Mannerheim was, to put it mildly, a pretty extraordinary character. Among other things, he met the 13th Dalai-Lama in Tibet while the Dalai-lama was in exile - to whom he gifted a pistol and instructed how to operate it.

To anyone interested in learning more about the man I recommend Jonathan Clements' book Mannerheim: President, Soldier, Spy. As a Finn it was very fascinating how there was so much more adventure in his life than WWII, presidency or any Finland related wars/politics

His trip thru Tibet was ostensibly to gather plant samples and such, but he conveniently was also rather well placed to gather information for the Tsar.

Wow I never knew this existed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_and_Mannerheim_recordin...

"The SS guards demanded the tape be destroyed, but YLE was allowed to keep the tape in a sealed container with the promise that it never be opened again"

How odd and weirdly naive.

Pretty interesting historical document for the content. And interesting to hear Hitler speak normally. He accent is little funny but he does not sound significantly Austrian or strange to me.

Mannerheims german is excellent. Outside of a few strange things he speaks perfect high german.