Htiler on the Easatern front n WW!

Just got an idea from the one about Hitler joining the Austrian army, so what if Hitler instead of fighting the French was first deployed to East Prussia then fought on into Poland, what his chances of survival lower and how would it affect his own politics and rise to power
 
Hitler can't rise to power in Germany without his WWI cred as a German soldier, period.

And I don't think Hitler can be Hitler in Austria, the place was just too laid back and beat down, though a Nazi type movement with Austrian characteristics is pretty interesting. The Austrian defeat is hard to characterize as a stab-in-the-back too, they just straight up got beat.

A Hitler who served on the German Eastern front instead of the Western front would be interesting. Would he still have the same complex of views about the Jews and the Slavs? Would he still have his famous aversion to chemical warfare, and his embrace of technologies and tactics designed to avoid trench stalemates?
 
Hitler can't rise to power in Germany without his WWI cred as a German soldier, period.

And I don't think Hitler can be Hitler in Austria, the place was just too laid back and beat down, though a Nazi type movement with Austrian characteristics is pretty interesting. The Austrian defeat is hard to characterize as a stab-in-the-back too, they just straight up got beat.

A Hitler who served on the German Eastern front instead of the Western front would be interesting. Would he still have the same complex of views about the Jews and the Slavs? Would he still have his famous aversion to chemical warfare, and his embrace of technologies and tactics designed to avoid trench stalemates?

No, it's easy to justify a stab-in-the-back legend in Austria; blame it on the Hungarians or Serbs, or Croats, or any other minority group or combination thereof. There's no shortage.

I agree that he can't rise to power in Germany, but a highly revanchist Austria under his rule might be very interesting in the post-WWI period. He would be a close ally of Mussolini, assuming Benny comes into power at roughly the same time. Benny would be appreciative of any ally against Yugoslavia, and I'm sure Hitler would love any military aid he could get against Czechoslovakia and Hungary. There's probably a German minority in Yugoslavia to liberate, as well.

He would probably hate Slavs more than Jews, so any potential Holocaust might be more focused on Poles and Russians rather than the Jews. It would be much more limited due to Austria's limited resources and reach, fortunately.
 
I believe the OP is interested is interested in Hitler serving in the Eastern Front as part of the German Army. So the Austrian discussion is not relevant to what he is asking.

In my Operation Unicorn the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division got sent to the Bukovina, where the Russians enveloped it taking a bunch of prisoners incl. Hitler who as of the last update is in the Urals.

Something I have thought about is that if Hitler had served in the East is he might have acquired a first hand experience of how cold it could get there. Perhaps he suffered frostbite during Second Masurian Lakes. This could lead him to decide against Operation Typhoon.
 
Hitler, as a German soldier active on the Eastern front, realizes that a war with Russia really is a massive undertaking, and he notes the realities of the winter and infrastructure in the East. As a result, we could see a better prepared and supplied Barbarossa with more realistic expectations if things proceed largely as they did in our timeline.
 
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