Reply With Quotevery interesting.
Historic, secret recording of Hitler's 1942 visit to Finland
Thursday, October 21, 2004 canadaeast.com
Historic, secret recording of Hitler's 1942 visit to Finland aired on radio
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) - Radio listeners in Finland heard a rare recording this week: Adolf Hitler talking to the commander of the Finnish defence forces 62 years ago when Nazi Germany sided with Finland in World War II to fight the Soviet Union.
The secret taping, made during a surprise visit by Hitler to Finland on June 4, 1942 - the 75th birthday of Finnish Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Mannerheim - is believed to be a rare audio account of Hitler engaged in conversation.
The 11-minute recording was aired late Sunday by the Finnish Broadcasting Company, YLE. It was part of an hour-long meeting between Hitler and Mannerheim in a saloon railway car near the Russian border. The taping was interrupted by Nazi officers.
On the tape, the German dictator discusses the war against the Soviet Union, tanks, weaponry and even "moral threats" in a calm, relaxed manner.
Finland, which had fought off a crushing attack from its huge, eastern neighbour in the Winter War of 1939-1940, welcomed Germany's assistance against Stalin when hostilities resumed in 1941.
A carriage on the train had been prepared for Mannerheim's anniversary celebrations, but the men - accompanied by then Finnish President Risto Ryti and senior Finnish and Nazi officers - decided to hold their meeting in the saloon car instead, said Tuire Juusela, a YLE producer.
"The YLE sound man, Thor Damen, had wired the prepared carriage and then had to somehow quickly get the microphone into the saloon car when he found out Hitler had arrived," Juusela told The Associated Press on Monday.
"Luckily, it was a warm summer day so he threw it through the open window, and it was suitably hidden by birch branches that served as decorations," she said.
YLE has previously aired excerpts of the recording or versions with a Finnish translation voiceover. On Sunday, the full recording was played uninterrupted because of popular demand.
very interesting.
We all should know why Hitler went to Finland, he wanted to meet Tom.
Sorry, but yes its an interesting article...
Don't know but you should be able to hear it by clickin the link and so on... I don't have a soundcard so I don't know... I hope some one clicks it!And tells me!
http://ra.yle.fi/ramgen/yleradio1/ex...itler171004.rm
Listened to it. There is a Finnish translation over the original sound. Apart from that it appears to be a monologue spoken with a very calm voice. Weird that Mannerheim, a charismatic man who despised Hitler (called him "that corporal") didn't speak practically nothing at all and let Hitler lecture on about things. Perhaps he too fell under his charm for a moment. Or perhaps he wanted not to piss him off.
As for the Finnish sound technician recording this moment of private conversation by Hitler, the SS security detail in fact discovered the microphone (or rather the cable connecting it to the recorder) and threatened to "have his throat cut off" unless they were handed the records for destruction.
The Finns apparently managed to distract them for long enough to make 2 or 3 copies of the record discs, one of whom was discovered by relatives among the belongings of the Finnish sound technician after his death long after WW-2). Of the other 2 copies one was handed back to the Germans I think, and one was kept at some Finnish Central records office where it apparently got lost or destroyed after a while.
There's also an english translation available:
http://www.wargamer.com/articles/bdvisit2.asp
Quite interesting recording. I was a bit surprised how little respect Hitler had for Italians (at least according to the finnish translation).
I´m not very surprised. Operation Barbarossa as an example had to be postponedOriginally Posted by anv2
because the Italians got stuck in the Balkans, so Germany had to divert considerable
forces to help them, and had to keep large numbers of troops there during the rest of
the war. Forces that could have been better used in Operation Barbarossa, and if the
Op would have been on time the Soviet Union would have had even less time to prepare.
Remember that they were in a considerable reorganization, after the disastrous
Winter War campaign against Finland, and this could possible had a another outcome
of the war, if for example the Germans would have been able to take Moscow. The desert fox
Rommel and his troops in Africa was also another of those things that wasn´t planned,
but had to be done because of the (then) useless Italians.
Hitler has just said hello to the Finnish president Risto Ryti
(the bald guy) and "runs towards Mannerheim", who according
to some sources turned towards his officers and said, "corprals
run, state leaders doesn´t". Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel to the
right of Risto Ryti.
Hitler and Finnish chief of command Mannerheim, the jeep
was a minor gift from Hitler to Mannerheim, the real gift was
that Mannerheim was awarded with "Grand Cross of the Order
of the German Eagle in Gold" (Goldenes Grosskreuz des
Deutschen Adlerordens).
Hitler says hello to Finnish officers.
You seem to share the same illusion that a land invasion of Russia could be a success, if only the roads weren't so bad, the winters so harsh, the distances so immense and the Russians so silly in their irrational resolve to fight
Well if it wouldn´t have been for the Italians Operation Barbarossa would have beenYou seem to share the same illusion that a land invasion of Russia could be a success, if only the roads weren't so bad, the winters so harsh, the distances so immense and the Russians so silly in their irrational resolve to fight
launched a couple of months earlier, and the Germans would have been able to take
Moscow before the winter. Already as it really did happen the Germans reached
the outskirts of Moscow and NKVD had to shoot people leaving Moscow to force
them to stay. And if papa Stalin would have fled Moscow i´m not so sure if the
struggle could have been upheld.
Ah, so if it wasn't for the cruel Russian winter Moscow would have certainly fell? Well the cold weather affected both sides, it made defending the city more difficult for the Russians too. Do you think that perhaps the Russian troops had something to do with stopping the Germans and kicking them back? As for launching the invasion a couple of months earlier, well as you undoubtely know, the Russians had lots of troops on the move in May and June and some of the reasons they suffered collossal losses in the initial phases of the war was their complete unprepearedness since many were just moved to the Western borders while their supplies, gas, ammo etc. were still struggling to catch up. Had Russians not had the time to start this, those troops would have been farther East and therefore they may have been used in a more organized fashion, possibly this could have tipped the balance too?
It's quite a bold statement you are making there implying that there's no doubt in your mind Moscow would have fell if only the Germans would have invaded a bit earlier, completely disregarding Russians as incompetent fools that can only rely on their vast territory and cold winters for defence of their country. Mistakes like this have been made in the past, the episode presently discussed illustrates that quite well too.
Again, a bunch of spineless Russki's scared ****less of the advancing German terminators. If only it wasn't for the brutal NKVD forcing the people to remain and fight the city would have fell. And it was only by a fluke that Stalin did not leave the city when the Krauts came within 10 clicks of Moscow.
I could tell you stories of my grandmother going to dig anti-tank trenches in the brutal cold, stories of how people's militia brigades were formed and went to fight knowing fully well that they would be at the tip of the German advance but they didn't flinch. I supposed you have similar stories in Finland during the Winter War, then why do you think it was any different in Russia in '41? It's the Soviet people who kicked Nazi's ass and they did it to defend their country not because NKVD and Staling were forcing them to.
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