With all the controversy surrounding Hitler’s red phone, I am surprised nobody has examined the period photographic record in this context. “He carried it with him all the time”, so it should be relatively easy to find photographic evidence of a red phone with its distinctive British handset.
The evidence shows numerous different types of phones at Hitler’s workplaces, however none appear to be red or have the distinctively shaped British handset. In fact the evidence shows that Hitler used a variety of telephones placed at his worksites, which were all commonly German produced types of the period. At least there is evidence that Hitler did use telephones, all of them black and German made:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf1_zpspkm41drn.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf1_zpspkm41drn.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo hf1_zpspkm41drn.jpg"/></a>
Let’s have a closer look at the Bunker, from which Hitler’s “favourite phone” is purported to originate. An interesting sequence of photographs can be easily accessed on the internet; a sequence which tells the story of Hitler’s real phone.
It starts with the reporter entering a small office containing a desk and some scattered furniture:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf2_zpshfuxd2ey.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf2_zpshfuxd2ey.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo hf2_zpshfuxd2ey.jpg"/></a>
Two footstools stand on the floor, with a third sitting on top of a couch against the back wall. The floor is covered in 10-15 cm of water.
The correspondent enters the room, probably steps onto the first footstool to keep his feet dry, and takes a picture of the desk:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf5_zpsf7egvhn8.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf5_zpsf7egvhn8.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo hf5_zpsf7egvhn8.jpg"/></a>
Amongst the scattered paraphernalia stands a phone: a black phone without a dialing disk and with a winding handle.
At this point it is worth discussing the types of phones seen in the photographic record, some have dialing disks, others have not. At the time, different telephone systems were in use. The domestic system was being automated, these automated networks used “pulse dialing” to connect. The pulses are generated by the dialing disk; the pulses operate complicated relays in the automatic exchange to connect the lines.
The German military in WW2 however persisted with an operator based system, where operators would plug the line into the requested connection. To alert the operator, the telephones used were fitted with a handle and a ringtone generator.
The story of Hitler's telephone operator, Rochus Misch, is well documented; more evidence of the military style operator based telephone system used by Hitler.
Dial phones cannot be used in such an operator based system. The military system was segregated from the public network for reasons of security and control; in the military communication system orders were logged and controlled, top level conversations were even scrambled. The notion of Hitler ordering his generals over an unsecure public network is false. Only for domestic and non-military communications would Hitler have made use of a public dial phone.
So back to Hitler’s bunker, where the correspondent takes a second picture with a different exposure of the scene on the desk:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf6_zpslkjqdrbp.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf6_zpslkjqdrbp.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo hf6_zpslkjqdrbp.jpg"/></a>
This picture shows very clearly a (black) phone without a dialing disk and a winding handle. Although the phone is not a typically military type, it is a type compatible with the military operator based system.
Note there is a bundle of wire on the corner of the desk, running to something hidden under the desk.
At this point the correspondent urges his Russian minder to get into the shot, the Russian soldier uses the footstools to enter and cross the room without getting his feet wet:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf3_zpsgddf4cjm.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf3_zpsgddf4cjm.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo hf3_zpsgddf4cjm.jpg"/></a>
The next photograph shows a Russian minder sitting on the couch, he has kept his feet dry by stepping on the footstools to reach the opposite wall of the room. At this point the third footstool is still on top of the couch. At this point you can still see the bundle of wire on the corner of the desk:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf4_zpsijbr6okq.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf4_zpsijbr6okq.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo hf4_zpsijbr6okq.jpg"/></a>
I suspect that at this point the Russian soldier spots something behind the desk and investigates…
The next shot shows the American correspondent enter the room, he has already been busy collecting souvenirs in the Bunker and is carrying a handful of clothes hangers:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf7_zpsjmwb1hqt.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf7_zpsjmwb1hqt.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo hf7_zpsjmwb1hqt.jpg"/></a>
Note that at this point the footstool has disappeared from the couch against the back wall.
In the final shot of the sequence, the American correspondent takes the place where the Russian soldier was photographed some moments earlier:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf8_zpso0txo9a0.png.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf8_zpso0txo9a0.png" border="0" alt=" photo hf8_zpso0txo9a0.png"/></a>
We now see what happened to the footstool, it has been knocked off the couch and landed upside down in the water. More intriguingly an electronic device of some sort has appeared on the front footstool.
Also note that the bunch of wire is no longer lying on the corner of the desk, it is now hanging down, something has clearly been disturbed on the far end of the desk.
The Russian soldier probably spotted the electronic device whilst sitting on the couch, it could not be seen from another vantage point. The device looks dry, so it was probably not standing on the floor but on a ledge under the desk. It has a twisted two-wire phone connection still attached, the two wire line connection has been removed. When reaching out to retrieve the device from under the desk, the soldier probably knocked the footstool off the couch. After retrieving it, he placed it on the footstool closest to the door.
The electronic device appearing on the footstool is actually an important piece of evidence. The device is called a GK IIIa and is a voice scrambling device used by the German military. So here we have a military voice scrambling device connected to a generator phone, irrefutable evidence of a military command phone.
So we have now found one command phone in Hitler’s bunker, could there have been more? The photographic evidence shows other phones in the Bunker as well, for example:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf9_zps4mxik371.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf9_zps4mxik371.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo hf9_zps4mxik371.jpg"/></a>
The table shows two telephones: the one in front is a “Tischfernsprecher 38”, a military field telephone for use on desks. In the back corner stands a phone with the silhouette of a W38 dial phone, the same type as the “red phone”. This W38 however is black and has the standard, German made handset.
I leave it up to the reader to do a simple online search and see other examples of the telephones present in Hitler’s bunker; I am sure all will agree there is not a shred of evidence of red phones with British handsets; all phones are standard types.
What does become clear that there were a mixture of military and public phones in the Bunker and that all phones present in the photographic evidence are the standard black and all have original, German made handsets. Dial up phones were present to make domestic, non-secure calls (for as long the automatic exchanges were still working...). Military phones were present to connect to the military telephone network.
The irrefutable evidence highlights a single black generator phone attached to a military scrambling device in Hitler’s bunker: Hitler’s real phone was black and had a crank handle….
regards,
Funksammler
The evidence shows numerous different types of phones at Hitler’s workplaces, however none appear to be red or have the distinctively shaped British handset. In fact the evidence shows that Hitler used a variety of telephones placed at his worksites, which were all commonly German produced types of the period. At least there is evidence that Hitler did use telephones, all of them black and German made:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf1_zpspkm41drn.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf1_zpspkm41drn.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo hf1_zpspkm41drn.jpg"/></a>
Let’s have a closer look at the Bunker, from which Hitler’s “favourite phone” is purported to originate. An interesting sequence of photographs can be easily accessed on the internet; a sequence which tells the story of Hitler’s real phone.
It starts with the reporter entering a small office containing a desk and some scattered furniture:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf2_zpshfuxd2ey.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf2_zpshfuxd2ey.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo hf2_zpshfuxd2ey.jpg"/></a>
Two footstools stand on the floor, with a third sitting on top of a couch against the back wall. The floor is covered in 10-15 cm of water.
The correspondent enters the room, probably steps onto the first footstool to keep his feet dry, and takes a picture of the desk:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf5_zpsf7egvhn8.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf5_zpsf7egvhn8.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo hf5_zpsf7egvhn8.jpg"/></a>
Amongst the scattered paraphernalia stands a phone: a black phone without a dialing disk and with a winding handle.
At this point it is worth discussing the types of phones seen in the photographic record, some have dialing disks, others have not. At the time, different telephone systems were in use. The domestic system was being automated, these automated networks used “pulse dialing” to connect. The pulses are generated by the dialing disk; the pulses operate complicated relays in the automatic exchange to connect the lines.
The German military in WW2 however persisted with an operator based system, where operators would plug the line into the requested connection. To alert the operator, the telephones used were fitted with a handle and a ringtone generator.
The story of Hitler's telephone operator, Rochus Misch, is well documented; more evidence of the military style operator based telephone system used by Hitler.
Dial phones cannot be used in such an operator based system. The military system was segregated from the public network for reasons of security and control; in the military communication system orders were logged and controlled, top level conversations were even scrambled. The notion of Hitler ordering his generals over an unsecure public network is false. Only for domestic and non-military communications would Hitler have made use of a public dial phone.
So back to Hitler’s bunker, where the correspondent takes a second picture with a different exposure of the scene on the desk:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf6_zpslkjqdrbp.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf6_zpslkjqdrbp.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo hf6_zpslkjqdrbp.jpg"/></a>
This picture shows very clearly a (black) phone without a dialing disk and a winding handle. Although the phone is not a typically military type, it is a type compatible with the military operator based system.
Note there is a bundle of wire on the corner of the desk, running to something hidden under the desk.
At this point the correspondent urges his Russian minder to get into the shot, the Russian soldier uses the footstools to enter and cross the room without getting his feet wet:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf3_zpsgddf4cjm.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf3_zpsgddf4cjm.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo hf3_zpsgddf4cjm.jpg"/></a>
The next photograph shows a Russian minder sitting on the couch, he has kept his feet dry by stepping on the footstools to reach the opposite wall of the room. At this point the third footstool is still on top of the couch. At this point you can still see the bundle of wire on the corner of the desk:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf4_zpsijbr6okq.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf4_zpsijbr6okq.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo hf4_zpsijbr6okq.jpg"/></a>
I suspect that at this point the Russian soldier spots something behind the desk and investigates…
The next shot shows the American correspondent enter the room, he has already been busy collecting souvenirs in the Bunker and is carrying a handful of clothes hangers:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf7_zpsjmwb1hqt.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf7_zpsjmwb1hqt.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo hf7_zpsjmwb1hqt.jpg"/></a>
Note that at this point the footstool has disappeared from the couch against the back wall.
In the final shot of the sequence, the American correspondent takes the place where the Russian soldier was photographed some moments earlier:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf8_zpso0txo9a0.png.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf8_zpso0txo9a0.png" border="0" alt=" photo hf8_zpso0txo9a0.png"/></a>
We now see what happened to the footstool, it has been knocked off the couch and landed upside down in the water. More intriguingly an electronic device of some sort has appeared on the front footstool.
Also note that the bunch of wire is no longer lying on the corner of the desk, it is now hanging down, something has clearly been disturbed on the far end of the desk.
The Russian soldier probably spotted the electronic device whilst sitting on the couch, it could not be seen from another vantage point. The device looks dry, so it was probably not standing on the floor but on a ledge under the desk. It has a twisted two-wire phone connection still attached, the two wire line connection has been removed. When reaching out to retrieve the device from under the desk, the soldier probably knocked the footstool off the couch. After retrieving it, he placed it on the footstool closest to the door.
The electronic device appearing on the footstool is actually an important piece of evidence. The device is called a GK IIIa and is a voice scrambling device used by the German military. So here we have a military voice scrambling device connected to a generator phone, irrefutable evidence of a military command phone.
So we have now found one command phone in Hitler’s bunker, could there have been more? The photographic evidence shows other phones in the Bunker as well, for example:
<a href="http://s672.photobucket.com/user/Funksammler/media/hf9_zps4mxik371.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv86/Funksammler/hf9_zps4mxik371.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo hf9_zps4mxik371.jpg"/></a>
The table shows two telephones: the one in front is a “Tischfernsprecher 38”, a military field telephone for use on desks. In the back corner stands a phone with the silhouette of a W38 dial phone, the same type as the “red phone”. This W38 however is black and has the standard, German made handset.
I leave it up to the reader to do a simple online search and see other examples of the telephones present in Hitler’s bunker; I am sure all will agree there is not a shred of evidence of red phones with British handsets; all phones are standard types.
What does become clear that there were a mixture of military and public phones in the Bunker and that all phones present in the photographic evidence are the standard black and all have original, German made handsets. Dial up phones were present to make domestic, non-secure calls (for as long the automatic exchanges were still working...). Military phones were present to connect to the military telephone network.
The irrefutable evidence highlights a single black generator phone attached to a military scrambling device in Hitler’s bunker: Hitler’s real phone was black and had a crank handle….
regards,
Funksammler
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