Military Structures in the Nazi Regime
The Nazi regime described in this series, survived (as described back in Book I – Inception) by essentially retreating first to Antarctica, and later, after development of antigravity technology, to the Moon. The first retreat to Antarctica, at the officially declared end of WWII, occurred mainly by the shipping of materiel, slaves, manpower and ultimately also young, fertile, Aryan-approved women for reproduction purposes, mostly by large U-Boats.
The Kriegsmarine (Navy) was intimately involved in the practical aspects and requirements for the construction of the Antarctic base, but also for at least some of the technological advances required to build the first functioning antigravity capable craft. While the main propulsion system had always been envisioned as ultimately a leap forward for the Luftwaffe (Air Force), many of the stealth and energy technologies developed for the U-Boats transferred directly to the final creation of the various Haunebu-type craft.
The SS, especially by way of Hans Kammler, the mastermind of the whole antigravity effort of Nazi Germany, was also deeply involved in these war-decisive weapons, and certain elements of the Waffen SS would also be inevitably involved, being as Hitler, after his faked suicide, was himself first escorted to Antarctica before proceeding on to Argentina.
As usual then, when it comes to Nazi Germany, there is a veritable cacophony of various groups to be accounted for. And within them, they each have slightly different ranks and names for various official positions. At first these various entities survived, however, once removed to the relative safety of the Moon, some changes were bound to happen. Nothing so linear as a global streamlining of ranks you understand, why that would make the Nazi regime far less schizophrenic than real history suggests, and besides, make it easier for me as a writer to keep track of and you as a reader too. But we are not here to digest easy concepts after all reader, are we. Surely, if you have stuck with me this far, your mind is as convoluted as my own, at least in part. Allow me therefore, to shed a little bit of light on some of the various official organisations found on the Nazi Moon.
The Kriegsmarine (Navy) was officially considered to be the ‘main’ organisation on the Moon, however, the craft were mostly piloted and owned by the Luftwaffe (Air Force) which being as there was no actual large number of Luftwaffe personnel, became the Luftwaffe-SS, an incorporation of originally Luftwaffe designated equipment if you like, with SS or Waffen-SS personnel. In effect, Hans Kammler used the Luftwaffe name to create his own personal dominion, the newly created Luftwaffe-SS, which quickly established itself as the main organisation directly in control of the various Haunebu-type craft.
While the Kriegsmarine is not toothless, it is perhaps a little less bloodthirsty than the Luftwaffe-SS. Keep in mind that, in fact, the Kriegsmarine was part of the original Wehrmacht (combined Army Navy and Air Force) while the Luftwaffe-SS has its origins in the more infamous Schutzstaffel (SS) or Waffen Schutzstaffel (Armed or ‘Weapon’ SS, Hitler’s elite bodyguard and some of the most ruthless soldiers in the German war machine).
The Waffen-SS, being composed of fanatical, elite soldiers, also retained its identity, and as most of the actual soldiers left were either SS or Waffen-SS, it became the de facto only ‘ground forces’ and shock troops. In essence the Nazi Space Marines are in most cases Waffen-SS. In practice then, these form the three main military groups on the Moon: the Kriegsmarine, the Luftwaffe-SS and the Waffen-SS.
The Kriegsmarine has its own ships and personnel, but busies itself mostly with the practical and everyday concerns of keeping the colony going. In essence it could be considered like an armed civil bureaucracy that handles all the mining, habitat creation, base construction and so on. It is large and busy with mostly practical concerns but has the capacity to be independently brought to bear as a military force too. The Luftwaffe-SS on the other hand is the more predatory, war-orientated organisation, with the most power in terms of ability to use brute force, and having direct access to the most powerful and plentiful antigravity craft, which may not necessarily be any larger than any Kriegsmarine craft, or even different in construction, but would definitely be staffed by more competent and battle-ready crews.
The Waffen-SS instead, could be considered a mix of the grunt-force aboard any given craft (though the Kriegsmarine also keeps its own contingent of Kriegsmarine troops, unlike the Luftwaffe-SS which relies solely on the Waffen-SS for troops), overall police-force on Luna, and general soldier. Trained to a very high standard of efficiency and solidly indoctrinated in Nazi philosophy and principles, they are an elite and merciless fighting force. In effect, the Waffen-SS, though not officially considered as such, could, for practical purposes, generally be considered as a sub-branch of the Kammler created Luftwaffe-SS.
This takes care of the main armed forces, though keep in mind that within each of these three there may be sub-branches, some quite small, of specialist officers and soldiers. The Waffen-SS for example has it’s own small independent Air Force, with craft piloted by purely Waffen-SS soldiers. As well, each of the three branches also has their own various Exploration and Retrieval Units, (for investigation of the alien ruins) and possibly several other specialised sections.
We come next to the various police, secret police, military police and various other forces that in Nazi Germany took on a more internal role, these were generally referred to as the global Kriminalpolizei, (KriPo) which at some point incorporated the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei, or Secret State Police), Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police or SiPo) and the Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service or SD) before morphing, spore-like, into the Reichssicherheitshauptamt or Reich Main Security Office (RSHA). Confused yet? Trust me, it’s actually a lot worse than I have summarised here, taking large chunks of artistic licence to simplify the far more convoluted real history.
If you want to lose yourself down the rat-tunnel of the Nazi Police structure, you may wish to read this Wikipedia article here as a mild start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriminalpolizei
On Luna, however, the various internal security branches were restructured along a couple of lines. One was the Ahnenerbe which was originally conceived as a sort of Nazi think tank that promoted study and research into ancient history as well as the “Germanization” of the citizens by the expedient means of basically ‘discovering’ how Germanic history, art, doctrine and genetic purity made the Germans the true master-race.
The Ahnenerbe contingent on Luna was small originally but pivotal. The initial impetus for the discovery and ultimate re-engineering of the Haunebu craft came from archaeological research done by the early Ahnenerbe in various sites around the world as well as their sometimes very strange, mystical and occult practices. As these strange practices had, however, actually produced concrete results, (unbelievable as this sounds, it is actually based in historical fact, though not one that is generally commonly known about) the Ahnenerbe was considered pivotal to continued future research and development of Nazi weapon technology and Germany’s eventual conquest of not only the Sol System, but the Galaxy beyond it.
Given the fact that monstrously sized alien artefacts were already present on the Moon, it was only natural that the Ahnenerbe would become an influential and powerful organisation. It stands as a truly quite independent structure and its officer rankings are sometimes only arbitrarily related to the remainder of the armed forces. The Ahnenerbe could be considered as a specialised section with a foothold in the secret services, the secret police and the armed forces on one hand, but with its roots firmly embedded in the occult, the mysterious and the forbidden. While ranks in the Ahnenerbe are generally comparable to the other armed forces, their officers have special dispensations whereby they cannot be arrested, court-martialled, prosecuted or otherwise judged by other armed forces personnel. At most they may be detained, but only so that they can be returned to the Ahnenerbe high command. Even the lowliest Ahnenerbe Lieutenant therefore, in a sense, has freedom of reign even above a General of the armed forces. This seeming imbalance of power is mitigated by two factors, the Ahnenerbe number of officers is relatively small when compared to the other various branches of the armed forces, and, more importantly, it is where the Nazi-PSIs and all PSI research is found. Paranormal studies are actively researched and encouraged in a section of the Ahnenerbe. While this is not common knowledge in the Nazi regime, the higher command structures are aware of it and also aware of the essential latitude this organisation requires in order to conduct its research.
There are in fact two branches of the Ahnenerbe. The first, commonly referred to simply as the Ahnenerbe, deals with the overall Aryanisation of the people on Luna. Its research is very vast both in extent, depth and subject matter, ranging from the medical, to the experimental, the archaeological and the all-consuming social and psychological. It pervades many aspects of life on Luna and it also makes use of a rather large essentially civilian population to both promote its aims as well as research its interests. Most of this vast structure is basically civilian in nature and as such does not compose very many officers, though it does have them. The other branch, also referred to as the Ahnenerbe-SD deals with the more nefarious, secret, or otherwise dangerous aspects of the Ahnenerbe research, including anything PSI related.
The second internal policing structure is what is known as the Ordnungspolizei, or Orpo (Order Police) Although in Nazi Germany the Orpo was the precursor of the Kripo, the name Order Police on Luna has rather different connotations. In a perfect society, which the Nazis on Luna clearly must believe they now are, given as the sub-humans are clearly and especially segregated from the good, clean and pure Aryans and thus cannot have any corrupting influences (you know, apart from being connected to the good clean Aryans by way of institutionalised rape, abuse, slavery and other even more vile practices), there cannot actually be any crime. As such, it just would not do to have a Kripo (Criminal Police). No, no, that would be wrong and can’t therefore exist. Instead the Luna Nazis have the Orpo, the much nicer sounding Order Police. Occasionally, a good solid Aryan citizen goes astray or, you know, slightly crazy, and may cause a slight disorder in the neat, clean, pure and good life of ordinary, solid Nazis. Like lose it completely and kill someone, or even several someones. Or maybe question in some meaningful way (or even just slightly) the order of things and the Nazi ideology on Luna. Such unfortunately misguided citizens need to be merely redirected —educated, if you will— back into the good clean fold of proper Aryan Nazis. The Orpo, though masquerading somewhat as a pseudo-civilian institution —though armed (in defence of the realm of course)—of purely benign and civilising influence, is in reality composed of some of the most secretive, sharpest and most totalitarian elements of Nazi society on Luna. They can literally ‘disappear’ anyone at almost any time and for almost any reason. They are also tasked with the identifying, tracking and sourcing of any PSI-related phenomena exhibited by non-Ahnenerbe elements of Nazi society, as well as generally involved in the subjugating of any unpleasant information that would not be good for average citizens or even average soldiers to trouble themselves with.
The Orpo, though strictly speaking not actually a branch of the armed forces, can and does rival any other organisational structure on Luna in terms of the power their individual elements comprise of. While an overt coup by Orpo is not possible, due to their lacking an effectively armed and plentiful armed component, they may indeed rule by infiltration and assimilation. Somewhat similarly to the Ahnenerbe-SD (which does retain an armed branch, though far inferior to the other armed forces on Luna) the Orpo rules by fear, secrets and infiltration. Additionally, though not officially confirmed, it is believed that Orpo may have access to highly trained PSI capable individuals. They also work closely with the Ahnenerbe-SD, or at least as closely as two such organisations can, like pit vipers placed in the same hole really.
Military Rankings in the Nazi Regime
Armed Forces
Kriegsmarine (Navy) Luftwaffe-SS (Flight) Allied Name
– SS-Reichmarschall (Kammler) Field Marshall
Grossadmiral SS-Generaloberst Admiral (Fleet)
Generaladmiral SS-Oberstgruppenführer Admiral
Vizeadmiral SS-Obergruppenführer Vice Admiral
Konteradmiral SS-Gruppenführer Rear Admiral
Kommodore SS-Brigadeführer Commodore
Kapitän SS-Oberführer Senior Colonel
Kapitän im Raum SS-Standartenführer Captain (Space)
Korvettenkapitän SS-Obersturmbannführer Commander
Fregattenkapitän SS-Sturmbannführer Lt. Commander
Kapitänleutnant SS-Hauptsturmführer –
Oberleutnant im Raum SS-Sturmführer Lieutenant
Leutnant im Raum SS-Untersturmführer Sub-Lieutenant
Waffen-SS Approximate Allied Equivalent
Generalfeldmarschall der Waffen-SS General of the Army
Generaloberst der Waffen-SS General
General der Waffen-SS Lt. General
Generalleutenant der Waffen-SS Major General
Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Brigadier General
Oberführer der Waffen-SS Senior Colonel
Oberst Colonel
Oberstleutnant Lt. Colonel
Major Major
Hauptman Captain
Oberletnant Lieutenant or First Lieutenant
Leutnant Sub-Lieutenant or Second Lieutenant
Raumsturmmann Literally, Space Stormtrooper
Ahnenerbe & Ahnenerbe-SD
Ahnenerbe Ahnenerbe-SD Allied Name
Note: No rank higher than Oberführer exists in the Ahnenerbe or Ahnenerbe-SD
Oberführer-Ahn. Oberführer-Ahn.-SD Senior Colonel
Standartenführer-Ahn. Standartenführer-Ahn.-SD Captain
Obersturmbannfüh.-Ahn. Obersturmbannfüh.-Ahn.-SD Commander
Sturmbannführer-Ahn. Sturmbannführer-Ahn.-SD Lt. Commander
Hauptsturmführer-Ahn. Hauptsturmführer-Ahn.-SD –
Sturmführer-Ahn. Sturmführer-Ahn.-SD Lieutenant
Untersturmführer-Ahn. Untersturmführer-Ahn.-SD Sub-Lieutenant
The Ahnenerbe and Ahnenerbe-SD both employ large numbers of non-commissioned individuals of either civilian or otherwise mostly non-commissioned military status in order to conduct much of their research and experimentation. It is quite possible to be attached to the Ahnenerbe or even be directly employed by them as a person without military rank. These persons would be generally described as researchers, professors, students, and so on, more in line with academia perhaps than the military.
Ordnungspolizei
Ordnungspolizei (Orpo) Approximate Military / Allied Equivalent
Feldpolizeichef der Ordnung Konteradmiral/ Major General
Heerespolizeichef Kapitän/Oberst/Sen. Colonel
Oberfeldpolizeidirektor Korvettenkapitän/Oberstleutnant/Commander
Feldpolizeidirektor Fregattenkapitän/Lt. Commander
Feldpolizeikommissar Kapitänleutnant/Hauptmann/Pol.Captain
Feldpolizeiobersekretär/Inspektor Oberleutnant/Lieutenant
Feldpolizeisekretär Leutnant/Sub-Lieutenant
Feldpolizeiassistent All other NCOs.
Although supposedly a primarily civilian organisation, the Orpo is actually modelled closely on the original Geheime Feldpolizei (GFP) or Secret Field Police of the real Nazi Germany, which in essence was part of the German Army though staffed mostly with policemen that held officer rank for the duration of the war.
In order to try and understand the duties of Orpo in this series, it is useful to read this small excerpt from Wikipedia with respect to the historical GFP.
GFP agents could wear either civilian clothes or uniforms in the course of their duties. A GFP official was also entitled to pass through any military roadblocks or enter military buildings. They could also utilise military signals and communications equipment, commandeer military vehicles, procure military supplies and accommodation wherever necessary in execution of their duty. In occupied areas, the GFP also provided personal escort to military VIP’s, assistance to state security agencies in counter espionage, interrogation of suspects, prevention of sabotage and the detection of enemy agents.
Orpo ranks are equivalent to the armed forces ranks in terms of authority, but their additional powers of arrest and commandeering of both equipment and manpower effectively makes them superior in most instances, except that technically a superior armed forces officer is still a superior. In general, Orpo officers will tend to wear civilian clothes and carry their Orpo ID concealed. This ID is generally enough to give them unrestricted access to almost any area on Luna.
Orpo also has access to the most specialised and secret personal weapons and surveillance equipment available.
