Free The Berkut by Joseph Heywood

toppled over the side into the river, making a loud splash below. All in the group went to their bellies while the leaders tried to identify the sniper's muzzle flashes in order to get a shot at him.
    Even though they were prone, they kept crawling forward. Rudolf could feel his uniform shredding, his knees and elbows bruised and cut by the hard surface of the frail bridge. As he got within sight of the other side, he was struck hard in the helmet. There was no pain, just an incredibly stiff jolt. It felt as if he'd run into something, but when he tried to crawl, his limbs wouldn't respond. One of the others wriggled over to him and leaned down.
    "Are you hit?" a voice asked.
    Rudolf wanted to say that he was all right, but like his lifeless limbs, his voice failed him. He felt his own urine spill down his thighs, both warming and disgusting him. As he lay there unable to move or speak, somebody stripped off his ammunition belt and rifled his pockets, removing his wallet and ripping the watch off his wrist. Others crawled over him and left him alone on the bridge over the red water. An officer robbed me he told himself , struck by the irony of the act.
    He was on his belly unable 'to see , unable to move , beginning to feel sleepy. There was no paint and he was thankful for that. He'd known all along that he was going to die during the escape , and now here he was doing just that. "Goddamn officers!" he shouted in his mind. "Goddamn Hitler. Goddamn ... goddamn ... " Then he passed out.
     
     
    13 – May 2, 1945, 5:40 A.M.
     
    The two men remained in the tunnel for the next thirty-six hours t until early on May 2. That morning , shortly before dawn , Brumm led the way to the hatch. Hitler wore a Wehrmacht officer's coat; both his eyes were black and swollen and he was still weak t but even with the pain and discomfort , Brumm could see that he was excited about moving. They were both eager to get out.
    Brumm entered the hall first t then helped Hitler out. The Fü hrer stood guard as Brumm replaced and tightened the screws in the hatch. "Where to?" he asked anxiously.
    "Toward the Chancellery." They moved as quickly as they could , but their pace was slow; Hitler dragged his right leg behind him and stopped often to catch his breath.
    They got out of the area without encountering anyone; the Chancellery seemed abandoned. Near a pile of broken beams , Brumm saw that the body of the guard he had killed earlier was still where he had placed it. To the west , near the Tiergarten , there were occasional exchanges of small-arms fire. They're mopping up, Brumm thought.
    The two men crossed the Wilhelmstrasse moments before morning twilight and cut between several badly damaged government buildings. Bodies, both Russian and German, were strewn everywhere. On a side street German soldiers had been stripped and hanged by their necks from light posts. Their eyeballs bulged and their black tongues stuck out of their mouths like overcooked and swollen sausages. Hitler did not look up at them as they passed.
    On the street ahead there was a brief volley of small arms, b ut Brumm did not concern himself with it and Hitler was too weak. do anything but follow closely, still breathing heavily. Eventually th ey crossed another wide avenue where trees were shattered and lyi ng across the brick street. A German Tiger tank was perfectly balance upside down on its turret, and a black thing, once human, hung fro m a hatch with its arms extended, frozen in rigor mortis. At the entran ce to an alley they found the body of an old woman. Her skirt had bee n tied around her neck to harness h er arms; her legs and thighs were covered with dried blood, and her mouth and eyes were open wid e. In the same alley the severed haunches of a gray horse were stack ed against a fire ladder that had bee n pulled from a building. Swarms of flies were everywhere.
    When they reached a green building, Brumm pushed Hitler insi de and checked to be sure they had not