The Day The Soviets Nearly Captured Hitler

[Music] hitler was airborne frequently in 1942 and 1943 due to the heavy fighting on the eastern front hitler had a special squadron of transport aircraft used to move himself and his entourage around his empire in safety and comfort by 1942 hitler's aircraft type was the fockevolf 200 condor a large maritime patrol aircraft bomber and civilian airliner type specially converted for his use hitler's personal condor was armored for protection against flack and fighters very comfortable the main cabins lined in polished wood with plush carpeting and seating and onboard service hitler had a special arm chair fitted with a parachute that he could use to escape the condor through a special floor hatch two other condors traveled with hitler's both well-appointed one for transporting staff and guests with 14 seats and another carrying more baggage and a bodyguard detail when in flight the condors were protected by fighters hitler was always piloted by ss gruppenfuhrer hansbauer a former lufthansa captain but with increased allied air activity over all of europe flying was dangerous in 1942 he flew to finland for an important meeting with his ally marshall manheim he visited the headquarters of army groups south on the eastern front twice although hitler was on the ground and bower was flying a shuttle flight between airfields before collecting hitler the condor was pounced upon by soviet fighters just after takeoff the plane's wings being hit by machine gun bullets but bauer managed to power away from danger gain altitude and went head-on at the soviet fighters and they broke off contact but the greatest danger was yet to come on the 17th of february 1943 hitler flew from the wolf's lair his eastern front headquarters in east prussia now poland to vinitza refuelled and then flew on to zaparoche the headquarters of army group south it was a disastrous time for hitler stalingrad had fallen leaving a huge hole in the german front lines and he was determined to stop the soviet counter-offensive and possibly relieve the commander of army group south field marshall von manstein but zapparoshe was a dangerous place to visit as the red army looked poised to capture the city some of its forces only 36 miles to the east hitler's three condors landed at 6 00 am on the 17th of february 1943 on the biggest airfield east of the city of zapporoshi hitler in his entourage including generals zeitzler and yodel his aides and bodyguards were greeted by large mercedes-benz field cars they were then driven to army group south's headquarters for a series of briefings and meetings the two airfields at zapporoshi were huge and crowded with german transport aircraft and fighter units the three condors were carefully checked over while hitler was away from the airfield bauer and the other airmen staying close to the machines hitler's meetings at the headquarters would last for three days and munstein would not be relieved and bower and the air crew lived in huts close to the airfield at breakfast on the morning of the 19th of february bauer was informed that soviet tanks had broken through and were advancing on the highway from de nepretrovsk this would bring them close to the airfield where hitler's aircraft were positioned the german base commander was seriously alarmed and messerschmitt 109 fighters were scrambled to attack the tank column but fog and low cloud hampered their efforts and they returned to base without attacking the soviet t-34s by now the cloud ceiling was down to 200 feet fiesla 156 storch spotter planes were dispatched and later returned the pilots confirming that some 20 t-34s were less than two hours road time from the airfield with no german defenses existing between them and the field bauer drove into town to report the situation in person to hitler bauer asked permission to move the planes to the other smaller airfields southwest of the town considered to be safer for the time being hitler refused this suggestion his meetings were finished and he would return to the airfield shortly arriving back at the airfield bauer found the base commander trying to organize a hasty defense of the airfield but he lacked any anti-tank guns or even artillery a short time later the number of soviet tanks was confirmed 22 t-34s were spotted close to the airfield moving on to an adjacent collective farm perhaps preparing to launch an assault on the airfield itself but shortly after the tanks were spotted hitler's convoy of cars also appeared the engines on the condors were already running when hitler and his party hastily boarded and the planes taxied onto the runway and took off as they powered away they passed arriving gigante transports coming in to land at the airfield carrying anti-tank guns equipment and more infantry it transpired later that the soviet tank column had not attacked the airfield as they were short of fuel allowing hitler the time he needed to get aboard his condor and fly to safety the soviets never knew just how close they had managed to get to hitler it was the closest hitler would ever come to the red army with the exception of april 1945 when red army troops were within 500 metres of hitler's bunker when he killed himself however if the soviets had known that hitler's aircraft were on the field it is very likely that they would have pressed their assault regardless of losses when bauer told hitler the reason why the soviet tanks had not attacked their fuel situation hitler remarked a bit of luck for us hitler's almost uncanny luck that had seen him dodge multiple assassination attempts held when his aircraft became a target later in 1943. a month after his close call with the soviet tanks he flew to the front again during the stopover at smolensk on the 13th of march 1943 a bomb disguised as a package of two bottles of cuantro was smuggled aboard hitler's condor for the return flight to the wolf's lair the bomb's british time pencil fuse activated normally 30 minutes into the flight but the freezing conditions in the plane's unheated cargo hold prevented the release of the detonator's firing pin and the bomb failed to go off the bomb was later recovered by the army officers who had planted it and hitler was none the wiser 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: 2,554,310

Rating: 4.9378948 out of 5

Keywords: Mark Felton Productions, Hitler, FW200 Condor, Eastern Front, Stalingrad, Erich von Mannstein

Id: tUNufk9vZ30

Length: 8min 4sec (484 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 16 2021