The Gorget goes back to "suit or armour" days, and is worn nowadays as a piece of regalia......The Germans were very good at this sort of "theatrical" attire. Ron
['...Feldgendarmerie units were generally given occupation duties in territories directly under the control of the Wehrmacht. Their duties policing the areas behind the front lines ranged from straightforward traffic control and population control to suppression and execution of partisans and the apprehension of enemy stragglers.
When combat units moved forward out of a region, the Feldgendarmerie role would formally end as control was then transferred to occupation authorities under the control of the Nazi Party and SS. But Feldgendarmerie units are known to have assisted the SS in committing war crimes in occupied areas. Author Antony Beevor explores some well-documented cases of their participation in his book Stalingrad. Also, Felgendarmerie units took active part in Jew hunting operations, including in Western Europe.
But by 1943 as the tide of war changed for Nazi Germany, the Feldgendarmerie were given the task of maintaining discipline in the Wehrmacht. Many ordinary soldiers deemed to be deserters were summarily executed by Feldgendarmerie units. This earned them the pejorative Kettenhunde (English: chained dogs) after the gorget they wore with their uniforms...']
They seem to have been mainly involved in 'policing' duties but including the more extreme end of that description...Ian
The Feldgendarmerie did serve side by side with the Dutch civilian police in cases where Germany unfriendly persons were involved.
My dad was taken from his home by one of each when he was visiting his parents while actually being in hiding for dodging the required forced labour in Germany. He had been in hiding since 1941 but was caught in april 1944. Almost died Christmas 1944 due to starvation and exhaustion in Southern Germany. The advance of the Americans saved him in the end. Some Germans began to become more human then.
I assume the Feldgendarmerie was also keeping an eye on the Dutch police. Not all of them collaborated.