Chapter 210: Surrender

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Next to a very messy pile of rubble, the muzzle of a rifle wrapped in rags was pointed into the distance. A German sniper was looking at the situation in the distance through his scope. He was covered in a grey cape, on which rags were randomly sewn, which made him blend in perfectly with the ruins beside him.

As he slowly adjusted his aim, he murmured softly, “I pray to you, God. In your mercy, please take this suffering from me. You have sent the great Führer to our side, let us be invincible forever… I will help you save the world’s people, and send their lives back into your embrace—if your embrace also includes hell, that is. Amen.”

After speaking, his finger squeezed the trigger. The rifle shuddered slightly, and a bullet shot from the muzzle, flying toward the distant target. One can imagine that on the other side, another Polish soldier would fall to the ground. In these three days, German snipers had achieved an impressive record of 2,107 kills. The German army had only lost 7 snipers and 63 soldiers.

“Another officer. I really want to know why they haven’t surrendered yet,” the sniper said in a low voice as he slowly crawled backward.

Beside him, behind a broken wooden box next to a stone, another German soldier, with a G43 slung over his back, followed him and jumped into a drainage ditch behind them, ducking low to leave the recent sniper position. This spotter, who was responsible for providing cover, replied as he walked, “They are defending their territory.”

“But God is on our side. The Führer is God’s messenger! Those who defy God deserve to die,” the sniper said with a grin. His face was painted black, which made his teeth look very white. “I sent seven heretics away today. They all deserve to go to hell.”

The two men, one after the other, ran crouched along the drainage ditch for a short distance, then jumped back onto the road, sticking to the wall, and came to a building. They ducked inside. As soon as they were in, they shouted loudly, “Egret!”

At the same time as they shouted the password, two rifle muzzles were already pressed against their backs. The room was filled with German soldiers. Some were eating hardtack biscuits, others were struggling with the packaging of their canned meat. In the center of the room was a table, on which were spread several messy maps. There, a second lieutenant was discussing something with a lieutenant.

“Most of the artillery deployed by the Poles in the city has been destroyed. Now, our snipers’ activities are meeting with almost no return fire,” the second lieutenant reported to the lieutenant on the frontline situation. “Here, here, and here, our snipers have already pinned the Poles down in their rooms. They are holding out nearby but don’t dare to come out easily. If you can support me with some rocket launchers, I can clear out these Polish defenders room by room.”

“Division headquarters is unwilling to engage in room-to-room street fighting. That would increase our casualty numbers. They would rather besiege and starve these defenders,” the lieutenant said with a smile, pointing at the map. “I don’t have any more troops to support you, because most of the units have already set up a defensive line here. The Poles are also using snipers to fight back, but their combat methods are too backward, so they haven’t achieved any results yet.”

“Boom!” An explosion was heard in the distance, and soon another followed. It seemed the German artillery units were showing off their presence again. The ground trembled slightly with the explosion of the shells. The white plaster on the walls was shaken loose, causing a chorus of angry curses from the soldiers who were eating below.

“Those damn artillerymen! Same time yesterday! Don’t they eat lunch? Bastards,” one soldier cursed, blowing the dust off his hardtack biscuit.

Beside him, a squad leader laughed and gave him a shove. “That’s not what you were saying the day before yesterday when the Polish army counter-attacked!”

“What did I say?” the man asked, not getting the joke.

Before the squad leader could answer, the middle-aged private first class on his other side laughed and imitated his voice. “Oh, my God! Please, dear artillerymen! Open fire, quickly!”

After his imitation, all the surrounding soldiers burst into laughter, including the sniper and his spotter who had just sat down in the corner.

“Hey, Second Lieutenant! You’d better come and take a look! I think we have a little problem,” a soldier on lookout on the second floor shouted. “It’s best if you handle this kind of thing personally.”

The second lieutenant glanced at the lieutenant beside him, then put on his steel helmet and walked out. Just as he stepped out of the building, he saw an incredible scene: nearly a hundred Polish soldiers were walking from the other end of the street with their hands raised. Some were even holding white flags made from bedsheets.

“Lieutenant! I can’t make sense of this situation. It’s better if you come yourself,” the second lieutenant shouted back, only to find that the lieutenant was already standing behind him.

“Get the machine gunners with their ammunition to the second floor! If anyone looks suspicious, open fire immediately!” the lieutenant commanded loudly. “Everyone, get your weapons and come out! G43 riflemen, set up in the building opposite! Form a crossfire.”

Suddenly, the entire German position became noisy. Everyone began to find their posts. They stuffed the food in their mouths back into their pockets, haphazardly put on their steel helmets, and, with their guns loaded, aimed their dark muzzles at the Polish officer who was walking over alone to negotiate.

The Polish officer held his hands high, his expression dejected. He walked up to the two German officers and said, “Good afternoon, gentlemen. I have been ordered to surrender to your forces and to cede control of this district. Please accept our surrender and treat the prisoners in accordance with the relevant provisions of international law.”

“You have been ordered to surrender to us?” the German lieutenant asked with a frown.

“Yes, sir! I have been ordered to surrender to you. A dozen minutes ago, General Czuma issued an order for unconditional surrender. I believe you will soon receive notification of this,” the Polish officer replied nervously.

“Have a smoke,” the second lieutenant said, taking out his cigarettes and offering one to the Polish officer. “Take a rest, and then have your men line up on both sides of the road. I will ask my superiors about the surrender. I don’t want any unpleasant incidents to happen during this time.”

“I will keep my men in line! Please rest assured,” the Polish officer said, taking the cigarette in a very fawning tone.

Before they had even entered the building, a cloud of grey dust rolled up from the direction of the city’s outskirts. Soon, the cloud of dust came closer. It was a dozen or so military trucks led by three armored reconnaissance vehicles. These German vehicles roared past on the highway with no intention of stopping. It wasn’t until the two field cars and a StuG III behind them drove up that they stopped at this German platoon’s position.

“Attention! Heil Führer!” the lieutenant shouted, giving a German salute.

A lieutenant colonel jumped out of a car, walked up to the two men, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, and casually returned the salute. “The Poles have surrendered. I have been ordered to take command here. Behind me are the troops of the 2nd Corps. Take the prisoners from here to the outskirts. There is a special camp to house them there.”

“Sir? Is the war over?” the second lieutenant asked, a hint of joy on his face.

“I think so. Warsaw has surrendered. We control more than half of Poland’s territory. The war is over,” the lieutenant colonel replied with a smile. He then pointed to an oval badge on his chest and said, “The Eastern Front Poland Campaign Medal. You will all get one soon.”

In the Warsaw city government building, a German major general walked out of an office. He glanced at the several German officers and Polish generals standing outside the door, his expression very complex. Before he could speak, a single gunshot was heard from inside the office.

“As the Warsaw garrison commander personally appointed by the Führer, I have personally given General Czuma the dignity he deserved. He was a very outstanding commander,” the German major general said, his gaze sweeping over his own subordinates and the surrendered Polish generals. “I hope that Poland will quickly restore order! No resistance and no unrest… I will give you twenty-four hours. If you cannot do it, I will give you dignity as well.”

“As you command!” everyone replied at attention.

A German military truck stopped in the city center. Two soldiers with rifles jumped out. They opened the rear door of the truck’s cargo hold and began to shout in German, “The Führer, in consideration of the suffering of the citizens of Warsaw from the chaos of war, is distributing relief rations! Two potatoes per person, one for children! Anyone found taking more will be shot immediately! Form a line in an orderly manner!”

Soon, a little boy came to the front of the truck. He received one potato and pressed his thumbprint on a list. With this little boy as an example, many women with children came to take their potatoes, followed by the men and the elderly. Soon, the entire truckload of potatoes had been distributed to the refugees.

Two hours later, a dozen or so vehicles drove onto the main streets of Poland. The full-scale German relief effort began. The next day, peace was restored in Poland. People began to rebuild their homes, but many families were loaded onto trucks and taken away, supposedly to resettlement areas within Germany for labor—only those who worked for three full years could obtain German citizenship and become legitimate German citizens.

Germany had closed the last major pocket in Polish territory. The Warsaw encirclement no longer existed. The Polish government had in fact been destroyed. And apart from some areas that were still resisting the Soviet Red Army’s offensive in the name of Poland, most of the Polish region had ceased its resistance and had become the territory of Führer Akado’s German Third Reich.

On October 1, 1937, the German Führer, Akado Rudolph, announced to the world that the German-Polish war had achieved an unprecedented victory, ensuring that the majority of the Polish people were saved from communist slavery. Amidst a worldwide chorus of condemnation, Akado led the German Third Reich to restore all of its pre-World War I territories and had also taken a part that had not originally belonged to it.