Capítulo 196: Chapter 15: Lost Paradise
Before entering the comprehensive hospital occupying a large cave in the "shelter", Lynn only saw some young people of the opposite sex in the dormitory management office and the cafeteria. He didn't automatically assume that there were signs of a balanced gender ratio in this secret base. However, after going through the hospital examinations, consultations, medication changes, and bed assignments, he was somewhat dazed. Not all the angels wore white coats. Altogether, there were hundreds of people, and eighty percent of them were beautiful young women. For anyone who had witnessed such a scene, who would still think that life in the base was dull and boring?
Among various non-serious combat injuries, Lynn's thigh wound and shoulder shrapnel were relatively easy to treat. Moreover, appropriate hemostatic treatment had been applied at the time of injury, followed by professional surgical treatment hours later. Symptoms of wound infection during the submarine journey were also effectively controlled. Therefore, after these five days, the healing progress of the wounds was relatively optimistic. With no overall combat tasks, the military medical officer arranged for him a week of hospitalization and rest. Lying on a clean and tidy bed, watching the young nurses coming and going, the youthful Lynn couldn't help but feel a bit indulgent. However, as time passed, just watching became dull. He thought that women like Alice understood the charm better. He wondered how she and her daughter, along with White Mountain Goat, were doing now.
Thinking about these things, Lynn casually picked up the medical leave schedule issued by the military doctor. The dates written on it were from May 4th to May 10th. With his previous experience recovering from an arm injury, seven days of careful treatment should restore his vitality. However, looking at those simple Arabic numerals, Lynn felt a bit dazzled. Finally, he remembered: In the history of World War II known to most people, the German head of state committed suicide in the Berlin bunker on April 30th, and nine days later, Germany officially signed the unconditional surrender with the Allied forces. Three months later, the Americans dropped atomic bombs on Japan, followed by Japan's unconditional surrender.
Wanting to confirm whether the main historical events were still unfolding as he knew them, Lynn looked around and struck up a conversation with a nearby sergeant who didn't seem cunning or evasive. After learning each other's names, birthplaces, and military experiences, he casually asked, "We were cooped up on the submarine for four days, talking to the same group of people every day... Do you know what the latest news is outside?"
The sergeant, unlike the cautious middlemen in the dormitory, not only refused to disclose but also regarded himself as a benevolent admonisher. He lowered his voice and said, "It's been circulating outside... the head of state is dead! I also heard that the Navy Commander-in-Chief has officially succeeded the position of head of state. The German [***] will continue to fight the enemy under his leadership!"
"Really?" Lynn pretended to be surprised, then shook his head while whispering, "That's impossible. I saw the head of state and Goebbels board the submarine with my own eyes. Now that the Minister of Propaganda has arrived, the head of state must have arrived here safely too!"
I disclose a secret to you, and you disclose a secret to me. It's like a fair deal of mutual benefit. As long as it doesn't involve suffering punishment, people are often willing to reveal what they know. The sergeant, surprised, said, "Oh? Are you sure?"
Lynn replied confidently, "I saw it with my own eyes!"
The sergeant, injured in his right arm and shoulder, thought for a moment and whispered in Lynn's ear, "But Rommel didn't die. He eats in the cafeteria every day; Goebbels didn't die either. He's moving around openly as soon as he arrives at the base. Why only the head of state..."
This question was exactly one of Lynn's major doubts. Seeing stretchers but not people along the way, was it because the head of state was seriously ill and unconscious, deliberately concealed by the officers, or was it simply a deliberate deception, and the real head of state never left Berlin? It was hateful that these mysteries were like fish placed in a window, and he was like a hungry cat outside the glass, only able to salivate through the glass, fantasizing about the window being blown open by the wind, opened by someone, or inexplicably cracked, yet he had no ability to open the window himself.
After a while, the sergeant took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, brand new packaging with previously unseen patterns. Lynn asked, "Is this also part of the base's regular supply?"
"Yeah!" The sergeant generously handed Lynn a cigarette. "Two packs for soldiers per week, two and a half packs for sergeants, three packs for officers, and you can also buy extra with money. By the way, the Imperial Mark is still in use here, and our salaries are still issued according to wartime standards."
"Oh, that's great!" Lynn replied, thinking that the supply conditions in this "shelter" were much better than he had imagined. Retreating from the front lines to here was like ascending from hell to heaven. When the time came, he could find a young nurse or cafeteria attendant to marry and have children with. The homesickness would be greatly reduced. The only worry was that this might just be a token gesture by those in power to stabilize the situation. Once the pre-stored supplies were depleted, there would naturally be a risk of mutiny and disbandment.
The friendly attitude of the sergeant, although limited in his knowledge of external information, had been in the "shelter" for several days, providing Lynn with much help in understanding this place as a newcomer. He claimed to have heard from a submariner that this "shelter" was not far from Cape Nordkinn, the northernmost point of the European continent. They discovered these natural caves on a German submarine intercepting the Allied Arctic route. It was injured by enemy escort vessels, entered the fjord in the wind and snow, and the heavy-duty divers who went underwater for repairs accidentally discovered the entrance to the cave. Initially, the German Navy tried to use these caves to build a submarine supply station, but with the sudden change in the war situation, completely severing the Allied northern route no longer helped change the situation. Therefore, the top echelons of the Empire decided to turn this place into the last fortress, and engineers widened the caves and passages between them, resulting in the appearance of today.
Listening to his companion's narration, Lynn seemed to see the wounded German submarine hiding on the fjord, barely alive, and brave submarine repair personnel repeatedly diving into the icy seawater. When they accidentally discovered the entrance to the cave, the surprise in their eyes was profound. After that, a large number of engineering personnel arrived secretly, overcoming the initial hardships and gradually improving various facilities in this secret base. After a long time, Lynn came back to his senses and sighed, "Lucky to be here, no regrets in this life!"
The sergeant, smoking a cigarette, shook his head slightly. "If it's just temporary refuge, it's fine. If we really have to stay in this place where the sun can't be seen for decades, heh, it's really tough!"
Lynn took a drag from his cigarette and asked, "Do you think we'll stay here for a lifetime?"
The sergeant squinted and pondered for a moment. "Maybe yes, maybe no, it's hard to say! Even if we manage to gather a hundred thousand of the finest soldiers, manufacture a thousand new fighter jets, build several hundred high-speed submarines, and successfully return to Germany, we still wouldn't be able to defeat the massive Soviet ground forces. Besides... we lack all the resources we need here, so just being able to sustain ourselves long-term is impressive!"
"Yeah! Even with resources, we don't have enough space and equipment here for large-scale military production. Relying solely on a handful of cutting-edge weapons, we still can't cope with the powerful enemies on both the eastern and western fronts!" Lynn's analysis intentionally skirted a difficult reality—nuclear deterrence. The United States would soon produce nuclear weapons, followed closely by the Soviet Union. Even if German scientists developed nearly sci-fi-grade advanced weapons, they still wouldn't be a match. Moreover, as time goes on, the populace's support for their homeland weakens. When there's no hope left for restoration, this 'shelter' would become nothing but an isolated paradise!
"I wonder what they're thinking!" the sergeant sighed, taking a drag from his cigarette. Then, he reassured himself, "Well, let's not dwell on it. Since Field Marshal Rommel was willing to forsake his reputation to come here, there must be a clever plan in place. Let's wait patiently!"
This remark reminded Lynn of Rommel's character. How could a man like Rommel, with both talent and ambition, burdened by his father's vendetta, be content to hide away for a lifetime?
As they chatted, the light outside the room gradually dimmed—artificial lighting could mimic natural conditions, but it could never replace sunlight. When Lynn mentioned this, the sergeant chuckled. He mentioned something interesting they discovered when they captured the Maginot Line forty years ago—namely, infrared irradiation chambers. The French, considering that soldiers stationed underground for long periods might suffer from lack of sunlight affecting their health, came up with the idea of using infrared to simulate sunlight for "artificial sunlight baths," which reportedly were popular among French soldiers. Similar irradiation chambers existed in the shelter, where people could go for 1-2 sessions per week under normal circumstances.
Listening to this, Lynn was speechless. It seemed that the higher-ups had indeed taken all aspects into consideration, adopting a mindset akin to that of waging a war of attrition. He wondered what groundbreaking advancements they might have made in technology and military production. Initially, they should have brought in the top experts and technicians. However, it seemed that many weapon experts, including Wernher von Braun, the father of rocketry, and nuclear physicist Werner Heisenberg, were captured by Allied or Soviet forces during Germany's surrender. The Soviet Union benefited greatly from German experts in nuclear weapons development, and German scientists also played a role in the US-Soviet space race. Perhaps the implementation of the "Aryan Ark Plan" couldn't keep up with the worsening situation on the battlefield, so many experts didn't make it out, either because they were captured or due to personal reasons.
Thanks to the ample medical staff in the hospital, wounded soldiers like Lynn didn't need to go to the dining hall for meals. Instead, young female nurses brought "nutritious meals" to their beds. Lynn, accustomed to the battlefield, found it overwhelming to be surrounded by young women in just one day. He awkwardly thanked the nurse who brought his dinner and took the opportunity to inquire about the situation. It was said that another batch of newcomers arrived in the shelter in the afternoon, mostly submarine crew members, along with some handsome young men in black uniforms. Hearing this description, Lynn guessed that it might be submarines departing from Germany on the same day, carrying tank crews and armored vehicle drivers. With these elites, the Panther tanks and armored vehicles in the arsenal wouldn't just be decorations. Of course, provided there was sufficient fuel—after all, the lack of fuel was a major fatal flaw in the German defeat!
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