Before dark, Kurzbach and Vinogoradov drove through the Soviet defense line to the German headquarters in the tractor factory area.

A German soldier who was on duty in the trench saw a jeep driving towards his position, quickly raised his rifle in his hand, and prepared to shoot. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, a person suddenly came next to him, pressed the barrel of his gun hard, and said in a stern tone: "Don't shoot!" ”

The soldier turned his head to see that it was his company commander who stopped him from shooting, he quickly put away the gun, pointed to the jeep in the distance and said, "Mr. Captain, there are Russians in that jeep." ”

"I see it." The captain said lightly: "Do I still see a white flag tied to the right side mirror of the jeep?" I guess it was a negotiator sent by the Russians. ”

"It's the negotiators of the Russians." When the soldier on duty heard the captain say this, he couldn't help but feel a burst of ecstasy, "Mr. Captain, is it that as long as we surrender, we can get enough food?" ”

The captain glanced at his soldiers and said nothing, because the troops had long since run out of food, and the only few hundred horses had been eaten. Some of the soldiers who were so hungry that they could not stand it even took advantage of the darkness to secretly cut off the flesh of the dead to satisfy their hunger. Seeing the Soviet representatives coming to persuade him to surrender at this moment, the captain felt that he saw the hope of life, he climbed out of the trench with his hands and feet, stumbled towards the approaching jeep, and at the same time raised one hand and shouted loudly: "Stop, stop the car!" ”

Seeing that the jeep had stopped a dozen paces away from him, the captain turned his run into a walk, came to the car and asked in a loud voice: "What part of you are from, and what are you doing here?" He wasn't worried at all that the people in the car wouldn't understand what he was saying, and since the other party was here to negotiate, there must be a translator who knew German.

As soon as he finished speaking, the door in the back of the jeep opened. The first thing the German captain saw was not a Soviet commander, but a general wearing a large-brimmed hat and a German uniform, who glanced at the captain contemptuously, and then said loudly: "I am Kurzbach, commander of the 51st Infantry Corps, I have something important to see General Shtrekhel, you hurry up and show us the way." ”

The captain couldn't help but be stunned when he saw that the person who came out to talk to him was actually a German general. He cautiously looked into the car window and found that he was not mistaken, the person sitting in the front row was indeed wearing a Soviet uniform. What he saw made him feel puzzled, but he still pointed with his hand into the distance, and said a little nervously: "Your Excellency, General, your car has been looking ahead along this road, and after passing through two lines of defense, you can enter the factory of the tractor factory. Once inside, ask anyone around, and they'll tell you where to find the command. ”

Kurzbach, after thanking the captain, let the jeep continue to drive forward, preparing to pass through the German lines and go directly to General Štlekell's headquarters. And the captain was still standing in a daze, muttering to himself: "How can the commander of the 51st Army be with the Russians?" ”

When Kurzbach appeared at the command of General Sztrekell, he startled all the officers sitting inside. General Strykell hurriedly got up to meet him, raised his hand and gave a Nazi military salute, and asked curiously: "General Kurzbach, aren't you with Your Excellency the Commander, why did you suddenly come here?" After speaking, he curiously glanced at the representative of the Soviet army standing behind Kurzbach, "Who are they?" ”

"General Shtrekell, I have bad news for you." Kurzbach said in a heavy tone: "The headquarters of the 6th Army has been occupied by the Russians, and tens of thousands of officers and soldiers, including the commander Marshal Paulus, have been captured by the Russians. ”

"What, the commander was captured?" Hearing Kurzbach say this, Štlekell's face showed a look of surprise, "Are you telling the truth?" ”

"Is there any fake?" Kurzbach said helplessly: "Not only His Excellency the Commander and all the members of the command were captured, but I was also captured by the Russians. He nodded at the three Soviet officers standing behind him, "See them?" They are the representatives sent by the Russians to negotiate with you. ”

As soon as Major General Vinogoradov waited for Kurzbach to finish speaking, he immediately stepped forward, put his hands behind his back, and said with his head held high and righteous: "General Shtrekell, Paulus has been captured by our army, I think you should also recognize the situation, there is no point in continuing to resist, you should lay down your arms and surrender to our army as soon as possible." ”

"It's impossible, Your Excellency." Strekel, the commander of the 11th Infantry Corps, who was standing beside Štrekell, said with a serious expression: "As soldiers, we will never surrender to our enemy without a fight. ”

Hearing Strecker's words, Vinogorodov sneered: "Your Excellency, your troops have been surrounded by our three regiments, not to mention that you are now in difficulty in supply, and the soldiers are seriously short of ammunition and food, even if you are still strong now, but if you want to defeat us and occupy Stalingrad, this is simply wishful thinking." ”

Strecker turned his head and asked the division commanders who were sitting around the conference table: "Generals, gentlemen, General Kurzbach, the commander of our 51st Infantry Corps, has surrendered to the Russians and become a shameful traitor. Now that he has come here, he is trying to do everything possible to encourage our troops to surrender in order to reduce their casualties. Do you all say that we can agree to such humiliating terms of negotiation? ”

"Can't say yes!" In just a few words, Štrekell mobilized the enthusiasm of the officers. These division commanders all stared at the three representatives of the Soviet army standing next to Kurzbach with indifferent eyes, and shouted in unison: "We will fight the Russians to the last bullet." ”

After hearing the replies of these officers, Vinogorodov snorted heavily, and then his eyes stayed on the commander of the German northern cluster, General Štrekell, and asked coldly: "Your Excellency, General, I would like to hear your opinion. Are you really ready to fight to the end? ”

In response to Vinogoradov's question, Štrekyl said in a bit of a panic: "Your Excellency, your proposal is so sudden, it is simply too unexpected for us. See if you can stay here for a while and wait until we talk about it. ”

Vinogorodov did not embarrass the other party, but nodded briskly, and then said: "General Shtrekell, I can give you time to think about it." However, as a representative of the Soviet Red Army, it is necessary for me to remind you: your time is running out, and as soon as dawn is coming, our army will launch an offensive on the factory area north of Stalingrad! ”

After the three of Vinogoradov were taken next door to rest, Štrekyl asked Kurzbach solemnly: "Mr. General, can you tell me that the troops in southern Stalingrad have really been wiped out?" ”

"That's right, tens of thousands of people in the southern cluster have all been captured." Kurzbach nodded his head to prove the bad news, while also emphasizing: "The commander, Field Marshal Paulus, is now also a prisoner of the Russians." There is no point in continuing to resist, and I think we should surrender as soon as possible, so as not to cause unnecessary losses to the troops. ”

Instead of immediately replying to Kurzbach, Štrekyl turned his gaze to the division commanders present: "Generals, gentlemen, I give you the initiative, you say, should we surrender to the Russians?" ”

"No, we must not surrender to the Russians." The first to speak was Lieutenant General Arnim, commander of the 113th Infantry Division, who said in a tough manner: "We should use up the last bullet and fight to the last man, as General Strecker said." ”

Major General Ratman, the acting commander of the 389th Infantry Division, shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly: "It stands to reason that we should continue to fight, but our soldiers don't have enough ammunition, so we can't let them fight the Russians with bayonets, right?" You know, in terms of white-knuckle warfare, our army is not comparable to the Russians. He skilfully dodged the question of whether they should surrender to the Soviets, and simply talked about the difficulties faced by the troops.

The next few division commanders also said in unison that for the honor of the soldiers and the oath they made when they joined the army, they must never surrender and must continue to fight.

Seeing that Štlekhel's subordinates were ready to resist to the end, Kurzbach was so angry that he stomped his feet, stood up and pointed at his colleagues and said: "Have you ever thought that if you continue to be stubborn like this, when the Russians launch a fierce attack after dawn, how many of our officers and soldiers will lose their lives in vain? ”

"General Kurzbach," said Strecker, standing up, facing Kurzbach, angrily "you better go back to the Russians, we will never surrender anyway." If the Russians want to regain Stalingrad in its entirety, they will not have to step over my corpse. ”

After listening to Strecker's words, Kurzbach knew that no further persuasion would lead to anything. Therefore, after sweeping his gaze over the officers present one by one, he said earnestly: "Gentlemen, I feel the need to remind you that this is your best chance to live, and if you miss it, it will be too late to regret it. ”

"Alright, General Kurzbach, don't talk about it." Strecker waved his hand at Kurzbach and said impatiently: "You can go back and report to the Russians, just say that we will never surrender, we will fight to the last man." ”

Seeing that Kurzbach was leaving, Štlekel stopped him: "Wait a minute, General Kurzbach, since we used to be colleagues, then I can't be too ruthless." It's not convenient to drive on the road at night, so you might as well stay here for one night and wait until dawn before leaving. ”

Rokossovsky waited until an hour before the start of the battle, and without hearing back from the negotiating team, he immediately realized that the Germans did not want to surrender at all. Therefore, he ordered Malinin to inform the troops: the offensive is going on as scheduled! With several staff officers on his own, he went to the headquarters of the 65th Army, where he intended to observe the offensive of the troops.

At 8:30, thousands of artillery pieces, which had long been on standby, simultaneously launched a fierce artillery bombardment of the factory area where the Germans were entrenched. Rokossovsky saw from the observation post that the German positions were in an instant enveloped in dazzling fires and billowing smoke. He looked at it for a while, put down the binoculars and asked Batov next to him: "Are the attacking troops ready?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." With a smile on his face, Batov replied: "Our commanders and fighters have long been ready for the attack, and as soon as the artillery fire stops, they will immediately launch an attack on the enemy's positions. ”

After an hour of shelling, calm returned to the battlefield. But this calm did not last long, and was broken by the tsunami-like "Ula" sound from the mouths of tens of thousands of commanders and fighters. Rokossovsky saw in the command headquarters that a tidal wave of commanders and fighters followed dozens of tanks and launched an assault on the enemy's positions.

Batov, who was standing on the sidelines, also told Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, the 214th and 226th Infantry Divisions, the 67th Guards Division, and the 91st Tank Brigade are launching the charge......

Rokossovsky had expected that after the troops approached the enemy's positions, there would be a fierce battle. But the real situation is that as the Soviet commanders and fighters approached the enemy's positions, countless white flags were already waving in those places where there was still green smoke, and the German officers and soldiers had completely lost the will to resist, and only hoped that this meaningless battle could be ended as soon as possible by surrendering.

From the beginning of the shelling, Štrekyl and Strekel, who were staying in the headquarters, fell into a state of anxiety, they thought that the Soviet army had just eliminated the German troops south of Stalingrad and had no strength to launch a new offensive in a short time, but from the dense rumbling outside, the two finally realized that what Kurzbach and the Soviet negotiators said last night was not a lie.

After the two muttered a few words, Štrekhel hurriedly ordered Kurzbach and the Soviet negotiators to be invited. But when he saw several people reappear in his headquarters, he immediately greeted them warmly, shook Vinogorodov's hand, and said ashamedly: "Mr. General, I wronged you last night, I think we should sit down and have a good talk." ”

"Our conditions are simple." Vinogorodov said lightly: "It is to immediately stop resisting, lay down your arms and surrender to our army." The rumbling of artillery outside gave him great confidence, "Otherwise, you will be completely wiped out by us." ”