Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - In the Europe of Total War
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proceed further. I turned to the commander and
asked him if he would help us save the Legation
from complete destruction. He refused categorically.
He had been ordered to extinguish a fire some blocks
further on. This and nothing else was his task. I
tried in vain to explain that he could not possibly
reach his destination, that he was thus unable to
carry out his assignment, and that under the
circumstances, he could certainly be more useful helping
us than standing idly by twiddling his thumbs. He
still refused. Orders were orders. The Legation could
go on burning.
At dawn, when the raid finally ended, Mr. Richert
and I went out in the Tiergarten to survey the
damage. Terrible sights met our eyes. The Legation
was almost totally destroyed. Only the walls were
left. The same fate had befallen the other three
Legation buildings. One of them had been hit by a
high explosive bomb and had completely collapsed.
Round about, the same destruction prevailed. The
only houses which had not suffered direct hits were,
through an extraordinary caprice of fate, the Italian
and Japanese Embassies. I remember saying to
Richert, as we walked through the streets on this
sad autumn morning, that if after this on arriving
home one should meet a Swedish gentleman who was
upset over having been improperly placed at a dinner
table, one would consider him very much out of
touch with reality.
A deadly silence covered the whole town. Thick
columns of smoke still rose from the burning houses.
Great masses of people thronged the streets on their
way to places where they could receive aid. They had
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