Death of Adolf Hitler - Preceding Events

Preceding Events

By early 1945, Germany's military situation was on the verge of total collapse. Poland had fallen to the advancing Soviet forces and they were massing to cross the Oder River between Küstrin and Frankfurt with Berlin, 82 kilometres (51 mi) to the west, as their objective. Hitler had watched the defeats to the Allies in Ardennes Offensive from his command post at Adlerhorst, with the British and Canadian forces in the north crossing the Rhine into the German industrial heartland of the Ruhr. The American forces in the south had captured the Lorraine and were advancing towards Mainz, Mannheim and the Rhine. In Italy, German forces were withdrawing north, as they were relentlessly pressed by the American and Commonwealth forces as part of the Spring Offensive to advance across the River Po and into the foothills of the Italian / Austrian Alps. In parallel to the military actions, the Allies had met at Yalta between 4–11 February to discuss the conclusion of the war in Europe.

Hitler retreated to his Führerbunker in Berlin on 16 January 1945 and by the end of February was presiding over a rapidly disintegrating Third Reich. To the Nazi leadership, it was clear that the battle for Berlin would be the final battle of the war. By 1 April, American forces were already on the Elbe River. Stalin, distrustful of the agreements reached at Yalta, told Eisenhower that he had "lost interest in Berlin" and would commence the offensive in May 1945. However, he was adamant that he intended to conquer Berlin by International Workers' Day (1 May 1945). Stalin had authorised his forces on 16 April to commence the battle for the Seelow Heights, the last major defensive line outside Berlin. By 19 April the Germans were in full retreat from Seelow Heights, leaving no front line. Berlin was bombarded by Soviet artillery for the first time on 20 April (Hitler's birthday). By the evening of 21 April, Red Army tanks reached the outskirts of Berlin.

At the afternoon situation conference on 22 April, Hitler suffered a total nervous collapse when he was informed that the orders he had issued the previous day for SS-General Felix Steiner's Army Detachment Steiner to move to the rescue of Berlin had not materialised. Hitler launched a tirade against the treachery and incompetence of his commanders, culminating in a declaration—for the first time—that the war was lost. Hitler announced that he would stay in Berlin until the end and then shoot himself. Later that day he asked SS physician Dr. Werner Haase about the most reliable method of suicide. Haase suggested the "pistol-and-poison method" of combining a dose of cyanide with a gunshot to the head.

By 27 April, Berlin was completely cut off from the rest of Germany. Secure radio communications with defending units had been lost; the command staff in the bunker were depending on telephone lines for passing instructions and orders and on public radio for news and information. On 28 April, a BBC report originating from Reuters was picked up; a copy of the message was given to Hitler. It reported that Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler had offered to surrender to the western Allies and that the offer had been declined. Himmler had implied that he had the authority to implement and support such a surrender; Hitler considered this treason. During the afternoon his anger and bitterness escalated into a rage against Himmler. Hitler ordered Himmler's arrest and had Hermann Fegelein (Himmler's SS representative at Hitler's HQ in Berlin) shot.

After midnight on 29 April, Hitler married Eva Braun in a small civil ceremony in a map room within the Führerbunker. Antony Beevor stated that afterwards Hitler hosted a modest wedding breakfast with his new wife. Hitler then took secretary Traudl Junge to another room and dictated his last will and testament. He signed these documents at 04:00 and then retired to bed (some sources say Hitler dictated the last will and testament immediately before the wedding, but all sources agree on the timing of the signing).

During the course of 29 April, Hitler learned of the death of his ally, Benito Mussolini, who had been executed by Italian partisans. Mussolini's body and that of his mistress, Clara Petacci, had been strung up by their heels. The bodies were later cut down and lay in the gutter, where vengeful Italians reviled them. It is probable that these events strengthened Hitler's resolve not to allow himself or his wife to be made "a spectacle of", as he had earlier recorded in his Testament. That afternoon, Hitler expressed doubts about the cyanide capsules he had received through Himmler's SS. To verify the capsules' potency, Hitler ordered Dr. Werner Haase to test one on his dog, Blondi, and the animal died as a result. That evening, at the final battle conference in the Führerbunker, General Weidling painted a stark picture of the German situation and declared that the fighting in Berlin would inevitably come to an end within the next 24 hours. Hitler, "looking like a man completely resigned to his fate," agreed to the breakout of troops in small groups, but forbade the surrender of the city. By 01:00 General Keitel reported that all forces which Hitler had been depending on to come to the rescue of Berlin had either been encircled or forced onto the defensive.