German soldiers joining resistance?

[Ivan Bajlo]

How common was that?

I got my hands on another book about Yugoslav Partisans 32nd Division which included personnel roster and besides Russians, Italians, Poles... so far I have found 10 Germans from Germany not Volksdeutsche (who when looking at surnames seem to have change their nationality to Croatian after the war).

I find it interesting that at lest 10 Germans defected to Partisans and especially to a division which operated so deep behind enemy lines, if they got captured their fate would be worse then normal Partisan.

[randwick]

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military discipline is usually bad news , German military justice harsh at best
condemned soldiers could end up in Torgau fortress , being made to suffer before being send to the Easter front as punishment battalion ,
a move to relative safety could be understood , or simply circumstances or belief

for the Partisans to have so many Germans prove that they were easy going and smart
quite a few would have shot them on the spot ,
if only to save food , the eternal problem for partisans

.

[RG]

Once upon a time I have watched on TV an interview with German soldier who joined polish partisans in Swietokrzyskie Mountains commanded by "Ponury". In fact this guy was treated rather as a mascot, he avoided to fight against his countryman. If I remember well his nickname was "Malutki" (the small). Unfortunatelly I did not find anything on internet to prove it.

[randwick]

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Not quite on thread but of the same style , soviet armored divisions would poach from amongst the prisoners those with mechanic knowledge , a quality much valued by the repair workshops commanders

For the German , it was a good deal , better than the Gulag and they were going in the right direction !

.

[phylo_roadking]

A suprising number of Germans "crossed the line" in CRETE of all places, and the SOE managed to persuade the Cretans not to simply kill all of them! IIRC quite a few were evacuated off the island to Egypt along with SOE parties etc. when transport was available, and there's a story in The Cretan Runner of one helping the locals to flush out a couple of other German "Stool pigeons" who had attempted to "defect"

[randwick]

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Well since this get into soldiers on the run , there was some mention of the "phantom division "
a reference to thousands ( ? ) of U.S. servicemen gone native in France after Normandy ,

not the worst choice I guess

.

[Oasis]

Two germans (Fred and Hans) joined resistance in the area west of Bologna (central Italy) covered by the partisans of 7th GAP detachment (Anzola).

Toni

[Lupo Solitario]

they are not the only such cases in italian resistance, AFAIK

[Oasis]

they are not the only such cases in italian resistance, AFAIK

yep Lupo, it was only a small contribution in this topic with regard of italian resistance theater

[Ivan Bajlo]

got another book which estimates that minimum of 500 German soldiers joined Yugoslav Partisans

- Hary Schichter from Berlin killed as member of Posavina partisan detachment near Belgrade
- von Lutzow, nco, with two other carried out attacks on German trucks during 1944 in Syrmia
- Franz Hubler from Vienna who worked as radio operator at HQ and passed to Partisans details of German plans in particular withdrawal from Dalmatian coastline

[vojo]

a German soldier refused to participate in the execution of hostages in Kragujevac (Serbia) and was then shot by the Wehrmacht. He did not join the Partisans but this is still an act of resistance and humanity.

[LMA-17]

A German penal battalion, consisted political prisoners, joined with Greece guerilla. If I didn't wrong they were 999th Btl. A picture of them with Greece guerrilla can be found in a Time-Life WWII book, Partisan and Guerilla Forum member Larry D. once talk about this issue in a thread in this forum

[red devil]

viewtopic.php?f=74&t=160836 same thing

[G. Trifkovic]

Interesting episode related by Koca Joncic, member of 3rd Krajina Brigade.

On 12th of June, at the height of Unternehmen "Schwarz", his unit captured 2 officers and 10 soldiers in the vicinity of Govza including a lieutenant, whose leather bag and pistol became Joncic's.In the evening 4 Germans had tried to escape. Two were killed, other two managed to get away.

A year later, Joncic (now a politkom of 8. Sibenik Brigade) received a new member for his unit-a German NCO who had been working "excellently" for a local intelligence section for six months. On being questioned where he was during "Schwarz", German replied that he, along one other soldier, barely escaped partisan ambush, all others being killed or captured. Thereupon Joncic showed him the officer's bag and told him he was around Govza on the 12th of June, which scared the German. He added that he was deeply impressed by partisan moral and that he swore he would seek to defect to them if he survives.

Joncic adds at the end that the German fought bravely later on and became corporal.

Source:"Treca krajiska brigada: secanja boraca"

Cheers,

Gaius

[G. Trifkovic]

Following abstracts from Franz Schraml's book Kriegsschauplatz Kroatien. Die deutsch-kroatische Legions-Divisionen-369., 373., 392. Inf.Div. (kroat.)-ihre Ausbildung und Ersatzformationen (Neckargemünd 1962):

"NCO Brinkmann [of 369th Inf.Div.] was sentenced to 15 years prison for fraud by the divisional court in the summer of 1943. He managed to escape from prison in Sarajevo and join the partisans. Then he returned with the task of recruiting more men for the partisans[...]. He was caught by Geheime Feldpolizei in March 1945 and shot along with another 13 traitors".

p.126.

"During these days [probably beginning of April 1945] another desertion took place, which also has to be mentioned for the sake of truth. One German battery commander [of 373. Inf.-Div.] ran over to the Partisans together with some Croats. Members of his bataillon found him later in one of the prison camps."

p.223.

Cheers,

Gaius