An Cosantóir June 2017 www.dfmagazine.ie
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By PAUL O'BRIEN MA
D
uring World War II, the Allies
formed many specialist units in or-
der to hit back at Axis strongholds
in Europe, North Africa and the Mediter-
ranean. Special Forces units such as the
Special Air Service (SAS), the Long-Range
Desert Group (LRDG), the Rangers and the
Commandos blasted their way into the
history books with tales of daring-do. How-
ever, unknown to many the German army
had, since the rearmament of their forces in
the 1930s, also championed such specialist
units and deployed them in many of their
campaigns. While the ruthlessness of the
SS (Schutzstaffel) and the bravery of the
Fallschirmjäger are well known, there was
another, lesser known, group of special-
ists: the Brandenburg Kommandos.
Originally formed to operate as a section
of military intelligence (Abwehr), the unit
was the brainchild of Captain Theodor von
Hippel. Examining the tactics used by the
Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War,
Hippel proposed that similar small units
trained in sabotage and fluent in foreign
languages could operate behind enemy
lines, wreaking havoc with the enemy's
logistic and communication lines. Initially
Hippel's idea met resistance but with the
support of his section chief, Helmuth
Groscurth, the Army General Staff gave the
green light for the formation of 'a company
of saboteurs for the west'.
Recruitment into the Brandenburgers,
like that of the intelligence service, was
strictly on a volunteer basis, as in the event
of capture they would be treated as spies
and executed. Typical recruits were college
educated, had civilian occupations before
the war, were self-sufficient, mature for
their age, self-confident, proficient in lan-
guages, and nonconformist. The unit was
- t h e B r a n d e n b u r g K o m m a n d o s -
A Brandenburger with the newly
introduced Sturmgewehr 44.
Otto Skorzeny (left) and the former Brandenburger Adrian
von Fölkersam (right) now with Skorzeny's SS-Jagdverbände
in Budapest after Operation Panzerfaust, 16th October 1944.
Brandenburg Paratrooper
