On April 30, 1945, Hitler and his mistress, Eva Braun, both committed suicide. In the period before his death, Hitler repeatedly advertised that he would "coexist and die with the Third Reich", but in fact he did not die calmly, he also struggled and hesitated, and even made an escape plan.
Decades after the end of World War II, former German researcher Colonel Ernest König revealed the plan to the Times, fleeing to Greenland in the Arctic.
In the last days before the fall of the Nazi Reich, Hitler's staff officers launched Operation Greenland. The plan was to secretly evacuate the nazi high-ranking leaders from the German port of Kiel to Greenland in the Arctic with several large seaplanes. Hitler intended to rebuild Nazi bases there.
Since Greenland did not have an airport that could land safely at that time, and could only land on the surface of the water, the BV-222 aircraft, which could use both water and land, became the best tool for this escape operation. In early April 1945, König received orders from German top brass to prepare three BV-222 seaplanes in case the Fuehrer and other senior Nazi officials retreated from the air to Greenland.
Rumor has it that there were more than 30 dignitaries in this group, including Reich Air Marshal Goering, SS head Himmler, and Admiral Carl Dönitz, commander-in-chief of the navy, in addition to Hitler. The plan was allegedly designed by Hitler's personal pilot, Hans Paul.
The BV-222 seaplane is a giant aircraft custom-built by Lufthansa, first used as a transport aircraft, with a fuselage of 36 feet high, equipped with six engines, capable of carrying 92 heavily armed soldiers, equipped with 16 crew members, all armed with machine guns.
Moreover, the aircraft were capable of flying at speeds of 240 miles per hour, and they could fly non-stop for 33 hours in the air, making them undoubtedly the best type of long-haul aircraft at the time. Since then, a large amount of snow equipment, tents and food have been delivered to the port docks.
However, the Allied air raids shattered Hitler's last hopes. In the last days of the war in Europe, the two seaplanes in the port of Kiel were blown up by the Allies before they could set off, and the escape plan was almost declared a failure, and the founders of the Third Reich would have to face the final demise.
On 22 April, Hitler told his senior officials that Germany had lost the war and demanded that they immediately arrive at the meeting point in Kiel to prepare for escape, while he would stay and die with the Third Reich. Next, he killed two dogs that had followed him for years, cursing that the officers on the front line were not as brave as his female assistants; he also concluded his love, and held a wedding with his beloved woman, Eva, and finally he calmly bid farewell to his secretaries and assistants, ending the ritualistic parting of life and death with sodium cyanide.
After Hitler's death, Nazi officers who still controlled Denmark hoped to obtain a copy of the Fuehrer's will to perpetuate the lifeblood of the Empire. They found a small seaplane and attempted to fly to heavily besieged Berlin, landing on Lake Wang on the southwestern outskirts of Berlin, and then sent a special operations team into the Chancellery to search for the will. The day after Hitler committed suicide, the plane took off from Copenhagen and managed to reach the skies over Berlin. However, due to the fierce fire of the Soviet tanks on the ground, the aircraft could not land at all, and had to return in vain.
By this time, the third BV-222 seaplane was assembled in Travemünde, but it was too late for senior Nazi officials to use it. British and Soviet armies broke through the city, and before the defenders collapsed, the commander, Colonel Meerling, had the researchers blow up the last seaplane.