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32-610: The regiment's first and second battalions were active in Istria and Belluno respectively, while the third battalion was a reserve unit stationed in Rome . All three surrendered to Allied or partisan forces in the last days of the war. On 23 March 1944 the 11th company of its 3rd battalion was the target of the Via Rasella attack in Rome, that led to the bloody German retaliation known as

64-717: A Sicherungsgruppe (security group) to cut off partisan withdrawal from the area. As Axis forces withdrew from the Balkans, I Battalion was stationed at Ajdovščina , then in Tolmin . Finally, in an attempt to impede the British 8th Army , the battalion was sent to the Predil Pass , near the modern Italian-Slovene border. The battalion surrendered to the 8th Army at Thörl-Maglern  [ de ] , Carinthia in May 1945 after

96-553: A lengthy retreat. In Allied custody, the battalion was sent to a camp at Kötschach-Mauthen , from which some of its members escaped by to the South Tyrol through the Gailtal  [ de ] . The prisoners were first transferred to Udine , then to Bellaria – Igea Marina and were guarded with greater attention by New Zealand and Polish soldiers. The escapees from Kötschach-Mauthen that made it home were required to appear at

128-460: A less militarized structure. The Wehrmacht (1935-1945) of Nazi Germany used the rank of Oberstleutnant for Army and Air Force, much in the same style the Bundeswehr does. The Waffen-SS (1933-1945) used the rank Obersturmbannführer as an equivalent. The National People's Army (1956-1990) of East Germany used the rank Oberstleutnant (abbr. OSL) for its army and air force, whereas

160-616: A single L3/33 and L3/35 tankette , all captured from the Italians after 8 September 1943. On 5 April 1944, I Battalion embarked on Operation Bozen in the area of Brnčići  [ hr ] , near Kastav , resulting in the razing of the village of Gornji Turki. The battalion then participated in Operation Braunschweig . On 30 April, German troops of the 278th Infantry and 188th Reserve Mountain Divisions , and

192-452: Is 61. The Oberstleutnant's shoulder straps in Army and Air Force are marked by two vertically aligned stars above oak leaves. The Federal Border Guard ( Bundesgrenzschutz ) used the rank Oberstleutnant until 1976, after which it was replaced by the terms Polizeioberrat and Polizeidirektor as part of the government's effort to transform West Germany 's federal border guard agency into

224-629: Is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria , Germany , Switzerland , Denmark , and Norway . The Swedish rank överstelöjtnant is a direct translation, as is the Finnish rank everstiluutnantti . Austria's armed forces, the Bundesheer , uses the rank Oberstleutnant as its sixth-highest officer rank. Like in Germany and Switzerland, Oberstleutnants are above Majors and below Obersts. The term also finds usage with

256-653: The Wehrmacht on 30 January in the presence of Karl Wolff and Karl Tinzl  [ de ] , then were assigned to the front. I Battalion, composed of 900 men under the command of Major Oskar Kretschmer , was sent to Istria, then in the Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral ( Operationszone Adriatisches Küstenland , OZAK), in February 1944. Based out of Opatija and under

288-543: The 24th Waffen-SS Karstjäger , razed the village of Lipa and killed its 263 inhabitants. Croatian researcher Petra Predoević found that some testimonies and archival data implicated the Bozen Regiment, whose attack by Yugoslav partisans had been the cause of the Lipa massacre. On 3 May, the 3rd Company was assigned to Cacitti (between Divača and Hrpelje-Kozina ), while the 2nd Company was deployed to Šušnjevica as

320-702: The Agordino  [ it ] were re-apprehended and held a camp at Cencenighe Agordino , that were participants in the Biois valley massacre were shot on recognition. The remaining prisoners were handed over to the Americans and joined I Battalion at Rimini. Like I Battalion, II Battalion was released from prison in September 1946. Participants of the Biois valley massacre were tried in 1979, but acquitted on lack of evidence. When called to testify, they condemned

352-726: The Ardeatine massacre . Following the Badoglio Proclamation on 8 September 1943, the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile , Germany invaded Italy . Two days later, South Tyrol , Trentino and Belluno came under German control as the Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills ( Operationszone Alpenvorland , OZAV). This region formally existed under the Italian Social Republic , but

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384-649: The Eastern Front . Draft evasion incurred a death sentence and persecution of relatives, according to the Nazi doctrine of Sippenhaft . The forced recruitment of the Dableiber and the harsh punishment dolled out against draft evaders, as was the case for Franz Thaler , violated Articles 44, 45, and 46 of the Hague Convention of 1899 to which Germany was a signatory. Polizeiregiment "Südtirol"

416-690: The Monte Grappa in September. From 20 August and into 21 August, contingents of II Battalion under Zugwachtmeister Erwin Fritz, 1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring , and the SS-Mountain-Combat-School SS-Gebirgs-Kampfschule at Predazzo were involved in the Biois valley massacre  [ it ] . As a result of their actions, 44 civilians were killed and another 645 made homeless by

448-600: The Volksmarine used the term Fregattenkapitän . The rank of Oberstløytnant was introduced around the same time as Denmark , as Norway at the time was part of Denmark–Norway . The Swedish variant överstelöjtnant , is a senior field grade military officer rank in the Swedish Army and the Swedish Air Force , immediately below the rank of colonel and just above the rank of major . It

480-641: The "Tyrolean blockheads" ( Tiroler Holzköpfer ). Like all German police units, the Polizeiregiment "Bozen" was under overall control of the SS. Nazi Germany began centralizing its police forces in January 1934, that come under SS control from April 1934, while retaining distinct uniforms, command structure, recruiting and most of the chain of command. In historiography since the Via Rasella attack,

512-517: The "Vittorio-Veneto" barracks in Bolzano, arrested, put under surveillance, and transferred to Rimini and then to Taranto . All prisoners were released in September 1946. II Battalion was sent to province of Belluno in February 1944 where, between March and December, it participated in 85 anti-partisan actions. The most prominent of these were in the Biois valley  [ it ] in August and

544-771: The Austrian Bundespolizei (federal police force) and Justizwache (prison guards corps). These two organizations are civilian in nature, but their ranks are nonetheless structured in a military fashion. The Danish rank of oberstløjtnant is based around the German term. Ranked OF-4 within NATO and having the paygrade of M401, it is used in the Royal Danish Army and the Royal Danish Air Force . Typically, suffixes can be applied to

576-608: The German state employee paygrade system, the Oberstleutnant is placed within Besoldungsgruppe A and receives either the A14 or A15 paygrades, depending on individual seniority. Thus, the Oberstleutnant is paid an equivalent wage to that of first-class consuls and legates in the foreign service (A14) or state-employed school directors, ambassadors and general consuls (A15). The age limit for Oberstleutnant-rank officers

608-599: The attack, Death in Rome . In it, he cites notes taken during an interview with ex-partisan Mario Fiorentini on 27 March 1965 stating that the men of the battalion wore SS markings on their uniform, while as part of the Ordnungspolizei all servicemen in the regiment wore standard German police green uniforms and insignia. Istria Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include

640-546: The behavior of their former commanders. Erwin Fritz, then a resident of Göttingen , West Germany and a retired police commissioner, was tried in absentia because his extradition was refused. Fritz's defense was given to Roland Riz, the vice-president of the South Tyrolean People's Party , who requested an acquittal. Fritz was initially sentenced with life imprisonment by the Corte d'Assise of Bologna , which

672-569: The destruction of 245 homes. In March 1945, II Battalion hung 14 civilians in Belluno 's central square for the killing of three soldiers by partisans. South Tyrolean historian Leopold Steurer  [ de ] noted that the battalion, and the Bozen Regiment by extension, became infamous for its brutality in Belluno. Most of II Battalion was taken prisoner by partisans at Agordo on 2 May 1945. Battalion members who had attempted escape through

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704-459: The details below. Request from 172.68.168.151 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 942657034 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:05:19 GMT Oberstleutnant Oberstleutnant ( German pronunciation: [ˈʔoːbɐstlɔʏtnant] ) (English: Lieutenant Colonel) is a senior field officer rank in several German -speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to lieutenant colonel . It

736-594: The direct command of the Ordnungspolizei commander in Trieste , Oberstleutnant Hermann Kintrup and indirectly commanded by the commander of the Waffen-SS in OZAK, Odilo Globocnik , was tasked with combating partisans and securing transportation routes from Trieste to Ljubljana . I Battalion was the only fully motorized battalion in the regiment, possessing an AB 41 and a Lancia 1ZM , both armored cars , and

768-697: The legal specification of a.D., is unofficial. The armed forces of West Germany and unified Germany since 1955, the Bundeswehr uses the Oberstleutnant rank in the German Army and German Air Force . Equivalents in the other branches are Fregattenkapitän for the German Navy , Oberfeldarzt for medical staff, Flottillenarzt for naval medical staff, Oberfeldapotheker for apothecary staff, Flottillenapotheker for naval apothecary staff, and Oberfeldveterinär for veterinary medical staff. Within

800-622: The region on 30 November 1943. All men born in 1924 and 1925 were drafted into the Todt Organization , Südtiroler Ordnungsdienst  [ de ] (SOD), Trento Security Corps  [ it ] (CST), Ordnungspolizei , or into the Wehrmacht or Waffen-SS . A following ordinance on 7 January 1944 widened the draft pool to all men born between 1894 and 1926, regardless of nationality. Dableiber  [ it ] , Tyroleans who had opted for Italian citizenship, were accused of treason and harassed. Many were sent to

832-536: The third battalion of the Bozen Regiment was often erroneously identified as a Waffen-SS volunteer detachment. Italian historian Lorenzo Baratter  [ it ] , author of several works on the South Tyrolean police regiments, noted the frequency and repetition of this error. American journalist Robert Katz erroneously supported the idea of the battalion being part of the Waffen-SS in his work on

864-578: The word Oberstleutnant to specify the individual type of officer. Retired officers that are not incapacitated (i.e. theoretically available for reactivation) from service continue to use their title with the suffix a.D. (Germany) or aD (Switzerland), an abbreviation of außer Dienst , 'out of service'. Suffixes that specify military specialization in active service include Oberstleutnant i.G. ('im Generalstabsdienst') for general staff officers or Oberstleutnant d.R. ('der Reserve') for reservists. The suffix i.R. ('im Ruhestand'), implying retirement without

896-559: Was de facto ruled by Franz Hofer , the Gauleiter of Tyrol-Vorarlberg . The Central Recruitment Office was set up in South Tyrol by the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS to form military units from residents of the OZAV. German authorities were at first limited to "Optanten," Tyroleans who had opted for German citizenship , but poor recruiting prompted Hofer to begin conscription in

928-480: Was formed in October 1943 under the command of Oberst Alois Menschick. By the end of the month the regiment, now called Polizeiregiment "Bozen" , had over 2000 soldiers in four battalions , each composed of four, later three, numbered battalions (I, II, III). Its members were trained for three months in the use of their weapons, camouflage , squad combat, and counter-guerrilla warfare . They were sworn into

960-883: Was housed in the attic of the Palazzo del Viminale , which had housed the Italian Ministry of the Interior before its transfer to Toscolano-Maderno . 9th Company supervised the construction of defensive works at Albano Laziale , 10th Company guarded the Vatican and public buildings, and 11th Company was a reserve. For rotation, the 11th would relieve the 10th on 24 March 1944. Members of III Battalion, some of whom were Ladins and spoke German poorly, did not receive leave and were forbidden from interacting with Romans or attending church. The native German officers routinely insulted their charges during training, and nicknamed them

992-550: Was rescinded by an appeal that found the sentence impotent by lack of jurisdiction. Fritz was again tried in 1988, by the Military Tribunal of Verona , but acquitted based on lack of evidence. III Battalion was transferred to Rome over seven days, from 12 February to 19 February 1944, likely as an agreement between Hofer and Wolff. The transfer was carried out with great difficulty because of ongoing battles at Monte Cassino and at Anzio . Theoretically, III Battalion

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1024-461: Was under the command of Wolff, but was de facto commanded by Luftwaffe General Kurt Mälzer . After being captured, Wolff stated that III Battalion had been made available to Albert Kesselring upon his request to conduct police duties in Rome and to protect the Vatican . Previously, this had been carried out by the 2nd Fallschirmjäger Division . The battalion, reduced to three companies,

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