SS fighter unions - the so-called Jagdverbande - were established as special units for fighting guerrillas and guerrilla warfare behind the enemy. If we want to get as close as possible to the truth about their origin and functioning, we must first get acquainted with the history of their parent division, which was the Brandenburg Division.
The beginnings of the formation of this army group date back to 1939. Captain Theodor von Hippel came up with a vision of small specialized units that were to operate in the rear of the enemy and conduct intelligence, sabotage and other military operations. The army's top officials were not in favor of Hippel's plan, so the ambitious officer turned to Admiral Canaris, the head of the Abwehr.
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence body, founded in 1921 and used for defense intelligence. As an independent office, the Abwehr was abolished after the assassination of Hitler in 1944, when the leaders of this organization were involved in planning or knew about the upcoming coup. Canaris himself was arrested on Hitler's orders and later, on April 9, 1944, executed in Flosenburg.
Hippel's vision was based on his experience of World War I, serving in General Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck's East African German Corps, which fought a significant superiority of British and Belgian colonial forces. With the "hit and disappear" tactic, Lettow-Vorbeck managed to resist the enemy for quite some time, and although he was forced to retreat and surrender, he became a German national hero.
Hippel proposed that small elite units, highly skilled in sabotage, espionage, weapons handling (including enemy) and fluent language of the enemy, operate in the enemy's rear, damaging the background and morale on his side of the front. Canaris promoted Hippel to lieutenant colonel, hired him as head of the 2nd Division of the Abwehr, and gave him a free hand to accomplish this difficult task.
But let's go back to the Brandenburg family. The unit was given the code name "800th Bau.und Lehrkompanie Z.b.V 800" - (800th Special Purpose Construction and Instruction Company). The core of the original unit was formed by members of the Ebinghaus battalion, whose members distinguished themselves during the invasion of Poland, when they brought confusion to the rear of Polish troops by occupying bridges and prevented the smooth maneuvering of the rear troops of Polish troops. They also destroyed major road and rail junctions and assisted the Wehrmacht in advancing by securing intact bridges and other strategic objectives.
This sabotage unit grew dynamically. First, in January 1940, the battalion strength reached the strength of four infantry companies, one motorcycle platoon and a paratroop platoon. In the same year in December, the unit expanded to the Lehrregiment Brandenburg Z.b.V 800 (800th Brandenburg Instruction Regiment for special purposes). A little later it was renamed the "800th Sonderverband" (Special Union 800), to which 5 airborne regiments were subordinated, and finally the Brandenburg Division was established the following year.
The Brandenburg gathered military weapons and explosives specialists, interpreters, naval and airborne units, but the character and mission of this division would not be possible without volunteers - members of the countries occupied during World War II, who spoke the language of the state fluently and could thus undisturbed. fulfill their "mission". The terrorist style of Brandenburg did not deny the countless actions of these "Brandenburg Commandos" and the members of this division committed countless war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Brandenburg troops were active on almost all fronts - during the invasion of Poland, Denmark and Norway, the Battle of France, Operation Barbarossa, Finland, Greece and the invasion of Crete, Romania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. Some troops were sent to infiltrate Allied India, Afghanistan, and also fought in the Middle East and South Africa.
They were also preparing for Operation Felix (planned seizure of Gibraltar) and Operation Lvoun (planned invasion of Great Britain).The unit was very successful in occupying strategic bridges, tunnels and railway stations in Poland and the Netherlands. But that's a different story. The events surrounding Otto Skorzeny, a Third Reich specialist in sabotage and terror, are important to our narration.
In 1943, Heinrich Himmler commissioned SS Hauptsturmführer Otto Skorzeny, who originally belonged to the SS Leibstandarte "Adolf Hitler", to use all available means and with his full support to build a battalion of agents called the SS Friedentahl ZbV and later renamed 502 fighter battalion. A group of officers from the Brandenburg Division, under the command of Lt. Col. Adrian vol Fokersers volunteered for Skorzeny, as instructors and commanders of the special unit being formed.
After Stauffenberg's failed assassination of Hitler, the structure of the entire Abwehr, and logically the Brandenburg Division, was changed by extensive reorganization. The OKW Foreign Defense Espionage and Sabotage Office was directly subordinate to Himmler, who took over as Mil into his RSHA, the Reich's main security office. In the office of Mil, sabotage, diversion and subversion of the enemy fell into the area of the Mil D military department, whose chief became Skorzeny, who in the meantime had personally promoted Hitler to SS-Obersurmbannführer and awarded him several times for his actions. For example, the liberation of Mussolini or the abduction of Admiral Horthy's son.
In close cooperation with the General Staff of the Wehrmacht, especially General Jodl, Skorzeny formed for the so-called crash operations and sabotage actions in the rear of the enemy "Fighter Sections". During 1944, another 1,800 men of various ranks from the Brandenburg Division voluntarily transferred to these divisions, named the SS - Jagdverbande. The rest were assigned to the SS Grossdeutschland division, where these soldiers fought until the end of the war.
In July and August, German sites were concerned about the situation in Slovakia. She was well aware that guerrilla warfare was being organized in this area on such a scale that the German army could have great problems in retreating. Despite the fact that the Germans had very good news from the intelligence network, there are very strong anti-German sentiments in the Slovak army, which can lead to an armed resignation. Internal events were closely monitored, especially by SD.
As already indicated, the Germans in the background needed peace, and therefore began to make preparations for the liquidation of the guerrilla movement. The Germans placed great hope in the officers and non-commissioned officers of the Brandenburg Division, who were to be trained for instructor activities and tasked with selecting and recruiting suitable Czech and Slovak-skilled persons in Slovakia, training them and deploying them against the guerrillas.
Already in the early summer of 1944, Lieutenant Pawlovsky, a Sudeten German from Horní Benešov, was instructed to lead a war school - Kampfschulle in Baden near Vienna, where he was to train the above-mentioned non-commissioned officers and officers in the instructor's trade. The Brandenburgers in Baden also underwent anti-guerrilla and sabotage training to prepare for the upcoming tasks.
The Germans were increasingly concerned about the situation in Slovakia and the inaction of the local authorities, and therefore Pawlovský received an order on July 22, 1944 to establish the "Slovakia Fighter Union". For this purpose, he was assigned two very experienced people, one of whom was SS-oberscharführer Kurt Werner Tutter.
Lieutenant Colonel Nageller, a German adviser to Hlinka's guard, pressured Pawlovsky to speed up training because he suspected an uprising would take place. The situation in Slovakia has worsened. On August 26, 1944, a German general in Slovakia, von Hubitzki's armored vehicle general, at Pawlovsky's suggestion, ordered the deployment of Jagdeinsatz Slowakai to Bratislava to prevent the takeover. Members of the SS divisions of 80 men were assigned to guard government buildings and other strategically important objects.
On August 28, 1944, the entire unit was transferred to the vicinity of Bratislava, because according to the order "forces will be used against the danger of coup". A day later, the SNP broke out. Within a few days, the insurgents controlled almost the entire territory of Slovakia.The exception was Bratislava and the easternmost parts of Slovakia.
The Slovak Fighter Union was, as the first German unit in Slovakia, deployed to Bratislava on 30 August for predetermined tasks of a strategic nature. At first, the unit seemed to be the arrival of stronger unions, passing the city over and over and performing various tasks. The focus was on guarding the presidential palace, occupying the Ministry of National Defense and assisting in the disarmament of Slovak troops. The commander of these events was Dr. Ervín Reidl - a former state prosecutor in Šumperk, who became the bodyguard of the then President Tisza.
The unit continued to grow and on September 21 was incorporated into the SS Fighter Unions. Several of these unions have been formed. Their officers and non-commissioned officers came, as already mentioned, from the Brandenburg Division. The team was recruited in many states where German troops resided, in order to counter the resistance in that territory using knowledge of the mother tongue, which was a unique prerequisite for provocative and infiltration actions. Members of these units were trained to work against the supply and intelligence of the enemy in the rear of regular enemy groups and armies. The soldiers were usually deployed to the rear for three months and then returned to their unit.
The SS fighters were formed in a different way than the regular army. The commander of these unions was Lt. Col. SS Otto Skorzeny, otherwise also the head of Amt VI. RSHA (Imperial Central Security Agency).
Author: Daniel Gargulák
January 2012
Resources:
Archive of security forces fund 325/39/1
Julius Mader: Killers Lurk, Our Army, Prague 1962
Wikipedia