Судетский немецкий свободный корпус: от "Орднера" к "Фрайкору" и начало агрессии против Чехословакии

The italic=no (SFK) (Sudeten German Free Corps, also known as the italic=no, italic=no and italic=no) 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 an important role in Hitler's successful effort to occupy Czechoslovakia and annex the region known as Sudetenland into the Third Reich under Nazi Germany. The italic=no was a successor to italic=no, also known as italic=no, an organization established by the Sudeten German Party in Czechoslovakia unofficially in 1933 and officially on 17 May 1938, following the example of the Sturmabteilung, the original paramilitary wing of the German Nazi Party. Officially registered as a promoter organization, the italic=no was dissolved 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 italic=no, conducting the italic=no' 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 Ordner (i. e. up to 16 September 1938) and Freikorps (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 italic=no and beginning of its cross border raids, as the beginning of the undeclared German–Czechoslovak war. This understanding has been assumed also by the contemporary 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 italic=no, continuing to raid cross border from there, or established Grün Freikorps 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.

Immediately after establishing the [[Sudeten German Party (later Sudeten German Party, SdP) in 1933, the party started forming its informal Ordnungsdienst (Order Service; its members were called in German Ordner (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 Sturmabteilung (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 Freiwilliger Schutzdienst (FS), openly built up on the model of the Nazi Sturmabteilung. SdP's chief Konrad Henlein was the Schutzdienst'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 Schutzdienst had over 15,000 members.

The Freikorps also had its own intelligence service, established on 19 September 1938 with headquarters in Selb, Germany. It was headed by Richard Lammel. The intelligence was gathering information for the reikorps as well as for Abwehr, Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and Gestapo.

Many ethnic Germans who deserted after receiving the mobilization order did not go across the border to Germany, but rather established their own guerrilla units. Operating from forests in Czechoslovakia, they received the name Green Cadres, sometimes being referred to as Green Freikorps, although they were not officially incorporated as part of the German Freikorps.

PlaceAssailantsAssaultedDetailsOutcomeBrandov200 Freikorps membersSDG200 well armed Freikorps members crossed the border into Brandov and assaulted the local SDG unit. SDG briefly retreated, however after receiving reinforcements pushed the Freikorps out of the town. The Freikorps recaptured the entire town as well as local small arms factory the next day, only to be pushed back again by SDG on 29 September. The same day in the evening, Freikorps opened fire from Házlov towards a position of SDG in Horní Lomany. SDG squad carried out assault against the enemy in an infantry fighting vehicle, killing two Freikorps members before retreating back to original position. Several wounded Freikorps membersNačetín (Kalek)Freikorps3 SDG membersUndeterred by the losses of previous day (see above), Freikorps again attacked SDG patrol. This time, Freikorps were also armed with machine guns. The patrol held their ground until the arrival of an infantry fighting vehicle, which forced the Freikorps to retreat. Freikorps pushed back

Following the signing of the Munich Agreement, Freikorps leadership gave orders to cease cross border assaults. At the same time, Hitler decided that Freikorps would be subordinate to SS command, and not to Wehrmacht as were his previous orders. Freikorps were supposed to conduct police powers within the territory of occupied Czechoslovakia. From 7 October 1938, Freikorps were headquartered in a former Czechoslovak Bank building in Cheb. On 10 October 1938 Freikorps was officially disbanded. As Freikorps operations involved a large scale looting and "borrowing" in its area of operation, aggrieved parties were given up to 15 November 1938 to request damages from newly established German authorities in the occupied area. Court cases dealing with these claims were running as far as 1942.

A majority of Freikorps members were formally Czechoslovak army deserters (especially after the full army mobilization order of 23 September) and their mere membership in Freikorps was punishable by life imprisonment under Czechoslovak act No. 50/1923, on the protection of the Republic. Meanwhile, their active participation in crossborder raids which included murders, attempted murders and kidnapping was punishable by death under the 1852 Criminal Code. The vast majority of the perpetrators who survived the war avoided justice through the postwar expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia.