When the German soldiers hiding in the sandbag fortifications at the end of the street saw more than a dozen Soviet commanders and fighters, walking on the street with weapons and straight waists without hesitation, they did not shoot immediately, but just pointed their guns at them with black holes, trying to find out what these Soviets wanted to do?

Until this small force advanced to a few tens of meters from the German fortifications, the German commander in the fortifications decisively gave the order to shoot. After the machine gunner quickly ran out of a chain of bullets, he could no longer see a single Soviet commander and fighter still standing, and the members of the squad just now were lying in a pool of blood.

The same thing continues to happen in other parts of the world. The Soviet troops, who had originally had the upper hand, actually did not know how to fight after entering the city. They used rigid tactics to charge the German positions in dense formations on narrow streets, and then were killed in the streets by dense German fire.

Rokossovsky learned more than an hour after the establishment of the establishment. At that time, he felt that Malinovsky's troops had not been able to storm the city for a short time, and that they should have at least occupied the city center, so he took the initiative to call and inquire about the results of the battle.

When he listened to Malinovsky's report and knew that the troops who had entered the city and engaged the Germans in street fighting had suffered heavy casualties, he hurriedly and anxiously shouted: "Malinovsky, stop the offensive and immediately order your troops to stop this senseless conduct." ”

"But, Comrade Commander," Malinovsky was a little anxious when he heard Rokossovsky's order to stop the attack, "the Germans are shrinking their forces into the city, and if we do not speed up the attack, the enemy will have enough time to consolidate their defenses, and the next battle will be even more difficult." ”

"If you don't stop attacking, your people will die." Rokossovsky said in a dissatisfied tone: "The streets in Rostov are narrow, and you are still attacking in a dense formation, isn't that sending our commanders and fighters to death?" You know, no matter how heroic our warriors are, their flesh and blood can't stop the bullets. Immediately stop the attack, and wait for the fighters to sum up the lessons of the failure of the attack before attacking the enemy. ”

After listening to Rokossovsky's order, Malinovsky said unwillingly: "Comrade commander, if the Germans strengthen their defenses, it will be more difficult for us to capture the city......

"Alright, Comrade Malinovsky." Rokossovsky did not wait for him to finish, then interrupted his later words and said in a stern tone: "Even if the German troops outside the city withdraw to the city, they will not be able to organize a strong defense in a hurry. Once you've cleared the Germans outside the city, you'll be far outnumbered by the defenders of the city, and you'll be able to easily take the city from the enemy if you use your tactics wisely. ”

Malinovsky was silent for a long time and replied: "Comrade commander, our troops have little experience in capturing cities, so when fighting street battles with the Germans in the cities, they will inevitably suffer a little......

Rokossovsky felt that the problem raised by Malinovsky was very reasonable, since the outbreak of the war, the Soviet army has almost been defeated, and every day he thinks about how to hold the city, rather than retake it from the Germans, so the experience of street fighting is pitiful. In order to reduce the casualties of his troops in street battles, Rokossovsky still felt the need to teach Malinovsky some common sense that he knew: "...... Listen, in order to reduce the casualties of our troops in street battles, you let the infantry move forward in a sparse formation, with the help of the cover of buildings on both sides of the street, and at a distance of 30 to 50 meters behind them, send a tank to follow. …… The infantry could destroy the German anti-tank men, while the tanks could destroy the points of fire that were blocking the advance of our infantry with artillery fire......"

After passing on his knowledge of street fighting to Malinovsky, Rokossovsky put down the phone and consulted with Trubnikov, Malinin, and Terekin to persuade Paulus to lay down his arms.

Trubnikov, as deputy commander of the Front, was puzzled by Rokossovsky's plan to persuade Paulus to surrender. At this moment, seeing that the people discussing this plan had only been four months, including himself, he asked the question in his heart: "Comrade commander, I don't understand, why do you have the idea of persuading Paulus to surrender?" You know, he was Hitler's favorite general, and he would never have ordered his troops to lay down their arms and surrender to us after reading a letter of persuasion from us. With our strength, we will be able to wipe them out in more than a month at most, and there is no need to persuade them to surrender at all. ”

After Trubnikov finished speaking, Terekin cautiously said: "I agree with Comrade Deputy Commander that the German troops besieged by us in the Stalingrad region numbered as many as two or three hundred thousand, and they would never easily lay down their arms and surrender to us. So, I don't think it's effective to take a so-called political offensive against them at such a time. ”

Malinin knew Rokossovsky well and knew that he would not come up with such a plan inexplicably, it must have been well thought out beforehand. Therefore, before expressing his opinion, he first asked Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, can you give us a reason for this?" ”

"Comrade commanders," Rokossovsky said to his deputies with a serious expression, "the reason why I made a proposal to persuade the Germans to surrender was entirely for the sake of tens of thousands of civilians in the city. ”

"Civilians?" Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Terekin's face showed a look of surprise: "What civilians. ”

"Comrade Military Commissar, after the outbreak of the war, tens of thousands of civilians were evacuated to Stalingrad, increasing the population of the city to almost one million. But before the Germans attacked the city, in order not to cause panic, we did not evacuate the residents of the city, so that they were all trapped in the city. Rokossovsky said bitterly: "According to the information I have, during the defense of Stalingrad, no more than 100,000 civilians were evacuated through the Volga, and the remaining hundreds of thousands of inhabitants were either killed in the fighting or trapped in the area occupied by the enemy and us."

Those civilians who fell in German-controlled areas may be able to get something to eat by various means when the Germans have the upper hand. But now that the enemy is running out of ammunition and food, they will have surplus food to distribute to our civilians. If we had only resorted to a military offensive to destroy the besieged enemy, it would have taken a long time, and I don't know how many of our people would have died of starvation in such a long time. ”

After Rokossovsky's words, several people fell silent, because they found themselves patronizing and thinking about how to destroy the besieged German army, but forgetting that in the German-controlled area, there were tens of thousands of Soviet citizens. After a long time, Terekin nodded and said with difficulty: "Comrade commander, you are right, we cannot watch tens of thousands of civilians die of starvation, so I think it is completely necessary to use the means of persuasion against the German army to surrender. ”

"Comrade Commander," after figuring out Rokossovsky's intentions, Malinin took the initiative to ask: "Let me draft this letter of exhortation to Paulus." ”

"I've written an ultimatum to Paulus here," Rokossovsky said, pulling out a stack of boxy pieces of paper from his pocket, spreading them out and placing them on the table, "Look at how it goes?" ”

Terekin, Malin, and the three of them hurriedly leaned their heads over and stared intently at the paper on the table. I saw that it read: "To Admiral Paulus: As the commander and officer of the encircled forces, you know very well that you and your troops have no realistic possibility of breaking through the encirclement, that you are in a desperate situation, and that there is no point in continuing to resist." In such a situation where there is no way out for you, and in order to avoid bloodshed, we recommend that you accept the following terms of surrender:

1. All the besieged German troops, led by you and your command, cease to resist.

2. You have systematically handed over to us all personnel, weapons, technical weapons and military materiel in good condition.

We guarantee the safety of the lives of all officers and soldiers who cease to resist. After the war, we returned it to Germany or to any country to which the prisoners of war wished. We preserve uniforms, identification marks and medals, personal belongings and valuables for all surrenderers, as well as cold weapons for senior officers. We will immediately provide a normal diet for all surrendering officers, non-commissioned officers and enlisted men. We will provide effective treatment to all wounded, sick and frostbitten officers and soldiers. ”

Underneath Paulus's letter of surrender is Rokossovsky's signature.

After reading it, Terekin did not hesitate to sign his name behind Rokossovsky's name; Then, Malinin also signed his name; And Trubnikov, after some deliberation, still decisively signed his name.

Just as several people began to talk about who would be the representative and go to send a letter of persuasion to Paulus, a staff officer came in to report that the representative from the base camp had arrived.

Rokossovsky thought it was Vasilevsky who came, so he casually asked: "Is it our chief of the General Staff?" ”

Who knew that it was another voice that answered him: "It was not Vasilevsky, the chief of the General Staff, who came, but Voronov." ”

As soon as Rokossovsky looked up, he saw a tall middle-aged general standing at the door, and he recognized at a glance that the person was the commander-in-chief of the artillery of the Red Army, Colonel-General Voronov. He hurriedly got up and walked over, and after raising his hand to salute the other party, he asked curiously: "Hello, General Voronov, why did you come to us?" ”

While shaking hands with Rokossovsky, Voronov explained with a smile: "I am on the orders of the Supreme Commander himself, as a representative of the base camp, to assist you in the Battle of the Ring. ”

After greeting the other three heads of the Front, Voronov, seeing the map and the letter of surrender spread out on the table, asked curiously: "Comrade Rokossovsky, what are you discussing?" ”

"We're deliberating who to send to Paulus to surrender." Rokossovsky, having briefly reported his thoughts to Voronov, handed over the letter of surrender to Voronov to hear his opinion. After reading it, the other party didn't say a word, picked up the pen on the table, and signed his name next to Rokossovsky's name.

After putting down his pen, Voronov said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Rokossovsky, I very much agree with your approach of persuading Paulus to surrender before the attack. However, before implementation, it should still be reported to the base camp, so that the Supreme Commander himself can know about it. ”

Seeing that Voronov also agreed with his approach, Rokossovsky instructed Malinin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, call General Vinogradov, the head of the reconnaissance bureau of the Front, I have an important task to give him." He then walked over to the high-frequency phone, picked it up and dialed the Kremlin in Moscow.

When Stalin's voice came out on the phone, Rokossovsky immediately reported to the other side that he was ready to persuade Paulus to surrender. After listening to this, Stalin was silent for a moment, and after weighing it hard, he decisively agreed to Rokossovsky's request: "Comrade Rokossovsky, your plan is very good, if we can really persuade Paulus to lay down his arms and surrender, we can reduce the sacrifice of tens of thousands of commanders and fighters." ”

Before putting down the phone, Stalin asked again: "By the way, Comrade Rokossovsky, how is your offensive against Rostov-on-Don going?" ”

"Report to Comrade Stalin," Rokossovsky replied with his usual expression, "General Malinovsky's 2nd Guards Army, having managed to break through the German defenses outside the city, rushed into the city, and was engaged in fierce street battles with the Germans. ”

"The troops have already stormed the city?" When Stalin heard the news, he seemed very happy, and specifically told Rokossovsky: "If Malinovsky's troops liberate Rostov-on-Don, remember to inform me at the first time." ”

While Rokossovsky was on the phone with Stalin, Major General Vinogradov, head of the reconnaissance bureau of the Front, came to the headquarters, stood up straight and stood beside Rokossovsky, waiting for the commander to give him the latest order after the call.

After Rokossovsky put down the phone, he beckoned to Vinogradov, led him to the conference table, handed him the letter of surrender on the table, and said: "General Vinogradov, we plan to send this letter of surrender to Paulus. After my consideration, I have decided to entrust this glorious and arduous task to your Reconnaissance Bureau to complete, how about it, do you have the right person? ”