Brownshirts

=Brownshirts also known as Sturmabteilung=

Edited by Taylor Lamontagne

The Brownshirts are also known as the Storm Detachment or Assault division. They were the original paramilitary wing on the nazi Party. The brown shirts played a major role in Hitlers Rise to Power in the 1920's and 30's. Their main obligation was to protect the Nazi rallies and assemblies, disruption of opposing political parties and the intimidation of the Jewish people.

=Uniforms=

Hitler’s Brownshirts (also often known as stormtroopers) were previous members of the Freikorps. These Freikorps were members of private armies and were no strangers to brutality. They would often use there violent techniques to intimidate others.

=Rise=

The term Sturmabteilung basically represents the founding of the Nazi Party in 1919. Instead of large mass assaults they were organized into small squads of a few soldiers each. The first official stormtroop unit was authorized March 2 1915 the German high command ordered the Corps to form a detachment to test experimental weapons and tactics which could break the deadlock on the Western Front on October 2,1916.

From April 1924 until February 1925 the brownshirts was known as the frontbrann to try to change Bavarias ban on the Nazi Party and its organs. The SA carried out numbers acts of violence against competing socialist groups throughout the 1920s. Under their popular leader, Rohm, the SA grew in importance within the Nazi power structure growing in size to thousands of members In the early 1930s as the Nazis evolved from an extremist political party to the unquestioned leaders of the government, the SA was no longer needed for its original purpose: the acquisition of political power and the suppression of the enemies of the Party. An organization that could inflict more subtle terror and obedience was needed, and the SA was simply not capable of doing so. The SA also did a threat to the Nazi leadership and to Hitler's goal of co-opting the Reich to his ends, as Rohm's ideal was to fold the "antiquated" German army into a new "people's army" the SA. By 1933, the younger SS was no longer the mere bodyguard of Hitler and showed itself more suited to carry out Hitler's policies thereby taking over the previous roles of the SA.

=Leaders=

The leaders of the SA were known as the Oberster SA Fuhrer meaning Supreme SA Leader.

Emil Maurice 1920-21 Hans Klintzsche 1921-23 Hermann Goring 1923 Nobody 1923-25 Franz Salomon 1926-30 Adolf Hitler 1930-45

Commanders of the SA acting in Hitlers Names.

Otto Wagener 1929 - 31 Ernst Rohm 1931 - 34 Viktor Lutze 1934 - 43 Wilhelm Schepmann 1943 - 45

Ernst Rohm Otto Wagener Viktor Lutze Wilhelm Schepmann

=**Name**=

The Brownshirts were named, of course, because they wore brownshirts and khaki pants that were bought surplus from the German army. The brown coloured shirts were chosen as the SA uniform because a large batch of them were very much and cheaply available after World War 1. Originally the brown uniforms were ordered during the war of colonial troops posted to Germany's Former African Soldiers.

=** Leadership **=

Ernst Rohem was the notable original leader of the SA. In 1925, Himmler took over the operation however it was not as successful. Himmler, however, went on to rule the successor of the SA, the SS. Rohem was very successful and increase membership by almost 100% in a few short years. By 1934 he had increased membership to 4,500,000 men. Issues started to arise when Hitler worried that Rohem was gaining too much power. He held a seat at the National Defense Council and began to demand more and more power for the SA, wanting it to overtake the army for control. Hitler initially liked Rohem, but his favorable view took a turn for the worst later on during his leadership. This integration of the Army into the SA did not sit well with Hitler, who decided that Rohem and the SA needed to be taken care off. Other issues included the fact that Rohem supported socialist values,power hungry and was a homosexual.

=** Night of Long Knives **=

Hitler soon realized the power the Rohem and the SA possessed. Theoretically, they could remove him as leader. Several of Hitler’s advisors played upon this fear, giving him information about the possibility of a hostile takeover. Hitler could not let this happen. He arranged a meeting with the top 200 SA officials, including Rohem at a hotel. When Rohem arrived at the hotel

, he was personally arrested by Hitler. The remanning 200 were also arrested and most subsequently shot. Their was a small amount of debate over what should happen to Rohem. Initially Hitler wanted to keep him alive and pardon him for his work, but eventually decided to kill him.

=** The End **=

After the death of Rohem, he was replaced by the man by the name of Victor Lutze, who quite frankly, sucked at being a leader. The SA slowly lost power as the SS gained more and more as the years went on.