Immediately after hearing Nekrasov's order, two fighters jumped out of the trench and bent down and ran towards the Germans in front. Looking at the distant backs of the fighters, Nekrasov turned his head and asked me: "Comrade commander, will the Germans really surrender?" ”

I shrugged my shoulders and said with some disapproval: "Comrade division commander, you must know that the life of each of our soldiers is precious, and if we can persuade the Germans to surrender, then we can reduce many unnecessary casualties." ”

A few minutes later, the German officer, escorted by two fighters, came to the armored car. I sat in the car and didn't move, while Nekrasov got up and walked out. The German officer glanced at Nekrasov's epaulettes with a quick glance, then straightened his waist and said respectfully: "Hello, Your Excellency, General, I am Second Lieutenant Vincent of the 339th Division of the German Army, and I salute you. ”

Listening to his fluent Russian, I felt much more at ease, as long as there were people in the besieged German army who knew Russian, so that my shouting would not be played to the ox. Nekrasov looked at him and asked expressionlessly, "Ensign Vincent, who is your commander?" ”

"Captain Linus." The second lieutenant replied respectfully: "He is our supreme commander. ”

"How many people are still on the hillside?" Nekrasov then asked.

The second lieutenant did not answer his question immediately, but asked in a tone that was a little too modest: "Your Excellency, General, I wonder who I have the honor of speaking with now?" ”

"I am Major General Nekrasov, commander of the 52nd Guards Division of the Soviet Army," Nekrasov, after identifying himself, asked a little impatiently: "Second Lieutenant, did your commander send you to negotiate surrender?" ”

After Vincent heard Nekrasov's identity clearly, a contemptuous expression appeared on his face: "Your Excellency, General, your rank is too low, even if you make any promises to us, I think you may not be able to fulfill them in the end." ”

Nekrasov was so angry by Vincent's words that he pointed at the other party and scolded viciously: "If you don't surrender, we will destroy you all at once." ”

Vincent sneered and said disdainfully: "Your Excellency, General, although your troops are stronger than ours, and you have heavy weapons like tanks. But don't forget, rabbits can bite when they're in a hurry, and even if we are all wiped out by you, it will still cost you dearly. ”

"Get out!" Faced with Vincent's provocative tone, Nekrasov finally broke out, he pointed at Vincent's nose and scolded: "You immediately go back and tell your captain that if you don't surrender, wait to be eliminated by us!" , disappear from my presence, and don't let me see you again. ”

Seeing that the negotiation between the two broke up after a few words of conversation. Seeing that Vincent snorted and turned his head to leave, I hurriedly shouted, "Wait a minute! ”

I stooped through the hatch and walked in front of Vincent. He looked him up and down, and then said to the handsome German lieutenant: "When you go back, tell your captain that you have been surrounded by our regiments, and there is no point in continuing to resist, only by laying down your arms and surrendering to our army can you have a chance to live." With this choice between life and death, I believe it will be easy for him to make the final decision. With that, I waved at him and said, "Alright, second lieutenant, you can go back." ”

Not only did he not leave, but he stared at me in a daze. Seeing that he was staring at me endlessly, and that I had a displeased expression on my face, Nekrasov came over and pushed Vincent, and said impatiently: "Alright, second lieutenant, you can go back and report to your commander." ”

After being pushed and staggered, Vincent walked back in front of me, leaned forward slightly, and asked respectfully: "Your Excellency, General, are you the commander of the Sixth Guards Army, General Oshanina?" ”

I didn't expect an ordinary German second lieutenant to actually know me, and after a brief moment of surprise, I tried to ask in a calm tone: "Yes, Ensign Vincent, I am Oshanina, do you have any advice?" ”

As soon as I identified myself, Vincent made a surprising gesture by straightening up and raising his hand to salute me, and then respectfully said to me: "Your Excellency, since it is your promise, I will immediately go back and report to the captain, and ask him to let the troops lay down their arms and surrender to you." ”

I didn't expect that after revealing my identity, the attitude of the German second lieutenant would be forward, but I didn't bother to delve into it, but urged him: "Okay, Mr. Ensign, you go back quickly, and let your troops lay down their arms and surrender to us." Otherwise, as soon as our artillery arrives, the hillside will be covered with fire, and then don't blame me for not saying hello in advance. ”

"Your Excellency, please give me five minutes." Hearing me say that I was going to shell the hillside, the second lieutenant hurriedly raised his right hand, opened his fingers, and hurriedly said: "In just five minutes, I will definitely persuade the captain to lay down his weapon." ”

"All right, Mr. Ensign." Seeing that his attitude was so respectful, I also pushed the boat and said, "I'll give you ten minutes." When the ten minutes are up, if I don't see you come out and surrender, I'll order the artillery to open fire. ”

"Don't worry, Your Excellency. In less than ten minutes, I promise that the captain will personally lead the men down the mountain to surrender. With that, Vincent raised his hand again and saluted me, and then trotted back to the hillside with the improvised white flag.

Looking at Vincent's distant back, Nekrasov asked me curiously: "Comrade commander, do you say that the Germans will lay down their arms and surrender to us?" ”

"I don't know." I replied dryly, "But we're just going to have to gamble on luck now." Of course, it is good that the enemy can surrender on his own initiative, and we can reduce a lot of unnecessary casualties; Even if they don't surrender, they are not afraid, as long as they are covered with rocket artillery twice, most of them can be wiped out. ”

Although I gave Vincent ten minutes, only five or six minutes later I saw a group of dejected German soldiers, led by a German officer holding a white flag, out of the woods on the hillside.

Seeing that the enemy really came out to surrender as promised, Nekrasov pointed ahead and said to me excitedly: "Comrade commander, look, I didn't expect the enemy to really come out and surrender to us. ”

I saw that the German soldiers coming out of the woods, about a hundred people, believed that they were not playing some conspiracy, so I shook my head at Nekrasov and said: "Okay, comrade division commander, let your men accept the surrender of the Germans." ”

The German officers and men who came down from the hillside saw the commanders and fighters of our army who surrounded them and behaved very cooperatively. After they put their guns in their designated positions, they stood by honestly and waited for us to dispose of them.

Seeing this situation, Nekrasov, in addition to his excitement, asked a little strangely: "Comrade commander, do you know the commander of the German army?" ”

"The commander of the German army?" When I heard Nekrasov's question, I instinctively shook my head and said: "Comrade division commander, the German commander I know, is currently being held in our prisoner of war camp. ”

"However, the second lieutenant who came to negotiate just now, you also saw it, and when he talked to me first, his attitude was particularly bad." Nekrasov said somewhat unconvinced: "It turns out that after you only said two words to him, he immediately nodded at you and tried his best to please you." ”

The speaker has no intention of listening, and Nekrasov's words gave me a wake-up call. If I didn't figure out what was going on, I would not be able to wash it away even if I jumped into the Dnieper once I was targeted by the people of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so I ordered him: "Comrade division commander, let the German commander be called, I want to talk to them." ”

After a while, Vincent and a dozen German officers came to me. I took two steps towards them, and was about to speak, when I heard a captain in the crowd shout something, and the officers quickly formed two rows. After the queue was formed, the captain gave another command, and then all the German officers raised their hands and gave me a solemn military salute.

Instead of returning the salute, I walked up to Vincent and asked him in a low voice, "Mr. Ensign, can you tell me what the hell is going on?" ”

"Your Excellency," said Vincent, who had just given the order, and said to me politely in fluent Russian, "because you are the one we admire, I have asked everyone to salute you and show you our respect." ”

I looked at the Captain Linus closely, and realized that I didn't know him at all, so I couldn't help but ask curiously, "Mr. Captain, do you know me, or have we met before?" ”

"Yes, Your Excellency, we did." Linus replied cheerfully, "We met at the beginning of the year, not far from here. ”

Hearing Linus say this, I was even more confused, if I had really seen him a few months ago, then he should not have appeared in front of me, but should have been killed by us or put in a prisoner of war camp. Thinking of this, I shook my head and said in an affirmative tone: "Mr. Captain, you must be mistaken, because I have no impression of you at all. ”

"That's right, Your Excellency." Seeing that I denied the fact that I knew him, Linus quickly explained: "Have you forgotten the exchange of prisoners of war a few months ago? ”

"A few months ago the exchange of prisoners of war?" When Linus said this, I immediately remembered that Lieutenant Colonel Huber, the first of Manstein, had used the body of Ike, the commander of the "Skeleton Division", to exchange for Khalidonov's body and two hundred captured wounded. "Mr. Captain, I remember that there is such a thing, but I don't remember seeing you anywhere."

Hearing me say this, Linus smiled bitterly and said, "Your Excellency, I was one of the six people carrying the coffin at the time, and it is normal that you can't notice a little person like me. ”

"By the way, Mr. Captain, I have one more thing to ask you." After a quick glance at Vincent next to me, I asked, "Even if we had met during the prisoner exchange, you wouldn't have surrendered so easily?" ”

"Your Excellency, do you want to hear the truth?" Linus asked with a wry smile.

"Of course," I said, nodding, "of course I'd like to hear the truth from you." ”

"The main thing is that you are too famous in our troops." Linus looked at me with adoration and said reverently: "Since the Battle of Kursk, there have been rumors of your successes in our troops. In particular, the subsequent cities of Belgorod and Kharkov fell one after another......"

"Mr. Captain," I interrupted him unceremoniously as Lynus said this, and then corrected, "we are liberating our city." ”

"Yes, yes, yes, liberation, liberation!" Linus hurriedly echoed me in a flattering tone. "Because your troops are the first to storm the city every time, they have made our generals fear you. As soon as they hear that the attacking troops are under your command, they are not thinking about how to repel your attack, but how to safely withdraw the troops from the ferocious attack you have organized. ……”

Linus's words really made me laugh and cry, in the Soviet army, except for the commanders with whom I often interacted, there were only a limited number of people in other units who knew me. Unexpectedly, among the commanders of the German army, I became a figure that everyone talked about.

Nekrasov reminded me in a whisper: "Comrade commander, the weapons of the captives have been collected, do you send someone to send them to the headquarters of the Front on the other side of the river?" ”

I nodded, and then said softly: "Comrade division commander, please wait a little longer, and I will say a few more words to them." ”

I looked at the ranks of German officers and said in a loud voice: "Gentlemen officers, you are now prisoners of our Sixth Guards Army, and next, I will send someone to send you to the prisoner camp in the rear. Don't worry, I'll ask your superiors to treat you as prisoners of war. ”

Hearing my assurance, Linus nodded and said to me: "Your Excellency, General, I have heard from some colleagues how the Russian prisoners of war camps mistreat our prisoners of war, so I will lead my troops to occupy this hillside and make a final resistance. But since you say so, then I will restrain my subordinates and get them to cooperate with you. ”

Watching Linus and his men, escorted by a platoon of soldiers, walking forward along the road in an orderly manner, Nekrasov said with emotion: "Comrade commander, I didn't expect your prestige among the German army to be so high, and after only a few words, these German prisoners honestly cooperated with our fighters and went to the prisoner of war camp to report. (To be continued.) )