General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
RE: For some time they used the Nazi salute
Posted by:
Ian Stapley
()
Date: March 24, 2001 03:54PM
<HTML>The Party Salute was ordered to be given by all members of the German Armed Forces after the failed assassination attempt of 20 July 1944. Previous to that the traditional military salute was the norm.
It is interesting to relate that a lot of the officers of the Waffen SS used the traditional salute and also addressed each other using the nomenclature of the Army as opposed to the SS equivalent, (\"Herr Major\" instead of \"Herr Sturmbannfuhrer\" for example).
The reasons behind the choice of salute in the forces may be summed up from a quote of Hitler\'s, when he remarked that he had a traditionalist Army, a Christian Navy and a National Socialist Air force. This is due to the fact that while a limited army & navy were permitted by the Versilles treaty, Germany was forbidden to possess an airforce (also tanks, U boats etc but that\'s another story). Therefore when the Luftwaffe came into being in 1936 or thereabouts it was imbued with the National Socialist doctrine from the off.</HTML>
It is interesting to relate that a lot of the officers of the Waffen SS used the traditional salute and also addressed each other using the nomenclature of the Army as opposed to the SS equivalent, (\"Herr Major\" instead of \"Herr Sturmbannfuhrer\" for example).
The reasons behind the choice of salute in the forces may be summed up from a quote of Hitler\'s, when he remarked that he had a traditionalist Army, a Christian Navy and a National Socialist Air force. This is due to the fact that while a limited army & navy were permitted by the Versilles treaty, Germany was forbidden to possess an airforce (also tanks, U boats etc but that\'s another story). Therefore when the Luftwaffe came into being in 1936 or thereabouts it was imbued with the National Socialist doctrine from the off.</HTML>
