The (SFK) (Sudeten German Free Corps, also known as the , and ) was a paramilitary organization founded on 17 September 1938 in Germany on direct order of Adolf Hitler. The organization was composed mainly of ethnic German citizens of Czechoslovakia with pro-Nazi sympathies who were sheltered, trained and equipped by the German army and who conducted cross-border terrorist operations into Czechoslovak territory from 1938 to 1939. They played a role in destabilizing Czechoslovakia and facilitating the annexation of the Sudetenland into the Third Reich under Nazi Germany.
The was formed largely from members of the Freiwilliger Schutzdienst, also known as , an organization established by the Sudeten German Party in Czechoslovakia unofficially in 1933 and officially on 17 May 1938, following the example of the , the original paramilitary wing of the German Nazi Party. Officially registered as a promoter organization, the was proscribed on 16 September 1938 by the Czechoslovak authorities due to its implication in many criminal and terrorist activities. Many of its members as well as leadership, wanted for arrest by Czechoslovak authorities, had moved to Germany where they became the basis of the , conducting the ' first cross-border raids into Czechoslovakia only a few hours after its official establishment. Due to the smooth transition between the two organizations, similar membership, Nazi Germany's sponsorship and application of the same tactic of cross-border raids, some authors often do not particularly distinguish between the actions of (i.e. up to 16 September 1938) and (i.e. from 17 September 1938).
Relying on the Convention for the Definition of Aggression, Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš and the government-in-exile later regarded 17 September 1938, the day of establishment of the and beginning of its cross-border raids, as the beginning of the undeclared German–Czechoslovak war. This understanding has been confirmed in 1997 by the Czech Constitutional Court. Meanwhile, Nazi Germany formally declared that Czech captives would be considered prisoners of war from 23 September 1938 onwards. in 1935]]
From 1918 to 1938, after the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, more than three million ethnic Germans lived in the Czech part of the newly created state of Czechoslovakia.
In 1933, as Adolf Hitler assumed power in Germany, Sudeten German pro-Nazi leader Konrad Henlein founded Sudeten German Party (SdP), the local branch of the Nazi Party for the Sudetenland. By 1935, the SdP was the second largest political party in Czechoslovakia.
The first major crisis took place in May 1938 after a partial Czechoslovak army mobilization. Activities of pro-Nazi ethnic Germans in the area led to a large flight of ethnic-Czech civilians and especially Jews. Hitler's escalating threats to attack Czechoslovakia led to full mobilization on 22 September 1938. Many ethnic Germans refused to follow the Czechoslovak army mobilization order and either moved across the border to Germany and joined the , continuing to raid cross-border from there, or established units operating from Czechoslovak forests, receiving arms and equipment from Germany, and continuing raids against Czechoslovak authorities, Jews and Czechs, until the German occupation of the Czechoslovak border areas following the Munich Agreement.
,
Founding of the organization
Immediately after establishing the (later Sudeten German Party, SdP) in 1933, the party started forming its informal (Order Service; its members were called in German (both singular and plural)) which was officially supposed to preserve order at meetings and assemblies of the party and protect it against its political enemies. In reality, however, these were from the beginning attack squads with potentially terrorist assignments, following the example of the (a.k.a. "Brownshirts" or "Storm Troopers"), the original paramilitary wing of the German Nazi Party.
On 14 May 1938, the Ordnersgruppe was formally transformed into new official organization called the (FS), openly built up on the model of the Nazi . SdP's chief Konrad Henlein was the 's leader, Fritz Köllner became its secretary and Willi Brandner it chief of staff, also responsible for building up of squad groups. By 17 May 1938, the date of the organization's official registration, the had over 15,000 members.
Attempted putsch
thumb|left|[[MP 18|Bergmann MP18. <!-- null plural --> were supplied with many sub-machineguns provided by, and smuggled from, Germany]]
The German Nazi Party was convening its 10th congress between 5 and 12 September 1938 in Nuremberg, where it was expected that Hitler would make clear his further plans as regards Czechoslovakia. FS squads were kept in a state of high alert, ready to conduct any orders that may come from "higher up". On 10 September 1938, all FS district headquarters received orders to start large scale demonstrations, which escalated to a number of members of Czechoslovak law enforcement being wounded, as well as FS members in numerous cities already the next day.
Immediately after the highly anticipated Hitler's final speech on 12 September 1938, in which Hitler declared his intention to take care of German interests "under any circumstances" and to "prevent the creation of a second Palestine in the heart of Europe where the poor Arabs are defenseless and abandoned, while Germans in Czechoslovakia are not defenseless, nor abandoned", the FS initiated widespread violence in the whole borderland. Major assaults on Czechoslovak law enforcement as well as the military continued throughout 14 September 1938, with the last one taking place on 15 September in Bublava. The leadership's flight had chilling effect on the FS members, especially those that had taken part in the violence and now feared criminal prosecution. On 15 September 1938, German radio broadcast a speech by Henlein, who was purportedly speaking live from Aš in Czechoslovakia.
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|13 September 1938
|Habartov
|align=center|The local SdP carries out a lawful demonstration in the streets. Armed use mobs to seize the post office including a telephone switchboard and later also the police station, killing four members of Czechoslovak security forces in the process.
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|align=left|In the morning after Hitler's Nuremberg speech, the local SdP carries out an initially lawful demonstration in the streets after calling for further 300 SdP members from the nearby town of Doupov to join. Armed first seize the post office with its telephone switchboard and take its workers as well as one municipal policemen captive. A German mob, many of them armed, surround the police station and demand the surrender of policemen. The mob force their way into the building where they corner two armed policemen in each of two different rooms. The policemen, under orders not to use firearms, refuse to surrender. The Germans try to wrestle the firearms from the policemen's hands. Failing to do that, the Germans start shooting, killing Sergeant Major Jan Koukol. The rest of the policemen return fire, killing two attackers and wounding another. Most Germans flee from the station. The three surviving policemen, one of them with his hand wounded by a gunshot and the two others wounded in the face with glass shards, fortify the station while the Germans take positions in the houses around the station (which is situated on the ground floor of a building that is used also as German-language primary school) and start a continuous barrage of fire into the station's windows.
Two are killed and two others seriously wounded during first two hours of shootout, leading the Germans to call for more reinforcements against the three policemen whose telephone line was cut. The Germans then try to flood the station using a firefighting vehicle, but are again driven away by police gunfire. The Germans then take one of the policemen's wife, put a noose on her neck and send her half-naked in front of the station while holding the other end of the noose, demanding immediate surrender under threat of killing her. The policemen surrender.
Constable Matěj Příbek is beaten and locked in nearby house. Constable Jan Paulus is beaten senseless and then twice again after regaining consciousness. Constable Antonín Křepela, after seeing the mob attack on Paulus, tries to run away and is shot and wounded. Lying on the ground, the Germans beat him to death with clubs and pickaxes.
Having lost all contact, county police HQ sends a bus with 15 policemen to Habartov at 1 pm. Immediately after stopping at the town square in front of the police station, policemen are subjected to a barrage of fire from Germans hidden in windows in houses overlooking the square. Corporal Stanislav Roubal is shot in the head and killed, Constable Vavřinec Hyka is shot in the head and wounded. Policemen try to get into the station, which is however also occupied by who open fire as they try to get in. Policemen then scramble towards a house nearby while Sergeant Vladimír Černý is shot in the chest and killed. Eleven policemen manage to get into a house opposite to the station, from which they start firing at the . At 2 pm, further police reinforcements arrive and the mostly run away towards the border with Germany. Seven perpetrators are caught and arrested, but due to developments in the following weeks they escape justice. Court proceedings continue only after World War II, leading to ten perpetrators receiving the death penalty, six of which are carried out.
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|13 September 1938
|Stříbrná
|align=center|SdP attempt to take over police station thwarted.
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|align=left|A German mob assembles in front of the police station; local SdP leaders demand the immediate surrender of all security forces. Station chief Sergeant Major František Novák makes it clear that police will answer any violence with deadly force; the crowd disperses.
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|13 September 1938
|Bublava
|align=center|A mob from Germany proper with armed members of the SdP take over the town, killing three members of Czechoslovak security forces and taking 45 captives to Germany.
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|align=left|In the morning after Hitler's Nuremberg speech, an anti-Nazi ethnic German informs Czechoslovak police that a large crowd is gathering in Germany with the aim of forcing their way into the town that lies directly on the border. Around midday, a large crowd from Germany advances towards the Czechoslovak customs house, part of which is used for official purposes and part including flats where customs officers' families live. Meanwhile, cut the telephone line leading to the customs house. Seven customs officers inside are under strict orders preventing them from shooting in the direction of the German border and decide to simply lock the doors and wait. SdP members break through the doors and the mob floods the customs house. Customs officers decide to surrender their firearms while Germans loot the offices as well as private flats. At about 1 pm the crowd moves on in the direction of the town center and police station, which is about 1 km away from the customs house.
After a brief standoff, two buses carrying reinforcements with 14 policemen and several soldiers arrive. While the situation around the police station de-escalates, one bus is sent with three policemen to the customs house. While trying to negotiate the release of customs officials and their family members, policemen are ambushed by Germans shooting from behind concrete barrier on the border. Constable Josef Falber is shot in the stomach and bleeds to death. Constable Bohuslav Kazda is shot in the head close to the ear and loses consciousness. Superintendent Nový returns fire and suffers a gunshot wound to the hand and leg. Meanwhile on the ground, the mob attacks him. German customs officers cross the border and prevent Nový from being beaten to death.
After hearing gunfire, three policemen and four customs officers (whose families are held hostage) drive a second bus towards the customs house. Being ambushed by heavy gunfire, they disembark about 100 meters from the target. Sergeant Major Hrádek, the police station chief leading the group, is shot in the leg. Severely outnumbered and with orders preventing them from returning fire in the direction of Germany proper, they load the wounded Nový and Kazda and drive back to the police station.
send negotiators to the police station. The Germans agree to free the customs officers and their wives and children. The family members drive further inland to Czechoslovakia and the freed customs officers reinforce the police station. cut the telephone line to the station and start building barricades around the police station. The police chief burns all secret files; shortly thereafter the mob breaks through the doors and all 45 members of Czechoslovak security forces surrender with no shots being fired.
Altogether 45 captive members of Czechoslovak security forces are taken to Germany proper where they are imprisoned until mid-October when they are returned to Czechoslovak authorities.
After successfully dealing with the situation in Stříbrná (see elsewhere in this table), Sergeant Major František Novák is ordered to send a patrol to Bublava with which the regional HQ lost telephone contact. Novák himself leads an SDG group of two policemen, eight customs officers and two armed civilians. Unknown to them, all members of security forces in Bublava were already captured and kidnapped over the border to Germany.
The SDG group reaches Bublava after dusk. While advancing towards the police station, the group walks into a well-prepared ambush. An intense firefight erupts. Superintendent Emil Martinů is wounded by the explosion of a hand grenade. Constable Vojtěch Brčák is shot in stomach and dies. Sergeant Major František Novák suffers multiple shot wounds and dies. Armed civilian František Moucha is wounded in the head. Customs superintendent Cheníček is wounded in the face. Customs officers Hájek, Kovanda and Říšský are also wounded. The SDG members scatter, regroup outside of the town and retreat back to Stříbrná.
The next day, an army unit of about 120 soldiers with three LT-35 light tanks and two armoured fighting vehicles takes position on a hill overlooking the town. SdP members and cross the border towards Germany proper. The army does not enter the town, which remains in no-man's land, seldom entered either by Czechoslovak or German patrols until the German occupation. The first initiated a plan of including Czechoslovak ethnic Germans of 20–35 years of age, who had previously undergone military training in the Czechoslovak army, into its own ranks. This was however abandoned as soon as Hitler ordered the establishment of the on 17 September 1938. The was further instructed to conceal its cooperation with the for "political reasons". and reaching 41,000 by 2 October 1938. Apart from Konrad Henlein, its leadership consisted of K. H. Frank (vice-commander in chief), Hans Blaschek (2nd vice-commander in chief), and Anton Pfrogner (chief of staff, previously an SdP senator).
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:90%;"
|-
!Group
!
!Staff
!Details
!Position
!Commanding officer
|-
|Group 1 Silesia
|align=center|
|Wrocław
|11 battalions, 6,851 members (27 September 1938)
|From Racibórz to Zittau
|Fritz Köllner
|-
|Group 2 Sachsen
|Group 4 Sachsen
|Dresden
|
|From Zittau to Aš
| Franz May
|-
|Group 3 Bavaria Ostmark
|
|Bayreuth
|7 battalions, 5,999 members (27 September 1938)
|From Aš to Bayerisch Eisenstein
|Willi Brandner
|-
|Group 4 Alps and Danuber
|
|Vienna
|9 battalions, 7,798 members (29 September 1938)
|From Bayerisch Eisenstein to Poysdorf
| Friedrich Bürger
|}