At Hitler's Side: The Memoirs of Hitler's Luftwaffe Adjutant, 1937–1945

This is the personal account of Nicolaus von Below, a Luftwaffe pilot selected by Goering at age 29 to serve as Hitler's Luftwaffe adjutant. Von Below remained at Hitler's side from 1937 until the final days in Berlin, witnessing Hitler's responses to major events and military decisions at Führer Headquarters throughout the Second World War. Von Below's observations cover Hitler's planning of the invasions of Poland and Russia, his views on Britain and America, his confidence in the V-1 and V-2 projects, and interactions with those around him. Von Below was present during the assassination attempt in July 1944 and documented its effects on Hitler and his followers. He was among the last of Hitler's close military staff to leave the bunker alive. This memoir, published here for the first time in English, serves as a primary source on life in Hitler's inner circle and has been cited in historical works including Gitta Sereny's biography of Albert Speer. After the war, von Below was denounced to the British in 1946, imprisoned as a material witness at Nuremberg, and discharged in 1947.