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Beginning on June 30, 1934, the [[Night of the Long Knives]] (''die Nacht der langen Messer'') took place near Munich at the Hanselbauer Hotel in Bad Wiessee where it was known that SA leadership were on holiday; the plan for execution was conceived by Himmler and [[Reinhard Heydrich]].<ref>Kershaw, Ian. ''Hitler: A Biography'' (2008).</ref>  Röhm - caught in bed with a male SA lover by Hitler himself - was summarily executed, as well as many SA leaders over the next two days.<ref>Lively, Scott & Abrams, Kevin. ''The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party'', 4th Edition.</ref> Himmler gained enormously from the killings; his ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) became its own separate branch and would later grow from Hitler's personal bodyguard to become a terrifying force in World War II.<ref>Weale, Adrian. ''The SS: A New History'' (2010).</ref>  Its leadership decimated, the SA became a shadow of its former self. Thereafter, its only military use was that of training units for the German armed forces and later acting as the Home Guard during World War II.

Beginning on June 30, 1934, the [[Night of the Long Knives]] (''die Nacht der langen Messer'') took place near Munich at the Hanselbauer Hotel in Bad Wiessee where it was known that SA leadership were on holiday; the plan for execution was conceived by Himmler and [[Reinhard Heydrich]].<ref>Kershaw, Ian. ''Hitler: A Biography'' (2008).</ref>  Röhm - caught in bed with a male SA lover by Hitler himself - was summarily executed, as well as many SA leaders over the next two days.<ref>Lively, Scott & Abrams, Kevin. ''The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party'', 4th Edition.</ref> Himmler gained enormously from the killings; his ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) became its own separate branch and would later grow from Hitler's personal bodyguard to become a terrifying force in World War II.<ref>Weale, Adrian. ''The SS: A New History'' (2010).</ref>  Its leadership decimated, the SA became a shadow of its former self. Thereafter, its only military use was that of training units for the German armed forces and later acting as the Home Guard during World War II.

The term is sometimes erroneously broadened to include all Nazis and even all [[fascists]], although strictly speaking Italian fascists were [[Blackshirts]], for similar reasons of their uniform.<ref>http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERsa.htm</ref> The term "Stormtrooper" was used earlier by the German Army to denote special trench assault units during [[World War I]].

The term is sometimes erroneously broadened to include all Nazis and even all [[fascists]], although strictly speaking Italian fascists were [[Blackshirts]], for similar reasons of their uniform.<ref>http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERsa.htm</ref> The term "Stormtrooper" was used earlier by the Imperial German Army to denote special trench assault units during [[World War I]] (although in that case, they were referred to as "Stoßtruppen", literally "Shock Troops" or "Siege Troopers", and the companies they operated in were known as "Sturmtruppen").

== Sources ==

== Sources ==