Operation Phoenix

By Britt Bartenbach

This is not the first time the fate of Adolf Hitler has been debated, but it is the first time an insider has lifted the veil on how he was abducted from his underground bunker in Berlin.
Operation Phoenix reveals how agents from ‘Rex’, the Danish- British Royal Intelligence service carried out the kidnapping with the assistance of anti-Hitler groups in Germany and Stalin’s Secret Service. An agreement between Stalin and the Danish Queen secured the survival of Hitler and prevented the Third Reich rising from the ashes of war, and saved the monarchies in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and – not the least – Britain.

‘Truth is stranger than fiction’ is an apt description of the events surrounding Operation Phoenix.This is not the first time the fate of Adolf Hitler has been debated, but it is the first time an insider has lifted the veil on how he was abducted from his underground bunker in Berlin.
Operation Phoenix reveals how agents from ‘Rex’, the Danish- British Royal Intelligence service carried out the kidnapping with the assistance of anti-Hitler groups in Germany and Stalin’s Secret Service. An agreement between Stalin and the Danish Queen secured the survival of Hitler and prevented the Third Reich rising from the ashes of war, and saved the monarchies in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and – not the least – Britain.

‘Truth is stranger than fiction’ is an apt description of the events surrounding Operation Phoenix.

• Language: English
• Publisher: CUSTOM BOOK PUBLICATIONS
• Release date: Dec 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370948932

Book preview

This is not the first time the fate of Adolf Hitler has been debated, but it is the first time an insider has lifted the veil on how he was abducted from his underground bunker in Berlin.

Operation Phoenix reveals how agents from ‘Rex’, the Danish- British Royal Intelligence service carried out the kidnapping with the assistance of anti-Hitler groups in Germany and Stalin’s Secret Service. An agreement between Stalin and the Danish Queen secured the survival of Hitler and prevented the Third Reich rising from the ashes of war, and saved the monarchies in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and – not the least – Britain.

‘Truth is stranger than fiction’ is an apt description of the events surrounding Operation Phoenix.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in Denmark in 1947, two years after the end of World War II. Twenty years later, with Copenhagen as her base, she travelled Europe during the Cold War getting a first-hand experience of the people and cultures on the old continent. Her sense of adventure later urged her to move to Australia where her children were raised. After ten years, she decided it was time to return to her roots, and she resettled in her native Denmark. A coincidence brought her into the world of journalism resulting in countless articles and radio interviews. With her contacts in the intelligence and the resistance movement, she was given insight into secret deals and covert operations which took place during WWII. Her keen interest in history, led to her co-authoring a series of non-fiction books. Publications include seven books Odyssey to the Balkans – A Travelogue'(English 2016). The Persecuted (Danish 1994), Jane Horney – Dead or Alive (1996), Who Was the Enemy – the Man Without a Face (2004), The Final Operation (2007), Jane Horney – Agent for the Queen (2011).

Copyright © 2016 Britt Bartenbach

Published by

A

sia’s Global Print & Digital Publisher

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

OPERATION PHOENIX

…a spy’s personal account of the

abduction of Hitler

by

BRITT BARTENBACH

CONTENTS

Introduction

OntheInside

OutofGermany

PackageDelivered

The GamesofWar

BehindtheScenes

TakingOutBormann

NetworksinDenmark

BehindtheOperators

CodeName:Rothenstock

10. Mopping Up in Berlin

11.The Consul of Bavaria’

12. What Became of us?

Acknowledgements

This book is dedicated to the special agents who dared to reveal the most secret of secrets and entrusted me to present it to the world. My grateful thanks also go to my friends and family for their unrelenting support and always constructive and invaluable comments.

Cover

Candlesticks lightens a dark corridor inside Hitler's famous Eagle's Nest, located in the German Alps.

The SPIES

Oppenheimer - Ole Ib Bocher alias Michael P. Hamilton .

Rex agent Frode Bay Madsen as a civilian

Rex and top British agent 'Lily' - Jane Horney Hamilton.

Introducion

This could have been a spy thriller. Instead, it is the actual account on how Nazi Germany’s Chancellor Adolf Hitler was abducted from his bunker in Berlin. In the hitherto completely unknown ‘Operation Phoenix’ when five secret agents from the Royal Danish intelligence organisation ‘Rex’ successfully abducted Hitler one early morning in October 1944.

The story was revealed to the author by three of the agents involved. They were all operators in the world of spies. One of the agents using the code name ‘Ricardo Schmidt’, has contributed with comments and input.

Schmidt lifts the veil and uncovers the secrets behind ‘Operation Phoenix’ from the planning stage to its completion – and beyond. His account is as much about the persons involved and their missions during the Second World War, as the ‘Cold War’ following. Most of their assignments were conducted under the umbrella of ‘Rex’ – and in addition for the British Special Operations Executive SOE, British Special Service and the Polish-British Intelligence Organisation. Such covert operations would often include working hand-in-hand with the former Russian security and intelligence service NKVD/KGB – or for the German wartime counter-espionage section, Abwehr.

The old saying ‘Truth is stranger than fiction’ perfectly sums up the lives of this group of special agents. They all had close ties to the British and Danish Royal Houses – and to the Scottish Royal Hamilton line descending from the Queen of Scots Mary Stuart.

The author presents the account the way it was told to her and her fellow researcher and colleague, Ole Hans Jensen.

Without his journalistic ‘nose’, insistence and relentless search for the truth, these secrets would still be hidden.

The story has been researched, investigated and checked with various sources from the inner circle of Rex.

The covert operations, in which Ricardo Schmidt took part, are narrated here with him as the storyteller.

The dramatic events that will unfold are based on individual accounts given by three of the key agents who were instrumental – and directly involved – in ‘Operation Phoenix’. The accounts have been collected over a period of twenty years

– little by little as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle – whenever the agents felt the urge to step forward from their world of shadows. They chose to share their best-kept secrets during the last phase of their lives when they felt or perhaps were at liberty to break their code of silence. In two instances, the most secret of secrets was whispered upon the deathbed.

The special agents who performed the abduction of Hitler are initially referred to by their code names. With the exception of Ricardo Schmidt, who is still alive, real names and family backgrounds are disclosed as the story proceeds.

Many obstacles were confronted and overcome in order to present these accounts. Disbelief, ridicule and defamation of character were some of the consequences that the agents feared when they came forward. As for the author and her colleague – who have previously co-authored a series of books dealing with events from the Second World War – it has been a battle to persevere while finding themselves the targets of systematic smear campaigns.

Since the end of the Second World War there have been countless speculation on the fate of Adolf Hitler – and several versions have been published. All may have some credibility to them and could well have been factual whereas here the author presents the account that came directly from the operators themselves.

It will be up to the readers to make their own judgements as to whether the story is fact or fiction.

♦♦♦

Eva Braun

ONE

On the Inside

It was a dark and foggy autumn night when we drove up to the garden of the Reichskanzlei or Chancellery in Berlin. At two am, on the night of 22 October 1944, Berlin was under heavy bombardment from British bombers. Buildings were on fire; sirens were howling. All but a few guards had sought refuge in the cellars or bomb shelters.

As our cars reached the Reichskanzlei, the chaos in the city had subsided, and the streets were empty. In the midst of the deafening noise of the falling bombs, and the German anti-aircraft artillery, an eerie air of lifeless silence hung over the capital of the Third Reich.

Our cars came to a halt, and I stepped out, along with ‘Lily’ and ‘Oppenheimer’. Lily was in a nurse’s uniform; Oppenheimer and I wore SS uniforms. Oppenheimer had the highest rank – Waffen-SS Oberstgruppenführer. I was his aide-de-camp, ‘Ricardo Schmidt’ with the rank of Waffen-SS Obergruppenführer.

We headed directly to the back entrance – or rather the emergency exit – of the bunker, the secret underground facility, and new hiding place, for the German Führer Adolf Hitler.

After the assassination attempt on Hitler on 20 July earlier that year at his Wolfschanze, the secret base in the East Pomeranian forests outside Szczecin, the former Stettin within the German Reich, Hitler had secretly, and more or less permanently, lived in his Berlin bunker. On his orders Wolfschanze was demolished, and Hitler had not been seen in public since.

Following the failed July coup ‘Operation Valküre’, and the attempt on his life, Hitler had avoided public life. Apart from daily meetings of national importance he surrounded himself with a small number of persons from his innermost circle of loyal attendants.

Hitler’s little known, so-called mistress, Eva Braun – and her sister Gretl – both frequent guests at Hitler’s private estate Berghof outside Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps – had already been installed in the bunker. So had the Hitler double, Gustav Weler, just one of the six Hitler doubles. These were dedicated SS officers who had played their parts on several occasions. Their services had particularly been in demand after the assassination attempt. Each of the doubles had volunteered to risk a glorious death in place of their Führer.

Although all of them were very much Hitler look-alikes, none of them were capable of performing in front of large crowds – let alone mesmerizing and controlling large crowds as Hitler did in his famous, or infamous, speeches in the earlier years of his political career.

The SS police guard on duty at the watchtower above ground was expecting our arrival; he