German Treason

DATE: 17/07/2025

TIME (GMT): 18:00

ERA: WW2

MAP(S): Marenice

TYPE: COOP

GAME: Arma 3

EVENT: Official

AUTHOR(S): Sclembi for Brothers in Arms

SLOTS: 60 / 64

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RATING: (9)

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Following the remilitarization of the Rhineland, Czechoslovak authorities came to the conclusion that any future war would most probably begin as a sudden attack without a formal declaration of war. At the time, protection of borders was mostly vested into the authority of the Customs Administration (also called Financial Police), which was controlling the border crossings and collecting customs duties, while Gendarme officers were taking care of general law enforcement mainly within towns. In 1936, the State Defense Guard was established. Normally, SDG would function only in a very limited way necessary to ensure full readiness of its structure (under authority of the Ministry of Interior), with its ranks being filled up with personnel in case of emergency (under military command). Its main task was protecting the Czechoslovak border and it was supposed to be able to immediately close and defend the border for the time that would be necessary for the army to reach the attacked areas in full combat readiness. Initially, the State Defense Guard was composed of selected members of Customs Administration, Gendarme and State Police, but later its ranks were filled also with reliable civilians. In case of any unrest, its squads were further boosted by army soldiers. The State Defense Guard included also ethnic Germans that were deemed loyal to the Czechoslovak state. The State Defense Guard thus became the main target of the Freikorps' activities.

Up to 22 September 1938 the Czechoslovak security forces were under general orders not to use their firearms apart from self-defense.

The first Freikorps assaults took place during the night of 17 to 18 September 1938 in the area of Aš. On 20 September 1938, Freikorps headquarters issued Order No. 6 signed by Henlein. According to the order, each of the groups was supposed to undertake at least 10 major raids into Czechoslovak before the morning of 21 September. The order further specified that the Freikorps was to take no regard to any aversion to the armed assaults that it had previously encountered from some ethnic German civilians. Moreover, each group was ordered to establish its own intelligence staff that would be providing information to the center in Selb.  In line with the order, Freikorps attacks increased both in their frequency as well as brutality. On the night of 21 September 1938, German radio broadcast false information that Czechoslovakia agreed to cede its border areas to Germany. Next day, most ethnic German majority towns were full of German Nazi flags and Hitler portraits, while Freikorps and ethnic German mobs unleashed a wave of attacks against state authorities and non-German civilians. 
On 22 September, Adolf Hitler gave orders to provide the Freikorps with German weaponry, ammunition and equipment. Czechoslovak forces' order not to use firearms except in self-defense was called off during the day. By 24 September 1938, Freikorps conducted over 300 raids against Czechoslovak authorities.