The last survivor of the end days of Hitlers bunker tells his story publicly for the first time. Von Loringhoven was aide-de-camp to Hitlers last two chiefs of staff Guderian & Krebs & the link between the armies at the fronts & Hitler in his Berlin bunker. For the last nine months of the Third Reich he was present at the daily military briefings between Hitler & Marshals Keital & Goring General Jodl & Admiral Donitz along with Goebbels Bormann Ribbentrop Himmler & Fegelein. Von Lorninghoven was witness to the ever-growing gap between the reality of reports outside the bunker & Hitlers misunderstanding of the calamity that was encircling the regime. As the Third Reich spiralled downwards he watched & recorded Hitlers catastrophic strategic mistakes & the paralysis in which he held his generals. Hitlers reason was twisted by his need for vengeance after the assissination attempt; he was searching for an impossible theatrical victory from an empire in total ruin. The final week of the regime saw Loringhoven living wholly in the bunker watching the deteriorating relations among the inmates military & civilian as the atmosphere poisoned to an inevitable end. When radio-telephone communications finally broke down on 29 April he escaped the bunker
- amazingly with Hitlers blessing
- crossed the Russian lines & was picked up & taken prisoner by the Americans. He was released in January 1948.