On June 25, Paulus once again sent a telegram requesting surrender, but as before, he was verbally rejected by Mustache and asked to fight until every soldier was killed.

The horrors of white phosphorus and cloud bomb attacks were still before his eyes. Paulus was completely desperate and gradually lost his trust in the Führer.

After Operation Uranus began, the 6th Army, which was trapped in the isolated city, never received material supplies from the rear.

It has been 20 days and most of the materials have been consumed.

The food can barely last a few days, but that's not the most critical thing.

The most critical thing is that as the Chinese threat became more pressing, Paulus gradually lost control of the various units of the 6th Army.

The first to collapse were the Romanians. They no longer obeyed Paulus's orders, surrendered to the Chinese army in front of them without permission, and in turn persuaded the Germans to surrender.

The Seventeenth, Twenty-ninth, Forty-fourth, and Fifty-fifth Armies were also shaken to a certain extent. The Seventeenth Army and the Fifty-fifth Army, which suffered the heaviest casualties, did not have any fighting will. The officers discussed in private.

The enemy surrenders.

Paulus was fully aware of the situation, but he could do nothing.

After a night of despair and pessimism, in the early morning of June 26, as the sun had just risen, Mustache's telegram reached the headquarters of the 6th Army across a distance of thousands of kilometers.

Major General Schmidt, the chief of staff of the 6th Army, looked strange and his tone was bitter.

"Your Excellency, Commander, congratulations."

Paulus raised his head weakly, with a questioning look in his eyes.

Schmidt continued:

"The head of state and the Supreme Command decided yesterday evening to grant you the title of field marshal."

"Due to the enemy's air blockade, the Head of State is temporarily unable to deliver the Field Marshal uniform and the Field Marshal's scepter, which symbolizes the Field Marshal's personal authority, to you."

"The head of state said in the telegram that after the battle, he will personally deliver these two things to you."

The Germans considered themselves to be the most orthodox descendants of the Holy Roman Empire, so they intentionally imitated the Roman Empire in many aspects.

The scepter, which represents the highest honor and personal authority of a marshal, is one of them.

Within the Third Reich, the lifelong pursuit of countless generals was the Marshal's Scepter.

When Paulus heard that he had been awarded the rank of marshal, the first thing he felt was happiness and joy.

Marshal is the highest pinnacle of military honor. Paulus never thought that he would one day join this ranks.

But after that hint of joy, there was deeper despair and sadness.

Paulus' lips moved, and it took him a long time to utter a few words.

"The Führer is so generous!"

"But all this is of no use..."

Both Paulus and Schmidt knew the intention of the Führer in granting the rank of marshal at this time.

The 6th Army must never surrender, only the marshal who died in battle.

Replace Paulus with the rank of marshal and fight to the end, trying to change the situation of the war.

'Thinking about it, this is a helpless move. The head of state has no real intention to grant himself the rank of marshal.'

Paulus thought sadly that at this moment he had actually made up his mind.

Major General Schmidt was equally desperate. He asked:

"Marshal, how to reply to the head of state?"

"Thanks for his generosity."

"No more?"

"No more!"

"All right."

Paulus looked at the telegram again, then threw it aside and said:

"Inform the Chinese side that they can send people to discuss specific surrender matters."

Major General Schmidt was completely stunned.

The head of state's telegram is still hot, so he decided to surrender?

Paulus obviously didn't want to talk anymore and closed his eyes.

..

Uranus Operation General Headquarters, Jiangdong received a report from the First Army of the Sixth Corps:

Paulus agrees to surrender!

"We just asked us to send people to discuss the specific surrender matters. It seems that Paulus really intends to delay it until June 28." Wu Zhan said with a smile:

"If he knew the true arrangement of our army, would he roll his eyes in anger on the spot?"

This sentence made many people in the headquarters laugh, and everyone sighed in their hearts about poor Paulus.

Jiang Dong also smiled and said:

"I think Paulus has received the telegram from Mustache conferring him the rank of marshal."

"He lost trust in the superior head of state, so he made up his mind to surrender."

"Send someone to negotiate with Paulus, don't be anxious, wait for him until the 28th."

"yes!!!"

Zhukov was completely convinced by Jiang Dong, and his eyes when he looked over were full of respect.

In any case, Stalingler still had at least 300,000 German troops.

300,000 enemies surrendered, including dozens of generals and a marshal.

Such achievements are enough to boost the morale of the anti-fascist alliance across the country and around the world.

At the same time, it will deal a heavy blow to the proud Third Reich, making it difficult for Mustache to recover for half a year.

"Dawali Xijiang, I didn't expect you to really do it, congratulations!"

Zhukov took the initiative to extend his right hand, and Jiang Dong shook hands with it with a smile.

"This is just the victory achieved in the first phase of Operation Uranus, General Zhukov, greater victories are still waiting for us!"

The two of them simultaneously set their sights on the giant sand table in the headquarters. On the sand table, a huge encirclement composed of red flags and red arrows was gradually closing.

Every time Zhukov looked at the encirclement, he would feel his breathing tense and his heart beating faster.

Jiangdong achieved victory in the first stage, which made Zhukov believe that this huge, seemingly fantasy-like plan was really possible.

This battle will determine the direction of the war, and the days of being passively beaten will eventually pass.

After his thoughts fluctuated for a while, Zhukov heard Wu Zhan say from the side:

"The basic tactics currently determined are for the Sixth Corps and the Eighth Corps to attack the center of Manstein and Guderian's defenses."

"The 3rd Tank Army, the Don Front and Chiang Kai-shek's Armored Army used their speed advantage to attack the flanks of the 2nd Armored Army and the 11th Army."

"Condensing the enemy's living space, creating chaos while striving to separate and encircle them."

While Wu Zhan was speaking, the next battle plan was clearly presented on the sand table.

After the 800,000 men of the Southwestern Front and the Southern Front pursued General Stipnagel's 17th Army, Bauwimanstein and Guderian, the troops could also take the opportunity to capture Rostov.

As a result, the main forces of Army Group South were all trapped in the encirclement.

The number of enemy troops in the encirclement is about 1.5 million, and the total Allied strength outside the encirclement is 2.5 million.

This is an unprecedented battle and an unprecedented war of super-large-scale annihilation.

Mustache believed that Stalingrad was the base for his counterattack and was reluctant to give up.

Jiangdong took advantage of the situation and used Stalingrad as a bait to prevent Army Group South from advancing or retreating.

In this extremely large-scale annihilation battle, the most critical battle was undoubtedly the battle on the Don River and in the direction of Rostov.

Jiangdong is preparing to dispatch all armed helicopters to block the Don River with the cooperation of the air force.

Mao Xiong's Don Front moved all the way south and took Rostov.
Chapter completed!