Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

HITLER FINDS HIS HOME 83As commander of the 16th Regiment of Bavarian Infantry at theBattle of Ypres in the period from November 10 to November 17, 1914,I came to know Adolf Hitler as an exceedingly brave, effective andconscientious soldier. I must emphasize the following: As our men werestorming the wedge-shaped forest (later known as Bayer-Wald), Istepped out of the woods near Wytschaete to get a better view ofdevelopments. Hitler and the volunteer Bachmann, another battleorderly belonging to the 16th Regiment, stood before me to protect mewith their bodies from the machine-gun fire to which I was exposed. ...Munich, February 29, 1932, signed, Engelhardt, Major General(retired).The Iron Cross referred to in Hitler's letter was of the second class,but on August 4, 1918, he was awarded the Iron Cross first class, one ofthe highest distinctions to which a common soldier in the German armycould aspire. He is supposed to have received it for an astounding feat; awitness described it as follows in the above-mentioned trial:On his way to the battalion staff, Adolf Hitler, regimental orderly, wascaught in a barrage. He thought that the battalion was behind a hill, ranover the top and fell into a shell-hole occupied by Englishmen, who atonce demanded his surrender. Hitler was armed only with a pistol. Hedrew it out and not only held the Englishmen at bay, but took themprisoner and led them to his regimental staff. An officer, a sergeant andthirteen men!A comrade named Schmidt, it is true, describes the episode somewhatdifferently:... In the spring or summer of 1918, Hitler received the I.C.I for hisextraordinary accomplishments as a dispatch carrier in the big offensiveof 1918, especially for having personally taken prisoner a French officerand about fifteen men, whom he suddenly ran into while carryingdispatches, and who, as a consequence of his decision and presence ofmind, laid down their arms. . . .In this version they are Frenchmen instead of Englishmen. Thiscontradiction does not necessarily disprove the story. But it does seemstrange that none of his superiors had apparendy heard of the dramaticexploit. The official history of the List Regiment does,