Werwolf pt.1

[BegleitKommando]

Just a question but...why do you think that the Werwolf program was such a disaster? I understand that Prutzmann and co. were not exactly equipped to handle an organized resistance. I know that the small cells that did exist were not coordinated and in fact had little or no equipment to work with. The arms caches that were hidden were either lost or discovered by the "Allies" upon invasion...but let's go beyond the logistical difficulties and disorganization to think about ideological circumstances.

The core of Werwolf was to be comprised of SS and HJ primarily who supposedly had a fervent belief in the principles of National Socialism and hatred of the Red's in particular and the Western allies in general. My question is this...why in the face of Soviet mass rapes and violation of property, people, and wanton murder did the "fanatical" remnants of the Third Reich not give it there all? Why did they not rise up and at least make the Soviets pay with their blood? It's just strange to me that in every country that Germany invaded, there was a resistance movement.

Was denazification so successful that everyone left who believed in the NS way of life was captured or killed? Were they so completely destroyed emotionally that they couldn't manage to resist? Yes, the German people in general were beaten and tired of war and fighting. But I suppose that whatever was left of the SS and anyone who might want to resist and go on further was either incarcerated for decades and had their beliefs beaten out of them, or they were killed. In the end, maybe Hitler was right when he said that "the best have already fallen".

[johnbryan]

Originally Posted by BegleitKommando

Just a question but...why do you think that the Werwolf program was such a disaster? I understand that Prutzmann and co. were not exactly equipped to handle an organized resistance. I know that the small cells that did exist were not coordinated and in fact had little or no equipment to work with. The arms caches that were hidden were either lost or discovered by the "Allies" upon invasion...but let's go beyond the logistical difficulties and disorganization to think about ideological circumstances.

The core of Werwolf was to be comprised of SS and HJ primarily who supposedly had a fervent belief in the principles of National Socialism and hatred of the Red's in particular and the Western allies in general. My question is this...why in the face of Soviet mass rapes and violation of property, people, and wanton murder did the "fanatical" remnants of the Third Reich not give it there all? Why did they not rise up and at least make the Soviets pay with their blood? It's just strange to me that in every country that Germany invaded, there was a resistance movement.

Was denazification so successful that everyone left who believed in the NS way of life was captured or killed? Were they so completely destroyed emotionally that they couldn't manage to resist? Yes, the German people in general were beaten and tired of war and fighting. But I suppose that whatever was left of the SS and anyone who might want to resist and go on further was either incarcerated for decades and had their beliefs beaten out of them, or they were killed. In the end, maybe Hitler was right when he said that "the best have already fallen".

Agreed. A large percentage of them were killed during the final days on both the Eastern and Western Fronts fighting to the very end. Alot more of them went into POW cages- in the East for as long as ten years or more. As a result, the German cells of resistance were crushed as well, leaving little for future guerillas to build on.

[Tom Phoenix]

Good question, BegleitKommando!

The most futile thing about the Werewolfs was the lack of both organisation and manpower. Without sufficient manpower, they were unable to attack Allied storages and steal supplies of food and ammunition. Since the German people were war weary themselves, one could not hope to find food at their homes. Add to that the lack of organisation and Werewolfs were nothing more but small bands of thugs which were easy to hunt down and either catch or starve into submission. That is one of the things which represented the bane of Che Guevara.

[C. Ankerstjerne]

As far as I know, only very few soldiers (less than ten) were actually killed due to Wehrwolf activity. An interesting account was made in a Danish book regarding the Wehrwolfs, in which is was written that the most typical cause of reports of Wehrwolf activity was that post-war soldiers would go out and shoot off a few rounds, and maybe use some grenades. They would then blame it on them being attacked by Wehrwolfs.

[AdrianE]

A couple of things are required for an insurgency to be effective:
- active support from a minority of the population
- tacit support from the majority of the population
- external support

The werewolves had none of these things and thus were ineffective.

The German population of 1945 knew that Germany had been thoroughly and totally defeated. Their bombed out cities and obvious massive material wealth of the allies made it abundantly clear. Thus there was no political will to continue the fight. The German population wanted nothing to do with continuing the fight so the werewolves had no support from the population.

The werewolves had absolutely no hope of external support. Japan was the only Axis nation left. There is no way the werewolves were going to get re-supplied.

[thejester]

Trevor-Roper makes an excellent point - the Werewolfs failed because the very idea that Germany could be defeated was so far out of left field that the Nazi leadership simply never prepared for it. The werewolfs as concieved were designed to be commando units operating behind Allied lines; when Germany collapsed, they stopped (on the whole) because further resistance was futile.

[Carl Schwamberg]

Correct, violent resistance was soon seen as pointless. Some remaining nazis found cooperation with their enemys intelegence services a better future. Others focused on removing themselves and any loot still concealed to friendly nations. Most concentrated on not starving thru the 1940s and then found a new political venue in the shadows and background of conservative political partys.

All the Allied soldiers were fairly ruthless in dealing with the few Werewolves they did run across. The various annecdoates I've run across indicate they were shot imeadiatly. Few Allied soldiers had any sense of humor about that sort of thing in the Spring of 1945.