German Civil War

> “The German Civil War wasn’t fought just because of the remilitarisation of the Rhine and to plunge Germany into another war, that was just a justification, it was actually fought because Hitler gave the SS too much power in both civil and military services and would have likely made all the Wehrmacht into one of his cronies if he was to be successful in converting all of those young and eager Wehrmacht troops to become fanatics to the National Socialist doctrines. The war was actually fought to prevent a full ideological saturation of the old German beliefs in Prussian militarism and honour and to oust the SS from gaining any sort of control over the German.”
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The **German Civil War** (German: *Deutscher Bürgerkrieg*) was a major military civil war in the former German Reich instigated by the Wehrmacht leaders who went against Hitler's desire for world conquest. The two combatant groups fighting in the war were the rebellious Wehrmacht, led by August von Mackensen, fighting to depose the Nazi leaders and the loyalist forces known as the Waffen-SS, which included many leaders from the Schutzstaffel, who wanted to keep Hitler in power and destroy the "treasonous Germans".

## German Civil War

### Outcome

Victory for the Wehrmacht, death of Hitler, formation of the German Empire

Belligerents| * Wehrmacht (rebels)

Commanders| * August von Mackensen
* Erwin Rommel
* Karl Dönitz
* Erich von Manstein
* Werner von Goldberg
* Helga Mörder (late)
* Heinrich Himmler
* Hermann Göring
* Erich Ludendorff
* Oskar Dirlewanger
* Helga Mörder (early)

Strength| * 3,800,000 Wehrmacht soldiers
* Large number of ÜberSoldaten, Panzerhunds, tanks and jets
* 2,400,000 loyalist Wehrmacht soldiers

## Background

In the dawn of 1936, latest dissatisfaction with the rule of Adolf Hitler has come to head with the German leadership, caused by the administration's move to remilitarize the Rhineland. This caused a major uproar within the Wehrmacht, as the German Reich was going to embroil itself in a massive war for global conquest against the entire world. A large number of Wehrmacht generals rallied behind the well-known Field Marshall August von Mackensen, who has managed to set in motion plans to depose Hitler and remove the Nazi party from all of Germany. With the German High Command becoming split between the Wehrmacht officers and the Schutzstaffel, foreign powers have chosen to let the two factions go to war in an effort to destabilize Germany from its ever-growing power.

## War

### 1936

The rebel Wehrmacht leaders managed to secure a major foothold within the western portion of Germany and East Prussia, securing several major cities and ports to be used against the loyalists. With the help of commanders like Erwin Rommel and Erich von Manstein, the Wehrmacht rebels were quickly organized across the borders. This was only supported by the fact that they managed to capture multiple experimental technologies in bases Hesse and near Bavaria, giving them a major boost in the war to come. The Kriegsmarine became split between those in the northern parts of Germany still loyal to the Reich and those in East Prussia turning against the Nazi leadership.

In the German Reich, the Nazi leadership was in shambles after word got out of the massive rebel army mobilized against them, thus forcing Hitler himself to take full control of the armed forces against the rebels. The Waffen-SS in the meantime took control over the entire ***Schutzstaffel*** and reorganized resistance against the Wehrmacht.

At the outbreak of the open conflict, the rebels executed a lightning war (German: *Blitzkrieg*) tactic into the heart of Germany, designed to quickly attack the Nazis through a condensed march of tanks, armored vehicles and infantry personal. The plan called for the left flank of the rebel forces to advance towards Berlin with impressive speed. The Wehrmacht was very successful, particularly in the Battle of Elbe (19–28 November). However, by the 30 December, the Nazi forces halted the German advance east of Berlin at the First Battle of the Havel (31 December –12 January). For months the Wehrmacht armies were forced to do skirmishes elsewhere to find a weak point in the SS lines.

Soon, the Waffen-SS and loyalist forces managed to push the Wehrmacht back into their starting position and start to defeat rebel strongholds, adopting the merciless act of slaughtering civilians in rebel territory who supported the Wehrmacht, causing many in their territories to start to support the rebellion. Unfortunately for entire Nazi Germany, their secret cache was uncovered after Werner Goldberg talked the defenders of a stronghold in Bavaria into joining their side, giving them access to experimental technology, such as tesla weapons, super-soldiers, Panzerhunds, and even a few prototype monitors, that they unleashed upon the Waffen-SS in late-1936.

### 1937

1937 began with the remaining Kriegsmarine turning against the Nazi leadership and capturing numerous ports belonging to the German Reich in their northern territories, securing much-needed resources from the coast. In response, the Nazi leadership ordered the loyal Luftwaffe to lead a Blitz upon captured ports to prevent the rebels from gaining more resources. Albeit the mission was a success, it only managed to bring more support for the rebels. At the same time, after many months, the Wehrmacht finally managed to break through through the reinforced Havel in the Second Battle of Havel (23 July - 3 August), thus cutting a straight path to Berlin.

In October, the two armies of Erwin Rommel and Heinz Guderian attacked and captured the capital city of Berlin in the Fall for Berlin (13 October - 12 September). Hitler was found in a bunker dead by suicide. Unfortunately, fanatical resistance by the remainder of the Waffen-SS and the SS Honor Guard, now led by Heinrich Himmler, still put up a fight against the victorious Wehrmacht. The war officially ended on 20 December 1937, after it was announced the last regions under Waffen-SS control were finally under Wehrmacht control.

## Aftermath

Million of lives, both military and civilian, were killed over the course of the conflict. The German Military Junta was established as a provisional government until they decided the path they would take to form Germany. Despite this, SS holdouts were still at large and harassed the Wehrmacht army for years to come, rumored to be still being led by Heinrich Himmler, who was nowhere to be found after the war.

### Return of the Kaiser

The events of the Weimar Republic, who the Wehrmacht saw was responsible for the rise of the Nazi Party, have shown that democracy was too weak to keep nefarious internal elements at bay. The Junta agreed that they needed the return to the strong leadership of a Kaiser. Since Wilhelm II still lived, the Junta lifted his exile and invited him to return to take the throne. Wilhelm was recrowned on the 2nd of February, 1938, in the Reichstag in an improvised ceremony.

Wilhelm made the controversial act of recruiting imprisoned Waffen-SS officers into the Wehrmacht to supplement those lost during the conflict and offered the utmost protection to Nazi scientists on the condition they spent the remainder of their lives designing and engineering the most advanced technology available. It was rumored that because of this stubborn move, Helga Mörder was secretly the leader the remaining undiscovered SS hideouts from a high-ranking position, though this is unproven.