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Did Adolf Hitler escape alive from his Berlin bunker in 1945 in a plane flown by a Luftwaffe pilot, bound for South America? And did British intelligence know about the audacious escape? These extraordinary claims, rumoured for decades, are examined in the latest Hunting Hitler series on The History Channel.

The second season sees former CIA operative Bob Baer and Tim Kennedy, a US special forces sergeant who was involved in tracking down Al Qaeda leaders Osama Bin Laden and Abu al-Zarqawi, raking through 12,000 unclassified documents from security agencies around the world. Among the documents is a cable from British intelligence which claims Hitler was flown out of Berlin by Luftwaffe pilot Captain Peter Baumgart on April 29, 1945. Baer and Kennedy also uncover evidence of a fifth, previously unknown, exit from the notorious bunker, which would have allowed the dictator to escape to a makeshift runway, leading from the Brandenburg Gate.

GETTY TV series Hunting Hitler is looking into new evidence that the Nazi leader escaped

Using modern digital imaging to demonstrate the theory, they claim it was possible for aircraft from the period to have landed on the “runway” and taken off.

I’m convinced that at the last moment he could have got out, with or without Eva Braun, no question about it Bob Baer, former CIA operative

Further documents reveal that Captain Baumgart had flown a Messerschmitt on the secret mission. Baer and Kennedy’s investigation takes them to Nazi-occupied Denmark, where it is claimed Hitler stopped to change plane, then on to Argentina, where they uncover what appears to be a military-style “compound” where Hitler may have stayed after his arrival. A photograph purporting to be the German leader is even shown to the investigators. The astonishing claim at the end of episode two is that a direct descendant of Hermann Goering may still be living in Misiones, Argentina: Adela Goering, said to be the grand niece of the Luftwaffe boss.

Inside Hitler's Bunker Fri, October 28, 2016 The inside of the bunker where Hitler spent his final days has been revealed for the first time. Play slideshow 1 of 18

The controversial new evidence overturns the conventional version of Hitler’s final days. Official accounts say that on hearing about the execution of Mussolini, Hitler had resolved to commit suicide. So on April 30, 1945, after marrying Eva Braun and with the Red Army within blocks of the bunker, he shot himself while Braun bit into a cyanide capsule. Their bodies were carried out to the Reich Chancellery, doused with petrol and set on fire. Reputable British historian Ian Kershaw says the only remains of Hitler that could be identified as his were those of a lower jaw which had had dental work. These remains are now said to be held in the Kremlin, as the Sunday Express reported more than a decade ago.

GETTY The evidence suggests the Hitler fled to South America

On the telephone from the United States, Baer says the established version of events is unsupported by forensics. “It’s like the Shroud of Turin: when are they [the Russians] going to bring it out? “There’s also the fact that Nazism didn’t die. Many Nazis, tens of thousands of them, went to Argentina intent on creating the Fourth Reich using weapons of mass destruction. “We have evidence of a nuclear facility where a Nazi physicist built a reactor and was testing explosive devices. Those of us in Intelligence know that there was an incipient nuclear programme. I just never knew it was that extensive. National Socialism didn’t die in 1945.”

HISTORY CHANNEL Tim Kennedy and the team inspect the ‘compound’ in Argentina

So does Baer have watertight evidence that Hitler escaped? “Well, we have two solid, independent, sources – which appear to be objective – who said he got away. One was an SS officer who said he saw him in Denmark. Then you have the evidence of a test flight from the makeshift runway on April 28. You have the possibility. “Could he have got out of Berlin as late as May 1, for instance? You simply look at the Tiergarten and the fact they cut down the light poles and were doing test flights. People say, ‘He didn’t want to be captured by Stalin and put in a cage’, but I’m convinced that at the last moment he could have got out, with or without Eva Braun, no question about it.” As for the compound found in Misiones, Argentina, Baer says: “This was meant for someone very important. Was it meant for Adolf Hitler? If you look at the German bone china found there and the stomach medicine [Hitler had stomach problems], you could go, ‘Wow. It just might be’. It might have been preparing for his arrival.”

What of “Hitler’s Tooth proof”, a Sunday Express story from 2005 which was said to be the leader’s remains? Baer says: “Iwas just in Moscow talking to KGB guys. On May 9 they produced this lower jaw in the basement of Lubyanka [their headquarters]. Was there a tooth attached to it? I don’t know. Which begs the question, ‘Why not just invite in the international press and show the dental records?’. “Why the mystery? Especially when the cranium that was taken out of archives was found not to be his [in 2009]. How did they get that wrong?” Will we ever know the truth? “If we want to conclude this story, I would get the lower jaw. No one expects to find Hitler and there are no first-hand witnesses alive that are credible who actually saw him [in South America]. On the other hand, there are Nazi communities in Argentina who just refuse to talk.

HISTORY CHANNEL Computer analysis of a photo that could be Hitler