Some Freikorps Unit Badges

[Brian L.]

Wehr-Regiment München

Formed on 8. May, 1919 as a security force to police Munich after the defeat of the communists of the Bavarian Soviet in early May 1919. It initially had a strength of approximately 3,000 men drawn from various other Bavarian Freikorps, including Freikorps Epp and the Bavarian "Sicherheitspolizei" (security police). It was considered the military arm of the Bavarian security police and by 1920 was designated Polizei-Wehr-Regiment München before eventually being absorbed by the Bavarian "Landespolizei" (state police) in 1921.

Pictured are:

The sleeve badge of Wehrregiment München
A recruiting poster
Newspaper notices from Bayerland newspaper calling for volunteers
A photo of Rittmeister Heinrich Heniger in the uniform of the Vorläufige (provisional) Reichswehr (June to Oct. 1919) wearing the sleeve badge of Wehrregiment München.

[Brian L.]

Unknown Sleeve Badge - Possibly Detachement von Randow

This sleeve badge is identified as 'Unknown' by Ingo Haarcke in his catalogue of Freikorps unit insignia. But, it was identified some years ago as possibly a custom-made sleeve badge for officers in Detachement von Randow. Regardless, as proof of the dramatically increasing interest in Freikorps, this badge just sold for 366 EUR which is about twice what I expected it to sell for. Other items have recently been going for quite impressive prices. So, at least at the moment, the pandemic doesn't seem to be cooling down the hot market for Freikorps.

Unknown_poss Randow Officer.jpg

[Brian L.]

Freiwilliges Jäger-Bataillons Nr. 11. / Freikorps der “Marburger Jäger”

Reserve-Jäger-Bataillons Nr. 11. was first used in Belgium and France and then from 1916 in Macedonia and in 1918 in Palestine against British troops, where it was almost "completely wiped out". 41 officers, 150 NCOs and 1281 enlisted men were either dead or missing by the end of the war.

Remnants of Reserve-Jäger-Bataillons Nr. 11. returned to Marburg from Palestine in November 1918 and formed Freiwilliges Jäger-Bataillons Nr. 11. / Freikorps der "Marburger Jäger". This small Freikorps was commanded by Hauptmann Friedrich-Wilhelm von Chappuis (later General der Infanterie in WWII) and consisted mostly of former fighters of the active battalion to which were added a few remaining recruits from the reserve garrison battalion resulting in a strength of 23 officers and 616 non-commissioned officers and men.

Freikorps der “Marburger Jäger” is remembered mainly for taking punitive action against Serb, Croat and Slovene troops known as “Maister’s Fighters” led by a rogue Slovene officer, Major Rudolf Maister (the Butcher of Maribor) after Maister’s men massacred 13 German civilians and wounded another 60 during a pro-German/Austrian demonstration in Marburg on January 27, 1919, which came to be known as "Marburg's Bloody Sunday". The resulting action led to a treaty in which Marburg (Maribor) became part of Yugoslavia.

Subsequently, Freikorps der “Marburger Jäger” served in Grenzschutz Ost border patrol in Upper Silesia initially suppressing a Spartacist-led miners’ strike and fighting in the First Polish Uprising in 1919.

The Freikorps transferred to the Reichswehr in October 1919.

Due to the small size of this Freikorps, this sleeve badge is extremely rare. In 50 years of Freikorps collecting, this is only the second one I've ever seen. Even in Haarcke's Freikorps catalogue he only has a very rough line drawing for this badge.

Marburger Jaegersm.jpg

[Brian L.]

Freiwillige Wachabteilung Bahrenfeld / Freikorps Bahrenfeld / Zeitfreiwilligenkorps Groß-Hamburg / Freikorps Sieveking

Das Freikorps Bahrenfeld („Die Bahrenfelder“), first Das Freiwillige Wachabteilung Bahrenfeld, and later Zeitfreiwilligenkorps Groß-Hamburg was a Hamburg Freikorps from Altona, which existed from 1919 to 1920. The secret initiative to found the Freikorps came from a group of Hamburg merchants who had come together under the code name “Cloud” with the aim to prevent political overthrow attempts by the Left, as the garrison troops still in the city were too weak and the police were neither equipped nor militarily trained for the civil war.
The Freikorps was founded on the 12 March 1919 in a barracks in Bahrenfeld and was largely made up of students and demobilized soldiers which included former members of Infantry Regiment No. 76. The Wachabteilung was initially under the command of Major Paul Fromm. On June 3, 1919, the Freikorps was taken over as an independent formation in the Reichswehr and was designated as Reichswehr-Jäger-Batailon Groß-Hamburg. In June 1919 the active strength of the unit was about 600 men, plus about 800 reserves.
The Freikorps was deployed towards the end of June 1919 in the suppression of revolutionary unrest in Hamburg, which had arisen on suspicion of panhandling and persistent food shortages ("brawn riots" „Sülzeunruhen“). Under the leadership of Captain Kurt Senftleben, who was in charge of guarding the barracks and the Bahrenfeld ammunition depot, a Bahrenfeld batallion marched to Hamburg City Hall to put down a demonstration. One demonstrator was killed causing an angry mob to attack members of the Freikorps.14 members of the Bahrenfelder were killed, and another 42 were wounded.
From August 1919 the unit was called Zeitfreiwilligenkorps Groß-Hamburg under the command of Captain Wilhelm von Rauchhaupt, who was replaced by Captain Sieveking from October 1919. The Freikorps then became known as Freikorps Sieveking. According to the terms of the Versailles Treaty, the Freikorps was dissolved on March 31, 1920.

Subsequently, a portion of former members of the Freikorps became part of the Hamburg police.

Freiwillige Wachabteilung Bahrenfeld/Freikorps Bahrenfeld initially wore a dark green cuff-title with the words "Kompanie Bahrenfeld" embroidered in script in white.

In commemoration of this, a Tradition cuff-title (shown below) was instituted in 1930 for wear by former members of Freikorps Bahrenfeld serving in the Hamburg Police. A special (quite rare) version of the cuff-title embroidered in yellow on blue wool with silver cord piping was established for former members of Freikorps Bahrenfeld who were police officers.

Bahrenfeldcompsm.jpg
Bahrenfeld officer cufftitlesm.jpg
In August 1919, when the Freikorps changed its name to Zeitfreiwilligenkorps Groß-Hamburg, it adopted a silvered arm shield displaying the coat of arms of Greater Hamburg. The badges tended to be made with a few different finishes: frosted silvered brass, oxidized silvered brass and oxidized and blued silver brass (as seen here). When the Freikorps changed its name again to Freikorps Sieveking in October 1919, this sleeve shield continued to be worn until the Freikorps was dissolved in March 1920.

Zeitfreiw_Gross Hamburgcompsm.jpg