After being seriously wounded in the 1939 Polish campaign, Rochus Misch was invited to join Hitler’s Schutzstaffel (SS) bodyguard. There he served until the war’s end as Hitler’s bodyguard, courier, orderly, and, finally, chief of communications. On the Berghof terrace, he watched Eva Braun organise parties; he observed Heinrich Himmler and Albert Speer; and he monitored telephone conversations from Berlin to the East Prussian Fhrer Headquarters on 20 July 1944 after the attempt on Hitler’s life. Towards the end, Misch was drawn into the Fhrerbunker with the last of the 'faithful’. As defeat approached, he remained in charge of the bunker switchboard, as his duty required – even after Hitler committed suicide. Misch knew the private side of Hitler, and his position was one of unconditional loyalty to him. This first-hand testimony of the last witness to Hitler’s final hours offers an intimate view of life deep inside the bunker, and it provides new insights into military events, such as Hitler’s initial feeling that the Sixth Army should pull out of Stalingrad. Shortly before he died in 2013, Misch wrote a preface for this first-ever English-language edition. The book also contains an introduction by British historian Roger Moorhouse.PRAISE FOR ROCHUS MISCH'[F]ull of fascinating personal details about one of history’s most reviled men his first-hand accounts of the Third Reich’s desperate final days made this a gripping read.’ The West Australian'[S]hows the change from the euphoria of Germany’s initial successes and the slow descent into depression as Hitler’s war machine is defeated Misch’s point of view is an interesting one, with many intriguing details of day-to-day life His view of Hitler as a simple man brings out the enormity of the Nazi leader’s crimes against other humans.’ The Daily Telegraph
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