During the Weimar Republic, Kurt Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord served on the staff of Reich Minister of Defense Noske. In 1930 he was appointed Commander-in Chief of the Army and General of the Infantry. A close friend of the Weimar Republic’s last Reich Chancellor, Kurt von Schleicher, he was an early critic of the National Socialist armament plans. Due to his insistence on the Weimar constitution, army members often referred to him as the "Red General". In 1933, Kurt von Hammerstein presented the army leadership’s concerns about Adolf Hitler’s appointment as chancellor to Reich President von Hindenburg; without success, however. He resigned from office at the beginning of 1934 but maintained links to civilian resistance groups. For a long time, he was considered one of the few military men who would dare to arrest Hitler. Kurt Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord died on April 24, 1943.