SS Police Regiment Bozen

Polizeiregiment "Südtirol" (Police Regiment "South Tyrol"), later ''Bozen'', and finally SS-Polizeiregiment "Bozen", was a military unit of the German ("Order Police") recruited in the largely ethnic-German Alto Adige region in north-east Italy in late 1943, during the ''de facto'' German annexation of the region. The ranks were ethnically German Italian draftees while officers and NCOs were Germans.

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 the Ardeatine massacre.

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.

Background

Following the Badoglio Proclamation on 8 September 1943, the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile, Germany launched an invasion of 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 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 the region on 30 November 1943. All men born in 1924 and 1925 were drafted into the Todt Organization, ' (SOD), (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. ', Tyroleans who had opted for Italian citizenship, were accused of treason and harassed. Many were sent to the Eastern Front. Draft evasion incurred a death sentence and persecution of relatives, according to the Nazi doctrine of ''Sippenhaft''.

The forced recruit 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. Germany was a signatory to the 1889 convention.

Formation and equipment

Polizeiregiment "Südtirol" 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 the Wehrmacht on 30 January in the presence of Karl Wolff and , then were assigned to the front.

Members of SS-Polizeiregiment "Bozen" were almost exclusively equipped with Italian weapons, ranging from Carcano rifles to Beretta submachine guns. Italian belts, ammunition pouches as well as neckstraps in grey-green leather were also issued. Heavier weapons, like the Italian Breda light and heavy machineguns were also used. The uniform consisted of the regular blue-green wool uniform as worn by all Polizei members, worn with either a peaked cap or an overseas cap. German or Italian camouflage shelter halves, along with other garments made from Italian camouflage, was also heavily used.

In a court of cassation, members of the regiment testified that they were issued with six hand grenades and an MP 40. Regiment veteran Konrad Sigmund corroborated this and explained that five to six grenades would be attached to a single belt, to be used for a chain of explosions.

First battalion

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 (, OZAK), in February 1944. Based out of the Opatija and under 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 Globočnik, 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 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 , 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 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 have been the cause of the Lipa massacre. On 3 May, the 3rd Company was assigned to Cacitti (between Divača and Hrpelje-Kozina

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