Sturmabteilung

"Storm trooper" redirects here. For other uses, see Stormtrooper (disambiguation).

The (SA, German for "Storm Division", usually translated as stormtroops or stormtroopers) functioned as a paramilitary organization of the NSDAP – the German Nazi party. It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s.

SA men were often known as brownshirts from the color of their uniform and to distinguish them from the SS who were known as blackshirts. Brown coloured shirts were chosen as the SA uniform because a large batch of them were cheaply available after World War I, having originally been ordered for German troops in Africa.

The SA was also the first Nazi paramilitary group to develop pseudo-military titles for bestowal upon its members. The SA ranks would be adopted by several other Nazi Party groups, chief among them the SS.

History

The term Sturmabteilung originally came from the specialized assault troops used by Germany in 1918 in World War I utilising Hutier infiltration tactics. Instead of a large mass assault, the Sturmabteilung were organized into small teams of a few soldiers each. First applied during the Battle of Caporetto, the wider use in March 1918 allowed the Germans to push back British and French lines tens of kilometers.

In Munich in the fall of 1920, Hitler himself created the Ordnertruppen; a body of muscular Nazis, ex-soldiers, and beer hall brawlers in order to protect his speeches and Nazi Party gatherings from Communist disruptions. It originally functioned as a group of bodyguards to enforce order at Nazi gatherings. It was shortly changed to Sportabteilung, a cover name meaning "Sports section", and came to be known by the initials SA. In late 1921, the name was changed to the final version: Sturmabteilung. Under their popular leader Ernst Röhm, the SA grew in importance within the Nazi power structure, eventually claiming thousands of members. In 1922, the NSDAP created a youth section, the Jugendbund, for young men between the ages of 14 and 18 years. From April of 1924 until late February of 1925 the SA was known as the Frontbann to avoid the temporary ban on the Nazi party. Its successor, the Hitler Youth, remained under SA command until May 1932. The SA carried out numerous acts of violence against socialist groups throughout the 1920s, typically in minor street-fights called Zusammenstöße ('collisions'). The SS eventually took over their original role.

Conflicts with other organisations

After Hitler took power in 1933, the SA became increasingly anxious for power and saw themselves as the replacement for the German army. This angered the regular army (Reichswehr) who already resented the Nazi party, and commonly regarded the SA as 'brown scum'. It also led to tension with other leaders within the party who saw Röhm's increasingly powerful SA as a threat to their own personal ambitions. The SA was also considered a dangerous and radical organization, especially since common SA practice was to swear loyalty to local SA commanders rather than Adolf Hitler or the Nazi Party as a whole. The original purpose for the creation of the SS was to restrict the power of the brownshirts and its leaders.

Senior Nazis including Himmler faked a dossier which suggested that Röhm had received payment from the French to carry out a coup against Hitler. At first Hitler refused to believe it, but he was painfully aware that the SA had the power to remove him if it so wished. Röhm was unpopular in the party because others saw his ambition as threatening their own, and because he was a homosexual. Eventually the pressure mounted and Hitler ordered the execution of the leadership of the SA, which took place on June 30-July 1, 1934, on what is known as the Night of the Long Knives. Victor Lutze became the new leader of the SA, and the organization was soon marginalized in the Nazi power structure.

Most of these conflicts were based on personal rivalries, but there were also key socioeconomic conflicts between the Gestapo and SA. The Gestapo's members generally came from the middle class, while the SA had its base among the unemployed and working class. As a result, the SA was more radical than the Gestapo, arguing the Nazi revolution had not ended when Hitler achieved power. The SA also participated in several strikes and anti-capitalist activities, occasionally in collaboration with the Communists, to the alarm of many Nazi supporters. The Night of the Long Knives was the final event which reduced the SA to insignificance and suppressed factionalism among the Nazi Party.

Leaders of the SA

The leader of the SA was known as the Oberster SA-Führer, translated as Supreme SA Leader. The following men held this position throughout the existence of the SA:

Emil Maurice (1920–1921)
Hans Ulrich Klintzsche (1921–1923)
Hermann Göring (1923)
None (1923–1925)
Franz Pfeffer von Salomon (1926–1930)
Adolf Hitler (1930–1945)

In 1930, to centralize the loyalty of the SA, Adolf Hitler personally assumed command of the entire organization and remained Oberster SA-Führer from the duration of the group's existence until 1945. The day to day running of the SA was conducted by the Stabschef SA (SA Chief of Staff). After 1931, it was the Stabschef who was generally accepted as the Commander of the SA, acting in Hitler's name.

The following personnel held the position of Chief of Staff of the SA:

Ernst Röhm (1931–1934)
Viktor Lutze (1934–1943)
Wilhelm Scheppmann (1943–1945)

SA Organization

The SA was organized throughout Germany into several large formations known as Gruppen. Within each Gruppe, there existed subordinate Brigaden and in turn existed regiment sized Standarten. SA-Standarten operated out of every major German city and were split into even smaller units, known as Sturmbanne and Stürme.

The command nexus for the entire SA operated out of Stuttgart and was known as the Oberste SA-Führung. The SA supreme command had many sub-offices to handle supply, finance, and recruiting. Unlike the SS, however, the SA did not have a medical corps nor did it establish itself outside of Germany, in occupied territories, once World War II began.

The SA also had several military training units, the largest of which was the SA-Marine which served as an auxiliary to the Kriegsmarine and performed search and rescue operations as well as harbor defense.

Similar to the Waffen-SS. the SA also had an armed military wing, known as Feldherrnhalle. These formations expanded from regimental size in 1940 to a fully-fledged armored corps Panzerkorps Feldherrnhalle in 1945.

SA Maxims

"Terror must be broken by terror" (1)
"All opposition must be stamped into the ground" (1)

Modern usage

Today, the term "Brown Shirts" has been used to disparage the extreme rank and file of right wing and left wing organizations. It can also mean an individual of a political organization who is seen as very narrow-minded and excessively loyal.

The term "Digital Brownshirts," a controversial phrase coined by former Vice-President Al Gore, is used by Gore to disparage the right-leaning weblogs that criticize what they perceive as a liberal agenda in the mainstream media.

The term "Stormtrooper" saw a renaissance in the fictional Star Wars universe, in which it was applied to the Imperial Stormtroopers clad in white armor, serving under Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine.

References

Why Hitler?: The Genesis of the Nazi Reich by Samuel W. Mitcham (pg 139; Praeger, 1996, ISBN 0275954854).
Political Violence and The Rise of Nazism : The Storm Troopers in Eastern Germany, 1925-1934 by Richard Bessel (Yale University Press, 1984, ISBN 0300031718).
The Brown Battalions: Hitler's SA in Words and Pictures translated and edited by Nicholas H. Hatch (Turner, 2000, ISBN 1563115956).
The SA Generals and The Rise of Nazism by Bruce Campbell (University Press of Kentucky, 1998, ISBN 0813120470).
Stormtroopers: A Social, Economic, and Ideological Analysis, 1929-35 by Conan Fischer (Allen & Unwin, 1983, ISBN 0049430289).
''Collectors Guide to SA Insignia by James David Fuller (Matthäus Publishers, Postal Instant Press, 1985, ISBN 0931065046).
A Historical Perspective by Jill Halcomb (Crown/Agincourt Publishers, 1985, ISBN 0934870136).
The Making of a Stormtrooper by Peter H. Merkl (Princeton University Press, 1980, ISBN 0691076200).
The Development of the SA in Nürnberg, 1922-1934 by Eric G. Reiche (Cambridge University Press, 1986, ISBN 0521306388).

External links

Weimar Republic | Nazi Germany | SS

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