The Feldgendarmerie (a German[1] term roughly translating to "Field Police") were the military police units of the armies of the German Empire (including the Wehrmacht) from post-Napoleonic times through its dissolution at the conclusion of World War II. Military police ( MPs) are normally the Police of a Military Organization. The German Empire is the name commonly used in English to describe Germany from 1871 to 1918 when it was a semi- Constitutional monarchy: beginning with the Unification Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including
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Early incarnations of the Feldgendarmerie came into being on an ad-hoc basis through mobilizations of the Germany army as a whole, most notably in the wars of 1866 and 1870. At the outset of hostilities in 1914 the Feldgendarmerie comprised 33 units; this number was expanded to 100 by war's end.
The Feldgendarmerie (pejoratively Kettenhunde, or "chained dogs", for the gorget they wore) had an especially significant role towards the end of World War II as they became responsible for the fate of tens of thousands of deserters (known as Fahnenflüchtiger, literally "runners from the flag"). A gorget originally was a steel collar designed to protect the Throat. In Military terminology desertion is the Abandonment of a " Duty " or post without permission from one's Government or superior According to Hitler's way of thinking, "the soldier may die, but the deserter must die" and many were summarily executed. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Towards the end of the war (as public support for anything but non-defensive actions by the Wehrmacht was rapidly evaporating), they also became known as the Heldenklau (or "hero-snatchers") because they were assigned the unpopular task of searching streams of returning refugees for possible deserters and sending rear-echelon personnel to the front. Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945
Additionally, some Feldgendarmerie units were given occupation duties in the territories controlled by the Wehrmacht. Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 Their missions ranged from straightforward traffic control and civilian policing to suppression and execution of partisans and enemy stragglers.
As combat units moved out of a region, control was transferred to the SS and Police Leaders occupation authority under the Nazi Party and Heinrich Himmler, and the Feldgendarmerie's role would formally end. SS and Police Leader (SS- und Polizeiführer was a title for senior Nazi officials that commanded large units of the SS during and prior to World War II Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945 was a Nazi German politician and head of the Schutzstaffel (SS. The SS and Police Leaders are known to have committed numerous war crimes including mass arrests and deportation to concentration camps and even mass murder of entire villages, especially of Jews and other distrusted populations. War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war" including but not limited to "murder the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people commonly in large groups without trial PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ The extent to which the Feldgendarmerie participated in such activities is not well documented. Overall, the history of the Feldgendarmerie is one of the least explored chapters of Wehrmacht history during the Second World War. Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945
With the creation of the Bundeswehr in 1955, many of its branches of service were given names that would at least nominally distinguish them from their logical Wehrmacht equivalents. The Feldjäger are the Military police of the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces The Bundeswehr ( German for "Federal Defence Force") is the name of the unified Armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany Year 1955 ( MCMLV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar) Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 Thus, military police in the modern Bundeswehr were not called Feldgendarmerie. The Bundeswehr ( German for "Federal Defence Force") is the name of the unified Armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany In fact, the original intent was to call the MPs Militärpolizei, literally military police. However, state officials protested as the law enforcement function in the brand new German constitution had been given primarily to the states, not the federation. The word Polizei (Police) was jealously guarded by the states, so the Federal Defence Ministry searched for a new designation and adopted Feldjäger which was a traditional Prussian regiment with some military police type functions. The Feldjäger are the Military police of the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces Prussia ( Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Prūsija Prūsija Prusy Old Prussian: Prūsa) was most recently a historic state