The military career of Adolf Hitler, who was the dictator of Germany from 1933 until 1945, can be divided into two distinct portions of his life. Mainly, the period during World War I when Hitler served as a Gefreiter (lance corporal) in the Bavarian Army, and the era of World War II when he served as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht (German Armed Forces) through his position as Führer of Nazi Germany.
Evasion of military service in the Austro-Hungarian Army In Vienna, where he had been living in relative poverty since 1907, Hitler received the final part of his father's estate in May 1913 and moved to Munich in the German Empire, where he earned money painting architectural scenes. He may have left Vienna to evade conscription into the Austro-Hungarian Army. The Austro-Hungarian military subsequently deemed him "stellungsflüchtig", meaning that he had purposefully evaded the aptitude tests for conscription. He was wanted by the police and eventually located in Munich, where authorities demanded that he present himself at the local Austro-Hungarian consulate. Hitler did as he was told, but told the consul a variety of reasons for being unable to enlist in the Austro-Hungarian military, including poverty, illnesses, and other troubles. The consul pitied him and decided to ignore regulations, thus not ordering Hitler's extradition. Regardless, it was decided to again check Hitler's case in Austria. The Bavarian police thus sent him back to Salzburg for another induction into the Austro-Hungarian Army, but he failed his physical exam on 5 February 1914 and returned to Munich.
According to historian Henrik Eberle, Hitler probably evaded conscription into the Austro-Hungarian Army due to his growing disdain for Austria-Hungary's nature as a multi-ethnic state. Contemporary witnesses such as one of Hitler's superiors in World War I, Max Amann, later reported that he was not yet as politically extreme as he later became. Regardless, Hitler already showcased a commitment to hardline German nationalism and a strong dislike for non-German groups in Austria such as the Czechs in Vienna. Upon the outbreak of World War I, Hitler was thus an early, fervent supporter of the Imperial German Army.
First World War Early service and First Battle of Ypres
Hitler was 25 years old in August 1914, when Austria-Hungary and the German Empire entered the First World War. He greeted the war's outbreak on 2 August with enthusiasm, and tried to enlist in the Imperial German Army two days after the conflict's start. However, he was initially sent away as the military had no need for more volunteers at the time. On 16 August, he was ordered to report at Munich's recruit depot. 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.
After enlisting, Hitler was assigned to the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 16 (1st Company of the List Regiment) which would serve in France and Belgium during the war. By the time Hitler reached the front lines, the early German advances on the Western Front had already been blunted, but the conflict had not yet entered its full trench warfare stage. Hitler first saw combat during the First Battle of Ypres (October 1914), which Germans later remembered as the Kindermord bei Ypern (Massacre of the Innocents at Ypres) 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. Serving as an infantryman in the 1st Company, Hitler first encountered enemies on 29 October 1914 when the Reserve Infantry Regiment 16 ran into an entrenched but heavily depleted Scottish unit. He later recounted that the morale of his unit was very high at the time, as he and his comrades did not truly understand the true dangers of battle. The Bavarians easily overran the Scottish force in a charge, but their temper cooled after they started to suffer their first losses.
The German units in the area then kept advancing, but soon stalled as they ran into more numerous and well camouflaged English positions. Having overcome three trench lines, the Bavarians eventually stopped at a small forest, later dubbed the "Bayernwald" ("Bavarians' forest") by its new occupants. At this point, the Allies launched a heavy artillery barrage, forcing Hitler's unit to seek shelter in a nearby trench system where he and his comrades engaged more Allied troops. The Bavarians then sought to capture a number of farmsteads, but Hitler was initially sent back to the "Bavarians' forest" to collect stragglers. Upon his return, he joined the fight for the farmsteads. After a three-hour-long battle, the houses were captured, with Hitler narrowly avoiding being shot in his right arm.
After spending the night in the farmsteads, the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 16 was ordered to renew its attacks. Unlike their operations on the first day, the Bavarians made few tangible gains this time. Instead, they suffered heavy losses; Hitler would never write of his experiences on this day. He initially took part in some unsuccessful assaults, and was then ordered to stay in reserve with some other troops as the rest of the regiment attacked the small town Gheluvelt. After four days, the regiment retreated from the settlement. At this point, the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 16 had suffered about 75% casualties, with 725 active soldiers out of 3000 original troops being left. Hitler and some of his comrades would later portray the clash at Gheluvelt as a heroic event, but other survivors regarded it as just terrible. 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.
By late 1914, the Western Front had become largely frozen in place. In contemporary letters, Hitler expressed frustration about the developing trench warfare. He admitted that the constant artillery shelling disquieted even those with high morale, while much of the land had been turned into devastated, inhospitable no man's land. Regardless, he remained convinced of a German victory, expressing hope for some kind of grand offensive in the near future.
Assessment of service and lifestyle during the war
Hitler considered the war the best years of his life. He was described by other soldiers as aloof, quiet, and a loner, never receiving mail from home, but regularly reading pamphlets and literature. Hitler often expressed outrage at his fellow soldiers visiting French prostitutes, both for their nationality as well as the immorality of the act. However, despite them considering him odd, Hitler was liked and accepted by his peers. His letters also began to contain political, right-wing commentary by late 1914; he mused about the necessity to purge Germany of "Fremdländerei" (foreign influences) and the destruction of internationalism. These he considered more important than any territorial conquests.
Some have regarded his assignment as a regimental message-runner as "a relatively safe job", because regimental headquarters were 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 their defensive positions as a result of the ongoing stalemate. Fewer messages went by foot or bicycle and more by telephone. Hitler's circle of comrades 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, Gefreiter Hitler adopted a stray dog he named Fuchsl (Little Fox), who was taught many tricks and became his 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.Joachimsthaler, A. (1989) Korrektur einer Biographie. Adolf Hitler 1908–1920, München:Herbig, pp. 141–144 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.
At the Nuremberg Trials, two of his former superiors testified that Hitler had refused to be considered for promotion. Hitler was twice decorated for bravery. He received the Iron Cross Second Class in 1914 and the Iron Cross First Class in 1918, an honour rarely given to a lance corporal. Hitler's First Class Iron Cross was recommended by Lieutenant Hugo Gutmann, a Jewish adjutant in the List Regiment. According to Weber, this rare award was commonly awarded to those posted to regimental headquarters, such as Hitler, who had contact with more senior officers than did combat soldiers. Hitler's Iron Cross First Class was awarded after an attack in open warfare during which messengers were indispensable and on a day in which the depleted regiment lost 60 killed and 211 wounded.Meyer, A. (1934) Mit Adolf Hitler im Bayr. R.I.R. 16 List, Neustat-Aisch: Georg Apperle
Hitler was an excellent marksman. After he became leader of Germany, Pierre Huss witnessed him twice shooting a snowball in the air with his Luger pistol. Hitler boasted "I am a better pistol shot" than most of the top Waffen-SS and German Army marksmen.
1916–1918
Hitler subsequently fought in 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".
During the Battle of the Somme in October 1916 Hitler received a wound in his left thigh when a shell exploded at the entrance to the dispatch runners' dugout. He begged not to be evacuated, but was sent for almost two months to the Red Cross hospital at Beelitz in Brandenburg. Thereafter, he was ordered to the depot in Munich. He wrote to his commanding officer, Hauptmann Fritz Wiedemann, asking that he be recalled to the regiment because he could not tolerate Munich when he knew his comrades were at the Front. Wiedemann arranged for Hitler's return to his regiment on 5 March 1917.