Deutsche-Arabische Infantry Bataillon 845
When World War II broke out , a number of Arab nationalist leaders turned to Nazi Germany for assistance in order to liberate their country from British rule and prevent the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine . To achieve its goals , they also ask for help Hitler to form and equip an army of Arab liberation that will fight together Axis forces .
Arab leaders have a major role in the formation of the Arab military formations which fought under the command of the Nazis was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem , Amin al - Husayni ( Huseini ) . In 1942 , a few months after his arrival in Germany , with Hitler 's permission he began to form what he called as Al - Mufraza al - Arabia al - Hura . Its members were recruited from among the Arab students residing in Germany , the Arab prisoners of war captured while serving with Allied forces , and the fugitives who followed him to Germany . They wear standard Wehrmacht uniform with the embroidered banner reading " Freies Arabien " ( Arabic Merdeka ) .
The Arab Legion gathered under the command of the Deutsche - Arabische Lehrabteilung . Some of them sent to South Russia to help Hitler to seize Iraq 's oil fields through the Caucasus . The others were assigned under Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel in the lead Afrikakorps to seize the Middle East via Egypt . They engaged a fierce battle with the Soviet Red Army and the British suffered heavy casualties , and failed to meet the Mufti's ambition to become the vanguard of the Arab liberation of the hands of foreign tyranny .
Formation of Battalion 845
In May 1943 , after the defeat of the Axis in Tunisia and the withdrawal of German troops from the Caucasus , OKW ordered the remnants of the Arab volunteers from Deutsche - Arabische Lehrabteilung , which is largely made up of people of Morocco, compiled into a new unit : Deutsche - Arabische Infanterie Bataillon 845 .
The battalion cadre arranged Döllersheim training camp located in the north of Linz , Austria . At first , the Arab battalion consisted of four companies. Although formed as an infantry battalion , but one of his company is a unit of paratroopers ! Battalion itself primarily trained in guerrilla warfare tactics .
In November 1943 , after completing his training , the Arab battalion sent to Greece . Their initial task is to maintain a vital railway line to the north of Salonika . The battalion was in the area near the Aegean Sea until the spring of 1944, where they were then transferred to Pelopennesus . There they are assigned as security forces under the command of Division 41 of the German fortifications .
problem
Among the German units stationed in Greece there is a unity that is odd . Among these are the units of the Army of punishment . Many of its members are former political prisoners of the anti - Nazi , who was recruited for the German war machine shortage of human resources to sustain and maintain their territories were great extent . As a result , their loyalty to Hitler is very doubtful , and even many who defected to the rebels Greece !
As a security unit , Battalion 845 sometimes the soldiers tasked with the penalties . Therefore , it is not surprising that the bad influence of the anti - Nazi soldiers were also scattered among the Arab soldiers . In fact there are some cases of desertion in Battalion 845 . Example , the case of three Arab soldiers who have deserted with their weapons in November 1943.
Demoralization also swept the Arab soldiers . Hauptmann von Voss , company commander of the 1st battalion , tells some interesting cases of the mentality of the Arabs .
The first story relates to a soldier named Mohammed Ali ben . One day , she went to the medical officer and requested that hospitalized . However, upon inspection , the officer discovered that Ali actually healthy !
" Why do you want hospitalized ? " the officer asked, surprised , " You 're not sick ? "
" The others were hospitalized . Why can not I ? " Ali said .
"You're healthy , so you should not be hospitalized ? " snapped the officer .
Ali turned towards the door , which has a glass panel . He then banging his head into the panel . Bloodied and with broken glass embedded in his scalp , he went to the medical officer and said , " now I 've been sick , is not it? "
On another occasion in an exercise , a soldier named Mahmood suddenly throw his gun and lay down on the ground .
" Ich nicht Soldat ( I'm not a soldier ) ! " she cried .
One of his colleagues , who felt embarrassed by the behavior Mahmood , pull out his bayonet and slashed himself in the head five or six times to make a bone beneath the skin head look !
Uphold the honor of the attitude in the Arab culture itself raises a number of serious problems in the battalion . One day , two Arabs mocked a soldier because of his homosexual tendencies . In the evening , the soldiers who mocked it took his rifle , put it behind the ear of one scoffers , and pull the trigger !
Combat effectiveness
While in the mountains of Helicon in Greek region South , 845 Battalion proved its ability to fight insurgents Elas Greek Communist leanings . Thanks to the training and natural instincts , Arab soldiers easily adjust tactics to deal with the guerrillas . They also managed to capture some Allied agents sent to help the Greek guerrillas .
The courage of the Arab soldiers in the death-defying and endure pain also invites admiration from their German superiors . Nevertheless , Hauptmann von Voss also criticized his men because of their tendency to loot and rape , especially during the battle at Kyriaki .
The effectiveness of the German commando battalion 845 making plans to increase its strength . Additional volunteers , consisting of Arabs who live in Europe and a number of Allied prisoners of war , gathered in Zwetll , Czechoslovakia , in early September 1944 . However plans to establish a new unit that will be placed on the battalion never materialized because of the direction German war increasingly detrimental .
defeat
Towards the end of the summer of 1944 , German forces in Greece threatened interrupted by a massive attack of the Red Army that had conquered Bulgaria and Romania , and is moving forward into the Yugoslav and Hungarian . To avoid disaster , in October 1944 the German troops began to withdraw from Greece south to Yugoslavia . Battalion 845 's own duty to protect the withdrawal .
845 Battalion withdrew through the Larissa in Greece , Bitolj , and Skoplje in Macedonia , and Kraljevo and Uzice in Serbia . They got involved in a fierce battle with the Yugoslav partisans to fight Hill 734 in Uzice . In February 1945, they finally arrived in Sarajevo , Bosnia and Herzegovina . Having rested and reorganized , the Arab battalion was assigned to the region between the rivers Sava and Danube .
In March and April 1945 , the Arab battalion was operating in the southeast of Vinkovci in Srem . At the end of April they pulled back to Vukovar , before finally placed in the west of Zagreb , Croatia . That's where the history of the Arab battalion ended . They surrendered to the Partisans , who put the Arabs were in a special prison camp until they were released one year later .
sources :
The book " Der Freiwillige : Tales of Foreign Volunteers in Hitler 's Army " by Nino Oktorino ( published by Gaco Books )