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Sudetendeutsches Freikorps
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| unit_name | Sudeten German Free Corps |
| native_name | |
| image | Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1972-026-51, Anschluss sudetendeutscher Gebiete.jpg |
| caption | Sudetendeutsches Freikorps members |
| dates | 1938 to 1939 |
| country | Nazi Germany |
| Czechoslovakia | |
| allegiance | Standarte Adolf Hitlers.svg Adolf Hitler |
| type | Paramilitary organization |
| role | Break-up of Czechoslovakia |
| battles | Sudeten German uprising, Undeclared German–Czechoslovak war |
| commander1 | Friedrich Köchling |
| commander1_label | De facto commander |
| commander2 | Konrad Henlein |
| commander2_label | Formal commander |
| commander3 | Karl Hermann Frank |
| commander3_label | Vice-commander |
| commander4 | Anton Pfrogner |
| commander4_label | Chief of staff |
| identification_symbol_label | Flag |
Czechoslovakia The **** (SFK) (Sudeten German Free Corps, also known as the ****, **** and ****) was a paramilitary organization founded on 17 September 1938 in Germany on direct order of Adolf Hitler. The organization was composed mainly of ethnic German citizens of Czechoslovakia with pro-Nazi sympathies who were sheltered, trained and equipped by the German army and who conducted cross-border terrorist operations into Czechoslovak territory from 1938 to 1939. They played an important role in Hitler's successful effort to occupy Czechoslovakia and annex the region known as Sudetenland into the Third Reich under Nazi Germany.
The was a successor to ******, also known as ****, an organization established by the Sudeten German Party in Czechoslovakia unofficially in 1933 and officially on 17 May 1938, following the example of the Sturmabteilung, the original paramilitary wing of the German Nazi Party. Officially registered as a promoter organization, the was proscribed on 16 September 1938 by the Czechoslovak authorities due to its implication in many criminal and terrorist activities. Many of its members as well as leadership, wanted for arrest by Czechoslovak authorities, had moved to Germany where they became the basis of the , conducting the ' first cross-border raids into Czechoslovakia only a few hours after its official establishment.{{Citation | access-date = 13 September 2015
Relying on the Convention for the Definition of Aggression, Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš and the government-in-exile later regarded 17 September 1938, the day of establishment of the and beginning of its cross-border raids, as the beginning of the undeclared German–Czechoslovak war. This understanding has been confirmed in 1997 by the Czech Constitutional Court.{{Citation
Background

From 1918 to 1938, after the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, more than three million ethnic Germans lived in the Czech part of the newly created state of Czechoslovakia.
In 1933, as Adolf Hitler assumed power in Germany, Sudeten German pro-Nazi leader Konrad Henlein founded Sudeten German Party (SdP), the local branch of the Nazi Party for the Sudetenland. By 1935, the SdP was the second largest political party in Czechoslovakia. Shortly after the Anschluss of Austria to Germany, Henlein met with Hitler in Berlin on 28 March 1938, where he was instructed to raise demands unacceptable to the Czechoslovak government of president Edvard Beneš. On 24 April, the SdP issued a series of demands upon the government of Czechoslovakia, known as the Carlsbad Program. Among the demands, Henlein demanded autonomy for Germans living in Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak government responded by saying that it was willing to provide more minority rights to the German minority but it refused to grant them autonomy.
By June 1938, the party had over 1.3 million members, i.e. 40.6% of the ethnic German citizens of Czechoslovakia, 40% of them women. During the last free democratic elections before the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, the May 1938 communal elections, the party received 88% of ethnic German votes, taking over control of most municipal governments in the Czech borderland. The country's membership made it one of the largest fascist parties in Europe at the time.
The first major crisis took place in May 1938 after a partial Czechoslovak army mobilization. Activities of pro-Nazi ethnic Germans in the area led to a large flight of ethnic-Czech civilians and especially Jews. Hitler's escalating threats to attack Czechoslovakia led to full mobilization on 22 September 1938. Many ethnic Germans refused to follow the Czechoslovak army mobilization order and either moved across the border to Germany and joined the , continuing to raid cross-border from there, or established Grün Freikorps units operating from Czechoslovak forests, receiving arms and equipment from Germany, and continuing raids against Czechoslovak authorities, Jews and Czechs, until the German occupation of the Czechoslovak border areas following the Munich Agreement.
{{lang|de|italic=no|Ordnersgruppe}}, {{lang|de|italic=no|Freiwilliger Schutzdienst}}
Founding of the organization
Immediately after establishing the Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront (later Sudeten German Party, SdP) in 1933, the party started forming its informal Ordnungsdienst (Order Service; its members were called in German Ordner (both singular and plural)) which was officially supposed to preserve order at meetings and assemblies of the party and protect it against its political enemies. In reality, however, these were from the beginning attack squads with potentially terrorist assignments,{{Citation
On 14 May 1938, the Ordnersgruppe was formally transformed into new official organization called the Freiwilliger Schutzdienst (FS), openly built up on the model of the Nazi Sturmabteilung. SdP's chief Konrad Henlein was the Schutzdienst's leader, Fritz Köllner became its secretary and Willi Brandner it chief of staff, also responsible for building up of squad groups. By 17 May 1938, the date of the organization's official registration, the Schutzdienst had over 15,000 members.
The Schutzdienst started a wide recruitment program in June 1938. Its members were divided into three categories:
- Category A: The most trusted and physically capable members that were supposed to carry out the duty of guardians of "inner purity" of the SdP. Category A was composed of the so-called "surveillance departments" and was directly subordinate to the SdP. Apart from functions within the organization, its members were also collecting information on political opponents and conducting military espionage.
- Category B: Wider selection of members. Its members were trained for propaganda activities and for conducting terrorist and sabotage assaults.
- Category C: Mostly older members of FS, mainly former soldiers with World War I front line experience. Their main task was providing training to the B category members as well as being the FS's reserve force.
FS squads were being built up as militias with local, district and regional formations and central staff. FS further created special squads: communication, medical and rear. The FS's squad leaders were trained directly by the Nazi Sturmabteilung in Germany.
The FS became instrumental for the psychological warfare of the operation Case Green, smuggling weapons through "green border" from Germany, conducting various provocations of Czechoslovak armed forces and provocations on the border with Germany.
Attempted putsch
- Konrad Henlein
- Karl Hermann Frank
- Fritz Köllner
- Willi Brandner}} The German Nazi Party was convening its 10th congress between 5 and 12 September 1938 in Nuremberg, where it was expected that Hitler would make clear his further plans as regards Czechoslovakia. FS squads were kept in a state of high alert, ready to conduct any orders that may come from "higher up". On 10 September 1938, all FS district headquarters received orders to start large scale demonstrations, which escalated to a number of members of Czechoslovak law enforcement being wounded, as well as FS members in numerous cities already the next day. FS Vice- Karl Hermann Frank was in direct contact with Hitler, receiving instructions for the following days.
Immediately after the highly anticipated Hitler's final speech on 12 September 1938, in which Hitler declared his intention to take care of German interests "under any circumstances" and to "prevent the creation of a second Palestine in the heart of Europe where the poor Arabs are defenseless and abandoned, while Germans in Czechoslovakia are not defenseless, nor abandoned", the FS initiated widespread violence in the whole borderland. In Cheb alone, K. H. Frank's hometown, ethnic-German mob plundered 38 Czech and Jewish shops. Other main targets included buildings of the German Social Democratic Party and Czechoslovak authorities, including schools. The FS conducted over 70 armed assaults against Czechoslovak authorities and assaulted selected Czechs and ethnic German anti-fascists. Czechoslovak law enforcement was meanwhile ordered not to intervene in order not to further fuel up Hitler's propaganda.
As it became clear that the SdP was attempting to push the Czechoslovak authorities out of the towns in the borderland and replace them with its own governance, and with the rising death toll that included, inter alia, the murder of four gendarmes by the FS in Habartov, the Czechoslovak government responded by declaring martial law in the thirteen worst struck districts and by dispatching the military. Major assaults on Czechoslovak law enforcement as well as the military continued throughout 14 September 1938, with the last one taking place on 15 September in Bublava. Altogether, the violence led to 13 dead and numerous injuries on 12–13 September and culminated with 23 dead (13 Czechoslovak authorities personnel, 10 ethnic Germans) and 75 seriously wounded (of those 14 ethnic Germans) on 14 September. However, the attempted putsch was thwarted.
On 14 September 1938, the SdP's leadership ran across the border to Selb, Germany, where K. H. Frank unsuccessfully demanded immediate military intervention from Hitler. The leadership's flight had chilling effect on the FS members, especially those that had taken part in the violence and now feared criminal prosecution. On 15 September 1938, German radio broadcast a speech by Henlein, who was purportedly speaking live from Aš in Czechoslovakia. By this time, the SdP's flight to Germany had become public knowledge and according to the then German ambassador in Prague, instead of stimulating SdP's members to further actions, it led to a serious rift in its ranks.
On 16 September 1938, Czechoslovak authorities banned and dissolved the SdP as well as the FS. Many of its functionaries as well as members that were wanted for arrest in connection with the preceding violence fled to Germany, while a number of town mayors elected for the SdP exhorted FS members to keep calm and expressed their support to the commanders of Gendarme stations situated in their towns.
File:1. máj 1938 v Liberci 2.gif|SdP's assembly on 1 May 1938 in Liberec File:K.H. Frank na sjezdu Sudetoněmecké strany 24.4.1938.jpg|K. H. Frank speaking during the 1938 SdP congress File:Sudetoněmecký puč, Aš - září 1938.jpg|Main street in Aš, where the SdP's leadership met on 13 September 1938 before fleeing to Germany File:Čs. vojáci v Krásné Lípě.gif|Czechoslovak soldiers patrolling in Česká Lípa
| Date | Place | Summary | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11–14 September 1938 | **Cheb** | Major unrest involving up to 4,000 members of SdP | Cheb, a district town and SdP stronghold, faces major unrest from 11 September 1938 as the SdP tries to disrupt an assembly of the Czechoslovak automobile association in the town's theater, leading to clashes with police that result in 17 lightly wounded policemen and police officer Václav Brůžek suffering a severe injury. |
| 13 September 1938 | **Habartov** | The local SdP carries out a lawful demonstration in the streets. Armed Ordner use mobs to seize the post office including a telephone switchboard and later also the police station, killing four members of Czechoslovak security forces in the process. | In the morning after Hitler's Nuremberg speech, the local SdP carries out an initially lawful demonstration in the streets after calling for further 300 SdP members from the nearby town of Doupov to join. Armed Ordner first seize the post office with its telephone switchboard and take its workers as well as one municipal policemen captive. A German mob, many of them armed, surround the police station and demand the surrender of policemen. The mob force their way into the building where they corner two armed policemen in each of two different rooms. The policemen, under orders not to use firearms, refuse to surrender. The Germans try to wrestle the firearms from the policemen's hands. Failing to do that, the Germans start shooting, killing Sergeant Major Jan Koukol. The rest of the policemen return fire, killing two attackers and wounding another. Most Germans flee from the station. The three surviving policemen, one of them with his hand wounded by a gunshot and the two others wounded in the face with glass shards, fortify the station while the Germans take positions in the houses around the station (which is situated on the ground floor of a building that is used also as German-language primary school) and start a continuous barrage of fire into the station's windows. |
| 13 September 1938 | **Stříbrná** | SdP attempt to take over police station thwarted. | A German mob assembles in front of the police station; local SdP leaders demand the immediate surrender of all security forces. Station chief Sergeant Major František Novák makes it clear that police will answer any violence with deadly force; the crowd disperses. |
| 13 September 1938 | **Bublava** | A mob from Germany proper with armed members of the SdP take over the town, killing three members of Czechoslovak security forces and taking 45 captives to Germany. | In the morning after Hitler's Nuremberg speech, an anti-Nazi ethnic German informs Czechoslovak police that a large crowd is gathering in Germany with the aim of forcing their way into the town that lies directly on the border. Around midday, a large crowd from Germany advances towards the Czechoslovak customs house, part of which is used for official purposes and part including flats where customs officers' families live. Meanwhile, Ordner cut the telephone line leading to the customs house. Seven customs officers inside are under strict orders preventing them from shooting in the direction of the German border and decide to simply lock the doors and wait. SdP members break through the doors and the mob floods the customs house. Customs officers decide to surrender their firearms while Germans loot the offices as well as private flats. At about 1 pm the crowd moves on in the direction of the town center and police station, which is about 1 km away from the customs house. |
Freikorps
Formation
Czechoslovakia conducted partial mobilization in May 1938. Many young ethnic Germans did not follow the mobilization order and deserted across the border to Germany instead. Thousands more fled as they were receiving mobilization orders after 12 September 1938. The Wehrmacht first initiated a plan of including Czechoslovak ethnic Germans of 20–35 years of age, who had previously undergone military training in the Czechoslovak army, into its own ranks. This was however abandoned as soon as Hitler ordered the establishment of the Sudetendeutsches Freikorps on 17 September 1938. Konrad Henlein was formally named the Freikorps' commanding officer, with the Wehrmacht's liaison officer Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Köchling, previously liaison officer in the Hitler Youth, being the Freikorps' de facto commander. The official purpose of the Freikorps, as stated in a telegram to the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, was the "protection of Sudeten Germans and maintaining further unrest and armed clashes". The Wehrmacht was further instructed to conceal its cooperation with the Freikorps for "political reasons".
The Freikorps' ranks were filling up rather fast. It had 10,000–15,000 members by 20 September 1938, 26,000 members by 22 September 1938, with many more deserters coming after the general Czechoslovak mobilization that took place on 23 September 1938 and reaching 41,000 by 2 October 1938. Apart from Konrad Henlein, its leadership consisted of K. H. Frank (vice-commander in chief), Hans Blaschek (2nd vice-commander in chief), and Anton Pfrogner (chief of staff, previously an SdP senator). The Freikorps' headquarters was situated in a castle near Bayreuth, Germany. The was divided into four groups alongside the whole German-Czechoslovak border. Groups were further divided into battalions and companies. Depending on the border length and local conditions, there were also sometimes "sections" as an interstage between the battalion and companies.
| Group | Reorganized | Staff | Details | Position | Commanding officer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Group 1 Silesia** | Wrocław | 11 battalions, 6,851 members (27 September 1938) | From Racibórz to Zittau | Fritz Köllner | |
| **Group 2 Sachsen** | Group 4 Sachsen | Dresden | From Zittau to Aš | Franz May | |
| **Group 3 Bavaria Ostmark** | Bayreuth | 7 battalions, 5,999 members (27 September 1938) | From Aš to Bayerisch Eisenstein | Willi Brandner | |
| **Group 4 Alps and Danuber** | Vienna | 9 battalions, 7,798 members (29 September 1938) | From Bayerisch Eisenstein to Poysdorf | Friedrich Bürger |
Companies had 150–200 men each and were stationed in German towns and villages along the German–Czech border, each of them being fully equipped for independent cross border raids and assaults. Although the official directive allowed only ethnic Germans with Czechoslovak citizenship to be part of the Freikorps, due to the low number of officers among the deserters, their places were filled with members of the Nazi Sturmabteilung. The SA was further providing training, material support and equipment to the Freikorps. All members got regular pay for their service. Most members did not have any standardized uniform and were only distinguished by an armband with swastika. Formally, they were not part of the Wehrmacht and were prohibited from wearing Wehrmacht uniforms.
Members of the Freikorps were trained and hosted in Germany but operated across the border in Czechoslovakia attacking the infrastructure, administrative, police and military buildings and personnel, as well as the pro-government and antifascist ethnic-German civilians, Jews, Jewish owned businesses and ethnic Czech civilians. They committed assassinations, robberies and bombing attacks, retreating over the border to Germany when faced with serious opposition. They murdered more than 110 and abducted to Germany more than 2000 Czechoslovak personnel, political opponents or their family members.
Intelligence service
The Freikorps also had its own intelligence service, established on 19 September 1938 with headquarters in Selb, Germany. It was headed by Richard Lammel. The intelligence was gathering information for the reikorps as well as for Abwehr, Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and Gestapo.
Green Cadres
Many ethnic Germans who deserted after receiving the mobilization order did not go across the border to Germany, but rather established their own guerrilla units. Operating from forests in Czechoslovakia, they received the name Green Cadres, sometimes being referred to as Green Freikorps, although they were not officially incorporated as part of the German Freikorps.
Armaments
In order to conceal the level of cooperation between Wehrmacht and Freikorps, the original orders stated that the Freikorps should be armed only with weapons from warehouses of the former Austrian army. This however led to delays in arming the Freikorps and became outright impossible as regards ammunition and explosives, which were being delivered from the Wehrmacht's own supplies. The most common weapons were Mannlicher M1895 8×56 Msch., K98k 8×56 JS, pistols P08 9mm Parabellum, Bergmann machine guns and sub-machine guns, and German hand grenades. Due to the initial Czechoslovak orders forbidding the use of firearms apart from self-defense, the Freikorps also captured Czechoslovak weapons, mostly vz. 24 rifles and vz. 26 machine guns.
Meanwhile, the Green Cadres, as well as other ordners that did not join the Freikorps, were armed with a variety of hunting rifles and shotguns, pistols, as well as many sub-machine guns that had been previously supplied by Germany to the Ordnersgruppe/Freiwilliger Schutzdienst. Scoped hunting rifles in the hands of skilled Ordner proved especially deadly. File:Mannlicher_M1895_from_the_Swedish_Army_Museum.jpg|Mannlicher M1895 rifle File:Kar_98K_-_AM.021488.jpg|Karabiner 98k rifle File:Bergmann_MP18.1.JPG|Bergmann MP 18 sub-machine gun File:Parabellum_1586.png|P08 pistol File:MWP_Stielhandgranate.JPG|Model 24 grenade File:Vz24.jpg|vz. 24 rifle File:ZB-26_in_Taipei.JPG|vz. 26 machine gun
Czechoslovak security forces
Main article: State Defense Guard (Czechoslovakia)

Following the remilitarization of the Rhineland, Czechoslovak authorities came to the conclusion that any future war would most probably begin as a sudden attack without a formal declaration of war. At the time, protection of borders was mostly vested into the authority of the Customs Administration (also called Financial Police), which was controlling the border crossings and collecting customs duties, while Gendarme officers were taking care of general law enforcement mainly within towns. This was deemed insufficient as the Customs Administration could merely enforce the custom duties and general order at border crossings, but not security along the whole border. In 1936, the State Defense Guard was established. Normally, SDG would function only in a very limited way necessary to ensure full readiness of its structure (under authority of the Ministry of Interior), with its ranks being filled up with personnel in case of emergency (under military command). Its main task was protecting the Czechoslovak border and it was supposed to be able to immediately close and defend the border for the time that would be necessary for the army to reach the attacked areas in full combat readiness. Initially, the State Defense Guard was composed of selected members of Customs Administration, Gendarme and State Police, but later its ranks were filled also with reliable civilians. In case of any unrest, its squads were further boosted by army soldiers. The State Defense Guard included also ethnic Germans that were deemed loyal to the Czechoslovak state (mostly Social Democrats and communists). The State Defense Guard thus became the main target of the Freikorps' activities.
Up to 22 September 1938 the Czechoslovak security forces were under general orders not to use their firearms apart from self-defense.
Republikanische Wehr
Republikanische Wehr was a Czechoslovak ethnic German anti-fascist militia with several thousand members. Known also as Rote Wehr (Red Defense), its members also took part in the fighting, supporting the Czechoslovak authorities. Several of its members were killed by the Nazi forces during the clashes, with thousands more being interned in concentration camps following the Munich Agreement and occupation of Czechoslovakia.
Undeclared German–Czechoslovak War
- Sudeten German Freikorps
- SS
- SA
- Abwehr Flag of the Sudeten German Party.svg Sudeten German Party
- Green Cadres
- Czechoslovakia Czechoslovak Army
- Czechoslovakia State Defense Guard
- Czechoslovakia Customs Administration, Gendarmes, State Police
- Czechoslovakia
- Nazi Germany Friedrich Köchling
- Konrad Henlein
- Karl Hermann Frank
- Fritz Köllner
- Willi Brandner}}
- Czechoslovakia Jan Syrový
- Czechoslovakia Ludvík Krejčí}}
- Killed: 52
- Wounded: 65
- Missing in action: 19 Other: Unknown
- Killed: 110
- Wounded: 50
- Abducted: 2029 (including railway employees, postal workers, judges, other functionaries and their family members) Civilians: Unknown (both volunteers as well as innocent victims of Freikorps terror)
Freikorps number according to official Freikorps closing report, real tally several times higher. The first Freikorps assaults took place during the night of 17 to 18 September 1938 in the area of Aš. Other major Freikorps assaults included, inter alia: Main article: Sudeten German uprising
18 September 1938
| Place | Assailants | Assaulted | Details | Outcome | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Aš** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | Several customs officers | [[File:As CH CZ.png | right | thumb | Municipality of Aš]] | 2 customs officers seriously wounded |
| **Bílá Voda** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | Several Gendarme officers, several customs officers | [[File:Okres jesenik.PNG | thumb | right | Jeseník District]] | 1 Gendarme officer seriously wounded |
19 September 1938
| Place | Assailants | Assaulted | Details | Outcome | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | SDG Squad | [[File:Okres cesky krumlov.PNG | thumb | right | Český Krumlov District]] | |
| **** | Customs house | [[File:Okres_trutnov.PNG | thumb | right | Trutnov District]] | ||
| **Mladkov** | [[File:Okres usti nad orlici.png | thumb | right | District Ústí nad Orlicí]] | |||
| **** | 8 members of the Freikorps | SDG motorcycle messenger | [[File:Okres cesky krumlov.PNG | thumb | right | Český Krumlov District]] | Gendarme officer Antonín Měsíček killed |
| **** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | Several Customs officers | [[File:Okres nachod.PNG | thumb | right | Náchod District]] | 2 customs officers seriously wounded |
| **Znojmo** | Up to 300 Freikorps members | Customs Administration | [[File:Map CZ - district Znojmo.PNG | thumb | right | Znojmo District]] | |
| **Železná Ruda** | [[File:Okres klatovy.png | thumb | right | Klatovy District]] |
20 September 1938
On 20 September 1938, Freikorps headquarters issued Order No. 6 signed by Henlein. According to the order, each of the groups was supposed to undertake at least 10 major raids into Czechoslovak before the morning of 21 September. The order further specified that the Freikorps was to take no regard to any aversion to the armed assaults that it had previously encountered from some ethnic German civilians. Moreover, each group was ordered to establish its own intelligence staff that would be providing information to the center in Selb. In line with the order, Freikorps attacks increased both in their frequency as well as brutality.
21 September 1938
| Place | Assailants | Assaulted | Details | Outcome | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Aš** | 50 members of Czechoslovak State Police and local police force | [[File:As CH CZ.png | thumb | right | Municipality of Aš]] | ||
| **** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | State Defense Guard | [[File:Okres_bruntal.PNG | thumb | right | Bruntál District]] | 1 Czechoslovak state official abducted and interned in a concentration camp in Germany |
| **Habartice** | State Defense Guard squad (18 members) | [[File:Okres liberec.PNG | thumb | right | Liberec District]] | url = http://www.valka.cz/clanek_10888.html | |
| **Nové Vilémovice** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | 8 Customs officers | [[File:Map CZ - district Jesenik.PNG | thumb | right | Jeseník District]] | 1 customs officer killed |
| **Petrovice** | [[File:Petrovice UL CZ.png | thumb | right | Petrovice]] | |||
| **Wies (Cheb)** | [[File:Okres_cheb.png | thumb | right | Cheb District]] |
22 September 1938
On the night of 21 September 1938, German radio broadcast false information that Czechoslovakia agreed to cede its border areas to Germany. Next day, most ethnic German majority towns were full of German Nazi flags and Hitler portraits, while Freikorps and ethnic German mobs unleashed a wave of attacks against state authorities and non-German civilians.
On 22 September, Adolf Hitler gave orders to provide the Freikorps with German weaponry, ammunition and equipment (until that moment, Freikorps were to be armed only with weapons that Germany obtained with the Anschluss of Austria).
Czechoslovak forces' order not to use firearms except in self-defense was called off during the day.
By 24 September 1938, Freikorps conducted over 300 raids against Czechoslovak authorities.
| Place | Assailants | Assaulted | Details | Outcome | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Bartošovice v Orlických horách** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | Customs house | [[File:Okres rychnov nad kneznou.PNG | thumb | right | District Rychnov nad Kněžnou]] | Customs house burned to the ground. |
| **Bernartice** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | [[File:Okres jesenik.PNG | thumb | right | Jeseník District]] | 20 Czechoslovak state officials abducted and interned in a concentration camp in Germany. | |
| **Bílá Voda** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | State Defense Guard squad | [[File:Okres jesenik.PNG | thumb | right | Jeseník District]] | 15 Czechoslovak state officials abducted and interned in a concentration camp in Germany. |
| **** | 150 Freikorps members | [[File:Okres cesky krumlov.PNG | thumb | right | Český Krumlov District]] | Several Czechoslovak officials wounded and kidnapped to Germany | |
| **Černá brána** near Varnsdorf | 70 Freikorps members | SDG Squad | [[File:Varnsdorf DC CZ.png | thumb | right | Varnsdorf]] | Two wounded soldiers |
| **Černá Voda** | ethnic German mob | [[File:Okres jesenik.PNG | thumb | right | Jeseník District]] | ||
| **Dolní Podluží** | [[File:Okres decin.PNG | thumb | right | Děčín District]] | |||
| **Frýdlant** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | 2 infantry fighting vehicles with crews | [[File:Okres liberec.PNG | thumb | right | Liberec District]] | Freikorps attempt to take over town thwarted by mere army presence. |
| **Heřmanice** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | 2 unarmed civilians | [[File:Okres liberec.PNG | thumb | right | Liberec District]] | 1 civilian murdered, 1 civilian abducted, interned and murdered in a concentration camp in Germany |
| **Heřmánkovice** | 60 Freikorps members | SDG squad | [[File:Okres_nachod.PNG | thumb | right | Náchod District]] | Attempt to take town over was thwarted. |
| **Hnanice** | 200 Freikorps members | Customs house | [[File:Map CZ - district Znojmo.PNG | thumb | right | Znojmo District]] | |
| **Hrádek nad Nisou** | 200 Freikorps members | SDG Station | [[File:Okres liberec.PNG | thumb | right | Liberec District]] | 2 dead, about 50 Freikorps members wounded |
| **Javorník** | 100+ members of Freikorps | State Defense Guard | [[File:Okres jesenik.PNG | thumb | right | Jeseník District]] | last1 = Procházka |
| Unknown number of Freikorps members | SDG | [[File:Okres nachod.PNG | thumb | right | Náchod District]] | ||
| **Liptaň** | 6 Gendarme officers | [[File:Okres bruntal.PNG | thumb | right | Bruntál District]] | ||
| **Malonty** | Several dozen Freikorps members | Several gendarmes | [[File:Okres cesky krumlov.PNG | thumb | right | Český Krumlov District]] | Retreat of local Gendarmes |
| **Mikulovice** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | State Defense Guard squad | [[File:Okres nachod.PNG | thumb | right | Náchod District]] | 5 Freikorps members arrested |
| **Studánky (Vyšší Brod)** | Freikorps | Customs Administration | [[File:Okres cesky krumlov.PNG | thumb | right | Český Krumlov District]] | Takeover of customs house |
| **Třemešná** | Freikorps | Gendarme station (4 officers) | Freikorps takeover of Gendarme station and local post office. Some officers/postal workers are let go inland, some abducted to Germany.[[File:Map CZ - district Bruntal.PNG | thumb | right | Bruntál District]] | Takeover of Gendarme station, abduction of several officers to Germany |
| **Vápenná – Supíkovice – Rejvíz** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | Gendarme | [[File:Okres jesenik.PNG | thumb | right | Jeseník District]] | 1 Gendarme officer killed in action, 6 wounded |
| **Varnsdorf** | Several hundred Freikorps members | Several dozen SDG members | [[File:Varnsdorf DC CZ.png | thumb | right | Varnsdorf]] | Town taken over by Freikorps |
| **Vidnava** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | [[File:Okres jesenik.PNG | thumb | right | Jeseník District]] | ||
| **Zlaté Hory** | 10 Gendarme officers | [[File:Okres jesenik.PNG | thumb | right | Jeseník District]] | 10 Czechoslovak state officials abducted and interned in a concentration camp in Germany |
23 September 1938
Hitler gave new orders under which captured Czechs were to be considered and treated as prisoners of war. Captives that could prove Slovak or Hungarian nationality were to be regarded as refugees to Germany.
By 11 am, the Czechoslovak government officially declared that it was unable to exercise Czechoslovak authority in two border districts (Osoblaha and Jindřichov). State officials from these regions were ordered to retreat towards a new line of defense manned by the army.
In other areas the Czechoslovak army started offensive actions which led to recapturing of areas in and around Varnsdorf, from which SDG squads retreated in the previous days.
At 11:30 pm, Czechoslovakia declared full army mobilization as well as full stationing of Czechoslovak border fortifications.
| Place | Assailants | Assaulted | Details | Outcome | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Srbská** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | [[File:Okres liberec.PNG | thumb | Liberec District]] | ||
| **Varnsdorf** | ||||||
| **Krásná Lípa** | Freikorps | Czechoslovak army | [[File:Varnsdorf DC CZ.png | thumb | Varnsdorf]] | Šluknov Hook recaptured |
24 September 1938
Freikorps leadership gave out an order that Freikorps fighting units must compel ethnic German mayors of Czechoslovak border towns to send telegraphs to the Führer asking for immediate German intervention. The order specifically mentioned that telegrams must reach Hitler before his planned meeting with Chamberlain, and at the same time they were to be sent in a manner that did not connect them back to Freikorps nor raise suspicion of concerted action.
Czechoslovak full army mobilization had a chilling effect on Freikorps membership and led to a lower number of attacks. As the Czechoslovak forces started retaking territory lost in previous days, retreating Freikorps looted public buildings and "confiscated" money and valuables from bank vaults.
The German Army (Wehrmacht) was given sole authority over German border areas with Czechoslovakia. This led to quarrels between Freikorps lower officers and Wehrmacht officers over the actual line of command. The Freikorps was ordered to conduct raids over the border only after briefing the respective local leader of the German border guard.
| Place | Assailants | Assaulted | Details | Outcome | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Brandov** | 8 Freikorps members | 2 State policemen | [[File:Brandov MO CZ.png | thumb | right | Brandov]] | |
| **Bruntál** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | State Defense Guard | [[File:Map CZ - district Bruntal.PNG | thumb | right | Bruntál District]] |
25 September 1938
| Place | Assailants | Assaulted | Details | Outcome | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Libá** (Aš District) | [[File:Liba CH CZ.png | thumb | right | Municipality of Libá within the Aš District]] |
26 September 1938
Adolf Hitler ordered Freikorps to conduct more assaults. The number of assaults became higher than in previous days, but did no reach the intensity of 21–22 September.
| Place | Assailants | Assaulted | Details | Outcome | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Javorník (Jeseník District)** | SDG | [[File:Okres jesenik.PNG | thumb | right | Jeseník District]] | Javorník area under German control. |
27 September 1938
| Place | Assailants | Assaulted | Details | Outcome | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Brandov** | 200 Freikorps members | SDG | [[File:Brandov MO CZ.png | thumb | right | Brandov]] | |
| **Rychnůvka** | Unknown number of Freikorps members | SDG squad | [[File:Okres cesky krumlov.PNG | thumb | right | Český Krumlov District]] |
28 September 1938
| Place | Assailants | Assaulted | Details | Outcome | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Horní Lomany** (now part of Františkovy Lázně) | Unknown number of Freikorps members | [[File:Frantiskovy Lazne CH CZ.png | thumb | right | Františkovy Lázně]] | ||
| **Lísková** | Monument in Dolní Podluží commemorating Josef Röhrich, member of the Czechoslovak Customs Administration, killed by the Germans on 28 September 1938 (Plzeň Region, Czech Republic). | 1 customs officer killed | |||||
| **Načetín (Kalek)** | 60 Freikorps members | 3 SDG members | [[File:Okres_chomutov.PNG | thumb | right | Chomutov District]] | 12 Freikorps wounded, 2 dead |
29 September 1938
| Place | Assailants | Assaulted | Details | Outcome | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Pohraničí (Reizenhain)** | Large number of Freikorps | SDG Squad (23 members) | [[File:Okres chomutov.PNG | thumb | right | Chomutov District]] | Several wounded Freikorps members |
| **Načetín (Kalek)** | Freikorps | 3 SDG members | [[File:Okres chomutov.PNG | thumb | right | Chomutov District]] | Freikorps pushed back |
30 September 1938
Following the signing of the Munich Agreement, Freikorps leadership gave orders to cease cross-border assaults. At the same time, Hitler decided that Freikorps would be subordinate to SS command, and not to Wehrmacht as were his previous orders. Freikorps were supposed to conduct police powers within the territory of occupied Czechoslovakia.
According to a final report of Friedrich Köchling, officially the Wehrmacht's liaison officer to Freikorps but its de facto leader up to 4 October 1938, Freikorps had killed 110 people, wounded 50 and kidnapped 2,029 to Germany. The report lists 164 successful and 75 unsuccessful operations that lead to 52 fatalities, 65 seriously wounded and 19 lost members of Freikorps.
From 7 October 1938, Freikorps were headquartered in a former Czechoslovak Bank building in Cheb. On 10 October 1938 Freikorps was officially disbanded.
As Freikorps operations involved a large scale looting and "borrowing" in its area of operation, aggrieved parties were given up to 15 November 1938 to request damages from newly established German authorities in the occupied area. Court cases dealing with these claims were running as far as 1942.
Criminal liability
Germany
Being aware that Freikorps actions involved a large-scale criminal activity, Adolf Hitler issued a decree on 7 June 1939, according to which all of the actions that were criminal under Czech law would be considered lawful under German law, and those that were criminal under German law were pardoned.
Czechoslovakia
A majority of Freikorps members were formally Czechoslovak army deserters (especially after the full army mobilization order of 23 September) and their mere membership in Freikorps was punishable by life imprisonment under Czechoslovak act No. 50/1923, on the protection of the Republic. Meanwhile, their active participation in crossborder raids which included murders, attempted murders and kidnapping was punishable by death under the 1852 Criminal Code.
The vast majority of the perpetrators who survived the war avoided justice through the postwar expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia.
Individual cases were decided by a Special Tribunal set up in the city of Cheb. The Tribunal decided 62 cases, last on 29 October 1948. 10 Freikorps members were sentenced to death (of which sentences 6 were carried out), 16 to life imprisonment, 5 to 30 years' imprisonment, 10 to 25 years' imprisonment and 16 to 20 years' imprisonment. The majority had however already been released and expelled to Germany in 1955, which was the year in which Czechoslovakia officially declared the end of the war with Germany that started on 17 September 1938 with first Freikorps crossborder operations.
Brandenburg Division
Based on the successful utilization of the Freikorps' tactics against Czechoslovakia and in psychological warfare against Czechoslovak allies, the Abwehr later in September 1939 established the so-called "1st Construction Training Company for special purposes" (1. Baulehr-Kompanie Brandeburg z.b.V.) that had former Freikorps members as their core. This later rose to the size of division. The division was known for large scale use of tactics that involved its soldiers wearing enemy uniforms, conducting saboteur actions behind enemy lines and many war crimes.
References
- {{cite book |orig-year=2001
References
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