Chapter 32 02. The end is still crazy

In the spring of 1945, the armies of the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain, and France had reached the German mainland.Among them, the Soviet army is only 60 kilometers away from Berlin, ready to give the German army a final blow.The vanguard of the U.S. and British troops had arrived at the Elbe River, only 100-120 kilometers away from Berlin. At this time, the main force of the German army was still concentrated on dealing with the Soviet army.As of April 16, there were 214 divisions and 14 brigades of the German army fighting on the Soviet-German battlefield.At that time, the German army fighting against the U.S. and British troops had only 60 divisions with insufficient personnel and equipment, including 5 tank divisions, but only about 200 tanks.

The German army defending Berlin is the Vistula Army Group commanded by General Heinrich, which governs the Third Tank Army and the Ninth Army; The two army groups have a total of 48 infantry divisions, 9 motorized divisions, and 6 tank divisions, plus other troops, a total of about 1 million people, 10,400 artillery and mortars, 1,500 tanks and assault artillery, and combat aircraft 3300.In addition, the Army Headquarters Reserve has 8 divisions, and more than 200 national assault battalions have been formed in Berlin. The Soviet Army participated in the Battle of Berlin with a total of 162 infantry and cavalry divisions, 21 tank and mechanized corps, and 4 air force armies, with a total of 2.5 million people, about 42,000 artillery and mortars, and more than 6,250 tanks and self-propelled artillery. vehicles and 7,500 combat aircraft.In contrast, the Soviet army formed several times the advantage over the German army.

The purpose of the Soviet Army's Battle of Berlin was to smash the German army group defending Berlin, capture the German capital Berlin, and advance to the Elbe River to join forces with the Allies before the end of the battle.The Soviet army plans to carry out several violent assaults on the front, encircle the German army, divide it at the same time, and destroy it one by one. At this point in the war, it is no longer a problem to conquer Berlin, the question is only when to conquer Berlin.Stalin paid special attention to the time to conquer Berlin, and demanded that the Battle of Berlin be carried out at a high speed, and the battle should end within half a month.

At the same time, the Allies on the Western Front also wanted to seize Berlin.Although the Allies had reached an agreement on the division of Berlin into the Soviet combat zone, the leaders of the United States and Britain still wanted to occupy Berlin before the Soviet army.Berlin has become a sweet pastry, and everyone wants it.But to do porcelain work, you need diamonds.The American and British allied forces were a little bit powerless to capture Berlin, because it must have been a costly battle with numerous casualties.As a result, the Allied High Command abandoned the plan of action, and Eisenhower instead ordered the Allies to occupy as much German territory as possible.

As it turned out later, Eisenhower's trick was even better.After World War II, Germany was divided from east to west, and the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany was almost twice the size of the GDR. At 5 o'clock in the morning on April 16, the Soviet army's siege of Berlin began with shelling. Thousands of cannons and Katyusha rockets bombarded the German positions, and the whole earth trembled.Before sunrise, the Soviet First Belarusian Front crossed the Oder River to attack, and the Ukrainian First Front also crossed the Ness River to attack. Although the Soviet Army's Belarusian First Front Army is powerful, its assigned tasks are relatively difficult, and it has to face most of the German army.After the battle started, the attack of the First Belarusian Front was quickly crushed by the Germans.Heinrich had already anticipated the Soviet attack and withdrew his troops on the first line of defense long before the Soviet bombardment.The Soviet army used more than 100 searchlight lights to disturb the sight of the German defenders, but they were scattered due to the dense fog in the morning, allowing the German army to see the position of the Soviet army clearly.The swamps also hindered the Soviet attack and were exposed to German artillery fire.The Soviet army failed to steal chickens and lost a lot of rice, and suffered heavy casualties.Zhukov was so dissatisfied with the slow advance of the Soviet army that he also threw his reserves into the fight.By evening, the Soviet army had only advanced about 6 kilometers.

On the morning of April 17, Zhukov concentrated almost all the artillery fire of the front army. After the fierce artillery bombardment, nearly a thousand tanks lined up in a column and moved forward.The front tank was hit and caught fire, and the rear tank pushed it and continued to advance.At the same time, the Soviet soldiers shouted slogans and launched an attack. The soldiers in front fell down, and the soldiers behind continued to rush up.At this time, there were not many German divisions defending on the high ground, and finally they could not withstand the frenzied impact of the Soviet army and began to retreat towards the city of Berlin.

On the morning of April 18, the Soviet army finally captured the Zelov Heights, wiped out nearly 30,000 defending enemies, and continued to advance towards Berlin. On the morning of the 20th, the vanguard of the Belarusian First Front arrived in the suburbs of Berlin, putting the entire urban area of ​​Berlin within range of Soviet howitzers and cannons. At 1:30 pm on the 20th, the Soviet army bombarded the city of Berlin for the first time. After forcibly crossing the Ness River, the Soviet Ukrainian First Front Army in the south broke through the German defense zone on the Ness River, and then forcibly crossed the Spree River, advancing 30 kilometers.When Zhukov's troops were blocked on the Zelov Heights, the tank armies of the Ukrainian First Front first attacked Berlin from the south, and broke into the southern and southwestern suburbs of Berlin on the night of April 20.

The Belarusian Second Front in the north launched an offensive on April 18, and by the 19th forcibly crossed the Oder River, pinning down the forces of the German Vistula Army Group north of Berlin. At this time, the German defense system on the outskirts of Berlin was breached by the Soviet army, and the three Soviet front armies rushed forward day and night and began to encircle Berlin.On April 24, the First Belarusian Front and the First Ukrainian Front joined forces southeast of Berlin, cutting off the German Ninth Army's connection with Berlin and encircling it. On April 25, the 1st Belarusian Front detoured the troops in Berlin from the north and joined the 4th Tank Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front west of Berlin, thus completing the encirclement of Berlin.The German army group in the area north of Berlin was also attacked by the Belarusian Second Front Army and the Belarusian First Front Army, and was in a very dangerous situation.

On the same day, the Fifth Guards Army of the Ukrainian First Front marched westward to the Elbe River and joined forces with the First U.S. Army on the Western Front. By this time, Hitler's madness remained unabated.He ordered all staff officers and civilian personnel to participate in the battle without exception, and decided to execute the commanders who did not move within five hours, and not only to execute the retreating officers and soldiers, but also to hang "deserters" on their bodies." Coward" and "He betrayed the country and defiled the German nation" as an insult.

In the early morning of April 26, over Berlin, thousands of Soviet planes once again dropped tens of thousands of tons of bombs and petrol bombs.On the ground, the Soviet army deployed intensive artillery to bombard it intensively.In the blink of an eye, Berlin became a dark world.After the plane bombing and artillery bombardment ended, Zhukov's Belarusian First Front Army sent countless assault groups to rush into the urban area from all directions. At this time, the Soviet army had been tempered and knew how to capture a city.Before the attack, the Soviet army first bombarded the target area with artillery and aircraft. Under the cover of tanks and engineers equipped with flamethrowers and explosive equipment, the infantry advanced in small sections, infiltrating from the backyard, basement and even sewers, and captured Every street, every building.But Berlin is a city carefully fortified by the German army, with a complete defense system and very strong fortifications.The closer to the city center, the more difficult the advance of the Soviet army.Sturdy buildings, hidden basements, underground railways, drainage ditches, etc., all provided the German army with support points to display their firepower.Therefore, the Soviet army had to fight building by building and attacking street by street, just like the German army in Stalingrad, and every step forward had to pay a high price.

At this time, Hitler was still having unrealistic fantasies. He said to his generals: "The situation will improve. Our Ninth Army is about to arrive in Berlin. Together with the Twelfth Army, we will launch a counterattack against the enemy. People will suffer the worst defeat in Berlin." All autocratic systems will cause a bad result-subordinates only report good news to their superiors but not bad news.The Japanese army was like this during World War II, and the German army was "trained" by Hitler to be like this.Hitler reaped the consequences, and the German generals reported good news but not bad news, so that their heads of state did not even know that the Ninth Army had been divided and surrounded by the Soviet Army, and the Twelfth Army was unable to advance under the blockade of the Allied forces.Hitler, who was almost isolated from the world, stayed in the underground bunker of the Chancellery, just like a deaf and blind man, blindly dispatching troops.In addition, at this time, some German generals no longer resolutely carried out Hitler's orders. On April 27, Soviet troops entered the Ninth District of Berlin.Field Marshal Keitel sent a telegram telling the truth to Berlin, telling Hitler that the Twelfth Army could not move forward, and that the Ninth Army could not break out of the encirclement. Hitler's last hope was dashed.As a result, Berlin Garrison Commander Weidling proposed to Hitler a plan to break out from Berlin and ensure Hitler's safety.He also reported that there was only enough ammunition for two days and nights, and that food and medicines were almost out.Army Chief of Staff Krebs also supported Weidling's proposal to break out.However, Hitler finally realized that he had completely lost the war, and he refused to leave Berlin, where he would spend his last moments. On April 28, the 1st Belorussian Front advanced into the Tielgarten district of Berlin.This garden area is the last position of the Berlin defenders. There are government offices, parliament buildings, the Supreme Command and other highest organs that symbolize the power of the Third Reich.Therefore, the German army deployed the most elite troops of the SS here. In the middle of the night, the Soviet army launched a stormy attack on the Ministry of Internal Affairs building outside the Capitol, and the German army made desperate and most stubborn resistance.The brutal fighting lasted until late at night on the 29th. With almost all the defenders killed, the building was finally captured by the Soviet army. At 1 o'clock on the night of the 29th, Hitler announced his wedding with Eva Braun.Eva was the mistress who waited for Hitler for 12 years, and she committed suicide for Hitler, so she got Hitler's love.Eva can't be said to be very beautiful, but she looks very German. She likes sports and often engages in various sports.Eva was originally arranged in a villa far away from Berlin.However, Eva sees that Berlin is at stake and resolutely comes to Hitler's side.Although Hitler was very angry on the surface and scolded her, he said privately: "I am proud of her behavior." In this way, Goebbels found a witness and handled the marriage formalities for Hitler. After the wedding, Hitler dictated his will, appointing Admiral Dönitz to take over as the head of state and supreme commander of the German Third Reich. He decided to commit suicide and hoped that the remains of their couple would be cremated in the Chancellery. At 3:30 pm on the 30th, Hitler and his wife, who had been married for only one day, both committed suicide by taking poison in the bedroom of the underground bunker.To be on the safe side, while taking the poison, Hitler raised the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger.Then, Goebbels and others carried the remains of Hitler and Eva to a bomb crater in the garden of the Chancellery, poured gasoline and cremated them. In this way, Hitler, the head of the German Third Reich, came to an end.In reality, the Nazi Empire existed for only 12 years. For 12 years, it has set countless cities on fire, and now it has set Germany's own cities on fire.Hitler saw all this, but without the slightest remorse, he wrote the most shameless will in history: It has been more than 30 years since I volunteered to fight in World War I, which was imposed on the Reich. For more than 30 years, love and loyalty to my people have flowed in all my thoughts, actions, and life.They empower me to make the most difficult decisions, sometimes excruciatingly painful.It is a lie to say that I or any German wanted to start the war in 1939, it was only the international politicians who wanted the war and insisted on starting the war.They are either Jewish or they work for Jewish interests. How many years will pass, how many centuries will pass, and from the ruins of our cities and monuments will arise hatred against those responsible, the International Jews and their accomplices. Three days before the German-Polish war, I advised the British ambassador in Berlin to mediate between Germany and Poland, as in Saarland under international supervision.This advice cannot be forgotten.The reason it was not adopted was that the ruling political class in Britain wanted to wage local wars for commercial reasons and also because they were influenced by international Jewish propaganda. If the peoples of Europe are to be treated as pawns on the chessboard of international conspirators, bankers and financial oligarchs, then the Jews, who are really guilty in this criminal struggle, will be responsible for all of this.Not only will thousands of European and Aryan children starve this time, but thousands of grown men will die and thousands of women and children will die under city fires and bombs killed.But I have no doubt that this time the real culprit will be punished, though by means more humane than war. The Six Years' War, however costly, must be a thing of the past, just as the most glorious and heroic struggle for the existence of the nation was fought.I cannot sacrifice the city that has become our nation's capital.Because in the face of the enemy's continued attacks in this direction, our troops are too small, and our resistance will eventually be broken by those who have become mindless pseudo-machines.I wanted to link my fate with that of the thousands of people who are still in this city.I will not fall into the hands of the Jews who are about to commit new atrocities, to make fun of them.Therefore, I have decided to remain in Berlin and to die for my country if I cannot continue to fulfill my duties as Führer and Chancellor.I will die with joy.I am aware of the incomparable feats and achievements of our farmers and workers, and the unprecedented contribution of our younger generation.The youth organization is named after me, so it is only natural that I express my heartfelt gratitude to them, as I hope they will never surrender under any circumstances, and where there is hope, there is Where to continue the struggle with the enemies of the motherland and be loyal to the great cause.On the basis of the self-sacrifice of our soldiers and my unfailing loyalty to them, it is my hope that, after my death, my spirit will live among them and be with them forever. May they be cruel, but always just. May fear never rule their actions, and may the honor of the nation rest above all in their hearts. Finally, may they finally understand that our task of building a national socialist state will take hundreds of years and require everyone to always place the common good above the individual. I call on all Germans, all Party members, women and soldiers of the German Armed Forces to pledge their allegiance to the new government and its President... Beyond that, I command the nation and the people to uphold the laws of race and to fight to the end the relentless struggle against the enemy of the world, the International Jewry. Praising the words of Yao and Shun, but following the truth of Jie and Zhou will fall into Hitler's schizophrenia.He can deceive himself, and of course he can deceive others. Hitler committed suicide on the afternoon of April 30, 1945, but to this day, there are still some confused people who regard him as a hero, and even summon his soul, saying that he is a hero.What kind of person is a hero?What should be the standard for us Chinese to evaluate heroes?It is to protect the interests of the people and the safety of life and property, safeguard the sovereignty of the country from infringement, and carry forward our inherent culture. Such people can be regarded as national heroes. Compared with these three points, did Hitler do it?How many excellent German cultures were destroyed by him, and how many classic works were burned by his thugs.Has he safeguarded the safety of people's lives and property?He sent teenage kids into battle to fight the Soviets.Did he protect the independence and dignity of the country?Needless to say, when he came to power, Germany's territory was more than 460,000 square kilometers. Today's German territory is only 350,000 square kilometers. This is the consequence of his war.If such a person is a hero, what kind of person is a devil? I remember that there was a science teacher in my previous unit who was very happy to see me reading books about World War II. She told me that her son loved reading books about World War II, and that the person her son admired most was Hitler.She said her son was born on the same day as a great man—April 20, Hitler's birthday.After hearing this sentence, I really feel deeply sad for my colleague!You are still a people's teacher. Although you are a science major, you can't even tell the difference between smell and smell, and you take pleasure in talking about your son's wrong remarks. The German nation has done a good job of reflection. Today’s Nazi forces have no place to exist in Germany. On the contrary, people who have not been ravaged by the Nazis still think that Hitler is a hero. This kind of thinking is very scary. When I first started working, there were kids in my class who adored Hitler.At that time, a foreign teacher from Australia gave them oral English lessons, gave each of them an English name, made a name tag and placed it on the table.A child drew a swastika on his name tag. As a result, an Australian female teacher in her 40s was very angry when she saw it and dragged the child out of the classroom.We know that foreign teachers generally cannot punish children physically, and the current Chinese teachers cannot punish children physically either.But the female teacher reacted greatly, telling the child, do you know how many people were killed by Hitler?This man is a fascist demon. I want to say to young people who admire Hitler, if Hitler wins, you have to speak Japanese, because Japan is Hitler's ally.What kind of person is a saint and what kind of person is a devil, Hitler can be used as a good negative example.He totally deserved what he deserved, and he should go to the deepest hell to suffer endlessly. Hitler not only destroyed himself, Germany, but also countless Germans who followed him. According to Amin Liemann, who served as Hitler's messenger in April 1945, in the last 10 days, the people in the bunker didn't sleep much at all, and neither did Hitler.Hitler looked like a ghost, his eyes were staring straight ahead, as if unconscious and unconscious, and his face looked sallow. In the last days, a frantic doomsday mood pervades the bunker. In the early hours of April 29, 1945, the SS officers in the bunker were hugging each other with some young women, and even a couple were naked on the dentist's chair.Just the day before, Hermann Fegerian, a senior SS officer and brother-in-law of Hitler's mistress Eva, suddenly disappeared, and Hitler ordered the Gestapo to look for it.The Gestapo found a drunken Figrian and his naked mistress in an apartment dedicated to trysts with mistresses, and also found a package containing a large amount of cash, jewelry and fake passports.Figrian was apparently about to abandon Hitler and flee on his own. He was brought back immediately and executed by Hitler's order. In the final days of Nazi Germany, according to reports, a doomsday mood prevailed not only in Hitler's bunkers but also in Nazi institutions above ground.Two-thirds of the 500 employees of the Nazi propaganda machine, the Greater Deutsche Broadcasting Center, were young girls around the age of 18. At the end of April 1945, many Nazi girls began to drink heavily and have indiscriminate promiscuity with men. Some lewd voices were even directly preserved in the sound archives at that time. Although Hitler died, the battle for the Soviet army to capture the Reichstag was still going on fiercely. At 6 pm on April 30, Soviet soldiers launched another attack.The nearly 2,000 German troops standing here are worthy of being the "King Forest Army" of Nazi Germany. Their tenacious resistance made the Soviet army pay a heavy price for every step forward.In the bloody battle, even if the Soviet army occupied the lower floors of the building, the German troops guarding the upper floors refused to surrender.The Soviet army had no choice but to fight the defenders floor by floor, and fierce battles were going on in any house in the building.In the end, the Soviet army smashed the resistance of the defending enemy one by one by relying on the powerful troops pouring into the building continuously. In the middle of the night on the 30th, the German army broadcast a request for a temporary ceasefire and demanded negotiations with the Soviet army. At 3:55 a.m. on May 1, General Krebs, the chief of staff of the German army, got out of the underground hiding place under a white flag and went to the front-line command post of the Soviet army to negotiate.Krebs told General Chuikov that Hitler had committed suicide yesterday.Krebs asked the Soviets to cease fighting first, and then wait until Germany formed a new government before negotiating. The news of Hitler's suicide was very important. Chuikov immediately reported the situation to Zhukov, and Zhukov reported it to Stalin.Ten minutes later, Stalin sent a supreme order from Moscow: "The German army can only surrender unconditionally without any negotiations." At 9:45, according to Stalin's instructions, Zhukov issued an ultimatum to the German army standing in Berlin on behalf of the Soviet army: the German army must surrender completely, otherwise the Soviet army will launch a final storm against the German army.Chuikov asked Krebs to take the ultimatum back to Goebbels and others.After seeing the ultimatum, Goebbels knew that there was no room for bargaining. That evening, he committed suicide with his wife and six children. At 7 o'clock on May 2, General Weidling, the German garrison commander in Berlin, went to Chuikov's front-line command post and signed the surrender order.At noon, the remaining 150,000 defenders of Berlin surrendered.At this point, the last decisive battle of the Soviet-German War-the Battle of Berlin came to an end.In this battle, the Soviet army wiped out a total of 1 million German troops and captured more than 480,000 people. The Soviet army also paid a heavy price of 300,000 casualties. On the afternoon of May 2, the fighting in Berlin came to an end.Soviet journalist Khaltei came to the newly captured Reichstag.Looking at this symbolic building of Nazi Germany that was riddled with holes, Khaltei suddenly decided to take a photo.He entered the rubble-strewn mansion, found three Soviet soldiers, and persuaded them to agree to the photoshoot.So, three Soviet soldiers put on their weapons and found a Soviet flag, and the four climbed to the top of the Capitol.After carefully designing the positions and movements of the three, Khaltei took several photos and selected the best one to send back to the Soviet Union. Thus, a photo of great historical value was born.After the photo of Soviet soldiers waving the victory flag on the top floor of the Reichstag was published by major Soviet media, it caused a shock all over the world, and eventually became the most symbolic shot of the Soviet Union's conquest of Nazi Germany.