Police Battalion 316

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The Police Battalion 316 was a military unit of the NS- Ordnungspolizei in World War II . The battalion was actively involved in the Holocaust .

history

Police Battalion 316

With the circular issued by the Reichsführer SS and chief of the German police Heinrich Himmler on October 11, 1939, 26,000 unserved conscripts and members of older age groups were to be recruited as police recruits to ensure the need for police forces in the areas occupied by the Wehrmacht . A total of 38 police training battalions were created for training purposes, in which the recruits were accepted separately according to age group. The recruits of the later police battalions 301 to 325 came from the older age groups from 1909 to 1912. They were referred to as "Wachtmeister battalions". The leading positions in the battalions were mostly occupied by professional police officers who trained the recruits. The recruits were promised exemption from military service and rapid promotion opportunities.

The police battalion 316 was formed on December 10, 1940 from the police training battalion "Recklinghausen" in Recklinghausen . On February 17, 1941, the battalion began to be transferred to the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in Tábor in order to take over police security tasks.

From June 6, 1941, the unit began to be gradually moved to the border with the Soviet Union via Radom and Warsaw . On July 3 and 4, 1941, the battalion arrived in the Ostrów Mazowiecka area . Here it was subordinated to the Central Police Regiment , which was assigned to the HSSPF Russia-Center Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski .

The battalion took part in the war against the Soviet Union from the very beginning . On the night of July 5 to 6, 1941, the police association reached the city of Białystok , where the 309 police battalion had already raged a few days earlier . On July 8, 1941, the battalion carried out searches. One command of the unit shot 10 to 20 people, another 12 people.

On July 11, 1941, orders were issued to round up all Jewish men aged 17 to 45 and then shoot them outside the city. Together with Police Battalion 322, the battalion combed the Jewish quarters and transported those arrested to an execution site. The police forces murdered around 3,000 Jewish victims there.

On July 16, 1941, the battalion moved to Baranavichy via Slonim . Just one day later, the battalion in Slonim carried out an "action" against Jews, in which at least 1,050 Jews and communists were killed.

On July 19 and 20, 1941, the battalion was deployed in Hanzawitschy , capturing 88 dispersed Russian soldiers and 200 Jews who are said to have looked after the Russians. Apparently in this context an execution took place south of Baranavichy between July 17 and 25, 1941, killing 100 people.

In Baranavichy, the battalion was used on July 23, 1941 against the Jewish population. 1,000 people were victims of the police force. Over the next two days, a company turned up in Telechany, 70 kilometers south of Baranavichy, for an "action" against partisans and Jews.

At the end of July and beginning of August 1941, the battalion was still active in the Baranavichy- Slutsk area , with the execution of an unknown number of people, alleged rioters.

From August 6 to 12, 1941, the battalion was deployed under the 252nd Infantry Division to secure a taxiway and the area east of Slutsk. After suffering losses against a scattered cavalry unit of the Soviet armed forces, the inhabitants of the village of Jazyl near Slutsk were executed.

The battalion took part in the further advance via Babrujsk to Mahiljou / Mogilew. A mass shooting took place near Babrujsk. Further executions are said to have fallen victim to commissioners , women and children.

From the beginning of September to mid-November 1941, the battalion was stationed in Mogilew, where it had to perform guard and security services. But it did not stop. During this time, people who could not identify themselves, including women and children, were shot on the spot. On October 19, 1941, the battalion and other units in the city rounded up the Jewish population. 3,726 Jews, including women and children, were cruelly executed.

The battalion was probably also involved in the shooting of 5,281 Jews in Babruysk on November 7th and 8th, 1941.

From mid-November 1941, the battalion was used to secure the Orsha - Smolensk road and the Smolensk - Vyazma road and railroad . Then it advanced via Smolensk and Dorogobush to Vyazma, where it took part in front-line fighting as part of the Battle of Moscow .

In mid-May the battalion returned to Gelsenkirchen , Buer and Bottrop , where it remained from May 23, 1942 to July 5, 1942.

1st Battalion of the Police Regiment 4

In July 1942, the 316 Police Battalion was renamed the 1st Battalion of the 4th Police Regiment . From July 8, 1942 to November 17, 1942, it was used in Yugoslavia for "pacification operations" in Upper Carniola and Lower Styria and was stationed in Kranj for this purpose .

The police battalion was then deployed from November 18, 1942 to June 3, 1943 in France to secure cities such as Nantes , Limoges , St. Nazaire and Marseille .

From the beginning of June 1943 to mid-July 1944, the battalion was then stationed in Poland , the so-called General Government. Here it was used in the Lublin area in Krasnik , Annopol , Poniatowa and Cholm , among others . On November 17, 1943, the unit in Annopol shot about 300 Jewish men, women and children. And at the end of February 1944, 24 Jews were victims of the police force.

From July 1944 until the end of the war, the battalion was deployed on the Eastern Front. Initially, it was used in the Grodno area . Then it had to withdraw to East Prussia with the Hannibal combat group . It suffered considerable losses here.

Commanders

  • 1940 to late July / early August 1941: Waldow
  • Late July / early August 1941 to November 1941: Hoecke
  • November 1941 until unknown: Major Behr

War Crimes Investigation

Investigations were initiated against members of Police Battalion 316 in the Federal Republic after the end of the Second World War.

In June 1968, the Bochum district court acquitted the leaders of the 2nd and 3rd companies as well as 8 other battalion members because of an emergency .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Torsten Schäfer: "In any case, I also shot", the NSG proceedings against Johann Josef Kuhr and other former members of Police Battalion 306, Police Rider Department 2 and the SD Office of Pinsk at the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court 1962-1973, series of dissertations by the Evangelical Studienwerk e. V. Villigst, Volume 11, LIT-Verlag Dr. Hopf Hamburg, 2007, p. 59 f.
  2. See also the overview on this and the following in: Stefan Klemp: "Not determined". Police Battalions and the Post War Justice. A manual . 2nd edition, Klartext Verlag, Essen 2011, ISBN 978-3-8375-0663-1 , p. 291 ff.
  3. a b c d e Martin Hölzl, “Buer and Belzec” in: Stefan Goch (ed.), “Städtische Gesellschaft und Polizei”, Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2005
  4. a b Wolfgang Curilla, The German Ordnungspolizei and the Holocaust in the Baltic States and in Belarus, Schöningh-Verlag Paderborn, 2nd edition 2006, p. 527.
  5. Wolfgang Curilla, The German Ordnungspolizei and the Holocaust in the Baltic States and in Belarus, p. 528.
  6. Wolfgang Curilla, The German Ordnungspolizei and the Holocaust in the Baltic States and in Belarus, p. 532.
  7. Wolfgang Curilla, The German Ordnungspolizei and the Holocaust in the Baltic States and in Belarus, p. 533.
  8. Wolfgang Curilla, The German Ordnungspolizei and the Holocaust in the Baltic States and in Belarus, p. 534f.
  9. Wolfgang Curilla, The German Ordnungspolizei and the Holocaust in the Baltic States and in Belarus, p. 535f.
  10. Wolfgang Curilla, The German Ordnungspolizei and the Holocaust in the Baltic States and in Belarus, p. 536.
  11. Wolfgang Curilla, The German Ordnungspolizei and the Holocaust in the Baltic States and in Belarus, p. 536 f.
  12. Wolfgang Curilla, The German Ordnungspolizei and the Holocaust in the Baltic States and in Belarus, p. 537.
  13. Wolfgang Curilla, The German Ordnungspolizei and the Holocaust in the Baltic States and in Belarus, pp. 538-540, 542.
  14. Wolfgang Curilla, The German Ordnungspolizei and the Holocaust in the Baltic States and in Belarus, pp. 540–542.
  15. Wolfgang Curilla, The German Ordnungspolizei and the Holocaust in the Baltic States and in Belarus, p. 543f.
  16. Wolfgang Curilla, The German Ordnungspolizei and the Holocaust in the Baltic States and in Belarus, p. 544.
  17. Wolfgang Curilla, The German Ordnungspolizei and the Holocaust in the Baltic States and in Belarus, p. 527.