The official AHF NSDAP and government quiz thread

[Marcus]

We've had several different quizes running here in the forum for a while with great success and as was pointed out by Mike, no one existed in this section so I'm starting one here too.

The rules are very simple:
The first one to post the correct answer to a question, posts a new question (must be on the personalities of the NSDAP, other party organizations or Government) and so on.

/Marcus

[Potsdamerplatz]

I hope no one minds if I post the first question.

Where did Rudolf Hess crash land in Scotland on 10th May 1941 and where was he originally heading for?

The specific location please for both the crash site and the destination, not the nearest town or city.

I have a personal story regarding the crash location which I will tell once the quesion has been answered.

Best regards,

[Michael Miller]

Unable to find the airstrip he'd planned to utilize, he bailed out of his Bf 110 and landed in a field at Eaglesham. He was hoping to find the residence of the Duke of Hamilton, whom- if memory serves- he'd met briefly before the war (and on the basis of that tenuous link to the British Royal Family, he believed he might broker peace between Germany and Great Britain).

Sorry, I don't know where the plane came to rest.


~ Mike

[Potsdamerplatz]

Unable to find the airstrip he'd planned to utilize, he bailed out of his Bf 110 and landed in a field at Eaglesham. He was hoping to find the residence of the Duke of Hamilton, whom- if memory serves- he'd met briefly before the war (and on the basis of that tenuous link to the British Royal Family, he believed he might broker peace between Germany and Great Britain).

~ Mike

Hi Mike,

I just edited the post as you were typing your answer.

You are correct that he crash-landed near Eaglesham, but I wonder if you can find the exact location (it's on the forum already)

The location he was originally heading for is indeed connected to the Duke of Hamilton who Hess met before the war. I wonder if you can find out the name of his property (another clue - it's a few miles from where I live)

Best regards,

[Michael Miller]

I wish I could be more precise, but I don't want to cheat. Over to someone else who might have a more accurate answer.

~ Mike

[Michael Miller]

Just to break the deadlock, here's another:

Please name the first (and by no means last) senior SA leader to lose his life to enemy action in the Second World War.


~ Mike

[Michael Miller]

Hint: He's buried in Poland.

~ Mike

[Michael Miller]

Another hint: He wore glasses (at least in the few photos I've seen of the man).

Come on, ladies & gents- at least take an edgimacated guess at it. This quiz is already starting to decompose, let's pump some life into it.

~ Mike

[Bob Clark]

If no one has answered the Rudolf Hess landing sight...from what I remember he ended up at the "Maclean Farm". The farmer David Maclean, and his mother, actually took Hess in until the British authorities arrrived to take him into custody.

[Potsdamerplatz]

If no one has answered the Rudolf Hess landing sight...from what I remember he ended up at the "Maclean Farm". The farmer David Maclean, and his mother, actually took Hess in until the British authorities arrrived to take him into custody.

Bob,

You are correct. The farm was actually called Floors Farm which is just outside Eaglesham in central Scotland.

Hess was actually making for Dungavel House (near Strathaven) which was the Duke of Hamilton's official residence. I stay about 6 miles away from Dungavel.

Here is a short video clip of the farmer David Maclean and his mother being interviewed about their mysterious visitor who landed at their farm:

Windows Media Player
http://heritage.scotsman.com/vids/asx/c1941001.asx

MPEG video
http://heritage.scotsman.com/vids/mpg/c1941001.mpg

An article from the Scotsman newspaper of 15th May 1941:

It is now permitted to be stated that Rudolf Hess flew to Scotland in an attempt to visit the Duke of Hamilton, whom he is said to have met on several occasions before the war in connection with matters of sport, which they were both interested. According to a semi-official statement issued in Berlin last night, Hess was desirous of bringing the war to a close in order to prevent the destruction of Britain, and "thought that Hamilton and his colleagues in Britain had the necessary influence."

Hess himself is reported to have spoken, while at the farm cottage to which he was taken after landing, of the hardships now being experienced in Germany, and of the great distress that prevails among the people there over the bombing by the RAF of the towns and of the sufferings of the civilian population.

When a representative of The Scotsman interviewed David McLean, he said that Hess told him he was "fed up with the war and with life in Germany." He said he had a message of great importance to deliver to the Duke of Hamilton, with whom he had been previously associated, and who shared his interests in ski-ing and flying over Mount Everest he was particularly interested.

He said that when the Duke was Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale he knew him well, and that he had flown to Scotland and made his estate his objective, as he had valuable information to the Duke.

He stated that he had made the most painstaking preparations for his flight from Germany. This statement was borne out by maps he had used for navigation, on all of which the Duke’s estates were marked.

It can also be disclosed now that Hess had succeeded in communicating with the Duke of Hamilton by letter some months ago. The Duke immediately placed the letter in the hands of the security authorities, and a reply was made to Hess.

It has, of course, already been stated in authoritative circles in London that Hess did not arrive with any peace overtures, that he is not on a mission or carrying any message, that his flight is an escape, and that he has come in defiance of authority.

Hess’s destination was Dungavel, the Duke of Hamilton’s home, which is about six miles south of Strathaven, in Lanarkshire, near the border of Ayrshire. He landed near the Renfrewshire village of Eaglesham, which is about 12 or 14 miles north-west of Dungavel.

It says much for his ability as a navigator that, after a flight of approximately 800 miles in an aircraft to which he was unaccustomed he should have landed within a few miles of his destination.

As was reported in The Scotsman yesterday, Hess had a map on which his route from Augsburg, South Germany, was marked in the pencil. The line ended at Dungavel, which was ringed in blue pencil.

Renfrewshire, some eight miles from Glasgow, the first thing he asked Mr David McLean, the ploughman who assisted him out of his parachute harness, was the way to Dungavel. He had mistaken a large house he had sighted as the mansion he was seeking, and, failing to find a suitable landing ground, decided to descend by parachute. Despite the injury to his ankle, he wanted to be taken to the Duke’s house, which he thought was nearby. The Duke, who is on active service with the Royal Airforce, was not in Dungavel.

PENDING the further statement on the Rudolf Hess sensation, some display of impatience on the part of the general public is quite naturally to be expected. But that impatience may be substantially diminished if and when people realise the actual meaning of the strange and dramatic escapade of last weekend. The Deputy Führer of Germany is a prisoner in the hands of the British military authorities. He is talking freely, and every word he utters is of the utmost importance to us. Obviously it is not in our interests to tell the world - including Germany - how much he has said. There is abundant evidence of anxiety in Berlin as to his talkativeness, and all the efforts of Dr Goebbels to portray him as a semi-crazy idealist in search of peace will not bring conviction in the circumstances. We do not need - even if we wished to do so - to depict this prisoner as a convert to democracy, or as anything but the full-blooded Nazi which he has been. The fact remains that Hess is here, and that Hess is telling us many things that this friends and leader would be most anxious to conceal.

I have reason to believe that the freedom with which Rudolf Hess is speaking to his captors extend to the military as well as to the political sphere. It is true that as a prisoner of war Hess would remain in the care of Army personnel, but I gather that the members of the War Office Intelligence branch are very much in the picture.

It is quite clear from their strange silence on a n issue which has staggered the rest of the world that both Italy and Soviet Russia are puzzled and perplexed. Mussolini, of course, could dread nothing more than the disclosure to his own people that the Nazi regime, which alone still upholds the Fascist regime in Italian eyes, is a monster with feet of clay. Moscow’s silence, however, is far more remarkable. It may be due to a desire not to say anything disparaging or insulting about Nazidom at the moment when Stalin is so obviously in quest of an understanding with Berlin. Or it may be that Moscow’s incredible self-restraint is a symptom of Soviet uneasiness about the possibility of a Nazischism over the Ribbentrop policy of a Nazi-Soviet rapprochement. That is, perhaps, one of the most fascinating and difficult speculations of the hour. In this connection it is not inopportune for those who possess the "Polish White Book" on the diplomatic conversations between Berlin and Warsaw that preceded the outbreak of the present war, to look up the violent diatribes against Soviet Russia indulged by Hitler and Göring against Stalin and his regime in their talks with Colonel Beck and other Polish statesmen of that period. Göring in particular expressed the sentiment which Hess is now eredited with having stressed - that the Nazi regime could never come to an understanding with Soviet Russia or it would falsify its whole basic creed. The Soviet Secret Service is probably better aware than any other of the extent to which the old Nazi prejudice against Bolshevism still persists in certain high circles in the Reich.

I have seldom seen the House of Commons so roused to anger as it was by Mr Eden’s disclosure today, that the French authorities in Syria are, in contradiction to the terms of the Armistice with Germany and their solemn undertakings to this country, allowing enemy aeroplanes to use Syrian aerodromes as a "half-way house" for flights to Iraq. The words were scarcely out of the Foreign Secretary’s mouth when there loud cries of "Shame", and his further statement that our Government have given full authority for action to be taken against German aircraft at these Syrian bases was most emphatically cheered. Mr Eden has in the last few day shown vigour and determination in his answers which has reassured members who have sometimes wondered if he possessed the touch of ruthlessness necessary to deal with the sort of situation which so often confronts the holder of his office in these times. After today’s demonstration, he can be in no doubt as to what the members of the Commons expect him to do. In all parties there is a strong desire that the only reply to treachery and betrayal should be prompt and effective military action to the limits of our resources.

It looks as if the Red Sea were going to provide the acid test between Berlin and Washington. Hitler threatens to sink any American supply vessel in the non-combat zone proclaimed by President Roosevelt. This threat may be mere bluff designed to facilitate the task of the president’s isolationist and other critics. On the other hand, it may be seriously meant, although how it is to be implemented is a little difficult to see. No doubt, the Germans could fly a few long-range bombers from Libya to the Red Sea, but our own fighters could deal with these. The Red Sea is too much of a blind alley for German surface naval raiders. But if the German Navy possesses some secret submarine bases on islands in the South Atlantic or the southern approaches to the Indian Ocean, a few U-boats may soon be lurking in Red Sea waters. The question whether Germany will really endeavour to sink American supply vessels may depend in the first instance on whether these are or are not "convoved" or at any rate watched over by American naval patrols. I fancy that the Nazis will hesitate before trying to torpedo a merchant vessel or a warship flying the Stars and Stripes. Incidentally President Roosevelt’s determination to defend at any cost American merchantmen navigating in a non-combat zone is of tremendous interest and importance to ourselves. It constitutes a revival in a modified form of the traditional United States doctrine of the freedom of the seas for neutrals, which we mistakenly combated even after the last war, without realising its potential, benefits to Great Britain by reason of our insular position and of our dependence on sea-borne supplies.

It has been decided that at an early sitting of the Commons, a secret session on a vote for the Ministry of Supply should be held, so that the House may be given in confidence the latest and fullest details regarding our production and the ever-growing assistance we are receiving from the United States. No one will quarrel with the Prime Minister’s contention that the facts and figures cannot, for security reasons, be divulged in public, but it is possible, while admitting this, to have some sympathy with those who feel that some kind of general statement might have been made in open session, so as to give the public an authoritative view of the position, however vaguely that statement might have to be framed Mr Churchill thinks that MP’s are hearing the Ministerial reports given to them in secret session will be able, without divulging information of value to the enemy, to give their constituents a comforting reassurance as to the progress that is being made, but such a reassurance would be doubly effective if it was given by a responsible Minister. If it cannot be done in Parliament, a broadcast might surely be arranged. Nothing would hearten the country more than to hear that we are still advancing steadily towards the peak of our war effort despite all attempts to stop us.

On Saturday Norwegians all over the world - with the exception, perhaps, of those in Norway - will celebrate Independence Day. It was on May 17, 1814, at the Norwegian Storting assembled at Eidsvold, 40 miles north of Oslo, declared Norway an independent kingdom, and drew up the most advanced democratic constitution known in Europe at that time. I had the pleasure today of meeting some of the leading members of the Norwegian community in London, including the Foreign Minister, Mr Trygve Lie, and could not be but impressed by their fortitude in exile. Each is animated by the conviction that the return to their own country will not be long delayed, and they derive much support from the fact that a passive war against the German invaders is waged without intermission in their country. The powerful weapon of social ostracism is being used with great effect, I am told, and great risks are being taken to demonstrate to the Nazis that they are detested interlopers. One example of the spirit of the Norwegians may be given. A Nazi officer entered a large store in Oslo, and addressing one of the girl assistants, said "Heil Hitler! Which is the way to the gentleman’s department?" She replied, "God save the king! Second turning to the left."

When the National Association for the Employment of Regular Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen holds its annual meeting tomorrow, attention will be directed to the continuation of work which it is not generally realised is needed in war time as in peace. Thousands of men are discharged from the Services annually, and the Association is maintaining an organisation capable of the expansion bound to be necessary after the war. Its annual report deals with some interesting facts. Until the middle of last year the majority of men seeking help to find employment were those who had lost their work as a result of war conditions. The occupations chiefly affected were the building trade, the entertainment profession, garages, one-man business, and industries not concerned with export trade or munitions. Later, with the readjustment of industry and commerce to war needs, the number of men requiring assistance declined, but those discharged from the Services on account of sickness increased in number and became the principal object of attention. During the past 12 months regular jobs have been found for over 5000 members of the Association. A new scheme has the co-operation of several hundred factory surgeons for the assistance of men discharged from the Navy, Army and air Force on account of wounds. These surgeons have agreed to advise either without fee or at a nominal charge as to the extent and type of work which a man’s disability will allow, and how soon he can start work again without retarding his recovery.

This article: http://heritage.scotsman.com/videos.cfm?vid=110

Here is a photograph of Dungavel House - the original location of Hess. The photograph is owned by a friend of my father's who is a local historian in the area.



Today Dungavel House is used as a holding centre for illegal immigrants waiting to be deported.

I have a personal story regarding the crash location which I will tell once the quesion has been answered.

As promised I have a personal story regarding the Hess crash at Floors Farm near Eaglesham.

My great-aunt was stationed in Eaglesham on the night of 10th May 1941 when Hess crash-landed in Scotland. I remember her telling me that the air raid sirens sounded that night which she remembered as being unusual because Eaglesham or the surrounding towns were not Luftwaffe targets. My aunt and her friends heard the drone of engines and feared that the town was to bombed.

Next morning there was news that a lone German plane had crashed in one of the nearby fields and there were rumours that "something was up". A large military force descended upon the area and the field containing the crashed Me-110 was cordoned off and heavily guarded by local police and soldiers. No-one knew that Hess had landed until a few days later but it was obvious to my aunt that something out of the ordinary had happened. Such attention was not given to every crashed German aircraft.

My aunt finally found out what had happened 2 or 3 days later when the story was revealed by the newspapers and radio. She told me this story when I stayed with her during the school holidays in the late 1980's when I was a teenager who was just getting interested in history. I have forgotten a few of the key details and as my great-aunt died in 1998 I will never again hear this story first-hand. She may not have been a key player, but she was there when history was made.

Best regards.

[Georges JEROME]

SA Ogruf Joachim Meyer Quade kia 10.09.1939 in Poland


Georges

[Michael Miller]

Thank you, George! Meyer-Quade is the name I was looking for.

Best wishes,
~ Mike

[Georges JEROME]

who was the 1st SS leader appointed Höhere SS und Polizeiführer ? where and when ?


Georges

[Helly Angel]

Hehehe easy!!!

Der Hôhere SS und Polizeifûhrer "Sûd" (South):
SS Obergruppenfûhrer Friedrich-Karl Freiherr von Eberstein.
April 12, 1938 his command was headquartered in Munich.

Thanks for the applauses thanks, thanks!!!

[Georges JEROME]

Congratulations !! sorry to be late (last year question )
von Eberstein was 1st appointed but sooner 12.03.38
as HSSPF for both WK VII and WK XIII
the following appointments came in june 38.