As World War I came to a close, Germany was losing in the West (France),
but was winning in the East (against Russia). Thus there were those in
Germany that wanted to end the war, but similarly, there were those in
Germany that refused to end the war. After the Versailles Treaty (Germans
prefer to call this the "Versailles Dicktat"),
the war was "nominally" over, but in fact, France continued the war,
attempting to gain the Rhineland and the Ruhr industrial areas as a
separate part of Germany, annexing the Rhineland/Ruhr. Similarly, the
Germans did not want to conceed defeat in the East. Recall, Russia was
undergoing a Revolution at this time.
According to the Versailles Treaty, Germany could not have an army, an
"official army" supported by the state. Thus Germany created an "unofficial
army" called the "Freikorps". The Freikorps was
composed of many small armies, of "volunteers", which collectively composed
an army. As these troops were volunteers, not oficially supported by the
state, it was expected that this would not be viewed as an official "army".
Thus the terms and restrictions of the Versailles Treay were bypassed.
The Freikorps was focused in the area of Silesia, Prussia, but also ranged
into Kurland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Ukraine, and BeloRussia, with
asperations looking towards the Urals and the Crimea.
The Freikorps was the most aggressive German army, eventually becoming the
army of the NAZIs. Their objective was to invade St. Petersburg from the
Baltic area called "Ober OST".
A second function of the Freikorps was to be of service to the German
government in times of threatened revolution, or industrial uprisings or
strikes - supporting the German government, magnate owned capitalist
enterprizes, or even to oppose the French "Separatist"
Rhineland/Ruhr.
The starvation, suicides, poverty, poverty induced prostitution and rampant
crime was not of significance to the Baltikomers, trying to take over the
German government by "putsch" (coup d'etat).
Website Terms of Use