Volkssturm (Home
Guard) in Prussia
Volkssturm
…In addition to these gruesome pictures came the harrowing
impressions I got of the Volkssturm Battalions [The Civilian Home Guard]. It
was a pitiful conglomeration of very old men and very young men, that is to
say, children. They had no uniforms, just an armband identifying them as
Volkssturm. They were outfitted with discarded carbines and a small amount of
ammunition along with Panzerfäusten [anti-tank weapons]. With these scanty
armaments they were supposed to halt the Russian army in its tracks and destroy
all the Soviet tanks that stumbled into their tanktraps, which in point of fact
were only poor jokes. If their outward appearance wasn't upsetting enough, even
worse was the conviction of these old men and boys as to the necessity and
importance of the task they were given to do.
The German people were still a long way from being cured of
the national delusion. In many people's heads thoughts and opinions were still
circulating that actually predated the arrival of the Nazis on the scene. Many
were still haunted by ideas that came from the time of the battles against
Napoleon that freed the Germanic principalities from his rule. From this line
of thought came the idée fixe among many of the members of the Volkssturm that
they would be the ones to rescue the Eastern Front, and that the Wehrmacht was
no longer up to the task of dealing with the Russians. They did not think that
the Wehrmacht was willing to make the sacrifices necessary to face down the
enemy and that the Volkssturm were the only ones who could truly protect the
homeland. Only the local inhabitants had the will to fight for every centimeter
of their home ground as opposed to the Wehrmacht which was made up of men from
all over Germany most of whom did not come from the East. The Volkssturm did
not feel themselves merely called to duty, but called above all others to duty
as the true defenders of their lands which simply could not be allowed to fall
into the hands of the Russians. They wanted to save their Homeland from the
Soviets and they labored under the fatal misapprehension that their pitiful
little weapons and shallow tank traps would suffice. They were heartened by the
invocations and proclamations of Goebbels, Himmler and other local party
leaders and functionaries…
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