▁not ▁in ▁the ▁batt al ions . ▁Instead , ▁they ▁took ▁up ▁the ▁individual ▁post ▁duty ▁as ▁milit ias ▁in ▁place ▁of ▁former ▁local ▁Or dn ungs dienst . ▁The ▁actual ▁Security ▁Batt al ions ▁( or ▁Sch um as , ▁) ▁compr ised ▁only ▁one - third ▁of ▁the ▁overall ▁strength ▁of ▁the ▁formation . ▁As ▁a ▁matter ▁of ▁course , ▁the ▁static ▁police ▁wore ▁black ▁uniform s ▁from ▁the ▁pre - war ▁German ▁stock ▁which ▁was ▁no ▁longer ▁used ▁and ▁kept ▁in ▁storage . ▁The ▁black ▁uniform s ▁of ▁the ▁former ▁All geme ine - SS ▁including ▁their ▁characteristic ▁field ▁caps ▁were ▁simply ▁stri pped ▁of ▁German ▁ins ign ia ▁and ▁given ▁to ▁Schutz mannschaft ▁to ▁use ▁with ▁the ▁new ▁patch es . ▁Grad ually , ▁the ▁mobile ▁units ▁were ▁issued ▁field - gre y ▁uniform s ▁( p ict ured ). ▁The ▁desired ▁size ▁of ▁each ▁batt alion ▁was ▁about ▁ 5 0 0 ▁soldiers ▁divided ▁into ▁three ▁companies ▁of ▁ 1 4 0 - 1 5 0 ▁men ▁each , ▁with ▁ 5 0 ▁staff ▁members . ▁The ▁log ist ical ▁problems ▁with ▁se cur ing ▁enough ▁uniform s ▁for ▁all ▁of ▁them ▁continued ▁until ▁late ▁ 1 9 4 2 . ▁For ▁the ▁weapons , ▁the ▁most ▁widely ▁used ▁were ▁captured ▁Russian ▁military ▁rif les ▁and ▁p ist ols . ▁Machine ▁guns ▁remained ▁scar ce ▁until ▁the ▁latter ▁stages ▁of ▁the ▁war . ▁ ▁Most ▁batt al ions ▁were ▁assigned ▁block ▁numbers ▁based ▁on ▁eth nic ▁and ▁national