Description
Illustrierter Beobachter
Donnerstag, 14. September 1939 • 14. Jahrgang • Folge 37
Zentralverlag der NSDAP, Franz Eher Nachf. GmbH, München 22
32 pages scanned
Caption: „Adolf Hitler bei seiner Ostarmee. Der Führer beobachtet durch das Scherenfernrohr die Wirkung unserer Geschütze.“ (“Adolf Hitler with his Eastern Army. The Führer observes the effect of our guns through field glasses.”)
Subject: Adolf Hitler, viewed from behind in uniform, observing the effect of German artillery fire through binoculars at the front.
Location: Eastern Front, Poland
Photo credit: Heinrich Hoffmann.
Major Headlines & Content
Und wieder ist der Führer an der Front (And Again the Führer Is at the Front) — Adolf Hitler is shown greeting saluting troops in the field and visiting wounded soldiers aboard a hospital train, where he is quoted thanking them for their bravery and declaring himself ready to be the “first soldier of the German Reich.” Generaloberst Wilhelm Keitel (Chief of the Wehrmacht High Command) appears alongside Hitler. Photo credit: Heinrich Hoffmann.
So haben die Polen gehaust! (This Is How the Poles Have Ravaged!) — German motorised troops advance through burning villages near Tarnowitz, where retreating Polish forces are described as having destroyed railway installations and ransacked homes before fleeing. German infantry marching into Tarnowitz are shown being greeted with flowers by the local German population. Photo credits: Fremke (Atlantik), Associated Preß.
Die ersten Gefangenen (The First Prisoners) — Captured Polish snipers („Dachschützen“) are disarmed and marched away near a wood at Netzebruch, while a German general is shown inspecting the first Polish soldiers captured near Sobeschowice. Polish prisoners are also put to work bringing in the potato harvest. Photo credits: Waske (Presse-Bild-Zentrale), Associated Press, Reindl (Atlantic).
Schwere Kampfflugzeuge auf Feindflug (Heavy Combat Aircraft on Missions over Enemy Territory) — German bomber crews are pictured in flight and at their stations, including a machine-gunner defending the aircraft, while bombing Polish retreat roads and a railway line. A subsection, „Die Spuren der Mordbrenner“ (Traces of the Arsonists), shows a Volksdeutsch village in the Korridorgebiet set ablaze by Polish forces. Photo credit: Wundshammer (Presse-Bild-Zentrale).
Über die Weichsel (Across the Vistula) — Adolf Hitler is shown watching German infantry cross the Weichsel (Vistula) near a destroyed bridge using assault boats and pontoons, with cavalry horses swimming alongside. Generaloberst Wilhelm Keitel observes the crossing together with Hitler. Photo credits: Schwahn (Atlantic), Heinrich Hoffmann.
Other Content
Fiction serial — Sturmteufel. Roman eines deutschen Mannes by Luis Trenker (12. Fortsetzung; continuation, spanning several pages). Set in early-nineteenth-century Vienna and Kärnten (Carinthia) during the Napoleonic period; characters include the soldier Sturmegger, Herr von Hager, Kaiser Franz, Napoleon Bonaparte, Erzherzogin Maria Luise, Graf Metternich, and Valentin.
Propaganda feature — Juda zieht in den Weltkrieg by Hans Jording (6. Fortsetzung). An antisemitic wartime propaganda series concerning food supply and livestock policy during the First World War; named individuals include Professor Paul Elbacher and J. Ellis Barker.
Cartoon spread — Anregungen für die Lügentanten von drüben! by artist Emerich Huber — satirical cartoons mocking British wartime rumours, set against scenes of blacked-out Berlin restaurant life.
Humour columns — „Humor“ and „Humor der Anderen“ — short jokes and anecdotes, the latter attributed to foreign publications including the Houston Post, London Sketch, Tit-Bits, Answers, and Punch.
Photo feature — Polen lernt deutschen Frontgeist kennen — a German tank crew is shown transporting a wounded Polish soldier to a dressing station near Jezioro Swiekatowskie, and German infantry advancing past wounded Polish prisoners. Photo credit: Fremke (Associated Preß).
Photo feature — Befreit vom Polenterror! — German artillery passes a village set alight by Polish forces; a captured Polish tank that attempted to halt the German advance at the Weichsel (Vistula) is shown, alongside Danzig youths cheering arriving German soldiers and crowds welcoming troops in Graudenz. Photo credits: Associated Preß, Atlantic-Schwahn, Von der Piepen (Atlantic).
Photo feature — Das Gesicht der Reichshauptstadt — Berliners gather outside a radio shop to hear war reports; workmen repair roofs and paint ironwork at Berlin University; a food shop sells sausages including a “Polish” variety; soldiers on guard duty are shown wearing gas masks. Photo credit: H. Möbius.
Photo feature — Die Neutralen vergewaltigt! England verhöhnt das Völkerrecht — wreckage of a British military aircraft that crashed near Bergen, Norway, on 31 August 1939 is shown, with three crew recovered dead by a Norwegian ship. Photo credit: Weltbild.
Photo feature — Schnelles Ende einer gemeinen Hetzlüge! — American journalist Louis P. Lochner (Associated Press) is shown visiting the shrine of the Black Madonna at Tschenstochau, found undamaged, contradicting claims that German bombing had destroyed it. Photo credit: Associated Preß.
Map — Fold-out map „Polen und Baltische Staaten“ (scale 1:3,700,000), covering Poland and the Baltic states.
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