Hans Krebs ( Wehrmacht general ) Hans Krebs ( 4 March 1898 – 2 May 1945 ) was a German Army ( Wehrmacht Heer ) general of infantry who served during World War II . He was also a recipient of the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves ( ) . The Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership . Early life and career . Krebs was born in Helmstedt . He volunteered for service in the Imperial German Army in 1914 , was promoted to lieutenant in 1915 , and to first lieutenant in 1925 . Krebs was a career officer . In 1931 , he worked in the Defence Ministry . In 1936 , Krebs became an assistant to the military attaché in Moscow . Krebs spoke fluent Russian . Thereafter , he reached the position of chief of staff of various army groups . While serving on the Eastern Front , Krebs was promoted to the rank of Generalmajor when Chief of Staff of the 9th Army in February 1942 . In March 1943 , he was made Chief of Staff of Army Group Centre . In April 1943 , he was promoted to Generalleutnant and became a General of Infantry in August 1944 . Krebs served as Chief of Staff of Army Group B on the Western Front from September 1944 until February 1945 when he was appointed Deputy Chief of the Army General Staff . Berlin 1945 . On 1 April 1945 , Krebs was appointed Chief of the Army General Staff ( OKH ) . Krebs was in the Führerbunker below the Reich Chancellery garden during the Battle of Berlin . On 28 April 1945 , Krebs made his last telephone call from the Führerbunker . He called Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel at the new Supreme Command Headquarters in Fürstenberg . He told Keitel that , if relief did not arrive within 48 hours , all was lost . Keitel promised to exert the utmost pressure on General Walther Wenck who commanded the German 12th Army and General Theodor Busse who commanded the German 9th Army . The 12th Army was attacking towards Berlin from the west and the 9th Army was attacking from the south . Adolf Hitler had ordered both of these armies to link up and come to the relief of Berlin . In addition , forces under General Rudolf Holste were to have attacked towards Berlin from the north . Later on 28 April , when it was discovered that Heinrich Himmler was trying to negotiate a backdoor surrender to the western Allies via Count Folke Bernadotte , Krebs became part of a military tribunal ordered by Hitler to court - martial Himmler ' s SS liaison officer Hermann Fegelein . Fegelein , by that time was Eva Braun ' s brother - in - law . SS - General Wilhelm Mohnke presided over the tribunal which , in addition to Krebs and Mohnke , included SS - General Johann Rattenhuber and General Wilhelm Burgdorf . However , Fegelein was so drunk that he was determined to be in no condition to stand trial . Mohnke closed the proceedings and turned Fegelein over to Rattenhuber and his security squad . On 29 April , Krebs , Burgdorf , Joseph Goebbels , and Martin Bormann witnessed and signed the last will and testament of Adolf Hitler . Hitler dictated the document to his personal private secretary , Traudl Junge . Bormann was head of the Party Chancellery ( " Parteikanzlei " ) and private secretary to Hitler . Late that evening , Krebs contacted General Alfred Jodl ( Supreme Army Command ) by radio and made the following demands : " Request immediate report . Firstly , of the whereabouts of Wenck ' s spearheads . Secondly , of time intended to attack . Thirdly , of the location of the 9th Army . Fourthly , of the precise place in which the 9th Army will break through . Fifthly , of the whereabouts of General Holste ' s spearhead . " In the early morning of 30 April , Jodl replied to Krebs : " Firstly , Wenck ' s spearhead bogged down south of Schwielow Lake . Secondly , 12th Army therefore unable to continue attack on Berlin . Thirdly , bulk of 9th Army surrounded . Fourthly , Holste ' s Corps on the defensive . " Later that day , Hitler committed suicide at around 15 : 30 hrs . In accordance with Hitler ' s last will and testament , " Großadmiral " ( Grand Admiral ) Karl Dönitz was named Hitler ' s successor as " Staatsoberhaupt " ( Head of State ) , with the title of " Reichspräsident " ( President ) and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces . The same document named the Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels as " Head of Government " with the title of " Reichskanzler " ( ) . Surrender and suicide . On 1 May , after Hitler ' s suicide on 30 April , Goebbels sent Krebs and Colonel Theodor von Dufving , under a white flag , to deliver a letter he had written to General Vasily Chuikov . Dufving was General Helmuth Weidling ' s Chief of Staff . The letter contained surrender terms acceptable to Goebbels . Chuikov , as commander of the Soviet 8th Guards Army , commanded the Soviet forces in central Berlin . Krebs arrived shortly before 4 a . m . and took Chuikov by surprise . Krebs , who spoke Russian , informed Chuikov that Hitler and Eva Braun , his wife , had killed themselves in the Führerbunker . Chuikov , who was not aware that there was a bunker complex under the Reich Chancellery or that Hitler was married , calmly said that he already knew all of this . Chuikov was not , however , prepared to accept the terms in Goebbels ' letter or to negotiate with Krebs . The Soviets were unwilling to accept anything other than unconditional surrender , as it was agreed with the other Allies . Krebs was not authorized by Goebbels to agree to such terms , however , and so the meeting ended with no agreement . According to Traudl Junge , Krebs returned to the bunker looking " worn out , exhausted " . Krebs ' s surrender of Berlin was thus impeded as long as Goebbels was alive . At around 8 p . m . on the evening of 1 May , Goebbels removed this impediment . Shortly after killing their own children , Goebbels and his wife , Magda , left the bunker complex and went up to the garden of the Reich Chancellery . They each bit on a cyanide ampule and either shot themselves at the same time , or were given a " coup de grâce " immediately afterwards by Goebbels ' SS adjutant , Günther Schwägermann . Their bodies were then doused with petrol by Schwägermann and burned . After Goebbels ' death , Krebs became suicidal . The responsibility for surrendering the city fell to General of the Artillery ( " General der Artillerie " ) Helmuth Weidling , the commander of the Berlin Defense Area . On 2 May , with Krebs in no condition to do it himself , Weidling contacted General Chuikov to again discuss surrender . Weidling and Chuikov met and had the following conversation in which Chuikov asked about Krebs : Chuikov : " You are the commander of the Berlin garrison ? " Weidling : " Yes , I am the commander of the LVI Panzer Corps . " Chuikov : " Where is Krebs ? " Weidling : " I saw him yesterday in the Reich Chancellery . I thought he would commit suicide . At first he ( Krebs ) criticized me because unofficial capitulation started yesterday . The order regarding capitulation has been issued today . " As the Soviets advanced on the Reich Chancellery , Krebs was last seen by others , including Junge , in the Führerbunker when they left to attempt to escape . Junge relates how she approached Krebs to say goodbye and how he straightened up and smoothed his uniform before greeting her for the last time . Krebs and General Wilhelm Burgdorf , along with SS Untersturmführer Franz Schädle of the SS - Begleitkommando des Führers , stayed behind with the intention of committing suicide . Sometime in the early morning hours of 2 May , they committed suicide by gunshot to the head . The bodies of Krebs and Burgdorf were found when Soviet personnel entered the bunker complex . Schädle also committed suicide and Högl was wounded in the head while crossing the Weidendammer Bridge ( during the break out ) and died of his injuries on 2 May 1945 . Thereafter , the corpses of Krebs , the Goebbels family along with the remains of Hitler , Eva Braun and Hitler ' s dogs were repeatedly buried and exhumed by the Soviets . The last burial had been at the SMERSH facility in Magdeburg on 21 February 1946 . In 1970 , KGB director Yuri Andropov authorised an operation to destroy the remains . On 4 April 1970 , a Soviet KGB team with detailed burial charts secretly exhumed five wooden boxes . The remains from the boxes were thoroughly burned and crushed , after which the ashes were thrown into the Biederitz river , a tributary of the nearby Elbe . Positions held . His last decade saw the following appointments : References . Explanatory notes Citations Bibliography