The commander of the guard battalion, with a company of soldiers, in a dozen trucks, came to the detention camp in the direction of the north of the city. Don't see that the fighting is in full swing in the south of the city, but in the north of the city, the wind and waves are calm, and the cars of the guard battalion are speeding along the streets, and it only takes ten minutes to arrive at the No. 2 detention camp.

The head of the detention camp was a squadron leader of the 2nd SS commando squadron, who learned that a convoy was coming towards the camp he managed, and hurried to the door with men. After the convoy stopped at the gate, the guard battalion commander came out of the cab, turned around and shouted at the long line of vehicles: "Get out of the car, assemble!" ”

Following his command, the Wehrmacht soldiers who were sitting in the car jumped out of the car in turn and began to line up next to the truck. Taking advantage of the soldiers' formation, the commander of the guard battalion walked over to the leader of the second-class commando squadron standing at the gate of the camp, and said straight to the point: "Mr. Lieutenant, I will take all the deserters in the camp and let them fight to the death with the Russians." ”

The SS officer, who had the rank of lieutenant, did not buy at all what the commander of the guard battalion said: "Mr. Major, I don't know which unit you belong to, who allowed you to take those damned deserters from my camp?" ”

"Major Deem, the commander of the guard battalion of my 35th Infantry Division." The commander of the guard battalion said in a stern tone: "The Russians have stormed our city, and I have come here to send these cowards to the battlefield to make up for the lack of our troops." ”

The SS officers learned that they intended to send the deserters in the camp to fight the enemy on the battlefield, so they were much less resistant to Diem. However, he did not let Diem and his men into the camp, but said in embarrassment: "Mr. Major, since the field military tribunal has not come to us for a long time, these deserters have not yet received the trial they deserve, and I cannot let you take them away for the time being. ”

"What's wrong with you, Mr. Lieutenant." Diem yelled at the other party: "The Russian tanks, maybe in two hours, or even less, will rush here." And what are you telling me that there are no field courts, so you can't let me take all these deserters away. ”

Seeing that Diem had made the problem so serious, the SS officer hesitated, then did not insist any longer, and turned over and shouted at his subordinates standing at the camp gate: "Open the gate!" ”

Seeing that the gate had been opened, Dim walked into the camp with more than a hundred of his subordinates. As soon as he entered the camp, Dim kept pointing his finger at the nearby wooden house and loudly ordered his men: "You go here, you go there, and get everyone out of the cabin." ”

The soldiers of the guard battalion agreed loudly, rushed to the various wooden houses, kicked open the doors with their feet, and rushed in. It didn't take much effort, so he punched and kicked out all the deserters in the house. All the deserters who had been thrown out of the house were gathered in the open field.

The deserters lined up in ten columns of forty to forty-five men in each clearing. Soldiers of the guard battalion stood around the line with guns in hand. Diem and the SS officer came to the front of the queue and said loudly: "Soldiers, the Russians are attacking our city, and we need someone to defend it." Although you are deserters, if you fight bravely, your sins will be forgiven. Whoever of you wants to take part in the battle, step forward. ”

However, when Diem's shouting ended, no one responded. Believing that the deserters did not hear him, Diem repeated a little more loudly, but no one responded. Seeing this, the SS officer said coldly: "Mr. Major, they are a bunch of cowards, and if you shout out your throat, no one will go into battle with you." ”

Dim, who was grim-faced, turned his head to look at the SS officer beside him, then took off the MP40 submachine gun on his shoulder, and without saying a word, fired at the team in front of him. No one expected Dim to shoot, so that the deserters standing in front of him did not come back to their senses at all, and fell to the screams.

Dim ran out of bullets from his submachine gun in one go, handed it to his left hand, pulled out the pistol at his waist, and walked towards the deserters who had fallen to the ground. Fifteen or sixteen deserters fell to the ground, some of whom were killed on the spot, while others were wounded but not dead, screaming in the pile of corpses. Diem stepped forward and pulled the trigger on the wounded soldier's head.

The SS officer standing in front of the queue, who had never been on the battlefield, had never seen such a bloody scene before, and he only felt his stomach tumbling for a while, and he suddenly squatted there and vomited.

After killing all the wounded, Dim returned to the front of the queue again. To the SS officer, who was vomiting there, he simply glanced with contempt and then focused his attention on the deserter in front of him. He said in a loud voice, "Listen, everyone, you go to war, and you may die; But if you don't want to go to war, you're sure to die. Where to go, make up your own mind. He gestured with his hand to the corpse on the ground, "I can only give you a minute, and when the time comes, you will end up like them." ”

After saying this, he raised his wrist to look at the time, and at the same time said to his subordinates who were surrounding the deserters: "Ready! ”

Hearing Dim's order, the soldiers surrounding the deserters pulled the bolts of their guns one after another, pointed their guns at the deserters in front of them, and only listened to Dim's order, and fired at the deserters.

Diem's massacre had a deterrent effect on the deserters, coupled with the sound of the bolt of the gun ringing all around, and immediately some soldiers who were afraid of death shouted: "Don't shoot, I'll go with you." He shouted and ran out of the queue.

Someone takes the lead, and naturally someone follows. Within the allotted time, there were originally more than 400 people in the queue, but there were only a dozen people left. Seeing that his appointed time had come and that there were still people standing still, Dim waved his hand down and motioned for his men to shoot.

Almost at the same time as Diem's hand waved, more than a dozen submachine guns opened fire on the deserters who were still standing in place, knocking them all to the ground. The soldiers were afraid that these people were not really dead, and they deliberately took a few steps forward and fired all the bullets in the submachine guns, beating the bodies of the deserters into a bloody blur and dying no more.

Diem turned to the trembling deserters and said, "Now, follow our convoy and set out to the south of the city, and if anyone is left behind, you will be shot on the spot." With that, he waved his hand sharply and ordered, "Go!" ”

Tim took the deserters to the south of the city, gathered them together, and said: "The Russian tanks are rushing towards us along the streets, and your task is to blow up all their tanks." After explaining the task to the deserters, Diem instructed his men to distribute anti-tank grenades and iron fists to the deserters.

After waiting for the deserters to receive their equipment, Dim instructed the machine gunners in the barricades: "These people in front are deserters and cowards, if the Russians rush up and they turn around and run away, you will shoot immediately." Do you understand? ”

"But, Mr. Major." In response to Deem's order, the machine gunner was embarrassed and said: "They are all our own people, shoot at our own people, I'm sorry, I can't do it!" ”

"They are nothing but a bunch of cowards who are greedy for life and afraid of death, and they go to war to forgive their wrongs." Diem reached out and patted the Heavy on the shoulder twice, and said in an accentuated tone: "You will treat them as traitors, so that when you shoot, you will not feel guilty." ”

Diem's words gave the Heavy a reason to shoot, and the Heavy no longer had the same scruples as Fang Cai, but nodded and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Major, if they turn around and run back, I'll kill them all." ”

In response to the machine gunner's reply, Tim nodded with satisfaction, and then returned to the division headquarters with his men. What he never dreamed of was that without this anti-tank force composed of deserters, perhaps the Soviets would have paid longer and more expensive to capture Tsopot, but because of the appearance of deserters, the battle for the Soviets to capture Tsopott was unexpectedly easier.

The deserters hid in craters or rubble on both sides of the street, watching the Soviet tanks come by, either throwing anti-tank grenades or using iron fists at close range, trying to destroy the Soviet tanks. Since the main force of the 122nd Infantry Division of the Soviet Army had entered the city at this moment, there were commanders and fighters searching those buildings where the German troops had cold guns, so that the German soldiers could not gain a foothold in the buildings and could only retreat step by step.

It is precisely because of this that the actions of the deserters throwing anti-tank grenades have become extremely dangerous. They often got up from the craters and before they could throw the grenades, they were knocked down by the indiscriminate shots of the infantry following the tanks. Deserters hiding in the rubble with iron fists are not much better, and when a moving tank senses something unusual in the nearby ruins, it usually stops and shoots at it, and the bricks and stones that are blown away by the air wave will smash the deserters hiding nearby to the point of crying wolf.

The deserters' will to fight was not strong, and if it weren't for Dim forcing them with guns, it is estimated that no one would fight to the death with the Soviet army here. Seeing that the strength of the Soviet army exceeded their imagination, the deserters threw away the anti-tank equipment in their hands and ran along the wall towards the distant position with smoke.

Seeing that the deserters who went to blow up the tanks really escaped back, the machine gunners hiding in the barricades naturally would not be polite to them, and immediately pulled the trigger and shot wildly at the retreating deserters. After the deserters who rushed to the front were knocked down in pieces, the remaining deserters hurriedly lay down on the spot, or looked for new craters to hide.

One of the deserters was a second lieutenant, who saw the barricades shooting at him, thinking that the machine gunners inside were so nervous that they thought they were enemies. Hurriedly leaned out of the crater, waved his hands desperately, and shouted hoarsely: "Don't shoot, don't shoot, your own people, it's your own people...... who knew that before he finished shouting, five or six bullets hit him, making his voice stop abruptly.

Seeing that the second lieutenant was killed by the machine guns in the barricades, the rest of the deserters understood that as long as they ran behind, they would be strafed by the machine guns of their own people, and there was no hope of survival. And surrendering to the Russians, there may be a glimmer of life. So in those craters, handkerchiefs or shirts tied with wooden sticks or iron fist launchers were stretched out, shaking desperately, indicating that they wanted to surrender to the Soviet army.

The commander of the Soviet Corps, who was in the command car behind, saw the Germans hiding on both sides of the street waving a white flag, and hurriedly issued an order to the tank driving in front of him through the radio: "Do you see the barricade fortifications in front of you?" Shoot it out immediately so that more Germans will surrender to us. ”

After a loud "boom", the German barricades were destroyed by Soviet tank fire. The deserters saw that the machine guns, which were the most dangerous to them, were wiped out by Soviet artillery fire, and they came out of hiding place with their hands raised.

The Soviet infantry, who was following behind the tank, saw the crowds of Germans coming out to surrender, and immediately several people stepped forward, gathered the prisoners, and walked in the direction of the outside of the city. Many of the Germans hiding in the building and firing cold guns were members of the People's Emergency Troopers, and when they saw groups of regular troops in the streets, they surrendered to the Soviet troops, thinking that these soldiers had received a clear order from their superiors, so they stopped harassing the Soviet troops, laid down their arms and came out of the building and surrendered.

The Soviet soldiers didn't know why the Germans suddenly came out of the building one after another to surrender, and anyway, when someone surrendered, they came forward to receive it, and after collecting the opponent's weapons, they took them to the outside of the city to watch.

As the buildings on both sides of the street were less and less Germans firing cold guns or using anti-tank weapons, the pace of Soviet advance was greatly accelerated. By the time it got dark, the vanguard of the 122nd Infantry Division occupied the municipal building and planted its flag on the roof.

Although the fighting in the city continued, according to Soviet tradition, as long as the Soviet flag was raised over the most important buildings in the city, it was considered that the occupation of the city had been completed. Therefore, after receiving a call from the front, Romanovsky excitedly picked up the phone and reported to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, the troops of our army group have managed to occupy Tsopot, after a fierce battle. ”

"Well done, General Romanovsky." Regardless of the fact that the Front troops were fighting fiercely with the Germans in several areas at the same time, Rokossovsky's attention was always focused on Tsopot, and he knew very well that only by capturing the city could the German 2nd Army units entrenched in this area be divided into two disconnected units, laying the foundation for the next war of annihilation. Therefore, after receiving Romanovsky's report, he could not help but say excitedly: "On my behalf, I would like to express my gratitude to your soldiers for their heroism and bravery in the battle for the blockade of the defenders of Tsopot." ”