Chương 366: Chapter 443 Farouk I 1
Soon, a large engineering team arrived at the site and began excavation work. Although Wilhelm was eager to see the gold unearthed, it would take at least ten days to clean up the massive stones. Since he didn't have the leisure to wait that long, he had to leave early.
Before leaving Egypt, he wrote a letter urging surrender and scattered it over Cairo. However, General Wavell was evidently a staunch loyalist and ignored these leaflets.
Two days later, in the dead of night, ten Heinkel He 177 bombers leisurely flew over Cairo. Although the city had imposed a blackout, the encampments of the German, Italian, and Vichy French forces surrounding Cairo were brightly lit, making it easy for the bombers to find their targets.
"Drop the bombs!"
As the bombardier forcefully pulled the lever, ten bombs dropped from each aircraft's bomb bay, falling in sequence every few seconds. These were not ordinary bombs but thermobaric bombs, one of the German army's secret weapons. Each bomb weighed 500 kilograms, meaning the ten bombers collectively dropped 50 tons of thermobaric explosives.
Unlike conventional explosives, thermobaric bombs use oxygen from the surrounding air, rather than carrying their own oxidizers. This makes their explosive power 5 to 10 times that of TNT of equivalent weight. The principle behind their effectiveness is that the fuel mixes thoroughly with air before detonating, creating high temperatures (around 3000 degrees Celsius), high pressures (up to 3000 kilopascals at the center), and high-speed shockwaves (between 1500 and 3000 meters per second). These three effects—blast, heat, and suffocation—are each deadly on their own.
Thermobaric bombs are area-denial weapons and do not require precise targeting. The aerosols produced are denser than air, so they flow into lower spaces, making them particularly effective against trenches and bunkers.
At that moment, a helicopter was hovering above the encirclement. Inside, Italian and Vichy French officers watched in stunned silence as massive, fiery mushroom clouds rose within Cairo, repeatedly exclaiming "God" in their shock.
The shockwaves from the distant explosions even reached the helicopter, causing it to jolt. Rommel, who was sharing the ride, grabbed a nearby handhold and, seeing the astonished faces of the officers, smiled and said, "Gentlemen, no need to be alarmed. This is not our ultimate weapon. Soon, we will have a single weapon capable of destroying an entire city."
The Italian and Vichy French officers were dumbfounded, their eyes showing deep fear.
Cairo was engulfed in flames and smoke. Buildings within the blast radius were reduced to rubble, and people either burned alive or suffocated. Casualties were enormous.
The next morning, after a sleepless night, General Wavell received the casualty report. His hands trembled as he read it: in just one night, nearly one-fifth of his forces were lost!
What puzzled him was that many bunkers remained intact, yet none of the soldiers inside survived. These bodies bore no shrapnel wounds or burns; instead, their mouths gaped open, and many had clawed at their own throats before dying, leaving their necks bloody.
That morning, the Germans dropped leaflets again, with a simple message: surrender, or we will drop more bombs tonight.
"Surrender! Surrender!" Terrified by the horrific deaths of their comrades, Egyptian and Indian soldiers rushed to surrender to the allied forces encircling the city. Within half a day, tens of thousands surrendered.
General Wavell's resolve to fight to the end wavered. Another round of bombing could leave no survivors in Cairo. Most importantly, what if one of those terrible bombs hit his bunker?
Remembering the ghastly state of the corpses, General Wavell's face turned pale. After hesitating for a while, he sent his last telegram to London and then announced his surrender.
The German-Italian-French allied forces marched triumphantly into Cairo. Rommel had little regard for General Wavell. After a brief surrender ceremony, he headed straight to Abdeen Palace.
Abdeen Palace was commissioned by Ismail Pasha of the Muhammad Ali dynasty and designed by a French architect. Construction began in 1863 and was completed in 1874. It is considered one of the most luxurious palaces in the world, with lavish decorations and paintings, including rooms adorned with pure gold.
Entering the palace, the air was filled with a faint smell of blood, and the floors were still stained with blood that hadn't been cleaned up.
Rommel frowned slightly. An officer approached and saluted. "Report, General. The palace guards resisted and were all eliminated."
"What about Farouk I?"
"He's under control."
Rommel nodded and continued walking into the opulent hall, where several soldiers were guarding a group of kneeling men and women—specifically, one man and several women.
"General!"
Hearing the soldiers salute, the young man kneeling glanced up at Rommel, meeting his sharp gaze, and quickly looked down again.
Rommel looked at the young man, who still bore traces of boyishness, and smiled. "So, you're the 'Cairo Thief'?"
At a banquet, British Prime Minister Churchill had once had his pocket watch stolen, though he quickly noticed. To his surprise, the thief was none other than King Farouk I of Egypt. Egypt, being a British semi-colony, had its king stealing from his overlord—a grave embarrassment. Churchill was furious, and the British government lodged a stern protest, forcing Farouk to return the watch.
Despite this incident, Farouk did not reform. To improve his skills, he sought out an experienced thief in prison to learn from, becoming adept at stealing. He roamed the palace's various events, stealing from guests and adding the stolen items to his collection.
In an alternate timeline in 1944, Farouk I stole burial items from the body of the Iranian king's funeral procession passing through Egypt, including a sword, a belt, and medals.
Farouk stole purely for pleasure, to satisfy his desire to possess beautiful things, rather than for practical use. Many of the stolen items were useless to him and were stored in a dedicated warehouse due to their sheer quantity.
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