The AKFD was headed by the central committee, consisting of the political director, Falk Harnack, Gerhard Reinhardt, who was responsible for organizational matters, and other members (Willi Schrade, Paul Fritz, Erich Klose, Hans Schüller, Franz Oberweger, Wilhelm Hansen, Robert Hermann, Rudolf Schiller and others), mostly defectors from the XXI Fortress Infantry Battalion of the penal
999th Light Afrika Division, who later became commanders of the company units (
Hundertschaft) that were formed. They were to be made up of the German soldiers already fighting at ELAS and were to be further strengthened by prisoners of war and defectors of Wehrmacht who had been converted to the cause by propaganda. The company units were to be assigned to an ELAS regiment or division, organised in groups of 30 men, which were in turn to be divided into cells of 10 men. From 14 August 1944, three instructors (
Falk Harnack,
Gerhard Reinhardt and Kurt Adam) set out to organize the German anti-fascist defectors in Greece in different AKFD units along various geographical areas of Greece:
Falk Harnack, who used the alias "Ikarus", operated in the areas of the central highlands and towards the west coast of Greece, close to the borders with Albania. Harnack organised the following units: •
Rumeli Company (Hundertschaft Rumeli) directly under the command of ELAS headquarters •
Agrinion Company (Hundertschaft Agrinion) with 21 men with commander and political director (formerly XXI Bat. 999) linked to the 34th and 42nd ELAS regiments
Gerhard Reinhardt operated in the northeast areas of Greece, areas close to the city of
Volos and towards
Thessaloniki and remained close to the 13th ELAS division. Reinhardt organised the following units: •
Volos Company (Hundertschaft Volos) with 51 men, then until October 1944 about 90 men, command Willi Schrade (formerly XXI Bat. 999) with the 54th ELAS regiment. •
Larisa Company (Hundertschaft Larisa) with 38 men, under the command of Erich Klose (formerly XXI Bat. 999) •
Saloniki Company (Hundertschaft Saloniki) with about 30 men (formerly 999 and other defectors) since Sept./Oct. 1944 at the 11th ELAS division; this company was formerly known as "German Antifascist Committee of Macedonia, Free Germany" Kurt Adam was to travel to the
Peloponnese in
Tropaia, Arcadia, to work with the 3rd ELAS division in order to organize approximately 60 German anti-fascists in AKFD companies in the south parts of Greece, in Peloponnese, in late August 1944. However, according to Falk Harnack, Kurt Adam defected to British units on his journey. == Literature ==