On Wednesday, German investigators raided on alleged neo-Nazi militant networks throughout the country, arresting four men as the country continues to crack down on far-right extremists.

The federal prosecutor’s office said detectives raided the houses of 50 suspects in 11 states before daybreak, in what Der Spiegel magazine dubbed “the heaviest blow against the violent neo-Nazi scene in recent history.”

“The four males detained are suspected of being members of a right-wing extremist criminal organisation, as well as counts of severe bodily injury,” it stated in a statement.

According to Spiegel, one of the suspects was a German military non-commissioned officer.

Detaining the individuals and executing the searches entailed around 800 police personnel.

The targets are thought to be members of the far-right martial arts organisation Knockout 51, the prohibited Combat 18 (called after the sequence in which Adolf Hitler’s initials appear in the alphabet), the US-based Atomwaffen (Atomic Weapons) Division, or the Sonderkommando 14/18.

Leon R., Maximilian A., and Eric K., three of the guys presently in jail, were apprehended in the eastern town of Eisenach. Bastian A., the fourth, was apprehended in central Germany’s Rotenburg a der Fulda.

The inquiry “showed evidence of the suspects having personal links to the far-right martial arts and music movements,” according to the report, which drew on data from the domestic security watchdog, the MAD military intelligence organisation, and the federal police force.

Prosecutors said Knockout 51 “lures young, nationalist-minded men, indoctrinates them with right-wing extremist ideology, and prepares them for street warfare.” The three men detained in Eisenach are thought to be key players in the organisation.

It claimed that Leon R. led training sessions in rooms used by the neo-Nazi NPD party in Eisenach.

Knockout 51 is thought to have contacts to other far-right organisations in Germany, and “has been focused on committing major crimes at the latest since March 2020.”

These include attacks on leftist activists, police, and “other persons who can be battled” according to the group’s right-wing extreme and racist worldview.

After complaints that the previous administration had been inadequate in curbing neo-Nazi crimes, Germany’s centre-left-led government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz assumed office in December, promising a vigorous battle against far-right extremists.

Following a string of deadly far-right assaults, Germany’s first female interior minister, Nancy Faeser, stated when she was appointed that her first goal would be to combat the country’s “greatest threat: right-wing extremism.”

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