The Berkut (17 page)

"Do you want to observe them?"

"No, I don't want to be swayed by their table talk. If he would, Comrade Chenko could act as our observer." Gnedin looked at the older physician to see his reaction. "It's group psychology; as the autopsy progresses, pretty soon you find yourself thinking like the rest of the group."

"How long will it take?" Petrov asked Chenko.

"Several hours, I would think. There should be a preliminary report by morning. I can have it sent to you."

"Bring it yourself," Petrov said. "Ezdovo will remain here. He'll drive you to us."

When they returned to the ground floor, the general was waiting
with five medical officials and several technicians. All of them were huddled just outside the door, trying to avoid the rain.

"Everything is in order?" the general asked eagerly as they approached.

Petrov stopped directly on the stoop above the general and looked down at him. "When the autopsy has been completed, Dr. Chenko is to bring a copy of the preliminary report to me. My man will remain to provide escort."

Ezdovo touched his field cap with his thumb and smiled.

Petrov turned to Chenko. "The report is to b
e
pure
.”
Both Chenko and the general nodded.

Not until Petrov and his men were out of sight did the doctors and the general enter the building.

Outside Ezdovo and Chenko stood under the eaves. The Siberian offered his hand and Chenko took it. "I'll be around, Doctor. See that they do a good job." Chenko nodded and returned inside with the others.

Ezdovo felt a chill. He'd seen several nurses inside the hospital, and suddenly he felt the need for a sturdy one with thick hair under her arms. Like home. Somewhere in the complex there had to be at least one who'd warm him up. He turned up his collar to keep the rain off his neck and went off at a trot.

Inside, one of the doctors stopped Chenko and pulled him away from the group. "Who was that man?"

Chenko frowned and leaned close to the doctor's ear. "Comrade," he whispered,
"you don't want to know."

Petrov's men felt they now knew what had happened during the final hours in the bunker. To be sure, there were some minor variations in the stories woven by the various survivors, but the differences were not significant-at least not yet. It was late, nearly midnight, when Petrov called a meeting.

The five men were spread out in their work area, with Petrov in the center, like a professor before his students. The formation for such working conferences was always the same. Rivitsky had procured several freshly baked wheels of coarse black bread. Gnedin contributed a jar of orange marmalade and a full set of black-and-white autopsy photos, which had been enlarged and tacked to the cork walls. Ezdovo brought several bottles of watery German beer, while Bailov produced a full bottle of vodka for each of them along with a yellow crock filled with dill pickles. The last was the gift of an old Jewish woman, who kissed him and thanked him for liberating her from the Nazis. She had lived in the attic of friends since 1941.

Petrov's men were eager for the session to begin. They had worked hard at pulling together all the pieces, and now it was time to attempt assembly. Over time this kind of session had become ritualized. So far they had done the legwork and seen to the collection of a massive number of small details. Now Petrov would work his magic; as with a maestro, all instruments played to his direction.

Bailov opened the vodka and poured a glass for each man. "A toast," Petrov said, raising his glass. They all answered: "To those who have fallen." They drank and chased the liquid with chunks of pickle and dark bread.

Petrov smacked his lips loudly and set down his glass. "We have come a long distance, comrades." He stood up, clasped his hands behind him, lifted his chin and began.

"We have interviewed Baur, Gü
nsche, Haase, Linge, Voss, Mohnke, Rattenhuber, Weidling, Echold and numerous guards from the bunker detachment. We also have the transcript of the Kunz interrogation, and Haase has been corroborated by Schenck, who saw him with Hitler. The guard Mengershausen was interviewed this afternoon; he claims to have witnessed the funeral pyre in the garden. The guard Karnau claims the same, though from a different vantage point. We have the views of Misch and Hentschel, who were the last out, and that of Hoegl, whose health didn't allow him to give us much."

Petrov stopped to look at his men; he often noted their posture to gauge how meetings were developing.

"Still missing are Bormann, Burgdorf, Naumann and the
pilot, Beetz. The women Krü
ger, Junge, Christian and Manzialy remain at large and, given the mood of our soldiers, don't stand much chance of being found alive. Dr. Stumpfegger, who went with Bormann, is still missing, as are Kempka, Hitler's chauffeur, Axmann with his one arm, Schwagermann, Horbeck and some other lesser luminaries. There's still work to do, but we've made progress."

The men smiled

"Hewel killed himself in the brewery. We have that body," Petrov said. "Who are the other key ones?"

"The women," Ezdovo offered quickly. The others laughed at him. "They were there at the end," he said defensively.

"Agreed," Petrov said. Vindicated, Ez
dovo smirked at his com
rades.

"Gü
nsche and Linge," Rivitsky offered. "Yes."

"Rattenhuber. By all accounts he's
a cool one, a thorough profes
sional," Gnedin said.

"I concur, Doctor."

"Hoegl, if he could talk; he was Rattenhuber's number two man."
"Yes. When Hitler said his
final farewells, Bormann, Goebbels, Krebs, Burgdorf, Hewel, Voss
, Rattenhuber, Hoegl, Linge, Günsche, Christian, Junge, Krü
ger and the cook Manzialy were present. Haase may
or may not have been there; in any event, he's in Moscow, so we'll have to wait to ask that question. Have we missed anyone?"

Bailov poured more vodka, and Ezdovo opened a bottle of the diluted beer.

"Fourteen people-fifteen if we count Haase-plus Hitler and Eva Braun. Of these, four are dead, five are unaccounted for and we have six in
custody. 1 see Rattenhuber, Gü
nsche and Linge as keys, and we have all three of them. All things considered, it's not an unsatisfactory harvest for such a short growing season. Of those still at large, Bormann should be our number one objective. Linge and Baur think he's dead, but we have no body. Mengershausen swears he was not killed."

"They were in the group with some tanks on the Weidendammer Bridge," Bailov said. "One of the tanks was hit and exploded. He's probably dead."

"Perhaps," cautioned Petrov. "Each of you knows what it's like in battle. Even those things about which you are certain often turn out to be untrue."

"The mirage effect," Dr. Gnedin i
nserted. "Like Ezdovo's harem,"
Rivitsky quipped.

"Taking all the available credible witnesses, here's what happened," Petrov said. He drew a breath before he began. "Before lunch Hitler informed Giinsche of his intention to kill himself. Then he had lunch with Junge, Christian and the cook, Manzialy. At this same time Giinsche telephoned Kempka and told him to collect petrol. Kempka
wanted to know why, and told Gü
nsche that their remaining fuel
supplies were under fire by our artillery. He was told to siphon what was needed from destroyed vehicles and those in the garage, and to bring the supplies to the garden. Hitler and the women finished eating around two-thirty. Afterward he visited briefly with Linge, told him of his plan and asked him to see to the burning of the corpses, making sure that the job would be done so thoroughly that the bodies would be unrecognizable. He also instructed Linge to burn all of his personal belongings, with the exception of the Frederick the Great portrait; this he presented to the pilot Baur to take out of the city during the breakout. "

Rivitsky interrupted. "And which now graces our walls." The portrait had been reunited with its frame, which Baur had left in the bunker. To hide the painting, he had rolled it around a walking cane and tied it with string. He'd rubbed the back with mud, but when he was wounded during his escape attempt, the Russians had quickly found it and turned it over to Petrov. "Ugly damned thing," Rivitsky added. "Frederick looks like a fairy."

"Germans never change," Ezdovo added. "They poison six children, then risk their asses for a strip of painted canvas. Who can understand German logic?"

It was Petrov's way to let them have their little asides, because often such spontaneous comments led to interesting observations. But now he led them forward again. "Approximately forty-five minutes after lunch, the bunker people were summoned to the conference area outside Hitler's quarters. He wore a gray jacket and black trousers. Eva Braun was with him; she wore a black dress, brown shoes and a platinum watch studded with diamonds. They shook hands with the assembled group. Hitler said little, if anything."

"Out of character?" Gnedin asked.

"Possibly," noted Petrov. "Well taken, but let's come back to that later. The farewells took no more than five minutes, probably less. Then Linge opened the door to the apartment. Hitler shook his valet's hand and told him to leave with the others during the breakout at
tempt. The door was closed. Gü
nsche went to repost his guards in the upper bunker, then quickly returned to take up the vigil. Linge also went upstairs."

"Point of reference," Bailov interrupted. "
If Gü
nsche re
posted his men, which ones were
reposted and where?"

"Well taken," Petrov said, a hint of excitement creeping into his voice. "Make a note of that,"

he instructed Gnedin, who served as
the group's recording secretary. "The door is closed. Suddenly the Goebbels woman rushes down the hall and bursts into Hitler's apartment. He is standing in the anteroom, and she begs him to escape. Giinsche, who has returned by now, fol
lows her in. Hitler looks at Gü
nsche and says
, 'I don't want to see her.' Gü
nsche removes her. The steel door is closed. An interval of time passes. Those in the corridor hear a shot from within the apartment. It is approximately three-thirty. Still they wait. After a time they enter the room. It is now approximately three-forty."

"They waited ten minutes afte
r the shot," Rivitsky said. "Gü
nsche tells us that he had been specifically instructed by Hitler to wait 'ten minutes after the shot before entering the rooms. Why ten minutes?"

"To give them time to die?"

"Why only one shot?" Ezdovo asked.

"Valid questions; note them," Petrov said and went on. "There is no agreement on the order in which people entered the apartment. It seems that either Goebbels or Bo
rmann was first, followed by Gü
nsche and a few seconds later by Axmann, who had arrived at the bunker too late for the farewell scene. The bodies were on the couch. Hitler was bent slightly forward, heavy blood flowing from his face. The woman was at the opposite end, resting against the armrest. No blood. Hitler's right arm hung down over the couch. On the floor near his right hand was a 7.65 Walther. Nearby was a 6.35-caliber revolver. Some claim to have seen a hole in his right temple trickling blood, but most of the flow came from his mouth; we have consensus on that point. There were no obvious marks on the woman. The room smelled strongly of bitte
r almonds-potassium cyanide. Gü
nsche left the corpses and encountered Kempka in the conference area. He told Kempka that Hitler was dead. Bormann didn't say anything, but went to inform Generals Burgdorf and Krebs, both of whom were intoxicated. Axmann of the Hitler Youth was left alone with the corpses for a few moments. Unge asked Kempka about the petrol. He was told that one hundred and seventy liters was waiting in jerricans in the Chancellery garden.

"At this juncture Rattenhuber and Dr. Stumpfegger arrive. Unge wraps Hitler's body in a blanket so that only the legs and shoes are visible. Stumpfegger helps Linge carry Hitler's body. Bormann carries the woman, but Kempka blocks his way and takes her away from him. On the stairs to the garden Kempka slips and nearly drops her; Giinsche comes to his aid. As they take the bodies into the garden an SS guard comes around the corner. Giinsche screams for him to get out of the way."

"The guard's name?" Rivitsky asks.

"Unknown," Petrov tells them. "Note it. The bodies are put into a shallow depression, an excavation made by an exploded shell. Kempka douses the bodies with petrol. Artillery shells begin to land in the area, interrupting their work. For protection, they are forced to retreat to the doorway of the bunker
entrance. When a lull comes, Gü
nsche h
elps Linge douse the bodies. Gü
nsche suggests that they ignite the fire with a grenade, but Kempka will not allow it. They get the fire started by using a rag ignited with a match provided by Goebbels. The guard Mengershausen is at this time on duty in the Mosaic Room of the Chancellery, an estimated one hundred meters away. He sees the bodies brought out and witnesses the start of the burning process. Another guard, Karnau, sees the fire begin when he walks near the guard tower; he maintains that he was around the corner from the others so that they could not see him. He was close enough to see the faces of the bodies and identified Hitler from his mustache. The rest of the head he describes as 'smashed.' It is now between four and four-thirty P.M. Over the next few hours more fuel is added to the fire. During this period a number of the guards stop by to see what is going on. Reports of these people vary according to the condition
of the bodies at the time. Gü
nsche claims that at night the remains of the corpses were tied into canvas shelter halves and buried in a shell hole near where they were cremated; the process was not complete."