Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris

objections of its leader, Heiß (Horn,
Marsch,
123–5).
    196 . Mommsen, ‘Adolf Hitler und der 9. November 1923’, 42.
    197 . Deuerlein,
Putsch,
202–4n·69·
    198 . See Deuerlein,
Aufstieg,
188, for Hitler’s reported comments at a meeting of Kampfbund leaders on 23 October 1923, summarized by a witness at his trial, on 4 March 1924: ‘Independent action by the troops of the Kampfbund would be nonsense and was to be ruled out. The national uprising could only take place in the closest association with the Bavarian army and state police.’
(‘Ein selbständiges Handeln seitens der Truppen des Kampfbundes sei ein Unding und sei ausgeschlossen .Die nationale Erhebung könne nur in engster Vereinigung mit der bayerischen Reichswehr und der Landespolizei erfolgen.’)
    199 . Deuerlein,
Aufstieg, 176;
Winkler,
Weimar,
207; Franz-Willing,
Krisenjahr,
158.
    200 . Winkler,
Weimar,
225–6. The atmosphere in Hamburg is captured in the contemporary account, sympathetic to the insurgents, of Larissa Reissner,
Hamburg at the Barricades,
London, 1977.
    201 . Kolb,
Weimarer Republik,
51–2; Winkler,
Weimar,
213–16, 224–8;Mommsen,
Verspielte Freiheit,
160–64; Peter Longerich,
Deutschland 1918–1933,
Hanover, 1995, 140–43. The radical Right had already made its own first amateurish attempt at a putsch by this time, with the action of volunteers of the ‘Black Reichswehr’ – secretly trained reserve formations of the army – on 1 October, led by Major Bruno Ernst Buchrucker, aimed at taking the fortresses of Küstrin and Spandau, near Berlin, as the signal for a general rising. The regular Reichswehr immediately intervened and the putsch fizzled out as quickly as it had started. (See Franz-Willing,
Krisenjahr,
117, 300, 307–10.)
    202 . Winkler, 224–5; Kolb,
Weimarer Republik,
51–2.
    203 . Deuerlein,
Putsch,
70–71. He also hoped to put Kahr, whom he disliked and distrusted, in the firing line of responsibility for unpopular policies (Gordon, 217).
    204 . Deuerlein,
Putsch,
72–3; Gordon, 220.
    205 .
JK,
1017 (protest to Kahr); Deuerlein,
Putsch,
74. One meeting of the Kampfbund, with Hitler as speaker, was held, despite the ban
(JK,
1017–18).
    206 . Maser,
Frühgeschichte,
417, 422–3, 425–6. Hitler’s speeches between 29 September and the beerhall putsch on 8 November contain numerous criticisms of Kahr’s inadequacies (
JK,
1019–50).
    207 . Deuerlein,
Putsch,
71–2, 164–5(quotation, 165).
    208 . Gordon, 242.
    209 . Gordon, 241.
    210 . Deuerlein,
Putsch,
162.
    211 . Deuerlein,
Putsch,
164 (8 September 1923).
    212 . Deuerlein,
Aufstieg,
185–6for rumours circulating in mid-October in the left-wing press in Austria about a forthcoming putsch involving Hitler, Ludendorff and Kahr.
    213 . Cit. Gordon, 243.
    214 . Cit. Gordon, 244.
    215 . Cit. Gordon, 255.
    216 . Cit. Otto Gritschneder,
Bewährungsfrist für den Terroristen Adolf H. Der Hitler-Putsch und die bayerische Justiz,
Munich, 1990, 42. Not dissimilar retrospective sentiments were also recorded by Hanfstaengl, 15
Jahre,
167.
    217 . Above based on Gordon, 246–9, 251–3, 256–7; and see Franz-Willing,
Putsch, 57.
    218 . Deuerlein,
Putsch,
258;
Hitler-Prozeß,
LXI and n.23. But see Gordon’s qualifying comments, 253, on the reliability of the report.
    219 .See Gordon, 253–5.
    220 . Gordon, 255.
    221 . Deuerlein,
Aufstieg,
189–90.
    222 . Franz-Willing,
Putsch, 57–9,
where the suggestion is raised that the action was agreed between Kahr and the Kampfbund, and that Kahr intended to proclaim Crown Prinz Rupprecht, who was present at the gathering, as King of Bavaria. It is difficult to see, however, why the nationalist Kampfbund, with no interest in the restoration of the Bavarian monarchy, would have agreed to such a move. And the orders to prepare for action were given, apparently, to the nationalist SA and Bund Oberland, but not to the ‘white-blue’ pro-monarchy paramilitary organizations.
    223 . See Hanfstaengl, 15
Jahre,
126–7; Gordon, 259.
    224 . Deuerlein,
Aufstieg,
190–91; Franz-Willing,
Putsch,
59–60; Gordon, 248.
    225 . Deuerlein,
Aufstieg,
191–2; Gordon, 255–6.
    226 . Franz-Willing,
Krisenjahr,
386–7; see also Deuerlein,
Putsch,
99. Rumours of an impending putsch were current in Munich at the beginning of November. According to one, the restoration of the monarchy was to be proclaimed on 9 November; in another, Captain Ehrhardt’s organization intended to strike at Berlin on 15 November. In fact, 15