Editing Volkssturm (section)

==Training and impact==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J31391, Berlin, Volkssturm, Ausbildung.jpg|thumb|''Volkssturm'' members being trained to use the ''[[Panzerfaust]]'' anti-tank weapon, February or March 1945]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1973-001-30, Volkssturm, Frau mit Panzerfaust.jpg|thumb|''Volkssturm'' trooper explaining the handling of a ''Panzerfaust'' to a female civilian, March 1945]]
Typically, members of the ''Volkssturm'' received only very basic military training. Training across the Reich was inconsistent and typically brief; for many, learning military operations was often nothing more than a few evening or weekend sessions with outdated weaponry.{{sfn|Yelton|2002|p=107}} Many units were instructed in basic rifle handling, anti-tank tactics, and urban defense, but few received sustained or professional instruction.{{sfn|Yelton|2002|p=107–108}} Historian David Yelton notes that ideological indoctrination was prioritized alongside military instruction, though ''Volkssturm'' members generally responded more positively to practical training than to propaganda.{{sfn|Yelton|2002|p=160}} The lack of weapons, ammunition, and experienced instructors further hampered combat readiness, leading many units to enter battle ill-prepared and with dangerously low morale.{{sfn|Yelton|2002|p=109}}

There was no standardisation of any kind and units were issued only what equipment was available. This was true of every form of equipment—''Volkssturm'' members were required to bring their own uniforms and culinary equipment etc. This resulted in the units looking very ragged and, instead of boosting civilian morale, it often reminded people of Germany's desperate state.{{sfn|Herzstein|1986|p=248}} Armament was equally haphazard: though some Karabiner 98ks were on hand, members were also issued older [[Gewehr 98]]s, [[Mannlicher M1895|Steyr-Mannlicher M1895s]], 19th-century [[Mauser Model 1871|Gewehr 71s]], and [[Mannlicher M1888|Steyr-Mannlicher M1888s]], as well as [[Dreyse M1907]] pistols. In addition there was a plethora of Soviet, British, Belgian, French, Italian, and other weapons that had been captured by German forces during the war. The Germans had also developed cheap ''Volkssturm'' weapons, such as [[MP 3008]] machine pistols and ''[[Volkssturmgewehr]]'' rifles. These were completely stamped and machine-pressed constructions (in the 1940s, industrial processes were much cruder than today, so a firearm needed great amounts of semi-artisanal work to be actually reliable). The ''Volkssturm'' troops were nominally supplied when and where possible by both the ''[[Wehrmacht]]'' and the SS.{{sfn|Duffy|2002|p=383}} By the end of January 1945, the ''Volkssturm'' had only accumulated 40,500 rifles and 2,900 machine guns amid this mish-mash of foreign and outdated assemblage of weapons.{{sfn|Stargardt|2015|pp=456–457}}

When units had completed their training and received armament, members took a customary [[Hitler Oath|oath to Hitler]] and were then dispatched into combat. Teenagers and middle-aged men were sent to separate training camps, some of whom received as little as ten to fourteen days of training before being sent to fight.{{sfn|Stargardt|2015|p=457}} Unlike most English-speaking countries, Germany had universal military service for all young men for several generations, so many of the older members would have had at least basic military training from when they served in the German Army and many would have been veterans of the First World War. ''Volkssturm'' units were supposed to be used only in their own districts, but many were sent directly to the front lines. Ultimately, it was their charge to confront the overwhelming power of the British, Canadian, Soviet, American, and French armies alongside ''Wehrmacht'' forces to either turn the tide of the war or set a shining example for future generations of Germans and expunge the defeat of 1918 by fighting to the last, dying before surrendering.{{sfn|Bessel|2010|p=17}}{{efn|Also see: Berd Wegner, "Zweite Weltkrieg und die Choreographie des Untergangs", ''Geschichte und Gesellschaft'', vol. xxvi (2000), no. 3, pp. 492–518.}} It was an apocalyptic goal which some of those assigned to the ''Volkssturm'' took to heart. Unremittingly fanatical members of the ''Volkssturm'' refused to abandon the Nazi ethos unto the dying days of Nazi Germany, and in a number of instances took brutal "police actions" against German civilians deemed defeatists or cowards.{{sfn|Kershaw|2011|p=87}}

Losses were high among the ''Volkssturm'' – Battalion 25/235 for instance, started out with 400 men but fought on until there were only 10 men remaining. Fighting at [[Kostrzyn nad Odrą|Küstrin]] between 30 January to 29 March 1945, militia units made up mostly of the ''Volkssturm'' resisted for nearly two months. Losses were upwards of 60 percent for the ''Volkssturm'' at [[Kołobrzeg|Kolberg]], roughly 1,900 of them died at [[Wrocław|Breslau]], and during the [[Battle of Königsberg]], another 2,400 members of the ''Volkssturm'' were killed.{{sfn|Sorge|1986|pp=49–50}} At other times along the western front particularly, ''Volkssturm'' troops would cast their arms aside and disappear into the chaos.{{sfn|Burleigh|2000|p=786}}

Many units lost their enthusiasm for the fight when it became clear that the Allies had won, prompting them to lay down their weapons and surrender – they also feared being captured by Allied forces and tortured or executed as partisans.{{sfn|Moorhouse|2012|p=352}} Duty to their communities also played a part in their capitulation, as did self-preservation.{{sfn|Bessel|2010|p=22}} In the end, only  approximately 150,000 ''Volkssturm'' members experience serious military action; most served in auxiliary roles.{{sfn|Yelton|2002|pp=150–152}}