Nazi letters from the end of WW2 show troops believed in victory | History | News

In the dying days of the Second World War, German forces were in full retreat as the Russians approached from the East and British and American forces closed in too.

Amid what seemed like certain defeat, Adolf Hitler was holed up in his Berlin bunker and many of his most trusted lieutenants were plotting their escapes, reports the Daily Mail.

But a new cache of previously unseen letters sent in the final months of the war in 1945 has revealed how many German troops clung onto a love for “the Reich” and believed the Nazi regime could still triumph. Meanwhile, Paddy Mayne’s emotional farewell letter to SAS demolishes TV fiction.

The letters, which were translated by German historian Robin Schaefer, form the basis of a new documentary available on Youtube and streaming platform History Hit.

More than a dozen letters were shared with the Daily Mail by Mr Schaefer.

Troops remained defiant despite looming defeat

One soldier, writing in February 1945 little more than two months before the German surrender, said defiantly: “To be a National Socialist in good times, to believe in the Fuhrer, and to trust in our strength is easy.

“Any small mind can do that. But to do so now, in times of crisis, is not easy.

“The decisive thing in this war is the final battle, and we will win it!! We here at the front firmly believe in victory and will not let ourselves be shaken by anything.

“These days, the Russian is penetrating everywhere into Germany. And yet! Our hour has simply not yet come. But it will come! Count on it!!”.

Another letter, written by a soldier to his wife on January 14, 1945, reveals similar delusion.

He wrote: “The Red hordes are at our door, threatening everything we hold dear.

“But they will not pass! We will stand as a wall of steel, and every inch of our sacred soil will be dearly bought with their blood.

“For the Führer, for the Fatherland, and for you my dear heart I will fight to my last breath.”

Unprecedented insight into final weeks of Third Reich

History Hit’s new documentary, titled Voices From The Downfall, was released earlier this month.

It gives unprecedented insight into the thoughts and emotions of German soldiers and civilians in the final weeks of the Third Reich.

After the failure of Hitler’s invasion of Russia, Joseph Stalin’s troops were now marauding through Eastern Europe and into Germany itself.

In 1944 and into 1945, when German troops were in full retreat, the Red Army had encountered the horrors that the Nazis had been inflicting on millions of Jews and others in concentration and death camps.

The Russians committed horrifying atrocities against German civilians as they seized territory. Thousands of women were raped by the marauding troops.

Soldiers still hoped for miracle weapon

Another letter, sent on January 28, 1945, reads: “Right now, it’s a right s***show in the East and West, and if we don’t do something about it soon, the Russians will be in Berlin before long.

“But I’m firmly convinced that there’s a way out of this, even now. So don’t let your head hang low.

“Cheer everyone up who thinks they’ve got an unbearable lot – what should we soldiers say, we who lie in the muck day in, day out?”

A soldier writing home on February 8, 1945, still seemed hopeful that a “new weapon” would save him and his comrades.

He wrote: “You mustn’t let your head hang low, or you’re done for. As the military report says, there’s heavy fighting going on in the Berlin area, but we’re hoping the Russians don’t manage to get into Berlin.

“The food here’s top-notch. It’s just the sleeping that’s a bit rough, but everything passes.

“We’re hoping we’ll be able to use our new weapon soon, so we can give the Ivan a good thrashing and send him packing.”

Troops haunted by killing Russian soldiers

Other soldiers could not help but ponder their own morality after fighting with and killing Russian troops.

One, writing to his parents on February 7 said: “What it means to aim, fire, watch someone collapse, then go and take the last of his useful kit and leave the rest of the human wreckage to sink into the thawing lake – I can write all this down so terribly coldly, like I’m just about a missing piece of laundry.

“I’m starting to get the creeps about myself.

“What dominates our minds is: Will you get out of this? How? Because it seems like a miracle at this point. The situation’s serious, but not hopeless, not yet!”

He added: “Like Grandma always says, ‘God’s blessing is all that matters.’ No one here can deny that.

“Yet, getting killed isn’t the worst thing for us. Just yesterday, when I was with a dying theology student, I could only think: God the Father had mercy on his dearest child and took him from all this horror to eternal bliss.

“Can He give us anything greater? That’s how you must think too, if one of these thousand bullets hits me.

“It’s hard for me to find the right words here, even if some of them sound a bit trite.”

Only choice was death or Siberia

A few days later, another soldier insisted the only choice was “death or Siberia”.

He said on February 12: “I want to fight now, with carbine and Panzerfaust, but I’m not allowed – not yet. But the hour will come, and I’ll be there for the final reckoning, to settle accounts with these murderers, robbers and rapists.

“There’s only one choice: death or Siberia. If one could pray, one would have to pray: God, let us never be cowardly, not even for a moment.”

And a letter by a member of the Volkssturm militia that was set up on Hitler’s orders in the final months of the war gives insight into the willingness of the average German to fight until the end.

Addressing his children, the former First World War soldier wrote: “I’m sure you understand that your Dad can’t leave, as he has to join the Volkssturm.

“Who would have thought a few years ago that it would come to this again? Who would have imagined back then that we older folks would be called upon once more?

“But I did my part from 1916 to 1918, and I am ready to do so again for our people and fatherland.”

Hitler’s final days in the bunker

Hitler committed suicide in his bunker alongside his long-time partner Eva Braun on April 30, the day after they got married.

Russian troops were then battling through Berlin, getting closer each day to the bunker’s location.

Germany finally surrendered on May 7 and Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) was announced the following day.

Historian Dan Snow, the founder of History Hit, said of the letters: “These never-before-heard letters give us an extraordinary window into the minds of German soldiers and civilians during the final, catastrophic months of the war.

“They’re raw, immediate, and deeply personal, written in the moment, without the filter of hindsight.

“Through them, we can better understand how people on the losing side of history made sense of the collapse around them.”

Essential to preserve final witness accounts

Mr Schaefer emphasised the new documentary’s importance.

He said: “This is a truly unique film. Few documentaries have brought us so close to the thoughts and emotions of the German soldiers & civilians in the final months of the war.

“Hearing their words, unfiltered and written in real time, challenges us to confront the complexity of their experiences, not to excuse, but to understand.

“As the last eyewitnesses pass away, preserving and interpreting these personal accounts becomes not just valuable, but essential to our historical responsibility.”

Voices from the Downfall is available on History Hit now.