Officer training in the Wehrmacht?

[B Hellqvist]

I've browsed my books, searched the forum, and tried to find to find a good online source, but haven't been able to find a good summary of the officer training system in the Wehrmacht (Heer, to be specific). What I would like is to know how the officer candidates were selected, how long their training was, and whether they returned to their original regiments, were kept in the Feld-Ersatz-bataillon, or were sent where they were most needed in time of war. I'm primarily interested in ranks up to Hauptmann/captain.

Thanks in advance,
Björn

[B Hellqvist]

I found a paper in German (pdf), which describes the selection and training of junior officers in the Wehrmacht. My German is too poor for real understanding of the text; the relevant pages are 124-125 (133-134 on the left-hand pdf meny). I'm interested in the conditions from January 1940 - mid-1941; the paper seems to suggest that an officer candidate either had six months basic training + 3 months at the front + 3 months at the officers' school + 2-4 months at the front, and the getting his commission, or (in the table) 3-4 months basic training + 2-4 months NCO training + 2 months platoon commander training and receiving Uffz rank + 2 months at the front as Fahnenjunker + 3-4 months at the Fahnenjunker school + 2 months finishing training. I'm confused. Can anyone fluent in German have a look at the paper and tell me what alternative was in use in 1940-41?

TIA,
Björn

[hero.]

Hello B Hellqvist !

I saw your interesting post, and maybe, as a german speaker, I can give you some help.

First, your translation of the different timeframes is basically correct.
The regulations for officer training changed during the war and from within the
pdf-document it is not clear when, so your confusion is understandable.

However, the very same numbers are also given in M. van Creveld, Fighting Power,
(an analysis of the structure of the german army) with a clearer explanation :

The rhythm of 6 month basic training, 3 months front service,
3 months training at an specific officer school and finally
an additional frontline service of 2-4 months, was the standard during the
first years of the war. Since the casualties among the officer candidates
during their 5 -7 months frontline service were too high, from autumn 1942
the regulations were changed according to the table (your 2nd alternative).

Regarding your first post, what might be interesting on the german way of
training and education for officers, is that the basic training during the
first few month was together with all other recruits, so independent
of the later career.

A good overview on the recruitement and training is given in the book by van Creveld.

For a lot more details on this I can recommed you the Vol. 5/I and 5/II of the series,
Germany and the Second World War from the MGFA, therein the chapters of B. Kroener.

I hope this helps,
best regards,

hero.

[B Hellqvist]

Thank you, hero - Du bist ein Held! :)

[hero.]

Hello B Hellqvist !

I'm glad you could make use of my post .
And I'm certainly not any kind of a hero, the nickname was intended to be a joke and to be read as hero(dot),
which, sadly enough, almost nobody seems to recognize .

Anyway, if you have any more questions according to this topic or similar questions regarding the Ersatz-Heer,
feel free to ask, the mentioned books contain a lot of details and I am always interested to learn something new !

Best regards,

hero(dot)

[Brandenburger7]

Would that Officer training be specific to the Heer or all branches of the Wehrmacht?

[Helmut]

Servus,
What would be the criteria and methodology used for officer selection?

Regards,

Helmut