Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 193 The Destruction of the Empire

April 20, 1945, Berlin.

"Boom...boom..."

It was only early morning, but the booming sound of cannons woke up the sleep of Berlin citizens, as well as a certain important figure who had been suffering from insomnia for many days.

"Boom..."

Inside the bunker, down a long corridor, Adolf Hitler, dressed in military uniform, walked with heavy footsteps, his hands behind his back, his face grim as he surveyed the soldiers standing guard. Dark circles clung to his eyes. The repeated setbacks in the war had made it difficult for him to sleep, forcing him to rely on drugs like opium and heroin to calm himself.

Happy birthday, Your Majesty.

Several generals who were whispering saw Adolf, quickly stood at attention, and said...

April 20th was Adolf's birthday; he turned 55 today. But Adolf paid no heed to the generals' congratulations, instead looking directly at one of them and speaking.

"What's going on? Why are there cannon shots outside Berlin?"

He stared directly at the Nazi general, whose sharp, almost frightening eyes were fixed on him. Burgdorf, the Nazi German Army Lieutenant General, stammered, unsure how to answer the Führer.

Seeing his reaction, Adolf's face darkened with anger; he had already guessed what had happened.

"It's absurd! My enemy was already close to Berlin, and my generals were keeping it from me until the sound of artillery fire reached my ears!"

Walking angrily forward, his military boots pounding heavily, Adolf's voice was full of rage, while Burgdorf and several other generals hurriedly followed behind, trying to explain something to the Führer as they walked.

"Your Excellency, that could also be a railway gun."

Railway guns, heavy cannons mounted on trains and propelled by rails, have extremely long ranges. If they were railway guns, they could potentially bombard Berlin from dozens of miles away. At first glance, this explanation seems reasonable, but faced with his general's explanation, Adolf, walking straight ahead, simply tossed out a single sentence without turning his head.

"fart!"

Upon entering the military conference room, Adolf made a phone call.

"Kohler, do you know Berlin was attacked by artillery...? You don't know? How could you not know...? What about my air force? How could they let the Soviets into Berlin...? I should have hanged the entire leadership of the German air force long ago!"

Then, as if he heard something that enraged Adolf, he roared furiously and slammed the phone down.

……

The Führer's Bunker is an extremely large underground complex, which even contains a meeting hall for generals and the head of state to meet.

Inside the meeting hall, small groups of generals were whispering their opinions on the war, but more often they expressed dissatisfaction and complaints about their colleagues, as well as despair over the war. Some even directly discussed the decision to surrender to the Allied forces.

At this moment, Germany was facing a pincer attack from the United States and the Soviet Union. Thousands of lives were being lost every moment, but Germany could only struggle to hold on. When the Soviet army began to bombard Berlin, despair for the war had already permeated the generals.

"Surrender, we have no chance..."

One of the defense force generals was speaking in a low voice, but just then...

"The Führer has arrived!"

Accompanied by a loud voice, all the generals hurriedly lined up neatly, just like the most ordinary soldiers, waiting for the inspection of the empire's master.

"Boom...boom..."

Before the person arrived, the sound of heavy footsteps could already be heard.

Under the watchful eyes of the generals, Adolf slowly walked out of the corridor and into the hall. His body looked somewhat hunched, with one hand behind his back, but his sharp gaze remained unchanged.

At this point, Adolf had already developed Parkinson's disease, and one of his hands would always shake unconsciously. He didn't like people to see the vulnerable side of the "Great Leader," so he would always put that hand behind his back.

Before Adolf, all the generals stood solemnly, raising their right hands in salute.

"Long live the Führer!"

Looking at those solemn faces, Adolf's gaze was like a knife, trying to dig out what was hidden in their hearts, but in the end he raised his left hand as a return gesture from the head of state to the generals.

Despite the deafening roar of gunfire, Adolf continued to inspect his generals, shaking hands with each of them to celebrate his birthday, and the generals offered their blessings in return.

"Your Excellency, please evacuate Berlin immediately. It's far too dangerous here."

When the handshake reached Heinrich, the German army group commander suddenly spoke, saying that he was trying to persuade the Führer.

However, when facing Heinrich, it was as if Heinrich's words had touched something within him. Adolf's face darkened, and he stared at him, then looked at the generals in front of him, and said, word by word.

"Do you know how we lost the last war? Germany didn't lose on the front lines; we were defeated by our own people stabbing us in the back. Right now, the German lads are still fighting desperately on the front lines, and you're telling me to withdraw?"

"Shameful, shameful!"

He roared angrily, and Ruheinrich fell silent in the face of the Führer's rage. Then Adolf looked at the other generals and spoke.

"I will not leave; I will live and die with Berlin."

Then the birthday celebration ended, and the generals should have gone about their business, but at that moment, Adolf spoke to his confidant Goebbels.

"Goebbels, come with me."

……

In another room, a miniature city model, presented to scale, is placed on a huge square table. Churches, triumphal arches, government buildings, opera houses... every corner has been meticulously designed.

"Boom...boom..."

The sound of cannons continued to ring out, but the two people in the room seemed oblivious. Adolf looked around at the city model in front of him, his eyes filled with a rare fascination and joy.

He gently stroked the model with his hand, his deep voice ringing out.

“Goebbels, it took us more than four hundred days to finally design this blueprint… Throughout history, people have built too many buildings in Berlin, new and old, in a chaotic mess. These should be rebuilt. The German people need a brand new, immortal new Berlin.”

The sound of gunfire still echoes in my ears.

He paused for a moment, then said something as if to comfort himself.

"The bombing of Berlin wasn't all bad; it made our rebuilding much easier."

Before Goebbels, the Führer resembled a child unwilling to accept his impending fate, rambling on about his own fantasies. Everyone could sense Germany's current predicament—that there was no hope of victory—yet he refused to believe it, clinging to illusions.

"Goebbels, I've been getting a lot of advice all day about leaving Berlin. What do you think?"

Suddenly, Adolf, who was staring at the city model in front of him, turned his head and looked at Goebbels.

Goebbels stiffened, and then he spoke.

"We should stay in Berlin."

He was Adolf's most loyal and devoted follower, a fanatical believer in the Führer. Upon hearing this, Adolf smiled, a rare occurrence, and nodded slightly.

Then he turned his head again, looked at the city model in front of him, and continued to mutter.

"As long as Steiner's army succeeds in breaking through, the Soviets will have to withdraw and defend their positions... Don't worry, we can win."

Thinking of Steiner, he felt a renewed sense of confidence, and his smile grew even more fervent. Only Goebbels remained silent. Everyone knew that Steiner only had a decimated army that was barely able to survive, so how could they be expected to break through?

However, he was unwilling to shatter the leader's current illusions.

……

"Sir, as I may have already said, I believe the Ninth Army must withdraw now, or they will be annihilated." The military conference room was filled with generals, creating a deathly and bewildered atmosphere. One general, sweating profusely, spoke urgently.

"No, the Ninth Army cannot retreat. Inform Busai to hold the line."

However, looking at the map in front of him, Adolf said, but another bald general next to him said, panting heavily.

"Your Majesty, they will be annihilated."

"We need them to hold off the Soviet troops from the north and east. There's nothing more to say. We must do whatever it takes. We must immediately launch a sustained and fierce attack on the Soviet troops."

In response to the general's question, Adolf waved his hand and said...

"Which unit should we rely on, Your Excellency?"

The general's voice was hoarse, so he had to ask again. Before him, the leader paused for a moment, then pointed to a spot on the map and said stubbornly.

"Let Steiner's division advance from the north and then join forces with the Ninth Army."

"But the Ninth Army Corps cannot move north; the enemy outnumbers us tenfold."

A general had no choice but to answer.

"Walter Wenk, send him with the Twelfth Legion to provide support."

Adolf looked at the map and said without hesitation.

"But the legion is heading west toward the Elbe River."

"Then order them to turn back!"

As if the relentless questioning had enraged Adolf, he slammed his fist on the table in a fit of fury.

"But what about the western front?"

"Yord, are you questioning my orders? I think I've already made my orders very clear!"

Adolf's face turned bright red, and he roared angrily.

No one dared to provoke the head of state again, and the military conference room was deathly silent.

After a long while, a general suddenly pushed open the conference room door.

When he saw him, Adolf regained some composure. Wilhelm Munch, the SS brigade commander and Waffen-SS major general in Nazi Germany, was an extremely experienced commander, and his appearance brought Adolf some comfort.

“Munkh, you’ve arrived… Operation Clausewitz has begun, Berlin is now a frontline city, and you are responsible for guarding the government district…”

In the military conference room, Adolf nodded to William Munch, then looked at the map in front of him, lost in thought and muttered his own ideas.

However, William Munch, the calm and resolute general, spoke up and asked.

"Führer, if war breaks out in Berlin, the SS are willing to die to protect Berlin, but there are three million civilians in Berlin who urgently need to be evacuated. What should we do about them?"

Having witnessed countless deaths, his voice was completely flat. Adolf didn't speak, but thought for a moment before saying something.

"Thank you for your concerns, but we have to be ruthless right now. There's no time to worry about civilians."

William Munch was silent for a moment, then spoke again in a cold, flat voice.

"Your Excellency, I mean no offense, but what about the elderly, women, children, and tens of thousands of wounded in Berlin?"

No one answered.

……

A few days later, in the same military conference room, a general was swiping his finger across a map.

"The enemy has breached a large part of the front line. They have occupied the southern town of Tsusem and are advancing toward Stansdorf. They are located in the northern suburbs of Fronau and Ponkow and have reached the eastern towns of Lichtenberg and Karlshorst."

At that moment, Adolf Hitler, wearing glasses, listened to the general's words, looked at the map, pointed to a location on the map with his finger, and said.

"Steiner's offense will definitely be able to control the situation."

Then, accompanied by the leader's voice, an eerie atmosphere filled the conference room, and the generals exchanged silent glances.

A general, his forehead covered in sweat, took a deep breath and then spoke.

"Your Excellency, Steiner..."

He paused, not daring to continue, when a general beside him picked up where he left off, speaking nervously.

"Steiner can't mobilize enough men...he can't launch an attack."

The leader fell silent, not saying another word. After a long while, his trembling hand removed his glasses from the bridge of his nose.

“The men below, stay… Keto, Yod, Kreb, Bergdorf.”

Then, the generals looked at each other in bewilderment and left one by one in silence, leaving only three behind, looking uneasily at Adolf Hitler in front of them.

Immediately, a furious voice rang out.

"This is my order! I ordered Steiner to launch the attack! Who do you think you are? How dare you disobey my orders? So this is the truth... The military has been lying to me all along! Everyone has been lying to me!"

Enraged, Adolf Hitler stood up from his seat and began shouting angrily.

"I never expected that even the SS would be no exception. Our generals are a bunch of despicable, disloyal cowards!"

"Sir, I cannot tolerate your humiliation of soldiers."

One of the generals tried to argue, but was met only with an even louder roar of anger.

"They're a bunch of cowards! Traitors! Losers!"

"Your Excellency, this is going too far..."

"These generals are a disgrace to the Germans, a disgrace! They have no sense of honor whatsoever!"

But Adolf completely ignored his rebuttal and angrily threw the pen in his hand heavily onto the map table.

He then took a breath and continued.

"They call themselves generals, but after so many years in officer cadet school, all they've learned is how to eat with a knife and fork. They haven't learned any other skills. For so many years, the military has been sabotaging me! They've created all sorts of obstacles for me. If I had known this would happen, I should have done what Stalin did and killed all the high-ranking officers!"

He angrily slammed his fist on the table, making it bang loudly.

Then, panting heavily, as if he had run out of steam, he sat back down in his seat.

"I never went to a military academy, but I conquered Europe on my own... Traitors! I was kept in the dark from the very beginning, deceived by a group of traitors. What a terrible betrayal this shameful act is to the German people! But these traitors must pay for it. They must pay with their own blood. They must fall in their own blood!"

When the angry shouts subsided, it sounded as if a woman was crying outside the door.

Silence, then Adolf, sitting in his seat, spoke in a low voice.

"They turned a deaf ear to my orders, so I can no longer lead... It's over. The German people have not completed the task I assigned them."

I won't say what this chapter imitates, everyone knows. Actually, I shouldn't have charged for this chapter, since it doesn't contain much of my own content, but there's nothing I can do, that's the rule of Qidian.

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(End of this chapter)