The January 1919 Uprising in Berlin

[ObKrieger]

Just wanted to bump this thread, one of my favorites here.

[rogge16]

I agree with you, Mo. Maybe Dwight has more things in his archives that he can graciously add to this great thread.

Luke

[drmessimer]

This photo shows two of the revolutionariesfiring from behind what looks to be a Litfaßäule that has been knocked over and dragged into the street. My guess is this was on Unter den Linden firing toward the Brandenburg Gate.

The presence of a civilian is a sure indication that the people in the photograph are revolutioists. But the absence of a uniform does not mean that he had no military training or experience. The pictures of the armed mobs marching into Berlin (below) illustrate the fact that the revolutionists were both serving soldiers and veterans. Dwight

[rogge16]

More great photos! Thank you, Dwight.

Luke

[drmessimer]

These are the last postcards I have of the January 1919 Strassenkampf in Berlin. The first group deal with the fighting in and around the Vorwärts-Haus located at Lindenstr. 3 in the newspaper quarter (Zeitungsviertel) of Berlin. The Vorwärts-Haus was the headquarters for the Social Democratic Party Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschland SPD) and the party house organ Vorwärts. The revolutionists occupied the building, and several other newspaper offices, on 5 January. On the night of 10-11 January the Freikorps "Potsdam Regiment" with approximately 1,200 men stormed the building and killed or captured over 300 defenders. Dwight

These two photos show revolutionist troops defending the building

[/CENTER][CENTER]

These are two views of the building after it was captured by the Freikorps on the night of 10-11 January. Because the battle was fought at night, there are no photos of the attack.

This shows the Brandenburg gate in the hands of the revolutionists with several curious civilians milling around trying to see what's going to happen next. This photo is particularly interesting to me because it appears to have been taken by either a Brit or an American, since the writing at the top is in English. If so, the camera was an early bellows "postcard" camera that featured a slot opening on the back so that information could be written directly onto the negative.

This is the Brandenburg Gate in the hands of the government troops

I don't know exactly what is happening here, but it appears to be somewhere on Unter den Linden and it looks to me that the freikorps troops are attacking a Spartakus position in the street. It's definitely a close combat situation. Dwight

[Sturmtruppe]

Excellent photos & thanks for posting!

[dalo]

Thank you so much for those pics dwight! you sir have inspired me to dig around tomorrow for my ww1 postcards which i bought several years from an antique shop
in the middle of nowhere. From memory they were ww1 french postacrds which were written home by an Australian soldier

[drmessimer]

Dalo: I would like to see them and I hope you post them. Dwight