Chapter 220: Sights and Sounds

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It had to be said that the German railway department had created a miracle. The Polish campaign had only just ended at the beginning of October 1937, but by the end of October, the railway between western Poland and Germany had been fully restored to normal. The train schedule had even reached twice the frequency of Poland’s peak period.

However, the trains allocated to the military were still very crowded. In the stuffy boxcars were lightly wounded soldiers from the Polish campaign who had not yet been fully transported, but even more were high-ranking officers who had applied for leave. Of course, behind the passenger cars packed with travelers were freight cars piled high with plundered goods.

These goods had little to do with the Polish people. Some were Poland’s grain reserves, but most were valuable luxury items: for example, famous paintings and sculptures from museums, some rare books, and other things. But the most abundant materials were Poland’s reserves of rare metals and minerals.

The chaotic platform left Rein and the others at a bit of a loss. They had been told it was a special train to transport them, but what arrived was a train that seemed like a hodgepodge, stuffed with all sorts of people and things.

Watching the combat engineers from the Army Group headquarters clumsily load their tanks onto the train, the few of them finally confirmed that the so-called “special train” was nothing more than an extra, dedicated carriage in addition to the flatcars for their tanks. What made them even more uncomfortable was that this carriage was one that had been found at the last minute. To improve transport efficiency, it had also been filled with sacks of potatoes, taking up more than half the space.

This was originally a troop transport car. It had doors at both ends that could be opened to connect to other cars, and there were also four wire-mesh windows for ventilation. But it was clear that this car had been modified. A large sliding door had been installed on one side to make loading and unloading cargo more convenient, but the original doors were also kept, connected to the two flatcars that were transporting the tanks.

“If you need to use the toilet, go do it on the flatcar with your tanks! If it’s a number two, then eat it yourself!” the railway soldier arranging the train said coldly, without any regard for whether Rein and the others were tank aces or not, as he made his notes. “This food is rations for the citizens of Berlin. If you don’t want to be dragged out and hanged, don’t shit or piss on it.”

The group finally learned the basic etiquette for treating heroes in wartime. They were, after all, small potatoes. Even if they were small potatoes who had been personally received by the Führer, they were still just small potatoes. But compared to returning to Berlin to enjoy their vacation, these were all minor problems.

Leaning against the sacks of potatoes, the group eventually fell asleep in a daze. It wasn’t until the train started moving that Rein and the others groggily woke up. When they looked at the scenery outside through the wire-mesh window again, what they saw was the slowly receding station, and along with it, the many soldiers and civilians waiting on the platform.

“Hey, Rein! Are we going to Berlin now?” Andre asked, adjusting his position to make himself more comfortable in the nest of potato sacks.

Rein pulled his gaze back from the window. “That’s right. Berlin. I hear it’s the most prosperous place in all of Germany, with fine wine, women, and all sorts of beautiful tall buildings.”

“My specialty is destroying buildings. Have you forgotten? On the first day of the war with Poland, I shot up a two-story building with my machine gun. The bullets blew the whole window out,” Andre said with a dismissive laugh. “Now when I look at a building, I only have one reaction: can I take it down with one high-explosive shell, or will it take two?”

“No matter what ammunition you use, I’m the one who has to stuff it in for you,” his loader, Bruce, murmured, turning over and continuing to snore like thunder.

“The buildings in Berlin are very large, all made of concrete and stone,” Rein said with a smile. “I hear the tallest building is more than ten stories high. If you want to tear them down, you’ll have to fire a lot of shells.”

“The Führer would kill me,” Andre laughed. “He would strangle me.”

Rein nodded. “Mm, he would strangle you.”

After a while, the two of them laughed again. “But he would give us our medals first, and then strangle us.”

After crossing the frontline area of the eastern border, the train stopped at an unnamed small station. Several SS soldiers unloaded a few sacks of potatoes, then asked Rein’s well-supplied group for a few cigarettes. After a brief chat about their work, they left in a hurry. But according to their introduction, it seemed there was a sizable concentration camp nearby, which produced camouflage nets, ropes, and other textiles for the military.

The treatment in these concentration camps was very poor, and even the SS soldiers guarding them were second-rate troops with pitifully scarce supplies. Apart from some ammunition for suppression, most of the equipment these SS soldiers used was obsolete gear from the army. They had no tactical vests or steel helmets, not even gas masks or canteens.

Under the meticulous calculations of the Führer and his economic team, the German army had been conserving every ton of steel from the very beginning, using every ton of metal reserves with precision. Many third-line units, which were only mobilized as reserves, were spared a large amount of equipment. For example, steel helmets, mess kits, and gas masks were not fully equipped. Often, an entire company would only have one set for training soldiers in its use.

Moreover, the Führer was different from the German high command of earlier years. He was keen on developing a system of female soldiers. When expanding the army, he had systematically trained women to become qualified soldiers and to replace male soldiers in many posts. In positions such as secretary, radio operator, pilot, and logistics, the German army had begun to use women in large numbers.

Facts had proven that women were fully capable of handling these positions, and in most cases, they performed even better than men. Since the plan to have women serve in the military was launched, it had allowed the German army to easily expand by 50,000 soldiers without taking up any precious worker resources. In the Führer’s plan, there would be 150,000 women serving in the German military in the future, which would also be one of the achievements of the German women’s liberation movement.

Further west, the train passed through large farms, newly built power plants, and light industry factories. These were all part of Germany’s colonization plan, and these areas would also become Germany’s light industry production base and new industrial heartland. Of course, there would also be a large number of German immigrants and hundreds of thousands of Polish laborers here.

Soon, Rein and the others set foot on their true homeland. About a month ago, it was from here that they had set out and fired the first shot of this war. And it was from here that they had achieved the glory of the German army. Of course, they had also achieved their own proud combat record.

Unlike Poland, which was like half a construction site, as soon as the train entered German territory, it immediately felt different. The prosperity and peace made it seem as if this place had never experienced war, yet Germany was now nominally in a state of war with Britain and France.

“Will my hometown become this beautiful too?” Bruce murmured, looking at the scenery outside the window. As time passed, the train soon arrived at an important city not far east of Berlin: Frankfurt.

Before they had time to marvel at the prosperity and grand scale of Frankfurt, while they were still in shock at the earth-shattering changes in their German homeland, a terrifyingly huge city finally appeared before them.

Yes, terrifyingly huge. If one were to classify cities by scale according to Rein and the others, every district of Berlin could be mistaken for another Frankfurt. When they were unloaded at a railway station on the outskirts of Berlin, they couldn’t even believe that the platform they were on was just an ordinary platform for military use.

“Welcome to Berlin! I am the officer from the SS High Command responsible for receiving you. You can call me Colonel Krumman,” the man who greeted Rein and the others was a young officer from within the SS. It seemed he was very envious of the dust-covered tankers before him. He even warmly shook hands with each of them.

“Heil Führer!” As subordinates, Rein and the others of course had to perform the proper greeting etiquette.

“Heil Führer! The cars are outside. Your tanks will be taken by tow trucks to the original barracks of the 1st Airborne Division, where they will wait for the military parade to be held on November 1st,” the officer named Krumman said as he led them out. “This afternoon, you are all free to walk around. There will be some soldiers to guide you. All expenses can be charged to the SS High Command’s account.”

“Wahoo!” Bruce cheered loudly. “I want to eat the best steak! And drink the best red wine.”

Krumman glanced at him with a smile and said, “No problem. It’s just that during the war, the Führer has already issued a prohibition on alcohol. All red wine over 500 Marks is for export, so even if you go to the Grand Hotel Berlin now, you can only drink the mid-range wine at 495 Marks.”

“Heh, hehe,” Marcus chuckled from the side, covering his stomach. “I hope chocolate isn’t a luxury item.”

Rein gave him a kick and then saw the luxurious vehicle that had come to pick them up. Compared to their tanks, this car was simply a super-invincible, ultimate luxury item: a streamlined body, a smooth, painted door, leather seats, and delightful large glass windows.

“This is the classic 1935 model high-end official car from the Mercedes-Benz company. It is the dedicated government vehicle for high-ranking German cadres. It is also exported to regions like the United States and France,” Colonel Krumman introduced. “This time, it was General Heydrich who personally gave the order to allocate them to pick you all up.”

He chattered on, which made the small potatoes sitting in the back of the car terrified. Bruce, Clark, and the others sat ramrod straight in the back, afraid that their clothes would scratch the exquisite-looking interior.

As a result, by the time they reached the hotel that had been specially prepared for them in the city, they were all sore from being so tense. After getting out of the car and seeing off Colonel Krumman, Clark actually collapsed on his bed and came to his own conclusion. “My God, that Mercedes is less comfortable than our tank.”