"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

Waffen-SS Foreign Legions

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it has become common practice to describe foreign contingents in national armies as legions. The choice of terminology is unfortunate, because foreign detachments have more in common with the Auxilia of ancient Rome, than with her legiones.

During the middle ages it was not uncommon for a state to hire units of foreign mercenaries, such as the Genoese crossbowmen or the Flemish hand-gunmen, for a specific campaign. Varangians and Scots were employed as royal bodyguards, and in the eighteenth century several European states employed foreign professionals from Switzerland, Germany, Scotland, and Ireland in permanent regiments. Today the only homogeneous units to survive are the Swiss Guard of the Vatican, and the Gurkhas.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the term 'legion' came to be applied to detachments of emegre patriots seeking to free their country from foreign occupation; notable among these were Napoleon's Polish Lancers and the Hanoverian King's German Legion. During World War I, the term was also applied to units of Poles and Czechs seeking to attain national independence. During the Spanish Civil War, the International Brigades no longer fought for a country but for a political ideal.

Probably the most famous force of all is the French Foreign Legion, formed in the nineteenth century, and followed in this century by a Spanish Foreign Legion, which also still exists to this day. However, these legions form a permanent part of the armies of France and Spain and, unlike other foreign contingents, no attempt is made to segregate men by nationality.

The legions raised by the Waffen-SS during World War 2 had little in common with the Foreign Legions of France and Spain because the Germans attempted to organist ethnically homogeneous units. Nor were the German-raised legions intended as a permanent force, since they were formed for one purpose and one purpose only - the defeat of the Soviet Union. Had the war ended with German victory, the legions were to have been disbanded, their purpose having been served.

Since the war there has been a tendency to idealist and even romanticism the foreign contribution to the SS. A legend has arisen that the Germanic legions were a hand-picked body of magnificent specimens of Germanic manhood motivated by National Socialist ideals, and forged into an almost superhuman fighting force by the example and know-how of a hand-picked and dedicated team of SS instructors. It has even been suggested that the legionary movement against Communism was the precursor of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

There is no doubt that, at the beginning, a genuine attempt was made to select only the very best of the volunteers who applied to join the legions; criminals and idlers were rejected,and adventurers discouraged from applying. At the beginning of the war, the majority of Waffen-SS men were still the arrogant standard-bearers of National Socialism, and they reacted violently to the many foreign volunteers who were neither Nazis nor even particularly pro-German, and who showed a complete lack of interest and even disrespect for SS ideals and aims. This attitude was particularly prevalent in the Danish Freikorps.

Unlike the great colonial powers, Germany had few military men with the experience and aptitude for dealing with foreigners. As soon as the volunteers arrived at German training centres they began to complain about the unfriendly and even brutal attitude of the 'Prussian' SS instructors. These SS men were sickened by the sight of the SS uniform being worn by nationals of recently defeated and 'dishonoured' nations, while below the surface was the inbred soldier's contempt for traitors. Despite SS efforts to eliminate criminals, some wormed their way into the legions and offended the mass of honest working-class volunteers. Corruption among the SS existed and this led to mutual contempt.

The average volunteer was working class, apolitical, and if anything a little immature. Typical was the twenty-year-old Dutchman Gerardus Mooyman, who became the first Germanic volunteer to win the coveted Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. According to one of his comrades, Mooyman was not a particularly enthusiastic soldier, and on 13 February 1943 he was sulking in his dugout south of Lake Ilmen when the Soviets launched a tank attack on his position. Mooyman had almost to be dragged out by the ear by a German officer attached to the Dutch Legion. Mooyman then vented his fury on the Soviet tanks by knocking out thirteen of them before cooling off. Still alive today, he remembers with regret his youthful thirst for adventure, the sadness and shame of his devoutly Catholic family and friends when he donned the SS uniform, and the wasted years both during and after the war. Apart from the Knight's Cross, Mooyman's story is typical of a tragic generation which had not reached maturity when circumstances beyond its control obliged it to take sides. Having taken sides, those of this generation fought with varying degrees of courage in a terrible war and, like their victims, suffered untold hardships. But the greatest hardship of all was to return to one's country not as a hero but as a criminal.

Philip H. Buss and Andrew Mollo, "Hitler's Germanic Legions", MacDonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd., 1978

SS-Heimwehr Danzig

"DEARER DEATH THAN TO BECOME POLISH" The SS-Heimwehr Danzig
Danzig, one of the largest ports on the Baltic Sea was founded in the 13th century as the capital of Pomerania, it became a part of the Hanseatic League in the 15th century. Being of primary importance as an open water port, the Russians took Danzig early in the 18th century, later in this same one hundred year span Prussia made the city a part of its empire. From 1807 to 1814 Danzig was a free city, being reclaimed at the end of that time by Prussia to become the capital of West Prussia. Danzig remained the capital until the Treaty of Versailles in 1918 made it a free city again until such time as it could be given to Poland.

On January 22, 1920 the last large military parade was held in the Danzig Square, marking the end of German rule in the city. By February 17th all the German troops, including Danzig's own regiment, the "Liebhusaren" were out of the city. The dictates of the Versailles Treaty had stipulated that there were to be no soldiers within the city, it was to be a completely neutral "Free City". By June of 1921 a German "Freikorps" had been formed to prevent the Polish government taking over the city. Like the other Freikorps groups in Germany at this time, the "Danziger Freikorps" had no legal basis for its existence and like the others, it was composed of beerhall toughs, exsoldiers and malcontents. The only thing that held the members in common bond was the fact that they were all intensely nationalistic.

From the time Hitler came into power in 1934 until the outbreak of war in 1939, he raged about the peace treaty, the loss of German territory around the world, and the "Polish Corridor". The ban on rearmament was of course openly flaunted. It became quite evident that Hitler was not going to admit the loss of Danzig when he made it a Gau of Nazi Germany under the supervision, of Gauleiter Albert Foerster. A "Gau Abzeichen" was ordered struck and consisted of an oval badge with an outline of oakleaves, inside this border was found the Danzig crest, consisting of two Maltese Crosses with a crown at the top, behind this emblem appeared the swastika. The words "Alter Kampfer" were also on the badge.

Through all the years since the end of the war in 1918 the German people were led to believe that Danzig was under constant harrassment and pressure by the Polish government. Poland could do nothing to stop this propaganda because Hitler had complete control of the German news media.In early 1938 Hitler ordered Totenkopf Standart III to be formed and to be headquartered in Danzig, under the direct command of the Berlin office.. In the summer of 1938 Standart III was nicknamed "Goetze" after its commander, Lieutenant Colonel Goetze.
In the middle of 1939 men and equipment began to come into Danzig from the East Prussian areas. Inside the city a company of men was formed and called itself "SS-Heimwehr Danzig". The uniforms were Waffen-SS and the arms were modern. They paraded openly in the streets in full military regalia, defying the Versailles Treaty .

On August 18, 1939 Gauleiter Foerster presented a unit flag to lieutenant colonel Goetze with the slogan "Dearer death than to become Polish". This flag was one of a kind, in the center, over the front of the swastika was an SS skull, two diagonal black rays crossed the flag, one with the SS insignia, the other with the Danzig crest. This flag was to be "Flown in honor at the head of the SS-Heimwehr Danzig" On September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, the 1500 men of the SS-Heimwehr Danzig fought in and around the city until the 5th when they were transferred to the Westerplatte area where they saw action until the 19th when they became absorbed by the Totenkopf division.

From the time of its conception in 1938, the SS-Heimwehr Danzig left no question as to its allegiance. Unlike some Polish units which were composed of Volksdeutsch and went over to the German army at the first opportunity, the SS-Heimwehr Danzig was openly pro-German.

Deeter/Odegard, "The SS-Heimwehr Danzig", "Militaria" 1969