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In the Great War in Europe in 1908, there were several brutal and bloody massacres in the second half of that year, and the Battle of Ypres in Belgium was the most painful "meat grinder" for Britain, France, and Belgium after Verdun, and Corporal Hitler also participated in the battle here.

Hitler came from Vienna to the state of Bavaria, which belonged to Germany, joined the German army, and was assigned to the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment under the command of Colonel Lister. This regiment is not the main force, it is a volunteer regiment, full of college graduates, and many Jews who fought for the motherland, and the entire volunteer regiment is about 36,000 people.

After Verdun fell into a trench confrontation, Hitler's team took a train along the Rhine River to Ypres, Belgium. Most of the Bavarian recruits had never seen the Rhine. As the golden morning sun slowly rose over the river through the morning mist, a huge statue towering over the Nederwald, a symbol of the Germanic Empire, suddenly appeared before their eyes. The young Hitler and his companions were excited, and the soldiers of the whole train spontaneously sang the military song "Germany above all else":

Germany, Germany, above all,

above all things in the world;

Whenever it is to protect and defend,

Brothers stand together forever.

From Maas to Murmur,

From Esch to Penta,

Germany, Germany, above all,

above all things in the world.

German women, German loyalty.

German wine, German songs;

All over the world, but forever

their ancient and noble reputation;

Inspire us to pursue noble causes.

Even if it takes our whole lives.

German women, German loyalty,

German wine, German songs.

unity, justice and freedom,

for the German Fatherland;

Let's fight for this goal together,

Unite like brothers, hand in hand. Heart to heart.

unity, justice and freedom,

It is the guarantee of our happiness.

Blooming in the light of prosperity,

Bloom. Our German Motherland!

Although Hitler was Austrian at this time, he was also infected by the passion of his companions, and he was so excited that he felt his heart beat out of his chest.

End of October 1908. Hitler's company reached near Ypres to take part in the battle. Soldiers of their regiment. The first task received was to brave the morning fog to rescue the trapped German troops, and the situation was critical, with British and Belgian shells constantly blooming in the woods ahead. The battle began near a village called Wetzhardt.

Hitler was a little weak, he couldn't even carry a backpack, he was armed with a rifle, a steel helmet on his head, and a mustache drooping. There was a vigorous light in his eyes, as if he was a soldier on the front line. With a thick beard, he wears a German M1907 field uniform and an M1908 overcoat. The epaulettes of the coat were trimmed in the identifying colors of his regiment, the collar was marked with the red infantry badge of a conscript, and the collar that stood up showed buttons representing his rank. The wrap of Hitler's steel helmet carrying the M1912-style document bag was supposed to have an alphanumeric R16 pattern on it, but it was removed for reasons of secrecy.

Bursts of shells whistled over Hitler's head, blossoming at the edge of the forest, and the trees were cut down as if they were straw. Hitler went to war for the first time and watched with curiosity, he was nervous and frightened as he did not yet know what the danger was. Hitler and his comrades crawled to the edge of the forest, anxiously waiting for the order to charge, with cannonballs whizzing overhead, and the fallen trees and branches around them trembled, and the shells exploded again at the edge of the forest.

Hitler was a little anxious: "Our German army can't lie here all the time, if we want to die on the battlefield, it is better to die outside." "He was about to make a move several times and was pulled back by his comrades.

The battle was so fierce that the Germans met the remnants of the Belgian army and the British, and fierce fighting ensued on both sides. The battle was indescribable, and the battlefield was like hell. Since the lands of Flanders, where Ypres is located, were waterlogged and unable to dig trenches, the armies on both sides suffered heavy casualties. The German casualties were not small, and when the Germans crossed the river, they were not only attacked by Belgian ambushes, but also the British naval warships that drove into the canal dumped a large number of shells at the Germans, and the Germans were bombed for the first time.

Winter came, and the soldiers on both sides were wet, and as soon as the cold wind blew, the people were almost frozen and planted.

The young Belgian king Albert I had no way to retreat, and behind him there was already France, and he could only be a good soldier with courage, personally commanding the front. He rolled up his trouser legs, took a Mauser gun, and ordered officers who did not have a combat mission to stand behind the line he had drawn, and whoever dared to retreat without permission would be shot at once.

But the Germans were ferocious, and three days of artillery fire slaughtered a third of the Belgians. The main forces of the Belgians were basically wiped out. The 60,000 troops under Albert I, with more than 30,000 casualties, were completely defeated. More and more German troops crossed the Isser River and pursued the remnants of the Belgian army. The Belgian army and the king were eager to grow four legs and fled all the way.

The victorious German army was in a state of euphoria, chasing after it relentlessly, even if it was pouring rain from the sky. Albert I was completely desperate and used the last trump card in his hand: the Flemish battlefield was very close to the sea,

The king ordered the opening of the sluice gates of the Uport sluice to drown the Germans, which would also flood many parts of Ypres and drown tens of thousands of civilians who had not had time to evacuate.

The Germans did not pay attention at first, thinking that the continuous rain had caused water on the ground, and they felt that the final victory was at hand, and continued the pursuit. On the morning of the opening of the floodgates, the sea water flooded the ankles of the German soldiers. It's here

At midnight, the sea flooded the knees of the Germans. And the water surface is still rising, and there are many dead pigs and dead cows in the turbid water. There are still many corpses of residents floating and sinking. The Germans realized that something was wrong: the Belgian king dog jumped off the wall in a hurry! Soon, a five-mile-wide lake deep enough to flood the chests of the tall Germans separated the Germans from the Belgians, and the Germans had to give up their desire to continue the attack.

The Germans who had crossed the Isser River were quickly moved to villages on ridges to the east, south, and north of Ypres. Here, the Germans fought fiercely with the French and British troops who moved here, and many of them fought hand-to-hand. Some German troops were besieged by the British and French, and the Germans eventually sent Hitler's volunteer army into the battlefield to prepare for each defeat.

At that time, the rain continued to fall, and the nights were getting colder and colder. The battlefield is a plain. Dotted with villages, forests are like patches on the earth, and rivers, canals, and hedgerows stretch out in all directions. Such a battlefield is more suitable for defense. Instead of attacking, cavalry is hardly useful. The British were always outnumbered, and the few sometimes had difficulty winning, but they held their ground again and again. Recapture lost positions. What ultimately saved the British was the accuracy and speed of their riflemen. Groups of Germans were killed by the British infantry's accurate marksmanship, so much so that the Germans thought they were facing machine guns instead of rifles.

The two sides were in a stalemate for about a month, because the terrain of Ypres was conducive to defense, and the German army suffered 130,000 casualties, and the British and French troops suffered about 100,000 casualties. Another famous poem to describe the battle that took place here:

On the battlefield of Flanders, poppies flutter in the wind

Line after line, blooming between the crosses of the dead.

That's our territory. And the sky

The lark is still singing bravely and spreading its wings

The song was lost in the flames of the sky

Now. We are already dead. Before the sudden,

We also live together, feeling the morning light and looking up at the sunset

We have loved as much as we have been loved. Now, we sleep

On the battlefield of Flanders......

Keep fighting

Take the torch from our bowing hands,

Let its brilliance illuminate the blood-colored field

If you have broken your covenant with the departed

We will never look away. Even though the poppies are still blooming

On the battlefield of Flanders......

Later, the German casualties were too great and the reserves were insufficient, so Hitler and 36,000 volunteers went to war, they had no battlefield experience, nothing but the courage not to be afraid of death.

In that day's battle, the German volunteers were swept away by the British army, and basically five of the six people died, but they did not flinch. After waiting for about an hour, Hitler and his comrades launched four charges, all of which were suppressed by British fire. None of the soldiers in Hitler's company survived, except for Hitler. Hitler also fell, and a bullet pierced Hitler's right sleeve, but, as a miracle, Hitler ran back to the Germans unharmed. In the fifth German offensive, Hitler's regiment occupied the edge of the woods and the farmsteads of Waitshardt.

However, the British army soon counterattacked in an attempt to recapture the village.

Another bloody battle lasted 3 days. The commander of Hitler's regiment was killed by a British shell, and the lieutenant colonel and deputy regiment commander standing next to the regiment commander were also seriously wounded.

Hitler, braving heavy artillery fire, found a military doctor. The two worked together to drag the deputy head of the regiment to the first aid post. By mid-November, the 16th Infantry Regiment had only 30 officers left, the total number of soldiers was less than 700, and only one-fifth of the soldiers survived.

In the early hours of that morning, the fog in the mountains was thick and shrouded the positions. Hitler's new head was called Engel. Lieutenant Colonel Hart, accompanied by Hitler and another soldier, came to the front to inspect the British positions. It was silent, and many British soldiers were so tired that they fell to the ground to sleep, and the Germans were the same, and their bodies of steel were reduced to mud.

Engel. Lieutenant Colonel Hart asked Hitler: "Corporal, are you afraid of death?" ”

Hitler said: "For the sake of great Germany, sacrifice is also honorable." ”

Engel. Lieutenant Colonel Hart said, "Then let's take a look closer to the British position." ”

Another soldier hurriedly dissuaded, saying, "No, sir, that's too dangerous." ”

Engel. Lieutenant Colonel Hart said, "It's okay. You can stay here. ”

Hitler insisted on following Engel. Hart, they slowly approached the British trenches, when a British machine gunner who was smoking a cigarette spotted the enemy, and three men in German uniforms approached them. He quickly woke up his companions. Machine gun bullets rained down on Hitler.

Seeing that the regimental commander was in danger, Hitler quickly jumped up to the regimental commander and pushed him into the trench. Bullets crackled and swept a cloud of dust above their heads. Hitler saved Engel. Captain Hart died.

Engel. Commander Hart shook hands warmly with Hitler without a word. Offered to award Hitler the Iron Cross. It was written by King Frederick of Prussia. The Order of Merit, established by William III, was first awarded on March 10, 1813, and the Iron Cross was awarded only in wartime according to rank. The Iron Cross is a cross-shaped medal formed by a black inner disc with a white edge, and the end is wider than the front end to resemble a Maltese cross. Officers awarded the Iron Cross received a stipend, and they often wore revealing clothing, such as an Iron Cross-shaped signet ring or an iron cross made of cloth pinned to their clothing.

Hitler was overjoyed and said, "Let's wait until we go back alive." ”

In the afternoon of the next day, just as Engel. Captain Hart discusses the award of the Iron Cross to Hitler. A British shell hit the tent of the regimental headquarters, three people were killed on the spot, and the regimental commander and others were seriously wounded. Just a few minutes earlier, Hitler and three other soldiers had been forced to leave the tent to look for them because four company commanders had not come to the meeting. This was the beginning of a series of near-miraculous encounters for Hitler.

Even so, Hitler received a second-class medal. Hitler was overjoyed. Two days later, he wrote to Mr. and Mrs. Pope: "This is the happiest moment of my life. Unfortunately. Most of the comrades who were awarded the medal died. "He asked Popper to save the newspaper describing the battle." I will keep them as a memorial - if dear God spares his life. ”

Hitler was promoted to squad leader and no longer disparaged as a "comrade in the bootlaces", a common name used by the Bavarians, and Hitler won the respect of his officers and men. The other signal soldiers had deep respect for his fearlessness, but they did not understand why an Austrian would be so risky, and Hitler felt that he was a German in his heart.

The German offensive at Ypres later ended, and the battle turned into positional warfare. In this way, Hitler's corporal who became a herald. It was relatively quiet. By this time, Hitler's regimental headquarters was located in the quiet area near the village of Messinás. Hitler had time to paint.

When Hitler arrived at the front, he still had painting tools with him, and he was under great pressure outside of the war, so he painted several watercolors, including one of the broken ruins near the village of Messinas and one of the trenches near the village of Vischet.

Weidmann, the lieutenant of the new regiment commander, discovered that Hitler still had a talent for painting, so he asked Hitler to paint a picture of an officer's dining room, tied to a small house, set up in a requisitioned dacha, which contained a painting that seemed extremely out of harmony with the dining room. A dying soldier is romantically lying on a barbed wire fence, that is his dead friend. Weidmann's name is Mex. Sergeant Oman looked for someone who was good at drawing among the staff of the regimental headquarters. As a result, Oman brought back Hitler.

As for the color of the house, whether it would be blue or pink, Weidmann could not decide. Hitler observed that the house was reddish because of the sun, so he suggested painting it blue, and he brought a ladder and a brush and some paint.

Hitler did well in the regimental headquarters, and he was reliable in times of danger. If someone was wounded, he never left the wounded soldier alone; When faced with dangerous tasks, he never pretended to be sick. Plus, he's a good companion in long and tedious battles. Since he was a painter, this brought him closer to the soldiers. If there is a joke in life, he draws it into a caricature. Once, for example, a soldier caught a rabbit and was about to take it home on vacation, but he took with him a brick - someone had stolen the rabbit. Hitler sent a postcard to the victim of the joke with two cartoons, one of the soldier unpacking a bag of bricks at home, and the other of his friends eating rabbits on the front line.

Hitler was different in that he didn't bring anything like canned food from home. In order to satisfy his appetite, which he could never satisfy, he had to buy extra food from the cook or kitchen helper. In this way, he won the reputation of the biggest "glutton" in the whole regiment. At the same time, he is embarrassed to share other people's canned food, and often rejects others' kindness on the grounds that he has no way to reciprocate. Lieutenant Weidmann offered to give Hitler 10 marks from the food bill for Christmas, which Hitler refused on the spot.

Later, the whole regiment returned to the front, and Hitler was still in his old position, and could only attack the French and British troops. The weather was bad, and he often hid in knee-deep water for days under heavy enemy artillery fire. They were hoping for a few days of respite and a general offensive on all fronts within a few days.

Hitler did not play badly, Alexander . Moritz. Frey was a young assistant physician in the German Army during the Great War, serving with Hitler in the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment. Researchers have recently rearranged his work and found a number of accounts of Hitler.

Frey wrote of his first encounter with Hitler: "One night, as the first wave of enemy night bombardment began, a pale man stumbled into the basement with fear and anger in his eyes. He's skinny, so he looks quite tall." He sat there panting, and it took him a while to look better. After that, he began to roar incessantly, denouncing the British. It was exactly the same as it was when he became head of state many years later."

"Then we gave him some water to drink, and he calmed down a little, but then he began to curse the enemy for his shamelessness and stupidity. In the end, it was not until the shelling was over that he listened attentively, and when he found that it was quiet outside, he impatiently said 'goodbye' and went out."

Fray later learns that the grumpy man's name is Adolphus. Hitler.

In Frey's view, Hitler's personality was somewhat different from what was previously known: "Some people say he was a coward, which is not accurate, but he was not very brave and not calm enough." He's very alert and a self-centered person."

In Frey's memory, "Hitler was very good at acting, always trying to make himself popular and impressed". Frey wrote of an incident in which Hitler came to see a doctor, "and his temperature was normal, except for a slight redness in his throat, which was not at all a disease on the battlefield." Still, I gave him some pills and advised him to see a doctor the next day. He thought about it, hesitated for a moment, and then shook his head, indicating that he didn't need to. After that, he managed to get his comrades to start talking about how he was very infected but still kept working, and let the officers in his superiors hear about it." (To be continued......)