Schutzmannschaft's Zigling Brigade

After Operation Bagration, in the eastern regions of Poland ( одódзь ), from 16 to 19 thousand members of various collaborationist formations ( noise , stupidly, SD, commandants and BKA ) from Belarus retreated from the regions of Belarus liberated by Soviet troops.

In order to somehow use the available human resources at the end of July, the Germans begin to form a noise brigade ( German Schutzmannschaft-Brigade ) from the disbanded battalions, under the command of Obersturmbannführer Hans Siegling.

• The 1st regiment (commander - Sturmbannfuhrer Hans Osterreich) was formed from - the 60th Belarusian noise battalion, the staff of the geobit commandant of Minsk, part of the 34th BKA battalion, the 57th and 61st Ukrainian noise battalions;
• 2nd regiment (commander - Sturmbannfuhrer Helmut Gants) - the 64th Belarusian noise battalion; the staff of the Gebitsky commandants of Glubokoy and Lida; the 62nd and 63rd Ukrainian noise battalions;
• 3rd regiment (commander - Sturmbannfuhrer Wilhelm Mokha (commanding 201 Ukrainian noise battalion in 1942) - 65th, 66th and 67th Belarusian noise battalion, 36th rifle police regiment, personnel of the Slavsk geobit commandant, Baranovichi and Vileyka, and the police of the order of Minsk and Smolensk;
• The 4th regiment (commander of the Hauptsturmfürr Ernst Schmitt) is the staff of the KGB commander Slonim, Gantsevichi and Pripyat, the 23rd and part of the 34th battalion of the BKA, about 100 cadets of the officer school of Minsk from Minsk.

The artillery unit was created from the 56th artillery battalion ( German: Schuma-Art-Abteilung 56 ) and the field artillery battalion SS "Belarus" ( German SS-Pol.-Art.-Abteilung "Weissruthenien" ). SS horse squadron ( German SS-Reiter-Abteilung ) was created from the 68th Belarusian noise squadron Roguli ( German Schuma-Reiter Abteilung 68 - Reiter Schwadron Rogula ) and the 69th Cossack horse noise squadron ( German Kosaken Reiter Schutzmannschafts Bataillon F / 69 ).

Soon, the motley brigade was decided to be reorganized into a division, preparations for this began in early August. Already on August 18, the brigade gains the status of SS division - the 30th SS Grenadier Division (2nd Russian) . This does not prevent the Germans from starting to use its units in parts - the first combat-ready units left for France to fight the partisans on August 17th.

By early August, the unit was stationed in East Prussia ( Osterode ). The number was estimated at about 11,600 people. From 65 to 70% (about 7 thousand) came from the territory of Belarus, most of whom were ethnic Belarusians. The brigade also included Germans, Ukrainians, Russians, Poles, and a small number of members of the "eastern squads" of the police (Tatars, Armenians). The morale and psychological mood in the brigade was extremely low, at the earliest opportunity they deserted platoons (primarily the Poles, who in some cases joined the units of the Home Army and attacked the rear German units).

It is known that on August 6 an order came to the brigade to redeploy to Warsaw to participate in the suppression of the uprising , but the brigade did not arrive in Warsaw. On August 12, the brigade was transferred to Rosenberg ( West Prussia ) for harvesting fields and construction work.

It is also known that the Siegling police battalion ( SS-Polizei-Bataillon-Siegling ) was part of the 38th SS Grenadier Division Nibelungen ( German 38.SS-Grenadier-Division "Nibelungen" ) - formed on March 27, 1945 , which by personal order Hitler was sent to the Western Front, fought in Bavaria, and ended the war on May 8, 1945 in Reit im Winkl with surrender to American troops.

• History of Belarus
• Zybaylo Gregory

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