Military Wiki
26th SS Police Regiment
Country Flag of German Reich (1935–1945) Nazi Germany
Branch Schutzstaffel
Type Security
Size Regiment
Garrison/HQ Wehrkreis IV

The 26th SS Police Regiment (German language: SS-Polizei-Regiment 23) was initially named Police Regiment North Norway (Polizei-Regiment Nord-Norwegen) when it was formed in early 1941 after the German invasion of Norway in 1940 from existing Order Police (Ordnungspolizei) units for security duties there. It was redesignated as the 26th Police Regiment in mid-1942 before it received the SS title in early 1943, but it never became part of the Waffen-SS, and retained its existing organization and strength.

Formation and organization[]

Police Regiment North Norway was formed on 16 February 1941 with Police Battalions (Polizei-Batallion) 256, 302 and 312 under its control. The regiment maintained a strength of three battalions through July 1942, although the individual battalions were frequently rotated in and out.[1] The regiment was renamed the 26th Police Regiment in July 1942 and Police Battalions 251, 255, and 256 were redesignated as the regiment's first through third battalions, respectively.[2] All of the police regiments were redesignated as SS police units on 24 February 1943, but this was strictly honorary. The regiment was transferred to German in May and arrived in Belarus the following month. It was destroyed in July 1944 and formally disbanded in November.[3]

Notes[]

  1. Arico, pp. 383–84, 389, 439; Tessin & Kanapin, p. 555
  2. Arico, pp. 374, 382, 384; Tessin & Kanapin, p. 626
  3. Tessin & Kannapin, pp. 557, 626

References[]

  • Arico, Massimo. Ordnungspolizei: Encyclopedia of the German Police Battalions, Stockholm: Leandoer and Ekholm (2010). ISBN 978-91-85657-99-5
  • Tessin, Georg & Kannapin, Norbert. Waffen-SS under Ordnungspolizei im Kriegseinsatz 1939–1945: Ein Überlick anhand der Feldpostübersicht, Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio Verlag (2000). ISBN 3-7648-2471-9


All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at 26th SS Police Regiment and the edit history here.