AH Salutes
TRANSLATION (courtesy Mr Google!)
Response to initial contact
Gerti
Imagine my joy at receiving a letter from my favourite pupil pupil?!…now you are a senior official please forgive my rudeness. I was intrigued with your idea regarding the understanding of his salutes I have since watched many newsreels and can agree that several different styles are adopted depending on his position and the event he is attending.
I will be glad to take up the challenge and report back to you. I understand that your request is for a short report and not one that would fill a Library shelf!
Please pass on my best regards to Lyz,
Professor Hienz Obermayer
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Report covering memo
Herr Mueller,
I am pleased to enclose my findings. I trust you will find them informative and interesting. Please ask me any questions which may arise.
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Report (inc. diagrams)
Observation sources:-
Press photographs (1,247 from 4 Agencies)
Newsreels (72 hours October 1938 January 1944)
Findings
The subject matter has adopted a number of saluting styles during the period of review. It would have been natural to assume that certain styles were reserved for specific event types such as funerals, parades, visiting dignitaries and personal meetings but it is not possible to correlate any to specific event types. The responses of Der Fuhrer are unique and totally random in their nature although at the highest level there are effectively two styles, one involving a straight arm whilst the other is bent at the elbow. One interesting observation is that Herr Goering as adopted a similar bent arm approach when responding carrying his baton.
Following my review, it has been possible to categorise a number of styles and these are shown in rudimentary diagrams on the following page. The diagrams are numbered and explained in the following text.
1 The Praetorian - this is without doubt the most common and perhaps best known response and dominated the large scale events such as Party Day parades (73% of sample). There were three other straight-arm variants:-
1a The Auto Salute this variant of the Praetorian was most often observed when the subject was situated in an automobile or similar and only slightly raised above others. I have undertaken studies to understand if this is directly relational to the height and type of the vehicle in use and whilst there was a slight correlation when using the large six wheeled car (the angle of decline was more significant) the sample was insufficient to prove a categoric relationship.
1b The Reach this style also dominated when the subject was vehicle based (stationary) but it was only used on Parades and there proved to be a direct link between this style and the movement of military personnel in front of the subject. The key difference in adoption style was that the Praetorian dominated when the people were also stationary. It was interesting to observe that the Reach took priority at three events as soon as the attendees started to parade.
1c The four oclock this straight arm variant was almost always (31 / 39) adopted for Army parades. Six of the remaining occurrences were at Air Force events.
2 The Swan Neck this is a rarely used variant of the Praetorian and appears to be restricted to only those events where the subject is most committed. The subject demonstrates an almost super human ability to present a concave curve to his arm presenting a slightly downward pointing hand. Whilst not within the sample period the best recorded example of this salute was in Munich, August, 1936 this popular image clearly demonstrates the APPARENT curve of the arm.
These next examples demonstrate a clear break from the use of the straight-arm salute. This sub-style has been given the name Crooked Arm and appears in a small number of variants.
3 The half bend is the dominant salute of this sub-style. The arm is no longer straight but is raised from the elbow in an informal style with a slightly angled (reverse) hand. The subject adopts this style when meeting smaller groups or in one-to-one situations. In most occurrences (67 / 84) the events were less formal and were more tightly grouped. Three possible explanations for the employment of this salutation are:-
i) Speed it is much quicker for the subject to raise his forearm several times in quick succession
ii) Safety the impact dangers generated by a fully straightened arm in a restricted space are avoided
iii) Fatigue avoidance the subject is able to avoid applying additional stress to his muscles in avoiding the bodily rigidity generated when deploying the Praetorian
3a This full bend again demonstrates an almost super human ability to create outlines which could not be undertaken by most others he meets. The arm is shaped as if the subject is to throw a medicine ball and proves extremely difficult for those meeting the subject to emulate. An additional benefit of the full bend is the ability to deliver them at speed although the half bend can be delivered 27% faster which facilitates nearly 3 salutes more per meeting (medium to large groups only)
3b This final style, the Whatever style is certainly reserved for the most informal of meetings and in 42 / 57 examples was adopted when the subject was either tired or meeting people for whom the subject had little respect or time.