Complex sentence: Soviet accounts claim that there were very few Soviet troops who survived the German onslaught; von Manstein himself records that the Soviets preferred to blow themselves up along with the German soldiers closing in on their positions rather than surrender.
Split into simpler sentences: Soviet accounts claim that there were very few Soviet troops who survived the German onslaught. Von Manstein recorded that the Soviets preferred to blow themselves up along with the German soldiers closing in on their positions rather than surrender.