NationStates Jolt Archive


Question 'bout WWII

Buechoria
27-01-2005, 03:12
Let's say it's 1938. You're a German teenager, about 18. Hitler is rising to power, you and your family can see that. (By the way, you can speak English, which opens up other options)

If you were in the situation, what would you do?

You have a few options:

1.) Join the Heer (Army), I want to defend my homeland

2.) Join the Luftwaffe (Air Force), I want to defend my homeland

3.) Join the Kreigsmarine (Navy), I want to defend my homeland

4.) You could join the Labor Corps. which is just a little less greuling then the Wermacht. However, you won't have to fight.

5.) You have a relative in England. You can have him send you plane tickets, then fly over and fight for the Allies.

6.) You have a relative in America. You can have him send you plane tickets, then fly over and fight for the Allies.

7.) You could run away to Switzerland and remain neutral throughout the war.


Well I wanted this to be a poll, but NS screwed up.
Nadkor
27-01-2005, 03:13
Would you not have been interned if you flew to the UK?
Adrian Barbeau-Bot
27-01-2005, 03:14
i am gonna go with option 7. heh, i have always wanted to go to switzerland..

in all seriousness, i would go to switzerland cause i have got these stupid morals, and now matter how intellgent hitler was, mass genocide is not good. however, i am a pussy and wouldnt want to fight, so switzerland would by my best option.
Buechoria
27-01-2005, 03:14
I'm not too well informed in terms of leaving pre-war Germany. I'm just saying if you could.
Nadkor
27-01-2005, 03:15
oh ok

Switzerland it is then. lovely place, especially up in the Alps
Neo-Anarchists
27-01-2005, 03:15
I would probably flee to Switzerland if it was possible. If I couldn't get out-of-country, I'd join the Labor Corps if I didn't have to fight.
Jorgalonia
27-01-2005, 03:17
I don't know that Hitler and the Nazis are bad and I always wanted to be a fighter pilot so I'm going for option 2!

By the way in 1938 America didn't know it was going to fight against the Axis... I think it should be changed to You have a relative in America and you want to escape Germany in general, sort of like Switzerland.
Buechoria
27-01-2005, 03:19
Speaking of Hitler,

On options 1-3, I'm saying you could fight for it in terms of simply defending it because it's your homeland, regardless of Hitler's influence on you now and days.
Reaganisms
27-01-2005, 03:19
nothing to do with racism or anything but the mystique of the luftwaffe sounds too good
Vile Mages
27-01-2005, 03:23
I choose option 6, I would fight for the Americans! :mp5:
Neo-Anarchists
27-01-2005, 03:24
I don't know that Hitler and the Nazis are bad
Well, there was the whole "Jews are evil" thing...
And the killing lots of people...
But other than that...
Buechoria
27-01-2005, 03:26
When I say fight for them, I mean when they finally are engaged in war.

Personally, for me I'd either go Heer or Luftwaffe. I'm about 3/8ths German and extremely proud of that heritage.
North Island
27-01-2005, 03:27
Nr. 2. Join the Luftwaffe (Air Force), I want to defend my homeland.

I am part German so I would join the German Air Force and defend Germany (Not Hitler or the Nazis).
Jorgalonia
27-01-2005, 03:32
I would be brainwashed by the propaganda most likely. Not to say that I'm a weak-minded individual, but propaganda added to the fact I'm proud of my homeland would make me want to fight for Germany.
Minas Mordred
27-01-2005, 03:40
I'd fly to England and fight for the Allies under the command of the brave Canadians, and probably die in Diepp. :sniper: :mp5: :mp5: :mp5: :sniper:
Kryozerkia
27-01-2005, 03:58
Given the lack of knowledge and information available to the Germans at the time in 1939 due to mass propoganda, I would have probably enlisted in teh air force and fought for my country. Why not? I mean, there are evil Bolshivieks to the east of us...
The Hitler Jugend
27-01-2005, 04:01
I'd fly to England and fight for the Allies under the command of the brave Canadians, and probably die in Diepp.

Under the command of Canadians?
Unfortunatley the Canadian soldiers were usually under the command of the British. And they were used as guinea pigs, just like at Diepp. If I remember correctly, is was 1 out 3 Canadians that hit the beach never came back.
Poor brave Canadians.
Dicard
27-01-2005, 04:19
Go to America and fight for the Allies.
The Sword and Sheild
27-01-2005, 04:22
Under the command of Canadians?
Unfortunatley the Canadian soldiers were usually under the command of the British. And they were used as guinea pigs, just like at Diepp. If I remember correctly, is was 1 out 3 Canadians that hit the beach never came back.
Poor brave Canadians.

Actually it was 2 out of 3 never came back (65% captured or killed)

I don't think they were intentionally used as Guinea Pigs by the British, though my Grandfather (who has long since passed away), who was a riflemen in the Canadian Corps from 1915-1918 (First World War) really hated the British, especially their officers, because he felt they used the Canadians as cannon fodder. It may just be that some nationalist Canadians are right, and the Canadians were considered the shock troops of the Empire (Which is brought up in cases like Vimy Ridge, or the clearing of the Scheldt, but not Dieppe), and used for this raid.
Right-Wing America
27-01-2005, 04:40
how come theres no SS option for all the deviating bastards like me.... :(
Monkeypimp
27-01-2005, 05:18
If you were german you would probably be put in prison in most allied countries for the duration of the war. I'd go to Switzerland.
Huntaer
27-01-2005, 05:27
I'd go for the Allies, who would really want to fight for a bunch of murdering bigoted people anyway?

My grandfather didn't really fight in the war, but he served as a merchant marine in WW2. One of the ships he served on was sunk on D-Day.
Von Witzleben
27-01-2005, 05:29
I'd join the Luftwaffe. Hopefully flying in the same squadron as Hans Ulrich Rudel. The highest decorated pilot in history. Due to his never ending bravery the German high command created a medal just for him. The knights cross with golden oakleaves, swords and diamonds. Those were awarded only once.
BLZ
27-01-2005, 05:30
I'd probably just get killed by fascists or something.
RomeW
27-01-2005, 05:31
Let's say it's 1938. You're a German teenager, about 18. Hitler is rising to power, you and your family can see that. (By the way, you can speak English, which opens up other options)

One problem: Adolf Hitler didn't rise to power in 1938. He'd already been established by then (he became Fuhrer in 1933), so your parents and you would have been under his yoke for a while. Meaning I doubt you'd be able to go anywhere in 1938.
Russkya
27-01-2005, 05:48
Well, it's 1938, I'm 18 years old, a German national. . . so for about four years I've been exposed to constant propaganda about the "Dire Communist Threat" to our East. . .

I'm not a Racially pure Aryan, so the SS is out, and the Luftwaffe could recruit only what it and the Nazi Party considered to be the best. It's 1938, so Dachau just opened, I don't know anything about mass-murder, I do know that Hitler extolls hatred against all "Untermenschen" and then, there's the "Dire Communist Threat" to my East.

I would probably join the Landser / Heer / Wehrmacht, and most likely surrender to a Canadian somewheres in Italy, assuming:
i) I was deployed in Italy
ii) I survived that long
iii) The Canadian didn't beat me down with an entrenching tool for having to kill his buddy.
All in the name of defending the homeland. Now, after about 1942 I'd find that Hitler's a dipshit, and voila, here's Operation Husky, and Hell, if I'm lucky enough to find myself somewheres in the Sangro Valley, I'll walk across, sans my KAR-98K or MP-40, find a Canadian infantry patrol, step out from behind a tree with "Do you have real coffee?" and my hands in the air. Bloody Erstaz "coffee."

Normally, I'd go with the Kriegsmarine and get my ass on an E-Boat, but then there's the whole thing about the North Atlantic being cold. I've had enough cold for this lifetime.
Lycanos
27-01-2005, 05:50
It depends on how I was raised...
Were I liberal, regardless of the industrial progress under the regieme, I would look to escape. Suppression of free expression, free rights, doesn't sit well with me...
If I were some twisted "conservative" version of myself, I would probably love the industrial strides, the economic recovery, and would enroll in the luftwaffe... failing that, maybe the army.

I don't like drowning.
Von Witzleben
27-01-2005, 05:52
Normally, I'd go with the Kriegsmarine and get my ass on an E-Boat.
Whats an E-boat? I heard of U-boats but never of E-boats. Must be some WWII secret weapon.
Mela en coiamin
27-01-2005, 06:01
Did anyone know that Hitler got Germany out of the depression while EVERY other country was still in it and I would say luff. (Air Force)
Belem
27-01-2005, 06:38
Depends. My choice is between the Heer and Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine is a death sentence.

If I met the qualifications to be a pilot I would go Luftwaffe.

If not I would go Heer. And probably would try to go SS might as well be considered the elite in the army if I have to join up
Kanabia
27-01-2005, 06:40
7.) You could run away to Switzerland and remain neutral throughout the war.

This one.
RomeW
27-01-2005, 06:52
Did anyone know that Hitler got Germany out of the depression while EVERY other country was still in it and I would say luff. (Air Force)

I knew, and he was pretty ingenious about it too- stick everyone in the army. Suddenly, there's no jobless anymore.
Kanabia
27-01-2005, 06:55
Did anyone know that Hitler got Germany out of the depression while EVERY other country was still in it

The USSR?
Confused Empresses
18-02-2005, 00:46
hmm...fight for america...or run away to switzerland like a coward...you tell me,which do you think i'm gonna do?

everyone else,especially vile mages:run away to switzerland like the coward that you are!

:headbang: i am NOT a coward!i just don't want to die for america! :D
Von Witzleben
18-02-2005, 00:54
I read somewhere that the Deutsche Post, German postal services, delivered a post card to the Bundestag adressed to Hitler a few weeks ago. It was send from England: To Führer Adolf Hitler, Reichstag, German Parliament, Berlin, Germany
It was send 60 years ago. :D So people if you want to make absolutely sure your mail get's there send it with Deutsche Post. They will deliver it no matter how long it takes.
31
18-02-2005, 00:57
With those atheist, communists to the east and the party feeding my young mind with aryan ideals since I was 13? I would find my sorry butt in the Werhmacht, hopefully stationed in France and not on the eastern front later in the war. Then I would be killed by a Marauder or Mitchell probably. Damn that allied airpower!!.
Kill YOU Dead
18-02-2005, 03:40
Whats an E-boat? I heard of U-boats but never of E-boats. Must be some WWII secret weapon.

Schnellboote--the deadly E-boats.

Basically its a large, heavily armed motorboat. Its was larger and had bigger guns than a US PT boat during WW2.
Battlestar Christiania
18-02-2005, 03:53
I'd grab my rifle and help some Jews escape. Anyone who would join the German military or run to Switzerland is an abject coward.
Trammwerk
18-02-2005, 05:18
I knew, and he was pretty ingenious about it too- stick everyone in the army. Suddenly, there's no jobless anymore.

Ironically, the same thing happened in the U.S.
The Lightning Star
18-02-2005, 05:27
I'd join the Kreigsmarine! My love of my homeland, my fierce patriotism, added to Hitlers Propaganda would make me oblivious to anything other than defending the Fatherland. Seeing how I would be raised by a father that fought in the war, I would join the Kreig so that I could partake in a blockade of the U.K., to get revenge for the British Blockade of Germany during WWI.

Of course, In real life I am mostly Polish Slav, so if I were sent back to '38 I'd try to convince the Polish leadership to move more troops away from the border and enlarge the army.(The Reason the Polish fell so quickly was because they put all their defences at the German Border, so when the Germans broke through their defences they were attacked from behind. And then when the Russians invaded they were almost un-opposed).
New York and Jersey
18-02-2005, 05:34
Whats an E-boat? I heard of U-boats but never of E-boats. Must be some WWII secret weapon.

An E-Boat is a heavily armored patrol motorboat(think US PT Boat). Infact there were numerous engagements between US PT Boats and German E Boats in the Med.
Harlesburg
18-02-2005, 05:41
Let's say it's 1938. You're a German teenager, about 18. Hitler is rising to power, you and your family can see that. (By the way, you can speak English, which opens up other options)

If you were in the situation, what would you do?

4.)Wermacht.

Well I wanted this to be a poll, but NS screwed up.
Wermacht for me.Infantry of course

My Poll didnt work either
The Poles screwed up a lot of things. :p :eek: :( :confused:
Roycelandia
18-02-2005, 06:52
If it was me, I'd try and get myself a cushy job overseas somewhere, say, on an "advisory" or "consultancy" taskforce in Japan, or perhaps sitting on a Pacific Island with a cocktail served in a coconut with a little fruit thing and an umbrella in it. I'd just make sure it wasn't one of the Islands that the US or ANZAC forces levelled in their fight against the Japanese...

Failing that, I'd be on that plane to England or Switzerland (more likely Spain, actually... Pro Nazi neutral, with good beaches and senoritas!) so fast there'd be one of those cartoon-esque dust clouds where I'd been standing... :D
Verracosa
18-02-2005, 07:05
If it was me the way my mind works now I'd certainly arm myself with whatever I could find and disappear into the shadows to fight the Nazis and obstruct them at every turn. But then again if I had grown up with Nazi propaganda rather than American individualism my mind would be VERY different, and I'd probably end up designing bombs for the Nazis. Kinda scary to think the horrible monster each of us could become if we'd just been born under different circumstances.
Sankaraland
18-02-2005, 07:32
How about, join the army because you hate fascism and hate the war. This way, you get provided with weapons and military training, and you have the opportunity to link up with the bulk of other soldiers ... mostly working-class people generally opposed to fascism ... on the front lines of battle ... and encourage/organize/participate in assassination of officers ... fraternization with the enemy ... and carefully timed refusals to carry out orders ...
Roycelandia
22-02-2005, 02:42
If you actually tried that, you'd find yourself shot by the Feldgendarmerie pretty damn quickly...
Buechoria
22-02-2005, 03:17
Not only is Roycelandia a cool name, but it sounds like car.

The all new Royclandia luxury sedan. Travel in comfort and style, with blah blah blah...
Roycelandia
22-02-2005, 03:32
Thanks! Interestingly enough, Imperial Motors (Roycelandia's major car manufacturer) is starting production of the super-luxury Roycelandia sedan, with the sort of "Luxury extras" you'd expect to find in a car out of a James Bond movie... The first year's pre-production has been sold in advance, with His Imperial Majesty Emperor Royce I said to be the first customer...
Corisan
22-02-2005, 03:34
option number 7
Irawana Japan
22-02-2005, 03:39
Get a train ticket to Italy, enlist in the blackshirts.
Buechoria
22-02-2005, 03:56
Mussolini sounds like a cereal.

Mussolini has 8 essential vitamins and minerals along with ultra-healthy wheats and oats!

I love turning people and such into funny things, like cars or cereal and such.
Takuma
22-02-2005, 04:10
#7
Mt-Tau
22-02-2005, 04:34
I would have to go with the luftwaffe. I would've like to and would jump at the chance to fly a BF-109G!
Autocraticama
22-02-2005, 04:55
hmm.....i knopw...get into the higher echelons of german command and kill off officers. No wait, that won't work. You breath wrong and they put you on a waterboard.
Emperor Salamander VII
22-02-2005, 04:59
Because I'm being realistic, probably any of the options 1, 2 or 3.

Why? Because I think that's the honest response. As others have stated I'd be "brainwashed" by the propaganda machine and wanting to defend the Fatherland.

Going to the US or UK would be out of the question... fight and kill my own countrymen? Not likely.

But if I was me, just suddenly transported into the body of an 18yr old German... I'd probably dive headfirst into the ranks of the Nazi party and work my way up the ladder and then take Hitler out at the first opportunity I had.
Daistallia 2104
22-02-2005, 06:04
Switzerland for me.

One problem: Adolf Hitler didn't rise to power in 1938. He'd already been established by then (he became Fuhrer in 1933), so your parents and you would have been under his yoke for a while. Meaning I doubt you'd be able to go anywhere in 1938.

I'm amazed it took 25 posts til someone pointed this out. :(

Whats an E-boat? I heard of U-boats but never of E-boats. Must be some WWII secret weapon.

"Enemy Boats" - small, fast attack craft.

http://www.german-navy.de/kriegsmarine/ships/fastattack/
The Fast Attack boats - called E-Boats by the Allied - were the primary attack crafts for coastal water that took over the role of the classical torpedo boat. Besides several only slightly different classes of the so called S-Boats which operated very successful, multiple design studies of very unconventional Fast Attack Boats were made but never completed. As an example for these designs- including hydrofoils, jet powered boats or submergible crafts - the projects of the small attack craft group (K-Verband) by Wendel are shown.

Operating in coastal waters, the offensive S-boats (called E-Boats - Enemy boats - by the Allied), were a very effective weapon. They took over the role of the torpedoboats after those ships were more and more used for duty normally fulfilled by destroyers.

The fast attack boats were used in almost all theaters of war, the Baltic Seas, the Mediterranean or the Black Sea, but their main operational area was the British Channel where they attacked coastal shipping, especially during the night. Their operational record was quite successful, the S-boats sunk over 40 warships (including 12 destroyers) and far over 100 merchants, while damaging 14 other warships (including 2 cruisers) and 15 merchants. But this was not archived without heavy losses, especially in the later years of the war. Being vulnerable to air attacks and without nay radar, the S-boats lost the surprise factor in their night attacks
and had to abort more attacks than they could bring to an end.

One more unknown fast is that S-boats were also intensively used for mine laying operations. In fact most of these operations made by S-boats were mine laying operations, but as the boats could only carry up to 6 mines those operations had only a minor success.

At the outbreak of World War II, only 18 S-boats were in service, but between 1940 and 1945 about 230 of this boats were build. Although there were several classes of those ships, all had the same basic design and most of them were build at one single shipyard, Lürssen in Vegesack, which continued to build successful fast attack crafts after the war. Several boats were used by other navies after the war, two of them were added to the new formed Bundesmarine in 1957.
United_Aryan_Peoples
22-02-2005, 06:14
WW2 was a fratricidal war in which approxamately 50+million aryans died fighting each other for foreign interest and big business.
We consisted of about 33% of the worlds population before the war and now only about 9%.
Look at all the technology around you from your lights, the computer you are using to the space station up above your heads.
We are the ones who created modern civilazation, democracy, great works of art, science, and architecture.
Before the united nations was formed there was the freiwillige which boasted 2million volunteers from all the countrys in europe including britain, russia, india, and even america. A french division defended the reichstag till the end.
English speaking aryans were usually recruited for special assignments behind enemy lines. This being a fratricidal war but only one side defending our bloodline i would have been behind allied lines killing if necessary.
RomeW
22-02-2005, 06:20
I'm amazed it took 25 posts til someone pointed this out. :(

Well, at least I did...it's better than no one saying anything. This is more something that the thread starter should have known than everyone else, since they're creating a hypothetical historical situation for us to ponder, so the onus is on him to get the history right.
Sankaraland
22-02-2005, 09:43
If you actually tried that, you'd find yourself shot by the Feldgendarmerie pretty damn quickly...

Instead of being shot by an Allied soldier? So you die for a good reason rather than as cannon fodder for the Allied war machine.

And American soldiers in Vietnam managed to assassinate a LOT of officers, with very few of them ending up getting shot by the U.S.'s gendarmes themselves.
Pharoah Kiefer Meister
22-02-2005, 21:36
The "SS"...
Buechoria
22-02-2005, 21:46
the thread starter should have known than everyone else

Why do you say things you know will hurt me? I know more about the military of Germany during WWII than exact dates of rises to power.
The grand britania
22-02-2005, 22:17
I would have to go with the luftwaffe. I would've like to and would jump at the chance to fly a BF-109G!

ME 109
Bf 190

not t other way round
:)
RomeW
22-02-2005, 23:49
Why do you say things you know will hurt me? I know more about the military of Germany during WWII than exact dates of rises to power.

Hey, I'm not trying to hurt you, and I'm sorry you felt that way. I'm merely stating that if you're going to present a situation based on a historical situation for us to ponder you should get the dates right. It's like asking us how it would be like in Imperial Rome in 109 BC, when the Republic was still around, or if asking us our thoughts on the Napoleonic adventure in 1818, when he'd been soundly defeated.

This is something I pointed out to you before.
Szittyaorszaag
23-02-2005, 00:00
Considering that communism has devastated my nation (real life) more than Hitler ever could've hoped so, I would join the Army against communism.
Buechoria
23-02-2005, 21:05
It still hurts thought. :(

Nah, I get what you're saying. I reall should have gotten the date right.. speaking of which, what would have been the right date?
Haken Rider
23-02-2005, 21:16
The Heer for me! Go motherland!

I'm to dumb to fly an airplane and I don't like fish, so no navy for me.
Numeriador
23-02-2005, 21:22
Swizerland
Reichenau
23-02-2005, 21:22
I would join the "Heer" and after I would try to get a transfer to the
"Waffen SS" :sniper:
Naryna
23-02-2005, 21:26
As others have already said, i'd probably be brainwashed enough to not be against hitler and his party, so i would probably try and join the Paratroop regiments (I've always wanted to skydive...) Failing that, the Heer.
Crosshill
23-02-2005, 21:28
Go to Spain, fight for the Republic. Leave Spain for England join the Bombers, take part in Operation Gomorrha, fry some Hamburgers.
Rvkahuna
23-02-2005, 21:47
Giving the fact that there were probably many German soldiers around I wouldn't try to flea the country, for fear of being killed. I would probably go into hiding somewhere in Germany and wait for Allied troops to come by. When they did I would walk out and surrender. Then ask them to take me to my relitive in either the UK or USA.
Haken Rider
23-02-2005, 21:49
I would join the "Heer" and after I would try to get a transfer to the
"Waffen SS" :sniper:
Yay! A fiend! Brother in arms! :)
Tiralon
23-02-2005, 23:53
I think anyone in a right mind would say, he would've left Germany and fought for the Allies or remain neutral. However this raises another question: how come that many German teenagers did join the Wehrmacht or Wafen-SS, the Luftwaffe or the Kriegsmarine?

Germany in 1938 has been under control of Hitler for 5 years now and the German people benefit in every aspect: they get cheap radio's, unemployment is dimiutive, the prospect of an affordable Volkswagen, nice highways, order in society because of the oppresive police and organised youth programs, etc... This is a contrast with Weimar Germany where everything was unsure and every day was different.

Let's say I'm 18 in 1938. That means I was born before the Great Depression in 1920, right after the humiliating Treaty of Versailles. The Deutsche Mark is worth nothing and Germany is blamed for everything. Now I couldn't have know this until I'm at least 6 years old, but still I'll hear it from my parents. My dad may have been a soldier. From 1926 untill 1929 is a good period and happy days: one can see NSDAP votes go really low again. 1929, the Great Depression, I'm 9 years old and my parents lose their job and everything is going wrong and is uncertain. The Weimar republic fails to stop inflation and sky-rocketing unemployment figures. The voice of Hitler, Goebbels and the rest of NSDAP is getting clearer and clearer: let us govern this country and we'll restore it to its glory. 1933, the NSDAP receives 33% and is the biggest party: Hitler becomes Reich Chancelor and after the death of president Hindenburg, the Führer. Everything changes: the chaos is being replaced by strict order and organisations. I'm automaticly enlisted in the youth program of the new order. Constantly I'm being brainwashed by its propaganda and even in school one can hear Hitler's love songs. Some may not like it (especially university students), but I do as young teenager and fit in really well. In these youth programs I'm programmed for the army: discipline, sports for a trained body, small arms training and the friendly competition and friendship a tight group of equally olds. 1938 is a great year for the Third Reich: the Anschluss and annexation of the Sudetenland.

Keep this in mind as I choose the following: Wehrmacht soldier or rather Luftwaffe officer. My entire conscious youth I've lived in Nazi Germany, of course I'm not gonna flee to Switzerland, the US or the GB. I'm a german and patriotic, Hitler is the equivalent of a god and democracy is weak in my German blue eyes.
RomeW
24-02-2005, 08:40
It still hurts thought. :(

Nah, I get what you're saying. I reall should have gotten the date right.. speaking of which, what would have been the right date?

It's hard to say, really. When Hitler rose to power, the Germans were almost unanimously behind him, and most likely few would see a reason to panic. Sure, Hitler was Anti-Semitic, but so was most of Europe (Anti-Semitism dates back to the Medieval period- Hitler just brought it to its peak), so Germans probably wouldn't be deriding Hitler for his Anti-Semitic policies. In fact, as Tiralon said before, most Germans even before WWII were convinced that Hitler would lead them to glory, and thus did not reject war (with many of them even thinking it would provide "an opportunity"). Looking back now we can say that Hitler's policies were disastrous, but at the time few would have doubted him (heck, I think he built one of history's strongest armies, and, if it wasn't for Stalingrad and the Russian winter, he would have won WWII).

Upon further review, your date is more or less fine, because I'd say that if Germans would ever start doubting Hitler it would have been in 1938, after the annexation of Austria and the Sudentenland, because then all of Europe was worried that war would break out again. You just have the reasoning wrong- it should be about Hitler's annexations and not his rise to power. However, bear in mind that despite this, I'm not sure if you'd even get a considerable increase in doubt even in 1938, as most Germans were probably looking forward to war (and to teach those "pesky Brits and French a lesson" (their thoughts back then, not mine)). So even then I'm not sure if I can really specify what date your situation should be set in.