The 12th SS Police Regiment (german: SS-Polizei-Regiment 3) was initially named the 12th Police Regiment (''12. SS-Polizei-Regiment'') when it was formed in 1942 from existing
Order Police
The ''Ordnungspolizei'' (), abbreviated ''Orpo'', meaning "Order Police", were the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo organisation was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly on power after regional police jurisdiction w ...
units (''Ordnungspolizei'') in Germany. It was redesignated as an
SS unit in early 1943. The regimental headquarters was disbanded in early 1944, but its
battalions remained in service.
Formation and organization
The regiment was formed in July 1942 in
Hamburg as the 12th Police Regiment.
Police Battalion 103 (''Polizei-Batallion 103''),
Police Battalion 104 and
Police Battalion 105 were redesignated as the regiment's first through third
battalions, respectively.
[Arico, pp. 297, 300, 306; Tessin & Kanapin, p. 620] All of the police regiments were redesignated as SS police units on 24 February 1943. The regiment's third battalion was redesignated as the third battalion of the
3rd SS Police Regiment
The 3rd SS Police Regiment (german: SS-Polizei-Regiment 3) was named the 3rd Police Regiment (''Polizei-Regiment 3'') when it was temporarily formed in 1939 from existing Order Police (''Ordnungspolizei'') units for security duties during the invas ...
in 1943 and was reformed. In April, I battalion was reformed into a
SS Police Infantry Battalion (''SS-Polizei-Infanterie Regiment''). III Battalion was sent to
Italy in October where it was attached to the
15th SS Police Regiment
The 15th SS Police Regiment (german: SS-Polizei-Regiment 15) was initially named the 15th Police Regiment (''Polizei-Regiment 15'') when it was formed in 1942 from existing Order Police units (''Ordnungspolizei'') to conduct security warfare behi ...
and remained in Italy through December 1944. The headquarters was disbanded on 11 April 1944. II Battalion was transferred to
Hungary that same month and was redesignated as the first battalion of the
1st SS Police Regiment in August.
[Tessin & Kanapin, p. 620]
War crimes
The regiment has been implicated in eight incidents of war crimes in Italy from March to September 1944 with an estimated 85 civilians killed.
Members of the unit served as guards on
Holocaust trains from Italian transit camps, taking political prisoners and captured partisans to camps in Germany and Jewish prisoners to Auschwitz.
Notes
References
* Arico, Massimo. ''Ordnungspolizei: Encyclopedia of the German Police Battalions'', Stockholm: Leandoer and Ekholm (2010).
*Tessin, Georg & Kannapin, Norbert. ''Waffen-SS under Ordnungspolizei im Kriegseinsatz 1939–1945: Ein Überlick anhand der Feldpostübersicht'', Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio Verlag (2000).
*
{{Nazi war crimes in Italy
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SS Police Regiment, 12
Ordnungspolizei
Police units of Nazi Germany