The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-08-20
BY GUY Y. MILLER

BY GUY Y. MILLER
After a seemingly endless period
Of training, private Adolph Hitler
was pronounced a finished recruit
and sent to France, along with 5000
of his comrades. A few days later
they were attacking the stubborn
British lines at Ypres, in the first
of those bloody battles for posses
sion Of the shell-torn town.
AS Hitler and his fell%ow-soldiers
charged over the top at the British
trenches they sang at the top of
their voices:
Fest stehr und treu
Die Wacht am Rein
The singing did not last long. AS
British bullets riddled the ranks of
the approaching Germans, the sing
ers turned into ordinary soldiers, no
different from the thousands of
others on both sides Of the lines.
Curse Their Fate
Silently, they ducked shells,
crouched and crawled on the
ground and cursed the assassination
of an archduke in far-away Bosnia,
that had dragged them into this
war.
Hitler behaved as did the rest. He
neither distinguished himself by
bravery, nor did he turn coward. AS
he said years later, Il had to fight
down my natural ~cowardice."
Strangely enough, he had no feel
ings against the English, but hated
the French.
Like his comrades, he believed the
French had plotted the war and
that the English had become in
volved by mistake.
For the first two years of the war,
Hitler seemed to bear a charmed
life. Even the terrific battering
which his regiment took on the
Somme in 1916 did not result in his
becoming a casualty.
Saw First Tanks
incidentally, it was against his
regiment that the British first used
the now-famous tanks. Hitler said
they created a tremendous impress
sion when they came numbering
over the shell-scarred ground to-
ward him and his comrades.
We were frightened badly at
first" he said. Later, we got used
to them"
About this time, the Austrian
born adopted son of the Fatherland
was made a lance corporal and
given the Iron Gross. It was award
ed for some ordinary mission and
not for any particular act of brav-
cry.
In those days, Iron Crosses were
awarded by the thousands and poor,
indeed, was the soldier who could
not boast of having one
Wounded in 1917
A year later, in 1917, Hitler re-
Ceived his first and only war wound.
For several months he was confined
to a hospital in Berlin.
When his wounds healed he was
sent to the barracks to recover But
the gay life in the German capital
disguised Hitler. He stood it for
several weeks and then applied TO
rejoin his regiment.
Back he went to the front and
the old routine of shell-dodging fol-
lowed.
T~wenty-nine days before the end
of the war, on Oct. 10, 1918, Hitler
was gassed badly. He was taken to
Pasewalk, in Pomerania, for treat
ment. There he heard the sad news
of the armistice.
When the nurse announced that
Germany had surrendered, Hitler,
still blind, buried his face in his
pillow and sobbed. 1t was the first
time he had cried since his mother
had died.
Foe of Republic
For several months, Hitler re-
manned in the hospital. Then in
the summer of 1919 he was dis
charged, his sight completely re-
stored.
The only sign of his injuries was
a nervous twitching of the eyelids,
which persists to this day.
Homeless and jobless, Hitler re-
turned to Munich. There he found
q Communist republic established
1t was a saoe time for the future
Fascist leader.
Still wearing his uniform, he wan
dered disconsolately about the
streets of the Bavarian capital. The
iron of Germany'S defeat had been
driven deep into his soul.
He resented the overthrow of the
H~ohenzollerns and the establish
ment of the reublic, although he
was disappointed at the kaiser's
hasty flight to Holland,
Seed Is Sowed
With nothing else to do. he lis
tened 20 the political speeches.
They were two or three orators on
every street corner, haranguing the
crowds.
Most of them we're Communists
although here and there was a So
cialist orator, trying to make his
voice heard owe the shouts of his
opponents.
Hitler did not know it, but those
speeches ultimately were to lead to
his joining the German Labor party,
later the National Socialists, and
marked the beginning of the ca
reer that was to lead him to the
peak of Germany's political noun
tainS.
Ito Be Continued.)