Geheime Feldpolizei
| Geheime Feldpolizei | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1939–1945 |
| Country |
 Nazi Germany
|
| Branch | Heer |
| Type | Military Police |
| Role | Security, counterinsurgency and counter-espionage |
| Nickname(s) | Gestapo der Wehrmacht |
| Disbanded | 8 May 1945 |
| Commanders | |
| Heerespolizeichef | SS and Police Leader Wilhelm Krichbaum |
The 
Geheime Feldpolizei (Secret Field Police) or GFP was the secret military police of the German Wehrmacht until the end of the Second World War. These units were used to carry out plain-clothed security work in the field such as counter-espionage, counter-sabotage, detection of treasonable activities, counter-propaganda, protecting military installations and the provision of assistance to the German Army in courts-martial investigations. GFP personnel, who were also classed as Abwehrpolizei, operated as an executive branch of German military intelligence detecting resistance activity in Germany and occupied France. They were also known to carry out torture and executions of prisoners.
The need for a secret military police developed after the annexations of the Sudetenland in 1938 and Czechoslovakia in 1939. Although security Einsatzgruppen (or security task forces) belonging to the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) had been used during these operations, the German High Command felt it needed a specialist intelligence agency with police functions that could operate with the military but act like a security service to arrest potential opponents and eliminate any resistance. After studying data collected in Spain, Austria and Czechoslovakia, Generaloberst Wilhelm Keitel, commander in chief of the OKW, issued the "Dienstvorschrift für die Geheime Feldpolizei" (Regulations for the secret police). The GFP was created on 21 July 1939.
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Wikipedia