When talking about the cause of this rescue operation, it must start with the devastating bombing of Berlin by Britain and the United States. When the Soviet Red Army surrounded Berlin in February, Britain and the United States immediately realized that Berlin must have said goodbye to them. Of course, they had foreseeed this, but they did not expect the Red Army to move so quickly.

According to the secret agreement reached by Britain and the United States, in order not to allow the Soviet Union to monopolize Germany and not allow the Soviet Union to use the war machines left by the Nazis, Britain and the United States believed that the best way was to completely blow up Germany occupied by the Soviet Union, completely erase Germany's industry and economy with strategic bombing, and leave a completely blown up mess to the Soviet Union.

In order to implement this plan, after the Red Army arrived at the periphery of Berlin, Britain and the United States suddenly strengthened their strategic bombing of Berlin, dispatching hundreds of bombers to loosen the soil for two consecutive days. These two strategic bombings caused a heavy blow to Berlin!

The first bombing was at the night of February 7, at about 22 o'clock, the first "Christmas tree" (bombing indicator bomb) bloomed over Berlin, and these Christmas trees brought only destruction. With the sound of getting closer and closer, b17, b24, b29 and Lancaster began to drop bombs under the green and red target bombs. It only took about 20 minutes from the first bomb drop to the first wave of bombers. However, it was these short twenty minutes that had already caused nearly a quarter of Berlin's city to be trapped in a sea of ​​fire. Berlin was covered with flares, as if illuminating the last scene of this beautiful city destined to be destroyed.

Shortly after the early morning, the second wave of bombers from the British and American Allies came again, and they dropped a large number of incendiary bombs. Under the guidance of the fire caused by the first wave of bombs, the second wave of incendiary bombs created a more terrifying follow-up effect. Many originally independent small fire sources quickly formed a devastating large-scale flame storm.

Survivor Stall wrote at the end of February 1945: "The chance of escaping from a flame storm is very small. After being bombed in high density, the building gathering area quickly began to burn violently. The air above the combustion area was quickly heated to a very high temperature, forming violent convection, pushing the flames to spread everywhere!"

The terrifying flames quickly swept across the entire street or open space. The houses and buildings on both sides of the street were burning wildly. The flames like boilers made furniture, carpets and other daily necessities that you could imagine were gone in the flames. Let's put it this way, everything that could burn was burning, and the whole city was trapped in a sea of ​​fire. Even over Poznan, hundreds of kilometers away, the Red Army pilots carrying out transportation missions could see this burning city. Not only could they see it, but you could even feel the pain of Berlin. Potsdam, dozens of kilometers away from Berlin's city, fell into a rain of mudstone the next day! All of these mudstones came from Berlin's city!

The power of flames is terrible. Glass and even steel also melted in high temperatures (a considerable part of the melted street lamp bulbs were preserved), and the asphalt-poured streets began to flow, as if the whole city was bleeding. A large number of residents were swallowed by flames, and the high temperature and oxygen deficiency quickly became more fierce killers. When the flame storm swept the streets, the residents hiding in the air-raid shelter or basement were baked, burned, suffocated, and then could only die helplessly. Almost no one could escape, even if you rushed out of the basement or air-raid shelter, they would be swept away by the flame storm.

"The fire brigade tried to put out the fire, but their fire truck soon fell into melted asphalt pavement and began to burn violently," Heatheranna recalled.

This time, the British and American Allies used the most white phosphorus inflammable bombs. Because of the characteristics of white phosphorus, water is completely useless when it is stained with this flame, and it will even have the opposite effect. Some people who jumped into a well or river to try to extinguish the fire soon discovered that the water did not relieve their pain, but made them even more painful! Once the burning white phosphorus comes into contact with the water, the combustion reaction will be even more violent!

Werner Heinrich recalled: "I didn't know that my life would start to change dramatically after this night. I was still wearing Hitler's youth army uniform that day, participating in labor as usual, and even preparing to actively participate in the battle to defend Berlin... When a captured Allied Air Force pilot told me in stuttering German that Hitler was about to end, I thought he was going crazy, but the facts quickly proved that it was not him who was crazy, but we..."

Werner's job was to maintain social order. After the air strikes began, he was directing the crowd to enter the air-raid shelter of the bus station to hide: "We have a lot of work to do, take care of the injured and comfort them, because most people have not experienced such a large-scale air raid. About 60 minutes later, the air raid ended and the sky returned to peace. We immediately left the air-raid shelter and prepared to check the losses caused by the bombing... The tragic situation on the street was shocking, and the injured people were wailing heart-wrenchingly... We helped to send some seriously injured people to the first aid site, while ordinary injured could only continue to wait for subsequent rescue. Soon the injured in the first aid site became crowded, and we had to clear out a new place... Many people died while waiting because they could not get timely medical assistance... I don't know how long it took, the sky was covered with 'Christmas trees' again illuminated the sky."

"I know very well that these Christmas trees are indicating targets for bombers, but I thought I was dazzled because my home had been blown up to the sky. Is it necessary to not even let go of the ruins? People shouted again and ran, and some policemen were still trying to maintain order in vain. I also ran up wildly, because I had seen too many dead and wounded just now, and I didn't want to be like them!"

"When I returned to the original air-raid shelter, the first batch of bombers had already flew over, but I soon found that the air-raid shelter was full of people and there was no gap at all, so I could only continue running. At that time, the only thing I thought was to leave here quickly. Cross the Elector Road, I ran towards the city library, because there was an air-raid shelter for accommodation. Run, run for my life! The air was filled with the roar of bomber engines, and the ground was hell on earth! I miraculously rushed into the air-raid shelter under the city library, but it was also crowded with people, so I could only hide in the aisle!"

"There are too many people in the air-raid shelter, each with different expressions. There are old grandmas who pray with the cross, and mothers who hold the child and cry loudly. What I remember most is a couple who kissed each other as if no one was indifferent. Their lips were not separated. Only when I grew up could I truly understand their mood at that time. The power supply was interrupted shortly after the bombing began. The air-raid shelter immediately fell into darkness. Then some flashlights and emergency lights lit up. The faint lights reflected faces full of fear. I had a feeling at that time: the end of the world has come!"

"Soon, I felt a strong pressure wave surge towards me, God! God, save me! Because the air defense training I have received told me that if I am hit by an air thunder (delayed fuse high-explosion bomb), no one can escape because the pressure generated by the explosion is enough to squeeze people's lungs! But this time I survived, but the library above our heads was blown up and an exit of the air raid shelter was also blocked. So some people panicked. They tried to leave here before another emergency exit collapsed, but most people did not move. After all, the outside is much more dangerous than here at this moment, and there is at least the possibility of temporarily avoiding death here, although in fact, it will turn into hell at any time. I was also very hesitant and at a loss because I was also very afraid of being buried in this underground grave..."

"At this moment, another high-explosion bomb exploded nearby, and the pressure generated continued to affect the air-raid shelter. Some people were lifted up, and the people and chairs hit the wall like bullets. I lay tightly on the ground and felt someone pressing on me. Suddenly someone began to shout in despair: 'White Phosphate!'. It is liquid, and it can burn immediately after contacting oxygen. It burns and flows, ignites everything it has touched! It is very difficult to extinguish the white phosphorus flame, because if water is used, the situation is worse! Only sand can extinguish this flame. And the only thing people could do at that time was to jump up and avoid. The swaying and weak lights reflected by the air-raid shelter full of wounded people and corpses was a nightmare for my whole life. I tried my best to avoid the fire flow of white phosphorus, and tried to avoid the injured person or maybe a certain corpse, and crawled out of the emergency exit with a messy hand and foot."

"My God, the original library is already a ruin. I was able to leave the ruin through a broken porch of about 6 meters. The asphalt was burning on the road, and I was helplessly moving forward blindly with the escaped people. On the road, I clearly remember a father running with his daughter who was about two years old. The girl's arm was seriously burned, and the shrill crying made me unforgettable for my life. The bomber group finally turned to leave. At this moment, only flames were around the city. There were about a dozen people around me, some of whom were injured. At this time, a more terrifying flame storm was created due to the high temperature.

They pushed the hot air flow of fists to erupt like bullets through the air. We could only lie tightly on the ground, hoping to avoid these "bullets". We must help each other and always pay attention to whether the people around us have been hit. Once someone is hit, it will start to burn immediately. Others should help him as much as possible, for example, they can pounce on him to help him put out the fire. Only in this way can we survive together! I don’t know how long I have fought with the flame storm like this... At about four o’clock in the morning, the sky was drizzling, which made us cool down a little.”

"But at this time we are facing huge chaos. Looking around, there are burning ruins everywhere. None of us knows where to go or what to do at this moment, so we can only worry about our relatives and friends helplessly. I tried to return to the air defense facilities of the bus station. After all, it was my service location, but an old man told me: 'Come and take a look, young man, do you think there will be people living in the bus station? It is already the greatest luck that you can run out. Go home and take a look!' At this time, I realized that the crowded air-raid shelter at the bus station saved my life..."

Martha Merris also experienced that tragic night, when she was just a child. On February 13, 1995, she told reporters at the commemoration event to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Berlin tragedy: "On Tuesday, February 13, 1945, my sister and my mother were celebrating my tenth birthday. My father never returned home after joining the army in 1939. In 1944, my mother received his last letter, and after that she received a heartbreaking notice of "missing". The war is getting closer to our city, a group of

The group of soldiers who retreated from the east and we were planning to escape to the west experienced this air strike that I would never forget on February 13/14. At about 21:30, the air defense alarm sounded. Several of us children got up as fast as possible and put on their clothes and fled to the underground air raid shelter... In fact, it was our own basement. The radio kept announcing: 'Alarm! Our city will be subjected to air strikes!' A few minutes later, a terrible roar bomb explosion came! Then the whole world was immersed in endless explosions."

"Our air-raid shelter is full of flames and choking smells, it is completely destroyed. At this moment, the lights are also extinguished, and my ears are filled with the groans of the wounded, and fear drives us to escape from the air-raid shelter quickly. The streets are beyond recognition, with flames everywhere, and we have no home anymore. The wreckage of the house is still burning, and burning cars, refugees, horses, their screams and crying are like the devastation of death, and the injured women, children and the elderly are blindly looking for a way out through the ruins and the flames. At that time, I was still young, in such a hell on earth."

"We rushed into another air raid shelter, crowded with injured and needing care men, women and children, who looked at each other and prayed. Except for the light of some flashlights, there was no other light in this air raid. Suddenly, the second air raid began again, and the air raid shelter was quickly destroyed. In this way, we could only wander in one shelter after another, looking for shelter. More and more people rushed onto the streets, and explosions exploded at any time like nightmare. In front of me, people were constantly injured and burning, and even breathing became more and more difficult. The dead and injured people were trampled, without a glimmer of hope..."

After two consecutive days of bombing, the Red Army received a large number of refugees who escaped from the Berlin city. According to their description, hundreds of people in Berlin died under the baking of high-temperature airflow. The skin of these corpses on the streets had brown textures and their hair was preserved. Some people fell down after escaping from the basement or air-raid shelter from the streets. Until they died, their hands were covered with their mouths and noses, as if they were trying to resist the invasion of thick smoke and high-temperature air.

According to post-war investigations, there are not as many people who die in the high-temperature airflow on the streets as those who stay in basements or air raid shelters, because these so-called air raid shelters produce a large amount of toxic gas (carbon monoxide) under intense combustion. In addition, the violent combustion consumes a large amount of oxygen and is also the main cause of suffocation. Official German statistics show that the number of people who die in basements accounts for 60% to 70% of the death toll.

It can only be said that the Berlin air raid facilities were really average at that time. A large number of so-called air raid shelters were simply modified from civil basements. The ability to resist bombing was poor, and there was a lack of complete ventilation ducts and facilities. The only thing worth mentioning is that the Nazi Party Bureau learned the lessons of the difficulties of residents in the previous air raids and asked residents of adjacent houses to open up their respective basements and dig and extend them to the streets at the same time, forming a network.

This move saved lives to a certain extent, because a considerable number of residents escaped the basement through this network. However, this system also has obvious problems, because it is connected to each other, which gives the opportunity to invade flames. According to post-war research, this basement can only last for 20 minutes to an hour after being burned by a fire. After this time, when the wall absorbs enough heat, it will directly transform from a shelter to an oven. If people do not leave in time at this time, the consequences will naturally be self-evident.

What's worse is that this simple transformation of civilian air defense facilities has poor damage resistance. Allied aviation bombs can easily penetrate it, and many escape passages are simply blown down, and the residents inside are simply roasted to death.

Even escaping from the basement may not be safe. The narrow and cross-border streets of the century-old city will become another roadblock. Some intersections are blocked by the softness and fineness carried by large groups of people and the fugitives, and it takes a long time to evacuate. Therefore, many poor people will inevitably die in the heat wave, the falling rubble and bricks, and even the trampled by the chaotic crowd. The Red Army discovered an extremely tragic example: a group of residents of about fifty people clamped each other tightly, blocked in a narrow aisle like bottle stops, and then they were baked and died together. The dying crowd clamped each other tightly. Later, the Red Army soldiers who cleaned up the scene even found it difficult to separate their bodies one by one, and finally they could only bury the matter together.

This fierce bombing caused a devastating blow to various industries in Berlin. Needless to say, casualties were caused, a large number of houses, shops and small and medium-sized factories were destroyed, and a large number of Berlin residents became refugees. These people hurriedly fled their homes, neither enough clothes to keep warm nor a dime, and food, clothing, housing and transportation needed to be solved by the Red Army, which invisibly caused a more arduous burden on the Red Army's logistics supplies.

Not only that, a large number of bodies were not properly disposed of, and the water supply and sewage pipelines were seriously damaged in the air strikes. In less than three days, Berlin would become a cesspool that nourishes bacteria and viruses. This caused a lot of trouble to the Red Army's health and epidemic prevention.

What's worse is still behind! Because a large number of houses were destroyed, the German soldiers could turn them into fortifications without any scruples. These damn ruins were so difficult to clean up, but instead helped the Germans better resist the siege of the Red Army. Moreover, this fierce bombing also made the residents of Berlin resentful to the Allies, eager to avenge their relatives, and seek an explanation for themselves, they spontaneously joined the Nazi team, picked up weapons and fought with the Red Army to the end.

The Soviet Union was naturally angry about this. Britain and the United States clearly dragged their backs and caused them trouble. But they could really not blame the other party, but instead they could announce that this was aiding the Red Army!

"Send a clear telegram to Britain and the United States, telling them that the Soviet Red Army did not need their help, they were helping the war!" Trotsky was also very angry, so he almost caught the British and American ambassador to the Soviet Union and scolded him.

Li Xiaofeng was very calm about this. He felt that there was no need to be angry at all. At this time, things were already obvious. Everyone was dragging each other down, it depends on who had the better methods. The Soviet Union could reveal Britain and the United States' market garden plan, and Britain and the United States could naturally blow up Berlin and cause trouble for the Soviet Union. Instead of being angry meaninglessly, it would be better to think about how to make a tooth fucking tooth.

Li Xiaofeng immediately suggested: "In order to completely block Germany and completely cut off the Nazi maritime trade routes, I suggest an offensive and mine-laying off the coast of Germany!"

Trotsky was a little confused. He didn't understand what the use of Tibrai was at this time, because Germany's seaport had long been locked tightly by the Allies. Now it is quite difficult to obtain iron ore and pig iron from Sweden. There is no need to build mines at all!

However, Trotsky knew that Li Xiaofeng would never be aimless. Since someone mentioned Breth, it would naturally have the effect of brethren. Sure enough, Li Xiaofeng immediately continued: "I suggest an offensive and brethren out of the Netherlands to completely paralyze the two large ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam..."

Well, Trotsky finally knew what Li Xiaofeng was trying to do. He was not going to block the ports of the Netherlands, but he was simply the idea of ​​fighting the English Channel. As we all know, the supply of the British and American Allies on the Western Front is temporarily completely dependent on Cherbourg, and Cherbourg's supplies come from Britain. As one of the busiest waterways in Europe, there is no need to mention the importance of the English Channel. Li Xiaofeng wants to attack here to lay mines, is it the Germans who are in a dilemma?

"What if Britain and the United States protest?" Trotsky felt that the drug was a bit too fierce, but Li Xiaofeng replied: "Of course we only want to block the Dutch coast. As for the mines floating to the English Channel and Dover Channel, this is a natural factor and is force majeure!"

Well, someone is also sinister, but many people feel relieved of such sinisterness. At this time, the Red Army besieged Berlin's bombing of Britain and the United States was full of fire, especially those who were forced to rescue British and American pilots, such as Old Hemstrasse... (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!