Hitler's Red Generals - Creators of the East German Army

[Music] these days internet privacy is a major concern to us all all sorts of snoopers want to monitor and collect data about your online activities nordvpn shields you from them internet service provider monitors the whole internet traffic that pours through its servers and stores logs of your online activity your data such as financial information interests and passwords and emails might be valuable to third parties hackers and even government when you browse the internet using a vpn your communications are encrypted allowing you to stay private online vpn also allows you to access content not normally available in your location and connect to hundreds of remote servers in different locations securely sign up today at nordvpn.com mark felton and enter the promo code mark felton to get 70 off a two-year plan and an extra month for free protect yourself online today with nordvpn in my previous video about hitler's generals serving in the west german armed forces the bundeswehr i explained how a handful of these highly experienced world war ii veterans basically created the new army in 1955. it was a common sense move to use such men as germany had been without an army for 10 years since the end of world war ii however it is a fact not often discussed that over the border in east germany the same thing happened seven former third reich generals were put back into service to develop and command the communist nation's brand new army the nazianala volks army national people's army the nva air company the west german employment of men closely associated with hitler was surprising enough but that the communists would do the same thing fairly astounding as soon as west germany created the bundeswehr it provided the impetus for the soviets occupying east germany to order the puppet government to do likewise east germany already had a military force the barracked people's police in an echo of what had preceded the bundeswehr in west germany which had the bundesquenshuts border service before creating an army the barrack people's police or kvp had been created in 1949 when the soviets had created east germany as a new state by 1952 it was over 90 000 men strong and possessed anti-tank weapons and armored vehicles but his duties were primarily internal security and public order it was not an army many of the 90 000 men were recruited from among former german pows held in harsh camps in the soviet union utilizing their world war ii era experience and discipline there was however a big problem the kvp didn't look german his uniforms and drill were distinctly soviet in origin which would become a problem for the new east german government east germany wanted to establish itself as the only true germany in contrast to west germany which the communists derided as simply british and american occupied territory in the west great pains had been taken to degerminize the new army which looked very american in uniform and weaponry few german military traditions had been carried over from the wehrmacht to the new bundeswehr these germans saw an opportunity to claim those traditions and uniforms for their new army to ensure that the nva looked very german and not soviet bolstering its claim to be the only true germany the soviets actually went along with this even though the nva resembled the old wehrmacht that they had fought so hard to destroy during the war this drive to germanize the nva from its inception included the employment of large numbers of former world war ii german officers in 1956 27 percent of the nva's officer corps were former hitler era wermacht and included amongst these were seven generals several of hitler's former generals would serve in the barrack people's police and then move on to the nva so how did so many german generals end up in east germany the answer is simple they went via stalingrad nearly all of the generals who cooperated with the communists had been part of the german sixth army that became encircled at stalingrad in late 1942. hitler refused to allow the army to fight its way out when it could have resulting in it becoming trapped in a pocket in the devastated city and ground down by the red army until out of ammunition and food and overwhelmed by wounded and sick field marshal friedrich paulus its commander and his command staff were captured and shortly afterwards on the 2nd of february 1943 the remaining german forces largely surrendered as maybe imagined many of the 23 german generals captured alongside powellus blamed hitler's military incompetence for the dire straits they found themselves in while the rank and file access prisoners and junior officers were sent to various soviet gulags from where only 6000 of the 91 000 taken prisoners survived the generals and colonels were sent to special camps run by the nkvd the soviet secret police and treated well they were exposed to german communists who had fled to the ussr before the war but recruitment efforts to turn these generals into communists largely failed the major exception was general valtor von zeitlich kurtzbach who had commanded a cord in the battle of stalingrad he was anti-nazi and very bitter and created under soviet supervision the league of german officers which aimed to deliver anti-hitler propaganda to german forces on the eastern front several of the other german generals held by the soviets subsequently joined this league or another organization called the national committee for a free germany these men were not communists but view these organizations as a resistance to hitler and nazism the national committee for a free germany adopted a flag in the old imperial colours of black white and red to appeal to the conservative vermont towards the end of the war as it became clear that there would be no coup against hitler the national committee came to be influenced more strongly by communist members once the war was over some of the german generals that had joined the national committee found a new role in helping to create and run the new nva they were able to infuse the nva with enough german traditions and styles that it looked more like a post-war extension of the wehrmacht than a communist force and certainly much more identifiably german than the west german bundeswehr [Music] among the stalingrad generals given prominent post-war roles in east germany was arnold von lenski an aristocratic cavalry officer who had commanded the 24th panzer division at stalingrad with the rank of genahal mayor he had joined the national committee for free germany and the league of german officers in 1944 and after release in 1949 had been allowed to settle in east germany handily fondlenski was listed as a victim of fascism by the regime and appointed to the staff of the people's barrack police in charge of armored troops in 1956 he was made a major general in the nva however it appears he wasn't completely trusted by the regime his background didn't really fit with the nation's professed proletarian bent and he was forced to retire in 1958 after a long investigation by the stasi the east german secret police in later life von lenski was a member of the east german olympic committee and died in 1986 at the age of 93. another stalingrad prisoner who became a red general was hans volts artillery commander at stalingrad general mayor votes received the german cross in gold in january 1943 shortly before the end of the battle in 1943 he had joined the league of german officers and in 1949 was appointed to the people's police becoming head of training in 1952 he was promoted to major general and head of artillery at the kvp and then commander of the nva in east berlin from 1956 to 58 he would be the last vermont general to leave the nva in september 1958 and died in 1975 at the age of 83. two holders of the knights cross became senior nva generals dr otto corfes commanded the 295th infantry division at stalingrad his brother-in-law was colonel albrecht ritter merzvan kurnheim a key conspirator in the july plot against hitler who was later executed alongside count von staufenberg in 1944 another member of the national committee for free germany dr corfes was co-founder of the league of german officers after release from soviet captivity he became a chief archivist in east germany and from 1952 to 56 a major general in the kvp but the regime remains suspicious of him keeping him under surveillance on his 70th birthday in 1959 he received the patriotic order of merit of east germany in silver and passed away in 1964 aged 74. the surveillance that corfes and von lenski were placed under by the stasi demonstrates the uncomfortable relationship between the former prisoners of war who had only come into communist hands because of bad luck and the new regime that needed experienced german generals to organize and train its new armed forces the final example i'll discuss here is knight's cross holder vincenz mueller general leutenant mueller had not been captured at stalingrad rather he became a prisoner in 1944 unlike the other generals who cooperated with the east germans mueller was a genuine proletarian being the son of a bavarian tanner rather than an aristocrat never an active plotter against hitler he was captured in an attempted breakout of yet another encircled german army when the fourth army was trapped during the soviet operation begrashian offensive when a hundred thousand german troops were mostly destroyed in captivity mueller cooperated with the soviets and joined the national committee and the german officers league some other fourth army generals also joined but mueller was the only german general to identify himself as a staunch communist his reward was early release in 1948 an involvement in east german politics in 1952 he was given the rank of lieutenant general and tasked with reconstructing east germany's armed forces becoming chief of staff of the nva he retired in 1958 and was diagnosed as a schizophrenic in 1960 undergoing treatment the damaging allegations began to surface that he had ordered the mass killing of jews and soviet prisoners of war during his service on the eastern front then in 1961 he died in murky circumstances falling from the balcony of his house suicide was rumored but never proved regardless of the motives of these former vermonter generals the nva they created would become known as the best army in the warsaw pact and if it had been used defensively against nato would probably have proved as much of a handful as hitler's army in 1940 [Music] so [Music] so [Music] 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: 1,111,203

Keywords: Mark Felton, NVA, East Germany, Stalingrad

Id: K3gay6PVMK0

Length: 13min 45sec (825 seconds)

Published: Fri May 07 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/ornate-Crack-pipe]

And then preserved certain military traditions and practices, as well as certain medals to appeal to the thought of the east, being the “Real Germany”. Kinda hypocritical and awful if they’re going to dismantle the awful Nazi regime just to nitpick the Wehrmacht and SS for certain traditions and styles that could further their agenda

[u/steph-anglican]

I was funny to go to the east German memorial to the victims of Fascism where they were goosestepping at the changing of the guard.

[u/thekurgan2000]

According to Mark Felton, some of the high ranking GDR military leaders were closet communists which I found rather interesting.