April 5, 1945. 96 Reichsstrasse was drowning in the morning fog, and taking advantage of this protection, hundreds of German cars were heading south from Berlin. Luxury limousines alternated with small Horches, silver eagles glittered on their hoods, hummed and jostled in traffic. The cars tried to get as far away from Berlin as possible in a saving veil...
Pheasants
In the cars sat the "golden pheasants" - top Nazis with golden swastika badges, gauleiters of the lost territories of the East, their wives wrapped in sable fur coats and blond children in warm scarves. Behind the cars were army trucks packed with furniture, busts, paintings and other junk. Men in brown uniforms and armbands with swastikas stared haughtily in front of them, but they shrank a little in their shoulders. The fleeing Nazis were afraid that they would be stopped and sent back to defend Berlin. Thus began the great German exodus.
And a lone dusty Mercedes with a general's flag on the hood was making its way north to meet them. The commander of Army Group Vistula was on his way to the Fuhrer to give his battle and try to save Berlin. The air raid sirens blared with the end of the fog, and in a gloomy, mournful symphony, Colonel-General Heinrici rode into Berlin. The capital met him with total destruction and bomb craters. "We wanted to conquer the world. And they ended up with a pile of rubble, Heinrici thought sadly. Driving past the sooty Chancellery with gaping openings of broken windows, the commander found himself at the armored door of an underground bunker, where the Fuhrer's headquarters had moved.
Bunker
SS guards took the weapons from Heinrici and his chief of staff, and the officers began the long journey down the narrow corridors of the multi-storey underground complex. The rooms of the bunker were packed with people, the warehouses were bursting with alcohol and food. The whole bunker had a musty smell of mold and unwashed bodies. The bunker was hastily handed over, its pipelines were leaking, and the ventilation units could not cope with air purification.
The general was escorted to a conference room, where the Reichsfuhrers and the Reich high command were already waiting. The head of the Hitler Youth, Artur Axman, cheerfully asked the commander: "They say that only Kyrgyz and Uzbeks are fighting in Stalin's infantry now, the losses of the Slavs are incalculable. Heinrici stared at him in amazement. There was a loud hubbub in the room, and coffee and Viennese rolls for breakfast were served. Himmler and Goering laughed merrily, remembering their vacation together in Salzburg. A separate group with Bormann and Goebbels discussed when the Americans would attack the Russians, and the miracle weapon would hit the enemies. "Some kind of unreal dream world," the chief of staff of the Vistula Army Group whispered to the commander.
Hitler
Suddenly the hubbub subsided, an SS officer said loudly: "Attention, gentlemen, Fuhrer!!" Hitler slowly entered the door, shuffling his left foot and holding his trembling left hand with his right. General Heinrici did not recognize the great Fuhrer in this emaciated and bent man. Only Hitler's eyes blazed with fierce fire, the same fire that 12 years ago allowed the Fuhrer to take over the hearts of millions of Germans.
Without responding to the Nazi salute, the Fuhrer collapsed into a chair and fell silent. The Reichsfuhrers sat down, the rest had no place and they remained standing at the walls. Hitler slowly raised his eyes to General Heinrici and said softly, "Report, Gotthard." The Vistula Chief of Staff unfolded the operational map of the front and all the statistical calculations on sheets of paper. Colonel-General Heinrici, with numbers on his hands, dryly began to state the facts: "On the Oder River line, Berlin is defended by only two armies against 12 Soviet armies. Artillery shells will last for 4 days. Fuel for tanks for 5 days, aviation for 3 days. 486,000 soldiers, of which 100,000 Volkssturm and recruits, against 2 million Russians. - As soon as the flood on the Oder subsides and the valley dries up, the Russians will launch an offensive. My Fuhrer, you have taken 4 panzer divisions out of five, and in the complete absence of reserves, Army Group Vistula will lose 2 battalions a day. My Fuhrer, in this case Berlin will fall in a few days." The room was dead silent, except for a fly buzzing in the ceiling. The stenographer froze, tears rolling down her face. Suddenly, everyone realized that this was the end.
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