Red Army (Munich 1919)

Based on the Russian model, a ‘Red Army’ was established to defend the Munich Soviet Republic proclaimed on April 7, 1919. Recruiting its members primarily in working-class districts, it was made up of revolutionary soldiers and ‘workers’ militias’ from some of the larger companies; in addition to Munich, towns such as Augsburg and Rosenheim also had sizeable units. Due to time limitations and the sheer diversity of the individual units, however, it was not possible to achieve any sense of a unified ‘army’. The total number of people involved is estimated at a maximum of 10,000, but there was never any joint deployment of this number.

The Munich members of this ‘Red Army’ succeeded in crushing the putsch of the counter-revolutionary ‘Republican Protection Force’ in Munich on April 13, 1919, also fending off an attack on Dachau three days later. As Reichswehr troops and Free Corps units advanced on southern Bavarian towns and Munich from the end of April, taking Munich on May 1, the remaining 2,000 or so poorly equipped members of the ‘Red Army’ were no longer able to offer any significant resistance. Hundreds of them were murdered – mostly after the end of hostilities. The commander-in-chief, Rudolf Egelhofer, was shot by summary execution; others involved received prolonged prison sentences.