Military Police

FALL 2015

Military Police contains information about military police functions in maneuver and mobility support, area security, law and order, internment/resettlement, and police intelligence operations.

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Fall 2015 43 powers. Patrol members on the 1300–1900 shift ate their evening meals in the 796th Military Police Battalion mess. 2 One narrative regarding the func- tions of the International Patrol comes from the British Royal Mili- tary Police: There for each of us to feel that the prob- - in the feld of provost experience; but when it is considered that the Royal Military Police in Vienna work day in and day out with the the French, and the Russians and that there is no hour of the day or night when you cannot fnd a [Royal Military Po- lice] lance corporal sitting next to a Russian re in the city, there is jus- tifcation. We conduct our business in four languages and have to get to know a ffth quadripartite, that pe- culiar hybrid in which Inter-Allied in Vi- enna, the Four Powers, decisions expressed in the of protocol. 3 A member of the 796th Military Police Battalion relates this story: I was patrolling a street in the 10th Bezirk (Russian Zone), when suddenly the Russian of the pa- trol noticed a vehicle ahead of us and told to force the truck to the curb. Twice, I tried to force the vehicle to stop; but both the driver ignored the warnings and proceeded. Finally, the Russian sitting next to drew his pistol and fred at the truck, which continued on its course. After using his supply of - the Russian borrowed the French pistol. Only after the - tion had been exhausted did the truck halt. The driver was taken into custody, and the vehicle was driven to the Russian Kommandatura. The fact about this incident was that, although both pistols were fred, neither the driver nor the vehicle were seri- 4 Another incident involving the Russian contingent was related by Ernest Holden of the Royal Military Police. He was on patrol when a Russian military policeman arrested a Russian man on the streets of Vienna. He wanted to take the man to the Russian ; but the American driver refused, insisting that they take him to the Interna- tional Patrol Headquarters. The Russian military police sol- dier drew his pistol, held it to the American driver's head, and told him to go to the Russian . Holden, in turn, drew his pistol, held it to the Russian's head, and told the American to do what standing orders said—go to the International Patrol Headquarters. So that's what they did, and the stand-off was resolved. Neither Holden nor the American Soldiers ever heard what happened to the Russian member of that patrol, but they never saw him on patrol again. Corporal Edwin L. Luck, a patrolman from Amsterdam, New York, relates the following incident: I received a to proceed to the Astoria Hotel, a British hotel in the 1st Bezirk. When the other - bers of the patrol and I arrived, we learned that - body had been dropping wine bottles a win- dow of the hotel onto the sidewalk on Kärntnerstrasse, endangering the pedestrians. It was around and dark. At intervals, bottles continued to fall an upper-story window but it was diffcult to which window they were The British of the patrol asked the assistance of the and a search of all the was be- gun. After an hour, two intoxicated were found in a on the top When they were questioned, it was learned that they had been drinking and, after fnishing a bottle, disposed of it by the easi- est it out of the window. The - able fact about this incident is not the of wine drunk by the but how none of the people passing below the window had been injured. 5 Another excerpt from the 105th Journal states: Lance Corporal Levi close to death whilst on patrol. The patrol had stopped to check a Russian soldier who, taking exception as to how he was being spoken to, opened fre on the patrol, killing one patrol- and severely injuring another, the driver taking off. The then approached [Lance Corporal] Levi (who could not drive), telling to drive to

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