Allied service groups

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As Allied service groups refers to various organizations after the Second World War by the US American , British and French occupation force in Germany set up and were charged with the facilitation of the occupation forces. Since the 1970s, the official name of the German service organization has also been established.

Dissolution of the Wehrmacht by 1947

Status of the Wehrmacht and their members

In preparation for the German surrender , the Western Allies had been developing plans since 1944 how to deal with the expected large number of German prisoners of war . As part of Operation Eclipse , the German armed forces still in existence at the time of the surrender were disarmed, but not disbanded. Rather, they were assigned lounges in which they were initially supposed to continue to exist as an organization that was as intact as possible and to take care of and manage themselves in order to ensure orderly processing. In the British zone in particular, there was a hesitation in dissolving it because Prime Minister Churchill feared a war with the Soviet Union immediately after the end of the war and wanted to keep the possibility of using German forces as reinforcements. It was not until the end of 1945, and under considerable Soviet pressure, that the Wehrmacht accelerated.

The German soldiers were referred to in the US as " Disarmed Enemy Forces ", in the British as "Surrendered Enemy Personnel" (SEP; German for example: enemy personnel that surrendered) and not as prisoners of war, whereby the allies of the international law Wanted to get rid of obligations to prisoners of war, especially with regard to food supply and payment. The legal status of the German soldiers transferred to various service groups remained unclear for a long time.

Situation in Germany

In addition to maintaining discipline and orderly execution, the Allies wanted to be able to fall back on military personnel of the former Wehrmacht for various support tasks, including ensuring the largely collapsed public functions . Immediately after the end of the war, among other things, parts of the navy were combined to form the German Mine Clearance Service (DMRD), which is under British supervision, and used to clear sea ​​mines . The DMRD temporarily had around 27,000 members.

In order to organize the German prisoners for work assignments, so-called work companies were initially set up in the British occupation zone from July 1945. The German Labor Service was set up on October 1, 1945, to which around 140,000 German prisoners belonged at the beginning of 1946. They were led by the Wehrmacht North in Hamburg, which was renamed German Headquarters North on November 21, 1945, in order to counter Soviet protests against the slow dissolution of the Wehrmacht. In the following months, the British service groups were reduced and restructured so that they no longer corresponded to former German units until the day the Wehrmacht was officially dissolved on August 20, 1946. The air force and army service groups were dissolved by August 1, the DMRD by December 31, 1947.

In the American zone of occupation there were also support units for the dissolution of the Wehrmacht, such as the US Navy service group in Bremerhaven , which handled the handover of German warships to the victorious powers. In addition, prisoners of war were used extensively for work in the US-Occupied Territories. On the day of the surrender in 1945, there were around 750,000 German and Italian prisoners working in the US armed forces. At the end of 1945 there were still 250,000 Germans in the US Labor Service.

In the French occupation zone , however, there were initially no such facilities.

Wehrmacht parts in Italy

At the time of the surrender, there were parts of the armed forces in Italy with around half a million members. As in Germany, they were not treated as prisoners of war, but as surrendered enemy personnel. The approximately 150,000 soldiers in British custody were concentrated in the Rimini - Cervia area (“SEP enclave Rimini”). The German headquarters in Bellaria , which consists of the staff of the LXXVI, was entrusted with its management . Panzer Corps was formed.

From August 1945 work units were formed that were deployed throughout Italy, including 10,000 in Naples alone . In addition, the higher-ranking officers were entrusted with military history studies ( see below ). At the same time, the reduction in staff began through layoffs. In the autumn of 1946 the headquarters was downgraded to a German liaison office, and in late April 1947 the SEP enclave of Rimini was disbanded.

Service groups from 1947

US zone of occupation

During the war, the Western Allies had already set up aid associations, which mostly consisted of displaced persons and members of the Polish army in exile . They were organized according to nationalities. Some of these service groups existed until the 1960s. These American service groups were combined in the Military Labor Service , which had been set up on December 28, 1944.

Industrial police

In order to secure technical facilities and captured German weapons, the US authorities initially deployed the German police, which, however, were not sufficient for this task. Therefore, separate uniformed guard units were set up, which were initially subordinate to the German police and later to the American military police . These forces were in spring 1947 under the name Industrial Policy ( Industry police summarized). In the autumn of 1947, the still existing support units of the Military Labor Service, whose members were primarily displaced persons, were temporarily assigned to the industrial police. In 1949 the strength of the industrial police was 9,000, most of whom were Germans. It was reduced to the extent that the general security situation in Germany allowed and dissolved in 1950.

Labor service

The American Labor Service , which had already emerged during the war, initially consisted primarily of former Polish soldiers. German laboratory service units only gradually emerged, the establishment of which began during the Berlin blockade in 1948. In addition to the industrial police assigned to it, the Labor Service was divided into Labor Service Guard Units, which were mainly composed of foreigners, and Labor Service Technical Units, the majority of which were Germans. The main task of the Guard Units was to guard and secure facilities, especially depots and other logistical installations. The technical units were responsible for transport, repair and maintenance.

The labor service pastoral care for these mostly German personnel was a forerunner of the military pastoral care in the Bundeswehr.

Civilian Service Organization

On the occasion of the German rearmament, according to the Bonn treaties of 1955, the laboratory service units consisting of Germans were to be dissolved by May 7, 1957. The successor was the Civilian Labor Organization, which was renamed Civilian Support Organization in 1982 and which still exists today with parts (6966th TTT, 6981st CSG (Sig) and 8530th CSG (SMK)).

US Navy service groups

The United States Naval Forces Germany possessed in 1951 by two separate service groups. The Labor Service Unit (B) was part of Naval Advanced Base Bremerhaven and had minesweepers and patrol boats . The Labor Service Unit (C) was part of the Rhine River Patrol .

British zone of occupation

The British forces were by the German Civil Labor Organization ( German Civil Labor Organization - supported, the successor is elected in the summer of 1947 Labor-service units have been prepared (GCLO)). In 1950 it was renamed the German Service Organization (GSO). The size of these organizations varied between 35,000 and 60,000 members.

GSO units, which were entrusted with direct object protection and security tasks, had the addition "Watchmen's Service" (WS). From such a unit stationed in what was then West Berlin , the 248 German Security Unit of the Royal Military Police emerged in 1982, which was the only company of the British military police made up of German nationals .

French zone of occupation

There were initially no German service groups in the French occupation zone. However, Germans were employed for various support tasks. It was only under the impression of the Korean War that service groups began to be set up on the British and American models. This was done differently in the two parts of the French zone. While purely civil support units were set up in the southern part, military units emerged in the northern part. This included two pioneer battalions set up in Trier on July 1, 1951, each with a German major as commander, which were integrated into a French pioneer regiment. This military use of German personnel with very extensive integration into foreign armed forces led to criticism and a discussion on the German side about the role of Germans in the Allied service groups in the event of a war.

Special organizations

The Allies had an interest in using the knowledge of German military experts for their own purposes. To this end, they founded historical research groups and created secret service organizations with German members who were primarily active on their behalf against the Soviet Union and its allies.

Historical research groups

The USA had a great interest in evaluating the Second World War historically as quickly as possible. In order to shed light on history from both sides, the Operational History (German) Section of the United States Army was founded, which began questioning high-ranking German officers at an early stage. Their willingness to cooperate was due, among other things, to their material situation. After the judgments in the Nuremberg trials , the willingness to cooperate initially waned. At the same time, they were ready to support the Western Allies in the fight against Bolshevism , with which, for example, Colonel General a. D. Franz Halder , the German head of the section, justified his willingness to continue working.

From 1947, the work was expanded beyond historical research to include tactical issues in order to use the German experience in the fight with the Red Army . Gradually, elaborations for the future defense of Western Europe were added, that is, initial considerations for a German rearmament. The value of this German work for the US armed forces was shown, among other things, by the fact that Halder received the Civilian Service Award, the highest honor for civil servants in the US armed forces.

In the German generals' camp Bellaria , which (as the German internment headquarters Bellaria as shelter), studies were made to the war going on in Italy by German officers in the British order.

There was a similar development in the United States Navy's research group , the Naval Historical Team in Bremerhaven . Here, too, in addition to the original historical work and studies on a possible naval war against the Soviet Union, considerations for a new West German Navy, which under the direction of Rear Admiral a. D. Gerhard Wagner in two memoranda. The Information Office of the British Royal Admiralty also had German experts carry out studies on naval warfare, albeit on a smaller scale.

Intelligence groups

The emerging confrontation with the Soviet Union increased the need for information about its armed forces. The interest of the Western Allies was initially directed towards German officers who had expertise in the Red Army. The largest of the agencies established for secret service tasks was the Gehlen Organization , which emerged from the Foreign Armies East Department of the Army General Staff and formed part of the US Army.

For reconnaissance and agent missions in the Baltic Sea region, the British Royal Navy formed the British Baltic Fishery Protection Service (BBFPS) as a cover organization for the MI6 secret service . She had speedboats with German crew, which were used for electronic reconnaissance and for the dropping of agents in the Baltic States.

The US armed forces intended to set up a similar unit under the Gehlen Organization. Two speedboats from the Labor Service Unit (B) should be prepared for this. In addition, Gehlen personally procured a former German speedboat from Denmark. These plans were not implemented and a staff structure under the leadership of the captain at sea remained. D. von Druschki, who worked occasionally with the BBFPS.

Significance of the service groups for the formation of the Bundeswehr

Development until 1950

In the first phase after the end of the war, the task of the service groups consisted primarily of the orderly dissolution of the Wehrmacht and, secondly, of guaranteeing public functions in Germany. Later came the support of the Allied forces and finally the preparation of the West German rearmament.

From a German perspective, the service groups made a significant contribution to the operational capability of the Allied forces as early as 1950. The Adenauer government assessed this support as being in the German interest. However, it did not represent a German defense contribution in the sense of its own troops.

The Allies faced the question of arming West Germany from 1947 onwards in view of the growing threat from the Soviet Union. Other events that accelerated the development in this direction were the establishment of the Western Union in 1948, NATO in 1949 and the Korean War from 1950. During 1950, intensive discussions took place between the Federal Government and the Western Allies about the role of service groups in building West German armed forces instead of.

At that time, the service groups had about 145,000 members, 80,000 of them in the American, 35,000 in the British and 30,000 in the French zone. One of the various proposals for strengthening the service groups in the sense of a German defense contribution envisaged a rapid increase to 200,000 men. All those involved agreed that only part of the existing staff was suitable for future defense tasks. In addition to age-related physical limitations, the Allies were concerned about their political reliability, as it was assumed that there was a larger number of Communist-influenced service group members.

Different considerations and suggestions were included in the Himmeroder memorandum written by German military experts in October 1950 . In the same month, however, the Allies decided not to use the service groups for this purpose, but primarily for their own logistical and technical support and initiated a corresponding reorganization, which was associated with a reduction.

Service groups as a possible contribution to the European defense community

With the start of negotiations on the European Defense Community in 1951, the question of the role of the service groups arose again. The three Western Powers treated their respective service groups very differently. While the British concentrated on supporting their own forces, the Americans included in their considerations the possibility of using the service groups as forerunners of German armed forces. The French began to set up German companies and battalions in some of their units that could be taken over into a future European army. In 1952 the service groups were assumed to be around 80,000 men.

The Federal Government was only briefly informed about all developments. The office of the Federal Chancellor's agent for questions related to the increase in Allied troops , the so-called Office Blank , established on October 26, 1950 , was therefore commissioned from the outset to monitor all questions relating to the service groups and to keep the Federal Government in the picture to keep.

The development was very unsatisfactory from the point of view of the German service group members as well as the Federal Government, because the status of the members remained unclear and in the event of war their use within the Allied armed forces could not be ruled out. For the Federal Government, its most important asset in the negotiations on regaining German sovereignty threatened to be lost if the Allies would in fact set up German armed forces without the German government participating.

Role of the service groups in the formation of the Bundeswehr

After the failure of the European Defense Community in the French National Assembly on August 30, 1954, it was decided that the Federal Republic of Germany would join NATO together with the establishment of national armed forces integrated into NATO. After joining NATO on May 9, 1955, the first soldiers of the Bundeswehr were called up on November 12, 1955 . The legal status of the service groups was regulated by the treaty on the rights and obligations of foreign armed forces of 1952, which provided for all German service groups to be dissolved within two years after the German defense contribution had been clarified. This period ended on May 7, 1957. After that, only foreign service groups and civil German work units could exist.

It was decided not to take over any service group associations in the Bundeswehr, but to check and hire each applicant individually for his suitability. However, many of the younger service group members who did not serve in the Wehrmacht refused to join the German Armed Forces because they would have been hired as unused with the lowest rank. Positions achieved in the service groups were generally not recognized. Nonetheless, the service group shares that were taken over formed core elements of units to be newly established, particularly in the German Navy and among the pioneers .

literature

  • Heinz-Ludger Borgert, Walter Stürm, Norbert Wiggershaus: Service Groups and West German Defense Contribution - Preliminary Considerations for Arming the Federal Republic of Germany. Boppard am Rhein 1982, ISBN 3-7646-1807-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Sea War Project
  2. Holger Piening. When the guns fell silent, the end of the war between the North and Baltic Seas in 1945/46. Heide 1995, fourth revised edition 2001, ISBN 3-8042-0761-8 .
  3. HISTORY OF THE US FORCES IN GERMANY LABOR SERVICE AND CIVILIAN SUPPORT ORGANIZATION
  4. a b Federal Archives / Military Archives inventory ZA7 German Headquarters Bellaria ( Memento of the original from June 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / startext.net-build.de
  5. a b c d Information on the US Labor Service with various sub-pages
  6. History of Labor Service Pastoral Care ( Memento of the original from January 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.katholische-militaerseelsorge.de
  7. Federal Archives / Military Archives holdings ZA 4 Naval Historical Team ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / startext.net-build.de
  8. ^ A b Sigurd Hess: The "British Baltic Fishery Protection Service" and the "Schnellgruppe Klose" 1949–1956. In: Hartmut Klüver (Ed.): Stations of German naval history (II): German sea associations 1945–1956. Düsseldorf 2001, pp. 75-93, ISBN 3-935091-08-7 .
  9. ^ A b Douglas C. Peifer: Three German navies - dissolution, transitions and new beginnings. Bochum 2007, ISBN 978-3-89911-101-9 .
  10. ^ Report in Der Spiegel from June 13, 1956

Remarks

  1. The term "Allied Service Groups" is regularly used in the literature for a number of different organizations with different names, without there being a binding definition. In its delimitation, this essentially follows the presentation by Borgert, Stürm and Wiggershaus (see lit.)
  2. ^ The German liaison officer with the staff of the United States Naval Forces Germany was designated as the Labor Service Unit (A).