SLOPED SPADES

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 97, 22 October 1934, Page 7

SLOPED SPADES

LABOUR BATTALIONS

HITLER'S GRAND REVIEW

A STRIKING- (SCENE

The Nazi Congress at Nuremberg' took on a real Nazi character, the mussing of -uniformed men m pageant-liko fashion before tho "Leader" (says the "Manchester Guardian"). At the huge Zeppelin field some distance from the town, Herr Hitler -appeared before 52,000 Labour Service meu, his "soldiers of labour." Tor over two hours ho stood up alone in his car in tho lovely, medieval Adolf Hitler Platz, in the shadow of tho Church of Our Lady, watching tho march-past of the same men. These thousands of young men, all between ninotecn and twenty-live, havo been drawn from over one thousand Labour Service camps, scattered throughout Germany, which contain almost a quarter of a million Labour Service men. Although the classless nature ! of "the Labour Service is continually ; stressed one noted that almost all the men were from the working class. They represented the unemployed whom the : Nazis took off the streets, and also ofi:, the dole, to Nazify in the camps. Strong and healthy from the openair life they lead, the Labour Service ' men presented an attractive appear- I ance, for the Labour Service uniform I lacks tho militant implication of tho i Storm Troopers' uniform. Tho young | men wear rough but pleasant earth- ; brown uniforms with soft Robin Hood 1 shaped caps. Most of them carry bright, shining spades, but .some carry picks instead. They also hail soldierly packs on their backs. A WELL-DRILLED PARTY. Peace was- the keynote of the Labour Service rally, but the staging was done in the best Prussian military tradition. Vov weeks the young men have been drilled ml every detail of a field day. Every small item has been rehearsed with. Prussian thoroughness. Previously the men spent a day after their arrival in Nuremberg sprucing up for the affair. Their superiors are mostly men of tho sorgeant-rnajor type from the last war. An article in the "Prankischer Kurier" is frank about the function of tho Labour Service organisation. It says: — "Today, in just over one year, tho Labour Service, along with the armed forces, is tho finest training school for German manliness. It will embrace al! those young Germans who were pre-,.~~>-~a" fh,.m,-,h tlin Vorsnillns Tl-i>ntv

An article in the "Prankischer Kurier" is frank about the function of tho Labour Service organisation. It says:—

"Today, in just over one year, tho Labour Service, along with the armed forces, is tho finest training school for German manliness. It will embrace al! those young Germans who were prevented" through tho Versailles Treaty from going into tho army, and train them in discipline, obedience, in manual labour, comradeship, and a positivo, courageous, work affirming attitude towards life."

But one realises that it is really a substitute for military service.

THE "LEADER" ARRIVES,

Very early iv the morning the men marched from their camp, where Herr Hitler visited them at night, to the Zeppelin field. It was an ideal day. While waiting they polished their spados with sandpaper until they shone in tho morning sunshine. The following morning's ceremony, lasting about one hour, was picturesque anil significant. Herr Hitler arrived at 10 o'clock to tho strains of a Bavarian march played by one of the four Labour Service bauds.

Commands thundered out in Prussian tones, and echoed through tho loud speakers all tho way down the Zeppelin field. Thousands of shining spades flew up to tho "slope spades" position, with the fronts of the spades facing the Leader, in quite an artistic fashion. Indeed, one was amazed how artistic ordinary spades can be. One could well imagine the spades being replaced by rifles, however, for everything else was military, both in style and content. Herr Hierl, head of tlio Labour Service, gavo Herr Hitler the Nazi salute: i "Fifty-two thousand Labour Servicemen present." Herr Hitler returned the salute: "Hail, Labour Servicemen." | The disciplined earth-brown mass of men shouted: "Hail, my Leader." The short performance which followed illustrated Nazi ideology. Detaching themselves from tho main mass, groups of men goose-stepped towards tho tribune, accompanied by huge Nazi flags. Folk-music was now played, and one group chanted an old yeoman soldiers' song to the Loader, beginning: "Let the flag wave on high." Simultaneously tho flag bearers swung their huge flags, crimson with black swastika, swiftly round their bodies. Tho effect was a ballet-like one. Again the group chanted to the Leader:— j "Horo we stand. We are ready. We | carry Germany into the future." FROM WHENCE? And now tho chorus addressed the earth-brown mass of men: "Comrades, from whence come you?" "From Pomerania. From Silesia. From tho Rhine. From Bavaria. From Prussia," came the replies. Again the chorus addressed the men: "Comrades, from what work do you come?"

"From the bench, from the office desk, from tho lecture-room. I was workless and my hands began to decay," were the replies. "We do not stand amid the thunder of guns, yet we are soldiers," chanted the chorus.

Now came a memorial cliant for soldiers who died in different parts of the world during the war. "The Somme. "Verdun. Flanders. Isonzo," chanted the group, while the Nazi flag dipped in honour of the dead. Then the Nazis' dead were honoured also.

The short performance was brought to a close by the general singing of a German song, "Sacred Fire," in which all tho Labour Service men dutifully joined. In his short speech Herr Hierl called attention to the fact that tho Labour Service, organisation comes for tho first time to the Nazi Party Congress. Onemust confess that the ceremony at the Zeppelin field was not; marked by spontatieousness at all. Even when the men sang in unison as they marched back through Nuremberg to their camp that afternoon there was a suggestion of discipline and drilling about their songs.