Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804

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clement
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Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804

#1

Post by clement » 24 Jul 2008, 14:24

Here is the story of the
Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804 from various sources .
I have been working in this topics from some years now .
It is time to share this with you .I will be living France soon for Africa to work in an NGO.
The Internet is pathetic there At least I will have time to finish my book.
Also I did lots of researches about Abdurahman (Abo) Ali oglu Fatalibeyli Dudanginski.
You will discover that in a few days.

Aserb 804 Btl .Part one

Aserbeidschanische Legion 1 formed 22.07.1942 in Jedlnia (NE Radom)
8 Feldbataillons ,Nr 804,805,806,807,and 817,818,819,820

Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804 „Aslan”
(name unofficial, but written on battalion pennant later in 1943)
Formed 3.07.1942 as Kaukasisch-Mohammedanische Inf. Btl. 804,
renamed 22.07.1942 on Aserb. Inf. Btl. 804,
renamed 11.09.1944 on I./GR 329 w 162. (Turk.) ID.
CO from 10.10.42 was Maj. Kurt Gloger (DKiG 21.03.43),
(Azeri Liaison officer Abo Fetelibeyli)
from 10.03.43 Hptm. Haverland

Strenght 963 Azerbaijanis and 40 Germans
September 42 The Btl. ready for the Caucasian front
Integrated in the 17. Armee (Heeresgruppe A)
October 1942 From Pulawa the btl was sent to the front by the route: Gomel – Kharkov – Rostov-Taganrog –The battalion arrived in the middle of October and move in the direction of the Krasnodar Kray to join the 4th Gebirgsjager Division
This division had crossed the Marukhskiy Pass (Maly Zelenchuk River), Teberda, Uchkulan reached the Klukhorskiy Pass and simultaneously through the Khotyu-tau Pass blocked the upper reaches of the Baksan River and the Donguz-Orun and Becho passes. Concurrently with the outflanking maneuvers the Caucasian Mountain Range was supposed to be crossed by such passes as Sancharo, Klukhorskiy and Marukhskiy in order to reach Kutaisi, Zugdidi, Sukhumi and Tbilisi. The units of this division succeeded in approaching Sukhumi to a distance of 30 km.
The activities of the 4th Div. was carefully monitored at Hitler's headquarters. The Führer had repeatedly demanded that they strike through the Caucasus to the Black Sea port of Sukhumi as quickly as possible. The seizure of this port - coupled with the capturte of Novorossiisk and Tuapse, wich Seventeenth Army looked set to take from the north - would cripple Oktyabrkii's fleet, the Soviet Vice Admiral, Commander Black Sea Fleet enabling Admiral Schwarzes Meer to ferry troops and much-needed supplies across the Kerch Straits.
The 804 is guarding the 4th Gebirgsjager Division rear and also participates to actions against local partisans.
Soviet troops start to counterattack in the whole Caucasus and the retreat start from
31dec 42 to 7 january 43.
The 804 just stayed just 3 month in the area

"Kaukasus - hin und zurück" (Caucasus - there and back) was an ironic motto of the German soldiers, when the Caucasus campaign was ending
The 804 battalion reached Kerch safe and then was sent to Crimea by train .
The German command gives some Eastern People award
and badges to some members : Sturmabzeichen Verwundetenabzeichen etc
Fetelibeyli is qualified as a Wehrmacht Major and receives the Iron Cross 2nd Class
Soon after he goes to Berlin “invited “by the Ostministerium to lead the Azerbaidjanese National Komitee.
G.Von Mende wrote “he was not interested in the job, he just wanted to stay with his men”

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Re: Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804

#2

Post by clement » 24 Jul 2008, 14:35

Some rare pics of the 804 Btl in Crimea in March 1943.
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Re: Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804

#3

Post by clement » 24 Jul 2008, 14:38

More 804 pics
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Aserb-804-3-a.jpg
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Re: Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804

#4

Post by clement » 24 Jul 2008, 14:44

Pics 804
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Aserb-804-6-a.jpg
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Aserb-804-5-a.jpg
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Re: Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804

#5

Post by clement » 24 Jul 2008, 14:49

804 pics
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Aserb-804-7-a.jpg
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Re: Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804

#6

Post by clement » 24 Jul 2008, 14:54

Last pics of the 804 serie
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Re: Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804

#7

Post by kindzjal » 24 Jul 2008, 18:11

Salam,

Clement thanks for sharing this great info and pictures !
Very interesting stuff . I am also very interested what kind of info You have for us
about Mr. Fatalibeyli Dudanginski ?

Bestreg,

kindzjal

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Re: Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804

#8

Post by clement » 24 Jul 2008, 20:25

Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804
Second part
The second part is less glorious.
In the many Ostbataillons present on the Caucasus front mutinies are prepared since the withdrawal.
We must understand that these men were a few tens or hundreds kilometres from their homeland and the German command asked them to retreat!!!!
In these battalions there were some former Red army officers and probably members of the NKVD who had succeeded in hiding
Regarding the 804 a clandestine group was formed after it was removed from the Caucasus to Crimea. Here, with the support of local guerrillas, a clandestine organization was established, which later become the backbone of a guerrilla detachment.. The Germans shot eight people, the battalion was disbanded, and some soldiers sent to concentration camp. However, 60 soldiers managed to escape and formed a guerrilla detachment, which successfully worked to the release of Crimea.

Formerly titled Kommando der Ostlegionen under Generalmajor Ralph von Heygendorff (10/1942-20/4/1943)command, the Freiwilligen-Stamm Division will really take shape in February 1944 in Lyon (France) with the creation of a divisional HQ to administer and control the various depots of foreign volunteers installed in France, in the Langres, Castres, Carcassonne triangle. The General Staff was under the command of Generalmajor Wilhelm von Henning until 11 March 1944, then under the command of Generalmajor Bodo von Wartenberg in August 1944 will be moved near Langres. February 1944, five regiments of foreign volunteers form the backbone of the Freiwilligen-Stamm Division. Four regiment are installed exclusively in the sector Heeresgebiets-Sudfrankreich (former free zone) and the latter is confined in the district of Militär-Verwaltungs-Bezirks Nord-Ost. Each regiment has a framework apart from a few German officers and NCOs sulbalternes from ethnic groups concerned. In July 1944, the 1st Regiment of Volunteers (Freiw-Stamm-Rgt.1) under Oberst Otto Machts command, is formed, in addition to the General Staff, by a legion of Georgian (Georg-Legion.795), a legion of North Caucasian (North-Kau-Legion.803) and a legion of Turkestanis (Turk-Legion.781). This regiment based in Castres, Albi, St-Gaudens, Carcassonne, Cajarc, Lezignan, Carmaux, Cahors and Lavoulte, makes many movements in the departments of Aude, Ariège, Haute-Garonne and Tarn, to fight and try to destroy the Maquisards (French resistance). The Freiw-Stamm-Rgt.2 of Oberst Boehme is organized around a regimental HQ, with a legion of Armenians (Arm-Legion.810) in Mende, a Legion of Azerbaijanis (Azerb-Legion with soldiers from 804, 806 und I./73 btls and Kampfgruppe Lange) in position to Rodez then in St-Flour and a Wolga-Tatar-Legion stationed in le Puy (Hauptmann Siknidef then Hauptmann Coelle ). This regiment will be established near Mende, Rodez, Puy, Anglards, Villefort and Salles

Almost immediately after their arrival in Rodez some 30 members from the Aserb.Legion contacted the French resistance (Ftpf and FFI) in the maquis, probably denounced 3 legionnaires will be executed by the Germans. On 17 August 44 legionnaires prepared another revolt, but the contact in the resistance is arrested, after a severe questioning he gives the names of the “traitors”.Some of them will manage to escape and join the maquis In retaliation, the Germans execute 60 legionnaires, some will be burnt alive.
In the same time Hauptmann Lange refuses to provide a firing squad for partisan execution (I do not know his fate)


The Freiw-Stamm-Rgt.2 will suffer many losses between July and September 1944. First in July equivalent of a company of the Armenian legion switches to the maquis side of the Haute-Lozere . The Freiw-Stamm-Rgt.2 of Oberst Boehme and his staff leave Mende on August 19 in the morning with a big part of the Armenian Legion .They are severely harassed along the way and reduced by desertions, it arrives on 23 at St Andéol where it merges with troops of the AOK .19 on his way to Lyon. A part of the the Aserb-Legion goes in the direction of Millau and will be constantly harassed by many ambushes along the road .
We also know that on September 3, 1944 the Feldkommandant Oberst Walter Steuber from the Rodez Feldkommandantur 802 and the Kommandeur of Aserbaidschaner Battalions (May be Boehme but I am not sure )
and 60 men were executed by the resistance in Privas.
The survivors of the 804 and 806 battalions will be sent in Italy in the 329 Infantry Regiment of the 162nd (Turk.) Infantry Division
7 march1945 Major Fetelibeyli Dudanginski is sent from Berlin to Italy to visit the 162nd (he always kept an eye on “his” Btl)
4 may 1945 the 162nd surrenders to the British troops.
This part is a resume and is not finished yet but I am in a hurry
I had to deal with so many different sources (often contradictory) that it is very difficult to know exactly the “truth” but I think this is not far from what happened to this 804 Btl.
Main sources are :Tessin
Public Record of the Crimean Autonomous Republic (GAARK)
Oleg Romanko.(I f anyone has a possibility to contact him,let me know please)
Federal military archive of Germany in Freiburg
Georg Mamulia (so many thanks)

Konventioneller Krieg oder NS-Weltanschauungskrieg? Kriegführung und Partisanenbekämpfung in Frankreich 1943/44 (Gebundene Ausgabe)
Peter lieb
BA-MA RW 36/1316 Kommandant Heeresgebiet SüdfrankreichAbteilung Verwaltung und Wirtschaft
Many French resistance archives (to many to cite them all)
Attachments
ost-azeris-mauriac-cantal-1944-a.jpg
One of the only pic of Freiwilligen Stamm 2 in France
Azeris showing trophies in Mauriac France
ost-azeris-mauriac-cantal-1944-a.jpg (9.52 KiB) Viewed 4679 times
munchen-1951-a.jpg
Gathering of aserb.Btl. veterans in Munchen 1951
munchen-1951-a.jpg (26.54 KiB) Viewed 4677 times

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kindzjal
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Re: Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804

#9

Post by kindzjal » 26 Jul 2008, 14:32

Clement You've posted again some great stuff, thanks for that.
Here we have some info about Abo Dudanginski :

Abdurahman Ali oglu Fatalibeyli, born Abo Dudanginski (1908, Dudangi – 1954, Munich) was a Soviet army major who defected to the German forces during World War II.

Fatalibeyli-Dudanginski was born in the village of Dudangi (in present-day Sharur, Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan) . His classmate from the Chief of Staff Academy years (possibly Frunze Military Academy) future Marshal of Soviet Union, Minister of Defense of USSR Andrey Grechko said the following about Fatalibeyli: "He possessed with incredibly sharp intelligence and analytical thinking. He was a commander by birth. In the questions of military tactics none of us could compare to him."

Dudanginski participated in the Russo-Finnish War of 1939, receiving the Order of the Red Star[citation needed]. He became major in 1941, but surrendered to German troops during the invasion of that year. After (or during) imprisonment in Poland, he joined the Wehrmacht and became a liaison officer in 1942 within the Azerbaijani division[citation needed] as part of the 804th battalion, and later the 806th and I/73rd[citation needed]. While fighting guerrilla attacks, he received the Iron Cross and promoted to major of the German military in 1943[citation needed].

Head of the "Azerbaijan National Committee" and one of the architects of the Azerbaijani Legion[citation needed] helped by Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, Mufti of Jerusalem, and several Moslem quislings, such as Ali Khan (North Caucasus) Dr. Szymkewicz, mufti of the Ostland zone occupied by the Germans (Poland and occupied areas of the USSR), and Mohammed Al Gazani, Moslem poet and one of the chiefs of the anti-Soviet Moslem Union[citation needed].

In November 1943, a broadcast of radio DNB (Deutsche Nachrichten Buro) announced that the first battalion of Azerbaijanis, which had actively fought against the Bolshevism during more than one year, "proved their valor, and were included in German Storm Troops and decorated by the German Army." It was also announced that a conference about Azerbaijan had place in Berlin on November 7, under the command of major Dudanginski. A dispatch dated November 16, 1943 mentioned specifically that this conference had been followed "by the Mufti of Jerusalem" and "the representatives of the peoples of the Caucasus, the Ural and Turkestan."

More than 700 Azeris participated in the battle of Berlin in 1945. Abo surrendered to Allied forces, and began to work for American intelligence. After the war, Fatalibeyli was cleared by the U.S. War Department's Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency.

In 1953 he began working for CIA-funded Radio Liberty in Munich, becoming chief of the Azerbaijani desk. In September 1954, the body of Leonid Karas, a Belarusian writer, was found in the Isar River near Munich. Two months later, Fatalibeyli was found garroted in the apartment of Mikhail Izmailov. Although never conclusively proved, KGB involvement was suspected in both cases.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdurahman_Fatalibeyli

Here I've found some other info about the 804th:

http://www.feldgrau.net/forum/viewtopic ... 47&t=27434

I have also a question : Do You know in which Stalag Fatalibeyli Dudanginski was inprisoned in 1942 ?

Bestreg,

kindzjal

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clement
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Re: Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804

#10

Post by clement » 26 Jul 2008, 17:24

My dear Kindzal ,a private message just arrived for you in ze Inbox
Cok sag ol
Salamat qalin
Clement

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Loïc
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Re: Aserbeidschanische in garrison in Mauriac

#11

Post by Loïc » 28 Jul 2008, 01:33

Many thanks Clement, beautiful cadeau d'au revoir
can you imagine me when I saw the picture taken in Mauriac :D 8O :lol:
I have read few weeks ago that there were Azeris in Mauriac before the Kompanie 12 of the Sicherungs Regiment 95 came in garrison in this sub-prefecture of Upper Auvergne in april 1944.
Can you read what it is written on the flag ?

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Re: Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804

#12

Post by clement » 05 Aug 2008, 10:44

804 in Caucasus
I had in my files an "earbashing" letter written to general Bicherakhov by Major Fetelibeyli Dudanginsky about the creation of a Caucasian liberation army.Открыто писъмо генералу Л Ьичерахову
I just translated the parts about the 804 BTL

This letter is about the formation of the Caucasian Liberation Army,late 1944

We should remember that
General Köstring demanded in 1944 that all units of the East, including
Caucasian volunteers, were placed under the command of Andrej
Vlassov,
This decision did not fail to provoke protests from most
representatives of the peoples of the USSR. They remembered that in September
1944, during negotiations with Himmler, Vlassov had ignored the aspirations of
the independence of Caucasians, saying that after the
fall of Bolshevism, the peoples of the USSR will unit again voluntarily
with Russia
Caucasian committees declared in no uncertain terms that "for centuries, people from
Caucasus had fought Russia for their independence. Their goals were
therefore irreconcilable with those pursuing by Vlassov, representative of
Russian people”. The Caucasian asked
without delay the creation of an authentic National Caucasian Committee involving a commitment from authorities of the Reich to support formal independence of Caucasus
In October was created the National Caucasian committee, with the help of the SS obergruppenführer Gottlob Berger.. It also created a Caucasian Military Council in order to
coordinating military cooperation between Caucasians. This organization was responsible for
the formation of the Caucasian Liberation Army. It proposed to Lazar
Bicherakhov to lead the Military Council

The letter was written at this period.Of course Fetelibeyli is strongly against the idea .
It starts by a very soviet “Gospodin General” this gives an idea of the tone of this letter.

Fetelibey tells also the story of the 804btl in this letter .
He writes

“During the withdrawal from Caucasus, leading rearguard fights, the 804 came to Kuban and had near Staro Korsunskaya (20 miles west from Krasnodar) decisive defensive battles against the 153rd Red Army Rifle Division.We destroyed the 40 and 119 brigade belonging to this division”.

The first Soviet offensive against the Taman bridgehead took place between 25 February and 12 March 1943. On 12 February 1943, the Red Army took Krasnodar The Romanian forces and the 804 were evacuated to Crimea for rest and refitting after 203 days of fighting from the autumn of 1942 to March 1943.
Regards
Clement
feteli-Heer-2.jpg
Abo Fetelibeyli ,Russian version of Signal
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Re: Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804

#13

Post by clement » 05 Aug 2008, 10:48

Another one of Fetelibeyli
If anyone has infos about the russian version of the Signal newspaper ,please let me know.
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Russian Version of Signal 2.jpg
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Re: Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804

#14

Post by Blacky » 02 Nov 2009, 13:02

Hallo Clement,
hast Du informationen zum Sonderführer "Z" Arthur Fölsche, der Dolmetscher in dem Batallion war?
Gruß Blacky

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Re: Aserbeidschanische Infanterie Bataillon 804

#15

Post by Marcus » 02 Nov 2009, 13:46

Please write in English, thanks.

/Marcus

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