National Socialist Motor Corps

when the publisher of the Vlkischer Beobachter (Peoples

Observer), Dietrich Eckart, allegedly purchased trucks so
the SA could perform their missions and transport propaganda materials.[3] Martin Bormann founded the NSAK,
which itself was the successor to the SA Motor Squadrons
(Kraftfahrstaeln).[2][4] Hitler made the NSAK an ocial
Nazi organization on 1 April 1930.[3] The NSAK was responsible for co-ordinating the donated use of motor vehicles belonging to party members, and later expanded to
training members in automotive skills.[4] Adolf Hhnlein
was appointed the leader of the NSAK which was to serve
primarily as a motorized corps of the Sturmabteilung
(SA).[2] Hhnlein became the organizations nucleus.[5]
The organizations name was changed to the National Socialist Motor Corps (Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrkorps-NSKK),[6] becoming ocial on 1 May 1931.[2] It
was essentially a paramilitary organization with its own
NSKK standard
system of paramilitary ranks and the smallest of the NSDAP organizations. Despite its relatively smaller size,
The National Socialist Motor Corps (German: Na- when the Nazis celebrated Braunschweiger SA-day on 18
tionalsozialistisches Kraftfahrkorps, NSKK)[1] was a October 1931, the NSKK had upwards of 5,000 vehicles
paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) at its disposal to move men and materials.[7]
that ocially existed from May 1931 to 1945. The group The primary aim of the Corps was to educate its memwas a successor organization to the older National So- bers in motoring skills or what the NSKK called tcialist Automobile Corps (NSAK), which had existed ness in motoring skills (motorische Ertchtigung),[8] but
since April 1930.
it also transported NSDAP and SA ocials.[2] In the mid1930s, the NSKK also served as a roadside assistance
group, comparable to the modern-day American Automobile Association or the British Automobile Association.

The NSKK served as a training organization, mainly

instructing members in the operation and maintenance
of high-performance motorcycles and automobiles. The
NSKK was further used to transport NSDAP and SA
ocials/members. The NSKK also served as a roadside assistance group in the mid-1930s, comparable to
the modern-day American Automobile Association or
the British Automobile Association. With the outbreak
of World War II NSKK ranks were recruited to serve in
the transport corps of various German military branches.
There was also a French section of the NSKK which was
organized after the German occupation of France began
in 1940. The NSKK was the smallest of the Nazi Party
organizations.

Membership in the NSKK did not require any prior

knowledge of automobiles. It was thought that training in
the NSKK would make up for any previous lack of knowledge. The NSKK did, however, adhere to Nazi racial
doctrine and screened its members for Aryan qualities.
Under the guidance of the police, numerous NSKK men
were stationed at trac junctions and trained in trac
control.[9]
On 20 July 1934, three weeks after the major purge
the SA suered during the Night of the Long Knives,
the NSKK was separated and promoted into an independent NSDAP organization.[10] From 1935 onward,
the NSKK also provided training for Panzer crews and
drivers of the German Army.[1] The NSKK had two
smaller branches within the organization known as the
Motor-Hitler Youth (Motor-Hitlerjugend; Motor-HJ) and
Naval NSKK (Marine-NSKK).[2] The Motor-HJ branch
was formed by Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach after

History

The National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK) was a successor organization to the older National Socialist Automobile Corps (NSAK), which had existed since being formed on 1 April 1930.[2] Legends about the actual
emergence of the NSKK go back as far as 1922 however,
1

HISTORY

the auspices of military considerations, dividing them accordingly into regiments, divisions, companies and platoons. On 27 January 1939, Hitler made the NSKK
the sole authority for motor-vehicle related military
training.[11] Shortly thereafter, the NSKK was divided
into 5 main groups and 23 subordinate motor groups.
Approximate manpower strength of the NSKK reached
nearly half a million men at this stage with its leadership
operating primarily out of Munich and Berlin.[16]
With the outbreak of World War II in Europe on 1
September 1939, the National Socialist Motor Corps became a target for army recruitment, since NSKK memAdolf Hhnlein (on the right side behind Hitler) 1933 at the bers possessed knowledge of motorized transport, a coveted skill when the bulk of German ground forces relied
ground-breaking ceremony of the Reichsautobahn
on horses. The NSKK was used to transport German
Army troops, supplies and ammunition.[2] By the time the
he became a member of the NSKK. It operated 350 of Second World War began, the NSKK had already trained
its own vehicles for educational and training purposes.[9] some 200,000 men at its 21 training facilities.[8]
The Naval NSKK trained men in the operation and mainDuring eld operations in the Soviet Union, the NSKK
tenance of boats.[2]
members of the Transport Brigade Speer followed Army
During the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, the NSKK assumed Group South, providing infrastructural backup and reresponsibility for a variety of transport tasks, proving plenishment. Members of the Transport Brigade Speer
themselves eective at political propaganda by transport- wore either the gray-blue uniform of the Luftwae or
ing foreign visitors around on designated tours.[11] By the brown uniform of Speers sta. NSKK men working
1938, NSKK members were undergoing mechanical and for Organization Todt became members of the NSKK
operational training for both civilian and military type Transport Brigade Todt which were further divided into
vehicles.[2] Over time, the training at NSKK schools be- individual Motor Groups in the occupied territories.[17]
came primarily focused on military related tasks.[12] For
Major units of the NSKK were formed by 1944, operatservices to the NSKK and due in part to the general sucing throughout Germany. There were two full brigades
cess of the NSKK, Hhnlein was promoted to the position
of the NSKK supporting the Luftwae; a Motoroberof a Reichsleiter of the NSDAP in 1938.[11] Hhnlein was
gruppe Alpenland in the Austrian Alps; Motorobergruppe
NSKK Korpsfhrer (Corps Leader) from 1931 until his
Mitte (middle) which operated in Berlin, Franconia, and
death in 1942, when Erwin Krauss took over.[13]
the Lower Rhine; Motorobergruppe Nord (north) which
covered Hamburg, Lower Saxony, the Baltic Sea and
Schleswig-Holstein; Motorobergruppe Nordost (north1.1 Aliation with other Nazi organiza- east) in Danzig, East Prussia, and Wartheland; Motions and the Second World War
torobergruppe Ost (east) for Leipzig, Lower and Upper Silesia; Motorobergruppe Sd (south) which served
Sometime in August 1938, the NSKK began its ser- Bavaria and Hochland; Motorobergruppe Sdwest (southvices as a courier for the Organization Todt (OT) dur- west) for the Rhine-Moselle, and Swabian regions; Moing the construction of the Western Wall. Members torobergruppe Sdost (southeast) covering the Upper and
of the NSKK transported classied documents, impor- Lower Danube, Sudetenland; and Motorobergruppe West
tant reports and announcements, construction plans, and (west) which was responsible for Hessen, Thuringia, and
routine papers to and from the organizations headquar- Westphalia. Moreover, there were also NSKK units asters. Exemplary services provided to the Organization signed to Organization Todt, operating in France, Italy
Todt resulted in Reichsleiter Hhnlein being given over- and Russia.[18] Historian Peter Longerich suggests that
sight for the transportation needs related to the task.[14] members of the NSKK along with the para-military poOver 15,000 trucks went into operation, delivering build- lice, the Waen-SS, and the German Army were all culing materials to the 22,000 individual construction sites pable in varying degrees for large-scale arrests, torture,
of the Western Wall. Daily movements of the 200,000 and mass executions.[19]
workers required over 5,000 buses to get the workers to
and from the construction sites.[15]
Concomitant to the support provided to Organization
Todt during the construction of the West Wall by the
NSKK, the organization was also tasked by Hitlers chief
architect, Albert Speer. He founded a unit known as
the Transport Brigade Speer which was organized under

1.2 French NSKK

The French section of the NSKK began shortly after
the German occupation of France in 1940. However,
the section was not ocially recognized until July 1942.

3
The main oce was in Paris, but recruitment occurred
throughout France. By the end of 1942 there was one
company of 200 men; by the end of World War II there
had been seven companies raised.[20] The men had to
sign up for two years of service. The French NSKK was
originally attached to the Luftwae, although they wore
the standard NSKK uniforms and used it rank system.
They did have their own arm badge with the colors of the
French ag. The rst version had NSKK in black letters across the top of the shield; the second version had
the word France in black letters across the top of the
shield.[21]
The original unit was ocially known as NSKK Gruppe
Luftwae and a second one was known as NSKK Transportgruppe Todt.[22] At Melun, the NSKK had its own
driving school for French recruits and others from European countries. Before the Schutzstael (SS) began to
openly recruit members into the Waen-SS, Frenchmen
used the NSKK as a back-door to get into the WaenSS to ght on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union.
Some French NSKK men were sent to the Eastern Front
in a group known as NSKK Einsatzgruppe Russland.[23]
In September 1944, the Waen-Grenadier-Brigade der
SS Charlemagne, was formed. It was formed from the
Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism or LVF
and the SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade France. Joining them
were French collaborators eeing the Allied advance in
the west, as well as Frenchmen from the German Navy,
the NSKK, the Organisation Todt and the detested Milice security police.[24] In February 1945, the WaenGrenadier-Brigade der SS Charlemagne was ocially
upgraded to a division and became known as the 33rd
Waen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st
French).[25]

[3] Seidler 1984, p. 625.

[4] Lang 1979, p. 55.
[5] Bracher 1970, p. 96.
[6] Broszat 1981, p. 37.
[7] Seidler 1984, p. 626.
[8] Zentner & Bedrftig 1991, p. 635.
[9] Seidler 1984, pp. 626627.
[10] McNab 2013, p. 20.
[11] Seidler 1984, p. 627.
[12] Kammer & Bartsch 1999, p. 173.
[13] Hamilton 1984, pp. 287, 288.
[14] Seidler 1984, p. 632.
[15] Seidler 1984, pp. 632633.
[16] Seidler 1984, p. 628.
[17] Seidler 1984, p. 633.
[18] Lepage 2015, p. 117.
[19] Longerich 2010, p. 145.
[20] Littlejohn 1987, p. 161.
[21] Littlejohn 1987, pp. 161, 163.
[22] Littlejohn 1987, p. 163.
[23] Littlejohn 1987, p. 165.
[24] Littlejohn 1987, pp. 146, 158-161, 169.

End of the NSKK

The NSKK was the smallest of the Nazi Party organizations. The Corps was disbanded in May 1945 and the
group was declared a condemned organization at the
Nuremberg Trials (although not a criminal one). This was
due in part to the NSKKs origins in the SA and the racial
requirements for membership.

See also
Ranks and insignia of the National Socialist Motor
Corps

Notes

[1] McNab 2011, p. 45.

[2] Askey 2014, p. 167.

[25] Littlejohn 1987, pp. 170, 172.

5 References
Askey, Nigel (2014). Operation Barbarossa: The
Complete Organisational Statistical Analysis Vol. IIb.
Lulu. ISBN 978-1312413269.
Bracher, Karl-Dietrich (1970). The German Dictatorship: The Origins, Structure, and Eects of National Socialism. New York: Praeger Publishers.
ASIN B001JZ4T16.
Broszat, Martin (1981). The Hitler State: The Foundation and Development of the Internal Structure of
the Third Reich. London and New York: Longman.
ISBN 0-582-48997-0.
Hamilton, Charles (1984). Leaders & Personalities
of the Third Reich, Vol. 1. San Jose, CA: R. James
Bender Publishing. ISBN 0-912138-27-0.

5
Kammer, Hilde; Bartsch, Elisabet (1999). Lexikon
Nationalsozialismus: Begrie, Organisationen und
Institutionen (in German). Hamburg: Rowohlt
Taschenbuch. ISBN 3-499-60795-6.
Lang, Jochen von (1979). The Secretary. Martin
Bormann: The Man Who Manipulated Hitler. New
York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-50321-9.
Lepage, Jean-Denis G.G (2015). Hitlers Armed
Forces Auxiliaries. Jeerson, N.C.: McFarland.
ISBN 978-0-786-49745-4.
Littlejohn, David (1987). Foreign Legions of the
Third Reich Vol. 1 Norway, Denmark, France. Bender Publishing. ISBN 978-0912138176.
Longerich, Peter (2010). Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews. Oxford and New
York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19960073-1.
McNab, Chris (2011). Hitlers Masterplan. Amber
Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1907446962.
McNab, Chris (2013). Hitlers Elite: The SS 1939
45. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1782000884.
Seidler, Franz (1984). Das Nationalsozialistische Kraftfahrkorps und die Organisation Todt im
Zweiten Weltkrieg. Die Entwicklung des NSKK
bis 1939 [The National Socialist Motor Corps and
the Organisation Todt in the Second World War:
The Development of the NSKK to 1939]. Vierteljahrshefte fr Zeitgeschichte (in German) (Munich:
Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH) 32 (4):
625636.
Zentner, Christian; Bedrftig, Friedemann (1991).
The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich. (2 vols.) New
York: MacMillan Publishing. ISBN 0-02-8975006.

REFERENCES

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