Clemens von Lengsfeld - Adolf Hitler

After the assassination of the Austrian crown prince, on 2 August 1914 Hitler found himself in the crowd waiting on the Munich Odeonsplatz and heard the Kaiser’s proclamation. The young painter, who had not wanted to fight for the Habsburg state, was now prepared to die for the German Reich: “Those hours seemed to me like a redemption from the annoying feelings of youth. I am not ashamed to say that, overwhelmed by a fervent enthusiasm, I sank to my knees and thanked heaven from an overflowing heart for giving me the luck of living at this time.” 24 He shared this pathetic ardour by the way with many people, above all writers and artists: Thomas Mann, Ludwig Thoma, Franz Marc, Gerhard Hauptmann and many more.

Hitler (circle and cutout) in the war-crazed crowd in front of the Feldherrnhalle in Munich. Photograph dated 2 August 1914.

Adolf Hitler reported as a volunteer. The Bavarians overlooked the fact that he was actually an Austrian citizen in the general hubbub. After his basic military training, he was deployed on 1 September 1914 25to the Royal Bavarian 16th Reserve Infantry Regiment. His commanding officer, Colonel Julius von List fell right at the outset in October 1914 in the First Battle of Flanders, which is why the Regiment bore the name “List” in his honour from then on.

The rookie soldier wrote about his first experience of the front, the taking of the village of Gheluvelt at the end of October, in his manifesto “Mein Kampf” stating that his regiment had rushed forward singing “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, über alles in der Welt”. He went into more detail on this operation, which he designated his “baptism of fire”: “After four days we returned. (...) The volunteers of the List Regiment had perhaps not learned to fight, but just to die, that’s what they knew how to do, like old soldiers.” 26 The author of these lines drives self-glorification and mystification of his person roughshod over the truth when he writes: “Of my entire gang there was only one other left apart from myself, then finally he too fell.” 27 In actual fact about 10 percent - 13 men out of about 140 to 160 men – had fallen from the 1st. company, to which Hitler’s platoon belonged. Nevertheless, this passage illuminates Hitler’s idea of a social Darwinism, according to which only the strong can survive, he being the strongest of all. His war experiences stamped his thinking in this regard. In total, however, this searing experience was just worth 25 lines in his magnum opus “Mein Kampf”. He sums it up: “That was the beginning. And that’s how it went on year after year; horror had however taken the place of the romance of battle.” 28With another author of this sentence one would assume a certain recognition. A comprehension of the senselessness that played out day after day around the combatants, the suffering and the dying, extermination and extinguishing.

Trench warfare in Ville-sur-Tourbe (Dép. Marne): “Avant l’assaut”- French infantry waits in the trench for the order to attack.

Hogs of war and base wallahs

In actual fact the assault on the Flanders village was the only action at the Front in which Hitler took part. After that began his deployment as a despatch rider, when he was transferred to the staff of the 16th reserve infantry regiment on 9 November 1914. His place of deployment, the base, was situated some kilometres behind the main front line. Although the staff headquarters located there were hit now and then by artillery shells, this was however nothing in comparison to the continual danger of death, in which the so-called hogs of war found themselves. They were under continual fire from the enemy’s machine guns. His deployment as a messenger greatly suited his nature as an eccentric loner: safe amongst comrades and yet alone. Corporal Adolf Hitler, to which he was soon promoted, gave the impression of being a little self-important, but harmlessly so, and slightly mad to the other soldiers. His comrades made out with a wink that his head lice had clouded his mind and regarded him as a windbag and a laughable big mouth. For even then he used to deliver convoluted speeches, taking his information from reading the little Reclam books. 29His speeches spoke of victory and changes to the structure of society and of the establishing of a free people’s state. In his writings he undertook propagandistic embellishment: “I am now working for the Staff Headquarters as a battle dispatch runner. With regard to the dirt, it’s somewhat better there but in turn more dangerous. In Wytschaete alone, on the day of the first assault 3 men, out of the 8 of us, were shot and killed, and one was seriously wounded. We four survivors and the wounded man have now been decorated.” 30 Hitler meant the Iron Cross 2nd class, which was awarded to him on 2 December 1914. He was to receive the Iron Cross 1 stclass for bravery in the face of the enemy and personal services four years later, on 4 August 1918, at the suggestion of the Jewish adjutant of the regiment, Hugo Gutmann.

However, Corporal Adolf Hitler, to whom his rank stuck long afterwards in scorn even during his political ascent, was not one of the ones at the very front, who risked their lives every day, every hour and every minute and who looked directly down the rifle barrels of the enemy. Sometimes the no man’s land between one’s own trench and that of the enemy only measured twenty-five metres.

A messenger dog brings the troops news during a gas attack. Western Front 1917.

The battles on the Western Front, in France and Flanders, were the ones which, above all, were given the designation materiel battles due to their brutality and high losses of men, animals and equipment. In these mass armies, which were propelled against each other, soldiers with no, or hardly any, military experience were deployed in the main. In the death zones between the trenches the numbers of injured, maimed and dead rose into the hundreds of thousands. The deeply and densely structured system of positions was an impenetrable labyrinth of multiple trenches secured with barbed wire. Whole forests had been chopped down in order to fortify the trenches. The trenches were the most significant element of this warfare and so became a place of anxiety and waiting, prayer and hope. In between was the empty and desolate battlefield. The days of the ordinary soldiers were as comfortless as their surroundings since these days were marked by the endless waiting and boredom, the repetitive activities always the same, tiredness and exhaustion.

In the end, one million men fell on the Somme, the battle with the most losses in the First World War.

Hitler (cross) as a soldier in the 2nd Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 16 during the First World War.

In addition to the two iron crosses, Hitler received further awards over the course of his military career: the military merit cross 3rd class with swords, the regimental diploma for outstanding bravery, the medal for the wounded and service medal 3 rdclass 31. In view of this fact the question must be asked as to why he only made it to corporal. There are numerous explanations to be found for this in historical research, some of which contradict each other. Thus those in the chain of command above him considered the future “Führer” unsuited to leadership tasks! Others in turn maintained that he himself had refused promotion as he was happy with his orderly and dispatch tasking. It is today still unexplained whether it was his inability or lack of ambition that was responsible for a lack of promotion. His later conduct as Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht does however reveal him to be a pedant who, despite his tasking as a general and strategist, wanted to know and hear everything down to the last detail. In doing this he was poor at delegating and unable to trust the experts. He therefore believed he had to decide everything on his own. In the future this conduct would lead to erroneous decisions with catastrophic consequences.