Army. – The Reich government with the law of March 16, 1935 re-established compulsory military service and a new organization of the armed forces, declaring the military clauses of the Versailles treaty invalid. According to the new order, the German army is made up of: 4 army group commands, with offices in Berlin, Kassel, Dresden and Munich (each army group is made up of 2 to 4 army corps); 12 army corps on 2-3 infantry divisions; 36 infantry divisions; 6 armored divisions; 3 cavalry divisions; 1 alpine brigade.
The infantry division is made up of 3 infantry regiments (on three battalions), 1 hippotrained light artillery regiment (on 3 groups of 3 105 mm howitzers batteries), 1 heavy artillery regiment (on 2 groups, 1 Cartage and the other lorry, each comprising 1 battery of cannons 105 and 2 howitzers 150), 1 antitank detachment (3 companies cannons 37), 1 battalion genius (of 3 companies: diggers, sappers), the department transmitters.
The armored division includes 2 tank regiments, 2 mechanized and motorized infantry regiments, 2 motorized artillery regiments, 1 engineer battalion, 1 transmitter battalion and 1 airplane squadron.
The cavalry division is made up of 2 brigades on 3 regiments each, 1 horse artillery group, 1 cyclist and service battalion.
The alpine brigade is on 2 hunter regiments and includes the mountain artillery regiment (2 groups of 75 mm.), 1 engineers battalion and a transmitter company.
The weapons of the infantry are: Mauser rifle mod. 1924, automatic rifle, Bergmann-Schmeisser light machine gun, Madsen machine gun, Rheinmetall mortar, 20 mm anti-tank and anti-aircraft machine guns.
Overall, the German army has: 110 infantry regiments, 3 motorized rifle regiments, 10 motorized machine gun battalions, 3 motorcycle battalions, 76 artillery regiments of various specialties, 18 cavalry regiments, 50 engineering battalions, 2000 tanks.
Navy. – Following the denunciation of the Treaty of Versailles and the agreements reached with Great Britain, Germany has adopted a naval program that still includes: Battleships: 2 of 35,000 tons, under construction; 2 (Sharnhorst and Gneisenau) under construction, of 26,000 tons, armed with 9/280 and 12/150, as well as an as yet unknown number of anti-aircraft weapons. Battleships: Admiral Scheer and Admiral Graf Spee, 10,000 tons. and 26 knots, armed with 6/280, 8/152, 8 x 533 launch tubes, of the Deutschland type, built according to the Versailles clauses. Aircraft carriers: 2 under construction of 19,250 tons Cruisers: 3 of 10,000 tons, of which 1 on the slipway and 2 (Admiral Hipper and Blücher) under construction, armed with 8/203 and 12/105 anti-aircraft; 1, Nürnberg, 6000 tons, launched in 1934, type Leipzig. Destroyers: 6 under construction of 1811 tons; 16 in service from 1625 tons. and 36 knots, armed with 5/127 and 2 quadruple launch tubes of 533. Torpedo boats: 6 in project and 12 under construction of 600 tons. Escort notices: 10 launched in 1935-36 of 600 tons. and 28 knots, armed with 2/105. Submarines: 8 of 740 tons. under construction, 7 of 517 tons. under construction, 4 of 517 tons. planned, 6 of 250 tons. in project; 2 launched in 1936, of 712 tons. and 18/8 knots armed with 533 pipes and a 105; 10 of 500 tons. and 16.5 / 8 knots, armed with 5 tubes of 533 and 1/88; 24 launched in 1935-36, of 250 tons. and 13.7 knots, armed with 3 tubes of 533 and 1 machine gun. Minesweepers: 24 under construction of 600 tons, armed with 2/105 and 4 of small tonnage, also under construction. Motorboats: 6 planned, 2 under construction and 12 launched in 1934-37
A number of auxiliary ships (submarine support, MAS support, minesweeper support), 2 new sailing training ships (Horst Wessel and Leo Schlageter), etc.
In addition, all the cruisers already in service and the three Deutschland- type battleships were equipped with catapults and aircraft.
Hand in hand with this development of naval equipment has gone hand in hand with that of personnel and related ground systems.
Military Air Force. – The German Air Force, officially constituted on 10 March 1935, depends on the Air Ministry, through 7 area commands (Luftkreise). It includes: the air weapon; anti-aircraft artillery (Flak – Artillerie); the telecommunications troops (Luftnachrichtentruppen).
- a) The air weapon proper is organized into: Geschwader, Gruppenand Staffeln, roughlycorresponding to the Italian flocks, groups and squadrons since they consist of 108, 36 and 12 aircraft respectively.
- b) The anti-aircraft artillery is organized in groups and regiments dependent, through the zone commands, by the Inspectorate of the artillery ca of the Air Ministry. Situation: 27 heavy regiments, 9 light regiments.
- c) Telecommunication troops: they report to the general staff office. There is a company or a platoon of such troops at each airport command and at each department.
Following the enormous work related to the organization of the airports there are in Germany (January 10, 1938): 154 military airports; 68 civil airports; 307 makeshift airports; 24 industrial airports.
