Last Flight From Berlin 1945 - The Reitsch-Von Greim Escape

[Music] hannah reich was one of nazi germany's poster girls a skilled and daring test pilot and devout follower of hitler wright should been awarded several decorations unusual for a woman at the time receiving the iron cross first and second class and the pilot observe a badge in gold with diamonds for her work as a military test pilot on the junckers 87 stuka the dornier 17 bomber and the rocket-propelled messerschmitt me-163 comet surviving a crash in the latter that put her in hospital for five months in 1942. she was also the brains behind germany's kamikaze-style leonida squadron and test flew a piloted version of the fiesla fi 103 flying bomb named the reichenberg by april 1945 she was to be at the center the last act of the nazi regime as it played out in the devastated capital berlin reich has often been credited with successfully flying the last plane out of the embattled central government district of the city in an amazing feat of airmanship however the truth behind this story is somewhat different as this video will explore as the soviets advanced towards the centre of berlin continued remorselessly against fanatical german resistance in april 1945 the airports were threatened and one by one would fall to the red army it was expected by his inner circle that hitler would eventually fly out of the city to continue the fight from the bavarian alps and to the end aircraft from his personal transport squadron were standing by to evacuate the fuhrer and his staff from the fura bunker but even as people were clamoring to escape from the surrounded city some planes continued to fly into berlin an emergency airstrip for light aircraft and transports had been established on charlottenburg chaucer the wide and straight east-west access road running from the brandenburg gate through the tiergarten the park in the city center this emergency strip could handle light aircraft and juncker's 52 transports for example reich's minister albert spear minister for armaments and war production flew from gato airport to the tiergarten strip on the 23rd of april 1945 to see hitler in person he was successfully flown out again to gutow by fisa storch at 3 30 a.m on the 24th hannah righteous mission to berlin was precipitated by the sudden downfall of the head of the luftwaffe reich's marshal hermann goering guring had left berlin for his house on the oberzeldsberg in bavaria on the 20th of april 1945 after attending a gathering of leaders at the reich chancellery to mark hitler's 56th birthday guring had fallen from grace after learning that hitler had suffered a complete nervous breakdown during a military situation conference in the bunker declaring the war lost concerned that in surrounded berlin hitler had seemingly reneged his responsibilities to state and armed forces goring had sent a telegram to hitler informing him that if he hadn't heard from him by 10 pm on the 23rd of april he would assume the worst and assume the leadership of the reich as per the 1941 succession law unfortunately hitler's sinister secretary martin bormann intercepted the telegram and spun it to hitler as an attempted coup by the reich's marshal in the febrile atmosphere of the bunker hitler didn't need much persuasion to order gerring's arrest stripping him of his leadership of the luftwaffe in his place hitler appointed general obeist robert ritter von grime promoting him to field martial bizarrely hitler demanded the sea found grime in person when the appointment could have been concluded on the phone fond grime and hannah reich were close and she traveled with him to berlin a two-seater foggewolf fw 190 fighter was provided for the pair and reich and grime squeeze into the second cockpit behind the pilot and were escorted by 12 other 190s of yangeshwara 26 taking off from wreshlin airfield for berlin wrestling was the main luftwaffe test base in northern germany hitler's daft order ensured that several of the fw190s were lost trying to protect von grime's plane and its precious cargo but the rest made it safely to gutow airport in berlin on the 26th of april rich and von grime continued their journey across the burning city reich piloting at low level a slow fiesler fi-156 stalk from which von grime was injured in the foot by soviet ground fire reich brought the plane in to land at the tiagarten emergency airstrip following treatment von grime and reich were driven through the chaos of central berlin to the furo bunker and were received warmly by hitler the following day 27th of april efforts were made to get the new commander of the luftwaffe out of berlin so he could take command of what remained of the air force and also undertake a personal mission hitler had ordered to arrest reichsfuhrer ss heinrich himmler whose treasonous peace negotiations with the western allies had come to light von grime was to fly north to the headquarters of grand admiral karl dernitz military commander in northern germany denmark and the netherlands a mission many people are unaware of was launched on the evening of the 27th of april when the luftwaffe dispatched six stalks escorted by 30 fighters to safe on grime another important regime figures waiting at the tiergarten emergency airstrip two stalks were shot down and the mission was aborted due to extremely heavy soviet air presence and anti-aircraft fire over the city center however a single junkers ju-52 managed to get through to land on the airstrip one of five aircraft dispatched from qatar to rescue high-ranking personnel three of the ju-52s turned back as landing was too difficult at night due to smoke from fires raging in the city one ju-52 was shot down killing all aboard as it came into land the new plan was for von grime reich and a select few to fly out of berlin on the single ju-52 that had managed to land on the tiergarten airstrip but reich resisted the idea wanting to fly von grime out herself in a small plane all spaces on the ju-52 would be given instead to wounded german soldiers casting around for a suitable undamaged aircraft an erado ar-96 trainer was found around 11 p.m on the 28th of april raichu and von grime were ready to go however reich would not fly the plane herself contrary to many historical reports according to reich's own account she didn't fly the ar-96 rather it was piloted by a luftwaffe sergeant in front of them were some 400 meters or so of clear undamaged runway leading down to the famous victory column the column due to its great height was being used as a rudimentary air traffic control center by the luftwaffe troops manning the temporary airstrip despite the undamaged section of runway being quite short and with poor visibility due to smoke the pilot got them airborne and at low level flew out over the city a devastated ruin from end to end the ar-96 was the last german aircraft to leave berlin hitler killed himself just a day and a half later on the 30th of april the plane landed safely at reshlin at 3 am on the 29th of april 1945. reich and von grime were captured by the american army on the 8th of may von grime committed suicide as a prisoner on the 24th of may but reich settled in western germany after being released she became a champion glider pilot and often appeared in tv documentaries she died of a heart attack in 1979 age 67. 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 you

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 624,454

Keywords: Mark Felton, Ritter von Greim, Hanna Reisch, Battle of Berlin, Brandenburg Gate, Fieseler Storch, Junkers 52

Id: iIpdoM5_i_A

Length: 9min 10sec (550 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 24 2022