The Geheime Feldpolizei, short: GFP, lit. 'Secret Field Police', was the secret military police of the German Wehrmacht until the end of the Second World War. These units were used to carry out plain-clothed security work in the field such as counter-espionage, counter-sabotage, detection of treasonable activities, counter-propaganda, protecting military installations and the provision of assistance to the German Army in courts-martial investigations. GFP personnel, who were also classed as Abwehrpolizei, operated as an executive branch of German military intelligence detecting resistance activity in Germany and occupied France. They were also known to carry out torture and executions of prisoners.
Heinrich Thoma was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, the highest award in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.
Kurt Wilhelm Albert Karl Agricola was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II who held senior level occupational rear-security commands in the occupied Soviet Union. A native of Saxony, Agricola entered army service in 1908 and served during World War I. During the interwar era, he held staff assignments and continued to rise through the army's ranks in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany. His career ended stalled in January 1939, when he was sent into retirement on political grounds because of his marriage to Martha born Hahn, a Jewish woman. Reactivated again upon the start of World War II, Agricola received exclusively positions behind the front line. As rear area commander of the 2nd Army in the occupied Soviet union during 1941–43, Agricola brought changes in the Wehrmacht's harsh occupation policies and was successful in maintaining control of his area of occupied territory from Soviet partisans. Shortly after the war's end, he was arrested by Soviet authorities, convicted of war crimes and remained in captivity for a decade. One of the last German prisoners in the Soviet Union, he was released in October 1955 and died shortly thereafter in West Germany.
Army Group Rear Area Command was an area of military jurisdiction behind each of the three Wehrmacht army groups from 1941, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa, through 1944 when the pre-war territories of the Soviet Unions had been liberated. The areas were sites of mass murder during the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity targeting the civilian population.
The Police Regiment South was a formation of the German Order Police, the German national uniformed police force, during the Nazi era. During Operation Barbarossa, it was subordinated to the Schutzstaffel (SS) and deployed in German-occupied territories, specifically the Army Group South Rear Area. In July 1942, its three constituent battalions were redesignated as the 10th Police Regiment.
Army Group South Rear Area was one of the three Army Group Rear Area Commands, established during the 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union. Commanded by General Karl von Roques, it was an area of military jurisdiction behind Wehrmacht's Army Group South.
The 454th Security Division was a rear-security division in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany. The unit was deployed in German-occupied areas of the Soviet Union, in the Army Group South Rear Area.
The 444th Security Division was a rear-security division in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany. The unit was deployed in German-occupied areas of the Soviet Union, in the Army Group South Rear Area.
The 285th Security Division was a rear-security division in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany. The unit was deployed in German-occupied areas of the Soviet Union, in the Army Group North Rear Area.
The Police Battalion 303 was a formation of the German Order Police during the Nazi era. During Operation Barbarossa, it was subordinated to the SS and deployed in German-occupied areas, specifically the Army Group Centre Rear Area, of the Soviet Union, as part of Police Regiment South. Alongside detachments from the Einsatzgruppen of the SD and the 1st SS Infantry Brigade of the Waffen-SS, it perpetrated mass murder in the Holocaust and was responsible for large-scale crimes against humanity targeting civilian populations.
The Police Battalion 45 was a formation of the German Order Police during the Nazi era. During Operation Barbarossa, it was subordinated to the SS and deployed in German-occupied areas, specifically the Army Group Centre Rear Area, of the Soviet Union, as part of Police Regiment South. Alongside detachments from the Einsatzgruppen of the SD and the 1st SS Infantry Brigade of the Waffen-SS, it perpetrated mass murder in the Holocaust and was responsible for large-scale crimes against humanity targeting civilian populations.
The LIII Army Corps was a corps of the German Army during World War II. It was first deployed in 1941 and was active as part of various armies under Army Group Centre until 1944, when it was destroyed during the Soviet Red Army operations Bagration and Kutuzov in June and July 1944. The corps suffered enormous casualties as a result of the Soviet attacks. All of its divisions were destroyed and all but a few of the soldiers were killed or captured by the Soviet Union. A new unit named LIII Army Corps was subsequently deployed in December 1944, when it was assigned to 7th Army and fought on the western front until surrendering to United States Army forces in April 1945.
The 62nd Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II. It was formed in Wehrkreis VIII (Silesia) in August 1939. After heavy casualties in March 1944, it was first briefly reassembled in August 1944 and then reorganized into the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division, formed from units assembled for the planned 583rd Volksgrenadier Division, on 22 September 1944. The dissolution of 62nd Infantry Division was declared on 9 October 1944. 62nd Volksgrenadier Division remained operational until it was trapped in the Ruhr Pocket and forced to surrender by American forces in April 1945.
The 153rd Grenadier Division, sometimes referred to as 153rd Infantry Division in Wehrmacht documents, was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II. It was founded under the name Division No. 153, and also carried the names Commander of Reserve Troops III, 153rd Reserve Division, and 153rd Field Training Division. It was first deployed in August 1939, received its first redesignation in December 1939, was renamed twice more in 1942, was destroyed by forces of the Soviet Union twice and then redeployed, and was redesignated a final time in 1945.
The 217th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II. It later became the Division Group 217. It is also listed as the 217th Volksgrenadier Division.
The 223rd Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II.
The 239th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Heer during World War II. The division was activated in 1939 and remained in active duty until December 1941. Its staff was formally dissolved in 1942.
The XXVI Army Corps was a Wehrmacht army corps during World War II. It existed from 1939 to 1945. It was also known as Corps Wodrig during the Invasion of Poland.
The LXXI Army Corps, initially known as Higher Command LXXI or Höh.Kdo. röm. 71, was an army corps of the German Wehrmacht during World War II. The corps was deployed in March 1942. Throughout the war, it was stationed in the north of occupied Norway.
The 403rd Security Division was a rear-security division in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany. Throughout the war, the unit was mainly deployed in the Army Group South Rear Area behind the Eastern Front, which was a large, German-occupied area of the Soviet Union. During the whole war, the 403rd Security Division was used throughout the war mainly on the Eastern Front for security tasks in the rear army area, such as capturing scattered Soviet soldiers and commissars. Further anti-Semitic measures, such as confiscations, removal of functions, the formation of "purely" Jewish houses, followed.
