The May Day Retreat of 1923
May Day in Munich was German Labour Day and was celebrated by left wing parties and the working class.
It was also the anniversary of the city's liberation from Soviet control in 1919.
Hitler petitioned the Bavarian Government to ban the Socialists and Communists from assembling and holding festivities on the Theresienwiese (the location of the Oktoberfest).
The Social Democrats had a protection force (the Auergarde) who were equipped with light weapons and had the goal of supporting the police in the fight against right-wing violence.
There were about 2,000 men with a drummer and pipe corps and also a cyclist department as can be seen in the photo taken at the Theriesenwiese.
The text says........Security department of the Social Democratic Party Munich (“Auergarde”), formed to defend against reactionary attacks and German-yellow fascism, for the protection of the undivided German republic. May 1923 – Fresh forward.”
The request to ban the left-wing groups was refused but Hitler was determined to prevent these groups marching through Munich's streets.
He ordered the SA to assemble on the Oberwisenfeld - an old army training ground in north-west Munich close to the airport.
Some 2000 men turned up with rifles, machines guns, hand grenades and a few cannons.
Hitler, wearing a steel helmet was standing at the head of this force when they were surrounded by the Bavarian police.
The area where Hitler's forces assembled is marked in red
The police were determined to prevent the day being turned into a bloody civil war between Hitler's SA and the SPD's Auergarde.
The army arrived equipped with armoured cars and, together with the police, they effectively trapped Hitler's forces.
The army was equipped with armoured cars against which Hitler's forces had no defence
A few hotheads amongst Hitler's group encouraged him to fight but Hitler knew he would lose a pitched battle with the police and army.
After a tense standoff, Hitler was forced to give in to avoid a massacre.
He ordered his men to pile their weapons on the field and march away in silence.
This event was widely seen as a "cowardly" retreat by his rivals and led to mocking headlines in the local press.
The actual headlines are not available but the stories followed the style shown above
This public and total humiliation deeply angered Hitler and the SA leadership.
It was probably this failure (and the success of German Day in Nuremberg) that later influenced his decision to launch the more desperate Beer Hall Putsch in November of the same year.