Turkish Security Battalions 1943

German Heer 1935-1945.

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Abicht
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Turkish Security Battalions 1943

Post by Abicht »

Here is a list of Turkish Security Battalions active in July 1943 in the East. I am wondering if anyone as data on where these soldiers were recruited from...came from... weapons and equipment used, key battles they fought in, and the fate of such units? The list shows 2 Battalions in Jult 1943 active on "the front".

Nord-
281st Sich Div
- Turkish Halb Btl. 842
- Turkish Halb Btl. 843
285th Sich Div
-Turkish Halb Btl. 844

Mitte-
-2 .Armee
-XIII AK
-Turk I/76
-Koruck 580
-Turk Btl. I./389
Sud-
-AOK 6
- Turk Btl. 450
-Pz. AOK 1
-Turk Btl. I./94 (at the front)
-Turk Btl. I./371 (at the front)
-Turk Btl. I./295
-Truk Btl. 784
-1./Turk Btl. 783
-Bef Heer.-Gebiet Sud
-OFJ 397
-Turk Btl. 783 (o.1)
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Stefan Overgaard
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Re: Turkish Security Battalions 1943

Post by Stefan Overgaard »

It's not my expertise, but shouldn't it be Turkoman instead of Turkish? Two different ethnic groups.
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Abicht
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Re: Turkish Security Battalions 1943

Post by Abicht »

Hmm good point... I should have thought of that. The units were just listed as "Turk". I hope I didnt make a large error. Still seems like a huge amount to Turkoman units. Would that ethinic group been put into seperate units vs. "Ost" Battalions? I know there are many that were in ethinic units.
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Re: Turkish Security Battalions 1943

Post by jerijerod »

I have seen a turkoman unit badge for the legion... but i can't for the life of me remember what was on it. I think they were part of the standard Heer and not attached to the SS foreign legions. I'll check my notes when i get home.
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Re: Turkish Security Battalions 1943

Post by Paulus II »

Hi all,

I checked Tessins work on this and found that he lists these battalions as follows:

Turkestan. Infanterie-Btl 842, raised at the end of 1943 but FP-number was removed in Januari 1944.
Norkaukas. Halb-Btl 842, raised in September 1942 and changed to Nordkaukas. Btl 842 in March 1944.
Nordkaukas. Halb-Btl 843, raised in September 1943 for 281 SichD.
No number 844.
Turkest. Feld-Btl I/76, raised in August 1942 as Turkest. Feld-Btl II/76 the battalion became III.(Turk)/Gren.Rgt 359 in 1944.
Turkestanischen Feld-Btl I./389, raised in the Fall of 1942 for 389 ID at Stalingrad but never served with that division. FP-number was removed in December 1943.
Turkestan Inf.Btl 450, raised in March 1942 from the I. and II Btl of the “Turkestan.-kaukas.-mohammed.Legion”
Turkestan Gren.Btl 450, from Fall 1943, later moved to the SS.
Turkestan. Inf.Btl I./94, raised on 6 November 1942 for the 94 ID at Stalingrad. FP-number was removed in November 1943.
Turkestan Feld.Btl I./371, raised in Oktiober 1942 for the 371 ID at Stalingrad but never served with that division. FP-number was removed in June 1944.
Turkestan Feld.Btl I./295, raised in August 1942 for the 295 ID at Stalingrad, FP-number was removed in November 1943.
Turkestan Inf.Btl 783, raised in September 1942 from the Turkestan Legion. FP-number was removed in December 1944.
Turkestan Inf.Btl 784, raised on 22 September 1942, the FP-number was removed in November 1943, the btl. was renamed to Turk.Inf.Btl I/295 on 31 March 1944.

So all of these battalions were made up of Turkmen and not Turks. The Turkmen tribes find their earliest traceable origin in Central-Asia, part of which we now know as Turkmenistan but they have been moving around quite a bit over the past centuries resulting in Turkmen living all over the Central-Asian, Kaukasus region.
The country we now know as Turkey has a history that goes back millenia with tribes and peoples moving in and out of the region almost constantly. The Turkish “ethnic heritage” is therefore a very mixed-up affair. But the name Turkey stems from the Turkman tribes that arrived and conquered the region starting in the 11th century and ended up by founding the Ottoman Empire. This is, of course, a very crude description of what happened.

Tessin puts a questionmark with most of these units when it comes to there active service. With some he doubts if the units were raised at all!

Best regards,

Paul
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