15th SS Police Regiment

The 15th SS Police Regiment was the main SS security force assigned to the Italian Social Republic during the Second World War. The unit was considered a "pure" SS unit, made of up full members of the Schutzstaffel augmented by members of the German Police (the Ordnungspolizei). The unit was operationally superior to two additional ethnic SS units, the SS Police Regiment Bozen and the SS Police Regiment Brixen.

The 15th regiment was mainly involved with anti-partisan activities in Italy. In 1944, the unit retreated northward and was disbanded in early 1945.

Order of Battle

• Supreme SS and Police Command (Italien) - SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff
  • SS and Police Command (Mitteitalien-Verona) - SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Harster
    • SS Police Regiment 15 - Oberstleutnant der Schutzpolizei Ludwig Buch
      • SS Police Regiment "Bozen" (Ethnic SS Regiment)
      • SS Police Regiment "Brixen" (Ethnic SS Regiment)

The overall military command which encompassed the corresponding SS units was the German 14th Army under the command of Generaloberst (Colonel General) Eberhard von Mackensen who in turn answered to Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, considered the highest-ranking German commander in the Italian theater.

References

• Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican, Gallagher, J. (1969)