Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

746 DER FUEHRERof which he had been driven out of the Reichswehr ten years before, andwhich, since that time, had stood like a black cloud between the S.A.and the Reichswehr and kept even the relations between Rohm andHitler in a state of constant although silent tension; the dispute over thequestion of whether the S.A. should form the bulk of the future army.Von Schleicher, as Minister of the Reichswehr and Chancellor, hadenvisaged such a plan when he wanted to surround the smallprofessional army with a mass 'militia' and use the S.A. and SteelHelmets for this purpose. As a private citizen, he had continued toregard the Reichswehr as his own affair and his own creature; the planfor a mass militia obviously seemed to him an ideal solution at themoment when the negotiations with the Western powers about theincrease of the Reichswehr came to a deadlock. Whether it is true — asHitler maintained — that he intended to appoint Rohm Minister of theReichswehr and himself Vice-Chancellor, and then brilliantly solve theproblem of German rearmament by introducing his militia, is stillimpossible to verify; but he doubtless played with many projects,possibly with this one, too.Rohm, as a member of the Reich cabinet, now raised his voice anddemanded that the S.A. be made a part of the Reichswehr. Even if onlya fraction of the three million S.A. men, most of whom were engaged incivilian activities, could become soldiers, as many S.A. leaders aspossible were obviously to become officers, and this with a rank moreor less corresponding to their S.A. rank. Thus, one fine morning thesearmed poultry farmers or department store porters would wake up withthe rank of general or at least colonel, just because they had won thetitles of S.A. group or brigade leaders as a result of various scuffles inbeer-cellars or back alleys. Blom-berg sharply rejected Rohm's demands.By his aggressive move, Rohm gave the 'enemies of the S.A.' theirlong-desired occasion to blame and deride what almost everyone inGermany knew about the S.A. and their degenerate leaders; theyparticularly attacked Rohm's newly organized Berlin headquarters as thescene of extravagant and obscene orgies. At the beginning of June,Hitler, according to his own account, had a five-hour conversation withRohm, from the afternoon until past mid-