75 years ago today...German generals negotiate the surrender of Berlin to the Red Army...

Mere hours after Hitler's suicide in the bunker, German leadership set about to bring the carnage of the Battle of Berlin to an end. The battle had raged for almost two weeks and nearly one million people had been made casualties of war in that span.

Lieutenant General Hans Krebs, chief of the OKW, was sent to the headquarters of Colonel-General Vasily Chuikov, commander of the 62nd Army, to negotiate a cease fire in Berlin. Chuikov was caught by surprise and had no time to assemble his staff, so he hastily dressed several Soviet war correspondents in Red Army garb and had them pose as members of his general staff.

Another man among the war correspondents was a famous Soviet composer named Matvei Isaakovich Blanter. As it was clear that Chuikov couldn't pass Blanter off for a Red Army officer, he had the unfortunate musician shoved into a wardrobe closet just as Krebs and his staff were arriving at Chuikov's headquarters. The members of Krebs' staff would later remark how strange it was that Chuikov didn't introduce the "officers" who were with him and that they remained silent for the duration of the meeting.

The meeting was something out of a dark comedy. Krebs informed Chuikov that Hitler had committed suicide. While Chuikov initially appeared stunned by this news, he quickly regained his composure and claimed that the Red Army was aware of this news. Ignoring this impossibility, Krebs announced that the new administration had authorized him to begin negotiations for the surrender of the city of Berlin and the surrender of Nazi Germany.

Chuikov replied that the Red Army could accept no terms but unconditional surrender. While Krebs was doubtful that his superiors would accept such terms, he carried Chuikov's message back to the Fuhrerbunker.

As Krebs and his staff were leaving, they were taken by surprise when the unconscious body of Matvei Blanter fell out of the wardrobe closet Chuikov had stuffed him into just minutes before. The poor musician had run out of oxygen and passed out. While questions were no doubt on the minds of Krebs and his fellow officers, they did not stick around to ask Chuikov what the hell had just happened.