GERMANS CREATE NUCLEUS OF BRANDENBURGER COMMANDOS
Berlin, Germany • October 15, 1939 On this date in 1939 Adm. Wilhelm Canaris, head of the German Abwehr (military intelligence), directed Capt. Theodor von Hippel to raise a commando unit that would become known by year’s end as the Brandenburgers. The name derived from the unit’s training site, Brandenburg on the Havel, roughly 54 miles/87 km…