11/8/2022 0 Comments Behind enemy lines online![]() ![]() Other foreigners were simply sympathizers of the Nazi regime and wanted to contribute to the establishment of the New Order.Ĭontrary to the practices of the SS, the Abwehr didn’t give much thought to the racial background of its operatives as long as they were doing their tasks properly. Most of these foreigners joined with the hope that German troops would bring liberation to their own nations. ![]() Soldiers with such skills were more likely to successfully infiltrate and then keep a low profile while operating.īesides Germans, other nationalities were included too. What Hippel was looking for were people who primarily had excellent knowledge of foreign languages and were familiar with the customs of nations that were targeted for German invasion. Among them were misfits and men with doubtful pasts, but there were also ordinary men willing to help their country.īrandenburgers were everything but conventional soldiers. RecruitmentĬaptain Theodore Hippel was tasked with gathering recruits for the new unit. Korvettenkapitän Wilhelm Canaris, chief of the German military intelligence agency Abwehr. Knowing that the Army was against the idea, it was decided that the unit would be created under the umbrella of the Abwehr and would receive orders directly from the High Command of the Armed Forces. Canaris and Hitler saw some potential in the idea and agreed to form a special operations unit. ![]() Hippel went to the head of the Abwehr, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, to present him with his ideas. Lawrence on the Brough Superior SS100 that he called “George V” Hippel was more than impressed with their tactics and was certain that a similar type of warfare could be used in Europe as well. The experience he gained during this period made Hippel a great advocate of irregular warfare. Upon returning to Germany, he studied the campaign of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence against the Ottomans in the Middle East. With scarce resources, fighting an irregular warfare, they managed to cause a lot of problems for the numerically superior British. During the war Colonel Lettow-Vorbeck led local Askari tribes in fighting British colonial troops. Theodore Hippel was a World War I veteran who had spent his war days in East Africa under the command of Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. It was therefore an Abwehr officer, Theodore-Gottlieb von Hippel, who successfully pushed the idea of forming a special unit that would perform “irregular” tasks which standard units were not capable of carrying out. Army officials believed that the might of their panzer units combined with blitzkrieg tactics was sufficient to crush any enemy. Interestingly, before World War II the German Army was reluctant to form a commando style unit, seeing them as completely useless. ![]()
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