TheForest Protection Command (German:Forstschutzkommando), later theForest Protection Corps (German:Forstschutzkorps), was an armed and uniformedparamilitary force created by theGeneral Government which was responsible for defending forests inPoland from sabotage and for patrolling forests to prevent their use by thePolish resistance.[1][2] It was formed in 1939 and largely composed of ethnic German residents of Poland.[2]
War Crimes
editIn July 1941, the FSK took control of theBialowieza Forest. The civilian population was evacuated, farms and villages were burned to the ground, and two small Jewish communities were annihilated. Together withPolice Battalion 322 theForstschutzkommando-Abteilung Bialowies[3] entered the villages in the forest, forced the inhabitants to leave within 30 minutes and burned down the houses and other buildings. Seven thousand people were deported and 34 villages destroyed. Jewish women and children were taken to the ghetto ofKobryn while 584 men and boys were killed outright.[4]
Rank insignia
edit| Equivalent Rank | Rank in FSK | Rank insignia |
|---|---|---|
| Grenadier | Forstschütze |  |
| Gefreiter | Rottenführer |  |
| Obergefreiter | Oberrottenführer |  |
| Unteroffizier | Scharführer | |
| Unterfeldwebel | Oberscharführer | |
| Feldwebel | Truppführer | |
| Oberfeldwebel | Obertruppführer | |
| Senior ranks | Ranks and insignia of the Forest Service | |
| Source: | [5] | |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^Littlejohn, David (1987).Foreign Legions of the Third Reich: Poland, the Ukraine, Bulgaria, Rumania, Free India, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Russia. Bender. pp. 19–21.ISBN 091213836X.
- ^abBenz, Wolfgang (1997).Enzyklopädie des Nationalsozialismus [Encyclopedia of National Socialism] (in German). Klett-Cotta.ISBN 3423330074.
- ^Blood, Philip W. (2021).Birds of Prey. ibidem-Verlag, p. 323.
- ^Mohnhaupt, Jan Wolf (2022).Animals under the Swaztika. University of Wisconsin Press, p. 105.
- ^Saris, Wilhelm P.B.R.; de Wolf, Mathieu (2008). "Forstschutzkommando: A sub-organization of the Reichsforstmeister".The Military Advisor. pp. 27, 34.
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