connection with the preceding violence fled to Germany, while a number of town mayors elected for the SdP exhorted FS members to keep calm and expressed their support to the commanders of Gendarme stations situated in their towns. Freikorps Formation Czechoslovakia conducted partial mobilization in May 1938. Many young ethnic Germans did not follow the mobilization order and deserted across the border to Germany instead. Thousands more fled as they were receiving mobilization orders after 12 September 1938. The first initiated a plan of including Czechoslovak ethnic Germans of 20–35 years of age, who had previously undergone military training in the Czechoslovak army, into its own ranks. This was however abandoned as soon as Hitler ordered the establishment of the on 17 September 1938. Konrad Henlein was formally named the ' commanding officer, with the 's liaison officer Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Köchling, previously serving as liaison officer in the Hitler Youth, being the ' de facto commander. The official purpose of the , as stated in a telegram to the , was the "protection of Sudeten Germans and maintaining further unrest and armed clashes". The was further instructed to conceal its cooperation with the due to "political reasons". The ' ranks were filling up rather fast. It had 10,000–15,000 members by 20 September 1938, 26,000 members by 22 September 1938, with many more deserters coming after the general Czechoslovak mobilization that took place on 23 September 1938 and reaching 41,000 by 2 October 1938. Apart from Konrad Henlein, its leadership consisted of K. H. Frank (vice-commander in chief), Hans Blaschek (2nd vice-commander in chief), and Anton Pfrogner (chief of staff, previously an SdP senator). The ' headquarters was situated in a castle near Bayreuth, Germany. The was divided into four groups alongside the whole German-Czechoslovak border. Groups were further divided into battalions and companies. Depending on the border length and local conditions, there were also sometimes "sections" as an interstage between the battalion and companies. Companies had 150–200 men each and were stationed in German towns and villages along the German–Czech border, each of them being fully equipped for independent cross border raids and assaults. Although the official directive allowed only ethnic Germans with Czechoslovak citizenship to be part of the , due to the low number of officers among the deserters, their places were filled with members of the Nazi . The SA was further providing training, material support