Baron Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven, a former German army officer who assembled the military intelligence for Adolf Hitler's daily briefings in the Berlin bunker where the German dictator spent his last days before committing suicide in 1945, has died. He was 93.
Von Loringhoven died of natural causes Feb. 27 in Munich, Germany. His death was confirmed this week to the Associated Press by Wolf Jobst Siedler Jr., publisher of Von Loringhoven's recent book "In the Bunker With Hitler."
A career army officer who had served as a tank commander before becoming an assistant to the German army's chief of staff, Von Loringhoven was among Hitler's top advisors and members of his entourage who sought refuge in the multi-room concrete bunker beneath the garden of the old Reich Chancellery building.
In the days before the Soviet Union's Red Army began gathering outside Berlin in late April 1945 in preparation for its final push into the capital, Von Loringhoven later recalled, Hitler had ignored his inner circle's advice to flee south to Bavaria and avoid the inevitable bloodbath that would befall Berlin.
Instead, the fuhrer chose to remain in Berlin and ordered his armies to continue the fight to the end.
"When I heard this, I was very shaken," Von Loringhoven told The Times in 1995.
"I knew the military situation," he said. "There was no question that the Russians would soon encircle the town. I felt that there would be no escape. It sounded like a death sentence."
As the Soviets moved closer, according to The Times account, the radio transmitter that provided Von Loringhoven's last communications link with the outside world was knocked out.
With that, Von Loringhoven said, "My military function was over, and I told [army chief of staff Hans Krebs] I had no intention of being killed there, like a rat, in the corridor. I asked to be given a chance either to go and find the fighting troops or else to be given a chance to get out of Berlin."
Hitler did not object to his escaping the bunker. In fact, Von Loringhoven recalled, the fuhrer sat down with him and two other officers who wanted to escape with him to discuss their options.
It was April 29, the day before Hitler and his new bride, Eva Braun, committed suicide.
"Hitler asked me how I intended to get out of Berlin," Von Loringhoven recalled, "and I told him there were two possibilities."
