SS Polizei-Selbstschutz-Regiment Sandschak
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

SS-''Polizei Selbstschutz'' Regiment Sandschak (from
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
; "''SS-Police
Self-Protection Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in ...
Regiment Sandžak''", ), also known as the Krempler Legion (, ) was a Schutzstaffel (SS) unit established on the territory of Sandžak by the senior Waffen-SS officer
Karl von Krempler Karl von Krempler, later only Karl Krempler (Serbian Cyrillic: ''Карл Кремплер'', 26 May 1896 – 17 April 1971) was a German SS-''Standartenführer'' and SS and Police Leader during the Nazi era. In World War II, he was responsible f ...
in
Axis occupied Yugoslavia World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the US ...
. He went to the Sandžak region (named after the Ottoman administrative unit ''" Sanjak"'') in October and took over the local volunteer militia of around 5,000 anti-communist, anti-Serb Muslim men headquartered in Sjenica. The SS-police "self-defence" regiment Sandžak was created by joining three battalions of
Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
collaborationist troops with one battalion of the Sandžak Muslim militia. The Germans could not provide uniforms, arms and equipment for more than one battalion of Muslims, so other Muslim fighters remained within units of Muslim militia. This formation was sometimes thereafter called the ''
Kampfgruppe In military history, the German term (pl. ; abbrev. KG, or KGr in usage during World War II, literally "fighting group" or "battle group") can refer to a combat formation of any kind, but most usually to that employed by the of Nazi Germa ...
Krempler'' or more derisively the ''"Muselmanengruppe von Krempler"''. As the senior Waffen-SS officer, Karl von Krempler appointed
Sulejman Pačariz Hafiz Sulejman Pačariz (1900 — 1945) was an Islamic cleric of Albanian origin and commander of the detachment of Muslim militia from the village of Hisardžik (Prijepolje, modern-day Serbia) during the Second World War. When Germans took over ...
as the formal commander of the unit, but as the key military trainer and contact person with German arms and munitions, he remained effectively in control. At one point around 2,000 members of the SS regiment operated in Sjenica. The supreme commander of all police forces was SS and Police Leader August Meyszner who was responsible only to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler regarding the police actions. All newly recruited members of this police were sent for two-months military training to Raška and Vučitrn. They were trained by Volksdeutsche. Besides military training they learned German language, first military commands and later to speak German. They sang German March songs while they marched through populated places. In August 1944 took part in operation
Operation Rübezahl Operation Rübezahl was the name of 3 German anti-partisan operations in Yugoslavia during World War II. The first operation announced the beginning of a strategic retreat by Nazi German troops from Serbia after the front change of Romania and B ...
under command of
5th SS Mountain Corps __NOTOC__ V SS Mountain Corps was a Waffen-SS formation that existed in later periods of World War II. The Corps fought against Yugoslav Partisans in the Balkans as part of 2nd Panzer Army from October 1943 to December 1944. At this time it rarely ...
. On 14 October 1944 Yugoslav partisans defeated the regiment during a surprise attack in which they took Sjenica and pushed it back to Duga Poljana, to the east. This action marked the end of the unit in Sandžak, although Germans recaptured Sjenica on 25 October 1944. In November 1944, Pačariz together with his troops retreated to Sarajevo where the SS regiment was put under command of Ustaše General
Maks Luburić MAKS or Maks may refer to: People *Maksim (Maks), a Slavic given name * Kees Maks (1876-1967) Dutch painter Places * Maks, a settlement in northern Poland Other uses *MAKS Air Show, an international airshow held near Moscow, Russia *MAKS (space ...
. Pačariz was promoted to the rank of Ustaše Colonel. In 1945 Pačariz was captured near Banja Luka, put on trial and found guilty for massacres of civilians. He was executed as a war criminal.


Annotations

*Name: **Selbstschutz-Regiment "Sandschak". **"Police Self-Defense Regiment Sandjak" (Polizei-Selbstschutz-Regiment Sandschak).


References


Sources

* * {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 History of Sandžak Montenegro in World War II Serbia in World War II World War II crimes in Yugoslavia Albanians in Serbia Kosovo Albanians Albanian militant groups Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations disestablished in 1944 Sjenica Anti-Serbian sentiment 1940s establishments in Serbia Military units and formations of Germany in Yugoslavia in World War II