Hitler's Generals in the West German Army

[Music] in 1945 germany's armed forces were disbanded the central government ceased to exist and germany as a nation state was technically dissolved leaving the nation divided into four allied occupation zones and governed by those same nations germany would eventually be divided into two states the british american and french occupation zones were unified as the federal republic of germany or west germany in 1949 when it was permitted to have its own government the soviet zone became the german democratic republic or east germany also in 1949 which was a one-party communist satellite state both new nations move cautiously towards reacquiring military forces the idea of west germany having armed forces was very controversial so soon after the horrors of world war ii the french in particular strongly objected to a fresh german standing army once more on its border after having been invaded by the germans in 1870 1914 and 1940 but france was the junior allied power with the majority of occupation forces being provided by the united states and britain and occupation had changed to protection as the western allies and western european nations would group themselves into a defense block called nato the north atlantic treaty organization designed to protect against a soviet invasion of western europe that would have been concentrated through western germany it was felt to be both reasonable and sensible the west germany rearm so that it could help defend itself and europe from the threat stalin possibly posed to european peace the first serious military-style force to be established in western germany was the bundesqueenshots or federal border service in 1951 a paramilitary style police it grew to a strength of sixteen and a half thousand men by 1956 though it was authorized to 20 000 and was equipped for light combat having armored cars anti-tank weapons and infantry weapons its uniform echoed the world war ii era even using the m1935 style stallhelm or steel helmet its unmistakable wartime silhouette used so that soviet troops on the border would not mistake bgs men for u.s or british troops the fear was some kind of accidental exchange of fire at a time when border relations were extremely tense but with an authorized strength as i mentioned of only 20 000 men the bgs was no army the next stage was the creation of proper armed forces in 1955 the necessary laws were passed by the west german parliament and the blessing of the allied powers given and the bundeswehr came into existence ten years after the disbandment of the wartime wehrmacht the tricky part was deciding what kind of armed force it should be pretty much everything associated with hitler's wehrmacht was rejected in fact the bundeswehr does not follow the traditions of any previous german army including the reichswehr of the weimar republic era or the old imperial german army of world war one and before but it has cherry-picked some things from the past for example some famous german military figures are much lauded principally scharnhorst gennaez now and clausewitz the army officers who attempted to assassinate hitler principally henning vontresco and count von stauffenberg are likewise held up as exemplars for the new army the core idea of the bundeswehr is that it is an armed force of citizen defenders of a democratic state subordinated to the elected german government [Music] is saying you are the first soldiers of a new german army you will have many difficulties overcoming both the shadows of the past and the problems of the future after years of trial the german people now belong to a partnership of the free nations of the world we have equal rights among these nations but we also have equal obligations the german people look to you as the defenders not only of their nation but also as the defenders of our allies without this mutual cooperation between all free nations the defense of one nation would be impossible the sole goal of the new german army is to aid in this defense to keep the peace we mean this from the bottom of our hearts but west germany faced one rather large and obvious problem in the creation of the bundeswehr who was to lead the new force whoever it was needed to be experienced military officers of general rank the west german government and people would not accept foreign leaders for the organization was supposed to be an equal defense partner to britain america and the other nato countries the leaders had to be germans that left only one possible source former vermont generals who had served hitler and the nazis in a war of european conquest exactly the image and associations the west germans were so keen to avoid a process of carefully vetting former world war ii generals produced a handful who appeared to have relatively clean records with regard to war crimes accusations or close association with the hitler government and they were duly appointed to the new army the new inspector general of the bundeswehr the overall head of the new military was an experienced world war ii general hans spidel during world war ii spider had been chief of staff to field marshal irvin rommel and was an active plotter against hitler awarded the knights cross for his gallantry spidel was arrested following the july 1944 bomb plot against hitler and held by the gestapo his boss rommel was forced to commit suicide to avoid public disgrace and reprisals against his family spider managed to survive the war escaping at the end from his captivity and was liberated by french troops spider became the first four-star general in the bundeswehr and ensured the smooth integration of the new force into nato in 1957 spider became supreme commander of allied nato ground forces in central europe headquartered in paris the first time since world war ii that a german general had commanded a force outside of germany spidel died in 1984 aged 87. the post of inspector general and was next filled in 1957 by general adolf heisinger formerly chief of the army general staff under hitler interestingly hoizinger had actually been present at the wolf's lair on the 20th of july 1944 in the briefing room when colonel von stalfenberg's briefcase bomb exploded beneath the long briefing table hoisinger who was standing next to hitler at the time was injured and later received the extremely rare 20th of july 1944 wound badge a special honour bestowed by hitler on those officers who had been present when the bomb detonated only 24 were issued and hoizinger received the silver grade as he already held the standard wound badge in black for the first two wounds received however hoisinger was later arrested by the gestapo and questioned as there was some circumstantial evidence that he knew some of the conspirators but no evidence directly implicated him in the plot and he was released in october 1944 he did not involve himself actively in the plot to kill hitler as he felt that it was his obligation to fulfill his duty as a soldier to the reich in 1950 hoisinger had become the military advisor to chancellor conrad adena the first leader of west germany hoisinger served as inspector general until 1961 then was appointed chairman of the nato military committee in washington dc until he retired in 1964. interestingly his record may not have been as white as made out at the time for the soviet union wanted him on war crimes charges throughout the 1960s for german army actions in the soviet union though he was never of course arrested or indicted hoizinger died in 1982 at the age of 85. his place as inspector general the bundeswehr was taken by another world war ii general friedrich firch appointed in 1961. another knight's cross holder ferch had ended the war as a ganahal leutnant and chief of staff of army group kurland on the eastern front at the german surrender he was taken prisoner by the soviets and placed on trial for war crimes committed by forces under his authority specifically the destruction of the soviet cities of novgorod and leningrad as well as works of art in 1950 he was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment but released in 1955 and allowed to go to west germany a divisional commander in the bundeswehr ferch succeeded hoizinger as its leader he retired in 1963 and died in 1976 at the age of 76. ferch's successor was the last world war ii german general to command the bundeswehr and incidentally the last world war ii german general to die heinz thretna had been a luftwaffe paratrooper laterally commanding the fourth parachute division at war's end he was a holder of the knights cross with oak leaves for gallantry he served mainly on the italian front after the invasion of crete and his division was implicated in at least one massacre of civilians at veneto in late april 1945. he headed the bundeswehr from 1964 to 66. he resigned early after butting heads with civilian ministers tretna was as i said the last wehrmacht general to die passing away in 2006 one day before his 99th birthday the heads of the army air force and navy were also initially world war ii generals the first inspector of the army was hans ruertiger a panzer general and former chief of staff to field marshal albert kesselring in army group c he commanded the new west german army from 1957 to 60. he died in office in 1960 the day before his 64th birthday heading the new german air force still called the luftwaffe was one of the most famous world war ii generals under reich's marshal hermann goering joseph kamhuba his name is forever associated with the kamhuba line a night fighter defense system to protect germany from the massive nighttime campaign by raf bomber command the line was built up of radars night fighters and flak batteries though cam huber received the knight's cross he fell out of favor in 1943 taking a command in norway until returning to knight fighters in 1945. after being released by the allies kamhuba spent some time in argentina training juan peron's air force before rejoining the luftwaffe which he commanded from 1956 to 1962. he died in 1986 aged 89. finally the head of the west german navy the bundesmarina was a distinguished world war ii kriegs marina admiral friedrich ruger another knight's cross holder he had served through the polish and french campaigns before being appointed field marshal rommel's naval advisor in france in late 1943 and later was director of ship construction in germany he basically created the bundes marina and after retirement was a university professor he died in 1985 age 90. of course a great many of these subordinate officers in the bundeswehr were also former world war ii veterans and some rose to become generals in the new army and admirals in the new navy one point of interest all of the men mentioned had received many decorations and medals for their wartime service in 1957 west germany permitted the introduction of denazified versions of these medals so that servicemen and veterans could wear their world war ii medals on their uniforms or civilian clothing the medal designs remain the same but all swastikas were removed in the new designs nazi political awards were of course still forbidden from where and you may be surprised to learn that the communist east german army was also initially commanded by world war ii german generals but that's a story for another time many thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also visit my audiobook channel war stories with mark felton you can also help to support both of my channels at paypal and patreon details in the description box below

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 800,510

Rating: 4.9645023 out of 5

Keywords: Mark Felton, Bundeswehr, West Germany, East Germany

Id: jqH6rmN5MsE

Length: 14min 26sec (866 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 30 2021