FELDGENDARMERIE UNIT
Within the German Army of the Third Reich, the "Feldgendarmerie" (also known as "Kettenhunde" or "Chain Dogs") was a military organisation that had received full infantry training and yet had extensive police powers. These military police units were employed with army divisions and higher formations. "Feldgendarmerie" establishments provided various different detachments which were self-contained units under the command of an army division. They worked in close cooperation with the Secret Field Police ("Geheime Feldpolizei") and with district commanders and town majors.
In Potsdam there was a military police school set up for the purpose of training military police and the subjects taught in these schools were as follows: Criminal code, general and special police powers, forestry, fishery and waterway codes, traffic codes, industrial codes, reporting duties, passport and identification duties, folk culture, first aid, weapons drill and instruction, shooting, defence techniques, criminal police methodology, identification service and general correspondance training. As well as all this there were also lessons in air defence, animal protection and typewriter and stenography courses.
The Feldgendarmerie (pejoratively Kettenhunde, or "chain-dogs", for the gorget they wore) had an especially significant role towards the end of World War II as they became responsible for the fate of tens of thousands of deserters (known as Fahnenflüchtiger, literally "runners from the flag"). According to Hitler's way of thinking, "the soldier may die, but the deserter must die" and many were summarily executed.
Each field division of the Waffen-SS had its own Feldgendarmerie unit. They were used primarily to maintain order, discipline and security within their own lines, and therefore, their areas of responsibility were more restricted than those of the Heer Feldgendarmerie units. The Waffen-SS Feldgendarmerie focused on "taking care of their own", and left most rear-line issues to the Heer Feldgendarmes or "Kettenhunde"
