Editing Federico Augusto Villalba (section)

== Allgemeine SS career ==
[[Carlos Federico Almirón]] recruited Villalba in mid-1944 after learning about his work in the Argentine political police. Villalba left the Policía Federal Argentina and travelled to Tanoa without his family. His wife and children remained in Buenos Aires until 1945, when they joined him in Georgetown. Villalba entered the Allgemeine SS as an [[SS-Hauptsturmführer]].

During 1944 and 1945, Villalba worked directly under Almirón on the interrogation of important detainees. He was then transferred permanently to the Ia Operations staff of the Reichsführung-SS.

=== Reichsführung-SS staff ===
Villalba handled resistance crises that affected more than one Oberabschnitt. He reviewed intelligence submitted by the regional staffs and coordinated the transfer of reinforcements between commands. Villalba also drafted central operational orders in Georgetown before they were sent to the regional commanders.

He was promoted to [[SS-Sturmbannführer]] in 1947 and [[SS-Obersturmbannführer]] in 1951. In 1956, he became an [[SS-Standartenführer]]. By 1963, he was serving as a senior operations officer on the central staff.

=== SS-Oberabschnitt Osttanoa ===
On 27 June 1963, [[Rudolf Aziones]] was killed when eastern Tanoan resistance fighters ambushed his convoy west of [[Luganville]].<ref name="aziones-assassination"/> SS-Oberabschnitt Osttanoa remained without a permanent commander for one week. Villalba was promoted to [[SS-Oberführer]] and assumed command on 4 July.<ref name="osttanoa-history"/>

Villalba reopened the investigation into the ambush. He personally directed searches around Luganville and participated in the main interrogations of detainees. Eleven prisoners were selected for execution on his order. Villalba attended the execution and personally shot one of the prisoners. After the investigation, he reorganized the headquarters reporting system so intelligence obtained through arrests was sent directly to the operations staff.

Villalba was promoted to [[SS-Brigadeführer]] in 1966. In 1967, resistance fighters ambushed an SS force on the jungle route between [[Vagalala]] and [[Imone]]. Villalba accompanied the force sent to Imone after the attack. He personally questioned the village headman and other residents. Twenty-three men were separated from their families and executed on his order. Villalba then ordered much of the settlement burned.

In 1974, explosives damaged railway infrastructure serving the refinery at [[Tanouka]]. Villalba travelled to Tanouka and conducted the first interrogations. He ordered the execution of 31 refinery workers together with eleven resistance suspects already held in SS custody. Villalba personally shot the refinery foreman before the other 41 prisoners were killed near the railway yards. He was promoted to [[SS-Gruppenführer]] later that year.

In 1978, an SS patrol boat was attacked near [[Balavu]]. Villalba travelled to [[Namuvaka]] and directed the subsequent operation there. SS forces sealed the road into the settlement and blocked its piers. Villalba interrogated residents before ordering 37 people executed in a plantation clearing. Another group was taken into SS custody and killed without being entered into the ordinary detention records. Villalba restricted the account of the operation sent to Georgetown.

Villalba remained commander of SS-Oberabschnitt Osttanoa until 15 July 1981. His eighteen years in command made him its second-longest-serving commander. [[Alejandro Horacio Küster]] succeeded him.<ref name="osttanoa-history"/>

=== Territorial administration ===
On 15 July 1981, Villalba returned to Georgetown and became head of territorial administration for the Allgemeine SS. He was promoted directly to [[SS-Oberstgruppenführer]] on the same date.<ref name="ss-ranks"/>

In 1988, Villalba established the '''[[Zentrales Sonderverfügungsverfahren]]''' (ZSVV), translated as the '''Central Special Disposition Procedure'''. Oberabschnitt headquarters sent selected resistance detainee files to Villalba's office in Georgetown. Villalba personally reviewed the files and signed execution dispositions. From 1988 through 1994, 683 detainees were executed under ZSVV decisions issued by his office.

Villalba remained head of territorial administration until 17 August 2001. He retired from active SS service on his 90th birthday after twenty years in the office. Küster succeeded him. Villalba continued living in Georgetown after his retirement.