# Ruhr Red Army

The Ruhr Red Army, also Red Ruhr Army (German: Rote Ruhrarmee), was an impromptu army of 50,000 to 80,000 left-wing workers that fought in the Ruhr uprising of 13 March to 6 April 1920 in Germany's Ruhr region. The uprising was sparked by the right-wing Kapp Putsch in Berlin and had as its goal the establishment of a soviet-style council republic in Germany.
After an agreement to end a general strike in the region failed, the German government sent in Reichswehr (regular army) and Freikorps (paramilitary) units to put down the rebellion. They acted with considerable brutality, including summary executions of prisoners and the killing of wounded fighters. The government victory cost the lives of over 1,000 workers and about 600 Reichswehr and Freikorps soldiers.

## Formation

The majority of Germany's left-of-centre political parties responded to the right-wing Kapp Putsch of 13 March – 18 March 1920 with a call for a nationwide general strike. It drew around 12 million workers and was largely responsible for the quick failure of the attempted coup.
In the Ruhr, the workers did not stop with the general strike. Spontaneously formed local executive councils (Vollzugsräte) took power over local governments after disarming the security police and regular army (Reichswehr) forces. By 22 March, the entire Ruhr district was in their hands.
The councils used local workers' defence (Arbeiterwehr) units during armed action. Their weapons came from citizens' defence (Einwohnerwehr) groups and, after their first successful engagements, from defeated Freikorps units. It was from the workers' defence groups that the Red Ruhr Army was formed.
At its peak the Red Ruhr Army's strength is estimated to have been 50,000 to 80,000 members. Of those who belonged to union-based organizations, a small majority came from the free unions and the remainder from the anarcho-syndicalist Free Workers' Union of Germany (FAUD). Among members of political parties, 60% were members of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), 30% from the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD) and 10% from the Social Democrats (SPD).

## Armed rebellion

On 24 March, local and national government authorities signed the Bielefeld Agreement with the more moderate political parties and executive councils. The agreement called for the Red Ruhr Army to hand over its weapons, with a promise of amnesty for those who had broken the law in defence of the government against the putschists. Leaders of the Red Ruhr Army, however, thought that it would be better to fight than accept the compromises in the agreement.
At a meeting a week later, on 1 April, the leaders of the Red Ruhr Army agreed that there was no point in continuing the fight, but the Army had by then splintered into numerous largely independent groups over which the leaders had no control. In addition, urgent calls for help were coming in from local citizens and city administrations reporting that Red Ruhr Army members were engaging in extortion, looting and shootings. The Berlin government then sent in both Reichswehr and Freikorps troops on 2 April.
The experienced and heavily armed government troops quickly ended the uprising with acts of violence and cruelty that dwarfed the workers' "red terror". There were mass arrests and shootings without it always being clear whether the victims were members of the Red Ruhr Army. Wounded fighters were shot, as were ten female medics with the Red Ruhr Army who were carrying pistols. Many fighters were reported as having been shot while fleeing, indicating that they were shot in the back. Fifty had been executed and an additional 205 condemned by drumhead courts before the government in Berlin forbade them on 3 April. General Oskar von Watter, who was in charge of government troops in the region, defended himself from other charges that his men had engaged in unlawful behaviour by citing a letter from the Ministry of the Reichswehr that stated, "You are given complete freedom to do what the situation demands".
On 5 April a large part of the Red Ruhr Army fled to the French occupied zone of the Rhineland. The skirmish that took place in Gelsenkirchen the next day marked the final end of the uprising and of the Red Ruhr Army. The number of insurgents killed has never been accurately determined. Historian Heinrich August Winkler puts the number at "well over 1,000", the majority of them killed after being captured. The Reichswehr lost 208 killed and 123 missing; the security police 41 dead. The number of Freikorps deaths has been put at 273.