Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 281: The Stormtrooper (Part 1)

Sturmabteilung? The name originated from the Western Front in World War I. At that time, in order to solve the dilemma of trench warfare, the German army invented the squad infiltration tactic, and the unit that implemented this tactic was called Sturmabteilung.

If literally, they should be called "Storm Detachment". Later generations have a more fashionable translation, that is, the famous "Storm Assault."

Of course, the stormtroopers and stormtroopers in reality are completely two conceptual units. The former just borrowed the title that made the Allied soldiers panic on the Western Front.

When the stormtrooper was purged by Hitler, the SS, which was independent from the stormtrooper, followed the stormtrooper organization, so the basic unit of the SS is still called the stormtrooper, but this has been compared with the original The stormtrooper has nothing to do with it.

When people talk about the stormtroopers, they will always be associated with the chaotic and **** days before and after the Nazis came to power. The brown linen uniform witnessed the miraculous rise of the National Socialist Workers Party. It is difficult to tell the relationship between this party and the stormtrooper in the early days of the Nazi Party. Some people would say that the Nazi party made the stormtrooper. However, some people think that if the relationship between them is reversed, it looks more reasonable. .

The stormtroopers were born out of the "Liberty Corps" that was rampant in Germany after the First World War. After the defeat, the Second Empire fell into a period of total depression. The war had destroyed the German economy, and the harsh Versailles peace treaty made it worse. All kinds of thoughts in the society are on the ups and downs, and ordinary civilians at the bottom are at a loss as to how to choose the future direction.

The veterans left over from the war have difficulty finding suitable jobs due to lack of work skills, and most of them have been honed in the battlefield into killing machines, and they are completely unable to adapt to ordinary social life. So with the support and organization of some caring people, a series of "Freedom Corps" were born all over Germany, recruiting all veterans and soldiers who were dissatisfied with the outcome of the defeat, and the target of the Legion’s attack was the left-wing parties that were extremely active in Germany at that time. And Jews.

At that time, the left-wing parties and workers' organizations in Germany tried to replicate a Soviet-style revolution in Germany and completely change the German government. So they organized a series of workers' armed forces following the example of comrades in the East.

At that time, the leaders of the right-wing political parties who were dominated by mouths and guns had never thought of the operation of the proletarian iron fist. To be honest, using violence to spread their thoughts and strike down on their political opponents, the left wing is indeed more adept in this regard.

So in 1919, the "Spartacus Alliance" led by the Left-wing Independent Socialist Party and the Communist Party of Germany launched the famous "January Uprising" in German history, and half a million unemployed workers poured into Berlin , The protest march quickly evolved into a communist revolution, and the workers’ armed forces took only half a day to occupy the city of Berlin in one fell swoop.

Just when everyone thought that Germany would become the second Soviet Union, the uprising was quickly suppressed, and the new Bavarian Soviet Republic disappeared, and it only existed for a week.

There are many reasons for the failure of the uprising, such as the struggle for power within the "Spartacus League", the ideological dispute between the armed revolutionaries and the peaceful reformers, etc. The biggest reason for failure comes from the outside, that is, support. The army of the Weimar Republic and the "Liberty Corps" coming from all over.

Among them is a militia unit called the "Bavarian Freedom Army of the Eastern Frontier" or the "Epp Freedom Army". It was very active in suppressing the Berlin uprising. In this force there is a 30-year-old born in Munich. The former army captain at the age of two was named Ernst Julius Gunter Rom.

If you simply count seniority, Roma spent more time in the Nazi party than Hitler, because when he joined the party, this party was also called the "German Workers' Party."

What Hitler fancy was Roma’s political toughness and the armed forces in his hands, and Roma wanted a leader who could achieve his political ideals. Of course, it would be better if he could still meet his economic needs. .

That period was the honeymoon period between Hitler and the stormtroopers. Roma and Hitler hit it off and began to fight for the rise of the Nazi Party. The ruthless group of veterans under Roma likes to physically eliminate enemies or potential opponents of the Nazi Party. According to them, they rely on chair legs and wine bottles to conduct political debates.

At that time, there were many murders in various parts of Germany, most of which were related to the stormtroopers. At this time, the composition of the stormtrooper has changed. A large number of rural land-lost farmers and unemployed gangsters have joined the group. The former did not know the severity of the action, while the latter knew how to eliminate the evidence because of the perennial dealing with the police system. .

The Nazi Party is relying on the most primitive violence and deceptive propaganda, and gradually emerged from the party chaos in Germany. With the rise of the Nazis, the size of the stormtroopers has also expanded rapidly, and the country has reached its peak. The number of stormtroopers exceeded three million, thirty times that of the German Wehrmacht, which had a total force of 100,000.

When the Nazis took control of the German power, Hitler no longer needed to go to the streets to fight with rival parties. He had more means to concoct his opponents. At this time, Hitler needed to establish a healthy and upward image among the Germans. Therefore, he must change the style of the stormtroopers and move closer to the Germanic order and tradition.

Hitler first withdrew a series of privileges he had handed over to the stormtrooper. Hitler wanted to incorporate the stormtrooper into a part of the German national machinery, positioning it as an auxiliary department of the police system.

This is obviously not the result that Roma wanted to see, and the rapidly expanding organization of the stormtrooper team also gave him blind confidence. He even began planning to replace the "corrupted" team with his stormtrooper. German Wehrmacht.

Rome has always been very self-esteem, and in his heart he doesn't really value Hitler, a former army corporal, so every time two people's ideas conflict, he never takes the latter's face into consideration. Roma began to declare to the public that he was ready to launch a second revolution, fulfilling the agreement to the German people in the 25th Article of the Nazi Party’s platform. He demanded that the capital of large companies and large trusts be nationalized and the wealth of those capitalists Share profits to every German citizen.

In fact, everyone with a discerning eye understands that Roma’s target was actually Hitler, because the other party had reached a compromise with the capital forces in Germany. Once the second revolution that Roma said began, if Hitler expressed opposition, he would definitely Lost the support of the people.

Roma's arrogant provocation finally ran out of Hitler's patience. After clearly receiving the support of the army and capital forces, he decisively started the "Night of the Long Knives". The main force responsible for this **** purge was the new force he deliberately fostered against the stormtroopers, only loyal to his personal SS.

After the Night of the Long Knives, the SS quickly replaced the role of the stormtrooper and became the sharpest blade of the Nazi Party. The stormtroopers were hit hard in this infighting. At least 2,000 high- and middle-level commanders across the country were arrested. Except for the more than 200 people who were executed at that time, the rest were also killed in various places. In the concentration camp.

Since that purge, the stormtroopers completely withdrew from the political front in Germany and completely reduced to the kind of auxiliary unit in Hitler's plan. But after all, the stormtrooper has existed in Germany for more than ten years, and Hitler could not erase the influence of this group among the people, let alone ban it. He can only minimize the social activities of the stormtroopers and no longer organize flag parades on the streets in two days.

At the same time, he also incorporated a large number of the backbone of the stormtrooper ~IndoMTL.com~ into the expanding German Wehrmacht. This trick is quite effective. Without these activists, the stormtrooper quickly lost its original vitality. , The number is rapidly reduced to a controllable level, and most of them are old and weak whose age or physical condition does not meet the service standards.

Nowadays, the stormtrooper veteran with a big belly riding a bicycle on the street, or a rookie with a childish face and a scarf with the Hitler Youth League, gradually replaced the heroic image of the stormtrooper holding the party flag high in the early Nazi propaganda. By 1940, the stormtroopers could only be responsible for some security patrols and preparations for recruiting training tasks, and no longer the old view of howling the streets.

"Salute to the head of state! Hi! Reinhardt!" Under the leadership of the first-level captain of the stormtrooper, the new generation of stormtroopers resolutely declared their loyalty to the new generation of empire heads.

The head of state stood high on the table, looking down at the group of young faces, raised his hand and turned his wrists. "Hi..."

PS: Thank you for your support, the author will continue to work hard.

There will be class tomorrow, we will pause for one day, and continue the day after tomorrow. I hope everyone will understand.