Feldgendarmerie

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Feldjager
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Feldgendarmerie

Post by Feldjager »

Introduction

The roots of military police in the German armed forces can be traced back to the "Proffoß" of the 16th Century, and the creation of the Feldjagerkorps zu Pferd (shortly changed to Reitendes Feldjagerkorps) by Friedrich II in 1740. The primary duties of the Reitendes Feldjagerkorps were to control traffic, to carry important messages, and to protect members of the royal family. Springing from this band was the Feldjagerkorps zu Fuß (1741) which served both in the Napoleonic Wars and the Franco-Prussian War.

At the beginning or W.W.I the German Army had 33 companies of Feldgendarmerie, made up of about 60 men and NCOs each. Before the war ended this was expanded to 115 units, but they were all disbanded at the end of the war.

After World War I all military police units were disbanded and no police units existed in the post-war Reichswehr. Only garrison areas were patrolled by regular soldiers which was a function normally carried out by military police. The start of W.W.II opened the floodgates for numerous police formations to form and characterised the sometimes chaotic hierarchy of the German armed forces. Civilian police units would form the basis for the Fallschirmtruppen as well as a number of Waffen SS divisions too with at least two well known commanders Sepp Dietrich and Kurt Meyer of the 12th SS serving as policemen prior to joining the military.

Within the German Army of the Third Reich, the Feldgendarmerie (also known as Kettenhunde or Chain Dogs) was a military organisation that had received full infantry training and yet had extensive police powers. These military police units were employed with army divisions and higher formations. Feldgendarmerie establishments provided various different detachments which were self-contained units under the command of an army division. They worked in close cooperation with the Secret Field Police ("Geheime Feldpolizei") and with district commanders and town majors.

Training

In Potsdam, a military police school set up for the purpose of training military police and the subjects taught in these schools included:

Criminal code

General and special police powers,

Forestry, fishery and waterway codes, traffic codes

Industrial codes

Reporting duties

Passport and identification duties

Folk culture

First aid

Weapons drill and instruction

Shooting

Defence techniques (including arrest and restraint)

Criminal police methodology

Identification service and

General correspondence training.

As well as all this there were also lessons in air defence, animal protection and typewriter and stenography courses

After the first term of examinations, a provisional spell at a police station followed. All courses lasted one year and after completion many of the candidates who failed to make the grade were dropped. It was no mean feat passing out of these schools and becoming Feldgendarmen - for example of one batch of 219 trainees only 89 remained to take the final exam.

Deployment

German Feldgendarmerie served right from the outbreak of war and after the occupation of Czechoslovakia and Poland training schools were set up in Prague and Litzmannstadt-Görnau as well as a Technical Police School in Berlin. After the war, it was at these schools that most prospective police candidates received their instruction. They served on every front in the war and towards the end were more often employed as regular troops on the front-line and were involved in many desperate counter attacks and defences. Many were decorated for bravery. During the last days of the war all Feldgendarmerie caught by the Soviets (who had offered a bounty for their capture) could expect to be shot on the spot and many were issued with a second Soldbuch (pay book) and matching ID tags. In an area where it was fairly likely that prisoners would be taken the Feldgendarmen would hand their real pay book into the Feldgendarmerie redirection centre and would receive the false book and tags, which would state the soldiers status as a regular soldier. After the hostilities their real pay book and tags would be returned to them.

The Feldgendarmerie served on all fronts throughout the war, often in the first elements in the advance and with the last units to retreat.

The Feldgendarmerie were also one of the last organisations to lay down their arms after the end of the war, at least in the Western Allied zones. They continued to maintain law and order in those turbulent times albeit under new masters.

When Major Richard Winters (506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, US Army) was confronted with approximately 14,000 armed German soldiers in the vicinity of Zell am See, Austria, on the 9th of May 1945, he decided to permit all of their officers to retain their side arms and, likewise, keep all their military policemen armed as well. "Nobody had told me, to the best of my knowledge, how to handle it. I think that I made this up on the spur of the moment. They [the Germans] worked out fine - there was no trouble between us. We weren't looking for any trouble because I only had about a battalion at that time - about 400 men probably, and we were vastly over-numbered. They could have wiped us out with the back of their hand, so you were careful about how you were talking and how you were acting because you didn't want to be ambushed here, and they could have wiped us out in a minute. The German military police were guarding their senior officers and any other duties they performed were left up to the Germans themselves. After telling them what I wanted them to do, and assigning them the areas that we wanted them to gather in and standby, I just pulled out and let them run their own show - I wasn't there to be a policeman. These guys were Prussian, professional soldiers, and I was a civilian soldier. You saw them [German military policemen] as you passed by, and they were standing in a doorway, and they were top-notch soldiers. They commanded your respect as a soldier and they were very professional. They ceased their duties after about 10 days to 2 weeks, when all the German POW's were moved out of Austria".
Feldgendarmerie Trupp 82 - http://www.feldgendarmerie.co.uk
Panzer Nachrichten Abt. 38 - http://www.funker.co.uk
Hauptverbandplatz 82 - http://www.hvp82.co.uk

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Spindler

Post by Spindler »

Hi..thanks for posting this, any background information is usefull. As you are a menber of an army FG unit, you wouldn't by chance have any information on SS FG units? :) :) :) Looking for as much detailed info' as possible.
Hoffman Grink

Post by Hoffman Grink »

The SS put their ketchup on top of the relish whereas the Army put ketchup then relish then mustard on theirs Int that right Dachs?
Feldjager
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Joined: Fri May 06, 2005 10:19 pm
Location: South West England
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Post by Feldjager »

I don't have a massive amount of info on the SS-Fg. They were a considerably smaller organisation than their Heer counterparts, but with a reduced function.

Citing the SS-Fg unit attached to the LAH for example, they were assigned a Kompanie in 1942 when they were enlarged to a Division. Their primary role would appear to have been order and discipline within their own unit, rather than the full policing role of the Heer Fg.

Insignia was the same as any SS soldier, with the addition of the SS-Fg cuff title. The SS sleeve eagle should have been replaced with the orange police pattern one, but this only seems to have been done in about 50% of cases. The waffenfarbe remained the same.

There were 2 SS-Fg combat units: 4-SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division and the 35-Polizei Grenadier Division.

The SS had no GFP, as it was felt their role was completed by the SD.

It would be a fair assessment to say these troops were not provost men, but police combat troops.

Hope this helps a bit

Dave
Feldgendarmerie Trupp 82 - http://www.feldgendarmerie.co.uk
Panzer Nachrichten Abt. 38 - http://www.funker.co.uk
Hauptverbandplatz 82 - http://www.hvp82.co.uk

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Helmut Von Moltke

Post by Helmut Von Moltke »

nice article, but nothing about the FG Chain tags? :D :wink:
Feldjager
Posts: 2549
Joined: Fri May 06, 2005 10:19 pm
Location: South West England
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Post by Feldjager »

What did you want to know about them?
Feldgendarmerie Trupp 82 - http://www.feldgendarmerie.co.uk
Panzer Nachrichten Abt. 38 - http://www.funker.co.uk
Hauptverbandplatz 82 - http://www.hvp82.co.uk

LHA members
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Helmut Von Moltke

Post by Helmut Von Moltke »

ah well... maybe hwo they were develpoed, etc. They look real funny.... if I don't forget, FG also had cufftitles and Reich eagle insignia on the sleeve right? Since I'm drawing a Wehrmacht picture with FG in them currently. 8)
Feldjager
Posts: 2549
Joined: Fri May 06, 2005 10:19 pm
Location: South West England
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Post by Feldjager »

I'm writing an article on FG uniforms and insignia now, from the early Prussian days for the gorget and from the early OrPo insignia to the FG derivations.
Feldgendarmerie Trupp 82 - http://www.feldgendarmerie.co.uk
Panzer Nachrichten Abt. 38 - http://www.funker.co.uk
Hauptverbandplatz 82 - http://www.hvp82.co.uk

LHA members
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