Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 12, Number 6 (October - November 2005)
PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560 Australia. editor@nexusmagazine.com
Telephone: +61 (0)7 5442 9280; Fax: +61 (0)7 5442 9381
From our web page at: www.nexusmagazine.com
by James Robert © 2005
Email: james-robert@hotmail.co.uk
Britain's Influential Captures
With British
forces controlling northern Germany and the ports that went with their
sector at the end of World War II, there was a strong likelihood of
their capturing most of the Nazi hierarchy. They were also ideally
placed because Russia was more interested in Berlin, and the vast US
forces were stationed mainly in southern Germany where they had been
sent to investigate the supposed "Redoubt". Even so, four years before
the end of the war, Britain had managed to apprehend the Deputy Führer
of the Third Reich, Rudolph Hess, and he was arguably the most
knowledgeable of all the Nazis at that juncture.
Rudolph Hess landed in Scotland on 10 May 1941 and asked to meet the
Duke of Hamilton. His plans for peace talks were quickly rebutted, and
so began his 46-year incarceration. Hess's imprisonment is one of the
most widely discussed mysteries of the war. Some claim he was
imprisoned because of the damage any revelations he possessed would
inflict on the British monarchy. Others claim that Britain's refusal of
his peace proposal led to the nation's huge losses territorially,
materially, financially and emotionally; because of his silencing, the
British people never heard the peace terms or learned how beneficial
they may have proved. However, as Christof Friedrich claims,9 some
believe that "Hess was entrusted with the all-important Antarctic
file"; but whether this was a paper file or a mental note, one thing is
for certain: Hess, Deputy Führer, would have known everything about the
Nazis' Antarctic intentions.
Though Hess was dismissed by both Hitler and the British Government as
"insane",10 surely Hess's insanity would have restricted his ability in
his numerous roles in the Nazi Party and Government. Yet Hess was chief
of the Auslandsorganisation, Commissar for Foreign Policy, Commissar
for All University Matters and University Policy, Commissar for All
Technological Matters and Organisation, and also head of the Office for
Racial Policy.11 Hess, in layman's terms, had his "finger in every
pie".
Rudolph Hess was also an active member of the Thule Society, and his
interest in Antarctica would have been on both personal and
professional levels. Hess, a keen aviator, used his position in both
the Nazi Party and the Thule Society to meet Richard Byrd when he
lectured the personnel who were heading for the Antarctic with the
Deutsche Antarktische Expedition (German Antarctic Expedition) in 1938,
and through his channels Hess would have known everything that had been
discovered in Neuschwabenland. Byrd, a living legend throughout the
world for being the first man to fly over both the north and south
poles, was possibly the most well-informed polar explorer ever, and he
divulged his vast knowledge and details of his exploits to the Nazis.
Byrd's advice in his lecture and ultimately the Nazis' successful
expedition to claim Neuschwabenland may have given the Nazis conviction
enough to establish a viable Antarctic base. Hess's flight and eventual
capture a few years after the Deutsche Antarktische Expedition meant
that plans would have been underway. His enviable position as Deputy
Führer and his close affiliation with the Thule Society which sponsored
the expedition meant, as Canadian journalist Pierre van Paasen claimed
shortly after Hess's flight, that "[t]here was no major military plan
and secret of the Third Reich of which he was unaware".12
Of his 46 years in prison, Hess spent the first four totally under British jurisdiction.
The secrets he gave away in those four years, though dismissed
officially as "lunacy" by the British Government and at the Nuremberg
Trials, were taken seriously in some quarters—particularly after
Britain had caught more of Germany's most powerful Nazis at the end of
the war. Unfortunately, with Hess being imprisoned until his suspicious
"suicide" in 1987 at the age of ninety-seven,13 all records about him
are locked firmly away under the UK Official Secrets Act and will be
for the foreseeable future. Only circumstantial evidence can be used to
gauge how much or how little Hess knew about the Antarctic haven.
Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer of the SS, was captured on 23 May 1945
by the British. Though he managed to kill himself with a cyanide
capsule and thus evade interrogation, his entourage did not have that
luxury. Himmler was denounced as a traitor by Hitler for trying to make
peace with the US and Britain. But as Himmler had nothing to bargain
with and his heinous past meant certain execution, could he still have
offered the British information that they desired in the hope of escape
or, at worst, a chance to evade the hangman?
Unfortunately for him, with no chance of a reprieve and with Dönitz
being apprehended the same day, Himmler became an irrelevance; and with
his "disgust" at being treated as just a lowly soldier, he announced
who he was before inducing his death. Britain nevertheless more than
likely gained all the knowledge that Himmler possessed by interrogating
his entourage exhaustively. Whatever knowledge Himmler had wished to
share, was shared—and without the British having to keep one the vilest
men in Europe in their custody.
Himmler, labelled a "half crank, half schoolmaster"14 by Albert Speer,
had managed to rise from being a lowly poultry farmer to becoming the
most feared, reviled man in Europe because of his system of terror,
which made mass murder an industry, and because of his faithful
paramilitary SS who ensured "loyalty" and "obedience" to the Nazi State.
The SS Ahnenerbe missions which Himmler authorised in pursuit of the
"ancestral Aryan legacy" to such remote places as Tibet, Egypt and
Iraq, and even as close by as the Channel Islands, brought in an
inestimable amount of research. And though the 1938 Deutsche
Antarktische Expedition was firmly under Hermann Göring's control,
Himmler was indeed more than interested in the findings of the
expedition and the possibility of discovering an entrance to the fabled
Hollow Earth—so much so that he surely would have demanded to have been
informed for the sake of furthering the Aryan legacy myth.
Even so, how much Himmler knew that was not already known by British
Intelligence at the end of the war is debatable, though invaluable to
the Allies and Britain in particular were the results of the numerous
SS Ahnenerbe missions. Even though Dr Ernst Schäfer, who led the Tibet
Expedition, claimed that "Himmler had some very strange ideas"15 and
also that "[t]hey all dabbled in the occult",16 this made no difference
to the validity or invalidity of any research or evidence collected.
Himmler evaded the hangman's noose by a cyanide capsule, and Göring
also used a cyanide capsule on the eve of his execution. Could the
pills have been supplied by Britain's SOE in return for information?
Hess, Himmler and Göring were all able to commit "suicide" whilst in
custody—two of them being firmly in British custody at the time. All
three "suicides" have an aura of mystery surrounding them, especially
since the three men would have had some knowledge to share about
Antarctica.
Hermann Göring, though captured by US forces, still had a fair deal of
knowledge about the German Antarctic expeditions of 1938–39 and
1939–40, for it was he who commemorated the first expedition with a
medal and bragged to the world about the "German success".17
Göring was the Nazi Party's number two for so long, but he managed to
cheat death and justice in the most mysterious of circumstances. Born
into affluence as a son of a colonial officer, Göring became one of
Germany's World War I air aces and ended up highly decorated. He joined
the Nazi Party in 1923 and took part in the Putsch, where he
established himself in Hitler's favour but also received a groin
injury. As a result of this injury, Göring became addicted to
morphine—an addiction that would have profound consequences.
Göring's marriage to a wealthy and influential woman helped him
consolidate his position amongst the elite. His connections to the
upper classes assisted the Nazi Party far more beneficially than any
parades. In 1932, Göring was elected Speaker of the Reichstag but,
despite his popularity, he was making enemies because of his
self-obsession, ambition and greed. He became one of Germany's richest
men, virtually all his wealth plundered from victims of the Nazis. In
1936, he reached the pinnacle of his career in the Nazi Party when he
became Hitler's heir apparent. Yet his popularity had not yet peaked:
he would have to wait until the early German success in deploying the
Blitzkrieg against Poland for that short-lived honour. But, his
addiction was starting to plague his judgement and standing amongst the
elite.
The early German victories saw Göring rise in Hitler's estimation, but
Hitler's fickle temperament was due to change. When Göring's Luftwaffe
failed to win the Battle of Britain despite having superior numbers,
Göring fell out of favour. He then found solace only in his morphine
and his vast, plundered wealth.
By 1943, Göring was no longer part of the top Nazi leadership; he was
heavily addicted, a virtual recluse and drastically out of favour. Any
knowledge about Nazi survival plans that he would have been privy to
would have been disputable, but it is highly likely that he would have
been able to divulge to US Intelligence enough about Antarctica,
learned from his time amongst the elite, to have compelled the United
States to consider the possibility of a Nazi base on Antarctica and to
take action. Moreover, the Americans would have heard rumours about
what the British had discovered.
The first Antarctic summer after the completion of the Nuremberg Trials
saw Operation Highjump launched; but it is quite possible that the
Americans missed the boat because the then most well informed Nazi,
Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, had already been interrogated extensively by
the British. Could a secret deal have been struck between Dönitz and
Britain? When we look at the facts, it is more than conceivable that a
deal was indeed struck.
Grand Admiral Dönitz: Key to the Antarctic Haven
I believe I fought for a just cause and I refused to run away from my responsibilities when the Nazis, shortly after their final collapse, offered to convoy me aboard a submarine to safe refuge [emphasis added].
— Major Vidkun Quisling, Nuremberg, 1945
Grand Admiral Dönitz had taken over the leadership of Nazi Germany,
and every U-boat, ship, boat and port still held by the Germans after
Hitler's death was under his command. He would have been the perfect
successor to orchestrate a tactical escape—an escape that would ensure
that the German deaths and the research undertaken were not in vain
and, in short, that would enable the seeds of a Fourth Reich to
disperse.
Many Nazis chose to stay and meet certain death, in spite
of the Kriegsmarine having the largest submarine fleet in the Atlantic
and the navy's willingness to continue the fight from Norway; it was
not that they had nowhere to flee, but many yearned for martyrdom and
knew that a greater scheme was being implemented: the emergence of a
Fourth Reich.
Quisling wanted to die as a Nazi and showed no remorse, just as those
who were hung at Nuremberg had. Their assuredness came from a warped
view that they would be deemed martyrs. Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels and
numerous other high-ranking Nazis committed suicide—and taking one's
own life has been the norm throughout history when the battle is lost
and only public humiliation and execution are certain.
Those who committed suicide in Germany's final collapse and those who
stood at Nuremberg did so knowing that if they had fled they would have
compromised any secret bases or havens as well as the expatriot
communities that flourished in South America and throughout the world.
The chances of a Fourth Reich manifesting with so many high-profile
Nazis in hiding were minimal, and the Germans, meticulous and diligent
as ever, knew that fact. Sacrifices had to be made.
Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, Second Führer of Nazi Germany, and his
government had been legitimised by various countries around the world
when Hitler's death and Dönitz's promotion were known. However, his
promotion also meant that he was ideally placed to assist the Nazis in
their plans to escape Europe.
Tried as a war criminal alongside the rest of the Nazi hierarchy,
Dönitz was given a reprieve from the death sentence and instead was
sentenced to serve 10 years in Spandau Prison in Berlin. Throughout his
trial, Dönitz claimed that he had only fought in a legal war and that
he was ignorant of any Nazi "atrocities" committed. He also claimed to
have no knowledge of the "Final Solution". Albert Speer loathed Nazism
and was comprehensively remorseful of his part in the Third Reich, yet
he received 20 years! Dönitz, on the other hand, wanted his navy to be
totally behind the Nazi movement, so much so that he issued a directive
on 14 February 1944, ordering his naval officers not just to accept but
to embrace Nazism:
"The whole officer corps must be so indoctrinated that it feels itself co-responsible for the Nationalist Socialist State in its entirety. The officer is the exponent of the State. The idle chatter that the officer is non-political is sheer nonsense [emphasis added]."18
Dönitz's light prison sentence is strange in view of his unbridled
passion for Nazism, but his directive also contravened virtually every
rule amongst the German armed forces. The army's leadership and, to an
extent, the Luftwaffe steered clear of politics and focused primarily
on the war, but Dönitz asserted that to be "non- political" is "sheer
nonsense". His plea for loyalty could explain the unaccounted-for
U-boats and why so many were seen in the months and years after the war
had ended—especially in light of what Albert Speer noted on 10 December
1947 in Spandau Prison:
"For all his personal integrity and dependability on the human plane, Dönitz has in no way revised his view of Hitler. To this day, Hitler is still his commander-in-chief [emphasis added]."19
In Hitler's final political statement, he called for all Nazis "not to
give up the struggle in any circumstances, but to carry it on wherever
they may be against the enemies of the Fatherland". Hitler then named
his successor after denouncing Göring and Himmler as traitors: "I
appoint Grand Admiral Dönitz as President of the Reich and Supreme
Commander of the Wehrmacht."20
Hitler had chosen his most loyal military officer and the one person
whom he believed could restore the Reich's fortunes. As noted by
eminent historian Chester Wilmot:
"The importance Hitler attached to the holding of these U-boats bases
reflected the rising power of Dönitz, who was fast becoming the most
influential of his counsellors."21
Hitler favoured Dönitz and was so fascinated about the new U-boats'
capabilities and the possibility of turning the tide in the Atlantic
that "from the start of 1945 they were almost in daily consultation".22
With the new U-boats being able to stay submerged the entire trip from
Europe to South America or Antarctica, the chances of a percentage of
the Nazi war machine escaping were vastly improved, as was the ability
to deal with the British and American navies.
At the Führer Naval Conference on 3 January 1945, Dönitz bragged about how the new U-boat fitted with the Schnorchel
could "achieve success in waters where Germany was forced to cease
operations more than three years ago". Dönitz's 1945 claim was nothing
new: back in 1943, he had already claimed that the new U-boats would
create "entirely new possibilities"23 and his boasts meant that Hitler
ordered the construction of Dönitz's U-boats as a top priority.
The
faith that the Nazi hierarchy had in the new U-boats never diminished,
even as Russian soldiers were streaming into Germany. On 6 March 1945,
Goebbels spoke up about the sentiment shared amongst the Nazi elite:
"There is considerable hope for us here. Our U-boats must get to work
hard; above all, it may be anticipated that as the new type gets into
action, far greater results should be achieved than with our old
U-boats."24
Goebbels again noted in his war diary how pleased the Nazi hierarchy was:
"Clearly, the revival of our U-boat war has made a great impression on the war."
Goebbels's perceived "revival" was recorded on 28 March 1945, only a month before his death in supposed desperation!
Dönitz, as Hitler's most trusted envoy after Goebbels, was aware of
Nazi plans for the East as well as the concentration camps. And though
some historians suggest he should never have been tried as a war
criminal, in the face of the raft of evidence to the contrary, the only
aspect that should raise eyebrows about Dönitz's sentence at Nuremberg
is its length. His light sentence was due to his assistance in
supplying the Allies with information that was invaluable, especially
when he had virtually all knowledge of the mysterious U-boats that were
being spotted around the world after the war.
Britain, being the nation to apprehend Dönitz, was the main beneficiary
of Dönitz's intelligence and, as his arrest on 23 May 1945 was the
second time he had been incarcerated by Britain, the British
interrogators would have known just which buttons to switch to get the
answers they wanted.
In 1918, in the closing days of World War I, Dönitz had been taken
prisoner by the British Navy. He was sent to a prisoner-of-war camp and
then transferred to the Manchester Royal Lunatic Asylum. After
extensive psychological tests, he was certified "insane" and was left
to be "treated" for a year.
In spite of Goebbels's comment that Dönitz was "a very cool and
realistic calculator",25 the time Dönitz spent in the lunatic asylum
would have left mental scars that would have surfaced if he'd again
been threatened with incarceration. That fear and his loyalty to the
Third Reich meant he had no choice but to stall on the notion of
surrender when, on 1 May 1945, he first heard about his succession
after Hitler's death. Dönitz then announced to the Wehrmacht:
"Against the British and Americans I shall continue the struggle so far
and so long as they hinder me in carrying out the fight against
Bolshevism."26
With Dönitz still in command of a large navy and enough Wehrmacht to
cause further problems for the Allies, his announcement was a threat
that the Western Allies in particular took very seriously; it made them
realise that peace was still far from certain and "Unconditional
Surrender" might need reassessing.
The London Times, the day after Dönitz's announcement, advised caution:
"Dönitz may gather a force sufficiently large to cause trouble. The
fighting spirit of the navy is probably still high. There is a
formidable number of U-boats based on Norway, where the enemy also has
200,000 land forces and some hundreds of aeroplanes. It is thus likely
that Dönitz contemplates making his stand there rather than in the
overrun Reich or in the southern redoubt now threatened from the north
and south. He may delay somewhat, but cannot alter, the decision."27
In light of Dönitz's pledge to continue the fight and the vast force
still under his command, and considering Allied fears, could "peace"
have been struck—a peace that had guarantees for all sides? Dönitz
could have asked for Germany to be rebuilt and not humiliated like at
Versailles, for the Western Allies to fight the spread of Bolshevism,
and for leniency if not clemency from the victors, including a
whitewash of his personal wartime history, in exchange for a total
surrender and for passing on extremely sensitive intelligence. Only a
week after Dönitz had declared that the war would continue whilst
Bolshevism persisted, he ordered the surrender of all German forces.
All the facts indicate that Dönitz's history has been suppressed, and
against all reason Dönitz is still not perceived by mainstream
historians as having been a major player in Nazi Germany. Clemency was
shown with such a short prison sentence, the communist threat had been
realised by the Western Allies, and West Germany rose out of the ashes
of May 1945 to become the powerhouse of Europe, with many of the major
companies that bankrolled the Nazi Party forming huge conglomerates.
Other than formally calling for a German surrender and bringing the war
in Europe to an end, Dönitz carried on as President of Germany for a
further three weeks and was only arrested on 23 May 1945 by British
forces.
Dönitz, twice imprisoned by the British and a reluctant admirer of the
British naval tradition (which did nothing to dampen his hatred for
Britain), was the one person who knew the exact state of play
concerning the Nazi U-boats, including the new and formidable Type XXI
U-boats. Dönitz was also the one person who would have known where the
Neuschwabenland base was and what had been transported there and
elsewhere. And with information so vital not just to national security
but world security, Dönitz could have chosen to divulge as little or as
much as he wished; no matter how minimal or sketchy his intelligence,
its value was priceless.
Dönitz was an impressive character and in the early stages of the war
had impressed Hitler with his loyalty and vision. Dönitz duly received
his reward on 31 January 1943 when he was promoted to the position of
Supreme Commander of the Navy. In one of his inaugural speeches to a
select officer elite, Dönitz claimed that "the German submarine fleet
is proud of having built for the Führer, in another part of the world,
a Shangri-La land, an impregnable fortress".28 This was an impressive
statement and one that inspired allegiance in his officers and pride in
Hitler and the Kriegsmarine. Dönitz's statement spread around the
Kriegsmarine with gusto, for all who heard it believed in the
possibility.
Whilst researching Third Reich mysteries, I encountered an East German
source who had served in the Kriegsmarine and has first-hand accounts
about Neuschwabenland. He claimed:
"Neuschwabenland, after Europe, was in ruins and Norway, completely in
German hands, became the only viable base of operations. When it was
decided that for the German nation surrender was best, those who could,
left, and took their chances in the U-boat convoys.
"Antarctica was a secret but rumours persisted, and only for the most
dedicated was it a haven. Most of those with any intimate knowledge of
Neuschwabenland did not see the end of the war, and of those who did,
the majority were executed, committed suicide or were sent to the
Russian gulags... Only those captured by the British forces fared
better, but after interrogation were forbidden to mention their wartime
exploits again. The threat of having damaging wartime links brought up
kept the Germans silent and helped the Allies suppress the truth."29
The German naval officer who gave the account was captured by the USSR
and sent to the Siberia for 15 years; when he returned, it was to a
communist East Germany. In contrast, Dönitz served only 10 years and
lived in a free West Germany. This has caused the officer bitterness,
especially as mainstream historians dare not even write about a Nazi
Antarctic haven or Dönitz's passion for National Socialism.
When Dönitz spoke of a "Shangri-La land" in 1943, was he telling the
truth? With Kerguelen being used as a German U-boat base and
Neuschwabenland still in German plans, Dönitz knew that his statement
would impress Hitler. Unfortunately though, with most of the
documents—including speech notes, memoirs and diaries—relating to Nazi
plans for Neuschwabenland destroyed, disappeared or archived firmly
away, any suggestion of Antarctica being a Nazi haven was laughed off
by nervous governments. It meant that to raise the subject was to open
oneself up to ridicule.
However, Dönitz's speeches leave enough clues to cause one to suspect
that a whole chapter from World War II has been purposely suppressed.
In 1944, Dönitz announced:
"The German Navy will have to accomplish a great task in the future.
The German Navy knows all hiding places in the oceans and therefore it
will be very easy to bring the Führer to a safe place, should the
necessity arise, and in which he will have the opportunity to work out
his final plans."30
The Kriegsmarine was
much travelled, loyal to its cause and daring in its exploits. German
U-boats were frequent visitors to the East Coast of America and they
travelled under the Arctic ice and even up the River Mersey into the
Mersey Estuary in England. But their most interesting exploit was
discovering an underwater trench that went straight through Antarctica
by way of a connection of subterranean lakes, caves, crevasses and
ancient ice tunnels.
The Allies took Dönitz's statement
seriously, especially after Hitler's mysterious suicide; they were
aware that Antarctica could have been the "safe place" that Dönitz had
spoken of. The British were already onto it, but the Americans were
only compelled into action after Dönitz made a statement in 1946,
supposedly during his trial at Nuremberg, boasting of an "invulnerable
fortress, a paradise-like oasis in the middle of eternal ice".31
Britain, having already investigated the "invulnerable fortress",
assisted the United States by covertly supplying maps of Antarctica,
whilst overtly, along with Chile, Argentina and other claimant
countries, expressing grievances about the intended Operation Highjump.
Britain's assistance in supplying these maps—similar to the Norwegian
maps utilised by the 1938 Deutsche Antarktische Expedition—did not
paint the full picture.
Dönitz's information supplied to the
British and the likely destruction undertaken by British forces of the
Neuschwabenland base meant that Queen Maud Land (Neuschwabenland) was
not reconnoitred meticulously by the Americans. There is no answer to
explain this omission, though many have speculated. More than likely it
was because the area had been explored so profoundly earlier in the
century, but one can't help but wonder whether it was because Britain
had been there first, leaving nothing for the Americans to find.
However, Operation Highjump still supposedly recovered evidence of other bases—though, similarly to British expeditions on Antarctica, Highjump's true findings have also been suppressed?
Dönitz had a unique knowledge of Antarctica, but it was his knowledge
of German U-boat ports in Norway and U-boats stationed there, as well
as the nexus between Norway and Antarctica, that shed further light on
the forgotten Antarctic front. But, whilst the importance of Norway to
Dönitz, Hitler and the Kriegsmarine was well known, some of the real
reasons for the initial invasion of Norway are less so and add even
more of a mystery to the history of World War II and the Antarctic
front.
Editor's Note
The author advises that Operation Tabalan, referred to in part one of his article, should read Tabarin, and apologises for this error. Operation Tabarin was named after a Parisian nightclub.
About the Author:
James Robert is a civil
servant with an agency of the UK Ministry of Defence, as well as a
World War II historian and writer. He has travelled extensively
throughout North Africa and Europe to investigate mysteries of
Britain's secret wars.
With a family from a military background and with German sources giving
many so-called "myths" credence, he has set a personal mission to delve
deeper into the strange, suppressed, little-known and anomalous
activities that were conducted before, during and after the war against
Germany. "Britain's Secret War in Antarctica" has been excerpted from
his forthcoming book that will document some of his investigations.
James Robert can be contacted by email at james-robert@hotmail.co.uk.
Endnotes
9. Christof, Friedrich, Germany's Antarctic Claim: Secret Nazi Polar Expeditions, Samisdat Publishers, Toronto, 1979.
10. Hess's insanity is just one aspect of the Hess mystery, and the
numerous references to his insanity are too numerous to catalogue.
However, it did not prevent him from standing for trial at Nuremberg.
11. Picknett, L., Prior, S. and Prince, C., Double Standards, Little Brown, 2001.
12. Van Paasen, Pierre, Chicago Times, 1941.
13. Britain, France, the USSR and USA took turns to guard war criminals
including Hess in Spandau Prison. Hess's suspicious death occurred, so
we are led to believe, because the Russians were going to release him
when their turn next came around. See Picknett et al., Double Standards, for more detail.
14. Nuremberg Trials (1945–1946).
15. ibid.
16. ibid.
17. This was reported in the German press on 10 April 1939.
18. Officer Naval Directive, 14 February 1944.
19. Speer, A., Spandau: The Secret Diaries, MacMillan, New York, 1976, p. 81.
20. Hitler's final political testament, 29 April 1945.
21. Wilmot, C., The Struggle For Europe, Wordsworth Editions Ltd, Hertfordshire, 1997, p. 617.
22. ibid.
23. Führer Naval Conference, 8 July 1943.
24. Report sent by Goebbels to Dönitz, 6 March 1945.
25. Wilmot, op. cit.
26. Directive to the Wehrmacht, 1 May 1945, reported in The Times, London, 2 May 1945.
27. The Times (London), 2 May 1945.
28. The National Police Gazette, January 1977.
29. The former Kriegsmarine officer was from Dresden and was
interviewed in December 2003. I investigated claims that Hitler and Eva
Braun's child had been born there in 1942.
30. Officer Naval Directive, 1944.
31. Nuremberg Trials, 1946.