Hitler's Motorcade Crosses Warsaw
On
the threshold of Hitler’s visit to Warsaw on 5 October 1939, the center
of the city, a maiden part of the upcoming motorcade route, had been
practically sealed from the locals, abandoning the presence of any
polish citizens in proximity to the event. A number of buildings along
the planned route were now covered with the Nazi banners and a good few
special security squads, armed with machine guns, were disposed within
the windows and roofs across the city center. The local population of
the occupied Warsaw was now forbidden (at least on October 5), under
penalty of death, to leave their accommodation across the route or to
open windows facing the chosen streets. the day before, Hitler
personally alleviate the concerns of some SS soldiers and officers, who
had already participated in mass killings in Poland. On October 4 he
issued a secret order on amnesty, an act of oblivion for the Germans
soldiers, who were now beyond the law in committing crimes within
occupied territories.
For this once on October 5, 1939, Adolf
Hitler made it to Poland from Berlin by means of a plane. As early as
11:30 a.m. the air cortege under the masterful lead of Hans Baur came
down to the airfield of Okecie (The modern Warsaw Chopin Airport. Some
sources state that they landed at the Kielce airport). As befits the
supreme commander and the conqueror, Hitler was awaited and welcomed by
his generals. Gerd von Rundstedt, the triumphal commander of
‘Heeresgruppe Süd’ (Army Group South); Walther von Brauchitsch,
Commander-in-Chief of the German army; Erhard Milch, the future Field
Marshal of aviation and Goering’s deputy; Johannes Blaskowitz, the
commander of the triumphal 8th army; Walter von Reichenau, the commander
of the 10th army at that time; Friedrich von Cochenhausen, the future
general of artillery. The planned VIP-like motorcade was to enter Warsaw
from the East and proceed towards the initial point, which was the set
of the military parade.
Hitler’s automobile cortege cross the
Vistula river across the Most Poniatowskiego (Poniatowski Bridge), named
after the Polish military leader of the 17-18 centuries. The bridge was
rebuilt after the demolition during the ‘Great War (WWI) and would be
totally devastated by Germans five years later in the midst of the
Warsaw Uprising. Hereafter, the motorcade proceeded to an avenue,
historically praised as ‘Aleje Jerozolimskie’ (The Jerusalem alley), now
hastily renamed into Bahnhofstrasse (later one, in the course of the
occupation, into ‘Reichsstraße’ and finally ‘Ostlandstrasse’).
Subsequently, the cars turned into Nowy Swiat, the famous fashionable
arteria of Warsaw, and finally to Ujazdów Avenue. All arrangements were
made to orchestrate a parade of victory, thus paying tribute both to the
German army and Hitler himself as a supreme commander and a Fuhrer.
The Two-Hour Military Parade
The
long-drawn automobile column, which had been proceeding its way from
the airfield, now eased down and entered the wide avenue. Hitler was the
key figure of the cortege, all while standing and greeting the German
soldiers (who had been carefully ranked by the side of the road hours
before) from his Mercedes-Benz W31 type G4 of improved cross-country
performance. The route was not accidental as for a while now his cortege
had been moving forward across the so-called ‘King’s route’ the king’s
road with a two-century history behind. The German dictator was known
for his disdain toward the monarchy. Hitler was even much less concerned
with the history of the independent Polish state and its kings, who had
used this route to reach their royal residences in the South of Warsaw.
‘Ujazdów Avenue’ would later (May 1940) be renamed Lindenallee (Linde
Avenue) with a barefaced parallel to the berlin Unter-den-Linden. A year
from the day of Hitler’s visit it would be once again renamed (in the
course of the orchestrated parade viewed by Hans Frank) to ‘Siegenallee’
(The avenue of Victory).
As far back in Warsaw’s history as the
end of the XIX century, a broad street with an elite status of the
former king’s road was settled on by rich aristocrats of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. With the acquisition of independence and the
fall of the Habsburgs at the back of the Great War, the spacious villas
and adjoining green gardens were mainly turned into embassies. That very
afternoon minutes of October 5 1939 Hitler’s cortege made a stop next
to Ujazdowski Park and Pałacyk ‘Rembielińskiego’, a luxurious palace of
1840, hit by a German air bomb in the course of the recent raids. A
large grandstand, ornamented with Nazi symbolics was erected prior to
the event to accommodate Hitler and his close military entourage during
the so-called ‘Siegesparade’ (Parade of victory).
Apart from
Hitler himself, the made tribune was now to welcome and place forgoing
Walther von Brauchitsch, Gerd von Rundstedt, and Friedrich von
Cochenhausen. The attentive attendees of the parade had a glimpse to
identify the future Feldmarschall of aviation Albert Kesselring, who had
been recently (September 30) awarded with Knight’s Cross of the Iron
Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) by Hitler personally. General
Colonel Wilhelm Keitel, the chief of the OKW, had been disdainfully
called ‘Lakeitel’ by some of the high-ranking officers of the army. He
caught the sight of the battlefields in Poland only from the perspective
of Hitler’s personal train, a fact, which had not get in the way of
being awarded the ‘Knight’s Cross’ for the Polish campaign. It would
take him seven years to get from the parade in Warsaw to the gallow in
Nuremberg. Erwin Rommel, the chief of the ‘Führerbegleitbataillon’ was
another prominent figure, summoned to Warsaw after a short stay at home
and now present within the grandstand.
Among the others present,
Johannes Albrecht Blaskowitz, the commander of the 8th army was now
filled with a mix of pride and doubts watching his soldiers (the 8th
army was the privileged regime of the parade) marching the conquered
city. Following the Polish campaign, Blaskowitz was promoted to
colonel-general, awarder with ‘Knight’s Cross’ and assigned as the
Commander in Chief in the East. In under two subsequent months, the
general would fall out of favor of Hitler after his deprecation towards
the mass killings, performed by the SS in Poland with the extermination
of the city citizens, the prelude to mass killing actions in the USSR
such as Babi yar massacre in 1941. On that October afternoon, Blaskowitz
could see Heinrich Himmler nearby, an architecture of the
‘Sonderauftrag’ (special tasks) against Polish and Jews, who had come
purposively from Berlin to join the parade after a ten-day ‘vacation’.
As
for Adolf Hitler, he was now making the most of the moment, while
playing the role of the warlord, a colonizer who reviewed his self-made
triumphant army for more than two hours in the heart of Warsaw downtown.
October 5, 1939, was a warm and sunny day, yet the German Fuhrer
favored a leather coat to appear in front of his army. The bloody war
would demand another day until the shatters of the devastated Polish
army would capitulate on October 6 (on that day Hitler would voice a
triumphant speech in Berlin). In the meantime, waiting for such
‘formality’, Hitler addressed the foreign journalists next to the
grandstand, who had been craving his commentaries for a few hours. He
made emotional stress on the ruins of Warsaw and proclaimed a verbose
statement, that Warsaw suffered so much because of the ‘criminal’
perseverance of its leaders and defenders. Hitler voiced the idea, that
the Western powers should pay extreme attention to the possible
aftermath of war. Subsequent to a two-hour orchestrated parade, Hitler
was now to proceed with a short ride across Warsaw.
Siegesparade
(Victory Parade) of German troops from 8. Armee in Warsaw, Poland,
which were held on October 5, 1939. Hitler specifically flew to Warsaw
on a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 A-0 (S-8) AC+VH "Grenzmark" aircraft to watch the
parade. He landed at Okecie airport in Aleja Krakowska, and armed
convoy went to the central part of the city where the main event was
taking place. After that, he made brief visits to various parts of
Warsaw. In addition with Hitler, the main podium was filled by the
commanders of the Wehrmacht, while at the bottom left were other
generals of lower rank. Also, the bottom right is filled by aides. For
identification of the people standing on the podium is, from left to
right: Generaloberst Walther von Brauchitsch (Oberbefehlshaber des
Heeres), Adolf Hitler (Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht),
Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe Süd),
General der Infanterie Werner Kienitz (Kommandierender General XVII.
Armeekorps), General der Kavallerie Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs
(Kommandierender General XIII. Armeekorps), Generaloberst Walther von
Reichenau (Oberbefehlshaber 10. Armee), Generaloberst Johannes
Blaskowitz (Oberbefehlshaber 8. Armee), General der Flieger Alexander
Löhr (Chef Luftflotte 4), General der Flieger Albert Kesselring (Chef
Luftflotte 1), and SA-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Brückner (Chefadjutant
des Führers und Reichskanzler). Photo by Hugo Jaeger, one of Hitler's
personal photographer.
Siegesparade
(Victory Parade) of German troops from 8. Armee in Warsaw, Poland,
which were held on October 5, 1939. Standing in the podium, from left to
right: Generaloberst Walther von Brauchitsch (Oberbefehlshaber des
Heeres), Adolf Hitler (Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht),
Generalmajor Friedrich-Carl Cranz (Kommandeur 18. Infanterie-Division),
General der Artillerie Emil Leeb (Kommandierender General XI.
Armeekorps), Generaloberst Wilhelm Keitel (Chef der Oberkommando der
Wehrmacht), General der Kavallerie Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs
(with glasses, Kommandierender General XIII. Armeekorps), Generaloberst
Johannes Blaskowitz (Oberbefehlshaber 8. Armee), Generaloberst Walther
von Reichenau (blocked by Blaskowitz, Oberbefehlshaber 10. Armee), and
General der Flieger Albert Kesselring (Chef Luftflotte 1). Standing
directly below Hitler is Generalmajor Erwin Rommel (Kommandeur
Führer-Begleit-Bataillon). Photo by Hugo Jaeger, one of Hitler's
personal photographer.
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Siegesparade
(Victory Parade) of German troops from 8. Armee in Warsaw, Poland,
which were held on October 5, 1939. Standing in the podium, from left to
right: Adolf Hitler (Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht),
Generalmajor Friedrich-Carl Cranz (Kommandeur 18. Infanterie-Division),
General der Artillerie Emil Leeb (Kommandierender General XI.
Armeekorps), Generaloberst Wilhelm Keitel (Chef der Oberkommando der
Wehrmacht), and Generaloberst Walther von Reichenau (Oberbefehlshaber
10. Armee). In the invasion of Poland, 18. Infanterie-Division (Cranz)
was under the command of XI. Armekorps (Leeb), which itself is a part of
the 10. Armee (Reichenau). Standing
directly below Hitler is Generalmajor Erwin Rommel (Kommandeur
Führer-Begleit-Bataillon). Photo by Hugo Jaeger, one of Hitler's
personal photographer.
Siegesparade
(Victory Parade) of German troops from 8. Armee in Warsaw, Poland,
which were held on October 5, 1939. From left to right: Generaloberst
Johannes Blaskowitz (Oberbefehlshaber 8. Armee), General der Flieger
Albert Kesselring (Chef Luftflotte 1), Generalleutnant Conrad von
Cochenhausen (with stahlhelm, Kommandeur 10. Infanterie-Division),
General der Flieger Alexander Löhr (Chef Luftflotte 4), Generalmajor
Karl-Heinrich Bodenschatz (Verbindungsoffizier zwischen dem
Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe und dem Führerhauptquartier), and
SA-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Brückner (Chefadjutant des "Führers und
Reichskanzlers“). In this photo, Brückner is wearing a rare wartime SA
schirmmütze (visor hat) reserved only for Adolf Hitler's personal staff.
This type of hat can be identified from the dark brown center with the
Reichsadler SA emblem on the top center which resembles the Reichsadler
Heer / Kriegsmarine. Photo by Hugo Jaeger, one of Hitler's personal
photographer.
Siegesparade
(Victory Parade) of German troops from 8. Armee in Warsaw, Poland,
which were held on October 5, 1939. This picture shows Panzerkampfwagen
IIs passing Adolf Hitler and other Wehrmacht officials who were standing
on the podium. Since the only armored formation belonging to the 8.
Armee under the siege of Warsaw was I.Abteilung / Panzer-Regiment 23, it
is likely that the tanks is from that unit. Standing on the podium is,
from left to right: General der Kavallerie Erich Hoepner
(Kommandierender General XVI. Armeekorps [motorisiert]), Generaloberst
Walther von Brauchitsch (Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres), Adolf Hitler
(Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht), Generaloberst Gerd von
Rundstedt (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe Süd), Generaloberst Wilhelm
Keitel (Chef der Oberkommando der Wehrmacht), General der Kavallerie
Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs (Kommandierender General XIII.
Armeekorps), Korvettenkapitän Karl-Jesko von Puttkamer (Adjutant der
Kriegsmarine beim Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht),
Generaloberst Walther von Reichenau (Oberbefehlshaber 10. Armee),
Generaloberst Johannes Blaskowitz (Oberbefehlshaber 8. Armee), General
der Flieger Alexander Löhr (Chef Luftflotte 4), and General der Flieger
Albert Kesselring (Chef Luftflotte 1).
PaK
(Panzerabwehrkanone) 35/36 37mm caliber belonging to a Wehrmacht
anti-tank unit passing through the podium during the victory parade of
the German troops from 8. Armee in Warsaw, Poland, which were held on
October 5, 1939 in the presence of Adolf Hitler (Führer und Oberster
Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht) and other high-ranking Wehrmacht officials.
The PaK 35/36 itself was the standard German anti-tank weapon early in
the war, before being replaced by the larger caliber as Allies and
Soviet armored vehicles increased in thickness. Note that these
anti-tank guns are painted with field gray color so they will "blend"
with the color of the tires! The picture was taken by Hugo Jaeger, one
of Adolf Hitler's personal photographer.
This
photo was taken by Hugo Jaeger and shows the Siegesparade (Victory
Parade) of the German troops from 8. Armee in Warsaw, Poland, which were
held on October 5, 1939. The Einheits-PKW (standard passenger car)
marching past Adolf Hitler and other dignitaries of the Wehrmacht,
standing on the podium . The vehicle on the left is the Stoewer Typ M 12
RW, while the one in the center and right is the Horch 830 R
Kübelwagen. Those standing in the podium is, from left to right: General
der Kavallerie Erich Hoepner (Kommandierender General XVI. Armeekorps
[motorisiert]), Generaloberst Walther von Brauchitsch (Oberbefehlshaber
des Heeres), Adolf Hitler (Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der
Wehrmacht), Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt (Oberbefehlshaber
Heeresgruppe Süd), General der Infanterie Werner Kienitz
(Kommandierender General XVII. Armeekorps), General der Kavallerie
Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs (Kommandierender General XIII.
Armeekorps), Generaloberst Walther von Reichenau (Oberbefehlshaber 10.
Armee), Generaloberst Johannes Blaskowitz (Oberbefehlshaber 8. Armee),
General der Flieger Alexander Löhr (Chef Luftflotte 4), General der
Flieger Albert Kesselring (Chef Luftflotte 1), and SA-Obergruppenführer
Wilhelm Brückner (Chefadjutant des Führers und Reichskanzler). The aides
are watching below the podium and - in this photo - they can be seen at
far right.
This
photo was taken by Hugo Jaeger and shows the Siegesparade (Victory
Parade) of the German troops from 8. Armee in Warsaw, Poland, which were
held on October 5, 1939. A line of military trucks passes Adolf Hitler
and other high-ranking Wehrmacht officials, followed by the Einheits-PKW
(standard passenger cars). It seems that these vehicles have been added
with a two-tone gray-brown camouflage paint, and they also have a
glossy shine as if they were fresh from the factory (the order to use
all-grey camouflage only came into effect after the end of French
campaign in 1940). Here, too, we can see that the generals around Hitler
changing according to their unit's turn to parade. From left to right:
Generaloberst Walther von Brauchitsch (Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres),
Adolf Hitler (Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht),
Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe Süd),
General der Infanterie Werner Kienitz (Kommandierender General XVII.
Armeekorps), and General der Kavallerie Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von
Weichs (Kommandierender General XIII. Armeekorps)
Source :
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2010/10/koleksi-ratusan-foto-berwarna-dari-life.html
https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/m064km4b?hl=en
https://www.life.com/history/world-war-ii-erupts-color-photos-from-the-invasion-of-poland-1939/
https://war-documentary.info/hitler-goes-warsaw/
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