European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 06, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse File photo the final inferno continued from Page 13 has now gone Hitler that pathological liar completely mad " another of Hitler s famous intuitive flashes proved a disaster when despite grave doubts of his senior commanders he burned up precious reserves of manpower tanks and fuel in the massive and virtually pre doomed attack into the ardennes area of Belgium in december of 1944 the Battle of the bulge. Once the germans had failed in the ardennes there could be no longer any doubt that they had lost the War wrote military historian Charles Macdonald in the last offensive. Yet even then a withdrawal across the great natural Barrier of the Rhine As his generals urged could have meant a mighty stand instead of a reckless wasting of his forces West of the River. But hold at All costs was his obsessive command. Fight to the last Man seemed his Only strategy. And his commanders climbed the Wall. The Way the War is being run is unbelievable. Unbelievable fumed a chief of the general staff to his fellow fumes. A Quarter million German troops were taken prisoner in that Rhineland Campaign and an estimated 60,000 More were killed or wounded. Thanks to what historians Call the sheer Lunancy of Hitler s military decisions no effective forces were left to defend Long stretches East of the Rhine. The door had swung open and when the americans bolted through it crossing the Rhine at Remagen on March 7, 1945, Gen. Omar Bradley exulted there goes your Ball typically Hitler kicked out his commander in the West Gerd von Runstedt yet again and had four men executed. But the allies were pouring into the German heartland. Oddly the new commander Field marshal Albert Kesselring got the impression that Hitler on the up Side of his see sawing mood swings was neither surprised nor particularly worried about these happenings in the West. He also stubbornly believed we could defeat the russians in the few people of sound mind agreed with him nor did the fraying Fuhrer with More and More Loose ends showing always agree with himself. One general facing the Leader s Wrath Over the russian situation had to be pulled backward to safety by his coattails As Hitler stood in front of him shaking his fists. Almost the last reserves Hitler with a group of boy soldiers As the total military collapse of nazi Germany came Ever nearer. Screaming his eyes seemed to pop out of his head and the veins stood out in his with what was coming at him his eyes would keen on popping. On March 19 Hitler decreed that nazi leaders should destroy dikes Power stations mines plants even food and clothing shops everything that might be of use to the enemy. Germany was to become a smoking wasteland. The outspoken Albert Speer in charge of arms production would help sabotage that order in a memorandum to Hitler he said we have the duty of leaving to the nation every possibility of insuring its but Hitler wrote Shirer was not interested in the continued existence of the German people for whom he had always expressed such boundless besides the Fuhrer callously told Speer those who remain after the Battle Are Only the inferior ones for the Good ones will have been the question of How so Many germans even he Blind and Bone dumb let themselves be marched obediently into the hideous and reason less final inferno without stopping the Slaughter is one of history s enduring mysteries. In the Spring of 1945 it did t take a Genius to see the hopelessness of the German position. Many saw few acted. And hundreds of thousands More died soldiers women children prisoners in death Camps. Historian Macdonald s explanation Given the stranglehold and almost Mystic fascination that Hitler. Exercised Over the German people and the incredible loyalty of German military commanders to a regime Long discredited perhaps it was inevitable that the end would come Only after the nation was prostrate almost every Square Inch under the control of the and there was Hitler in his Berlin Fuhrer Bunken his Funk of illness and delusion lurching from depression to euphoria to raving anger the mad dictator behaving like the mad dictator. He came shuffling into the Bunker corridor goes a description in Cornelius Ryan s the last Battle Hall Bent dragging his left foot the left Arm shaking uncontrollably. With his head and body twisted to the left. The eyes that admirers had called magnetic were feverish and red As if he had not slept for Days. His face was puffy. A Blotchy faded was this Small Bent palsied person the dynamic preacher of master racism that would Rule the world was this walking Corpse who crumpled like a sack into his chair and Shook hands with All the feeling of the dead the Fuhrer i am lied to on All sides he commiserated with himself they All betray Hitler hardly Ever slept noted Ryan. Day and night had Little distinction for him. In addition there is abundant evidence that he was being slowly poisoned by the indiscriminate use of drugs administered to him in massive injections by his favorite the favorite physician seems to have prescribed former foes forge cautious Friendship by David Crary associated press fifty years ago Hitler s Blitzkrieg overran Belgium the Netherlands and France. No they Are partners of Germany but cautious about the Prospect of a unified powerhouse next door. The French whose Maginot line could not Stop the germans now Lead an Effort to guarantee them a Centra role in a single Market Western Europe. French belgian and dutch officials say the closer the ties the better suggesting a non aligned Germany would cause greater concern. I have always believed the arbitrary division of Germany was senseless said foreign minister Roland Dumas of France but the situation inherited from the War cannot be improved without the participation of other West Germany is the largest trading partner of All three countries conquered by German forces in a six week onslaught that began May 10, 1940. Its relationship with France is particularly close encompassing everything from military cooperation to cultural television programming. French German Friendship is More alive than Ever president Francois Mitterrand once a German prisoner of War said at the end of a harmonious two Day Summit in late april with Chancellor Helmut Kohl. In Normandy which was devastated by the Battles that followed the Allied invasion of june 1944, dozens of towns have established twin City relationships with German municipalities. State owned Aero spatial of France recently began a joint helicopter production project with Messerschmidt Boelkow Blohm which made Many of Hitler s warplanes. Among the most vivid symbols of French German reconciliation is a joint army brigade 2,100 soldiers from each country being deployed in West Germany. Brigade officers have overcome language difficulties and even a potential wardrobe dispute. The men will Wear French style Blue berets but tilt them to the right in accordance with German custom. Klaus Becher and Ingo Kolbohm of the research Institute of the German society for foreign policy have proposed stationing additional French German brigades in East Germany after unification to replace soviet troops. The French German relationship dates to a treaty signed in 1963 by president Charles de Gaulle and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. The governments have closer and More systematic consultation on political military and economic matters than any other tvo in Western Europe. Polls indicate the French and germans consider each other their closest foreign friends. Kohl and Page 14 the stars and stripes sunday f j
