Frankie Says Relax

In early 1945, as the Russians closed in on Berlin from the east and the Anglo-American armies enlarged their bridgehead on the Rhine, Hitler gave The Loser’s Order to his Armaments Minister, Albert Speer.

What I call “The Loser’s Order” is the last gasp of any failed dictator — scorched earth. Hitler decreed that every factory in Germany, every bridge, every rail station, every mine, and every thing still standing of any possible value was to be destroyed. Farms would burn, homes would tumble, civilians would die in the hundreds of thousands.

Why? Just so Hitler would get the last laugh over his enemies, no matter the cost to his so-called “master race.”

At great personal risk to himself, Speer made sure Hitler’s order wasn’t carried out. Speer

was especially opposed to Hitler