WI: "Seydlitztruppen" a reality

[Maponus]

Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach was a highly decorated German general who defected to the Soviet Union in WWII. He was demonised by Nazi propaganda, which dubbed his potential followers "Seydlitztruppen", Seydlitz troops.

In OTL, his activities with the Soviets were restricted to propaganda broadcasts and other purely symbolic actions, and towards the end of the war a few so-called "Seydlitztruppen" were sent to disrupt enemy operations by sneaking back to German lines dressed in their old uniforms. However, he wished to create an actual fighting force from willing German PoW's that would fight with the Red Army itself, but the Soviets did not accept the offer.

If the Soviets had accepted his offer, what affect would this have had? He believed he would be able to gather 40,000 volunteers from the many German PoWs in Soviet custody, but was that too optimistic a number? Would they have allowed his rather daring idea that his "Seydlitztruppen" should be airlifted into Germany itself go ahead, or would they have used a unit of German collaborators more cautiously? How successful would they be in combat, if used at all?

What would be the political impact of this? Seydlitz himself was hardly a Communist, he seems to have desired the creation of a pro-Soviet regime run by the Wehrmacht rather than the KDP, and the National Committee for a Free Germany of which he was a member used Imperial, as opposed to Republican, symbolism, so we can assume any military force he creates will also be using the "Black-White-Red". How would this affect the future political culture and historical narrative of East Germany, and would the Soviets still re-imprison Seydlitz as they did in this time line?

 

[MarshalBraginsky]

Would Seydlitz be the German equivalent of Vlasov though?

 

[Kome]

The only thing a collaborator unit is good for is partisan sweeps. Maybe they'll see some use against pockets of German holdouts left behind as Germany is pushed back from Russia. But either way nobody is going to be glorifying their efforts.

 

[Marc Pasquin]

Personnaly I think Seydlitz was indeed overconfident. Only if the situation was so dire that joining a "German Liberation Army" seemed like the only way to salvage something of Germany would he get much volunteers. There would also be a fear of infiltrators seeking to destroy it from within and like other such units, of people joining simply to leave the camps, without any real desire to fight.

Uniform-wise. I would imagine they would be kitted out in Russian surplus with german-type insignias simply for the sake of economy and to make it easier to distinguish friends from foes. A cocade like this on their headgear could be appropriate:

 

[Maponus]

But either way nobody is going to be glorifying their efforts.

But the winners write the history books, do they not? When watching an East German film about WWII, you get the sense they are grasping for heroes. They basically show a member of the Internationale Brigades symbolically granting a Soviet tank regiment the status of being the DDR's heroes by giving them a special flag. A collaborator regiment would have their efforts blow out of all proportion surely?

I imagine they would be treated as the direct ancestor of the NVA.

 

[Thoresby]

I imagine they would be treated as the direct ancestor of the NVA.

That seems very possible. What would the effects of a less Soviet NVA be?

 

[Marc Pasquin]

That seems very possible. What would the effects of a less Soviet NVA be?

The east german army already looked less sovietic then other members of the warsaw pact members. It's uniform and insignias were a continuation of the imperial style. I don't think there would be much outside of a token show of independence considering they were at the "front line" during the cold war and the USSR doesn't seem too much like the type too give too much leeway to Germany.

 

[Julian]

The best use of them would be for deception operations and radio games, such as Operation Scherhorn.

 

[Marc Pasquin]

Another question is how would the allies react. The british agreed to contribute some equipment to the polish and Czech units in the USSR as they had government in exile but german units could feel a bit too much like the USSR planned on simply steamrolling over Germany and taking control outright.

 

[KACKO]

Another question is how would the allies react. The british agreed to contribute some equipment to the polish and Czech units in the USSR as they had government in exile but german units could feel a bit too much like the USSR planned on simply steamrolling over Germany and taking control outright.

Only equipment contributed by British to Czechoslovak battalion were battledresses and British helmets. Later on when transformed into brigade and Corps uniforms were made in USSR according to forms provided by Czechoslovak. They were using Soviets Arms. Later on some jeeps and Studerbackers from L-L were provided and few, really few Bren carriers, but I believe they came from Soviet share of L-L.

But it would be funny, German volunteers in British battledresses, equipped with Soviet weapons fighting against Nazis.

 

[Zajir]

Can you get the "Seydlitz-army" to fight the Russian Liberation Army?