Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 2583 Gray Turns White

When the coast was blocked by the Royal Navy, the German Navy did not sit still. Instead, under the command of Navy Commander Karl Dönitz, it launched the unprecedented "Hannibal" operation.

When it comes to large-scale evacuation, people always think of "Dunkirk" at the first time.

The scale of the "Hannibal" operation is far larger than that of Dunkirk, the time is longer, the process is more tragic, and it lacks attention.

The background of the "Hannibal" operation begins with the partition of Poland between Russia and Germany in 1939.

After the Russian-German partition of Poland, a large number of Germans immigrated to Poland, and after the outbreak of the Russo-German War, a large number of Germans also went to Russia. At that time, all Germans were cheering for the growing living space in Germany.

In the past 44 years, major changes have taken place on the Russian-German battlefield. The Russian army has turned to counterattack.

Although the bearded man did not publicly express threats to the Germans, the Germans knew very well what they had done to the Russian prisoners of war.

Once the bearded man learns how the Germans abused Russian prisoners of war, the Germans in the Russian-controlled area will be retaliated wildly by the Russians.

Mustache had already fallen into madness at this time, and demanded that the army and civilians not be allowed to retreat a single step, and fight to the end.

Karl Dönitz knew how terrible it would be for the Russians to go crazy, so with a mustache on his back, he formulated the "Hannibal" plan for large-scale evacuation of soldiers and civilians.

The core of the "Hannibal" plan is to use all available forces to evacuate the Germans in the encirclement to Denmark, which is still under German occupation, so they face a difficult problem.

The "Hannibal" operation was launched too late. When Karl Dönitz made up his mind, the Russian army had surrounded East Prussia, cut off the Polish corridor, and the only retreat was the Baltic Sea.

At this time, the Baltic Sea is full of dangers. Allied bombers are frantically intercepting the sea, and Russian submarines are cruising around under the sea. In order to increase the speed, Karl Dönitz can only use a large number of civilian ships with weak protection. Once these civilian ships encounter torpedoes And mines, the consequences can be imagined.

Although the road ahead is difficult and dangerous, Karl Dönitz has no choice. Thinking of the millions of Russian prisoners of war who were tortured and killed by the Germans in various ways, Karl Dönitz shuddered.

Think about the big cleanups in Russia and the Katyn Forest tragedy. The Russians are going crazy, and they will only be more violent than the Germans.

On January 1, Doenitz sent the famous signal "HANNIBAL" to all German naval ships. This signal was originally an order for the German submarines to withdraw westward to Germany, but now it has become an order to start the evacuation work.

Following Doenitz's order, the "Hannibal" operation quickly began.

Dönitz's judgment was correct. The journey was destined to be full of dangers. On the second day after the operation began, a luxury cruise ship named "William Gustloff" was sunk. There were about 10000 German refugees on board. Only 900 survived.

The Wilhelm Gustloff was sunk by the Russian submarine S-13.

According to German official regulations, the "William Gustloff" can carry a total of 3000 people.

However, when the "William Gustloff" was in the port of Gotenhafen, the Russian army had already launched an offensive. The port was crowded with panicked Germans, and everyone wanted to leave here as quickly as possible. Stay away from the threat of the Russian army.

Under the extremely chaotic situation, the port management personnel had to stop recording relevant information of boarding personnel. As a result, the number of people boarding far exceeded the prescribed number, including many children who were sent aboard by their parents.

This is one of the few shining points of humanity during the war. In the face of danger, everyone left the hope of survival to their children.

On the night of the 22nd, the "William Gustloff" went to Denmark under the escort of the German minesweeper. The Husband must rely on minesweepers in order to open a way out of the huge minefield in the Baltic Sea.

After the outbreak of the war, the "William Gustloff" was requisitioned as a hospital ship by the German army. Due to well-known reasons, the "William Gustloff" did not implement strict light control, so it was taken over by the Russian S-13 Discovered by the submarine.

The Russian submarine S-13 did not know that all the people on board the "William Gustloff" were civilians, and believed that the "William Gustloff" was a German warship, so it asked "William Gustloff" Trove fired three torpedoes.

In January, the Baltic Sea is freezing cold. After falling into the water, if a normal person cannot be rescued in time, he will freeze to death within a few minutes.

In previous wars, the "William Gustloff" lost most of its lifeboats, leaving only a dozen or so available.

Despite the full rescue efforts of the German minesweepers, only more than 900 people were rescued in the end, and more than 9000 people were killed in the Baltic Sea. It can be called the worst maritime disaster in the [-]th century.

The tragic fate of the "Wilhelm Gustloff" did not stop Dönitz, the German navy was still in action, as more and more ships arrived in Denmark, more and more Germans were evacuated and sunk There are also more and more ships. In order to take more people away, the German Navy even filled the submarines with small spaces, even though some submarines can only carry a dozen people.

At present, the "Hannibal" operation is still in progress, and hundreds of thousands of Germans have been evacuated to the German mainland.

From this perspective, the "Hannibal" operation was a success.

However, Karl Dönitz and those Germans who were lucky enough to escape could never have imagined that even if they fled back to Germany, they would not be able to escape the gift of fate.

Patton has no pity for the Germans who died at the bottom of the sea, just as described in The Queen of the Beheaded: the gift of fate has already secretly marked the price.

When the German army flattened Europe, the Germans were all cheering. Regardless of whether they took the initiative or not, they all enjoyed the war dividends brought about by the German army's domination of Europe.

Now the tide is out and all Germans will pay for it.

If Patton sympathized with the Germans who died at the bottom of the sea, who would mourn the soldiers who died in resisting the German invasion, and the victims who were driven into the bathroom by the German army like ducks?
Speaking of bathrooms—

Many people may not know that Oscar Schindler, the prototype in "Schindler's List", spent millions of dollars during World War II and protected more than 1000 Hebrews.

As a result, after the end of World War II, Schindler asked for help from the Hebrew Joint Distribution Committee of the United States because of his family's exhaustion and difficulties in living. In the end, he only got 1.5 US dollars, which was far from what Schindler spent.

In 60, Schindler went bankrupt and once again asked the Hebrews he had helped to lend a helping hand.

This time, the Hebrew people he helped returned to Schindler with a little more kindness, but it was only 1.6 US dollars.

So don’t talk about how smart the Hebrews are. With Oscar Schindler’s gems in front of them, if the Hebrews encounter similar situations in the future, who would want to be the second Oscar Schindler?

It is also a return. The German John Rabe, who helped many people in the Jinling Massacre, fell into a difficult life in 1948 after Germany surrendered.

In 48, when the Jinling government knew that Rabe's family could only eat vegetable soup and couldn't even afford bread, they raised [-] million yuan for Rabe in just a few days.

Let's not talk about the purchasing power of the [-] million yuan because of the soaring prices.

Considering the situation in Germany at that time, the Jinling government sent people to buy milk powder, sausage, beef and other food in Switzerland, packaged them and sent them to Rabe, so that Rabe would not be able to buy things even if he had money.

Do you think this is the end?
not yet.

In 20, when the epidemic broke out in Germany, the embassy in Germany received a call from Rabe's grandson, Thomas Rabe, a professor of gynecology at Heidelberg University, asking for help.

At that time, due to the epidemic situation in China, there was an extreme shortage of supplies.

Under such circumstances, the embassy still raised 3 masks, 200 sets of protective clothing, and 620 bottles of medicine to Germany as quickly as possible.

Forgot to mention, Thomas Rabe also won the National Friendship Award in 2018.

Comparing the two, the judgment is judged, so don't tie the Hebrews with the Chinese, we are not worthy of being compared with usurers.

Back to the spring of 1945.

A full 15 days after the Southern African Expeditionary Force broke through the Rhine, Kesselring was late.

At this time, the airborne operation of the British and American coalition forces had completely failed. The British and American coalition forces participating in the airborne operation lost a total of 1.7 people, including 82 casualties of the 3400nd Airborne Division and 101 casualties of the 3800st Airborne Division.

Airborne to the forefront, the British 1st Airborne Division and the Polish Parachute Brigade, which were responsible for capturing the Arnhem Bridge, suffered even more heavy losses without any assistance.

Nearly 1000 of the 700 airborne personnel of the Polish Parachute Brigade suffered casualties.

The 1st Airborne Division suffered nearly 7000 casualties and captured personnel, and less than 2000 successfully broke through from the encirclement of German tanks.

The commander of the 1st Airborne Division lamented after the battle facing the Arnhem Bridge that they could never reach: That bridge is too far away for us!
The failure of the Anglo-American Allied Forces did not frighten the Southern African Expeditionary Force at all. Instead, it aroused Patton's ridicule. Patton felt that if Eisenhower and Montgomery had paid such a high price for the Southern African Expeditionary Force to attract the Germans' firepower, it would be a shame. It's too expensive.

"Normally, you can't look at the performance of the British and American coalition forces on the battlefield in isolation. You should combine the operations of the British and American coalition forces with the situation on the Austrian battlefield." Yang Smozi was not surprised. It won't explode.

On the Austrian battlefield, the Axis forces faced the Anglo-American Confederate forces and the Russian army in a completely different way.

When facing the Anglo-American Confederate forces, the Axis troops showed no fighting spirit, did not resist at all, did not even flee, and took the initiative to stay in the camp and wait to be captured.

In the face of the Russian army, the Axis troops did not retreat, and even the Austrian servants showed great fighting spirit and fought bloody to the end.

Both the Austrians and the Germans were well aware that if they surrendered to the Russians, the Russians would surely pay for their crimes in the war.

Surrendering to the Anglo-American and Confederate forces might have escaped a catastrophe, after all, there was no deep hatred between the two sides that could not be solved.

Eisenhower and Montgomery should have been affected by the Austrian battlefield, bringing the German army in the Netherlands into the Axis forces in Austria, so they got a bloody blow.

"We have to remind Lei Zhen not to make the same mistakes as Eisenhower and Montgomery—" Patton has a sense of crisis, and the smooth sailing of the Southern African Expeditionary Force is not a good thing.

The so-called arrogant soldiers are bound to be defeated, and the Southern African Expeditionary Force is now tending to become a "proud soldier".

Patton didn't want to see Remagen become the Waterloo of the Southern African Expeditionary Force.

"I've seen General Lei Zhen's plan, and it shouldn't be—" Yang Smozi was looking forward to Lei Zhen's brilliant victory similar to the defense of Volgograd.

Thinking about it carefully, Remagen and Volgograd really have many similarities.

Both are backed by the river, and both parties involved in the war also have the reasons and confidence to win.

The difference is that the German army in Remagen is also very different from the German army during the Volgograd Battle.

It is roughly equivalent to the gap between the German army and the German servant army.

And it's not the servant army like Austria, but Italy.

"The battle in Cologne is over. I'm going to parachute Cologne's paratroopers to the rear of Kesselring's troops, put on a double insurance, and fight a perfect battle of annihilation." At the same time, by the way, let Eisenhower and Montgomery take a look at how the airborne troops should be used.

"The air force must also be prepared. If we want to compete with the Russians, the air force is our only hope." Jan Smolts did not give up the biggest piece of fat in Berlin.

Flattening Berlin, personally capturing or killing Mustache, is an irresistible temptation for all Allied forces, and it is enough to leave a name in history.

The world war is now almost over, and the Southern African Expeditionary Force has not actually fought a tough battle, and the Russians have snatched up all the bamboo shoots on the mountain.

Speaking of this protracted world war in later generations, it was either Moscow or Volgograd, and even the North African Campaign and Normandy would be touted. It belongs to the halo of southern Africa, and it is at most tied with the United Kingdom and the United States. Shame!

Of course, southern Africa is not without a bright spot. In the Philippines and the Malay Peninsula, as well as in the "Dragon Cavalry", the operations of the Southern African Expeditionary Force are very good, at least they can be used.

However, in East Asia and the "Dragon Cavalry", the Southern African Expeditionary Force faced the second-line troops of Japan and Germany, and did not directly confront the real elite German troops.

The troops under Kesselring's command are currently the undisputed elite in Germany.

Although compared with the elite of 39, the current "elite" is obviously not good enough.

But the criteria for judging "fine color" will change. As long as the southern African propaganda department is fully activated, gray can also become white.

(End of this chapter)