Description
Book SynopsisThis book charts the seemingly spontaneous growth of the 'Free Corps' movement from the ashes of the Imperial German Army following the 1918 Armistice. Large numbers of former officers and soldiers - often from elite units - assembled in 'private armies' and helped themselves to weapons and equipment Led by highly motivated and often highly decorated combat leaders, these 'Freikorps' fought off both Communists at home and Polish troops in the borderlands with considerable success, founding a nationalist legend. Many went on to serve in the new Reichswehr, and later in the SA and SS.
Table of ContentsThe German Army in November 1918; the communist threat; the threat to the borders - Poland; the Baltic; the birth of the Freikorps; the major FKs, and their enemies in the campaigns of Berlin, December 1918-January 1919 (FK Marker, von Roeder, etc versus the Spartakists), Munich 1919 (FK Werdenfelds, von Epp, Bayreuth etc), the Ruhr 1920 (FK Rossbach, Jager Btln 37, FK Hacketau, versus Red Army, the Kapp Putsch, Berlin 1920 (Ehrhard, Marine Bde Wilhelmshaven, FW Bde von Hulsen, the Baltic Coast (Baltische Landwehr, Eiserne Division, Selbsschutz Obershcliessen), the Reichswehr, 1923.
