Published in „Siegrunen“ Magazine – Volume 8, Number 3, Whole Number 45,
October - December 1987
In October 1944, the RSHA (Reich Security Main Office), assembled a number of Flemish refugees from paramilitary or police forces in the now Allied-occupied Belgium, for the purpose of incorporating them into a special Police Battalion. The nucleus for the unit was to be composed of contingents of Belgian policemen (more than 30) and former members of the Flemish Guard militia (more than 30 of them). They would be joined by some members of the Germanic-SS in Flanders and virtually all of the Flemish SD (SS-Security Service) personnel who had managed to flee Belgium, along with a few members of the Waffen-SS proper. The initial unit strength came to a total of 150 or so men.
Leadership of the embryonic battalion was placed in the hands of Ustuf. (soon promoted to Ostuf.) Leysen, with his adjutant being an Army transferee, Ostuf. Franz Tack. The senior Flemish police officer was Major De Köninck. On 30 October 1944, the former Flemish policemen in the battalion were assigned to a police training course at the German Gendarmerie Barracks in Guestrow, while the other members of the battalion were sent to a class (directed by Ostuf. Leysen) in criminology and police tactics held in Fuerstenberg. This course also started in October but came to a halt in January 1945.
On 15 November 1944, advertising began for further battalion recruits in the Flemish Post, a newspaper for the Flemish refugee community in Germany. Former policemen were asked to volunteer and it was noted that the Police Bn. was slated to serve as an “elite unit” within the SS-Volksgrenadier Division “Flandern” (i.e., the still evolving 27th SS Div. “Langemarck”). The battalion staff was established in Berlin on 22 November 1944 and it remained there through the first half of January 1945. The larger portion of the Police Bn. joined the “Langemarck” Division on the Luenenburger Heath in early 1945 coming under the jurisdiction of Stubaf. Rene Lagrou. Whether or not he was the battalion commander remains unclear.
Some of the Police Bn. officers were sent to an advanced criminology class in Prague in early 1945, but they soon found their course interrupted by the advancing Eastern Front. In April 1945, members of the battalion staff in Berlin made a somewhat desperate move to get new recruits. They advertised for volunteers amongst former Belgian policemen in the newspaper Free Flanders for 11, 12 and 13 April 1945, while somewhat expansively depicting their little unit as the SS-Polizei Brigade “Flanders.” Obviously at this stage of the game a little hyperbole wouldn’t hurt!
Be that as it may, the staff and other parts of the battalion in Berlin, broke up into three separate groups in mid-April 1945. One group decided to remain in Berlin to the end, while another left to join the “Langemarck” Division in northern Germany and the other left for the “Alpine Redoubt” in Austria.
The battalion group that left for Austria consisted of three officers (Ostuf. Leysen, Ostuf. Tack and Ustuf. Maris) and 25 men with orders to report to Ogruf. Kalten- brunner (Head of the RSHA) in Salzburg. Upon their arrival they were sent on to Ostubaf. Otto Skorzeny for “special deployment.” On 20 April 1945, a squad from this group under Uscha. Raes was instructed to locate the Flemish nationalist leader Father Cyril Verschaeve, to protect him from possible harm during the Allied advance. After completing their assignment the SS men brought Verschaeve to Ebensee, where he was to be escorted under the direction of Stubaf. Lagrou to the “Langemarck” Division.
Happy over the success of their mission, the Flemings returned to Ostubaf. Skorzeny for further orders. He had none. He told a Flemish officer in charge to: “Send your people home, the war is over.” Dissatisfied, the officers insisted upon fighting on as “Werewolves” in conjunction with the Hitler Youth. The pragmatic Skorzeny was probably not too impressed with the notion!
Ostuf. Franz Tack
Ustuf. Leysen
The 25 other ranks from the Police Bn. group in Austria were released from further service and most tried to make their way back to northern Germany to rejoin their families in exile. The three officers, Leysen, Tack and Maris, went off to find the “Front.” They journeyed first to Bad Toelz, then continued on to Lengries in the Alps, hoping to find a defensive force to put themselves at the disposal of. As chance would have it they ran into the V\V command car of Brigfhr. Hugo Kraas, the commander of 12.SS Pz. Div. “Hitler Jugend” and asked him what the situation was at the front. Kraas dutifully pulled out his mapboard and explained: “Here is my map,” pointing to what passed for the “Front,” “and here I am!”, placing his finger on the same location as that of the “Front.” Their question answered, the three SS officers were advised to become civilians and make their way home. That episode marked the end of the uneventful history of 1. SS Polizei Btl. “Flandern”!
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