Schutzmannschaft - Brigade Siegling Schutzmannschaft - Brigade Siegling ( " Schutzmänner - Brigade Siegling " ) was a Nazi German auxiliary police brigade formed in 1944 in East Prussia mainly from the retreating units of the collaborationist Byelorussian Home Guard ( BKA ) escaping successful Soviet counter - attack known as Operation Bagration . The total number of soldiers evacuated by the Nazis to East Prussia from across Belarus during the Soviet advance might have reached 10 , 000 . They regrouped northeast of Warsaw under Hans Siegling who was the SS - and - Police leader of the White Ruthenia . The " Schutzmannschaft - Brigade Siegling " consisted of 4 rifle regiments as well as artillery and cavalry unit . It was renamed by Himmler on July 31 , 1944 , as the " 30th Waffen - Grenadier - Division der SS ( russische Nr . 2 ) " . It consisted of men from the former Soviet Union , mainly from Belarus , including whole " Kommandanturas " of Bielaruskaja Krajovaja Abarona ( BKA ) and participants in Vlasov ' s movement , but also remnants of the German Sicherheitspolizei ( SiPo ) , Sicherheitsdienst ( SD ) , and Ordnungsdienst from the area . By November 1944 , the battalion whose formation started in August originally as the Schuma Brigade Siegling , was transported to France as the 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS ( 2nd Russian ) . While in France , the brigade remained under the leadership of " Obersturmbannführer " Hans Siegling . By February 10 , 1945 the formation was nearly wiped out by mass desertion and the Allies . Only one regiment was left . Some reinforcements came from other formations , but not enough . The battalion was renamed again as the 30th SS Grenadier Division ( 1st White Ruthenian ) or " Weißruthenische Nr . 1 " ( in German ) , but in April 1945 , it was entirely disbanded . Formation of Schuma Brigade Siegling . Resulting from the Soviet Operation Bagration which pushed the German forces out entirely from the Belorussian SSR ( or the " GK Weißruthenien " , as it was called then ) toward eastern Poland between June 22 and August 19 , 1944 , dozens of units remained scattered around . They included remnants of the SiPo , SD , and Ordnungsdienst , as well as the " Kommandantura " personnel and BKA units composed of the Ukrainian , Belarusian , and Russian collaborators under the German command . At the end of June 1944 Curt von Gottberg issued an order to create a brigade which by July 20 , 1944 was nominally formed and named as " Schutzmannschaft - Brigade Siegling " . The formation of the brigade ’ s 4 regiments was completed by July 31 , 1944 – all 4 regiments were named after their commanders were stationed at that time at different place : 1 - st Regiment at Grady under command of " Sturmbannführer " Hans Österreich , 2 - nd regiment at Stawicz - commander " Sturmbannführer " Helmuth Gantz , 3 - d regiment at Czartoriak – commander " Sturmbannführer " Wilhelm Mocha and 4 - th regiment – commander " Sturmbannführer " Ernst Schmidt . Artillery unit was stationed at Suliny . Brigade also has a cavalry unit . Approximate number of the personnel is estimated as follows : up to 6 thousand auxiliary " Ordnungspolizei " , 2 thousand SD men , and up to 8 thousand members of the " Bielaruskaja Krajovaja Abarona " . They were spread over many locations in East Prussia . All units suffered from persistent desertion . The local Poles – as soon as they acquired military weapons – or even before that , left and joined the underground Armia Krajowa among other Polish anti - Nazi resistance forces to attack their yesterday masters . Because of mass desertion , it was decided to transfer all units in a brigade - size formation under general command of " Obersturmbannführer " Hans Siegling ( including ethic Germans ) to France . Siegling led dozens of anti - partisan operations in Belarus since 1941 as the commander of the 57th " Schuma " regiment ( " Schutzmannschaft Bataillon 57 " ) . On August 1 , 1944 an order was issued to form a division formation from " Brigade Siegling " - thus all personnel was transferred from " Ordnungspolizei " to " SS " command . The new 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS ( 2nd Russian ) created on August 18 , 1944 had the following regiments : Waffen - Gren . Rgt . d . SS 75 ( russ . Nr . 4 ) , Waffen - Gren . Rgt . d . SS 76 ( russ . Nr . 5 ) ( consisted of three battalions each ) , Waffen - Artillerie - Rgt d . SS 30 ( russ . Art . Rgt . 2 ) ( consisted of three artillery batteries ) and Replacement Regiment were created . The combat ready units of the " Brigade Siegling " were transferred to France to participate in operations against the French Resistance . Operations . Initially planned for the anti - partisan warfare in Belarus , on August 6 , 1944 " " Siegling " " received an order to take part in Warsaw Uprising , however , the idea was abandoned . Instead , it was used from August 12 in East Prussia for the harvest collection . Some combat ready units of the brigade were transferred to France in August 1944 to participate at actions against French Resistance . Die Landstreitkrafte 71 - 13 0 BIBLI O VERLAG OSNABRUCK 1972