Peter David Orr - Eyewitness to Hitlers Escape

Copyright 2018 Peter David Orr

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, distributed in any printed or electronic form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in review, without permission in writing from the author/publisher.

Orr, Peter David

Eyewitness to Hitlers Escape/Peter David Orr

ISBN 978-197923369-9

Printed in the United States of America

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My sincerest gratitude goes out to the handful of people who have invested their time, energy, encouragement and finances to see Eyewitness to Hitlers Escape through to publication.

This journey began years ago while working as a research associate with Gerrard Williams, co-author of Grey Wolf: The Escape of Adolf Hitler and star of the History Channels hit TV series Hunting Hitler . Gerrards words of encouragement about writing my own book about Hitlers escape set it all in motion.

Entrepreneur extraordinaire, Lewis S. Robinson III, has also played a major role. His sound advice, keen insights, and friendship have served me well in this daunting task. I owe him a debt of gratitude for introducing me to his father-in-law, the late Aubrey M. Temples, whose eyewitness account is central to this work.

Of course, my son has been my go-to guy. Derek never failed to be a careful listener, productive critic, and thoughtful contributor. This project would have been very lonely without my number one sounding board.

Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank my wife Andrea. Whether it was proofreading or simply endless patience, she provided invaluable and immeasurable support.

CONTENTS

PART 1

The Feigned Treason Scheme

Manufactured Treason and Treachery

Plan V-S

Why the Official Obfuscation?

Himmler: The Unavoidable One

Gring: Hitlers Choice

Dnitz: The Unconstitutional Successor

Speer: Facilitator-in-Chief

Speers Betrayal: Reasonable Doubt

Himmlers Betrayal: Reasonable Doubt

Plan V-S and Jewish Refugees to Switzerland

Different Teams Same Ends

Grings Betrayal: Reasonable Doubt

Allied Intelligence and the Gring Telegram

PART 2

The Timeline of Hitlers Last Days

April 10 to May 16, 1945

PART 3

Multiple Outs

Flying Boats to Greenland?

Leon Degrelles Flight to Spain

Pierre Lavals Flight to Spain

The Petacci Familys Escape

The Mystery Landing at Barcelona, May 1, 1945

PART 4

Eyewitnesses to Hitlers Escape

Peter and Ernst Baumgart

Friedrich von Mackensen

Aubrey M. Temples

Post-interview Analysis

Corroboration from Hughes Rudd in 1947

How Aubrey Temples Account Fits into Hitlers Escape Route

PART 1

The Feigned Treason Scheme

In the final months of World War II, Hitler knew Germanys chances of winning were gone, but continued the fight for three reasons:

1. He believed there was a remote chance that a German wonder weapon might turn the tide.
2. He hoped that the western allies and Soviets would turn on one another, providing an opportunity to make a separate peace with the western allies and to continue the war against the USSR.
3. He knew that continuing the war was the only way of saving or at least salvaging aspects of National Socialism.

This was grasping at straws and Hitler knew it. Nevertheless, German efforts to promote conflict between the western allies and the USSR continued to the very end despite knowing that Germany would probably go down in defeat before this split occurred.

The following statement by President Franklin D. Roosevelt perfectly illustrates the fact that the Allies had been fully aware that Hitler was desperately pinning his hopes on obtaining a separate peace for quite some time:

In an attempt to ward off the inevitable disaster, the Axis propagandists are trying all of their old tricks in order to divide the United Nations. They seek to create the idea that if we win this war; Russia, England, China, and the United States are going to get into a cat-and-dog fight.

This is their final effort to turn one nation against another, in the vain hope that they may settle with one or two at a timethat any of us may be so gullible and so forgetful as to be duped into making "deals" at the expense of our Allies.

To these panicky attempts to escape the consequences of their crimes we sayall the United Nations saythat the only terms on which we shall deal with an Axis government or any Axis factions are the terms proclaimed at Casablanca: "Unconditional Surrender." In our uncompromising policy we mean no harm to the common people of the Axis nations. But we do mean to impose punishment and retribution in full upon their guilty, barbaric leaders.

Hitlers physical breakdown was caused by the constant stress of knowing defeat was inevitable, and that his dreams had come to nothing. Even if the western allies were willing to make a deal, Hitler knew hed have no personal role in it. They would never make peace with him . After all, his serious attempts to end the war in 1939 and 1940 had failed at a time when Germany was clearly winning. These realizations forced Hitler to imagine someone else at the head of a new German government that could come to terms with the western allies. Of course, he fantasized that this leader would be someone capable of stealthily preserving key elements of National Socialism for its future comeback.

For there to be any hope of a separate peace with the western allies, Hitler knew his potential replacement had to be...

• someone western leaders knew was against the war from the beginning.
• someone involved in prior peace feelers to the western allies.
• someone who wasnt regarded as a hard-line National Socialist, but who could provide the German people with a sense of continuityparticularly if the war against the Soviets continued.
• someone western leaders didnt regard as a war criminal.
• sufficiently known in the west to be taken seriously.
• immediately useful to the western powers in terms of having significant economic and industrial know-how. (Germany was in shambles.)
• more like the decadent western politicians that Hitler and his propaganda chief, Goebbels, had spent the war criticizing.
• perceived as Hitlers political enemy. Hitler was acutely aware that the western allies only dealt with Germans willing to betray, depose, and/or kill him.

As of April 1, 1945, only three men ticked enough of these boxes to merit serious consideration as a successor capable of negotiating an end to the war with the western powers: Hermann Gring, Karl Dnitz, and Albert Speer. However, Hitler knew that none of these candidates had any chance in this role without being perceived by the Anglo-Americans as someone who had had a significant falling out with the Fhrera clean break with Hitler. For this purpose a scheme was devised in which Gring played the lead, but all involved were encouraged to participate in seemingly treacherous and treasonous activities.

Manufactured Treachery and Treason

Today, Gring, Himmler and Speers betrayal of Hitler in the last weeks of April 1945 is accepted as fact. The treachery and treason of Hitlers closest and erstwhile most loyal paladins is treated like the centerpiece of a drama about the death throes of the Third Reich, in which an already deeply despondent Hitler is brought to a suicidal nadir.

It is assumed that these men turned on Hitler to save their own skins or out of a desire to salvage what they could of an utterly devastated Germany or to grab the reins of power that they had always coveted.

The former reasons seem plausible, but the latter is not. Nevertheless it is often repeated.

The notion that Gring or Himmler, with utter defeat staring them in the face, were chomping at the bit to seize power in a dying Nazi Germany is absurd.