Early the next morning, having entrusted the affairs of the army to Vitkov, I hurried with Yushchenko and the guard platoon to the office building of the "Red October" plant.

I thought I had arrived early, but when I got off the bus outside the office building, I actually saw Major Gladshev standing outside the building on duty. Since he, the commander of the guard battalion of the army group headquarters, is here, then needless to say, Chuikov and Gurov must have been in the building for a long time.

However, out of politeness, I greeted him anyway and asked politely: "Major, commander, are they in the building?" ”

"Yes, Comrade General." Perhaps because of my promotion in rank and rank, Gladshev now spoke to me with a particular restraint, and he replied respectfully: "Comrade Commander has instructed that if you come, please come in without informing." He and Comrade Military Commissar are in the small conference room on the fourth floor, and I still have to be on duty, so I am not afraid that you will go up, please do it! ”

I left Yushchenko and the others outside the building and walked alone into the office building that we had seized a few days earlier. Although the walls facing north were blown away by artillery fire, the walls on the south side were largely intact, and even the stairs in the building were not damaged too much.

I walked up the stairs to the fourth floor, when I was stopped by several fighters, one of whom politely said to me, "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, you can't just come up here." ”

Seeing that the soldier who spoke was so young, I thought it was a corporal or sergeant, but when I looked at the rank on his collar badge, it was actually a lieutenant. I couldn't help but sigh in my heart. For young people. The greatest benefit of war is that it improves quickly.

"General Oshanina. You're coming. A familiar voice suddenly sounded behind Lieutenant Babyface, and then Chuikov's adjutant, Captain Klimov, walked through the crowd and urged me: "Come up quickly, Commander, they have been waiting for you for a long time." ”

Seeing that Klimov knew me, the baby-faced lieutenant hurriedly waved his hand at his men and made a way for me. I politely thanked Lieutenant Babyface, and followed Klimov down the wide hallway.

After waiting for the baby-faced lieutenant to have some distance from his fighters, I asked Klimov in a low voice: "Comrade Captain. Who are the people guarding the staircase? ”

"It's from the Front Command." Klimov answered my question cleanly: "That German General Seidlitz was escorted by them." ”

Chuikov's observation post was in a conference room on the fourth floor, with a huge hole in the south wall that had been blown open, but it had been piled with chest-high sandbags. There was a long conference table in the room, surrounded by a circle of chairs, in which Chuikov and Gurov sat on two chairs, while General Seydlitz sat opposite them, and behind him stood an interpreter.

I walked over to the table and raised my hand to salute Chuikov and Gurov, and at the same time reported loudly: "Commander, Comrade Military Commissar." The commander of the 79th Infantry Corps, Major Oshanina, has been ordered to report and listen to your instructions! ”

After a few words of greeting with Chuikov. I took the initiative to say hello to Seydlitz next to me. And the German general got up from his seat as early as when I saluted Chuikov and them. Seeing that I greeted him, he also responded to me politely: "Hello, General Oshanina, it's a pleasure to see you here!" ”

After shaking hands with Seydlitz, I sat down next to Gurov. I pretended to be very casual and leaned my body slightly towards Gurov, and then asked in a low voice: "Comrade Military Commissar, do we really want to cooperate with General Seydlitz?" ”

"Exactly," Gurov also whispered to me, "Commander Rokossovsky has agreed in principle to cooperate with General Seydlitz, and the reason why he has been sent here today is to use him to persuade Strecker, the commander of the Eleventh Army, to surrender the 50,000 German troops trapped in the 'barricade' factory." ”

"Fifty thousand Germans?" To be honest, this number startled me, even though I knew that the "barricade" factory and dormitory area was equivalent to a medium-sized city, but I was still shocked by the number of German troops in this area.

I looked around and found that in addition to a few of us, on the other side of the conference room, there were actually quite a few communications soldiers, two walkie-talkies, and a wired telephone on the wall. It seems that Chuikov is here to watch the battle today, and even intends to direct the battle here.

When I entered the house, they were communicating with Seydlitz, and they interrupted the meeting temporarily due to my arrival. Now that everyone is seated again, the conversation between Chuikov and Seydlitz can continue.

Chuikov smiled and asked Saidlitz: "Mr. General, how are you thinking about it?" ”

Although Chuikov's question was endless, I guessed that it must have something to do with persuasion, so I watched Seydlitz intently to see how he would react. After listening to the translation, the latter said in a loud voice: "Your Excellency, I feel that it is very unrealistic to persuade General Strecker and his men to lay down their arms. You know, he has at least 50,000 troops under his command, as well as strong fortifications, and it is quite difficult for you to eat him in one bite. ”

With a smile still on his face, Chuikov asked, "General Seydlitz, how long do you think it will take if we launch an attack to wipe out the troops trapped in the area of the 'barricade' factory?" ”

Hearing Chuikov's question, Seydlitz frowned and thought for a moment, then resolutely replied: "Your Excellency, Commander, according to my understanding of the combat effectiveness of the two armies, if you want to completely destroy General Strecker's troops, even with the support of artillery and air force, it will take at least a week. This is already a very optimistic estimate, and the time could not be shorter. ”

After Chuikov and Gurov looked at each other, he smiled and said, "General Saidlitz, we don't have that much time, and our superiors have asked us to end the battle as much as possible. That is, we only have two days at most. ”

"What, two days?" Seydlitz listened to Chuikov. Almost jumped out of his seat. "Your Excellency, Commander. With all due respect, this is simply not possible. ”

"Nothing is impossible, General Seydlitz." Chuikov waved his hand and said confidently: "In order to eliminate the German troops entrenched in the 'barricade' factory area and dormitory area, the troops participating in the attack of our army group today include the Gorishny Division, the Sokolov Division, the Guryev Division, the Rodimtsev Division and the Stegoli Brigade, and the friendly forces will also have the same number of divisions or brigades, and attack from the west and northwest at the same time. In addition to the support of the Air Force, we have concentrated a large number of artillery units. The number of cannons reached an unprecedented 338 per kilometer. ”

After hearing what Chuikov said, Saidlitz suddenly fell into a state of shock. Seeing his expression, Gurov struck while the iron was hot and said: "Your Excellency, in order to avoid unnecessary sacrifices of your compatriots, I suggest that you call the commander of the Eleventh Army, Lieutenant General Strecker." ”

Seydlitz lowered his head and thought for a long time, and finally nodded helplessly and said, "Okay, I'll call General Strecker and hope that he will follow my persuasion and let the troops lay down their arms and surrender to the Soviet army." Don't make unnecessary sacrifices to the German lads. ”

Chuikov immediately ordered the communications corps to connect the telephone to the headquarters of the 11th Army of the besieged Germans. When Seydlitz was on the phone with his former colleagues. Gurov asked me in a low voice: "Comrade Oshanina, has the attack on the tractor factory been arranged?" ”

I nodded, and said confidently: "Please put down the military commissar, after yesterday's battle, the remnants of the German army in the tractor factory have been compressed into several workshops in the western part of the factory. The offensive forces were commanded by the Chief of Staff, Colonel-General Vitkov. If there is no accident, the remaining 2,000 remnants of the German army can be dealt with before noon. ”

After I finished reporting on the situation in the army, I saw that Seydlitz on the other side was still on the phone, and asked Gurov in a low voice: "Comrade Military Commissar, I don't know what the commander of the front intends to do with this captured German general." ”

After glancing at Saidlitz, who was talking on the other side, Gurov replied in a low voice: "Commander Rokossovsky said that he will come here himself after we have completely annihilated the enemy surrounded in the 'barricade' factory area." He would then take Sedlitz to the newly established prisoner-of-war camp, from which he would select the right soldiers to form a special force, with our men as the chief military officers at all levels, and the officers in the German prisoners of war only as deputies. ”

Before I could comment on the soon-to-be-formed unit of German prisoners of war, Seydlitz had finished calling. I saw him spread his hands, shrugged his shoulders, and said reluctantly: "Your Excellency, I regret to tell you that my request to persuade General Strecker to lay down his arms has been refused. He said that for the honor of the German soldiers, he would lead his troops to fight until the last moment. ”

Although the outcome of this kind of persuasion failure has long been expected by us, when we heard Seydlitz confirm it himself, everyone couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

"Since the enemy does not surrender, then we will destroy them completely!" After Chuikov said this, he turned his head and ordered his adjutant: "Captain Klimov, call Comrade Ulbricht of the Anti-Fascist League and ask him to take people to the front to carry out radio propaganda." At this point, he raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then continued: "Radio propaganda against the enemy, whatever the effect, should end at 11:50." ”

The next thing that Chuikov and we discussed was where to place the prisoners after the total annihilation of the enemy. With a contemptuous expression, he said disdainfully, "...... The prisoner camp was to be set up on the eastern bank of the Volga, and the captured soldiers and officers were to advance towards the Volga, which they had been trying to break through for nearly six months, and to the other side of the river through the frozen surface of the river. ”

"I agree with you." As a good partner of Chuikov, Gurov immediately and unconditionally expressed his support for this plan: "Since they have not abandoned their attempts to reach the eastern bank for a long time, then we will now fulfill their wishes and send them all to the prisoner camps on the other side." ”

Towards twelve o'clock, Chuikov called us to the big hole, where we stood in front of the chest-high sandbag fortifications, and together we held up our binoculars to watch the battle that was about to begin. In order to let General Seydlitz see clearly how the remaining German troops were ruined, Chuikov also specially selected a high-magnification telescope for him.

At twelve o'clock, thousands of cannons deployed around the "barricade" factory area opened fire at the same time.

I saw through the telescope that the entire factory area suddenly turned into a sea of fire, and above the firelight, thick black smoke rose and darkened the clear sky. The conference room we were in, even though it was far from the area where the shelling had been shelled, was still painful from the earth-shattering explosions, and the dust waves on the walls and ceilings were falling incessantly.

When the shelling stopped, while the enemy was still scurrying in the smoke-filled ruins, our troops, who had long been ready to attack, launched an attack, and the infantry units, under the cover of tanks, launched an attack on the enemy's positions.

Although the time for artillery preparation was short, the enemy's fortifications suffered heavy losses, and in the first-line fortifications full of ruins, there was only some sporadic resistance when we saw our troops rushing forward. Due to the weak resistance, our troops quickly occupied the front-line positions.

The Germans in the second line of defense relieved themselves at this time and bravely launched a counterattack, trying to drive our troops out of their first-line positions, which had not gained a firm foothold. In the face of the German troops that had broken away from the fortified defensive positions, the formation of our army's aviation that had just appeared in the sky immediately swooped down from the air and carried out bomb drops and strafing, coupled with the re-opening of the artillery deployed on the starting positions, forming an impenetrable wall of fire between the two positions, and the German officers and men who attacked were wiped out in an instant.

By three o'clock in the afternoon, the attacking forces of our army had succeeded in occupying most of the factory area and joining up with friendly forces rushing from the west and northwest, compressing the remaining German forces in a narrow area.

In the face of the continuous attacks launched by our troops, the Germans finally could not parry, and almost at the same time, countless white flags were raised as far as I could see.

Seeing this, Chuikov put down the telescope and breathed a long sigh of relief, turned his head to Saidlitz who was standing next to him and said, "Mr. General, do you see that?" Although General Strecker still had 50,000 officers and men under his command, they could not resist it with our strong striking force. You see, didn't they obediently lay down their arms and surrender? ”

After saying this, he turned around and walked quickly to the walkie-talkie by the wall, and instructed the signal soldiers: "Operator, immediately contact all division commanders and brigade commanders participating in the battle, and ask them to come to me to report after the battle." (To be continued......)