Does anybody know of the Germans using special forces or fifth columnists operating behind Soviet lines throughout the war on the Eastern Front and what damage they did to the Red Army? Thanks.
A book on the "Brandenburgers" should help you out on this. Given the size of the Russo-German war, they did not amount to much. Most of the Russians in German service were Hilfswilligen, the "Hiwis," who started off as cooks, grooms, horse drivers, supply carriers, and so on, and wound up as combatant soldiers in "Ost Battalions," which filled up the TOE tables of infantry divisions. Many of these battalions fought in the West or the Balkans. The best-known outfit of "renegades" was the 162nd Turkoman Division, which fought in Italy, mostly against 2nd New Zealand Division.
I believe that "Nachtigal" battalion recruited from ukrainian volunteers before invasion of Soviets was a sort of special and diversionary unit. They were attached to Brandenburger's. see: http://home.comcast.net/~furrylogic/brandenburg.html
