Partisans

[JR]

In all the occupied countries there were partisans. Were there ever any operating inside Germany?

[Wurger]

Yes, there was a German partisan movement code-named Werwolf which operated against the Allies between 1944-46. In addition to conducting sabotage, and sniping at Allied troops, the Werwolves also executed collaborators and carried out many of Hitler's "Nero Orders".

I you are interested, Perry Biddiscombe has recently written two studies on the subject ("Werwolf!" and "The Last Nazis") which explore the organization in detail.

Regards,

Wurger

[Abwehr]

I think he was referring to an anti-Hitler partisan organization.

As far as I know, no. Of course Hitler had political enemies and his fair share of turncoats (July 20, anyone?), but there were no native violent partisan actions against the Wehrmacht in Germany itself.

[sid guttridge]

It depends what you mean by "Germany" and "partisan". I am assuming here that by "partisans" you mean all anti-German resistance groups, not just the communist ones usually implicit in the word "partisan" during WWII.

If you mean within the Germany's pre-1938 boundaries, which contained almost 100% ethnic Germans, then the answer is probably no.

However, if you mean within the Reich's enlarged wartime boundaries then the answer is yes, because it drew in significant non-German minorities. There were Slovene partisans operating within Wehrkreis XVIII and Polish partisans within Wehrkreis I, VIII, XX and XXI.

The General Gouvernment and Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia were also technically part of the Reich. Therefore the Warsaw Uprising in the former was technically inside Hitler's Germany, as were the Czech partisans who began to operate in late 1944.

In Western Europe, there was also some low level French resistance activity in Alsace and Lorraine, which had been annexed to neighbouring Wehrkreis V and XII. Other areas perhaps containing low-level anti-German resistance are Luxembourg and eastern Belgium, which were annexed to WKXII, and northern Schleswig, which had been annexed to WKX from Denmark.

However, if you are looking for an active German partisan movement operating against Hitler's regime, I think you will not find one. But then, you will not find an active Iraqi Sunni partisan movement operating against Saddam Hussein either!

[sid guttridge]

I should add that the Yugoslav partisans had an Austrian battalion and a German company in their ranks by the end of the war. I do not know what they actually did.