I Became Stalin?!

Chapter 167

“…Bomb dropped successfully.”

Colonel Marina Raszkova said briefly into the radio.

The massive storm that blew from the epicenter shook the heavy four-engine bomber like a toy, and she had to grip the control stick tightly and apply force to keep the aircraft from losing control.

The internal communication network of the bombing squadron was filled with the excited shouts of the astonished crew members.

They had thought that their mission was just to drop a ‘new and powerful bomb’.

They had ignored the researchers’ warnings about avoiding the blast wave. How powerful could a single bomb be?

But that single bomb was not just a bomb, and they were in awe and admiration of its effect.

[Isn’t this the end of the war? If Berlin was swept away by that storm…]

[Yes, didn’t they say we have more than one of these?]

“I hope we don’t have to do this again.”

She didn’t want to imagine what would happen if something went wrong during takeoff or landing with such a huge bomb, or if they accidentally got caught in the blast. Of course, it wouldn’t be as bad as the Berliners below who took a direct hit.

She felt a strange taste in her mouth.

“Hey, do you guys taste something weird?”

[Yeah, it does seem like it.]

It was a metallic, sour, and bizarre taste that lingered in her mouth. Of course, she soon forgot about it as the shock wave hit the plane again.

[Wow… look at that cloud.]

A young pilot said over the radio. They turned to look at his words and saw a majestic sight.

Above the ruins of Berlin, there was a huge mushroom-shaped cloud that seemed to rise from the ground to the sky. Even though they had flown for several minutes at high speed, the cloud was still enormous.

“Ha, ha, ha…”

***

The bomb exploded at 470 meters above the Place de la Concorde, slightly missing the target of the new Reich Chancellery building.

First, there was a blinding flash of light. The light penetrated the flesh and showed the bones.

Of course, they couldn’t see the bones for long. 

Right after the light, a superheated thermal radiation swept over the people. The Brandenburg Gate, the Führer’s residence, the Tiergarten, and the Berlin Zoo melted away in front of the heat wave.

The shock wave of the explosion demolished all the buildings near the epicenter, whether they were made of wood, stone, or reinforced concrete. 

They collapsed with a loud noise.

The Reich Chancellery, the heart of the Thousand Year Reich, was torn apart.

Berlin, whose heart was ripped out, couldn’t last long.

****

“What? What did you just say?”

“Th-the Reich Chancellery is in ruins!”

The Eastern Front headquarters on the outskirts of Stettin. Dozens of calls poured into the headquarters, which was directly commanded by Field Marshal Model.

They all had similar stories. 

The SS divisions stationed outside Berlin, the Grossdeutschland Division in charge of the capital defense, or the Gestapo and the security police.

[There was a huge explosion over Berlin! Black rain is falling!]

“What are you talking about? Explain it in detail!”

[Bombing! Bombing! A huge bombing… Zzzz…]

But no one could explain exactly what had happened. No one knew the whereabouts of the most important national leader, the Führer.

The staff office fell into a deathly silence.

“…”

Model couldn’t say anything either. He closed his eyes and tried to stay calm, but his hands were shaking.

‘Was this why the Soviet army offered to surrender? Did they know they could crush us at any time?’

The Soviet army had arrogantly offered to surrender two days ago. Of course, the messenger Chernyakhovsky was not arrogant at all, but the content was extremely arrogant.

He couldn’t judge it as arrogant anymore.

“The Chairman does not want Germany to suffer any more damage. In order to preserve the honor of Field Marshal Model, who has fought heroically, and for the future reconstruction of Germany and friendly relations with neighboring countries, if you surrender on the Eastern Front…”

The young Chernyakhovsky calmly and steadily conveyed the intentions of the Soviet leadership. 

The Soviet Union spoke as if they had already won the war. 

Even though they had not decisively broken through Model’s defense line and were only wasting time and casualties!

But they had a powerful way to end the war.

The administrative and supply units that supported Model’s battle in the rear were virtually annihilated. 

They didn’t just destroy the city, they tore out the brain and spinal cord of the German Empire.

And the allies didn’t know how many times they could do that.

“Is the Führer… safe?”

“There’s no contact! The Reich Chancellery building is in ruins, but if the Führer is in the underground bunker, he might be safe…”

But it didn’t matter. The Führer couldn’t magically create supplies and command the soldiers to win the war by himself. 

If the bureaucrats who handled the details disappeared with the center of Berlin, the army would be nothing but a giant tin can.

‘Can we supply the ammunition we need to fight tomorrow?’

He laughed bitterly. Surrender, surrender?

The front line was more urgent than ever. 

Millions of Soviet soldiers were pouring into the German defense line, and the frontline units were waiting for the order to retreat. 

Model’s job of extracting reserves from the wreckage of the units and blocking the breakthroughs and restoring them was becoming more and more difficult.

But now he had no ‘rear’ to support his fight. No, the distinction between front and rear would be meaningless.

Maybe the front line would be safer. If the bomb was so powerful, they might not use it on the front line where the enemies were mixed. 

A city with a dense population and important facilities might be a better target.

The war was over. There was only slaughter left.

“…Request the headquarters.”

“Yes?”

“Ask the headquarters to issue a surrender order. The war… the war is over.”

The war is over. The war is over. Those words echoed like a haunting refrain, spreading in an instant. No one dared to oppose Field Marshal Model.

No, no one wanted to oppose him. 

From the frontline soldiers to the generals and staff officers at the headquarters. 

They had experienced too much horror in the war. Was more war beneficial for the nation and the people?

No one could answer that. Even as they heard the news of Berlin in ruins.

“Request a ceasefire and negotiations with the Soviet army. No more… no more killing of our soldiers…”

“…Yes, sir!”

The soldiers had no strength to resist. 

The overwhelming Soviet armored forces had already broken through the gap and were racing towards the German rear. 

There were no units with enough anti-tank guns and tanks to stop them.

Until now, they had made the impossible possible. Under the command of the ‘Magician of the Battlefield’, Field Marshal Model.

But the Soviets had a more powerful magic up their sleeves, and the allied magician had decided that the war was meaningless.

***

“Send an urgent message to Germany.”

“Yes? Yes! What should I send?”

A detailed report on the nuclear explosion was quickly prepared and brought to me. 

The power of the nuclear bomb was more powerful than I thought. 

It was estimated to be slightly more powerful than the Fat Man that hit Nagasaki, about 25 kilotons of TNT equivalent.

There was no terrain feature to block the shock wave of the nuclear explosion in the flat plain of Berlin. 

The power of the explosion swept over the citizens living there, and the estimated death toll was close to hundreds of thousands, if not millions.

I felt cold as I read the numbers.

‘One death is a tragedy, but a million deaths are just a statistic.’

That’s what Stalin said in real history. And that’s how I felt about the numbers on this piece of paper.

Of course, even the number of Germans killed right now was much less than the number of Soviets killed in the war. 

Millions of Soviet youths had died and been wounded on the battlefield by the German machine guns and shells. 

This was nothing but a petty revenge for what we had suffered.

“Comrade Chairman…?”

“Ah, yes. Um… send this.”

Everyone tensed up as they wrote down every word that came out of my lips. It was easier than I thought to say it.

"We have dozens more of these weapons. If the German army on the Eastern Front does not surrender unconditionally immediately, we will destroy Königsberg and Dresden.

If the German fleet does not disarm, we will destroy Kiel, Hamburg, and Stettin. If the German occupation forces in France do not surrender, we will destroy Essen and Dortmund. If Vichy France does not surrender, we will destroy Vichy, Marseille, and Lyon."

“…”

“These conditions are the minimum to postpone the immediate and complete annihilation of the Axis countries. There will be no negotiations. Surrender to the Allies.”

There was no point in negotiating any further if we had the overwhelming power of nuclear weapons. 

If the Axis countries tried to resist, we would use nuclear weapons to reduce the casualties of the Soviet army.

Kurchatov and the engineers had made more than ten nuclear weapons. Hundreds of kilograms of plutonium were carefully divided and sealed, waiting to be assembled inside the bomb shells.

The Soviet vanguard forces had already broken through the panicked German defense line and reached the doorstep of Berlin.

In France, the Resistance had risen up and fought the Germans in Paris.

There were still many casualties to come, and as the chairman and leader of the Soviet Union, I had to order the nuclear bombing to reduce the sacrifice of the people.

“The deadline is 24 hours. If there is no unconditional surrender from the countries by 24 hours after this order is delivered, we will start with the cities mentioned above and destroy one by one the major cities of the countries. If they do not surrender, there will be nothing left but ruins.”

It sounded like a crude and low-quality threat, even to me. Except for the fact that I had nuclear weapons in my hand.

The Soviet media were broadcasting the pictures sent by the Tu-4 that observed the explosion on television and newspapers to promote the effect of the nuclear weapon. 

Now, this threat, or rather, surrender offer, would take its place.

If they did not surrender, there would be nothing but destruction.