Himmler and a small group of SS men crossed the Elbe with the aim of reaching Bavaria; among them were SS-Sturmbannführer Josef Kiermayer (his bodyguard), SS-Standartenführer Rudolf Brandt (his personal assistant), the two senior adjutants SS-Obersturmbannführer Werner Grothmann and SS-Sturmbannführer Heinz Macher, as well as seven other SS men and Professor Karl Gebhardt, a doctor from Ravensbrück.
