[1] A soldier before 1939, Dufving fought on the Eastern Front, where he enjoyed unusually fast promotion and became the chief-of-staff to General Helmuth Weidling, the commanding officer of the LVI Tank Corps (LVI Panzerkorps).

On 1 May 1945, after Hitler's suicide on 30 April, the new German Chancellor, Joseph Goebbels, sent General Hans Krebs and Dufving, under a white flag, to deliver a letter he had written to Soviet General Vasily Chuikov.

However, Chuikov was not prepared to accept the terms proposed in Goebbels' letter or to negotiate with Krebs.

The highest-ranking Soviet officer crossed to the German side of the bridge, and Dufving saluted and reported to him.

The German prisoners were then transported to Chuikov's headquarters near Tempelhof Airport, where they met Weidling.