The German Civil War
In 1932 Paul von Hindenburg had narrowly defeated Adolf Hitler. He was now under considerable pressure to appoint Hitler Germany’s Chancellor. But in January 1933 he received a poignant piece of advice from his old friend and colleague from the Great War, Erich Ludendorff:
‘’By appointing Hitler Chancellor of the Reich, you will have handed over our sacred German Fatherland to one of the greatest demagogues of all time. I prophesy to you this evil man will plunge our Reich into the abyss and will inflict immeasurable woe on our nation. Future generations will curse you in your grave for this action.’’
Hindenburg knew that denying the Nazis power would likely lead to bloodshed within Germany. The SA, the Nazi Party’s paramilitary force was more than five times larger than the German army (limited to 100,000 by Versailles) and would likely be used to seize power if Hindenburg denied them position after the election. Hindenburg replied to his friend by asking that he return from retirement to lead Germany’s armies and protect the Republic from any enemy. Ludendorff’s accepting of the agreement was followed by the appointing of Otto Meissner as Chancellor. This caused great furry throughout Germany as large protests were organized by Nazi supporters and an emergency meeting of all SA members was called in Munich. In response Hindenbrug ordered the mobilization of the Reichswehr.
Some time passed and it seemed tension was receding but on March 5th 1933 Hitler launched the second Munich putsch. SA forces took control of all military controlled areas in Bavaria and large portions of the Reichswehr (lead by General Schoner) in Bavaria defected to the newly formed Nazi government. The Nazi forced then launched a two pronged attack; Ernst Rohm, head of the SA, led a massive force of approximately 150,000 heavily armed Brown shirts (a force one and a half times the size of the entire Riechswehr) in an offensive against the Saar. Schoner would lead a slightly weaker army in a large push North East towards Leipzig, Dresden and Berlin. Nazi military planners believed that the success of the attacks would force Hindenburg to surrender and allow Hitler to take control of all Germany. Elsewhere in Germany opportunists took their chance to try and break from Germany as Polish nationalists rose up in Silesia and East Prussia, whilst Communist began major revolts in the Northern cities of Hamburg and Bremen.
- Black line – extent of initial Nazi territory
- Red dots – Major Communist Uprisings
- Yellow Slashes – Polish Nationalist Uprisings
- Black Arrows – Nazi Offensives
In the face of Rohm advance into the Saar the Riechswehr was given special permission to send forces into the previously De-militarised zone in order to protect It from the Nazis. Ludendorff was scrambled to protect the area given an army of 33,000 men. Ludendorff’s army would halt Rohm’s advance at Kaiserslautern. Rohm would commit more and more troops into the battle for the city but with superior firepower Ludendorff was able to prevent the Nazi army from taking the city. Meanwhile in the East Schoner’s advance was much more successful as he defeated al Riechswehr forces in his path claiming Leipzig with only minimal casualties. Fearing for his safety in Berlin Hindenburg ordered the demolition of dozens of bridges along the Elbe and the tactic worked as Schoner was unable to cross the river and forced to halt his advance. Elsewhere the Communist rebellions were ruthlessly crushed and hundreds of rioters were shot. The Silesian rebellions were put down with minimal fuss but the garrison troops in East Prussia were pushed to the capital Koenigsberg. Unable to send any major force Hindenburg ordered the Kriegsmarine to send all spare sailors to Koenigsberg to hold the city.
After the failure of the Nazi offensive to topple Hindenburg’s government a series of trenches were set up across central Germany, through the Autumn and Winter of 1933 Ludendorff’s army slowly pushed Rohm’s army back towards the Rhine, Rohm’s failed offensive had cost 80,000 casualties and most of the Nazi army’s heavy equipment, now Hitler’s war machine was only kept going by the massive amounts of military supplies flowing across Austria from Mussolini’s Italy.
Fearing a repeat of the horrors of the Great War Reichswehr Generals were desperate to find a method of ending the current war of attrition. And in January 1934 Heinz Gudeiran and Erich von Manstein presented a plan to Hindenburg. Using large groups of motorized divisions and the entire Panzer force of the Reichswehr an army would break through the Nazi lines at a weak point just south of Frankfurt. The arm would then split one force (under General Rundtedt) racing southward towards Munich and another army (led by Von Manstein) with the entire Panzer force would move eastwards to capture Nuremberg and all supply lines to Schoner’s army based in Leipzig ad all the smaller army groups along the river Maine. Shortly after the breakthrough south of Frankfurt Ludendorff’s army would cross the Rhine, overwhelm Rohm’s army, forcing it to surrender before continuing on to take Stuttgart. With the bulk of the Nazi army cut off north of Von Manstein’s advance German forces would launch attacks all over the front and cause a mass capitulation on an epic scale. If the plan succeeded the Nazi revolution would be crushed forever.
- Black line – Front line
- Teal arrows – Actual Riechswehr advance
- Yellow slashes – Dissenting Polish regions
Hindenburg approved of the attack and the assault would be launched on May 1st. The success pf the new ‘Blitzkrieg’ tactic as it was being called was outstanding. By the end of June 300,000 Nazi troops had surrendered and all that was left in their control was a small area in South Eastern Bavaria. However they still held Munich and the new defensive line, named the Himmler Line after, the man who had overseen its hasty construction was seen as almost impenetrable. But now seeking a scapegoat for the great military failures of the Nazi army Adolf Hitler sent an army of Brown shirts into Munich to arrest enemies of the state. After they were met by rioting civilians the Brown shirts began firing on crowds, raiding homes and burning buildings. After two weeks of pillaging in the last major city in Nazi hands 15,000 civilians had been killed and thousands more were badly injured and homeless. This event was known as the Munich massacre and turned public opinion completely against Hitler in Germany and Mussolini in Italy who supplied the Nazi war machine. Military support to the Nazis from Italy was soon cut as Mussolini struggled to contain a rebellion within his own nation.
The now quickly expanding Luftwaffe had never been used for a really large scale operation in the war but Hindenburg had decided that trying to break through the Himmler line would be a pointless waste of life and ordered that the remnants of the Nazi state be destroyed through a great bombing campaign. After enduring months of destruction Adolf Hitler was killed in his home in the Bavarian mountains during one of the many bombing raids in the area on the 5th of December and the remaining Nazi officials would surrender their forces just a couple of days later.
Hindenburg ordered the dismantlement of the Himmler Line and an immediate military tribunal of the surviving Nazi leaders.