quote:The informal ceasefire stretched all across the 500-mile western front where more than a million men were encamped, from the Belgian coast as far as the Swiss border. The truce was especially warm along a 30-mile line around the Belgian town of Ypres, Jürgs notes. Not everybody, though, approved. One Austrian soldier billeted near Ypres complained that in wartime such an understanding "should not be allowed". His name was Adolf Hitler.
I suppose it's possible, but it doesn't seem like something that people would really notice at the time. More like a post-facto kind of thing.
Anybody know anything about it?
-------------------- seriously , everyone on here , just trys to give someone crap about something they do !! , its shitting me to tears. Posts: 16061 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
I agree with your assessment. If there were a million men encamped there, why would history have recorded his complaint? He was just the German equivalent of a private then.
Posts: 2018 | From: Santa Barbara, California | Registered: Aug 2005
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"Although [Hitler] was out of the line in reserve, discussion arose about crossing into Niemandsland to share Christmas with the British. He refused. 'Such a thing should not happen in wartime,' Hitler argued. 'Have you no German sense of honor left at all?' More than patriotic scruples were involved. Although a baptized Catholic, he rejected every vestige of religious observance while his unit marked [Christmas] day in the cellar of the Messines monastery to which they had retired on the 23rd."
quote:If there were a million men encamped there, why would history have recorded his complaint? He was just the German equivalent of a private then.
Because "history" is written by people. Hitler served in a war that brought him into close contact with many other men, and he was memorable for being both odd and a decorated war hero, so it's quite likely that at least a few of the men he served with survived the war and later recalled the attitude he had expressed towards the Christmas truce.
posted
Hitler was a decorated war hero? That's very interesting! (files away for the next time a Presidential election pits a Viet Nam vet against someone who found a way out of it, no matter parties the two represent)
-------------------- "Well, it looks we're on our own ... again."--Rev. Lovejoy Posts: 3572 | From: St. Louis, MO | Registered: Sep 2003
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Indeed. He repeatedly volunteered for hazardous duty, was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class just before the Christmas truce in 1914, and was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class a few months before the end of the war.
-------------------- seriously , everyone on here , just trys to give someone crap about something they do !! , its shitting me to tears. Posts: 16061 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
With a million solders along the lines. I'm sure that at the very least couple of thousand of them had some major disagreement with the truce. I'm sure most of the officers did not like it eather. So just because Hitler did not like the truce it becomes something special for him???
I never liked the because Hitler did it, it must be bad. The guy must have been good at a lot of thing and most of them not bad in them selves to get were he was. He did after time use them for bad things. I'm sure that for most of his life he thought he was doing what was needed to help and better his country. Somewere he stepped over the line and things went down hill from there.
Posts: 597 | From: Bellingham, WA | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Singing in the Drizzle: With a million solders along the lines. I'm sure that at the very least couple of thousand of them had some major disagreement with the truce. I'm sure most of the officers did not like it eather. So just because Hitler did not like the truce it becomes something special for him???
I never liked the because Hitler did it, it must be bad. The guy must have been good at a lot of thing and most of them not bad in them selves to get were he was. He did after time use them for bad things. I'm sure that for most of his life he thought he was doing what was needed to help and better his country. Somewere he stepped over the line and things went down hill from there.
I think it becomes special for him (Hitler) precisely because of his future career, and place in history.
I have worked with hundreds of people many of whom I have anecdotes about. However they are all persons who will probably end up being historically unimportant. Not to diss them. My anecdotes are of no interest to anyone.
However if one of them became leader of the country, or in any other way famous, then I would have an audience for my tales.
Yes you probably have a point of sorts. Hitler did turn round the German economy, but he is still best remembered for WWII and the holocaust.
-------------------- "Ladies and gentlemen, this is what is commonly known as money. It comes in all sizes, colours, and denominations - like people." Posts: 997 | From: Maidstone, UK | Registered: Jun 2006
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posted
I think (though I could be wrong) that I remember being told in history class that the generals (on both sides) objected to the Christmas football match too, feeling that it would sap the will of their soldiers to fight (as they would see the other side as being people rather than the faceless enemy), so in the following years they ensured that there was heavy shelling on christmas.
Again, this is half-remembered stuff from years ago, so it could be wrong.
As for hitler, well as far as I can see, pretty much everything he did after WW1 was what I personally would catagorise as at the very least "bad". And anyway, when you organise the most nototrious attempt at genocide of recent times, people DO tend to overlook your other achievements. I guess genocide is like shagging a sheep; once people find out you tried it, they'll never remember you for anything else.
-------------------- This Space For Rent. Posts: 210 | From: Glasgow, Scotland | Registered: Jul 2006
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