Hitler. Part 31

85. Hitler reviewing troops in Warsaw on 5 October 1939 at the conclusion of the victory over Poland.

86. Hitler during his address to the Party's 'Old Guard' in the Burgerbraukeller in Munich on 8 November 1939. Only minutes after he had left the building, a time-bomb placed by a Swabian joiner, Georg Elser, exploded close to where he had been speaking, killing eight and injuring more than sixty of those present.

87. Arthur Greiser, the fanatical Reich Governor and Gauleiter of Reichsgau Wartheland, the annexed part of western Poland, at the celebration for the 'liberation' of the area on 2 October 1939.

88. Albert Forster, Gauleiter of Danzig-West Prussia, a rival to Greiser in the brutal attempt to 'germanize' the annexed parts of Poland.

89. (left and and right right) An ecstatic Hitler at his headquarters 'Wolfsschlucht' (Wolf's Gorge), near Bruly-de-Pesche in Belgium, on hearing the news on 17 June 1940 that France had requested an armistice. Walther Hewel, Ribbentrop's liaison at Fuhrer Headquarters, is on Hitler's right.

90. Hitler visiting emplacements on the Maginot Line in Alsace, during his short stay at his headquarters 'Tannenberg', near Freudenstadt in the Black Forest, on 30 June 1940.

91. Hitler in Freudenstadt on 5 July 1940, the last day he was based at 'Tannenberg'.

92. An immense crowd gathered on Wilhelmplatz in Berlin on 6 July 1940, wildly cheering the conquering hero on Hitler's return from the triumph over France. Goring is beside Hitler on the balcony of the Reich Chancellery.

93. Hitler bids farewell to Franco following their talks at Hendaye, on the borders of France and Spain, on 23 October 1940. The smiles concealed the dissatisfaction felt by each of the dictators at the outcome of the talks.

94. Hitler meets the French head of state, Marshal Petain, at Montoire on 24 October 1940 for talks which produced little tangible result.

95. Ribbentrop talking to Molotov, the Soviet Foreign Minister, at a reception in the Hotel Kaiserhof during the latter's visit to Berlin, 1214 November 1940. The tough talks with Molotov confirmed to Hitler that he was right to plan for an attack on the Soviet Union in 1941.

96. Hitler and the j.a.panese Foreign Minister, Matsuoka, in the Reich Chancellery in Berlin on 27 March 1941. Foreign Ministry official and interpreter Dr Paul Schmidt, who compiled the record of the meeting, is on the left. Matsuoka remained non-committal about j.a.panese intentions. Hitler had earlier that day given directions to his military leaders about the invasion of Yugoslavia.

97. Hitler at his headquarters at Monichkirchen near Wiener Neustadt in mid-April 1941, during the Balkan campaign, talking to General Alfred Jodl (left), head of the Wehrmacht Operations Staff. Nicolaus von Below, his Luftwaffe adjutant, is behind Hitler.

98. A thoughtful Hitler, accompanied by head of the Wehrmacht High Command Field-Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, travelling by train on 30 June 1941 to the headquarters of Army High Command in Angerburg, not far from his own new Fuhrer Headquarters at the Wolf's Lair, near Rastenburg, in East Prussia.

99. An Anti-Bolshevik Poster: 'Europe's Victory is Your Prosperity'. With Britain destroyed, the mailed fist of n.a.z.i Germany smashes Stalin's Bolshevism.

100. Field-Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch (right), the weak Com-mander-in-Chief of the Army between February 1938 and his dismissal in December 1941, in a briefing with General Franz Halder, Chief of the General Staff from 1938 to 1942.

101. Field-Marshal Keitel discussing military matters with Hitler at the Wolf's Lair soon after the invasion of the Soviet Union.

102. Reichsfuhrer-SS and Chief of the German Police Heinrich Himmler (left) alongside his right-hand man SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Reich Security Head Office. With Hitler's authorization, the steps were taken under their aegis in 19412 to implement the 'Final Solution of the Jewish Question'.

103. 'Should the international Jewish financiers succeed once again in plunging the nations into a world war, the result will be not the victory of Jews but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe' Adolf Hitler. 'Should the international Jewish financiers succeed once again in plunging the nations into a world war, the result will be not the victory of Jews but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe' Adolf Hitler. The 'prophecy' that Hitler had announced to the Reichstag on 30 January 1939. The poster was produced in September 1941 as a 'Slogan of the week' by the central office of the n.a.z.i Party's Propaganda Department and distributed to party branches throughout the Reich. The 'prophecy' that Hitler had announced to the Reichstag on 30 January 1939. The poster was produced in September 1941 as a 'Slogan of the week' by the central office of the n.a.z.i Party's Propaganda Department and distributed to party branches throughout the Reich.

104. (top) Hitler salutes the coffin of Reinhard Heydrich, who had been a.s.sa.s.sinated by Czech patriots flown in from Britain, at the state funeral of the Security Police Chief in the Mosaic Salon of the New Reich Chancellery in Berlin on 9 June 1942.

105. (inset) Hitler comforts Heydrich's sons at the state funeral. Privately, he was critical of Heydrich's carelessness in regard to his own security. Other n.a.z.i leaders in the photo are, left to right left to right: Kurt Daluege (head of the Ordnungspolizei); Bernhard Rust (Reich Minister for Education); Alfred Rosenberg (Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories); Viktor Lutze (SA Chief of Staff); Baldur von Schirach (Reich Governor and Gauleiter of Vienna); Robert Ley (n.a.z.i Party Organization Leader and head of the German Labour Front); Himmler; Wilhelm Frick (Reich Minister of the Interior); and Goring.

106. Hitler addresses 12,000 officers and officer-candidates in the Sportpalast in Berlin on 28 September 1942.

107. Some of the a.s.sembled young officers cheering Hitler at the meeting.

108. Field-Marshal Fedor von Bock in 1942, as Commander-in-Chief of Army Group South. During the second half of 1941 he had commanded Army Group Centre, which had spearheaded the thrust to Moscow. Though increasingly critical of Hitler's military leaders.h.i.+p, he remained a loyalist.

109. Field-Marshal Erich von Manstein, possibly Hitler's most gifted military commander. Despite his growing differences with Hitler, he refused to join the conspiracy against him, stating: 'Prussian field-marshals do not mutiny.'

110. Hitler speaking on 'Heroes' Memorial Day', 15 March 1942, in the Ehrenhof ('courtyard of honour') of the Armoury on Unter den Linden in Berlin.

111. The Eastern Front, July 1942. Motorized troops drive away from a blazing Russian village they have destroyed.

112. Hitler's 'clients': entertaining the heads of satellite states. Hitler greets the Croatian head of state, Dr Ante Pavelic, in the Wolf's Lair on 27 April 1943.

113. Hitler on his way to discussions with the Romanian leader, Marshal Antonescu (centre), at Fuhrer Headquarters on 11 February 1942. Hitler's interpreter Paul Schmidt is on the left.

114. Hitler greets King Boris III of Bulgaria in the Wolf's Lair on 24 March 1942. Little over a week after a subsequent tense visit, on 15 August 1943, King Boris died suddenly of a heart attack, giving rise to rumours abroad that Hitler had had him poisoned.

115. The turn of the Slovakian President, Monsignor Dr Josef Tiso, to visit Hitler on 22 April 1943 at the restored baroque palace of Klessheim, near Salzburg. The turn of the Slovakian President, Monsignor Dr Josef Tiso, to visit Hitler on 22 April 1943 at the restored baroque palace of Klessheim, near Salzburg.

116. Hitler greets the Finnish leader Marshal Mannerheim at the Wolf's Lair on 27 June 1942. Keitel is in the background. Hitler greets the Finnish leader Marshal Mannerheim at the Wolf's Lair on 27 June 1942. Keitel is in the background.

117. Admiral Horthy, Hungarian head of state, speaks with ( Admiral Horthy, Hungarian head of state, speaks with (left to right) Ribbentrop, Keitel, and Martin Bormann during a visit to the Wolf's Lair on 810 September 1941. Later visits, as the fortunes of war deteriorated, proved less harmonious than this one.

118. The Over-extended Front. By 1942 demands for men and equipment across a vast range of fronts and conditions had generated just the strategic incoherence Hitler had always feared. Norway: A 'Do 24' flying boat is deposited on land by the crane of a salvage vessel, to be towed to a repair hangar. The Over-extended Front. By 1942 demands for men and equipment across a vast range of fronts and conditions had generated just the strategic incoherence Hitler had always feared. Norway: A 'Do 24' flying boat is deposited on land by the crane of a salvage vessel, to be towed to a repair hangar.