Date Founded: October, 25, 1939
Date Disbanded: September, 11, 1944
Mission When Founded: Military special operations as detailed below.
Mission During the War: Same
Jurisdiction: Global
Headquarters: Berlin (staff). Generalfeldzeugmeister-Kaserne, Brandenburg/Havel (main barracks). Later several smaller barracks scattered over Germany and Austria, including Rathenow/Havel (airborne), Admont/Steiermark in Austria (mountain) and Swinemünde on the Baltic Sea (coastal raiders), later at Langenargen (Lake Constance). Subunits were headquartered at various times at Baden-Unterwaltersdorf (near Vienna), Freiburg im Breisgau (Black Forest), Allenstein (East Prussia), Ploesti (Romania) and Gatron (Libya)
# of Personnel: 320 in October 1939, full division with several independent smaller units attached in late 1944
Annual Budget: N/A
History/Profile: The term Brandenburger
(the men from Brandenburg), while slightly sloppy, is used here to describe a
German Army special forces unit that changed its size, composition and name
continually during its short history. The unit had its origins in several small
and secret formations which played a part in the first stages of the war,
notably the invasions in Czechoslovakia
and Poland.
They consisted mainly of people born and raised as minorities in these
countries, and operated behind the lines in advance of the main forces.
The driving force behind the creation of what was to become the Brandenburg units was
Admiral Canaris, head of the Abwehr (the military intelligence agency operated
by the Wehrmacht). Abwehr Abteilung II/Ausland, the department responsible for
foreign intelligence and sabotage, created the Baulehr-Kompanie zur besonderen
Verwendung 800 (construction/training company for special applications no. 800)
shortly after the start of the war, incorporating men from the earlier units as
well as other suitable volunteers. Since the original barracks were located
near Brandenburg,
a small town to the west of Berlin,
the unit would soon earn the nickname “Brandenburg”, and the men
“Brandenburger”. The unit was to become a tactical tool of the
Abwehr. Actual command lay in the hands of the Wehrmacht, though, which
sometimes led to problems, as many newly transferred officers had no real clue
what the unit was doing.
At least in the early years, all men were competent in at least one
foreign language, and thoroughly trained in special military operations.
Specialized training was provided at the Kampf- und Abwehrschule Quenzsee near Brandenburg, a training
facility operated by the Abwehr and also used for the instruction of spies and
saboteurs. The curriculum concentrated on foreign languages, demolitions,
communications, covert insertion including parachuting, and small-unit tactics.
Furthermore, riding, driving and piloting skills were offered. Weapons
familiarization included working Allied equipment such as T-34 and M-4 Sherman
tanks. A few men were pilots, and one mission in North
Africa used a captured Spitfire fighter as recon aircraft. Some
received special instruction at the laboratories of the Abwehr in Berlin-Tegel,
where secret equipment such as long-term detonators, forged papers,
concealments, etc. was prepared.
Typical operations included long range reconnaissance, the
destruction or seizure and protection of communication centers, bridges and
supply facilities such as oil refineries, the formation of bridgeheads through
insertion by overland vehicles, parachute, attack boats or U-boats, and similar
missions only achievable by a small force operating in secrecy. The men often
operated in disguise, which could mean anything from quickly donning foreign
great coats and steel helmets to a complete disguise, down to beards,
circumcised willies and forged papers.
Siegfried Grabert (11 January 1916 – 25 July 1942) was a highly decorated Major der Reserve in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. The Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Siegfried Grabert was killed on 25 July 1942 during a commando operation to destroy a dam between Rostov and Bataisk. He was posthumously promoted to Major der Reserve and on 6 November 1943 was awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knight’s Cross.
Brandenburger were used in many operations, in many areas. They
operated in Denmark (during the invasion), Norway (“Unternehmen
Widar”, during the invasion), Finland, Spain (“Unternehmen
Felix”, planned seizure of Gibraltar), France, Belgium, the Netherlands,
England (notably prior to the abortive “Unternehmen Seelöwe”, the
planned invasion), Italy, Greece (especially the airborne landing on Crete),
Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and the rest of the Balkans, Russia, Libya,
Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Iran, Iraq and other countries of the Middle East,
Afghanistan, India and South Africa.
Unit set-up varied widely according to the mission, from 2-men teams
over companies (about 300 men, the most usual deployment size) to complete
battalions. A squad had twelve men. Methods of insertion also varied, some of
the more bizarre missions including: the flight of the Afghanische Kompanie
(about 20 men) via civilian aircraft in neutral markings from Austria to
Afghanistan (two tonnes of equipment, including a disassembled 20×138mmB
Rheinmetall FLAK30 AA gun, had earlier been smuggled into the country in 30
diplomatic pouches!) in 1940. Another interesting one was the covert insertion
of a five-man team via U-boat to South Africa in 1943.
While Admiral Canaris and other leaders of the Abwehr are believed
to have created the Brandenburger as a means of getting at an efficient private
army, this idea soon failed – most members of this unit, while not necessarily
fanatical loyal to Hitler and his Nazi ideology, were extremely patriotic and
nationalistic. Many had lived abroad when the war started, and reached Germany
on dangerous and adventurous ways, breaching the British blockade, only to
serve their country. These men were not loyal to the head of the Abwehr, but to
their immediate commanders and their country only. In 1943, when being enlarged
to division-size, its mission was changed to provide an always available force
under direct command of the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH – Army High Command).
After the failed assassination of Hitler in 1944, operations of the
Abwehr were delegated to the SD. In September 1944, it was decided that the
unit’s special operations capability was no longer required. The Division
“Brandenburg” was transformed into a conventional motorized infantry
division, while 1,800 soldiers joined the ranks of Otto Skorzeny’s
Jagdverbände, combat units with similar missions that were earlier carried out
by the Brandenburger. When the war ended, some of those with good
English-language skills were hired by the British Commandos and later given
British passes. Most of these emigrated to African countries after their
service with the British. Many others joined the French Légion Étrangere.
Baulehr-Kompanie zbV 800 “Deutsche Kompanie”
Founded on October, 25, 1939. Knowledge of a foreign language was mandatory.
Most members were Germans who had lived in Eastern and South-eastern Europe,
such as Silesia, the Sudetenland etc, and were fluent in the languages spoken
there.
Baulehr-Battallion zbV 800 “Brandenburg”
On December 15, 1939, the company was enlarged to battalion-size. It consisted
of four companies. A motorcycle platoon, a paratrooper platoon and several
other specialized units such as the Afghanische Kompanie (undersized) were
later attached.
1st Co. Baltenkompanie with ethnic Germans from Estonia, Finland,
Latvia, Ukraine and Russia, all spoke Russian.
2nd Co. mainly men who had lived overseas, many being fluent in English,
French, Portuguese and/or African languages.
3rd Co. Composed of Sudetendeutsche, who spoke Czech.
4th Co. Composed of Oberschlesier, who spoke Polish.
Lehr-Regiment zbV 800 “Brandenburg”
On October 12, 1940, the battalion was enlarged to regiment-size. The regiment
consisted of three battalions plus some attached units.
I. Four companies (1.-4.)
1st Co. was the Baltenkompanie. Battallion Nachtigal (“nightingale”),
a “legionary” unit consisting of Ukrainian volunteers, was attached.
That unit’s “political leader” was Hauptmann Prof. Oberländer,
Minister for Refugees in post-war West Germany. The unit was disbanded in
summer 1941 as unreliable.
II. Four companies (5.-8.).
5th, 7th and 8th Co. were Gebirgsjäger. 5th Co. had three platoons, one each
with men from Palestine, SW-Africa and Tyrol. 6th Co. was a Aufklärungskompanie
(recon unit), and stationed undercover in Romania.
III. Five companies (9.-12., 15.).
12th Co. was the Englische Kompanie, whose members received special training
for “Unternehmen Seelöwe”. In spring 1941, the Tropen-Kompanie was
formed under Leutnant Fritz von Koenen from parts of the 11th Co. Most members
had good knowledge of North Africa, its people and languages. The 15th (Light)
Co. was made up of 127 of the best skiers of the German Army (including one
gold medalist of the 1936 Olympic Games) and received further specialized
training for operations in the Finnish-Russian border area against Murmansk.
They also had 60 sled-dogs and 6 tracker/silent take-down dogs.
In 1941, the 13. (Sonder) und 17. (Sonder)-Kompanie were attached to
regiment headquarters.
In summer 1942, the Küstenjäger-Kompanie was formed, a marine raider
units composed mostly of people from the Caucasus. It was directly attached to
regiment headquarters.
Arabische Brigade.
A volunteer force, fighting from 1940 onwards in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran,
later with Kurdish allies in the Caucasus. It had only few German officers and
was attached to the Deutsche Militär-Mission, Orient.
Deutsch-Arabische Legion.
Mixed German-Arabian membership, operated mainly in Tunisia.
Lehr-Division zbV 800 “Brandenburg”
Between late 1942 and January 1943, the regiment was transformed into a
division, eventually including various specialized subunits such as U-boat
crews, artillery, tank, antitank, combat engineer and air defense subunits. It
was declared operational on April 4, 1943.
Tropen-Abteilung “von Koenen”
Five companies, based on the former Afrika-Kompanie and led by Fritz von
Koenen. 5th Co. was a coastal raider unit (1.-5.).
Küstenjäger-Abteilung “Brandenburg”
Coastal raiders, trained by and many men originally from the Kriegsmarine
(1.-4.).
Fallschirmjäger-Abteilung “Brandenburg”
Four companies of paratroopers (1.-4.).
Gebirgsjäger-Abteilung “Brandenburg”
Four companies of mountain troops (1.-4.).
1. Regiment “Brandenburg”
Consisted of three battalions.
I. Three companies (1.-3.) and one legionary company (4.)
II. Three companies (5.-7.)
III. Four companies (9.-12.)
2. Regiment “Brandenburg”
2nd regiment consisted of three battalions.
I. Three companies (1.-3.) and one legionary company (4.)
II. Three companies (5.-7.) and one legionary company (8.)
III. Three companies (9.-11.)
3. Regiment “Brandenburg”
3rd regiment consisted of three battalions.
I. Three companies (1.-3.) and one legionary company (4.)
II. Four companies (5.-8.) and the Italienische Kompanie
III. Four companies (9.-12.)
4. Regiment “Brandenburg”
4th regiment consisted of three battalions and several attached volunteer
units.
I. Four companies (1.-4.)
II. Three companies (6.-8.) and one legionary company (9.)
III. Three companies (11.-13.)
Montenegrinische Legion (from May 1943) and Muselmanische Legion, both made up
from Albanians, Bosnians, Macedonians and Montenigrinians of Islamic faith.
Indische Legion “Asad Hind” (Free India), a regiment-sized volunteer
force made up from Indian students and prisoners of war. Trained in Germany,
partly transported to India, rest served in air defense units.
14. Kompanie
15. (Leichte) Kompanie (Fallschirmjäger)
16. (Leichte) Kompanie (Fallschirmjäger)
5. Lehrregiment “Brandenburg”
5th regiment consisted of two battalions and one legionary battalion
I. Lehrbattallion
Four companies (1.-4.)
II. Gebirgsjägerbattallion
Four companies (5.-8.)
III. Legionärsbattallion “Alexander”
Two companies (1.-2.). 1. Kompanie (Weiss) was made up from volunteers from
Belorussia and the Ukraine, 2. Kompanie (Schwarz) was composed of men from the
Caucasus.
Panzer-Grenadier-Division “Brandenburg”
From September, 13, 1944, the unit was no longer used for special operations.
Weapons: The Brandenburger used whatever
was available or seemed appropriate. In the early years, they had to do with
various weapons which were not standard issue with the Wehrmacht, such as the
Schmeisser MP28/II submachine gun and the Steyr MP16(ö) machine pistol. As the
unit grew in size, and the operations changed to large scale motorized and
later mechanized infantry assaults, the armament increasingly changed to
standard Wehrmacht issue. At the same time, dedicated SpecOps weaponry such as
sound-suppressed guns became available. Foreign equipment was often used. For
example, during operations in the Finnish-Russian border area, Finnish Suomi
Model 1931 and Soviet PPSh-41 submachine guns were issued. In 1943, organic
squad weapons included: Walther P38 pistol, MP40 submachine gun, Sten MkIIS
sound-suppressed submachine gun, MP43 assault rifle (sometimes with
sound-suppressor), Mauser Kar98k rifle, MG42 general-purpose machine gun, rifle
grenades, egg and stick hand grenades. The heavy weapons platoon provided more
machine guns, 81mm Rheinmetall GrW34 mortars, 105mm LG42 recoilless rifles and
20mm FlAK38 anti-aircraft guns.
Equipment: On covert operations, all men
were issued a poison pill to avoid capture.
Selected Reading:
Kurowski, Franz (2000): Deutsche Kommandotrupps 1939-1945.
“Brandenburger” und Abwehr im weltweiten Einsatz. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart.
Skorzeny, Otto (1973): Deutsche Kommandos im 2. Weltkrieg. Band 1:
Lebegefährlich. Helmut Cramer-Verlag, Königswinter.
Skorzeny, Otto (1973): Deutsche Kommandos im 2. Weltkrieg. Band 2: Wirkämpften,
wir verloren. Helmut Cramer-Verlag, Königswinter.
Spaeter, Helmuth (1982): Die Brandenburger – eine deutsche Kommandotruppe zbV
800. 2. überarbeitete Auflage. Walter Angerer, München.
By Hans-Christian Vortisch.
