Was Police Regiment 18 from Vienna?

[sid guttridge]

Can anyone tell me if Police Regiment 18 was from Vienna?

Is there a list of Police Regiments anywhere on the net?

Many thanks,

Sid.

[Lorenz]

Can anyone tell me if Police Regiment 18 was from Vienna?
Is there a list of Police Regiments anywhere on the net?
Many thanks,
Sid.

No known connection to Wien:

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.
etc., etc., etc.

--Lorenz

[sid guttridge]

Hi Lorenz,

Thanks.

My source was a Polish magazine that, by my possibly flawed dictionary translation, stated that Police Regiment 18 from Vienna supplied four armoured cars to Danzig just before the war broke out. I will check this out with a Polish speaker.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Ernst-H]

Hi Lorenz,

Thanks.

My source was a Polish magazine that, by my possibly flawed dictionary translation, stated that Police Regiment 18 from Vienna supplied four armoured cars to Danzig just before the war broke out. I will check this out with a Polish speaker.

Cheers,

Sid.

That polish magazine, if quoted correctly, was mistaken. The Polizei Regiments were not created untill sometime after the war broke out. For example when Poland was invaded the Polizei Regimenter did not yet exist. There were Polizei Bataillone at that time.

You can find a listing of Polizei regiments on my website under Organisation/Branches/Regiments

[Lorenz]

Hi Lorenz,
Thanks.
My source was a Polish magazine that, by my possibly flawed dictionary translation, stated that Police Regiment 18 from Vienna supplied four armoured cars to Danzig just before the war broke out. I will check this out with a Polish speaker.
Cheers,
Sid.

That polish magazine, if quoted correctly, was mistaken. The Polizei Regiments were not created untill sometime after the war broke out. For example when Poland was invaded the Polizei Regimenter did not yet exist. There were Polizei Bataillone at that time.
You can find a listing of Polizei regiments on my website under Organisation/Branches/Regiments

It is probably referring to:

Polizeigruppe 1 (Btle. I. - V.) with AOK 14
Polizeigruppe 2 (Btle. I. - V.) with AOK 10
Polizeigruppe 3 (Btl. I.) with AOK 8
Polizeigruppe 4 z.b.V. (Btl. I.)
Polizeigruppe 5 (Btl. I.) with AOK 4
Polizeigruppe 6 (Btle. I. - IV.) with AOK 3

These 17 Bataillonen of Ordnungspolizei moved into Poland behind the respective AOKs in September 1939. Often mislabeled as Regimenter, they were in fact Polizeigruppen.

The continuously numbered Polizeiregimenter (1 - c.38 ) that you referred to first appeared on or about 9 July 1942.

--Lorenz

[cpa95]

No known connection to Wien:
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.

Hi Lorenz,

the regiment was built up to watch the aerea south of Causcasus (from Tiflis). The build-up finished June 1942.

The "Wachtmeister" mostly came from Oberbayern, Baden, Württemberg, Tirol (Austria).

quoted from Franz, Gebirgsjäger der Polizei.

Greetings
Thomas

[Lorenz]

Hi Lorenz,
the regiment was built up to watch the aerea south of Causcasus (from Tiflis). The build-up finished June 1942.
The "Wachtmeister" mostly came from Oberbayern, Baden, Württemberg, Tirol (Austria).
quoted from Franz, Gebirgsjäger der Polizei.
Greetings
Thomas

That may be so, Thomas. All I know is that the Regiment never went to Caucasia. It was sent to Slovenia and then to northern Norway and later to Greece:

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 .]

Cheers,

--Lorenz

[Jan-Hendrik]

A series of articles on the history of PolGebJgRgt.18 in german language you my find here :

http://forum.panzer-archiv.de/viewtopic ... 092#101092

Jan-Hendrik