Bloodstained mattresses were left strewn around, while a rotten stench hung heavily in the air.

This was Hitler’s Berlin bunker as victorious Allied troops descended on the German capital through the eyes of a young South Wales soldier.

Stephen Moore-Haines, now a 90-year-old World War II veteran, still has the Nazi iron cross he picked up from the famous site of the Fuhrer’s death.

The medal, with the inscription “sur treue dienfte” (for true service) on the back, was in the blood-soaked passageway leading to the room where Hitler shot himself on April 30, 1945.

Father-of-three Mr Moore-Haines, who lives in Barry, served was with the 11th Hussars and entered the Fuhrerbunker shortly after Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun had committed suicide.

It was an incredible wartime journey. In 1939 he was a probationer constable with Cardiff police, a ‘reserved occupation’ which meant he was exempt form conscription. However, as the war worsened he was called up and saw active service, ending in Hitler’s bunker....