Πέμπτη 31 Μαΐου 2012
VITTORIO MUSSOLINI :ADOLF HITLER
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| Βερολίνο 1936 . 80 Μέτρα γυναικών μετ εμποδίων |
Εγώ και ο αδελφός μου Bruno, που μόλις είχαμε επιστρέψει από την Αιθιοπία, παρακολουθούσαμε ανεπίσημα μαζί με μερικούς φίλους τους πιο σπουδαίους αγώνες και ειδικότερα εκείνους στους οποίους οι Ιταλοί αθλητές συμμετείχαν με μεγάλη υπερηφάνια. Απερίγραπτος υπήρξε ο ενθουσιασμός μας για την υπέροχη νικη της Ontina Valla στα 80 m. μετ εμποδίων και καταπλητικό το χρυσό μετάλλιο, που κέρδισε η ποδοσφαιρική μας ομάδα. Αλλά παρά το γεγονός ότι η επίσκεψη ήταν ιδιωτική η παρουσία μας στο Βερολίνο δεν είχε περάσει απαρατήρητη από τo "
Auswärtiges Amt " (Υπουργείο Εξωτερικών) και μια ημέρα μας έφεραν μια πρόσκληση του Α. Χίτλερ με την οποία μας καλούσε στη Καγκελαρία, σε πρόγευμα , στο οποίο είχε κληθεί επίσης να παραστεί, σαν τιμώμενο πρόσωπο , ο διάδοχος του θρόνου Umberto di Savoia.
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| Βερολίνο 1936. Η Ιταλική ομάδα ποδοσφαίρου |
-Εσείς είσαστε ο μεγαλύτερος γιός του Duce;
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| Στη κεντρική είσοδο της έπαυλης (villa Pisani) περιμένοντας την άφιξη του Φύρερ |
Κατ΄αρχάς ο αρχηγός του Εθνικοσοσιαλισμού ξεπερνούσε το πατέρα μου στο ύψος . Εξαιτίας μάλιστα του χαρακτηριστικού μουστακιού του, μας θύμιζε από τότε τον Τσάρλι Τσάπλιν ...... Παρ όλα αυτά ήταν πολύ κομψός μέσα στη μαύρη στολή του Ναζιστικού Κόμματος και έμοιαζε αδύνατος στην εμφάνιση. Η φωνή του βαθειά και λίγο βραχνή ζωνανευε από μια ελαφρά ατέλεια στη προφορά του "ρο"
Ο Χίτλερ ήταν τότε στο αποκορύφωμα της πολιτικής του σταδιοδρομίας. Έχοντας τον απέναντι για περισσότερο από μια ώρα, ένοιωθα ένα αίσθημα βαθύτατου σεβασμού και η ευγένειά του δεν στάθηκε ικανή να μειώσει τη σύγχυση μου . Παίρνοντας κουράγιο τον συνεχάρηκα ,για τη τέλεια οργάνωση των αγώνων και εκδήλωσα το θαυμασμό μου για την ομορφιά της πόλης του Βερολίνου ....................
-Όταν ο Ντούστσε θα γιορτάσει στη Ρώμη τους Ολυμπιακούς αγώνες θα είναι ακόμα ωραιότεροι. Η Ρώμη είναι η καταλληλότερη τοποθεσία για ένα τόσο θαυμάσιο γεγονός της παγκόσμιας νεολαίας. Είναι καλύτερη από την Αθήνα , πόλη όπου η λατρεία της ολυμπιακής φλόγας έχει χαθεί ... απάντησε ο Χίτλερ .............
Ο πατέρας μου και ο Φύρερ συναντήθηκαν για πρώτη φορά στις 15 Ιουνίου 1934, σε μια ωραία βενετσιάνικη έπαυλη στο Stra. Ο Χίτλερ είχε επισκεφτεί τότε και τη Βενετία και είχε ενθουσιαστεί παρατηρώντας τα έργα που είχαν εκτεθεί στη Biennale. Για πρώτη φορά εκείνες τις ημέρες, ο ιταλικός τύπος πήρε εντολές να μην είναι υπερβολικά εχθρικός ή σαρκαστικός, με τον αρχηγό της Γερμανίας.
Επιστρέφοντας από το Stra στο Riccione , ο πατέρας μου, υποχρεώθηκε να υποστεί τη συνηθισμένη οικογενειακή ανάκριση , μια που όλοι είμασταν περίεργοι να πληροφορηθούμε τις εντυπώσεις του .
-Με μια πρώτη ματιά, ο Φύρερ δεν εμπνέει συμπάθεια. Είναι δίχως άλλο έξυπνος και καλός ομιλητής αν και εγώ προσωπικά το βρίσκω φλύαρο. Με διαβεβαίωσε ότι τόσο ο ίδιος όσο και ο Γερμανικός λαός τρέφουν απέναντι στην Ιταλία ειλικρινή και εγκάρδια φιλικά αισθήματα . Τα δικά του μπορώ να τα πιστέψω... του γερμανικού λαού όμως....
-Είχατε κάποια συζήτηση μαζί ; τον διέκοψα.
-Αποσπασματικά' όμως διαφωνία υπήρξε.. Η προσωπικότητά του προκαλεί ενδιαφέρον , αλλά κάποιες ιδέες του πάνω στο μέλλον της Ευρώπης τον διαφοροποιούν από μένα ειδικά την στιγμή που πάει να δημιουργηθεί ανάμεσά μας μια κάποια κατανόηση. Είναι καταπληκτικά σίγουρος για το έργο του και για το ένδοξο πεπρωμένο που επιφυλάσσει στη Γερμανία. Αν χρειαστεί είναι αποφασισμένος να επιβάλει τις ιδέες του ακόμα και με τη βία. Τον άφησα να μου μιλήσει για το κυβερνητικό του πρόγραμμα , που ωρίμασε στα χρόνια της φυλακίσεως του και κατανοήθηκε στα χρόνια του πολιτικού αγώνα μέσα από τις σελίδες του Mein Kampf . Το όνειρό του είναι η δημιουργία ενός Μεγάλου Ράιχ που θα ενώσει κάτω από ένα μόνο οδηγό όλους τους Ευρωπαίους γερμανικής καταγωγής . Αυτός είναι ο λόγος που στο Αυστριακό ζήτημα διαφωνήσαμε.... (Συνέχεια)
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| 1937 . Vittorio Mussolini και Goebbels |
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| Εφημερίδα Ριζοσπάστης Παρασκευή 15/6/1934 |
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| Άφιξη του Φύρερ της Γερμανίας. |
Επιστρέφοντας από το Stra στο Riccione , ο πατέρας μου, υποχρεώθηκε να υποστεί τη συνηθισμένη οικογενειακή ανάκριση , μια που όλοι είμασταν περίεργοι να πληροφορηθούμε τις εντυπώσεις του .
-Με μια πρώτη ματιά, ο Φύρερ δεν εμπνέει συμπάθεια. Είναι δίχως άλλο έξυπνος και καλός ομιλητής αν και εγώ προσωπικά το βρίσκω φλύαρο. Με διαβεβαίωσε ότι τόσο ο ίδιος όσο και ο Γερμανικός λαός τρέφουν απέναντι στην Ιταλία ειλικρινή και εγκάρδια φιλικά αισθήματα . Τα δικά του μπορώ να τα πιστέψω... του γερμανικού λαού όμως....
-Είχατε κάποια συζήτηση μαζί ; τον διέκοψα.
-Αποσπασματικά' όμως διαφωνία υπήρξε.. Η προσωπικότητά του προκαλεί ενδιαφέρον , αλλά κάποιες ιδέες του πάνω στο μέλλον της Ευρώπης τον διαφοροποιούν από μένα ειδικά την στιγμή που πάει να δημιουργηθεί ανάμεσά μας μια κάποια κατανόηση. Είναι καταπληκτικά σίγουρος για το έργο του και για το ένδοξο πεπρωμένο που επιφυλάσσει στη Γερμανία. Αν χρειαστεί είναι αποφασισμένος να επιβάλει τις ιδέες του ακόμα και με τη βία. Τον άφησα να μου μιλήσει για το κυβερνητικό του πρόγραμμα , που ωρίμασε στα χρόνια της φυλακίσεως του και κατανοήθηκε στα χρόνια του πολιτικού αγώνα μέσα από τις σελίδες του Mein Kampf . Το όνειρό του είναι η δημιουργία ενός Μεγάλου Ράιχ που θα ενώσει κάτω από ένα μόνο οδηγό όλους τους Ευρωπαίους γερμανικής καταγωγής . Αυτός είναι ο λόγος που στο Αυστριακό ζήτημα διαφωνήσαμε.... (Συνέχεια)
Τετάρτη 30 Μαΐου 2012
WILHELM KEITEL : THE LAST DAYS UNDER ADOLF HITLER 2
It was at once clear to me that he intended to take the same stand as before, only in front of witnesses this time. My renewed attempt to move him to leave Berlin was categorically rejected.
Only this time he gave me his explanation in perfect calm: he explained that the very knowledge of his presence in Berlin would inspire his troops with a determination to stand fast, and would keep the people from panicking. This was unfortunately now the precondition of success for the operations presently in hand for the relief of Berlin and for the battle for the city itself that would follow. One factor alone would offer any hope of realising this success, which was still possible: that was the people’s faith in him. He would therefore personally direct the battle for Berlin in a fight to the finish. East Prussia had been held only so long as he had kept his headquarters at Rastenburg; the front there had collapsed as soon as he failed to support it by his presence. The same fate would lie in store for Berlin. That was why he would neither modify his resolution nor break his pledge to the army and to the city’s population.
This theme was put over without a trace of excitement,and in a firm voice. After he had finished, I told him Iwould drive out to the front at once and visit Wenck, Holste and the others, to harangue their troop commanders and tell them that the Führer expected them both to defend Berlin and to liberate him. Without a word, he extended a hand to me and we left him.
On some pretext or other, I was able shortly afterward to speak to Hitler once more, but quite alone, in his private chamber next to the conference room. I said that our personal contact with him might be severed at any moment if the Russians were to come down from the north and cut the communications between Krampnitz and Berlin. Might I know whether negotiations had been commenced with the enemy powers, and who would be conducting them? At first he said it was still too early to talk of surrendering, but then he began to insist that one could always negotiate better once one had achieved some local victory. In this case the “local victory” would be in the battle for Berlin.
When I said I was not satisfied, he told me that he had in (242) fact been conducting peace talks with England via Italy for some time now, and that very day he had summoned Ribbentrop to discuss their next steps with him. He would prefer not to go into closer detail with me just then, but he certainly would not be the one to lose his nerve. That, said the Führer, was all there was to be said on the subject for the time being.I told him I would return the next day from my visit to the front to brief him on developments in the situation.Then I withdrew, not suspecting that we should never see each other again.
I drove back to Krampnitz with Jodl. On the way we frankly agreed that we could not leave things as they were – we discussed the possibility of abducting the Führer from his bunker, possibly even by force. Jodl told me that he had been occupied with similar thoughts since the previous day,although he had not ventured to give voice to them. While they had been in the Reich Chancellery’s bunker today he had examined the prospects for putting such a plan into practice and had had a look around. The plan was quite out of the question in view of the strong SS guards and of the Security Service bodyguard who had sworn personal oaths of allegiance to Hitler. Without their collaboration any such attempt was doomed to disaster. Men like General Burgdorf, the military adjutants, Bormann and the SS adjutants would all stand fast against us too. We gave the idea up.
Jodl further thought we should wait for the outcome of the steps he had undertaken with Göring. On the evening of the 22nd he had described the afternoon’s events in the Reich Chancellery in the closest detail to General Koller, the chief of Air Staff, and stressed that the Führer had resolved to stay in Berlin either as victor or victim. Jodl had sent Koller to Göring in Berchtesgaden to put him rapidly in the picture on the crisis which had thus blown up. Only Göring could intervene now, as he was indeed competent to. I underwrote Jodl’s action at once, and was grateful that he had taken the initiative in a direction which had not occurred to me.
When we checked into Krampnitz, our whole organisa (243) tion – that is the OKW operations staff plus War Office (North), which Jodl had combined into a Northern Command
Staff under his own command – was on the point of moving off. Having received an unconfirmed report of Russian cavalry scouting down toward Krampnitz from the north, the commandant had already had the huge munitions dump blown up, without waiting for any orders to that effect,and had ordered the evacuation of the barracks. Unfortunately I had no time to call to account this hysterical gentleman who had just wiped out Berlin’s munitions supply.. . .[1]
General Wenck had moved his army headquarters considerably further to the north, and was occupying another forester ’s house when I arrived shortly after dusk. He had endeavoured to establish contact with one of his armoured divisions on the other side of the Elbe, but without success.I urgently appealed to him to devote his operations now more than ever solely and entirely to Berlin, and to bring his own personal influence to play, for the Führer’s fate hinged upon the outcome of this last battle and not upon tank raids on the other bank of the Elbe.
A telephone call from Jodl was waiting for me there.He broke the news to me that during the night he had unfortunately been obliged to evacuate Krampnitz because of the proximity the enemy, against which he would have been able at that time to mount only two companies of tanks. He was therefore transferring the OKW’s headquarters – that is, our operational headquarters – to a forest encampment at Neu-Roofen, between Rheinsberg and Fürstenberg.
The camp had originally been fitted out with signals and communications equipment for Himmler, but was lying empty and was 100 percent available to us. I agreed at once, of course, with the added proviso that radio contact with the Reich Chancellery was to be maintained and that (244) the Führer should be informed of our move.
I realised at once that there was no guarantee that the daily war conferences in the Führer’s bunker would continue any longer, as the enemy would probably deprive us of a Krampnitz route to Berlin the next day. But there was now no other course of action open to us.After I had tried to bring home to General Wenck the gravity of the situation and the importance of the task given to him of reopening access to Berlin, and after I had ordered him to report in person to the Reich Chancellery to put the Führer in the picture, I drove out into the night to call on Holste’s headquarters, reaching it shortly before midnight. With Holste I went over the details of the task now facing him: by weakening his rear, which was confronting American forces which apparently had no plans to cross the Elbe, Holste was to gather all his forces together and screen the northern flank of Wenck’s Twelfth Army against any danger or actual interference from the Russians.
At the time there was still some prospect of re-establishing access to Berlin through Potsdam and Krampnitz if:
1. the Twelfth Army’s drive resulted in the complete liberation of Potsdam and its communications with Berlin;
2. the Twelfth and Ninth Armies could link up south of Berlin; and
3. the attack being made on the Führer’s personal orders by SS-General Steiner’s Armoured Corps from the north could batter through to the Berlin-Krampnitz road in territory admittedly unfavourable for tank operations, cramped and easy as it was for the enemy to block.
General Holste’s only problem was to establish contact with Heinrici’s army group and Steiner’s Armoured Corps to the northwest of Berlin. If he succeeded in doing that, then by exploiting the impassable Havelland marshes he could plug the gap with only modest forces. I assured (245) Holste that orders to this effect would go to Heinrici’s army group, and drove back out into the night. In the early light of dawn I passed through Rheinsberg, a quiet and peaceful town, and after a considerable search reached our encampment at Neu-Roofen – where Jodl and his immediate staff had just arrived themselves – toward eight o’clock. The camp was so well hidden in the forest, some distance from the village and the road, that only local guides could find it for us.
The painful awareness of our physical detachment from the Reich Chancellery and of our dependence on wireless and telegraphic communications strengthened in me my resolve to assume responsibility myself for decisions – in contrast to earlier – as soon as I could no longer receive telephone messages from there. During the morning I telephoned the Reich Chancellery and spoke first to one of the military adjutants and then to General Krebs, asking for a line to the
Führer as soon as he was available.
Toward midday that 24th April, I made a personal report to Hitler on my latest visits to the front. I mentioned the favourable progress being made by the Twelfth Army in its drive toward Potsdam and added that I intended to put in an appearance at the Reich Chancellery toward evening.
He forbade me to drive to Berlin by car, as the access roads were no longer adequately safeguarded, but he raised no objection to my flying to Gatow, the Air Warfare School’s landing ground, and being collected from there. He turned the receiver over to Colonel von Below and I arranged with him an immediate flight; I was to arrive shortly before dusk.
I summoned my trusty Ju. 52 from Rechlin to the landing ground at Rheinsberg, where I planned to take off for Berlin. Immediately after this telephone conversation, the first war conference under my direction was held. General Dethleffsen (General Staff) outlined the position on the Eastern Front, and Jodl the remaining theatres of war. We were still in touch with all of our formations, so without exception the various reports from the fronts were all to (246) and as usual. Immediately afterward, Jodl apprised the Führer by telephone of my proposals and obtained his agreement to them. General Krebs, the deputy-chief of the Army General Staff, was at the Reich Chancellery end, and Jodl imparted his innermost thoughts to him.
That evening I drove through Fürstenberg to the command post of SS-General Steiner’s Armoured Corps just to the south, hoping to ascertain the situation there and the prospects of his attack. By that time, only one of the two armoured divisions which had been regrouping in New Brandenburg had arrived; the second was still being moved up. While Steiner had succeeded in fighting his way out of the narrow lakelands and winning the space for his tank formations to deploy in, he had attracted the enemy’s attention by the thrust, and as a result the chance of a surprise break-through – which otherwise would beyond any doubt have succeeded – had been lost.
Upon my return to the camp, it was time to depart for my flight to Gatow. My adjutant had already prepared everything when a telephone call came from Colonel von Below forbidding me to take off before dusk as enemy fighters were interfering with air movements at Gatow. I postponed my flight until ten o’clock that evening, but this plan was scotched as well: after a beautiful spring day, fog closed in and the flight was abandoned. I put it off again until the evening of 25th April.
Very early on the 25th I again drove out to the front, visiting General Holste’s headquarters first. After I had been briefed on his corp’s situation, and had telephoned Wenck – who had again transferred his army headquarters – to be brought up to date by him, I dictated to Jodl my own appreciation of the situation for forwarding to the Führer. General Wenck had admittedly reached Potsdam with his battle group, but it was only on a narrow front, forced like a wedge up between the lakes to the south of the town, and he lacked reserves and above all extra strike-capacity, as considerable sections of his forces were tied down by the multiplying battles around the Elbe crossings (without any (247) map I cannot give their exact locations) to the north of Wittenberg, so he could not release them for an attack on Berlin itself or a joint movement with the Ninth Army, which latter now apparently comprised only remnants. To execute both operations properly, the Twelfth Army just was not strong enough. In this situation, I authorised General Wenck – whatever the danger on the Elbe front – to release at least one division for the main Berlin operation and to apprise the Führer of this decision by radio on my behalf. When I was about to drive through the little town of Rathenow on my way back to camp, about halfway between Brandenburg and Nauen, German troops blocked our path and announced that Rathenow was being attacked by the Russians and was under enemy gunfire. As I myself could detect no sound of fighting anywhere, I drove down the absolutely empty road further into Rathenow. A Volkssturm [People’s Levy] company had excavated a three-foot-deep trench in the market square, affording them a field of fire of barely a hundred yards over to the houses on the far side. Nobody knew anything about the enemy, except that an attack on the town was anticipated. I explained to the company commander the lunacy of his actions; I had the company mustered, addressed a short speech to them, and ordered the company commander to lead me to the city commandant.On the way, I saw in various places every kind of artillery – field howitzers, infantry guns, 3.7-centimetre antiaircraft guns, and so on – drawn up in courtyards, limbered up and obviously camouflaged against detection from the air, their tractors and crews standing idly around them. It seemed there was sporadic gunfire from an enemy battery aimed at the outskirts of the town.
I found the commandant in a house some way off, issuing orders to some ten or twelve officers gathered around him. He was an active pioneer-troop officer, and my appearance not only amazed him but threw him into complete confusion. He told me he had ordered the evacuation of the town and the mining of the bridge at its eastern end [sic] as (248)the enemy was about to attack. I shouted at him that he must be out of his mind to decamp just because of a few rounds of long-range gunfire. What signs had he actually seen of the enemy? Where was his battle-reconnaissance unit? What had they reported to him? And what, above all, was the whole point of having the artillery that was lying around in every courtyard of the city? I ordered the whole party out of the house and walked with them to the outskirts of the town where the enemy was supposed to be attacking. Apart from a few puffs of shell bursts, there was nothing to be seen. Under my supervision, orders were issued for the defence of the town, the artillery was brought out and dug in, and this major was transferred to a command post from which he could see for himself out over the broad open spaces upon which there was no sign of an enemy.
I...........................................................................................
Now we were returned to our small villa. During the afternoon a table had been set up, groaning under the weight of a cold buffet, with various wines, while in the remaining rooms clean beds had been prepared for every one of us, one bed each. The official interpreter said that a Russian general was coming and that dinner would be served upon his arrival. A quarter of an hour later Zhukov’s chief quartermaster appeared and asked us to begin; he asked us to excuse him as he could not stay. The meal was probably more modest than we had been accustomed to, he apologised, but we should have to put up with it. I was unable to refrain from answering that we were not at all accustomed to such luxury and such lavish feasts. He obviously thought he was only being flattered by this remark.
Only this time he gave me his explanation in perfect calm: he explained that the very knowledge of his presence in Berlin would inspire his troops with a determination to stand fast, and would keep the people from panicking. This was unfortunately now the precondition of success for the operations presently in hand for the relief of Berlin and for the battle for the city itself that would follow. One factor alone would offer any hope of realising this success, which was still possible: that was the people’s faith in him. He would therefore personally direct the battle for Berlin in a fight to the finish. East Prussia had been held only so long as he had kept his headquarters at Rastenburg; the front there had collapsed as soon as he failed to support it by his presence. The same fate would lie in store for Berlin. That was why he would neither modify his resolution nor break his pledge to the army and to the city’s population.
This theme was put over without a trace of excitement,and in a firm voice. After he had finished, I told him Iwould drive out to the front at once and visit Wenck, Holste and the others, to harangue their troop commanders and tell them that the Führer expected them both to defend Berlin and to liberate him. Without a word, he extended a hand to me and we left him.
On some pretext or other, I was able shortly afterward to speak to Hitler once more, but quite alone, in his private chamber next to the conference room. I said that our personal contact with him might be severed at any moment if the Russians were to come down from the north and cut the communications between Krampnitz and Berlin. Might I know whether negotiations had been commenced with the enemy powers, and who would be conducting them? At first he said it was still too early to talk of surrendering, but then he began to insist that one could always negotiate better once one had achieved some local victory. In this case the “local victory” would be in the battle for Berlin.
When I said I was not satisfied, he told me that he had in (242) fact been conducting peace talks with England via Italy for some time now, and that very day he had summoned Ribbentrop to discuss their next steps with him. He would prefer not to go into closer detail with me just then, but he certainly would not be the one to lose his nerve. That, said the Führer, was all there was to be said on the subject for the time being.I told him I would return the next day from my visit to the front to brief him on developments in the situation.Then I withdrew, not suspecting that we should never see each other again.
I drove back to Krampnitz with Jodl. On the way we frankly agreed that we could not leave things as they were – we discussed the possibility of abducting the Führer from his bunker, possibly even by force. Jodl told me that he had been occupied with similar thoughts since the previous day,although he had not ventured to give voice to them. While they had been in the Reich Chancellery’s bunker today he had examined the prospects for putting such a plan into practice and had had a look around. The plan was quite out of the question in view of the strong SS guards and of the Security Service bodyguard who had sworn personal oaths of allegiance to Hitler. Without their collaboration any such attempt was doomed to disaster. Men like General Burgdorf, the military adjutants, Bormann and the SS adjutants would all stand fast against us too. We gave the idea up.
Jodl further thought we should wait for the outcome of the steps he had undertaken with Göring. On the evening of the 22nd he had described the afternoon’s events in the Reich Chancellery in the closest detail to General Koller, the chief of Air Staff, and stressed that the Führer had resolved to stay in Berlin either as victor or victim. Jodl had sent Koller to Göring in Berchtesgaden to put him rapidly in the picture on the crisis which had thus blown up. Only Göring could intervene now, as he was indeed competent to. I underwrote Jodl’s action at once, and was grateful that he had taken the initiative in a direction which had not occurred to me.
When we checked into Krampnitz, our whole organisa (243) tion – that is the OKW operations staff plus War Office (North), which Jodl had combined into a Northern Command
Staff under his own command – was on the point of moving off. Having received an unconfirmed report of Russian cavalry scouting down toward Krampnitz from the north, the commandant had already had the huge munitions dump blown up, without waiting for any orders to that effect,and had ordered the evacuation of the barracks. Unfortunately I had no time to call to account this hysterical gentleman who had just wiped out Berlin’s munitions supply.. . .[1]
General Wenck had moved his army headquarters considerably further to the north, and was occupying another forester ’s house when I arrived shortly after dusk. He had endeavoured to establish contact with one of his armoured divisions on the other side of the Elbe, but without success.I urgently appealed to him to devote his operations now more than ever solely and entirely to Berlin, and to bring his own personal influence to play, for the Führer’s fate hinged upon the outcome of this last battle and not upon tank raids on the other bank of the Elbe.
A telephone call from Jodl was waiting for me there.He broke the news to me that during the night he had unfortunately been obliged to evacuate Krampnitz because of the proximity the enemy, against which he would have been able at that time to mount only two companies of tanks. He was therefore transferring the OKW’s headquarters – that is, our operational headquarters – to a forest encampment at Neu-Roofen, between Rheinsberg and Fürstenberg.
The camp had originally been fitted out with signals and communications equipment for Himmler, but was lying empty and was 100 percent available to us. I agreed at once, of course, with the added proviso that radio contact with the Reich Chancellery was to be maintained and that (244) the Führer should be informed of our move.
I realised at once that there was no guarantee that the daily war conferences in the Führer’s bunker would continue any longer, as the enemy would probably deprive us of a Krampnitz route to Berlin the next day. But there was now no other course of action open to us.After I had tried to bring home to General Wenck the gravity of the situation and the importance of the task given to him of reopening access to Berlin, and after I had ordered him to report in person to the Reich Chancellery to put the Führer in the picture, I drove out into the night to call on Holste’s headquarters, reaching it shortly before midnight. With Holste I went over the details of the task now facing him: by weakening his rear, which was confronting American forces which apparently had no plans to cross the Elbe, Holste was to gather all his forces together and screen the northern flank of Wenck’s Twelfth Army against any danger or actual interference from the Russians.
At the time there was still some prospect of re-establishing access to Berlin through Potsdam and Krampnitz if:
1. the Twelfth Army’s drive resulted in the complete liberation of Potsdam and its communications with Berlin;
2. the Twelfth and Ninth Armies could link up south of Berlin; and
3. the attack being made on the Führer’s personal orders by SS-General Steiner’s Armoured Corps from the north could batter through to the Berlin-Krampnitz road in territory admittedly unfavourable for tank operations, cramped and easy as it was for the enemy to block.
General Holste’s only problem was to establish contact with Heinrici’s army group and Steiner’s Armoured Corps to the northwest of Berlin. If he succeeded in doing that, then by exploiting the impassable Havelland marshes he could plug the gap with only modest forces. I assured (245) Holste that orders to this effect would go to Heinrici’s army group, and drove back out into the night. In the early light of dawn I passed through Rheinsberg, a quiet and peaceful town, and after a considerable search reached our encampment at Neu-Roofen – where Jodl and his immediate staff had just arrived themselves – toward eight o’clock. The camp was so well hidden in the forest, some distance from the village and the road, that only local guides could find it for us.
The painful awareness of our physical detachment from the Reich Chancellery and of our dependence on wireless and telegraphic communications strengthened in me my resolve to assume responsibility myself for decisions – in contrast to earlier – as soon as I could no longer receive telephone messages from there. During the morning I telephoned the Reich Chancellery and spoke first to one of the military adjutants and then to General Krebs, asking for a line to the
Führer as soon as he was available.
Toward midday that 24th April, I made a personal report to Hitler on my latest visits to the front. I mentioned the favourable progress being made by the Twelfth Army in its drive toward Potsdam and added that I intended to put in an appearance at the Reich Chancellery toward evening.
He forbade me to drive to Berlin by car, as the access roads were no longer adequately safeguarded, but he raised no objection to my flying to Gatow, the Air Warfare School’s landing ground, and being collected from there. He turned the receiver over to Colonel von Below and I arranged with him an immediate flight; I was to arrive shortly before dusk.
I summoned my trusty Ju. 52 from Rechlin to the landing ground at Rheinsberg, where I planned to take off for Berlin. Immediately after this telephone conversation, the first war conference under my direction was held. General Dethleffsen (General Staff) outlined the position on the Eastern Front, and Jodl the remaining theatres of war. We were still in touch with all of our formations, so without exception the various reports from the fronts were all to (246) and as usual. Immediately afterward, Jodl apprised the Führer by telephone of my proposals and obtained his agreement to them. General Krebs, the deputy-chief of the Army General Staff, was at the Reich Chancellery end, and Jodl imparted his innermost thoughts to him.
That evening I drove through Fürstenberg to the command post of SS-General Steiner’s Armoured Corps just to the south, hoping to ascertain the situation there and the prospects of his attack. By that time, only one of the two armoured divisions which had been regrouping in New Brandenburg had arrived; the second was still being moved up. While Steiner had succeeded in fighting his way out of the narrow lakelands and winning the space for his tank formations to deploy in, he had attracted the enemy’s attention by the thrust, and as a result the chance of a surprise break-through – which otherwise would beyond any doubt have succeeded – had been lost.
Upon my return to the camp, it was time to depart for my flight to Gatow. My adjutant had already prepared everything when a telephone call came from Colonel von Below forbidding me to take off before dusk as enemy fighters were interfering with air movements at Gatow. I postponed my flight until ten o’clock that evening, but this plan was scotched as well: after a beautiful spring day, fog closed in and the flight was abandoned. I put it off again until the evening of 25th April.
Very early on the 25th I again drove out to the front, visiting General Holste’s headquarters first. After I had been briefed on his corp’s situation, and had telephoned Wenck – who had again transferred his army headquarters – to be brought up to date by him, I dictated to Jodl my own appreciation of the situation for forwarding to the Führer. General Wenck had admittedly reached Potsdam with his battle group, but it was only on a narrow front, forced like a wedge up between the lakes to the south of the town, and he lacked reserves and above all extra strike-capacity, as considerable sections of his forces were tied down by the multiplying battles around the Elbe crossings (without any (247) map I cannot give their exact locations) to the north of Wittenberg, so he could not release them for an attack on Berlin itself or a joint movement with the Ninth Army, which latter now apparently comprised only remnants. To execute both operations properly, the Twelfth Army just was not strong enough. In this situation, I authorised General Wenck – whatever the danger on the Elbe front – to release at least one division for the main Berlin operation and to apprise the Führer of this decision by radio on my behalf. When I was about to drive through the little town of Rathenow on my way back to camp, about halfway between Brandenburg and Nauen, German troops blocked our path and announced that Rathenow was being attacked by the Russians and was under enemy gunfire. As I myself could detect no sound of fighting anywhere, I drove down the absolutely empty road further into Rathenow. A Volkssturm [People’s Levy] company had excavated a three-foot-deep trench in the market square, affording them a field of fire of barely a hundred yards over to the houses on the far side. Nobody knew anything about the enemy, except that an attack on the town was anticipated. I explained to the company commander the lunacy of his actions; I had the company mustered, addressed a short speech to them, and ordered the company commander to lead me to the city commandant.On the way, I saw in various places every kind of artillery – field howitzers, infantry guns, 3.7-centimetre antiaircraft guns, and so on – drawn up in courtyards, limbered up and obviously camouflaged against detection from the air, their tractors and crews standing idly around them. It seemed there was sporadic gunfire from an enemy battery aimed at the outskirts of the town.
I found the commandant in a house some way off, issuing orders to some ten or twelve officers gathered around him. He was an active pioneer-troop officer, and my appearance not only amazed him but threw him into complete confusion. He told me he had ordered the evacuation of the town and the mining of the bridge at its eastern end [sic] as (248)the enemy was about to attack. I shouted at him that he must be out of his mind to decamp just because of a few rounds of long-range gunfire. What signs had he actually seen of the enemy? Where was his battle-reconnaissance unit? What had they reported to him? And what, above all, was the whole point of having the artillery that was lying around in every courtyard of the city? I ordered the whole party out of the house and walked with them to the outskirts of the town where the enemy was supposed to be attacking. Apart from a few puffs of shell bursts, there was nothing to be seen. Under my supervision, orders were issued for the defence of the town, the artillery was brought out and dug in, and this major was transferred to a command post from which he could see for himself out over the broad open spaces upon which there was no sign of an enemy.
I...........................................................................................
Now we were returned to our small villa. During the afternoon a table had been set up, groaning under the weight of a cold buffet, with various wines, while in the remaining rooms clean beds had been prepared for every one of us, one bed each. The official interpreter said that a Russian general was coming and that dinner would be served upon his arrival. A quarter of an hour later Zhukov’s chief quartermaster appeared and asked us to begin; he asked us to excuse him as he could not stay. The meal was probably more modest than we had been accustomed to, he apologised, but we should have to put up with it. I was unable to refrain from answering that we were not at all accustomed to such luxury and such lavish feasts. He obviously thought he was only being flattered by this remark.
We all thought that the kind of Sakuska with which we were served was all there was to this hangman’s breakfast; we were all feeling very replete when we learned there was a hot roast meat course to follow, and finally they gave us all plates of fresh frozen strawberries – something I had never eaten before in my life. It was obvious that some Berlin gourmets’ restaurant had provided this dinner, as even the wines were German brands. After the meal the interpreter officer left us; apparently he had stood in for the host. I laid on our aircraft for six o’clock the next morning to take us back, and we all turned in.
The next morning, at five o’clock, we were given a simple breakfast. As I was about to leave at about half-past five, I was asked to wait for Zhukov’s chief of staff, who wanted to have a talk with me about our return flight. We all stood around our cars, waiting to drive off. The general requested me to remain in Berlin; they would endeavour to provide me with the opportunity to issue from Berlin our cease-fire orders to the troops on the Eastern Front, just as I had demanded when we discussed the terms of the penalty clauses the day before. I replied that if they would guarantee
radio communication, I would at once issue the further signals; they would have to hand over the German cyphers to me. The general disappeared again to ask Zhukov for a decision. He returned with the news that it would not be possible after all for me to despatch these signals, but General Zhukov invited me to remain in Berlin nevertheless.
Now I saw what they were up to. I insisted on flying to Flensburg at once, as I would have to transmit the amended
surrender conditions to the troops as quickly as possible from there; otherwise I would not accept the consequences
for what happened. He was to inform his general that I had
signed in good faith and had been relying on General Zhukov ’s word as an officer.
Ten minutes later the chief of staff was back again with the news that my aircraft would be ready to take off in an hour. I climbed quickly into my car with Bürkner and Böhm-Tettelbach and the interpreter; these gentlemen had all realised that an attempt was being made to detain me much more clearly than I had myself – at first, at least.
They told me the Russians had obviously had too much to drink and the victory feast was still in full sway at the mess as we drove safely off.
The interpreter asked what route I wanted to take to the airport. We drove past the city hall, the castle, and along Unter den Linden and Friedrich Strasse. There were horrifying traces of the battle to be seen between Unter den Linden and Belle-Alliance-Platz. Large numbers of German
and Russian tanks blocked Friedrich Strasse at several places, and the street was strewn with the rubble of collapsed buildings. We flew straight back to Flensburg, relieved to be in a British aircraft and in the air. We landed at
Flensburg at about ten o’clock.
We had arranged to exchange official delegations with Montgomery and Eisenhower, to ease the business between
us. On Saturday, 12th May, the American delegation arrived
at Flensburg and were accommodated aboard the Patria, a luxury steamship; the first conference was arranged for eleven o’clock on Sunday morning. Dönitz was required to go aboard the Patria first to be received by the Americans, while I was to make my appearance half an hour later.
After Dönitz had left the ship, I was received by them.
The American general disclosed to me that I was to surrender as a prisoner of war, and would be flown out at two o’clock that afternoon, in two hours’ time. I was to turn over my official business to Colonel-General Jodl; I was to be permitted to take one companion and a personal batman,
as well as 300 pounds of luggage.
I stood up, saluted briefly with my field-marshal’s baton, and drove back to headquarters with Bürkner and Böhm-Tettelbach, who had both accompanied me during this “audience.” I took leave of Dönitz, who had already been briefed on what was to happen, and selected Mönch and Lieutenant-Colonel von Freyend as my companionsthereby ensuring a considerably less arduous captivity for them. I handed my personal papers and keys to Jodl and entrusted Szimonski with one or two personal objects for my wife, along with a letter to her, to be flown down to Berchtesgaden in the courier plane. Unfortunately the British seized everything from the brave “Schimo” subsequently – even my keys and bank pass-book, and the letter to my wife as well.We took off for a destination that was not disclosed to us, and after flying right across Germany landed early that evening at Luxembourg airport. There I was treated as a prisoner of war for the first time, and transferred to the Park Hotel at Mondorf, which had been converted into an internment camp. Seyss-Inquart had arrived before me.
In Flensburg I had been my own master. As I drove in my own car to the airfield, together with General Dethleffsen, in those two unguarded hours I could have put an end to my life and nobody could have stopped me. The thought never occurred to me, as I never dreamed that such a via doloris lay ahead of me, with this tragic end at Nuremberg.
I began my term as prisoner of war on 13th May, 1945, at Mondorf. I was transferred to a prison cell at Nuremberg on the 13th August, and am awaiting my execution on 13th October, 1946.
Finis, 10th October, 1946.
[1] In Keitel’s original manuscript there follow further charges against the commandant of Krampnitz, which could in any case not have been defended for lack of manpower – something the field-marshal overlooked in his anger. The passage has been omitted by the editor.
[1] In Keitel’s original manuscript there follow further charges against the commandant of Krampnitz, which could in any case not have been defended for lack of manpower – something the field-marshal overlooked in his anger. The passage has been omitted by the editor.
Κυριακή 27 Μαΐου 2012
ΧΧ ΤΕΘΩΡΑΚΙΣΜΕΝΗ ΜΕΡΑΡΧΙΑ Η "ΑΤΣΑΛΙΝΗ ΓΡΟΘΙΑ" ΤΟΥ ΣΤΡΑΤΟΥ ΜΑΣ
Ο πρώτος Τεθωρακισμένος σχηματισμός του στρατού μας δημιουργήθηκε μετά τη λήξη του συμμοριτοπόλεμου, όταν είχε ήδη αποκτηθεί η εμπειρία και η κατάλληλη τεχνική υποδομή απ’ την πρόσφατη πετυχημένη πολεμική τους δράση.
Είναι η μοναδική Τεθωρακισμένη Μεραρχία του Ελληνικού στρατού.....συγκροτήθηκε -ύστερα από πρόταση του ΓΕΣ- στη Βέροια το 1954…..προέρχεται απ’ την αναδιοργάνωση και τη μετονομασία της ΙΧ ΜΠΖ που μετατράπηκε σε τεθωρακισμένη, ύστερα από έγκριση του ΓΕΕΘΑ και του ΝΑΤΟ.....οι πρώτες της μονάδες ήταν τρία Τάγματα πεζικού, ένα Σύνταγμα Τεθωρακισμένου ιππικού, δύο Συντάγματα αρμάτων, δύο Συντάγματα καταστροφέων αρμάτων και μια πεδινή πυροβολαρχία.....Το 1956 -στα πλαίσια της νέας οργάνωσης του στρατού- μετονομάστηκε σε ΧΧ ΤΘ Μεραρχία.....αναδιοργανώθηκε έως τις 15 Ιουνίου 1957 και πλέον διέθετε τρεις Διοικήσεις (συντάγματα ΤΘ) Μάχης που κάθε μια τους περιλάμβανε μια Επιλαρχία (Τάγμα) Τεθωρακισμέμου ιππικού Μ8, ένα Σύνταγμα αρμάτων "ΚΕΝΤΑΥΡΟΣ" ή Μ24 κι ένα Σύνταγμα καταστροφέων Αρμάτων Μ18, ενώ πρώτος της Διοικητής ορίστηκε ο Υποστράτηγος Σπ. Μπαλοδήμος.....Στις 30 Απριλίου 1957 μεταστάθμευσε στη Θεσσαλονίκη -στο στρατόπεδο του "ΠΕΔΙΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΑΡΕΩΣ" έδρα και του Γ' ΣΣ- και έως τις 20 Σεπτεμβρίου 1959, αναδιοργανώθηκε ριζικά και ουσιαστικά, αφού πλέον η πατρίδα είχε προμηθευτεί άρματα μάχης Μ47 και Μ48 καθώς και τεθωρακισμένα οχήματα προσωπικού Μ113.....Σ' αυτή τη τελική της μορφή η Μεραρχία περιλάμβανε το Στρατηγείο με την Ίλη του, τρεις Διοικήσεις Μάχης, μια Επιλαρχία αναγνωρίσεως, τέσσερις τεθωρακισμένες Μοίρες πεδινού πυροβολικού, μονάδες υποστήριξης και Διοικητικής μέριμνας.
Στο έμβλημα της Μεραρχίας απεικονίζεται Κένταυρος έτοιμος να εκτοξεύσει βέλος. Το σώμα του αλόγου συμβολίζει τη δύναμη και την επιθετικότητα του άρματος, το δε ανθρώπινο σώμα συμβολίζει τον αρματιστή που ελέγχει και κατευθύνει το άρμα του.
Το ρητό του εμβλήματος «ΥΠΟ ΣΚΙΗ» που μεταφράζεται «Υπό σκιά» προέρχεται απ’ τον Ηρόδοτο (βιβλίο VII) που αφηγείται σκηνές απ’ τη μάχη των Θερμποπυλών…..το απόσπασμα σε πρωτότυπο κείμενο είναι, «Λακεδαιμονίων δε και Θεσπιέων τοιούτων γενομένων, όμως λέγεται άριστος ανήρ γενέσθαι Σπαρτιάτης Διηνέκης· τον τόδε φασί ειπείν το έπος ή συμμίξαι σφέας τοίσι Μήδοισι, πειθόμενον προς τευ των Τρηχινίων ως επεάν οι βάρβαροι απιέωσι τα τοξεύματα, τον ήλιον υπό του πλήθεος των οϊστών αποκρύπτουσι· τοσούτο πλήθος αυτών είναι· τον δε ουκ εκπλα-γέντος τούτοισι ειπείν, εν αλογίη ποιευόμενον το Μήδων πλήθος, ως πάντα σφι αγαθά ο Τρηχίνιος ξείνος αγγέλοι, ει αποκρυπτόντων των Μήδων τον ήλιον υπό σκιή έσοιτο προς αυτούς η μάχη και ουκ εν ηλίω»…..που αποδίδεται, «Τέτοιο ηρωισμό έδειξαν οι Λακεδαιμόνιοι και οι Θεσπιείς. Εν τούτοις λέγεται ότι πιο γενναίος απ' όλους αποδείχθηκε ο Σπαρτιάτης Διηνέκης, ο οποίος, προτού συμπλακούν με τους Μήδους, είπε αυτά τα λόγια. Όταν, δηλαδή, άκουσε από κάποιο Τραχίνιο, ότι όταν οι βάρβαροι τοξεύουν, ο ήλιος κρύπτεται από το πλήθος των βελών - τόσο πολλά είναι - αυτός χωρίς να δώσει σημασία στο πλήθος των Μήδων, απάντησε, ότι ο ξένος Τραχίνιος μόνο καλές ειδήσεις τους έφερε, γιατί εάν οι Μήδοι κρύψουν τον ήλιο, τότε οι Έλληνες θα δώσουν τη μάχη υπό σκιά και όχι υπό τον ήλιο»
Στο τέλος του 1964 -με αφορμή το Κυπριακό- η Μεραρχία μεταστάθμευσε στη Θράκη πανέτοιμη για πόλεμο.....το 1969 επέστρεψε στη Θεσσαλονίκη -στο στρατόπεδο "ΝΤΑΛΙΠΗ" αυτή τη φορά- .....ξαναπήγε στη Θράκη τον Ιούλιο του 1974 -πάλι για το Κυπριακό-.....γύρισε.....και πάλι ξαναπήγε και το΄'75 και το '76.....Το 1978 ο Ελληνικός στρατός ξεκίνησε την αναδιοργάνωση του.....η 3η ΔΜΑ ανεξαρτητοποιήθηκε, αναδιοργανώθηκε και μετονομάστηκε σε ΧΧΙΙΙ Τεθωρακισμένη Ταξιαρχία.....και το πρώτο τρίμηνο του 1979 αναξαρτητοποιήθηκαν οι 1η και 2η ΔΜΑ, αναδιοργανώθηκαν και μετονομάστηκαν σε ΧΧΙV και ΧΧV Τεθωρακισμένες Ταξιαρχίες αντίστοιχα και το Στρατηγείο της Μεραρχίας μετέπεσε σε επιχειρησιακό και διατήρησε στη διοίκηση της την ΧΧΙV (Λιτόχωρο) και ΧΧV (Ξάνθη) ΤΘ Ταξιαρχίες.
Τον Απρίλιο του 1985 τη θέση της ΧΧV ΤΘ ΤΞ -που άλλαξε υπαγωγή, στο Δ' ΣΣ- πήρε η ΧΧΙΙ (Θεσσαλονίκη) ΤΘ Ταξιαρχία.
Απ’ τις αρχές του 2000 σύντροφοι, έχουν αρχίσει ατέλειωτες συζητήσεις, κι είναι αλήθεια ότι έχουν παρθεί και κάποιες αποφάσεις -σωστές ή λάθος δεν θα το εξετάσουμε τώρα, εμείς ιστορία προσπαθούμε να γράψουμε-, για μια ριζική αναδιοργάνωση του στρατού μας , ώστε να γίνει πιο ευέλικτος και ίσως και πιο οικονομικός,…..και στα πλαίσια αυτών των αποφάσεων, η ΧΧ Μεραρχία ήταν να καταργηθεί απ’ το 2003.....σχεδόν καταργήθηκε…..όμως το 2005 ενεργοποιήθηκε ξανά και μεταφέρθηκε στη Καβάλα, με «μηδέν κόστος» σύμφωνα με δημόσια δήλωση του τότε Α/ΓΕΣ.
.....Τον Αύγουστο του 2004 …..και είναι φύλακας και συνεχιστής της παράδοσης και του πνεύματος της Μεραρχίας Ιππικού.....στη διάρκεια της υπερπενηντάχρονης ιστορίας της, αναδιοργανώθηκε πολλές φορές ακολουθώντας τις εξελίξεις έχοντας πάντα στη διοίκηση της ισχυρούς σχηματισμούς.
Μεταστάθμευσε στη Θεσσαλονίκη το 1957 και ολοκλήρωσε τη συγκρότηση της το 1960 έχοντας στην διοίκηση της τρεις Διοικήσεις Μάχης (συντάγματα), Διοίκηση πυροβολικού και διοικητικής μέριμνας….. (Το κείμενο και οι φωτογραφίες είναι από http://mvgatos.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-post_18.html )
291 ANIVERSARIO DE LA FUNDACIÓN DEL REGIMIENTO DE INFANTERÍA CASTILLA
Χθες, 26 Μαΐου 2012 γιορτάστηκαν στο στρατόπεδο "General Menacho" στο Badajoz τα 291 χρόνια από την ίδρυση του Μηχανοκίνητου Συντάγματος "Castilla" αρ 16.
Τον Απρίλιο του 1793 ένας πλούσιος ευγενής ο ο δέκατος τρίτος Δούκας του Πεζικού, Don Pedro de Alcantara Alvarez de Toledo και Salm-Salm ύστερα από την άδεια του Βασιλιά οργάνωσε ένα Σύνταγμα για να πάρει μέρος στο πόλεμο του Rosellón .Το σύνταγμα αυτό που αποτελείτο από εθελοντές της Καστίλης πήρε μέρος σε πολλές επιχειρήσεις σε διάφορα μέρη του κόσμου και κατά τη διάρκεια του πολέμου της ανεξαρτησίας έδειξε το καλύτερο εαυτό του στη περιοχή της Σαραγόσα και κέρδισε δίκαια το τίτλο EL HÉROE .Από τα 1883 το Σύνταγμα έχει την έδρα του στο Badajoz .Έλαβε μέρος σε πολεμικές επιχειρήσεις στη Κούβα , στο Μαρόκο και στο Sidi Ifni.
Στη διάρκεια του εμφυλίου πολέμου οι δυνάμεις του Συντάγματος διασπάστηκαν και βρέθηκαν να πολεμούν η μία εναντίον της άλλης. (Φωτογραφικό υλικό της εκδήλωσης στο
LOUIS-FERDINAND CELINE: BAGATELLES POUR UN MASSACRE
Si vous étiez des enfants spirituels d'Abraham vous feriez les œuvres d'Abraham... le père spirituel dont • ous êtes issus c'est le diable... Et il n'y a point de vérité en lui.
Jésus.(1)Vous souvenez-vous?
Toute la production d'Hollywood l'Infâme... monstrueuse permanente insulte au labeur prolétaire... à toute la vertu prolétarienne... la plus monstrueuse entreprise idéologique de corruption capitaliste... la plus éhontée de tous les âges... Un torrent de navets pourris... bla... bla... bla... Prolétaires! en masses! sifflez toutes ces ordures!... Fuyez les salles obscures, où l'on vous contamine, vous abrutit intégralement, systématiquement!... Ah! Nous ne sommes pas dupes! nous les « responsables » du prolétariat! La pureté prolétarienne doit se raidir contre cet immense danger le souillure! toutes les énergies de saine révolte se trouvent minées par cette mondiale infection!... Toutes ces vedettes, putains surplâtrées dont les salaires astronomiques d'une seule journée de grimaces surpassent bien souvent ceux que touchent plusieurs familles ouvrières misérables! au labeur acharné! pendant des mois!... Quelle honte! Quel défi à notre immense détresse! La collusion des Banques... la complicité des Trusts!... Haro!... Haro!... Cette prostitution, cette dégradation sans vergogne de tous les Arts... de tous les sentiments, ce mercantilisme sacrilège, pourrisseur des élans les plus nobles de la nature humaine... bla... bla... bla... La gangrène cinématographique! Au pilori du peuple!... bla... bla... Nous te retrouverons ma belle! Le complot permanent contre l'esprit sain des masses! bla... bla... bla... le haut idéal des masses '. ... bla... bla... bla...
(266) “The cinema, the global brain octopus…everything is rotten…each darkened room is a sucker of rottenness!…
“The golden calf of Hollywood…arrogant, implanted within its Cinema…‘the global obscenity mill’…blah…blah…”
Who then is this that so instructs us, throughout the length of these columns?… But it is l’Humanité, my dear! …from the good old days! …the lean years! …l’Humanité just before the “Triumph of the masses”…under Jewish leadership… Do you remember it as well?… But the winds change, my beauty, and it is necessary to seize them… And every misfortune befalls he who doesn’t know how to make sense of them!… In October 1937, this same l’Humanité was singing a completely different song, in a completely different chord, with a completely different tone… Regale yourself in what l’Humanité thinks now, of these same Hollywood farce-makers…(in its non-advertising pages)… “Easy Living”(2)
“Through such
genres as Vaudeville the Americans show their preference for naïveté and for
candor to the point of vulgarity; it is necessary to satisfy them. These are
the qualities which are effected with sufficient grace that they do not
entirely kill-off that sapient mind-set, which must let go in order to allow us
the most ‘physical’ sort of laughter. Easy Living is thus Vaudevillian,
but deliciously so, being as fresh and as comical as one could want. Except for
the ‘bedroom scene,’ there isn’t anything which isn’t of a delightful modesty.
As for wackiness, it comes into play in such scenes as the one at the automat
restaurant, which is in disorder and is being pillaged by the customers, making
the scene something of a masterpiece.
As for the story line, it has only one point of
departure: following an argument, a rich banker tosses his wife’s fur coat out
of a twentieth-story window. The coat falls at the feet of a young lady, the
secretary for a children’s magazine. That’s it. But from this point of
departure the Americans have drawn every possible consequence with sufficient
fantasy to discourage even the most fertile imagination. This coat of the
greatest luxury grants the young lady such a mien that, as a consequence of
consequences, all of her difficulties evaporate before her. She quickly finds
herself being clothed, lodged, and fed for free. Had she been ‘giving the wink,
’things perhaps would not have worked, and it would have been a con job. But
since she doesn’t understand anything about what’s happening to her and remains
innocent…it’s like a fairy (267) tale. She even meets a prince charming whom she
marries at the end, despite all of the tragicomic situations which her
adventure undergoes. It’s as though it’s according to the Andersen Review and
arranged by the ‘Marx Brothers.’ And Jean Arthur, through her natural gentility,
makes it easy for us to believe that everything that happened to Mary Smith pertaining
to easy living was well-deserved.”
How cozy they’ve become, those cousins Hollywood and l’Humanité!
It’s been positively that LaRocque takes his marching orders from Tardieu…aim
is taken, and how there is understanding…as though it were “well in hand”… It’s
not the same thing at all!
There hasn’t been any new news in ten years!… Only an
idiot never evolves!… It’ll be enough for there one day to be, one little call
on the telephone…and you will be brought to an understanding…all of a sudden
the miracle is accomplished…and it’ll be the easiest thing in the world… And
there you’ll be…with your bare ass sticking up in the air… You have remained
among your “masses of masses”…ruminants! …swine!… You understand nothing!…
[1] John 8:44.
[2] This is a review of the light comedic film of 1937.
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