the soviet partisan movement 1941-1944 by edgar m. howell

EARLY RUSSIAN RESISTANCE AND GERMAN COUNTERMEASURES 53
divisions 41 and several SS brigades were assigned to the security commands.
To furnish special protection in critical areas or to curb especially
troublesome resistance, security and police units were sometimes
formed into group ( Gruppe ) commands. 42
To further supplement these security troops, especially in difficult and
unmapped terrain, units of native volunteers were recruited. The first
of these were Ukrainian security units formed by the Army Group South
Rear Area when several partisan groups early in August began disrupting
communications in the southern edge of the Pripyat Marshes.
Because of their knowledge of the almost trackless terrain, these local
Ukrainians gave considerable assistance in rooting out the sources of
trouble. 43 During the same period the rear area command in the northern
sector organized a number of Estonian police units (Schutzmannschaft
Abteilung) for security and antipartisan work in Estonia. They
were formed into battalions of 330 men each with one German officer
and several German NCO's per unit. 44
On 25 July, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and the extreme western
portion of White Russia were detached from army jurisdiction and incorporated
into the Reichskommissariat Ostland, and the Army Group
North Rear Area and Army Group Center Rear Area were ordered to
assign one security division each to the Reichskommissar. 45 Similarly,
on 1 September the Reichskommissar Ukraine assumed jurisdiction of
that portion of the Ukraine west of the line Slucz River, with the Romanian,
Hungarian, and Slovak security units there being transferred
to the command of the Wehrmachtbefehlshaber. On 20 October the
Reichskommissariat Ukraine was further extended eastward to the
course of the middle and lower Dnepr. 46
As to the security divisions themselves, the first two months of operations
indicate a number of organizational deficiencies within them
which foreshadowed a decline in their effectiveness just at the time the
partisans were growing in numbers and experience. Operations indicated
they were not equipped for the mobile, hard-hitting type of action
41
These were the 707th and 339th Infantry Divisions. Both had been activated
only in 1941 and had but two infantry regiments each. See: "Order of Battle of
the German Armv." op.cit.
42 For dispositions and movements of the security units, see the Lagen Ost for the
period.
43
"Final Report on Combating Partisans and Parachutists Along the Slucz River,
213th Security Division," 31 Aug. 41. 14424/2.
44
KTB, Ia, 281st Sich. Div., 8.IX.41. 15954/2.
45
Bhf. H.Geb. Nord, Nr. 749/41 geh., 21.VII.41. in KTB, 281 Sich. Div.
15954/2. Actually Estonia continued under the jurisdiction of the Army for purposes
of local requisitioning of food supplies and the security of supply lines, while
the political authorities administered the country in a purely civil sense. See overprint
on Lage Ost for 6 Dec 41.
46
OKW/WFSt/Abt. L. (IV), Nr. 684/41. 11.X.41., Anl. 5 z. KTB 1, H. Geb. Sued,
Ia, 5.X.-26.X.41. 16407/7.