Hitler's Armed Forces Auxiliaries

Download or read book Hitler's Armed Forces Auxiliaries written by Jean-Denis G.G. Lepage and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-11-20 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Hitler's Wehrmachtsgefolge (armed forces auxiliaries) is less well known than that of Germany's other armed forces in World War II, such as the panzer divisions, the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine. The Organization Todt (construction company), Reichsarbeitsdienst (labor service), Nationalsozialistische Kraftfahrer Korps (driver's corp) and Volkssturm (people's militia) were given the status of armed forces auxiliaries to protect their members under the Geneva Conventions should they be taken prisoner. By 1944, the Wehrmachtsgefolge comprised 40 percent of the German armed forces, and their contribution to the war effort was far from negligible. This illustrated history documents the development, structure and organization, uniforms, regalia and technical data of these units and discusses their role in the war and during the prewar period.