The term Frontbann refers to a reorganized front organization of the ''

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi ralli ...

'' or SA which was formed in April 1924. It was created to replace the SA which had been banned in the aftermath of the failed

Munich Putsch The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch,Dan Moorhouse, ed schoolshistory.org.uk, accessed 2008-05-31.Known in German as the or was a failed coup d'état by Nazi Party ( or NSDAP) leader Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff and ot ...

. It was disbanded in February 1925 after the ban on the SA was lifted.

History

The Frontbann was a reorganized and renamed version of the SA. It was created in April 1924 as a substitute for the then banned SA in the aftermath of the failed "Beer Hall Putsch" of November 1923. The

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

(NSDAP) including the SA was outlawed by the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a Constitutional republic, constitutional federal republic for the first time in ...

government following the putsch. The Nazi Party was briefly renamed the National Socialist Freedom Party to maintain its legality and the SA was similarly renamed. Like the party it served, the Frontbann included the same members and performed the same functions as its predecessor. It contained many of the original members of the SA and was still led by

Ernst Röhm Ernst Julius Günther Röhm (; 28 November 1887 – 1 July 1934) was a German military officer and an early member of the Nazi Party. As one of the members of its predecessor, the German Workers' Party, he was a close friend and early ally ...

. Frontbann units were formed throughout Germany.

Kurt Daluege Kurt Max Franz Daluege (15 September 1897 – 24 October 1946) was chief of the national uniformed ''Ordnungspolizei'' (Order Police) of Nazi Germany. Following Reinhard Heydrich's assassination in 1942, he served as Deputy Protector for th ...

was the leader of the Frontbann unit in Berlin and

Martin Bormann Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery. He gained immense power by using his position as Adolf Hitler's private secretary to control the flow of information ...

was a member of the unit in Thüringen. It had about 30,000 members across Germany. The Frontbann was disbanded on February 27, 1925 when the ban was lifted on the Nazi Party and was reformed back into the SA.

The uniform

The Frontbann uniform was similar to the Nazi Party SA uniform. Instead of a brown shirt and brown cap, they wore a field grey shirt with a grey cap; otherwise, it was the same. The arm band was essentially the same as the one of the Nazi Party. The only change was the placement of a steel helmet at the centre of the red

brassard A brassard or armlet is an armband or piece of cloth or other material worn around the upper arm; the term typically refers to an item of uniform worn as part of military uniform or by police or other uniformed persons. Unit, role, rank b ...

, instead of the black swastika.

Frontbann badge

The Frontbann Badge (''Frontbannabzeichen''), was established in 1932 by the SA-Gruppe-Berlin-Brandenburg. It was a badge to commemorate the Frontbann. To be able to obtain and wear the badge, one had to have joined the Frontbann prior to December 31, 1927 and had membership in the Nazi Party or another right-wing paramilitary organisation prior to that date. The badge was silver in color, had a pin back and measured 20 mm. It consisted of a swastika with a German helmet in the middle; written on the arms of the swastika were the words, ''WIR-WOLLEN-FREI-WERDEN'' ("We want to be free"). It was listed as an official decoration of the Nazi Party in 1933. By the end of 1934 the authorization was removed. It was no longer a badge that could be worn by NSDAP members.

Notes

References

* Ailsby, Christopher. ''The Third Reich: Day by Day''. * * {{cite book , last = Miller , first = Michael , year = 2006 , title = Leaders of the SS and German Police, Vol. 1 , publisher = R. James Bender , location = San Jose, CA , isbn = 978-93-297-0037-2 Sturmabteilung Orders, decorations, and medals of Nazi Germany