been pestering for most of the year.

Seeing the infantry general Heinrich with a mustache on his lips and only the height of a junior high school student, Major General Petrov cursed in his heart, this guy is so short, he can come up with such a vicious trick, presumably because he has done too many bad things to grow tall, what a "poisonous dwarf".

Of course, Infantry General Heinrich couldn't hear Major General Petrov's heart, and he didn't know that he got the nickname of "poisonous dwarf" for carrying a black pot for someone.

At this time, Admiral Heinrich's heart was full of joy, he originally thought that according to the plan of "Your Excellency Brother-in-law", the fortress would be besieged for at least ten to fifteen days, and the defenders of the fortress would not surrender until they could not hold their guns, but they did not expect that they would surrender in only three days, and it seemed that the state of medicine and food reserves in the fortress was even worse than they imagined.

In any case, the enemy has surrendered, and as a victor, he still has to maintain the demeanor of a German soldier.

Admiral Heinrich politely took Major General Petrov and his men into a field tent, there was no way, the buildings outside the city were too badly damaged during the battle.

In the tent, after the greetings, the two sides entered the main topic of the meeting.

The Separate Primorsky Army under the command of Major General Petrov had four infantry divisions, three cavalry divisions, two marine brigades, and one separate tank battalion, with a total of ten units and about 70,000 men (half of them provisional militias) surrendering to the Axis powers.

After Lieutenant Colonel Grashchenko, chief of staff of the Separate Primorsky Army, finished introducing the strength of the troops, Major General Petrov suddenly said: "The following specific handover ceremony will be in charge of Lieutenant Colonel Gerashchenko, and I will live and die with the fortress." When I die, please find me a good place in the fortress and bury me there. ”

Lieutenant Colonel Gerashchenko, who already knew in advance about Major General Petrov's decision to commit suicide, did not get excited, but simply nodded sadly.

"Comrade Major General, I will definitely carry out your order."

Hearing Major General Petrov's words, Admiral Heinrich and Major General Ohm, who was sitting on his right, invariably showed strange expressions on their faces.

The plan of "Your Excellency Brother-in-law" has taken effect again, he is really a man of God!

Admiral Heinrich stabilized his expression and said solemnly: "General Petrov, although we are enemies, as a soldier, I respect your decision, and I will definitely give you a decent funeral." ”

In the afternoon, the Soviet flag fluttered over the fortress of Sevastopol, and in his place were the flags of Germany, Italy and Romania.

Military vehicles with red crosses sprayed on their bodies were the first to drive into the fortress, bringing with them much-needed medicines, and the Axis forces methodically took over the various positions in the fortress, with 432 howitzer cannons, 721 mortars and 134 anti-tank anti-aircraft guns becoming trophies of the Axis troops.

In the evening of the same day, Colonel Heinrich, Major General Ohm, and Lieutenant Colonel Gerashchenko accompanied Major General Petrov to his last sumptuous dinner.

After dinner, the group drove to a dilapidated two-story building on the southern outskirts of the fortress.

Major General Petrov shook hands with Major General Heinrich Ohm, and then warmly embraced Lieutenant Colonel Gerashchenko, turned around and resolutely walked into the building.

On the first floor of the building, in a room that could not be seen from the outside, Major Lorenz and one of his subordinates had already lurked here.

Seeing Rear Admiral Petrov enter the room, Major Lorenz nodded to his subordinates, and the private handed Rear Admiral Petrov a set of German admiral's uniforms that he had already prepared.

The major general quickly changed into a new military uniform, then took the razor and shaved off his Gorky-style mustache in the mirror in the room.

After a busy day, the original Rear Admiral Petrov disappeared and became a German naval colonel.

Accompanied by his subordinates, Major Lorenz pulled out the Luger pistol from his waist and pulled the trigger at the sky outside the window.

A crisp gunshot rang out of the building, and Lieutenant Colonel Gerashchenko's face on the side of the road outside the building was instantly filled with sadness.

Four German soldiers carried the coffin into the building, and after about five minutes, the coffin was lifted out again.

Lieutenant Colonel Gerashchenko stepped forward and carried the coffin onto a Mercedes truck on the side of the road with four German soldiers.

Personally covering the coffin with the Soviet flag that had been prepared for a long time, the lieutenant colonel sat in the carriage in a daze at the coffin.

Admiral Heinrich and Major General Ohm looked at each other, turned and got into the car, and the convoy then set off for Cape Kerson in the south, the burial place of Major General Petrov.

In the back seat of the car, Admiral Heinrich said: "General Rosen's letter still worked, and it should have greatly broken the will of Major General Petrov to resist and hastened the surrender of the fortress." Today, with the task of swindling death completed by Major General Petrov, we have accomplished. When the war is over, how to take the family of the major general out and reunite with him is something that General Rosen should worry about. ”

At eight o'clock in the evening of the same day, the "Deutsche Welle" radio station surrendered the defenders of the Sevastopol fortress, the supreme commander of the defenders, Major General Petrov, committed suicide, and the news of the funeral of the commander of the German Twelfth Army, Admiral Heinrich, and Rear Admiral Ohm of the German Navy spread throughout the Soviet Union.

In the living room of the Kremlin, Stalin took Marshal Shaposhnikov, General Vasilevsky, Molotov and others to listen to the enemy's radio in the open.

Having heard the news that Major General Petrov was buried at Cape Kerson, Stalin signaled to turn off the radio.

Invisible repression filled the living room, and for a long time, Stalin was the first to break the silence.

"If any of us had sat in the position of Major General Petrov, no one would have done a better job than him, who had fulfilled all the duties of a soldier. Inform the local government to give his family some pensions according to the treatment he is entitled to. ”

After Stalin finished speaking, he let out a long sigh and stood up abruptly.

"Let's not talk about him, let's go to the conference room, let's discuss what kind of tactics the Germans will use to attack Moscow, how we should defend Moscow, this is the most important thing this year, the decisive battle has just begun."

The group followed Stalin to the conference room, and just after a few steps, Stalin suddenly muttered something in a low voice.

"And if Moscow is occupied by the Germans, how should we continue to fight?"

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