Chapter 2801 History Will Judge

The flames of war during the day have dissipated, and the remaining Nazi forces in the city have been wiped out and exhausted.

But for many people who make a living in the war, Berlin after nightfall is just the beginning of the day. Those war refugees who have to avoid the deadly flames of war and can survive to this day have long been accustomed to being people who hide during the day and come out at night.

The ordinary citizens trapped in the war in Berlin are unfortunate.

Not only do they have to face the separation from their loved ones, the destruction of their homes and displacement, and the possibility of losing their lives at any time, but they also have to find a glimmer of hope in this hell-like city of the end of the world, fighting for their lives to find any necessities and food for survival, just to survive, that simple.

But from another perspective, these Berlin citizens who live in the Berlin Zoo, relying on this giant air defense tower overlooking the entire city as a shelter, and barely survive are lucky.

Colonel Sturm, the commander of the Wehrmacht in charge of commanding the Berlin air defense tower, is a person of flesh and blood, at least in the eyes of the vast majority of Berlin citizens who live under the air defense tower and in the zoo.

Why?

Because Colonel Sturm allowed these poor, shabby war refugees, who even had a luxury of survival, to go out on their own at night when it was relatively safe to search for daily necessities, and come back before dawn.

As for how much daily necessities they can find and whether they can come back, it all depends on their own ability.

It is also impossible to say that Colonel Sturm is cold-blooded and ruthless, and to accuse him of forcing the refugees to seek death without distributing relief food.

This giant air defense tower located west of the Reichstag and in the zoo actually has insufficient material reserves. Colonel Sturm, who is responsible for the defense of this place and the surrounding areas, is powerless in the face of a large number of war refugees.

Colonel Sturm has done his best to allow refugees to go out and find food when it is relatively safe at night, instead of selfishly locking people in the zoo to starve to death for the sake of so-called safety.

Everyone knows that the G-type air defense tower, which is the largest in size and has only three in Berlin, is the well-deserved pillar node of the entire Berlin city defense, a morale monument that boosts morale and symbolizes the Nazis' unshakable standing, and a medical rescue center and an oversized material storage warehouse.

Those German troops fighting in the streets around the air defense tower will not only evacuate the wounded to the air defense tower with complete medical facilities for rescue, but also take the initiative to come to the door to "beg for food" when they are in a difficult situation and can't make ends meet. As long as it can be used, just give it a little, and you can eat, drink, and use anything you want.

To be honest, any German army unit that came to "beg for alms" and ask for help was part of the Berlin City Defense Garrison, and was truly one of their own in both the literal and implicit sense.

Colonel Staheim asked himself that he could not stand by and watch the dying, especially when he saw those war-torn faces who might not even survive 24 hours, reaching out to him with pleading eyes that did not look like a soldier at all, just to beg for food for his brothers who had fought a day.

It can be said that he was soft-hearted or that he had no principles.

Colonel Staheim, who had long been tired of this war and had thought a lot, really hoped that more people could survive and build a new home on the ruins at the upcoming end of the war, finally followed his conscience and made the choice of "helping if possible and helping as much as possible".

But Colonel Staheim underestimated the number of people who came to ask for alms, and overestimated the anti-consumption ability of the seemingly piled-up anti-aircraft tower materials.

The final result after a few days was that the air defense tower could no longer help other people in need, and even the German troops originally stationed here, that is, the troops led by Colonel Staheim, had insufficient rations.

According to the current trend, even if the supplies are distributed at the minimum supply, they can only last less than a week at most.

But can this hopeless war be ended within a week?

Colonel Staheim, who could not find the answer in confusion, did not know who to ask for help and what to do.

Colonel Staheim, who had no choice and was powerless, could only do this, letting people go out to find survival supplies under the protection of the night. This was the only way he could think of without any support from superiors or help from friendly forces.

"We are a lone army, Colonel. A bystander who can do nothing but watch the Russians wielding their butcher knives, as if we have never worn this military uniform and never sworn an oath under the military flag."

Colonel Sterheim, who rarely came out of the air defense tower to take a breath, is now standing at the bottom of this huge building. And the emotionless words that sounded in his ears came from the adjutant who was standing next to him.

"I don't deny that you think so, but you can't deny that we are doing something meaningful, Hans."

"Look at these people, they are all people who should be protected by us, they are the people, relatives, and brothers and sisters who trust us."

"But what is the result? The result is that we can't protect them at all, and because of our irresponsible behavior, we have directed the war to them, causing countless people who should be protected by us to die because of our actions."

"Is this what a German soldier should do? Is this the glory of Prussian heritage? Is this the content of the oath and the desired result that you, me, and all our comrades made under the military flag?"

""

The adjutant on the side did not speak. Perhaps he was inspired by this and was thinking about something, or he just didn't want to argue too much and reserved his opinion, but his expression, which seemed to be no different from poker, at least did not mean to completely deny it.

"History will judge what we do today, Hans. But I always believe that no matter when we should give up hope, there should always be meaningful things we can do as soldiers of the Wehrmacht."

Before he finished speaking, he looked at the team in front of him who had just returned from searching for supplies. They were not "full loads" at all. The refugees lined up not far away, accepted the guards' inspection one by one in an orderly manner, and handed in a pass for each person to use only, and then they were allowed to pass back to the tower to reunite with their families.

Colonel Sterheim was planning to go up and ask about the current situation in the surrounding city, but before he could take a step, a sudden gust of wind roared in the night sky above his head.

"Be careful! Russian artillery fire!"