Partially destroyed Neuer Marstall, Revolution in Berlin, December 1918

            The almost peaceful revolution of 1918/19 took a bloody turn on Christmas 1918. On December 23, 1918, the Council of People's Deputies of the Volksmarinedivision ordered the withdrawal from Berlin and the reduction of its troop strength from 1,500 to 600 men. When the People's Marine Division was also denied salary demands, it took control of the Reich Chancellery and arrested the government, for whose protection it had originally come to the Reich capital in November 1918. The Ebert-Groener Pact now came into effect for the first time. The Supreme Army Command (OHL) took the mutiny as an opportunity to settle scores with the revolutionaries through military intervention. 

On Christmas Eve, bloody battles raged between regular troops and the sailors around the headquarters of the Volksmarinedivision in the Berlin Palace, as well as around the Neuer Marstall, where the Berlin city commander Otto Wels was held hostage. The fighting ended with the defeat of the front-line soldiers of the First World War, who were inexperienced in urban warfare, who had to mourn 11 casualties compared to 56 dead sailors. Due to the military situation, the People's Deputies had no other option than to maintain the Volksmarinedivision, which was supported by a considerable number of armed Berlin workers during the fighting, at full strength for the time being and to meet their wage demands.

As a consequence of the defeat of the front-line troops, Gustav Noske, who had joined the Council of People's Deputies, ordered the increased formation of Freikorps. In the future, they were to be used "to protect the homeland" in the fight against domestic political opponents.

Taken in: Germany / Land Berlin / Berlin, Stadt / Alt-Kölln (show map)

Taken on: April 23, 2023

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Neuer

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Sets appears in: • Street fighting in Berlin • Socialists/Spartacists/Soldiers Councils more » • Berlin • Freikorps « less

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