Hitler’s Cavalry of the Future

Just 12 days after Adolph Hitler became chancellor of Germany, one of his first major speeches came at a 1933 German auto show, where he professed his intention to raise up the German auto industry through tax cuts and deregulation, with the tacit objective of growing Germany’s auto industry in tandem with the nation’s secret developments in aviation warfare—both actions specifically banned under the Treaty of Versailles following Germany’s defeat in the First World War.

National Socialist Motor Corps

Appointing his longtime friend and failed Beer Hall Putsch conspirator, Adolf Hühnlein, to head the newly-formed National Socialist Motor Corps or NSKK, both men understood the Corps’ true and quite secret intention, which was to reinvigorate Germany’s preparedness and ability to wage war.

Grand Prix Dominance

Working with both Daimler-Benz and rival Auto Union AG, the later, a consortium of carmakers including Horch, Audi, DKW and Wanderer, German automakers soon dominated the racing scene during the Grand Prix formula season of 1934, producing the fastest, most advanced cars ever to compete in motorsport racing of its time.

Silver Arrows

Producing race cars nicknamed “Silver Arrows,” the two companies dominated both French and Italian automakers on tracks throughout Europe, each race featuring Korpsführer Hühnlein at the starting line, dressed sharply in his medal-laden Nazi uniform. Behind the scenes, however, the NSKK had quietly trained a volunteer force of some 187,000 skilled drivers, while German automakers stood ready to crank out airplane engines, tanks, heavy trucks, armored vehicles and the spare parts necessary for the successful engagement of a mechanized war.

Heavy Use of Slave Labor

By the time Hitler’s intentions became clear to the outside world, following his 1939 blitzkrieg invasion of Poland, as more countries fell to the Third Reich, Daimler-Benz executives forced occupied populations, concentration camp inmates and prisoners of war to work in their factories under draconian conditions, while the NSKK’s pool of drivers provided ready manpower for Wehrmacht motorized infantry divisions.

Critical to German Defense

The NSKK also weighed heavily in Germany’s fortification of Siegfried Line defenses, while its motorcycle troops became the self-declared “spearhead of the modern war.” The NSKK also played a key role in the persecution and deportation of Jews, making Hitler’s cavalry of the future, an international missed warning sign of the horrors to come.