page_title: Military career of Adolf Hitler
section_title: First World War
hierarchical_section_title: Military career of Adolf Hitler / First World War
caption_attribution_description: Svenska: Ett tidigare okänt vykort från Adolf Hitler till Karl Lanzhammer. English: A previously unknown postcard from Adolf Hitler to Karl Lanzhammer. Found during Europeana 1914-1918's digitization efforts. Deutsch: Additional information: Der Vater des Besitzers der Postkarte war lange Jahre Landrat von Dingolfing und passionierter Philatelist. Zu seinem 65. Geburtstag beschenkte ihn der Leiter der Kreissparkasse mit diesem denkwürdigen Sammlerstück. Dabei handelt es sich um eine Feldpostkarte, die der Gefreite Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) am 19.12.1916 aus München an seinen Regimentskameraden Karl Lanzhammer (1896-1918) sandte. Karl Lanzhammer war zu diesem Zeitpunkt Radfahrer beim Regimentsstab des 16. Bayrischen Reserve Infanterie Regiment. 1917 ging er zur Fliegerschule nach Schleißheim und verunglückte am 15. März 1918 bei einem Trainingsflug in Feldmoching tödlich. Lanzhammer stammte aus Dingolfing und wurde auch dort bestattet. Wahrscheinlich ist die Postkarte aus seinem Nachlass in den Besitz des dortigen Kreissparkassenleiters gekommen, der sie dann verschenkte. Adolf Hitler war im Oktober 1916 von einem Granatsplitter verletzt worden und kam deshalb ins Lazarett nach Beelitz bei Berlin. Im Dezember 1916, als er diese Postkarte schrieb, war er gerade aus dem Lazarett entlassen worden und nun vorerst beim Ersatzbataillon in München stationiert. Der Inhalt der Postkarte ist wenig spektakulär. Er teilte Lanzhammer mit, dass er nun beim Ersatzbataillon sei, unter zahnärztlicher Behandlung stehe und sich aber so bald wie möglich wieder freiwillig ins Feld melden würde. In der Tat ging er auf Anforderung im März 1917 wieder zu seinem 16. Reserve Infanterie Regiment als Meldegänger zurück. In dem kurzen Text offenbarte Hitler noch eine Rechtschreibschwäche, indem er „sofort“ mit „ff“ schrieb. Summary description of items: Postkarte"Gruss aus Nürnberg" mit einer Abbildung der Burg, Poststempel: München 31, 19. Dez. 16, V 8-9 a, Briefstempel: K.B. 2. Inf. Rgt., Ers. Btl., 4. Ers. Komp., Mit Bleistift beschrieben. Transkription: Feldpost an: Karl Lanzhammer Radfahrer b. Rgt. Stab VI Bayr. Res. I. Division 16 Bayr. Res. I. Rgt. Rgt. Stab Text: Lieber Lanzhammer Bin nun in München beim Ersatz Btl. Stehe zur Zeit in zahnärztlicher Be- handlung. Melde mich übrigens soffort freiwillig ins Feld. Hrzl. Grüße A. Hitler __________________ Abs. Gefr. Adolf Hitler I. Ersatz Btl. II. I. Rgt. IV Ersatzkomp. München Translation: Dear Lanzhammer, I am now in Munich at the Ersatz Btl. Currently I am under dental treatment. By the way I will report voluntarily for the field immediately. Kind regards A. Hitler
context_page_description: The military career of Adolf Hitler can be divided into two distinct portions of Adolf Hitler's life. Mainly, the period during World War I when Hitler served as a Gefreiter in the Bavarian Army, and the era of World War II when Hitler served as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht through his position as Führer of Nazi Germany.
context_section_description: Hitler received the final part of his father's estate in May 1913 and moved to Munich, where he earned money painting architectural scenes. He may have left Vienna to evade conscription into the Austrian Army. Hitler later claimed that he did not wish to serve the Habsburg Empire because of the mixture of "races" in its army. The Bavarian police sent him back to Salzburg for induction into the Austrian Army, but he failed his physical exam on 5 February 1914 and returned to Munich.
  He was 25 years old in August 1914, when Austria-Hungary and the German Empire entered the First World War. Because of his Austrian citizenship, he had to request permission to serve in the Bavarian Army. Permission was granted. On the evidence of a report by the Bavarian authorities in 1924, which questioned how Hitler was allowed to serve in the Bavarian Army, Hitler almost certainly was enlisted through an error on the part of the government. The authorities could not explain why he was not deported back to Austria in 1914 after he failed his physical exam for the Austrian Army; they concluded that the matter of Hitler's citizenship was simply not raised, thus he was allowed to enter the Bavarian Army. In the army, Hitler continued to put forth his German nationalist ideas which he developed from a young age.
  During the war, Hitler served in France and Belgium in the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 16 (1st Company of the List Regiment). He was an infantryman in the 1st Company during the First Battle of Ypres (October 1914), which Germans remember as the Kindermord bei Ypern (Ypres Massacre of the Innocents) because approximately 40,000 men (between a third and a half, many of them university students) of nine newly-enlisted infantry divisions became casualties in the first twenty days. Hitler's regiment entered the battle with 3,600 men and at its end mustered 611. By December Hitler's own company of 250 was reduced to 42. Biographer John Keegan claims that this experience drove Hitler to become aloof and withdrawn for the remaining years of war. After the battle, Hitler was promoted from Schütze (Private) to Gefreiter (Lance Corporal). He was assigned to be a regimental message-runner.
  Some have regarded this assignment as "a relatively safe job", because regimental headquarters was often several miles behind the Front. According to Thomas Weber, earlier historians of the period had not distinguished between regimental runners, who were based away from the front "in relative comfort", and company, or battalion runners, who moved among the trenches and were more often under fire.
  Messengers' duties changed as the German Army on the Western Front settled into defensive mode. Fewer messages went by foot or bicycle and more by telephone. Hitler's circle of close army friends shown in the photographs also served at headquarters. They laughed at "Adi" for his aversion to smutty stories, and traded their jam rations for his tobacco.
  In early 1915 Lance Corporal Hitler adopted a stray dog he named Fuchsl (little fox), who was taught many tricks and became his beloved companion. Hitler described him as a "proper circus dog". In August 1917 the List Regiment transferred to a quiet sector of the front in Alsace. During the journey, both Fuchsl and Hitler's portfolio of sketches and paintings were stolen. Hitler, though heartbroken by his loss, did take his first leave, which consisted of an 18-day visit to Berlin where he stayed with the family of a comrade.
  The List Regiment fought in many battles, including the First Battle of Ypres (1914), the Battle of the Somme (1916), the Battle of Arras (1917), and the Battle of Passchendaele (1917). During the Battle of Fromelles on 19–20 July 1916 the Australians, mounting their first attack in France, assaulted the Bavarian positions. The Bavarians repulsed the attackers, who suffered the second-highest losses they had on any day on the Western Front, about 7,000 men. The history of the List Regiment hailed this brilliant defense as the "personification of the German Army on the Western Front".
  At the N
caption: A postcard sent by Hitler from Munich on 19 December 1916, where he explains how he wants to participate in the battles of the First World War voluntarily.
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