Volkssturm

The Volkssturm was a levée en masse national militia established by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. It was set up by the Nazi Party on the orders of Adolf Hitler and established on 25 September 1944. It was staffed by conscripting males between the ages of 16 and 60 years who were not already serving in some military unit.
The Volkssturm comprised one of the final components of the total war promulgated by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, part of a Nazi endeavor to overcome their enemies' military strength through force of will. Volkssturm units fought unsuccessful battles against Allied forces at the end of the war. On several occasions, its members participated in atrocities, accompanied by German civilians and the Hitler Youth, which were overseen by members of the SS or Gau leaders.

Origins and organisation

The Volkssturm drew inspiration from the Prussian Landsturm of 1813–1815, that fought in the liberation wars against Napoleon, mainly as guerrilla forces. Plans to form a Landsturm national militia in eastern Germany as a last resort to boost fighting strength were first proposed in 1944 by General Heinz Guderian, chief of the German General Staff. The army did not have enough men to resist the Soviet advance. So, additional categories of men were called into service, including those in non-essential jobs, those previously deemed unfit, over-age, or under-age, and those recovering from wounds. The Volkssturm had existed, on paper, since around 1925, but it was only after Hitler ordered Martin Bormann to recruit six million men for this militia that the group became a physical reality. While the regime formally established the Volkssturm on 25 September, it was not announced to the public until 16 October 1944. The official launch date was two days later, 18 October 1944 and was chosen by Heinrich Himmler to evoke parallels with the popular uprising which, according to popular legend, ended French rule over Germany and culminated in the Battle of Leipzig on the same date in 1813. Despite the appeal for this last-ditch effort, the intended strength of "six million" members was never attained.
Joseph Goebbels and other propagandists depicted the Volkssturm as an outburst of enthusiasm and the will to resist. Historian Daniel Blatman writes that the Volkssturm was portrayed as the "incarnation" of the greater Volksgemeinschaft, whereby "all differences in social status, origin, or age vanish and unite all people on the basis of race. It was the service framework for members of the local community, who had been raised together and lived side by side, and now bore arms together in order to defend the community." The militia was meant to embody Nazi racial community ideals, uniting men across classes for National Socialist ends.
However, many Germans greeted the Volkssturm with resignation or resentment. Few were enthusiastic, and many feared its members would be treated as an illegal guerrilla force with the consequences that represented. To this end, there was a widespread justifiable concern among Germans that the Allies—especially the Soviets—would treat Volkssturm fighters as illegal combatants, leading to the summary execution of participating members. Correspondingly, Germany sought legal assurance from the Allies that Volkssturm members would be treated as lawful combatants. Britain and the U.S. granted recognition contingent on compliance with Hague rules.
In some regards, the Volkssturm was the culmination of Goebbels' "total war" speech of February 1943 and its formation was "given a big build-up" in the November 1944 newsreel episode of Die Deutsche Wochenschau. Consistent messages of final victory from various Nazi media outlets accompanying the Volkssturm's creation provided a psychological rallying point for the civilian population. While it had some marginal effect on morale, it was undermined by the recruits' visible lack of uniforms and weaponry. Nazi themes of death, transcendence, and commemoration were given full play to encourage the fight. Many German civilians realised that this was a desperate attempt to turn the course of the war. Sardonic old men would remark, "We old monkeys are the Führers newest weapon". A popular joke about the Volkssturm went "Why is the Volkssturm Germany's most precious resource? Because its members have silver in their hair, gold in their mouths, and lead in their bones."
Whether it was indicative of desperation or not, the creation of the Volkssturm was part of a Nazi strategy—characterized in modern terminology as “defense-in-depth”—to fortify all German towns into defensive nodes, so as to forestall and delay the Allied entry into the greater Reich. For these militia units to be effective, they needed not only strength in numbers, but also fanaticism. During the early stages of Volkssturm planning, it became apparent that units lacking morale would lack combat effectiveness. To generate fanaticism, Volkssturm units were placed under the direct command of local Nazi Party officials, the Gauleiter and Kreisleiter. Mass rallies, oath ceremonies, and group singing were designed to instill communal fanaticism.
The new Volkssturm was also to become a nationwide organisation, with Heinrich Himmler as Replacement Army commander, responsible for armaments and training. Though nominally under party control, Volkssturm units were placed under Heer command when engaged in action. At the Reich level, the SS and the Party Chancellery agreed to share responsibility between them. Himmler retained responsibility for military equipment and training while Bormann, head of the Party Chancellery, was charged with oversight of administration and political indoctrination. Aware that a "people's army" would not be able to withstand the onslaught of the modern army wielded by the Allies, Hitler issued the following order towards the end of 1944:

Experience in the East has shown that Volkssturm, emergency and reserve units have little fighting value when left to themselves, and can be quickly destroyed. The fighting value of these units, which are for the most part strong in numbers, but weak in the armaments required for modern battle, is immeasurably higher when they go into action with troops of the regular army in the field. I, therefore, order: where Volkssturm, emergency, and reserve units are available, together with regular units, in any battle sector, mixed battle-groups will be formed under unified command, so as to give the Volkssturm, emergency, and reserve units stiffening and support.

With the Nazi Party in charge of organising the Volkssturm, each Gauleiter, or Nazi Party District Leader, was charged with the leadership, enrollment, and organisation of the Volkssturm in their district. The largest Volkssturm unit seems to have corresponded to the next smaller territorial subdivision of the Nazi Party organisation—the Kreis. The basic unit was a battalion of 642 men. Units were mostly composed of members of the Hitler Youth, invalids, the elderly, or men who had previously been considered unfit for military service. On 12 February 1945, the Nazis conscripted German women and girls into the auxiliaries of the Volkssturm. Correspondingly, girls as young as 14 years were trained in the use of small arms, Panzerfausts, machine guns, and hand grenades from December 1944 through May 1945.
Municipal organisation:

A Bataillon in every Kreis
A Kompanie in every Ortsgruppe.
A Zug in every Zelle
A Gruppe in every Block

Each Gauleiter and Kreisleiter had a Volkssturm Chief of Staff.
From the militia's inception until the spring of 1945, Himmler and Bormann engaged in a power-struggle over the jurisdictional control over the Volkssturm regarding security and police powers in Germany and the occupied territories; a contest which Himmler and the SS more or less won on one level, but lost to Bormann on another. These disputes over jurisdiction only served to hinder centralized coordination of the Volkssturm, reducing its effectiveness in turn. Historian David Yelton described the situation as two ranking officers at the helm of a sinking ship fighting over command.
Benito Mussolini suggested, through his son Vittorio, then general secretary of the Republican Fascist Party's German branch, that 30,000 Italians should be added to the Volkssturm in the defence of Germany. However, no evidence exists that this offer was implemented. Meanwhile, there were cases when criminals and foreigners were inducted into the Volkssturm if the authorities determined them to be ideologically acceptable.

Uniforms and insignia

The Volkssturm "uniform" was only a black armband with the German words Deutscher Volkssturm Wehrmacht. The German government tried to issue as many of its members as possible with military uniforms of all sorts, ranging from Feldgrau to camouflage types. To this end, the Nazi government meant for members of the Volkssturm to wear uniforms and avoid "partisan" weapons in order to maintain legality under international agreements, but this did not always prove practicable.
Often, the members wore a motley assortment of whatever they could find for their uniforms; a telling example of the Volkssturms piecemeal outfitting occurred in the Rhineland, where one unit was provided with "pre-war black SS uniforms, brown Organization Todt coats, blue Luftwaffe auxiliary caps, and French Adrian helmets." Most members of the Volkssturm, especially elderly members, had no uniforms at all and were not supplied, so they generally wore either work uniforms, Hitler Youth uniforms, old uniforms or parts of uniforms from the First World War, or their civilian clothing and usually carried with them their own personal rucksacks, blankets, cooking-equipment, etc.