Description
HEER SOLDBUCH – FELDJÄGER REGIMENT (MOT) 2 – MILITARY POLICE – RARE!
Army SOLDBUCH issued to Feldwebel Hans PROBST. He served first in Infanterie Regiment 53 and then in FELDJÄGER REGIMENT (MOT) 2. The Feldjáger (Military Police) was perhaps the most dreaded unit in the Wehrmacht due to the incredible power they wielded (see below) – much harder to find that Feldgendarmerie or other police related units. Probst was awarded the Black Wound Badge, EK2, Infantry Assault Badge, EK1, Ostmedailled and Silver Wound Badge. His Soldbuch has a fantastic uniform photo showing him wearing his decorations. Soldbuch was issued October 4, 1940. Scarce entry for the Singer 6.35 Calibre Pocket Pistol and the Erfurt Pistol, as well. HE obviously saw hard fighting in the Russia Campaign before being wounded, as his awards suggest. After recovering, he was transferred to the Feldjäger where his combat decorations would have given him a greater potential respect and authority, as was common with members of this unit. Soldbuch also has uncommon weapons training pages inserted inside.
Military Police Commandos were established following a Führer order from December 1943 in response to the increasing indiscipline, neglect, and signs of subversion behind the front lines. The Military Police Commandos were a law enforcement force directly subordinate to the High Command of the Wehrmacht. This also resulted in the extremely rare subordination of the Waffen-SS to the disciplinary authority of a Wehrmacht unit. The commanders of the Military Police Commandos had the status and powers of an army commander-in-chief, including the power to impose disciplinary punishments . Later orders granted the leaders of the Military Police Commandos and units far-reaching powers, ranging from virtually unlimited removals from posts and the dissolution of rear-line organizations to the requisitioning of other law enforcement forces. The only thing they did not have the right to intervene in was military tactical leadership.
During the Second World War, and particularly towards the end of the war, tens of thousands of deserters fell into the hands of the police and were executed in accordance with Hitler’s slogan “The soldier can die, the deserter must die” . The Feldgendarmerie also became notorious for the hero theft , as they even searched the refugee convoys from the East for potentially capable men. The Feldgendarmes and Feldjäger were popularly known as “Chain Dogs” , in reference to the gorget they wore on a chain around their necks, bearing the inscription Feldgendarmerie or Feldjägerkommando (the Army or Wehrmacht patrol service instead wore the adjutant’s cord, known as the “monkey swing”, or the officers’ shoulder strap on their right shoulder, but in each case without the short braid and the two metal pins).
