Old Men and Children— The Volkssturm, World War II,Towards the end of World War II the Thi
Old Men and Children— The Volkssturm, World War II,Towards the end of World War II the Third Reich began to grow desperate as it suffered from manpower shortages and lack of resources. Thousands of Germans soldiers had been killed on the Western Front, while millions were killed fighting the Soviets on the Eastern Front. By late 1944 Germany was scrapping the bottom of the barrel for personnel to fill in the ranks of her depleted military. On October 18th, 1944, with the Allies closing in on Germany, Adolf Hitler ordered the formation of the Volkssturm (People’s Militia). The Volkssturm were not full time soldiers but a special militia of civilians raised to defend the Fatherland. Unlike the Wehrmacht (army) the Volkssturm was recruited and led directly by the Nazi Party, with party officials as its officers and Joseph Goebbels (Chief of State Propaganda) as its supreme commander.While Nazi propaganda glorified membership in the Volkssturm, the quasi military organization did little but reflect the desperation of the German state. Because most men between the ages of healthy age had already been drafted in the regular military, the Volkssturm was mostly conscripted by young children, old men, or those with health problems who had been rejected by the Wehrmacht. Their equipment and uniforms also showed them to be a motley force of ragtag civilian soldiers. Few were issued a military uniform. For the most part Volkssturm “soldiers” wore civilian clothes with a special armband for identification. Training was minimal as the units were hastily recruited and hastily sent into combat. Rifles and ammunition were of short supply as well. Generally Volkssturm units were armed with outdated rifles from World War I or earlier, or foreign weapons that were captured during the war. One Volkssturm conscript during the Battle of Berlin remarked that his unit was issued captured French rifles, with each man only given five rounds of ammunition. Occasionally Volkssturm soldiers were even armed with shotguns, crossbows, or muskets from home. The only weapon of any effectiveness used by the Volkssturm was the panzerfaust, an anti-tank weapon with lethal effectiveness. Below is an elderly Volkssturm volunteer training with a panzerfaust.The panzerfaust was the perfect weapon for the Volkssturm as it was simple to operate with little training. More importantly they were cheap and easy to produce, with over 6 million manufactured by the end of the war. At a range of 100 yards its warhead could punch through several inches of armor, leaving only a half dollar sized hole but cooking the crew inside the tank to a crisp.The premier battle for the Volkssturm was the Battle of Berlin, where 40,000 were recruited to defend the city from the Soviet onslaught. Hiding in the city’s rubble with panzerfausts, they were often effective in knocking out enemy tanks. However the Volkssturm more often than not proved to be a liability. Often they were little more than cannon fodder in the face of the Red Army. Many Wehrmacht commanders complained that they hindered the defense, getting in the way of the regular army rather than supporting them. Tragically, due to poor understanding of maneuvering and tactics, Volkssturm units would often accidentally become caught between enemy and friendly lines, resulting in slaughter as they were cut down by a Soviet and German crossfire.One common joke among the Volkssturm went like this,“Why is the Volkssturm Germany’s most precious resource?”Answer: "Because its members have silver in their hair, gold in their mouth and lead in their limbs.“ -- source link