Police photo album - my best one so far

[corporalSteiner]

nice snap fest. thanks for sharing.

[Larry deZeng]

Tommaso -

This is a bit long, but here it is (it was only in Slovenia for about 6 or 7 weeks):


SS-Polizei-Gebirgsjäger-Rgt. 18


Formed 23 May 1942 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen from Polizei-Btle. 302 (Munich) as I. Batallion, 312 (Innsbruck) as II. Batallion and 325 as III. Batallion, each battalion have four companies. Added to this were a Regimentsstab, Pol.Geb.Art.Abt. 18 (Stabsbattr. and 1.-3.Battr. with 7.5 cm mountain guns), a schwere Kp. and a Nachr.Kp. The Nachrichten-Kp. (signals company) was later identified as Pol.(Geb.)-Nachr.Kp. 101. Police signal companies were generally independently numbered so they could be moved around as needed.

History
c.26 Jul 42: transferred to Oberkrain (Upper Carniola – today: Ljubljana – Kranj area of Slovenia).
Aug – Oct 42: patrolled and swept the mountains and forests around Horjul 30-35 km WNW and NW of Ljubljana to seek out and destroy Partisan bands as part of Operation “Enzian” that was already underway with . This activity had as much to do with training as it did operations.
12 Oct 42: the last elements of the Regiment departed Slovenia for Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Nov 42: rested and refitted in preparation for transfer.
Dec 42: moved by train to Danzig and then by ship to Oulu/Finland for assignment to the XVIII. Gebirgskorps/20. Gebirgs-Armee (Gen. Dietl) in northern Finland.
10 Jul – 18 Aug 43: departed Finland and transferred via Oulu and Danzig to Amfissa/132 km NW of Athens in Greece
Sep 43 – Sep 44: now operational as an anti-partisan unit in Greece; over the next 9 months the Regiment’s battalions changed location frequently in Greece as the tactical situation dictated. It is referred to almost daily in the records of Heeresgruppe E, usually in connection with minor skirmishes against partisans and reprisal actions against villages and their inhabitants. The anti-partisan war in Greece was brutal and no quarter was given by either side. Those wishing details of the Regiment’s employment in Greece can refer to the microfilmed records of the Militärbefehlshaber Südost (in NARA T-501) and the daily reports of Heeresgruppe E (in NARA T-311).
6-21 Jun 44: Regiment, together with a Kampfgruppe from 117. Jäger-Div. and Greek police battalions, conducted Operation “Natter” against Greek partisans in south-central Peloponnesus.
5 - 26 Aug 44: along with elements of 104. Jäger-Div. and Greek volunteer and police units, the Regiment advanced west and southwest from Amfissa to surround and destroy partisans around the village of Karoutia/34 km WSW of Amfissa (Operation “Kreuzotter”).
15 Aug 44: composition this date - Regimentsstab, Stabskp., I. Btl. (1.-4. Kp.), II. Btl. (5.-8. Kp.), III. Btl. (9.-12. Kp.), Pol.Geb.Art.Abt. 18 (1.-5. Bttr.), schwere Kp., Pz.Aufkl.Kp., Pz.Jäg.Kp., Nachr.Kp., Feldgend.Kp., Pz.Instandsetzungs-Zug, 2 x Kraftfahrkolonnen (mot.).
1 Sep 44: ordered to accompany 4. SS-Polizei-Div. north to Vršac/74 km NE of Belgrade on the Yugoslav – Romanian border to block the westward movement of Soviet forces.
Sep 44: withdrew north from Greece to the Belgrade – Vršac area; along the way, III. Btl. was ambushed by Partisans in the vicinity of Topola/25 km SE of Kragujevac and decimated.
12 Sep 44: most of the Regiment now in Požarevac/60 km ESE of Belgrade.
2 Oct 44: Rgts.Stab in Straza/17 km S of Vršac under the tactical command of Pz.Gren.Div. Brandenburg which came under Generalkommando Müller/Armee-Abt. Serbien.
11-23 Oct 44: took part in the defense of Belgrade along with many other units, but forced to withdraw in the face of numerically superior Soviet and Yugoslav Partisan forces and by 24 October the remnants of the Regiment were engaged around Irig/57 km NW of Belgrade.
Nov 44: fought in defensive positions around Erdevik/Syrmia as part of Kampfgruppe Lindenblatt to 11 November and then transferred to the Osijek – Valpovo area where it took up defensive positions along the Danube under Kampfgruppe Nitsche until the end of January 1945.
31 Dec 44: Rgts.Stab in Valpovo/23 km NW of Osijek tactically under XXXIV. Armeekorps/H.Gr. E.
Feb 45: moved 55 km to the WNW and took up positions along the Drava in the vicinity of Sopje and Podravska Slatina and remained there until the end of March.
1 Apr 45: moved northwest again to the Koprivnica – Varaždin area where it was assigned to Kampfgruppe Fischer and caught up in periodically bitter fighting alongside elements of the XV. Kosaken-Kav.Korps.
5 May 45: began withdrawing toward Maribor near the Slovene – Austrian border, eventually surrendering on 13 May. Of the initial complement of 4,800 men, the Regiment is said to have lost a total of 3,080 killed, wounded and missing.

FpNs: Stab (12085), I. Btl. (17228), II. Btl. (13069), III. Btl. (19754), schw.Kp. (15517), Art.Abt. (56412), Pol.(Geb.)-Nachr.Kp. 101 (13602).

Kommandeur:
Oberst der Schutzpolizei Hermann Franz (Jul 42 - Aug 43)
Obstlt. Hösl (Sep 43 - 2 Oct 44) WIA
Maj. Mann (2 Oct 44 - 10 Oct 44) KIA
Maj.d.Schutzpolizei Poys (11 Oct 44 - 13 May 45)

[Sources:
Neufeldt, Hans-Joachim, Jürgen Huck and Georg Tessin – Zur Geschichte der Ordnungspolizei 1936-1945, Schriften des Bundesarchiv Nr. 3 (Koblenz: Bundesarchiv, 1957); Vojnoistorijski Glasnik, knj. 3 (Beograd, 1952) and knj. 4 (Beograd, 1953); [Vojnoistorijski institute] - Oslobodilački rat naroda Juooslavije 1941-1945, 2 Vols. (Belgrade: 1965), pp.274, 290 and 314; Narodnoosvobodilna Vojna na Slovenskem 1941-1945 (Ljubljana, 1978), pp.355-76, NARA WashDC: RG 242 microfilmed records of the German military commands in wartime Greece and Yugoslavia, as well as Nuremberg Case VII (Southeast or “Hostage” Case in NARA Microfilm Publication M-893); Franz, Hermann - Gebirgsjäger der Polizei: Polizei-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 18 und Polizei-Gebirgs-Artillerieabteilung, 1942 bis 1945 (Bad Nauheim: Verlag Hans-Henning Podzun, 1963); Muñoz, Antonio J. – Herakles & the Swastika (Bayside: Axis Europa, n.d.); NARA WashDC: RG 242 (T-78 roll 410/8310-72); Web Site http://www.ssocr.com/collectibles/ss_pol_reg18.htm .]

© H.L. deZeng IV, 2006

[wallonien]

Not sure about this photo. It might be taken in the Balkans.. The photos after are most likely from Finland.

To me it looks like this photo was taken in a prison; you see windows with bars in the background, and the Polizei officers have a lot of keys.

Anyway, GREAT set of photos, thanks for sharing!

[MJC]

Hey Tor,

Thanks very much for sharing and congratulations on your acquisition

[SMV]

Tor,

What a fantastic pictorial archive! I am thoroughly enjoying viewing your fotos, thank you for sharing.

Regards

[Tor]

Tor,

What a fantastic pictorial archive! I am thoroughly enjoying viewing your fotos, thank you for sharing.

Regards

Thank you. If I just could have had more of the precious comodity - spare time - I probably could have translated more, and added more comments.

[W.Unland]

Hello,

As a police collector I thank you for posting the album. Very interesting uniform details, not the least of which is that most of the personnel seem to be wearing SchuPo eagles/insignia (tabacco colored tabs etc) rather than Gendarmerie which might be expected of a mountain and ski qualified unit. Some also appear to be wearing SchuPo d. Gemeinden eagles so clearly this unit was made up of personnel from various police branches.

As an old jailer myself that photo with the SD guy is definitely in a prison. The keys in the belt is a dead giveaway. I carried my Folger Adams' exactly the same way for the three years I was down at the LA Cnty. Jail.

Very nice.

Thanks again,
Bill Unland

[Mil-Archive]

Great album & thanks for posting - saw it last night but couldnt respond due to connection problems.

Btw 189 is upside down i think.

[Tor]

Thank you for all your comments.
I will fix the photo that is upside down

[Tommaso]

History
c.26 Jul 42: transferred to Oberkrain (Upper Carniola – today: Ljubljana – Kranj area of Slovenia).
Aug – Oct 42: patrolled and swept the mountains and forests around Horjul 30-35 km WNW and NW of Ljubljana to seek out and destroy Partisan bands as part of Operation “Enzian” that was already underway with . This activity had as much to do with training as it did operations.

Thanks a lot Larry,

But please correct me if I'm wrong: standing to the tunics and the uniforms doesn't looks 1942 to me but more likely 1943-44...
I'm I wrong?

Cheers

[Larry deZeng]

But please correct me if I'm wrong: standing to the tunics and the uniforms doesn't looks 1942 to me but more likely 1943-44...
I'm I wrong?

The history is absolutely correct. As for the uniforms, someone else will have to address that for you because I am a historian and not a collector. I know little to nothing about uniforms.

'gards,

Larry

[Tommaso]

Thanks Larry,

I'm not saying that the history is not correct, I'm just saying that the pictures taken in Oberkrain seems to be post-43 to me, but maybe I'm wrong.

Cheers
T

[Alpspitze]

Hallo!

Thank you very much for posting this very nice pictures. A lot of these pictures show my hometown Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Here the Pol.Geb.Jäg.RGT. 18 where formed. There are pictures from the Schneeferner Haus near the Zugspitze, the highest mountain of Germany.

Kind regards

Hannes

[soldier]

great pics

Thank you very much for the link. There are great pics

[BlackWolf3945]

Wonderful stuff!

Thanks for sharing these...


Thought you might like to know that this photo shows the remains of a Fieseler Fi 156 Storch...

http://d2134644.u48.surftown.nu/copp...php?pos=-21824


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