Replacement Army

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(Learn how and when to remove this message) | | This article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject. Please help improve the article by providing more context for the reader. (February 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) | | This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (February 2015) | | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "Replacement Army" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) | | | This article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject. Please help improve the article by providing more context for the reader. (February 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) | | | | | | | | | This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (February 2015) | | | | | | | | | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "Replacement Army" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) | | | | | | |

The Replacement Army (German: 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 regular army.

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 to assassinate Adolf Hitler, arrest SS troops, and stage a military coup d'etat through the organization driven by the newly appointed Chief of Staff, Claus von Stauffenberg, in early 1944. Its commander, Generaloberst Friedrich Fromm, had enough power to control the German state because his position controlled the army's procurement and production and the command of all army troops in Germany. Fromm had refused to cooperate in an earlier coup, Operation Spark, but the planners in 1944 still planned to use the Replacement Army. Heinrich Himmler personally took over control of the Replacement Army because of its potential to be used in another assassination attempt.

Commanders

Chief of Staff

• "The German Replacement Army" (PDF). Combined Arms Research Library (in German). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 March 2020.