Read Online The Berkut by Joseph Heywood - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Joseph Heywood
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Hitler. Rudolf was not one to go again st the grain. He often considered it, but seldom acted.
As the plan for the escape was being formulated, Rudolf tried his best to arrange to stay behind to provide protection for the hundreds of wounded being left in the Chancellery basement, but his officers , fanat ics to the end, he told himself, would not hear of it. They praised his courage and zeal for self-sacrifice, but they wanted him with the escape groups to provide cover for the noncombatants, which included a fair number of women. Had they agreed to his plan, he was going to slip onto a litter among the wounded and pretend that he was one of them. Instead, he was being forced out into the city, where people were still killing one another. It irked him that he had to provide protection for women; females never needed protection. Chancellery life was proof of that; they got what they wanted by spreading their legs, and there was no reason to think that the Russian males would be any less receptive than Germans.
As fate would have it, Rudolf was selected to provide combat cover for the first escape group led by Mohnke and Giinsche. It included the four women from Hitler's personal staff, a navy vice admiral, some adjutants from a number of organizations and Hilco Poppen, another guard. Rudolf suspected that Poppen, an independent and contrary sort from the Rhineland, would go his own way as soon as the escape group hit the open air. He toyed briefly with the idea of following him, but gave it up, preferring, as always, the security and anonymity afforded by the larger group.
Rudolf made only one hard decision. If any of the big shots fell during the escape, he'd pick their pockets. For months there had been rumors that the Nazi leaders were putting millions of Reichsmarks into Swiss banks. Surely these people would be carrying large quantities of money and valuables, and if they were killed during the escape, they'd have no need for earthly baubles.
The breakout turned out to be more of a nightmare than Rudolf had even imagined. The smell of dead bodies hung in the dust over the city. Berlin was so destroyed that there were few landmarks left to identify. He couldn't understand how they were going to get through such a wasteland. He decided that looking around was too depressing; instead, he concentrated on keeping low, watching only the footsteps of the person ahead of him, as they wound their way along single file in a low crouch.
By 2:00 A.M. the group was reduced to fifteen survivors. They took a short break in the Franzosische Strasse Station. Mohnke tried to talk two armed guards of the Berlin Municipal Transport Authority into opening a hatch that led into an under-river tunnel, but the two steadfastly refused; opening the hatch was against regulations and contrary to their superior's orders. "Good, stupid Germans to the end!" Rudolf hissed at them after Mohnke stalked away, furiously slapping his Schmeisser against his leg.
Because the guards wouldn't open the passage under the river, they were forced to backtrack to the Friedrichstrasse Station. Emerging above ground, they saw a tank trap on the Weidendammer Bridge and heard German tanks clanking through the rubble behind them. Idiots! Rudolf thought. The tankers were still moving forward to fight. Good evidence of what sort of creatures volunteered to serve in panzer units, he told himself.
Mohnke managed to locate a flimsy catwalk under the main span of the bridge. They cut their way through heavy coils of concertina wire with field pliers and moved onto the swinging two-meter-wide bridge at double time.
Rudolf almost fell several times, but managed to keep running forward, his adrenaline driving him. Below them, the river was red from the glow of fires; bodies that were black dots floated everywhere. As they reached the midpoint on the catwalk, a sniper opened up on them with a small-caliber rifle. Somebody directly in front of Rudolf grunted loudly and
As the plan for the escape was being formulated, Rudolf tried his best to arrange to stay behind to provide protection for the hundreds of wounded being left in the Chancellery basement, but his officers , fanat ics to the end, he told himself, would not hear of it. They praised his courage and zeal for self-sacrifice, but they wanted him with the escape groups to provide cover for the noncombatants, which included a fair number of women. Had they agreed to his plan, he was going to slip onto a litter among the wounded and pretend that he was one of them. Instead, he was being forced out into the city, where people were still killing one another. It irked him that he had to provide protection for women; females never needed protection. Chancellery life was proof of that; they got what they wanted by spreading their legs, and there was no reason to think that the Russian males would be any less receptive than Germans.
As fate would have it, Rudolf was selected to provide combat cover for the first escape group led by Mohnke and Giinsche. It included the four women from Hitler's personal staff, a navy vice admiral, some adjutants from a number of organizations and Hilco Poppen, another guard. Rudolf suspected that Poppen, an independent and contrary sort from the Rhineland, would go his own way as soon as the escape group hit the open air. He toyed briefly with the idea of following him, but gave it up, preferring, as always, the security and anonymity afforded by the larger group.
Rudolf made only one hard decision. If any of the big shots fell during the escape, he'd pick their pockets. For months there had been rumors that the Nazi leaders were putting millions of Reichsmarks into Swiss banks. Surely these people would be carrying large quantities of money and valuables, and if they were killed during the escape, they'd have no need for earthly baubles.
The breakout turned out to be more of a nightmare than Rudolf had even imagined. The smell of dead bodies hung in the dust over the city. Berlin was so destroyed that there were few landmarks left to identify. He couldn't understand how they were going to get through such a wasteland. He decided that looking around was too depressing; instead, he concentrated on keeping low, watching only the footsteps of the person ahead of him, as they wound their way along single file in a low crouch.
By 2:00 A.M. the group was reduced to fifteen survivors. They took a short break in the Franzosische Strasse Station. Mohnke tried to talk two armed guards of the Berlin Municipal Transport Authority into opening a hatch that led into an under-river tunnel, but the two steadfastly refused; opening the hatch was against regulations and contrary to their superior's orders. "Good, stupid Germans to the end!" Rudolf hissed at them after Mohnke stalked away, furiously slapping his Schmeisser against his leg.
Because the guards wouldn't open the passage under the river, they were forced to backtrack to the Friedrichstrasse Station. Emerging above ground, they saw a tank trap on the Weidendammer Bridge and heard German tanks clanking through the rubble behind them. Idiots! Rudolf thought. The tankers were still moving forward to fight. Good evidence of what sort of creatures volunteered to serve in panzer units, he told himself.
Mohnke managed to locate a flimsy catwalk under the main span of the bridge. They cut their way through heavy coils of concertina wire with field pliers and moved onto the swinging two-meter-wide bridge at double time.
Rudolf almost fell several times, but managed to keep running forward, his adrenaline driving him. Below them, the river was red from the glow of fires; bodies that were black dots floated everywhere. As they reached the midpoint on the catwalk, a sniper opened up on them with a small-caliber rifle. Somebody directly in front of Rudolf grunted loudly and
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