Bavarian Crusader

Beat the Bolshevik! Polish-Bolshevik War, 1920

Miracle on the Vistula On this day 103 years ago, Marshal Józef Piłsudski defeated Mikhail Tukhachevsky’s Bolshevik Army in the Battle of Warsaw. Poland’s victory prevented Lenin and Trotsky’s Bolshevik Revolution consuming continental Europe. After the Battle of Warsaw, the Latvian nation was liberated from Bolshevik occupation by the Latvian and Polish armies. “Russia is an Asian beast hidden behind a European mask.” Marshal Józef Piłsudski

Der Führer tours the Laon Cathedral at the conclusion of the French Campaign 25 June 1940 One year later, Operation Barbarossa commenced on 22 June 1941; beginning the Third Reich’s crusade against Bolshevism.

Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire who reigned from 1152 to 1190, and established German Prominence across the European Continent. Unternehmen Barbarossa was chosen as the name for the invasion of the Soviet Union by the Führer in respect of his exploits

Der Führer seated within the new Volkswagen Beetle in Fallersleben, Wolfsburg. 26 May 1938

Der Führer is welcomed at the inauguration of the Volkswagen Beetle in Fallersleben, Wolfsburg. 26 May 1938

Der Führer seated within St. Hedwig’s Cathedral during the memorial service for the Polish First Marshal Józef Piłsudski. 18 May 1935 Piłsudski’s most significant military achievement was defeating Leon Trotsky’s Red Army in the Polish-Bolshevik War. Vladimir Lenin’s hopes for a Communist Revolution within Europe was crushed in 1921.

Der Führer arrives at St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin before the memorial service for Polish First Marshal Józef Piłsudski. 18 May 1935 The brief political interactions between Piłsudski and Hitler began in 1933 when Piłsudski congratulated Hitler’s election victory. During the first few years of his leadership, Der Führer suggested the idea of a potential German-Polish alliance against Stalin and the Soviet Union. Der Führer invited Piłsudski several times to discuss this proposal but the Polish leader always declined to attend and never considered the adoption of an alliance; the two leaders never met. Hitler sent von Ribbentrop to represent the Third Reich at Piłsudski’s state funeral in Poland.