Army Group Centre Rear Area
| Army Group Centre Rear Area | |
|---|---|
| Rückwärtiges Heeresgebiet Mitte | |
 Victims hanged by the German security troops in the Soviet Union, August/September 1941 | |
| Active | 1941–1944 |
| Country |  Nazi Germany |
| Branch | Army (Wehrmacht) |
| Part of | Army Group CentreandArmy High Command |
| Engagements | World War II |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Max von Schenckendorff Ludwig Kübler Edwin von Rothkirch und Trach |
Army Group Centre Rear Area(German:Rückwärtiges Heeresgebiet Mitte) was one of the threeArmy Group Rear Area Commands,established during the 1941 Germaninvasion of the Soviet Union.Initially commanded by GeneralMax von Schenckendorff,it was an area of military jurisdiction behindWehrmacht'sArmy Group Centre.
The Group Centre Rear Area's outward function was to provide security behind the fighting troops. It was also a site of mass murder duringThe Holocaustand othercrimes against humanitytargeting the civilian population. In the words of historian Michael Parrish, the army commander "presided over an empire of terror and brutality".[1]
Organisation
[edit]The commander of the Army Group Centre Rear Area, GeneralMax von Schenckendorff,was responsible for the rear area security. Its headquarters was subordinated toArmy Group Centre,while also reporting to the Wehrmacht's Quartermaster GeneralEduard Wagner,who had the overall responsibility for rear area security.[2]
Schenckendorff controlled threeSecurity Divisionsand oversaw the units ofSecret Field Policeof the Wehrmacht. He operated in parallel, and in cooperation, withErich von dem Bach-Zelewski,theHigher SS and Police Leadersappointed by the head of theSS,Heinrich Himmler.[2]
Security warfare and crimes against humanity
[edit]The area commanders' duties included security of communications and supply lines, economic exploitation and combatting guerillas (partisans) in Wehrmacht's rear areas, which were the primary tasks of the security divisions.[3]In addition, security and police formations of the SS and theSD(SS Security Service) operated in the areas, being subordinated to the respective Higher SS and Police Leaders. These units included multipleEinsatzgruppendeath squaddetachments,Police Regiment Centreand additionalOrder Police battalions(seePolice Battalion 45). These units perpetrated mass murder duringThe Holocaustand othercrimes against humanity.[4]
The security formations, often in coordination with or under the leadership of the Wehrmacht, conducted security warfare targeting civilian population. The so-called anti-partisan operations in "bandit-infested" areas amounted to destruction of villages, seizure of livestock, deporting of able-bodied population forslave labour to Germanyand murder of those of non-working age.[5]
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^Parrish 1996,p. 127.
- ^abMegargee 2007,p. 36.
- ^Shepherd 2003,p. 70.
- ^Brandon & Lower 2008,p. 276.
- ^Shepherd 2004,p. 63.
Sources
[edit]- Brandon, Ray;Lower, Wendy(2008).The Shoah in Ukraine: history, testimony, memorialization.Indiana University Press. p. 12.ISBN978-0-253-35084-8.
- Beorn, Waitman Wade (2014).Marching into Darkness: The Wehrmacht and the Holocaust in Belarus.Cambridge, MA:Harvard University Press.ISBN978-0-674-72550-8.
- Megargee, Geoffrey P.(2007).War of Annihilation: Combat and Genocide on the Eastern Front, 1941.Rowman & Littlefield.ISBN978-0-7425-4482-6.
- Parrish, Michael (1996).The Lesser Terror: Soviet State Security, 1939–1953.Praeger Press.ISBN978-0-275-95113-9.
- Shepherd, Ben H.(2003). "The Continuum of Brutality: Wehrmacht Security Divisions in Central Russia, 1942".German History.21(1): 49–81.doi:10.1191/0266355403gh274oa.
- Shepherd, Ben H.(2004).War in the Wild East the German Army and Soviet Partisans.Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.ISBN0674043553.