text: In April 1945, the Red Army has pushed Germany's forces back and surrounded Berlin. On Hitler's 56th birthday, the shelling of Berlin's city centre starts. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler tries to persuade Hitler to leave Berlin, but Hitler refuses. Himmler leaves to negotiate with the Western Allies secretly. Later, SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein, Himmler's liaison officer at Hitler's headquarters, attempts to persuade Hitler to flee, but Hitler insists that he will win or die in Berlin. SS doctor Obersturmbannführer Ernst-Günther Schenck is ordered to leave Berlin in Operation Clausewitz but persuades an SS general to let him stay in Berlin. In the streets, Hitler Youth Peter Kranz's father approaches his son's unit and tries to persuade him to leave. Peter, who destroyed two enemy tanks, calls his father a coward.
  At a meeting in the , Hitler forbids the overwhelmed 9th Army to retreat, instead ordering Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner's units alongside Lieutenant General Walther Wenck's 12th Army to mount a counter-attack. The generals find the orders impossible and irrational. Above ground, Hitler awards Peter the Iron Cross, hailing him as braver than his generals. In his office, Hitler talks to armaments minister Albert Speer about his scorched earth policy. Speer is concerned about the destruction of Germany's infrastructure, but Hitler believes the German people are weak and deserve death. Hitler's companion Eva Braun holds a party in the Reich Chancellery. Her brother-in-law Fegelein tries to persuade Eva to leave Berlin with Hitler, but she refuses.