Battalion Nightingale

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The Nightingale Battalion ( Ukrainian Батальйон Соловей or Батальйон Нахтігаль ) was a military association of national- Ukrainian volunteers in World War II , which was set up by the German Wehrmacht for the war against the Soviet Union . In addition to the "Nachtigall" battalion, there was also the "Roland" battalion ( Russian Батальон Роланд ), which was disbanded in autumn 1941 after a short time.

background

The regions of Galicia and Volhynia and the course of the Polish-Ukrainian border in the years 1921–1939.

After the First World War , both the German Empire and Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire collapsed. In the resulting power vacuum , the West Ukrainian People's Republic was founded . But this state was already occupied by Polish troops in May 1919 . After the Polish-Soviet War , the area finally fell to Poland in 1921. The Ukrainian population perceived this as a Polish occupation in the following years and resistance movements and nationalist associations soon arose, which finally merged in 1929 to form the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). The Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO), which later became the military arm of the OUN, had been in close contact with the defense of the Reichswehr since 1921 . The OUN continued this collaboration. The situation changed with the German and Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. Poland was divided between Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin according to the German-Soviet non-aggression pact , so that East Galicia and West Volhynia became Soviet. At a congress in Cracow in 1940, part of the OUN split off under the leadership of Stepan Bandera (OUN-B). This section of the Ukrainian nationalists continued its close cooperation with the German leadership. From her they promised themselves the greatest support in pursuing their goal of being able to form an independent Ukrainian state. As early as December 1939, the Bandera people had carried out armed raids in Soviet-occupied western Ukraine and, with the support of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris , chief of the Abwehr, were preparing an armed uprising.

After Hitler decided to attack the Soviet Union at the end of July 1940 , talks with the OUN were intensified. OUN-B and OUN-M both agreed to fight together with the Germans against the Soviet Union, although they did not receive the political promises they wanted. The Reichswehr had already trained Ukrainian nationalists in secret courses in 1923. Now military units were to be set up from members of the OUN and volunteers. The German side hoped that this would have a great propaganda effect on the population of Ukraine in the planned war against the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian nationalists, for their part, saw the establishment of military units as an important step towards military independence. However, Hitler did not meet their national goals. One side tried to instrumentalize the other for their own purposes.

Lineup

The Foreign Office / Abwehr II (military intelligence service) of the Wehrmacht High Command was responsible for setting up the planned battalions. In addition to the “Roland” battalion, which was set up near Wiener-Neustadt, another Ukrainian battalion was established in the winter of 1940/41 at the Neuhammer military training area near Liegnitz ( Silesia ). This unit was later named "Nightingale", which was supposedly due to the fact that the members of the association often sang. There is more information about this battalion than about the “Roland” battalion, but it can be assumed that many reports apply to both units. First, three companies were set up and trained. According to a German officer, the volunteers turned out to be “good disciplined soldiers” “thanks to their training in the Polish Peace Army”. Since the associations were supposed to be used for diversion and propaganda purposes in western Ukraine, the battalion was poorly equipped. The soldiers received German uniforms and light infantry weapons , but no heavy weapons like comparable German units. Thus, the battalion's armament was "at most sufficient for an infantry defensive battle". It cannot be ruled out that another reason for the poor equipment was the OKW's consideration of being able to quickly disarm the association if necessary. Outwardly, the only difference between the uniforms of the Ukrainians and those of the Germans was the blue and yellow piping on the epaulettes .

During the training phase, the unit initially received only German NCOs for the support staff. It was not until the spring of 1941 that a decision was made about filling the officer positions. The selection was made by Colonel von Haehlingen and Colonel Stolze from Abwehr II, as well as Lieutenant Colonel Heinz . The latter was in command of the 1st Battalion of the Building Training Regiment z. b. V. 800 (better known as the command unit of the "Brandenburger"), to which the battalion "Nachtigall" should be subordinate in the planned attack on the Soviet Union. Accordingly, the staff of the unit should consist of First Lieutenant Dr. Hans-Albrecht Herzner (also from the building regiment), Lieutenant Theodor Oberländer (as political advisor and liaison officer to Abwehr II) and a Protestant pastor Meyer as paymaster (from the building regiment) exist. There was also the Ukrainian leader of the unit Roman Schuchewytsch and a Ukrainian-Greek-Catholic pastor of the Uniate. Furthermore, the company commanders were determined. One company received Rittmeister Erwein Graf von Thun and Hohenstein , another a Lieutenant Middelhauve. It is also known that a lieutenant pupil also belonged to the "Nightingale" battalion. Since the files were lost, it is hardly possible to identify other German members of the unit today. The chief of the third company can no longer be determined retrospectively either.

The tasks of the battalions were only specified shortly before the attack on the Soviet Union. In the course of the conquests of the Wehrmacht, they were supposed to bring important military, administrative, traffic, news and economic objects under their control and protect them from destruction by withdrawing NKVD troops .

commitment

The battalion "Nightingale" was initially housed in a barracks west of Przemyśl and was assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Building Training Regiment for the attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. b. V. 800, which in turn belonged to Army Group South . Compared to the Ukrainian battalion, this unit consisted of well-equipped and motorized commandos, so it was impossible to have both units advance at the same pace. The battalion "Nachtigall" therefore followed the advancing German units as a reserve and was not involved in any major skirmishes. On June 30, 1941, the combat group reached the western Ukrainian city of Lemberg together with a battalion of the 99 Mountain Infantry Regiment , which was occupied without resistance. There members of the “Nightingale” battalion were involved in pogroms against the city's Jewish residents .

The unit stayed in the city for over a week and then moved with the I./Bauehrregiment z. b. V. 800 further over Tarnopol and Zhitomir on Vinnica . There it came to the only skirmish in which the battalion was ever involved. From July 15 to 17, the combat group fended off a Soviet counterattack in front of Winnica and then occupied the city.

The "Roland" battalion was under the command of the Ukrainian major Je. Pobihuschtschy. It also advanced as part of Army Group South, but via Romania and Moldova . The association did not enter Ukrainian soil until July 25, but was not involved in any combat operations there.

resolution

After the capture of Winnica there were mutinies and unreliability, so that the battalion was no longer ready for front use. The reason for the unrest was that it had become known among the members of the association that the German government refused to establish an independent Ukrainian state and had instead annexed western Ukraine to the General Government . The motivation of the volunteers was thus deprived of any basis.

In addition, previous missions had shown that the Wehrmacht had poor control of the Ukrainian soldiers. As early as June 30, 1941, during the occupation of Lemberg, in addition to the pogroms , an incident occurred that the National Socialist leadership had to take as a direct affront : A troop of the battalion had occupied the local radio station in the city and then broadcasted for hours on the reported by Yaroslav Stetsko the establishment of an independent Ukrainian state. This process was only ended in the afternoon when the 1st Mountain Division marched in. As a result, various national Ukrainian politicians, such as Stezko and Bandera, were arrested and sent to concentration camps. This too soon led to unrest in the Ukrainian volunteer association.

On July 30, 1941, Canaris decided to dissolve the battalions. In August the "Nachtigall" battalion was relocated to Krakow and disarmed there, before being interned at Neuhammer . The same happened with the "Roland" battalion, which was also moved back to its original garrison in Austria. In October 1941, the personnel of the two disbanded units were transported to Frankfurt (Oder) and merged there to form the "Schutzmannschaftsbataillon 201". This unit for police tasks was no longer subordinate to the Wehrmacht, but to the Ordnungspolizei of the Reichsführer SS and chief of the German police . In addition to the team ranks, all non-commissioned officers and officers (22 posts) were filled with Ukrainians without exception. The command was taken over by the former commander of the "Roland" battalion, Major Je. Pobihuschtschy, while the four new companies were commanded by Roman Schuchewytsch, M. Brygider, W. Sydor and W. Pawlyk. All 600 soldiers had signed up again for a period of one year. After a long period of training and equipment, the battalion came to Belarus in March 1942, where it was used in the fight against partisans and in the security service. A part of the unit was also responsible for guarding Jews in the Maly Trostinez extermination camp (12 km south of Minsk ). When most of the staff refused to renew their contracts in November, the association was transferred to Mahiliou and disarmed there. The crew ranks and NCOs were dismissed, but the officers whom the German leadership saw as potential leaders of a resistance movement were brought to Lemberg and finally imprisoned in a Gestapo prison on January 8, 1943 . Some officers who, like Roman Schuchewytsch, managed to escape later joined the “Ukrainian Insurgent Army ” .

See also

literature

  • Werner Brockdorff: Secret Commandos of the Second World War. Wels 1967, ISBN 3-88102-059-4 .
  • Hermann Raschhofer: The Oberländer case . Tubingen 1962.
  • Helmuth Spaeter: The Brandenburger - A German Command Troop , Munich 1982. ISBN 3-922128-05-X .
  • Danylo Husar Struk (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Volume 3, University of Toronto Press Inc., Toronto / Buffalo / London 1993, ISBN 0-8020-3993-6 . Internet edition.
  • Douglas Tottle: Fraud, Famine and Fascisme - The Ukrainian Genocide Myth from Hitler to Harvard , Toronto 1987.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Walter Warlimont: In the headquarters of the Wehrmacht 1933–1945. Frankfurt / Main 1962, p. 126.
  2. ↑ Werner Brockdorff: Secret Commands of the Second World War. Wels 1967, p. 421.
  3. ^ A b Helmuth Spaeter: The Brandenburger - A German commando force. Munich 1982, p. 156.
  4. ^ A b Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Wilhelm Heinz, in: Hermann Raschhofer: Der Fall Oberländer. Tübingen 1962, p. 239.
  5. ^ Hermann Raschhofer: The Oberländer case. Tübingen 1962, p. 55.
  6. ^ Hermann Raschhofer: The Oberländer case. Tübingen 1962, p. 237 f.
  7. ^ Hermann Raschhofer: The Oberländer case. Tübingen 1962, p. 29.
  8. ↑ Douglas Tottle: Fraud, Famine and Fascism - The Ukrainian Genocide Myth from Hitler to Harvard. Toronto 1987, p. 105.
  9. ^ Hermann Raschhofer: The Oberländer case. Tübingen 1962, p. 238 f.
  10. ↑ Kai Struve: German rule, Ukrainian nationalism, anti-Jewish violence. The summer of 1941 in western Ukraine. De Gruyter, Berlin 2015, pp. 354-360.
  11. ↑ a b P. Sodol: Legion of Ukrainian Nationalists. in: Danylo Husar Struk (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Ukraine . Volume 3, University of Toronto Press Inc., Toronto / Buffalo / London 1993, p. 72.
  12. ↑ Werner Brockdorff: Secret Commands of the Second World War. Wels 1967, p. 424.
  13. ^ Helmuth Spaeter: The Brandenburger - A German commando force. Munich 1982, p. 159.