Burning Moscow - Chapter 1689

Cui Kefu didn’t speak, but stared at the opponent with his eyes until the opponent seemed a little at a loss. Then he asked: “General Mattern, I want to ask, did you propose this condition or the commander of the fortress. Major-general of the SS Goner proposed?”

Because Cui Koff bit the words “commander of the fortress” and “major general of the SS” very heavily, the commanders sitting around realized that he was trying to understand the sincerity of the German negotiations in this way.

“It is the condition proposed by General Goner.” After listening to the translation, Mattern replied respectfully: “I was ordered to negotiate a truce with your army.”

“Where is Goner, why didn’t he come?” Cui Kefu asked lightly.

“He committed suicide!” Matern took out a note from his pocket and handed it to the staff officer who came by, adding: “After he signed this power of attorney for me to be in charge of negotiations, he shot. Committed suicide!”

I saw General Matten, who was bloated. After standing for a while, I looked a little tired. I took Cui Kefu while reading the note and said to him: “General Matten, you have been standing long enough, please Sit down!”

Matten looked at me in surprise, probably surprised that someone could give orders in the room before Cui Koff spoke. But when he saw my epaulettes clearly, his face was suddenly full of smiles, and he asked kindly, “Are you General Oshanina?”

“Yes, I am Oshanina.” I reached out and pointed to the empty chair next to him, and repeated what I said just now: “Please sit down!”

After Matern sat down, he took out a snow-white handkerchief from his pocket, took off his military cap and wiped the sweat from his forehead, and looked nervously at Cui Kefu who was reading the note, waiting for him to announce his fate.

After Cui Koff read the note, he handed it to me and asked Matten at the same time: “Mr. General, if I don’t understand it wrong, are you planning to surrender to us because Gönell committed suicide?”

“No, it’s not like that.” Mattern said with his head tilted: “In fact, we wanted to surrender a long time ago. Everyone knows that in the face of your powerful offensive, resistance has no meaning. Hitler is about to die.”

After listening to the translation, Shemenkov couldn’t help but ask: “General Mattern, since you have long wanted to surrender, why did your resistance still be so stubborn when our army launched an offensive?”

Mattern shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly: “No way, since Himmler appointed Gönell as the fortress commander, he has arranged SS officers in every unit of the fortress, as long as he finds If there are destabilizers, they will be executed on the spot without hesitation.”

After reading the note that reads both Russian and German troops, I asked inexplicably: “General Mattern, what is the purpose of Gonell’s writing this note to us?”

“In the underground hospital of the fortress, there are five or six hundred wounded soldiers and medical staff.” Mattern replied solemnly: “Gonell is worried that you will execute all the wounded and sick after you conquer the fortress. Therefore. After careful consideration, he wrote this note and asked me to come out and negotiate with you.”

Cui Koff turned his head and looked at the commander on the left and right, and said with a smile: “This is really ridiculous. A SS officer who was so desperate for the Nazis actually offered to surrender to us because he was worried that we would massacre the captured German soldiers. , This is the funniest joke I have heard.”

“Then why did he commit suicide?” I looked at Matten and asked.

Matten thought for a while, and then replied: “He heard that you would usually shoot captured Nazi officers on the spot. As the commander of the fortress, he caused you huge casualties when fighting your offensive. Once captured by you, he must be shot. Even if he escapes by chance, Himmler will not bypass him. He will still be killed because he lost the fortress. Anyway, he cannot escape, so he After doing what was supposed to be done, he stopped by himself.”

After listening to what Mattern said, I felt that what he said was very close to the truth, so after thinking a little bit, I told Cuikov: “General Cuikov, after the enemy in the core fort surrenders, you send someone to find Ge Neel’s body, put it in a coffin and bury it well.”

“What, use a coffin to condense his corpse?” A commander next to him said unconvinced after hearing this: “For such a stubborn Nazi, we should pour his corpse with gasoline and burn it to ashes, and then throw it on Go to the river.”

Instead of the commander who complained immediately, I looked at Mattern and asked, “General Mattern, how many troops do you have left?”

“There are still about 12,000 people in the core fort,” Matten frowned, thinking and cautiously said: “The remaining troops in the fortress and residential areas should be about 10,000.”

After listening to the data provided to me by Mattern, I nodded, and then said to all the commanders present: “Comrade commanders, you have just heard that, the current German army still has more than 20,000 troops. If we want to wipe out so many enemies, what price will we pay?”

At this point, I intentionally paused to see how everyone reacted. The commanders heard what I said, and immediately began to whisper to each other in a low voice, as if they were studying what the price would be if the entire Poznan were to be captured.

Seeing that no one raised any objections, I went on to say: “Don’t say anything else, just take the core fort in front of us, there will be no casualties of 20,000 or 30,000. It should be impossible to take it down, right?” Seeing most of the people nodded and said Agreeing with my opinion, I went on to say, “But because of Gönell, the German army is prepared to stop resistance and lay down its weapons to surrender to our army. This way, our casualties are greatly reduced. Although Gönell It is our enemy and a stubborn Nazi, but this action he made has avoided the bloodshed of tens of thousands of people. Based on this alone, I think it is understandable to bury his body properly. .”

As soon as I finished speaking, Cui Kefu immediately agreed: “I agree with Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army. It is precisely because of the correct choice made by Goner before committing suicide, tens of thousands of our commanders and fighters have avoided. He shed blood and sacrificed, so putting his body properly is what we should do.”

After he said this, he saw that no one raised any objections, he began to issue orders: “General Shemenkov, the 4th Guards Corps will be responsible for the surrender of the core fort. Comrade Pronin, you immediately draft an article. In his speech, he told the remaining German officers and soldiers in the fortress and residential areas that the commander of the fortress, General Mattern, had announced their surrender and asked them to immediately stop resisting.”

After listening to Cui Koff’s words, Military Commissioner Pronin immediately stood up and said happily: “Well, Comrade Commander, I will draft a speech to persuade the German officers and soldiers in the fortress and residential areas to surrender.” Then he turned his head again. Looking at Mattern, he asked in a deliberate tone, “General Mattern, are you willing to cooperate with us to complete the work of persuading surrender in Poznan?”

Matten quickly got up from his seat and replied respectfully: “Mr. General, it is my honor to be able to serve you. I will obey your instructions.”

After Pronin and Shemenkov left one after another, Trikov turned and said to me: “Lida, let’s go back to the headquarters of the group army. The news of the German surrender needs to be reported to Marshal Zhukov as soon as possible.”

After listening to Trikov’s report on the phone, Zhukov asked in amazement: “What, the German army in Poznan lay down their weapons and surrendered to our army? Is this true?”

“Yes, Marshal Zhukov.” Cuikov understood why Zhukov asked, and quickly explained to him: “The reason why the defenders of Poznan resisted tenaciously was because their fortress commander was the SS appointed by Himmler. Officer, he was a stubborn Nazi. In addition to resolutely resisting our army’s offensive, he also carried out a merciless massacre of officers and soldiers who had come to their senses and tried to break away from the Nazis.”

After listening to Cui Kefu’s words, Zhukov asked in a puzzled manner: “Since he is such a stubborn Nazi, how can he let his deputy come out and negotiate with you about surrender?”

“Comrade Marshal, the reason is very simple.” Cui Kefu continued to explain: “Our troops attacking the core fort~www.mtlnovel.com~ surrounded an underground hospital of the German army. There were five to six hundred wounded, sick and medical personnel in it. He I am worried that my continued resistance will cause these people to be massacred by our army.”

“It’s ridiculous, it’s ridiculous.” Zhukov heard this and said angrily on the phone: “He thought our commanders were two-legged beasts just like them. Would he mercilessly slaughter the unarmed wounded? “

“I also think this is just an excuse.” Cui Kefu analyzed: “It may be the onslaught of our army these days that made him realize that it is an impossible task to continue to defend Poznan. Therefore, in order to keep the remaining officers and soldiers alive, he can only think of such a crappy reason.”

“Well, Comrade Cuikov, no matter what reason the enemy uses, Poznan is now in the hands of our army anyway.” Seeing that Poznan’s problem has been resolved, Zhukov began to arrange the next stage of tasks: “Except Leave the necessary forces to maintain security in the city. You immediately mobilize the main force of the group army to advance westward, and join forces with Katukov by the Oder River, and cooperate with them to continue advancing toward Berlin.”

“Understood, Comrade Marshal.” Hearing that he was going to command troops to march to Berlin, Cui Koff became excited: “I suggest leaving the 91st Infantry Corps of the 69th Army, while our whole army is advancing westward. You see. is this okay?”