War crime SS Azerbaijan in Poland in 1944

Post about history. War crime SS Azerbaijan in Poland 1944.Azeri volunteers suppressed the Warsaw Uprising

January 29, 1944, Heinz Reinefarth was assigned as SS and Police Leader in Reichsgau Wartheland (the pre-war Polish Greater Poland Voivodeship, annexed by Germany in 1939).

In this post, he was responsible for the organised repression against Poles and other nationalities deprived of all rights by Germany.

After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, Reinefarth was ordered to organise a military unit from the 16th Police Company and other smaller security units and head for Warsaw.

Upon arrival, his forces were included in the Korpsgruppe Von Dem Bach of General Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski who Himmler ordered to quell the rebellion.

From August 5, 1944, Reinefarth’s group fought in the Wola area. In several days, his and Dirlewanger’s soldiers executed approximately 40,000 civilian inhabitants of Warsaw in what is now known as the Wola massacre.

The Wola killings were mostly inflicted by Kampfgruppe Reinefarth that assaulted the area held by the insurgents from the west.

It is hard to determine which specific units are to be held responsible, but the main “cleansing” tasks had been assigned to Angriffsgruppe Dirlewanger with following forces:

• 2 Grenadier Battalions (I & II) of SS Sonderregiment Dirlewanger,
• Aserbeidschanisches Feld Bataillon I./111 (com. Hptm. Werner Scharrenberg),
• Ostmuselmanisches SS Regiment (without Battalion III),
• II Btl. “Bergmann” – (without 7. Komp.) Ltn. Mertelsmann,
• Gendermerie Operationsgruppe Walter (2 gendarmerie Komp.), Komp. I & II of Aserb. Feld Btl. I/111, Anti-aircraft battery of 80th Regiment,
• Sturmpanzer-Kompanie z.b.V. 218 (8x Brummbär) Hptm. Kellmann, a part of machine gun 4. Kompanie of Aserb. Feld Btl. I/111,
• 1 Platoon of 654. Pioniere Battalion,
• 1 KRONE flamethrower unit (8x Flammenwerfer 41)

Lack of precise documentation does not allow to specify precisely which elements of the above were involved in the Wola killing. It is also possible that some units of the other assault group that operated in the Wola area (Angriffsgruppe Reck) were taking active part in the events, as they also consisted of police/gendarmerie and special assignment units (Hptm.

Kirchhubel’s Warschau Polizei Kompanie, Hptm. Fersemann’s Polizei Wachtkompanie, platoon of SS-Röntgen MG Kompanie from Poznań, but also SS Grenadiere of SS-Schule Treskau and Azerbaijani 7.Komp/II Bt. Bergmann

By Tomasz Lech Buczek