An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 35 formed into four companies, based on the linguistic skills of its agents. Training was conducted at Quenzgut, an estate along the Quenzsees, a lake just west of the city of Brandenburg. Classes included swimming, the customs and traditions of potential mission regions, languages, communications, explosives, field-craft, terrain and map reading, weap- ons, small-unit and individual combat techniques, and infiltration methods such as glider, parachute or fast boat. Brandenburg units were considered part of the spearhead and were to be deployed in advance of the main force as small comman- do units to penetrate into enemy territory and conduct both sabotage and anti-sabo- tage operations. Their skills were so proficient that they could work freely amongst enemy troops, countermanding orders, redirecting military convoys, disrupting communications and reporting intelligence information back to Axis command. As Germany prepared to invade Poland in 1939, commando units, some dressed as Polish soldiers and others in civilian attire, were dropped behind enemy lines. Units consisting of Polish-speaking Silesians and ethnic Germans seized key access points and strategic positions before the arrival of regular German army units. The success of this mission gave further impetus for their use in the coming Blitzkrieg that was about to be unleashed on Western Europe. In April 1940, as combat operations in the west commenced, Brandenburg units participated in numerous missions in support of conventional German forces. Dressed in civilian attire, commandos were inserted by glider into Denmark where they secured primary road and river cross- ings near the border, enabling motorised infantry brigades to advance into the country. Others, dressed in Danish military uniforms, secured the Great Belt Bridge. A month later they assisted Alpine units as they invaded Norway. In Holland and Belgium they secured bridges and water- ways, preventing the lowlands from being flooded, which would have prevented the deployment of German armoured units. In these operations, 42 out of 61 objec- tives were secured, resulting in Wilhelm Keitel, chief of staff of the German High Command, stating that the force fought 'outstandingly well.' Of the 600 men who participated in these operations, 75 received Iron Cross commendations from Adolf Hitler. They then turned their attention to the Balkans, participating in Operation Marita, where units took and held the strategically important bridge over the Vardar, as well as securing the gorge on the River Danube that forms part of the boundary between Serbia and Romania, providing Axis forces with a clear line of advance. As the invasion of the Soviet Union com- menced in June 1941, Brandenburg Komman- dos dressed in Russian uniforms secured vital and strategic locations as well as essential oil fields in advance of regular forces. In order to capture the Dvina Bridge in Daugavpils, Brandenburgers comman- deered a Soviet truck and bluffed their way onto the bridge, overpowered the guards and managed to hold the position against counter-attacks by Russian forces. The unit went on to operate in Persia, Afghanistan and India. They also carried out commando-type operations against Allied supply lines in North Africa, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. In August 1942, Adrian von Fölkersam was tasked with seizing and securing the vital Maikop oilfields in Russia. This mission would require the Brandenburg Kommandos to penetrate farther into enemy territory than any other German unit had done before. These oil fields had to be captured intact as the petroleum was vital for the German war effort. It would require stealth and cunning to achieve the mission. Von Fölkersam devised a plan to get through the Russian defences. He disguised his unit as NKVD (Russian secret police) and using Soviet trucks managed to pass through Red Army front lines undetected. Coming across fleeing Russian troops, von Fölkersam improvised. Rallying the retreat- ing Russians, he persuaded them to return to duty and then joined his convoy up with them, using them as cover to penetrate further behind enemy lines without being challenged, allowing him to secure the oil fields and accomplish his mission. The unit continued assisting regular German military units throughout the war until the tide turned against Germany. In 1944 it was decided that the specialists were no longer needed and some were transferred to infantry units and fought on the Eastern Front while others were assigned to the Grossdeutschland Division. They were involved in fierce fighting near Memel on the Eastern Front and suffered heavy casualties as they withdrew from the battle via ferry to Pillau. As World War II came to its bloody conclusion, many Brandenburg Kom- mandos surrendered to British forces at Schleswig-Holstien in May 1945. Others, trained in the skills of evasion, managed to evade capture and disappear. Many en- listed in the French Foreign Legion where their skills, honed behind the lines on the battlefields of Europe and North Africa, would soon be used by the French in Indo- China against a new enemy, the Viet Cong. A brutal and unrelenting war of counter- insurgency was about to be unleashed and the Brandenburgers, donning a different uniform, would fight in what was to be their final campaign. Oberstleutnant Wilhelm Walther, the first Brandenburger to win the Knight's Cross. Walther and his men, disguised in Dutch uniforms, captured an important bridge over the Meuse River in Holland, on 10th May 1940. Brandenburg German soldiers wearing Russian uniforms.

• Cover