On April 30, 1945 Adolf Hitler put a pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. By this time the Fuhrer bunker walls were literally trembling like a flag in the wind from the constant artillery shelling taking place all around him. While Hitler said goodbye, more than 2,000 die hard veterans of the SS, many of them wounded in previous combat, continued to resist the Soviet advance. An unknown number of Hitler Youth and a mishmash of sailors, police, and Wehrmacht soldiers also joined in the resistance. Against these few thousands, hundreds of thousands of Soviets attempted to crowbar the Axis defenders out of their strongholds. By this point there may have been more Russians in Berlin than Germans; there certainly were more Russian men than German men in the city. And still the fascist death squads continued to comb through Berlin, hanging any male over the age of fourteen who refused to fight while a black cloud of death literally fogged through the streets of the capitol. This is a story of hopeless resistance, total war, and child soldiers. It’s the definitive military history of the Battle of Berlin and today’s double episode comprises April 29 and April 30. It’s the Fall of Berlin and the Death of Adolf Hitler.
Download episode 71 here: download link
This episode is part ten of an ongoing series. You can find parts one through nine at the following links: episode nine, episode eight, episode seven, episode six, episode five, episode four, episode three, episode two, and episode one.
Maps and Illustrations are located on the Definitive Atlas of the Battle of Berlin page linked here: Definitive Atlas of the Fall of Berlin
Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com
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