Nicolaus von Below

Nicolaus von Below
von Below as Luftwaffe adjutant to Adolf Hitler
Born	(1907-09-20)20 September 1907 Anklam, Kingdom of Prussia
Died	24 July 1983(1983-07-24) (aged 75) Detmold, Germany
Allegiance	Weimar Republic  Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Reichsheer  Luftwaffe
Years of service	1928–1945
Rank	Oberst
Battles/wars	Second World War
Awards	Pilot/Observer Badge in Gold with Diamonds Wound Badge

Nicolaus von Below (20 September 1907 – 24 July 1983) was an officer in the German Luftwaffe and an adjutant to Adolf Hitler.

Below was born on the estate of Jargelin near Anklam in the Province of Pomerania. He was a member of the German aristocracy.

He trained as a pilot in 1929 at the Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule (DVS—German Air Transport School). From 1929 to 1933 he served with the Reichsheer 12th Infantry Regiment. Below then joined the German Air Force and served with Jagdgeschwader 132 "Richthofen" and then transferred to Jagdgeschwader 26. Below became German dictator Adolf Hitler's Air Force (Luftwaffe) military adjutant in 1937. Below's task was to be the link between Hitler and the air force leadership. Hitler generally disliked and was suspicious of soldiers with aristocratic backgrounds. This was particularly true as the tide of World War II turned against Germany. But Below, with the rank of colonel, was one of the few members of Hitler's entourage to continually serve in a close capacity for so many years.

During the time between the Christmas and New Year's holiday of 1944, Hitler told Below: "I know the war is lost, the enemy's superiority is far too great." But Hitler, still dwelling on the July 20 Plot to kill him, placed the blame on traitors. He then told Below: "We will never surrender, we may go down, but we will take a world with us."

Hitler, presiding over a rapidly disintegrating Third Reich, retreated to his Führerbunker in Berlin on 16 January 1945. As his long serving Luftwaffe adjutant, Below traveled with Hitler back to Berlin. Early on, Hitler continued to utilize the undamaged wing of the Reich Chancellery, where he held afternoon military conferences in his large study. However, that practice ended and all the military briefing conferences were moved down into the Führerbunker. By April, to the Nazi leadership, it was clear that the battle for Berlin would be the final battle of the war. On 12 April 1945, Below was a guest of Albert Speer to see the last performance of the Berlin Philharmonic before the city was captured by the Red Army. He later wrote: "The concert took us back to another world."