Hitler's Last Days (4 page)

German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in 1942.
[Mary Evans Picture Library]

The SS troopers drove Rommel away from his home, stopped in a quiet forest, surrounded the car, and handed him the pill. Fifteen minutes later, the general whom the Allied leaders—Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, U.S. General George Patton, and U.S. General Omar Bradley—respected for his intelligence and military trade craft and considered their true opponent is dead.

The Wolf could have waited until after his new offensive plan was completed to pass judgment on his favorite field marshal. From a tactical perspective, it would have been the smart thing to do. But Adolf Hitler needed his revenge. Nothing—not even winning the war—mattered more.

Hitler and Blondi finish their walk and reenter the massive concrete fortress that serves as his home away from Berlin. It is almost time for lunch—and the unveiling of his brilliant new campaign.

Or, as it will soon become known around the world: the Battle of the Bulge.

CHAPTER 2

GENERAL PATTON'S HEADQUARTERS

NANCY, FRANCE
OCTOBER 21, 1944

G
EORGE
S. P
ATTON THINKS SO HIGHLY
of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel that he keeps a copy of Rommel's book on infantry tactics near his bedside. Often, when he is unable to sleep, Patton opens it to reread a chapter or two. But while the two great generals did not collide in the North African desert, the contest between Rommel, the Desert Fox, and another Allied commander, British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, ended in Tunisia in May 1943 with the Axis troops surrounded.

Troops at rest check their vehicles on the march across Belgium, early November 1944.
[Library of Congress]

Patton's Third Army did not become active on the European front until two months after D-day, June 6, 1944. He then directed the successful U.S. Third Army march across France and is now in position near the southern border between France and Germany. Patton considers the effort stalled because General Dwight D. Eisenhower has ordered him to stop his army and regroup. And so begins the October pause. The lull in the action is a foolish move on Eisenhower's part. The American army might be using the lull to reinforce, but so are the Germans. Unbeknownst to the Americans, Adolf Hitler is planning a major attack of his own.

General George S. Patton in 1944.
[Mary Evans Picture Library]

CHAPTER 3

THE WOLF'S LAIR

EAST PRUSSIA
OCTOBER 21, 1944

H
ITLER IS MEETING IN PRIVATE
with one of his devoted followers, SS officer Otto Skorzeny. At six feet four, the legendary commando stands a half foot taller than the F
ü
hrer. If Erwin Rommel was once Hitler's favorite general, then the Long Jumper, as Skorzeny is nicknamed, is Hitler's favorite commando. Time and again, the gruff Austrian has shown his loyalty to the F
ü
hrer by accepting missions that other men would refuse on the grounds that they were impossible or suicidal.

SS officer Otto Skorzeny in 1943.
[Mary Evans Picture Library]

The F
ü
hrer turns to Skorzeny and says, “In December, Germany will start a great offensive which may well decide her fate. The world thinks Germany is finished, with only the day and the hour of the funeral to be named. I am going to show them how wrong they are. The corpse will rise and throw itself at the West.”

The F
ü
hrer has done away with those who might be disloyal to him, and he is building his battle plans around loyal worshippers like Otto Skorzeny. So even though Erwin Rommel, with his unmatched prowess as a commander of panzer troops, is gone forever, Hitler is confident of success. He is also well aware that his tank commanders will not have to face George S. Patton and his Third Army, because the secret offensive is deliberately being launched in a battlefield too far north for Patton and his brilliant tactical mind to reach in time.

Hitler then tells his favorite commando and fellow Austrian the details of the coming offensive. He is sure that Skorzeny and his men are more than capable of playing a pivotal role in this surprise attack, known as Operation Watch on the Rhine, but that is not how Hitler intends to use them.

Hitler directs Skorzeny and his men to infiltrate enemy lines by dressing in American uniforms and pretending to be U.S. soldiers. They will all speak English and will sow confusion by spreading false rumors, capturing vital bridges, and killing Americans caught by surprise. The most important rumor is one meant to cause fear and distraction in the highest levels of Allied leadership: that Skorzeny is en route to Paris to kidnap General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

“I am giving you unlimited power to set up your brigade. Use it, colonel!” Hitler says triumphantly.

Skorzeny breaks into a broad smile as he realizes that he has just risen in rank.

CHAPTER 4

TRIANON PALACE HOTEL

VERSAILLES, FRANCE
OCTOBER 21, 1944
EARLY AFTERNOON

A
T THE EXACT MOMENT THAT
Hitler is briefing Skorzeny, General Dwight Eisenhower lights a cigarette in his first-floor office. His headquarters, a white stone French château one thousand miles west of the Wolf's Lair, is spotless and regal. The only challenge Eisenhower should be facing right now is how best to celebrate a major turning point in the war. The American army has spent weeks leveling the German city of Aachen. Any moment now, Eisenhower should be receiving word that the city has become the first German municipality to fall into Allied hands. There is widespread hope that this marks the beginning of the end for the Nazi war machine and that the fighting will end by New Year's Eve.

Eisenhower smokes and paces. The fifty-four-year-old general played football back in his days at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but now he carries a small paunch and walks with his shoulders rolled forward. For security purposes, there is not a situation map tacked to the plywood partition in his office. Instead, he carries details of the German, British, and American armies in his head.