The German army, like a phoenix, rose from the ashes. Reichswehr. Heads of the Ground Forces Directorate

German armed forces in 1919-1935, limited in composition and number by the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919. They were recruited for hire (115 thousand people and a limited number of ships). In March 1935 fascist Germany abolished the restrictive military articles of the Treaty of Versailles and began to create the Wehrmacht on the basis of universal conscription.

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REICHSWEhr

German Reichswehr, from Reich - state, empire and Wehr - defense) - weapons. German forces in 1919-35, created on the basis of the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919. The law of March 6, 1919 created the temporary. R. (out of 24 brigades), and on March 23, 1921, the law on professional R. was adopted, which was recruited for hire with a service life for officers - 25 years, and non-commissioned officers and privates - 12 years. R. consisted of ground forces and navy; it was forbidden to have air Force, tanks, anti-aircraft, heavy and anti-tank. artillery, submarines, battleships with a displacement of St. 10 thousand tons and cruisers - St. 6 thousand tons, as well as Gen. headquarters in any form. The number of ground forces was limited to 100 thousand people, including 4.5 thousand officers (7 infantry and 3 cavalry divisions, 288 guns and 252 mortars). The Navy consisted of 6 old battleships, 7 light cruisers, 12 destroyers and 12 destroyers (a total of 15 thousand people with coastal defense, including 1.5 thousand officers). R. had a hidden reserve (the so-called black R.): local self-defense units (Heimwehr), soldiers' communities, veterans' unions ("Steel Helmet", "Vikings", "Scharnhorst", "Young Germany", etc.), uniting up to 3 million people. In 1926, hidden preparations began to increase the population, and in 1930-32 Plan “A” was adopted, which provided for an increase in the population to 300 thousand people by 1938. After fascism came to power and Germany left the League of Nations (October 14, 1933), this plan began to be implemented and was implemented by the fall of 1934; The formation of the Air Force began. On March 16, 1935, Germany unilaterally annulled the war. articles of the Treaty of Versailles and introduced universal conscription; The deployment of the multimillion-dollar Wehrmacht began, for which R.I.M. Glagolev was the forge of qualified personnel. Moscow.

Which should not be subject to the restrictions imposed on the Reichswehr.

Management

According to the National Defense Law, which was adopted by the Reichstag on March 23, 1921, the German armed forces ( Reichswehr) were divided into a land army ( Reichsheer) and navy ( Reichsmarine).

The law specified the size and composition of the Reichswehr in strict accordance with the articles of the Treaty of Versailles, which limited the composition of the German armed forces to a 100,000-strong land army and a small navy (universal conscription was abolished). Germany was prohibited from having General base, military aviation, submarines, large warships, tanks, anti-aircraft and heavy artillery, as well as chemical weapons.

The head of the department of the ground forces and the head of the department were formally subordinate to the Minister of the Reichswehr naval forces. However, due to the fact that the Minister of the Reichswehr was not supposed to be a military person, he limited his activities to only fulfilling his ministerial duties. The adjutant office, counterintelligence department, legal and financial departments were directly subordinate to the Minister of the Reichswehr.

In practice, the supreme military authority of commanders in relation to their branches of the armed forces was exercised by the head of the department of ground forces and the head of the department of naval forces. In matters of preparation for war and the use of military forces, they received instructions directly from the President of the Republic, whose personal advisers on these issues they were.

The Army Directorate (Heeresleitung) consisted of five directorates:

  • military command (Truppenamt) - in fact it was a disguised General Staff;
  • HR management;
  • economic management;
  • weapons department;
  • administrative management.

Structure

1st General Command (Berlin, Brandenburg, Prussia)

1st Division (Königsberg, East Prussia, Prussia)

  • 1st Prussian Infantry Regiment (Königsberg, East Prussia, Prussia)
    • 1st Battalion (Königsberg)
    • 2nd Battalion (Tilsit, Administrative District Gumbinnen, East Prussia, Prussia)
      • 5th and 8th (mortar) companies (Tilsit)
      • 6th and 7th Company (Interburg, Administrative District Gumbinnen, East Prussia, Prussia)
    • 3rd Battalion (Gumbinnen)
    • Training battalion (Königsberg)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Königsberg)
  • 2nd Prussian Infantry Regiment (Allenstein, East Prussia, Prussia)
    • 1st Jaeger Battalion (Ortelsburg, Administrative District of Allenstein, East Prussia, Prussia)
    • 2nd Battalion (Rashtenburg, Administrative District of Königsberg, East Prussia, Prussia)
    • 3rd Battalion (Lötzen, Administrative District of Allenstein, East Prussia, Prussia)
    • Training battalion (Allenstein)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Allenstein)
  • 3rd Prussian Infantry Regiment (Deutsch-Eylau, District Rosenberg, Administrative District Marienförder, West Prussia, Prussia)
    • 1st Battalion (Marienwerder, Administrative District of Marienwerder, West Prussia, Prussia)
      • 2nd and 4th companies (Marienwerder)
      • 1st and 3rd companies (Marienburg, Administrative District of Marienwerder, West Prussia, Prussia)
    • 2nd Battalion (Deutsch-Eylau)
    • 3rd Battalion (Osterode, Allenstein Administrative District, East Prussia, Prussia)
    • Training battalion (Marienburg)
    • 1st Mortar Company (Deutsch-Eylau)

2nd Division (Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia)

  • 4th Prussian Infantry Regiment (Kolberg, Administrative District of Köslin, Pomerania, Prussia)
    • 1st Battalion (Stargard, Pomerania, Prussia)
    • 2nd Battalion (Colbert, Pomerania, Prussia)
    • 3rd Battalion (Deutsch-Krone, Posen-West Prussia, Prussia)
      • 9th and 10th companies (Deutsch-Krone)
      • 11th and 12th companies (Schneidemuhl, Posen-West Prussia, Prussia)
    • Training battalion (Neustettin, Administrative District of Köslin, Pomerania, Prussia)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Kolberg)
  • 5th Prussian Infantry Regiment (Stettin, Administrative District of Stettin Pomerania, Prussia)
    • 1st Battalion (Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia)
    • 2nd Battalion (Prenzlau, Administrative District Potsdam, Brandenburg, Prussia)
      • 7th and 8th companies (Prenzlau, Administrative District Potsdam, Brandenburg, Prussia)
      • 5th and 6th companies (Angermünde, Administrative District Potsdam, Brandenburg, Prussia)
    • 3rd Battalion (Rostock, Pomerania, Prussia)
    • Training battalion (Griefswald, Administrative District of Stralsund, Pomerania, Prussia)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Stettin)
  • 6th Infantry Regiment (Lübeck)
    • 1st Mecklenburg Battalion (Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Schwerin)
    • 2nd Hanseatic Battalion (Lübeck)
      • 6th and 7th companies (Oitin)
    • 3rd Prussian Battalion (Flensburg, Prussia)
    • Prussian training battalion (Ratzeburg, Mecklenburg-Sterlitz)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Ratzeburg)
  • 2nd Prussian Engineer Battalion
  • 2nd Prussian Artillery Regiment
  • 2nd Prussian Transport Division
  • 2nd Prussian Intelligence Division
  • 2nd Prussian Automotive Division
  • 2nd Prussian Sanitary Department

2nd Cavalry Division (Breslau, Lower Silesia, Prussia)

  • 7th Prussian Reiter Regiment (Breslau)
  • 8th Prussian Reiter Regiment (Els)
  • 9th Prussian Reiter Regiment (Fürstenfalde)
  • 10th Prussian Reiter Regiment (Züllichau)
  • 11th Prussian Reiter Regiment (Neustadt)
  • 12th Saxon Reiter Regiment (Dresden)

3rd Division (Berlin, Brandenburg, Prussia)

  • 7th Prussian Infantry Regiment (Schweidnitz, Breslau Region, Lower Silesia, Prussia)
    • 1st Battalion (Brig, Breslau Region, Silesia, Prussia)
      • 1st and 2nd companies (Brig)
      • 3rd and 4th companies (Neisse, Administrative District Oppeln, Silesia, Prussia)
    • 2nd Jaeger Battalion (Hirschberg, Administrative District of Liegnitz, Silesia, Prussia)
      • 7th and 8th companies (Hirschberg)
      • 5th and 6th companies (Glatz, Administrative District of Breslau, Silesia, Prussia)
    • 3rd Battalion (Breslau)
    • Training battalion (Schweidnitz)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Glacz)
  • 8th Prussian Infantry Regiment (Frankfurt an der Oder, Brandenburg, Prussia)
    • 1st Battalion (Frankfurt an der Oder)
    • 2nd Battalion (Liegnitz, Administrative District of Liegnitz, Silesia, Prussia)
      • 7th and 8th companies (Liegnitz)
      • 5th and 6th companies (Glogau, Administrative District of Liegnitz, Silesia, Prussia)
    • 3rd Battalion (Görlitz, Liegnitz, Silesia, Prussia)
    • Training Battalion (Lübben, Administrative District Frankfurt, Brandenburg, Prussia)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Frankfurt an der Oder)
  • 9th Prussian Infantry Regiment (Potsdam, Brandenburg, Prussia)
    • 1st Battalion (Potsdam)
    • 2nd Battalion (Potsdam)
    • 3rd Battalion (Potsdam)
  • 3rd Prussian Engineer Battalion
  • 3rd Prussian Artillery Regiment
  • 3rd Prussian Transport Regiment
  • 3rd Prussian Intelligence Section
  • 3rd Prussian Automotive Division
  • 3rd Prussian Sanitary Department

1st Cavalry Division (Frankfurt an der Oder, Brandenburg, Prussia

  • 1st Prussian Reiter Regiment (Tilsit)
  • 2nd Prussian Reiter Regiment (Osterrode)
  • 3rd Prussian Reiter Regiment (Ratenow)
  • 4th Prussian Reiter Regiment (Potsdam)
  • 5th Prussian Reiter Regiment (Stolp)
  • 6th Prussian Reiter Regiment (Pasewalk)
    • 1st Squadron (Pasewalk)
    • 2nd Squadron (Schwedt an der Oder)
    • 3rd Squadron (Demmin)
    • 4th Squadron (Schwedt an der Oder)
    • Training squadron (Pasewalk)
    • 6th Squadron (Demmin, Administrative District of Stettin, Pomerania)

4th Division (Dresden, Saxony)

  • 10th Saxon Infantry Regiment (Dresden, District Dresden Saxony)
    • 1st Jäger Battalion (Dresden)
    • 2nd Battalion (Bautzen, District Baudzen, Saxony)
    • 3rd Battalion (Dresden)
    • Training battalion (Löbau, District Bautzen, Saxony)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Dresden)
  • 11th Saxon Infantry Regiment (Leipzig, District Leipzig, Saxony)
    • 1st Battalion (Freiberg, District Dresden, Saxony)
    • 2nd Battalion (Leipzig, District Leipzig, Saxony)
    • 3rd Battalion (Leipzig)
    • Training battalion (Döbeln, District Leipzig, Saxony)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Leipzig)
  • 12th Infantry Regiment (Halberstadt, Magdeburg, Saxony, Prussia)
    • 1st Battalion (Dessau, Anhalt)
      • 1st and 4th companies (Dessau)
      • 6th and 7th companies (Zerbst, Anhalt)
    • 2nd Battalion (Quedlinburg, Administrative District Magdeburg, Saxony, Prussia)
    • 3rd Battalion (Magdeburg, Administrative District Magdeburg, Saxony, Prussia)
    • Prussian Training Battalion (Halberstadt, Administrative District Magdeburg, Saxony, Prussia)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Halberstadt)
  • 4th Prussian Engineer Battalion
  • 4th Artillery Regiment
  • 4th Transport Regiment
  • 4th Saxon Intelligence Section
  • 4th Automotive Division
  • 4th Saxon Sanitary Department

2nd General Command (Kassel, Hesse-Nassau, Prussia)

3rd Cavalry Division (Weimar, Thuringia)

  • 13th Prussian Reiter Regiment (Hannover)
  • 14th Reitar Regiment (Ludwigslust)
  • 15th Prussian Reiter Regiment (Padeborn)
    • 1st Squadron (Padeborn)
    • 2nd Squadron (Padeborn)
    • 3rd Squadron (Munster)
    • 4th Squadron (Munster)
    • Training squadron (Padeborn)
    • 6th Squadron (Munster)
  • 16th Reitar Regiment (Erfurt)
  • 17th Bavarian Reiter Regiment (Bamberg)
    • 1st Squadron (Bamber)
    • 2nd Squadron (Munich)
    • 3rd Squadron (Straubing)
    • 4th Squadron (Straubing)
    • Training squadron (Bamberg)
    • 6th Squadron (Munich)
  • 18th Reiter Regiment (Stuttgart-Cannstatt)

5th Division (Stuttgart, Württemberg)

  • 13th Württemberg Infantry Regiment (Ludwigsburg, Württemberg)
    • 1st Battalion (Ulm, Region Danube, Württemberg)
    • 2nd Battalion (Canstatt, District Neckar, Württemberg)
    • 3rd Battalion (Ludwigsburg, District Neckar, Württemberg)
    • Training battalion (Gmünd, District Jagst, Württemberg)
    • 13th Company (Ludwigsburg)
  • 14th Baden Infantry Regiment (Konstanz, Baden)
    • 1st Battalion (Konstanz, Land Commissioner District Konstanz, Baden)
    • 2nd Battalion (Tübingen, Black Forest Region, Württemberg)
    • 3rd Battalion (Meiningen, Thuringia)
    • Training battalion (Donaueschingen, Land Commissioner District, Baden)
      • 13, 14, 15 company (Donaueschingen)
      • 16th company (Filingen, Land Commissioner District, Baden)
  • 15th Infantry Regiment (Giessen, Upper Hesse, Hesse)
    • 1st Hessian Battalion (Giessen)
    • 2nd Thuringian Battalion (Eisenach, Eisenach Region, Thuringia)
      • 7th and 8th companies (Eisenach)
      • 5th and 6th companies (Weimar, Administrative Region Weimar, Thuringia)
    • 3rd Prussian Battalion (Kassel, Administrative District of Kassel, Hesse-Nassau, Prussia)
    • Hessian Training Battalion (Marburg, Kassel Administrative District, Hesse-Nassau, Prussia)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Kassel)
  • 5th Engineer Battalion
  • 5th Artillery Regiment
  • 5th Transport Regiment (Ludwigsburg)
  • 5th Automotive Division (Bad Cannstatt)
  • 5th Sanitary Division (Stuttgart)

6th Division (Münster, Westphalia, Prussia)

  • 16th Infantry Regiment (Oldenburg, Oldenburg)
    • 1st Hanseatic Battalion (Bremen)
    • 2nd Prussian Battalion (Hannover, Administrative District of Hanover, Hanover, Prussia)
    • 3rd Oldenburg Battalion (Oldenburg, Oldenburg)
    • Prussian Training Battalion (Osnabrück, Administrative District of Osnabrück, Hanover, Prussia)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Oldenburg)
  • 17th Infantry Regiment (Brunswick, Braunschweig)
    • 1st Brunswick Battalion (Brunswick, Braunschweig)
    • 2nd Prussian Battalion (Göttingen, Hildesheim, Hannover)
    • 3rd Prussian (Jäger) Battalion (Goslar, Administrative District of Hildesheim, Hannover)
    • Prussian Training Battalion (Celle, Hannover)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Brunschweig)
  • 18th Infantry Regiment (Paderborn, Administrative District Minden, Westphalia, Prussia)
    • 1st Prussian Battalion (Paderborn)
    • 2nd Prussian Battalion (Münster, Administrative District of Münster, Westphalia, Prussia)
    • 3rd Battalion (Buckeburg, Schaumburg-Lippe)
    • Lippe Training Battalion (Detmold, Lippe)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Paderborn)
  • 6th Prussian Engineer Battalion
  • 6th Prussian Artillery Regiment
  • 6th Prussian Transport Division
  • 6th Prussian Intelligence Section
  • 6th Prussian Automobile Division
  • 6th Prussian Sanitary Department

7th Division (Munich, Upper Bavaria, Bavaria)

  • 19th Bavarian Infantry Regiment (Munich, Upper Bavaria, Bavaria)
    • 1st Battalion (Munich)
    • 2nd Battalion (Augsburg, Region Swabia and Neuburg, Bavaria)
    • 3rd Battalion (Kempten, Region Swabia and Neuburg, Bavaria)
    • Training battalion (Landshut, Region Lower Bavaria, Bavaria)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Munich)
  • 20th Bavarian Infantry Regiment (Regensburg, Upper Palatinate, Bavaria)
    • 1st Battalion (Regensburg)
    • 2nd Battalion (Ingolstadt, Region Upper Bavaria, Bavaria)
    • 3rd Battalion (Passau, Region Lower Bavaria, Bavaria)
    • Training battalion (Amberg, Region Upper Palatinate and Regensburg)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Regensburg)
  • 21st Bavarian Infantry Regiment (Nuremberg, Middle Franconia, Bavaria)
    • 1st Battalion (Würzburg, Region Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg, Bavaria)
    • 2nd Battalion (Nuremberg, Region Middle Franconia, Bavaria)
    • 3rd Battalion (Bayreuth, Upper Franconia Region, Bavaria)
    • Training battalion (Erlangen, Region Middle Francia, Bavaria)
    • 13th Mortar Company (Fürth, Region Middle Franconia, Bavaria)
  • 7th Bavarian Engineer Battalion
  • 7th Bavarian Artillery Regiment
  • 7th Bavarian Transport Department
  • 7th Bavarian Intelligence Section
  • 7th Bavarian Automotive Department
  • 7th Bavarian Sanitary Department

Ranks

  • Field Marshal General
  • Colonel General
  • General of the military branch
  • Lieutenant General
  • Major General
  • Colonel
  • Lieutenant colonel
  • Major
  • Captain
  • Senior Lieutenant
  • Lieutenant
  • Ober-Fenrich (cadet awaiting promotion to officer rank)
  • Fenrich (rank of final year military school cadet)
  • Fanen-junker (rank of military school cadet)
  • Staff sergeant major
  • Chief Sergeant Major
  • Sergeant Major
  • Non-commissioned sergeant major
  • Non-commissioned officer
  • Staff corporal
  • Chief Corporal
  • Corporal
  • Senior shooter, senior huntsman, senior reitar, senior gunner, senior pioneer, senior soldier, senior rider, senior driver
  • Shooter, huntsman, grenadier, reiter, gunner, pioneer, orderly soldier, sled driver, driver

Managers

Reichswehr ministers

  • Noske, Gustav (1919-1920)
  • Gessler, Otto (1920-1928)
  • Groener, Wilhelm (1928-1932)
  • Schleicher, Kurt von (1932-1933)
  • Blomberg, Werner von (1933-1935)

Heads of the Ground Forces Directorate

  • Sect, Hans von (1920-1926)
  • Schleicher, Kurt von (1926-1929)
  • Hammerstein-Acward, Kurt von (1930-1934)
  • Fritsch, Werner von (1934-1935)

Heads of military command

  • Sect, Hans von (1919-1920)
  • Heye, August Wilhelm (1920-1923)
  • Hasse, Otto (1923-1925)
  • Wetzel, Georg (1925-1926)
  • Blomberg, Werner von (1927-1929)
  • Hammerstein-Acward, Kurt von (1929-1930)
  • Adam, Wilhelm (1930-1933)
  • Beck, Ludwig (1933-1935)

see also

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Links

Literature

  • Corum J.S.. Website “Military Literature” (militera.lib.ru) (2007). Retrieved November 5, 2009. .

Notes

Excerpt characterizing the Reichswehr

In the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon did not shoot at anyone and did not kill anyone. The soldiers did all this. Therefore, it was not he who killed people.
The soldiers of the French army went to kill Russian soldiers in the Battle of Borodino not as a result of Napoleon’s orders, but of their own free will. The entire army: the French, Italians, Germans, Poles - hungry, ragged and exhausted from the campaign - in view of the army blocking Moscow from them, they felt that le vin est tire et qu"il faut le boire. [the wine is uncorked and it is necessary to drink it .] If Napoleon had now forbidden them to fight the Russians, they would have killed him and gone to fight the Russians, because they needed it.
When they listened to the order of Napoleon, who presented them with the words of posterity for their injuries and death as a consolation that they too had been in the battle of Moscow, they shouted “Vive l" Empereur!” just as they shouted “Vive l"Empereur!” at the sight of an image of a boy piercing the globe with a bilboke stick; just as they would shout “Vive l"Empereur!” with any nonsense that would be told to them, they had no choice but to shout “Vive l" Empereur!” and go fight to find food and rest for the victors in Moscow. Therefore, it was not as a result of Napoleon’s orders that they killed their own kind.
And it was not Napoleon who controlled the course of the battle, because nothing was carried out from his disposition and during the battle he did not know about what was happening in front of him. Therefore, the way in which these people killed each other did not happen at the will of Napoleon, but happened independently of him, at the will of hundreds of thousands of people who participated in the common cause. It only seemed to Napoleon that the whole thing was happening according to his will. And therefore the question of whether or not Napoleon had a runny nose is of no greater interest to history than the question of the runny nose of the last Furshtat soldier.
Moreover, on August 26, Napoleon’s runny nose did not matter, since the testimony of writers that, due to Napoleon’s runny nose, his disposition and orders during the battle were not as good as before are completely unfair.
The disposition written out here was not at all worse, and even better, than all previous dispositions by which battles were won. The imaginary orders during the battle were also no worse than before, but exactly the same as always. But these dispositions and orders seem only worse than the previous ones because battle of Borodino was the first that Napoleon did not win. All the most beautiful and thoughtful dispositions and orders seem very bad, and every military scientist criticizes them with a significant air when the battle is not won, and the very bad dispositions and orders seem very good, and serious people prove the merits of bad orders in entire volumes, when the battle is won against them.
The disposition compiled by Weyrother at the Battle of Austerlitz was an example of perfection in works of this kind, but it was still condemned, condemned for its perfection, for too much detail.
Napoleon in the Battle of Borodino performed his job as a representative of power just as well, and even better, than in other battles. He did nothing harmful to the progress of the battle; he leaned toward more prudent opinions; he did not confuse, did not contradict himself, did not get scared and did not run away from the battlefield, but with his great tact and war experience, he calmly and with dignity fulfilled his role as an apparent commander.

Returning from a second anxious trip along the line, Napoleon said:
– The chess has been set, the game will start tomorrow.
Ordering some punch to be served and calling Bosset, he began a conversation with him about Paris, about some changes that he intended to make in the maison de l'imperatrice [in the court staff of the Empress], surprising the prefect with his memorability for all the small details of court relations.
He was interested in trifles, joked about Bosse's love of travel and chatted casually in the way a famous, confident and knowledgeable operator does, while he rolls up his sleeves and puts on an apron and the patient is tied to a bed: “The matter is all in my hands.” and in my head, clearly and definitely. When it’s time to get down to business, I’ll do it like no one else, and now I can joke, and the more I joke and am calm, the more you should be confident, calm and surprised at my genius.”
Having finished his second glass of punch, Napoleon went to rest before the serious business that, as it seemed to him, lay ahead of him the next day.
He was so interested in this task ahead of him that he could not sleep and, despite the runny nose that had worsened from the evening dampness, at three o'clock in the morning, blowing his nose loudly, he went out into the large compartment of the tent. He asked if the Russians had left? He was told that the enemy fires were still in the same places. He nodded his head approvingly.
The adjutant on duty entered the tent.
“Eh bien, Rapp, croyez vous, que nous ferons do bonnes affaires aujourd"hui? [Well, Rapp, what do you think: will our affairs be good today?] - he turned to him.
“Sans aucun doute, sire, [Without any doubt, sir,” answered Rapp.
Napoleon looked at him.
“Vous rappelez vous, Sire, ce que vous m"avez fait l"honneur de dire a Smolensk,” said Rapp, “le vin est tire, il faut le boire.” [Do you remember, sir, those words that you deigned to say to me in Smolensk, the wine is uncorked, I must drink it.]
Napoleon frowned and sat silently for a long time, his head resting on his hand.
“Cette pauvre armee,” he said suddenly, “elle a bien diminue depuis Smolensk.” La fortune est une franche courtisane, Rapp; je le disais toujours, et je commence a l "eprouver. Mais la garde, Rapp, la garde est intacte? [Poor army! It has greatly diminished since Smolensk. Fortune is a real harlot, Rapp. I have always said this and am beginning to experience it. But the guard, Rapp, are the guards intact?] – he said questioningly.
“Oui, Sire, [Yes, sir.],” answered Rapp.
Napoleon took the lozenge, put it in his mouth and looked at his watch. He didn’t want to sleep; morning was still far away; and in order to kill time, no orders could be made anymore, because everything had been done and was now being carried out.
– A t on distribue les biscuits et le riz aux regiments de la garde? [Did they distribute crackers and rice to the guards?] - Napoleon asked sternly.
– Oui, Sire. [Yes, sir.]
– Mais le riz? [But rice?]
Rapp replied that he had conveyed the sovereign’s orders about rice, but Napoleon shook his head with displeasure, as if he did not believe that his order would be carried out. The servant came in with punch. Napoleon ordered another glass to be brought to Rapp and silently took sips from his own.
“I have neither taste nor smell,” he said, sniffing the glass. “I’m tired of this runny nose.” They talk about medicine. What kind of medicine is there when they cannot cure a runny nose? Corvisar gave me these lozenges, but they don't help. What can they treat? It cannot be treated. Notre corps est une machine a vivre. Il est organise pour cela, c"est sa nature; laissez y la vie a son aise, qu"elle s"y defende elle meme: elle fera plus que si vous la paralysiez en l"encombrant de remedes. Notre corps est comme une montre parfaite qui doit aller un certain temps; l"horloger n"a pas la faculte de l"ouvrir, il ne peut la manier qu"a tatons et les yeux bandes. Notre corps est une machine a vivre, voila tout. [Our body is a machine for life. This is what it is designed for. Leave the life in him alone, let her defend herself, she will do more on her own than when you interfere with her with medications. Our body is like a clock that must run for a certain time; The watchmaker cannot open them and can only operate them by touch and blindfolded. Our body is a machine for life. That's all.] - And as if having embarked on the path of definitions, definitions that Napoleon loved, he suddenly made a new definition. – Do you know, Rapp, what the art of war is? - he asked. – The art of being stronger than the enemy at a certain moment. Voila tout. [That's all.]
Rapp said nothing.
– Demainnous allons avoir affaire a Koutouzoff! [Tomorrow we will deal with Kutuzov!] - said Napoleon. - Let's see! Remember, at Braunau he commanded the army and not once in three weeks did he mount a horse to inspect the fortifications. Let's see!
He looked at his watch. It was still only four o'clock. I didn’t want to sleep, I had finished the punch, and there was still nothing to do. He got up, walked back and forth, put on a warm frock coat and hat and left the tent. The night was dark and damp; a barely audible dampness fell from above. The fires did not burn brightly nearby, in the French guard, and glittered far through the smoke along the Russian line. Everywhere it was quiet, and the rustling and trampling of the French troops, which had already begun to move to occupy a position, could clearly be heard.
Napoleon walked in front of the tent, looked at the lights, listened to the stomping and, passing by a tall guardsman in a shaggy hat, who stood sentry at his tent and, like a black pillar, stretched out when the emperor appeared, stopped opposite him.
- Since what year have you been in the service? - he asked with that usual affectation of rough and gentle belligerence with which he always treated the soldiers. The soldier answered him.
- Ah! un des vieux! [A! of the old people!] Did you receive rice for the regiment?
- We got it, Your Majesty.
Napoleon nodded his head and walked away from him.

At half past five Napoleon rode on horseback to the village of Shevardin.
It was beginning to get light, the sky cleared, only one cloud lay in the east. Abandoned fires burned out in the weak morning light.
A thick, lonely cannon shot rang out to the right, rushed past and froze in the midst of general silence. Several minutes passed. A second, third shot rang out, the air began to vibrate; the fourth and fifth sounded close and solemnly somewhere to the right.
The first shots had not yet sounded when others were heard, again and again, merging and interrupting one another.
Napoleon rode up with his retinue to the Shevardinsky redoubt and dismounted from his horse. The game has begun.

Returning from Prince Andrei to Gorki, Pierre, having ordered the horseman to prepare the horses and wake him up early in the morning, immediately fell asleep behind the partition, in the corner that Boris had given him.
When Pierre fully woke up the next morning, there was no one in the hut. Glass rattled in the small windows. The bereitor stood pushing him away.
“Your Excellency, your Excellency, your Excellency...” the bereitor said stubbornly, without looking at Pierre and, apparently, having lost hope of waking him up, swinging him by the shoulder.
- What? Began? Is it time? - Pierre spoke, waking up.
“If you please hear the firing,” said the bereitor, a retired soldier, “all the gentlemen have already left, the most illustrious ones themselves have passed a long time ago.”
Pierre quickly got dressed and ran out onto the porch. It was clear, fresh, dewy and cheerful outside. The sun, having just broken out from behind the cloud that was obscuring it, splashed half-broken rays through the roofs of the opposite street, onto the dew-covered dust of the road, onto the walls of the houses, onto the windows of the fence and onto Pierre’s horses standing at the hut. The roar of the guns could be heard more clearly in the yard. An adjutant with a Cossack trotted down the street.
- It's time, Count, it's time! - shouted the adjutant.
Having ordered his horse to be led, Pierre walked down the street to the mound from which he had looked at the battlefield yesterday. On this mound there was a crowd of military men, and the French conversation of the staff could be heard, and the gray head of Kutuzov could be seen with his white cap with a red band and the gray back of his head, sunk into his shoulders. Kutuzov looked through the pipe ahead along the main road.
Entering the entrance steps to the mound, Pierre looked ahead of him and froze in admiration at the beauty of the spectacle. It was the same panorama that he had admired yesterday from this mound; but now this entire area was covered with troops and the smoke of gunfire, and the slanting rays of the bright sun, rising from behind, to the left of Pierre, threw upon it in the clear morning air a piercing light with a golden and pink tint and dark, long shadows. The distant forests, completing the panorama, as if carved from some precious yellow-green stone, were visible with their curved line of peaks on the horizon, and between them, behind Valuev, a large Smolensk road, all covered with troops. Golden fields and copses glittered closer. Troops were visible everywhere - in front, right and left. It was all lively, majestic and unexpected; but what struck Pierre most of all was the view of the battlefield itself, Borodino and the ravine above Kolocheya on both sides of it.
Above Kolocha, in Borodino and on both sides of it, especially to the left, where in the marshy banks Voina flows into Kolocha, there was that fog that melts, blurs and shines through when the bright sun comes out and magically colors and outlines everything visible through it. This fog was joined by the smoke of shots, and through this fog and smoke the lightning of the morning light flashed everywhere - now on the water, now on the dew, now on the bayonets of the troops crowded along the banks and in Borodino. Through this fog one could see a white church, here and there the roofs of Borodin's huts, here and there solid masses of soldiers, here and there green boxes and cannons. And it all moved, or seemed to move, because fog and smoke stretched throughout this entire space. Both in this area of ​​the lowlands near Borodino, covered with fog, and outside it, above and especially to the left along the entire line, through forests, across fields, in the lowlands, on the tops of elevations, cannons, sometimes solitary, constantly appeared by themselves, out of nothing, sometimes huddled, sometimes rare, sometimes frequent clouds of smoke, which, swelling, growing, swirling, merging, were visible throughout this space.
These smokes of shots and, strange to say, their sounds produced the main beauty of the spectacle.
Puff! - suddenly a round, dense smoke was visible, playing with purple, gray and milky white colors, and boom! – the sound of this smoke was heard a second later.
“Poof poof” - two smokes rose, pushing and merging; and “boom boom” - the sounds confirmed what the eye saw.
Pierre looked back at the first smoke, which he left as a round dense ball, and already in its place there were balls of smoke stretching to the side, and poof... (with a stop) poof poof - three more, four more were born, and for each, with the same arrangements, boom... boom boom boom - beautiful, firm, true sounds answered. It seemed that these smokes were running, that they were standing, and forests, fields and shiny bayonets were running past them. On the left side, across the fields and bushes, these large smokes were constantly appearing with their solemn echoes, and closer still, in the valleys and forests, small gun smokes flared up, not having time to round off, and in the same way gave their little echoes. Tah ta ta tah - the guns crackled, although often, but incorrectly and poorly in comparison with gun shots.
Pierre wanted to be where these smokes were, these shiny bayonets and cannons, this movement, these sounds. He looked back at Kutuzov and his retinue to compare his impressions with others. Everyone was exactly like him, and, as it seemed to him, they were looking forward to the battlefield with the same feeling. All faces now shone with that hidden warmth (chaleur latente) of feeling that Pierre had noticed yesterday and which he understood completely after his conversation with Prince Andrei.
“Go, my dear, go, Christ is with you,” said Kutuzov, without taking his eyes off the battlefield, to the general standing next to him.
Having heard the order, this general walked past Pierre, towards the exit from the mound.
- To the crossing! – the general said coldly and sternly in response to one of the staff asking where he was going. “And I, and I,” thought Pierre and followed the general in the direction.
The general mounted the horse that the Cossack handed to him. Pierre approached his rider, who was holding the horses. Having asked which was quieter, Pierre climbed onto the horse, grabbed the mane, pressed the heels of his outstretched legs to the horse’s belly and, feeling that his glasses were falling off and that he was unable to take his hands off the mane and reins, galloped after the general, exciting the smiles of the staff, from the mound looking at him.

The general, whom Pierre was galloping after, went down the mountain, turned sharply to the left, and Pierre, having lost sight of him, galloped into the ranks of the infantry soldiers walking ahead of him. He tried to get out of them, now to the right, now to the left; but everywhere there were soldiers, with equally preoccupied faces, busy with some invisible, but obviously important matter. Everyone looked at this fat man in a white hat with the same dissatisfied, questioning look, who for some unknown reason was trampling them with his horse.
- Why is he driving in the middle of the battalion! – one shouted at him. Another pushed his horse with the butt, and Pierre, clinging to the bow and barely holding the darting horse, jumped out in front of the soldier, where there was more space.

Immediately after the armistice agreement came into force, Germany began withdrawing troops from all occupied territories, and by January 1919 this process (at least in relation to western direction) was completed. The next step was demobilization, but no one intended to remain completely without an army.

The “stub” remaining after demobilization was called the Peacetime Army (or “Ground Forces”), and on January 19, temporary regulations on the uniform and insignia of the new structure were adopted.

The uniform remained the same, but the wearing of pre-war “colored” uniforms was finally prohibited. But the insignia was radically redesigned: the previous shoulder straps and non-commissioned officer braid were abolished; the insignia of the “people” remained unchanged (a clean collar for privates and a button for corporals), and all higher ranks were indicated by stripes on the left sleeve.

1-2. "People".
3-7. non-commissioned officers (stripes above the elbow):
3) non-commissioned officer; 4) sergeant and fenrich; 5) vice sergeant major; 6) sergeant-major and officer-stelfertreter;
7) non-commissioned officer with “second model” insignia (light blue instead of dark blue), introduced on February 4, 1919.
8-14. officers (stripes above cuffs):
8) lieutenant and sergeant major; 9) Oberleutnant; 10) Hauptmann;
11) non-statutory Hauptmann insignia with stripes not around the entire sleeve, but only on its outer side;
12) major; 13) Oberst-lieutenant; 14) oberst.
15-17. generals:
15) major general; 15) lieutenant general; 16) general of the military branch.

On top of the patches they could attach the unit code (shown only for officers, but non-commissioned officers also had them), and sometimes the service emblem.

There is nothing unusual in the fact that the Fenrichs were not allocated separate insignia, but the absence of such for officer-shtelfertreter and sergeant-major lieutenants suggests that these ranks were an “endangered species” and there were no plans to assign them in the future.

In theory, all military personnel enlisted in the peacetime army should have immediately changed their insignia.
In practice, this process was significantly hampered by both a shortage of materials and direct sabotage by personnel.

Vorläufige Reichswehr

In March 1919, the Peacetime Army was transformed into the Provisional Reichswehr. It was “temporary” due to the fact that a year later (in March 1920) it was to be replaced by permanent armed forces. Then the existence of this structure was extended for another year and the permanent Reichswehr was established only in March 1921.

Initially, the Provisional Reichswehr inherited the insignia of the peacetime Army, but an order of May 5, 1919 introduced new system sleeve patches.

1-2. lower ranks:
1) private; 4) corporal and chief corporal.
3-7. non-commissioned officers:
3) non-commissioned officer; 4) sergeant and Fenrich (from the end of 1919 unterfeldwebel); 5) vice sergeant major (since the end of 1919 sergeant major); 6) sergeant major (from the end of 1919 oberfeldwebel); 7) officer-steelferterter.
8-10. chief officers:
8) lieutenant and sergeant major; 9) Oberleutnant; 10) Hauptmann.
11-16. staff officers and generals:
11) major; 12) Oberst-lieutenant; 13) oberst; 14) major general; 15) lieutenant general; 16) general of the military branch

Initially, the title “Wehrmann” was common for privates of all services, but in October 1919 they returned to their previous names.
At the same time, the non-commissioned officer ranks (except for the non-commissioned officer proper) were also reformed: the ranks of “sergeant” and “vicefeldwebel” were abolished, and “non-commissioned officer” was introduced instead; “Officer-Stölfertreter” was also abolished, replaced by “Oberfeldwebel”. At the same time, the insignia of all sergeant major ranks changed. However, stelfertreter officers who expressed a desire to retire in the near future retained their previous rank and insignia for the remainder of their service.
All sergeant majors in service were asked to undergo additional training, after which they were promoted to “normal” officers. And those who did not want to, or were unable to complete the appropriate course, were transferred to the reserve in April 1920 with the rank of Landwehr lieutenant.

The dark ovals in the diagram show the location of the sleeve patch introduced on 3.6.19. The officers also wore it.
On this patch there was a code or emblem of the unit/service and the color of the edging indicated the branch of service and/or specialty.

Simultaneously with the stripes, “epaulet-like” shoulder cords were introduced, identical in shape for all ranks.

1. Lower ranks (cord in uniform color).
2. non-commissioned officers (silver-gray).
3. officers (silver-gray with lighter decorative loops).
4. generals (gold).

Reichswehr

(Reichswehr; Rw), the armed forces of Germany in 1919-35, created on the basis of the Treaty of Versailles 1919. The law of March 6, 1919 created a provisional Reichswehr (24 brigades). On March 23, 1921, the law on the Reichswehr was adopted, the personnel of which were recruited for hire with a service life for officers - 25 years, non-commissioned officers and privates - 12 years. Consisted of ground forces and navy. Under the terms of the Versailles Treaty, Germany was prohibited from having an air force, tanks, anti-aircraft, heavy and anti-tank artillery, submarines, battleships with a displacement of over 10 thousand tons and cruisers - over 6 thousand tons, as well as a General Staff in any form. The number of ground forces was limited to 100 thousand people, including 4,500 officers (7 infantry and 3 cavalry divisions, 288 guns and 252 mortars. Navy had 6 old battleships, 7 light cruisers, 12 destroyers and 12 destroyers (along with the coastal defense of 15 thousand people, including 1500 officers). However, there was a hidden reserve - the so-called. black Reichswehr: self-defense units (Heimwehr), soldiers' communities, veterans' unions ("Steel Helmet", "Vikings", "Scharnhorst", "Young Germany", etc., uniting up to 4 million people. Since 1926, secret preparations for an increase began Reichswehr, and in 1930-32 a plan was adopted to increase the Reichswehr to 300 thousand people by 1938. After the Nazis came to power and Germany left the League of Nations (1933), this plan was implemented by the fall of 1934. On March 16, 1935, Germany annulled the military articles of the Treaty of Versailles and introduced universal conscription. The deployment of the armed forces of the Third Reich of the multi-million-strong Wehrmacht began on the basis of the Reichswehr.

From the book History of Germany. Volume 2. From the creation of the German Empire to the beginning of the 21st century by Bonwech Bernd

Reichswehr (Wehrmacht) and the Nazi regime Hitler paid great attention to winning over the leadership of the army corps and, like nowhere else, was careful in his relations with the Reichswehr. Without a strong army, neither the consolidation of the regime nor the implementation of

From the book Agreement with the Devil. German-Russian relations from the First to the Second World War author Haffner Sebastian

6. Reichswehr and the Red Army The Treaty of Rapallo did not contain any secret military articles, and this was rightly pointed out again and again. And yet its most important practical result was the secret German-Russian cooperation of such closeness,

From the book Sworn Friendship. Secret cooperation between the USSR and Germany in the 1920-1930s author Yulia Kantor

§ 5. Reichswehr and the Red Army - “communist workers” and “Bulgarians” In August 1925, a group of high-ranking Reichswehr officers was present for the first time at Red Army maneuvers, thereby opening a new direction of cooperation - the mutual participation of observers in army exercises

The period between the end of the First World War in 1918 and the emergence of the Third Reich in 1933 was a time of enormous change in Germany, a metamorphosis of the German military machine. This period began with the collapse of the Imperial Armed Forces, the fall of the Kaiser's Reich (the so-called Second Reich of 1871 - 1918), the proclamation of a parliamentary republic, the growth of the revolutionary movement and at the same time the emergence of numerous voluntary paramilitary organizations of a counter-revolutionary orientation (Freikorps, Steel Helmet, etc. ), as well as the formation of the post-war German armed forces - the Reichswehr.

In 1935, the Reichswehr unexpectedly became the Wehrmacht and in a few years would bring almost all of continental Europe to its knees. November 11, 1918 ended Great War , called “World War I” three decades later: in the Compiegne Forest, in the headquarters carriage of the French commander-in-chief, Marshal Ferdinand Foch, representatives of Germany signed the terms of the truce (“Compiegne Agreement”), and German troops began to return to their homeland. True, the homeland was no longer the same: three days before - on November 9, 1918 - a republic was proclaimed in Weimar, which went down in history as the Weimar Republic. The liquidation of the monarchy both in the army and in the country as a whole was perceived by many as extremely painful. This time is characterized by a general depressed mood in the state, whose people did not consider themselves defeated and were convinced of the betrayal of politicians and high command. Although Germany did not have the slightest chance of another outcome of the war other than defeat (due to the complete depletion of its material and human resources), the morale of the troops in last days was still quite tall. This, of course, was facilitated by the fact that by the time of surrender not a single enemy soldier had set foot on German soil. The Germans lost the war on the territory of neighboring states. After the landing of numerous American troops in Europe in the summer of 1918, the German leadership finally realized that the war was lost, and took the only correct solution
A country that itself was not subjected to the direct horrors of war, whose fields were not strewn, like the fields of long-suffering Flanders, with hundreds of thousands of corpses, whose cities remained intact, and whose quiet villages did not turn into brick dust, a country that saw the return from abroad of its numerous tired army, disarmed, but full of determination to fight (in any case, it began to seem so after some time), and was confident of vile betrayal, such a country would inevitably be imbued with the spirit of revanchism. It is worth noting that the Germans have always tended to overestimate their capabilities and military achievements. Thus, the main naval battle of the war - the Battle of Jutland - was loudly declared a victory in Germany. However, after this “victory”, which occurred back in 1916, the German High Seas Fleet went to its bases and only went to sea once (in 1917), and even then only partially. Eventually, when they tried to remove the ships from their bases in 1918, a mutiny broke out. The crews simply did not believe in victory. If the First World War had ended the same way as the Second, it would hardly have been possible to so easily raise the population to a new redistribution of the world. Starting the second war, the German people had behind them, instead of the smoking ruins of the first, memories of its relatively comfortable outcome and resentment towards the whole world, skillfully fanned by the new leaders. A lot of fuel was added to the fire by the feeling of national shame from the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, by which the Entente governments put a defeated but proud and unbroken enemy in a humiliating position. If the reasons that plunged prosperous Europe into bloody carnage in 1414 still remain mysterious and incomprehensible, then the discontent of the Germans after Versailles was quite a sufficient factor for the immediate start new war. I just didn't have the strength.

So, summer 1919.

Germany lost all its colonies, Alsace and Lorraine (conquered back in 1871 and belonging to it until 1648), Memel (Klaipeda), Posen (Poznan), part of Prussia and Upper Silesia, as well as faith in its government. It was forced to give up almost its entire combat fleet and most of its civilian fleet, 14 thousand combat aircraft, melt down thousands of Krupp guns, and 60 thousand tons of machine tools. On top of that, she had to pay a colossal indemnity to the winners: from 1919 to 1921 alone, 5 billion then US dollars in gold. It is no wonder that, having found itself in such a situation, the country was exposed to the virus of the revolution, which, like the recently extinguished “Spanish flu,” came from the East. A revolution is always accompanied by a counter-revolution (or another revolution, with other tasks), and millions of soldiers who became not only unemployed, but also simply thrown out onto the streets, whose only property were their crosses and wounds, began to join numerous paramilitary organizations. Many of them found themselves on different sides of the barricades. The country was rocked by uprisings, street battles, seizures of territory and simply criminal terror. There were some upheavals. So, in March 1920, a group of officers led by General von Lüttwitz proclaimed the creation of a new government in Berlin, which lasted only 5 days. The most serious revanchist organization of those years was the Volunteer Corps (Freikorps). Some of his units were well armed, including survivors of the confiscation of aircraft, and were very numerous. The total number of Freikorps in the period 1918-1923 is estimated at 200-300 thousand people. The main, but not the only, enemy of these detachments were the communists, who, in turn, also could not be called “whipping boys.” Freikorps units fought for territories in the Baltic region, in eastern Germany they repelled Polish claims in Upper Silesia. The Storm Troops that appeared later (in 1923) complemented the palette of illegal and uncontrolled paramilitary, or even simply openly armed, formations.
However, the new Weimar Republic needed official and legal (including in the international sense) armed forces. Therefore, on March 6, 1919, the Decree establishing the Provisional Reichswehr (Vorlaufige Reichswehr), or temporary German defense forces, was adopted. These forces were to consist of a provisional Ground Force (Vorlaufige Reichsheer) and a provisional Navy (Vorlaufige Reichsmarine). The Ground Forces, numbering approximately 400 thousand people in 50 brigades, included many former Freikorists. On September 30, 1919, the era of Imperial Germany finally faded into history and the German army was transformed into ground forces transition period(Ubergangsheer). It consisted of 30 brigades and was also partly based on members of the Freikorps.


On June 28, 1919, by signing a formal peace treaty, the German delegation seemed to ratify the armistice of November 11 of the previous year. According to this document, and we are talking about the famous Treaty of Versailles, signed in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles near Paris, the Germans were allowed to have an armed force of no more than 100 thousand people. These forces received the final name Reichswehr (Reichswehr, from Reich - state, empire and Wehr - weapons, defense) and consisted of the Ground Forces (Reichsheer, 85 thousand people) and the Reichsmarine - navy (Reichsmarine, 15 thousand people .). In turn, the ground forces consisted of two group commands, to which 7 infantry and 3 cavalry divisions

On May 7, 1919, the terms of the treaty became known to the world community and plunged the German people into amazement. The country fulfilled the terms of the Compiegne Agreement, laid down arms and withdrew troops from neighboring countries, and consolidated the change from monarchy to parliamentary democracy. The people, who also believed that all the blame for the outbreak of the war lay primarily with France and Russia, expected a completely different decision from the victors. The German government, led by President Ebert, signed the treaty 19 minutes before the deadline. The complete naval blockade of Germany and the numerous Entente troops stationed along the Rhine left no choice. The inevitable was perceived as a betrayal. Moreover, such an assessment of what happened - defeat not as a result of weakness, but as a result of betrayal - calmed the painful pride of the Germans and was readily accepted by all segments of the population. From that moment on, any German politician who even partially recognized the treaty was doomed to a quick political death, while anyone cursing the “poison of Versailles,” “the chains of Versailles,” etc., scored points.

Theoretically, the treaty was intended to protect the world from the threat of war from German soil in the future. Perhaps the people who worked directly on his text already felt the mood of revenge in post-war German society, which had managed to form over the past seven and a half months of peace. These people wanted to secure their states with one stroke of the pen. However, 21 years later, in mockery of the former victors, the German Fuhrer will dictate the terms of the surrender of France in the same carriage and in the same clearing of the Compiegne Forest, clearly showing what the ink of the Hall of Mirrors was worth.


Having submitted for appearances to the decision of the victorious countries, the Reichswehr command immediately began to look for ways to circumvent the imposed bans. The USSR, which was perfectly suited for this purpose, began to provide all possible assistance to the Germans in this: Russia, removed from the eyes of Western observers, was not a party to the Treaty of Versailles. The USSR had sufficient capacity for the production of weapons, which stood idle due to financial and general devastation after Civil War. In addition, the common hostility towards Poland made it possible to find at least some political common ground among former opponents.

There is a completely incorrect opinion that future German tank crews and pilots were trained in Soviet military schools. It’s just that these schools were located on the territory of the USSR, but they were built and equipped entirely by the Germans with money from the Reichswehr. Thus, in 1923-1924, the Germans organized an aviation school in Lipetsk, which began to function in full force in 1927 after retrofitting. The tank school in Kazan, built from scratch by specialists from Germany (including classrooms, workshops, training field), began operating in 1928 upon the arrival of experienced German tanks. The running costs of both establishments were borne entirely by the Germans. In both schools, according to mutual agreement, a number of Soviet cadets studied, paid by the Soviet side. So it was not the Germans who learned from us how to drive tanks and fly airplanes, but sometimes quite the opposite. As for the widespread opinion that the famous military leader and tank warfare theorist Heinz Guderian studied at a tank school in Kazan, this is also not true. In August 1932, with the rank of Oberstleutnant of the Reichswehr, he came to Kazan for just a few days to inspect that very school (the Kama facility).

Our cooperation with the Reichswehr was not limited to all this. At the end of 1923, the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR suddenly decided to begin production of 77-mm artillery shells, supposedly for the newly formed special artillery divisions, armed with captured German guns. The Main Directorate of Military Industry (GUVP) was asked to produce 400 thousand shells for the regular and mobilization reserves at the expense of above-estimated allocations. And this despite the fact that there were only 12 German 77-mm guns in Soviet warehouses, and they were still in need of repair. Obviously, hundreds of thousands of shells were not intended for the Red Army. This was a secret order from Germany (through the Metakhim company), which, due to Versailles restrictions, could not produce shells at its factories. This order was undoubtedly beneficial to the Soviet military industry, since it allowed the idle production to be loaded and provided work for about 7,000 people. Under conditions of the strictest secrecy, it was completed by the end of 1925. Tests were carried out at separate test sites, all correspondence was destroyed, and the finished products were sent to warehouses near Leningrad, from where they secretly went by sea to Germany.

There were other projects. Negotiations were held with the Juncker company on the construction of an aircraft plant on the territory of the USSR, with the Reichswehr command - on the joint construction of a plant for the production of mustard gas (joint-stock companies "VIKO", "Metakhim", "Bersol"). These plans were not destined to come true for various reasons reasons, for example, due to low-quality and outdated equipment supplied by Stolzenberg for the production of chemical agents.

Similarly, the Reichswehr cooperated with some other states. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was prohibited from having a submarine fleet, but its secret construction did not stop for a minute. In 1927, as a result of a parliamentary investigation into a scandal related to information about the construction of submarines for Germany at Turkish shipyards controlled by the Krupp company, the head of the naval command, Hans Adolf Zenker, was forced to resign. His place was taken by Admiral Erich Raeder, under whose leadership a new secret program for creating the Navy was developed, including the construction of submarines. The Kruppa concern also provided great assistance to the Reichswehr in other areas of armaments. Before and during the war, Krupp’s enterprises produced up to 3 thousand guns per month (including the famous “Big Bertha” and “Long Max”). After Versailles, the company had the right to produce field guns of only one type in the amount of 4 (!) pieces per year. However, the head of the concern, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, taking advantage of the fact that the restrictions did not apply to his foreign factories, quickly established weapons production in Sweden and Holland, and in Germany itself he produced tractors that only lacked a turret with a cannon to become a tank. In addition, the design bureaus of the concern continued to develop new artillery systems, since the design of weapons was not prohibited by the treaty. According to American intelligence, by May 1921, i.e. less than a year after Versailles, Krupp had received several dozen patents on fire control systems, fuses, shells, heavy guns, etc. For the “future resurrection of Germany, which had thrown off its chains Versailles" (the words of Gustav Krupp himself), he tried in every possible way to preserve the working and engineering potential of his company. But the main task of the German command was to train army personnel and preserve experienced officers. In the first years of the Reichswehr's existence (from 1919 to 1926), the chief of the Land Forces Directorate, General Johannes Friedrich Leopold, better known as Hans von Seeckt, applied all his strength and talent to this task. The Reichswehr he created was independent not only of all political movements and parties, but practically also of the government. It was a state within a state. They even say that for discovering a Nazi or communist in its ranks later (already under War Minister Groener), the informer was awarded a gold watch.



There were more than enough people willing to serve in the army during the years of devastation and unemployment. This made it possible to carry out strict medical and intellectual selection among applicants for a soldier's backpack. Suffice it to say that after a medical examination and a grueling physical training exam, the candidates wrote an essay on the topic “Why I want to serve in the Reichswehr.” The service life stipulated by the contract (and Versailles), as noted above, was to be at least 12 years. Needless to say, the training of recruits in the Reichswehr was carried out according to an extremely intense program. The privates there were trained as non-commissioned officers, and non-commissioned officers so that in the event of a sharp increase in personnel they could take command of the unit, occupying the positions of junior officers. Since the ratio of privates to non-commissioned officers in the Reichswehr was not regulated by the Versailles restrictions, it was brought to almost 2:1, and in order to somehow preserve the officer corps, limited to four thousand people, Seect assigned officers to civilian positions in government agencies or transferred them to the police .

Under fictitious innocuous names, Sekt hid the General Staff (Military Directorate), intelligence of the General Staff (Statistical Department, Welfare Service), and military academies (special courses). Infantry units of 300 people were given the names and banners of the old famous regiments of the imperial army. In this way, framed regiments were veiledly formed, capable of increasing their numbers tenfold in case of mobilization. All this created the conditions for the need to quickly expand the Reichswehr into an army of millions.

Mention should also be made of the so-called “black Reichswehr”. These were detachments of former Freikorists with a total number of up to 60 thousand people, disguised as work brigades and stationed along the German-Polish border. The official Reichswehr took charge of equipping these units. True, subsequently all of them had to be disbanded due to indiscipline and political activity. The German police became an excellent reserve for the army, the number of which exceeded the number of the Reichswehr itself (the Prussian police alone numbered 85 thousand people). The police trained thousands of people under the full army program, and some police officers subsequently commanded divisions and corps of the Wehrmacht.

But German youth received the necessary training not only in the army. In Germany at this time, many sports organizations arose, in particular aviation, gliding, parachute, etc. societies and unions, encouraged and supported by the army. Subsequently (under the Nazis) they joined such structures as the National Socialist Flying Corps (NSFK), the National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK), the German Air Sports Union (DLV), the German Air Defense Union (RLB), the Emergency Technical Service ( TeNo) and others. All these were personnel forges for the future Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine and Wehrmacht Ground Forces.


By the time the Nazis came to power in early 1933, the Reichswehr was ready to deploy to modern army appropriate size for Germany. So it was not Hitler at all, as they would say now, the architect of the new German army. But he actively continued its construction. However, by this time the country no longer had the international control of the early 20s. Therefore, after waiting a little more than two years, on March 16, 1935, the Fuhrer announced the abolition of all restrictions on the German army, restored universal conscription and announced the formation of new divisions. The Reichswehr was renamed the Wehrmacht, and its components became: the Ground Forces (das Heer), the Luftwaffe (die Luftwaffe) - the Air Force and the Kriegsmarine (die Kriegsmarine) - the Navy. The Western powers did not take any more or less significant counter-actions. Moreover, three months after this, Great Britain concluded a naval agreement with Hitler, allowing Germany to further armament at sea within the limits of the balance of forces established with the British. And a few months later, Wehrmacht units had already entered the demilitarized Rhineland in the complete absence of response from the victors of 1918. At this point, all 440 restrictive articles of the Treaty of Versailles could be considered finally denounced.

So, the Reichswehr, without participating in a single, even the smallest, battle during the 16 years of its existence, won a difficult and very important campaign. Truly, it can be said that the German army, like the Phoenix bird, was reborn from the ashes and soon surprised the whole world and horrified Europe. I was surprised not by their special numbers or extraordinary weapons, but by their skill, training, clear understanding of the principles of modern warfare and the will to win. Over the course of five bloody years, she taught this new war to others. Alas, this magnificent instrument ended up in the hands of a man poisoned by the poison of the insane ideology of National Socialism, which he himself invented.