After a quick glance at the contents of the letter of exhortation, Vinogorodov immediately replied confidently: "Comrade commander, I intend to send Major Smyslov as a representative and Captain Tiatrenko as his interpreter to the German command to submit this letter of surrender. Ｘ”

Seeing that Vinogorodov already had a suitable candidate in mind, Rokossovsky nodded, and then called the director of the communications corps, Maximenko, and asked: "Is there any way for you to get in touch with the German radio and inform the other party of the news that we are about to send a representative to them?" ”

After hearing this, the elderly Maximenko nodded, and said affirmatively: "Don't worry, Comrade Commander, we can get in touch with the German command by telegram or call." ”

"Then start calling now," Rokossovsky instructed Maksimenko: "Inform the other side, that our representatives will arrive at the western outskirts of Stalingrad at nine o'clock tomorrow morning to make contact with them, and ask them to send authorized officers to make contact with our representatives." ”

After Maksimenko and Vinogoradov left one after another, Voronov looked at the backs of the two and asked: "Comrade Rokossovsky, do you think our persuasion to surrender will be effective?" ”

Rokossovsky shook his head and said with some embarrassment: "

Again began to care about the situation in the Rostov region: "Comrade Rokossovsky, do you think we can take Rostov today?" ”

"It's hard to say," Rokossovsky said, shaking his head and being a little embarrassed: "Paulus is an officer who is very loyal to Hitler, and even if he wants to surrender, he will definitely ask Hitler for instructions in advance, and only after obtaining permission will he lay down his arms and surrender to our army." But do you think about it, will Hitler agree to surrender to us with more than 200,000 troops under one of his army commanders? ”

"No, Hitler would certainly not agree to Paulus' surrender." After Voronov said this, he asked with some curiosity: "Since you know that Paulus will not surrender, then why do you send someone to persuade him to surrender?" ”

"I'm worried about how many civilians who remain in German-occupied areas who will die of hunger and cold if it snows heavily." Rokossovsky said worriedly: "In order to end the fighting in the Stalingrad region as soon as possible, we must use any means at our disposal." ”

Soon after Maksimenko's telegram was sent, the German command in the city of Stalingrad received it. After waiting for Paulus to read the telegram, Lieutenant General Schmidt, the chief of staff of the German army, asked respectfully: "Your Excellency, commander, how should we reply to this telegram from the Russians?" ”

Paulus frowned and thought for a while, then said: "Although the Russian army has surrounded us, we still have two or three hundred thousand troops, and it is not so easy for them to eat us. Ignore this telegram from them. ”

"Your Excellency," Schmidt did not question Paulus's order, but went on to ask, "what are we to do tomorrow when the Russian negotiators arrive at their appointed positions and ask for negotiations with our troops?" ”

"Shoot at their representatives." When Paulus said this, he seemed to think that this was a bit contrary to international norms, and he added, "But just tell our soldiers, don't hurt people, and drive them away." ”

Early the next morning, the head of the reconnaissance bureau, Vinogoradov, personally accompanied the two negotiators, drove to the western outskirts of Stalingrad, where the 65th Guards Division, which belonged to the 40th Guards Army.

The division commander Pastevich had long been informed by the commander, General Batov, to wait for them outside the division headquarters. Seeing Vinogoradov get out of the car, Pastelevich hurriedly greeted him and shook his hand, and at the same time asked with concern: "Comrade Director, are you ready to go through our defense zone and go to the Germans now?" ”

"Yes," replied Vinogorodov affirmatively, "two of my men were ordered to deliver to the Germans a letter of exhortation, drawn up by the commander of the Front himself. ”

"Comrade Director," Pastevich said to Vinogoradov, smiling bitterly, "I don't think the Germans will lay down their arms so easily, and you may have come in vain today." ”

"Yes, we know that it will be difficult to persuade the Germans to surrender." Vinogoradov agreed with Pastevich very much, but he continued: "But in order to end the fighting in the Stalingrad region as soon as possible and save our people from the shadow of war, we must try all feasible ways." ”

Pastevich knew that they had come on orders and would not change their minds easily because of his few words, so he pointed ahead and said: "Comrade Director, four hundred meters to the east is our forward position, from which your negotiators can cross the battle line and enter the German defense zone. ”

Pastevich led them to the forward position, and he lay on the edge of the trench and said to Vinogoradov: "Comrade Director, the opposite side is the position of the German army, you can let your men pass." ”

Vinogorodov nodded, turned around and ordered one of the trumpeters standing next to him: "Blow the trumpet, tell the Germans that we are coming, tell them not to shoot." ”

The trumpeter agreed, raised the trumpet in his hand, and blew a series of horn tones to inform the German troops on the opposite side that his negotiators had arrived at the designated position and were about to negotiate with them, so that they should not shoot. To be on the safe side, the trumpeters blew three times in a row.

Vinogorodov felt that it was almost over, so he raised his hand to stop him, and said to Major Smyslov and the interpreter who were standing aside: "All right, we can go now." ”

Seeing Vinogorodov and the three of them walking out of the trench with a big white flag and walking towards the German positions on the opposite side, Pastevich hurriedly called the commander next to him and ordered: "Let the machine guns and mortars be ready to fire, and once the enemy fires, suppress them with our fire and ensure the safety of the negotiators." ”

Vinogorodov walked forward fifty or sixty meters with the two deputies, then stopped and said to Smyslov: "Comrade Major, I will send you here, and the rest of the way, the two of you have walked through." Good luck! ”

After saluting Vinogoradov, Smyslov asked the interpreter, Captain Tyatrenko, to walk towards the opposite side with a white flag and a firm step. The German positions were silent, no one could be seen, and no movement was heard. It wasn't until the two of them walked fifty or sixty meters away from the German trench that they suddenly saw several German soldiers leaning out and pointing at their positions.

Smyslov couldn't help but rejoice when he saw the Germans appear, and he was about to speed up his pace when he suddenly noticed that the Germans had mounted a machine gun on the edge of the trench. "Lie down!" He shouted, knocking the interpreter to the ground. Almost at the same time, he heard machine-gun fire and bullets whizzing overhead.

The Germans opened fire, but the target of the shot was not the two negotiators who were walking towards them, but Vinogorodov, who was standing two hundred meters away. The dense bullets hit Vinogorodov all around, knocking the snow and dirt on the ground as if it were boiling a pot, and frightened Vinogorodov to the ground.

Pastrevich, who was staying in the trench, saw the enemy firing, and hurriedly shouted at his subordinates next to him: "Machine guns and mortars are ready to fire and suppress the enemy's firepower." ”

Just as his men were about to carry out this order, they heard Vinogorodov, who was crawling back, shouting: "Don't fire, don't fire!" ”

Hearing Vinogoradov's shouts, Pastrefich had no choice but to cancel the order just now and keep the troops on alert. When Vinogorodov climbed to the edge of the trench, several fighters invariably reached out, grabbed Vinogorodov's clothes, and forcefully pulled him into the trench.

After rolling into the trench, Vinogoradov sat on the ground with his back against the wall of the trench and said to Pastevich with a look of embarrassment: "Comrade division commander, order your troops not to shoot, never to shoot, otherwise our negotiators will be in danger." ”

"But, Comrade Director," said Pastevich, pointing to the German machine gun that was firing in this direction, "the enemy is firing at us, so why can't we return fire?" ”

"They're just scaring us," Vinogorodov said with a wry smile, "didn't you see where the bullets landed, and there was still some distance from where I was standing?" ”

The German machine gunners, who were shooting at the position, stopped firing when they saw that Vinogorodov was hiding in the fortifications. At this time, a soldier who knew Russian stood up straight and shouted at Smesslov, who was lying on the ground: "Go back, you go back quickly, we will not negotiate with you!" ”

After shouting twice in a row, seeing that Smyslov was still lying on the ground, the soldier thought that they had been accidentally killed, so he crawled out of the trench and walked towards them with a submachine gun. Smyslov had actually heard the Germans shouting a long time ago, but he didn't know whether what the enemy said was true or not, so he kept lying on the ground with the interpreter and didn't move.

The German soldier walked up to the two men, kicked Smyslov twice with his foot, and when he saw that they showed no signs of injury, he raised his voice and said: "Go back, we will not negotiate with you." ”

Seeing that the Germans had no intention of harming themselves, Smyslov and the interpreter got up, turned around and walked back to their own defense area with the white flag in embarrassment.

Rokossovsky soon learned of the news that the negotiators had been strafed by the Germans. He said with a serious face: "Since Paulus is not willing to accept our kindness, then we can only use force against them. ”

Voronov had long been mentally prepared for such an outcome, and after waiting for Rokossovsky to finish, he said: "However, before the Battle of the Ring, we must first capture Rostov, and infinitely increase the distance between Paulus's troops and Manstein's Army Group Don, so that we can have no worries. ”

After hearing this, Rokossovsky nodded, turned his head and asked Malinin: "Chief of Staff, is there a battle report from the Rostov direction?" ”

"Ten minutes ago, we received a report from General Malinovsky that his troops had captured the city center and were now advancing towards the west of the city." Malinin hastened to report: "If it goes well, they can drive the Germans out of Rostov before it gets dark today." ”

"That's good news." After listening to this, Rokossovsky said to Voronov: "The smooth capture of Rostov will greatly boost the morale of our army and will also help in the next offensive campaign." ”

The troops that were attacking Rostov-on-Don, thanks to the new tactics introduced by Rokossovsky, significantly reduced their losses in street battles. After a night of fierce fighting, Malinovsky's troops, managed to capture the German headquarters in the center of the city, compressing the enemy's forces in the direction west of the city.

Ettling not to give up Rostov so easily, Eitling moved his command to the west of the city, where he continued to direct his troops to a stubborn resistance in a building just over three hundred meters from the height of the fighting. It was only in the evening that his command was hit by a missed shell, and he himself was wounded, that he ordered the German troops in the city to withdraw from Rostov-on-Don.

When Rokossovsky learned about the liberation of Rostov, he immediately called Stalin to report the good news. After hearing the news, Stalin only hummed lightly, and then asked: "Comrade Rokossovsky, didn't you send someone to persuade Paulus to surrender today?" What is the situation and how did Paulus reply to you? ”

Hearing Stalin's question, Rokossovsky replied with some shame: "I'm sorry, Comrade Stalin, our persuasion of Paulus to surrender failed. The negotiators we sent did not enter their zone at all, and the Germans strafed our negotiators with machine guns. ”

When Stalin heard this, he couldn't help but be taken aback, and hurriedly asked with concern: "Are there any casualties among the negotiators?" ”

"No, Comrade Stalin," Rokossovsky hastened to reply, "the Germans were unwilling to negotiate with us, but did not harm our negotiators, but simply machine-gunned the side of the deputies and drove them back from the negotiating site." ”

After hearing this, Stalin was silent for a long time, and finally spoke: "Comrade Rokossovsky, since the Germans are not surrendering, then we will destroy them by force." How's it going, are you guys ready to attack? ”

"Yes, Comrade Stalin, our offensive forces are already ready to attack at any time." Rokossovsky assured Stalin: "As soon as the offensive begins, in a maximum of half a month, we will be able to wipe out the Paulus group encircled in the Stalingrad region." ”r