Chapter 271
Thin dark clouds covered the entire city of Berlin. A heavy rain last night simply washed away this city that had suffered too much from the war. On the surface, the whole city seemed a little cleaner. At least the fires in those places where thick smoke was originally billowing had been completely extinguished.
In front of the bomb-riddled gate of the district hall in Lichtenberg, Yuri, who had just finished breakfast, walked out of the gate wearing a brand new military uniform. On both sides of his chest were hung various medals and honors awarded during the entire war.
Arseni, who had been promoted to lieutenant colonel, followed Yuri with a happy face, straightening the hem of his military uniform while muttering something to himself.
The epaulettes on Yuri's uniform have been changed to a yellow background with a tassel logo and a large gold star. This is the epaulette for the general of the Soviet Red Army, also known as the general of the combined arms of the Soviet Red Army. Currently, there are 29 people with this rank in the entire Soviet Red Army's senior command. Yuri is the youngest among them, but not the lowest in status. On the contrary, he can be regarded as one of the top few generals in terms of position.
The German defense forces in Berlin had officially surrendered four days ago. The surrender order was issued personally by the Berlin garrison commander Weidling. Subsequently, all organized resistance in the city of Berlin disappeared. The remaining German troops walked out of the defensive barriers and surrendered to the Soviet Red Army.
In the following days, the Soviet Red Army blocked the entire city of Berlin and, according to the list issued by the General Political Department, began to arrest all war criminals who "caused great harm to the Soviet people". The corresponding arrest operations were carried out by the Internal Security Forces.
The blockade was not officially lifted until last night, and today is the day when senior Allied commanders visit Berlin.
As early as the Battle of Berlin, Britain and the United States submitted a list of visitors to Moscow. The list was very long, including more than 30 important members of the British and American Allied Forces, including Eisenhower, Montgomery, Alan Brooke, William Slim, and Patton.
Comrade Stalin was very serious. He believed that the Soviet army must have equal personnel to the British and American allies. Therefore, he sent Timoshenko, Vasilevsky, Antonov and others to Berlin. At the same time, he awarded Yuri the rank of general, making his rank equal to that of a four-star general in the US Army. In addition, Yuri was awarded a Gold Star Medal and a "Capture of Berlin" medal for his outstanding command of the Battle of Berlin.
Walking out of the gate of the district hall, Yuri got directly into a military jeep. This jeep was a GAZ jeep produced in the Soviet Union. Because there were a large number of domestic and foreign journalists coming today, Moscow secretly ordered that all Soviet commanders participating in this event must ride in Soviet-made military vehicles.
The General Political Department did a lot of work for this visit, including the tour route, guard troops, etc., which were all arranged in advance. There was a dedicated person in charge of each link, and anyone who made a mistake would be held responsible.
The troops responsible for providing security and clearing the way for the visit were specially selected from the 28th and 29th Guards Infantry Corps under the 9th Guards Army. A total of 350 soldiers were awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union". At the same time, the entire city of Berlin was under martial law, and citizens were not allowed to go out until the end of the visit.
The jeep drove through the ruins until it reached the square in front of the Mauritius Church at the end of Frankfurt Street. At this time, the place was already full of people. The square and both sides of the street were full of spirited soldiers on guard, and on the steps in front of the church were senior Soviet generals from the three major fronts and Moscow. Those wearing British and American Allied uniforms were British and American generals who arrived a day earlier.
In the crowd, Yuri saw Zhukov, Chuikov and Rokossovsky. At this time, Zhukov was talking to a general in American uniform. Yuri recognized that man as Courtney Hicks Hodges, commander of the U.S. Ninth Army. The two U.S. generals standing next to Rokossovsky were Omar Nelson Bradley and Alexander Patch. The former is now the commander of the U.S. 12th Army, and the latter is the commander of the U.S. Ninth Army.
Looking at these senior commanders from the three Allied forces, Yuri couldn't help but think, if the German army fired a heavy artillery attack... Hey, I wonder which direction history will go.
"salute!"
Seeing Yuri getting off the jeep, the Soviet soldiers guarding the edge of the square saluted under the leadership of a major. This shout also attracted the attention of everyone in the square.
Yuri returned the salute and quickened his pace to meet the crowd.
Just as Yuri had studied the senior generals of the British and American Allied Forces, the senior British and American commanders present today also studied him. In the Soviet Army's almost huge command system, in the past few years of the war against Germany, only this youngest general had never lost a battle, and he was the only one who rose rapidly from a small lieutenant in front of the station. As Churchill said in his evaluation, from this young Soviet general, it can be seen that Stalin was very bold in employing people.
Of course, this young man obviously did not disappoint the iron-blooded Stalin. He walked step by step through the endless flames of war, experienced a series of cruel and chilling battles, and was injured several times, but he finally made it to the end and commanded a million troops to conquer Berlin, the capital of the German Third Reich. Not to mention in the Soviet Union, even in the Western world, he has a large number of fans. The British BBC radio station selected this young man as the fifth of the "Top Ten People Who Influenced the European War in World War II".
Walking quickly to the front of the crowd, Yuri shook hands with everyone present one by one, and with the help of an interpreter, he had a brief conversation with each British, American, Canadian and French general present.
When this process was completed, a long convoy drove over, and it was Eisenhower, Timoshenko and others who came.
The tour was arranged relatively close, and everyone needed to start walking from Frankfurter Strasse, then walk south on Walschauer Strasse, cross the Spree River, enter Skarlitz Strasse, and then turn onto Wilhelm Strasse on the Landwehr Canal to see the Chancellery, then cross the Brandenburg Gate and go to the Reichstag.
During the process, everyone also needs to take photos at several specific places, such as the anti-aircraft gun fortress near Wilhelm Street, the Chancellery, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, etc. After completing this process, almost a whole morning has passed. Afterwards, everyone will enjoy a lunch arranged by the Soviet side, and after the meal, they will go to participate in the surrender ceremony.
The surrender ceremony was held in Karlshorst on the outskirts of the city. Representatives of the German Third Reich were led by General Wilhelm Keitel. In accordance with Stalin's request, before signing, Timoshenko first read out the crimes committed by the Germans on Soviet territory during the years of the Soviet-German War, and demanded that the German side issue surrender orders to the German troops still resisting in various war zones .
According to the final surrender deadline set by the Soviet Union, the signing ceremony will take effect at midnight tomorrow. On the third day thereafter, the Soviet army will no longer accept the surrender requests of any German troops. After that, captured German soldiers will not be able to enjoy the treatment of prisoners of war, but will be defined as murderers.
Only after the notice was read out did the German side formally sign the unconditional surrender document. The German representatives needed to sign nine copies of the same surrender document.
After the signing ceremony, there was a small celebration hosted by the Soviet side. This so-called celebration was very sloppily organized. There were nearly 70 people, but only 6 bottles of champagne were prepared. Each person had less than a full glass, making the atmosphere a bit awkward.
The reason for this situation was that the champagne that was temporarily shipped from Moscow was snatched away by Soviet soldiers celebrating their victory. The incident happened last night. However, after the incident was reported, Yuri did not demand punishment for these soldiers who had seriously violated discipline. In his opinion, this hard-earned victory should belong to them.
Also at this somewhat awkward celebration, Yuri and Zhukov each received several medals. The medals Yuri received included: the "Chief Commander" level Medal of Merit awarded by US President Roosevelt, which was somewhat flattering because it was a Medal of Merit at the level of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces; the British Knight Grand Cross Medal; and the French Grand Cross Medal.
Of course, compared with Zhukov, he received relatively few medals. The First Ukrainian Front commanded by Zhukov swept across Eastern European countries, such as Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria, etc. These countries were preparing to award him medals. After all, there is never a shortage of people who flatter him.
After years of war, Yuri was finally relieved of all his duties as a front-line commander that night after seeing off the Allied delegation. Comrade Stalin personally issued an order requiring him to return to Moscow on the third day.
At night, it started raining again in Berlin. In the district hall room where he was staying temporarily, Yuri stood by the window with a cigarette in his mouth, looking towards the center of Berlin through the window that had no glass long ago.
Despite the rain and the fact that power had not been restored in the city, the streets were still very noisy. In this city, there were currently more than 1.5 million Soviet troops stationed. Like Yuri, most of these troops would leave here tomorrow and head for the Elbe River.
The secret telegram from Moscow has reached Yuri. The Supreme Command asked him to make deployments for the defense of the Elbe River line before leaving to guard against sudden attacks from the British and American Allied forces.
