Around the early 40's, in
World War II, groups of
German civilians known as "
partisans" created problems making
guerilla warfare behind the lines of the
Wehrmacht (the German
Armed Forces).
Partisans believed that the
Nazi's
philosophy and
ideology was wrong, and so they sought to "
defend" the people of Germany by attacking the Wehrmacht. They created
havoc among the rear areas of the Wehrmacht - attacking
logistical and
supply points,
communication posts, and the like. Partisans were difficult to take care of because they would literally pop out of the
woods, do their
damage, and
disappear back into the woods again. Being civilians, they could easily re
assimilate into German
civilian populations after committing their
guerilla warfare, often without those around them knowing.
Oddly enough, however, the partisans also were known for
stealing and pillaging from the same German people they were supposedly
protecting. Also ironically, some of the crueler German troops would execute civilian populations when they suspected partisans were hiding amongst them; again defeating the goal of the partisans.
The Wehrmacht had to respond to this problem, and often assigned soldiers to find and take care of partisans. Originally it was considered a duty of the
Army (
Heer) and
Police, but the
Luftwaffe and even
Kreigsmarine (
Coastal patrols only, really) had a part of it, as well as some of the
elite Waffen-SS units. In October 1942, the responsiblity for taking care of partisans was completely transferred to the Waffen-
SS.
When partisans and German troops actually
engaged, it was
brutal warfare, especially knowing the partisan groups for their guerrila
tactics. Few partisans ever
surrendered, and fought to the bitter end - mostly because they knew that hardly any German soldaten would accept their
surrender. Captured
partisans were almost always
executed - usually "
unofficially" in the
field.
In 1944, the
Anti-Partisan Badge was created to honor those soldiers who had participated enough in anti-partisan work, and was created by the order of Hitler, himself.