Original subtitles

[Music]

i am authorized by girbles to speak in

the name of the entire vermont

we will fight to the end

general what do you have left

what are you going to fight with

we expect unconditional surrender

martial zhukov's troops arrived 10

kilometers east of berlin

i order you to enter berlin first this

evening

keep me informed of the implementation

i will report all of this to moscow

continue the negotiations with krebs and

get his agreement to unconditional

surrender

we hadn't slept for almost a week

we hadn't either shaved nor washed we

looked more like vagrants than soldiers

the experiences of the last days were

etched on our faces

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as we saw in the last episode after the

soviet breakthrough on the oda and the

threat of encirclement for berlin hitler

ordered venk's 12th army to disengage

against the americans in the west and

attack towards the east

wink was not only to push back the

advancing red army but also had to join

forces with buses ninth army completely

surrounded on the order front since the

22nd of april together the two armies

were then supposed to rescue the

endangered german capital

in fact venk had no intention to follow

hitler's orders the young general had

formed his ideas following those of

gadarian when he was his deputy at okh

just like gadarian wink does not want to

fight a battle in inner germany but to

help rescue the austria he clearly

understood that the options were not to

win or to lose but to become a prisoner

of the americans or of the soviets

therefore his only objective was to

allow as many troops as possible to

escape west

for this he was to clear a path towards

buses troops and then fall back west

together with them

the last german offensive of the war

will thus be launched at dawn on the

26th of april

in full disobedience of orders from

above

in the meantime the front has already

begun moving towards him

on the 23rd of april at 1300 hours 9th

army commander busa had finally received

authorization to retreat

in the evening heinrichy phoned him

assuring that his old friend venk will

get him out of there

it proved not too difficult for ninth

army to disengage since the region was a

patchwork of lakes and dense forests

with narrow roads where a few 88

millimeter flat guns or sturgeschutz

could effectively block a soviet

division

on the other hand the patrols of the

21st panzer division indicated that the

west face of the pocket 80 kilometers

long was not strongly held by the

russians

kurniv simply didn't have enough

strength to do all these things at once

hold sherna in the south

meet the americans on the elba take

berlin and crush the ninth army

but even so the retreat soon became a

disaster

buses troops wandered in the woods for

days constantly harassed by the red

artillery

the exhausted remnants of the 11th ss

panzer corps the fifth mountain corps

the frankfurt garrison mixed elements of

14 divisions and about 50 other

independent units gathered in the

forests around halber

in total around 150 000 soldiers 1 000

guns 200 armored and 2 000 various other

vehicles

among them tens of thousands of

civilians prisoners of war

and four slavers

not all of them will succeed in breaking

through to the west towards the elba

river

had the ninth army commander begun his

retreat two days earlier he could have

avoided such a disaster

but busa was not vanq he could not

openly disobey hitler and instead tried

to conform to unrealistic orders

could we say that the guderian spear

program to save german land from total

destruction has succeeded mostly yes

inner germany between the rhine and the

elbow was left largely intact but also

even if to a lesser extent between the

elba and the order

of the 3.3 million men who made up the

austere 1.8 million succeeded in the

great withdrawal to the elba and the

surrender to the western allies

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there is not a great deal of literature

describing the battle inside berlin

itself and all the books that cover the

military operations are based on a

limited number of sources

a notice written by general vitling in

captivity the memoirs of soviet leaders

shukoff konef chuikov and the unit's war

diaries

staying true to our video framework

this will apply to all subsequent series

on this channel we'll first discuss the

context and then proceed with the

dramatic historic discussions between

the main actors of the events

on the 20th of april at 0 7 40 hours

konev sent the following order to his

armored commanders rebelco and lil

yashenko

marshal zhukov's troops arrived 10

kilometers east of berlin

i order you to enter berlin first this

evening

keep me informed of the implementation

two hours later generals katukov and

bogdanov commanders of the first and

second guard tank armies respectively

received this telex from zhukov

the army receives the historic mission

to enter berlin first and hoist the

banner of victory there i personally

take charge of the organization

send the best brigade of each corps to

berlin and assign them a mission of

reaching the outskirts of the city on

april 21st at 0 400 hours at all costs i

then need an immediate report to be able

to announce the event to comrade stalin

and have it published by the press

at this moment buses ninth army was

already beginning to fall apart and the

situation kept on getting worse during

the next few days on the reichstag one

columns of vehicles from the 56th panzer

corps mingled with carts of refugees

stretching for kilometers

thousands of stragglers exhausted beyond

recognition were seeking their units

among them was private gerhard tillery

he hadn't slept for almost a week

he hadn't either shaved nor washed we

looked more like vagrants than soldiers

our uniforms were hardened with mud and

my hair hadn't been cut in weeks

the experiences of the last days were

etched on our faces we were pale

our cheeks hollow with dark circles

under our eyes when i saw myself in the

mirror i was horrified of my appearance

i really didn't look like i was 19.

[Music]

on the 24th of april the infamous group

steiner that hitler ordered to deliver

berlin

launched seven battalions across the

hawaiian canal north of berlin

surprising the soviet 61st army and with

the help of a few aircraft pushed it

back six kilometers to the south

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but the soviets recovered and fought

steiner's soldiers back to their initial

positions before nightfall

so much for steiner's brilliant rescue

operation

the big event of the day came from the

eighth guards and first tank armies

which formed zhukov's most powerful

group in the morning their troops joined

with those of konev at the schoenefeld

airfield in the southern suburbs the

encirclement of berlin to the south and

east was therefore sealed and the german

ninth army was completely encircled

[Music]

but in the evening chuikov received a

surprising phone call from zhukov

from what source do you hold that

marshall connief's troops arrived in

berlin from the south the left-wing

units of 28th corps made contact with

ribalco's third tank army at six am near

schoenfeld airfield who saw them who

told you that

the core commander general rejov

sent a team of reliable officers to

several points south of the city in

order to know precisely which units of

the first ukrainian front arrived in

berlin from the south when did they

reach the city ring and what are their

missions

this astonishing conversation throws a

harsh light on the game of the

simulation played by stalin

he did not at any time inform zhukov

about connects progress although that

was his responsibility as general

coordinator

for two days robelco's and chuikov's

troops had been within gun range of each

other knowing nothing about it

marshall novikov head of the air force

no doubt received an order from stalin

to remain silent despite having his own

information and knowing exactly where

conf was

zhukov's rage knew no bounds the race

for the reichstag had begun

during the night zhukov reflected on the

situation created by the appearance of

connect's forces

he then decides on a move which will

give him the advantage

two solutions were possible either

respect a line drawn by stalin which

means turning his forces 90 degrees

north and moving parallel to conef or

quite simply to cut across conef's path

forcing him back towards the west on a

trajectory leaving the reichstag out of

reach

this is what zhukov chose

on the 28th of april the city was

finally surrounded as extraordinary as

it may seem konev was unaware that the

eastern half of the sector he was about

to conquer had been in churkov's hand

since the day before

this confirms the total lack of

coordination on the part of stalin and

the interruption of all communications

between the two fronts for several days

although the soviet commanders do not

say a word about this in their memoirs

it would have been censored anyway

half of the violent artillery

preparation by rebelco inevitably fell

on chewikov's army

it wasn't until mid-morning that konef

realized the situation

his fury was not hard to imagine

at noon rebecca was ordered to transfer

part of his forces from the right to the

left wing this caused conf to lose

another day and the race for the

reichstag at zero eight four five hours

for the first time since the beginning

of the offensive on berlin konov

addressed rukov directly by telex

today 28th of april the right flank of

the troops of comrade rubalco and

reached angel station and the left bank

reached willemsdorf and lake halensie

according to a report by comrade rubalco

the armies of comrades chewikov and

katukov received from the first

belarusian front the mission to push

north west along the south bank of the

landvier canal as a result of which they

will cut off the first ukrainian fronts

units marching north i beg you to take

the necessary measures to modify the

axis of advance of the armies of

comrades chewikov and katukov thank you

for letting us know

zhukov did not even answer his colleague

instead he sent a report to stalin and

asked him i asked you hereby to

establish a limit between the troops of

the two fronts

or rather to authorize me to remove from

berlin the troops of the first ukrainian

front but stalin had already decided the

situation he himself had created was

becoming too dangerous

he therefore redefined a new boundary

between the fronts that left the

reichstag in zhukov's area whilst konev

had no choice but to comply however

zhukov had not finished running yet

stalin expressly wanted the red flag to

be hoisted over the reichstag for may

day chuikov zaith guards army and

kotokov's first guards tank army

advanced from the south whilst

kuznetsov's third and bazarin's fifth

shock armies advanced from the north and

east

at the same time conov's armies of the

first ukrainian front coming from the

southwest also reached berlin

at one stage berlin came close to having

no garrison at all because hitler did

not make the decision to fight in the

city until the 20th of april when he

declared that he would not leave neither

to berchtesgaden nor to the new

headquarters that was hastily built at

yonestar in turingya

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on the 22nd of april during the last

general conference hitler announced that

he was taking direct command of the

berlin garrison

um

56 panzer corps was ordered to return to

the capital

its 20 000 men and around 40 tanks

became the backbone of the berlin

garrison

on the other hand on the soviet side no

voice was raised against the forceful

takeover of the capital

the memoirs of the soviet leaders

explain that the capture of berlin alone

gave meaning to the immense sacrifices

made by the soviet union since the 22nd

of june 1941 and even more so since

hitler remained there

the soviets could have been satisfied

with the solution adopted by the germans

in leningrad

to maintain a tight blockade

and to shell the city without respite

however it is not clear that the

resistance would have lasted any longer

than the 11 days of the actual battle

but stalin expresses himself clearly on

the subject several times he wants to be

able to invite his allies to a city

conquered by his troops

[Music]

how does the battle of berlin compare to

that of stalingrad the emblematic scene

of urban warfare

one thing is clear in the skies of

berlin the situation was the exact

opposite of that in stalingrad a ratio

of 10 to 1 in favor of the attacker

but on the ground it was not so obvious

since fighting in large urban areas was

not something armies were trained for in

this the comparison between berlin and

stalingrad makes sense

the city of berlin presented a highly

industrialized landscape

it had 50 times as many factories as

stalingrad which was already considered

a large industrial city it had many more

large stone buildings and giant concrete

structures

it was crossed by 200 kilometers of

canals and rivers including 50

kilometers for the spree alone which

formed the most serious obstacles to the

progression of an army

soviet soldiers had to fight for as many

as 300 buildings transformed into

fortresses

about one hundred thousand germans

defended the right capital but without

the twenty thousand of vitaling spenza

corps the resistance would have

collapsed much earlier than it actually

did

if we count the flack they had about 500

guns

against them the soviets lined up around

300 000 troops

this ratio of three to one is not so

great if we consider that it takes six

to one to win in a dense urban area

without too many losses

in stalingrad powerless did not even

have a three to one ratio

interestingly just like in stalingrad

the factories continued to issue

production until the 23rd of april

during the last two days thirteen stern

geschutz six panthers and nine jugged

panthers joined the fighting directly

from their assembly lines which reminds

us of the stalingrad factories sending

t-34s straight to the front just a few

kilometers away but unlike stalingrad

where the roles though difficult were at

least clearly defined the chains of

command in berlin were chaotic and

conflicts of competences were many from

a tactical point of view general

weidling was theoretically leading the

battle but in reality each unit was more

or less left to itself since it did not

belong to his panzer court the telephone

network was out of order and there were

not enough radios available also the

coordination between sectors and units

was weak which added to the general

confusion

many groups took decisions on their own

thus on the 22nd of april gripen fiora

ziegler decided to withdraw the pioneers

of the nordland division towards huvel

to prepare a breakthrough to the west in

complete contradiction to his orders

on the soviet side commanding control

was also a problem

units from ten different armies six

thousand tanks and forty thousand guns

rocket launchers and heavy mortars were

packed together in the destroyed city

this monstrous concentration of miner

material made it really difficult to

control the troops who were also lacking

orientation

several armored battalions fell into

ambushes because they wrongly identified

this or that pile of ruins

haste also explains the lack of

coordination columns of t-34s and is-2s

advanced without infantry cover on the

flanks and without proper reconnaissance

in berlin as in stalingrad the battle

was ultimately the business of small

groups

chuikov who undoubtedly had the greatest

experience of urban fighting in the

world at the time

sent specific orders to his units and

called for stalingrad veterans in the

8th guard's army to instruct the troops

about their experience on the volga

with too few inventory and too many

ill-suited tank units yukov compensated

by giving full effect to the three major

assets at his disposal engineers

aviation and artillery

one number alone sums up the

participation of artillery in the soviet

victory in five years the

anglo-americans threw forty five

thousand tons of bombs on the german

capital

the soviets spent the same in ten days

as commander

putted in his memoirs throughout the

28th and 29th of april the soviet armies

overcame the tenacity of the germans and

penetrated deeper into the government

district of berlin he notes that the

waffenessas battalions were particularly

unyielding

in the evening zhukov phone chewikov is

it possible to completely clear out

berlin by may day even through enemy

resistance is lessening i have no hope

for such a quick capitulation

nevertheless the mood was already

victorious

in the evening chuikov was invited to

celebrate his troops entry into the

german capital

but as he sat down to eat the eighth

guard's commander was urgently called to

the telephone

it was lieutenant general glazenov

commander of the fourth guard's rifle

corps he sounded very agitated

a german lieutenant colonel seifert has

arrived under a white flag at the front

line of the 102nd guard's rifle regiment

35th division

he has a package addressed to the

commander of the russian troops

the german speaks of an important

message to be delivered immediately to

higher headquarters

he managed to get across the canal in

the area of the lowenbrucker

right now he's at the division's

headquarters he has credential authority

and request that a time and place be

established for a representative from

the german high command to cross the

line

understood tells the german that we're

ready to receive negotiators

having lead them to the same sector

where he crossed at the lowenbrook

ceasefire in that sector receives the

negotiators and bring them to my forward

command post i'm leaving for them now

churkov immediately phoned army chief of

staff bolivsky and ordered him to set up

reliable communications for him

biliavsky reported everything to zhukov

and went to eighth guard's army command

post with generals posiaski and vinerob

all of them were stalingrad veterans

three years ago their army was named the

62nd army and was fighting on the last

possible boundary

now they were about to get the prize

they were denied at stalingrad to

receive the official capitulation of

their enemy chuikov could easily guess

what the negotiators would deliver and

knew he was about to witness historic

events

memories raced through the general's

mind

the war had lasted four years he saw the

vulgar before his eyes

it was distant but never far away in his

thoughts he saw burning oil spilling

down onto the river burning boats and

barges

he remembered the long and hard road to

berlin

having defended the last lines on the

volga

his soldiers now stood on the banks of

the spree

the door suddenly banged open cutting

short churicoff's reminiscences on the

threshold was vishnievsky along with

another writer domitovsky who had been a

familiar of the soldiers of the 62nd

army on the banks of the volga a witness

to the great battle and the surrender of

the german sixth army the depiction that

follows is largely based upon the notes

taken by this writer during the meeting

everyone was trying to figure out what

was about to happen as chirikov

remembered they were smoking like stoves

walking along the black columned hall

trying to count the seconds stretching

out into excruciating minutes

it was three o'clock in the morning then

3 30 dawn was breaking on the 1st of may

it was gloomy in berlin

finally at 0 3 55 a german general

wearing an iron cross and a swastika on

his sleeve entered the room chewikov

looked him over medium height burly

shaved head scars on his face

he made the nazi salute handing chuikov

a soldier's message book this was

general krebs chief of the okh general

staff

he was followed by colonel von duffing

chief of staff of the 56 panzer corps

who acted as interpreter

krebs did not wait for questions he

declared i will tell you something

highly classified you're the first

foreigner to be informed that on 30

april hitler voluntarily left us

committing suicide after uttering that

krebs paused closely watching for the

effect it would have on the russians

apparently he expected them to shower

him with questions and display burning

interest in this sensational news

but cuikov said calmly we already know

krebs was visibly abashed he had not

expected his momentous proclamation to

be such a dud

then he read out goebbels proclamation

to the soviet supreme command

according to the testament the fuhrer

left us

we have empowered general krebs to

communicate the following

on the basis of his legal rights the

fuhrer has transferred all authority to

dennis me and borman

i authorized borman to establish

communications with the leader of the

soviet people this communication will be

necessary for peace negotiations between

the powers that have suffered the

greatest casualties

in order to better understand the

unfolding of the negotiations between

the germans and the soviets

let's consider the separate peace

attempts by the two rival factions among

the senior leaders of the third reich

a right-wing tendency by himmler

angoring sought in vain between the 20th

and 23rd of april to present an offer of

capitulation only to the western powers

it completely failed and only gained

hitler's disavow doughnuts as hitler's

successor followed the same policy when

he made peace with western allies on the

7th of may but he then had to repeat the

signing in berlin one day later with the

ussr

on the other side goebbels went back to

his leftist inclination from the

beginnings in the 1920s when he had

pleaded for an alliance with ussr

hitler by will made him chancellor of

the reich goebbels played the opposite

card to that of goring himmler and

doughnuts he sent general krebs the last

okh chief of staff to meet with choikov

to offer him a separate surrender

this was his last hand in this game of

poker krebs handed chuck off two more

documents

one confirmed krebs authority to

negotiate with the russian supreme

command

it was signed by bormann

stamped with the seal of the reich

chancellery and dated 30th of april 1945

the second was hitler's will and

testament on it was a roster of the new

right government and the high command of

the vermont it was signed by hitler and

witnesses and dated 0-400 on the 29th of

april

1945. handing over the documents it

seemed krebs was trying to delay the

questions he knew would follow he had to

feel awkward like a diplomat who had

come not to negotiate but to beg for

mercy

chuikov guessed krebs would try to

cautiously probe his interlocutors

to find out if bargaining was possible

and to play upon the distrust of the

allies who had delayed opening a second

front for so long

it was not easy for such a character as

krebs to admit defeat because he had

personally participated in the crusade

to the east and believed in its success

why did chewikov tell krebs that he knew

of hitler's suicide as he later freely

admitted the soviet commander had

neither known nor expected to hear it

from krebs

however in preparing for the

conversation he had steeled himself to

meet anything unexpected with no show of

surprise

he knew that an experienced diplomat

like cribs would not begin with a

reference to his main concern

he would first analyze the character of

his interlocutor and then tried to

manipulate the conversation so that the

question he most wanted answered would

naturally emerge as the first question

that had to be resolved

for chirikov the news about hitler was

of paramount importance whereas for

krebs it was no more than a diplomatic

disguise for the issue most important to

him

that's why chuerkov brushed aside krebs

diversion and forced him to speak

plainly

do these documents apply to berlin or

all of germany

i am authorized by goebbels to speak in

the name of the entire wehrmacht chuikov

called zhukov and reported that krebs

was provisionally authorized to

negotiate

general krebs chief of the oka general

staff is here

he reports that hitler has committed

suicide

he says he is to negotiate a ceasefire

is krebs empowered to negotiate the

surrender chirikov relayed the question

no there are other ways to end the war

to do it the new government led by

doughnuts must have the chance to

assemble

they will decide on the course of

negotiations with the soviet government

how can there be a government you furor

committed suicide thereby acknowledging

the bankruptcy of his regime

perhaps one of his deputies has the

authority to decide if there will be

further bloodshed

who is replacing hitler right now

right now

goebbels is replacing hitler he has been

appointed chancellor grand admiral

dennis is president

cherykov's adjutant along with

vishnievsky and domitowski were

carefully writing down every word

they could not hear what the front

commander said on the telephone but

chuikov later completed the account with

all details for the best possible

accuracy

the 8th guard's commander proceeded with

the discussion

ruling to zhukov what the german

negotiator said

as a new government with gobbles as

chancellor doing it as president and

borman as head of the nazi party

krebs requests that all military

operations cease during negotiations

so that the new government will have the

opportunity to get organized

donuts would then decide the future

course of the war

i will immediately report on this to

moscow turkoff was to wait by the phone

questions might be asked and

explanations demanded

after a minute had passed zhukov asked

is krebs positive about hitler killing

himself

obviously that was the most important

information to confirm for stalin

chuikov asked krebs a second time told

the answer to zhukov who relayed to

moscow

he then said

ask krebs if they mean to lay down their

arms and intend to engage in peace talks

are we talking about surrender is it

your mission to bring that about

allow us to organize the new government

hitler dictated in his will

the government will decide the matter to

your advantage

as chuikov reported that he thought

krebs was cunning a favorite device of

diplomats was to persistently repeat the

same thing in different words

both interlocutors were doing this

chuikov repeating his questions and

krebs repeating his answers what more

does krebs have to say

so we can have an opportunity to discuss

your demands i request a temporary

cessation of hostilities and your

assistance in gathering the new

government in berlin and nowhere else we

know what your new government wants

even better known to us if they are

turned by your friends him there and

going to test the waters with our allies

could you possibly be unaware of that

craves was confused he obviously did not

expect this question he began fumbling

around in his side pocket and produced a

pencil for which he actually had no need

at all he finally answered

i'm the representative of the legitimate

government mandated in hitler's will

another government may arise in the

south but it will be illegitimate

for now there's only a government in

berlin and it's legitimate

we ask for a ceasefire to gather the

members of our government discuss the

situation and conclude a treaty

advantageous to both of us

the question of ceasefire or peace can

only be decided with unconditional

surrender at the beginning

that is our decision

and this is a decision of our lives

no talk or promises can break the united

front

of the anti-hitler coalition

shiver ran across kreb's face the scar

on his cheek turned pink it was

noticeable that he was exerting himself

to ward off despair he blurted out

we believe the ussr will bargain with

the new legitimate german government

that would be convenient and

advantageous for both sides

if you seize the government district and

kill all of us the germans will not be

able to work with you

we didn't come here to kill germans we

came here to liberate them from nazism

the honest germans are already working

with us to prevent further bloodshed

we request that you recognize the new

government of germany before there is an

unconditional surrender contact the new

government give it the opportunity to

establish relations with your own

government you can only profit by that

i need to discuss this issue with the

front commander

but in any case keep in mind that we

have one condition

your unconditional surrender

chirikov went to the next room to call

zhukov in his report he laid out his

thoughts krebs did not come to negotiate

a surrender apparently he wants to

clarify the situation and assess our

mood

he wants two-party negotiations between

us and this new german government

they have no forces to lead battle with

gobbles and himmler are playing their

last card

trying to get us tied up in these

negotiations

they are looking for weak points in

relations between us and the allies

hoping to sow mistrust

krebs is dragging out his answers to in

time

so that's not to their advantage

our troops are going on with the

offensive

it's quite only in the sector where

kreps was allowed to pass over

i will report all of this to moscow

continue the negotiations with krebs and

get his agreement to unconditional

surrender before returning to the

negotiations room chuikov signed the

order of the day for the 1st of may 1945

the last fighting order of the war for

the eighth guard's army

this order considered the possibility of

a german capitulation and a large

surrender of troops in the city of

berlin

at 0-40 his head ringing from fatigue

and lack of sleep chuikov got back to

krebs

in his own words the soviet adrenal was

not accustomed to diplomacy and it was

quite tiresome for him he also had a

sense that in his absence krebs had had

prepared new arguments for his proposals

he spoke first insisting on a temporary

ceasefire i cannot negotiate on other

issues than this

i'm only a representative i cannot make

decisions for my government

it is in your interest to negotiate with

the new german government you must

understand her general that we know what

you want from us

you're going to issue a warning that you

will continue fighting or putting up

nonsensical resistance

to be more accurate there will be more

pointless casualties

i'll ask you a direct question

why are you continuing the fight krebs

looked at chewick off in silence for

several seconds not knowing what to say

then blurted out we will fight to the

end general what do you have left

what are you going to fight with

we expect unconditional surrender

no

if we surrender unconditionally we will

not be considered a rightful government

the negotiations became even more

worrisome it was abundantly clear that

krebs wanted the soviets to recognize

the new government that was his mission

without the agreement of goebbels and

bormann he could not change the

proposals and would keep repeating the

same thing

the hopelessness in his words and

actions was evident but he did not leave

he was expecting something but chuikov

was not sure what it was

the clock showed zero five hundred there

no longer was a clear front line in the

city only isolated garrisons and

waffen-assessed attachments which were

still quite strong were resisting in the

government district in the reichstag and

in the bunkers inside the zoological

gardens

shirikov was having trouble staying

awake he said

you're insisting on a ceasefire and

negotiations while your army is

capitulating

while your soldiers and officers are

surrendering in hundreds and thousands

where

everywhere

without orders

our troops are advancing

yours are surrendering

could these be isolated phenomena

at that moment the roar of a katyusha

volley was heard krebs cringed and

chirikov took up a newspaper and read

aloud a report about a diplomatic

maneuver by himmler who had sought to

enter negotiations with the british

government through count bernadotte from

sweden krebs was clearly dejected

looking at the floor he muttered

himmler was not empowered to do that we

feared this

himmler does not know the fuhrer killed

himself

yeah but you know himmler announced the

terms of four separate negotiations with

our lives over the radio

that was the act of a civilian under

different authority if we

unconditionally surrender we cannot form

a new government i'm afraid another

government one not in accord with

hitler's wishes will be created i only

heard of it on radio stockholm but it

seemed to me that himmler's talks with

the allies were far advanced with those

words krebs betrayed himself

the leadership of the third reich knew

of himless negotiations

they had been sure the allies would be

tempted by himless proposals and that

the soviet government would accept a

proposal of goebbels and bormann

he knew that goring had approached the

americans specifically eisenhower with

the same intent but had failed

chilekov once more made it clear to

krebs that the soviet government was

working in concert with the american and

british governments and that he saw

himless dimash as failed diplomatic

blackmail

as to a new german government he said

that the most authoritative german

government would be one that agreed to

the unconditional surrender

you