3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf
This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2015) |
3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf | |
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3. SS-Panzerdivision "Totenkopf" | |
Panzer | |
Role | Armoured warfare |
Size | Division |
Nickname(s) | Death's Head Division |
Engagements | World War II |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders |
The 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf" (
The division was formed through the expansion of
The division became notorious for its brutality, and committed numerous war crimes, including the Le Paradis and Chasselay massacres. The remnants of the division surrendered on 9 May 1945 to American forces in Czechoslovakia.
Formation
The SS Division Totenkopf was formed in October 1939.
Battle of France
Totenkopf was initially held in reserve during the Battle of France and invasion of the Low Countries in May 1940.[8] The division was committed on 16 May to the front in Belgium. Later, it was decided that Totenkopf would reinforce the breakthrough of Erwin Rommel's 7th Panzer Division in the Cambrai area. Reaching the Bazuel area straddling both sides of the river it arrived on the front on 19 May, facing elements of the French 1st Moroccan Infantry Division, 5th North African Infantry Division, and 9th Motorized Division. Totenkopf suffered 16 dead and 53 wounded while killing 200 Moroccan soldiers in its first day in action.[9] In its first major battle it captured the town of Catillon-sur-Sambre and its associated canal in fierce house-to-house fighting, blocking the exits of the town and trapping the Moroccan force in the center around the market square, eventually captured thousands of remaining troops. Soldiers from Totenkopf executed many captured Moroccans, due to Arabs being considered "racially inferior".[10] On the morning of the next day, May 20 it contained a major Moroccan counter attack near Ribeauville, driving it back with its own counter attack, before crossing the Selle river and linking up with Rommel's division in the outskirts of Cambrai.[11] Overall in the actions around the Cambrai/Sambre area the division captured 16,000 troops.
Whilst subsequently trying to drive through to the coast, Totenkopf was involved in the
Invasion of the Soviet Union
In April 1941, the division was ordered East to join Field Marshal
During Soviet winter counter-offensive, the division was encircled for several months near Demyansk in what became known as the Demyansk Pocket. During the fighting in the pocket, it was re-designated "Kampfgruppe Eicke" due to its reduced size. In April 1942, the division broke out of the pocket. At Demyansk, about 80% of its men were killed, wounded or missing in action. The division was sent to France to be refitted in late October 1942. While there, the division took part in Case Anton, the takeover of Vichy France in November 1942. For this operation, the division was supplied with a tank battalion and redesignated 3rd SS Panzergrenadier Division Totenkopf. The division remained in France until February 1943, when its previous commander, Theodor Eicke, resumed control.
Battle of Kursk and retreat on the Eastern Front
In February 1943 the division was moved back to the
The attack was launched on 5 July 1943 with the
By 11 July, elements of the division crossed the Psel and secured Kliuchi. In the afternoon of 12 July, near the village of Andreyevka on the south bank of the Psel, the Soviet forces launched a major counterattack against Regiment Thule and the division's battalion of assault guns during the
Along with the
The division was then moved north, back to Kharkov. Along with Das Reich, Totenkopf took part in the battles to halt
Warsaw
In January 1944, Totenkopf was still engaged in heavy defensive fighting east of the Dniepr near
In the Second Battle of Târgu Frumos, elements of the division, together with elements of the Großdeutschland, managed to halt an armoured assault by the Red Army. The assault, which in many aspects bore similarities to those of the later British Operation Goodwood, was carried out by approximately 500 tanks.[17][need quotation to verify] In early July, the division was ordered to the area near Grodno in Poland, where it formed a part of SS-Obergruppenführer Herbert Gille's IV SS Panzer Corps, covering the approaches to Warsaw near the Modlin Fortress.
After the Soviet
In several battles near the town of Modlin in mid-August, the Totenkopf, fighting alongside the
Budapest relief attempts
The efforts of the Totenkopf, "Wiking" and "Hermann Göring" divisions allowed the Germans to hold the
Despite initial gains, Konrad I ran into heavy Red Army opposition near Bicske and during the battle the 1st Battalion, 3rd SS Panzer Regiment's commander, SS-Sturmbannführer Erwin Meierdress was killed. After the failure of the first operation, Totenkopf and Wiking launched an assault aimed at reaching the city centre. Named Operation Konrad II, the attack was launched on 7 January from just south of Esztergom. It reached as far as Budapest's northern suburbs, by 12 January motorised infantry of the Wiking division spotted the Hungarian capital's skyline. However, Gille's corps was overextended and vulnerable, so it was ordered to fall back.
Operation Konrad III got underway on 20 January 1945. Attacking from the south of Budapest, it aimed at encircling 10 Red Army divisions. However, the relief forces could not achieve their goal, despite making a 24-kilometre bulge in the Soviet forces line and destroying the
Gille's corps was too depleted to take part in the assault, instead it provided flank support to assaulting divisions during the beginning of the operation. Totenkopf, together with Wiking, performed a holding action on the left flank of the offensive, in the area between Lake Velence-Székesfehérvár. Dietrich's army made "good progress" at first, but as they drew near the Danube, the combination of the muddy terrain and strong Soviet resistance ground them to a halt.[18] As the offensive stalled, the Soviets forces counterattacked in strength on 16 March. The Germans were driven back to the positions they had held before Operation Spring Awakening began.[19] Attacking the line between the Totenkopf and the Hungarian 2nd Armoured Division, contact was lost between the two formations. The 6th Army commander, General der Panzertruppe Hermann Balck, recommended moving the I SS Panzer Corps north to plug the gap and prevent the encirclement of the IV SS Panzer Corps, however, by the time the divisions finally began moving, it was too late.
On 22 March, the Red Army encirclement of the Totenkopf and Wiking was almost complete. The
War crimes
Poland
With the invasion of Poland, Theodor Eicke – who was the commandant of the
France
Le Paradis Massacre
While the Totenkopf Division committed numerous massacres of French Arab and African troops, the most infamous remains the murders at Le Paradis. The Le Paradis massacre was a war crime committed by members of the 14th Company, SS Division Totenkopf, under the command of Hauptsturmführer Fritz Knöchlein. It took place on 27 May 1940, during the Battle of France, at a time when the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was attempting to retreat through the Pas-de-Calais region during the Battle of Dunkirk.
Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, the
Chasselay massacre
Thereafter, the division worked together with
Commanders
No. | Portrait | Commander | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Theodor Eicke (1892–1943) | SS-Gruppenführer1 November 1939 | 7 July 1941 | 1 year, 248 days | |
2 | Matthias Kleinheisterkamp (1893–1945) | SS-Oberführer7 July 1941 | 18 July 1941 | 11 days | |
3 | Georg Keppler (1894–1966) | SS-Brigadeführer18 July 1941 | 19 September 1941 | 63 days | |
1 | Theodor Eicke (1892–1943) | SS-Obergruppenführer19 September 1941 | 26 February 1943 † | 1 year, 160 days | |
4 | Hermann Priess (1901–1985) [24] | SS-Gruppenführer26 February 1943 | 27 April 1943 | 60 days | |
5 | Heinz Lammerding (1905–1971) | SS-Gruppenführer27 April 1943 | 1 May 1943 | 4 days | |
4 | Hermann Priess (1901–1985) | SS-Gruppenführer1 May 1943 | 20 June 1944 | 1 year, 50 days | |
6 | Karl Ullrich (1910–1996) Acting [25] | SS-Standartenführer20 June 1944 | 13 July 1944 | 23 days | |
7 | Hellmuth Becker (1902–1953) | SS-Brigadeführer13 July 1944 | 8 May 1945 | 311 days |
Organisation
The main organisation structure of this SS
Designation (English)[27] | Designation (German)[28] |
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See also
References
Notes
- ^ Official designation in German language as to "Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv* in Freiburg im Breisgau, stores of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS.
- ISBN 978-0760310151.
- ^ a b Stein 1984, pp. 32–35.
- ^ Stein 1984, p. 259.
- ^ Sydnor 1990, pp. 37, 44.
- ^ Stein 1984, p. 34.
- ^ Niehorster, Leo W. G. German World War II Organizational Series, Vol. 2/II: Mechanized GHQ units and Waffen-SS Formations (10 May 1940), 1990
- ^ Flaherty 2004, p. 152.
- ^ "Soldiers of Destruction: The SS Death's Head Division, 1933–1945" p. 93
- ^ "Hitler's Elite: The SS 1939–45" p. 170
- ISBN 978-88-9327-612-2. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
- ^ Harman 1980, p. 100.
- .
- ^ a b Cooper 2004.
- ^ Jackson 2001, pp. 285–288.
- ISBN 9781909384545.
- ^ Tamelander M, Zetterling, N, Avgörandets Ögonblick, p. 279.
- ^ Stein 1984, p. 238.
- ^ Dollinger 1967, p. 182.
- ISBN 0691008531.
- ISBN 978-83-7629-063-8. Archived from the original(PDF) on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
Oblicza się, że akcja "Inteligencja" pochłonęła ponad 100 tys. ofiar. Translation: It is estimated that Intelligenzaktion took the lives of 100,000 Poles.
- ^ Prof. Dietrich Eichholtz (2004), »Generalplan Ost« zur Versklavung osteuropäischer Völker. Archived 24 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine PDF file, direct download 74.5 KB.
- ISBN 978-0-521-85799-4, hier besonders S. 124–126 und 154–157; deutsch: Hitlers afrikanische Opfer. Die Massaker der Wehrmacht an schwarzen französischen Soldaten. Assoziation A, Berlin 2009. Rezension von Bernhard Schmid, in Dschungel, Beilage zu jungle world 14. Jan. 2010, S. 2–6 (Inhalt englisch).
- ^ SS-Oberführer Max Simon was the "official" commander (on paper) of the 3rd SS-Panzer Division from 26 February 1943 to 22 October 1943, but in reality it was SS-Oberführer Hermann Priess who commanded the division in the field during those dates.
- ^ Ullrich, Karl "Wie Ein Fels Im Meer" pg. 13
- ^ GORDON WILLIAMSON: "The SS Hitler's Instrument of the power"; published by KAISER; appendix, page 244, "Schlachtordnung der Waffen-SS / Waffen-SS order of battle"; copyright 1994 by Brown Packaging Books Ltd., London.
- ^ MILITÄRISCHES STUDIENGLOSAR ENGLISCH Teil II/ Teil III, Deutsch – Englisch, Abkürzung Begriff, Bundessprachenamt (Stand Januar 2001).
- ^ Official designation as to "Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv" in Freiburg im Breisgau, stores of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS.
Bibliography
- Cooper, D. (22 February 2004). "WW2 People's War: Le Paradis: The murder of 97 soldiers in a French field on the 26/27th May 1940". BBC History. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
- Dollinger, Hans (1967) [1965]. The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. New York: Bonanza. ISBN 978-0-517-01313-7.
- Flaherty, T. H. (2004) [1988]. The Third Reich: The SS. Time-Life Books. ISBN 1-84447-073-3.
- Harman, Nicholas (1980). Dunkirk: The Necessary Myth. Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-24299-X.
- Jackson, Julian (2001). The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280550-9.
- Tamelander M, Zetterling N; Niklas Zetterling (2003). Avgörandes ögonblick. Stockholm: Norstets Förlag. ISBN 978-91-7001-203-7.
- Stein, George (1984) [1966]. The Waffen-SS: Hitler's Elite Guard at War 1939–1945. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-9275-4.
- Sydnor, Charles (December 1973). "The History of the SS Totenkopfdivision and the Postwar Mythology of the Waffen SS". Central European History. 6 (4): 339–362. S2CID 144835004.
- Sydnor, Charles (1 May 1990). Soldiers of Destruction: The SS Death's Head Division, 1933–1945. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00853-0.
External links
- Pride of the Fatherland: The Impact of Nazi Ideology on SS Division Totenkopf, Penn State baccalureate thesis