Terry Carter Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 I was speaking to Teddy and Phoebe at the Ulster Tower over the weekend and someone who has spoken to them reckons Adolf Hitler visited the Ulster Tower after France had fallen in 1940. I immediately thought of this Forum and thought it might make a good question. Is there any truth in this? Cheers Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTS Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 I don't actually know for sure, but other tham WW1 service ( which was mainly in Belgium anyway ), I thought that the only day that Hitler actually spent in France, was the day he toured Paris in 1940. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derwisj Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Well, this is the first time I hear about Hitler visiting the somme; I have heard he visited the salient, where he fought most of the time; he even brought some flowers for the lady where he was bileted during the war. pascal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcderms Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 He definitely visited Messines and Ypres. They museum in Messines had pictures of the little corporal on the visit and one of his fairly poor paintings. Not heard of him visiting the Somme and the Messines curator did say he spent most of the war in the Salient. Apparently Adolf and the other runners sheltered in the church crypt... The curator said 'he wasn't really a soldier - just a postman'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
303man Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 There was quite a detailed article in After The Battle magazine of hitlers visit to the WW1 sites he served I will see if I can glean any info from it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
303man Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Issue 117 Hitler on the Western Front photos of him at The Vimy Ridge Memorial, Notre-Dame de Lorette cemetery, Arras, Cambrai, Bouchain finally taking off at Niergnies @ 2:50 p.m in a Focke Wolfe FW200 condor taking him to Charleville for a conference with Von Rundstedt No mention of Ulster Tower Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
303man Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Bit wierd you walk under The Menin Gate he was there, Langemark German Cemy, Kemmel Hill, The Article was writtian by Jean Paul Pallard After the Battle Magazine.issue 117 Battle of Britain International Ltd Church House Church Street London E15 3JA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frie Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Hitler Hitler came to Belgium on 1 june 1940. Brussels -Aalst - Gent - Kortrijk - Menen - Geluveld - Ypres - Elverdinge - Poperinge - Reningelst - De Klijte - Messines - Comines - Bas-Warneton - Warneton - Wijtschate (Croonaert Wood) - Kemmel- Kemmel-Hill - Ypres - . Langemark. Second visit to Belgium : 26 june 1940 - (airport Wevelgem near Kortrijk). Hitler was in Wytschate with his regiment from november 1914 until february-march 1915 His regiment was involved in the conquest of Croonaert Wood. He painted the Sunken Road in Wytschate. His regiment had some weeks later to take the trenches south of Kruisstraatcabaret (not far from Spanbroekmolen) in Wytschaete He sheltered maybe in the crypte of the church in Messines on his way to Bethlehemfarm (headquaters). He his function was not 'a postman. He had to make the liaison between the batallions - and headquaters- in the German army there were always 3 batalions in a regiment. The Messines curator is wrong: Hitler leaved the Wytschaete trenches in february - march 1915. He never came back in the first world war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Hitler served on the Somme in October 1916, at Ligny Thilloy and La Barque. I never seen a mention of him visiting the Somme battlefields in June 1940, however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desmond7 Posted 7 September , 2004 Share Posted 7 September , 2004 Sorry to digress a little BUT Any truth that a WW2 German soldier carved a Swastika/Iron Cross? somewhere on the Ulster Tower? I've heard that one. Des - never heard of Hitler being there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 8 September , 2004 Share Posted 8 September , 2004 Yes, there is a Swastika carved into the parapet of the viewing platform at the Tower. This is now sadly out of bounds due to accident there some years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkristof Posted 8 September , 2004 Share Posted 8 September , 2004 Possibly "Der Fuhrer" was more interested in the things they never captured before, like Ypres? To bad he didn't spep on a forgotten shell somewhere in the old WW1 battlefield... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mat McLachlan Posted 28 September , 2004 Share Posted 28 September , 2004 Some of the most famous footage of Hitler visiting his old WWI haunts was shot in the Fromelles area of French Flanders. There are two bunkers in the area he is supposed to have sheltered in. The 'old Hitler bunker' is signposted as such but it is doubtful Hitler was ever here; the 'new Hitler bunker' has been identified from movie footage taken of him in 1940. In the Fromelles town hall museum is a patched-together sign that hung on the house Hitler was billeted in during WWI - the sign was erected in WWII and smashed by locals at the end of the war. Hitler's unit faced the Australian troops who attacked in the disastrous Battle of Fromelles, July 19-20, 1916. Cheers, Mat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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