
	Where results make sense

Topic: Volkssturm

	Second World War Books Review
		Among the most salient obstacles to Volkssturm success were the deteriorating military and economic situations, poor civilian morale, Nazi political infighting, and, perhaps most important, the fundamental inaccuracy of the ideological assumptions--both of Allied strength and of German and NSDAP abilities--that guided Nazi thought.
		The Volkssturm was conceived as an expression of the National Socialist will to resist; it is fittingly ironic that the negative features of the Nazi political system helped strangle enthusiasm for the Volkssturm both nationally and locally.
		Whereas OKH mobilized groups of Volkssturm units simultaneously and made some coordinated efforts to integrate them into their defensive plans and to prepare them to perform prearranged tasks, western commanders tended to activate Volkssturm battalions as needed, singly or in small groups.
	stonebooks.com /archives/021027.shtml (3813 words)

	Hitler’s Volkssturm
		Hitler’s Volkssturm is the only book in English—and the most comprehensive in any language—on the German militia, illuminating its role and contributions to the Nazi war effort and shedding new light on the last days of the Third Reich.
		The Volkssturm was, in fact, part of a broader, ideologically based strategy intended to turn the tide of the war.
		In an unprecedented examination of the Volkssturm at the local level, Yelton also shows the negative impact of national power struggles and demonstrates how the Wehrmacht, industry, and public opinion exerted influence on the militia in ways often contrary to its official objectives.
	www.kansaspress.ku.edu /yelhit.html (481 words)

	Chapter Sixteen: Political Measures Introduced by the National Socialist Party
		The Volkssturm included all men up to the highest age groups as long as they were capable of bearing arms and were not already serving with the armed forces.
		Among the men of the Volkssturm were many veterans of World War I. Although there had been many changes in the field of tactics, these men had sufficient military background to cope with the simple missions of which the Volkssturm was capable.
		After that, most of the Volkssturm units were used to prepare reserve battle positions in the rear area for a possible withdrawal of the combat troops who in turn provided instructors for the Volkssturm battalions.
	www.army.mil /cmh/books/wwii/milimprov/ch16.htm (1973 words)

	Volkssturm (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		Volkssturm: Group of men mobilised in the final phase of the Second World War following a decree issued by Hitler on 25 September, 1944, that "all men capable of bearing arms aged 16-60 are called up to support the Wehrmacht forces".
		Recruitment and command of these troops were put in the hands of the gauleiter, while the organisation, equipment and deployment of troops were handled by the Reich High Commander of the SS ("Reichsführer SS") H. Himmler.
		The Volkssturm troops were poorly trained and armed and suffered heavy losses.
	www.aeiou.at /aeiou.encyclop.v/v813620.htm;internal&action=_setlanguage.action?LANGUAGE=en (136 words)

	Trials of German Major War Criminals: Volume 11
		No, I only had the impression that it was the last attempt of our people to defend their own homesteads.
		No, but all officers of the Armed Forces which encountered the Volkssturm units in their areas either incorporated them or sent them home.
		No, he only just mentioned the Volkssturm and similar things, but military authorities had nothing to do with it.
	www.vex.net /~nizkor/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-11/tgmwc-11-100-07.shtml (2215 words)

	WWII: The World at War 1944
		Volkssturm formed; the last-ditch defenders of the Reich.
		All men aged from sixteen to sixty were organized in their districts, with few uniforms, with little training and with any weapons that could be found, under the leadersbip of any available officers from the SS, SA, NSKK or Hitler Youth.
		The Volkssturm, intended to fight in their own areas, might have made a significant defence contribution had they not been thrown into the last battles of the Reich whenever there was a desperate need.
	www.euronet.nl /users/wilfried/ww2/1944.htm (4712 words)

	Plastic Soldier Review - Pegasus Germans in Berlin 1945
		Those exhausted and poorly equipped army units were 'reinforced' by the Volkssturm, a citizen army mostly composed of boys and old men.
		This set is the first to depict the disparate defenders of that doomed city, and as such models a turning point in the history of Europe.
		The Volkssturm wore their own clothes (which might include old items kept from military service years before), but in the scramble to give weapons to all everything was put into service, including weapons from all their allies and enemies according to one eye-witness.
	www.plasticsoldierreview.com /Review.asp?manu=PEG&code=7228 (947 words)

	Shofar FTP Archives: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-04/tgmwc-04-35.03
		In this decree Himmler is made the military Leader of the "Volkssturm," but the organisational and political leadership is entrusted to Bormann.
		The Tribunal will know that the "Volkssturm " was an organisation consisting of all German males between 16 and 60.
		By virtue of his leadership of the "Volkssturm" Bormann was instrumental in needlessly prolonging the war, with a consequential destruction of the German and the European economy, and a loss of life and destruction of property.
	www.vex.net /~nizkor/ftp.cgi/imt/ftp.py?imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-04/tgmwc-04-35.03 (2288 words)

	JMH Abstracts: Vol. 64, No. 4 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		Germany's leadership intended the Volkssturm, a national militia founded in September 1944, to play a dual role.
		Thus, the Volkssturm's most critical duty was the psychological mobilization of the German home front.
		Overall, this essay argues that the creation of Volkssturm reveals how the Reich's leadership began implementing a coherent defense strategy in the autumn of 1944, and that Nazi ideological preconceptions continued to shape German strategy even in the war's final months.
	www.smh-hq.org /jmh/volumes/jmh644/abs644.html (1046 words)

	WebRoots Library U.S. Military - WWII (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		The Volkssturm might perhaps have presented such an opportunity if only it had been drawn up as a levee en masse with long- range material preparations and if entirely different slogans had been used for the mental and spiritual conditioning of the people.
		The Volkssturrn The most extensive improvisation undertaken by the National Socialist Party was the mobilization of the Volkssturm during the last few months of the war.
		When, toward the end of the war, entire Volkssturm battalions were committed far away from their homes on the Eastern Front, this emergency measure was contrary to the spirit and original mission of the Volkssturm and could only lead to failure.
	www.webroots.org /library/usamilit/wwii/midtrc04.html (8452 words)

	Collector Grade Publications - Bookshelf #2 - Gun Books - US Riflery, Sir Hiram Maxim's Gun, MKI Vickers Machinegun
		The six million old men and boys of the Volkssturm were initially equipped with shotguns, drillings, hunting rifles, military training rifles and handguns scrounged from the German populace.
		Other Volkssturm weapons included the anti-tank Panzerfaust ("tank fist"), a single-shot, rocket-propelled shaped-charge device capable of defeating any Allied tank then in existence, and numerous "clones" of the British Sten machine carbine, which were hastily manufactured by a considerable number of German firms (a memorandum speaks of "30 subcontractors and 14 assembly points").
		In summing up, the author notes that even if the Volkssturm had been fully trained, well equipped and armed with the best weapons in the world-which they decidedly were not-they could have done no more than delay the inevitable, which in many cases, documented here, they actually did.
	www.collectorgrade.com /bookshelf2.html (954 words)

	Bolt Action Miniatures Review (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		The only down-side for me personally is that the gun is an early-war item, and wasn't really used after '43.
		These four are the first part of a Volkssturm unit.
		These four men are older than the previous Volkssturm set.
	www.wargamesdirectory.com /html/reviews/review175.asp (1650 words)

	Otto Dix - TheBestLinks.com - Allegory, All Quiet on the Western Front, Berlin, Cologne, ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		Otto Dix (1891-1969) was a German expressionist and anti-war painter and a veteran of the First World War.
		In 1939 he was arrested on a trumped-up charge of being involved in a plot against Hitler but was later released.
		He was captured by French troops at the end of the war and released in February 1946.
	www.thebestlinks.com /Otto_Dix.html (599 words)

	Photographs of prisoners burned to death by in a barn in Gardelegen, 13 April 1945 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		The first to arrive, at 0430 on April 14, were 50 Volkssturm men from the neighbouring village of Kloster Neuendorf, joined later in the morning by 15 men of the Gardelegen fire brigade, 15 from the Technische Nothilfe (technical emergency service), and 90 from the Gardelegen Volkssturm.
		Meanwhile, the Volkssturm men had begun to dig four grave trenches, two metres wide and two metres deep, two long ones on the north side of the barn and two smaller ones on the east side.
		Hermann Hohls, the Volkssturm company commander in charge of the work; Gustav Palis, one of his men; and Paul Schernikau, the fire brigade chief, each shot a prisoner to put him out of his misery.
	www.scrapbookpages.com /Gardelegen/Massacre01.html (2336 words)

	Russian Life Online
		By now, the Volkssturm was comprised mainly of old men and children.
		The Volkssturm made attempts to fortify the city and dug trenches designed to trap Soviet tanks.
		This was all well and good except that Germany did not have the soldiers and equipment in place at Berlin to fight the approaching 1.3 million Red Army troops.
	www.rispubs.com /article.cfm?Number=603 (1803 words)

	Camouflage Uniforms & Hitlerjugend/Volkssturm - Red Orchestra (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		2) The Volkssturm and Hitlerjugend wouldn't exactly be an ideal role to play in that particular battle, not to mention the high desertion rates and low performance of many units under Jospeh Goebbels' personal command.
		However, the German Home Guard could offer a diverse selection of weapons and irregular uniform variations which would be enticing to model and texture (such as the late-war Volksgewehr weapons and foreign pieces which were captured during the earlier years of German conquest across Europe).
		The act of a thread getting closed in a forum soon after its creation due to it's subject restating a question/issue that has been discussed to ad nauseum and/or is asinine by nature.
	www.redorchestra.clanservers.com /forums/showthread.php?t=4368 (1071 words)

	Storm of Steel - East Front 1944-45
		From Tjerkassy to Berlin is designed to supplement the Storm of Steel set, and contain a number of rules and tables that will help any gamers wanting to recreate the battles fought during the two final years on the East Front.
		SMG units move like infantry, uses 1d8 when firing, have a maximum range of 15cm, and uses 3d6 in assault combat.
		In addition to this, when a german force is demoralized, immediately roll 1d6 for each Volkssturm unit: a result of 1-3 means that the units panics and is removed from the table.
	www.freewargamesrules.co.uk /Rules/World_War_2/eastfront.htm (1407 words)

	Wargamer's Panzer General II Campaign After Action Report by Michael Birke (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		I bombed and overran the German Volkssturm and Wehrmacht Units wherever they showed their head.
		I took the objective in the north with an infantry unit after the fifteen strength Pershing went on an overrunning rampage, clearing a path to the objective.
		Dessau is just in reach and only a Volkssturm and a 150mm sFH defend it.
	www.wargamer.com /pg2/dessau.asp (636 words)

	RZM.com- Your online source for WWII books & more!
		Formed from men unfit for military service, the young, and the old, this ad-hoc formation saw extensive combat during the desperate defence of the Reich, 1944-45.
		The author describes the Volkssturm’s training, leadership, organisation, armament and equipment, in addition to its active service on both the Eastern and Western fronts.
		The text is supported by an extensive selection of appendices, including translations of documents and many fascinating eyewitness combat reports.
	www.rzm.com /books/hel/lastlevy.cfm (135 words)

	Desperate Measures: Last-Ditch Weapons of the Nazi Volkssturm
		Summary of Volkssturm performance and the process of providing the organization with small arms, and particularly, Volksgewehre.
		Note: The book "Desperate Measures: Last-Ditch Weapons of the Nazi Volkssturm" will be available on or about September 15, 2005.
		Copies may be ordered at that time from the author directly by sending $69.99 + $8.80 shipping (priority mail) or $4.70 (book rate) via personal check or money order to the same address.
	www.vvm.com /~histpart/volkssturm.htm (450 words)

	Last Train From Kummersdorf by Leslie Wilson - Faber and Faber novelist and author of Last Train From Kummersdorf, The ...
		My first novel for adults was about Nazi Germany, and when I was doing the research I was appalled to read that lads of as young as twelve were drafted into the Home Guard (Volkssturm) in the last days of the war.
		Some of these cracked in the horrors of the last battle in Berlin and were shot as deserters by the SS when they cried to go home.
		I wanted to think what it was like to grow up in a totalitarian society where you had to be careful what you said, where you couldn’t easily find out a version of events that was different from the official one.
	www.lesliewilson.co.uk /nazi.htm (705 words)

	Lone Sentry: TM-E 30-451 Handbook on German Military Forces: Auxiliary Forces and Semi-Military Organizations: ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		The Germans state that such arm bands indicate that the wearers are members of the German Armed Forces.
		The German Volkssturm has no authorized uniform or insignia except for an armband variously stenciled Deutscher Wehrmacht or Deutscher Volkssturm with Wehrmacht directly underneath the upper two words.
		Volkssturm personnel are reported to be unwilling to fight if furnished only with armbands for fear of being arrested as franc tireurs.
	www.lonesentry.com /manuals/tme30/ch9sec6.html (757 words)

	Diary for the period of April 15 to May 15, 1945
		When he spends the morning in the woods in order to work undisturbed on "real physics", he was likely focusing on S-matrix theory or other theoretical problems.
		Sunday, 4-15-45: In the morning on duty with the ‘Volkssturm’* at the range.
		General impression: when needed, the Volkssturm is not going to do anything.
	werner-heisenberg.unh.edu /diary.htm (5175 words)

	Untitled Document
		Strength figures for this and other divisions of the LXXXII Corps are taken from a report to OB WEST made as Of 4 December.
		In December 1944, there were still a great many restrictions on the use of the volkssturm as combat troops.
		The battalion was so poorly trained that Balck yanked it out of the fight almost as soon as it was committed.
	www.army.mil /cmh/books/wwii/lorraine/ch13endnotes.htm (2698 words)

	Volkssturm Soldbucher - Wehrmacht-Awards.com Militaria Forums
		I have already contacted some of you personally, but, if there are any collectors out there who have copies of Soldbucher either made specifically for the Volkssturm, or have Wehrmacht soldbucher issued to Volkssturm men, please contact me at snafu947@yahoo.com
		I am interested in the following-name of holder, rank and unit of holder, and most importantly, the issuances pages (I believe they are pages 4 and 5 to the specifically Volkssturm issued books).
		For those of you who have contacted me or will be contacting me, a huge thank you, and for everyone else, I hope to hear from you all very soon.
	www.wehrmacht-awards.com /forums/showthread.php?t=35139 (172 words)

	Infoceptor Forums :: starcraft / warcraft / diablo - Battle of Berlin RPG
		We all are young german teens, about 12-17 year olds, that are drafted in the Volkssturm (Home Defence units, AKA cannon fodder).
		Then in 1945 the news reported that the Communists were approaching Berlin, and the call went out for all true Germans to defend the Fatherland.
		While the rest of his cowardly unit went to surrender to the Allies, Wolfgang took one of the last trains into Berlin and signed up with the Volkssturm.
	www.infoceptor.com /forums/printthread.php?t=1337400 (716 words)

	BATTLEFIELD-HITLER YOUTH AND VOLKSSTURM (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		Volkssturm advancing with VG1-5 SMG, Volkssturm advancing with panzerfaust,
		Volkssturm in overall advancing with panzerfaust,Volkssturm in civilian suit with rifle,
		Police combat unit officer with MP40,Police combat NCO MP40,Police combat soldier with K98.
	www.battlefieldminiatures.co.uk /HITLER_YOUTH_AND_VOLKSSTURM.htm (92 words)

	Ft. McCoy
		We were the only customers in the place, yet the space behind the counter was crowded with malnourished-looking teenage Frauleins and a bloated, squint-eyed counter-man with a filthy apron.
		Kurt and I silently wondered how he had managed to escape conscription into the Volkssturm, but we supposed that even the Volkssturm must have some recruiting standards!
		In any event, the counter-man behaved most strangely; when he saw that we were soldaten, he insisted on summoning a friend of his from a nearby house.
	www.lssah.com /ft_mccoy2.html (1508 words)

Try your search on: Qwika (all wikis)