No sooner had the artists gone from Hitler’s entourage than they were replaced by two former colleagues from Hitler’s old regiment who were to accompany him on the next, and to Hitler, far more important, stage of his journey. Hitler had only hours to spare for his perfunctory Paris visit but, in June 1940, he would find a total of four days to re-visit the Great War battlefields. It was for this purpose he had summoned two former colleagues to accompany him on a second visit to an insignificant area of Flanders on the border of France and Belgium. Those trusted and hand-picked men were Max Amann and Ernst Schmidt. They embodied the idea of the frontgemeinschaft and also of Kameradschaft, the comradeship which Hitler so desperately sought to be associated with. As part of his entourage Hitler was also careful to include Heinrich Hoffmann, the man who had captured his first image of Hitler as an insignificant part the Munich crowd in August 1914 and who was now elevated to the role of Hitler’s personal photographer. He was there to produce a photographic record of Hitler’s triumphant return to the Great War battlefields.
What is highly significant is the fact that this visit was actually the second time during the momentous month of June 1940 that Hitler had found time to come to this militarily unimportant corner where France and Belgium meet. The real reason behind Hitler’s second visit has been hotly debated ever since.