Perry Biddiscombe - The SS Hunter Battalions_ The Hidden History of the Nazi Resistance Movement 1944-5-The History Press (2013)

620 Pages·2013·5.516 MB·English

by  Perry Biddiscombe

THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE NAZI RESISTANCE MOVEMENT
1944–45
About the Author
Perry Biddiscombe is Professor of History at the University of Victoria,
British Columbia, Canada. He is the acknowledged world expert on the
guerrilla forces of the Third Reich. His other books include The Last Nazis:
SS Werewolf Guerrilla Resistance in Europe 1944–1947 and Werwolf!: The
History of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement 1944–1946, described
by The Independent as ‘the most complete history of the Nazi partisan
movement’. He lives in Victoria.
PRAISE FOR PERRY BIDDISCOMBE
‘Throws fresh light on the Third Reich’s last days’ BBC HISTORY
MAGAZINE
‘The book explores the background to the movement, its operations and its
wholly negative legacy… this type of terrorism is a nasty constant in the
history of the German radical-right’ HISTORY TODAY
‘Detailed, meticulously researched and highly readable... a must for all
interested in the end of the Second World War’ MILITARY ILLUSTRATED
THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE NAZI RESISTANCE MOVEMENT
1944–45
PERRY BIDDISCOMBE
First published 2006
The History Press
The Mill, Brimscombe Port
Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG
www.thehistorypress.co.uk
This ebook edition first published in 2013
All rights reserved
© Perry Biddiscombe, 2006, 2013
The right of Perry Biddiscombe to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in
accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased,
licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the
publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly
permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a
direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law
accordingly.
EPUB ISBN 978 0 7524 9645 0
Original typesetting by The History Press
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 The Skorzeny Leute
2 East is East
3 The Balkan Cockpit
4 South of the Alps and West of the Rhine
5 North by North-West
6 The Time of the Wolf
Epilogue and Conclusion
Glossary of Foreign Terms and Names
Table of Ranks
List of Illustrations
Endnotes
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
My recent researches have resulted in a series of fascinating
correspondences and exchanges with scholars working in analogous areas,
whom I want to acknowledge for providing their expertise and for
stimulating my own thinking. Thanks to Paltin Sturdza, Michael Jung, and
especially Jeff Burds, with whom I have exchanged much information and
whose insights have proven invaluable in developing my understanding of
the situation in Eastern Europe. Jeff is most kind in sharing knowledge and
truly regards our discipline as a collaborative effort. Thanks as well to my
colleague, Serhy Yekelchyk, who provided advice on Ukrainian sources,
and to Eugéne Martres, who helped me with literature on German
parachutists in France.
A work of this scope – it covers twenty-four different countries – would
not have been possible without the help of a number of specialists who
provided me with access to literature in languages that are beyond my ken.
In this regard, I especially want to thank Sonja Yli-Kahila and Chris
Wojtan, who are former students of mine and graciously came to my aid.
Sonja and Chris translated literature on resistance movements in Finland
and Poland, and the depth of the sections of the book dealing with such
matters owe directly to their contributions. My appreciation as well to
Rachel Dekker, who helped me investigate rumours about Skorzeny’s
possible connection with Prince Bernhardt of the Netherlands. For aid with
letter-writing to various archives and libraries, thanks to Pasi Ahonen,
Vanetta Petkova, Bogdan Verjinschi and Sharon Willis.
A special debt of gratitude is owed to the various archivists and
librarians who have helped me over a long period of time. So thanks to the
archivists at the National Archives II (College Park), the National Archives
of the UK, the various offices and bureaux of the Bundesarchiv, the
Archives Nationales, the National Archives of Canada, the Imperial War
Museum and the Archivio Centrale dello Stato. Aila Narva at the
Arkistolaitos in Helsinki kindly provided me with references to Finnish
literature, and the staff at the Centre d’Études et de Documentation Guerre
et Sociétés Contemporaines, in Brussels, gave me material on pro-German
activists in Belgium. Thanks as well to the librarians at the Library of
Congress, the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (especially the Zeitungsabteilung,
Westhafen), the Bibliotheque Nationale, the Centre Pompidou, the British
Library, the Robbins Library (London School of Economics), the German
Historical Institute (London), and of course the McPherson Library, which
is the intellectual centrepiece of my home institution, the University of
Victoria. In particular, the librarians in the Interlibrary Loans section at
McPherson Library deserve commendation for their hard work and
diligence.
My publisher, Jonathan Reeve, kindly showed interest in a book of this
scope and gave me considerable latitude. Certainly, I am grateful for his
patience and good humour. Thanks as well to the production team at
Tempus, who excel at their jobs. Their ability to format a book that is
pleasing to the eye makes it much easier to present a historical narrative that
is not a chore to read. And thanks to one of my department’s secretaries,
Eileen Zapshala, who helped me with technical issues involved in preparing
the manuscript.
Finally, my sincere appreciation to my wife and son, who helped with
research, proofread several chapters of the manuscript and have generally
acted as a sounding board for my ideas and inspirations. Through thick and
thin, they have always supported me.
Perry Biddiscombe, Victoria, BC
Introduction
Readers who crack the spine of this volume will find themselves through
the looking glass. They will encounter a faltering Third Reich, around
1944–1945, that attempted to field partisans and ‘freedom fighters’ against
its enemies, promising to ‘liberate’ Europe from the very powers that were
themselves delivering the continent from tyranny. Such efforts revolved
around the central figure of Otto Skorzeny, the notorious German
commando chief – and rescuer of Benito Mussolini – who created a
network of special units which functioned at the intersection between
military force and politics.
Although Skorzeny prided himself a simple man, his was a house of
many mansions. The centre of his network was a series of SS battalions
called Jagdverbände, or ‘hunter formations’, which were assigned the job
of leading a guerrilla war behind the lines of the advancing Allied and
Soviet armies. This volume, however, also chronicles the story of a closely
related body called ‘Section S’, which trained saboteurs and terrorists, and
it provides an account of Abwehr ‘Frontaufklärung’ (‘front
reconnaissance’, FAK) detachments, some of which specialised in sabotage
and bore responsibilities that overlapped those of the SS-Jagdverbände. All
three types of units were controlled by Skorzeny, at least loosely, and he
planned to amalgamate them into a coherent whole. A clear recognition of
the nature and function of these organisations will help us understand the
legacy of their chief, perhaps in a different sense than he himself might
have wanted.
Anyone who seeks to understand the real history of the Skorzeny Leute
(personnel) must first cut through a powerful narrative created by Skorzeny
himself. Even while still in post-war Allied captivity, Skorzeny convinced
an American journalist to publish his account of the Mussolini rescue in
True magazine, thus introducing himself to the English-speaking world.
Memoirs followed in 1950, although these were originally greeted with a
storm of controversy: French communists rioted over the serialisation by
Figaro, while the US Government froze the proceeds from the English-
language edition. Even as late as 1963, the States Attorney in Cologne
initiated an investigation against the German publisher of Skorzeny’s
double volume autobiography on the charge that the books were inimical to
the well-being of German youth. Despite such embarrassments, Skorzeny
was widely credited with providing the ultimate account of his units’
operations, and he did his best to present a non-political image.1 He further
influenced the literature by graciously granting interviews as he basked in
exile in Franco’s Spain, and his output was supplemented by the work of his
sycophantic biographer, Charles Foley. In the commercially successful
Commando Extraordinary, Foley followed his subject’s preferences in
seeing Skorzeny as a good soldier, ‘not… like Hitler, a fanatic ready to pull
the world down on its head’. In fact, in order to get preferential access to
Skorzeny, Foley blithely ignored evidence of Skorzeny’s Nazi convictions,
including rumours about his continuing association with the post-war fascist
underground.2 Once Skorzeny had hurdled obstacles set by war crimes and
denazification trials, he became highly protective of his reputation. When a
fellow German veteran questioned the veracity of his stories, he challenged
him to a duel, and when an American television documentary suggested
that he was wanted by the Israeli Government for war crimes, he notified
the programme’s sponsors that he would sue for libel in the absence of a
retraction.3
The key impression that Skorzeny sought to create was that of a
politically neutral man-of-action, and he directed the public’s attention
toward a few of his most outstanding stunts, particularly the ‘rescue’ of
Mussolini and the infiltration of American lines during the Battle of the
Bulge. He attempted to write history in the Greek heroic vein, creating a
chronicle of extraordinary events rather than an account of process or a
description of structure. Skorzeny was also comfortable with being an icon
of masculinity and soldierly comradeship, but not with being readily
identified as a National Socialist. Similarly, he wanted to be regarded as a
swashbuckler – ‘a German D’Artagnan’ – rather than as a plotter whose
units were essentially instruments of subversion.