Banat Hilfspolizei and state guard uniforms ?

[zebra9]

Hello,
anyone have any information about the uniforms of the ethnic Germans in the Banat (Serbia) ?

Banat state guard and auxiliary police ?

I would assume police or army uniforms.

[dont tell them pike]

Hello, this is from Hitlers green army,Vol 2,Antonio Munoz.
Looks like Yugoslav army or police tunic worn by the one on the left,next one has leather leggings,not sure if the caps are Yugoslav or German.As auxiliaries,a mixture of uniforms,like the early Baltic auxiliary police.
Ranj.

[dont tell them pike]

Close up,note the shoulder roll.

[dont tell them pike]

Yugoslav gendarme uniform with shoulder roll.

[Ivan Ž.]

Hello,

Munoz wrote that "according to the German wartime caption, the men pictured [...] are ethnic-German Serbian volunteers of the Hilfspolizei". However, there is no mention of ethnic Germans in the original caption. The photo was taken in 1943 by SS-PK Schwandt and the original caption read: "Sie kämpfen an der Seite der deutschen Polizei für die Freiheit Europas und befrieden mit ihren deutschen Kameraden den serbischen Raum. Stiefelputzer bevölkern in reicher Anzahl die serbischen Städte. Hier lassen sich Angehörige eines landeseigenen Hilfspolizei-Bataillons von ihren Landsmännern die Stiefel reinigen." Also, the shoe-shining Albanians indicate that the photo was almost certainly taken outside Banat, while the caption indicates that that the pictured Hilfspolizist (there is only one) is their countryman who fights on the German side = he is hardly German. (Plus, I don't think there was an ethnic German Hilfspolizist who wore a Serbian army cap in 1943; thery wore them only at the very beginning of the occupation, due to the lack of any other military caps, and they changed their appearance, so that they would look like German caps = the Serbian cap was not welcome anymore.)

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From the same series (notice the Muslim civilians again = not Banat): "Sie kämpfen an der Seite der deutschen Polizei für die Freiheit Europas und befrieden mit ihren deutschen Kameraden den serbischen Raum. Angehöriger einer landeseigenen Hilfspolizei-Kompanie bei einer Passkontrolle."

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And another one (a Serbian State Guard): "Sie kämpfen an der Seite der deutschen Polizei für die Freiheit Europas und befrieden mit ihren deutschen Kameraden den serbischen Raum. Angehöriger der Serbischen Staatswache."

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(Source for all three photos & captions: Cegesoma.)

Cheers,
Ivan

[druid12]

Didn't the ethnic German auxiliary police battalions raised in Banat serve throughout Serbia.
As for those civilians, if not Albanian , then perhaps from Sanjak.
Good photos.

[IvanM]

Good morning to Everybody,

Checking the posts, I saw that the following book is mentioned:

Hitler’s Green Army: The German Order Police and their European Auxiliaries, 1933-1945/ Antonio J. Munoz.

I would be interested in the chapter (maybe it is in vol. 1) from where the image on Page 262 and the close up on Page 263 are from.

If somebody can help me, please contact me in private and I'll provode my email address.

Grateful in advance and looking forward to Your reply, while fully aware of the difficult moment we are currently going through, I thank You for Your attention.

IvanM

[bertamingo]

In the book "war and revolution in yugoslavia 1941-45", a little known unit called "auxiliary police troop" in Serbian proper was mentioned, which was 400 strong. If the auxiliary policeman was not from one of the Banat auxiliary police battalions, then he might have belonged to this unit.

[Ivan Ž.]

A photo report on these men was published in "Hamburger Illustrierte" dated 25.09.1943, no 38, p. 4.

Hamburger-Illustrierte-25-09-1943-S4.jpg (216.53 KiB) Viewed 2099 times

Sadly, I wasn't able to find a high resolution scan; if anyone here has one, please post it.

Cheers,
Ivan