Hitler

by Brendan Simms

  129. LB, 12.12.1944, p. 713.

  130. See David K. Yelton, Hitler’s Volkssturm: The Nazi Militia and the Fall of Germany, 1944–1945 (Lawrence, Kan., 2002), pp. 7, 9.

  131. Yelton, Volkssturm, pp. 16–17.

  132. For the saliency of the equipment problem and the fuel shortage in the autumn of 1944 see KTB, OKW, IV/1, pp. 385–6.

  133. Thus O’Brien, ‘East versus west’, p. 108.

  134. FK, 12.10.1944, pp. 416–17, 424–5.

  135. Yelton, Volkssturm, pp. 45, 52, 108.

  136. Yelton, Volkssturm, pp. 38, 44; Bormann, ‘Anordnung betr. Lenkung des Kräfteeinsatzes zum Stellungsbau’, FHQ, 7.9.1944, in Bundesarchiv Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 19 2588, fol. 8.

  137. RT, 26.10.1944, p. 516; RT, 12.11.1944, p. 520.

  138. Thus Yelton, Volkssturm, pp. 45, 52, et passim. On Speer’s desire to have a Generalkommissar für den Westen, which Hitler rejected in order to avoid offending the relevant Gauleiter, see FK, 1–4.11.1944, p. 428.

  139. Thus Neitzel, ‘Der Bedeutungswandel der Kriegsmarine im Zweiten Weltkrieg’, pp. 251–3 et passim.

  140. LB, 31.7.1944, p. 608; LB, 31.8.1944, p. 620.

  141. Thus at any rate the surviving record. See ‘[1944] Daily treatment of Adolf Hitler’, translated by Virginia Bishop, 12.6.1945, IfZ, F135/3 Dokumentation Adolf Hitler.

  142. Adjutantur der Wehrmacht beim Führer, Konteradmiral von Puttkamer, circular, FHQ 14.9.1944, IfZ, ED 9.

  143. Phillips Payson O’Brien, ‘Logistics by land and air’, in John Ferris and Evan Mawdsley (eds.), The Cambridge History of the Second World War, vol. 1: Fighting the War (Cambridge, 2015), pp. 608–36.

  144. See KTB, OKW, IV/2, pp. 1,342–8; KTB, OKW, IV/1, pp. 447–8.

  145. See Peter Caddick-Adams, Snow and Steel: The Battle of the Bulge, 1944–45 (New York, 2014), pp. 221, 532 et passim; Antony Beevor, Ardennes 1944: Hitler’s Last Gamble (London, 2015), p. 84; and see generally John Zimmermann, Pflicht zum Untergang. Die deutsche Kriegführung im Westen des Reiches 1944/45 (Paderborn, 2009), pp. 227–36.

  146. KTB, OKW, IV/2, pp. 1,347–8.

  147. LB, 28.12.1944, p. 744.

  148. LB, 28.12.1944, p. 743.

  149. See KTB, OKW, IV/2, pp. 1,352–3.

  150. LB, 28.12.1944, pp. 743–4.

  151. FK, p. 444; FK, 14.1.1945, p. 460.

  152. Proclamation, 1.1.1945, Domarus, IV, p. 2,186.

  153. Schmidt, Statist, p. 585.

  154. Edgar Christoffel, Krieg am Westwall 1944/45. Das Grenzland im Westen zwischen Aachen und Saarbrücken in den letzten Kriegsmonaten (Trier, 1989), pp. 29–30.

  155. LB, 23.3.1945, pp. 930 and 933.

  156. FK, 3–6.1.1945, p. 465; FK, 20.1.1945, pp. 475–6.

  157. Thus Alfred Jodl, ‘Der Einfluss Hitlers auf die Kriegführung’, in KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,721.

  158. Thus Bernd Wegner, ‘Hitler, der Zweite Weltkrieg und die Choreographie des Untergangs’, Geschichte und Gesellschaft, 26 (2000), pp. 493–518, especially pp. 513–18 for Hitler and Clausewitz; Ullrich, Hitler. Die Jahre des Untergangs, pp. 591–627.

  159. LB, 27.1.1945, p. 857.

  160. KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 976.

  161. LB, 10.1.1945, pp. 813–14.

  162. Heinz Magenheimer, Abwehrschlacht an der Weichsel 1945. Vorbereitung, Ablauf, Erfahrungen (Freiburg, 1976), pp, 90–119.

  163. KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,017.

  164. FE, 21.1.1945, p. 476.

  165. OBdM, 22.1.1945, in KTB, OKW, IV/2, pp. 1,600–601 (quotation of the Seekriegsleitung (Naval High Command) record, p. 1,601). For Hitler’s lack of concern for the civilian population in East Prussia see also Lakowski, Ostpreussen, p. 139.

  166. FE, 4.2.1945, pp. 479–80 (quotation on p. 479).

  167. Speech, 30.1.1945, Domarus, IV, p. 2,195.

  168. ‘Zusammenfassung der Ereignisse in der 2. Januarhälfte, gegeben von Oberst G. Meyer-Detring am 29.1.1945’, in KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,053.

  169. See KTB, OKW, IV/2, 25.1.1945, p. 1,357. ‘Abgaben an den Osten’, KTB, OKW, IV/2, pp. 1,380–81.

  170. LB, 27.1.1945, pp. 873–83 (quotation on pp. 874–5).

  171. Ueberschär and Müller, 1945, p. 59.

  172. FE, 31.1.1945, p. 479.

  173. Andreas Kunz, Wehrmacht und Niederlage. Die bewaffnete Macht in der Endphase der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft 1944 bis 1945 (Munich, 2005), pp. 198–9 (quotation on p. 198).

  174. Thus KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,363.

  175. KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,042.

  176. LB, 27.1.1945, pp. 860–61. See also KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,066, for the close eye the military leadership kept on possible Allied disagreements.

  177. OBdM, 5.2.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,605.

  178. OBdM, 23.1.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,601.

  179. LV, 21.1.1945, p. 637.

  180. Grier, Hitler, Dönitz, p. 85.

  181. Kerstin von Lingen, SS und Secret Service. ‘Verschwörung des Schweigens’. Die Akte Karl Wolff (Paderborn, 2010). See also Catherine Schiemann, ‘Der Geheimdienst beendet den Krieg. “Operation Sunrise” und die deutsche Kapitulation in Italien’, in Jürgen Heideking and Christof Mauch (eds.), Geheimdienstkrieg gegen Deutschland. Subversion, Propaganda und politische Planungen des amerikanischen Geheimdienstes im Zweiten Weltkrieg (Göttingen, 1993), pp. 142–65; and Brendan Simms, ‘Karl Wolff–Der Schlichter’, in Ronald Smelser and Enrico Syring (eds.), Die SS. Elite unter dem Totenkopf (Paderborn, Munich, Vienna and Zurich, 2003), pp. 450–52.

  182. Peter Longerich, Heinrich Himmler (Oxford, 2012), p. 724.

  183. Reimer Hansen, ‘Ribbentrops Friedensfühler im Frühjahr 1945’, Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht, 18 (1967), pp. 716–30 (the text of the Sprachregelung which informed Hesse’s mission is on pp. 725–30); Hansjakob Stehle, ‘Deutsche Friedensfühler bei den Westmächten im Februar/März 1945’, Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 30 (1982), pp. 538–55.

  184. See Noble, ‘Phantom barrier’, p. 464.

  185. See Lakowski, Ostpreussen, pp. 143, 153, 183, 188–9, 194.

  186. KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,368.

  187. As reported in KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,380.

  188. See Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, pp. 266–7.

  189. KTB, OKW, IVØ2, p. 1,608.

  190. Thus Ueberschär and Müller, 1945, p. 40.

  191. This account of the meeting, with quotations from the original English, is taken from ‘Report of 7th Army Interrogation Center Paul Kubala of Karl Wahl, Gauleiter of Augsburg [sic], and Max Amann, Nazi Party member no. 3’, IfZ, F135/3 Dokumentation Adolf Hitler, fols. 490k–l. See also the eyewitness recollection of Rudolf Jordan, Erlebt und erlitten. Weg eines Gauleiters von München bis Moskau (Leoni am Starnberger See, 1971), pp. 251–8.

  192. Proclamation, 24.2.1945, Domarus, IV, pp. 2,203, 2,204–5.

  193. Thus Ian Kershaw, The End: Hitler’s Germany, 1944–45 (London, 2011), pp. 244–5.

  194. See Yelton, Volkssturm, p. 82.

  195. See Kershaw, ‘Hitler Myth’.

  196. Thus the conclusion of Allied investigators after the war: Edward A. Shils and Morris Janowitz, ‘Cohesion and Disintegration in the Wehrmacht in World War II’, Public Opinion Quarterly, 12, 2 (Summer 1948), pp. 280–315, especially p. 304; Kershaw, ‘Hitler Myth’.

  197. See KTB, OKW, IV/2, pp. 1,417–26.

  198. FE, 27.3.1945, p. 488.

  199. OBdM, 1.3.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, pp. 1,611–12; 12.3.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,616; 16.3.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,617.

  200. LB, 23.3.1945, p. 940. For a kinder view see Rudolf Hartog, Im Zeichen des Tigers. Die Indische Legion auf deutscher Seite, 1941–1945 (Herford, 1991), pp. 198–9.

  201. Thus OBdM, 3.3.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,612.

  202. See OBdM account of a meeting with Hitler, 20.3.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,619.

  203. Thus Tooze, Wages of Destruction, pp. 649–50.

  204. See KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,165.

  205. FE, 22.3.1945, p. 473.

&n
bsp; 206. LB, 23.3.1945, p. 930.

  207. OBdM, 26.3.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,621.

  208. Thus Grier, Hitler, Dönitz, p. 182.

  209. See Lagebuch, 29.3.1945, in KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,206.

  210. FE, 14.3.1945, p. 485.

  211. OBdM, 21.3.1945 and 25.3.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, pp. 1,620–21.

  212. FE, 23.3.1945, p. 487.

  213. OBdM, 26.3.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,621.

  214. Quoted in Brechtken, Albert Speer, p. 278.

  215. FK, 22.3.1945, p. 472.

  216. OBdM, 28.3.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,622.

  217. LB, 23.3.1945, pp. 939–40.

  218. Kershaw, The End, pp. 289–91.

  219. GT, 15.3.1945, II/15, p. 512.

  220. FE, 19.3.1945, pp. 486–7 (quotation on p. 486).

  221. FE, 30.3.1945, p. 489. For further qualification see FE, 7.4.1945, p. 491.

  222. The two sources for Hitler’s remarks are both from Speer himself: see Heinrich Schwendemann, ‘“Drastic measures to defend the Reich at the Oder and the Rhine…”: a forgotten memorandum of Albert Speer of 18 March 1945’, Journal of Contemporary History, 38 (2003), pp. 597–614, here p. 607. Schwendemann himself is inclined to accept their authenticity.

  223. See Sven Felix Kellerhoff, Mythos Führerbunker. Hitlers letzter Unterschlupf (Berlin, 2013), p. 72.

  224. Stephen G. Fritz, Endkampf: Soldiers, Civilians and the Death of the Third Reich (Lexington, Ky., 2004), pp. 21–2.

  225. LB, 23.3.1945, pp. 933–4.

  226. Derek S. Zumbro, Battle for the Ruhr: The German Army’s Final Defeat in the West (Lawrence, Kan., 2006), pp. 239–60.

  227. Thus the account in OBdM, 12.4.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,627.

  228. Ralf Blank, ‘Bitter Ends’. Die letzten Monate des Zweiten Weltkriegs im Ruhrgebiet 1944/45 (Essen, 2015).

  229. OBdM, 10.4.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,626.

  230. As reported in OBdM, 4.4.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,623.

  231. See Kesselring account of his meeting with Hitler in Kesselring, Soldat bis zum letzten Tag, p. 387.

  232. See Schmaltz, Kampfstoff-Forschung, p. 30.

  233. Kershaw, Nemesis, pp. 791–2.

  234. Quoted in Kellerhoff, Führerbunker, p. 84. The author points out that Bormann’s diary entry that evening was much more laconic.

  235. See Lingen, SS und Secret Service, p. 69.

  236. Kesselring, Soldat bis zum letzten Tag, p. 386.

  237. Quoted in Hartwig, Dönitz, p. 432.

  238. See Hitler’s instructions of 11 April 1945, as summarized in KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,299.

  239. FE, 15.4.1945, p. 492.

  240. Richard Lakowski, Seelow 1945. Die Entscheidungsschlacht an der Oder (Berlin, 1995), especially pp. 75–89.

  241. ‘Hitlers letzter Tagesbefehl an die Soldaten der Ostfront’, 16.4.1945, in Ueberschär and Müller, 1945, pp. 167–8.

  242. Yelton, Volkssturm, p. 126.

  243. Demps, Luftangriffe, p. 41.

  244. ‘Erlass betr. Beauftragung Dönitz mit den Vobereitungen für die Verteidigung des Nordraumes’, FE, 20.4.1945, p. 493. KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,436, states that Hitler intended to leave on 20 April, but changed his mind on 22 April.

  245. 22.4.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,454.

  246. Anton Joachimsthaler, The Last Days of Hitler: The Legends, the Evidence. The Truth (London, 1996), p. 102.

  247. KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,453.

  248. See Raichle, Symbolpolitiker, p. 434.

  249. KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,262.

  250. LB, 25.4.1945, in Helmut Heiber and David M. Glantz (eds.), Hitler and His Generals: Military Conferences 1942–1945. The First Complete Stenographic Record of the Military Situation Conferences, from Stalingrad to Berlin (London, 2002), p. 725. (This edition contains a number of records from April 1945 not in the original, German edition edited by Helmut Heiber.)

  251. Perry Biddiscombe, Werwolf! The History of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement, 1944–1946 (Toronto and Buffalo, 1998).

  252. Thus 22.4.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,453.

  253. Thus Joachimsthaler, Last Days of Hitler, p. 97.

  254. Kellerhoff, Führerbunker, p. 89.

  255. Quoted in Joachimsthaler, Last Days of Hitler, p. 101.

  256. Thus Brechtken, Albert Speer, p. 287, who shows Hitler’s supposed tears on this occasion to be pure invention.

  257. See Reimer Hansen, Das Ende des Dritten Reiches. Die deutsche Kapitulation 1945 (Stuttgart, 1966), pp. 48–50.

  258. ‘Niederschrift Ribbentrops über die letzten Tage in Berlin’, in Diether Krywalski, ‘Zwei Niederschriften Ribbentrops über die Persönlichkeit Adolf Hitlers und die letzten Tage in Berlin’, Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht, 18 (1967), pp. 742–3.

  259. The text of these points is quoted in full in Krywalski, ‘Zwei Niederschriften’, p. 744.

  260. Günther W. Gellermann, Die Armee Wenck–Hitler’s letzte Hoffnung. Aufstellung, Einsatz und Ende der 12. deutschen Armee im Frühjahr 1945 (Koblenz, 1984).

  261. Thus KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,454.

  262. Joachimsthaler, Last Days of Hitler, p. 107.

  263. KTB, OKW, IV/2, 24.4.1945, p. 1,456; ‘Erlass betr. Spitzengliederung der Wehrmacht’, FHQ, FE, 24.4.1945, pp. 494–6 (quotation on p. 496).

  264. ‘Erlass, betr. Rückgestaute Bestände an Ausrüstungen und Waffen auf den Bahnhöfen’, FE, 24.4.1945, pp. 496–7.

  265. Thus the recollection of Gerhard Boldt, Die letzten Tage der Reichskanzlei (Hamburg and Stuttgart, 1947, 2007), p. 66.

  266. See ‘Ein- und ausgehende Befehle, Meldungen usw. des Führungsstabs B (6. April bis 1. Mai [1945])’, KTB, OKW, IV/2, pp. 1,440–46; 26.4.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,458.

  267. Oliver Haller, ‘Destroying Hitler’s Berghof: the Bomber Command raid of 25 April 1945’, Canadian Military History, 20 (2011), pp. 5–20. The author points out that most of the damage on the post-war photographs was caused by the reteating SS right at the end of the conflict.

  268. Hugh Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler (London, 1947). The essential accuracy of this account is stressed by Edward D. R. Harrison, ‘Hugh Trevor-Roper und “Hitlers letzte Tage”’, Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 57, 1 (2009), p. 33. See also Henrik Eberle and Matthias Uhl (eds.), Das Buch Hitler. Geheimdossier des NKWD für Josef W. Stalin, zusammengestellt aufgrund der Verhörprotokolle des Persönlichen Adjutanten Hitlers, Otto Günsche, und des Kammerdieners Heinz Linge, Moskau 1948/49 (Bergisch Gladbach, 2005); Ada Petrova and Peter Watson, The Death of Hitler: The Full Story with New Evidence from Secret Russian Archives (New York, 1995).

  269. FE, 23.4.1945, p. 494.

  270. Longerich, Heinrich Himmler, p. 729; Ullrich, Hitler. Die Jahre des Untergangs, pp. 649–50.

  271. Traudl Junge, Bis zur letzten Stunde. Hitlers Sekretärin erzählt ihr Leben (Munich, 2002), p. 195.

  272. Veronika Diem, Die Freiheitsaktion Bayern. Ein Aufstand in der Endphase des NS-Regimes (Kallmünz, 2013).

  273. See Hitler’s pleas as conveyed by General Krebs, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,461.

  274. Mario Frank, Der Tod im Führerbunker. Hitlers letzte Tage (Munich, 2005).

  275. 28.4.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,447.

  276. 30.4.1945, KTB, OKW, IV/2, p. 1,467.

  277. The bodies were later conclusively identified as those of the Hitlers: Kellerhoff, Führerbunker, p. 94.

  278. Quoted in Kellerhoff, Führerbunker, p. 94.

  279. ‘Hitlers politisches Testament’, 29.4.1945, in KTB, OKW, IV/2, pp. 1,666–9.

 

 

 
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