Volksmarinedivision

Machine gun unit of the Volksmarinedivision by the Neptune Fountain, in the Schloßplatz, Berlin

The Volksmarinedivision (People's Navy Division) was a German paramilitary unit created on 11 November 1918 to defend the German Revolution. It was led by Lieutenant Heinrich Dorrenbach, an officer in the Imperial German Army and a friend of Karl Liebknecht.[1]

The unit was based in the Berlin Palace, where Liebknecht had declared the Free Socialist Republic on 9 November 1918.

Disbandment and decimation

The unit was disbanded in March 1919. 300 of the soldiers were ordered to turn up at a building in Französisiche Strasse to pick up their discharge papers and back pay. Leuitenant Marloh selected 30 men and the rest were asked to leave. The remaining thirty were then machinegunned. Although 29 died, one soldier escaped to relate the story. This was an enactment of decimation - a form of punishment dating back to the Roman Army.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Schneider, Ernst (1943). The Wilhelmshaven Revolt, 1918-1919. London. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  2. ↑ Retzlaw, Karl (2012). "Noske and the Beginning of the Comrades Murder". All Power to the Workers' Councils: A Documentary History of the German Revolution 1918-1919. Retrieved 22 August 2018.



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