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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War / Insert Santayana Quote Here

Insert Santayana Quote Here

by John Cole|  July 15, 20048:49 pm| 11 Comments

This post is in: War

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Alaa writes:

Regarding “hearts and minds”; have you ever stopped to consider why the attack against the Iraqi people, their livelihood, and their infrastructure is by far more ferocious and spiteful than the assault on American and allied forces. Why is that necessary, if the population was really seething with hatred and animosity against the “occupiers.” Why indeed are they attacking the Iraqi people with such cruelty? Just think about that. Such thing has precedence neither in Vietnam nor any other conflict, including the WWII. I mean the Germans were never known to attack their own people, nor did that happen in Japan or Vietnam.

Actually, there was a precedent in Germany after World War II. The Democrats and the press in the United States have been so eager to portray Iraq as a failure that they have forgotten how very difficult it was to rebuild Germany after fighting ceased. A quick rundown of the Wehrwolf movement can be found here:

Wehrwolf (also spelled Wehrwolfe with unlauts over the ‘o’ or Werwolf) was a Nazi conspiracy that was developed to fight against the victorious powers using guerilla tactics after the defeat of the Nazi government at the end of World War II. It was named after werewolves, shape-shifting monsters.

The original plan for Werwolf was to act as a guerilla force to harry the logistic trains of Allied armies preparing to assault the Nazi’s “Alpine National Redoubt”. It originally had about 5,000 members recruited from the SS and Hitler Youth, and specially trained in guerilla tactics. It even went so far as to establish front companies to ensure continued funding after occupation (all were discovered and shut down within eight months). However as it became increasingly clear that the Alpine Redoubt was yet another grandiose delusion, Werwolf was converted first into a terrorist organisation, and then largely dismantled by Heinrich Himmler and Wilhelm Keitel in the last few weeks of the war. On 23 March 1945 gave a speech, known as the “Werwolf speech”, in which he urged every German to fight to the death. The partial dismantling of the organised Werwolf, combined with the effects of the “Werwolf” speech caused considerable confusion about which subsequent attacks were actual Werwolf attacks, as against solo acts by fanatical Nazis or small groups of SS.

Typical Werwolf tactics included sniping attacks, arson, sabotage, and assassination although in Poland they also carried out massacres of civilians, and a few substantial attacks against Soviet troops. Their most costly single attack in the western zones of occupation was a bombing which killed 44 persons. Their most prominent victims were Dr. Franz Oppenhoff (the new anti-Nazi mayor of Aachen and most prominent democratic politician left in Germany), Major John Poston (Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s liaison officer) and (possibly) General Berzarin (Soviet commandant of Berlin). (Their radio propaganda also claimed the assassination of General Maurice Rose (the most senior Jewish US officer), though it is more likely his killers were ordinary soldiers who had no idea who he was).

One often overlooked aspect of Werwolf is that the Hitler Youth component was also responsible for developing a new political youth movement which was intended to outlast the war, and which was called “neo-Nazism”. Some current German neo-Nazi groups refer to themselves as Werwolf, although the association is probably fanciful.

On 25th August 2003, Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld compared the problems faced by US troops then in Iraq, to those faced by US troops in post-World War II Germany. In particular, they mentioned Wehrwolf. Subsequently former Clinton staffer Daniel Benjamin wrote an essay where he attacked these remarks and claimed “Werwolf amounted to next to nothing.” Although widely quoted in the media, Benjamin’s views have been rejected by several historians of the period. The more conventional view is that while Werwolf was too disorganised to provide any significant military impediment to the occupiers, it delayed economic reconstruction and democritisation by three or four years.

The above text was riddled with hyperlinks- if you want to learn more about the Wehrwolf movement, click the link and follow all the links provided.

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11Comments

  1. 1.

    Andrew J. Lazarus

    July 16, 2004 at 12:51 am

    The total debunking of the Werewolf myth, which apparently failed to claim the life of one single Allied soldier, may be found here (Condi’s Phony History).

  2. 2.

    Dean Esmay

    July 16, 2004 at 3:34 am

    Wikipedia says the Slate article by Daniel Benjamin is bullshit and that “…[a]lthough widely quoted in the media, Benjamin’s views have been rejected by several historians of the period. The more conventional view is that while Werwolf was too disorganised to provide any significant military impediment to the occupiers, it delayed economic reconstruction and democritisation by three or four years.”

  3. 3.

    John Cole

    July 16, 2004 at 3:58 am

    It’s Andrew, Dean. He didn’t even check the link.

    BTW- The History Channel had a great one hour show on this several months ago.

  4. 4.

    Jennifer

    July 16, 2004 at 5:44 am

    Thank you for posting this information!

  5. 5.

    Kimmitt

    July 16, 2004 at 4:52 pm

    The historical consensus view is still that we suffered no casualties from “Werewolf.” I’m neither a trained historian nor an expert in post-WWII Germany, so I have to go with the consensus here.

  6. 6.

    John Cole

    July 16, 2004 at 5:58 pm

    Alaa was talking about Germans attacking Germans, as former Ba’athists are currently attacking Iraqis.

    I don;t care whose historical view or what consensus you choose to you, the record is clear. Werewolf terrorized Germans, executed numerous mayors, and carried out mini-massacres all over Germany, as well as thousands of actsof vandlaism (blowing up rail lines, etc.).

    That is what Alaa was talking about, that is the analagoy, and yes, it is analagous.

    The Democrats simply do not cease to amaze me- so despearate are they to pain the Iraq war as a failure that they want (choose) to ignore history.

    BTW- The historical consensus is not that werewolf did not kill one soldier, but that Werewolf did not provide any real military threat. The former is nonsense, as there were snipings, bombings, grenade attacks all through germany. The latter is true. In total, last ditch efforts were no match for the military might of the occupying powers.

    Sound familiar?

  7. 7.

    russell harris

    July 17, 2004 at 3:50 am

    Well for the fools who think the Wehrwolf movement is post-WWII Germany is a myth due to their inability to see the Slate monkey fishing for what it is, I urge you to go to your local library and look it up if you can stand the reality of it…

    I’ve known about it since I had relatives who had to deal with it…

  8. 8.

    Gary Farber

    July 19, 2004 at 11:51 pm

    “I mean the Germans were never known to attack their own people, nor did that happen in … Vietnam.”

    Which shows that Alaa knows absolutely 100% nothing about Vietnam, I’m afraid.

  9. 9.

    Andrew J. Lazarus

    July 20, 2004 at 1:07 am

    To recreate a small amount of deleted post. John gives us a Wikipedia article with no specific claims, no cites, and a disclaimer at the top that it’s disputed. My sources have names.

    “The Werewolves existed more in the idea or the fantasy stage than ever as a real phenomenon,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Farrell, a historian at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan.
    &nbsp
    Tom Schlesinger, a retired Army major and professor at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire who served in Army intelligence in occupied Germany, described the Werewolves as “almost a deliberate urban myth.”

    The Aachen assassination was before the war’s end. How about some names and places AFTER THE END OF THE WAR?

  10. 10.

    Rick

    July 20, 2004 at 1:12 pm

    There’s an article here:

    http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1373/is_10_50/ai_66157021

    (Though for a site called “Looksmart,” it’d behoove them not to state that Himmler set up the guerrilla organization in “1044.”

    Written by the author of this book:
    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0752429671/qid=1090346970/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/104-3257254-1839142?v=glance&s=books

    One of four books listed on Amazon dealing with the “insurgency.”

    Obviously, there was a lot of there there. And this book came out in Y2K, so it isn’t colored by current events.

    In sum, Andrew, not all “insurgencies” are noble ventures. And the bad guys have always won some innings.

    Cordially…

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. The Moderate Voice says:
    July 16, 2004 at 9:25 am

    Occupation Problems After A War

    There is a precedent…and it involves the United States…and one that many forget. John Cole reminds us.

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