R & A No. 3113.7 / Principal Nazi Organizations Involved in the ...

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Militärisches Amt. The Mllltarlachoa Amt (Mino­
tary Office) was'Incorporated only fairly recently
into the RSHA. It hftd preciously existed as the Abwehr
(Military Intelligence of the OKW German High Command) *
Originally, the SD, as the political information sorvica
of the Party and State, and the Abwehr, as the mili­
tary Intelligence system operated by and for the Armed
Forces, were able -to function side by 3lde without
clashing' However, as the war progressed and the Ger-
man military situation deteriorated, friction arose between
the two organizations. Ono of the reaons for this
friction was the basic difference between the personne1
of the two agencies, the SD being staffed by the most
fanitical followere of the Nazi Part^, and the Abwehr
being composed of General Staff officers, moat of whom
had favored National Socialism only for reaons of
political expediency. Another reason was the expansion
of the SD; as military conquests added foreign terri­
tories to the Reich, the SD, through Amt VI, too* over
many functions of espionage and sabotage which might
ordinarily have been the responsibility of military in­
telligence.
In June 1944, the influence of the Party in mili­
tary matters had increased to such a point that the
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