Filled with surprises as it has been, the war has provided no stranger, indeed amazing, occurrence than the arrival in Scotland of Rudolf Hess, Nazi Germany's Deputy Fuehrer. Below we give the bare outline of a series of events hardly to be paralleled in history a chapter which we have many reasons to suppose is not yet ended. Rudolf Hess Nazi No, 3, as he is called, since he held the position of Deputy Fuehrer and had been designated by Herr Hitler as his successor after Goering baled out from a Messerschmitt and descended by parachute on to a field some eight miles south-west of Glasgow soon after dark on the evening of Saturday, May 10th His plane crashed in flames 200 yards away and was burnt out; he himself suffered nothing worse than a broken ankle, and was already disentangling himself from his parachute harness when he was hailed by a Scottish peasant, David McLean, who helped him into his cottage (Read Here). “I have been in the air for four hours," he told his captors. "I left Germany in a Messerschmitt. Although I am a skilled pilot I am really a German military officer." Then he produced a map on which was drawn a thick blue line, showing his course from Augsburg, in Southern Germany, across the North Sea to Dungavel, which was ringed round in blue. He had followed his course with such accuracy that he actually landed within 12 miles from what was apparently his destination the seat of the Duke of Hamilton, and Hess told his captors that he had come with a special message for the Duke. He was thereupon removed to hospital under escort, and the Duke, who has been serving with the R.A.F. since the outbreak of war, flew to Scotland and identified the prisoner. Later it was announced that Hess had met the Duke in Berlin in 1936, when as the Marques’s of Clydesdale he was attending the Olympic Games. During the past few months he had addressed letters to the Duke, which the Duke had not answered, but handed over immediately to the Security Department of the Government. After the identification, the Duke made a report to the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Fighter Command, Air Marshal W. Sholto Douglas, and was instructed to come south to London to give a personal account of the interview. Rudolf Hess By now the Prime Minister had been informed, and although, as he himself confessed later, he did not at first believe the story, he ordered an official of the Foreign Office Mr Ivone Kirkpatrick, who had known Hess when he was Counsellor of the British Embassy in Berlin, to proceed to Scotland to interview the prisoner. He identified him at once beyond a doubt. This was on the Sunday. Early in the evening of the next day there came an enigmatic announcement over the German wireless. "It is officially announced by the National Socialist Party" (reported Reuter), “that Party member Rudolf Hess, who, as he was suffering from an illness of some years standing had been strictly forbidden to embark on any further flying activity, was able, contrary to this command, again to come into possession of an aeroplane. On Saturday, May 10th at about 6 p.m., Rudolf Hess again set off on a flight from Augsburg, from which he has not so far returned. A letter which he left behind unfortunately shows by its distractedness traces of a mental disorder, and it is feared that he was a victim of hallucinations In these circumstances it must be considered that Party Member Hess either jumped out of his aeroplane or has met with an accident.” This was the first news of the occurrence which had as yet reached the wider world. A few hours later at 11.20 p.m. there came a statement from No.10 Downing Street. "Rudolf Hess, the Deputy Fuehrer of Germany, and Party Leader of the National Socialist Party, has landed in Scotland in the following circumstances.” "On the night of Saturday, the 10th in a Messerschmitt 110 was reported by our patrols to have crossed the coast of Scotland and to be flying in the direction of Glasgow. Since a Me 110 would not have the fuel to return to Germany this report was at first disbelieved. However, later on an Me 110 crashed near Glasgow, with its guns unloaded. Shortly afterwards a German officer who had baled out was found with his parachute in the neighbourhood, suffering from a broken ankle. He was taken to hospital in Glasgow, where he at first gave his name as Horn, but later on declared that he was Rudolf Hess. He brought with him various photographs of himself at different ages, apparently in order to establish his identity. These photographs were deemed to be photographs of Hess by several people who knew him personally. Accordingly an officer of the Foreign Office who was closely acquainted with Hess before the war has been sent up by aeroplane to see him in hospital” At 2 a.m. the next morning, Tuesday, May 13, it was stated that the identification had been established beyond all doubt. The news of the Deputy Fuehrer's arrival in Scotland was received with amazement in Britain and, indeed, throughout the world; but in Germany with something more with consternation and dread, as is proved by the succession of "explanations" which followed during the next few days. On the Monday night, as we have seen, the Fuehrer's Deputy was reported to be suffering from hallucinations, and was believed to have lost his life. When the British Government announced that Hess was in Scotland the German story changed. On May I3th the Nazis announced that inspection of the papers left behind by Rudolf Hess revealed that he laboured under the delusion that a step taken on his personal initiative with Englishmen whom he knew would lead to an understanding between Germany and Britain. Rudolf Hess, at the International Military Tribunal trial of war criminals at Nuremberg That same night it was evident that Goebbels had thought again. Over the wireless Hans Fritsche, leading Nazi radio commentator, declared that there was hardly a German who was not deeply shocked by the news concerning the tragic fate of a man who, "thanks to his tremendous energy and will-power, succeeded in postponing for a number of years the consequences of a wound he sustained in the last war." Providing he had not fallen into a British trap, Hess was obviously a victim of his idealism and hallucinations when he boarded the plane to impress on the English that the war was as good as lost for Britain, and that its continuation could only result in increasing British losses. It was really madness to think that it would be possible to convince that clique of warmongers who have been preparing an assault on Germany for a long time. They cannot be persuaded by any logical reasoning, but only by the hard blows of German arms. It is to be regretted that Party Member Hess fell into the hands of that pitiless, despicable band. Goebbels Changes the Tune Wednesday came, and once again Goebbels changed his tune. Now it was declared that Hess was a comparatively unimportant person; his title of Deputy Fuehrer was only a courtesy one, Goering being Hitler's real deputy. For long Minister Rudolf Hess had been suffering from a disease, and the limitations of his working capacity had been recognized by Hitler, who relieved him progressively from his extensive duties. Notwithstanding all this, the gradual disruption of his organisms has now led to an open outbreak of mental disturbance, as is always the case with such diseases. Meanwhile in Britain it was made known that Hess was recovering in body and cheerful in mind, and was "talking freely" That last phrase sounded ominous in Nazi ears-as well it might and so there came a statement that Hess was not informed of the plans of the High Command, although he knew enough to know that an extension of the German-British war would only bring about the complete destruction of Britain ... The state of mind of the German public can well be imagined. On Monday they were told that Hess, the Fuehrer's agent, friend and comrade, the “seagreen incorruptible" of the Nazi Revolution, had suddenly taken off into the blue, and was presumed a suicide. On Tuesday he was revealed as a man who had long been suffering from mental trouble and was getting madder and madder, and had been dabbling in astrology, yet as recently as April 20th he was chosen to broadcast birthday greetings to the Fuehrer, and on May 1st had given a stirringly patriotic address to the workers in the Messerschmitt factory at Augsburg! On Wednesday he was a deluded pacifist who wanted to save not Germany but Britain from the results of her own warmongering! Meanwhile Britain's propagandists, after a feeble start, had now taken off the gloves. "We treat Hess merely as a Nazi who saw the writing on the wall and got out while the going was good," the Germans were told. "If you knew as much as Hess knows, you would probably also get out if you could." Daily Express 1941
LOL the last line says it all. Perhaps his "madness" was a gift if it allowed him to predict the future ? In 1941 this would have been truly amazing. :wtf: Someone I work with claims a relative of hers was one of Hess's guards, I will try to get some anecdotes...
Would love to hear this Dave, as i find this case rather intriguing. If he had not given himself freely as he did to the British, i have no doubt to believe that being Deputy Fuhrer, he would have been given the death penalty at his hearing at the Nuremberg Trials. After a certain time during his imprisonment at Spandau people started to swing towards favouring him and calling for his freedom, even Winston Churchill had something to add. Then his strange death at 93 at the bottom of the prison garden, and after his death the though that there was a conspiracy by the British SAS to have him killed. It really is a mystic life that was led by him and when i get the time i think this subject will be my next Book... i:
I'm still waiting for my copy of your first book ! Agreed it is fascinating. I remember seeing a documentary a year or two ago which was a cut above the usual History channel stuff. More conspiracy theories than a stick can be shaken at.
There's also a good book called "Spandau Phoenix" which adds more fuel to the fire on this one. There's still some doubt about the real identity of the man who sat alone in the Prison for all those years...
Do you know more about this book Spitfire? I would love to know if it was Hess who was in there? But why would it not be, after all it was him that crashed in Scotland.
Hess suffered a wound during the First World War whilst serving at the front. The scar from this was not evident on a few medical examinations carried out on him after his capture and the conspiracy theorists believe that it could've been his double - a man called Alfred Horn that was put in Spandau. No concrete evidence of course but there were a few strange events to support this theory. The book is fictional and it's by Greg Iles. A very good read.
Don't you just love theories ... :silly: What is unbelievable about this is that it has never been confirmed either way, only denials. Thanks for the heads up on the book S/Fire, it is now on my ebay search list.. To which i am now watching two that are listed at the moment.. :thumb:
