Leader escort battalion

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Leader Companion Battalion
Leader Companion Regiment
Leader Companion Brigade
Leader Companion Division

active August 24, 1939 to May 8, 1945
Country German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Armed forces Wehrmacht
Armed forces army
Branch of service Grenadiers
Location Führer Headquarters
insignia
Standard Standard FFB.svg

The Führer-Begleit-Bataillon (also Führer-Begleit-Regiment , Führer-Begleit-Brigade , Führer-Begleit-Division or Entleit-Bataillon des Führers ) was a battalion of the Wehrmacht that, in addition to the Führer Accompanying Command and the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler for the Personal protection Adolf Hitler was responsible.

tasks

The main tasks were to secure the Führer Headquarters (FHQ) and the special Führer train as well as the personal protection of Adolf Hitler. The Führer Accompanying Command, Hitler's personal bodyguard, was primarily provided by the Waffen SS .

In addition, the association was initially used in parts as combat groups at the front. The unit was stationed on a rotation basis, sometimes in the FHQ, sometimes at the front, so that it was practically two battalions.

Towards the end of the war, however, the association was deployed in full strength for combat missions on the entire front.

history

The task of protecting the person of Adolf Hitler was originally reserved for members of the army. In addition, there was a mobilization-dependent security company from 1938. Shortly before the outbreak of war on August 24, 1939, the Führer-Escort Battalion was formed from the 7th and 8th companies of the Greater Germany Motorized Infantry Regiment . It was in the tradition of the Berlin staff guard of the Weimar Republic and the Guard of the Empire .

Initially two companies were set up, which were then completed to three companies in the winter of 1939. When he marched into the Sudeten area in 1938, Erwin Rommel led the escort battalion of the Führer, who had been a member of Hitler's military escort command since 1935. In March 1939, during the occupation of the " rest of Czech Republic " and the Memelland , Rommel became the commandant of the Führer Headquarters, which he remained after the beginning of World War II on September 1, 1939 (meanwhile promoted to major general). From May 1940, Rommel took over a combat troop command ( 7th Panzer Division ) as part of the western campaign .

Until the summer of 1942, the FBB was directly subordinate to the commander of the Fuehrer's headquarters, who was also the battalion commander.

In 1943 the FBB was transformed into a Grenadier Battalion and also renamed the Führer Grenadier Battalion . In September 1944 the battalion was strengthened to form a brigade and in November 1944 it was renamed the Führer-Escort Brigade .

Parts of the brigade fought near Vilna as a Panzer Grenadier Brigade "von Werthern". With the establishment of the tank corps "Greater Germany" in September 1944, the brigade was formally included. In the period from November 26, 1944 to December 20, 1944, the brigade was relocated from East Prussia to Cottbus - Guben , and later to the Eifel , to replenish and complete the reorganization of the replacement brigade "Greater Germany". During the Ardennes offensive , the brigade was initially a reserve of the 5th Panzer Army from December 22, 1944 to December 31, 1944 . During the period, she participated in the attack as far as the northeast of Bastogne , in the retaking of St. Vith and in the defense against the enclosure around Bastogne. On January 23, 1945, the brigade received the order that they should be ready as Army Group Reserve and withdraw via Clervaux , Marnach , Dasburg and Daleiden to the area south of Arzfeld .

On January 11, 1945, the unit became part of the Führer-Escort Regiment , which was renamed the 100th Panzer Grenadier Regiment on January 16 . This was part of the January 26, 1945 in Cottbus for the Military District III established leader Companion Division . It came in February 1945 as part of the III. SS Panzer Corps deployed at the Sonnenwende company . She then fought on the Vistula , for Lauban , Ratibor and was destroyed in the Spremberg pocket at the end of April 1945 . Until the end of the war, survivors of the division were employed in the Deutsch-Brod area east of Prague .

Commanders

Structure 1945

  • Panzer Regiment 102
  • Panzer Grenadier Regiment 100
  • 100th Panzer Artillery Regiment
  • Panzerjäger Battalion 673
  • Panzer Pioneer Battalion 120
  • News Battalion 120
  • Field Replacement Battalion 120

Troop flag

On September 30, 1939, the battalion was presented with a unique troop standard compared to the other troop flags of the Wehrmacht . During a ceremony in the barracks area of the "General Göring" regiment in Berlin - Reinickendorf , Hitler personally presented his newly created escort battalion with the new troop standard. In its general appearance it had the shape of an army standard, but combined the design of the so-called "Führer standard" on its right side with the exterior of an artillery standard on the left.

It should be mentioned that this standard was the only exception to the rule that the weapon color of the unit was also adopted as the basic color for the standard. The crimson base color did not mean that the “Führer Companion Battalion” was an artillery unit, but rather white was the weapon color assigned to the battalion as an infantry unit. It can therefore be assumed that carmine red was chosen in order to better match the bright red on the right-hand side (“Führer standard”).

The left side of the standard corresponded in all respects to the standard used by artillery units and was primed carmine red.

The right side of the standard was modeled on the so-called "Führer Standard", that is, the standard used personally by Adolf Hitler. A black, upright swastika was placed on a circular field primed with white. A garland of golden oak leaves was attached to this field. In the four corners of the standard there were two gold-colored "Wehrmacht eagles" and two gold-colored eagles in the shape of the NSDAP party eagle. The right side was primed carmine red like the left.

All other features of the standard corresponded to those of the general army standards.

See also

literature

  • Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 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. 77 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  • Mitcham, Samuel W., Jr. (2007). German Order of Battle. Volume Two: 291st - 999th Infantry Divisions, Named Infantry Divisions, and Special Divisions in WWII. PA; United States of America: Stackpole Books. Pp. 210 + 211, ISBN 978-0-8117-3437-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ BArch RW 47/4 fol. 56
  2. ^ Picture of Rommel as commander of the FHQ from the Federal Archives ( Memento of the original from March 31, 2009 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.bundesarchiv.de
  3. ↑ Erwin Rommel. Tabular curriculum vitae in the LeMO ( DHM and HdG )
  4. ^ Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in World War II 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. 77 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  5. ↑ Helmuth Spaeter: The history of the tank corps Grossdeutschland . tape 2 . Self-published relief organization of former soldiers for war victims and surviving dependents, the traditional tank corps Grossdeutschland, 1958, p. 768 ( online in Google Book Search [accessed April 9, 2010]).
  6. ^ Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in World War II 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. 78 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  7. ↑ The History of the Panzer Corps Greater Germany - Volume 1, pp. 60ff