Near 8 o'clock on the evening of 30 May, in the underground fortress of the Sevastopol fortress, Major General Petrov, the supreme commander of the garrison of the fortress, in accordance with the habit he had developed since the outbreak of war, eavesdropped on the enemy's radio after dinner in order to increase his understanding of the battle situation.

Major General Petrov was also forced to do this, and the political workers in the organization were very strict with news censorship, especially the information on some battles lost, such and such troops were eliminated, and a certain area was occupied, which was almost completely blocked.

If you want to know this valuable information, judge what changes you are not aware of in the Crimean Peninsula, and what adverse effects these changes will have on the defense of the fortress, you must have a channel to understand the outside world.

A radio station called "Deutsche Welle", which since the beginning of the war has attracted great attention from Major General Petrov.

As the name suggests, the radio station was run by the Germans, but it was broadcast in all-Russian with the aim of conducting psychological warfare and weakening the Russians' will to fight.

The content of the radio broadcast was precisely the various battlefield information that Major General Petrov was eager to know, and although the Germans would deliberately exaggerate some of the content, they could still get a lot of useful information by filtering out the exaggerated parts by their own minds.

It's just that this kind of behavior should be carried out in a low-key manner, especially not to be noticed by the political workers in the fortress.

At eight o'clock sharp, the "Deutsche Welle" started broadcasting on time, and Major General Petrov locked the door of his room and turned up the volume of the broadcast to the minimum to ensure that only he could hear it.

With his left arm on his chest and a cigarette in his right hand, Major General Petrov filtered out one useless message after another, and finally waited for the information he needed.

"Since last night, the combined German and Italian fleets under the command of General Heinz von Rosen have been pursuing the fleeing Black Sea Fleet.

At 3:20 a.m. today, Lieutenant Colonel Russo, commander of the TA-3 transport flotilla under the Second Fleet of the Italian Navy, used his own transport fleet as bait and joined the German Navy's No. 1 aircraft carrier formation under the command of Rear Admiral Ohm to successfully trap the main force of the Black Sea Fleet.

In this battle, the battleships "Paris Commune", "Red Caucasus", "Molotov" and "Voroshilov", which belonged to the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, and the light cruiser "Red Crimea", ····· A total of twelve battleships were sunk, and two destroyers were captured.

The main forces of the Black Sea Fleet were completely annihilated, and the commander of the fleet, Vice Admiral Okgabriski, and his staff were captured by the light cruiser "Sipione Africano" of the Royal Italian Navy······"

Hearing this, Major General Petrov's right hand holding a cigarette trembled uncontrollably.

Lieutenant Commander Okgabriski has seen him, a guy with thick eyebrows, big eyes, a severely receding hairline, and a round, shiny brain.

He, the commander of the fleet, would have been taken prisoner, and he was captured by the Italians, so why didn't he die?

I really misjudged this guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes.

At this time, another sentence came over the radio.

"The commander of the German Twelfth Army, Admiral Gedehardt Heinrich, who was fighting on the Crimean peninsula, entrusted the radio station 'Deutsche Welle' to officially urge the defenders of the Sevastopol fortress to surrender immediately, you have no hope of escape, and if you continue to fight, it will only increase casualties in vain······"

Major General Petrov raised his hand to turn off the radio, took two puffs of the cigarette in his hand, and then pressed it out in the ashtray.

In fact, the fall of the Black Sea Fleet has been known since the day the Turks opened the Turkish straits.

Not only that, but from the day the combined German-Italian fleet entered the Black Sea, the transport lines of the Sevastopol fortress were completely cut off, and until then, a part of it could be replenished by the Black Sea Fleet and by air.

But now, whether it's food, medicine or ammunition, they have to live on stocks.

The Germans were right on the radio, the defenders of the fortress had no hope of escaping, and fighting any more would only increase casualties.

Thinking of today's daytime, the heads of the logistics department and the medical department, according to their own orders, reported once a day.

The food in the fort was only for a maximum of six days, and if a large number of wounded and soldiers died during this period, it was possible to last a few more days, but not more than ten days.

As the Germans launched a general attack, the wounded were rushed to the fortified hospitals, so that medicine was scarce more than food, and it was impossible to sustain even five days.

The fortress is really to the point of running out of ammunition and food, and it will not be long before it will end up with the same fate as the Black Sea Fleet.

In the oppressive silence, Major General Petrov stared at the floor clock in his office in deep thought.

Since the medicine in the fortress barely lasted five days, it was necessary to hold out for another five days.

After five days, he will give the order to surrender.

After giving the order to surrender, he will kill himself by drinking bullets and live and die with the fortress, and he will definitely not be a prisoner like the thick-eyed Lieutenant General Okgabrisky.

Having made up his mind, Major General Petrov washed up and went to bed early.

In the early morning of the next day, Major General Petrov woke up early at half past five to prepare for a new day of fighting.

After breakfast, the major general rushed to inspect the southeastern front of the fortress, where the outer line of defense had been broken by the Germans and Italians, and the Germans were really already under the city, and street fighting was about to break out, which was the closest and most dangerous part of all the defense lines of the fortress to the enemy.

After inspecting the defensive line, it was already close to eight o'clock in the morning, and the major general had just returned to the command headquarters when he received a report from the southern defensive line.

The emissaries of the Germans came, asking to meet with Major General Petrov, saying that there was something important to discuss with the Major General.

What did the emissaries of the Germans come for? It should have come to surrender.

After thinking for a few seconds, Major General Petrov felt that he should meet with the emissaries of the Germans.

If the Germans really came to surrender, they also had to fight for some preferential conditions for the soldiers who were about to surrender.

About twenty minutes later, in the conference room of the underground command of the fortress, Major General Petrov met two German officers blindfolded with black cloths.

After taking off the black cloth from his head, one of the German officers at the head sat down and said to Rear Admiral Petrov: "I am Rear Admiral Ernst Ohm, commander of the 1st Aircraft Carrier Formation of the German Navy, and I have come to discuss three things with you on the orders of Admiral Gedhardt Heinrich, commander of the 12th Army. ”

Three things? So much.

Major General Petrov said with a blank face: "You have plenty of time, say it, I'll listen." ”

"First of all, have you ever heard of the 'Political (Commissar) Order'?"

"What's that?" Major General Petrov asked.

"The content of the order is very simple, once it is found that there are political cadres or party members of your army among the prisoners, they can be shot directly without trial." Seeing that Major General Petrov's face became ugly, Major General Ohm continued: "As a German soldier, we think that such an order is extremely inconsistent with military honor, but it is not our Wehrmacht who really carry out such an order, but other law enforcement teams.

Recently, we have just received an order for the law enforcement team to prepare for the 12th Army's prisoner of war camp. In order not to bring the honor of the soldiers to shame, but also to ensure the safety of the lives of those prisoners, General Heinrich decided that, out of humanitarian concern, we decided to hand over those prisoners to your army, so that they could not be harmed. In order to express our sincerity, starting today, we will stop shelling the fortified city for five consecutive days and launch attacks only on the outer positions of the fort. ”

When did the Germans become so kind? This is a very abnormal thing.

Major General Petrov was full of suspicions.

As if sensing Major General Petrov's thoughts, Major General Ohm continued: "At the same time, in the next five days, we will cease hostilities to the south and southeast of the fortress, which is also a way for us to show our sincerity. You know, we've made a breakthrough in both directions and are ready to storm the fortress at any time.

Admiral Heinrich said that from two o'clock this afternoon onwards, the prisoners will be handed over to you. If you don't want to take these captives, have your troops shoot them or drive them into a minefield after they appear in the middle of the battlefield. In short, we German soldiers would not do anything to slaughter prisoners. ”

"Wait, did you forget something?" Major-General Petrov said.

"What's the matter?" Major General Ohm asked.

Major General Petrov said: "You will definitely start a siege after that, and in the battle, some of these people will definitely be killed." Also, aren't you afraid that when they return, they will strengthen the garrison of the fortress? You're doing this in a redundant way. ”

"I know, but killing an enemy in battle and slaughtering prisoners of war in a prisoner of war camp are two different things. As for the fact that it will strengthen the garrison of the fortress, this is the second thing I want to say. Mr. Rear Admiral, the fortress is now facing a desperate situation, since the Black Sea Fleet was annihilated, there is no need for you to fight anymore, surrender. This will allow many German, Italian, Romanian, and, of course, Soviet lads to live to see the end of the war. ”

Major General Petrov continued: "General Ohm, don't you think your actions are contradictory? If we surrender, those people, and many more, will become your captives, and will fall into the hands of the law enforcement team you are talking about, and even if they surrender, they will also die. It is also death, we would rather choose to die in battle, so that a soldier should die. ”

"Well, General Heinrich and I have a suggestion that he has a way to keep the prisoners safe."

"How?"

Major General Ohm said, "That is to sacrifice your own life to keep the defenders of the fortress safe." ”

Major General Petrov asked in surprise: "What do you mean by this?" Kill me alone? ”

"No, we're not going to kill anyone. What we mean by this is that you can make a request before surrendering. That is, after you surrendered, you, the supreme commander of the fortress, chose to commit suicide, to die for those people by suicide, and to exchange your death for the chance of those people to survive. General Heinrich will cooperate with you in issuing a public statement agreeing to your request, and then drive the law enforcement team away, so that the safety of those people can be guaranteed. ”

Sacrifice one of me to save the others?

This seems to be something to consider, but you can't surrender lightly, otherwise you will be held accountable by Moscow, and at the same time will be looked down upon by these Germans.

"I will not talk to you about surrender without an order from above, and this topic ends here. Say, what's the third thing you're going to say? Major General Petrov asked.

Major General Ohm didn't talk much nonsense, and took out a letter from the briefcase he was carrying with him and handed it to Major General Petrov.

"The third thing is that I am forwarding this letter to you on the orders of General Heinrich, and General Heinrich said that I hope that when you have time, you will be able to calm down and study the contents of the letter carefully."

Major General Petrov took the white envelope, did not open it, and threw it casually on the table.

"Go back and tell General Heinrich that the first thing I can accept, and I thank the captives at the same time; As for the matter of surrender, I still say that without the order of my superiors, I will not surrender lightly; Thirdly, I will read this letter, the content of which is nothing more than words urging me to surrender as soon as possible, but I do not think the content of this letter can do anything. ”

After seeing off Major General Ohm, Major General Petrov walked back to his office, opened the envelope and carefully read the contents of the stationery.

As the words came into view, Major General Petrov's face became strange.

After reading the contents of the letter, Major General Petrov was stunned for a while, silently took out a lighter and lit the letter.

Seeing the letter paper turning to ashes in the ashtray, Major General Petrov stared at the ashes in the ashtray and fell into deep thought······