SS-Jäger-Bataillon 502

SS-Jäger-Bataillon 502

SS-Jäger-Bataillon 502 was Nazi Germany's main special forces unit from 1943-1944.

Formed in June 1943, the unit was commanded by Otto Skorzeny and was based at Friedenthal just north of Berlin, consisting originally of the three hundred members of the former Sonder Lehrgang zbv Friedenthal. After an unsuccessful attempt to train members of an SS penal facility, Skorzeny obtained permission to recruit volunteers from the Wehrmacht, and a hundred SS personnel, fifty Luftwaffe and a hundred and fifty army personnel were admitted, allowing the formation of a headquarters company and two line companies. An intensive training programme was instituted.

In September 1943, fourteen members of this unit carried out the raid on Gran Sasso which resulted in the rescue of deposed Italian dictator Mussolini.

They were later placed on standby for several operations that never took place, including a proposed kidnapping of Marshal Petain.

In February 1944, a third company was formed from mainly Flemish and Dutch personnel with Hauptsturmfuhrer Hoyer as its commanding officer. In the same month, No. 1 and 2 companies of the battalion went to the Kurmark troop training area near Cologne for four weeks intensive training, after which they saw combat on the Eastern front for over a month. At the same time, a small detachment of veterans of the Gran Sasso raid were carrying out terrorist operations in Occupied Denmark; this group is known to have carried out ten assassinations, over thirty attacks on civilians and nearly twenty attacks on Danish factories.

On 20 July 1944, No. 1 Company was deployed in Berlin, briefly occupying the Benderblock after the attempted assassination of Hitler.

In August 1944, fifty members of the unit carried out Operation Landfried in Romania, destroying road and railway bridges in an attempt to delay the Russian advance.

In September 1944, SS-Jäger-Bataillon 502 was dissolved and its personnel absorbed into a new battalion, Jagdverbande Mitte.

Links

The rescue of Mussolini (original footage) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu1lXFvq31U]

SS-Jagdverband Mitte [http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=1746]

Sources

*O'Reilly, Terence Hitler's Irishmen 2008 ISBN 1856355896


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Otto Skorzeny — Skorzeny redirects here. For the fictional serial killer Janos Skorzeny, see Kolchak: The Night Stalker. For the musician Fritz Skorzeny, see List of compositions for viola: S to Z. Otto Skorzeny Otto Skorzeny at the rank of SS …   Wikipedia

  • Commando — For other uses, see Commando (disambiguation). The French Navy commando unit Jaubert storms a naval vessel in a mock assault In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage,… …   Wikipedia

  • Operation Osprey — For the RSPB conservation project, see Ospreys in Britain#Recolonisation of Scotland. Operation Osprey ( Unternehmen Fischadler in German) was a plan conceived by the German Foreign Ministry and Abwehr II. mid 1942.[1] The plan was an enlargement …   Wikipedia

  • James Brady (SS) — James Brady was one of two Irishmen known to have served in the Waffen SS during World War II.Brady originally volunteered for the Royal Irish Fusiliers, an Irish Regiment in the British Army, in late 1938. After basic training in Hampshire, he… …   Wikipedia

  • Sonder Lehrgang Oranienburg — was activated in early 1942 on the order of SS Obergruppenfuhrer Hans Juttner, as an obvious rival to the Wehrmacht Brandenburg regiment.Originally based at Oranienburg, the unit consisted of a hundred experienced volunteers from the Waffen SS… …   Wikipedia

  • Liste der Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes der U-Boot-Waffe — Das Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Preußen [1] — Preußen, 1) ursprünglich seit 1283 Staat des Deutschen Ordens, die Gegenden am südlichen Theil der Ostsee begreifend; wurde in dem Thorner Frieden 1466 in seiner größern westlichen Hälfte (West P.) an das Königreich Polen abgetreten, während die… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Liste der Jägerverbände der Bundeswehr — Barettabzeichen der Jägertruppe auf dem grünen Barett Taktisches Grundzeichen der Infante …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Österreich [2] — Österreich, Kaiserstaat in Europa; grenzt im Norden an Baiern, Sachsen, Preußisch Schlesien u. Rußland (Polen), im Osten an Rußland u. die Türkei (Moldau), im Süden an die Türkei (Walachei, Serbien u. Ejalet …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • 12e Panzerdivision — 2. Infanterie Division Motorisierte 2. Infanterie Division Artillerieführer II Wehrgauleitung Stettin Période Octobre 1934 – Mai …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”