60. Once Keitel had departed, only General Krebs, Chief of the General Staff, supported by his junior officers Major Bernd Freiherr von Freytag-Loringhoven and Captain of Cavalry Gerhard Boldt, and Wehrmacht adjutant General Burgdorf remained of the military advisers. Liaison with Dönitz continued to be maintained through Admiral Voß; Below provided the links with the Luftwaffe. (Keitel, 348–9; Below, 412. See also Trevor-Roper, 181, for the personnel remaining in the bunker after 25 April.)
61. Speer, 483–4.
62. Koller, 35–40. Text: Below, 412; Domarus, 2228 n.165; Joachimsthaler, 162.
63. Speer, 485–6; Lang, Der Sekretär, 329–30.
64. Koller, 42–3; Schroeder, 210–11.
65. Speer, 487–8.
66. Keitel, 366; Irving, HW, 803.
67. Joachimsthaler, 163–4; Irving, HW 811–12. For Weidling’s account of his meeting with Hitler, see ‘Der Endkampf in Berlin (23.4–2.5.1945)’, Wehrwissenschaftliche Rundschau, 12/I (1962), 40–52, 111–18, 169–74, here 43. He found Hitler, face like a ‘smiling mask (gleich einer lächelnden Maske)’, both hands and one of his legs constantly trembling, hardly able to rise from his seat.
68. Joachimsthaler, 164–7; Boldt, 142–5. Towards the end of March, Eisenhower had changed the strategic plan of the western Allies. Concerned about the possibility of prolonged fighting even once the war had ended, centred on notions of a ‘National Redoubt’ in the Alps, probably with its headquarters at the Berghof, he made no attempt to advance on Berlin but, instead, directed US forces to the south of the capital into Saxony, into what had been foreseen as the Soviet zone after the war. It was as part of this advance that soldiers from the 1st US Army met Konev’s troops on 25 April at Torgau.
69. For a description, see Schroeder, 211–12; also Koller, 49, 51.
70. ‘Hitlers Lagebesprechungen’, Der Spiegel, 1966, 34.
71. Keitel, 356.
72. ‘Hitlers Lagebesprechungen’, Der Spiegel, 1966, 34 (and 37–8 for similar comments). See also Boldt, 145–6 for Hitler’s reaction to news of what turned out to be minor disagreements between Soviet and American commanders when they met at Torgau.
73. ‘Hitlers Lagebesprechungen’, Der Spiegel, 1966, 37.
74. ‘Hitlers Lagebesprechungen’, Der Spiegel, 1966, 34.
75. ‘Hitlers Lagebesprechungen’, Der Spiegel, 1966, 37–9.
76. Boldt, 150.
77. Boldt, 149.
78. Boldt, 157.
79. Joachimsthaler, 168.
80. Boldt, 153.
81. Koller, 48; Hanna Reitsch, Fliegen — Mein Leben, Stuttgart, 1951, 292ff. (and for the following); also NA, Washington, NND 901065, Folder, 2, US interrogation of Hanna Reitsch, 8 October 1945, Fols. 1–14; and PRO, London, WO208/4475, Fols.7–8 of undated (1945?) intelligence report on Hanna Reitsch.
82. Koller, 60–61; Trevor-Roper, 186–91; Below, 413–14; ΝA, Washington, NND 901065, Folder, 2, US interrogation of Hanna Reitsch, 8 October 1945, Fol. 4.
83. ‘Hitlers Lagebesprechungen’, Der Spiegel, 1966, 40–2.
84. KTB OKW, iv/2, 1460; Joachimsthaler, 171–2.
85. Lew Besymenski, Die letzten Notizen von Martin Bormann. Ein Dokument und sein Verfasser, Stuttgart, 1974, 230–31.
86. ‘Hitlers Lagebesprechungen’, Der Spiegel, 1966, 42–4.
87. Boldt, 160.
88. Below, 414.
89. ‘Hitlers Lagebesprechungen’, Der Spiegel, 1966, 44–5.
90. Linge, Bis zum Untergang, 277.
91. Joachimsthaler, 442ff., especially 464ff.; Schroeder, 167–9.
92. Joachimsthaler, 464–5; Trevor-Roper, 191–5; Boldt, 167.
93. KTB OKW, iv/2, 1461–2 (quotation 1462).
94. Cit. Trevor-Roper, 198; Lang, Der Sekretär, 334; Olaf Groehler, Das Ende der Reichskanzlei, East Berlin, 1974, 29 (none with source reference). See also Bormann’s entry for 28 April in his desk diary: ‘Our Reich Chancellery is turned into a heap of ruins (Unsere RK [Reichskanzlei] wird zum Trümmerhaufen)’ (Besymenski, Die letzten Notizen, 230–1). Trevor-Roper noted that Bormann sent the message to Puttkamer at Munich. But Puttkamer’s own later accounts give no indication that he flew to Munich, and suggest that his destination was Salzburg, before travelling to Berchtesgaden. (Michael A. Musmanno Collection, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, interview with Admiral Karl-Jesko von Puttkamer, 3 April 1948; FF53, Fols.8–10; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York, Toland Tapes, V/8/3.) If indeed the message was sent to Munich, it must have sent on the Party’s telegraph line and been relayed from Munich — presumably from a Party Headquarters on its last legs — to Puttkamer in Berchtesgaden.
95. Besymenski, Die letzten Notizen, 230–3.
96. Below, 415.
97. KTB OKW, iv/2, 1463. Domarus, 2232 appears to conflate the two separate reports, that of the afternoon and that of the evening.
