Himmler (Peter Padfield's Second World War)

by Peter Padfield

Himmler said that on the last three occasions they had met, although the situation of the Reich had been hopeless, he had been unable to break his oath to the Führer and attempt to stop the fighting. Now, however, the position was different. Hitler was in Berlin, determined to die with its inhabitants, indeed it was probable that he was already dead – and if not he would certainly be dead within the next few days. He would have died in the struggle to which he had devoted his existence, the fight against Bolshevism.[13] In this new situation, he went on, he had a free hand. In order to protect as much of Germany as possible and prevent further bloodshed, he was prepared to capitulate on the western front and allow the Anglo-American forces to advance eastwards. And he asked Bernadotte to transmit this message to the Swedish government so they could convey it to General Eisenhower.[14] ‘To capitulate to the Russians, however, is impossible for us Germans and particularly for me. We shall continue fighting them until the front of the western powers has replaced the German front.’[15]