armband with text "Im Dienst der Deutschen Wehrmacht" (In the service of the German Wehrmacht). They were given Austrian helmets from World War I. The Battalion had arms consisting of 2 Czech light machine guns and Germans light weaponry . Operational history The Roland Battalion moved to Romanian-Soviet border by 15 June 1941 and placed under command of the Army's Group South. On 27 June 1941, they were placed under command of the German 11th Army with the task of moving in the Campulung Moldovenesc-Gura Humorului-Suceava-Botoşani direction, with the tasks of clearing road and transportation corridors, organizing groups of Ukrainian home guards, guarding transportation of food, helping with the evacuation of prisoners of war, and guarding strategic objectives. On 30 June 1941, Abwehr received an order to prevent the unit from taking any military action, and it was held at Frumusola. On 24 July the Roland Battalion was transferred to the command of the 54th army corps with the task to guard roads to East of the Dniester river. At that time the Battalion had 9 officers and 260 soldiers. In time the Battalion was planned to be topped up with another 150 volunteers from the occupied areas and spend some time near Yassy From 28 July the Battalion was directed to front-line, crossing the Dniester at Dubossari, and headed to Odesa. Dissolution On 10 August 1941, the command of the 11th Army received a telegram from Abwehr, saying, "After consultations with the Reichsminister of the occupied territories of the East, the Roland organization should be excluded from campaign because of political reasons". On 14 August, the battalion was recalled. 50 from the Roland personnel remained as translators at the established occupational administrations of the Reich. They were restricted however, from political activity, and after 30 days they were all relieved of duty. The rest of the Battalion returned to Focşani on 26 August 1941. Their weapons were taken from them while they traveled; they were transported to the town of Mayerling near Vienna and their weapons returned to them. By 21 October 1941, the unit was transferred to Neuhammer where it was merged with the Nachtigall Battalion to form Schutzmannschaft Battalion 201. References Abwehr Foreign volunteer units of the Wehrmacht Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists Foreign volunteer units of Nazi Germany Collaborators with Nazi Germany Military history of Germany during World War II Military history of Ukraine during World War