Wehrmacht (German Army): Part 20

RAD (German Labor Front)

WHAT WAS RAD?

(Reichsarbeitsdienst; RAD), a mandatory national service for all able-bodied citizens of the Third Reich.  Shortly before coming to power in one of his speeches, Hitler promised that he would be able to eradicate unemployment in the country, and the easiest way: first, from the number of unemployed labor battalions will be formed, which then swell the ranks of the armed forces.Act of June 26, 1935 declared labor service compulsory for all German citizens aged 19 to 25 years in the framework of the established Imperial Service Labour.  Twice a year, all young Germans (each group of up to 200 thousand people) were sent to work in labor camps, mostly for agricultural work.  Within 6 months the men worked on farms and fields, while women helped with the housework.

 In the labor camps under the supervision of the Nazi commissars strictest discipline was maintained in accordance with an elaborate statute.

 Hitler considered compulsory labor as a necessary step for a successful program of rearmament of Germany. . According to him, men who shoulder a shovel, will be able to wear and weapons.  In addition, the labor service provided labor market lots of cheap labor and reduced unemployment in the country.  In September 1936 at the Party Congress, Hitler announced that the number of unemployed in the country has fallen from 6 million to 1 million The statement added the Hitler's popularity in a country which for years has been burdened by unemployment.

Later during the war men from RAD were trained to use arms



An Italian soldiers stands guard as the German general walks in

 German infantry assault weapon StuG33B passes by destroyed Katyusha.

 A SS man watches as a Russian tank burns

 Evacuation of the wounded. July 1942

 A German tank trundles on in the Baltics. 1941


Grenadiers Panzer SS Division Totenkopf  during the Battle of Kursk

This man clearly hates the army food

SS men on motorcycles


The Germans take the first steps into Soviet occupied Poland. June 21, 1942

Trouble in Russia
In Kharkov in 1942

German soldiers march towards Paris
The German soldier checks the papers of the Russian woman

Acting against the Warsaw Uprising



Tending to his wounded comrade
German paratroopers in action
He died in the early days of Barbarossa

 Raupenschlepper Ost, literally "Crawling Tractor - East", is more commonly abbreviated to RSO. This fully tracked, lightweight vehicle was conceived in response to the poor performance of wheeled and half-tracked vehicles in the mud and snow during the Wehrmacht's first winter on the Soviet Front. The RSO may have been inspired by very similar full-tracked small tractors in use in other armies, mostly originated from the pre-war light to medium series of Vickers artillery tractors


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Quotes about war....

"War grows out of the desire of the individual to gain advantage at the expense of his fellow man."
--Napoleon Hill

"We have failed to grasp the fact that mankind is becoming a single unit, and that for a unit to fight against itself is suicide."
--Havelock Ellis

'Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."
--Mao Tse-Tung (1893 - 1976)

"I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in."
--George McGovern

"The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic."
--Joseph Stalin

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
--Voltaire, War

In war, truth is the first casualty.
-- Aeschylus

"The ability and inclination to use physical strength is no indication of bravery or tenacity to life. The greatest cowards are often the greatest bullies. Nothing is cheaper and more common than physical bravery."
--Clarence Darrow, Resist Not Evil

"The victor will never be asked if he told the truth."
--Adolf Hitler

"To walk through the ruined cities of Germany is to feel an actual doubt about the continuity of civilization."
--George Orwell

"Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country."
--Bertrand Russell

Men are at war with each other because each man is at war with himself.
--Francis Meehan

Snippets From History

German Soldiers in Russia: Part 1

Hubert Menzel was a major in the General Operations Department of the OKH (the Oberkommando des Heers, the German Army headquarters), and for him the idea of invading the Soviet Union in 1941 had the smack of cold, clear logic to it: 'We knew that in two years' time, that is by the end of 1942, beginning of 1943, the English would be ready, the Americans would be ready, the Russians would be ready too, and then we would have to deal with all three of them at the same time.... We had to try to remove the greatest threat from the East.... At the time it seemed possible.'
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Battle for Berlin, 1945

'We started to fire at the masses,' says one former German machine gunner. 'They weren't human beings for us. It was a wall of attacking beasts who were trying to kill us. You yourself were no longer human.'

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Berlin after it fell to the Russians, 1945

"Vladlen Anchishkin, a Soviet battery commander on the 1st Ukrainian Front, sums up the horror of the whole event, when he tells how he took personal revenge on German soldiers: 'I can admit it now, I was in such a state, I was in such a frenzy. I said, 'Bring them here for an interrogation' and I had a knife, and I cut him. I cut a lot of them. I thought, 'You wanted to kill me, now it's your turn.'
Read More

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Dramatic Pictures: Battle For Stalingrad
"...Effective command no longer possible... further defense senseless. Collapse inevitable. Army requests immediate permission to surrender in order to save lives of remaining troops."
General Paulus' radio message to Hitler on January 24, 1943

"...Capitulation is impossible. The 6th Army will do its historic duty at Stalingrad until the last man, the last bullet..."

Hitler's response to General Friedrich Paulus' request to withdraw from the city

READ MORE>>>

Points To Ponder....

The fall of France was shocking. It reduced France to virtually a non-player in the Second World War. The efforts of Charles de Gualle were more symbolic than material. But the martial instincts of the French must never be doubted. Under Napoleon they were a formidable military power. The French definitely have more iron in their blood then say, the Italians [I do not mean it in a derogatory sense. War never makes sense]

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Bias Of Western Historians

Soviet resistance made possible a successful Allied invasion of France, and ensured the final Allied victory over Germany.

It can hardly be called mere 'resistance'! If it hadn't been for the Russians, Hitler would have made mincemeat of British forces in Africa and landed on British shores in no time. Hitler attacked Russia first because it had more land and resources than Britain. It is as simple as that.

READ MORE>>>>
Eastern Front: Bias Of Western Historians