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Waffenamt
(WaA) was the German Army Weapons Agency. It was the centre for research and development of the Weimar Republic and later the Third Reich for weapons, ammunition and army equipment to the German Reichswehr and then Wehrmacht. It was founded 8 November 1919 as (RWA), and 5 May 1922 the name was changed to (HWA). The task of overseeing Germany's gigantic pre-World War II German re-armament, rearmament program was given to the (the Army Acceptance Organization, commonly referred to as the ), a subsidiary of the . By 1940 the consisted of 25,000 personnel in five departments in 16 inspection areas, augmented by specially selected plant personnel who were assigned to assist the inspectors in each manufacturing facility. Later, in the middle of 1944, approximately 8,000 of these inspectors were "freed for service at the front". The was responsible for the testing and acceptance of all weapons, equipment and ammunition before delivery to the . Inspections were carried out acc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emil Leeb
Emil Leeb (17 June 1881 – 8 September 1969) was a German General during the Second World War. A professional soldier, he saw active service during both World Wars. Leeb's older brother Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb was a ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (Field Marshal) of the ''Wehrmacht'' during the Second World War. First World War Leeb entered Army service on 7 July 1901. He attended the War School in Munich, the Bavarian Artillery & Engineer School, and then the Bavarian War Academy. Before and during World War I, Leeb served as an adjutant in artillery units and then was appointed a General Staff officer. Leeb was promoted to captain on 1 June 1915. In June 1917, he was transferred to the General staff in the XVth Royal Bavarian Reserve Corps and an infantry division. Leeb participated in battles around Lorraine, Northern France, Galicia, the Carpathian Mountains, Flanders and the German withdrawal from Northern France. Leeb's older brother, Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, had the knight ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Ludwig (general)
Max Heinrich Ludwig (26 March 1871 – 28 January 1961) was a German General of the Artillery and served from 1926 to 1929 as chief of the Waffenamt. Life Ludwig was born on 26 March 1871 in Sangerhausen. Ludwig joined the Lower Saxony Foot Artillery Regiment No. 10 of the Prussian Army in Strasbourg on 1 April 1891 as a flag cadet and was promoted to lieutenant on 18 June 1892. On 18 October 1892 he was transferred to the Hohenzollern Foot Artillery Regiment No. 13 in Ulm. In October 1894 he was assigned to the artillery school in Berlin for further training. He remained here until 31 July 1896, after which he was employed as an adjutant in his regiment. From 1 October 1898 to 20 July 1901, Ludwig was commanded to the Prussian Staff College and promoted to lieutenant on 16 June 1901. From 1 April 1903, he was initially assigned to the General Staff and was transferred here on 20 March 1906, while being promoted to captain. He then moved on 27 January 1907 to the General Staf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karl Heinrich Emil Becker
Karl Heinrich Emil Becker (14 September 1879 – 8 April 1940) was a German weapons engineer and artillery general. He advocated and implemented close ties of the military to science for purposes of advanced weapons development. He was the head of the Army Ordnance Office, Senator of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, first president of the Reich Research Council, the first general officer to be a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, as well as being a professor at both the University of Berlin and Technische Universität Berlin. In the late 1920s, he realised that a loophole in the Treaty of Versailles allowed Germany to develop rocket weapons. The military-scientific infrastructure he helped implement supported the German nuclear energy program, known as the Uranium Club. Being depressed over heavy criticism from Hitler for shortfalls in munitions production, he committed suicide in 1940. He was given a State funeral. Career From 1898, Becker was a military engineer. From 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Re-armament
German rearmament (''Aufrüstung'', ) was a policy and practice of rearmament carried out by Germany from 1918 to 1939 in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, which required German disarmament after World War I to prevent it from starting another war. It began on a small, secret, and informal basis shortly after the treaty was signed and was openly and massively expanded after the Nazi Party came to power in 1933. Under the Weimar Republic, the early steps towards rearmament began with support for paramilitary groups including the ''Freikorps'' and Citizens' Defense, although the government banned most such groups by 1921. Secret cooperation between the German military and Soviet Russia began in 1921 and grew to include training in and manufacture of weapons banned by the Versailles Treaty. In 1926, military leadership revealed its previously secret programs to the civilian government and with its cooperation embarked on two large-scale rearmament programs designed to create ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previously used term (''Reich Defence'') and was the manifestation of the Nazi regime's efforts to German rearmament, rearm Germany to a greater extent than the Treaty of Versailles permitted. After the Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Nazi rise to power in 1933, one of Adolf Hitler's most overt and bellicose moves was to establish the ''Wehrmacht'', a modern offensively-capable armed force, fulfilling the Nazi regime's long-term goals of regaining lost territory as well as gaining new territory and dominating its neighbours. This required the reinstatement of conscription and massive investment and Military budget, defence spending on the arms industry. The ''Wehrmacht'' formed the heart of Germany's politico-military po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reichswehr
''Reichswehr'' (; ) was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first two years of Nazi Germany. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped into a peacetime army. From it a provisional ''Reichswehr'' was formed in March 1919. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the rebuilt German Army was subject to severe limitations in size, structure and armament. The official formation of the ''Reichswehr'' took place on 1 January 1921 after the limitations had been met. The German armed forces kept the name ''Reichswehr'' until Adolf Hitler's 1935 proclamation of "restoration of military sovereignty", at which point it became part of the new . Although ostensibly apolitical, the ''Reichswehr'' acted as a state within a state, and its leadership was an important political power factor in the Weimar Republic. The ''Reichswehr'' sometimes supported the democratic government, as it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Third Reich
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", referred to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich, ended in May 1945, after 12 years, when the Allies defeated Germany and entered the capital, Berlin, ending World War II in Europe. After Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Nazi Party began to eliminate political opposition and consolidate power. A 1934 German referendum confirmed Hitler as sole '' Führer'' (leader). Power was centralised in Hitler's person, and his word became the highest law. The government was not a coordinated, coopera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclaimed itself, as the German Republic. The period's informal name is derived from the city of Weimar, which hosted the constituent assembly that established its government. In English, the republic was usually simply called "Germany", with "Weimar Republic" (a term introduced by Adolf Hitler in 1929) not commonly used until the 1930s. The Weimar Republic had a semi-presidential system. Toward the end of the First World War (1914–1918), Germany was exhausted and suing for peace, sued for peace in desperate circumstances. Awareness of imminent defeat sparked a German Revolution of 1918–1919, revolution, Abdication of Wilhelm II, the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the proclamation of the Weimar Republic on 9 November 1918, and formal cessa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walther Buhle
General Walther Buhle (26 October 1894 – 28 December 1959) was an infantry General in the German army who was the Chief of the Army Staff of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht from 1942 and chief of armaments for the army in 1945. Career He was born in Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg and joined the army as a cadet in July 1913. During World War I he was an officer in the infantry. In 1915 he was seriously wounded. Between the wars he served on the General Staff of the Reichswehr and the infantry and cavalry and by the outbreak of World War II he had reached the rank of Oberst in the Wehrmacht and was appointed chief of the organizations section of the Oberkommando des Heeres as senior officer to Claus von Stauffenberg. He was badly injured and hospitalised in 1944 by the 20 July plot bomb planted by von Stauffenberg at the Wolf's Lair headquarters in Rastenburg, East Prussia. He entered the conference room with von Stauffenberg and when a point was raised that von Stauffenberg mig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
