Germanic Officer x You Who Traveled Across Time (Seventy)
Chapter 70: Enemy at the Gates (2): Fifteen Days of Siege Diary
A total of 5k～
The leaflets released by the Soviets said that Budapest would become the second Stalingrad. But the Stalingrad of that time was completely different from the Budapest of today.
The Battle of Stalingrad lasted four months, during which most of the city's population was evacuated. In Budapest, besides German, Hungarian, and Soviet soldiers, there were also 800,000 innocent civilians.
The weather was so cold that the lowest temperature every day was minus five degrees Celsius. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians were caught in a siege and didn't know how they could survive this harsh winter safely.
On Christmas Eve, the authorities claimed that there was enough food in Budapest to last for twelve days, but by Christmas Day supplies were so scarce that rationed rations had plummeted to a terrifying level.
The International Red Cross was closely monitoring the situation in Budapest and offered to provide food aid worth 500 million parga, but the authorities refused.
Because the Red Cross has additional conditions for its aid, the prerequisite for the aid is to distribute a portion of the food worth 500 million pagos to the people in the quarantine area.
As a result, Arrow Cross Party leader Salahi refused the food aid that was related to the life and death of 800,000 civilians in the city.
This was the second day of the decisive siege.
…
The third day of the siege.
Even before the siege, you had been maintaining a sense of crisis, stockpiling supplies and living frugally. In addition to receiving daily food rations, Feintz also frequently sent people to the apartment to deliver various supplies.
Therefore, at this stage, compared to food and other supplies, you are more worried about safety in troubled times.
There were originally two guards guarding the entrance and exit of the apartment building, but since the siege began, the guards have been transferred to the combat unit and left.
There was a constant and violent knocking on the door outside, and you were scared all day, but at least Anton was with you.
You ask about System Brother's situation almost every few minutes, afraid that he will leave you and afraid that you will leave him.
You pray to God every day, praying that your brother can return to you safely.
At a certain moment in prayer, you suddenly understand that it doesn’t matter whether God exists or not, he is just a kind of sustenance.
Like a spark, knock the uneasy soul from the depths of darkness into the glorious hope.
…
Fourth day of the siege.
The gas was out and electricity was only available in a few places in Pest.
The factory fell into the hands of the Soviet army, and the city's public facilities had to stop functioning.
There is still some firewood at home and the fireplace can still function. I can’t imagine how desperate it would be if we couldn’t even have a hot meal in this cold winter.
…
The fifth day of the siege.
Telephone lines were completely down, radios were severely jammed, and it was said that German soldiers fighting on the front lines could only operate individually in squads, platoons, and companies.
The battalion commanders could no longer contact them, the regimental headquarters could no longer contact the battalions on the front lines, and the division headquarters could no longer contact the regimental headquarters. The entire German command system was in chaos.
By the time the division headquarters finally learned about the situation on the front line and received orders from the military headquarters, the German positions had already been eaten away by the enemy at a hurricane-like speed.
The Soviets were applying the same tactics they had successfully employed at Stalingrad against the Germans in Budapest.
The Soviets separated the German forces and then defeated them one by one. They formed special assault groups, each consisting of about 20 infantrymen and engineers, to work together.
…
Sixth day of the siege.
New Year arrived and the bombardment miraculously stopped.
Around the city of Budapest, the German army rebuilt fortifications on the ruins in a very short time and successfully restored communications.
The talented engineers modified the conical coupling from the old water wheel to the transmission of the German tank. The military horse, with blindfolds on, turned in circles, pulling the transmission, and then a series of devices made the generator start running again.
The cut cables were restored, and you finally heard the man's New Year's speech in a besieged city as the New Year approached.
"Our people are determined to win this war, whatever the circumstances... The world must know that we will destroy every man who does not fight alongside this nation or who willingly becomes a tool of the enemy..."
"Please uphold your duties until your last breath, make every sacrifice, spare no expense, and put your personal safety aside to fulfill the nation's mission."
Facing the nightmarish tragedy on the Eastern Front, the man simply said lightly: "The Russians will definitely be defeated and completely conquered by us."
I don’t know if it was your illusion, but as you sat on the edge of the bed, you seemed to hear Anton making a shrill sound, like a duck having its neck stepped on.
…
Seventh day of the siege.
It is said that there was no fighting on the Eastern Front yesterday, not because the new year had arrived, as Russians were celebrating Christmas, but because the Soviet Red Army issued a request for armistice negotiations.
Because both sides were well aware of the cost of the siege, and the horrors of the Battle of Stalingrad were still fresh in their minds.
However, the German army killed the armistice negotiators sent by the Soviet army. The Soviet army regarded this as an indelible shame and launched a new round of more fierce attacks.
So, on the second day of the new year, the war started again, and brutal street fighting was unfolding with an irresistible force.
There is no surrender, no compromise. If you fail, you will be destroyed. It is the Germans' own fault.
As the man spoke, he smiled coldly, the corners of his mouth drooping slackly, and he sighed nervously: It's all your fault, an old Prussian motto.
…
The eighth day of the siege.
A Soviet artillery shell hit the power station of the water supply plant in Budapest, and the water pipes were blown into the sky, and the water supply to most areas of the city was cut off.
Fortunately, the faucet in your apartment still has water flowing out, but the water pressure cannot reach the upper floors. The water used for washing, cooking, and going to the toilet is brought back to your apartment room in buckets from the basement again and again.
But others are not as lucky as you and Anton. The loss of water has caused the civilians in Budapest to be in a state of severe water shortage.
People risked their lives, amidst artillery fire and smoke, clinging to the walls of the streets along the way to get water from water towers. In the end, there was not enough water and they were forced to eat snow.
But eating snow not only fails to quench thirst, but is even more dangerous, because the cold snow will irritate the mouth, cause the tongue to swell, and then endanger life.
Gradually, the generators were restored, and at the same time, in order to save the lives of 800,000 civilians in the city, the authorities pumped water from the Gellért and Széchenyi Thermal Baths into the water supply network.
Water flowed into the pipe continuously and everyone was finally saved.
…
The ninth day of the siege.
Anton needs new medicine, so you brave the smoke and roar to the Budapest Military Hospital, but when you arrive at the military hospital, you find that it has become a ruin.
Two of the four bombs dropped by the Soviet army hit the Budapest Military Hospital, leaving a three-meter-deep crater there.
Corpses were scattered all over the frozen soil, and the bandages of indeterminate color were crawling with lice.
Even though you had handled too many corpses as a female chemical defense auxiliary in Warsaw, this scene was still unbearable.
You start to feel a cramp-like pain in your stomach, and the feeling of vomiting makes you turn pale and break out in a cold sweat.
You endure the discomfort, step on the rubble, walk around the corpses, and look for human signs everywhere, but there is nothing, nothing, nothing.
The heavy snow seemed to never stop, and the surroundings were covered with white. In my ears was the same never-ending rumbling sound. Fires continued to burn in the south and east of Pest. The two armies were still fighting a tough life-and-death battle.
Until the rumbling sound of a fighter plane flying low entered your ears without any resistance. You couldn't tell friend from foe, and without any thought, you immediately lay down in the bomb crater reflexively, with tears flowing under your shivering body that you could no longer control.
…
The tenth day of the siege.
The fighting on the Budapest front was extremely brutal, and the world's attention finally shifted from the Ardennes counter-offensive on the Western Front to the pearl on the Eastern Front that was about to be destroyed.
Before the photos taken by war correspondents circulated, most people watched the developments in naive and passive terms.
With Allied victory on the Western Front imminent and the Bolshevik offensive on the Eastern Front surging, they had no idea what a siege would actually entail.
It was not until they saw the photos that they realized war was not a game, but a meat grinder.
You had no time to pay attention to the reports outside, and you finally found the new address of the Budapest Military Hospital, the inner layer of a public air-raid shelter.
But there was still nothing here, only the festering smell of inflamed wounds and the warm smell of dirty old sheets. You couldn't even smell the disinfectant.
People were crowded together, and under the exposed rocks and on the black soil, some broken things were piled up.
Soldiers transported from the front line were lying layer upon layer on makeshift beds made of wooden boards and door panels.
Dirty and miserable are not enough to describe it.
You decide to take Anton out of the apartment and go to the Swiss Embassy in the 5th district of Budapest to seek medicine.
But when you get home, you find that your house has been ransacked.
Money, supplies, passports and identity documents were all gone, and Anton, who tried to stop them, collapsed on the ground.
The Arrow Cross came to the apartment building to collect rent, claiming that property taxes had to be paid to the tax office in the city of Theresa, and that war relief could only be paid if the tax office received the corresponding funds.
But now, those piles of Pago banknotes were no different from waste paper during the siege. This wasn't war relief; it was clearly looting under the guise of taxation.
The cold wind blew in through the open window. You walked through the mess and closed the window. The building opposite the apartment was silent. Most of the people there had been killed by the Arrow Cross Party on St. Antoine's Day.
You were a bystander to all of this at the beginning, but now that you have been forced into the quagmire of war, no one can help you anymore.
…
Eleventh day of the siege.
You used the most primitive human method and pulled Anton to the Swiss Embassy on a four-wheeled cart at noon on a snowy day.
Although the Swiss identity document that Feints forged for you was stolen, you still have the Key of St. Peter, a token from Pope Pius XII, given to you by Hurley.
The Swiss ambassador was running around the international quarantine zone near St. Stephen's Square, delivering food and supplies to the poor Hungarians there.
The embassy assistant did not have the authority to decide whether to keep you, but it was freezing cold outside, so the kind girl let you into this safe house in the war first.
War drives women away, but women never truly disappear into war.
Waiting did not bring satisfactory results, and St. Peter's key did not lead to heaven.
The Arrow Cross Party was causing trouble all day long, strictly checking documents, and killing people. The embassy could no longer accommodate any extra people. In order to protect more lives, the Swiss ambassador had no choice but to make the cruel statement.
He believes that the Key of St. Peter can only protect one believer. In other words, only one of you and Anton can stay.
Without any hesitation, you placed the Key of St. Peter around Anton’s neck and symbolically kissed his forehead.
You told Anton that after the war, he would return safely to his parents and sisters.
This Key of St. Peter belonged to Pope Pius XII. In the name of the Holy Father, God has not abandoned his children who believe in him, nor has he left their souls in the fires of hell.
Anton, who has barely recovered the ability to speak, lies on the bed and asks you tearfully whether God exists.
You answer, as long as you still believe in him, he will always exist.
…
The twelfth day of the siege.
The International Red Cross called the German and Soviet high command, lodged a solemn protest, requested the two armies to allow the evacuation of civilians, and suggested a short-term ceasefire.
The man agreed for the first time.
Si DL refused coldly.
The war continues.
There will always be wars.
The war will never end.
…
Thirteenth day of the siege.
A traditional Y. wedding was held in the international quarantine area.
Sarah, the heroine of the wedding, imagined the scene of her future wedding: her parents prepared a bouquet of roses for her, she held the flowers in her hand, and under the wedding tent, Isaac lifted her veil, kissed her forehead and lips, and put the ring on the index finger of her right hand.
Her wedding to Isaac might be simple, but it must be attended by her family, and at least she must wear a floor-length dress with a sweetheart neckline and white lace trim.
In any case, Sarah never imagined that her wedding would be held in secret in a dark room where the power had been cut off due to a bombing, and dust from the ceiling was falling on her and Isaac.
But Sarah thought that it didn't matter anymore. She said to Isaac, "I might die tomorrow, so I will marry you today."
Isaac replied to her, Honey, we will all survive.
"Blessed be the Lord our God, the Sovereign Lord of the world..."
“He created joy and celebration, bridegroom and bride, delight and jubilation, joy and excitement, love and brotherhood, peace and friendship…”
The lovers embraced each other in the darkness. At this moment, the goddess of love Aphrodite defeated the god of death Thanatos.
The world is turned upside down, and great love bravely blooms under the blade of the Grim Reaper's scythe.
…
Fourteenth day of the siege.
You walked through Deak Square. In the center of the square, logistics staff were using knives to cut meat from dead horses. People lined up in long queues, no longer afraid of air raids. At this moment, filling their stomachs was the first rule of survival.
The setting sun under the flames of war illuminated the wide square with unusual brightness, revealing the dark red belly of the dead horse. Scattered snow particles covered the traces of smoke and mud from the war.
These dead horses provided food for the starving civilians of Budapest, allowing people to survive the difficult times.
You also collected a piece of meaty bone from the wreckage. The horse bone looked like a strange harmonica. Back home, you lit a fire and made yourself a dish of horse meat cooked with onions.
The onions successfully masked the sweaty smell of the horse meat, and you took a bite of the warm meat and couldn't help but shed tears.
…
Fifteenth day of the siege.
The three German rescue forces were completely intercepted by the Soviet Red Army on the banks of the Danube. At this time, more than half a month had passed since the city lost its supplies.
The sky above Budapest was filled with planes and parachutes carrying supply boxes, as if the sky were blooming.
The man promised that all military supplies would be airdropped by the Air Force, but the soldiers actually received very little.
The German troops in the city were still holding on, and the front line surrounded the edge of the New Cemetery in the southeast of Budapest. Houses were burning and buildings were collapsing in various parts of the circular defense line, but behind them were Budapest's seventh and sixth districts.
If they retreated even half a step, Pest on the left bank of the Danube would be completely occupied by the Soviet army. Then it would be Margaret Island, then Buda, then Vienna, and then...
Maybe Berlin.
…
Sixteenth day of the siege.
The Arrow Cross Party began to randomly arrest people on the streets, using civilians as leverage and sending them to the front lines. They used their flesh and blood as shields and made a huge gamble in broad daylight, betting that the Soviet army would not rashly launch an artillery attack, thereby giving the German army a chance to breathe.
No one cares whose wife or mistress you are. They are only afraid of Feinz's power. When the center of power is far away, the false awe will naturally disappear.
So, in the fierce street fighting on Kozma Street, you finally saw Feints covered in gunpowder.
The author has something to say:
This chapter uses a diary-like format to quickly advance the time and allow the brother and sister to meet. The next chapter is a normal description.
The Easter egg is a preview of the next chapter
Red heart is the driving force of renewalbr>
No gift record
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
