Branch: Heer
Born: 4 March 1898 in Helmstedt, Germany.
Died: 2 May 1945 in Berlin, Germany.
Ranks:
General der Infanterie
Generalleutnant
Generalmajor
Oberst
Oberstleutnant
Major
Hauptmann
Oberleutnant
Leutnant 1914
Fähnrich
Decorations:
Iron Cross 1914
2nd Class 22 August 1915
1st Class 6 February 1917
Wound Badge 914
Knight's Cross of the House Order of Hohenzollern
Cross of Honor
Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV
Iron Cross 1939
2nd Class 14 May 1940
1st Class 18 May 1940
Eastern Front Medal
German Cross in Gold 26 January 1942
Knight's Cross of the Iron with Oak Leaves
Knight's Cross 26 March 1944
Oak Leaves 20 February 1945
Commands:
Other: Personnel
Articles:
Hans Krebs was born on 4 March 1898 and became a German Army
(Wehrmacht Heer) general of infantry who served during World
War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the
Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen
Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme
battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.
Hans Krebs was born in Helmstedt. He volunteered for service
in the Imperial German Army in 1914, was promoted to lieutenant
in 1915, and to first lieutenant in 1925. Hans Krebs was a
career officer, and reached the position of chief of staff
of various Heeresgruppen until he became a General of Infantry.
As Chief of the Army General Staff (OKH), Hans Krebs was in
the Führerbunker below the Reich Chancellery garden during
the Battle of Berlin.
On 28 April 1945, Hans Krebs made his last telephone call
from the Führerbunker. He called Field Marshal Wilhelm
Keitel at the new Supreme Command Headquarters in Fürstenberg.
He told Keitel that, if relief did not arrive within 48 hours,
all was lost. Keitel promised to exert the utmost pressure
on General Walther Wenck who commanded the German 12. Armee
and General Theodor Busse who commanded the German 9th Army.
The 12. Armee was attacking towards Berlin from the west and
the 9th Army was attacking from the south.
Adolf
Hitler had ordered both of these armies to link up and
come to the relief of Berlin. In addition, forces under General
Rudolf Holste were to have attacked towards Berlin from the
north.
Later on 28 April, when it was discovered that
Heinrich
Himmler was trying to negotiate a backdoor surrender to
the western Allies via Count Folke Bernadotte, Hans Krebs
became part of a military tribunal ordered by
Adolf
Hitler to court-martial
Heinrich
Himmler's SS liaison officer Hermann Fegelein. Fegelein,
by that time was Eva Braun's brother-in-law. SS-General Wilhelm
Mohnke presided over the tribunal which, in addition to Hans
Krebs and Mohnke, included SS-General Johann Rattenhuber and
General
Wilhelm
Burgdorf. However, Fegelein was so drunk that he was determined
to be in no condition to stand trial. Mohnke closed the proceedings
and turned Fegelein over to Rattenhuber and his security squad.
On 29 April, Hans Krebs,
Wilhelm
Burgdorf,
Joseph
Goebbels, and
Martin
Bormann witnessed and signed the last will and testament
of
Adolf Hitler.
Adolf Hitler
dictated the document to his personal private secretary, Traudl
Junge.
Martin
Bormann was head of the Party Chancellery (Parteikanzlei)
and private secretary to
Adolf
Hitler.
Late that evening, Hans Krebs contacted General
Alfred
Jodl (Supreme Army Command) by radio and made the following
demands: Request immediate report. Firstly, of the whereabouts
of Wenck's spearheads. Secondly, of time intended to attack.
Thirdly, of the location of the 9th Army. Fourthly, of the
precise place in which the 9th Army will break through. Fifthly,
of the whereabouts of General Holste's spearhead.
In the early morning of 30 April,
Alfred
Jodl replied to Hans Krebs: Firstly, Wenck's spearhead
bogged down south of Schwielow Lake. Secondly, 12. Armee therefore
unable to continue attack on Berlin. Thirdly, bulk of 9th
Army surrounded. Fourthly, Holste's Corps on the defensive.
Later that day,
Adolf
Hitler committed suicide at around 15:30 hrs. In accordance
with
Adolf
Hitler's last will and testament, Großadmiral (Grand
Admiral)
Karl
Dönitz was named
Adolf
Hitler's successor as Staatsoberhaupt (Head of State),
with the title of Reichspräsident (President) and Supreme
Commander of the Armed Forces. The same document named the
Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
Joseph
Goebbels as Head of Government with the title of Reichskanzler
(Chancellor).
On 1 May, after
Adolf
Hitler's suicide on 30 April,
Joseph
Goebbels sent Hans Krebs and Colonel Theodor von Dufving,
under a white flag, to deliver a letter he had written to
General Vasily Chuikov. Dufving was General Helmuth Weidling's
Chief of Staff. The letter contained surrender terms acceptable
to
Joseph
Goebbels. Chuikov, as commander of the Soviet 8th Guards
Army, commanded the Soviet forces in central Berlin. Hans
Krebs arrived shortly before 4 a.m. and took Chuikov by surprise.
Hans Krebs, who spoke Russian, informed Chuikov that
Adolf
Hitler and Eva Braun, his wife, had killed themselves
in the Führerbunker. Chuikov, who was not aware that
there was a bunker complex under the Reich Chancellery or
that
Adolf
Hitler was married, calmly said that he already knew all
of this. Chuikov was not, however, prepared to accept the
terms in
Joseph
Goebbels' letter or to negotiate with Hans Krebs. The
Soviets were unwilling to accept anything other than unconditional
surrender, as it was agreed with the other Allies. Hans Krebs
was not authorised by
Joseph
Goebbels to agree to such terms, however, and so the meeting
ended with no agreement. According to Traudl Junge, Hans Krebs
returned to the bunker looking worn out, exhausted. Hans Krebs's
surrender of Berlin was thus impeded as long as
Joseph
Goebbels was alive.
At around 8 p.m. on the evening of 1 May,
Joseph
Goebbels removed this impediment. Shortly after killing
their own children,
Joseph
Goebbels and his wife, Magda, left the bunker complex
and went up to the garden of the Reich Chancellery. They each
bit on a cyanide amphlett and either shot themselves at the
same time, or were given a coup de grâce immediately
afterwards by
Joseph
Goebbels' SS adjutant, Günther Schwägermann.
Their bodies were then doused with petrol by Schwägermann
and burned. After
Joseph
Goebbels' death, Hans Krebs became suicidal. The responsibility
for surrendering the city fell to General of the Artillery
(General der Artillerie) Helmuth Weidling, the commander of
the Berlin Defence Area.
On 2 May, with Hans Krebs in no condition to do it himself,
Weidling contacted General Chuikov to again discuss surrender.
Weidling and Chuikov met and had the following conversation
in which Chuikov asked about Hans Krebs:
Chuikov: You are the commander of the Berlin garrison?
Weidling: Yes, I am the commander of the LVI Panzer Corps.
Chuikov: Where is Hans Krebs?
Weidling: I saw him yesterday in the Reich Chancellery. I
thought he would commit suicide. At first he (Hans Krebs)
criticised me because unofficial capitulation started yesterday.
The order regarding capitulation has been issued today.
As the Soviets advanced on the Reich Chancellery, Hans Krebs
was last seen by others, including Junge, in the Führerbunker
when they left to attempt to escape. Junge relates how she
approached Hans Krebs to say goodbye and how he straightened
up and smoothed his uniform before greeting her for the last
time. Hans Krebs and General
Wilhelm
Burgdorf, along with SS Untersturmführer Franz Schädle
of the SS-Begleitkommando des Führers, stayed behind
with the intention of committing suicide. Sometime in the
early morning hours of 2 May, they committed suicide by gunshot
to the head. The bodies of Hans Krebs and
Wilhelm
Burgdorf were found when Soviet personnel entered the
bunker complex. Schädle also committed suicide and Högl
was wounded in the head while crossing the Weidendammer Bridge
(during the break out) and died of his injuries on 2 May 1945.
Thereafter, the corpses of Hans Krebs, the
Joseph
Goebbels family along with the remains of
Adolf
Hitler, Eva Braun and
Adolf
Hitler's dogs were repeatedly buried and exhumed by the
Soviets. The last burial had been at the SMERSH facility in
Magdeburg on 21 February 1946. In 1970, KGB director Yuri
Andropov authorised an operation to destroy the remains. On
4 April 1970, a Soviet KGB team with detailed burial charts
secretly exhumed five wooden boxes. The remains from the boxes
were thoroughly burned and crushed, after which the ashes
were thrown into the Biederitz river, a tributary of the nearby
Elbe.
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