In mid-October 1918, a train loaded with wounded soldiers, with revolutionary slogans plastered on both sides of its body, slowly passed through Germany and headed towards the safety of the eastern border of the empire.
Among the hundreds of wounded soldiers in the car, many were wounded who had just been blinded by poison gas in a poison gas battle in Belgium. On the evening of the 13th, the British army bombarded the German front lines with devastating artillery fire, and then used poison gas.
.This artillery attack was the most violent in a series of ruthless blows suffered by the German army since the war situation took a turn for the worse three months ago. Although the German army was retreating and the battle line was bending, it did not collapse. In this battle, the Germans who bore the brunt of the attack
It is the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. They are hiding in trenches in the mountains and fields, unable to raise their heads. The battlefield has been beaten to pieces, full of craters, and has become a swamp. The soldiers are all excellent.
Exhausted, they huddled in the trenches. British artillery shells exploded around them one after another, tearing the ground apart. On the German front, rumors spread that many German troops had mutinied, which made them listless and demoralized.
.The veterans were numb all over, while the new recruits were scared out of their wits.
Suddenly, a burst of dust kicked up by the shells, with a pungent smell, poured into the trench. Someone shouted: "Poison gas!" This was the first time they encountered mustard gas. Some people smelled it, it was aroma, others smelled it.
, it is spicy and pungent, but the situation is the same for everyone: it does not stop in the nose. The soldiers hurriedly put on gas masks, bent their backs, and leaned motionless against the earthen wall of the trench. Several hours passed.
The air inside the mask had become turbid. One recruit, unable to hold it in, took off his mask in an attempt to breathe in fresh air, but what he inhaled was deadly poisonous gas.
"As soon as the poison gas entered his throat, he fell to the ground, suffocated, foamed at the mouth, gurgled, and then died slowly."
The poisonous gas slowly dissipated at dawn, but the shelling started again. The soldiers took off their masks and breathed in the morning air. "The air still smells of mustard seeds." One person wrote: "It is still full of the smell of gunpowder. But
For us, this is paradise."
This intermission was short-lived. This was a cruel and unpredictable way designed to drive the enemy crazy - before he could breathe, the air was filled with poisonous gas and gunpowder smoke. Those who had no time to wear masks, like the recruits,
, and immediately turned over and fell to the ground. Those soldiers who survived became blind - except for one who still had a little blurred vision. He suggested to everyone that everyone should grab each other's coat tails and let him lead the way to escape. In this way
, the soldiers stumbled forward in single file, the half-blind leading the fully-blind, until they reached the first first aid station.
Among the soldiers who were rescued from death by suffocation was a 29-year-old corporal named Adolf Hitler.
When the train took Hitler eastward, he was still blind and on the verge of physical and mental collapse. Like other victims, his eyes were red and swollen, and his face was bulging like a balloon. The voices of these soldiers were ghost-like.
They feel weak and very frightened. If a nurse comes to take care of them, they often get angry and refuse.
They don't eat or drink, and they don't allow people to have their inflamed eyes treated. No matter what the doctors say that their eyesight will soon be restored, it doesn't help. They have been deceived for too long. What they need is to be motionless.
Lying down and moaning, the pain will be relieved, even if it is relieved by death.
The corporal, who was physically injured and depressed, still didn't know the extent of Germany's defeat. Four years ago, when the German army launched its first powerful offensive and the Belgian, French and British troops were unable to parry, Hitler's regiment had
In the first bloody battle in the same area, in less than a week, the unimaginable loss of troops reached 80%. For Hitler, who was full of blood, these losses were not depressing. On the contrary, they were clear evidence of the fighting spirit of the German army.
.
In those days, many Germans happily believed that this was German-style heroism. However, as time passed, the war became a stalemate positional war. The two armies faced each other, and the middle was the scorched earth of no man's land.
, a conflict only occurs when one side attempts to break through the other side's defense lines, advancing for miles or even a few yards, at the cost of millions of casualties. The early optimism slowly disappeared. Defeatism and despair made the people hiding in the trenches like rats
The morale of the soldiers was low. At home, as the British blockaded the country, supplies of major daily necessities were cut off, and hunger and misery spread among the German people.
As the war entered its third and fourth years, the German army's thinking shifted from victory to survival.
Soldiers often denounced the stupidity of the higher command, knowing that there was no point in fighting anymore. There were also a few officers and soldiers who sneered at such defeatist talk, and Hitler was one of them. Despite his repeated heroics, he was still a corporal, but despite his
He didn't feel frustrated when he was not taken seriously. He often yelled at his companions, especially the new recruits, because they brought "poison from the mainland"!
Perhaps, the pessimists were wrong after all. With the advent of 1918, the German army, which had been on the defensive for four years, got ready to launch another offensive. Except for the stalemate on the Western Front, the German army won on all other battlefields. Serbia,
Romania, and finally Russia, surrendered.
In the spring of that year, the German army launched four powerful offensives, forcing the British and French to retreat successively. Because the British army was "defeated" and was ordered to fight to the last soldier. On July 15, the decisive battle began near the city of Lemus.
, both sides understand that once this battle is fought, the winner or loser will be determined.
The attack failed. Germany has no reserve troops...
Within the German army, deserters increased significantly. No matter where they were, people were talking about rebellion and uprising. In early August, the British army launched a surprise attack near Amiens. The German army almost collapsed without firing a shot. Sometimes, Caesar's soldiers actually attacked
A lone infantryman surrendered en masse. The retreating troops often shouted to the reinforcements heading to the front: "Saboteurs!"
However, things don't end there.
The German troops retreated, but their positions remained. If there were only one defeatist who was willing to perform military duties, there were hundreds of them. However, the domestic faith gradually disappeared. Strikes occurred one after another, and in the radical society in the city
Communists are talking about revolution. In the eyes of die-hards like Hitler, the safe, unharassed rear, as well as the laggards, speculators, those who pretend to be ill to avoid responsibility, traitors, and
The Jews, who had neither love nor respect for their motherland, Germany, betrayed those on the front lines of the battle at the most critical moment. In fact, it was Ludendorff himself who was truly frightened, and it was he who urged the civilian government to sign a peace treaty.
Even if it is too late, hardliners like Hitler still firmly believe that as long as they persist in resisting, victory is not impossible and there is always a solution. The front line has not collapsed, and the retreat is proceeding in an orderly manner. Failure comes from within, and
It was those speculators, those who pretended to be ill to evade responsibility, and the Jews who brought about the failure.
The keratitis has disappeared, the swelling in both eyes has subsided, and the severe pain in the orbits has begun to lessen.
As soon as his eyesight was restored, his depression disappeared, and the trance that originally required special treatment by Professor Edmund Forster, director of the Neurological Hospital of the University of Berlin and a psychiatrist, was also cured. Since he knew little about mustard gas, Dr. Forster
The diagnosis was that Hitler's blindness was caused by hysteria. It was unexplainable why Hitler's vision could be restored. The fact that he had recovered just proved that the doctor's diagnosis was correct. In fact, Hitler had suffered from the general symptoms of mild mustard gas poisoning.
: Fever, redness, swelling, groaning, depression, and can be cured within a few weeks.
The return of his sight also gave Hitler hope and renewed his interest in current events. Berlin itself was effectively surrounded, and the new Chancellor urged the Kaiser to abdicate in order to sign a ceasefire. Hitler had been told that
However, rebellions occurred one after another in Germany, but he believed these rumors were pure rumors. One morning in November, a group of red sailors rushed into his ward, trying to persuade the patients to participate in the revolution. This made him believe the rumors.
Hitler already hated Bolshevism, and seeing that three of the sailor leaders were young Jewish men, none of whom had ever been to the front, made him hate Bolshevism even more.
At that time, the patients gathered in the small hall. When the priest mentioned that the Hohenzollern City Council no longer hung the German crown and that Germany had become a republic, everyone seemed to be shaking with anger.
And when the old priest was praising Hohenzollern's contribution, he couldn't help crying softly. Everyone in this small hall was extremely depressed, and no one could hold back tears.
This was the first time that he, Hitler, cried since he stood in front of his mother's grave 11 years ago and cried in the cemetery in the Austrian village of Leonding.
He endured the fear of blindness and the pain of losing so many comrades "in numb silence."
Hitler's second blindness had no medical explanation. Dr. Forster was even more convinced of his initial diagnosis, that is, his patient was "a psychotic patient with hysterical symptoms...". However, Hitler himself firmly believed that he would never be blind.
Blind.
On November 11, Germany surrendered in the Combienne Forest. The humiliation brought about by the surrender made him extremely painful. Life seemed unbearable. However, that night, or the next night, when he lay quietly in despair
A "supernatural apparition" while in the crib!
That night, in the deserted hospital ward of Basvalk, one of the most ferocious forces of the 20th century was born. Politics was dedicated to Hitler, not Hitler to politics.