www.thestrathallan.com  has covered various aspects of The Strathallan Story in respect of the U562 Torpedo, the Liner, Sister Ships,U562, Convoy Marshalling Base, Operation Torch and many Convoy and Eye Witness reports. But we have not touched on why it all happened in the first place.

This Web Site therefore, would not be complete if we did not explore the extra-ordinary phenomena of Der Fuhrer ( The Leader) Adolf Hitler and the part he played in bringing mayhem to the world during 1939-1945.
It could be construed as hindsight in the extreme if we were to state the obvious and trace all World War Two responsibility to this extraordinary human being.. “Had one man not been born there would have been no Strathallan/U562 Incident… 56,000,000 million people in the world would have not died in war…. and the nations of this world would have not got together to bring an end to the most vicious, evil, vile and unspeakable regime civilisation has known since the dawn of time”.

That man was Adolf Hitler. Because of the obedience that exists in every society within Armed Forces…….the culture of “Obeying Orders” from the top Generals to the lowly Privates……..Hitler was able to bend the will of millions of people where he held absolute sway over the German Nation for nearly 20 years finally bringing the citizens to their knees as the Allied Forces ( British USA French Russian and many more) surrounded his “Bunker in Berlin”. After leading his nation to catastrophe he was unable to face the reality of his downfall and committed suicide taking along his mistress Eva Braun in his passage to hell. If there is such a place it can be guaranteed Adolf Hitler will be residing there with the Devil his best friend. The classic Megalomaniac Bully.

Like moths circling a light in the darkness Hitler managed to gather around him a close circle of confidantes who effectively carried out his depraved wishes. Their names needs no introduction. Their deeds have reverberated down through history in the Hall of Infamy as being complicit in mass murder, the destruction of an otherwise ordinary society and savage crimes against the human race.                                                               
Josef Goebbels Henreich Himmler Martin Borman Herman Goering Adolf Eichman Rudolf Hess Albert Speer.
In the first six months of Hitler’s power every city, town and village institutions like Voluntary Groups, Boys Clubs…Chess Groups…Woman’s Guilds…. Football… Swimming Clubs indeed every social organisation were blended into the Nazi Party more effectively than communism. This collective system was known as Gleichschaltung. No one could launch anything without permission from the Nazi Party. They even corrupted youth by the formation of Hitler Youth. Not to be a member meant an innocent youth would be ostracised by his/her peers.

Independence of various groups within a civilised and law abiding society is desirable allowing an interesting and diverse culture but Hitler realised the drawing together of all strands of community life within Germany would give him absolute political control over every ones lives.

That group of highly intelligent but flawed band of misfits around Hitler effectively carried out the wholesale rape and pillage of the independent spirit of the German people causing them to bend entirely to the will of Der Fuhrer. Mesmerised ,they blindly followed the Fuhrer into a bottomless pit of national destruction where the world was forced to rise up against them or be destroyed themselves.
His book Mein Kampf written while in Landsberg Prison jailed for sedition ,was a classic of Discrimination and Anti Semitism and yet went on to become the “Bible” of National Socialism and The Nazi Party. “We are The Master Race” he preached with unswerving conviction. The people believed him. He was in essence a confidence trickster with a giant con. The ruin of The German Nation stands as a testament to his ability of conmanship. They were not the Master Race but just ordinary mortal souls like any other nation. Nowadays he would be prosecuted for incitement to cause civil unrest and discriminatory behaviour in the extreme.
It was completely extra ordinary how that small band achieved their goals in Pre War Germany, nothing short of genius, but the negative and dangerous kind.

How could it have happened. Time Magazine the famous USA journal named Hitler “Man of the Year” in 1938 but obviously changed its opinion as events unfolded in the following years.

Adolf Hitler was born at Braunau-am-Inn between Austria and Bavaria at 1830hrs on 20th April 1889. He was called after his grandmother’s name of Schiklgruber. His father Alois Hitler an Austrian Customs Officer was born out of wed lock to Maria Schiklgruber. There was nothing outstanding in the family background to indicate they had brought on this earth someone who would become the most ruthless tyrant the world had ever known. His grandfather was a miller and Alios was apprenticed as a cobbler.
Hitler became a house painter and during army service was promoted to Corporal in the 1st Company of the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment during the First World War He was twice decorated for bravery under fire winning the Iron Cross First Class. The regiment was his home .He was a loner with no close friends

He would not even take leave preferring to stay with his unit rather than go home.

At the end of the war he was incensed, in his opinion, that the Generals had sold out the German Army by surrendering to the Allied Forces. The Treaty of Versailles put the German Nation’s back to the wall with all sorts of restrictions which created public rancour. In 1920 he founded the National Socialist German Workers Party ( NSDAP) or in German (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter –Partel) which became the infamous Nazi Party. With Germany in post war disarray this became the vehicle to propel Adolf Hitler into the upper echelons of power in the German Nation, becoming Chancellor , where he abolished all opposition. He had no compunction about murdering his opponents and rivals.

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