134-555: The Sturmabteilung ( German: [ˈʃtʊʁmʔapˌtaɪlʊŋ] ; SA ; lit. ' Storm Division ' or 'Storm Troopers') was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party . It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and early 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi rallies and assemblies, disrupting the meetings of opposing parties, fighting against
268-605: A Germanized Polish landed family on the side of her father Stephan von Dziembowski (1779–1859). Through Dziembowski's wife Johanna Wilhelmine von Unruh (1793–1862), Erich was a remote descendant of the Counts of Dönhoff , the Dukes of Liegnitz and Brieg and the Margraves and Electors of Brandenburg . Ludendorff had a stable and comfortable childhood, growing up on a small family farm. He received his early schooling from
402-545: A de facto military dictatorship, Ludendorff directed Germany's entire military strategy and war effort until the end of the conflict. In this capacity, he secured Russia's defeat in the east and launched a new wave of offensives on the Western Front resulting in advances not seen since the war's outbreak. However, by late 1918, all improvements in Germany's fortunes were reversed after its forces' decisive defeat in
536-691: A military , it is usually equivalent to a light infantry or special forces in terms of strength, firepower, and organizational structure. Paramilitaries use combat-capable kit/equipment (such as internal security / SWAT vehicles ), or even actual military equipment (such as long guns and armored personnel carriers ; usually military surplus resources), skills (such as battlefield medicine and bomb disposal ), and tactics (such as urban warfare and close-quarters combat ) that are compatible with their purpose, often combining them with skills from other relevant fields such as law enforcement , coast guard , or search and rescue . A paramilitary may fall under
670-571: A sealed train . Lenin ultimately agreed on 31 March, and would depart Switzerland on 8 April. In the spring of 1917 the Reichstag passed a resolution for peace without annexations or indemnities. They would be content with the successful defensive war undertaken in 1914. The OHL was unable to defeat the resolution or to have it substantially watered down. The commanders despised Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg as weak, so they forced his resignation by repeatedly threatening to resign themselves, despite
804-951: A battalion of stormtroopers. They were first used during the 8th Army 's siege of Riga , and again at the Battle of Caporetto . Wider use followed on the Western Front in the German spring offensive in March 1918, when Allied lines were successfully pushed back tens of kilometers. The DAP ( Deutsche Arbeiterpartei , German Workers' Party ) was formed in Munich in January 1919, and Adolf Hitler joined it in September of that year. His talents for speaking, publicity and propaganda were quickly recognized. By early 1920 he had gained authority in
938-473: A brief, overwhelming artillery barrage using many gas shells then followed by infiltrating infantry. The Bolsheviks seized power and soon were at the peace table. Ludendorff insisted on the huge territorial losses forced on Russia in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk , even though this required that a million German soldiers remain in the east. During the peace negotiations with Russia, his representative kept demanding
1072-727: A cadet, he was commissioned a junior officer in 1885. In 1893, he was admitted to the prestigious German War Academy, and only a year later was recommended by its commandant to the General Staff Corps. By 1904, he had rapidly risen in rank to become a member of the Army's Great General Staff , where he oversaw the development of the Schlieffen Plan . Despite being removed from the Great General Staff for meddling in politics, Ludendorff restored his standing in
1206-563: A consequence of the Stennes revolt in Berlin, Hitler assumed supreme command of the SA as its new Oberster SA-Führer . He sent a personal request to Röhm, asking him to return to serve as the SA's chief of staff. Röhm accepted this offer and began his new assignment on January 5, 1931. He brought radical new ideas to the SA and appointed several close friends to its senior leadership. Previously,
1340-731: A death march of Hungarian Jews from a work camp at Engerau (modern Petržalka , Slovakia ) to Bad Deutsch-Altenburg that saw 102 of the Jews being killed, being either shot or beaten to death. The SA ceased to exist in May 1945 when Nazi Germany collapsed. It was formally disbanded and outlawed by the Allied Control Council enacting Control Council Law No. 2 on October 10, 1945. In 1946, the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg formally ruled that
1474-467: A few soldiers each. The first official German stormtrooper unit was authorized on March 2, 1915, on the Western Front. The German high command ordered the VIII Corps to form a detachment to test experimental weapons and develop tactics that could break the deadlock on the Western Front . On October 2, 1916, Generalquartiermeister Erich Ludendorff ordered all German armies in the west to form
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#17327726167961608-546: A maternal aunt and had a gift for mathematics, as did his younger brother Hans , who became a distinguished astronomer. Upon passing the entrance exam for the Cadet School at Plön with distinction, he was put in a class two years ahead of his age group, and thereafter he was consistently first in his class. The famous World War II General Heinz Guderian attended the same Cadet School, which produced many well-trained German officers. Ludendorff's education continued at
1742-534: A mêlée in which a small company of SA thrashed the opposition. The Nazis called this event the Saalschlacht ( transl. Meeting hall battle ), and it assumed legendary proportions in SA lore with the passage of time. Thereafter, the group was officially known as the Sturmabteilung . The leadership of the SA passed from Maurice to the young Hans Ulrich Klintzsch in this period. He had been
1876-659: A nation's entire physical and moral resources should remain forever poised for mobilization because peace was merely an interval in a never-ending chain of wars. Following his death from liver cancer in Munich in 1937, Ludendorff was given—against his explicit wishes—a state funeral organized and attended by Hitler. Ludendorff was born on 9 April 1865 in Ludendorff near Posen , in the Province of Posen and Kingdom of Prussia (now Kruszewnia, Poznań County , Poland ),
2010-598: A naval officer and a member of the Ehrhardt Brigade , which had taken part in the failed Kapp Putsch attempted coup. When he took over command of the SA, he was a member of the notorious Organisation Consul (OC). The Nazis under Hitler began to adopt the more professional management techniques of the military. In 1922, the Nazi Party created a youth section, the Jugendbund , for young men between
2144-491: A retirement home in West Germany. In 1943, Viktor Lutze was killed in an automobile accident, and Wilhelm Schepmann was appointed as leader. Schepmann did his best to run the SA for the remainder of the war, attempting to restore the group as a predominant force within the Nazi Party and to mend years of distrust and bad feelings between the SA and SS. On the night of 29–30 March 1945, Austrian SA members were involved in
2278-482: A series of attacks to drive the British out of the war. During the winter all ranks were schooled in the innovative tactics proven at Caporetto and Riga. The first attack, Operation Michael , was on 21 March 1918 near Cambrai. After an effective hurricane bombardment coordinated by Colonel Bruchmüller , they slashed through the British lines, surmounting the obstacles that had thwarted their enemies for three years. On
2412-537: A stepdaughter. Their marriage pleased both families and he was devoted to his stepchildren. By 1911, Ludendorff was a full colonel. His section was responsible for writing the mass of detailed orders needed to bring the mobilized troops into position to implement the Schlieffen Plan . For this they covertly surveyed frontier fortifications in Russia, France and Belgium. For instance, in 1911 Ludendorff visited
2546-655: A training school for the German people. The conduct of war, and therefore of mobilization as well, in the future is the task of the SA." Blomberg and von Reichenau began to conspire with Göring and Himmler against Röhm and the SA. Himmler asked Reinhard Heydrich to assemble a dossier on Röhm. Heydrich recognized that for the SS to gain full national power, the SA had to be broken. He manufactured evidence to suggest that Röhm had been paid 12 million marks by French agents to overthrow Hitler. Hitler liked Röhm and initially refused to believe
2680-427: A treasonous conspiracy by Marxists , Freemasons and Jews . He also took part in the failed 1920 Kapp Putsch and 1923 Beer Hall Putsch before unsuccessfully standing in the 1925 election for president against Hindenburg, his wartime superior. Thereafter, he retired from politics and devoted his final years to the study of military theory . His most famous work in this field was The Total War , where he argued that
2814-532: Is not mentioned in the book) characterized it as a showcase of his "caesar-mania". He was a brilliant general, according to John Wheeler-Bennett , stating that he was "certainly one of the greatest routine military organizers that the world has ever seen", but he also said he was a ruinous political meddler. The influential military analyst Hans Delbrück concluded that "The Empire was built by Moltke and Bismarck , destroyed by Tirpitz and Ludendorff." In exile, Ludendorff wrote numerous books and articles about
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#17327726167962948-543: The Hauptkadettenschule at Groß-Lichterfelde near Berlin through to 1882. In 1885, Ludendorff was commissioned as a subaltern into the 57th Infantry Regiment, then at Wesel . Over the next eight years, he was promoted to lieutenant and saw further service in the 2nd Marine Battalion, based at Kiel and Wilhelmshaven , and in the 8th Grenadier Guards at Frankfurt on the Oder . His service reports reveal
3082-651: The Saalschutzabteilung (meeting hall protection detachment) for the DAP, gathered around Emil Maurice after the February 1920 incident at the Hofbräuhaus. There was little organization or structure to this group. The group was also called the "Stewards Troop" ( Ordnertruppen ) around this time. More than a year later, on August 3, 1921, Hitler redefined the group as the "Gymnastic and Sports Division" of
3216-801: The Stabschef-SA or Hitler. Each Gruppe was made up of subordinate Brigaden ("Brigades"). Subordinate to the Brigaden were the smaller regiment -sized Standarten . SA-Standarten operated in every major German city and were split into even smaller units, known as Sturmbanne and Stürme . The command nexus for the entire SA was the Oberste SA-Führung , located in Stuttgart . The SA supreme command had many sub-offices to handle supply, finance and recruiting. The SA also had several military training units. The largest
3350-771: The Army General Staff in 1916, he became the chief policymaker in a de facto military dictatorship until Germany's defeat. Later during the Weimar Republic , he took part in the failed 1920 Kapp Putsch and Hitler 's 1923 Beer Hall Putsch , thereby contributing significantly to the Nazis' rise to power . Erich Ludendorff came from a family of minor nobility in Kruszewnia , in the Prussian Province of Posen . After completing his education as
3484-798: The Constitution of the German Empire the government was run by civil servants appointed by the Kaiser. Confident that army officers were superior to civilians, the OHL volunteered to oversee the economy: procurement, raw materials, labor, and food. Max Bauer, with his industrialist friends, began by setting overambitious targets for military production in what they called the Hindenburg Program . Ludendorff enthusiastically participated in meetings on economic policy—loudly, sometimes pummeling
3618-733: The Imperial German Navy . Ludendorff's calculations showed that to properly implement the Schlieffen Plan the Army lacked six corps. Members of the General Staff were instructed to keep out of politics and the public eye, but Ludendorff shrugged off such restrictions. With a retired general, August Keim , and the head of the Pan-German League, Heinrich Class, he vigorously lobbied the Reichstag for
3752-757: The Kerensky Offensive in July 1917, attacking the Austro-Hungarian lines in Galicia . After minor successes the Russians were driven back and many of their soldiers refused to fight. The counterattack was halted only after the line was pushed 240 kilometres (150 mi) eastwards. The Germans capped the year in the East by capturing the strong Russian fortress of Riga in September 1917, starting with
3886-574: The Second Battle of the Marne and the Allies' Hundred Days Offensive . Faced with the war effort's collapse and a growing popular revolution , Kaiser Wilhelm II forced Ludendorff to resign. After the war, Ludendorff became a prominent nationalist leader and a promoter of the stab-in-the-back myth , which posited that Germany's defeat and the settlement reached at Versailles were the result of
4020-532: The Somme . Ludendorff's friends at the OHL , led by Max Bauer, lobbied for him relentlessly. The balance was tipped when Romania entered the war on the side of the Entente, thrusting into Hungary. Falkenhayn was replaced as Chief of the General Staff by Hindenburg on 29 August 1916. Ludendorff was again his chief of staff as first Quartermaster general , with the stipulation that he would have joint responsibility. He
4154-488: The United States Ludendorff's plans went as far as making Crimea a German colony. As to the various nations and ethnic groups in conquered territories, Ludendorff believed they were "incapable of producing real culture" On 16 March 1916, the Russians, now with adequate supplies of cannons and shells, attacked parts of the new German defenses, intending to penetrate at two points and then to pocket
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4288-570: The Vrana Palace . As the ambassador in Bratislava , Ludin arranged the deportation of 50,000 Slovak Jews to Auschwitz in 1942. On 23–24 August 1944, Killinger notably bungled the German response to King Michael I's Coup that saw King Michael I of Romania dismiss Antonescu, sign an armistice with the Allies, and declare war on Germany, thereby costing the Reich its largest source of oil. Of
4422-601: The battle of the Vistula River , which ended with a brilliantly executed withdrawal during which they destroyed the Polish railway lines and bridges needed for an invasion. When the Russians had repaired most of the damage the Germans struck their flank in the battle of Łódź , where they almost surrounded another Russian army. Masters of surprise and deft maneuver, the pair argued that if properly reinforced they could trap
4556-474: The 1920s and into the 1930s, members of the SA were often involved in street fights, called Zusammenstöße (collisions), with members of the Communist Party (KPD). In 1929, the SA added a Motor Corps for better mobility and a faster mustering of units. It also acquired an independent source of funds: royalties from its own Sturm Cigarette Company . Previously, the SA had been financially dependent on
4690-593: The Allied blockade, everyone could have been fed adequately, but supplies were not managed effectively or fairly. In spring 1918, half of all the meat, eggs, and fruit consumed in Berlin were sold on the black market. The Navy advocated unrestricted submarine warfare , which would surely bring the United States into the war. At the Kaiser's request, his commanders met with his friend, the eminent chemist Walther Nernst , who knew America well, and who warned against
4824-636: The American armed forces were too feeble to fight effectively. By the end of the war, Germany would be at war with 27 nations. Ludendorff, with the Kaiser's blessing, helped Lenin and other 30 or so revolutionaries in exile return to Russia. Ludendorff agreed to send the Bolsheviks in Switzerland by train through Germany from where they would then travel to Russia via Sweden. Lenin, however, still took some convincing, insisting that he be sent on
4958-402: The British back beyond their starting lines. At the beginning of 1918 almost a million munition workers struck; one demand was peace without annexations. OHL ordered that " 'all strikers fit to bear arms' be sent to the front, thereby degrading military service." With Russia out of the war, the Germans outnumbered the Allies on the Western Front. After extensive consultations, OHL planned
5092-482: The French. One after another the OHL toppled government ministers they regarded as weak. In contrast to the OHL's questionable interventions in politics and diplomacy, their armies continued to excel. The commanders would agree on what was to be done and then Ludendorff and the OHL staff produced the mass of orders specifying exactly what was to be accomplished. On the western front they stopped packing defenders in
5226-492: The German military's conduct of the war while forming the foundation for the Dolchstosslegende , the "stab-in-the-back theory," for which he is considered largely responsible, insisting that a domestic crisis had sparked Germany's surrender while the military situation held firm, ignoring that he himself had pressed the politicians for an armistice on military grounds. Ludendorff was convinced that Germany had fought
5360-466: The German war effort. He issued the two daily communiques, and often met with the newspaper and newsreel reporters. Before long the public idolized him as the German Army's brain. Historian and correspondent William L. Shirer later called him "virtually dictator of Germany from 1916 until the defeat." Ludendorff had a goal: "One thing was certain—the power must be in my hands." As stipulated by
5494-748: The Germans in the north were beaten back. On 27 July 1916, Hindenburg was given command of all troops on the Eastern Front from the Baltic to Brody in Ukraine. Ludendorff and Hindenburg visited their new command on a special train, and then set up headquarters in Brest-Litovsk . By August 1916 their front was holding everywhere. In the West in 1916 the Germans attacked unsuccessfully at Verdun and soon were reeling under British and French blows along
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5628-489: The Kaiser reunited them. Erich von Falkenhayn , supreme commander at the OHL , came east to attack the flank of the Russian army that was pushing through the Carpathian passes towards Hungary. Employing overwhelming artillery, the Germans and Austro-Hungarians broke through the line between Gorlice and Tarnów and kept pushing until the Russians were driven out of most of Galicia , in Austro-Hungarian Poland. During this advance Falkenhayn rejected schemes to try to cut off
5762-419: The Kaiser's admonition that this was not their business. Bethmann Hollweg was replaced by a minor functionary, Georg Michaelis , the food minister, who announced that he would deal with the resolution as "in his own fashion". Despite this put-down, the Reichstag voted the financial credits needed for continuing the war. Following the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia , the new Russian government launched
5896-427: The Kaiser. He proposed massive annexations and colonization in Eastern Europe in the event of the victory of the German Reich, and was one of the main supporters of the Polish Border Strip . Ludendorff planned to combine German settlement and Germanisation in conquered areas with expulsions of native populations; and envisioned an eastern German empire whose resources would be used in future war with Great Britain and
6030-400: The Minister of Defence, and General Walter von Reichenau , the chief of the Reichswehr 's Ministerial Department, became increasingly concerned about the growing power of the SA. Röhm had been given a seat on the National Defence Council and began to demand more say over military matters. On October 2, 1933, Röhm sent a letter to Reichenau that said: "I regard the Reichswehr now only as
6164-429: The Russians in Poland, preferring direct frontal attacks like Bug–Narew Offensive . Outgunned, during the summer of 1915 the Russian commander Grand Duke Nicholas shortened his lines by withdrawing from most of Poland, destroying railroads, bridges, and many buildings while driving 743,000 Poles, 350,000 Jews, 300,000 Lithuanians and 250,000 Latvians into Russia. During the winter of 1915–16 Ludendorff's headquarters
6298-438: The SA ambassadors, Killinger and Jagow committed suicide in 1944 and 1945 respectively while Kasche and Ludin were executed for war crimes in 1947 in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia respectively. Beckerle spent 11 years in a Soviet POW camp, was released to West Germany in 1955, was charged with war crimes in 1966 for his role in the deportation of Macedonian Jews, which were dropped on grounds of ill health in 1968 and died in 1976 at
6432-416: The SA became overshadowed by the SS; by 1939 it had little remaining significance in the Nazi Party, though it was never formally disbanded and continued to exist until the war ended. In January 1939, the role of the SA was officially established as a training school for the armed forces, with the establishment of the SA Wehrmannschaften (SA Military Units). With the start of World War II in September 1939,
6566-457: The SA formations were subordinate to the Nazi Party leadership of each Gau . Röhm established new Gruppen that had no regional Nazi Party oversight. Each Gruppe extended over several regions and was commanded by a SA- Gruppenführer who answered only to Röhm or Hitler. Under Röhm as its popular leader and Stabschef (Staff Chief), the SA grew in importance within the Nazi power structure and expanded to have thousands of members. In
6700-403: The SA in any way he saw fit. When in April 1925 Hitler and Ludendorff disapproved of the proposals under which Röhm was prepared to integrate the 30,000-strong Frontbann into the SA, Röhm resigned from all political movements and military brigades on May 1, 1925. He felt great contempt for the "legalistic" path the party leaders wanted to follow and sought seclusion from public life. Throughout
6834-424: The SA lost most of its remaining members to military service in the Wehrmacht (armed forces). In January 1941, long-standing rivalries between the Auswärtiges Amt (Foreign Office) and the SS exploded with the attempted coup d'état in Bucharest that saw SS back the coup by the Iron Guard under its leader Horia Sima against the Prime Minister, General Ion Antonescu , while the Auswärtiges Amt together with
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#17327726167966968-430: The SA ranks. Similar paramilitary organizations Informational notes Citations Bibliography Further reading Final solution Parties Paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Though a paramilitary is, by definition, not
7102-461: The SA was a brown shirt with a brown tie. The color came about because a large shipment of Lettow - shirts , originally intended for the German colonial troops in Germany's former East Africa colony , was purchased in 1921 by Gerhard Roßbach for use by his Freikorps paramilitary unit. They were later used for his Schill Youth organization in Salzburg, and in 1924 were adopted by the Schill Youth in Germany. The "Schill Sportversand" then became
7236-454: The SA was conducted by the Stabschef-SA (SA Chief of Staff), a position Hitler designated for Ernst Röhm. After Hitler's assumption of the supreme command of the SA, it was the Stabschef-SA who was generally accepted as the Commander of the SA, acting in Hitler's name. The following personnel held the position of Stabschef-SA : The SA was organized into several large regional Gruppen ("Groups"). The group leader answered only to
7370-458: The SA was not a criminal organization . The leader of the SA was known as the Oberster SA-Führer , translated as Supreme SA-Leader. The following men held this position: In September 1930, to quell the Stennes Revolt and to try to ensure the personal loyalty of the SA to himself, Hitler assumed command of the entire organization and remained Oberster SA-Führer for the remainder of the group's existence until 1945. The day-to-day running of
7504-421: The SA was reorganized into a front organization known as the Frontbann to circumvent Bavaria 's ban on the Nazi Party and its organs. (This had been instituted after the abortive Beer Hall Putsch of November 1923). While Hitler was in prison, Ernst Röhm helped to create the Frontbann as a legal alternative to the then-outlawed SA. In April 1924, Röhm had also been given authority by Hitler to rebuild
7638-455: The SA, a force of by then over three million men, absorb the much smaller German Army into its ranks under his leadership. Since the officers had developed the Reichswehr as a professional force of 100,000, they believed that it would be destroyed if merged with millions of untrained SA thugs. Furthermore, the army commanders were greatly concerned about reports of a huge cache of weapons in the hands of SA members. Industrialists, who had provided
7772-432: The SA, the Schutzstaffel (SS) was placed under the control of Heinrich Himmler , in part to restrict the power of the SA and their leaders. The younger SS had evolved to be more than a bodyguard unit for Hitler and demonstrated that it was better suited to carry out Hitler's policies, including those of a criminal nature. Although some of the conflicts between the SS and SA were based on personal rivalries of leaders,
7906-512: The SS. The role of the SA ambassadors was that of "quasi- Reich governors" as they aggressively supervised the internal affairs of the nations they were stationed in, making them very much unlike traditional ambassadors. The SA leaders ambassadors fulfilled Ribbentrop's hopes in that all had distant relations with the SS, but as a group they were notably inept as diplomats with Beckerle being so crude and vulgar in his manners that King Boris III almost refused to allow him to present his credentials at
8040-412: The Second or Mobilization Section from 1904 to 1913. Soon he was joined by Max Bauer , a brilliant artillery officer, who became a close friend. In 1910 at age 45 "the 'old sinner', as he liked to hear himself called" married the daughter of a wealthy factory owner, Margarethe Schmidt (1875–1936). They met in a rainstorm when he offered his umbrella. She divorced to marry him, bringing three stepsons and
8174-411: The Socialist or Communist Youth or the Red Front (RFB)." Some have argued that since most SA members came from working-class families or were unemployed, they were more amenable to Marxist -leaning socialism, expecting Hitler to fulfill the 25-point National Socialist Program . However, historian Thomas Friedrich reports that the repeated efforts by the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) to appeal to
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#17327726167968308-647: The Wehrmacht backed Antonescu. In the aftermath of the coup, the Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop made an effort to curb the power of the SS to conduct a foreign policy independent of the Auswärtiges Amt . Taking an advantage of the long-standing rivalries between the SS and the SA, in 1941, Ribbentrop appointed an assemblage of SA men to head the German embassies in Eastern Europe, with Manfred Freiherr von Killinger going to Romania, Siegfried Kasche to Croatia, Adolf-Heinz Beckerle to Bulgaria, Dietrich von Jagow to Hungary, and Hanns Ludin to Slovakia in order to ensure that there would be minimal co-operation with
8442-426: The Western Front meeting—and evaluating—commanders, learning about their problems and soliciting their opinions. At each meeting Ludendorff did most of talking for Hindenburg. There would be no further attacks at Verdun and the Somme would be defended by revised tactics that exposed fewer men to British shells. A new backup defensive line would be built, like the one they had constructed in the east. The Allies would call
8576-418: The additional men. In 1913 funding was approved for four additional corps but Ludendorff was transferred to regimental duties as commander of the 39th (Lower Rhine) Fusiliers , stationed at Düsseldorf . "I attributed the change partly for my having pressed for those three additional army corps." Barbara Tuchman characterizes Ludendorff in her book The Guns of August as Schlieffen's devoted disciple who
8710-438: The ages of 14 and 18 years. Its successor, the Hitler Youth ( Hitlerjugend or HJ), remained under SA command until May 1932. Hermann Göring joined the Nazi Party in 1922 after hearing a speech by Hitler. He was given command of the SA as the Oberster SA-Führer in 1923. He was later appointed an SA- Obergruppenführer (general) and held this rank on the SA rolls until 1945. From April 1924 until late February 1925,
8844-419: The agitators "flew down the stairs with gashed heads". The next year on February 24, he announced the party's Twenty-Five Point program at a mass meeting of some 2,000 people at the Hofbräuhaus. Protesters tried to shout Hitler down, but his former army companions, armed with rubber truncheons , ejected the dissenters. The basis for the SA had been formed. A permanent group of party members, who would serve as
8978-577: The army through his success as a commander in World War I. In August 1914, he led the successful German assault on Liège, earning him the Pour le Mérite . On the Eastern Front under the command of General Paul von Hindenburg , Ludendorff was instrumental in inflicting a series of crushing defeats against the Russians, including at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes . By August 1916, Ludendorff had successfully lobbied for Hindenburg's appointment as Supreme Commander as well as his own promotion to First Quartermaster General. Once he and Hindenburg had established
9112-433: The army together. The Kaiser called his commanders in, curtly accepting Ludendorff's resignation and then rejecting Hindenburg's. Fuming, Ludendorff would not accompany the field marshal back to headquarters: "I refused to ride with you because you have treated me so shabbily". Ludendorff had assiduously sought all of the credit; now he was rewarded with all of the blame. Widely despised, and with revolution breaking out, he
9246-740: The assassination of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan (a Polish Jew), the SA was used for "demonstrations" against the act. In violent riots, members of the SA shattered the glass storefronts of about 7,500 Jewish stores and businesses. The events were referred to as Kristallnacht ('Night of Broken Glass', more literally 'Crystal Night'). Jewish homes were ransacked throughout Germany. This pogrom damaged, and in many cases destroyed, about 200 synagogues (constituting nearly all Germany had), many Jewish cemeteries, more than 7,000 Jewish shops, and 29 department stores. Some Jews were beaten to death and more than 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and taken to concentration camps . Thereafter,
9380-440: The bloodiest of the war. Among the dead was Ludendorff’s oldest stepson; a younger had been killed earlier. The Germans were unable to cut any vital railway. When Ludendorff motored near the front he was displeased by seeing how: "The numerous slightly wounded made things difficult by the stupid and displeasing way in which they hurried to the rear." The Americans doubled the number of troops being sent to France. Their next attack
9514-441: The command of a military , train alongside them, or have permission to use their resources, despite not actually being part of them. Under the law of war , a state may incorporate a paramilitary organization or armed agency (such as a law enforcement agency or a private volunteer militia ) into its combatant armed forces. Some countries' constitutions prohibit paramilitary organizations outside government use . Depending on
9648-729: The command of the Eighth Army, Maximilian von Prittwitz with Georg von Waldersee as Chief of Staff, performed subpar and reportedly panicked. They accordingly were dismissed from command by the Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL), the German Supreme Army Command. The War Cabinet chose a retired general, Paul von Hindenburg , as commander, while the OHL assigned Ludendorff as his new chief of staff. Hindenburg and Ludendorff first met on their private train heading east. They agreed that they must annihilate
9782-653: The creation of a bodyguard unit , which was ultimately abolished after the failed Beer Hall Putsch later that year. Not long after Hitler's release from prison, he ordered the creation of another bodyguard unit in 1925 that ultimately became the Schutzstaffel (SS). During the Night of the Long Knives ( die Nacht der langen Messer ) in 1934, the SA's then-leader Ernst Röhm was arrested and executed. The SA continued to exist but lost almost all its influence and
9916-706: The defenders. They attacked almost daily until the end of the month, but the Lake Naroch Offensive failed, "choked in swamp and blood". The Russians did better attacking the Austro-Hungarians in the south; the Brusilov Offensive cracked their lines with a well-prepared surprise wide-front attack led by well-schooled assault troops. The breakthrough was finally stemmed by Austro-Hungarian troops recalled from Italy stiffened with German advisers and reserves. In July, Russian attacks on
10050-425: The defense was directed by General von Lossberg , a pioneer in defense in depth, but when the British adjusted their tactics, Ludendorff took over day-to-day control. The British eventually took Passchendaele Ridge at great cost. Ludendorff worried about declining morale, so in July 1917 OHL established a propaganda unit. In October 1917 they began mandatory patriotic lectures to the troops, who were assured that if
10184-562: The defiant and rebellious culture encouraged before the seizure of power had to give way to using these forces for community organization. But the SA members resented tasks such as canvassing and fundraising, considering them Kleinarbeit ("little work"), which had typically been performed by women before the Nazi seizure of power. Rudolf Diels , the first Gestapo chief, estimated that in 1933 Berlin, 70 percent of new SA recruits were former Communists. In 1933, General Werner von Blomberg ,
10318-463: The definition adopted, "paramilitaries" may include: Erich Ludendorff Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff ( German: [ˈeːʁɪç ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈluːdn̩dɔʁf] ; 9 April 1865 – 20 December 1937) was a Prussian-born German military officer and politician. He achieved fame during World War I for his central role in the German victories at Liège and Tannenberg in 1914. After his appointment as First Quartermaster General of
10452-579: The dossier provided by Heydrich. Röhm had been one of his first supporters and, without his ability to obtain army funds in the early days of the movement, it is unlikely that the Nazis would have ever become established. The SA under Röhm's leadership had also played a vital role in destroying the opposition during the elections of 1932 and 1933. Hitler had his own reasons for wanting Röhm removed. Some of his powerful supporters had been complaining about Röhm for some time. The generals opposed Röhm's desire to have
10586-445: The early 1930s, the Nazis expanded from an extremist fringe group to the largest political party in Germany, and the SA expanded with it. By January 1932, the SA numbered approximately 400,000. Many of these stormtroopers believed in the strasserist promise of nazism . They expected the Nazi regime to take more radical economic action, such as breaking up the vast landed estates of the aristocracy, once they obtained national power. By
10720-475: The economic concessions coveted by German industrialists. The commanders kept blocking attempts to frame a plausible peace offer to the western powers by insisting on borders expanded for future defense. Ludendorff regarded the Germans as the "master race" and after victory planned to settle ex-soldiers in the Baltic states and in Alsace-Lorraine , where they would take over property seized from Balts and
10854-650: The entire Russian army in Poland. During the winter of 1914–15 they lobbied passionately for this strategy, but were rebuffed by the OHL . Early in 1915 Hindenburg and Ludendorff surprised the Russian army that still held a toehold in East Prussia by attacking in a snowstorm and surrounding it in the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes . The OHL then transferred Ludendorff, but Hindenburg's personal plea to
10988-507: The first day they occupied as large an area as the Allies had won on the Somme after 140 days. The Allies were aghast, but it was not the triumph OHL had hoped for: they had planned another Tannenberg by surrounding tens of thousands of British troops in the Cambrai salient, but had been thwarted by stout defense and fighting withdrawal. They lost as many men as the defenders—the first day was
11122-536: The first day, crossing the Marne but stopping 56 kilometres (35 mi) from Paris. However each German triumph weakened their army and its morale. From 20 March 1918 to 25 June the German front lengthened from 390 kilometres (240 mi) to 510 kilometres (320 mi). Then the Germans struck near Reims, to seize additional railway lines for use in the salient, but were foiled by brilliant French elastic tactics. Undeterred, on 18 July 1918 Ludendorff, still "aggressive and confident", traveled to Flanders to confer about
11256-586: The forts around Liège had fallen, allowing the German First Army to advance. As the victor of Liège, Ludendorff was awarded Germany's highest military decoration for gallantry, the Pour le Mérite , presented by Kaiser Wilhelm II himself on 22 August. German mobilization earmarked a single army, the Eighth, to defend their eastern frontier. When two Russian armies invaded East Prussia earlier than expected
11390-488: The front line, which reduced losses to enemy artillery. They issued a directive on elastic defense, in which attackers who penetrated a lightly held front line entered a battle zone in which they were punished by artillery and counterattacks. It remained German Army doctrine through World War II ; schools taught the new tactics to all ranks. Its effectiveness is illustrated by comparing the first half of 1916 in which 77 German soldiers died or went missing for every 100 British to
11524-585: The funds for the Nazi victory, were unhappy with Röhm's socialistic views on the economy and his claims that the real revolution had still to take place. President Hindenburg informed Hitler in June 1934 that if a move to curb the SA was not forthcoming, he would dissolve the government and declare martial law . Hitler was also concerned that Röhm and the SA had the power to remove him as leader. Göring and Himmler played on this fear by constantly feeding Hitler with new information on Röhm's proposed coup. A masterstroke
11658-555: The ground they gave up as a depopulated waste land. The Nivelle Offensive in April 1917 was blunted by mobile defense in depth. Many French units mutinied , though the OHL never grasped the extent of the disarray. The British supported their allies with a successful attack near Arras and had another success in June 1917 at Messines Ridge in Flanders . Then at the end of July 1917, the British attacked Passchendaele Ridge . At first
11792-537: The highest praise, with frequent commendations. In 1893, he entered the War Academy, where the commandant, General Meckel, recommended him to the General Staff , to which he was appointed in 1894. He rose rapidly and was a senior staff officer at the headquarters of V Corps from 1902 to 1904. Next he joined the Great General Staff in Berlin, which was commanded by Alfred von Schlieffen , Ludendorff directed
11926-452: The idea. Ludendorff promptly ended the meeting; it was "incompetent nonsense with which a civilian was wasting his time." Unrestricted submarine warfare began in February 1917, with the OHL ’s strong support. This fatal mistake reflected poor military judgment in uncritically accepting the Navy’s contention that there were no effective potential countermeasures, like convoying, and confidence that
12060-471: The integrity of the Western front "for two hours" and they must have an immediate armistice. A new Chancellor, Prince Maximilian of Baden , approached President Woodrow Wilson , but Wilson's terms were unacceptable to the German leadership, and so the German army fought on. The chancellor told the Kaiser that he and his cabinet would resign unless Ludendorff was removed, but that Hindenburg must remain to hold
12194-631: The key Belgian fortress city of Liège . Before the war, he was an Oberst in General Staff who studied the march route of the army in case of war. Deputies of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , which became the largest party in the Reichstag after the German federal elections of 1912 , seldom gave priority to army expenditures, whether to build up its reserves or to fund advanced weaponry such as Krupp 's siege cannons. Instead, they preferred to concentrate military spending on
12328-422: The main supplier for the SA's brown shirts. The SA developed pseudo-military titles for its members, with ranks that were later adopted by several other Nazi Party groups. Following Adolf Hitler 's rise to Nazi Party leadership in 1921, he formalized the party's militant supporters into the SA as a group that was to protect party gatherings. In 1923, owing to his growing distrust of the SA, Adolf Hitler ordered
12462-420: The mass of members had key socio-economic differences and related conflicts. SS members generally came from the middle class , while the SA had its base among the unemployed and working class . Politically speaking, the SA was more radical than the SS, with its leaders arguing the Nazi revolution had not ended when Hitler achieved power, but rather needed to implement Strasserism in Germany. Hitler believed that
12596-489: The names of 85 victims are known, estimates place the total number killed at between 150 and 200 men, the rest of whom remain unidentified. Some Germans were shocked by the executions, but many others perceived Hitler to have restored "order" to the country. Goebbels' propaganda highlighted the "Röhm-Putsch" in the days that followed. The homosexuality of Röhm and other SA leaders was made public to add "shock value", although Hitler and other Nazi leaders had known for years about
12730-451: The nearest Russian army before they tackled the second. On arrival, they discovered that Max Hoffmann had already shifted much of the 8th Army by rail to the south to do just that, in an amazing feat of logistical planning. Nine days later the Eighth Army surrounded most of a Russian army at Tannenberg , taking 92,000 prisoners in one of the great victories in German history. Twice during the battle Ludendorff wanted to break off, fearing that
12864-647: The new fortifications the Hindenburg Line . The German goal was victory, which they defined as a Germany with extended borders that could be more easily defended in the next war. Hindenburg was given titular command over all of the forces of the Central Powers. Ludendorff's hand was everywhere. Every day he was on the telephone with the staffs of their armies and the Army was deluged with "Ludendorff's paper barrage" of orders, instructions and demands for information. His finger extended into every aspect of
12998-446: The news, for instance claiming that American troops had to be herded onto troop ships by special police. On 8 August 1918, the Germans were completely surprised at Amiens when British tanks broke through the defenses and intact German formations surrendered. To Ludendorff it was the "black day in the history of the German Army". The German retreats continued, pressed by Allied attacks. OHL still vigorously opposed offering to give up
13132-511: The next attack there. A telephone call reported that the French and Americans, led by a mass of tanks, had smashed through the right flank of their salient pointing toward Paris, on the opening day of the Battle of Soissons . Everyone present realized that surely they had lost the war. Ludendorff was shattered. OHL began to withdraw step by step to new defensive lines, first evacuating all of their wounded and supplies. Ludendorff's communiques, which hitherto had been largely factual, now distorted
13266-516: The north by a German and Austro-Hungarian army commanded by Falkenhayn. Bucharest fell in December 1916. According to Mackensen, Ludendorff's distant management consisted of "floods of telegrams, as superfluous as they were offensive." When sure that the Romanians would be defeated the OHL moved west, retaining the previous staff except for the operations officer, blamed for Verdun. They toured
13400-471: The other political parties. By September 1921 the name Sturmabteilung (SA) was being used informally for the group. Hitler was the official head of the Nazi Party by this time. The Nazi Party held a large public meeting in the Munich Hofbräuhaus on November 4, 1921, which attracted many Communists and other enemies of the Nazis. After Hitler had spoken for some time, the meeting erupted into
13534-701: The paramilitary units of the opposing parties, especially the Roter Frontkämpferbund of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), and intimidating Romani , trade unionists , and especially Jews . The SA were colloquially called Brownshirts ( Braunhemden ) because of the colour of their uniform's shirts , similar to Benito Mussolini 's blackshirts . The official uniform of
13668-435: The party ( Turn- und Sportabteilung ), perhaps to avoid trouble with the government. It was by now well recognized as an appropriate, even necessary, function or organ of the party. The future SA developed by organizing and formalizing the groups of ex-soldiers and beer-hall brawlers who were to protect gatherings of the Nazi Party from disruptions from Social Democrats (SPD) and Communists (KPD), and to disrupt meetings of
13802-472: The party leadership, as it charged no membership fees; the SA recruited particularly among the many unemployed in the economic crisis. The SA used violence against shops and shopkeepers stocking competing cigarette brands; it also punished any SA member caught with non-Sturm cigarettes. Sturm marketing was also used to make military service more appealing. Cigarettes were sold with collectible sets of images of historical German army uniforms. In September 1930, as
13936-769: The party to grow through propaganda, convinced the leadership committee to invest in an advertisement in the Münchener Beobachter (later renamed the Völkischer Beobachter ) for a mass meeting in the Hofbräuhaus , to be held in Munich on October 16, 1919. Some 70 people attended, and a second such meeting was advertised for November 13 in the Eberl-Bräu beer hall, also in Munich. About 130 people attended; there were hecklers, but Hitler's military friends promptly ejected them by force, and
14070-496: The party, which changed its name to the NSDAP ( Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or National Socialist German Workers' Party) in February 1920. The party's executive committee added "Socialist" to the name over Hitler's objections, to help the party appeal to left-wing workers. The precursor to the Sturmabteilung had acted informally and on an ad hoc basis for some time before this. Hitler, with an eye to helping
14204-480: The replacement for the "antiquated" Reichswehr . Röhm's ideal was to absorb the army (then limited by law to no more than 100,000 men) into the SA, which would be a new "people's army". This deeply offended and alarmed the professional army leaders and threatened Hitler's goal of co-opting the Reichswehr . The SA's increasing power and ambitions also posed a threat to other Nazi leaders. Originally an adjunct to
14338-549: The rest of Italian Army was forced to retreat to the Grappa-Piave defensive line. On 20 November 1917, the British achieved a total surprise by attacking at Cambrai . A short, intense bombardment preceded an attack by tanks, which led the infantry through the German wire. It was Ludendorff's 52nd birthday, but he was too upset to attend the celebratory dinner. The British were not organized to exploit their breakthrough, and German reserves counterattacked, in some places driving
14472-429: The second Russian army was about to strike their rear, but Hindenburg held firm. The Germans turned on the second invading army in the Battle of the Masurian Lakes ; it fled with heavy losses to escape encirclement. During the rest of 1914, commanding an Army Group, Hindenburg and Ludendorff staved off the projected invasion of German Silesia by dexterously moving their outnumbered forces into Russian Poland , fighting
14606-588: The second half when 55 Germans were lost for every 100 British. By February 1917 the OHL was sure that the new French commander, General Robert Nivelle , would attack, and correctly foresaw that he would try to pinch off the German salient between Arras and Noyon . So the OHL withdrew German forces to the segment of the Hindenburg line across the base of the salient in Operation Alberich , leaving
14740-416: The sexuality of Röhm and other named SA leaders. After the Night of the Long Knives , the SA continued to operate, under the leadership of Stabschef Viktor Lutze , but the group was significantly downsized. Within a year's time, the SA membership was reduced by more than 40%. However, the Nazis increased attacks against Jews in the early 1930s and used the SA to carry these out. In November 1938, after
14874-428: The storm troops were called 'beefsteaks' – brown outside and red within." The influx of non-Nazis into the Sturmabteilung membership was so prevalent that SA men would joke that "In our storm troop there are three Nazis, but we shall soon have spewed them out." The number of "beefsteaks" was estimated to be large in some cities, especially in northern Germany, where the influence of Gregor Strasser and Strasserism
15008-414: The success of the invasion of Poland in 1939, an SA unit, "Great Government" was formed. The units were renamed SA Wehrschützen-Bereitschaften in 1942. The title was abbreviated to SA Wehrbereitschaften , thereafter. In his 1936 Hitler: A Biography , German historian Konrad Heiden remarked that within the SA ranks, there were "large numbers of former Communists and Social Democrats" and that "many of
15142-538: The table with his fists. Implementation of the Program was assigned to General Groener , a staff officer who had directed the Field Railway Service effectively. His office was in the (civilian) War Ministry, not in the OHL as Ludendorff had wanted. Therefore, he assigned staff officers to most government ministries, so he knew what was going on and could press his demands. War industry's major problem
15276-499: The territory they desired in France and Belgium, so the German government was unable to make a plausible peace proposal. Ludendorff became increasingly cantankerous, railing at his staff without cause, publicly accusing Hindenburg of talking nonsense, and sometimes bursting into tears. Bauer wanted him replaced, but instead a doctor, Oberstabarzt Hochheimer, was brought to OHL. He had worked closely with Ludendorff in Poland during
15410-418: The third of six children of August Wilhelm Ludendorff (1833–1905). His father was descended from Pomeranian merchants who had been raised to the status of a Junker . Erich's mother, Klara Jeanette Henriette von Tempelhoff (1840–1914), was the daughter of the noble but impoverished Friedrich August Napoleon von Tempelhoff (1804–1868) and his wife Jeannette Wilhelmine von Dziembowska (1816–1854), who came from
15544-458: The time Hitler assumed power in January 1933, SA membership had increased to approximately 2,000,000—twenty times as large as the number of troops and officers in the Reichswehr (German Army). After Hitler and the Nazis obtained national power, the SA leadership also became increasingly eager for power. By the end of 1933, the SA numbered more than 3 million men, and many believed they were
15678-597: The war was lost they would "become slaves of international capital". The lecturers were to "ensure that a fight is kept up against all agitators, croakers, and weaklings". To bolster the wobbling Austro-Hungarian government, the Germans provided some troops and led a joint attack in Italy in October. They sliced through the Italian lines in the mountains at Caporetto . Two hundred and fifty thousand Italians were captured and
15812-423: The way to Wiessee. Many were shot and killed as soon as they were captured, but Hitler decided to pardon Röhm because of his past services to the movement. On July 1, after much pressure from Göring and Himmler, Hitler agreed that Röhm should die. Hitler insisted that Röhm should first be allowed to commit suicide. When Röhm refused to do so, he was shot by two SS officers, Theodor Eicke and Michael Lippert . Though
15946-527: The winter of 1915–16 on plans to bring in German colonists. Before the war he had a practice in nervous diseases. Hochheimer "spoke as a friend and he listened as a friend", convincing Ludendorff that he could not work effectively with one hour of sleep a night and that he must relearn how to relax. After a month away from headquarters Ludendorff had recovered from the severest symptoms of battle fatigue. On 29 September 1918, Ludendorff and Hindenburg suddenly told an incredulous Kaiser that they could not guarantee
16080-421: The workers, so he insisted that union representatives be included on industrial dispute boards. He also advocated an excess profits tax. The industrialists were incensed. On 16 August 1917, Ludendorff telegraphed an order reassigning Groener to command the 33rd Infantry Division. Overall, "unable to control labour and unwilling to control industry, the army failed miserably". To the public it seemed that Ludendorff
16214-451: The working-class backgrounds of the SA were "doomed to failure", because most SA men were focused on the nationalistic cult of Hitler and destroying the "Marxist enemy", a term that was used to identify both the KPD and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The "beefsteak" name also referred to party-switching between Nazi and Communist party members, particularly involving those within
16348-477: The younger officers came to adore him." His adjutant, Wilhelm Breucker, became a devoted lifelong friend. At the outbreak of war in the summer of 1914 Ludendorff was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff to the German Second Army under General Karl von Bülow . His assignment was largely due to his previous work investigating defenses of Liège , Belgium. At the beginning of the Battle of Liège , Ludendorff
16482-482: Was in Flanders . Again they broke through, advancing 30 km (19 mi), and forcing the British to give back all of the ground that they had won the preceding year after weeks of battle. But the Germans were stopped short of the rail junction that was their goal. Next, to draw French reserves south, they struck along the Chemin des Dames . In their most successful attack yet they advanced 12 km (7.5 mi) on
16616-435: Was a glutton for work and a man of granite character but who was deliberately friendless and forbidding and therefore remained little known or liked. It is true that as his wife testified, "Anyone who knows Ludendorff knows that he has not a spark of humor...". He was voluble nonetheless, although he shunned small talk. John Lee, states that while Ludendorff was with his Fusiliers, "he became the perfect regimental commander ...
16750-493: Was an observer with the 14th Brigade, which was to infiltrate the city at night and secure the bridges before they could be destroyed. The brigade commander was killed on 5 August, so Ludendorff led the successful assault to occupy the city and its citadel. In the following days, two of the forts guarding the city were taken by desperate frontal infantry attacks, while the remaining forts were smashed by huge Krupp 42-cm and Austro-Hungarian Škoda 30.5-cm howitzers. By 16 August, all
16884-611: Was effectively superseded by the SS, which took part in the purge. The SA remained in existence until after Nazi Germany's final capitulation to the Allies in 1945, after which it was disbanded and outlawed by the Allied Control Council . The term Sturmabteilung predates the founding of the Nazi Party in 1919. Originally it was applied to the specialized assault troops of Imperial Germany in World War I who used infiltration tactics based on being organized into small squads of
17018-488: Was hidden by his brother and a network of friends until he slipped out of Germany disguised in blue spectacles and a false beard and fake Finnish passport , settling in a Swedish admirer's country home until the Swedish government asked him to leave in February 1919. Within seven months, he wrote two volumes of detailed memoirs. Friends, led by Breucker, provided him with documents and negotiated with publishers. Groener (who
17152-479: Was in Kaunas . The Germans occupied present-day Lithuania, western Latvia, and north eastern Poland, an area almost the size of France. Ludendorff demanded Germanization of the conquered territories and far-ranging annexations, offering land to German settlers; see Drang nach Osten . Far-reaching plans envisioned Courland and Lithuania turned into border states ruled by German military governors answerable only to
17286-610: Was promoted to General of the Infantry . Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg warned the War Cabinet: "You don't know Ludendorff, who is only great at a time of success. If things go badly he loses his nerve." Their first concern was the sizable Romanian Army , so troops sent from the Western Front checked Romanian and Russian incursions into Hungary. Then Romania was invaded from the south by German, Austro-Hungarian, Bulgarian, and Ottoman troops commanded by August von Mackensen and from
17420-454: Was running the nation as well as the war. According to Ludendorff, "the authorities ... represented me as a dictator". He would not become Chancellor because the demands for running the war were too great. The historian Frank Tipton argues that while not technically a dictator, Ludendorff was "unquestionably the most powerful man in Germany" in 1917–18. The OHL did nothing to mitigate the crisis of growing food shortages in Germany. Despite
17554-629: Was significant. The head of the Gestapo from 1933 to 1934, Rudolf Diels , reported that "70 percent" of the new SA recruits in the city of Berlin had been communists. This is evidenced further by historians, "As for the prior youth group memberships, nearly half of the SS members and nearly one-third of the instant stormtroopers were with the Free Corps, vigilantes, or militant veterans' groups during their first 25 years of life. They also came in disproportionate numbers from left-wing youth groups such as
17688-599: Was the SA-Marine , which served as an auxiliary to the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) and performed search and rescue operations as well as harbor defense. The SA also had an "army" wing, similar to the Waffen-SS , known as Feldherrnhalle . This formation expanded from regimental size in 1940 to a fully-fledged armored corps ( Panzerkorps Feldherrnhalle ) in 1945. As for units formed outside of Germany, after
17822-402: Was the scarcity of skilled workers, therefore 125,000 men were released from the armed forces and trained workers were no longer conscripted. The OHL wanted to enroll most German men and women into national service, but the Reichstag legislated that only males 17–60 were subject to "patriotic service" and refused to bind war workers to their jobs. Groener realized that they needed the support of
17956-588: Was to claim that Gregor Strasser , whom Hitler felt had betrayed him, was part of the planned conspiracy against him. With this news, Hitler ordered all the SA leaders to attend a meeting in the Hanselbauer Hotel in Bad Wiessee . On June 30, 1934, Hitler, accompanied by SS units, arrived at Bad Wiessee, where he personally placed Röhm and other high-ranking SA leaders under arrest. Over the next 48 hours, 200 other senior SA officers were arrested on
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