SS Police Regiment Bozen

Members of the Police Regiment Bozen on the via Rasella in Rome, shortly ater a partisan attack on 13 March 1944

The SS Police Regiment Bozen was a security and police formation of the German SS, established in 1943 under the authority of the Supreme SS and Police Command in Italy. The regiment was considered a formation of both the SS and the Ordnungspolizei, with members issued German regular police uniforms.

Regimental History

The regiment was created to recruit ethnic Germans from the Italian Tyrol into the German police, specifically for the purposes of performing anti-partisan and security duty within the borders of the Italian Social Republic. Most of the regiment members were veterans of the Italian Army with service on the Eastern Front. Originally known as the "Police Regiment South Tyrol", in November 1943 the name was changed to Polizeiregiment Bozen. Throughout the year and half of its existence, the regiment was headquartered at Bolzano, Silandro and Gossensaß.

The Bozen Regiment was composed of a headquarters staff with three battalions, each battalion having between one to five police infantry companies. The unit was lightly armed and considered a Panzergrenadier type formation in the German infantry order of battle. The "sister" regiment to the Bozen police was the SS Police Regiment "Brixen". Originally, the regiment was under the command of the Nazi appointed governor (Gauleiter) of the Tyrol Franz Hofer, but was absorbed into the SS and Police formations quickly thereafter. Simultaneously, the regiment was seen as a military formation and thus also under the command of the regular German military in the area. Finally, when performing garrison duties in major cities (such as Rome), the regiment was under direct SS control.

In 1944, the Bozen Regiment was deployed mainly in and around the city of Rome; duties included security within the city as well as sweeps of the countryside for Italian Army deserters and escaped prisoners of war. Within Rome itself, the 11th Company (Leutnant der Schutzpolizei Wolgasth commanding) conducted daily patrols through the streets; on March 23, 1944, the 11th company was attacked by Italian partisans. Twenty eight SS soldiers were killed outright, with a few more dying over the next day. The German security forces in Rome, led by SS-Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler, organized a reprisal which became known as the Ardeatine massacre.

As Italy fell to the Allied advance, members of the Bozen Regiment were either folded into other German combat units or discharged as defeat grew near. The unit itself had officially ceased to exist by the spring of 1945.

Chain of Command

• Regimental Commander: Oberst der Schutzpolizei Alois Menschik
  • Regimental Adjutant: Hauptmann der Schutzpolizei Ullbrich

'Battalion Commands

• 1st Battalion:
  • Companies 1 - 5
• 2nd Battalion: Major der Schutzpolizei Schroder
  • Companies 6 - 10
• 3rd Battalion: Major der Schutzpolizei Hellmuth Dobbrick
  • Companies 11 - 13

Senior Order of Battle

• Supreme SS and Police Command (Italien) - SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff
  • SS and Police Command (Mitteitalien-Verona) - SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Harster
    • SS and Police Regiment 15 (Regular SS Garrison in Rome) - Oberstleutnant der Schutzpolizei Ludwig Buch
      • SS Police Regiment "Bozen" (Ethnic SS Regiment)
      • SS Police Regiment "Brixen" (Ethnic SS Regiment)

The overall military command which encompassed the corresponding SS units was the German 14th Army under the command of Eberhard von Mackensen. The SS garrison troops in Rome were under the command of the German occupation commander General Kurt Mälzer. Both men answered to Field Marshall Albert Kesselring, considered the highest ranking German commander in the Italian theater.

References

• Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican, Gallagher, J. (1969)