Find the Führer: The Secret Soviet Investigation (Episode 1)

[Music] thank you in the final stages of the Battle of Berlin a special operation was launched by the Red Army an operation orchestrated by Stalin himself to find Adolf Hitler dead or alive Soviet intelligence had a fairly good idea of where to look in the bomb and shell-ravaged German capital and the right unit to undertake such a sensitive task smersh this ominous sounding unit was an extension of Soviet Military Intelligence founded in April 1943 its name a portmanteau of the Russian language phrase death despise and was created by Stalin himself its initial remit was the combating of German Espionage operations within the Soviet Union and hunting down so-called counter-revolutionaries it was a constant presence with Red Army units and was extremely powerful and feared being attached at Brigade division Corps and army level it was a part of the dreaded nkvd secret police itself headed by laverenti berrier for the Berlin operation a special smersh unit was formed and given one specific task by Stalin find Hitler Stalin seemed convinced that Hitler had escaped from Berlin and he took a keen personal interest in discovering the full truth of Hitler's fate and the thoroughness of his operation codename myth in trying to discover the truth about Hitler's fate was unknown in the west until 1968 when the Soviets first revealed exactly what happened to Hitler and his inner circle it is because of Soviet distrust of its Western allies and the resulting cold war that the question of Hitler's ultimate fate remained unsettled for decades allowing all sorts of conspiracy theories to grow up in the information vacuum that resulted conspiracies eagerly reported by unscrupulous researchers and parroted with great effect by poorly researched television documentaries until these theories now obscure much of the truth this series of videos will examine the face of Hitler from the Soviet perspective using the interrogation and medical reports and other sources that were generated by operation myth and hidden from Western scrutiny for almost a quarter of a century after Hitler's death they reveal some fascinating discoveries made by Soviet investigators that potentially change how we view the demise of Hitler and his wife Ava Brown real conspiracies based upon hard medical evidence as we have seen with my series about the demise of reich's Fury SS Heinrich Himmler and Reich Minister Martin bormann links in the end screen nothing is totally settled connecting the fates of many top-nazi leaders and real conspiracies do surround much of the Orthodox history I'd urge you to watch these series as they are companion pieces to this new series I'm creating the biggest conspiracy of all the fate of Adolf Hitler [Music] to Briefly summarize the situation in Berlin the massive Soviet operation to capture Berlin had commenced on the 16th of April 1945 with the battle of the Zelo Heights to the east of the Metropolis the threadbare and outnumbered German forces put up a very strong and cumbersome defense until the 19th of April when The Battered Soviets managed to break out towards the city some of the surviving German divisions withdrew into the city proper to assist the Garrison with its defense while large formations of German forces became surrounded outside the city the Red Army managed to reach Berlin's Eastern suburbs on Hitler's 56th and last birthday 20th of April within a few days Berlin was surrounded and being assaulted by two enormous Soviet armies from east and south the first Belarusian front commanded by Marshall giorgi zhukov and the first Ukrainian front under martial Ivan conyev Stalin in order to speed the capture of Berlin encouraged a race to occur between zhukov and konyev the prize being the capture of the reichstag an event that was intended to happen before May Day the 1st of May 1945 a massive celebration in the Communist world whilst all this was going on Hitler made increasingly futile efforts to have German armies outside Berlin relieve the city but all efforts failed Soviet forces fought their ways steadily deeper and deeper into the city through consecutive defense lines against fanatical German resistance incurring heavy casualties in men and armor by the 27th of April the Soviets were nearing the central defense sector codenamed Zed for citadela or Citadel by the Germans containing all of the massive Ministry buildings and public monuments including the battered reichstag and not far away the reich's chancellery Hitler's enormous government building where he had lived and worked while in Berlin beneath the Reich Chancery Garden was the fura bunker a converted two-level air raid shelter that had become Hitler's last bolt hole 40 feet underground where he was safe from the bombing and shelling the government quarter was defended by some of the best remaining troops including some 5000 SS from Hitler and himmler's personal escort commands and some foreign SS who had little incentive to surrender to the Soviets as well as many army navy Air Force and folksterm units and some of the remaining heavy armor the smears Detachment detailed with finding Hitler worked its way forward with the third shock Army of zhukov's first bialer Russian front on the 29th of April as elements of the third shock Army launched its first bloody assaults on the reichstag building and other buildings around it elements from the 5th shark army were closing up on the area of the reich's chancellery the battle for the reichstag would last for several days as German resistance in and around the large building was extremely fierce while German forces mainly SS managed to hold a shrinking perimeter encompassing the Reich chanclery and a few streets around it the smersh unit with the third shark army assaulting the reichstag was abruptly transferred to the fifth Shak Army sector in preparation for the assault on the chancellery complex inside the fura bunker Hitler realized that the game was up in the early hours of the 30th of April he was informed that the troops defending the Reich Chancery would run out of ammunition during the night that wasn't entirely correct but the defense couldn't last many more days against immense Soviet pressure Hitler had married his longtime girlfriend Ava Brown the previous afternoon in a short ceremony inside the bunker according to dozens of witnesses Hitler and Ava committed suicide around 3 30 pm on the 30th of April 1945 inside Hitler's sitting room and their bodies were carried up to the Shell ravaged Reich Chancery garden and burned over a period of some hours by SS bodyguards using petrol obtained from the Reich chancery motorpool in the evening the unrecognizable remains were buried in a shallow grave propaganda Minister Dr Youssef gobbels had taken over leadership in Berlin as the new Reich Chancellor on Hitler's death and attempted to organize a ceasefire with the Soviet command though unsuccessful the Soviets learned via Goebbels that Hitler was allegedly dead when goebel's scheme failed he too committed suicide on the afternoon of the 1st of May 1945 along with his wife Magda after having first had their young children poisoned using cyanide capsules Goebbels according to Witnesses went up to the Chancery Garden where he first shot his wife and then himself before the bodies were partly incinerated by another open petrol fire and left unburied among the detritus and ruins Martin Borman the highest ranking Nazi leader left in the bunker took part in an organized breakout from the Reich Chancery area on the night of the first to 2nd of May designed to give Hitler's personal staff and bodyguard units a chance to avoid Soviet captivity the bunker being completely deserted except for Johannes henschel the master Electro engineer that ran the structure's various pumps engines and so on while the Defenders of the Reich Chancery ruins were much depleted the Soviets planned to make an assault on the Reich Chancery in the early hours of the 2nd of May using troops of the fifth shock Army's ninth rifle Corps the Soviet assault was made across Wilhelm Platz against much decreased opposition in a field Howitzer used to blow a hole in the doors after which Red Army troops stormed the complex floor by floor so at this point the Soviets only knew that Hitler had been reported as having died in Berlin on the 30th of April a report that originated from Dr Goebbels and was subsequently broadcast to all German Armed Forces via radio Hamburg on the night of the 1st of May the announcement made by Hitler's successor Grand Admiral Karl dernitz now the new Reich president the ninth rifle Corps assault on the Reich Chancery complex on the 2nd of May was successful in a special Banner raising unit was in the Vanguard of the assault led by nkvd Major Anna nicolina and four male soldiers of the second Battalion 1050th Infantry Regiment nicolina had a red Soviet flag wrapped around her waist under her leather jacket and she and her escort made their way under Fire to the top floor of the Reich chancery they then found a staircase into the vast attic where two of her escorts were killed by defensive German fire and one was wounded before nicolina climbed through a hole in the roof and together with Sarge and Gorbachev and private bondarev secured the banner to one of the building's remaining spiers using field telephone cable an action that resulted in major nicolina being awarded appropriately the order of the red banner by 6 am on the same morning 2nd of May General Helmut weidling directing the final defense of Berlin surrendered along with his staff at the bendler Block command bunker the last Defenders around the Reich Chancery and the fura bunker were Frenchmen of the 33rd raffan Grenadier division of the SS Charlemagne and remnants of the 11th SS volunteer Panzer Grenadier division nordland made up largely of Scandinavian volunteers Master Electro mechanic henschel remained in the now deserted Fury bunker to provide electricity to the emergency field Hospital in the adjacent Reich Chancery bunkers the first Soviet troops cautiously entered the furobanker at 9 00 am on the 2nd of May once the battle for the Reich Chancery was over the Soviet infantry was ordered out to form a cordon around the complex schmiesh now took over and ordered a combat engineer Detachment from the third shock Army to search the complex four booby traps and explosives the Detachment Commander Captain shelter sulkarnishvili was very nervous about working alongside the all-powerful schmies his detachments spent some hours combing the huge building for booby traps but found none only stacks of panzerfaust anti-tank weapons in crates in the Reich Chancery Garden near the fura Bunker's emergency exit the sappers came across two badly charred corpses shrunk in size and looking like puppets as their Commander said their tasks complete the engineers were ordered off the site and smear's troops began to search for Hitler the Detachment was under the direct supervision of Lieutenant General Alexander Vedas chief of the smersh directorate first Beulah Russian front he in turn was under great pressure from both biria and Stalin to find Hitler and his job wasn't made any easier when Pravda the Communist Party newspaper prodded by Stalin's urging published on the 2nd of May an article declaring Hitler's report a death to be a quote fascist trick Stalin seems to have believed that Hitler was still alive and had somehow escaped Berlin when martial zhukov the front Commander tried to visit the fura bunker on the 2nd of may he was turned away by smersh they said it was too dangerous and he was also refused access two days later as well demonstrating just how powerful schmieresch was and how it wanted no distractions as it combed the Reich Chancery and environs for evidence in the meantime quite a number of Hitler's former staff had been apprehended trying to escape from Berlin they were taken to the Reich Institute for the blind in uranyenberg for detailed questioning by a major bystrov of the nkvd Stalin also sent an nkvd General to supervise these interrogations this General was given a secure telephone line to Stalin at the Kremlin and would update Stalin following each individual interrogation Stalin was very much part of the hunt for Hitler in real time and everyone involved could feel his eyes upon them the corpses discovered lying in the Reich Chancery Garden by combat engineers on the 2nd of May were suspected to be those of Goebbels and his wife Magda examination in situ by schmersh revealed the male corpse was wearing a leg brace Dr Goebbels being partly disabled and fragments of his party Leader's uniform a golden party badge and other items were recovered from the corpse his charred head was also quite recognizable as Goebbels Two vowter Pistols both fire damage were recovered near his body on Magnus corpse a silver inscribed cigarette case was found as well as Hitler's own golden party badge that he had given to the loyal Magda only a few days before his own death three German Witnesses were brought to make formal identifications of the Goebbels vice admiral Hans Foss Grand Admiral dernitz's Naval representative of the furobanker who had been captured the night before attempting to escape from Berlin SS Chief garage mechanic Hans Schneider of the Reich Chancery motorpool and Reich Chancery cook vilheim langa all made positive identifications of the Goebbels schmersh then plays both corpses onto a door and loaded them aboard a truck and drove them to smear's new headquarters at plotens a prison on the 3rd of May schmersh discovered the corpses of the poison Goebbels children lying in their bunk beds in the upper bunker and removed these bodies along with that of General Hunt's Cribbs the last Chief of Staff of the German High command which shot himself in the fura bunker in the early hours of the 2nd of May along with the corpse of General Wilhelm Bergdorf Hitler's Chief Army adjutant who had likewise shot himself later Dr goebbels's Chief RSD bodyguard who had been captured trying to escape Berlin formally identified all the Corpses the corpses were next taken to Berlin book hospital where a team of highly trained and very eminent Soviet Pathologists had been assembled and each corpse autopsied samples were taken from organs stomach contents and sections of lung liver spleen and kidneys blood samples were also analyzed all the bodies except that of Dr Goebbels contain glass splinters in their mouths from SS manufactured cyanide capsules confirming the cause of death with the available witness testimonies Goebbels had died from a bullet wound to the right Temple again tallying with witness testimonies back at the Reich chancellery schmersh continued to search for Hitler and his wife asked vice admiral Foss where Hitler was he hadn't witnessed Hitler's suicide or cremation but whilst being part of the bunker breakout on the night of the first to 2nd of May Hitler's adjutant had told fuss that Hitler had committed suicide and had been buried in the Reich Chancery Garden therefore drove Foss back to the Reich Chancery in a jeep it was now the evening of the 3rd of May 1945. smersh officers took fast down into the fura bunker the electricity now Switched Off using handheld torches to light the way Foss was visibly nervous and muttered in German unintelligible things under his breath the party climbed up to the Garden via the bunker emergency exit emerging at about 9 pm they stepped up to a large dry water tank originally used for fire fighting purposes it was full of dead bodies in the Torchlight Foss suddenly exclaimed pointing to one corpse and saying oh this is Hitler's body a brief examination of the body was made under less than ideal circumstances he was that of a middle-aged man wearing a dark suit and sporting the same hairstyle and toothbrush mustache as the fuhrer his shoes were missing and the schmersh officer in charge climenko noted that the body was wearing Dan's socks would the fuhrer have worn darn socks clemenko didn't think so but decided to return in daylight and examine the corpse in more detail the following morning climenko and his section returned to the Reich Chancery only to discover that the corpse identified by Foss had been moved clemenko eventually found it laid out on the floor in one of the Reich chancery's shattered Halls six German Witnesses were shown the corpse five said that it was not Hitler one said that it could be due to the superficial resemblance to Hitler the corpse attracted a lot of Soviet attention and was photographed and filmed in situ the cause of death seemingly a bullet hole in the middle of the forehead it looked as though the man had been executed subsequently many have suggested that the body was a certain Gustav veiler a Hitler double and that he was executed and his corpse planted near the bunker to help cover the real Hitler's dramatic last-minute escape from Berlin the problem is the manner of this unidentified man's death Bears no relation to the circumstances of Hitler's death that were recounted by dozens of witnesses both to the Soviets and also to the Americans and British quite separately a story they stuck to for the rest of their lives we might suggest as indeed schmersh thought at the time that the man had a superficial resemblance to the fura but then again many German men grew toothbrush mustaches in honor of their leader clamenco was taking no chances and asked that a Soviet Diplomat who had met Hitler come and view the corpse according to Bunker Witnesses now in Soviet hands and being ruthlessly interrogated at the Reich Institute for the blind Hitler and his wife were burned and then buried in the right Chancery Garden this was where climenko focused his attention just outside the bunker emergency exit private Ivan churokov climbed into a nearby crater that was strewn with burnt paper and discovered a pair of charred legs sticking out of the soil clemenko's men excavated the area exposing two badly burned corpses of a man and a woman at this point clamenco was still awaiting the arrival of the Soviet Diplomat to view the corpse that had been found in the water tank unsure what he had actually found in the garden clemenko ordered the burn bodies to be re-buried for now at 2PM the Soviet Diplomat Julie arrived and immediately dismissed the body found as not being Hitler clemenko returned with his men to the Reich Chancery Garden early the next day 5th of May 1945. the two buried corpses were disinterred and each placed in a wooden Soviet ammunition crate and photographed interestingly the unburned bodies of two dogs were found close by one a small black dog the other an Alsatian the corpses and the dogs were taken by truck to Berlin book to the autopsied Flamenco was certainly optimistic he had been looking for the dead bodies of Hitler and Ava Brown that according to many German Witnesses had been buried close to the furabunka emergency exit the Soviets knew that Ava Brown had a small black dog and of course Hitler's Alsatian Blondie was well known clemenko had found the burn bodies of a man and a woman and the bodies of two dogs that matched the witness descriptions it was now down to the pathologist to decide if these were indeed the bodies of Adolf Hitler and Ava Brown but despite an extremely thorough investigation the final autopsy reports reveal some really startling problems with the identifications based on hard scientific evidence problems that would be hidden from the world until 1968 in which many researchers even today continue to argue over join me for episode 2 when we examine whether Ava Brown died in Berlin [Music] thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also visit my audiobook Channel War stories with Mark Felton you can also help to support both of my channels at PayPal and patreon details in the description box below 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Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 1,045,187

Keywords: Berlin bunker, NKVD, Battle of Berlin, Eva Braun, SMERSH, Stalin

Id: pjM_68mzANk

Length: 22min 53sec (1373 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 16 2023