This Day Ends a Battle

Last week war in Poland had its official end as Adolf Hitler flew to Warsaw. He arrived at the city, left it thoughtful. For what Adolf Hitler saw as he drove into town was a city which he, artist by ambition, architect of a Chancellery and an eagle's nest, had designed--a city of charred wrecks, broken windows, gutted streets, tram rails bent into tortured question marks.

Accompanied by Colonel General Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces, and Heinrich Himmler, Chief of Secret Police, Victor Hitler drove through the wreckage to a reviewing stand set up in the least damaged part of the city, the diplomatic sector. There he stood from 12:30 until 2:30 as picked troops goose-stepped past.

Did it not require courage to stand there exposed to danger from those who hated him? No, it did not. Not one Pole saw Herr Hitler; Herr Hitler saw not one Pole. Troops with bayonets kept every native at least a block from the Victor, and previously police had scoured houses along his route for "suspicious elements."

After the review Herr Hitler reverently visited Belvedere Palace, where the great Josef Pilsudski lived and died. Back at the airport Hitler proved that what had made him thoughtful had not made him either remorseful or humble--or accurate. "Gentlemen," he said to a cluster of reporters, "you have seen for yourselves what criminal folly it was to try to defend this city in a military way, and how that defense collapsed after only two days. I only wish certain statesmen in other countries who seem to want to turn the whole of Western Europe into such a shambles as Warsaw could have an opportunity of seeing, as you have, the real meaning of war."

It was not until Herr Hitler arrived back in Berlin that Germans knew he had been away. The trip was entirely secret. All the time he was absent his guard of honor stood before the Chancellery, and his personal pennant, which flies only when he is in Berlin, was left up all day.

He went to the Chancellery and there issued a proclamation which wrote finis to another chapter in Hitler history:

Soldiers of the Armed forces in the East!

On Sept. 1, at my order, you lined up to defend our Reich against the Polish attack.

In the exemplary comradeship in arms between the Army, Air Force and Navy you have fulfilled the task set for you. You fought courageously and bravely.

Today I was able to greet troops sent against fortified Warsaw.

This day ends a battle that has given evidence of the best that is in German soldiery. . . .

Beneath the flags that are flying everywhere in Germany, in proud joy, we stand closer together than ever and bind our helmets tighter.

I know that you, faithful to your belief in Germany, are prepared for any sacrifice.

ADOLF HITLER

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