The Führer had just left us when.
Early in the morning of Friday,
8
November 1939, a few hours after the explosion in the
Bürgerbräukeller at Munich, what purported to be
an eyewitness account of the incident was broadcast from all
the German wireless stations.
Opening his broadcast, the announcer declared that the microphone
was standing inside the shattered beer cellar, on the very
spot where
Adolf
Hitler had stood to make his speech. 20 minutes before
the infernal machine went off. The speaker was said to be
a member of the Nazi old guard who had been present at the
reunion. About 100 of the old guard, he said were in the room,
and I myself was about a yard away from the door. Suddenly
there was a flash overhead and a sudden pressure pushed me
out of the door. Almost immediately afterwards became a thundering
sound, and then everything was over before we could think
what had happened. The air was so full of dust we could neither
see nor breathe. We held our handkerchiefs over mouths and
got into fresh air. When the dust settled, we went back and
found that the ceiling had fallen in.
There were about 50 of the old guard in the hall, uninjured,
and we set about the rescue work. It was dangerous work, because
at any moment more of the ceiling might have fallen in. We
work some time getting out injured and dead.
He then explained that the explosion was definitely overhead
because he had seen flash come from a spot in the gallery
close to the pillar. The charge, he said must have been in
the floor near the pillar or underneath the walls close by.
Other:
Articles:
The Second Great War.
Edited by Sir John Hamilton
The War Illustrated.
Edited by Sir John Hamilton
2194 Days Of War.
ISBN-10: 086136614X
For a complete list of
sources
