too bad Jannis, would be such a great item to add to the collection.
too bad Jannis, would be such a great item to add to the collection.
Indeed it is an extremely rare piece of history.by Vocht
Regards, Jannis.
forgive me, but what were the WHERWOLFS? and what time period did they octuply?
A great read to learn more about "Der Wehrwolf"... Is this book shown below by Dietrolf Berg. The Wehrwolf were a paramilitary organization from 1923-1933 during the Weimar Period. Not to be confused with the Freikorps. Fairly inexpensive book, but in German language. Highly recommended!
In my opinion the most interesting organization from history out there! But without being able to read the German language... There are not much other options that are readily available other than the internet that does not really go in depth on the subject, or as accurately.
now I know the time period that they served in. but I still do not know just what organization that they were a part of? could some one answer my question? as I am rely interested in knowing about what they did and the service of them that they performed. were they a para military group?
Dos, I am sorry that I missed your answer to my question in your post. that answers my question. as I stated I have never heard of the group. I have only heard of that name used in WW2, by the WEHRWOLF YOUTH. not even close. again I thank you very much for the reply. I had a senior moment, at 77+++. toot.
Post WW1For the record, the Wehrwolf organization that was formed in the Weimar Republic and the Wehrwolf that existed in 1944-45, were two different organizations with entirely different missions. The Weimar Wehrwolf was not intended to carry-out postwar partisan guerilla warfare against the Allies. Though it was a paramilitary organization it was busier playing politics. The Wehrwolf was founded as a Mitteldeutscher Schutzbund (Central German Protection Association) on 11 January 1923. It was initially called Bund deutsche Männer (German Mens‘ Association) but on 12 May 1923, it was renamed, becoming Verband Deutscher Männer und Frontkämpfer (Association of German Men and Front Combatents). It was still a paramilitary organization with close ties to Stahlhelm but its main function was as a nationalist and anti-republic, paramilitary military association consisting mainly of Freikorps members and officers of lower ranks. At its heyday from 1924 to 1929 it had about 30,000 to 40,000 members. In 1930, the Wehrwolf was surpassed by the NSDAP. Attempts made in 1930 and 1931 to connect with the Freikorps Oberland and Otto Strasser's Revolutionary National Socialist Combat Group failed. In the summer of 1933, at its own request, the Wehrwolf was integrated into the Sturmabteilung. Youth members, known as the Jungwolf, were taken into the Hitler Youth, and the members who were motorcyclists and drivers went into the National Socialist Motor Corps and Wehrwolf ceased to exist.
WW2Werwolf was an SS plan which began development in 1944 to create a resistance force which would operate behind enemy lines as the Allies advanced through Germany, in parallel with the Wehrmacht fighting in front of the lines. It is widely misconstrued as having been intended to be a guerrilla force to harass Allies forces after the defeat of Germany, but this misconception was created by Joseph Goebbels through propaganda disseminated through his "Radio Werwolf", which was not actually connected in any way with the military unit.
Historians Antony Beevor and Earl F. Ziemke have argued that Wehrwolf never amounted to a serious threat. According to a study by former Ambassador James Dobbins and a team of RAND Corporation researchers, there were no American combat casualties after the German surrender.
German historian Golo Mann, in his The History of Germany Since 1789 (1984) also states that "The [Germans'] readiness to work with the victors, to carry out their orders, to accept their advice and their help was genuine; of the resistance which the Allies had expected in the way of 'werwolf' units and nocturnal guerrilla activities, there was no sign."
Perry Biddiscombe has offered a somewhat different view. In his books Werhwolf: The History of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement, 1944–1946 (1998)[10] and The Last Nazis: SS Werwolf Guerrilla Resistance in Europe, 1944–1947 (2000), Biddiscombe asserts that after retreating to the Black Forest and the Harz mountains, the Werwolf continued resisting the occupation until at least 1947, possibly until 1949–50. However, he characterizes German post-surrender resistance as "minor", and calls the post-war Werwolfs "desperadoes"[ and "fanatics living in forest huts". He further cites U.S. Army intelligence reports that characterized Nazi partisans as "nomad bands" and judged them as less serious threats than attacks by foreign slave laborers and considered their sabotage and subversive activities to be insignificant. He also notes that: "The Americans and British concluded, even in the summer of 1945, that, as a nationwide network, the original Werwolf was irrevocably destroyed, and that it no longer posed a threat to the occupation."
Biddiscombe also says that Werwolf violence failed to mobilize a spirit of popular national resistance, that the group was poorly led, armed, and organized, and that it was doomed to failure given the war-weariness of the populace and the hesitancy of young Germans to sacrifice themselves on the funeral pyre of the former Nazi regime. He concludes that the only significant achievement of the Werwolfs was to spark distrust of the German populace in the Allies as they occupied Germany, which caused them in some cases to act more repressively than they might have done otherwise, which in turn fostered resentments that helped to enable far right ideas to survive in Germany, at least in pockets, into the post-war era.
There are several reliable sources about the Wehrwolf in English, a few of them are listed below, mostly by the German military historian Prof. Dr. Perry Biddiscombe:
Werhwolf: The History of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement, 1944–1946 (1998)]
The Last Nazis: SS Werwolf Guerrilla Resistance in Europe, 1944–1947
Werwolf!: The History of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement, 1944–1946. University of Toronto Press
The Last Nazis: SS Werewolf Guerrilla Resistance in Europe 1944-1947. Tempus Publishing.
Other Authors
Rose, Arno (1980) Werwolf, 1944–1945: Eine Dokumentation Stuttgart: Motorbuch-Verlag.
Whiting, Charles (Hitler's Werewolves New York: Stein & Day.
Kurt Finker. Wehrwolf: Association of German Men and Front Warriors, 1923-1933. Dwight
drmessimer, thank you so much for that great explanation of the subject on the WEHRWOLF. I now find it to be a fascinating subject! toot.
Toot; my pleasure. The whole Wehrwolf account is fascinating. I left out Goebel's part. On his own hook, he set up a Wehrwolf that was to have operated after the war as partisans. Their intended purpose was to blow-up or burn-down what was left of the German infrastructure--a sort of scorched earth policy. They were also tasked with murdering former members of the government whom he felt had not done their duty at the end of the war. The Goebel's Wehrwolf would received updates on their assignments from the radio station at Nauen, as if the Allies would allow it. He established is own Wehrwolf because he believed that Himmler's people were not sufficiently fanatic. His group never got beyond a pipe-dream and it is just a small footnote in the history of WW2. Have a good day, Dwight
Dwight, I will have a good one, now that you have armed me with the history as it was / is on the subject. I am going to get an ENGLISH edition book on the subject. all the best. toot.
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