Chapter 62: Japan on the cruise ship It spanned the entire Eurasian continent from west to east, and crossed the Sea of Japan, which is wider than the Baltic Sea, and finally arrived at the mysterious eastern island country, as well as Germany's allies in this war.
Unfortunately, they have also become Soviets.
Servant state.
Standing on the pier of Osaka Port, looking at the Japanese ocean liner "Rukawa Maru" in front of him, which he was about to captain, Lieutenant Colonel Erich Top had an indescribable feeling in his heart.
As a sea wolf on the Atlantic Ocean, he had spent countless free time between battles, thinking about what he would do if he could survive until the war.
And the captain of a civilian ship is obviously also a very reasonable person.
Career prospects.
But Erich Top never thought that he would actually go sailing on a cruise ship before the war was over, and that it was a job arranged by the Soviets, and the place of work was the motherland's Eastern allies during the war.
The contrast was really subtle.
However, the Soviet soldier who "escorted" Lieutenant Colonel Top to his job obviously had no intention of considering his emotions, but pushed him in the back impatiently.
Under the rude urging of the other party, Lieutenant Colonel Top could only sigh and listlessly boarded the gangway of the cruise ship "Rukawa Maru".
Lieutenant Colonel Erich Top, a German naval officer who was born in Hanover, has just turned thirty years old, but he is already one of the ace U-boat commanders of the former Nazi German army.
He commanded the "Red Devil Boat" U552 to sink ships.
The world's third-largest U-boat king of 200,000 tons, and the two U-boat kings ahead of him have all been killed in battle, so Lieutenant Colonel Erich Top is now the well-deserved number one submarine ace in the world.
However, despite having such a glorious record and such an outstanding and successful military career, with the defeat and surrender of Nazi Germany, Lieutenant Colonel Top could only obediently walk into the Soviet prisoner of war camp.
First, he was interrogated in detail, and then Sent to Siberia to reclaim the wilderness Throughout the Soviet era, and even earlier in the late Tsarist Russia, the development of Siberia was an extremely important strategic task.
Only by developing this barren land, instead of just showing it on the map like Antarctica, would Russia Only then can we truly become a superpower.
However, developing Siberia requires a lot of manpower, and Russia itself is vast and sparsely populated.
On the one hand, Stalin, the iron and loving father, mobilized the Communist Youth League members with patriotism and dedication, but on the other hand, he resorted to forced relocation, which was a destructive move that demoralized people.
The manpower provided is far from enough.
Today, the Soviet Red Army has captured more than two million prisoners of the European Axis Powers during the war.
Later, there were also many British prisoners, Spanish prisoners, and Portuguese prisoners.
Naturally, they were unwilling to let go of these prisoners of war easily.
They were all high-quality and strong labor forces. , and their military career allowed them to develop the disciplined habit of obeying orders and learn some basic skills.
Finally, their status as prisoners of war allowed them to be driven at will, and their labor efficiency was much higher than that of ordinary people.
Therefore, all German prisoners of war who had not committed any major crimes were basically sent to collective farms and labor camps in the Far East to open up wasteland, cultivate land, and build the Siberian Railway and other infrastructure.
Anyway, the Soviet Union does not raise waste.
Those who do not work cannot eat.
If they do not work, they will starve and freeze to death.
So Lieutenant Colonel Top said goodbye to his submarine and the waves of the North Atlantic, and came to the vast snowfields of Siberia to wield a logging ax and a hoe.
During this period, there was a lack of food, lack of clothing, acclimatization, and high-intensity labor.
Needless to say, the accommodation provided by the Soviet Union to prisoners of war was a shabby log cabin, and the food rations were four people sharing a loaf mixed with a lot of bran.
They only had black bread, other than that there was vegetable porridge made from potatoes, cabbage and buckwheat, and occasionally a little salted fish to improve the food, but they had to work at least twelve hours a day, which was basically the treatment of serfs.
In fact, Lieutenant Colonel Top, who was not captured until Germany was defeated and destroyed in 1945, was among the group of people who came the latest and suffered the least.
The lives of the previous groups of prisoners of war were even more difficult.
In the summer of 45 when Lieutenant Colonel Top and his crew arrived in Siberia, the food in the prisoner-of-war labor camp had been greatly improved.
At least the vegetable porridge that the prisoners of war ate every day was so thick that you could insert a spoon into it.
It couldn't be poured down, and then there was a small amount of sugar and meat rations.
But despite this, after spending a winter in Siberia, Captain Top still lost a full five kilograms of weight.
However, Lieutenant Colonel Top did not stay in the Siberian cabin for long, because in the spring of 1946, with the establishment of the Japanese red regime and the opening of the chronological vending machines, the socialist camp was on the sea of the Far East.
Suddenly, there were tens of millions of tons of military and civilian ships, all of which were redeemed from vending machines by frantically printing money, to the extent that ocean cruise ships could be used as refugee camps.
But it was impossible to gather so many sailors.
The forced socialist camp even began to recruit sailors from China and Eastern European countries.
Although the original number of sailors in these countries was actually very small, they were not very needed at the moment anyway, so they simply temporarily loaned them to the Soviet big brother in exchange for assistance. .
In addition, the Kremlin also has the idea of sailors from various defeated countries.
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Following Stalin's order, hundreds of thousands of sailors of the Nazi German Navy were pulled out of the prisoner of war camps.
After screening out some of the hardcore Nazis, the remaining people were given two orders by the Soviet political commissar with a straight face.
Choice: either live in exile in Siberia for ten years, continue to repair the earth while chewing black bread, and enjoy the life of labor camp prisoners. treatment; or you can work as a sailor on a civilian ship for three years in the still war-torn Japanese waters.
According to the original rank before being captured, the salary and benefits are the same as those of officers and soldiers of the Red Navy at all levels.
There are additional allowances for going to sea.
Relatives in Germany can also refer to the Red Army soldiers.
Family benefits, special food rations, and generous pensions in case of death.
Therefore, Lieutenant Colonel Top and his men did not hesitate to choose to go to Japan to sail a ship.
Then they were rewarded with a box of cigarettes and a full meal, and were then put on the road to Vladivostok.
Gram's train.
Because of Lieutenant Colonel Top's qualifications, he was directly appointed as the captain of a cruise ship before departure.
Of course, due to insufficient trust, he, the captain, had to be supervised by a political commissar at any time, and Lieutenant Colonel Top also expressed his understanding.
Next, regarding this journey to East Asia, Lieutenant Colonel Top had a strange feeling.
As the train got closer and closer to the Japanese front line, the food provided to them became better and better.
The staple food rations suddenly changed from black bread to white bread and sweet biscuits at some point, and the side dishes also changed from scratch, from less to more.
At first it was just pickled cucumbers, then dried fish, and then a thick soup made of potatoes and bacon.
Especially during the days when they were stranded at the port of Vladivostok, waiting for the ship to go to Japan, Lieutenant Colonel Top and his men were able to eat a full meal every day, which was called the "Socialist Holy Communion".
"Potato goulash, plus beer, dessert and fruit.
Although even the Soviets themselves can't explain why they define potato goulash as the "Socialist Holy Communion", it's almost the same as when he was an ace captain.
Eat just as well.
According to what he witnessed with his own eyes on the streets of Vladivostok, everything was bustling and noisy.
It was almost impossible to tell that the country was in the middle of a cruel war.
The streets in the city were clean and tidy, and the traffic on the streets was busy.
The pedestrians on the road were well-dressed and no one looked hungry.
They were full of vitality.
The shop windows that stretch as far as the eye can see are filled with all kinds of exquisite products, many of which even Lieutenant Colonel Top has never heard of.
God, is this really the Russia that is famous for its poverty?
In the eyes of an observer, former ace captain Lieutenant Colonel Top, the only thing in the city that can show some traces of war is probably the male-to-female ratio of pedestrians on the streets: On the streets of Vladivostok, young and middle-aged people There are obviously fewer men.
Almost all store clerks are women.
Even bus drivers are female drivers.
Even if there are a few young men who appear occasionally, most of them are wearing military uniforms.
However, compared to my hometown in Germany, which has been reduced to ruins, this place can definitely be called a socialist paradise.
Thinking about the relatives in his hometown who may not even be able to eat potatoes every day, the former ace captain Lieutenant Colonel Top couldn't help but feel a little sad.
But since he had been defeated, he had no choice but to accept his fate.
Fortunately, since he volunteered to come to the East to sail Boat, relatives at home should be able to get some food, and maybe some money and food packages can be sent there in the future to help them survive this difficult time.
All the glory, ideas and dreams have disappeared with the defeat.
The only thing that needs to be focused on now is how to survive.
Of course, these benefits did not come in vain.
No, they were dragged to start work as soon as they arrived at the field.
In the empty engine room of the ocean liner "Rukawa Maru", it was pitch black at this time.
The sound of banging percussion echoed in the darkness.
Under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Top, several former U-boat sailors of the German Navy sat with their legs spread apart on the oil-stained steel floor, competing with a generator set.
Work hard.
Everyone had a flashlight in their mouths, and the floor was covered with wrenches, screwdrivers, needle-nose pliers and other tools, as well as several complicated circuit diagrams.
After two hours of fussing, until the flashlight battery was about to run out of power, the originally silent generator set finally started to rumble, and the dark cabin suddenly became brightly lit.
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The sailors threw the tools in their hands to the ground and exhaled tiredly.
"Oh, thank you so much.
Now our ship can finally generate its own electricity without having to connect cables from the shore."
The political commissar of the Japanese Communist Party and the original acting captain on the "Rukawa Maru", a short and lean Japanese university lecturer, spoke in very poor German, with an exaggerated tone of humility and a sense of relief.
Before, he had bravely led a group of rookie crew members, holding documentation and drawings, and tinkered in the engine room countless times, trying to get the cruise ship's engine, or at least the generator, to run.
Unfortunately, practice and theory are completely different things.
The generator on the ship looks completely different from what he saw in the school laboratory.
There are many more knife handles and switches, and various dial ammeters and voltmeters with pointers.
There were other watches that dazzled them.
What's even more terrible is that above and below each partition, suspension board and movable cabin board, there are an unimaginable number of large and small pipes of various calibers intertwined.
It didn't look like a cabin, but like the belly of a whale.
Although the tubes of various systems were painted in different colors, they, rookies, couldn't tell them apart even with the manuals.
Instead, they caused countless accidents: minor ones It was oil sprayed on the face, and the worst was that some people got electric shocks.
Fortunately, at least there was no fire, otherwise everyone on this boat would have been roasted.
For putting a cruise ship filled with thousands of refugees in such a dangerous situation, the relevant departments have issued severe reprimands and even circulated criticism on many occasions.
But faced with such a mess, this former university lecturer who was completely unprofessional was at a loss what to do and was overwhelmed.
He had been having nightmares for a week in a row recently.
Fortunately, a professional from Germany finally came over, and he, a layman, also It’s time to step aside and make way for someone more worthy.
Therefore, the political commissar of the Japanese Communist Party really had a "saved" expression at this moment, and respectfully handed a clean towel to Captain Top, "The welcome lunch has been prepared.
Please wash your face."
Change your clothes and come have dinner with me."
Then, in a well-decorated small dining room on the ship, Captain Top and his men enjoyed a luxurious feast almost dumbfounded.
The long table was covered with a crisp white linen tablecloth, decorated with vases and silk.
The artificial flowers, copper cups and cutlery shine like gold.
There is a dazzling array of exquisite meals, as if this is not a refugee ship, but a real hotel on the sea: golden and crispy roast chicken, juicy and delicious steaks, fragrant cream cakes, and more than a dozen varieties of canned fruits.
There was even a gramophone playing music during the meal.
Although there is no alcohol on the table due to the prohibition, soda, coffee and black tea are all open for supply, and coffee and black tea seem to be of high quality.
Since the war started, my tongue has been suffering from artificial coffee and margarine, which are all Nazis.
Lieutenant Colonel Erichtop, a German specialty roasted with barley, soybeans and chicory, couldn't help but be filled with emotions and simply didn't know what to say.
If you had not seen the ruins of the city on the shore before, and just looked at the scene of well-fed, well-fed and pampered people on the ship, it would be difficult to imagine that you are in a turbulent country that is still being ravaged by war.
At the same time, looking at the cargo ships flying the sickle and hammer flags out the porthole, going back and forth on the sea, he couldn't help but feel deeply sad.
He was lamenting the Soviet Union's strong national power, and lamenting the Soviets' aid to their Japanese brothers.
The exaggeration of the Soviet Union can be seen from today's dining table.
Even on the battlefield, they can eat so luxuriously.
The various supplies that the Soviets aided the Japanese battlefield must be an unimaginable astronomical figure.
However, it is very regrettable that the reality is not what Lieutenant Colonel Erich Top imagined, but even more incredible.
The current situation is not at all that the Soviet Union is gritting its teeth and selling kidneys to Japan for blood transfusions, but on the contrary, thousands of people are doing it every day.
Tens of thousands of tons of military and civilian supplies were transported from Japan to Vladivostok ship after ship, and then passed through Siberia.
The Trans-Siberian Railway is transported to Europe and supplies the daily needs of the socialist military and civilians throughout Europe.
Due to the transportation capacity limitations of the Trans-Siberian Railway, a lot of materials are stored in Vladivostok and can only be consumed locally.
As a result, this has increasingly resulted in that Although the abnormal prosperity of this Far Eastern port city was already prosperous before this, thanks to the frequent trade between Japan and the Soviet Union.
But Lieutenant Colonel Erich Top did not know the truth behind all this, and naturally the vast majority of Japanese citizens did not know these secrets.
According to the tacit consent of the wartime base camp and the propaganda of the Japanese Communist Party, everything the refugees had food, shelter and food came from the generous assistance of the Comintern.
As a result, many Japanese refugees who were originally displaced, hungry and cold were moved to tears. , and the public opinion base of red ideas also expanded rapidly.
Then, after some time, as the operators of each ocean liner and cargo ship were basically in place and started to get started, Erich Top, who had quickly gained weight because he had been eating and drinking all day long since boarding the ship, Colonel, very suddenly received the order to weigh anchor and set sail oshow7: