Chapter 836: Stormtroopers

In December 1933, Germany was on the threshold of totalitarianism.

To do so is not a terror, but the need of the times and the desire for unity. The spirit of conformism is not a class issue either. It is present among scientists, but also among workers.

"We hope that this will be in harmony with the spirit of the country and that we will faithfully cooperate with the government," said the president of the Association of German Mathematicians to his colleagues, "unconditionally, happily - as must be the case in every German - for the National Socialist Movement and its leader Adolf. Hitler Chancellor served. ”

After the domestic problem was basically solved, Hitler quickly set his sights on rearming the German army, which certainly could not bypass Britain and Germany.

With regard to international assurances, all Germany asks for is the possibility of self-defence. If such a treaty was concluded, Hitler promised to guarantee the disarmament of the SA and the SS.

On 21 February, Hitler made an unusual gesture of going to the British Embassy for lunch. This seems to underscore his intention to reconcile. This is the first time that a head of state has stepped into a foreign embassy.

After lunch, Hitler made a detailed proposal. He demanded 30% of the total fleet of his neighbors and agreed that the number of German planes would never exceed 60% of the number of French aircraft. He happily and voluntarily offered to reduce the number of SA and SS

Hitler's promise to reduce the SA and SS reassured France to some extent, but their leaders did not believe that Hitler's plan to rearm was only for defense. The British were privately concerned, especially about Germany's rapidly developing air force, but openly sympathized with the plight of the new Reich, and many scoffed at the suggestion that Hitler was heading for war. Franciswa. Ambassador Bency agreed with the idea of making concessions to Germany.

"A limited, controlled rearmament is better than an unlimited, uncontrolled and suppressed rearmament!" He felt that it was better to have an agreement, even a normal one, than nothing.

He then tried to win over his superiors. At the beginning of April, he went to Paris to present his views in person. However, during the meeting with Prime Minister Dumer, "he was not allowed to say a word", and several times he tried to change the topic, but the prime minister interrupted him.

France's decision was to create an anti-Nazi bloc in the east in order to curb German ambitions. Poland and Czechoslovakia will be part of a long chain, all of which will be left under the wing of "Mother France".

Hitler's pledge to reduce the number of stormtroopers was sincere. Over the years, the independence shown by the stormtroopers has left him torn down. In recent months, the commander of the stormtroopers, Captain Rohm, has been demanding that his men be reorganized into units.

Naturally, the military was against this move.

Hitler knew that the best way for him to survive was to support the military leaders, because without their full support, he could not achieve his ultimate goal. He then declared: "In our country, only the Wehrmacht is allowed to possess weapons; The stormtroopers were only responsible for the political education of the people. ”

These remarks revived the anger of the 4 million brownshirts, and reminded them of the long-standing struggle between the northern and southern factions of the party. On the one hand, they remained loyal to Hitler as the spiritual leader, and on the other hand, many felt that he had betrayed the "brown revolution" and was selling himself to the right.

They see themselves as a symbol of radicalism within the party and are dissatisfied with the reforms they have made in the year since they took power. For months, Rohm has been advocating a "second revolution", the only way to get the social and material benefits for which they have fought. "Whoever thinks the SA mission is accomplished," he told the 8,000 brownshirts at the Tamberov airport, "he has to think that we are still here and that we want to stay here no matter what happens." ”…,

While most of the party members have anti-capitalist and conservative sentiments, it is the stormtroopers that are the most radical and fervent. Röhm repeatedly preached that he and his men were the true defenders of National Socialism

Hitler, though sympathetic to the radicals, told him that no further revolution would work unless Germany recovered from the economic disaster and rebuilt its armed forces. This cannot be done without the full support of industry and the military.

At the same time, in order to calm the situation, he made Rohm a minister in the cabinet and promised to make him minister of defense. So he praised him in writing on January 1, 1934!

The letters of commendation are excellent because they are all nicknamed "you" in the second person singular. Hitler's original intention was to praise him on the one hand, and to warn him tactfully on the other hand, that the defense of the country should be left to the army, but Röhm did not grasp this.

Thinking that he had Hitler's backing, he was emboldened, and even sent a note to the Ministry of Defense, claiming that it was the prerogative of the SA to defend the security of the country.

This has exacerbated the contradictions. Feng. General Blomburg then asked Hitler for a ruling.

On the last day of February 1934, Hitler was dismayed to invite the leaders of the SA and Wehrmacht to a meeting in the Marble Pillar Hall of the Ministry of Defense. In his "moving, heart-wrenching" speech, Hitler urged both sides to compromise.

He said that the party has solved the problem of unemployment, but in eight years, the economy will recession again, and the only remedy is to create living space for the surplus population. This may necessitate short, decisive military action first in the West and then in the East. However, the militia suggested by Rohm was "not at all suitable for national defense". The solution is to create a KPA army, train them rigorously and arm them with the latest weapons. The stormtroopers must confine themselves to internal political affairs.

At this time, Hitler forced Blomburg and Röhm to sign the agreement in front of him. The SA was given two semi-tasking tasks: to act as a police officer along the border; It undertakes the military training of young people between the ages of 18 and 21, and young people between the ages of 21 and 26 who have not served in the army are trained in "stormtrooper sports" - the code name for organized military training.

It was a blow to Roma, but after the meeting he invited everyone to his home for a reconciled lunch.

As soon as the soldier left, Rohm, perhaps because of the drink, his true feelings exploded: "That ridiculous corporal is talking nonsense," he said to his followers, "I don't want to keep this agreement at all." Hitler was a traitor, and at least he had to go on vacation, and if we had him, the purpose would not be achieved, and we would simply not want him. ”

At least one listener was taken aback. In the stormtroop group captain Victor. To Luze's ears, this was a betrayal.

So he denounced Hess.

The Führer's adjutant was indecisive and did not dare to act. Junktor himself went to Obersalzburg to denounce Hitler of the serious grievances among the SA's top leadership.

The Führer was again indifferent. "Things must be allowed to develop" the Führer did not want to discuss it any further, as if he did not want to admit that his beloved stormtroopers had a resentment bordering on riot.

A few weeks later, however, he flatly rejected Röhm's comment: "The greystone must be flooded with brown water. He said that "the new unit is gray, not brown." ”

Rohm fought back. In April, he held a press conference in Berlin attended by foreign journalists and officials from various diplomatic missions. He was short and fat, full of strength and majesty, and spoke in an aggressive tone, as if he had to obey him.

"The SA are the heroic embodiment of the will and ideas of the German revolution!" He said this to foreigners, but the next passage was clearly addressed to Hitler. He said that those who opposed the SA in the party were reactionaries and bourgeois conservatives. "Only the SA represents the National Socialist Revolution!" …,

Within the SS, Rohm's secret enemies were already plotting to crush him. At the head of the head of the Secret Service is Reinhard. Heydrich, not the head of the SS.

He then hinted to all SS units that an open struggle with the SA was on the horizon.

Heydrich reported that he had gathered a number of materials to prove that Rohm had plotted betrayal. In this way, the struggle is a foregone conclusion.

In fact, Roma had no intention of starting an uprising at all. He wanted nothing more than to separate the Führer from his ill-intentioned advisers with "a golden cage" and force Hitler to give the SA its proper place within the Reich.

He waged a nerve war, not a betrayal, but his threatening language was a source of panic.

On June 4, Hitler summoned Röhm to the Chancellery, where, according to Hitler, their conversation lasted five hours.

Although the Führer sympathized with the SA, he was forced to curb the activities of the SA under pressure from the military. It is also possible that Hitler thought that he had genuinely shook hands with Röhm. Because almost at the same time, the Secret Service reported that the Führer had reached an agreement with the SA commander on several issues!

It was agreed that the SA's one-month holiday, which was scheduled to take a one-month holiday, would begin as scheduled.

The news was announced by the German Press Agency on June 7. The next day, the German Press Bureau published the puzzling "Rohm Chief of Staff Order". "For several weeks, I have been suffering from a painful neurological disorder that has impaired my health," the order said. It has now been decided to follow the doctor's instructions for treatment, so as to recover. ”

These two pieces of news reassured the military. They perceived that this was a sign of Röhm's fall. Heydrich was taken aback!

It only takes him 3 weeks to complete his plan against the SA. These two pieces of news forced Hitler to take decisive action.

Röhm's brother-in-law, along with others, warned Röhm that there were rumors that Goering-Goebbels-Himmler was conspiring to kill him.

But Röhm did not take these solemn warnings to heart in the slightest, and in his opinion Hitler would not have acted with any malice towards himself!

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