As soon as Seydlitz had finished speaking, the room fell silent, and nothing could be heard except the sound of our breathing. This earth-shattering building stunned everyone in the room at once.

I thought to myself: What a bold idea for Seydlitz to recruit from the German prisoners of war and form an anti-Hitler army to fight alongside us. However, although this idea is bold, it is very feasible, since the German army can draw personnel from our prisoners of war to form the "Eastern Battalion" and form the "Russian Liberation Army" two years later, then why can't we treat them in the same way as others, and also form a "German Liberation Army" composed of German prisoners of war to deal with those Germans?

As soon as this tempting thought came to me, I couldn't get it out of my head. I tried to keep my composure, and at the same time set my eyes on Chuikov to see how he would react to it. I saw Chuikov's smile freeze on his face, staring at Seydlitz without saying a word, as if he was thinking about how to answer the other party.

And I heard Krylov whispering next to me: "Nonsense, this is nonsense!" They are all taken prisoner, and they don't know how to stop a little. ”

Seeing that all the people were silent, Seydlitz looked a little flustered, and he tried to explain to us: "Your Excellency, Commander, I make this request, not because I am afraid of death, but because I want to save my country and people from Hitler's brutal rule......"

"Alright, General Seydlitz, you don't have to say any more." didn't wait for the other party to finish. Gurov interrupted him later. Said politely: "For the construction you just proposed. We are not qualified to reply to you and need to ask your superiors for instructions. ”

Chuikov also returned to normal at this time, and he hurriedly echoed Gurov and said: "Yes, General Saidlitz, the proposal you proposed, wait for us to report to our superiors, and then give you a final reply." It's not too early, so I'll ask my men to send you to the front headquarters first. ”

Hear the answer of Chuikov and Gurov. Seydlitz sighed in disappointment, raised his hand in a salute, turned and followed the interpreter out of the room.

"Comrade Commander, this General Seydlitz is simply insane!" After waiting for Seydlitz's back to disappear from the door, Krylov looked back at Chuikov and said, "He's too whimsical, does he think he's some great big guy?" It is a pipe dream to also want to form your own army and cooperate with us! ”

Chuikov turned to look at a few of us and asked noncommittally, "What do you think about this?" ”

"Comrade Commander, I think. This is completely beyond our purview. Krylov preemptively replied: "It should be immediately reported to the commander of the Front, and the decision should be left to him." ”

Chuikov nodded after hearing this. Then he asked me, "Oshanina, what do you think?" ”

In my memory, there really has never been such a military organization as the "German Liberation Army", and there must have been something wrong with it, so when answering Chuikov's question, I said with extreme caution: "Comrade commander, soon after he was captured, General Seydlitz offered to cooperate with us. We must be cautious about this kind of enthusiasm for him, and we can't blindly pour cold water on him, otherwise it will chill him. ”

After I finished speaking, Chuikov turned his gaze to Gurov again. Before he could speak, Gurov had already said carefully: "I think Oshanina and Krylov have a point, this is the first time we have met the German general who will immediately cooperate with us soon after being captured, so we must be cautious in our attitude towards him." However, since we do not have sufficient authority to deal with such matters, I think it is better to immediately report the matter to the Front Command and leave it to General Rokossovsky to decide. ”

After listening to Gurov's opinion, Chuikov instructed Krylov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, go to the intelligence department to find out if there is any information about General Seydlitz, and if so, bring it here and let us study it." ”

After Krylov left, Chuikov picked up the phone on the table and wanted to call the front command, and after hearing Rokossovsky's voice, he straightened up and reported: "Hello, Konstantin. Konstantinovich, I'm Chuikov. I have something to report to you......" and then Chuikov reported what had just happened to Rokossovsky.

While the two were talking, I turned my ears to hear what Rokossovsky was saying, but because the phone was not leaking, I didn't hear anything except what Chuikov said.

As soon as Chuikov put down the phone, Gurov couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade commander, how did General Rokossovsky reply?" ”

Chuikov, who had never kept any secrets from Gurov, heard his question and immediately replied: "The commander of the front said that he would personally talk to General Seydlitz." If he really wanted to draw men from the German prisoners to form a force, he might also need to report to the base camp and listen to the opinion of the Supreme Commander himself. ”

"Do you still have access to Seydlitz's information?" Gurov asked briefly.

"Look, of course." Chuikov replied affirmatively: "Even if the matter of selecting men from the German prisoners to form the army is not clear in the end, I don't think Seydlitz will be put in a prisoner of war camp, and there may be a chance to cooperate with us, so we need to get to know him thoroughly." ”

While he was talking, Krylov hurriedly walked in from outside, he came to a stop in front of Chuikov, handed Chuikov a bag of documents in his hand, and said: "Comrade commander, this is the information of the German generals collected by the intelligence department. ”

Cui Kefu opened the bag of Wen Jiàn, pulled out a thick stack of materials from it, looked at it twice, and read it aloud to us: "Feng. Seydlitz. Kurzbach was born in 1888 in the Hannover region of Germany into a family of hereditary officers of the Prussian army. His surname indicates the prominence of his family and the nobility of his family.

He served as a leading officer in the Prussian army from the age of 20 and fought in World War I, with the rank of artillery captain in the division at the end of the war. From 1918 to 1933. Seydlitz was successively a hostage in the artillery units and in the Ministry of State Military Affairs. The rank was promoted from captain to major. Served until 1939. He returned to the army and was promoted from artillery battalion commander to artillery regiment commander, and his rank was promoted from lieutenant colonel to colonel. He was promoted to major general in January 1939.

From March 1940 to June 1941, he was the commander of the German 12th Infantry Division, leading his troops to invade France and the Netherlands. According to our data, Hitler's war of aggression against Western Europe caused the officer's position to soar rapidly, and his prospects were promising.

In June 1941, after Hitler's gangs brazenly invaded our territory, Seydlitz was ordered to lead his troops eastward. In less than half a year, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. In March 1942, the fascist invading army, which had a smooth journey, suffered its first setback and fell into a heavy encirclement of our troops in the Demyansk swamps, northwest of Moscow. Seydlitz was ordered to lead the assault force in his name to relieve the siege, and after defeating our army, he succeeded in rescuing the besieged troops. This battle made him famous, and he and his 'Seydlitz' commando attracted the attention of our high command. Of course, Hitler loved him even more as a rare general, and immediately ordered him to command the 51st Infantry Corps of the German 6th Army as an artillery general to participate in the attack on Stalingrad. ”

Chuikov read this. Putting down the information in his hand, he turned to Gurov and said, "Comrade Military Commissar." It seems that this Seydlitz is still a great person, and if he really wants to cooperate with us, I think this matter can be considered. ”

In response to what Chuikov said, Gurov nodded and said approvingly: "Yes, if there is such a German general with outstanding achievements in war and our cooperation, it will still have a certain effect on breaking the morale of the German army." But there is nothing we can do until we get an answer from the Front Command. ”

After a few words of chat, Gurov noticed that I was still standing next to me, so he stopped talking to Chuikov and turned to me: "Comrade Oshanina, there is one thing I almost forgot about Jì. Yesterday German Propaganda Minister Goebbels made a speech on the radio, and our intelligence staff officers have recorded all of his speeches, and when you return later, you will take this recording back to Comrade Ulbricht. ”

I returned to the corps command with the recording of Goebbels' speech handed over to me by Gurov. Ulbrich, who had been notified to pick up the recording, played Goebbels' speech for us in the headquarters with the equipment he had brought. Since it was all German, he offered to ask us to act as an interpreter: "...... In the end, as cruel as it sounds, it makes no difference to the warriors, whether in Stalingrad or Rzhev, whether in desert Africa or in Norway in the ice and snow, they will all fail and die, and they will sacrifice themselves to achieve great things, because they die for the people. ”

When Ulbricht had translated the entire speech, Chief of Staff Vitkov slammed the table and said excitedly: "Great, great, Goebbels's speech is amazing!" ”

I couldn't help frowning when I heard that he actually held Goebbels speech in such high esteem, and was about to get angry at him, when he noticed my strangeness, and quickly explained to me with a smile: "Comrade commander, you must be very strange, why do I say that Goebbels's speech is great, right? ”

I heard him say this, and knew that there must be something to follow, so I nodded and waited patiently for him to say the rest of the story. He coughed, waited for his feelings to stabilize a little, and then continued: "Comrade commander, Goebbels's speech is tantamount to announcing in disguise that those German soldiers who are still resisting have completely abandoned you. For the sake of the glory of Germany, you can only choose the path of death. In this way, the illusions in the hearts of the German officers and soldiers who had been hoping for rescue will be completely shattered, and our next attack will be easier. ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff is right." Ulbricht waited for Vitkov to finish, and then added: "This speech will be the last straw that will break the camel's back, and the morale of the besieged German officers and soldiers will collapse." I don't think in a few days, these German troops, who are besieged in the 'barricade' factory area and the tractor factory area, will lay down their arms and surrender to us. ”

Hearing both of them speak with confidence and yet so irrefutable, I had to nod my head in disbelief.

The next day, the 1st of February, I ordered the 171st and 308th Divisions on the left and right flanks to halt their advance, and to move forward from the 150th Division of Bandereev to the dormitory area of the tractor factory and launch an attack on the enemy.

Before the attack, Ulbricht and his comrades of the anti-fascist coalition, as usual, first played a piece of German music. As soon as the music ended, a recording of Goebbels' speech was played, and finally a routine shout at the German positions was carried out as usual.

Not to mention, with the recording of Goebbels's speech, Ulbricht's political offensive today has achieved quite good results. As soon as the shouting was over, I saw through my binoculars that several white flags hung on bayonets were stretched out from the windows of the buildings closest to the starting positions of our troops.

The commanders and fighters of the 150th Division, who had rich combat experience, saw that the enemy had begun to wave white flags and surrender, and immediately several small detachments that were ready to surrender left their positions and quickly ran towards those buildings. As soon as they left the trenches, they were spotted by the stubborn Germans in the other buildings, whose machine guns immediately opened fire on the soldiers who had run away. From time to time, some people were hit by bullets and fell, but the rest of the people still ran towards the buildings waving the white flags without hesitation.

Seeing our commanders and fighters rushing into the building, the artillerymen hidden behind the position decisively opened fire on the building where the firing point was exposed. In the flames and smoke of the explosion, the German officers and soldiers who were hiding behind the wall and shooting rolled down from the height along with the collapsed wall.

But when the artillery began to extend and fire at the buildings in the distance, the commanders and fighters hidden in the starting positions jumped out of the trenches with shouts and rushed forward with their weapons in hand.

Seeing that our troops were charging, Vitkov, who was standing next to me and observing the battle situation, couldn't help but say worriedly: "Comrade commander, if there are no tanks to cover the infantry charge, will there be unnecessary casualties?" ”

Pointing to the densely packed residential buildings in front of me, I explained to Vitkov: "Look, Comrade Chief of Staff, the buildings in the factory dormitory area are too dense, and if our tanks rush up, they can easily become targets for the German anti-tank fighters. With the direct aim of the artillery battalion, even if the enemy hides in the building and shoots, the threat to our attacking troops will not be too great. (To be continued......)

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