The Iron Eagle II - Days of Strife
- Thread starter Kaiser of Brazil
- Start date
To be fair, after the war, nearly every American or British documentary that I've seen about ww2 always praises or highlights Germany's tactical, technological and military prowess. And this show of military ability I would say had more than a hand in the fact that many German arms companies and other industries were kept around postwar.
How? The Reich is only going to end via nuclear force, at the current point. Even a civil war doesn't end the reich, just chances who is in charge.
It's what happens when they plopped someone of insufficient ideological fervor.
Funny Gobbels first wife tried to assassinate him only for his second one to finish the job.
So here, there is also another Führer killed by a Hitler.
Even if it is a different History, the rhymes are almost the same.
Even if it is a different History, the rhymes are almost the same.
XVI - VIERFÜHRERTAG
THE IRON EAGLE
DAYS OF STRIFE
VIERFÜHRERTAG
DAYS OF STRIFE
VIERFÜHRERTAG
He thought this was going to be his end at last, it was a relief, he no longer had to cling to the hope given by sordid men. He was a dead man walking, almost six years inside that mine had ensured that he was nothing more than the mere shadow of who he used to be. Albert Speer, the most powerful man in the Reich to some, the personal friend of Adolf Hitler, the man who built Germania, Nüremberg, Munich, Linz, Hamburg, so many wonders of engineering, a Greater Germanic Reich led by a better race, with a strong and powerful leader heralding a new age. Pehraps he was naive, but he had hoped to have been the successor, he had hoped he was the one in that Will, but now he was sure he would never know it's contents, he would never know if it was real, if it was false, if the name written was Hess, if the name was Goebbels, if the name was anyone at all, it could very well have been some intern who impressed Hitler, it did not matter. He had then hoped that the fall of Hess, of Wegener, of Heydrich would open the gates for himself, he had set up his network but he was so sure that the men in the Senate that night would have the minimal sense of reason to choose him that he never considered Goebbels a real threat.
Which is why he has spent the last 6 years in this place, he knew where the blocks of marble, where the cement and ceramics of his buildings came from, he knew about the death toll and did not care, now he was the one in Mauthausen, he was the one forced to pick up rocks from the mining job in the camp unit and was meant to consider himself lucky. He should consider himself lucky for losing almost a third of his weight, he should consider himself lucky for only losing two fingertips, he should consider himself lucky to not have caught typhus, he should consider himself lucky for not having been shot, he should consider himself lucky for having a think blanket during the winters. Ever since he came in, he could count on his hands how many people who he met in the first day were still around now. It is ironical, he once had visited this very camp in what felt like another lifetime, where he was the one meant to oversee everything to ensure production quotas were met for the enormous engineering projects, to make his vision a reality he had arrived to inspect with the Gauleiter, August Eingruber, the camp had been prepared well before his arrival, the Kommandant wanted to make sure the place was seen as a model facity, both efficient and relatively humane where the captives were working towards the Führer with all smile and joy.
Yet he was given a fool's hope, that Goebbels would be taken out for his madness, but once he heard about the destruction of the Small Senate, that hope went low, once he heard of the purge of Naumann, that hope was even lower, once he heard about the Volkssturm's insanity gripping the Reich, he no longer had hope. He had a visitor once, a man he had never seen before who came to inspect the camp, from the insignia he could tell he was from the Wehrmacht, he passed over a note which Speer would later rid himself of, one that told him to stay alive and that he was being watched by a friend, he tried to think of any of his supposed "friends" who would even be still alive. Perhaps it was a joke in bad taste, but this morning on the 7th of February- sorry, 7th of Wessel, he would find out who that friend was when an order was given to take him out of the camp. He thought that just meant Goebbels wanted a show trial, that he wanted him dead at last, that he would be killed and his own family would be slaughtered for it.
Instead he was taken to an island in the middle of Brandenburg, Goebbels' house, the Schwanenwerder. In his way there he was fed better than he has been in years with a warm soup on the plane, inside the plan there weren't Volkssturm men, there were SS men, there were Wehrmacht men, this was a plane of the Luftwaffe which was the first sign that something off was going on, as far as he knew, Goebbels would never trust the SS or the Military with him. He would come out on the private airstrip and taken with a car to the mansion, not saying a sound. He was given his old suit on the plane, one that was far too loose and large for him now, he was given gloves to hide his lost fingertips, he was given new shoes and a doctor who accompanied him the whole way. He was sure he was meant to meet Joseph Goebbels, that his old partner and rival wanted to give a last insult before ordering him shot for all of his crimes.
But when he arrived at the gates of the house, he saw something, he saw people being lined up in the woods, he saw maids and housekeepers put on their knees, then he heard the shots that made him flinch with fear. It was not volunteer, he was sure that was going to happen to him for so long that he just recoiled in fear of death, in fear of the judgment he would have, that movement in the car made him lose composure and he began to cry, he couldn't remember the last time he cried but he did not want to die, he survived for so long only for him to be dragged here and killed off? Only for his children to have to pay for his mistakes? He deserved that, but Albert, Hilde, Fritz, Margarete, Arnold, Ernst... none of them deserved that, and what about his wife? She would die too?
"If you were meant to die, we would have kept you there."
The officer by his side said, which calmed Albert down, he was just shaken, terribly so, he felt like he would never be whole again, that he could never make up for what he did, maybe he had deserved to die in that camp, only the vain hope that one day he would be able to fix his errors is what kept him going. He would walk out with the help of the officer and enter the gates of Goebbels' Estate, which was now empty, completely empty of people and life, except for some soldiers of the Wehrmacht who carried objects around from room to room in boxes. He thought it all surreal, walking, sometimes limping, across the rooms like he was lost in a completely foreign planet, then he arrived at the solar where there were a few people around. There was a man he recognized, Heer General Otto Ernst Remer, apparently the head of the Wehrmacht, there were other officers with him and they were talking in a fast pace, in fact everything felt like it was moving quickly and the only person who was still stuck in this moment was Speer. He also saw a woman with a White dress stained by blood, seated on a chair while a puddle of blood was being cleaned up under her by two soldiers.
"K-Klara?"
He stuttered in disbelief, that was Adolf's daughter? Yes, the appearance was unmistakable, she looked at him and the color of her eyes just confirmed it to him. She had grown up in these years since he last saw her before all of... this. She looked shaken, like when she was a child and saw her father's corpse, but she was alive, that blood was not her's. He looked to the left where she was looking before and saw him extended on a table, shrunken and pathetic like the man he was. He could understand what happened, he was killed, the fact his throat was wide open proved that, but Klara? She was the one who killed him? It surely wasn't Remer, his uniform was still pristine grey, she was the one with a ruined dress. He thought of hating Goebbels, cursing him every day for what he did, but now that he was here, Albert just felt like an empty shell, as if he did not have the energy to curse or spite a dead man, in the end Joseph looked like every other corpse he saw in that camp.
"Suit yourself, Herr Speer, you must be ready to face the Reichstag by this evening, look presentable for a portrait. If you have no speech to think of, we can have one prepared, if you do not wish to speak, you won't have to. But by this hour tomorrow, you will be the Führer of the Greater Germanic Reich and will announce a ceasefire in the Hebrew Front."
Remer spoke as if he was just another of his subordinates and Albert did not have the strength or will to deny or protest now. He only wished he could go home, that he could see his family again if they were even alive, and yet now he did not have a choice but to accompany these military men to push him into power. He could guess why, he was still reminded by many who did not believe Goebbels' lies, but he also had no more friends, he had no more connections or alliances, the SS, the Industrial groups, even the Gauleiters who would take him were all gone, alongside their families, by the Angriff. He would depend solely on the Wehrmacht, a civilian face, a known person who was still linked to the Hitler days, he would have to take up that duty they wanted of him. But maybe, just maybe, he could use it to do some sort of good after a lifetime of ills. He did nothing but nod, his head feeling light with a strong migraine even after the medicine given to him, he was still hungry, he was still thirsty, he was still frail and skeletal, which is maybe why they picked his old suit, it would make him appear more healthy than he was.
When he arrived at the Chancellery building, the building he projected, in the city he projected, he should have felt like the luckiest and happiest man on Earth but he did not, the weight in his head was still as heavy as the boulders and rocks, he still remembered everything in Mauthausen. When he looked at the walls, when he looked at the windows, when he looked at the roof, he could see it leaking from every crack, from every corner, from every scratch, more and more drops of blood. That was not a dream as he was not asleep, but of course the walls would not be dripping blood, perhaps it was just because he could see what he refused to see before. He was escorted to his new office, the same one of Hitler, the same one of Hess, the same one of Goebbels, which now belonged to him. Goebbels' portrait was being removed like Hess' was before him, only Hitler's remained, the man who put him in this position. Speer used to hope to have been the successor, that he was meant to continue the work of his mentor, but now he saw what that work was and wanted nothing more than to tear it down, he wanted nothing more than to tear apart that building block by block, hoping that somehow having to bear the weight of all of that would ease the weight of his sins.
Which is why he has spent the last 6 years in this place, he knew where the blocks of marble, where the cement and ceramics of his buildings came from, he knew about the death toll and did not care, now he was the one in Mauthausen, he was the one forced to pick up rocks from the mining job in the camp unit and was meant to consider himself lucky. He should consider himself lucky for losing almost a third of his weight, he should consider himself lucky for only losing two fingertips, he should consider himself lucky to not have caught typhus, he should consider himself lucky for not having been shot, he should consider himself lucky for having a think blanket during the winters. Ever since he came in, he could count on his hands how many people who he met in the first day were still around now. It is ironical, he once had visited this very camp in what felt like another lifetime, where he was the one meant to oversee everything to ensure production quotas were met for the enormous engineering projects, to make his vision a reality he had arrived to inspect with the Gauleiter, August Eingruber, the camp had been prepared well before his arrival, the Kommandant wanted to make sure the place was seen as a model facity, both efficient and relatively humane where the captives were working towards the Führer with all smile and joy.
Yet he was given a fool's hope, that Goebbels would be taken out for his madness, but once he heard about the destruction of the Small Senate, that hope went low, once he heard of the purge of Naumann, that hope was even lower, once he heard about the Volkssturm's insanity gripping the Reich, he no longer had hope. He had a visitor once, a man he had never seen before who came to inspect the camp, from the insignia he could tell he was from the Wehrmacht, he passed over a note which Speer would later rid himself of, one that told him to stay alive and that he was being watched by a friend, he tried to think of any of his supposed "friends" who would even be still alive. Perhaps it was a joke in bad taste, but this morning on the 7th of February- sorry, 7th of Wessel, he would find out who that friend was when an order was given to take him out of the camp. He thought that just meant Goebbels wanted a show trial, that he wanted him dead at last, that he would be killed and his own family would be slaughtered for it.
Instead he was taken to an island in the middle of Brandenburg, Goebbels' house, the Schwanenwerder. In his way there he was fed better than he has been in years with a warm soup on the plane, inside the plan there weren't Volkssturm men, there were SS men, there were Wehrmacht men, this was a plane of the Luftwaffe which was the first sign that something off was going on, as far as he knew, Goebbels would never trust the SS or the Military with him. He would come out on the private airstrip and taken with a car to the mansion, not saying a sound. He was given his old suit on the plane, one that was far too loose and large for him now, he was given gloves to hide his lost fingertips, he was given new shoes and a doctor who accompanied him the whole way. He was sure he was meant to meet Joseph Goebbels, that his old partner and rival wanted to give a last insult before ordering him shot for all of his crimes.
But when he arrived at the gates of the house, he saw something, he saw people being lined up in the woods, he saw maids and housekeepers put on their knees, then he heard the shots that made him flinch with fear. It was not volunteer, he was sure that was going to happen to him for so long that he just recoiled in fear of death, in fear of the judgment he would have, that movement in the car made him lose composure and he began to cry, he couldn't remember the last time he cried but he did not want to die, he survived for so long only for him to be dragged here and killed off? Only for his children to have to pay for his mistakes? He deserved that, but Albert, Hilde, Fritz, Margarete, Arnold, Ernst... none of them deserved that, and what about his wife? She would die too?
"If you were meant to die, we would have kept you there."
The officer by his side said, which calmed Albert down, he was just shaken, terribly so, he felt like he would never be whole again, that he could never make up for what he did, maybe he had deserved to die in that camp, only the vain hope that one day he would be able to fix his errors is what kept him going. He would walk out with the help of the officer and enter the gates of Goebbels' Estate, which was now empty, completely empty of people and life, except for some soldiers of the Wehrmacht who carried objects around from room to room in boxes. He thought it all surreal, walking, sometimes limping, across the rooms like he was lost in a completely foreign planet, then he arrived at the solar where there were a few people around. There was a man he recognized, Heer General Otto Ernst Remer, apparently the head of the Wehrmacht, there were other officers with him and they were talking in a fast pace, in fact everything felt like it was moving quickly and the only person who was still stuck in this moment was Speer. He also saw a woman with a White dress stained by blood, seated on a chair while a puddle of blood was being cleaned up under her by two soldiers.
"K-Klara?"
He stuttered in disbelief, that was Adolf's daughter? Yes, the appearance was unmistakable, she looked at him and the color of her eyes just confirmed it to him. She had grown up in these years since he last saw her before all of... this. She looked shaken, like when she was a child and saw her father's corpse, but she was alive, that blood was not her's. He looked to the left where she was looking before and saw him extended on a table, shrunken and pathetic like the man he was. He could understand what happened, he was killed, the fact his throat was wide open proved that, but Klara? She was the one who killed him? It surely wasn't Remer, his uniform was still pristine grey, she was the one with a ruined dress. He thought of hating Goebbels, cursing him every day for what he did, but now that he was here, Albert just felt like an empty shell, as if he did not have the energy to curse or spite a dead man, in the end Joseph looked like every other corpse he saw in that camp.
"Suit yourself, Herr Speer, you must be ready to face the Reichstag by this evening, look presentable for a portrait. If you have no speech to think of, we can have one prepared, if you do not wish to speak, you won't have to. But by this hour tomorrow, you will be the Führer of the Greater Germanic Reich and will announce a ceasefire in the Hebrew Front."
Remer spoke as if he was just another of his subordinates and Albert did not have the strength or will to deny or protest now. He only wished he could go home, that he could see his family again if they were even alive, and yet now he did not have a choice but to accompany these military men to push him into power. He could guess why, he was still reminded by many who did not believe Goebbels' lies, but he also had no more friends, he had no more connections or alliances, the SS, the Industrial groups, even the Gauleiters who would take him were all gone, alongside their families, by the Angriff. He would depend solely on the Wehrmacht, a civilian face, a known person who was still linked to the Hitler days, he would have to take up that duty they wanted of him. But maybe, just maybe, he could use it to do some sort of good after a lifetime of ills. He did nothing but nod, his head feeling light with a strong migraine even after the medicine given to him, he was still hungry, he was still thirsty, he was still frail and skeletal, which is maybe why they picked his old suit, it would make him appear more healthy than he was.
When he arrived at the Chancellery building, the building he projected, in the city he projected, he should have felt like the luckiest and happiest man on Earth but he did not, the weight in his head was still as heavy as the boulders and rocks, he still remembered everything in Mauthausen. When he looked at the walls, when he looked at the windows, when he looked at the roof, he could see it leaking from every crack, from every corner, from every scratch, more and more drops of blood. That was not a dream as he was not asleep, but of course the walls would not be dripping blood, perhaps it was just because he could see what he refused to see before. He was escorted to his new office, the same one of Hitler, the same one of Hess, the same one of Goebbels, which now belonged to him. Goebbels' portrait was being removed like Hess' was before him, only Hitler's remained, the man who put him in this position. Speer used to hope to have been the successor, that he was meant to continue the work of his mentor, but now he saw what that work was and wanted nothing more than to tear it down, he wanted nothing more than to tear apart that building block by block, hoping that somehow having to bear the weight of all of that would ease the weight of his sins.
It was an order that it sounded like he was about to be killed, Hoffmann was in Breslau, which he had made into the headquarters for the whole Volkssturm. He was being summoned to Germania by the Führer, to discuss the deployment of further units into the Hebrew front. The reason he was suspicious was fact the order was not given by the Führer, but by his wife Klara Hitler, that was the signature on the paper which came from the fax and when he called, it was her who confirmed the order and claimed her husband was feeling unwell, he almost went there, but there was something just... off in the tone, in her voice. He contacted the Minister of the Interior and... nothing, Sommer was not answering calls, he could not contact any ministry or the SiPo, only the island.
Then he heard of what happened in Mauthausen, that men of the Wehrmacht came in and forced the SA to deliver them Albert Speer, had he left Breslau a minute earlier he would have missed that information. Perharps it was his growing disdain for the Military men of Remer, perhaps it was his paranoia after years living and executing the kind of orders that got his predecessor killed, perhaps it was the fear that another Neumann conspiracy was underway, but he would not go to Germania with anything less than an army to back him. Hoffmann refused the order, only Goebbels could give commands to the Volkssturm, only the Führer could command his people. The lack of communications had to be properly investigated before anything was done.
He then began to receive the intel in his headquarters, the Volkssturm was under attack, all across the Reich the Wehrmacht was moving in against the quarters of confused men who were caught and rounded up to prison. But an act like this one could not be kept secret, not without proper coordination and Remer made the mistake of not keeping his assaults coordinated with the main assault in Breslau, almost as if he was caught by surprise. He realized what was happening, the Führer was either imprisoned or dead, the island was seized by the Wehrmacht and Hitler's daughter was being used to give the Volkssturm false commands to facilitate the takeover. But he was not going down so easily, the reactionaries and Judeo-Bolsheviks were launching their last blow against the Reich, the Jews were striking at their heart just like they were striking Israel, and he would not let them have the upper hand.
Outside he gathered his men in the streets, the Volkssturm was mobilized as a military force, there were armored cars, helicopters, tanks, everything he would need for the operation, this was a delicate and decisive moment which he knew would determine the fate of the Reich. Hoffman took a torch in his hand, incensed with hatred, burning in fury just like he was, the Jew would dare strike at the very heart of the Reich and turn the entire Wehrmacht with their pompous generals against their Fatherland. That is why Zeal was the most important quality of a National Socialist, he would be loyal, he would protect his country, his race, his Volkssturm, against the Jews within, clearly their job was not even close to being done, whenever a war started, the traitors were revealed, but it was better now that they showed their faces, now they had a target: The Wehrmacht.
"Volksgenossen! A great conspiracy has revealed itself! The Jew, in his eternal treachery, has turned the officers of the Wehrmacht against our beloved Führer, slaying him and taking control over Germania! They seek to turn us into the puppets of Zion, no different from our enemies, they would crush our people's will and spirit through degeneracy, surrender us to the Israelites so they would march upon Germania! Our vicious war against the Jew has only started, and it must be nothing short of a Total War, one more destructive and relentless than any war that this world has ever seen! The German Volk will awaken and, possessed by the utter devotion to our Führer, to our Fatherland, to the legacy of the Eternal Führer Adolf Hitler, destroy all enemies from outside and inside of our borders! The time has come to unleash the final struggle for our Endsieg, a victory against the enemies of National Socialism! Deutschesland Erwache! Heil Goebbels! Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hoffmann!"
He did not expect to be acclaimed as the Führer, but one of his men shouted it and soon enough all others were doing so, it was then that he realized his destiny, that is why he struggled for so long, that is why he went through all the confrontations and challenges which could have claimed his life, why he was so appraised. He was an Ubermenschen, just like Hitler, just like Goebbels, just like all the great Martyrs of National Socialism, he had the two qualities from Mein Kampf: Of creating ideas and executing them, of being an ideologue and a politician, he had the charisma and strength of will to triumph. He felt like all of the Fatherland was his' for the taking, he knew from the moment he was hailed as Führer that he was meant to bear this torch passed over to him, to slay the Jewish serpent. The Volkssturm would rise, the people would rise, the storm would break loose.
And so the Volkssturm would seize the army headquarters in Breslau, the main command of the 8th military district, before they could even mobilize themselves, with communications restored in this confusing day of fate, he would start to reach out to his allies, across the Kommissariats, across the Gaus, across the whole Reich the Volkssturm would rise and purge the Wehrmacht and all those who did not swear loyalty to him. But he knew that this would take time, the longer it took, the more the putsch would consolidate itself in Germania. Time was of the essence and, as soon as news came of Speer being confirmed as Führer in the Reichstag, he made his claim known. Speer did not speak at all, he was a frail puppet while Hoffmann was a vigorous man still in his prime, the regime under Speer would not only be a rule of a puppet of Jewish capital, but would be the rule of a lethargic man who would steal all the strength and zeal of National Socialism, the Reich would die without a strong leader, only Hoffmann could be that strong leader.
And so, without waiting for the response from other Gau units or from the east, which would be too pointless of an ally to have, he would make the decision that every National Socialist leader must take: Seize the moment, seize the chance, seize the opportunity. And so, on the evening of the 7th of Wessel, after a day of firefights in Breslau and consolidating his rule over the city, Ludwig Hoffmann would set his men to march upon Germania, headed Northwest along the Oder river. A column of 67 thousand men, with the capture of 100 aircraft including several helicopters and 2 Panzer brigades, began to march to the Capital to put an end to the Putsch, while all across the Reich the Volkssturm was receiving new orders from Breslau to resist and strike against the Wehrmacht in order to stop the ongoing conspiracy and destroy the traitors who assassinated Joseph Goebbels.
And so the Volkssturm would seize the army headquarters in Breslau, the main command of the 8th military district, before they could even mobilize themselves, with communications restored in this confusing day of fate, he would start to reach out to his allies, across the Kommissariats, across the Gaus, across the whole Reich the Volkssturm would rise and purge the Wehrmacht and all those who did not swear loyalty to him. But he knew that this would take time, the longer it took, the more the putsch would consolidate itself in Germania. Time was of the essence and, as soon as news came of Speer being confirmed as Führer in the Reichstag, he made his claim known. Speer did not speak at all, he was a frail puppet while Hoffmann was a vigorous man still in his prime, the regime under Speer would not only be a rule of a puppet of Jewish capital, but would be the rule of a lethargic man who would steal all the strength and zeal of National Socialism, the Reich would die without a strong leader, only Hoffmann could be that strong leader.
And so, without waiting for the response from other Gau units or from the east, which would be too pointless of an ally to have, he would make the decision that every National Socialist leader must take: Seize the moment, seize the chance, seize the opportunity. And so, on the evening of the 7th of Wessel, after a day of firefights in Breslau and consolidating his rule over the city, Ludwig Hoffmann would set his men to march upon Germania, headed Northwest along the Oder river. A column of 67 thousand men, with the capture of 100 aircraft including several helicopters and 2 Panzer brigades, began to march to the Capital to put an end to the Putsch, while all across the Reich the Volkssturm was receiving new orders from Breslau to resist and strike against the Wehrmacht in order to stop the ongoing conspiracy and destroy the traitors who assassinated Joseph Goebbels.
Speer did not feel like he was in that meeting room, seated at the head of the table, his mind just was not there. He kept trying to escape that place, to think of elsewhere and so he did, he remembered Hitler, how in the past he built the Berghof facing the mountain, the Untersberg, where it was said Frederick Barbarossa was laying asleep. He remembered how Hitler used to spend long hours into the night just staring at the mountain while others were asleep, convinced of his sense of destiny. He spoke to Speer about Architecture for hours at a time, especially after their victory when they could make their grand dreams a reality. Linz being his most favorite pet project, with the Führermuseum and his mausoleum being built on the campanary of the city, so he would be closest to the skies.
He was sure now that Hitler was in the same place where he was headed to, he just stared at the table or his own gloved hands so that he would not look at the walls, or the roof, or anything in this building. Architecture used to be his passion, but after all he had seen, after he spent so many years seeing how that material was taken, how it was built, then all those figures about "losses" during the construction were visible to him and he could not stop thinking that every single one of those losses was on him, he was the one who headed the Todt organization, who designed the buildings, who collaborated with the SS to get workers. All the blood leaking from the cracks of this building was on his hands, all on his hands, he did not belong in this position, he did not belong anywhere, he had no passion for Architecture, he had no passion for anything, he could only do one thing now, try to repair his errors.
"Mein Führer, are you alright?"
It was late in the night but nobody was asleep, Remer, his officers, and other men who he claimed were now Speer's "Ministers" were all attempting to save the city from the march of the Volkssturm. There would be a war if the situation was spiraled out of control, but if the Volkssturm's leadership and this first march was crippled, then they would lose any momentum to seize power. The question is if the Wehrmacht had enough forces to stop the march of Goebbels' fanatics to avenge their leader and place their next madman in charge. Remer had made sure to keep in line all immediate threats in Germania, nobody was expecting Goebbels' death, not even himself, but he would have been a fool to not have used this crucial day to consolidate power. Goebbels' ministers either were imprisoned or swore loyalty and were taken into the Chancellery as a form of house arrest until the crisis was over. Speer was shaken, his leg was still trembling, but he was suddenly made aware of his surroundings again. There was a silence in the room as the Architect of the Reich spoke.
"What of the camps, Remer?"
That question came out of nowhere, as if Speer was seeing something none of them were seeing, perhaps the key to stop the Volkssturm was in the Camp system somehow? Perhaps enlisting the police and the SA would bolster their own numbers to stop the Volkssturm? Could they be relied upon? But no, that was not what he was talking about, this was about something else nobody seems to have questioned in all these years.
"We have to shut them down... we have to release them, those places... you need to listen to me, if I am your Führer then do as I tell and shut them down."
Speer's mind was far more damaged than Remer had thought, he looked at the other officers and Ministers in the room and the thoughts were the same, Albert Speer clearly was not in his right mindset, thankfully there were more responsible voices around now to ensure that the Führer's insane wishes were not followed to the letter like Goebbels' were, the last thing they needed now was to worry about these minor policies when the fate of Germany was at stake. Sure, there might be one or two good German men in the camp system, but the majority of those there had lives which were not deserved to be lived, they were a dangerous element to the Reich far greater than usual criminals. He looked over to Kempka, head of the SS and glorified bodyguard since Hitler's days, the man was becoming older but this was not the time for a reshuffle.
"Kempka, the Führer is tired, get his bed ready for him."
Speer had no authority even over his own bedtime, just like in the camp, this place was prison full of blood. Albert did not speak a word, he did not even look at anyone, he just kept staring at the table with a distant voice. To the others, he looked like a senile old man, aged by his time in the camp, losing all his vigor and health, consumed by years of stress and with a broken mind, clearly the salvation of the Reich was a task they were meant to fulfill. Speer did not resist and stood up with Erich Kempka's help, walking away to his new bedroom, trying to not look at the walls, which were still crying blood, blood of people he could not save.
"Erich... where are my children? Where is Margerite? You know, don't you, Remer said he would find them..."
He spoke hesitantly along the way as if he already knew the dreaded answer, the bodyguard just confirmed what he feared was true for all these years since the very notion of a "Blood Debt" was made by the Volkssturm. It happened quickly, he assured, it happened three years ago when a Volkssturm unit in Heidelberg took the initiative of exacting a Blood debt on the Speer family during his wife's birthday, as they had used to gather together since his disappearance to not leave their mother alone. They came into the house and shot them, shot all of them, his line was ended within one night in 1963 while he was in the camp completely unaware of it. He did not thank Kempka for delivering this news, how could anyone thank someone for giving a news like that? It just confirmed what he already knew deep down, Goebbels had merely turned the machine of the Reich against him, an infernal instrument which he now had clearly no control over, if he indeed ever had, after all he did get replaced but everything was still working, he himself had just replaced Goebbels and yet this system was still working and he had no doubt a person was dying after each step he took, he only bid Kempka good night and went to sleep.
Two hours later, a gunshot was heard inside the Führer's office, the last member of Adolf Hitler's inner circle was dead.
He was sure now that Hitler was in the same place where he was headed to, he just stared at the table or his own gloved hands so that he would not look at the walls, or the roof, or anything in this building. Architecture used to be his passion, but after all he had seen, after he spent so many years seeing how that material was taken, how it was built, then all those figures about "losses" during the construction were visible to him and he could not stop thinking that every single one of those losses was on him, he was the one who headed the Todt organization, who designed the buildings, who collaborated with the SS to get workers. All the blood leaking from the cracks of this building was on his hands, all on his hands, he did not belong in this position, he did not belong anywhere, he had no passion for Architecture, he had no passion for anything, he could only do one thing now, try to repair his errors.
"Mein Führer, are you alright?"
It was late in the night but nobody was asleep, Remer, his officers, and other men who he claimed were now Speer's "Ministers" were all attempting to save the city from the march of the Volkssturm. There would be a war if the situation was spiraled out of control, but if the Volkssturm's leadership and this first march was crippled, then they would lose any momentum to seize power. The question is if the Wehrmacht had enough forces to stop the march of Goebbels' fanatics to avenge their leader and place their next madman in charge. Remer had made sure to keep in line all immediate threats in Germania, nobody was expecting Goebbels' death, not even himself, but he would have been a fool to not have used this crucial day to consolidate power. Goebbels' ministers either were imprisoned or swore loyalty and were taken into the Chancellery as a form of house arrest until the crisis was over. Speer was shaken, his leg was still trembling, but he was suddenly made aware of his surroundings again. There was a silence in the room as the Architect of the Reich spoke.
"What of the camps, Remer?"
That question came out of nowhere, as if Speer was seeing something none of them were seeing, perhaps the key to stop the Volkssturm was in the Camp system somehow? Perhaps enlisting the police and the SA would bolster their own numbers to stop the Volkssturm? Could they be relied upon? But no, that was not what he was talking about, this was about something else nobody seems to have questioned in all these years.
"We have to shut them down... we have to release them, those places... you need to listen to me, if I am your Führer then do as I tell and shut them down."
Speer's mind was far more damaged than Remer had thought, he looked at the other officers and Ministers in the room and the thoughts were the same, Albert Speer clearly was not in his right mindset, thankfully there were more responsible voices around now to ensure that the Führer's insane wishes were not followed to the letter like Goebbels' were, the last thing they needed now was to worry about these minor policies when the fate of Germany was at stake. Sure, there might be one or two good German men in the camp system, but the majority of those there had lives which were not deserved to be lived, they were a dangerous element to the Reich far greater than usual criminals. He looked over to Kempka, head of the SS and glorified bodyguard since Hitler's days, the man was becoming older but this was not the time for a reshuffle.
"Kempka, the Führer is tired, get his bed ready for him."
Speer had no authority even over his own bedtime, just like in the camp, this place was prison full of blood. Albert did not speak a word, he did not even look at anyone, he just kept staring at the table with a distant voice. To the others, he looked like a senile old man, aged by his time in the camp, losing all his vigor and health, consumed by years of stress and with a broken mind, clearly the salvation of the Reich was a task they were meant to fulfill. Speer did not resist and stood up with Erich Kempka's help, walking away to his new bedroom, trying to not look at the walls, which were still crying blood, blood of people he could not save.
"Erich... where are my children? Where is Margerite? You know, don't you, Remer said he would find them..."
He spoke hesitantly along the way as if he already knew the dreaded answer, the bodyguard just confirmed what he feared was true for all these years since the very notion of a "Blood Debt" was made by the Volkssturm. It happened quickly, he assured, it happened three years ago when a Volkssturm unit in Heidelberg took the initiative of exacting a Blood debt on the Speer family during his wife's birthday, as they had used to gather together since his disappearance to not leave their mother alone. They came into the house and shot them, shot all of them, his line was ended within one night in 1963 while he was in the camp completely unaware of it. He did not thank Kempka for delivering this news, how could anyone thank someone for giving a news like that? It just confirmed what he already knew deep down, Goebbels had merely turned the machine of the Reich against him, an infernal instrument which he now had clearly no control over, if he indeed ever had, after all he did get replaced but everything was still working, he himself had just replaced Goebbels and yet this system was still working and he had no doubt a person was dying after each step he took, he only bid Kempka good night and went to sleep.
Two hours later, a gunshot was heard inside the Führer's office, the last member of Adolf Hitler's inner circle was dead.
Klein Bademeusel was a small town located near Cottbus, a city between Germania and Breslau, and now it would be the site where the Wehrmacht and the Volkssturm would clash in the middle of that night in the largest battle to happen in German soil since the German Unification, near the heart of the Reich itself. Wilhelm Mohnke, a former Waffen-SS commander, was the leading General for Germania's defenses, quickly being awoken in the morning of that day and summoned to Germania where he heard of Goebbels' timely demise. He had no question about following Remer's commands even if he did not necessarily trust Speer, he took up the command of the suppression of the Volkssturm in Germania, a violent assault in the city which turned into a firefight for the building of the organization's headquarters. Now he was meant to stop Hoffmann's column before it reached Germania and he decided to advance quickly and decisively against it before they reached a major settlement. Silesia was in revolt, but so far only Silesia, the others were all waiting to see what would happen while firefights erupted across all the Reich between the Volkssturm and the Wehrmacht.
Monhke also heard what happened in the Hebrew front, the Volkssturm and the Wehrmacht fighting an open battle as soon as new reached the still disorganized army of Goebbels' death and Speer's rise, as well as the command for the Volkssturm to dissolve and surrender their weapons. The Syrians were forced to hold back the front in the ruins of Haifa while the Germans slaughtered one another, no doubt a peace had to be made, which was a shame, he believed they could have won with a proper initiative and a little more time, or if the Italians and Egyptians did their job in closing down the Red Sea. It did not matter, what mattered to him was the reports of the fighting he was still reading, the Volkssturm always attacked first, but they attacked with an amateurism which was almost laughable. Despite the fact he only had 3/5ths of Hoffmann's forces, Monhke believed victory was possible here and now he had to deliver it.
The battle began at 2356 PM, when the first units began to engage in the air, the explosions at times would bring light into that night, the moon was just a little past full which gave some much needed visibility as the two armies would spot one another. Aerial superiority was established quite quickly, the lack of proper military-trained officers from the airforce in the Volkssturm was obvious as most of their numbers came from the army. The men had dug trenches over the last hour, with some improvised barbed wire along the road which came from the southeast. Soon the Volkssturm launched it's assault with two Panzer Brigades against Monkhe's one and a half brigade, the confrontation began at the long distance as the tanks ran across the open fields of Germany, the first time war properly had arrived into the doorsteps of the Reich. With the stories he heard about Goebbels, he was almost convinced the man and his rabble were Jews, meant to come and bring chaos to the Reich from within, now he would stop this madman Hoffmann and put an end to this insanity before the war spread across the nation.
Hoffmann was so convinced of himself that day that he thought only he could bring victory to the Reich, he ignored every advice from more experienced officers, convinced that only the righteous zeal, the triumph of the will, could bring victory in a battlefield against any odds, he only saw the numbers and believed Monhke's units to be an easy obstacle to overcome. Ludwig Hoffmann and his men have not slept, they had seized Breslau and rallied all units of Silesia to march north without even fully gathering them, as a result, only half of his army was engaging Monhke's now. The battle would rage all throughout the night, with wave after wave of zealots being brought forwards by Hoffmann to charge at the enemy's positions in an attempt to break them while he lost control over the skies early during the battle and the Panzer engagement was still indecisive despite his numerical superiority.
Finally the Volkssturm would attempt a last resort, the Atomtruppen. A small stockpile of such weapons had been seized in Breslau and, despite some initial hesitation by the officers, it was suggested to Hoffmann who did not take more than one minute before authorizing the use of the small nuclear devices against Monhke's defenses. That is where he made his fatal mistake at 0233 AM, because his units have never used the delicate devices and the only unit in the 8th Army District which could use it, specialized men, had been killed trying to defend the stockpile in that morning. When the Volkssturm attempted to deploy the device, a misfire would cause the ammunition to detonate leading to a large explosion within their lines. Never before had the majority of his forces, made up by the Hitler Youth, faced a real battlefield, after thousands of casualties with little result, the wavering morale shattered due to the explosion which shocked the Volkssturm to it's core. Across the frontlines there was terror that the Wehrmacht had just used it's atomic arsenal, causing the units to break and shatter across the field with little discipline to keep them as a proper unit.
Ludwig Hoffmann saw the chaos and came out of his mobile headquarters, he attempted to climb on top of a tank and raised a megaphone to shot at the men to continue their assault, like one of the political officers of one of his regiments. But this proved to be a mistake, he attempted to rally them, he was in the peak of his fury as he saw everything starting to crumble and desperately attempted to hold the formation together, then he was shot. A sniper, or perhaps one of his own men, shot him during the confusion, the sight of their Führer falling was the last straw for the Volkssturm which began to either surrender to the far more professional and disciplined men of the Wehrmacht, or dispersed over the countryside to be captured over the following weeks, others still would manage to return to their homes and attempt to act as if they had never joined into Goebbels' mad zealot group. The Volkssturm had shattered across the Reich as soon as they lost their leader and faced the prospect of fighting an enemy which could actually shoot back at them.
And by the time the battle proper was over at 0248 AM, the Wehrmacht had started the count of the losses which would be finished only days later. In total, of almost 40 thousand men of the Wehrmacht, there were 800 losses, while the almost 70 thousand men of the Volkssturm were completely shattered, with 7 thousand casualties in the field when assaulting the Wehrmacht's defenses in the Battle of Cottbus, or Battle of Klein Bademeusel. The Wehrmacht celebrated their victory, fighting in the name of a man who died ten minutes earlier.
The day of the Four Führers was one of the most chaotic days in German history, starting early in the morning with the surprising death of Joseph Goebbels, and now ending in the morning of the 8th of February, or rather 8th of Wessel, as the Reichstag was summoned once again. Remer was in shock, seeing the dead body of Albert Speer in his bedroom with a bullet to the head and a gun still in hand. He should have chosen better, he reflected, Speer was an obvious choice then but the man was simply too far gone to have retained any shed of sanity. Kempka once again was a bodyguard who stood outside while the man he was meant to protect killed himself in the Reich Chancellery, after that night he would finally be retired from his duties and returned back to his home where he would work on his memoirs. As for the Reich, even with Hoffmann's death, Speer's death made sure the situation was no less chaotic.
There was no successor, Goebbels did not write a Will after the Neumann Conspiracy out of fear that it would lead to any appointed successor to conspire against him. Goebbels' family was not a threat, the Wehrmacht ensured that through their own "Blood Debt". During that day, before the news came out, Goebbels' children were all summoned to the Schwanenwerder by Klara, apparently she and Goebbels had some big news, that Klara was expecting a child, but once they arrived there, the Wehrmacht disposed of their bodies by burying them in the woods, only Hitler's nephews were spared at Klara's insistence and because Remer did not want to deal with the Propagandist nightmare that killing a person with the name "Hitler" attached would mean. The Volkssturm had nobody else to rally around after the death of Goebbels' children and of Ludwig Hoffmann, leading to their units mostly capitulating to the Wehrmacht across the Reich. As for the people, most of them were just confused about what was happening, a common joke is that people did not know who to heil to in their greetings that day, if they said the wrong name they could risk being shot alongside their families, so people just said "Heil Hitler".
The morning of the 8th started with the Wehrmacht returning from the field of battle, Germania was under Martial Law and a lockdown was under effect, Field Marshal Remer would arrived in the building in civilian clothes, accompanied with a group of bodyguards who also escorted a young woman with him. The old Reichstag building had barely been used, yet Remer preferred it to the Volkshalle, the enormous building could not appear empty like it was, he struggled to find enough men across the Reich to fill in the Reichstag in short notice the last day and filling in the Volkshalle would require him to grab random civilians on the streets, which he did not wish to do as to not make his next move appear even more of an unpopular powergrab. The members of the Reichstag survived the destruction of old structures because it had become so minor and antiquated that even Goebbels did not wish to destroy it, he only kept it to award the positions to party members as a symbolic gesture. Now, under the aim of the machine guns, the Reichstag would unanimously legitimize the powergrab of the next leader who came across with enough weapons to threaten them, long gone were the days where anyone in the party would dare challenge the power of the Führer, whoever that might be.
Klara Hitler came over after an almost sleepless night, she stayed awake until almost two in the morning, being taken into the Chancellery to be essentially a hostage for Remer if everything went wrong in stopping Hoffmann, and just when she was sleeping, she was awakened by the sound of the gunshot and the chaos around, she saw Speer's body, just one of the many she had seen in that terrible day. She had seen the body of Goebbels, of Goebbels' sons, of his grandsons, of his daughters and granddaughters as the Wehrmacht ruthlessly executed anyone who could have been used by the Volkssturm to rally an opposition against their powergrab. She used to see Speer with some care, almost like an uncle-like figure, he used to visit her and Eva during her childhood, bringing in gifts and asking about her life, he was not like Goebbels was in her eyes, he was a genuine friend of her father, not an obsessed follower, maybe he was using her as well, but now she would never even know.
She now was before the Reichstag after rehearsing what she was meant to say the whole morning, if she said it right she would be allowed to return to her home, she would be free to do as she wanted. But the mere fact Remer was doing that showed her how much weight her voice had, the idea that bringing a young woman before one of the most important places in the nation for such an enormous move had made her reach the final step before this conclusion. She was Adolf Hitler's daughter, she was THE voice of her father, for Remer she was his source of legitimacy, she was the one making him Führer and, maybe one day, she could make him not be the Führer. But for now, even if a part of her spoke with a voice pushing for her to be bold, to channel all the hatred she felt for Remer and his stooges after all that happened in the last 24 hours, she calmed herself down and decided to let her patience speak. If it was her destiny to one day be in his place, then nothing in the world could stop it other than herself, which is why she would be patient, bide her time and await for a better opportunity to strike. She knew this was hardly the moment, she knew what was happening across the world, she heard Goebbels' words and conversations, these were days of strife, the leadership was a poisoned chalice which already killed three men just yesterday, before that it killed a man driven mad by a pressure he was not ready to handle. Her father's legacy was a heavy weight, and she would have to prepare herself before she could ever hope to carry it.
So for now she would speak before the crowd, this was the first time she spoke in the Reichstag, hardly the first time she spoke to a crowd, but she made a great impression. She had a voice deeper than most of girls, which gave her more of an authority when speaking. She spoke with passion, with anger and hatred, pouring out all the pain she felt in a controlled fashion as she spoke the truth of Joseph Goebbels: The madman, the adulterer, the pedophile, the puppet of the Elders of Zion sent to destroy all of Germany's strength and power from within through chaos. She remembered, ironically, of something he once said "a lie told many times becomes the truth", and so she lied about a few details, conversations he never had with supposed Jews, of a supposed Jewish mistress, then she said the truth that he had assassinated his own wife, lying about the fact she had tried to assassinate him. It was not hard to turn the millions of Germans who lived in terror, who had their families threatened, who had friends and known ones slaughtered, to turn on the Volkssturm and it's master. The Angriff was over at last. She spoke of her father and mother, speaking how Goebbels assassinated her mother Eva and telling how his doctor poisoned Adolf Hitler's wife, how Goebbels had groomed her, how Goebbels manipulated her for years, by the time she was over she was crying, but looking no less strong for it as even the men in the Reichstag reacted with Horror.
Now they reacted, now these bastards dared to say something, now that Goebbels could no longer threaten them, now that Goebbels no longer had any power in his grave.
Then she said how Goebbels died, how he received the news of Peiper's death in a furious rant and because of that he had suffered a stroke, no mention about his Nuclear Holocaust was given, the outside world could not be aware that twice in a row the German leadership was stopped from using it's arsenal, otherwise every threat would be only a bluff, that is what Remer told her. She measured her words and then gave praises to Remer, even against her will, she praised him as an integral soldier and a man who defended the Fatherland against the threats of the Volkssturm and was the one needed to bring order now. Albert Speer? His death would be explained as being the unfortunate consequence of his wrongful imprisonment caused by Goebbels' lies and his heartbreak over receiving the news of his family's death which led to him taking his own life. It was delightful to watch Goebbels' carefully built image burn down before the eyes of the whole world, she did not know it then but that transmission would go even to International channels, this was the first time the world heard her voice.
And so, Otto Ernst Remer would take the stage and, after a speech calling for a restoration of Order and a "Reorganization", he would be unanimously chosen as the new Führer of the Greater Germanic Reich, that same day he would use the diplomatic channels to call for a Ceasefire in Israel. They failed to fully destroy the Jewish State, however, the Syrians emerged as winners by reclaiming their previous territory, seizing Aman and a large part of Jordan, as well as the North of Israel. Under the insistence of President Smith, Nazareth would be kept under the control of Israel, it was one of the few demands of the President who was all too happy to end the war now that Jerusalem was secured from the Reich and Joseph Goebbels was dead. Despite the Israeli calls to continue until the reclamation of Northern Israel, without the American Forces and with the immediate threat being dealt with, the Knesset was forced to accept, although no official treaty was ever made.
The main reason why Remer, a committed Anti-Semite, would call for a Truce, was not only the crisis with the Volkssturm and the events of the Vierführertag, but the growing rumblings in the East, long ignored by Goebbels, which demanded the complete and total attention of the German Forces on the Volga river.
There was no successor, Goebbels did not write a Will after the Neumann Conspiracy out of fear that it would lead to any appointed successor to conspire against him. Goebbels' family was not a threat, the Wehrmacht ensured that through their own "Blood Debt". During that day, before the news came out, Goebbels' children were all summoned to the Schwanenwerder by Klara, apparently she and Goebbels had some big news, that Klara was expecting a child, but once they arrived there, the Wehrmacht disposed of their bodies by burying them in the woods, only Hitler's nephews were spared at Klara's insistence and because Remer did not want to deal with the Propagandist nightmare that killing a person with the name "Hitler" attached would mean. The Volkssturm had nobody else to rally around after the death of Goebbels' children and of Ludwig Hoffmann, leading to their units mostly capitulating to the Wehrmacht across the Reich. As for the people, most of them were just confused about what was happening, a common joke is that people did not know who to heil to in their greetings that day, if they said the wrong name they could risk being shot alongside their families, so people just said "Heil Hitler".
The morning of the 8th started with the Wehrmacht returning from the field of battle, Germania was under Martial Law and a lockdown was under effect, Field Marshal Remer would arrived in the building in civilian clothes, accompanied with a group of bodyguards who also escorted a young woman with him. The old Reichstag building had barely been used, yet Remer preferred it to the Volkshalle, the enormous building could not appear empty like it was, he struggled to find enough men across the Reich to fill in the Reichstag in short notice the last day and filling in the Volkshalle would require him to grab random civilians on the streets, which he did not wish to do as to not make his next move appear even more of an unpopular powergrab. The members of the Reichstag survived the destruction of old structures because it had become so minor and antiquated that even Goebbels did not wish to destroy it, he only kept it to award the positions to party members as a symbolic gesture. Now, under the aim of the machine guns, the Reichstag would unanimously legitimize the powergrab of the next leader who came across with enough weapons to threaten them, long gone were the days where anyone in the party would dare challenge the power of the Führer, whoever that might be.
Klara Hitler came over after an almost sleepless night, she stayed awake until almost two in the morning, being taken into the Chancellery to be essentially a hostage for Remer if everything went wrong in stopping Hoffmann, and just when she was sleeping, she was awakened by the sound of the gunshot and the chaos around, she saw Speer's body, just one of the many she had seen in that terrible day. She had seen the body of Goebbels, of Goebbels' sons, of his grandsons, of his daughters and granddaughters as the Wehrmacht ruthlessly executed anyone who could have been used by the Volkssturm to rally an opposition against their powergrab. She used to see Speer with some care, almost like an uncle-like figure, he used to visit her and Eva during her childhood, bringing in gifts and asking about her life, he was not like Goebbels was in her eyes, he was a genuine friend of her father, not an obsessed follower, maybe he was using her as well, but now she would never even know.
She now was before the Reichstag after rehearsing what she was meant to say the whole morning, if she said it right she would be allowed to return to her home, she would be free to do as she wanted. But the mere fact Remer was doing that showed her how much weight her voice had, the idea that bringing a young woman before one of the most important places in the nation for such an enormous move had made her reach the final step before this conclusion. She was Adolf Hitler's daughter, she was THE voice of her father, for Remer she was his source of legitimacy, she was the one making him Führer and, maybe one day, she could make him not be the Führer. But for now, even if a part of her spoke with a voice pushing for her to be bold, to channel all the hatred she felt for Remer and his stooges after all that happened in the last 24 hours, she calmed herself down and decided to let her patience speak. If it was her destiny to one day be in his place, then nothing in the world could stop it other than herself, which is why she would be patient, bide her time and await for a better opportunity to strike. She knew this was hardly the moment, she knew what was happening across the world, she heard Goebbels' words and conversations, these were days of strife, the leadership was a poisoned chalice which already killed three men just yesterday, before that it killed a man driven mad by a pressure he was not ready to handle. Her father's legacy was a heavy weight, and she would have to prepare herself before she could ever hope to carry it.
So for now she would speak before the crowd, this was the first time she spoke in the Reichstag, hardly the first time she spoke to a crowd, but she made a great impression. She had a voice deeper than most of girls, which gave her more of an authority when speaking. She spoke with passion, with anger and hatred, pouring out all the pain she felt in a controlled fashion as she spoke the truth of Joseph Goebbels: The madman, the adulterer, the pedophile, the puppet of the Elders of Zion sent to destroy all of Germany's strength and power from within through chaos. She remembered, ironically, of something he once said "a lie told many times becomes the truth", and so she lied about a few details, conversations he never had with supposed Jews, of a supposed Jewish mistress, then she said the truth that he had assassinated his own wife, lying about the fact she had tried to assassinate him. It was not hard to turn the millions of Germans who lived in terror, who had their families threatened, who had friends and known ones slaughtered, to turn on the Volkssturm and it's master. The Angriff was over at last. She spoke of her father and mother, speaking how Goebbels assassinated her mother Eva and telling how his doctor poisoned Adolf Hitler's wife, how Goebbels had groomed her, how Goebbels manipulated her for years, by the time she was over she was crying, but looking no less strong for it as even the men in the Reichstag reacted with Horror.
Now they reacted, now these bastards dared to say something, now that Goebbels could no longer threaten them, now that Goebbels no longer had any power in his grave.
Then she said how Goebbels died, how he received the news of Peiper's death in a furious rant and because of that he had suffered a stroke, no mention about his Nuclear Holocaust was given, the outside world could not be aware that twice in a row the German leadership was stopped from using it's arsenal, otherwise every threat would be only a bluff, that is what Remer told her. She measured her words and then gave praises to Remer, even against her will, she praised him as an integral soldier and a man who defended the Fatherland against the threats of the Volkssturm and was the one needed to bring order now. Albert Speer? His death would be explained as being the unfortunate consequence of his wrongful imprisonment caused by Goebbels' lies and his heartbreak over receiving the news of his family's death which led to him taking his own life. It was delightful to watch Goebbels' carefully built image burn down before the eyes of the whole world, she did not know it then but that transmission would go even to International channels, this was the first time the world heard her voice.
And so, Otto Ernst Remer would take the stage and, after a speech calling for a restoration of Order and a "Reorganization", he would be unanimously chosen as the new Führer of the Greater Germanic Reich, that same day he would use the diplomatic channels to call for a Ceasefire in Israel. They failed to fully destroy the Jewish State, however, the Syrians emerged as winners by reclaiming their previous territory, seizing Aman and a large part of Jordan, as well as the North of Israel. Under the insistence of President Smith, Nazareth would be kept under the control of Israel, it was one of the few demands of the President who was all too happy to end the war now that Jerusalem was secured from the Reich and Joseph Goebbels was dead. Despite the Israeli calls to continue until the reclamation of Northern Israel, without the American Forces and with the immediate threat being dealt with, the Knesset was forced to accept, although no official treaty was ever made.
The main reason why Remer, a committed Anti-Semite, would call for a Truce, was not only the crisis with the Volkssturm and the events of the Vierführertag, but the growing rumblings in the East, long ignored by Goebbels, which demanded the complete and total attention of the German Forces on the Volga river.
Now we need to see how the various members of the Pact and the client states react to the events in Germania.
TheSpectacledCloth
Gone Fishin'
Whelp, there goes Speer. I guess it's time for the reign of Remer to commence, until he inevitably messes it up. But who else is left to take over if/ when Remer fails?
Well, Germany had an Iron Chancellor, I don't really want to spoil but I will leak that Remer's nickname will the "Stahlführer".
TheSpectacledCloth
Gone Fishin'
Yeah, the only prominent candidates left (aside from Klara) are either Kaltenbrunner or another high-ranking Wehrmacht officer.
Unless they want to scrape the bottom of the barrel with someone like Hermann Esser.