Brandenburgers

The unit was the brainchild of Hauptmann (captain) Theodor von Hippel, who, after having his idea rejected by the Reichswehr, approached Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, commander of the German Intelligence Service, the Abwehr. Hippel proposed that small units, trained in sabotage and fluent in foreign languages, could operate behind enemy lines and wreak havoc with the enemy's command, communication and logistical tails.[2] Canaris was at first against the proposal as he viewed such measures similar to what the Bolsheviks had done and was suspicious of Hippel's motives. Still determined to form the unit, Hippel looked to his section chief, Helmuth Groscurth, who supported the unit's formation and the two men conferred on the matter on 27 September 1939.[3] Just a few days after their meeting, the Army General Staff put forth a directive authorizing the creation of "a company of saboteurs for the West."[4] As part of the Abwehr's 2nd Department, Hippel was tasked with creating the unit.[5] Originally, the unit Hippel assembled was named the Deutsche Kompagnie, then later on 25 October it became the Baulehr-kompagnie 800 and then again on 10 January 1940, the unit was called the Bau-Lehr-Bataillon z.b.V. 800 (800th Special Duties Construction Training Battalion); but its later more widely known epithet, "the Brandenburgers", stemmed from the name of the unit's first permanent quarters.[4]

Training for the men in the Brandenburg Division ranged from five to seven months and included course instruction on reconnaissance, swimming, hand-to-hand combat, demolitions, marksmanship in both German and Allied weapons, conventional infantry tactics, and other specialized training.[6] Brandenburg units were deployed as small commando outfits to penetrate into enemy territory and conduct both sabotage and anti-sabotage operations. Despite their demonstrated successes while incurring minimum casualties, many traditionally-minded German officers still found their use abhorrent.[7] Most of the personnel were fluent in other languages, which allowed them, for example, to penetrate the Netherlands in 1940 disguised as Dutch barge crews just before the start of the invasion. In 1941, they preceded the invasion of Yugoslavia undercover as Serbian workers. During the night before Operation Barbarossa began, Brandenburger units crossed the Soviet border disguised as Soviet workers and Red Army soldiers. Others even adorned themselves in Arab garments to conduct surveillance on Allied warships traversing between the Straits of Gibraltar and North Africa ahead of the Wehrmacht deployment there.[8] Correspondingly, Department II of the Abwehr, under which the Brandenburgers were subsumed, had a distinct sub-component for army, navy, and air force operations.[9]

Many of the Brandenburgers were misfits who could hardly be characterized as conventional soldiers, due in large part to the nature of their operations. They would mingle with enemy soldiers, secretly countermand orders, redirect military convoys, and disrupt communications—all the while collecting intelligence along the way.[8] Ahead of the primary invasion forces in the USSR, operatives from the Brandenburg Division seized bridges and strategically important installations in clandestine missions lasting for weeks before they linked up with advancing forces.[8]

The predecessor formation to the Brandenburg Division was the Freikorps Ebbinghaus, which originated before the invasion of Poland in 1939. Colonel Erwin von Lahousen (and the defense groups of military districts VIII and XVII) from within Department II of the Abwehr, put together small K-Trupps (fighting squads), which consisted of Polish-speaking Silesians and ethnic Germans, whose job it was to occupy key positions and hold them until the arrival of regular Wehrmacht units.[lower-alpha 1] The first members of the "K-Trupps" were German nationals. Generally, these men were civilians who had never served in the army but were briefly trained by the "Abwehr" and were led by army officers. After the Polish campaign, this changed as these commandos became members of the Wehrmacht. Despite their seeming lack of prior experience, the demands placed on these newly formed commandos were high.[10] It was mandatory that they be volunteers for this duty. They were also expected to be agile, capable of improvising, endowed with initiative and team spirit, highly competent in foreign languages and in their dealings with foreign nationals, and capable of the most demanding physical performance.[11] Eventually, the early guiding principle that required members of the Division Brandenburg to be volunteers ended with their increasing use and integration with the regular army.[12]

Otto Skorzeny (left) and the former Brandenburger Adrian von Fölkersam (middle) now with Skorzeny's SS-Jagdverbände in Budapest after Operation Panzerfaust, 16 October 1944

Cuff title of the Division „Brandenburg“, worn on the lower right sleeve from 1944 onwards

The night before the invasion of Poland (Plan White) in September 1939, small groups of German special forces dressed in civilian clothes crossed the Polish border to seize key strategic points before dawn on the day of the invasion.[13] This made them the first special operations unit to see action in the Second World War.[14][lower-alpha 2] Freikorps Ebbinghaus engaged in atrocities against Poland's population and its captured PoWs.[16] On 4 September, members of the Freikorps Ebbinghaus executed 17 people at Pszczyna, among them Boy Scouts from the town's secondary schools. They also tortured 29 citizens of Orzesze before executing them.[lower-alpha 3] On 8 September 1939, in the upper Silesian city of Siemanowice, they executed six Poles and then on 1 October 1939, shot 18 people in Nowy Bytom.[17] Larger massacres were carried out in Katowice, where hundreds of people were executed.[16] Within two weeks of the invasion of Poland, Ebbinghaus had "left a trail of murder in more than thirteen Polish towns and villages".[18]

On 15 December 1939 the company was expanded and re-designated as the Brandenburg Battalion.[19] After its formation, the soldiers of the new special unit were initially employed to protect the Romanian oil fields and later chrome ore supplies from Turkey.[20] The battalion consisted of four companies, organised along linguistic lines:

• 1st company - men from Baltic/Russian territories
• 2nd company - Volksdeutsche from Romania;[21]
• 3rd company - Sudeten Germans who spoke Czech, Slovak, and Ruthenian
• 4th company - Volksdeutsche from Yugoslavia

In addition, the Battalion contained volunteers who had lived in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine.[22][lower-alpha 4]

A platoon of Brandenburgers took part in Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Scandinavia in April 1940, during which they secured strategic properties in Denmark and Norway.[23]

During the spring 1940 invasions of Belgium and the Netherlands, the Brandenburg units proved essential in seizing "vital points ahead of Guderian's panzers."[24] Chronicling Brandenburger No. 3 Company's penetration into Belgium, Lahousen was gratified to report that, "forty-two out of sixty-one objectives were secured and handed over to the units following behind."[25] For their exploits in Belgium and the Netherlands, the Brandenburgers were among the most decorated units of the invading German armies, which earned them the admiration of Abwehr Chief, Wilhelm Canaris.[26] On 27 May 1940, chief-of-staff of the High Command of the German armed forces Wilhelm Keitel wrote to Canaris that the Brandenburgers had "fought outstandingly well" which was further validated when Hitler presented Iron Cross commendations to 75% of the 600 men who participated.[27] By October 1940, the Brandenburgers constituted an entire regiment-sized unit.[28] The rest of the Brandenburgers were assigned to Panzer Corps Grossdeutschland along with its old training partner from 1940 to 1941, the Grossdeutschland Division.

The unit was again deployed in Operation Marita, the invasion of the Balkans.[29] On 6 April 1941, during Operation Marita, the Brandenburgers managed to take the strategically important bridge over the Vardar and also secured the gorge on the River Danube which forms part of the boundary between Serbia and Romania, known as the Iron Gates. Shortly after this, they captured the island of Euboea.[30] Additional operations were demanded of the Brandenburgers during the opening phase for the June 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, as they were the first to sweep across the border, destroying power facilities, cutting communication lines, spreading disinformation, and activating "sleeper" agents.[31] Their most notable mission was taking the bridges over the Daugava in Daugavpils on 28 June 1941, during which members of the 8th Company of the Brandenburg Kommandos crossed the bridge in a commandeered Soviet truck, overpowered the guards and held the position for two hours against significant Soviet counterattacks.[32] From June 1942 through February 1943, the Brandenburgers carried out commando operations against Allied supply lines in North Africa by way of clandestine missions in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.[33]

In early August 1942, a Brandenburg unit of 62 Baltic and Sudeten Germans led by Adrian von Fölkersam penetrated farther into enemy territory than any other German unit. They had been ordered to seize and secure the vital Maikop oilfields. Disguised as NKVD men, and driving Soviet trucks, Fölkersam's unit passed through the Soviet front lines and moved deep into hostile territory. The Brandenburgers ran into a large group of Red Army soldiers fleeing from the front. Fölkersam saw an opportunity to use them to the unit's advantage. By persuading them to return to the Soviet cause, he was able to join with them and move almost at will through the Soviet lines.[34]

On 26 December 1942, the men of the Parachute Company of the Brandenburg Regiment were transported by gliders in an operation to destroy bridges and supply routes used by the British in North Africa. It was a disaster. Some of the gliders were shot down while flying over enemy lines and others were destroyed approaching their targets. Most of the paratroopers were killed in this operation.[35]

Units of the division were sent to the Balkans to engage in anti-partisan operations.[lower-alpha 5]

In mid 1943, many Brandenburger units were moved from the Balkans, and took part in actions to disarm Italian soldiers. One vital area was the island of Kos in the Dodecanese island chain off the coast of Turkey. Kos had been secured by British troops in September 1943, and a large garrison of allied Italian troops was also present. Along with Luftwaffe paratroop forces, Brandenburgers took part in the recapture of the island.[37] On 25 May 1944, members of the division, attached to SS-Fallschirmjäger-Bataillon 500, took part in the unsuccessful Operation Rösselsprung, an airborne operation to capture Yugoslav Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito.[38]

In September 1944 it was decided that special operations units were no longer necessary. The Brandenburg Division became the Infantry Division Brandenburg and transferred to the Eastern front.[39] Approximately 1,800 men (including von Fölkersam) were transferred to SS-Standartenführer Otto Skorzeny's SS-Jäger-Bataillon 502 operating within SS-Jagdverband Mitte, but mostly to the SS-Jagdverband Ost until the end of the war.[40] Only the Kurfürst Regiment retained its original role as a commando unit.[41]

In late 1944, the division was equipped with a Panzer Regiment and redesignated Panzergrenadier-Division Brandenburg and returned to the Eastern front. The Brandenburgers were involved in heavy fighting near Memel, until their withdrawal, along with the Großdeutschland, via ferry to Pillau. The division was all but annihilated in heavy fighting near Pillau and only 800 men escaped to the thin strip of land at Frische Nehrung.[42] While some survivors surrendered to the British in Schleswig-Holstein in May, others enlisted in the French Foreign Legion and fought in the First Indochina War where their skills proved an asset.[40][lower-alpha 6]

• Battle of Velikiye Luki
• Special Staff F
• Operation Mammoth
• Robey Leibbrandt
• Kampfgeschwader 200

• Cavaleri, Leo (2017). Das 2. Regiment der "Division Brandenburg" eine Dokumentation zum Einsatz der Brandenburger-Gebirgsjäger im Osten bzw. Südosten Europas. Aachen: Helios. ISBN 978-3-86933-186-7.
• Hamilton, A. Stephan (2016). Panzergrenadiers to the Front!: The Combat History of Panzergrenadier-Division Brandenburg on the Eastern Front, 1944-45. Solihull, UK: Helion & Co. ISBN 978-1-910777-13-8.
• Paterson, Lawrence (2018). Hitler's Brandenburgers: The Third Reich's Elite Special Forces. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-68247-372-6.