Hitler makes a land stand in the Alps after the Fall of Berlin

[Futurist]

What if, right before the Fall of Berlin in 1945, Hitler and his inner circle would have decided to evacuate to Bavaria or wherever and make a last, final stand in the Alps? Such a move would at least make some sense for Hitler given that Bavaria was where the Nazis staged their first attempt to seize power back in 1923 and given that Hitler himself was an Austrian, with a lot of Austrian territory indeed being located in the Alps.

I would presume that in such a scenario the Nazis would aggressively build as many defensive lines and fortifications in the Alps as they could, but just how successful are they actually going to be in regards to this? Also, just how many more Soviet and Western Allied casualties are there going to be in World War II in this scenario? In addition, could the first uses of nuclear weapons in warfare be used against Nazi Germany in the Alps in this scenario as opposed to against Japan--and might this be enough to convince Japan to capitulate to the Allies without it getting nuked itself (thus avoiding the two nukings that it got in real life)?

Thoughts?

[Lars]

Germany had a zillion of pressing tasks in the spring of 1945. I doubt that much work would get done on the Alpenfestung. It also affects the morale of the Berlin defenders that Hitler has left Berlin. However, the abrupt fall in German defense will that happened once it was known that Hitler was dead on May 1st would not take place, not that it mattered much.

So the German forces in Netherland, Denmark and Norway don't surrender before Hitler is dead, and the war drags on perhaps a week longer.

[Futurist]

Germany had a zillion of pressing tasks in the spring of 1945. I doubt that much work would get done on the Alpenfestung. It also affects the morale of the Berlin defenders that Hitler has left Berlin. However, the abrupt fall in German defense will that happened once it was known that Hitler was dead on May 1st would not take place, not that it mattered much.

So the German forces in Netherland, Denmark and Norway don't surrender before Hitler is dead, and the war drags on perhaps a week longer.

Just one week longer?

[Kingfish]

What if, right before the Fall of Berlin in 1945, Hitler and his inner circle would have decided to evacuate to Bavaria or wherever and make a last, final stand in the Alps?

The question then is how would he get there?

[Thumpalumpacus]

Hitler fleeing would have been bad optics and I think would have affected front-line morale.

[wm]

A last stand without airforce and artillery means you are just target practice for your enemy.

[Futurist]

What if, right before the Fall of Berlin in 1945, Hitler and his inner circle would have decided to evacuate to Bavaria or wherever and make a last, final stand in the Alps?

The question then is how would he get there?

By plane?

[Kingfish]

What if, right before the Fall of Berlin in 1945, Hitler and his inner circle would have decided to evacuate to Bavaria or wherever and make a last, final stand in the Alps?

The question then is how would he get there?

By plane?

Hitler historically committed suicide on April 30th, 1945. Let's assume he leaves for his redoubt prior to that date, say April 25th (the same day the US and Russian forces linked up at Torgua).

Here is a map of the Western front up to April 18th.


Draw a line from Berlin to the Austrian Alps. See a problem?

[Futurist]

What if, right before the Fall of Berlin in 1945, Hitler and his inner circle would have decided to evacuate to Bavaria or wherever and make a last, final stand in the Alps?

The question then is how would he get there?

By plane?

Hitler historically committed suicide on April 30th, 1945. Let's assume he leaves for his redoubt prior to that date, say April 25th (the same day the US and Russian forces linked up at Torgua).

Here is a map of the Western front up to April 18th.


Draw a line from Berlin to the Austrian Alps. See a problem?

With a map for April 18, 1945, I can indeed pull this off:

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/sites ... 400_r1.jpg

[Kingfish]

With a map for April 18, 1945, I can indeed pull this off:

But your WI doesn't state an evacuation on the 18th:

What if, right before the Fall of Berlin in 1945, Hitler and his inner circle would have decided to evacuate to Bavaria or wherever and make a last, final stand in the Alps?

Berlin fell to the Russians on May 2nd.

In my previous post I postulated an evacuation on the 25th, a full week after the maps posted. There no longer existed a safe corridor from Berlin to Austria.

[Terry Duncan]

The last plane to leave Berlin was piloted by Hanna Reitsch who flew Robert Ritter von Greim out of Berlin in an Arado Ar 96 from an improvised airstrip, she had reportedly offered to fly Hitler out but he refused the offer, so this would appear to be the final date for Hitler leaving Berlin.

[Futurist]

The last plane to leave Berlin was piloted by Hanna Reitsch who flew Robert Ritter von Greim out of Berlin in an Arado Ar 96 from an improvised airstrip, she had reportedly offered to fly Hitler out but he refused the offer, so this would appear to be the final date for Hitler leaving Berlin.

When was this? Also, Yes, let's go with this scenario here.

[Kingfish]

The last plane to leave Berlin was piloted by Hanna Reitsch who flew Robert Ritter von Greim out of Berlin in an Arado Ar 96 from an improvised airstrip, she had reportedly offered to fly Hitler out but he refused the offer, so this would appear to be the final date for Hitler leaving Berlin.

When was this? Also, Yes, let's go with this scenario here.

April 28th, and he flew to Plön, which is in the opposite direction of Austria.

[Futurist]

The last plane to leave Berlin was piloted by Hanna Reitsch who flew Robert Ritter von Greim out of Berlin in an Arado Ar 96 from an improvised airstrip, she had reportedly offered to fly Hitler out but he refused the offer, so this would appear to be the final date for Hitler leaving Berlin.

When was this? Also, Yes, let's go with this scenario here.

April 28th, and he flew to Plön, which is in the opposite direction of Austria.

OK; so, choose the earliest date that he can fly over to Austria, and let's go with that!

[Kingfish]

Doesn't work that way.

It's your WI, you need to flesh out the details.