The 16th SS Police Regiment () was initially named the 16th Police Regiment (''Polizei-Regiment 16'') when it was formed in 1942 from existing
Order Police
The ''Ordnungspolizei'' (''Orpo'', , meaning "Order Police") were the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly of power after regional police jurisdiction was removed in favour of t ...
() units for security duties on the
Eastern Front. It was redesignated as an
SS unit in early 1943.
Formation and organization
The regiment was ordered formed on 9 July 1942 in northern
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
.
Police Battalion 56
The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizens ...
(''Polizei-Batallion 56''),
Police Battalion 102, I Battalion of the
15th Police Regiment, formerly
Police Battalion 305, and
Police Battalion 121 were redesignated as the regiment's first through fourth
battalion
A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...
s, respectively.
I Battalion was transferred to
Tilsit
Sovetsk (; ) is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania.
History Early history
Tilsit, which received civic rights from Albert, Duke of Prussia in 1552,''Sło ...
,
East Prussia
East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...
(now
Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast
Sovetsk (; ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania.
History Early history
Tilsit, which received German town law, c ...
), and was converted into a training unit on 5 February 1943. It eventually became I Battalion of the
3rd SS Police Regiment and was replaced by a newly formed battalion in July 1944.
All of the police regiments were redesignated as SS police units on 24 February 1943, but this was strictly honorary. IV Battalion was disbanded in 1943 and the remnants of the
9th SS Police Regiment were absorbed into III Battalion in mid-1944. The III Battalion's 9th and 10th Companies committed the
Pirčiupiai massacre
Pirčiupiai is a village in (Valkininkai) Elderships of Lithuania, eldership, Varėna district municipality, Alytus County, Dzūkija Regions of Lithuania, region, Lithuania. According to the 2001 census, the village had a population of 103 people. ...
on June 3, 1944.
Notes
References
* Arico, Massimo. ''Ordnungspolizei: Encyclopedia of the German Police Battalions'', Stockholm: Leandoer and Ekholm (2010).
*Blood, Phillip W. ''Hitler's Bandit Hunters: The SS and the Nazi Occupation of Europe'', Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books (2006).
*Tessin, Georg & Kannapin, Norbert. ''Waffen-SS under Ordnungspolizei im Kriegseinsatz 1939–1945: Ein Überlick anhand der Feldpostübersicht'', Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio Verlag (2000).
{{SS Police Regts
#