Ludwig Renn

Renn's real name was Arnold Vieth von Golsenau born into a noble Saxon family. From 1911 he served as an officer in a prestigious Saxon Guards regiment, where he served under his friend Prince Friedrich August, the Crown Prince of Saxony. He was a Company Commander in the war, then he commanded a battalion (regiment). He served on the Western Front. After the war he was a captain in the Dresden Security Police, a paramilitary unit set up by the Weimar Government (this sounds dubious, it stands checking). In 1920, during the Kapp Putch, he refused to open fire on striking revolutionary workers, and left the service shortly after. For the rest of his life he was a communist sympathiser.

RCC7509 War (Renn)