The initial German victories did not entirely eliminate Russia from the war, even though the Russians were unable to enter Germany again for the duration of the conflict. Nonetheless, the early Russian battles probably had a decisive outcome for the entire war, as the Germans may have been inhibited from occupying France when they had to send troops from the French front to fight the Russians.
The Russians unencrypted messages were intercepted and decoded by the Germans revealing Russian plans in detail. Generals Ludendorf and Hindenburg became the heroes even though it was Colonel Hoffman whose plans were implemented to defeat the Russians. Such are the laws of war; after all, the generals get all the credit. They did indeed approve the Colonel’s plan.
Both Albert and Sam were involved in the offensive in France: Albert as a foot soldier; Sam as a corpsman. Heavy casualties kept Sam very busy, and one of the first wounded he attended was in fact Al, who had taken a French bullet in his right thigh. Sam cut through Albert’s trouser leg, tracked the course of the bloody wound and told his patient, “Don’t worry, Al, it looks like the bullet missed the bone, so it’s just a flesh wound, but I’m sure it needs some work. I doubt you’ll be out of action longer than two weeks.”
“You’re sounding like a doctor already,” said Albert.
“Could you use a pain shot? Are you hurting?” asked Sam
“It’s tolerable,” answered Albert.
“Good. Never take what you could do without,” advised Sam.
“Hope to see you later,” said Albert as he was placed on a stretcher and carted away.
As things would turn out, because of the intensity of the fighting between forces locked in a stalemate, the war produced an overwhelming volume of surgeries. Sam’s demonstrated capacities for battlefield medicine prompted his transfer to a trauma hospital, behind the front where he was trained as a surgical assistant. The twelve hours per day he spent training and assisting qualified him to handle minor cases on his own, a responsibility to which he was eventually assigned as professional surgeons were stretched to the limit by the growing waves of injured soldiers. The accumulated experience in surgical practice would advance the career Sam hoped to pursue after hostilities.
Albert underwent a surgical debridement. His slightly infected wound required more medical attention for the week following initial treatment. After two weeks of recovery, he had only a very mild limp. He was cleared for return to action. He silently thanked God for “only a minor wound.” He and Sam would not meet again until after the war…
Meanwhile the German plan to swiftly defeat France and then the Russians failed. The result was that the “short war” settled down into a four-year battle of attrition in the trenches of Europe after 1914, but not before a million soldiers had been killed. In the meantime trench warfare raged back and forth with very little territory changing hands. Massive casualties were a daily occurrence.
Unrestricted German submarine warfare continued unabated in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean affecting American and other shipping. German attempts to encourage Mexico to join in the war against the Allies were viewed as a very negative trend by the United States. On the strength of these two reasons, the United States entered the war in 1917.
After four years of bloody stalemate, very little territory had changed hands. The initial German enthusiasm for a swift victory had become a desperate struggle for mere survival. Hunger had become rampant on the German home front. People had been reduced to eating dogs and cats, or roof rabbits as they called them. The country was war weary and clamored for peace. Revolutionary movements developed on the right and left of the political spectrum, and general strikes paralyzed the country. The troops began to mutiny, deserting in droves. Soldiers attacked and killed many officers. The situation for Germany had become desperate. The Kaiser abdicated. This ended the Zweiten Deutches Reich (Second German Kingdom). The war was over. The year was 1918.
Both Sam and Albert survived the war and returned to a chaotic Germany. They were now twenty-two years of age, perhaps going on thirty, as the pressures of battle and uncertainty took its toll aging both of them considerably as they bore witness to horrors that no young men should…
CHAPTER 9
The Treaty of Versailles
The four leaders of the ‘Allies’ who fought against Germany in the World War all came to the peace treaty with demands. The leaders and their demands were:
Georges Clemenceau the French Prime Minister: Germany must pay monetary damages for the cost of rebuilding physical assets destroyed by Germany during the war. He insisted on the return of Alsace-Lorraine taken by Germany during the war of 1871. France would take control of the Rhineland as a defensive shield against Germany. The Rhineland was an industrial area lying along the German border with France, Luxemburg, Belgium and the Netherlands.
David Lloyd George the British Prime Minister: Preferred a more lenient approach as he felt that harshness might only precipitate future revengeful action by Germany. He preferred that the Rhineland not return to French hands, but that it becomes a “demilitarized zone.”
Vittorio Orlando the Prime Minister of Italy: After a secret London treaty with Britain and France, Italy entered the war in 1915 on the promise that Italy’s reward would be the Adriatic Coast after the war.
Woodrow Wilson the President of the United States: He was against Italy having the Adriatic Coast as he did not favor the idea of Europe setting up internal empires. He also favored the formation of a “League of Nations” to settle future disputes, which history would prove was unworkable.
In essence, Germany had to accept blame for starting the war, substantially reduce their military capacity, had to pay 6.6 billion in reparations for damages, abandon the Saar coalfields to France for fifteen years, return Alsace-Lorraine to France, give Poland a corridor to the Baltic Sea, turn over German colonies to Great Britain or France, and make Danzig a free city. In addition, Germany was refused entry into the League of Nations, and forbidden to ever unite with Austria. All of this was intended to weaken Germany for as long as possible. The League of Nations was proposed by Woodrow Wilson in a speech given to the U.S. Congress on January 8, 1919. Wilson called for the formation of an association of nations that would guarantee political independence and territorial integrity for all regardless of size. The world eagerly accepted this treatise, but the United States whose congress, fearful of being drawn into European entanglements, soundly rejected Wilson’s proposed league.
The Peace Treaty of Versailles ending World War I was signed on the 28th of June 1919. Germany had no choice but to accept all of its harsh terms.
CHAPTER 10
Adolph Hitler political activity 1919
After the war, the German regime faced chaotic domestic conditions. The leadership recognized Hitler’s amazing record as a soldier and the strength of his devotion to German nationalism. Consequentially the vestigial German army hired him as a spy to investigate the many rising political parties—particularly Communistic—that could threaten the post-war regime.
On September 1919, Corporal Adolf Hitler was ordered to attend a meeting of a small group in Munich known as the German Workers Party. The use of the term “workers,”' often a part of Communist Party wording, attracted the attention of the German Army which was now actively working to crush Communist uprisings. On September 19, Hitler, dressed in civilian clothes, appeared in the back room of a Munich beer hall. There, he stepped into
