Sturmabteilung Rossbach

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Emblem of the "Freikorps Roßbach"
Soldiers of the Freikorps Roßbach in Wismar during the Kapp Putsch in 1920

The Freikorps Roßbach was a free corps during the Weimar Republic . Under the orders of Gerhard Roßbach , it was involved in fighting in West Prussia and the Baltic States in 1919 . Officially dissolved in 1920, it continued to exist illegally and was involved in the suppression of unrest within the German Reich as well as in fighting with Polish associations in Upper Silesia in 1921 .

history

The Freikorps Roßbach was set up by Lieutenant Gerhard Roßbach (1893–1967) on the orders of the governorate of the fortress Graudenz / West Prussia from the remains of a machine gun training unit under his command . On November 22, 1918, this unit had a strength of 4 officers , 11 NCOs and 66 men. Like many other volunteer corps, it bore the name of its 25-year-old leader: "Voluntary Border Guard Machine Gun Company (MGK) Roßbach". Until the turn of the year 1918/19, the Roßbach troops were deployed south of Strasburg / West Prussia in the Eastern Border Guard . In January 1919 she was withdrawn to the interior of West Prussia to put down unrest. She was active in Strasburg, Thorn and Briesen .

After further deployment in the security service in West Prussia, the Roßbach Freikorps, which had now grown to almost a thousand men through advertising, set out for the Baltic States on October 19, 1919 . It was well armed with weapons and ammunition. Roßbach had sent numerous requests for transfer to the Baltic States to the Supreme Army Command (OHL), which had been stationed in Kolberg in eastern Germany since January 1919 because of the Eastern Border Guard . Although the OHL knew about the situation of the German troops fighting in the Baltic States, these requests were rejected for reasons of foreign policy. Rossbach - wanted for mutiny and refusal to obey - was able to cross the border into Latvia under threat of violence .

The Freikorps Roßbach supported the beleaguered troops of the volunteer Russian Western Army and the Iron Division . It was used on the Daugava Front. It covered the orderly withdrawal of the Baltic troops with heavy losses. On December 16, 1919, the units of the Freikorps Roßbach crossed the German border as the last troop.

Returning to the Reich, Rossbach received the order to disband his Freikorps in Ratzeburg . Large parts of the Freikorps remained in East Prussia and found work there in camouflage companies that were supposed to ensure the illegal preservation of the troops.

At the beginning of the Kapp Putsch on March 13, 1920, Roßbach mobilized his Freikorps from the staff that remained secret in Berlin . It gathered in Görries near Schwerin , was equipped by the Reichswehr and was under the Reichswehr Brigade 9 under Major General Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck (1870–1964). The unit was deployed against the unrest that broke out in the wake of the Kapp Putsch, initially in Mecklenburg and from April 1920 also in the Ruhr area.

Flag of the Sturmabteilung Roßbach (front side)

After the renewed dissolution on May 20, 1920, large parts of the teams were housed in the agriculture of Mecklenburg and Pomerania. All former fighters were registered in the "Roßbach Working Group". With around 1,500 members, it was spread across the entire Reich in regional groups and was in close contact with the Reichswehr.

The Silesian Gau of the "Roßbach Working Group" also took part in the suppression of the 3rd Polish uprising in Upper Silesia , which broke out on May 3, 1921 , and with which Poland wanted to present the Entente powers and the German Reich with a fait accompli. Roßbach himself took over the organization from Kreuzburg / Upper Silesia . The members of the Freikorps fought here in association with the Self-Protection of Upper Silesia under the name "Volunteer Department Silesia". Their losses in the fight against the Poles amounted to 12 dead and 49 wounded.

Gerhard Roßbach turned to national youth work. The game group Ekkehard led by him was known throughout the empire, but also abroad.

Known members

literature

  • Arnolt Bronnen : Rossbach. Berlin 1930.
  • Kurt-Gerhard Klietmann : Contributions in: Feldgrau-Mitteilungsblätter of a working group. Taught 1953–1971.
  • Günther Körner: Self-protection in Upper Silesia. Dülmen 1981.
  • Gerhard Roßbach: My way through time. Weilburg / Lahn 1950.
  • Ernst von Salomon : The book of the German free corps fighters. Berlin 1938.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernhard Sauer: From the "Myth of an Eternal Soldierhood". The campaign of the German Freikorps in the Baltic States in 1919. In: Journal of History. 43, No. 10, 1995, pp. 869-902, here p. 895.