Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

THE BLOOD PURGE 767opened their shirts over their chests and drew a black circle around theleft nipple with a piece of charcoal: this was the target. Five to six yardsfrom the wall stood eight S.S. men with rifles. Four of the rifles wereallegedly loaded with blank cartridges so that no one knew whether hisbullet was the deadly one.Then the order to fire rang out. Here, too, it was: 'The Fuhrer wills it.Heil Hitler! Fire!'Among the men stood against the wall at Lichterfelde was Karl Ernst.When he left the cellar he was still firmly convinced, just as hiscomrades were, that Hitler himself was a prisoner. Whether he heard,understood, and believed the order to fire, no one will ever be able tosay. At any rate, he threw up his arm and shouted 'Heil Hitler!' He diedwith his Fuhrer's name on his lips.The shots, from a distance of five to six yards, tore out the flesh of thevictims. Especially the spot where the bullet left the body under the leftshoulder was transformed into a gaping hole, and the bullets draggedout parts of the body. The observers in the cellar could see bloodypieces of flesh stuck to the wall after the victims had dropped, and thedarker heart fragments were clearly discernible. The wall was notcleaned in the intervals between the executions; hence, after a shorttime, it was completely covered with blood and human flesh.Among the men in the cellar was Standartenfuhrer Gehrt — 'littleGehrt,' as our account calls him. In the World War he had been a captainin the air force; he had been decorated with the highest Prussian order,'Pour le Merite'; during the last years of the war he had belonged to theRichthofen squadron commanded by Goring.Gehrt's name was called out and he left the cellar, but apparently wasnot taken to be executed. Had Destiny intervened at the last moment?Those remaining inside assumed that Goring's personal friendship hadsaved him. But two hours later, Gehrt returned to the cellar, completelybroken, and told the following story:An S.S. officer told him: 'Go home, wash and shave, put on your galauniform with all your medals, and report to Prime Minister Goring!'Gehrt left the barracks. He was free. Overwhelmed by this apparent lastminuteescape, he went home, did as he had been told, washed, shaved,put on his gala uniform with all his