"TREU TAPFER GEHORSAM" The Schutzmannschaft

When the German armies pushed into Russia in June of 1941, they were virtually unchecked until the winter months of November and December of that same year. By this time, large areas of the Ukraine, White Russia, and the Caucasus had been overrun. The German armies stood within 20 miles of Moscow, but due to snow, ice and temperatures of 18 degrees below zero, the push was completely halted and the front stabilized.

The German plan for the invasion of Russia had called for the men and material to succeed in the initial push to the east. More than 120 divisions had participated in the thrust. What the High Command had badly miscalculated was the amount of manpower which would be needed to police and secure the rear areas of the newly won territory.

Reserve police units in Germany were immediately pressed into service, and moved into the rear areas through out all of conquered Russia. Partisan activity, though not prevalent in the early months of the invasion, had steadily increased during the months from September, 1941 through early 1942. In October of 1941, the Central Office of the SS and Police realized an increasing shortages in manpower. It was decided at this time, to make use, if possible, of local personnel who could be counted upon to work with, and have an allegiance to their German occupiers. Thus, the Eastern SCHUTZMANNSCHAFT was born.

In the fall of 1941 Schutzmannschaft battalions and regiments were established in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, followed by the areas of theUkraine and White Russia. These volunteer legions were selfsustaining in the areas in which they were formed. They were grouped into four major categories: the first included men in individual protection units for their cities, the second served in the outlying land areas. These men were armed cadred by German personnel, each company had an interpreter; category three was the fire

Above: Ukranian volunteers of the Schutzmann-schaft receive their Eastern Peoples Medal forbravery against the Russian partisans. Note the arm and shoulder insignia, the rank insignia on the collar differ from any German rank identification symbols. The man in the foreground has the medal in two grades of the second class, bronze and silver, the latter in this case indicates a second award.

protection police, the last was the Hilfer Schutzmann-schaft. The men in the fourth catagory worked in close unison with the field police of the German army, who by this time had been almost completely committed to fighting partisans.

There were some 48,000 men recruited by the fall of 1942. At this time the designations were changed from four to two major types of Schutz-mannschaft, hereafter referred to as "Schuma". First there were the Schuma Wach Bataillonen and secondly were the Schuma Front Bataillonen. The former served in the rear areas as local security while the latter were used to actively search out and fight the partisans.

These units began to take on the appearance in both rank and organizational breakdown of German SS and Security Police (SD) units. Corresponding ranks, though not given the same titles, paralleled their German counterparts. The units were issued German uniforms of the same type worn by the regular German Field Police.The field equipment and steel helmet were the standard German army issue, as were the small arms; however, the readily available Russian small arms were used extensively by the Schuma battalions. Eventually, special insignia was issued, this distinctive insignia first appeared in 1943.

The basic arm insignia of the Schuma batallions was a large oblong swastika, surrounded by the words “TREU TAPFER GEHORSAM” (fidelity, bravery, obedience). A wreath of oakleaves surmounted the motto. There were four patterns issued, the first and most widely seen, was the silver or grey swastika with the motto and wreath of the same color, all on a black background. The other patterns include green symbol, motto and oak-leaves on a light green background, orange symbol, motto, and oakleaves on a light green background and finally a rose red colored symbol, motto and oakleaves on the same light green background. These last three color schemes paralleled the German police color schemes exactly, Schutzpolizei, Gendarmerie and Feuerschutzpolizei respectively.

The shoulder insignia bore the swastika in the center and had the corresponding color of piping around the edges. The hat insignia was the same for all arms, a small oblong swastika surmounted by a wreath of oakleaves. This insignia was worn on the 1943 model visored field cap, no insignia was put on the steel helmet.

These Schuma battalions played a very important role in the fight against the Russian partisans. They continued to contribute to the German activities in Russia until they retreated in the fall of 1944. At this time a number of the Schuma police and security units were integrated into the late formed Waffen-SS divisions. These volunteers, due to their allegiance to the German conquerors, no longer had a homeland. They retreated toward the west. Now formed into automonous assault brigades and battlegroups, little is known of their activities after they left Russian soil. The confusion of the many withdrawals had swallowed them up. Some isolated units did appear in the orders of battle in the west as late as February of 1945, however they could no longer be considered a potent fighting force. Many of these units fell into American and British hands at the end of hostilities and were returned to the Soviet Union where many were tried and sentenced to death or prison for treason against their homeland. The fate of those who disappeared is unknown.

Richard E. Deeter, "Treu Tapfer Gehorsam", MILITARIA, 1969