Because Hitler's plan to destroy Germany finally failed, the streets of Berlin after the war were devastated, but the basic living facilities were preserved to the maximum extent.
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Walking into Germany today, many people will admire the prosperity of this country. In just a few decades, Germany not only quickly healed the wounds of war, but also jumped to the third place in the world, which is a miracle. Little known is that on the eve of the demise of Nazi Germany, Hitler made a crazy plan to destroy the whole of Germany. If this plan is implemented, Germany's post-war economic miracle is likely to come to nothing.
The collapse of the Nazis is imminent, and Hitler wants to destroy the German nation.
At the beginning of 1945, the Soviet red army and the American and British troops joined forces in central Germany soon. At this time, Hitler could only hide in the bunker and give orders to the army in name only. From October to April in 65438/kloc-0, Hitler was in a state of extreme tension and his health was getting worse and worse. His face is sallow, his left arm is shaking badly and his legs are shaking all the time. During the meeting, he must get the support of his adjutant. Hitler had been expecting a miracle. He had hoped that there would be a Soviet-style "people's war" in Germany, but it backfired. No longer willing to make unnecessary sacrifices, the German people began to hang tablecloths and sheets outside the window early to show their surrender. They even begged German soldiers to stop defending their villages and towns so as not to be destroyed at the last minute.
In the face of the avalanche of bad news, Hitler's arrogance gradually turned into disappointment and helplessness Especially when he realized that the German people who had worshipped him had failed his expectations, he had a strong revenge. Hitler expressed the idea of destroying the German nation more than once: "If the war fails, the German nation will also perish. There is no need to maintain the most primitive survival foundation for this nation. On the contrary, we'd better destroy these foundations ourselves, because this nation will prove to be the weakest nation. " In this desperate situation, a crazy plan to destroy Germany surfaced.
Make a scorched earth plan to force soldiers and civilians to move and die.
On March 18, German generals reported to Hitler at a military meeting that West German residents were not allowed to enter the village. In a rage, Hitler immediately issued the first instruction number of the retaliatory head of state-ordering all residents of West Germany to move immediately.
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After the order was given, the officers were surprised. A general attending the meeting urged Hitler to give up this practice, because railway transportation had long been paralyzed. Hitler replied, "Then let them go!" The general had no choice but to declare that hiking was unsafe and there was no food supply. Hitler said coldly, "We can't spend more energy on taking care of the residents." Then turn around and ignore him.
After failing to persuade, the Nazis began to consider implementing the Fuehrer's evacuation order, and decided to transfer all the millions of residents west of the Rhine-Ruhr line to the low-lying areas in Thuringia and the Elbe River basin, including the residents of big cities such as Mannheim and Cologne. It is conceivable that if the plan is implemented, millions of residents will walk aimlessly on the muddy roads in the countryside, enduring cold, hunger, thirst, disease and fear, which is simply marching towards the death of hell. Even some of Hitler's cronies thought it was crazy and undoubtedly a massacre of the German people.
However, the crazier move is yet to come. On March 19, Hitler issued the second directive of the Fuehrer, the so-called "Nile Directive", and decided to "scorch the earth" and blow up the whole of Germany. The key part of the directive reads: "All military facilities, transportation, communication systems, industrial equipment, materials and raw materials that the enemy can use to continue fighting at present or in the future must be destroyed." According to this instruction, the Nazis drafted a destruction plan, detailing the industrial facilities to be destroyed, including coal mines. They also ordered that all telephone offices, telegraph offices, long-distance exchanges, radio antenna towers and broadcast receiving equipment be turned into "a pile of scrap iron" and that all stocks and equipment be dismantled. Not only that, all civil facilities, such as water plants, food factories, clothing factories, etc. It must be completely destroyed, which is tantamount to cutting off the way for ordinary people to survive and destroying any possibility for all Germans to survive.
Nazi minister risked his life to destroy Hitler's crazy plan.
Once the instruction is issued, it will take effect immediately. In order to cooperate with the relocation plan, the Nazis sent people to distribute leaflets everywhere in western Germany, forcing residents to leave and burning houses. The scorched earth plan has also been implemented, and some roads, bridges and military facilities near the western line have been destroyed and blown up one after another. Of course, not everyone obeyed Hitler's crazy plan, and Kaufman, the CEO of Hamburg, refused to completely blow up the badly damaged city. Albert speer, German Minister of Armaments and Wartime Production, personally acted and went all out to save Germany.
Speer, one of Hitler's closest friends, attended the meeting on March 6th, 2008, when he realized the harmfulness of this policy. After the war, Speer was determined to preserve everything that could be preserved for the benefit of the German people. He suggested that Hitler withdraw the order to destroy factories and bridges, but Hitler turned a deaf ear to speer's words. Seeing that the suggestion was invalid, Speer decided to disobey the order. In the following week, he and his assistant frequently traveled back and forth between Berlin and Ruhr-gebiet, spreading disappointment and pessimism to the officers and persuading them not to implement the scorched earth and hand over the factory to the enemy intact. Of course, speer clearly knew how dangerous it was for him, because Hitler had shot eight officers who failed to blow up the Rhine Bridge in Remagen.
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On the evening of March 28, Speer suddenly received an order to ask the Fuehrer to summon him immediately, so the matter was exposed. Speer knew that what he did must be born to die, and it was a lucky thing to be shot on the spot. If you are unlucky, you will be hanged on a meat hook and tortured to death. Will you run away at once? Speer hesitated.
After thinking for a few minutes, he finally made up his mind to explain his behavior to Hitler even if he died. After 24 hours of stalemate with Hitler, the plan to destroy Germany finally stopped.
The meeting began in a very cold atmosphere. Hitler sternly said to speer, "You asked them not to carry out my orders, and said that the war was lost. Do you know what the consequences are? " Fortunately, Hitler didn't want to kill him, just wanted him to leave his post. Hitler said, "You broke down from overwork, so I decided to take a vacation at once." Speer refused to take a vacation, and the two sides were deadlocked. Finally Hitler said, "If you are sure that the war has not been defeated, you can continue to lead your Ministry." Speer insisted, "You know I can't believe this. The war was lost. " Hitler finally couldn't help it. He gave Speer an ultimatum: "You have 24 hours to consider how to answer."
The next night, Speer stood before Hitler again. Faced with such a war maniac, he had no choice but to say, "Fuehrer, I support you unconditionally." Speer is obviously insincere. He is still thinking about how to stop this madman's scorched earth plan. But Hitler was very excited. With tears in his eyes, he reached out and took Speer's hand and said, "Everything will be fine." Speer took the opportunity to ask Hitler to give himself the task of carrying out the scorched earth plan, and Hitler agreed. Subsequently, speer redrafted a destruction order aimed at paralyzing industrial facilities rather than completely destroying them. On April 16, speer made a speech in Hamburg, forbidding any further sabotage activities and calling on the armed forces and emergency units to shoot all those who violate this order.
With the strong resistance of speer and the rapid arrival of the allied forces, Hitler's plan to destroy Germany failed to be implemented. Speer therefore made great contributions, escaped the Nuremberg trial after the war, and was reduced from the original death penalty to ten years' imprisonment. Of course, more importantly, the German people thus avoided the worst disaster that Hitler arranged for them.
Hitler was really a madman. What he can't get would rather be destroyed than stay in this world. Fortunately, this move was stopped in time, otherwise we would not have seen Germany now. War is terrible, but it is not popular.