Artist's commentary
Last stand
As Germany's final defeat drew nearer, heightened terror was employed not only against regular troops and members of the Volkssturm militia to maintain discipline and prevent military units from falling apart; it also increasingly was aimed at the civilian population as soviet troops advance into Berlin. Local mayors, government personal, and ordinary citizens who displayed a willingness to surrender were rewarded for their efforts with execution. These executions were carryout by military police units as well as ordinary police units and Greifkommando units.
yet as the chaos deepened during the battle, the situation becomes so hopeless that even the chain dogs are muzzled. The retreating Greifkommando unit Erika belongs to was crushed by fast-advancing Soviet troops. Now the hunter becomes prey, unit members are either killed or fleed, leaving Erika and a few other behinds to fend off the advancing Soviets.
Erika tried to gather wounded and survivors inside a cannon crater to take cover. yet with all the talks of "final victory" and the execution of deserters, Erika never used a gun, nor did she ever took a life, she was the medical volunteer of the unit. The fear of death, or even worse, being captured by Soviet soldiers drives Erika to pull out her gun and aims it toward the Soviets, trying to make her last stand in this crater.
"We have to win this war [...] if the other win this war, and they do to us only a fraction of what we have done in the occupied territories, there won't be a single German left in a few weeks."
With help from Useless (user/5815364), we reimagine what would be like during the battle of Berlin. We brought back two characters from previous work, Volkssturm soldier Bubi and the Mid-age SA trooper from <GreifKommando und Volksturm Bubi>. The sign hanging on the building on the left is "Unsere Mauern brechen, aber unsere herzen nicht" (Break our walls, but not our hearts), a very common propaganda slogan during the war. We also did a dead german soldier wearing 1945 issued "Leibermuster" camouflage uniform near the Kubelwagen.
There will be an all-age version soon.