In the previous article, Fei Chun read the biography of how the largest siege and annihilation war in history, the Battle of Kiev in 1941, happened.
Today I will talk about a detail of how 660,000 Soviet troops were captured.
On September 16, 1941, after the German armored corps from the north and south met, they formed a complete encirclement of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.
The total area of the encirclement is about 135,000 square kilometers, and there are 5 Soviet army groups, 50 divisions, and a total of 665,000 people.
From this day on, the Soviet army was in extreme danger, and after receiving the order to retreat, they desperately broke through and sought a glimmer of life, but unfortunately, in the face of the powerful and warlike German army, they eventually failed.
Captured Soviet troops
In the face of desperate battles, the 660,000 Soviet troops did not sit still, but in the case of running out of ammunition and food, they persisted for nearly half a month, and 660,000 people fought non-stop for ten days and a half months, and they did not give up when they ran out of food, which was already very tenacious.
If it is Japanese, they may choose to cut the abdomen, preferring to die rather than surrender, which is a decades-old tradition of the Japanese army, deeply rooted, and honor is more important than life and death.
But there is only one Japan in the world that imposes such extreme constraints on morality and law.
Aerial view of captured Soviet troops
A month ago, the Soviet Union also issued an order, but instead of asking for death than surrender, it was forbidden to be a coward and a deserter.
This decree was issued by the High Command no. 270 of the whole army:
"Anyone who tears off his epaulettes and surrenders in battle is an abominable deserter, and his family members shall be arrested for violating the oath of service and the fatherland." Such deserters shall be executed on the spot.
"Whoever is under siege should fight to the end, break out of the siege, and return to our side." Whoever prefers to surrender on his knees shall be eliminated by all means, and the families of the surrendered Soldiers of the Red Army shall be deprived of the state subsidies and relief to which they enjoy.
"All those who are brave and courageous should be actively promoted."
The purpose of this directive, issued at a critical juncture in the Battle of Kiev, was strong in tone and clear in attitude, and its purpose was to motivate and spur the Soviet army to obey the military order and fight back with all its might.
One of the backgrounds of this order is that many senior generals have proposed to abandon Kiev, and basically everyone who makes this suggestion has been dismissed or dealt with and executed.
Judging from its contents, surrender is not allowed.
However, combined with the text and background, you will find that the focus of this order is to "fight to the end and break through the siege", and it is absolutely not allowed to surrender on the knee, especially not to defect and treason.
There is a fundamental difference between japan's "heavy festivals and light deaths" and "preferring to die rather than surrendering", and even encouraging self-destruction.
In the nearly half a month of being surrounded by the Germans, the Soviet army used backward machine guns and artillery, fought with traditional concrete fortifications, there was no ammunition, with fists, boots, and teeth to fight with the Germans, 19-year-old Lieutenant Yakunin led an 11-man squad to fight to the last 1... There are many such examples.
In the face of the torrent of steel, the backward Soviet army went forward and finally tore the crack, but finally it was blocked by the Arriving German reinforcements, and the Ukrainian fields were full of corpses and debris, which was creepy and showed the fierceness of the battle.
It is unreasonable to say that the Soviet army fell without a fight.
However, there is still a fundamental difference between "fighting to the end" and preferring to die rather than surrender, that is, when the ammunition is exhausted and there is no way to fight any longer, it can only surrender.
The Soviets did this, and so did the Later Germans. The U.S. and British militaries in the Pacific Theater did this, and they had legal endorsements and values.
But this surrender is very different from surrendering to the enemy, the former as a prisoner of the Soviet Union, and the latter as a traitor to the enemy.
According to international conventions, after the cessation of hostilities, both sides should exchange prisoners and return prisoners, and each country has different ways of dealing with it, but they still belong to their own soldiers.
Guaranteeing the safety and dignity of captives is a proper meaning of international law, but I have never heard of "exchanging apostates and traitors".
This is the essential difference between the two.
In addition, it is worth saying that in the fierce Battle of Kiev, in the face of desperate encirclement, soviet officers did not take the lead in fleeing, but fought with the fighters until the last moment.
During the breakout, the commander of the Southwestern Front, General Kilbonos, was hit by German shells while repairing the woods on September 20, and died 2 hours later.
The chief of staff of the Southwestern Front, Major General Tupikov, the political commissar Bulmikensko, the chief of the Special Services Department of the People's Commissariat of the Interior Mikhev, and the chief of staff of the Fifth Army, Salevsky, were all killed on the battlefield.
The commander of the Fifth Army, Major General Potapov, was captured unconscious, and most of the other officers were killed.
Their perseverance cost the Germans 150,000 lives and countless ammunition.
It is really not easy for such a unit to hold out in a desperate situation of running out of ammunition and surrounded by iron barrels, rather than immediately falling apart and fleeing like a rat.
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