Replacement Army

The Replacement Army (Ersatzheer) was part of the Imperial German Army during World War I and part of the Wehrmacht during World War II. It was based within Germany proper and included command and administrative units as well as training and guard troops. Its primary role was to provide replacements for the combat divisions of the primary army.

In the Third Reich
It was formed in the various German military districts (Wehrkreise) and was tasked with the conscription, recruitment, training and replacement of personnel, testing of new military equipment, and administration, such as responsibility for soldiers on home leave.

The Ersatzheer contingency plans for Operation Valkyrie were deliberately misused as part of the unsuccessful 20 July plot, for the assassination of Adolf Hitler, arrest of SS troops, and the staging of a military coup d'etat. Its commander, Generaloberst Friedrich Fromm, had enough power to control the German state because his position controlled army procurement and production and command of all army troops inside Germany. Fromm had refused to cooperate in an earlier coup Operation Spark (1940), but the planners in 1944 still planned to use the Reserve Army. Himmler personally took over control of the Replacement Army because of its potential to be used in another assassination attempt.

Commanding officers

 * General der Infanterie zur Verwendung (for disposition) Joachim von Stülpnagel, 26 August 1939 – 31 August 1939
 * Generaloberst Friedrich Fromm, 1 September 1939 – 20 July 1944
 * ''Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, 20 July 1944 – 8 May 1945


 * Chief of Staff
 * SS-Obergruppenführer ''Hans Jüttner