German Resistance 1923

Lonewolf

Banned
Hello,

first I would like to say that I wish that nobody will have to face war (my father was a little boy during WWII and told me something about it and I do NEVER want to experience said conditions.) or the conditions afterwards. And we have already enough dead on earth.

So I kindly ask you in the view of "What would have happened..." regarding the following POD:

What would have changed/ happened if the german resistance during the occupation by the allies (the french) of the Ruhr area in 1923 had used the same tactics as the franctireurs (belgian resistance fightes in WW I) or the various resistance organisations of WW II or later.

Thank you.
 

Lonewolf

Banned
I will try to make a timeline:

11. January 1923 As french troops cross into Germany the government in shock.

Now the POD

12 January 1923 Colonel General von Seekt, the commanding officer of the Reichswehr, receives a paper outlining the strategy of guerilla warfare based on the experiences of the german troops in the territories occupied by Germany during the Great War. The officer responsible for this paper is threatened with a court martial as he bluffed his was into the office of the commanding general. This motion is squashed as during the next hours more information regarding the troop movements become known.

Chancellor Cuno asks the population of the Ruhrarea to commit passive resistance and declares a general strike.

20 January 1923 The generals of the Reichswehr meet in Kiel abord the PREUSSEN and discuss the papaer about guerilla warfare. The generals are aware about the price such warfare demands and their is more than one voice urging not to do it. The late british general Duke Wellington is quoted: "Only a fool opens Pandoras box of guerilla warfare." Another opinion is: "Germans are not designed to make guerilla warfare. This type of warfare demands a disregard for human life and a dishonesty that goes against everything the german soul thrives on."
The discussion ends without solution around midnight.

22 January 1923 The german press blasts the government and the Reichswehr for doing nothing. The meeting of the generals is called "Generals who are sworn to defend Germany have a merry day on sea." A picture showing one of the Colonels aboard for deception fishing and laughing.

25 January 1923 A demonstration confronts one french army column leaving the train station in Essen. What happens next can never be solved. While the french say they were taken under fire the german survivors fleeing the area say that firecrackers were used and yes some threw stones at the soldiers.
While the french say two of their soldiers are dead with 24 wounded the germans say that 40 civilians are dead with 85 wounded.
The pictures of the place at the train station show that three areas have stones removed, many places with little burns on the stones and a big area with lots of red liquid covering the stones.

26 January 1923 The war of the press. Each sides shows the pictures of the wounded and dead. Each sides condemns the other side for being the evil one.

The british and US press are divided as their government were sceptical about the usefulness of the occupation.

The swiss press and the president of the League of Nations call for peace.
The Vatican offers the Swiss Guard supported by the swiss army as replacement for the french army to cool down the emotions.

From Holland the former german emperor asks the german people to re-install him to fight against the french opressors.

German chancellor Cuno is willing to accept the Vaticans offer.

27 January 1923 Members of the Freikorps make an assassination attempt on french guards outside a factory. They fail and are apprehended. The french shoot them.

The german government sends a strong note of protest as the Freikorps members obeyed the Rules of Warfare laid down in the Hague Treaty.

The french government asks if Germany rescinds the Treaty of Versailles and both countries are at war.

Late at night the german government is informed that Germany does not stand a chance in a stand up fight.

Chancellor Cuno responds to the french question that Germany wants peace.
 

J.D.Ward

Donor
The Vatican offers the Swiss Guard supported by the swiss army as replacement for the french army

This suggestion is completely ASB.

The rest of the timeline is generally plausible, IF you leave out the war-weariness in both France and Germany.
 

Lonewolf

Banned
This suggestion is completely ASB.

The rest of the timeline is generally plausible, IF you leave out the war-weariness in both France and Germany.

Hello J.D.Ward, thank you for pointing out the error.

Lets change it to:
The Vatican offers to mediate between the two countries. The swiss government after consultations with the League of Nations offers units of the swiss army as peacekeepers.

And to the war weariness I have to think about it. So I will post the next installment in a few days.

And besides: dogs that bark do not bite (meaning politicians like strong words).
 

Lonewolf

Banned
1. February 1923 A stony faced CinC of the french army with a captain as Aide de camp marches into the office of the french president. As the president looks up, the captain puts a paper on the desk and tells him, that the french are war weary and how he could risk so much?

The french president responds: "My dear captain, I would advise you to never play poker. Because you would loose everything you own without seeing it. I know about the war weariness perfectly, but I will not go down in history like Clemeceau, the victor of the war and the looser of Versailles. I also know that the germans are as war weary as we, but I played the same card the germans played on La Grande Nation so long ago. The Ems Dispatch. I formulated the questions in such a way that they could only submit or be at war not with France alone, but the entire world. So you see, we could not loose. My question was pure rethorical. And besides, the German Army is bereft of all heavy weapons. Even in the direst of circumstances the Germans are helpless, because they have no artillery,no aeroplanes, no fleet and no submarines. They are helpless. So, if this is all, I have matters of state to attend to."

While the battle of the publishers continues the same question is debated in London and Washington too.

London is divided. Some, like Winston Churchill support the French. Others warn of the consequences if Germany goes communist and others remind all of the british policy of the Balance of Powers.

In Washingtons back rooms the discussions are more heated. While some remember the cost that this war demanded others look at the long term costs a second war may generate or even what the costs are if the financial world is destabilised.

10. February 1923 A certain captain of the German Army (who drafted the plan of Guerilla warfare) is in holiday - forced. His superiors are angry that he did not go through them and while they cannot fire him, they can make his life unpleasant. So he went to the library and took every book about warfare he could find. While reading he is always stunned to see that guerilla warfare is capable of delivering pinpricks, painful, but not deciding. If Germany has to have a chance he has to find a solution for many questions regarding the enemies superiority in all areas, for instance a poor mans machine gun without violating the Versailles treaty.
Now reading a book about naval warfare between England and France he nearly drops the book. The infantry machine gun substitute. The carronade. He has to talk to his friend in the artillery to shorten it while retaining the lethality.
 

Lonewolf

Banned
1st May 1923
The french occupation is fact of life for the german people. There are some who resist, either peacefully or violently but the french do not care. All are removed. The peaceful ones are thrown out of the occupied territories and the violent people are shot if caught immediatly after the attack or after a trial if taken later.

Meanwhile the captain has looked up all information he could find. But one night it is all about to change.

(COMMENT: I now give these persons names I invented. So the captain will be namend Holthausen.)

Captain Holthausen is drinking in the casino of his regiment when a drunken officer stumbles to his desk and lets out a string of obscenities better suited to the red light district than to an officers casino. Before it ends in fisticuffs the captain finds out its about his treatise given to the german High command.

2nd May 1923
The punishment is swift and brutal. The superiors of Captain Holthausen decide to kill two birds with one stone. But what they get will give them nightmares for decades to come....

Captain Holthausen and Captain von Malthus (the attacker) are ordered to work together as their destruction of the casino has shown they are capable of great things when they work together.

May 1923
The german press attacks the german politicians as they do nothing against the french.

Unknown location near Weimar, 28th May 1923
Nearly all Colonels and Generals of the german Army are assembled. In the shadows sits a man nobody recognizes as a member of the german government.

Trancript of the meeting that never happened:

"Gentlemen, we are gathered here together to talk about the liberation of the sacred soil of Germany from the french. No subject will be taboo, but everything stays in this room. Mister H, your turn."

Captain Holthausen, in civilian clothes as the rest moves to the front.

"Gentlemen. We have few resources and fewer weapons to liberate our country. But as Miyamoto Musashi, a great japanese warrior said: What is made by men can be unmade by men. The rules of Versailles are strict, but can be circumvented. Take for instance the machinegun. Longrange killingpower. But for guerilla warfare you need something more efficient. Take the carronade. One shot, short ranged, but lethal and in a certain range and angle nobody can escape. On flat area you can kill a company with five of these. And you risk only one person.
I could tell you all night about weapons to kill, but what we need is the right mindset. And therefore i give you Mr. M."

"Gentlemen, we do not have the right mindset for guerilla warfare. Because we are to open and we have no spine."

Angry comments are heard.

"No this is the truth plain and simple. Our last Kaiser liked the british to much as he had british blood in his veins but: a state has only interests, but no friends. And as we have seen with the americans, they like mighty words but come short in fulfilling them. Just remember the 14 points. So there are a few points to be very open:
1) No fraternization. You may like your counterpart in the other nations armed forces but if you divulge even one word you are a traitor and must be shot.
2) No rules until victory. The german subs obeyed the rules of warfare and what did the british do? They deployed Q-ships and later put weapons on civilian ships to drag the US into the war. And what did we do? We complained but sunk back into the shadow. Nothing more. Not this time. Everybody is the enemy, regardless if he is a soldier standing before you or a civilian in the middle of France.
3) Propaganda and Spine. Remember the story that german troops hacked of the hands of civilians of belgium? This is a lie and they did not retract it. We have to do the same. Paint the enemy in the worst picture.
And our politician have to have backbone too. If the french accuse us of using guerilla warfare the first politician who says sorry is to be shot. Tell the french that they are back in Spain when Napoleon invaded Spain. Tell them to look up their newspapers. When the german troops were in belgium the french lauded the franctireurs of Belgium as heroes and the methods of the germans to shut them down as the methods of Lucifer himself. Now tell them to take these articles and just exchange the words belgium for german and german for french.
And why did nobody had the guts to tell Clemenceau that yes, Germany marched into France two times between 1870 and 1919, but he should answer the question how many times did France march into Germany from 1000 till 1870?
Now, if the politicians do not have that sort of spine I think Krupp can manage to produce some steel rods that can be inserted into the backs of the politicians to give them a spine.

A lot of faces are white. Because of anger or shock nobody is willing to divulge.

(COMMENT: I know that many will not like Point 2. But in another thread in this forum I was told by a british, no sorry scottish guy and another one, that warcrimes are not warcrimes if the other side committed a war crime first and that in response to really reprehensible warcrimes little warcrimes are to be forgotten.

Thread: Why did the WW2 Allies insist in unconditional surrender? )
 
Were either of you perhaps reading "The Man with the Iron Heart' recently?

All you need now is some more IED-esque machines and a hostage situation, and we'll be on our way to some good ole' guerilla warfare.
 
Top