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Handbuch der Großdeutschen Geschichte, Kapitel 67: Kurt von Schleicher und der Beginn der Diktatur (2004)
The Schleicher Putsch is a bitterly debated topic among German Historians. Different schools of historical thought don't even agree that it really was a Putsch. There is an influential school that rates the event as a short Civil War, however this view is shared by a minority of Historians. Regardless of the terminology, the events of January 18 and the chaos that followed shaped German and European history.

Timeline of the Events:

January 18:

Hindenburg's condition becomes critical. His private physicians estimate that he will die within 24 hours. Von Schleicher, who at this point had full control over the Reichswehr, sets the "Augustus Plan" in motion.

Adolf Hitler receives a call by von Schleicher, he offers Hitler the Chancellorship and proposes a broad cooperation between the NSDAP and the Reichswehr, to "restore order and lead Germany to glory". Hitler is initially skeptical but is certain that he can leverage his skyrocketing popularity to push von Schleicher out of the Presidency. Quickly organizing a plane he arrives in Berlin in the evening. He is welcomed at the airport by von Schleicher and a small cadre of Reichswehr Officers. Hitler is briefed about the situation and around midnight he retreats to his Berlin residence. Unbeknownst to him he is shadowed and around 4 am a squad of Reichswehr soldiers dressed as Communists invades his home and kills him and most of his security detail. Two of Hitler's SS guards manage to flee the scene but are quickly arrested by the Police.

The Reichswehr and Police formations loyal to von Schleicher use the cover of the night to cut critical communication lines in Germany. Radio stations, weapon caches, the Reichsbank and several other critical government buildings are quickly occupied.

January 19:

Police and Reichswehr conduct a joint crackdown on Communist elements in Berlin. Prepared lists with Communists, National Socialists and suspected sympathizers are handed out. Social Democrats and members of Unions associated with the SPD are notably absent. Ernst Thälmann, Herbert Wehner, Walter Ulbricht and the rest of the Central Committee of the KPD are summarily executed near the Karl-Liebknecht-Haus. The only survivor is Wilhelm Pieck who is taken into protective custody. He reveals secret weapons caches and hideouts of the KPD to his Reichswehr handlers. (1)

Using Pieck's information and the prepared lists a massive wave of arrests kills any organized resistance in the Capital in the cradle. By evening the Capital is safely in von Schleicher's hands. Most National Socialists are simply arrested, while several Communists or suspected KPD sympathizers are killed or severely beaten.

Around noon a prepared statement from von Schleicher is broadcasted all over the Reich. In this statement von Schleicher announces the death of Hindenburg and his succession to the Presidency. He also announces that a KPD death squad killed Adolf Hitler during negotiations to form a new Government. Declaring a State of Emergency Schleicher suspended fundamental rights like Freedom of Assembly and enacted a nation wide curfew.Closing his statement von Schleicher urges all able bodied and patriotic Germans to join the Reichswehr in defending the Reich against the Communist uprising.

January 20:

Communication between different parts of the country is exceedingly hard due to actions of the Reichswehr in the night of the 18th. Parties and paramilitary formations are unable to formulate a coordinated response above the local level. Local groups are forced to take a stance without knowing the position of the central leadership.

Overview of the situation:

Virtually all of the German Police quickly accepted von Schleicher's authority.

The same is basically true for the Bureaucracy. Some mayors successfully refuse cooperation with the Reichswehr but this is a local phenomenon.

The overwhelming majority of the Stahlhelm and other reactionary formations quickly joins the Reichswehr. These groups quickly form Freikorps who are neatly integrated into the command structure of the Reichswehr. The DNVP leadership decides to back von Strasser due to a lack of alternatives.

Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold formations remained mostly inactive due to secret negotiations between von Schleicher and the SPD. In rare cases local formations either joined the Reichswehr/Freikorps or Leftist Insurgents. The SPD leadership remains inactive, they have negotiated a secret deal with von Schleicher.

SA and NSDAP quickly splinter:

Eastern Prussia: Walter Stennes starts rallying SA men still loyal to him. He is able to quickly fill the power vacuum that Hitler's death opened and uses his old connections to maximum effect. He proclaims that the"National Revolution" has started, due to the unreliable communications his efforts are mostly limited to Eastern Prussia despite his influence in other provinces like Pommern.

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Walter Stennes

Bavaria: Most so called "Old Comrades" quickly flee to Bavaria, in the following days they manage to coordinate with each other, founding the "Nationalsozialistische Völkische Republik Bayern" (NVRB). Their goal is to secede from Germany, to achieve true National Socialism in Bavaria. Ernst Röhm quickly emerges as the leader of the NVRB due to his control over the SA formations in South Germany. The Bavarian SA is renamed to "Volkswehr" and SA men from all over South Germany are marching towards Bavaria.

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Ernst Röhm

In the other parts of Germany: SA leaders decide on a local basis. Some directly join the emerging Freikorps, others serve as more independent auxiliary troops for the Reichswehr, and some SA formations outright degrade into bands of looters pledging loose allegiance to Stennes or Röhm.

The KPD has no central leadership after the crackdown in Berlin. Local leaders either join the simmering insurrections in the Ruhr area or are quickly arrested in the following days.

One has to keep in mind that Germany as a whole was engulfed by chaos by the 20th. People used the chaos for political murder, to settle rivalries or to enrich themselves. All over Germany people are killed for political and personal reasons, demonstrations and street fights are happening despite an explicit ban on assemblies and stores and warehouses are looted by opportunists.

January 21-27:

Chaos engulfs most areas of the Reich for 2-3 days. By January 24 the situation has calmed down in most areas except for Eastern Prussia, Bavaria and the Ruhr area. More than 400 people are killed in various street battles, political murders and crimes.

Suspected Communists are arrested in areas that the Schleicher Putsch directly controls. In the Ruhr area wild strikes and armed resistance are culminating into a short lived leftist/communist insurrection. This insurrection has no centralized leadership and no clear program beyond resisting the Putsch and the Military. The worker resistance is hopelessly outgunned and police and Reichswehr are brutally ending the insurrection. By January 26 the Ruhr area is mostly pacified, more than a thousand workers were killed and circa three thousand are arrested.

In Eastern Prussia the by now called Stennes Revolution is running out of steam. Initially Stennes managed to gather more than thousand SA men. Looting thinly disguised as "expropriating for the Revolutionary cause" and aimless political murders quickly galvanize resistance. Local Junkers quickly assemble Freikorps to hunt Stennes and his so called "pillaging Landsknechte", in coordination with arriving Reichswehr troops Stennes and his army are beaten in a number of skirmishes. Desertions, deaths and injuries have reduced the number of men fit for use too under 700 and munition and food supplies are quickly dwindling. Stennes begins secret talks with Reichswehr officers.

The NVRB has more success. Röhm is able to gather more than 3000 men, not all of them are equipped with firearms but a sizeable number is. An offensive to capture Munich is quickly beaten back by the Reichswehr and Police but on the countryside the Volkswehr actually manages to beat the Reichswehr in several engagements. Röhm is a somewhat competent commander but the constant power plays of his subordinate leaders, the "Old Comrades" seriously undermines any effort of building a state.

January 28-31:

Stennes manages to negotiate a deal with the Putschists. A generous payment for himself, immunity for him and his men and a guaranteed job for the rebellious SA men convinces Stennes and his men to lay down their weapons. (2)

In Bavaria things are starting to deteriorate for the Nazis. More and more Reichswehr battalions are flooding in from pacified areas. Outgunned and with dwindling ammunition supplies Röhm and his men are increasingly under pressure.

February 1-5:

Röhm is killed in a battle on February 2nd.

Franz Ritter von Epp tries to assume leadership of the NVRB but only around a third of the remaining troops follows him, while the others are joining other old comrades. At this point roving bands of Volkswehr insurgents are starting to fight each other while avoiding the Reichswehr.

Ritter von Epp capitulates with his men on February the 4th, most other old comrades either flee to Austria or commit suicide. The ones choosing to flee will be discussed in the chapter about Austria.

On the 5th the von Schleicher government is in control over the Reich.

(1): Pieck allegedly ratted out his Comrades during the Spartakus uprising. Consider this a fact ITTL. He rats out his Comrades again to stay alive during the Schleicher Putsch.

(2): The man was an ice cold opportunist. His Stennes revolt might have been motivated by money that the Brünning Government payed him and in 1949 he returned from exile and tried to be classified as a victim of national socialism. His "Revolution" was merely an opportunity he used. Some easy looting and a nice payment to stop it.