Adolf Hilter brought down to earth by Scottish historian

Published on Tuesday 17 August 2010 15:48

NAZI claims that Hitler was a hero of the Great War have been debunked as a propaganda myth by a Scottish historian.

Throughout his life, Hitler was portrayed as a courageous soldier who fought in some of the fiercest battles of the First World War and was decorated twice with the Iron Cross for his bravery.

But in a new book, Dr Thomas Weber has used material uncovered for the first time in German archives that reveals a dramatically different picture.

Dr Weber claims that his groundbreaking research shows that Hitler, backed by the Nazi propaganda machine, exaggerated his role as a soldier in the defeated German army in the Great War and, in his role as dispatch runner taking messages to officers, was despised by frontline troops from his regiment as a "rear area pig".

Dr Weber's findings have been based on fresh research into the archives of Hitler's regiment, the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment (RIR 16), which had lain uncatalogued and unused by previous researchers as a source in previous accounts of the dictator's life.

He discovered the records had survived largely intact in the Bavarian War Archive, but those pertaining to Hitler's battle group had lain untouched for decades because the regimental files of Hitler's corps had been filed under a higher division than that to which the regiment belonged.

Dr Weber, a historian at Aberdeen University, said: "The myth of Hitler as a brave soldier and the camaraderie of the trenches was used by the Nazi party from the beginning in order to extend its appeal beyond the far right.

"The reality was a gulf between the majority of soldiers and Hitler.

"I found that his role was to deliver messages between regimental headquarters and, for instance, battalions or the headquarters of other units, and not companies, as has previously been stated. So he would have been between three and five kilometres behind the front line."

Hitler also exaggerated claims that he was the only soldier from the group in which he fought to survive a battle against British forces, including the Gordon Highlanders and the Black Watch.

Dr Weber also traced relatives of the Jewish officer who proposed Hitler for one of the two Iron Crosses he was awarded.

And he claims that the award of the Iron Cross to Hitler had more to do with the future German dictator being known by the officers who could make recommendations, than his heroics in battle.

His research also revealed that Hitler attended only one meeting of veterans from his regiment - in 1922 - where he was "cold shouldered" and never returned.

lHitler's First War is being published by the wOxford University Press and will be available from 16 September.