Hitler visits the front!

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more: Hitler visits to the front - Balkans April 1941.
Source: https://www.delcampe.net/de/sammlerobje ... 70120.html

Cheers. Raúl M .

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Guys,

I think "visits the front" is being interpreted a little loosely.

Did Hitler ever get close enough to the front to see the enemy or be at risk of their fire?

If so, where and when?

If he didn't, it is not a black mark against him, as he had more important things to do, but it would be of interest to know.

Cheers,

Sid.

[tigre]

Hello Sid and others fellows ; of course I'm not talking about AH with a rifle in a trench fighting shoulder to shoulder with his landsers but AH going out of Berlin and Germany to the "rear" of the frontlines......i.e. AH with Guderian near Kulm; AH visiting Warsaw during the siege; AH with von Briesen; AH by the river San viewing the crossing and in the last post AH paid a visit to the city of Mariborg.........Hope I can shed some light on this. Cheers. Raúl M .

[wahidovic]

Hitler doesn't seem to have been particularly active in visiting the front.

He could have gone as often as he wanted, but from 1943 seems to have preferred to wait for the front to visit him, which it duly did!

In fairness, apart from the importance to propaganda and morale, there was no particular reason why he should have visited the front much. He had continental wide responsibilities and advanced communications systems. When face-to-face meetings were required, it made more sense for his commanders to visit him.

Both Churchill and King George VI tried to visit Normandy in the very first days after D-Day, but each decided that the other was not expendable and they delayed one another's arrival. Hitler, who combined both their roles, was probably even less expendable to his own side.

One thing I do wonder at is the paucity of evidence for him visiting the wounded. How often is he known to have attended hospitals during the war?

Cheers,
Tutuapp 9apps Showbox
Sid.

i agreed with you in this idea about hitler

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more: Hitler visits to the front - France 1940.
Source: Illustrierter Beobachter / Folge 16 Donnerstag, 17. April 1941, 16.Jahrgang.
Cheers. Raúl M .

[Mori]

A sketch for your collection, Poland 11 Sep 1939, here:

[tigre]

Thanks for sharing it here Mori . Cheers. Raúl M .

[scottsen11]

“Every day,” Hitler once proclaimed in his book Mein Kampf, “I put my life on the line and always faced death.”

After reading such a patriotic and heroic statement, you might think that Adolf Hitler was right up there in Stalingrad with his troops and guns blazing during World War 2.

The truth of the matter is entirely different. He was positioned close to the front on a few occasions, but he never really spent a lot of time there. The quote above concerns his experience during WW1. During WW2, he was slightly more careful, and he had reason to be

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi scottsen11,

It reminds of another, more contemporary, leader who claimed he would have run towards the sound of gunfire at a school shooting, but who managed to avoid service in the Vietnam War. Hitler, by contrast, had at least "walked the walk" by volunteering for WWI!

Cheers,

Sid.

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more: Hitler visits to the front - Poland 1939.
On September 11, 1939 Hitler made another visit to the front in the Tomaszów area, southeast of Łódź by plane and car. On that occasion the photo was taken.
Source: http://www.ww2incolor.com/german_leader ... ommel.html
Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more: Hitler visits to the front - Poland 1939.
Source: https://auction.catawiki.com/kavels/659 ... resse-1939
Cheers. Raúl M .

[gebhk]

During WW2, he was slightly more careful, and he had reason to be
Indeed - when visiting Warsaw, there is some evidence that he and his cavalcade came within range and was spotted and sighted by Polish artillery. The battery commander was refused permission to fire because the target was not considered substantial enough to warrant expenditure of desperately short ammo stocks. If only they'd known........

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi gebhk,

Do you have a source for that?

A similar story exists that Wellington refused a British artillery battery permission to fire on Bonaparte at Waterloo

Cheers,

Sid

[gebhk]

Sid, alas no. Or rather, i read an artillery officer's account yonks ago, but who, where, is anybody's guess at the moment. The matter was also discussed in passing on the Polish DWS forum. In short the Pole saw a hullabaloo and then a bunch of German top brass drove up and stood around gawping through scissor scopes and whatnot. The group was within range of his heavy guns and the area was ranged in. Because of the shortage of ammo, he was not permitted to fire on his own initiative. By the time his request had gone up and down the CoC, the Germans had driven off with a flourish. Or, in the alternative, he was refused permission because the target was deemed not priority (which is understandable - knocking off a few nobs was not going to stop the next German assault while the saved ammo might). There is no certainty that the group in question was AH and his coterie, but the date and approximate time are a match.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi gebhk,

The following thread gives Hitler's movements in September-October 1939:

viewtopic.php?t=73815

Which of the places mentioned are close to Warsaw?

We may be able to narrow it down to the possible place and date.

Cheers,

Sid.