WWII German RAD Streifendienst (Patrol Service) Standard Bearer Gorget insignia

extremely rare WWII German RAD Streifendienst (Patrol Service) Standard Bearer Gorget insignia

The Reich Labor Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst; RAD) was a major paramilitary organization established in Nazi Germany as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarize the workforce and indoctrinate it with Nazi ideology. It was the official state labor service, divided into separate sections for men and women.

From June 1935 onward, men aged between 18 and 25 may have served six months before their military service. During World War II, compulsory service also included young women, and the RAD developed to an auxiliary formation which provided support for the Wehrmacht armed forces.

The RAD was divided into two major sections, one for men (Reichsarbeitsdienst Männer – RAD/M) and the voluntary, from 1939 compulsory, section for young women (Reichsarbeitsdienst der weiblichen Jugend – RAD/wJ).

The RAD was composed of 33 districts each called an Arbeitsgau (Work District) similar to the Gaue subdivisions of the Nazi Party. Each of these districts was headed by an Arbeitsgauführer officer with headquarters staff and a Wachkompanie (Guard Company). Under each district were between six and eight Arbeitsgruppen (Work Groups), battalion-sized formations of 1200–1800 men. These groups were divided into six company-sized RAD-Abteilung units.

Conscripted personnel had to move into labor barracks. Each rank and file RAD man was supplied with a spade and a bicycle. A paramilitary uniform was implemented in 1934; beside the swastika brassard, the RAD symbol, an arm badge in the shape of an upward pointing shovel blade, was displayed on the upper left shoulder of all uniforms and great-coats worn by all personnel. Men and women had to work up to 76 hours a week.

The RAD was classed as Wehrmachtgefolge (Defence Force Followers). Auxiliary forces with this status, while not a part of the Armed Forces themselves, provided such vital support that they were given protection by the Geneva Convention. Some, including the RAD, were militarized.

Just prior to the outbreak of World War II, nearly all the RAD/M’s extant RAD-Abteilung units were either incorporated into the Heer’s Bautruppen (Construction troops) as an expedient to rapidly increase their numbers or else in a few cases transferred to the Luftwaffe to form the basis of new wartime construction units for that service. New units were quickly formed to replace them.

During the early war Norwegian and Western campaigns, hundreds of RAD units were engaged in supplying frontline troops with food and ammunition, repairing damaged roads and constructing and repairing airstrips. Throughout the course of the war, the RAD were involved in many projects. The RAD units constructed coastal fortifications (many RAD men worked on the Atlantic Wall), laid minefields, manned fortifications, and even helped guard vital locations and prisoners.

The role of the RAD was not limited to combat support functions. Hundreds of RAD units received training as anti-aircraft units and were deployed as RAD Flak Batteries.[4] Several RAD units also performed combat on the eastern front as infantry. As the German defenses were devastated, more and more RAD men were committed to combat. During the final months of the war, RAD men formed 6 major frontline units, which were involved in serious fighting.

During Operation Market-Garden in September 1944, RAD troops were used as reinforcements. Losses for these troops were in the hundreds. Some RAD troops were assigned to the 9th SS Pionier Abteilung (Engineer Battalion) under SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Moeller as part of Kampfgruppe Moeller. The understrength unit was made up of 90 Pioneers armed with flamethrowers and extra machineguns, which Moeller divided into two assault companies. On 17 September, SS-Kampfgruppe Moeller advanced from the railway station but were blocked just east of the Arnhem town square by the British 2nd and 3rd Parachute Battalions. They engaged in intense house to house fighting, which allowed their parent formation SS-Kampfgruppe Spindler to dig in and form a defensive line. The 2nd Parachute Battalion under Col. John Frost snuck past and took the Arnhem Bridge, but were then encircled by the German forces.

Moeller’s Pioneers were then involved in the fighting on 18 September to reduce the British perimeter and retake the northern end of the Arnhem bridge. It was noted that the RAD troops had no combat experience. Captain Moeller’s report concluded: “These men were rather skeptical and reluctant at the beginning, which was hardly surprising. But when they were put in the right place they helped us a lot; and in time they integrated completely, becoming good and reliable comrades.”