that any future war would most probably begin as a sudden attack without a formal declaration of war. At the time, protection of borders was mostly vested into the authority of the Customs Administration (also called Financial Police), which was controlling the border crossings and collecting customs duties, while Gendarme officers were taking care of general law enforcement mainly within towns. This was deemed insufficient as the Customs Administration could merely enforce the custom duties and general order at border crossings, but not security along the whole border. In 1936, the State Defense Guard was established. Normally, SDG would function only in a very limited way necessary to ensure full readiness of its structure (under authority of the Ministry of Interior), with its ranks being filled up with personnel in case of emergency (under military command). Its main task was protecting the Czechoslovak border and it was supposed to be able to immediately close and defend the border for the time that would be necessary for the army to reach the attacked areas in full combat readiness. Initially, the State Defense Guard was composed of selected members of Customs Administration, Gendarme and State Police, but later its ranks were filled also with reliable civilians. In case of any unrest, its squads were further boosted by army soldiers. The State Defense Guard included also ethnic Germans that were deemed loyal to the Czechoslovak state (mostly Social Democrats and communists). The State Defense Guard thus became the main target of the ' activities. Up to 22 September 1938 the Czechoslovak security forces were under general orders not to use their firearms apart from self-defense. Republikanische Wehr was a Czechoslovak ethnic German anti-fascist militia with several thousand members. Known also as (Red Defense), its members also took part in the fighting, supporting the Czechoslovak authorities. Several of its members were killed by the Nazi forces during the clashes, with thousands more being interned in concentration camps following the Munich Agreement and occupation of Czechoslovakia. Undeclared German–Czechoslovak War The first assaults took place during the night of 17 to 18 September 1938 in the area of Aš. Other major assaults included, inter alia: 18 September 1938 19 September 1938 20 September 1938 On 20 September 1938, headquarters issued Order No. 6 signed by Henlein. According to the order, each of the groups was supposed to undertake at least 10 major raids into Czechoslovak before