Chapter 816 Marshal
Paulus saw that Manstein did not agree with his plan. As a general, he certainly had no right to order the marshal Manstein.
But Paulus didn't want to let it go.
He did not argue with Manstein, but immediately sent a telegram to Hitler's Wolfsburg.
"Your Excellency the Fuhrer!" Paulus said, "Maybe you already know that the Russians have issued an amnesty! This has shaken the morale of the Sixth Army. Let them surrender! Otherwise, all that awaits them is death... They are brave warriors, I always believe this, as long as there is a little hope, they are willing to fight for the empire to the end. But if we have no power to change the situation, Then please allow them to live with dignity!"
These words are not so much the voices of the officers and soldiers of the army as Paulus himself, and even these words of Paulus are a bit coercive: If there is no hope of breaking through, we will surrender.
Whoever Hitler was, of course he could see the hidden meaning in this telegram.
Although Hitler who read this telegram was angry, he did not dare to say anything... At least so far, there are very few things that Hitler dare not say or do, but on the issue of Paulus, he can only say this Swallow down.
The reason is very simple. Paulus's words obviously smack of surrender.
So Hitler didn't have the capital to get angry with Paulus at all. If Hitler ordered and criticized in the telegram... Paulus only needs to throw away the telegram, reply "bye you", and then take the whole Sixth Army Surrendering to the Soviet Army, Hitler became a joke.
In particular, what Paulus said is still reasonable. Europeans do not think it is a shame to surrender when they are unable to change the situation. Therefore, the actions of Paulus and the officers and soldiers of the 6th Army can even win some Europeans. people's understanding and recognition.
The reason why "partial" is said here is because Paulus was not recognized by the Germans after he returned to Germany in his later years (1952). Thousands of people cursed him and asked Paulus why he failed to keep the 6th Army Hundreds of thousands of lives.
This is actually a bit pointless.
No commander can have the obligation and responsibility to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of subordinates under such circumstances, because he can't even save his own life, which is completely beyond Paulus' ability.
The "thousands" of people who cursed Paulus asked such questions because they couldn't ask "Why did you surrender?", "Why didn't you commit suicide and apologize?"... These are not in line with European values, so they I can only find a seemingly tall and irrefutable reason: "You killed hundreds of thousands of men of the 6th Army!"
However, did Paulus really kill these hundreds of thousands of subordinates? !
In fact, everyone knows the answer to this question, but they pretend not to know.
You can never wake up a person who is pretending to be asleep, so Paulus’ son has been trying to restore Paulus’s reputation all his life, but he couldn’t do so, and finally chose to commit suicide by drawing a gun and ended his life.
These are all things to say later, and Hitler at this time can only confess and coax Paulus to be careful.
"My general!" Hitler replied: "I don't doubt the courage of you and all the officers and men of the 6th Army, but you have to believe that the situation in the war is developing in our favor. All we need is time, time! And, The Don River Army is already organizing your rescue, and you will soon hear the sound of the Dora Cannon exploding in Karachi, that is the most powerful evidence!"
Then, Hitler didn't say anything more, and immediately called Manstein: "The Don Army should immediately launch an attack on Karachi!"
"But Your Excellency the Führer..."
"No but!" Hitler interrupted Manstein: "You only have five hours to prepare, and you will attack as soon as the sky is bright!"
"Yes, Your Excellency the Führer!" Manstein replied helplessly.
Putting down the phone and being silent for a while, Hitler said to the staff around him again: "Promote Paulus to Field Marshal immediately, immediately!"
"Yes, Your Excellency the Führer!"
So, the result of this contest was that Paulus won, and he successfully forced Manstein to attack.
But it was Shulka who actually won, because the Germans had to attack with insufficient preparation.
Although the German army could not rescue the 6th Army if it launched an attack with sufficient preparation, it must not be able to rescue it without sufficient preparation... This is just a dying struggle of the German army.
Then the next day, when the sky was just getting brighter, there was a burst of shells whistling in the sky above the Miloway defense line. At the same time, German fighter planes and bombers also swooped down from the sky to bomb and straf the Soviet defense line.
Occasionally, a loud "boom" like thunder was heard in the artillery fire.
It doesn't sound so obvious in the sound of guns, and only those who are on the front line can appreciate its difference...that is the shells fired by the Dora cannon.
You must know that the aerial bombs carried by the German "Stuka" bombers are only half a ton, while the shells fired by the Dora cannon weigh 8 to 10 tons, that is, nearly 20 "Stuka" aerial bombs.
If it’s just the weight, it’s the next best thing, because it’s a big deal to let a dozen "Stukas" drop 20 bombs at a certain place at the same time, and the total weight can reach the weight of the cannon shells.
The problem is that the shells of the Dora cannon are not dropped from the air, but fired from tens of kilometers away. Such a large shell flies at high speed in the air, then plunges into the ground and explodes below the ground …just this momentum can set off a tidal wave of mud, not to mention the power of its explosion.
Shulka did not experience this power personally on the front line, because he and his 82nd Infantry Regiment were deployed on the second line.
This is mainly because the Soviet army knew that the German army would launch an offensive soon, and the initial stage of the offensive was a large-scale bombing.
Therefore, the elite troops are usually not put on the front line to be bombed in the early stage of the battle... There is not much difference between recruits and veterans in front of batches of shells. Yes, so veterans have a slightly higher chance of survival.
But the Soviet army obviously will not put veterans on the front line for this survival rate.
Whether it is to avoid the enemy's edge, or to let the recruits get exercise, most of the troops deployed on the front line to face the German artillery are newly added troops.
(end of this chapter)
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