Conflicts between SS & Reichswehr?
Steve McHenry
1933-1941" by Victor Klemperer.
Fascinating look into the everyday life of a German Jew as his life
got progressively worse under Nazi rule.
On pg. 108, he refers to an incident I've never heard of:
"... we hear something very different through Annemarie and Gusti
Weighardt from Swiss and English newspapers and foreign radio.
According to them SS men have been shot, there was a clash between
Reichswehr and SS in Magdeburg."
Date of the diary entry was Jan. 9, 1935.
Did the incident mentioned really happen, or was this the writing of a
man simply noting rumors in his diary?
In the early days of Nazi rule as the party consolidated power, were
there such incidents -- shootings and other clashes between the SS and
the army?
Steve
(My address is munged. Pls. remove "removethis" to respond by email.)
Jeff N
> there such incidents -- shootings and other clashes between the SS and
> the army?
There were clashes between the regular army and the SD (later known as
the SS). The SD was the Nazi Party's private "Security Force" and, as
the Nazis came into power, it was inevitable that the two would come
into conflict with one another. The SDs' leaders had designs on
becoming the only military force in Germany. Knowing that he needed
the Army's support for complete control of Germany, Hitler purged the
SD of its more militant leaders (see Night of the Long Knives) to
assure the Army that it would still have a significant place in German
society.
Jeff N
Glenn A. Steinberg
> In the early days of Nazi rule as the party consolidated power, were
> there such incidents -- shootings and other clashes between the SS and
> the army?
Most definitely. I'm not sure about the particular incident you cite from
Klemperer's diary, but there were many clashes between SS and Army.
Even after the war began, incidents and conflicts continued, even at quite
high levels, although shots weren't always fired. Colonel-General
Johannes Blaskowitz, Commander-in-Chief East, protested SS activities in
Poland in 1939-1940 (and his military career was compromised as a
result). In Ostland (the occupied Baltic states), the Army commander
(General Walter Braemer) got into an altercation with the head of the SS
in the region, and the SS leader boxed his ears right on the street in
front of a crowd of people.
HCALTMANN
changed.
The Reichswehr was the armed forces of the Weimar Republic, which ceased to
exist with the advent to power of Hitler in January 1933.
The armed forces of the Third Reich were called the Wehrmacht. They came in
four parts: Das Heer (the army), die Luftwaffe (the air force), die
Kriegsmarine (the Navy) and the Waffen-SS (the armed SS).
All four were commanded by the OKW (Oberkommano der Wehrmacht, Hitler as
Oberster Befehlshaber, or commander in chief of the armed forces). Positioned
under the OKW were the OKH (Oberkommando des Heeres), OKM (Oberkommando der
Kriegsmarine, Raeder, later Doenitz) and the Luftwaffe Oberkommando (Goering).
The Waffen-SS was administered by the SS (Himmler) but was under operational
command of the OKH or the OKW.
So, any conflicts were between the Waffen-SS and the Heer, or between the
Waffen-SS and OKW.
I hope this isn't quibbling too much -- Heinz
HCAl...@aol.com (Heinz Altmann)
"I have no desire to win, only to get things right." A.J.P. Taylor
funkraum
[...]
>Can't answer this one directly, but some time ago I read an account of
>a firefight between Allied (prob. US) and Wehrmacht soldiers on one
>side, and SS troops on the other. IIRC, it was the case of some
>regular army guards holding some high-ranking Allied prisoners in a
>castle somewhere, but the SS wanting to kill them all. Unfortunately,
>I can't remember where I read this, and it's been drving me crazy ever
>since. Any suggestions, anybody?
The lights flickered, the curtains rustled . . .
. . . Approaching slowly, Holmes leant forward over the table toward
the bolt-upright, almost catatonic funkraum and gently waved the
candle across his unseeing gaze.
"Shall I ask him another question?" asked Watson
"Yes do" replied Holmes, peering intently at the impassive visage of
the funkraum.
"On what occasion did Wehrmacht troops and American Infantry both fire
on SS grenadiers....?"
The candle flickered, a waft of air swept across the boards, vibrating
the waxed ends of funkraum's handlebar moustache and making a
whistling sound in the holes of the spike in his Picklehube, silence
fell, and then the funkraum spake:
"On the fifth of May nineteen forty-five, at Schloss Itow in the
Tyrol. Sur rendering Wehrmacht troops were fired on by the SS, who
returned fire with the American forces."
"God's eye Sir !" ejaculated Watson [ejaculation during social
intercourse was perfectly normal up until the early fifties] "What can
have possessed him ?"
"Could have been that case of Gewürztraminer and the half bottle of
schnapps we had after the cheese" surmised Holmes. "Try another."
"Right-O then." Watson turned to the funkraum, paused, then asked "How
many rivets were there in U-853 ?"
"Dammit Watson you fool ! Try something like 'Where is Bormann
hiding?' or 'Is all that gold still at the bottom of Lake Toplitz ?!'"
But it was too late - Holmes' outburst had broken the trance and the
funkraum's monocle popped from his eye as he gave a gasp and collapsed
forward into the sherry trifle bowl with a splurging plop.
Excerpt from previously unpublished
'Holmes and the Case of the Hot Marmalade Enemas'
ken...@cix.compulink.co.uk
N) wrote:
> the SD (later known as the SS).
The SD did become the SS but was not in conflict with the army. You
are thinking of the SA. Rhoem the SA leader was extremely unpopular
with the army, not only because of his comments but because he was
homosexual. The SS came into conflict with the army well after the
Night of the Long Knives. This conflict was mainly over supplies and
manpower. The expansion of the Waffen SS produced conflicts over
equipment and manpower. As a result the Waffen SS started recruiting
foreign divisions.
Ken Young
ken...@cix.co.uk
Maternity is a matter of fact
Paternity is a matter of opinion
Flosi Thorgeirsson
ken...@cix.compulink.co.uk skrev i meddelelsen
<8hvqob$1ms$1...@plutonium.compulink.co.uk>...
>In article <8hr32v$2vd$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, nutz...@my-deja.com (Jeff
>N) wrote:
>
>> the SD (later known as the SS).
The SD was part of the SS. It did not become the SS.
Flosi.