Germany went to war in 1939 with three secret weapons: panzers, stukas, and the Brandenburgers. While panzers and stukas weren't exactly secret, the proper use of armor and tactical air power was the monopoly of the German blitzkrieg for the first half of the war. The Brandenburgers were indeed secret and were Germany's elite special operations forces. Their wartime daring and audacity helped contribute to Germany's early successes, and have inspired and shaped modern special forces from US Special Forces to Soviet/Russian Spetznaz.

The Brandenburgers originated in the Abwehr, the intelligence department of the Wehrmacht (OKW, Oberkommando der Wehrmacht). Abwehr section II was responsible for sabotage and special operations. There, Captain von Hippel realized that these operations could have a military impact far beyond the size of the units involved. In World War 1, he knew, Lettow-Vorbeck tied down British forces many times the size of his force in German East Africa, just as Lawrence's irregulars ran rings around the Turks in Arabia. Thus, lessons from the jungles of Africa and the deserts of Arabia gave birth to the Brandenburgers.

The Brandenburgers were intended to operate where the "fighting did not yet take place," by infiltrating enemy lines and seizing objectives such as bridges ahead of the regular forces, and where the "fighting was over," by delaying the enemy while German forces retreated. Abwehr II recruited Germans who spoke foreign languages and could pass as natives of foreign countries, with knowledge of the language and customs.

Thus, Brandenburgers typically came from German border areas and from Germans living abroad. Germany had a unique resource that made this possible: the Volksdeutsch. The Volksdeutsch were ethnic Germans, who lived in German-speaking communities, often under traditional German town law. Virtually every country bordering Germany contained some ethnic Germans living there, while eastern Europe in particular had several million Volksdeutsch, from Poland and Yugoslavia to as far east as the Volga German Republic deep inside the Soviet Union. Many Volksdeutsch, for their part, were extremely proud of their German heritage and culture and provided many willing volunteers to the Brandenburgers (as well as to the Army and SS).

In early 1939, the nucleus of the Brandenburgers was raised: the "German Company." This was a special operations group of company strength, manned with Germans from the Sudetenland and Polish Silesia. By September, the German Company was organized for the Polish campaign and consisted of Polish-speaking Germans. They were used to capture bridges and other objectives in advance of German troops. The company met with mixed success, but the capture of the Katowice railroad junction on 1 Sept. and the Demblin railroad bridge on 10 Sept., both in advance of the front lines, helped the Germans speed across Poland and justified the existence of special operations units. (in First to Fight, the Brandenburger battalion represents the German Company, plus V-Manner contingents and other special operations forces.)

Abwehr II had also planned to sponsor a Ukrainian revolt against Poland in 1939. The southeastern region of Poland, around the city of Lviv (called Lwow in Polish and Lvov in Russian) had a Ukrainian majority population, with underground movements attempting to establish an independent Ukrainian state. The Abwehr supported and helped organize plans for a revolt, which would help disrupt the Polish war effort.

In the event, the rapid Polish collapse precluded a Ukrainian revolt, and the Lviv area passed to Soviet control. The Abwehr, however, retained its cadre of Ukrainian nationalists, who became known as "Nightingales" for their singing ability.

After Poland, the Abwehr special operations troops took up garrison at Brandenburg-am-Havel, near Berlin. Their barracks city gave them their name: the Brandenburgers. Organized under the deceptive title of "Construction-Instruction Battalion 800," the Brandenburgers underwent vigorous training in special operations, with the need for deception and ingenuity stressed.

Brandenburgers

1939: Origins and Early Operations
1940: Triumphs and Expansion
1941: To Africa and Victory in the East
1942-1943: Operations and Re-organization
1944-1945: Eclipse and Defeat
Europa Order of Battle