The 12th SS Police Regiment (german: SS-Polizei-Regiment 3) was initially named the 12th Police Regiment (''12. SS-Polizei-Regiment'') when it was formed in 1942 from existing Order Police units (''Ordnungspolizei'') in Germany. It was redesignated as an SS unit in early 1943. The regimental headquarters was disbanded in early 1944, but its battalions remained in service.

Formation and organization

The regiment was formed in July 1942 in Hamburg as the 12th Police Regiment. Police Battalion 103 (''Polizei-Batallion 103''), Police Battalion 104 and Police Battalion 105 were redesignated as the regiment's first through third battalions, respectively.Arico, pp. 297, 300, 306; Tessin & Kanapin, p. 620 All of the police regiments were redesignated as SS police units on 24 February 1943. The regiment's third battalion was redesignated as the third battalion of the 3rd SS Police Regiment in 1943 and was reformed. In April, I battalion was reformed into a SS Police Infantry Battalion (''SS-Polizei-Infanterie Regiment''). III Battalion was sent to Italy in October where it was attached to the 15th SS Police Regiment and remained in Italy through December 1944. The headquarters was disbanded on 11 April 1944. II Battalion was transferred to Hungary that same month and was redesignated as the first battalion of the 1st SS Police Regiment in August.Tessin & Kanapin, p. 620

War crimes

The regiment has been implicated in eight incidents of war crimes in Italy from March to September 1944 with an estimated 85 civilians killed. Members of the unit served as guards on Holocaust trains from Italian transit camps, taking political prisoners and captured partisans to camps in Germany and Jewish prisoners to Auschwitz.

Notes

References

* Arico, Massimo. ''Ordnungspolizei: Encyclopedia of the German Police Battalions'', Stockholm: Leandoer and Ekholm (2010). *Tessin, Georg & Kannapin, Norbert. ''Waffen-SS under Ordnungspolizei im Kriegseinsatz 1939–1945: Ein Überlick anhand der Feldpostübersicht'', Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio Verlag (2000). * {{Nazi war crimes in Italy SS and Police units, # The Holocaust in Italy, SS Police Regiment, 12 Ordnungspolizei Police units of Nazi Germany