NEARLY KILLED HITLER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23178, 26 October 1938, Page 15

NEARLY KILLED HITLER

STORY OF FRENCH SOLDIER INCIDENT IN WAR RECALLED 7 [from a special correspondent] LONDON, Oct. 8 Pointing with his finger at a newspaper photograph of Herr Hitler, Antoine Barraud, ex-sergeant in a French infantry regiment, cried "That is tlio man 1 shot." The photograph was not a recent one, but a picture of the Fuehrer at tlie time he first rose to power. The story beneath the picture recalled how Herr Hitler wou the Iron Cross for capturing a machine gun post. The Frenchman has particular reason for keeping that newspaper cutting for he was one of the gunners at the machine-gun post. M. Barraud told his story this week. "Our gun had jammed," he said, "and then 1 saw the man 1 learned later was Hitler coming from a shell hole, shouting to us to surrender. He shot down one of my companions. The other thro- 1 of us could not find arms and two had flung up their hands when I saw a pistol lying in the mud. I grabbed it and fired as a bullet from his rifle lit me in the leg. My shot struck his water bottle and toppled him back into the crater. Then 1 fainted. "A different story to-day if my aim had been true," he added, glancing at the crisis news in hia evening paper.