How the Germans created the "invincible" Wehrmacht

102

How the Germans defeated in the First World War were able to revolutionize military affairs and create "invincible" armed forces in the 20 years between the two world wars.

The defeat of 1918 was a bitter lesson for the German military and the nation. Humiliation inflamed the Germans, made them susceptible to various novelties, made the "gloomy genius" work to the fullest. Also, do not forget the military traditions of the Prussian school, the "knight-dogs".



Stormtroopers


Already during the First World War, the Germans invented the tactics of assault groups.

In 1917, the Germans began to form assault battalions. They had 1–5 assault companies, 1–2 machine-gun teams, a squad of flamethrowers, a company of trench mortars, and a battery of light cannons.

Entrepreneur and constructor of firearms weapons Hugo Schmeisser 1917-1918 developed an automatic weapon (submachine gun), allowing automatic fire at a distance of up to 200 meters. The MP-18 assault rifle with a magazine for 20 or 32 rounds became the main weapon of attack aircraft.

It was the embryo of a new German army.

There was no disunity between the privates and the officers of the assault units, as in the army of the Second Reich, where the officers were often from the noble junkers. They went to their deaths together. They were better fed than regular army units, freed from daily routines like digging and renewing trenches, and given more time to rest. But in the offensive, the attack aircraft were at the forefront of the attack, broke through the enemy's positional defenses, captured strongpoints, and broke through the trench lines. It was the attack aircraft that allowed the Germans to inflict heavy blows on the Anglo-French troops in 1918 and even threaten a breakthrough to Paris.

Assault battalions have become a novelty in the art of war.

Subdivisions were formed for fleeting, bloody battles. Brotherhoods of people connected by blood, common cause and idea were created. It remains to supplement them with reconnaissance, dive bombers and tanks, to give the soldiers submachine guns instead of rifles, to supply field radio stations, to put them on motorcycles, cars and armored personnel carriers in order to keep up with the armored forces, so that the Wehrmacht of the Second World War is obtained.

How the Germans created the "invincible" Wehrmacht
Soldier of a German assault group, armed with an MP18. France 1918

The assault units also created a new type of Germans, veteran stormtroopers, who would later massively support the National Socialists. Stormtroopers will maintain their morale in the most difficult years for Germany - 1919-1921, when the nation will be broken by defeat in the war. They will join the ranks of the volunteer corps (freikors), those who suppress the actions of the Red Germans, will not allow the proclamation of Soviet power in Bavaria. Freikor's detachments will defend German lands from the Poles, and will retain most of Silesia for Germany.

Stormtroopers were so popular that the Nazis would create their own stormtroopers in 1921 on their base (Sturmabteilung, abbreviated SA, also known as the "brown shirts"). They played a decisive role in the rise of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). In 1934, Hitler destroyed the top of the SA, led by E. Rohm, in order to strengthen the "vertical" of power. But the SA, in an abbreviated form, existed until 1945. Stormtroopers in the SS unit, became members of the civil administration in the occupied territories, were engaged in propaganda, initial military training, civil defense, etc.

It is interesting that, having defeated the Germans in the war of 1914-1918, the British, French and Germans did not notice or did not take this assault tactics seriously. For which they later paid. In the tsarist army, from the best, most disciplined soldiers and non-commissioned officers, similar units were created - shock, assault, death battalions, which were supposed to compensate for the general decomposition and disintegration of the army. But later this experience was forgotten, it had to be remembered already during the Great Patriotic War.


Painting by the artist Wilhelm Emil "Elka" Eber "It was SA" (So war die SA), 1938

Father of the German military revolution


Hans (Hans) von Seeckt was born into a noble family in 1866. He was a real aristocrat, chose a military career. He served as a Guards Grenadier, graduated from the Academy of the Prussian General Staff.

By the beginning of the First World War, he was the headquarters commander of the 3rd corps. He fought on the Western and Eastern fronts, participated in the defeat of Serbia. In 1916 he helped the Austrians, in 1917 he took the post of chief of the General Staff of the Turkish army. Since 1919, he became the head of the military directorate, under whose name the General Staff was actually hiding, which was banned by the Versailles Peace Treaty.

In 1920, Seeckt was appointed head of the Army Directorate, in fact the Commander-in-Chief of the Reichswehr. Germany had the right to have only a 100-strong army, without aviation, heavy artillery, tanks and chemical weapons.

The general developed the direction of assault detachments - he created a mobile, elite, professional army, where each soldier owns several military specialties. Chauffeurs could drive tanks and were artillerymen, cooks became machine gunners, logisticians could command weapons no worse than riflemen, sergeants could command platoons, and lieutenants could command battalions.

As a result, Seeckt created a highly professional nucleus, which became the basis of the future Wehrmacht. Each private in the future could become a non-commissioned officer or an officer.

Seeckt himself in 1921 noted:

"The future belongs to relatively small mobile highly professional armies, which will operate much more efficiently thanks to aviation."

That is, the German general actually foresaw and predetermined the development of the armed forces of the countries of the world after the Second World War to the present day.

Seeckt believed that Germany's main problem in the east was Poland, whose interests were incompatible with those of the Germans. Therefore, it is necessary to be friends with Soviet Russia, which was also an enemy of Poland.

Germany and Russia were defeated in the war, had similar problems and common interests. As a result, Germany began to provide Russia with financial and technical assistance in creating a military industry, and the Germans were able to evade the provisions of the Versailles agreement on disarmament. On the territory of the USSR, training centers were created to train military personnel - tankers, pilots, military chemists.

Seeckt evaluated Russia from the point of view of reason. He presciently noted that the West would again try to use Germany against the Russians. But such a war will only lead to new troubles in Germany.

"If Germany starts a war against Russia," Seeckt warned, "she will wage a hopeless war."

Russia had too much resource and human potential to be defeated. Russia experienced a terrible catastrophe, but quickly revived and rose.

Seeckt saw the future in Russia, she could not die.

In 1926, the general was dismissed. In the 30s, he helped Chiang Kai-shek create an army, which then opposed the Communists and the Japanese.

“Seeckt envisioned the future war as battles between small professional armies, which would include the elite of the national armed forces: dive bombers, tank units, airborne troops. The infantry, formed by a mass conscription, should play a subordinate role in comparison with them. The course of this war confirmed that Seeckt was absolutely right. No one could have predicted that a reasonable combination of modern types of weapons would lead to success so quickly, ”

- wrote General Frido von Senger in the book "No Fear, No Hope". He described his impressions of the lightning defeat of the Western armies (Dutch, Belgians, French and British) in May-June 1940.


Johannes "Hans" Friedrich Leopold von Seeckt (1866-1936)

Blitzkrieg strategy


Seeckt nurtured the idea of ​​the method of war, which was later called "blitzkrieg" (lightning war), and attached great importance to aviation. He was able to partially circumvent the ban on the German Air Force. He created a flight center at the headquarters, where he gathered experienced aviation commanders. Distributing them to districts, the commander created Air Force cells. They could not fly and at first they were engaged in propaganda, played games with the participation of an imaginary air force, created the foundations of the future tactics of the Luftwaffe.

The sect managed to change the psychological climate in the army, to eliminate the division into the officer caste, separated from the sergeants and privates by an impenetrable barrier. This was the weakness of the army of the Second Reich, the Russian Empire (it went over to the Red Army, the Soviet and the Russian army). Now any soldier could become an officer and general if he had the appropriate abilities.

The tradition of the Prussian senseless drill, which turned the soldier into a soulless machine, a "tin soldier", was done away with. Everything went according to the charter, without hazing. Both commanders and ordinary soldiers had to show initiative, independence, lively thought. All were professionals in their field, tied by a fighting brotherhood.

There were only 4 officers in the Reichswehr. The Kaiser's army was large, and during the war it became even larger. Therefore, the selection was very tough. They took the best of the best. To receive the next rank, the commander passed an oral and written examination. If he didn’t give it up, he quit to make room. That is, the commander constantly had to learn, update and replenish knowledge, taking into account the development of military affairs. The officer had to speak several languages, drive a car, use communications, know history and have a high cultural level. Seckt himself, nicknamed "Sphinx" in Turkey (for silence and outward severity), had extensive knowledge, was fluent in French and English, and was well versed in art.

The rank and file were also carefully selected. The recruits lived in comfortable barracks and ate well. The useless drill and shagistika were drastically reduced. The emphasis was on combat training, exercises and physical development.

To ensure that the field army was always ready for battle, Seeckt regularly conducted field maneuvers: the work of the headquarters, the interaction of various types of troops was checked, and shortcomings were revealed. The Germans have learned to bypass the prohibitions of the Entente. The role of tanks in the exercises was performed by vehicles sheathed with plywood or simply dummies. The core of the aviation was formed while on the ground. The pilots simulated air attacks, taught the infantry to camouflage, and carried out imaginary aerial reconnaissance and bombing. In essence, the methods of interaction between the air force and ground forces, aerial reconnaissance, bombing and fighter cover of the advancing units were being worked out.

As a result, the excellent interaction between tanks, artillery, infantry and air force became the hallmark of the German armed forces during the Second World War. The Germans, even with the help of games, were able to learn a lot.

It is interesting that the German commanders wisely used the experience of the Red and White armies in the Russian Civil War.

This is a fast, agile war, with deep breakthroughs, envelopes and rounds of the enemy. With large-scale operations of mobile units - then the cavalry, which was the forerunner of armored, motorized divisions and groups.

Also, the Reds showed the Germans the great effect of the "fifth columns" - underground workers, partisans and saboteurs. After all, this is how the Reds destroyed the rear of Kolchak and Denikin, softened the rear of the invaders.

The Germans took it all very well, modified it and used it against their enemies.

To be continued ...
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102 comments
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  1. +3
    18 October 2021 05: 16
    The range of the author is wide. laughing But at least he walks far, but swims fine!

    Perhaps the most valuable thing in the article:
    The sect managed to change the psychological climate in the army, to eliminate the division into the officer caste, separated from the sergeants and privates by an impenetrable barrier.
    It really resembles the early, revolutionary Red Army, but with German discipline!
    1. +3
      18 October 2021 05: 37
      There was an article on VO ... Hunting for Tito ... about an airborne assault group of Germans with rare photographs ... very informative.
      In addition, there is a short video of the assault by German paratroopers of partisan positions ...
      In the USSR, German paratroopers in feature films were often portrayed as narrow-minded and stupid ... in reality, everything was exactly the opposite.
      1. +7
        18 October 2021 07: 44
        If you look at documentary footage of 45, then the movement of an ordinary infantryman is more like the actions of special forces.
        Feature films about war are far from war, with rare exceptions.
      2. +7
        18 October 2021 10: 55
        Of the 825 selected paratroopers of the 500 SS battalion, 530 people were killed or wounded. Hmm, we captured the trophies: Tito's dress uniform. agree, for the sake of a pair of even dress pants, put so many fighters ..... What is the profit? Well, they made a photo for Goebel's Instagram - that's a fact.
    2. +7
      18 October 2021 10: 30
      Something is not visible in the memories of the same Germans, a sort of merger of officers and soldiers. As for the elite units, there is still debate that the most prepared, both physically and intellectually, contingent of conscripts was always selected for the landing, special forces. If you look at the actions of the paratroopers during the Second World War, then, they put a large number of selected soldiers in a collision with enemy units equipped with heavy weapons. "Market Garden", our Vyazma and Dneprovskaya operations confirm this. The Germans, after Crete, generally abandoned such experiments. Large landings were landed only in the memoirs of all sorts of commanders and fighters of extermination detachments. The assault units yielded results not only due to special tactics and weapons, but also due to a sharp weakening of the rest of the infantry. And when the smoke cleared, the insidious enemy struck at the second-rate divisions and everything worked out. The front collapsed. The Germans surrendered in time, leaving the opportunity for Adik to then grovel at rallies about betrayal in the rear. Two more weeks and the ally would have turned both stormtroopers and non-stormtroopers into dust. The backbone of any army was and will be a standard motorized rifle regiment - trite, but true. In proxy wars - another question, there the special forces rule, but there are other wars, where it is necessary not only to chase babays through trifles and mountains.
      1. +5
        18 October 2021 10: 37
        Quote: Petrik66
        Something is not visible in the memories of the same Germans, a sort of merger of officers and soldiers.
        But the caste character of the officers is also not visible.
        1. +12
          18 October 2021 12: 42
          I agree that the option when the officer's gentlemen eat separately from the circus is an extremely bad tradition. I think that if the officers ate the same stuff as we do, then something would have changed. They would have given the commander and the commander of the regiment to eat boiled bacon with bristles and red fish from canned food with sprat, you look and not everyone would be tying. Levchenko was right when he told Sharapov: You didn’t eat your officer's dope under the bed alone, but others didn’t eat it.
          1. Eug
            +1
            18 October 2021 21: 45
            At a military training camp after the 5th year of the institute, one day during lunch, a whole general asked how the soldier's food was to his fellow students. When our comrade suggested that he not disdain, sit down at their table and taste dinner himself, the general's expression and complexion radically changed, but he politely refused. And one more thing - on the website of the 8th Air Defense OA, one of the veterans recalled that KP 49 of the Air Defense Corps was located in Dnepropetrovsk, and not in Kharkov, due to the absence of serious reservoirs in the latter and the departmental (air defense aviation) flight canteen - there was, but the Air Force .. ...
      2. BAI
        +8
        18 October 2021 12: 35
        Something is not visible in the memories of the same Germans, a sort of merger of officers and soldiers.

        In Guderian's memoirs it is very clear. Much has been written about the high confidence of the Wehrmacht soldiers in the officers in many memoirs.
      3. +2
        18 October 2021 20: 54
        You absolutely do not understand the principle of operation of the airborne units, as well as the assault ones. If there is no military education, then it is forgivable.
        1. 0
          15 December 2021 17: 29
          And what is their essence, besides the capture of bridges and airfields? Explain to ignoramuses ...
      4. 0
        28 October 2021 14: 28
        Wars are won by heavy infantry, only they can take cities. So it was and so it will be. At the moment it is a motorized rifle division. Give her a helicopter and assault air regiments and she is immortal.
        1. 0
          29 October 2021 21: 10
          This has already been done. Ogarkov's buildings. Maybe it was for this that the Union got away.
  2. +8
    18 October 2021 05: 32
    And after all, everything was invented long ago. And now, with enviable regularity, the military again return to the old: shagistika, beds, painting the grass, etc. It's easier this way.
    1. 0
      18 October 2021 21: 05
      Your delusion is that highly motivated fighters serve in special forces (the same attack aircraft), and the rest must be taught discipline and obedience to orders at the reflex level. Better combatant has not yet come up with anything.
      1. +5
        19 October 2021 03: 48
        Hahaha! The most combat-ready units in the world are the companies of the guard of honor in the RF Armed Forces.
        The times of Frederick the Great are long gone.
        The drill works in the first 2 months of service. No more.
        1. -1
          20 October 2021 21: 03
          The drill is always working and is necessary for discipline, without which the army does not exist in principle, and about two months you are obviously flattering yourself.
          1. +2
            21 October 2021 01: 13
            The drill works for amateur officers to do nothing. And calmly wait for the pension. Easier, bums. Hoses.
      2. +5
        19 October 2021 04: 04
        In general, people begin to feel like an elite when they have overcome what others have failed. In shagistika, the PKK is the elite. But drill is not combat training. Earlier, drill - this was combat training. But those days are long gone. And the ability to leave the car, armored personnel carrier, infantry fighting vehicles is now much more necessary than striking a step on the parade ground. And only by this standard one can achieve both discipline and skills. As an example. These standards in each branch of the troops - it is written in the book.
  3. +7
    18 October 2021 06: 10
    Seeckt held stereotypical, derogatory views of most Jews. Seeckt ignored the 1919 Constitution, which outlawed religious discrimination, and ordered that Jews not be admitted to the Reichswehr, however skilled they might be.
    1. +3
      18 October 2021 06: 17
      Gloomy Teutonic genius ... smile what did the Jews annoy him with? what
      1. +8
        18 October 2021 06: 22
        Tradition like that. laughing
      2. +3
        20 October 2021 23: 37
        Yes, everything is simple - he is a soldier with the formation of the AGSH - and he knew from HISTORY that the Jews over the past 2000 years pissed away ALL wars - well, why were they needed ...
        1. 0
          29 December 2021 09: 32
          Jews fight well - but only for their state
    2. +4
      18 October 2021 08: 52
      and ordered that Jews not be admitted to the Reichswehr, no matter how skilled they were.

      That is why the West knew little about the real state of affairs in the Wehrmacht. Seeckt simply did not allow the creation of an agent network.
  4. +2
    18 October 2021 06: 17
    Provided that Germany annexed Austria-Hungary, received the experience of the 1914 war a year before the First World War and fought alternately with France + England and Russia, the same article could be written about the Reichsheer.
  5. +7
    18 October 2021 06: 20
    If the people are not involved in the creation of the army, then all militaristic ideas will sink into oblivion. The first step was to remove federation. All Germans became Aryans .. The character of the sanguine person was changed to Nordic. All posters were written in Gothic script. Mythology with reality. The history also had to be corrected. Denial of everything Jewish. But as they say, where there is a call to justice, Satan is always present. They took a large ransom from wealthy Jews, and secretly transported them to America. Stormtroopers were recruited from the criminal world. "I want guys with strong fists. It doesn't matter what their background is." And if we take the color of the world outside Germany at that time, then it is very similar to the current one.
  6. +1
    18 October 2021 06: 21
    Now they apologize to the Jews.
    1. 0
      29 December 2021 09: 33
      Everyone is sorry. You will now be reminded of the pogroms, the May laws, the JAC case and the Doctors case ...
  7. +10
    18 October 2021 07: 21
    It is interesting that, having defeated the Germans in the war of 1914-1918, the British, French and Germans did not notice or did not take this assault tactics seriously.

    Today on the site, apparently, is the day of the illiterate propagandist.
    1. +9
      18 October 2021 07: 47
      I don't even want to comment, but the top photo is interesting, Luftwaffe uniforms, military helmets, the color of the buttonholes is clearly not yellow, it looks like anti-aircraft gunners.
      1. +4
        18 October 2021 10: 48
        Precisely, I also noticed.
        1. +10
          18 October 2021 13: 39
          And what does the color of the buttonholes have to do with it, gentlemen-comrades - the Air Force does not have to be yellow .. By the way - hello everyone! Because of age, vision fails - even with glasses I could not see the number of "birds", how many are there - one, two? one, then brown, if two are red. One thing I can say for sure - this is really the Air Force, it was discussed at one forum. The photo was taken in Stalingrad. The Wehrmacht took many Air Force soldiers for itself, at the initial stage of this action they fought in their uniforms, like our sailors who went to the shore to fight.
          1. +8
            18 October 2021 14: 46
            I tried to contrast in Photoshop: two birds seem to be an oberleutenant.

            By the way, the number of birds on the buttonholes of the Luftwaffe speaks only of military rank and nothing else.
            1. +9
              18 October 2021 15: 08
              like two birds - an oberleutenant.
              Aha! Well then, all the more, not yellow, but rather greenish, or, as the youngest granddaughter says, zenon.
              By the way, the number of birds on the buttonholes of the Luftwaffe speaks only of military rank and nothing else.
              But with the soldiers with the non-commissioned officers, everything is completely different. In general, the devil himself will break his leg ... Thanks for the answer!
              1. +7
                18 October 2021 15: 28
                , the devil himself will break his leg ..


                "Gloomy Teutonic Genius" request

            2. +12
              18 October 2021 15: 38
              I tried to contrast in Photoshop: two birds seem to be an oberleutenant.

              This is oblt Helmut W Schnatz, com. 3 baht. 25th anti-aircraft regiment. 19.09.1942/XNUMX/XNUMX
              He:
              1. +8
                18 October 2021 15: 42
                Thank you for what he is famous for and that they are running around the ruins, catching partisans?
                1. +13
                  18 October 2021 15: 55
                  Here! Till Ulenspiegel, in whose heart the ashes of Claes are beating (by the way - thanks for the interesting additions to the articles, otherwise I forget to thank comrades often for this - this, I hope, is forgivable to me - if you live to see my advanced years, you will understand ... God forbid) did not let me lie!
                  that they are roaming the ruins there
                  Street fights, Kostya ... At the forum, even the area of ​​the city was called by someone, but I don't remember, to my shame, but I don't keep the links ... now I understand that it’s in vain ..
                  1. +10
                    18 October 2021 16: 04
                    It’s strange, judging by the well-fed face, it’s poured over, it hasn’t come to a crisis yet, and the zenbat must do his own thing, and not shoot at the ruins with rifles.
                    What year are you, colleague? I was released into this world in March 47, yes, I also start to play pranks about vision, but not critical, I drive without glasses.
                    1. +6
                      18 October 2021 16: 44
                      Quote: Sea Cat
                      Strange, judging by the well-fed physiognomy, it is covered with

                      well fed because he is a commissioned officer.
                  2. +9
                    18 October 2021 16: 08
                    Quote: Crowe
                    At the forum, even a district of the city was called

                    Voroshilovsky
                    1. +7
                      18 October 2021 18: 53
                      Which forum? My uncle on 2 River Street died there on 19.09.1942/XNUMX/XNUMX. Until now, I could not find the second river, everything was renamed.
                2. +9
                  18 October 2021 16: 19
                  Quote: Sea Cat
                  and what are they running about in the ruins, catching partisans?

                  The dog knows them. They are cleaning the ruins, go.

                  1. The comment was deleted.
                  2. +5
                    18 October 2021 16: 38
                    The non-commissioned officer and the soldier have an Austrian p / p Steyr-Solothurn S1-100. Not often came across front-line photos with this machine.
                    1. +3
                      18 October 2021 16: 50
                      Well, since in the hands of the Germans, then the MP34 then)
                      1. +5
                        18 October 2021 16: 55
                        It is possible and so, although from the fact that Hitler was an Austrian, he still did not cease to be the Fuehrer. wink
  8. +3
    18 October 2021 07: 37
    ... It was the attack aircraft that allowed the Germans to inflict heavy blows on the Anglo-French troops in 1918 and even threaten a breakthrough to Paris.
    a million soldiers transferred from the disappeared Eastern Front allowed the Germans to deliver heavy blows to the Anglo-French forces in 1918 and even threaten a breakthrough to Paris.

    As a result, Seeckt created a highly professional nucleus, which became the basis of the future Wehrmacht. Each private in the future could become a non-commissioned officer or an officer.

    the system of training future officers was amazing: with a huge competition for a place, there was a strict selection of candidates, why there was compulsory service in combat units as privates and non-commissioned officers (with parallel classes with practicing officers), certification, studies, exams with a large dropout. The total number of officers trained during the existence of the Reichswehr - was about 1000-odd people - they were selected cadres, but this was almost nothing for Hitler's army. And they took on the office of non-commissioned officers, officers from the police, officers of the imperial army, but this was not enough, they began to take soldiers at the office of the school, the training time and the level decreased significantly.

    In a hurry, the Wehrmacht of sanctioned Germany, which in 1939 was only 4 years old, was much weaker than the Imperial army of mighty Germany in 1914, which was preparing for war without any sanctions and restrictions for dozens of years
    1. +1
      29 October 2021 21: 14
      There was also the Black Reichswehr. It was he who gave the main shots for the initial immobilization.
  9. -3
    18 October 2021 07: 47
    and whoever of the countries that signed the Treaty of Versailles, when Hitler came to power in Germany, checked or inspected Germany, whether Germany violates the terms of the Versailles Treaty, especially the part concerning the armed forces? No one checked and there was no audit. Moreover, before Hitler came to power, the German company did not go bankrupt, starting with Hugo Boss, who sewed military uniforms for the Germans, including IG Forben, who produced Cyclone B gas to the Germans during World War I, and ending with Krupp, BMW, Siemens and etc. Hitler realized that no one made any revisions, no one would introduce any sanctions, because those companies who, before Hitler came to power in Germany, produced motorcycles and tractors instantly began to produce tanks and guns, airplanes and machine guns, gunpowder and the shells and became Hitler's financial backbone. Well, where are the sanctions for Hitler for these violations of the Versailles Treaty, from the signatories of this treaty? So don't la la. If the Stalinist USSR had not taken off with its might, the signatories of the Versailles Treaty would have begun to inspect Germany from the very beginning of Hitler's coming to power. And as far as such European countries as Britain, France, Poland, etc. saw the Stalinist USSR take off with economic and industrial power, consider the Russian Empire, the West only had to push Germany to war against the USSR.
    As for the experience of the Wehrmacht before the offensive on the USSR, he acquired it by training on all kinds of Austria, etc. Under the Anschluss of Austria, there were many Wehrmacht tanks. It became due to the fact that the supply of spare parts was very poorly organized and there were virtually no repair teams. So for the war against the USSR, the Wehrmacht was already provided and staffed with an impressive number of repair brigades in the tank forces, although Hitler planned the Blitzkrieg. But for the poor supply of the app. partly on the Eastern Front, the Wehrmacht cursed the Russian Emperor Nicholas I for the fact that he foresightedly foresaw that the track width of Russian railways should not be the same as the track width in Europe. That the enemy could not travel across Russia on their trains.
    1. -3
      18 October 2021 22: 51
      No, well, what kind of inspections to Germany to comply with the terms of Versailles. There was a big European game going on. Both Britain and France feared the strengthening of the USSR, given that the USSR declared the theory of a classless society with the need to extend it to other countries. Both France and Britain wanted to use Germany, led by Hitler, in a game against the USSR, with the hope of pushing them further. It was the West that helped Hitler grow stronger, allowing him to swallow Austria with Czechoslovakia. It was the West that eventually betrayed Poland, allowing Hitler to advance to the East. It was the West who watched through his fingers as Hitler ignored or even devoutly violated the provisions of Versailles. True, and Comrade Stalin was not just an observer here. He also wanted to use Hitler in the game against Britain and France, and Stalin made significant progress in this direction, but this is a topic for another conversation.
  10. +4
    18 October 2021 09: 24
    How the Germans defeated in the First World War were able to revolutionize military affairs and create "invincible" armed forces in the 20 years between the two world wars.
    Yes, the fact of the matter is that defeated Germany did not have a defeated army ... And already on the basis of it, the Wehrmacht was created ...
  11. +2
    18 October 2021 09: 48
    The sect managed to change the psychological climate in the army, to eliminate the division into the officer caste, separated from the sergeants and privates by an impenetrable barrier. This was the weakness of the army of the Second Reich, the Russian Empire (it went over to the Red Army, the Soviet and the Russian army). Now any soldier could become an officer and general if he had the appropriate abilities.


    What nonsense.
    Failed. The barrier remained. The age-old traditions of the Prussian military is not easy to change.
    The exception is SS units, but this is not the Wehrmacht at all.
    But about the barrier in the Red Army - really pins. What the hell is the barrier, if it was our sergeants who commanded the regiments and the appeal to the elders - "comrade", not "master".
    There is a barrier between the master and (the slave?), What is the barrier between the comrades?
    Have our generals multiplied by budding? General from general?
    Or did some generals start from the bottom?
    1. +1
      18 October 2021 19: 02
      Read "There were a parquet cruiser" # 19. About 25 years have passed since then, but I think nothing has changed :(
    2. 0
      29 December 2021 09: 38
      The "Prussian military clique" is the highest echelon of the leadership. At the level of privates - non-commissioned officers - middle-level officers there were no such barriers
  12. -1
    18 October 2021 10: 12
    It is interesting that, having defeated the Germans in the war of 1914-1918, the British, French and Germans did not notice or did not take seriously this assault tactic.

    As far as I understand, Samsonov did not hear about Italian "Arditi" and British (more precisely - Australian and New Zealand) "stuntmen". And about Pavel Adamovich Plehve with his "bombers" and "grenadiers" too.
    to form from them for each company special teams of bombers ... To elect people who are brave and energetic, to equip each with ten grenades conveniently hung from his belt, and axes of arbitrary design, and also to equip each with a shovel, as large as possible, and hand scissors for cutting wire

    From the order for 5PA. 17.10.1915/XNUMX/XNUMX
    1. 0
      29 October 2021 21: 17
      Initially, the bombing teams were a consequence of the "rifle hunger".
  13. The comment was deleted.
  14. +4
    18 October 2021 10: 17
    Quote: Lech from Android.
    Gloomy Teutonic genius ... smile what did the Jews annoy him with? what

    Apparently, he considered them unreliable ideologically.
    If for the Germans, with all the difference between a Prussian and a Bavarian, Germany is Vaterland, unambiguously, for the Jews there was also the Zionist movement with the aim of gaining the "Promised Land", and Trotsky's Comintern.
    That is, options where Germany's interests are in third place for them.
    So, just a calculation, they selected personnel for the future Wehrmacht, the best, and the Jews were immediately sifted out.
    But Hitler ... There is something personal, plus the ability to rally his stormtroopers against the designated internal "enemy", to blame for the loss of the First World War, and, of course, to rob, here is his anti-Semitism.
    1. 0
      29 December 2021 09: 14
      Jews are not assimilated. Avoda Zara and all that. For the project of the Artist about a society united by ethnicity, Jews were the fifth wheel

      Suffice it to recall what Soviet Jews thought when one definite state was formed in 1948.
  15. +2
    18 October 2021 11: 07
    Already during the First World War, the Germans invented the tactics of assault groups.

    - And in the Italian army in the years of WWI, "arditi" units appeared ...
    - Of course - Italian soldiers of that period ... - It is not too "correct" to compare with German soldiers; but nevertheless - these Italian Arditi units performed similar tasks as the German assault groups ... - These units recruited volunteers who were quite well prepared and trained ...
    1. +1
      18 October 2021 11: 50
      It's funny - I got three minuses for mentioning arditi, stuntmen and grenadiers of RIA.
  16. +5
    18 October 2021 11: 42
    The Germans knew how to fight well, and over time they learned to fight even better - but their traditional scourge was a completely useless general idea. Successfully or almost successfully, often solving tactical or large-scale tactical tasks, within the entire scale of a strategic plan, often acting very effectively - the plan itself remained the same mediocre, limited, dubious or unrealistic. That at one time they seriously nurtured the idea of ​​raising Mexico against the United States (well, nonsense, as it is!), That they did not pay enough attention to the involvement of Turkey (and indeed of the Middle East states in general) in BB2, that in general this stupid idea of ​​blackening England instead of preparing real amphibious operation. The very attack on the USSR in the hope of solving all the problems in such vast spaces in a couple of months - this was one of such stupid ideas. The experience of the war between the USSR and the Finns should have shown the Germans that the USSR sucks in offensive wars and, therefore, is not a threat to the European plans of the Wehrmacht in the short term - but they still decided to climb, instead of focusing on North Africa and Africa and the BV in general - which had everything they needed.
    1. +3
      18 October 2021 15: 56
      The topic of the article is dedicated to the Wehrmacht. The Wehrmacht proved to be a very effective tool. As for the plans ... What was so stupid about them?
      Hitler wanted to quickly capture the European part of the USSR up to the Volga. Then neither Angles nor Saxons would be strange to him.
      The USSR could not have liberated the occupied territory. For this, resources would no longer be sufficient. A stalemate would have been created, and a peace like Brest-Litovsk would have to be concluded.

      And what in practice?
      The Germans almost took Moscow. After the war, Zhukov himself said that although he had assured Stalin, he was not completely sure that Moscow would be defended. If Moscow fell, the Germans would be able to reach the Volga in its middle reaches (Gorky, Kazan). The peculiarities of the railway network in the European part greatly contributed to this. After that, the military industry would have to be evacuated again, this time from the lower Volga region beyond the Urals ...
      And then the Soviet Union would take on a rather strange shape. The capital would have to be moved to Irkutsk or Tyumen ...
      1. +2
        18 October 2021 16: 42
        The German plan was delusional in nature. The Germans + Austrians before the war had 76 lamas of demo potential (including the Jews, so the demo potential actually available to them was even lower). The USSR outnumbered the Germans + Austrians in its demo potential by 2.5 times. Most of this demotion potential was localized in the western part of the country, which was larger than the part of Europe controlled by the Germans. At the time of the war, the USSR had a sufficiently developed system for the production of weapons and ammunition, a fairly effective, ramified and loyal system of control over the authorities in the territories. That allowed him, on the one hand, to produce weapons and ammunition in places inaccessible to German influence, on the other hand, forced the Germans to scatter their limited resources to establish and maintain control over the occupied territories. And to oppose the control systems of the USSR - like the same partisan cells.
        In the process of all this, the highly motivated human resources available to the Germans were inevitably both scattered and irretrievably diminished, because war means losses, severe injuries, and so on. Dealing with the highly concentrated infrastructure of France or with predominantly flat Poland, the Germans had the opportunity to rely on hacking activities, knocking out key goals and achieving the direct objectives of the operation (and victory through this), while the conflict with the USSR put them in conditions DIRECTLY OPPOSITE, forcing them to combine effective control with effective high-power pinpoint strikes - and all this over a rather long period. All this they should have already understood from the pre-war calculations - everything indicated the impossibility of ensuring their proper combination in terms of duration and force of pressure, since potentially available to the USSR resources exceeded those available to the Germans, despite the fact that the USSR ALREADY controlled the territories it had, and the Germans only had to do it. In contrast to this, the North African operation would look much more promising, because, unlike the territories of the USSR, ideologically processed, densely populated and with dispersed military production, in this case the Germans would actually get the former colonial territories, inhabited and infrastructural clearly not enough to resist with relying on this - however, they had well-oiled schemes for the extraction, processing and export of resources - so necessary for the Germans themselves. The local population clearly did not favor Western values ​​- in contrast to the pre-war USSR, in which, in spite of everything, there was a rather persistent ideological element (with respect to the same Arabs, I mean). A simple alignment of 1939 kakbe hinted that the USSR was much farther from the Western allies than from the position of the GG - because Poland was shared with the GG. Nothing indicated that the USSR was preparing to stab the Germans in the back - moreover, the best moments for this have already passed one after another - after all, the Wehrmacht of 1939 is not the same as a couple of years before. In fact, at the end of 1940, Hitler & Co. had only one enemy - England, the others sat quietly. The land forces of England were demoralized, the colonial ones were not distinguished by intelligence and ingenuity - in North Africa, the Germans were waiting for ore, and oil, and agricultural territories in Egypt. And potentially, there is also an exit not only to the whole of Africa, but also to the eastern bastions of the British Empire. They preferred to all this a war with the USSR without closing the first front. Great idea, isn't it ?!
        1. +2
          18 October 2021 18: 27
          Eka brings you ... All of Africa, except Ethiopia, was colonial. That is, every African country was someone's colony. To go there is to invade someone else's possessions. The more the Germans would try to seize in Africa, the more motive would be for the same England to fight against Germany.
          Hitler actually wanted to first enslave the Soviet Union, without much disturbing Britain in her possessions. I am sure that the Germans generally left North Africa not because of the defeat at El Alamein, but in order to reassure the British in the hope that they would give up helping these Russians (our own guys, that we cannot agree?).
          Further. Germany had a human potential of at least 90 million. This is the population that gave soldiers.
          Germany - 70 million, Austria - 7 million, Sudeten Germans - 3 million, Alsace-Lorraine, Luxembourg (was the land of the Reich), the Germans of the part of Poland annexed in 1939, Czechs and Poles, who, after annexation and seizure, declared that they were Germans by nationality ... German, so German. They turned a blind eye to this. But when they began to call for the Wehrmacht ... there was nowhere to go, they went to fight ...
          Let's go further. There were many pro-German and pro-fascist citizens in the "occupied" countries of Western Europe. And many went to serve in the Wehrmacht and the SS. The Dutch alone numbered 40 to 50 thousand. Four divisions of motivated soldiers. The French -55 thousand. In total, the French-Dutch, Latvian-Estonians and other Norwegians scored about a million. They were front line fighters, not bath and laundry units.
          Next ... Germany's allies gave 940 soldiers. Finland - 300 thousand Romania - more than 200 thousand, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Croatia, two divisions each, the Spanish blue division ... and that's not all.
          But in general, the human potential of Germany and its allies exceeded the Soviet one on June 22, 1941, one and a half times. who did not prevent it from being drafted into the army. And in the fall of 1942 THREE TIMES.
          1. +1
            18 October 2021 23: 07
            If you seriously hope to prove to me the superiority of the German and Co. demo potential over the Soviet one, then this is a big illusion) At the beginning of the Second World War, the USSR had 185 population of Lyams - even if we exclude 10-12 Lyams at a glance, assuming that this population is employed according to Molotov-Ribbentrop territories, it is still more than the ALL cumulative population of the European OSI (namely, GG-Austria-Hungary-Romania-Italy) - which was about 142 million people. In addition to the Germans, sad legends really go about the fighting qualities of all these "osists"; the Germans themselves also had no special illusions about their stamina. And the population of these states, unlike the population of the USSR or Germany itself, has not been subjected to propaganda of comparable effectiveness for decades - so what is called war motivated was a very small part of the conscript contingent (not counting Germany + Austria). At the time of the involvement of the Italians in the war in the East, the Italian ardor had almost dried up, helped by a series of epic failures. Romanians-Hungarians did not have such a tight suction with the GG as Mussolini, the relationship of their units with the Wehrmacht was, to put it mildly, filthy - so, as you put it, "front line fighters" from them rarely turned out.
            Seriously to consider on the scale of armies any "Blue Division" or "Legion of French Volunteers against Bolshevism" - these were frankly homeopathic quantities numbering in the thousands - ten with a heap of thousands, well, this is not serious)
            I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that the Germans had to keep some part of their troops in occupied Europe, conduct counter-partisan activities there, etc. - while the USSR fought on its territory and spent much less effort on this.
            Most of the offensive operations in the east. the front was taken out by Germany + Austria itself. The same Hungarians for the war provided the east. front about 200 people, the Romanians made a slightly larger contribution - 000k, later up to 300-600k, the Finns gave 700k. For comparison, the same Wehrmacht at the beginning of the operation allocated 300 million people, and it was the Wehrmacht that increased this figure most significantly. In fact, the Germans ALREADY had an army that was almost mobilized to the maximum, while the reserves of the USSR were practically uncaptured. For Finland, every 4 people fought stupidly - I don't know who sowed and plowed there)) They had nowhere else to take, as well as to rotate, in fact. In total, during WW12, ~ 2 million people were drafted to the Wehrmacht, and ~ 22 million people to the Red Army. Whereas for the Third Reich it was conditionally every fourth, for the USSR it was every sixth. Comparable quantities from the European allies did not come even close to the Germans. Separately, I note that, unlike the USSR, which did not have a second front, the GG and the allies were forced to divert part of their forces to the Mediterranean-African front and more active operations of the fleets. Whatever the calculations, the proportionality will be on the side of the USSR.
            1. +1
              18 October 2021 23: 37
              For Finland, every 12 people fought stupidly - I don't know who sowed and plowed there)) They had nowhere else to take, as well as to rotate,

              I had to demobilize.

              By the end of the summer of 1941, the mobilization had reached 650 people, or about 000% of Finland's 17,5 million people, setting a kind of record in world history. This had an extremely difficult effect on all aspects of the life of the state: the number of workers in industry fell by 3,7%, in agriculture - by 50%. Food production fell by a third in 70. In the fall of 1941, the demobilization of older soldiers began, and by the spring of 1941, 1942 people had been demobilized.

              See
              https://tiina-livejournal-com.turbopages.org/turbo/tiina.livejournal.com/s/4242811.html
            2. 0
              19 October 2021 00: 49
              To talk about the human potential of the parties, you would need to compile a table of the population of the countries at the beginning of the war.
              I'll help you a little.
              USSR - 195 million, the population of the annexed territories is not 10-12 million, but almost 23 million.
              Germany (1940) - 109,5 million, Italy - 43,5 million, Romania - 16 million, Hungary - 8 million, Slovakia - 5, Finland - 3,7, Croatia, Slovenia ... More than 190 million Czech Republic is recruited. The population is not very large - less than 10 million, but its real value lies elsewhere: its mechanical engineering was as much as 40% compared to that of Germany itself. Every third tank is built at Skoda.
              Learn. Read on. Three years later it will be interesting to talk to you.
              1. +2
                19 October 2021 08: 40
                The Czech Republic was part of the Reich, along with Austria.
                It is also necessary to take into account Japan (pinned down our divisions in the Far East) and the occupied part of France (the rear of Germany, industrially developed). Spain Franco was also an ally of the Reich, military participation is modest, but the contribution to trade relations (intermediary in trade with the United States and Latin American countries) is more significant.
                A number of other European countries (Belgium-Holland-Norway) supplied cannon fodder for the Waffen SS.
              2. 0
                19 October 2021 12: 53
                Ooze with pathos just like Elizabeth of England)) This is a sign of a young mind :-)
                I do not know where you got the figure of 109 million of the population of Germany) According to the most optimistic estimates - 94 million - by 1941. These are Austria, Alsace, Lorraine, Sudetenland. These numbers also include Jews, Gypsies, those who did not consider themselves to be Volksdeutsch and were half-breeds in German-French families, for example, where they spoke two languages.
                That is, the potential actually available to the Wehrmacht was lower than these initial values ​​with their proportions for female pensioners, children, etc.
                The figure of 94 Lyama appears in "these your Internet" as an extreme figure, I don't know where you get the value 15 million more))) If you stupidly want to dump the entire potential of the population of the German-occupied territories into one fetid heap, then you must understand that in this case, it is worth considering then ALL the potential of the European allies from the anti-fascist bloc - including the overseas demography of the British Empire. Just as the territories newly annexed to the USSR and their population were not particularly loyal to the USSR ideologically, it is also naive to believe that the territories newly incorporated into the Reich were ideologically loyal to Germany for the most part. If you want to stupidly leave these numbers in the demography comparison equation (which in my opinion is incorrect) - okay, we will also take into account all the demography available to the USSR, and this is 1941 million for 199. You mention 42-43 million of the population of Italy, this is definitely potential. However, what forces are the Italians sending to Russia? If you look at it, these are very modest forces, completely incommensurate with the contributions of even the OSI member states, which are even inferior in the demography of Italy. I consider it incorrect to consider the demo potential of Italy "to the heap" in this way - this demo potential was but not used for the purposes of operations, that is, it was NOT ACCESSIBLE to the Third Reich. Now you consider Czechoslovakia - why do you consider it? The Wehrmacht did not call on the Czechoslovakians, they are territing. The state was used for the production of weapons, to consider this demography as accessible to the Germans is this cunning - a lot of military equipment and materials were supplied to the USSR through Lend-Lease, but we do not consider the population involved in the production of this outside the country as a plus to the demography of the USSR?
                It is also not entirely correct to count the Finnish demographic potential - they called on terrible numbers for their 3.7 million, but their ability to arm THESE numbers and feed them, make them mobile and combat-ready IN THE MASS - there are already big doubts. The mobilization of even 10% of the population for the country is still a haemorrhoid, there we are talking about the mobilization of up to 15-20% of the population. But the Finns were highly motivated fighters, okay, their potential can be added, for example.
                In total, we have a figure of ~ 120 million looms - from the demography ACTUALLY controlled by Hitler and Co. After all, we consider the potential of the countries that really plowed for the AXIS on the Eastern Front? Here's their potential, okay. "Paper".
                But if we look at the alignment of the general participation of troops in relation to demography, we will see that Germany + Austria plowed in, the rest, even from this list, in general, stood with a candle.
                1. 0
                  19 October 2021 13: 26
                  Your message lacks structure. It's hard to read.
                  109,5 million worth in an article in English. See "Nazi Germany" on Wikipedia. An article in German language was worth 78,8 million in 1938. But it is not specified when exactly in 1938.
                  If on, as usual, 1.01. then it is up to the Anschluss of Austria. And even more so the Sudetes.
                  In general, there is a lot of fog with the population of Germany.
                  Most likely, 78,8 million is the number before the Anschluss of Austria. Germans like to portray themselves as small and harmless
                  ... The Reich included not only the Sudetenland, but the WHOLE Czech Republic. In March 1939. True, it was called Bohemia and Moravia.
                  From occupied Poland, they also cut a piece to the Reich, making everyone living there citizens of the Reich. Then, a program was carried out to repatriate the Germans, primarily from the Baltic states and Poland. The territory of the Reich can be surveyed here, for example.
                  https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS-Staat#/media/Datei:Grossdeutsches_Reich_NS_Administration_1944.png
                  As for the varying degrees of motivation to fight. So we also had different soldiers. In western Ukraine, the majority simply did not appear on the summons of the military registration and enlistment offices. Many soldiers from Central Asia and the Caucasus did not understand Russian well. If a soldier does not understand commands ... what kind of fighter he is. And in general, many immigrants from Central Asia did not rush to the front. To put it mildly.
                  In any case, not the entire army is at war. Most of them do not fight, but guard, transport, build, etc. there they were sent in the first place.
            3. +1
              19 October 2021 08: 46
              In fact, the Germans ALREADY had an army that was almost mobilized to the maximum, while the reserves of the USSR were practically empty.


              No. The maximum number of the Armed Forces of the Reich was reached in 1943 after the "total mobilization".
              The mob resource of the USSR was significantly reduced by 1943, since almost a third of the population remained in the occupied territories. But it was from the middle of the war that the Red Army began to maintain systematic victories.
              1. 0
                19 October 2021 12: 51
                Quote: Illanatol
                The Czech Republic was part of the Reich, along with Austria.
                It is also necessary to take into account Japan (pinned down our divisions in the Far East) and the occupied part of France (the rear of Germany, industrially developed).
                Franco's Spain was also an ally of the Reich, military involvement is modest, but the contribution to trade relations ... is significant.
                A number of other European countries (Belgium-Holland-Norway) supplied cannon fodder for the Waffen SS.

                Yes, that's right, Anatoly. The Czech Republic was part of the Reich and on this basis, the Czechs, as citizens, had to serve in the Wehrmacht. They served.
                But the main contribution to the "victory of German weapons" they made by producing military equipment for the Wehrmacht. We worked conscientiously ...

                Japan, indeed, pulled off significant forces of the Red Army. Their neutrality was hypocritical through and through. But for those who did not teach history in the USSR, this is hard to understand. The role of Turkey in that war is even more difficult to comprehend. The Turks kept 20 divisions ready, which really helped Germany a lot. After all, troops had to be kept against a possible Turkish invasion. And in all, Turkey was able to deploy a million-strong army. The Caucasus would have been lost for sure. Both Baku and Batumi, which became the LAST base of the Black Sea Fleet. The fleet would have to be flooded ...
                1. +1
                  29 December 2021 09: 30
                  Quote: Sergey-1950
                  Yes, that's right, Anatoly. The Czech Republic was part of the Reich and on this basis, the Czechs, as citizens, had to serve in the Wehrmacht. They served.

                  The Czechs were not full citizens of the Reich and were not subject to conscription. There weren't even Czech Waffen SS divisions
                  1. 0
                    31 December 2021 01: 47
                    Quote: Ol Willy
                    Quote: Sergey-1950
                    Yes, that's right, Anatoly. The Czech Republic was part of the Reich and on this basis, the Czechs, as citizens, had to serve in the Wehrmacht. They served.

                    The Czechs were not full citizens of the Reich and were not subject to conscription. There weren't even Czech Waffen SS divisions

                    Then the question arises: how did tens (most likely hundreds) of thousands of Czechs end up in the Wehrmacht?
                    The question of the status of Czechs in the protectorate has not been studied. They were not full citizens of the Reich, that's right. But this does not at all exclude the obligation to serve in the German army. What categories were subject to conscription has not been studied either. It is possible that these are Czechs, who declared that they were Germans during the occupation. These received citizenship. And the duty to serve in the Wehrmacht.
                    1. 0
                      31 January 2022 17: 45
                      If you mean Soviet statistics, then Sudeten Germans, who until 1938 had citizenship of Czechoslovakia, were recorded as "Czechs"
              2. -2
                19 October 2021 13: 02
                I mean some healthy borderline between quantity and quality. When the Wehrmacht called for combat-ready men without prejudice to production - this was one thing, when they began to call on the old perdaks, yesterday's shkolota and workers from production - these were already people of a different fighting efficiency. By 1941, the "healthy" potential for mobilization had already been largely exhausted - further sawing was done to the detriment of something.
        2. 0
          18 October 2021 19: 07
          The rearmament programs in the USSR ended in 1942-1943. Let's remember the same T34 and KV tanks. In 1941, the T34 tank was still a very raw machine with a bunch of childhood illnesses. By 1942, the disease had been cured and would have produced enough to feed the army. Let me remind you that in order to fight the T34, the Germans had to transfer the PT artillery to 76 mm caliber, and make new T5 and T6 tanks, because the existing T3 and T4 had already exhausted their potential.
          1. 0
            18 October 2021 22: 21
            Nice! Now let's look at what tanks the Germans conquered Poland and France. And we can compare it with the machines already available in the USSR in terms of quality and quantity. All these tales about "raw cars" are not true. Our tanks were already skating with might and main when the Wehrmacht was still practicing on carts. But the organizational issue is much more interesting - if we had devoted a little less effort to crazy five-tower ventures, looking at the war, everything would be as it should.
            1. 0
              29 December 2021 09: 28
              The tank is not a weapon - it is a weapon system. Therefore, it is necessary to compare the systems themselves - weapons, armor, engine and propulsion, communications, surveillance equipment, and so on. Many things will become clear
    2. +1
      29 December 2021 09: 39
      This is called the "strategic level". The Germans have always had problems with this.
  17. +11
    18 October 2021 12: 31
    G.V. Schnatz from the 3rd battery of the 25th anti-aircraft regiment in the Voroshilovsky district of Stalingrad, the Stalingrad elevator is visible in the background. Fraer in a tie, a shield with the national tricolor, which was canceled at the beginning of 1940, goes to fight with the Red Army. Came across a photo further down the street, where they still found Krasnoarmeytsev, there he looked no longer so polished, became a little dead, this day on the Russian land was his last.
  18. BAI
    +1
    18 October 2021 12: 33
    It is interesting that, having defeated the Germans in the war of 1914-1918, the British, French and Germans did not notice, or did not take seriously this assault tactic.

    I would like to know what the Germans did not notice and did not perceive here.
  19. -2
    18 October 2021 12: 34
    To the left German in the front row, Javgey artist Elka spanked Davidovich's star onto his cap
    1. +3
      18 October 2021 15: 53
      Quote: Moishe
      To the left German in the front row, Javgey artist Elka spanked Davidovich's star onto his cap

      What stuck on the Jews? Of a dozen comments, half with boorish attacks.
  20. -3
    18 October 2021 14: 23
    The author is not aware that the Wehrmacht has been defeated?
    There is no need to advertise criminal structures (although in Nuremberg it turned out to be recognized as such).
  21. 0
    18 October 2021 15: 21
    When it comes to storm troopers, one of my favorite old school war films is Stoßtrupp 1917 (1934 onwards)
  22. +2
    18 October 2021 15: 48
    The general staff and officer corps of imperial Germany, preserved by the Weimar Republic with Hindenburg at its head, almost unchanged, with the traditions of Prussian militarism, is the basis for the revival of the Nazi Wehrmacht. The rest of the factors are secondary. The General Staff is the brain of any army. And, no matter what they say later, in Germany he was the best at that time. Neither the French General Staff, nor the English, could compete with him. We'd better keep quiet about Polish. Well, the General Staff of the Red Army, still had a difficult four-year training in the Second World War, with such an inveterate enemy, in order to compare and then surpass the German General Staff. After all, the tsarist general staff, in WWI, did not particularly shine with anything, and the officers of the general staff were so-so. The example of B.M. Shaposhnikov is an exception that once again confirms the rule.
  23. 0
    18 October 2021 16: 17
    > even threaten a breakthrough to Paris.

    Alexander, are you serious?

    With regard to the new and now lively, improved strategy and operational-tactical art, we were the best students. I lost the ring, and in the ring there is 22 division)
  24. -1
    18 October 2021 17: 45
    thug uniform rolled up his sleeves and forward.
  25. +1
    18 October 2021 18: 08
    Well, I don't know what kind of history they taught there. First, Karl12 froze in Russia, then Napoleon, then Hitler. All these figures forgot to look at the map of Russia, or their maps were of the wrong scale. The history of Germany shows one thing: during a quarrel with Russia, Germany has always racked up, during a friendship she crushed enemies.
  26. +1
    20 October 2021 15: 51
    [b] [/ b] Unfortunately, the bloat and difference between officer and team still persists. I know why this is so, because a soldier with the rank of corporal has his own interests, and an officer with the rank of colonel wants to be a general, even at the cost of the death of his soldiers. This still holds true.
  27. 0
    23 October 2021 12: 53
    Greetings to Samsonov! Yes, the Germans made a big leap in military affairs in the Thirties! But then the Wehrmacht was replaced by even more incredible troops: the Waffen-SS! Soldiers who did not need training, they already knew how to do everything on the machine!
    1. 0
      29 December 2021 09: 44
      Excluding the national and 1945 recruiting divisions, the SS core is no more than a dozen divisions. Given the scale of that war, this was clearly not enough.
  28. +1
    24 October 2021 19: 19
    The following says about the high role of non-commissioned officers in the Wehrmacht:
    - in the infantry company of 201 personnel there were two officers - the company commander and the commander of the first platoon, the second and third platoons were commanded by sergeant-major.
    - in the infantry battalion for 831 personnel, there were 13 officers.
    There was no caste in the Wehrmacht, but there was no familiarity either. The Wehrmacht soldier could not approach the officer and ask for a smoke. Casinos and restaurants for officers were closed to private and non-commissioned officers. But in the field, officers and soldiers were fed from the same boiler.
    The officers also had a supplement in the Wehrmacht, as well as in the Red Army.
    On the other hand, the Wehrmacht officer never dealt with footcloths, T-shirts, sheets, etc. I didn’t stoop to that on economic issues, order in the barracks and in the lockers with the soldiers' belongings, these issues were decided by the company Hauptfeldwebel and non-commissioned officers. They were kings and gods for the soldiers. And they also trained them. By the way, it was the Wehrmacht that borrowed from the Reichswehr, the high training of non-commissioned officers and their good training as training soldiers. It was they who taught everything to the soldier, not the officers. The officer supervised the training, indicated what needed to be worked out additionally, indicated the topics of the classes.
    And, by the way, the Reichswehr was by no means obsessed with shagistics. This is an exaggeration. At the beginning of the First World War, Germany's opponents invariably noted the high combat training of soldiers and non-commissioned officers, their competent actions in battle.
    Yes, and the question was not in supplementary rations, but in the fact that after the fall of the German Empire it was decided to make the officer corps all-estates. In the Russian Empire, they came to this back in 1915, when, to make up for losses in the officer corps, a network of warrant officers' schools (the tsar warrant officer - junior lieutenant) was deployed in which representatives of any class were recruited, if only they were literate. The restrictions on admission to officer schools were eased, although peasants were not taken there, but it was opened for merchants, clergy, commoners (honorary citizens, etc.). Before the war, apart from noblemen or officers' children, representatives of other estates could enter military schools with great difficulties.
  29. 0
    28 October 2021 15: 16
    If mobilized for the previous war, mobilized, trained for a year, on the experience of a victorious war, hanging all the costs on the defeated, then hold a training camp in Yugoslavia and Greece, then it will be a miracle sword. But the Russian system of war was found on the German cunning sword. And it ended with the fact that the nameless Vanya Kazantsev pee in the toilet of the Reich Chancellery.
  30. 0
    29 October 2021 20: 58
    That's terrible. The German soldier was not given a submachine gun. These are weapons of non-commissioned officers (so that he does not forget to command, and not fond of shooting) and rear officers (because in the German version "Erma" was cheaper than a rifle both in production and in training). Well, the rest takes a long time and is not always censored.
  31. +1
    30 November 2021 21: 49
    Do you remember that there was an old black and white film about two German friends who served in the German army? At the end of one they are hanged for some kind of misconduct, and the second one shoots officers from a machine gun, or something ... I would like to see it again ... He was shown on TV once in all in the 90s.
  32. Eug
    0
    7 December 2021 09: 00
    For some reason I am sure that if the army training will be, first of all, INTERESTING, then many disciplinary problems will disappear by themselves. I do not deny the need for difficulties and overcoming oneself in studies, but interest must be present!
    1. 0
      28 January 2022 22: 24
      Together with interest, patriotism is also necessary.
  33. +1
    18 January 2022 01: 52
    QUOTE: "... the Germans defeated in the First World War ...."
    hmm
    Well, the rear lost, not the army.
    In the autumn of 1918, during the armistice, foreign troops occupied only a few square kilometers of German land - near the border with Switzerland.
    And the German army occupied THOUSANDS of square kilometers of enemy territory - in the West and in the East.
    But, the rear collapsed - just like in Russia, in the summer and autumn of 1917.
  34. 0
    28 January 2022 22: 23
    "It remains to supplement them with reconnaissance, dive bombers and tanks, to give the fighters submachine guns instead of rifles ..."
    In fact, the main weapons of the infantry were rifles, non-commissioned officers were armed with submachine guns.

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