laststandonzombieisland

On 9 April, some 86 years ago, neutral Denmark was attacked and quickly occupied by the Germans in Unternehmen Weserübung-Sud as a stepping stone to the invasion of Norway (Weserübung, proper).

The 9th of April has always held special significance for the volunteer soldiers in the Danish Home Guard (Hjemmeværnet, or HJV) and other parts of the country’s military, with “Never Again April 9th” (Aldrig mere 9. april) as a motto.

Formed just after Liberation in 1945, when the country had a robust Resistance movement, the Home Guard initially was divided into the black guard (sorte hjemmeværn) and the blue guard (blå hjemmeværn), with the terms coming from whether they wore recycled Axis (German panzer) uniforms or donated Allied (RAF blue)!

Formalized in April 1949, HJV combat patrols (kamppatruljer) began to appear across the country, organized at the local Army district level, and remained a fixture in the Cold War.

Thus:

Today, the HJV has some 45,000 members, with demographics averaging skilled workers in their 30s to 50s who have prior active military service. HJV members have volunteered to be deployed overseas in the GWOT, to Bosnia, and UN operations in Africa.

This April is also the 67th anniversary of the creation of the HJV’s Special Support and Reconnaissance Company (Særlig Støtte og Rekognosceringskompagni, or SSR), a “stay behind unit” intended to come out after Soviet/Russian occupation to perform direct action.

You know, Danish Wolverines, but with government backing.

The SSR was formed in 2007 from the amalgamation of two previous patrol companies (PTRKMP/HOK and PTRKMP/ELK) that were stood up in 1994, which in turn dated back to the old Special Intelligence Patrols (Specielle Efterretningspatruljer, or SEP) whose official birthday is considered 9 April 1959.

Selected from very skilled Home Guard members, who are typically prior active service, SSR members undergo 400 hours of training in 12 months (one classroom weeknight every week, one weekend in the field every month) before joining their patrol.

To be able to be considered for an SSR training spot, a candidate has to complete a five-day Selection process and ace these minimum physical fitness requirements:

• A 2600-meter run wearing running clothes in a maximum of 12 minutes.
• Two 20 km marches wearing boots, uniform, basic gear, and backpack totaling 25 kg, incl. rifle, excl. water and food. Each march must be completed in a maximum of 3 hours and 50 minutes.
• Two land nav orientation marches (daylight and dark) using 2 cm army maps, with satisfactory results.
• Swim test (minimum 300 meters, 15 meters of swimming underwater, deep dive 4 meters to retrieve a dummy, jump from a seesaw)

The unit consists mainly of volunteer soldiers from all over the country and is based at Tirstrup Field in the West and Skalstrup Field in the East.

The SSR is considered part of the country’s Special Operations Command and can be tapped to support the Jægerkorpset and Frømandskorpset.

As such, they wear a green beret with a distinctive and hard-earned sword-and-lightning-bolt cap badge (huemærke).