T6
Torpedo boat
Laid down 9 January 1937
Komet
HSK 7 Auxiliary cruiser
Launched 16 January 1937
On 30 January
1937, The Enabling Act of Mar 1933 was renewed by the German Reichstag even though
Frick's Interior Ministry had wanted the government to have a larger say, and
the Reichstag to give formal assent to new laws. The formal legal principle was
retained that laws were, in theory, approved by the Reich government as a collegium
, and not by
Adolf
Hitler alone this despite the fact that
Adolf
Hitler had long abandoned any pretence what the State was governed by a collective
leadership, and instead issued decrees and directives on his own behalf. In a
speech to the Reichstag upon the renewal,
Adolf
Hitler formally declared the German withdrawal from the Treaty of Versailles.
On 6 February 1937, Nationalists start a powerful offensive in the Jarama
Valley. Nationalist General Orgaz is in command of around 40,000 troops, most
of them Spanish Foreign Legion and Moroccan cavalry, supported by antitank artillery,
two battalions of Wehrmacht operated heavy machine guns. Wehrmacht ground troops
under the command of the Condor Legion, Wehrmacht operated tanks and planes Condor
Legion, and 600 Blueshirts under the command of the right wing Eoin O'Duffy.
Admiral
Hipper Heavy cruiser
Launched 6 February 1937
Lützow
Heavy cruiser
Laid down 8 February 1937
On 31 March 1937, Bombers
of the Luftwaffe Condor Legion in Spain, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel
Wolfram
von Richthofen, bombed the mountain strongholds of the Republicans, not easily
reached by artillery, and battered the key village of Ochandiano before it was
quickly taken by the Army of Navarre. In the same region, the Spanish Nationalist
forces, commanded by General Emilio Mola y Vidal, began an offensive against Basque
forces in Vizcaya with the intention of capturing the Basque stronghold of Bilbao.
Z3 Max
Schulz Destroyer
Commissioned 8 April 1937
F8
Escort
Commissioned 8 April 1937
On 26 April 1937, Bombing of Guernica
in Spain by the Condor Legion of the National Socialists German Luftwaffe in support
of the Francoists. Three quarters of the town is destroyed and hundreds killed.
Wilhelm
Gustloff Hospital ship
Launched 5 May 1937
Volkswagen
was founded on 28 May 1937 as the Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen
Volkswagens mbH (Society for the preparation of the German People's Car, abbreviated
to Gezuvor) by the National Socialist Deutsche Arbeitsfront (German Labour Front).
The purpose was production of a vehicle that could hold two adults and three children
and be able to reach a top speed of the least 100 km/h and cost around the same
price as a motorcycle at that time. The prototype would become known as the KdF-Wagen
and would be one of the first for wind tunnel testing. By 1939 only 30 Volkswagen
KdF-Wagens would be built before the factory would be converted to produce military
vehicles to assist the German Military. This vehicle was designed by Ferdinand
Porsche's consulting firm, and the company was backed by the support of
Adolf
Hitler Wallis Simpson marries The Duke of Windsor on 3 June 1937
at the Château de Candé, lent to them by French millionaire Charles
Bedaux. The date would have been King George V's 72nd birthday; Queen Mary thought
the wedding had been scheduled for then as a deliberate slight. No member of Edward's
family attended.
Blücher
Heavy cruiser
Launched 8 June 1937
Z6
Theodor Riedel Destroyer
Commissioned 2 July 1937
On 19 July
1937, The Republican army retreats at Brunete, overwhelmed by the Nationalist
forces. Until today the Republic, at terrible cost, held the bulge they created
in taking Brunete. During this period, the Nationalists concentrated overwhelming
artillery and air power on the bulge, drawing upon supplies that had been accumulated
for the Santander offensive; the Republican had no uncommitted reserves of men
or weapons upon which to draw. Hundreds of retreating Republican soldiers, whose
lives could have been saved by retreating while the Republican air force was still
able to limit the freedom of the Condor Legion, die under the machine gun fire
of
Heinkel He 111's
and
Messerschmitts Bf 109's.
Gerda Taro, companion of Robert Capa, is heavily injured by an accident during
the retreat.
On 5 August 1937, The Soviet Union commences one of the
largest campaigns of the Great Purge, to eliminate anti-Soviet elements. Within
the following year, at least 724,000 people are killed on order of the troikas,
directed by Joseph Stalin. This was an offensive that targeted social classes
such as the kulaks, ethnic or racial backgrounds which were seen as non-Russian,
and Joseph Stalin's personal
The Battle of Cape Cherchell was a naval
battle between the Nationalist heavy cruiser Baleares and the Spanish Republican
Navy light cruisers Libertad and Méndez Núñez in the Spanish
Civil War, several miles north of the Algerian city of Cherchell. In the early
morning hours of 7 September 1937, Baleares unexpectedly met a Republican convoy
consisting of two merchant ships escorted by Republican cruisers and destroyers.
Baleares was beaten off and badly damaged in the engagement, but the merchant
man were lost when they tried to slip away along the Algerine shoreline.
Adolf
Hitler, in a note to Brussels on 13 October 1937, guarantees the inviolability
and integrity of Belgium so long as the latter abstains from military action against
Germany.
Walter
Warzecha Takes command of the Pocket Battleship
Admiral
Graf Spee on 2 October 1937 to
1
November 1938 The Hossbach Memorandum was held on 5 November 1937
by
Adolf Hitler
and his military and foreign policy leadership where
Adolf
Hitler's future expansionist policies were outlined. The meeting marked a
turning point in
Adolf
Hitler's foreign policies, which then began to radicalise. It outlined
Adolf
Hitler's plans for expansion in Europe. According to the Memorandum,
Adolf
Hitler did not want war in 1939 with Britain and France. What he wanted was
small wars of plunder to help support Germany's struggling economy although the
National Socialists never let on about their financial problems.
Adolf
Hitler wanted a full-scale European war with Britain and France between 1941,
1944 and 1945. The memorandum was named for the keeper of the minutes of the meeting,
Adolf Hitler's
military adjutant, Colonel Count Friedrich Hossbach. Besides Colonel Hossbach
and
Adolf Hitler,
those attending the meeting were the Reich Foreign Minister
Konstantin
von Neurath, the Reich War Minister Field Marshal
Werner
von Blomberg, the Army Commander General
Werner
von Fritsch, the Kriegsmarine Commander Admiral
Erich
Raeder and the Luftwaffe Commander
Hermann
Göring.
First World War General
Erich
Ludendorff died at his home in Tutzing on 20 December 1937 at age 72. He was
given against his explicit wishes a state funeral organised and attended by
Adolf
Hitler, who declined to speak at his eulogy.
Erich
Ludendorff was buried in the Neuer Friedhof in Tutzing.
For a complete list of
sources
