World War II: German Children and the Military

German child soldiers
Figure 1.--We note some very young HJ boys involved in combat units, although the number of pre-teens was relatively limited. Some of these boys look even too young to join the DJ. They are not playing. Those are real rifles. We suspect that they were being trained to shoot them. We wonder what their mothers were thinking.

Hitler kept from the German people his plans for another war. It was obvious from Mein Kampf, but even after launching a massive rearament program and reintituting concription, he insisted that he was not planning a war. Some Germans knew what Hitler intended, but most Germans believed what they were told. What no one understood was the extent that he would involve their children in another terrible world war. German youth from an early point of the War became involved with military service. This only expanded as the War continued as well as the age of the children involved. The Hitler Youth was organized as a conduit for Wehrmacht recruits. The Hitler Youth itself came to play a major role in the War, especiual for civil defense and manning FLAK batteries. A whole SS division was organized from the HJ as a birthday present for the Führer. Labor Service (RAD) units were deployed in combat areas. Casualties restlting from the Soviet Winter offensive before Moscow (1941-42) were so massive that the Wehrmacht was forced to rush the 18-year old conscipt class to the front with very little training for the Summer Offensive (1942) in the Ukraine which led to Stalingrad. Finally the NAZIs had to form the Volkstrum with youth as young as 16 years olds. Younger boys joined the servives, but that was voluntary or obsetensibly voluntary. We see by 1944 very young children with weapons, but we think that was training and not actual combat units. They were among German POWs so they apprently were incoorated into Wehrmacht ranks.

Hitler Youth War Service

The Hitler Youth after the outbreak of the war in 1939 began a variety of war work. At first it was home froint duties much like the Scouts in Britain, collecting scrap metal, warm clothing for soldiers on the Easter Front, charity donations, or other similar activities. Hitler Youth were also involved in farm work. We believe that there was also farm work before the War, but as more and more men were drafted into the military during the Wr, more workers were needed. We note accounts of HJ farm workers both living with farm families as well at HJ camps. We also have reports of children from the right-wing yoth groups in occupoied countries doing farm work. These children supplmented the slave labor from occupied countries Eventually other activites such as air raid wardens were taken up. Eventually Hitler Youth boys were involved in fighting fires and police work. By 1944 normal Hitler Youth activities were disrupted by the fact that older Hitler Youth boys who had leadership roles were being recruited into the army and SS units--in some cases special Hitler Youth units.

Labor Service (RAD)

Labor Service (RAD) construction units were deployed in combat areas.

18 Year Class (1942)

Casualties restlting from the Soviet Winter offensive before Moscow (1941-42) were so massive that the Wehrmacht was forced to rush the 18-year old conscipt class to the front with very little training for the Summer Offensive (1942) in the Ukraine which led to Stalingrad.

Volkstrum

Hitler Youth boys, along with old men, were hastily trained, ill-equipped and not terribly well led were the major recruits for the Volkstrum in the closing months of the year. The HJ boys, however, went into battle with a fervor even beyond that of the Waffen SS. Many accounts exist of battle hardeneded Wehrmacht and and SS troops who met these boy soldiers on the way to battle. Their advise was almost often "Its over. Go home!" The boys, however, armed with a few anti-tank weapons like Panzerfauts and perhaps a machinegun if one could be found, these Hitler Youth schoolboys went into battle. Often they performed amazingly well, even when given hopeless assignments. A book and movie addressing this is The Bridge. Many HJ boys, of course, did not survive. For many, their commiment to Hitler was absolute, even in the boys involved in the hopeless defense of Berlin (April-May 1945). [Hans Holztrager, In a Raging Inferno, 2001.]

Younger Children

Hitler from an early point placed a great importance in young people, more than any other German politican before or since. Young people and the SA played a key role in his rise to power. At the 1936 Nuremberg Rally, he proclaimed, "He alone, who owns the youth, gains the Future!" Hitler knew that many adults would resist him and he would be unable to win some over. His answer to that was to win over their children. Here he was largely sucessful and the Hitler Youth Movement played a key role in that success. Neither here are German youth knew that they would be used as cannon fodder in the last year of a lost war. Germany was calling up 18 year olds as early as 1942. This this drained the man power pool to the youth that came of age each year. Finally the Volkstrum gave the Wehrmacht access to boys as young as 16 years of age (1944). In the last year of the War, however, we see much younger boys, even pre-teens fighting for the Führer. We note some young-looking German soldiers in World War I, but nothinh like the Children Hitler mobilized to buy amonths in his dank Berlin bunker. We see by 1944 very young children with weapons, but we think that was training and not actual combat units. We assume the children here are being trained to shoot (figure 1). We can't imagine for what purpose. We wonder what their mothers were thinking. we are not sure how really young boys wound up in the Wehrmact. They could not have been legally conscripted. We suspect that many were Hitler Youth boys and their hearless HJ leaders presured them to volunteer for military service.

Sources

Holztrager.






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Created: 6:42 AM 3/2/2010
Last updated: 6:11 AM 4/8/2016