Lone Sentry: TM-E 30-451 Handbook on German Military Forces: Introduction: Conscription, Replacement, and Training: The German Military System

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CHAPTER I. THE GERMAN MILITARY SYSTEM

Section VI. CONSCRIPTION, REPLACEMENT, AND TRAINING

1. Introduction

This section deals with the entire system of personnel replacement for the Field Army. The units of the Field Army do not procure their own replacements independently. Replacements for the field units are obtained only through the specified units of the Replacement Army, and those for the units of the Replacement Army in turn come only through the home recruiting stations. Thus, the following main divisions of the replacement system are obvious:

Conscription—the function of the home recruiting stations (Wehrersatzdienststellen) under the Armed Forces High Command (OKW).

Replacement and Training—the primary function of the Replacement Army (Ersatzheer).

The following pages describe the machinery for the registration and supervision of those liable to service, their induction and training in one of the numerous replacement and training units and schools of the Replacement Army, their dispatch to a field unit, and their return to a replacement unit. The principle of affiliation between field and replacement units, the fact that developments in the Field Army are often preceded by corresponding developments in the Replacement Army, and the presence of units of the Replacement Army on the fighting fronts show that, although the German Army was divided into two parts in 1939, the Field Army and Replacement Army are closely interlinked and cannot be fully understood except as complementary parts of a whole.

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