On October 14, 1918, during the fighting in the Ypres Salient in Belgium, then Corporal Adolf Hitler was among the Germans who were wounded. Temporarily blinded by a British gas shell, he was evacuated to a military hospital in Pasewalk, Pomerania. Young Hitler was initially drafted for Austrian military service but was rejected as not physically fit. While living in Munich at the start of World War I in 1914, he sought out and received special permission to enlist as a German soldier. As part of the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment, Hitler went to France in October 1914. There, he saw heavy action during the First Battle of Ypres, and he earned the Iron Cross that December for rescuing a wounded comrade.
Over the next two years, Hitler participated in some of the war’s fiercest battles, including Neuve Chapelle, the Second Battle of Ypres, and the Somme. On October 7, 1916, near Bapaume, France, a shell blast wounded his leg. After recovering near Berlin, he rejoined his unit by February 1917. Hans Mend, a comrade of Hitler’s, described his deep contemplation and fiery speeches on the declining morale and dedication to the cause in Germany by saying, “He sat in the corner of our mess holding his head between his hands in deep contemplation. Suddenly, he would leap up, and running about excitedly, say that in spite of our big guns victory would be denied us, for the invisible foes of the German people were a greater danger than the biggest cannon of the enemy.” In hindsight, I think they might have noticed the crazed dictator we now know to be Hitler.
In the following year, Hitler earned more citations for bravery, including an Iron Cross 1st Class in August 1918 for “personal bravery and general merit” after single-handedly capturing a group of French soldiers hiding in a shell hole during the final German offensive on the Western Front. He seemed the perfect leader for Germany, and many people were taken in. Hitler was actually voted into office, before he went rogue and became a dictator.
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