Hitler's Brandenburgers Read online

  David R. Higgins

  Columbus, Ohio, US

  Introduction

  The history of the ‘Brandenburgers’ is a complex interweave of Wehrmacht, Abwehr and Waffen SS operations. There are some previously published works that examine this most unusual unit; some of them truly excellent, others less so. There can be an undeniable tendency to exaggerate events that did happen, invent some that didn’t and appropriate yet others that may have occurred but were not actually undertaken by the ‘Brandenburgers’ themselves. I have attempted to stay away from the hyperbole that the unit attracts and to verify stories from as many different sources as possible, using original documentation, if available, first-hand accounts, scholarly articles and research papers and, of course, other reliable secondary sources.

  Please note that I have anglicised much of the German terminology within this book. Included in this is the fact that in German, both the singular and plural for Brandenburger are the same. However, I have used the plural form ‘Brandenburgers’ for the benefit of English readers. I would also like to point out that, unless otherwise stated, all translations from German are my own.

  To fully explore the story of this unit, it is essential to look at some of the characters that provided its genesis. It is important to understand the original motivation behind the ‘Brandenburgers’ as it then becomes apparent how far from its original purpose it strayed as it grew in stature to a degree that was almost directly in inverse proportion to its diminishing usefulness as a true commando unit. While some people figure throughout the entire story, most have a more finite influence on events, especially those involved from the very beginning. However, it can be difficult to trace what happened to some of these men as the records relating to their service history are frequently missing. Perhaps the perfect example is that of Theodor von Hippel, the man who first created the original commando unit after lobbying his superiors. His tenure with the Brandenburgers is well documented, but his subsequent career less so, until it reaches the point that the date of his death is difficult to ascertain, a published work of 1974 quoting a letter from him dated 30 October 1968. Perhaps to fully examine this one man’s history would require a book of its own. Other people are mentioned briefly and sometimes only by surname, before disappearing from the story. This can sometimes be unavoidable with incomplete Wehrmacht service records of the unit itself and is not helped by the occasional use of cover names. However, I hope that the reader can look past that and see the general picture of events.

  Some written accounts have tried to ‘novelise’ the events in this book. I do not like that and have avoided it at all costs. This isn’t a novel; I don’t know if the ground that they were lying on was wet, I don’t know if the taste of fear was in their mouths and I don’t know if they chatted about home before going into action. While I appreciate that this approach can sometimes bring events to life, I don’t believe it is the correct approach for a book of this type. If possible – and relevant – I’ve included direct quotes that can be attributed to people, either from their own memoirs, letters or verifiable quotations from books such as that written by Helmuth Spaeter, a wartime officer in the Grossdeutschland Division, historical archivist of that formation and related units and leader of the Grossdeutschland Veterans’ Association. His major work on the Brandenburgers includes many first-hand accounts from letters and diaries that provide much information.

  Another complexity is the frequent overlap between operations mounted by the SS, SD, Abwehr, Wehrmacht and Brandenburgers. Germany’s intelligence apparatus, of which the Brandenburgers were originally a component, was a labyrinthine mess of competing organisations, each with its own agenda, bias and opportunistic goals. This was extremely common within the Third Reich and appears to be a hallmark of such totalitarian leaders as they pit their subordinates against one another in a bid to remain unassailable themselves. Many operations mounted by the Abwehr (German military intelligence) have been attributed to the Brandenburgers. Unfortunately, this is frequently not accurate. Often there are individual Brandenburger-trained men involved in such operations, but they are not specifically Brandenburger missions. This confusion arises from the fact that the unit was used as a ‘catch-all’ pot in which to place potential agents and saboteurs for training and even to provide a ‘home unit’ while they acted independently outside of Brandenburger control. These I have tried to avoid in this book as they lead off in directions away from the core study that this is supposed to be. Similarly, there were missions mounted by the SS security services that borrowed heavily from Brandenburger methods and, sometimes, personnel. These are also outside of the central narrative.

  Individual Brandenburger men were found in virtually every theatre of war that Germany fought in during the Second World War. As the term ‘Brandenburger’ (justifiably) summons up an image of daring commando operations, it is often overused if even the most tenuous link can be found. I have tried to move past that and concentrate solely on the unit that started as a small group of volunteers and eventually reached divisional status.

  From 1943 onward, the ‘Brandenburg’ Division was largely used as a traditional light infantry unit. There was still some measure of special operations throughout 1943, but these lessened considerably in the year that followed. Indeed, during April 1944 it became the Panzergrenadier Division ‘Brandenburg’ and was involved in fierce fighting against Tito’s Partisans and then on the Eastern Front where it ended its last days of combat. This period I have not covered as I have chosen to focus upon the ‘special operations’ nature of the Brandenburgers’ story. However, I have included a little more information about an SS unit to which many Brandenburgers transferred at the point when they realised they were to be converted into ‘ordinary’ soldiers. That formation was Otto Skorzeny’s SS Jagdverbände that originated from a direct Waffen SS/SD attempt to rival the Abwehr’s ‘Brandenburg’ Regiment. While the study of Jagdverbände activity included here is certainly not exhaustive, it flows from the narrative point of view directly from events preceding it and involves some of the central characters of the story up to that point.

  The Brandenburgers were a unique part of the Wehrmacht. This is their history.

  Acknowledgements

  I’d like to take the opportunity to thank a few people who have helped with this project. Firstly, my wife Anna and children Megan and James who put up with the tribulations of being around an obsessive author. Thanks to Audrey ‘Mumbles’ Paterson for constant support from the other side of the world. Also, thanks to Michael Leventhal, my esteemed publisher. Greenhill is back! Countless friends have also helped me along in more ways than I can list and I’d like to thank them all for that. I’d also like to single out some people who directly assisted with aspects of this manuscript: Sakis Nikas in Greece for an illuminating discussion about events there during the war; John Edward DeMicoli and his son Leighton John in Malta, for a glimpse at the treasure trove of Siegfried Grabert’s letters (see: https://youtu.be/u5FLrUtYCXE); Karin and Ted von Hippel; Don Pawsey for coming to the rescue with Finnish translation.

  Over the course of several years I have had the good fortune to communicate with many veterans of the Second World War. Sadly, most of them are no longer with us. Nonetheless, the time I spent in their company continues to inspire me not only to write these books, but to also try and get them as accurate as I can to what actually happened. I would like to mention a few of these people once again here and thank them and their families for the time they spent teaching me about events that took place so many decades ago. My eternal gratitude to: Jürgen Oesten; Hans-Rudolf Rösing; Erich Topp; Gerhard Buske; Georg Seitz; Manfred Fischer; Hans-Joachim Krug; Ernst Gothling; Horst Bredow; Wolfgang Hirschfeld; Bernard Geissman; Fritz Weinrich; Volmaar König; Ludwig Stoll. Thanks to Frau Hanne Suhren and Gesa Suhren for memorable evenings in Hamburg. Plus, a special thanks to Jürgen Weber and the München U-bootskameradschaft of which I was honoured to be a member.

  I’d l
ike to dedicate this book, once more, to Lemmy and to Bruce West, one of New Zealand’s finest.

  Glossary and Abbreviations

  Abwehr – German military intelligence. Divided into three sections:

  Abteilung I: Military and economic espionage (‘Abwehr I’).

  Abteilung II: Sabotage and insurgency (‘Abwehr II’).

  Abteilung III: Counter-espionage and Wehrmacht security (‘Abwehr III’).

  der Reserve – Suffix to officer rank denoting ‘of the Reserve’. Normally indicates assignment to a Wehrkreis headquarters.

  EK I – Eisen Kreuz I (Iron Cross First Class).

  EK II – Eisen Kreuz II (Iron Cross Second Class).

  FAK – Frontaufklärungskommando; mobile reconnaissance units.

  FFI – Forces françaises de l’intérieur; French Resistance fighters.

  GFP – Geheime Feldpolizei; Secret Field Police. Plain-clothes military secret police whose primary tasks were counter-espionage, counter-sabotage, detection of treasonable activities, counter-propaganda, protecting military installations and assistance in Wehrmacht courts-martial investigations. They also became responsible for the detection of Resistance activity in Germany and occupied France. Under Wehrmacht control between 1939 and early 1942, they were absorbed into the spreading umbrella of the RSHA (qv) during 1942.

  Halbtarnung – ‘Half camouflage’, i.e. an enemy greatcoat and headgear worn over a German uniform.

  Heer – Germany Army.

  Ia – Operations officer.

  Ib – Quartermaster.

  Ic – Intelligence officer.

  Kampfdolmetscher – Combat interpreter.

  Linsen – Explosive motor boat. Normally operated in threes; two piloted towards the target, the pilot bailing out when close and the boat guided on its final run to target by the third ‘control Linsen’ using remote control.

  Luftwaffe – German air force.

  LVF – Légion des volontaires français contre le bolchevisme; French volunteers for the Wehrmacht.

  KvK – Kleinkampferverbände der Kriegsmarine; German naval small battle units (Linsen, human torpedoes, midget submarines etc).

  Kriegsmarine – German Navy.

  MAS – Italian motor torpedo boats of the Decima Flottiglia Mezzi d’Assalto.

  MFP – Marinefahrprähme; landing craft.

  Milice – French fascist militia.

  Neger – Original one-man ‘human torpedo’ design used by the KvK.

  NKVD – The People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs; Soviet secret police from 1934 to 1946 which also fielded armed units in combat.

  NOVJ – National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia.

  NSDAP – National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), abbreviated to ‘Nazi’.

  OKH – Oberkommando des Heeres; Army high command.

  OKL – Oberkommando der Luftwaffe; Air Force high command.

  OKW – Oberkommando der Wehrmacht; supreme military command.

  OSS – Office of Strategic Services; wartime intelligence agency of the United States and predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency.

  PaK – Panzerabwehrkanone; German anti-tank gun.

  Pionier – Engineer; ‘Sapper’ in British parlance.

  PPF – Parti Populaire Français (French Popular Party); French fascist and anti-Semitic political party.

  RSHA – Reichssicherheitshauptamt; Reich Main Security Office, subordinate to Heinrich Himmler as both head of the SS and Chef der Deutschen Polizei (Chief of German Police).

  SA – Sturmabteilung; Stormtroopers. Known as ‘Brownshirts’, the SA were the Nazi Party’s paramilitary unit formed to protect Nazi rallies and meetings and fight with opposing paramilitary militia as well as attempting to enforce Nazi directives such as the boycott of Jewish businesses.

  SD – Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS; Security Service of the Reichsführer SS, the intelligence agency of the SS.

  SOE – Special Operations Executive; British organisation created to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe.

  Sonderführer – literally ‘specialist leader’. Typically a specialist in a particular field given temporary command in the Wehrmacht, Waffen SS and other organisations such as the Organisation Todt. Frequently given to men without military training, the rank of Sonderführer allowed the military to exploit the expertise of civilians who were paid at a military rank deemed equivalent to their role.

  SS – Schutzstaffel; paramilitary organisation of the Nazi Party founded in 1925 as security for Adolf Hitler. Grew into a multi-faceted sprawling organisation that included a military branch known as the Waffen SS.

  STO – Service du travail obligatoire; forced enlistment and deportation of French workers to Germany.

  V-Leute – Informants or spies.

  Volltarnung – Full camouflage, i.e. an entire foreign uniform worn over a German one.

  Volksdeutsche – Ethnic Germans who resided outside of Germany.

  Wehrkreis – German military district centred around a major city. There were fifteen in Germany: I Königsberg, II Stettin, III Berlin, IV Dresden, V Stuttgart, VI Münster, VII Munich, VIII Breslau, IX Kassel, X Hamburg, XI Hanover, XII Wiesbaden, XIII Nuremberg, XIV Magdeburg and XV Jena. Two in Austria: XVII Vienna and XVIII Salzburg. One each in territory annexed to Poland after 1918 and later retaken: XX Danzig and XXI Posen. Two others were established in Poland and Czechoslovakia after invasion: Wehrkreis General Government and Wehrkreis Böhmen-Mähren, respectively.

  z.b.V. – zur besonderen Verwendung; for special use.

  Comparative Rank Table

  Heer Waffen SS British/US Army

  Generalfeldmarschall Reichsführer SS Field Marshal/General of

  the Army

  Generaloberst Oberstgruppenführer General

  General der … Obergruppenführer Lieutenant General

  (Infanterie, Artillerie etc)

  Generalleutnant Gruppenführer Major General

  Generalmajor Brigadeführer Brigadier/Brigadier

  General

  Oberführer

  Oberst Standartenführer Colonel

  Oberstleutnant Obersturmbannführer Lieutenant Colonel

  Major Sturmbannführer Major

  Hauptmann/Rittmeister Hauptsturmführer Captain

  Oberleutnant Obersturmführer Lieutenant/1st Lieutenant

  Leutnant Untersturmführer 2nd Lieutenant

  Stabsfeldwebel/Obermeister Sturmscharführer Warrant Officer I Class/Sergeant Major

  Oberfähnrich Standarten Oberjunker Senior Ensign

  Hauptfeldwebel/Hauptwachtmeister

  Oberfeldwebel/ Hauptscharführer Warrant Officer II Class/

  Oberwachtmeister Master Sergeant

  Feldwebel/Wachtmeister Oberscharführer Staff Sergeant/Technical

  Sergeant

  Fähnrich Standartenjunker Officer Candidate/Ensign

  … der Reserve (d.R.) … of the Reserve

  Unterfeldwebel/ Scharführer Sergeant/Staff Sergeant

  Unterwachmeister

  Unteroffizier Unterscharführer Corporal/Sergeant

  Stabsgefreiter Senior Lance Corporal

  Obergefreiter Senior Lance Corporal

  Gefreiter Rottenführer Lance Corporal

  Oberschütze/Oberpionier/ Sturmmann Senior Private/Private

  Oberjäger First Class

  Schütze/Pionier/Jäger Schütze Private

  PRELUDE

  The Concept Behind the Brandenburger Regiment

  ‘The conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla wins if he does not lose.’

  Henry Kissinger

  The Brandenburgers were amongst the first of the world’s military ‘special forces’. This pioneering work by the Wehrmacht has been variously under- and overestimated by historians and the layman alike. Their actual military successes have garnered little accurate attention, while their legend appears to
have spread far and wide, Brandenburgers frequently being attributed with military operations in which they actually played no part. Their relationship to the wider sphere of Abwehr work often leads to connection with various military intelligence missions that were not part of the Brandenburgers’ operational history, not helped by intelligence operatives frequently being attached to the unit for administrative or training purposes.

  This book focuses on the unit that began life as the Baulehr Kompanie z.b.V. 800 and ended as ‘Division Brandenburg’ four years later. We won’t be going down the rabbit hole of Germany’s far-flung – and frequently unsuccessful – intelligence missions that did not involve the unit as a whole. Connected though they may be by certain individuals, they are not germane to the study of the Brandenburgers themselves. Nevertheless, to fully understand the genesis of this remarkable formation it is necessary to trace its lineage back to the previous world war and then through the tangled web of conflicting loyalties that complicated much of the Wehrmacht’s ambition from before the war had begun. Though a formation of soldiers, the Brandenburgers were created from the murky world of intelligence and espionage as Germany teetered upon the brink of national catastrophe in 1939. Initially, however, we must begin in 1914 during the first of the century’s worldwide conflicts.