the reichswehr----- what is it? i looked all over but all i found was information for pre-wwii. was it involved in wwii, and if so, what were its major involvements? i’m planing on making a diorama with a king tiger tank on a bridge, and some of the decals with the others kits i’m using in it are for the reichswehr. all information will be useful. Thanks!
That was the name used before hitler came to power
that was the name for the army(you forgot that grandpajohn)
Sorry about that
The Reichswehr was the small army allowed to Germany after World War One. The Allies blamed the war on Hun aggression and wanted to make sure the Germans would not be able to launch another invasion any time soon.
It was a mistake. The Germans were incensed by this and decided that they would make the Reichwehr a cadre for a bigger army. So every soldier was trained to be a senior noncom or an officer – that way, when the army exploded in size, the Reichwehr would operate as the core around which the conscripts would be built. It also gave them an incentive to build a very aggressive trainnig regimen, so that conscripts could be brought very quickly and very effectively up to snuff.
This was the beginning of three legendary advantages the Germans had in WWII – superb infantry training, superb low level leadership, and a very effective way of dealing with losses.
The Reichwehr was supposedly apolitical, but tended to smile more on the radical right than the radical left (for instance, it would immediately put down left-wing insuregncies, but sat out the Kapp Putch, a coup by a General). For much of the time that it existed, it was led by a guy named Hans von Seekt, who realized the importance of mobility in battle, because he had seen the success of the Stosstruppen in the trenches. He was also an early convert to the tank for that same reason – mobility keeps the campaign going.
It’s a very interesting subject. I wrote my honors thesis in college on von Seekt.