Brehmer division

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The Brehmer Division , also known as the Brehmer SS Division or Kampfgruppe Brehmer , was a large association of the German Wehrmacht with mixed troops that was set up in March 1944 to combat partisans in France . This unit was temporarily not subordinate to Wehrmacht units ( SS , SD and SiPO units ).

Division history

The Brehmer division was set up in occupied France in March 1944 to fight partisans, but also to persecute Jews , to carry out the Brehmer campaign . It was named after its commander Major General Walter Brehmer .

The unit operated from March 26, 1944 until its dissolution on April 17, 1944 in the regions of Dordogne , Corrèze and Haute-Vienne in southern France . Roland Dumas's father, George Dumas, was also killed in a shooting of 25 prisoners in Brantôme on March 26th . At the end of March 1944, the village of Rouffignac was almost completely destroyed by the division "in retaliation for demonstrations of sympathy by the population with terrorists" . In total, around 166 to 350 people fell victim to the “ cleanup ”.

At the end of May 1944, the division was ordered back to Paris . The division was wiped out in the fighting for Paris and the remaining units were assigned to other units.

From 1950 to 1977, investigations into the war crimes were carried out in absentia against the commander of the division by the military tribunal in Bordeaux and finally closed for lack of evidence.

Basically all members of the division, such as B. also those of the 2nd Parachute Division and those of the 157th Reserve Division , were declared war criminals in March 1944 by the French Army Ministry in the spring of 1946 for “gang fighting measures” .

structure

The division comprised around 8,000 men from various associations and organizations. The unit was subordinate to the Wehrmacht and made up of the following units:

  • Security Regiment 1, 5, 6 and 190 from the 325th Security Division
  • Georgian Infantry Battalion 799
  • Anti-aircraft battalion (motorized) 958
  • 218th Grenadier Regiment
  • 941th Grenadier Regiment
  • Security Regiment 56
  • Security Regiment 1000 (from Security Brigade 74 ; after dissolution to 189th Reserve Division )
  • Two brigades of the military police force (Brigade No. 505 from Bergerac ; Brigade No. 964 from Périgueux )
  • Other temporarily deployed members of the Security Police (SIPO), SD and SS from Lyon and Limoges .

literature

  • Guy Penaud (préf. Roger Ranoux), Les crimes de la division "Brehmer", Périgueux, La Lauze, 2004, 424 p. ( ISBN 978-2-912-03265-2 , OCLC 470291677)
  • Paul Mons, Afin que nul n'oublie: La folie meurtrière de la division Brehmer: Dordogne, Corrèze, Haute-Vienne, mars-avril 1944: afin que nul n'oublie, Brive-la-Gaillarde, Editions "Les Monédières", 2016, 279 p. ( ISBN 978-2-363-40133-5 , OCLC 948677693)
  • Stéphane Simonnet, Maquis et maquisards: la Résistance en armes: 1942–1944, Paris, Belin, coll. “Histoire (Belin (Firm))”, 2015, 379 p. ( ISBN 978-2-701-17696-3 , OCLC 945693597)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Lieb: Conventional War or Nazi Weltanschauungskrieg ?: Warfare and Fight against Partisans in France 1943/44 . Walter de Gruyter, 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-70741-0 , p. 403 ( google.de [accessed on January 26, 2019]).
  2. ^ A b Claudia Moisel: France and the German war criminals: Politics and practice of criminal prosecution after the Second World War . Wallstein Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-8353-2059-8 , pp. 37 ( google.de [accessed on January 26, 2019]).
  3. ↑ Guy Penaud: Histoire de la Résistance en Périgord . P. Fanlac, 1985, p. 202 ( google.de [accessed on January 26, 2019]).
  4. ^ A b c Claudia Moisel: France and the German war criminals: Politics and practice of criminal prosecution after the Second World War . Wallstein Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-8353-2059-8 , pp. 38 ( google.de [accessed on January 26, 2019]).
  5. ↑ Peter Lieb: Conventional War or Nazi Weltanschauungskrieg ?: Warfare and Fight against Partisans in France 1943/44 . Walter de Gruyter, 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-70741-0 , p. 401 ( google.de [accessed on January 26, 2019]).
  6. ↑ Norbert Frei: Transnational politics of the past: dealing with German war criminals in Europe after the Second World War . Wallstein Verlag, 2006, ISBN 978-3-89244-940-9 , pp. 249 ( google.de [accessed on January 26, 2019]).
  7. ^ Claudia Moisel: France and the German war criminals: Politics and practice of criminal prosecution after the Second World War . Wallstein Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-8353-2059-8 , pp. 94 ( google.de [accessed on January 26, 2019]).