Brandenburg (special unit)

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Brandenburger was the name for members of a German special unit of the Foreign Office / Defense of the High Command of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War . Their main task was operations behind enemy lines. These had the surprising capture of operationally important targets, sabotage or cooperation with allied political groups. Often operations were carried out in half camouflage (enemy uniform thrown on) or, contrary to international law, in full camouflage (entire equipment and uniform of the enemy forces). The members of this division mostly came from the mountain troops or voluntarily joined this association as Germans abroad and convinced National Socialists , as they knew foreign languages ​​and were also familiar with the way of life in the deployment area. The division was never deployed as a unit until shortly before the end of the war, but was subordinated to the army groups in individual commands . This led to the fact that the "commandos of the Brandenburgers" were often used as infantry reserve and "burned" regardless of their special value. The area of ​​operation included both the immediate front area in all campaigns and in all theaters of war, as well as independently in southern Africa , Afghanistan , the Middle East and the Caucasus . In the later course of the war, parts of the special unit were also used in the fight against partisans in Yugoslavia, before the division was reclassified with mass to a regular Panzergrenadier division in the last months of the war .

Troop identification symbol special association "Brandenburg" (1942/43)

Structure and structure

Subordination
time Command authority
October 10, 1939 to April 1, 1943 OKW / Foreign Office / Defense
April 1, 1943 to September 15, 1944 OKW / Wehrmacht command staff
September 15, 1944 to February 1945 OKH / General Staff of the Army
February to April 30, 1945 Panzer Corps "Greater Germany"
April 30 to May 10, 1945 LIX. Army Corps

Before the start of the war against Poland in 1939 , the Abwehrabteilung II under the command of Colonel i. G. Erwin von Lahousen (and the defense groups of military districts VIII and XVII ), i.e. the German military intelligence service, set up several "K-Troops" (K = fight), which consisted of Polish- speaking Silesians and ethnic Germans . Their task was to fill important key positions and to hold them until regular armed forces units arrived. So occupied z. B. the 500-strong "Combat Group Ebbinghaus" (also "Freikorps Ebbinghaus") under the command of Captain Ernst Ebbinghaus industrial plants in Eastern Upper Silesia . Almost all of these actions have been carried out with success. However, later the company of the "K-Trupp Herzner" ( Hans-Albrecht Herzner ) gained notoriety , which on August 26th, five days before the start of the attack, occupied the operationally important tunnel at the Jablunka Pass and kept it occupied for several hours because it was not could be notified of the postponement of the attack date.

Building training battalion zbV 800 (spring 1940)
Unit Location Language area
Battalion Staff Brandenburg
1st company Baden near Vienna Russian-Baltic
2nd company Brandenburg on the Havel English-North African
3rd company Münstereifel Czech-Yugoslav
4th company Lower Rhine u. a. Polish

The members of the "K-Troops" during the attack on Poland were mostly civilians who were specially trained by the Abwehr for this special use. However, the experience gained from these missions gave rise to the creation of a regular force for commando companies . So on October 15, 1939, at the former Austrian military training area Bruck an der Leitha under the code name Baulehrkompanie (DK) z. b. V. (DK = "German Company") the first regular German command unit, which already on October 25th the construction training company z. b. V. 800 in Brandenburg an der Havel followed. After two more companies had been established in two different locations on November 1 and 23, 1939 , they were all joined on January 10, 1940 in the construction training battalion z. b. V. 800 summarized. However, this was only a purely administrative measure, as the units were still housed in different garrisons ( see: table below right ). The organization and coordination of all sub-units was carried out by the staff of the battalion , which, like the 2nd company, was located in Brandenburg on the Havel, which is why the association within the German armed forces was soon only briefly referred to as “Brandenburger”. On June 1, 1940, the size of the association reached a size that required a renaming in the teaching regiment Brandenburg z. b. V. 800 made sense. Only now, after numerous missions, did the term “Brandenburger” become synonymous with German commandos.

When almost all of Europe and parts of Africa became a theater of war in the further course of the war, the demands on the commando units also increased. Numerous new special forces, such as B. a paratrooper company set up. On November 20, 1942, the rapidly growing association was given the name Special Association Brandenburg . This administrative organization in regimental strength , comprised five organizations, with three battalions , a coastal hunter - department as well as a news section. As early as April 1, 1943, the special association was renamed again and this time was given the name Brandenburg Division , which, however, had no significant impact on the structure.

Personnel composition

Arm band of the "Brandenburg" division , worn from 1944

The first members of the "K-Troops" were ethnic Germans. They volunteered or were specifically recruited for their language skills. As a rule, these men had not served at all or not at all in the Wehrmacht and were only briefly trained by Abwehr II. Therefore they were not soldiers themselves , but civilians, even though they were led by Wehrmacht officers. This only changed after the attack on Poland, when the members of the newly established commando force were given the status of members of the Wehrmacht, on the one hand to open up the possibility of disciplinary measures and on the other hand to ensure the care of the bereaved.

Abwehr II made high demands on the recruitment of the new teams. “The first requirement was voluntariness, then agility and the ability to react quickly, the ability to improvise, a high degree of initiative even with the last shooter, paired with pronounced camaraderie; also a certain but disciplined thirst for adventure, tact in dealing with foreign peoples and of course physical performance. Urgently required were dignified foreign and language skills that should go so far that a person could appear convincing as a British officer or Red Army. "The first foundation of the Baulehrkompanien were the members of the" K-squads "(Silesian folk and Sudeten ) . With the expansion of the theaters of war, Germans from other regions, such as the Baltic States , the Balkans or South Africa , registered for service in the Wehrmacht via the NSDAP / AO and thus withdrew from possible service in the armed forces of their new home countries. When the news of the new elite unit in the Wehrmacht got around, soldiers from the regular armies reported. Only when the need for personnel grew more and more did recruiting officers begin recruiting in military schools. When selecting recruits , greater attention was paid to language skills and reliability. The defense special training was then carried out in the Abwehr II training school ( "Quenzgut" ) near Brandenburg an der Havel . As the need for command soldiers with language skills could no longer be met with the increasing size of the special units, military specialists were used to provide so-called combat interpreters from locals, mostly prisoners of war from minorities in the country of deployment.

Combat interpreters were native speakers from the area of ​​operation, most of whom had undergone military training in their home countries and were in some cases highly qualified. During operations behind enemy lines, they were given the task of camouflaging the task force when they encountered military police or enemy checkpoints . Since no consultation between the combat interpreter and the German commando squad leader was possible in such situations , the interpreters often had a great deal of responsibility for the task force . Especially on the Eastern Front, the longer the war went on, the number of combat interpreters was often greater than the number of actual commandos.

The members of the first newly established commandos were mostly unserved and, apart from members of the former "K-Troops", had no operational experience. For this reason, in 1939/40, non-commissioned officers from regular Wehrmacht units and older reserve officers who had knowledge of the area of ​​operations from the First World War or specialist knowledge ( Slavic studies , ethnology ) had to be used to fill the higher ranks . The employment relationship itself did not always correspond to the rigid principle of command and obedience, as it often happened that even simple teams had to make quick decisions for the whole group during operations. B. were the only ones in the group who spoke the national language. This changed, however, with the increasing number of command units and their use as a regular grenadier division.

Commanders
time Surname
October 10, 1939 to December 12, 1940 Hptm. Theodor von Hippel
October 12 to the end of October 1940 Major Hubertus von Aulock
November 30, 1940 to February 12, 1943 Lieutenant Colonel Paul Haehling von Lanzenauer
February 12, 1943 to April 10, 1944 Major General Alexander von Pfuhlstein
April 10 to October 20, 1944 Lieutenant General Friedrich "Fritz" Kühlwein
October 20, 1944 to May 10, 1945 Major General Hermann Schulte-Heuthaus

Not only the membership in the command unit, but also the command orders were based on voluntariness. An instruction from the Foreign / Abwehr Office of July 28, 1943 said: “a) The participation of the German defense personnel in a deployment in camouflage clothing together with Russian informants cannot be ordered. b) Voluntary participation in operations in camouflage clothing is permitted [...] The following considerations led to the decision to a): Commands to operations in Russian uniform together with Russian undercover agents are not acceptable, as a German soldier because of the possible consequences as Being treated as a spy cannot be ordered to place oneself outside the applicable martial law, even if this is not recognized by the Soviet Union. ”The example of two NCOs who were trained shows that this was actually done in practice were to jump over Ireland and establish contact with the IRA, and withdrew from this mission shortly before the start of the mission. The direct superior of the two NCOs in the 14th Army accused them of cowardice before the enemy. However, the lawsuit was dismissed on the grounds of the principle of voluntariness and none of the defendants suffered any career disadvantages as the war progressed. However, this principle of voluntariness ended with the increasing use as regular infantry.

Deployment procedure

Command missions in World War II were limited in time and carried out by small troops in the enemy hinterland, i.e. in an area that was not accessible to regular units. The command missions included on the one hand K-missions (K = combat) to secure operationally or economically important objects such as bridges or industrial plants and on the other hand S-missions (S = sabotage ) to disrupt and paralyze enemy movements. The I and Z operations (I = insurrection ; Z = decomposition), the aim of which was to support oppositional movements in the opposing rear and even to spark rebellions, were also of major importance . What differentiated these companies from raiding parties on a tactical level was the fact that they also used intelligence methods, such as B. false identities, and the deployment took place in the operative or strategic depth of the enemy space. The targeted murder of individual personalities, for example through assassinations, was not part of the scope of duties .

The companies very often took place in cooperation with locals who, depending on their point of view, were viewed as resistance fighters or collaborators. The target object was usually approached in half, full or mixed camouflage. In the case of semi-camouflage, opposing uniform parts or civilian clothes were worn over the German uniform when approaching the object. This camouflage was taken off before the actual fight. One spoke of full camouflage if the opponent's full uniform was also worn during combat. In the case of mixed camouflage, only some of the soldiers appeared in opposing uniforms, while the greater part in German uniforms were escorted through the enemy lines by the former mostly as alleged German prisoners or deserters . The deportees then hid weapons and ammunition in or under their uniforms. Enemy weapons and vehicles were also used for camouflage purposes. How these funds were used was left to the respective operational leaders, who were solely responsible for planning a company. If a company was carried out directly in the front area or in the immediate hinterland, the command units were subordinate to the command authorities responsible in the respective area, such as army group , army or corps . In the course of the war more and more problems arose, as these deployed the subordinate units or associations of the Brandenburgers as well as those of the paratroopers as infantry reserves and combat groups. Abwehr II itself controlled missions over greater distances. In the specific planning of the commando operations, the officer in charge was given full freedom of action in the sense of mission tactics, so that it was up to him how the mission was carried out.

Calls

The soldiers of the "Brandenburger" often acted in small groups, whose activities covered a wide range of tasks. Today there are hardly any complete files on many of these missions, and if documents have been handed down, an assignment is usually hardly possible because of the use of aliases. Only a few serious publications are available on the companies. Because of this, it is not possible to create a complete list of all missions and only the most important and well-known are listed here.

Commando operations

Troop identification mark of the parachute hunter battalion "Brandenburg" (1944)

After it was set up, Abwehr II initially used the soldiers of the special unit to protect the Romanian oil fields and later also the chrome ore supplies from Turkey .

It was only during the Weser Exercise Company (attack on Denmark and Norway) in April 1940 that smaller commandos were deployed to secure operationally important traffic points such as bridges and road crossings in Denmark and Norway .

The first operations on a larger scale took place as part of the western campaign . On the night of May 9th to 10th, 1940, commandos of the building training battalion z. b. V. 800 operationally important bridges in stealth at Maaseik (Belgium), Gennep , Berg , Uromon , Obicht and Stein in the Netherlands . On May 27, another commando took over the sea locks and road bridges at Nieuwpoort in Belgium , thus preventing the German advance from being halted by planned floods, as in 1914.

During the Marita operation (attack on Yugoslavia and Greece) the 2nd battalion of the Brandenburg teaching regiment z. b. V. 800 on April 6, 1941 the capture of an operationally important bridge over the Vardar and the Iron Gate . Shortly afterwards, this unit conquered the island of Evia .

Further deployments to secure operationally important objects took place in 1941 during the opening phase of the attack on the Soviet Union . The best known was the capture of the Düna bridges near Dünaburg on June 28, 1941, when members of the 8th Company crossed the bridge on Soviet looted trucks, took the guards by surprise and then held this position for two hours against Soviet counterattacks. The company commander , Oberleutnant Hans-Wolfram Knaak , who was posthumously promoted to captain and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross , fell.

In autumn 1942, members of the training regiment disguised as NKVD officers caused confusion and signs of disintegration behind the Red Army lines in the Maikop area in the Caucasus . From June 1942 to February 1943, commando operations against the Allied supply lines in Egypt , Libya and Tunisia were carried out in the theater of war in North Africa .

Example: The Maas bridge near Gennep in 1940

A typical commando operation was the deployment at Gennep in 1940. The planned campaign in the west required the capture of various bridges over the Maas . At the end of January 1940 Ltn. D. R. Witzel (22 years old, code name Wolf ), from the 1st company of the construction training battalion z. b. V. 800 ordered to the headquarters of Abwehr II in Berlin . There he was made familiar with aerial photographs of five bridges, which were to be taken during command operations. Witzel was given the task of developing plans, assembling a command unit from the battalion and possibly making material requirements for Abwehr II. At this time, volunteers from Eastern Europe were almost exclusively available, but no Dutch-speaking commandos. Wolf therefore planned to carry out the missions in "mixed camouflage". At three bridges the commandos were to approach, disguised as German deserters accompanied by Dutch gendarmes. The fourth bridge was to be taken by a squad camouflaged as route workers and the fifth bridge by a squad in civilian clothes. To complete the camouflage, Abwehr II recruited "combat interpreters" from among the supporters of the Mussert movement (National Socialist Dutch opposition group) in Germany. In mid-February, Wolf's new unit was set up as the 4th company of the construction training battalion z. b. V. 800 . At the end of the same month, coordination between the command unit and the XXVI. Army Corps, to which the command for the operation should be directly subordinate. In March 1940 the company was transferred to a training camp between Kleve and Goch , where intensive preparations were made for the missions. The main focus of the training was night marches, explosives disposal and hand-to-hand combat. Since a reconnaissance of the target objects was not permitted on site, the squad leaders were instructed in their order using "sandpit models". The management of the company was handed over to Lieutenant Walther when he arrived in mid-April.

On May 9th, the order of operations of the XXVI. Army corps, whereupon camouflage clothing, weapons and equipment were given to the emergency services. At 11 p.m., all five troops started the march to their respective targets. Oberleutnant Walther personally led the operation against the railway bridge at Gennep. The squad consisted of six commandos and three "combat interpreters". However, one of the interpreters refused to march on at the border and had to be left behind under the guard of a German. The troop arrived at the bridge with only seven men, five German "deserters" and two Dutch "gendarmes". On the Brückendamm four Dutch guards were first deceived and then silently overpowered. One of the interpreters and two commandos (one of them wounded) stayed at the bridge while the other four walked over the 150-meter bridge. A guard let them pass, but on the other bank they were met by alarmed Dutch soldiers and led away with nine men on guard. Shortly afterwards, however, German low-flying aircraft appeared and in the confusion the soldiers managed to overpower the Dutch guards. The four commandos then attacked the bridge again from the west. They conquered three bunkers and took some Dutch soldiers prisoner. Shortly afterwards a German armored train appeared to finally secure the bridge.

The capture of the bridge at Gennep was of great operational importance. The 9th Panzer Division was able to cross the Meuse on it and a few days later establish contact with the German paratroopers who had landed near Moerdijk . Three more commando companies against the Maasbrücken also succeed. In one case, however, the German army units did not move up quickly enough, so the Dutch found time to retake the bridge and blow it up.

Assignments in other countries

Individual soldiers or units of the Brandenburg associations were also deployed in more political missions abroad. This was especially done to cause unrest in parts of the British Empire which forced the British government to move troops to these regions. A well-known example of such a mission was the Tiger company in Afghanistan . In April 1941, the Foreign / Defense Office of the OKW sent the officer Dietrich Witzel with two radio operators to Kabul to set up a defense base in the German embassy , which was to serve as the basis for intelligence operations against British India. Entry into Afghanistan was disguised as a courier from the Foreign Office via Moscow and Termez . In particular, the Pashtun tribal leader Mirza Ali Khan, known as the “fakir of Ipi” , who had called for jihad against the British colonial rulers, should be supported. But two other “Brandenburger”, Manfred Oberdörffer and Fred Brandt, who were camouflaged as a leprosy study group on the way to Mirza Khan, were ambushed in July 1941 before they could fulfill their assignment. Oberdörffer fell and was buried in the European cemetery in Kabul.

For the defense base in Kabul, which was also intended to play the role of the vanguard of an advance by the Wehrmacht over the Caucasus to India , which was never realized , however, a task that was not originally intended soon became the most important task, namely the defensive connection to the anti-British underground in India. The Indian nationalist leader Subhash Chandra Bose had escaped from the British. Via Kabul, where he had sought Moscow's support for his plans in vain, he reached Berlin at the end of April 1941. From there he continued his struggle for the liberation of India from British rule with the support of the Axis powers. The embassy and the defense base in Kabul now became the conspiratorial hinge between Bose in Germany and his confidants in the anti-British underground in India. They also received sabotage, radio and encryption training in Kabul, and extensive sabotage plans were drawn up together with them. As can be seen from the Allied secret files accessible today, they did manage to get support from the Soviet side. Parallel to the connection with the German side, they then also had contact with the Soviet embassy in Kabul.

The conditions for conspiratorial work in Kabul deteriorated in view of the negative course of the war for the Axis powers. Afghanistan remained neutral until the end of the war and the legation retained its extraterritorial status until May 8, 1945. In September 1943, however, Witzel and one of his radio operators, under pressure from the Allies, who still saw a threat in the presence of the "Brandenburgers", had to Leave Afghanistan. The connection to the Indian Bose supporters was handed over to the Japanese embassy in Kabul beforehand, not least because Bose had been in East Asia since the spring of 1943.

In the Soviet Union , as part of the German summer offensive in the direction of the Caucasian oil fields, the Shamil enterprise was carried out between August 25 and December 10, 1942 .

In North Africa , a special command of the Brandenburgers was deployed under the command of Captain Ladislaus Almásy as part of Operation Salaam . The subsequent Operation Kondor under Captain Johannes Eppler was able to obtain information from Cairo for the Africa Corps over a period of several weeks in 1942 . The Dora company was a commando that in June 1942 advanced from the Libyan capital Tripoli around 4000 km across the Sahara desert to Lake Chad in central Africa.

The Mammut der Brandenburger company was supposed to sabotage oil production areas in the Kurdish region in 1943 , but failed in the implementation due to a wrong dropping point.

Two weather teams led by the defense were deployed in the Arctic on the Spitzbergen archipelago (see: Wehrmacht weather stations in the Arctic ).

A tactical mission was the amphibious landing of the coastal hunter department of the Brandenburg division as part of the Leopard company , in conjunction with forces of the 22nd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) , around a bridgehead on the island of Leros as part of the Dodecanese campaign (1943) to build. The attack took place on November 12th. The following night, paratroopers also landed in the center of the island and the Allied forces were divided. This then resulted on November 16.

According to the historian Carlo Gentile , "the most famous and longest active unit in Italy " was the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the Brandenburg Special Unit. She had been stationed in Abruzzo since autumn 1943 . She performed the first partisan operations and then expanded her operational area to include the Italian regions of Marche , Umbria and Latium , with the support of the SS Police Regiment 20 and the Black Brigade 9 September . The 2nd Battalion was also deployed for a short time in Tuscany and Romagna in the summer of 1944 before it was transferred to the Western Alps and then integrated into the reconnaissance division of the 157th Mountain Division . Also deployed in Italy in June 1944 was the 16th company of the 4th regiment for so-called "gang fighting" in the rear of the 5th Mountain Division and the 71st Infantry Division around Gran Sasso , Camerino and Filottrano . Also at the same time the III. Battalion of the 3rd Regiment moved to north-west Italy , which was previously stationed in Istria to fight gangs. Later the III. Battalion integrated into the 5th Mountain Division.

International law aspects of commando operations

The “Brandenburger” were often deployed in half, full or mixed camouflage. The "Brandenburgers" (and similarly operating commandos from other nations) violated the Hague Land Warfare Regulations (HLKO) and the protection granted by these combatants. According to the HLKO, combatant status only applies to those persons who a) are under central authority, b) wear a badge or a uniform for identification, c) bear arms openly, and d) themselves observe the laws and customs of war (HLKO, Article 1). So if a commando soldier was taken prisoner during a camouflage operation in enemy uniform or in civilian clothes and with a concealed weapon, as a non-combatant he was not entitled to the HLKO-protected status as a prisoner of war and was in the majority of cases under Articles 29 and 30 treated as a spy by the HLKO and as a result shot in accordance with customary war international law. However, if the commando soldier returned to his own army and was only captured later, he was to be treated as a prisoner of war under Article 31 and could not be prosecuted for previous espionage activities. Because of this line of argument, numerous commandos were acquitted after the war, even before Allied military courts; so among other things in a sensational trial against Otto Skorzeny and eight other defendants of the tank brigade 150 z. b. V. , who operated behind the Allied lines during the Ardennes offensive and had worn American uniforms ( → see: Company Greif ). Five members of this commando company had already been captured in 1944 and shot dead. The court also stated that a half-camouflage (only approaching in opposing uniform) was not a misuse of the opposing uniform (HLKO, Article 23), but a form of stratagem , which was expressly permitted in Article 24 of the HLKO. On the other hand, the use of full camouflage (approaching and fighting in opposing uniforms) is still seen as incompatible with the combatant status protected by the HLKO.

Reclassification to the regular army division

Troop identification division "Brandenburg" (1943/44)

At the turn of the year 1942/43 there was a rethinking of the Brandenburg Special Association for various reasons . Often front commanders saw in the units that were only subordinate to them for a short time as a kind of "fire brigade" that they deployed at the crisis points on the front. Due to the gradually precarious situation on the fronts and in order to compensate for the large personnel losses, the unit had to be used increasingly as a normal front troop. However, this never happened in a closed manner, but only by battalion and regiment. On the other hand, there were higher officers of the Sonderverband itself who wanted to be more than mere administrators of battalions and regiments who only formed a unit on paper. Last but not least, there was also clear competition with the SS from 1942 onwards , which successfully tried to gain all competencies in matters of command and espionage. Therefore, the newly formed Brandenburg Division was placed directly under the Wehrmacht Command Staff (WFSt) on April 1, 1943 as a regular intervention reserve. From this point on, command operations were carried out either by units of the Waffen-SS , the Kurfürst regiment or the Front Reconnaissance Troop II , which took over a large part of the command-trained personnel of the Brandenburg Special Unit (350 alone in the Waffen-SS hunting units ).

The assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944 heightened his distrust of the Wehrmacht and especially of the Brandenburg division , as this was a creation of the denounced member of the resistance Admiral Wilhelm Canaris . In addition, the Red Army moved into Bulgaria in early September 1944 and soon threatened to attack the German army groups in the Balkans. Under these circumstances, the Wehrmacht leadership decided on September 13, 1944, to consolidate the regiments of the Brandenburg Division in the Belgrade area and convert them into a regular Panzer Grenadier Division . In the course of this development, the command unit was initially reclassified into a motorized infantry division and on September 15, 1944 was named the Brandenburg Panzer Grenadier Division . For this purpose, the 3rd regiment, which was currently in Italy, was detached and made independent as the MG battalion Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring . The personnel of the 4th regiment was divided between regiments 1 and 2, which now formed the core of the new division as Jäger Regiment 1 Brandenburg and Jäger Regiment 2 Brandenburg . In mid-October 1944, parts of the Storm Division Rhodes were incorporated. On December 20, 1944, the Brandenburg Panzer Grenadier Division merged with the Greater Germany division to form the "Greater Germany" armored corps . Since the division suffered heavy losses within a few months, a reclassification and refreshment was required in February 1945. On March 10, 1945, the association was therefore used again as the Brandenburg Panzer Grenadier Regiment .

Operations as a regular association

Troop identification of the Panzer Grenadier Division "Brandenburg" (1944/45)

After some units of the unit had already been deployed to fight partisans in the occupied territories of the USSR , all units received this order in the Balkans from spring 1943 . The 1st, 2nd and 4th regiments were involved in loss-making battles against partisans in Croatia, Serbia and Greece, while the 3rd regiment performed similar tasks in southern France and Italy. From August 1944, the parachute hunter battalion "Brandenburg" was deployed in Romania, where it took part in the occupation of Bucharest . However, the unit was trapped by Red Army units and completely wiped out within a few days.

From the end of September 1944 the regiments of the division on the Tisza and Danube were engaged in defensive battles against the Red Army even before they had arrived in Belgrade for the planned regrouping. During the Soviet offensive on the Yugoslav capital ( → Belgrade Operation ) parts of these units were trapped and suffered considerable losses before they could break through to the German lines. After that, the slow retreat followed by Southern Hungary the Association of Army Group E . At that time the combat strength of the division was only half a regiment, which is why it was tactically subordinated to the 71st Infantry Division. To freshen up, the remainder of the division was moved to East Prussia between December 12 and 20, 1944, where the division was simultaneously merged with the Großdeutschland division to form the "Großdeutschland" tank corps . The division was loaded onto the train to the Arys military training area (East Prussia) on January 13, 1945 for transport to the Lodz area . After the start of the Soviet offensive on January 15, 1945, the large formation fought through the Warthegau to the Silesian Lausitz , where it was subordinated to the Army Group Center . From the beginning of March to mid-April 1945, the division was in the Weißwasser area on the Lusatian Neisse . On April 16, 1945, the Red Army launched the Battle of Berlin with an attack on a broad front . The division was encircled in the Rothenburg - Penzig area (north of Görlitz ); on April 20, she managed to break out to Löbau . After the remnants of the division had fought for Bautzen, they were transported by train to the Mährisch-Ostrau area in the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia on May 3, 1945 . At the beginning of May 1945 units of the division were still fighting there near Olomouc and retreated as far as the Deutsch-Brod area. After the Wehrmacht surrendered , part of the division marched west, while other parts simply disbanded. A large part of them went into Soviet captivity in Tabor . Members of the division were often murdered by the Czech population.

War crimes

Shortly after the war, members of the “Brandenburg” unit were associated with war crimes. The Lviv massacre was often the focus . On June 30, 1941, the city of the 1st Battalion of the Building Training Regiment z. b. V. 800 occupied together with the subordinate Ukrainian volunteer battalion "Nightingale" . Although the Ukrainian unit was also set up by Abwehr II and equipped with support personnel from the building training regiment, it did not form part of the regiment itself. During the occupation there were violent riots and pogroms against the Jewish population of the city, to which an indefinite number of people fell victim. The soldiers of the I. Btl./ Baulehrregiment z. b. V. 800 is often accused to this day of having participated in these riots or to have fueled them. These allegations were also investigated in the context of the trial against the then Minister for Expellees and former members of the “Nightingale” battalion, Theodor Oberländer (1905–1998), before the Bonn Regional Court in 1960/61. After numerous interviews with witnesses, the court came to the conclusion that there would probably have been riots by Ukrainian and German units. However, the main focus of the court was on divisions of the field gendarmerie , while there was evidence, but no evidence, of the involvement of members of the "Brandenburg" unit. The commander of the I.Btl./ Baulehrregiment z. b. V. 800 (Major Friedrich Wilhelm Heinz ) on the capture of Lviv in his final report: “As the reports from the companies show, our own troops are outraged by the acts of brutality and torture. She believes that a relentless criminal judgment against those responsible for the Bolshevik massacre is absolutely necessary, but she does not understand the torture and shooting of Jews, including women and children, randomly herded together. [...] It is the same troop that ruthlessly shot down Jewish looters yesterday, but rejects cold-hearted tortures. "

A war crime was committed by members of the teaching regiment z. b. V. 800 in the Syrmian village Grgurevci (today Serbia ) as part of the partisan war in the independent state of Croatia . On June 6, 1942, with the help of some members of the German ethnic group, soldiers of the unit shot at least 257 Serbian men in retaliation for their own losses that the unit had suffered the day before.

There is also clear evidence of the shooting of a captured Italian officer (on November 16, 1943, after the capitulation of Italy ) and three other prisoners (November 19, 1943) by members of the 2nd regiment of the “Brandenburg” division . In March 1990, the report of a corporal of a regiment in the Brandenburg Division came to light, whose company had received an order in mid-November 1943 to arrest Italian officers who, suffering from malaria , were in a northern Albanian city when Italy left the war and were too weak or were too good of faith to flee. Heavy rains made the roads impassable, whereupon the company received the order to "liquidate the Italians". A total of 41 people were then executed on November 22nd and another 18 on November 24th, 1943 on the steep slope of a river with a shot in the neck, and the bodies were kicked into the river.

In connection with the use against partisans, especially in the Balkans, reference should be made to the often illegal character of this warfare. War crimes against combatants were frequent here on both sides. It has also been proven that German units have committed numerous war crimes against civilians while fighting partisans. For example, hostage shootings and illegal retaliatory actions have been proven in large numbers. It is therefore likely that the “Brandenburg” associations also committed war crimes, especially since they were particularly active in the fight against partisans. So far, however, there is no concrete evidence in this context, which can certainly be attributed to the poor source situation. Even if individual files suggest the involvement of “Brandenburg” associations (e.g. interrogation protocols from the Nuremberg trials ), a comprehensive investigation on this subject is still pending.

Controversies about historical references to the Bundeswehr

The shortly after the German reunification newly formed reserve formation of the Bundeswehr in Potsdam was a " Territorial Brigade Brandenburg " was named (like the homeland security brigades " Saxony " or "Mecklenburg" .) This led in June 1991 to a debate in the parliament of Brandenburg , in the Bernhard Gonnermann ( PDS ) called on the state government to distance itself from this designation and to advocate a renaming, as it was "politically instinctless and humanly tasteless" to give the name of a Wehrmacht division whose "fascist content and criminal character" he proved looked at (he wrongly added the special association Bergmann and the battalion Nachtigall to the unit "Brandenburg".) The speakers of the parliamentary groups of the SPD and the state government opposed the request. Despite foreign participation in the swearing-in of the unit, there were no protests and the name of the units should primarily underline their ties to their homeland. A comparison of the respective units is "unacceptable" . The motion was finally rejected by 10 to 38 votes in favor (16 abstentions).

In the book “Geheime Krieger” , published in 2007, the authors claimed Wilhelm Walther , a former officer of the “Brandenburger”, Brigadier General a. D. Reinhard Günzel , former commander of the special forces command (KSK) and GSG-9 founder Ulrich Wegener , the “Brandenburger” associations are a legendary role model for the special forces command of the Bundeswehr , and their corps spirit is a role model. Politicians of the Defense Committee of the German Bundestag criticized the drawing of this traditional line towards the Wehrmacht and the alleged “conceit” of the KSK soldiers. This line of tradition drawn by Walther, Günzel and Wegener caused a sensation mainly because the Bundeswehr's self-image is officially based on not being in the tradition of the army of an injustice regime, but rather on having established its own democratic tradition. In the traditional decree of the Bundeswehr it says: “An injustice regime like the Third Reich cannot establish tradition. [...] Traditions of units of former German armed forces are not lent to units of the German armed forces. ” An additional explosive factor arose from the fact that the book in question was published by Pour le Mérite Verlag, which belongs to the publishing complex des - classified as extreme right by the protection of the constitution Publisher Dietmar Munier belongs. This resulted in addition to numerous critical reports in the press. The Left Party parliamentary group in the Bundestag addressed the federal government, asking for a statement on the views expressed in Günzel's book that the KSK saw itself in the tradition of a “criminal Wehrmacht division” and a “terrorist special unit” . In its response, the Ministry of Defense stated on May 21, 2007: "A reference to command units of the former Wehrmacht is improper, would be undemocratic, altogether alien and does not actually take place."

In 2009 there was again a controversy over connections between the special unit "Brandenburg" and the Bundeswehr: The TV magazine Kontraste , produced by the RBB , reported that the volume Wegweiser zur Geschichte: Afghanistan, published on behalf of the Military History Research Office of the Bundeswehr (MGFA) Contained a text by the former officer of the "Brandenburger" Dietrich Witzel, in which he described the Afghanistan mission in "Enterprise Tiger" during the Second World War from his point of view. The text was rated by the authors of Contrasts as “playing down Hitler's madness towards conquering India”, and the SPD member of the Bundestag, Sebastian Edathy , who was interviewed for the contribution, protested that a “former participant in the implementation of the Nazi ideology” wanted to publish the Bundeswehr allowed to write. The text was also published in 2007 in the magazine Military History, published by the MGFA . The book, which is given to all members of the German armed forces on missions in Afghanistan and is generally accessible free of charge in its online version, was revised as a result of the contrasts request to the MGFA and Witzel's text by one from the editor and historian at MGFA Bernhard Chiari replaced the rewritten representation of the "Tiger Company". The remaining edition not yet issued by the Bundeswehr had previously been destroyed. The Kontraste report was taken up by the Left Party parliamentary group and led to two small inquiries answered by the federal government.

Movies

literature

  • Hans Bentzien : Brandenburg Division - The Rangers by Admiral Canaris , Ed. East, Berlin 2004 2 . ISBN 978-3-360-01058-2 .
  • Werner Brockdorff: Secret Commandos of the Second World War , Verl. Welsermühl, Wels 1967, ISBN 3-88102-059-4 .
  • Johannes Kramer: Traces of the Wehrmacht in the asymmetrical war. The "Brandenburg" division as a controversial subject of traditional military policy and a special case in public discourse after 1945 , in: Jens Westemeier (ed.): "So was the German soldier ...". The popular picture of the Wehrmacht , pp. 331–349, Paderborn (Ferdinand Schöningh) 2019. ISBN 3-506-78770-5
  • Herbert Kriegsheim (pseudonym): Camouflaged, deceived and yet faithful. The mysterious Brandenburger , Bernard & Graefe, Frankfurt 1958.
  • Eric Lefèvre: Brandenburg Division - Commandos of the Reich , Histoire et Collections, Paris 2000. ISBN 2-908182-73-4 .
  • James Lucas: Command - German Special Forces of World War Two , Arms and Armor Press, London 1985. ISBN 0-85368-707-2 .
  • Helmuth Spaeter: The Brandenburger - A German Command Force , W. Angerer, Munich 1982. ISBN 3-922128-05-X .
  • Bernhard Watzdorf, Albrecht Charisius, Alfred Voerster: Camouflaged, discovered and worn out. The fascist special unit Brandenburg zbV 800 , military publishing house of the GDR, East Berlin 1961.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information according to: "Die Brandenburger" - Command and Front Unit (as of January 24, 2018).
  2. ↑ To this in detail: Herbert Schindler: Mosty and Dirschau 1939 - Two coups of the Wehrmacht before the start of the Polish campaign , Freiburg 1971.
  3. ^ Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 12. The Land Forces 631-800 . Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1975, ISBN 3-7648-1080-7 , p. 327 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  4. ^ Structure: I. Btl. (4 Kp.) In Brandenburg; II. Btl. (4 cp.) In Baden / Vienna; III. Btl. (4 cp.) Aachen, later Düren; 1 message cp. and another 5 specialty companies; see: Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in the Second World War 1939–1945. Volume 12. The Land Forces 631-800 . Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1975, ISBN 3-7648-1080-7 , p. 327 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  5. ^ Structure: Association 801 (Brandenburg), 802 (Baden / Vienna), 803 (Düren), 804 (Langenargen), 805 (supplementary and supply departments); Coast Hunters Division 800; News Department 800; see: Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in the Second World War 1939–1945. Volume 14. The Land Forces. Name associations. The air force. Flying bandages. Flak deployment in the Reich 1943–1945 . Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1980, ISBN 3-7648-1111-0 , p. 27 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  6. ↑ Structure: Brandenburg Regiment 1 to 4; Teaching Regiment 5 Brandenburg; Coastal Hunter Department Brandenburg; News Department Brandenburg; see: Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in the Second World War 1939–1945. Volume 14. The Land Forces. Name associations. The air force. Flying bandages. Flak deployment in the Reich 1943–1945 . Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1980, ISBN 3-7648-1111-0 , p. 28 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  7. ↑ friedrich-wilhelm-heinz.de ( Memento of the original from September 29, 2007 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. for structure see also. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.friedrich-wilhelm-heinz.de
  8. ^ Dietrich F. Witzel: Command units of the Abwehr II in World War II. In: Military History , Vol. IV, Herford / Bonn 1990, p. 120.
  9. ↑ Information from: Thomas Menzel: "Die Brandenburger" - Command and Front Unit ( Memento of the original from August 25, 2006 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. (As of May 30, 2007). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundesarchiv.de
  10. ↑ Use of German defense personnel in camouflage clothing , BA-MA, RW 49/141 , Bl. 16, quoted from: Dietrich F. Witzel: Command units of the Abwehr II in World War II. In: Military History , Vol. IV, Herford / Bonn 1990, p. 127.
  11. ^ Dietrich F. Witzel: Command units of the Abwehr II in World War II. In: Military History , Volume IV, Herford / Bonn 1990, p. 128.
  12. ^ Dietrich F. Witzel: Command units of the Abwehr II in World War II , in: Military history contributions. Volume IV, Herford / Bonn 1990, p. 127.
  13. ↑ Dietrich F. Witzel: Command units of the Abwehr II in World War II , in: Military history contributions , Vol. IV, Herford / Bonn 1990, p. 121.
  14. ^ Helmuth Spaeter: Die Brandenburger - Eine deutsche Kommandotruppe , Munich 1982, pp. 47–54.
  15. ↑ James Lucas: Command - German Special Forces of World War Two , London 1985, pp. 43–51.
  16. ↑ James Lucas: Command - German Special Forces of World War Two , London 1985, pp. 71-75.
  17. ↑ Werner Brockdorff: Secret Commands of the Second World War , Wels 1967, p. 427.
  18. ^ Helmuth Spaeter: Die Brandenburger - Eine deutsche Kommandotruppe , Munich 1982, pp. 144–150.
  19. ↑ Werner Brockdorff: Secret Commands of the Second World War , Wels 1967, p. 425.
  20. ^ Helmuth Spaeter: Die Brandenburger - Eine deutsche Kommandotruppe , Munich 1982, pp. 250-273.
  21. ↑ The following presentation is based entirely on: Dietrich F. Witzel: Command units of the Abwehr II in World War II , in: Military history contributions , Vol. IV, Herford / Bonn 1990, p. 121 ff .; Helmuth Spaeter: Die Brandenburger - Eine deutsche Kommandotruppe , Munich 1982, p. 157 ff.
  22. ^ Rolf-Dieter Müller: Afghanistan as a military goal of German foreign policy in the age of the world wars , in: Bernhard Chiari (Ed.): Wegweiser zur Geschichte - Afghanistan (2nd edition), Paderborn / Munich / Vienna / Zurich 2007, p. 49 f .
  23. ^ [Carlo Gentile: Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in Partisan War: Italy 1943–1945 ]. Schöningh, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-76520-8 . (Cologne, Univ., Diss., 2008.) S. 359/360
  24. ↑ Dietrich F. Witzel: Command units of the Abwehr II in World War II , in: Military history contributions , Vol. IV, Herford / Bonn 1990, p. 128 f.
  25. ^ Helmuth Spaeter: Die Brandenburger - Eine deutsche Kommandotruppe , Munich 1982, pp. 274–279.
  26. ↑ Structure: Jäger Regiment 1 Brandenburg, Jäger Regiment 2 Brandenburg, Artillery Regiment Brandenburg; see: Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in the Second World War 1939–1945. Volume 14. The Land Forces. Name associations. The air force. Flying bandages. Flak deployment in the Reich 1943–1945 . Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1980, ISBN 3-7648-1111-0 , p. 28 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  27. ^ Outline: Brandenburg Panzer Regiment; Panzer Jäger Regiment 1 Brandenburg; Panzer Reconnaissance Department Brandenburg; Brandenburg Panzer Artillery Regiment; see: Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in the Second World War 1939–1945. Volume 14. The Land Forces. Name associations. The air force. Flying bandages. Flak deployment in the Reich 1943–1945 . Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1980, ISBN 3-7648-1111-0 , p. 29 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  28. ↑ Werner Brockdorff: Secret Commands of the Second World War , Wels 1967, pp. 423-428.
  29. ↑ See, for example: “But the group of likely guilty parties (in the massacre in Lemberg) can be narrowed down. This includes the 800 battalion. [...] There is some evidence that “The Brandenburgers” triggered the murder of the Jews. ” , See: Hannes Heer : Bloody Overture - Lemberg, June 30, 1941: The armed forces march in Judenmord, in: Die Zeit, No. 26 (2001) ( online version; as of August 13, 2007 )
  30. ^ Hermann Raschhofer: The Oberländer case , Tübingen 1962, p. 74.
  31. ↑ Quoted in Susanne Meinl : National Socialists against Hitler. Siedler, Munich 2000, p. 319.
  32. ↑ BA-MA RH 31 III / 2, as well as AVII Fond NDH / 146, 4/27.
  33. ↑ Gerhard Schreiber: German war crimes in Italy , Munich 1996, pp. 73–75.
  34. ↑ Thomas Menzel: "The Brandenburger" - Command and Front Unit ( Memento of the original from August 25, 2006 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. (As of May 30, 2007). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundesarchiv.de
  35. ↑ see minutes from February 14 to 26, 1946
  36. ↑ Landtag Brandenburg - plenary minutes of the 23rd session (June 27, 1991), pp. 1733–1736 (PDF; 13.6 MB).
  37. ↑ Reinhard Günzel / Ulrich Wegener / Wilhelm Walther: Geheime Krieger - Three German command units in the picture , Pour le Mérite Verlag, Selent 2005, passim.
  38. ^ Spiegel-Online: Ex-KSK boss praises Nazi special unit as a role model (February 24, 2007).
  39. ↑ May 21, 2007: The Federal Government's response to the minor question from the MPs Ulla Jelpke, Sevim Dagdelen, Heike Hänsel, Inge Höger and the DIE LINKE parliamentary group. - Drucksache 16/5082 The answer was sent on behalf of the Federal Government in a letter from the Federal Ministry of Defense dated May 18, 2007. The printed matter also contains the question text - in smaller font.
  40. ↑ Guidelines for Understanding and Maintaining Tradition in the Bundeswehr , September 20, 1982 ( online version )
  41. ↑ Constitutional Protection Report 2004 of the Federal Ministry of the Interior ( Memento of the original from May 20, 2014 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 / www.bmi.bund.de
  42. ↑ Frank Jansen / Sarah Kramer: Command back , on: tagesspiegel.de (March 14, 2007).
  43. ↑ Answer of the Federal Government to the small question of the MP Ulla Jelpke, among other things: Criminal Wehrmacht Division as a possible tradition giver for the Special Forces Command and the GSG 9 (May 21, 2007) (PDF; 93 kB).
  44. ↑ a b Bundeswehr courted knight's cross bearer. In: CONTRASTS. rbb, May 5, 2010, accessed on August 20, 2014 (title on youtube: contrasts: wehrmacht-fetischismus bei der bundeswehr ).
  45. ↑ Dietrich Witzel: "Enterprise Tiger" 1941 , in: Militärgeschichte 3/2007 (PDF), p. 17, accessed on August 20, 2014.
  46. ↑ Guide to history: Afghanistan (PDF), edited by Bernhard Chiari, third, reviewed and expanded edition, Schöningh, Paderborn u. a. 2009, accessed August 20, 2014.
  47. ↑ a b c Answer of the Federal Government to the minor inquiry (...) Tomb care of the member of the Wehrmacht special unit "Brandenburg" Manfred Oberdörffer (...) (PDF), Bundestag printed paper 16/14021 of September 8, 2009, accessed on August 20, 2014.
  48. ↑ Answer of the federal government to the small question (...) Wehrmacht glorification through official training manuals (...) (PDF), Bundestag printed paper 16/13164 from May 27, 2009, accessed on August 20, 2014.
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on June 12, 2007 .