7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen

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7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen
7. SS-Freiwilligen Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen"
Counter-insurgency
Mountain warfare
SizeDivision
Nickname(s)Prinz Eugen
Motto(s)Vorwärts, Prinz Eugen!
(Forwards, Prinz Eugen!)
EngagementsWorld War II
Commanders
Notable
commanders

The 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen" (7. SS-Freiwilligen Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen"),[1] initially named the SS-Volunteer Division Prinz Eugen (SS-Freiwilligen-Division "Prinz Eugen"), was a mountain infantry division of the Waffen-SS, an armed branch of the German Nazi Party that served alongside but was never formally part of the Wehrmacht during World War II. At the post-war Nuremberg trials, the Waffen-SS was declared to be a criminal organisation due to its major involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity. From 1942 to 1945, the division fought a counter-insurgency campaign against communist-led Yugoslav Partisan resistance forces in occupied Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1941 from both Reich Germans and Volksdeutsche – ethnic German volunteers and conscripts from the Banat, Independent State of Croatia, Hungary and Romania. The division surrendered on 11 May 1945 to Yugoslav Partisan forces.

History

1941

After the

Higher SS and Police Leader in Serbia, SS-Obergruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei (Police General) August Meyszner.[3]

After the initial rush of Volksdeutsche to join, voluntary enlistments tapered off, and the new formation did not reach division size. Therefore, in August 1941, the SS discarded the voluntary approach, and after a favorable judgement from the SS court in Belgrade, imposed a mandatory military obligation on all Volksdeutsche in Banat, the first of its kind for non-Reichsdeutsche.[4]

One of the reasons for the forced conscription of ethnic Germans was the disappointingly low number of volunteers for the division after the initial recruitments (no more than 5,000). While the division remained "volunteer" in name, few of the conscripted ethnic Germans actively sought entry into the unit. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler had announced that the wishes of the Volksdeutsche were irrelevant, while in connection with the Balkan Germans the SS head of recruitment Gottlob Berger remarked: "kein Mensch [kümmert] [sich ja] darum, was wir unten mit unseren Volksdeutschen tun" ("no person cares what we do with our ethnic Germans in the South").[5]

Ethnic Germans in the Balkans were therefore powerless and could not oppose conscription into the SS. The unwillingness of ethnic Germans to serve in the unit is illustrated by a mutiny of 173 Croatian Germans of the division in 1943 in Bosnia when apparently the men of mixed ancestry did not speak German and were mistreated by their superiors as a result. Many of these men preferred service in the Croatian Home Guard for a variety of reasons; Himmler intervened personally in the problem.[6]

laagering
on the outskirts of a Bosnian town in 1941

In 1942, the Pančevo-based unit was declared a Mountain Division. Its troops were issued with a significant amount of non-standard German weapons and used captured equipment such as Czechoslovak machine guns like the ZB-53[7] and French light tanks. They were provided with excellent German-made mountain artillery such as the 10.5 cm Gebirgshaubitze 40 howitzer and 7.5 cm Gebirgsgeschütz 36 mountain gun.[8] When the division was formed, it was assigned to the Balkans as an anti-Partisan mountain division.

1942

In October 1942, the division led a German-Bulgarian anti-guerrilla offensive by the name of

Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland, commanded by Major Dragutin Keserović, whose headquarters was located in the village of Kriva Reka.[9]

In early October 1942, the division was deployed in southwestern Serbia, in

Kosovska Mitrovica, and Novi Pazar. On 5 October 1942, the division commander Artur Phleps ordered the German and Bulgarian forces to destroy the enemy. A comprehensive attack was planned: 20,000 well-armed and fully trained troops would encircle the 1,500 Serb guerrillas from four directions. Because of the perceived importance of this operation and to observe the first military operations of the newly established SS Division, Himmler himself travelled to Kraljevo in the German occupation zone; Himmler was in Kraljevo from 15 to 18 October 1942 and toured the division. German and Bulgarian forces began their attack on the Chetnik territory at dawn on 12 October 1942, proceeding from four directions.[10]
However, Keserović ordered his units to regroup into smaller squads for easy maneuvering and penetration, and the Rasina Corps was able to escape from the Axis ring entrapment.

The division's first major action thus ended in a failure, as the Germans and Bulgarians cleared the Chetnik free territory (and in the process committed war crimes against the Serbian civilian population), yet the Chetniks themselves successfully withdrew beyond the reach of the occupation forces. The Prinz Eugen was next involved in counter-insurgency activities on the Serbian-Montenegro border in the mountains east of river Ibar.[citation needed]

1943

Afterwards, the division took part in the

western Bosnia to Mostar area in Hercegovina and also deployed units northwest of Sarajevo
.

Prinz Eugen soldiers disarming the Lim-Sandžak Chetnik Detachment prior to Operation Schwarz, May 1943

From 15 May – 15 June, the Prinz Eugen took a part in the subsequent

Sutjeska river and block the Partisans' escape route were surprised by the attack of three battalions of the NOVJ 1st Dalmatian Strike Brigade and one from 5th Montenegro Brigade at Tjentište pushing them back. They recovered their positions during a night battle and defeated the Partisan units.[16] In the operation Schwarz the division suffered total losses of 613 men.[17]

Prinz Eugen MG 42 position on the Dalmatian coast, 1943

In August 1943, the division became a part of the

Italian capitulation, Tito's forces succeeded in seizing control of the most part of the Dalmatian coast. In sixteen-days long battle the division pushed back NOVJ units and on September 29 reoccupied Split, forcing the resisting Italians to surrender. In October, division participated in Operation Landsturm, another anti-Partisan operation in Omiš, Ploče and Biokovo. In battles for Split and Biokovo coastline, the Prinz Eugen suffered losses of 1,582 killed, wounded and missing in action.[citation needed
]

The division was reorganized on 22 October 1943 and was renamed the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen. In November, the unit was attached to the V SS Mountain Corps and took part in anti-Partisan Operations Kugelblitz and Schneesturm in Dalmatia during the next month.[18]

1944

In January 1944, the division was involved in more anti-Partisan actions in

Seventh anti-Partisan Offensive (Operation Rösselsprung) which began on 25 May 1944. This operation had the task of killing or capturing Tito, and the operation was spearheaded by the 500th SS Fallschirmjäger-Bataillon and supported by the Brandenburg Regiment. In this timespan many other ethnic groups joined the division, such as ethnic Croats, ethnic Hungarians, and over 1,000 ethnic Serbs who volunteered for the division at General Phelps' office, most of whom were either ideologically or otherwise motivated to fight against the Partisans.[19]

In May, June and July, the Prinz Eugen saw further action in Operation Freie Jagd, Operation Rose and Operation Feuerwehr. Between 12 and 30 August, the division was engaged in Operation Rübezahl, aimed to prevent offensive of NOVJ forces from Montenegro into western Serbia.

In September, the Soviet

Belgrade Offensive as a part of XXXIV Army Corps (Army Corps Müller). This defence was essential for the success of Army Group E efforts to open a corridor which would allow the retreat of 350,000 German soldiers from Greece and the Aegean Sea
.

In the beginning of November, the very understrength and underperforming 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg was disbanded, following widespread demoralisation and mass desertions within its ranks. It was nominally ethnic Albanian but in reality staffed mostly with the Reichsdeutsche and Volksdeutsche Germans, including ex-Kriegsmarine conscripts. Its remnants were incorporated into the 14th Regiment of Prinz Eugen, which received its honor title Skanderbeg.[18]

1945

In January 1945, the division was in action against the Yugoslav Partisans at

Otok and Vukovar in Croatia. In February, it took part in Operation Wehrwolf against a Yugoslav bridgehead in the Virovitica
area.

The withdrawal from Bosnia towards Austria continued as Prinz Eugen retreated through Croatia in April 1945. On 10 May, the division moved towards

capitulation of Germany
that marked the official end to World War II in Europe.

All personnel of Prinz Eugen taken prisoner by the Yugoslav army were then killed.[20] Most were executed wholesale, without trial, disposed of through a variety of methods immediately following their surrender. The killings, which were never punished, were ordered by local Yugoslav commanders, apparently acting directly against Tito's strict instructions to detain the captives in prison camps and screen them for war criminals.[20] In 2010, a large mass grave containing the remains of some 2,000 Prinz Eugen soldiers was opened near the Slovenian village of Brežice; the soldiers had been stripped naked, bound together with telephone wire, and shot, their bodies buried in a trench in a summary mass execution on 22 May 1945.[21] Many of the soldiers' family members were amongst the tens of thousands of local civilians who perished at the hands of Yugoslav forces during the ethnic cleansing of German-speaking populations throughout eastern Europe.[22]

The loss of the division's war diary, likely through intentional destruction, has caused significant gaps in the historiography of both the division itself and the broader Yugoslav campaign.[23]: 14 

War crimes

The post-war Nuremberg trials made the declaratory judgement that the Waffen-SS was a criminal organisation due to its major involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the killing of prisoners-of-war and atrocities committed in occupied countries.[24] Excluded from this judgement were those who were conscripted into the Waffen-SS and had not personally committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.[25]

The division was infamous for its brutality.

Banija or through Dalmatia - everywhere it left behind scenes of conflagration and devastation and the bodies of innocent men, women, and children who had been burned in the houses."[27]

It also committed numerous atrocities in the area of Nikšić in Montenegro:

Everything they came across they burnt down, they murdered and pillaged. The officers and men of the SS division Prinz Eugen committed crimes of an outrageous cruelty on this occasion. The victims were shot, slaughtered and tortured, or burnt to death in burning houses. Where a victim was found not in his house but on the road or in the fields some distance away, he was murdered and burnt there. Infants with their mothers, pregnant women and frail old people were also murdered. In short, every civilian met with by these troops in these villages was murdered. In many cases, whole families who, not expecting such treatment or lacking the time for escape, had remained quietly in their homes were annihilated and murdered. Whole families were thrown into burning houses in many cases and thus burnt. It has been established from the investigations entered upon that 121 persons, mostly women, and including 30 persons aged 60–92 years and 29 children of ages ranging from 6 months to 14 years, were executed on this occasion in the horrible manner narrated above. The villages [and then follows the list of the villages] were burnt down and razed to the ground.

Dr. Dušan Nedeljković, Yugoslav State Commission, Document D-940[42]

Commanders

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords

The following officers commanded the division:

  • SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS Artur Phleps (30 Jan 1942 – 15 May 1943)
  • SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Karl von Oberkamp (15 May 1943 – 30 Jan 1944)
  • SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Otto Kumm (30 Jan 1944 – 20 Jan 1945)
  • SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS August Schmidhuber (20 Jan 1945 – 8 May 1945)

Out of the four commanders of the division, one (Phleps) was killed in battle, two of them were sentenced to death by hanging and executed in Belgrade 1947, and the fourth (Kumm) managed to avoid extradition to Yugoslavia by fleeing over the wall of the internment camp of Dachau.[43]

Awards

See also: List of Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipients of the Waffen-SS

Several members were decorated with high German military awards, including one Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oaks Leaves and Swords awarded to SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Otto Kumm when he was the divisional commander. Divisional recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross included the first commander of the division, Artur Phleps and five others, all regimental or battalion commanders. One was awarded posthumously.

Order of battle

October 1943 – Croatia

  • Division Staff
  • SS-Volunteer Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 13
  • SS-Volunteer Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 14 "Skanderberg"
  • SS-Volunteer Gebirgs-Artillerie-Regiment 7
  • SS-Volunteer Gebirgs Reconnaissance Battalion (mot) 7
  • SS-
    Panzer
     Battalion 7
  • SS-Panzerjäger Battalion 7
  • SS-Gebirgs-Pionier-Battalion 7
  • SS-Gebirgs-
    Flak
     Battalion 7
  • SS-Radfahr-Battalion 7
  • SS-Cavalry Battalion 7
  • SS-Gebirgs-Signals Battalion 7
  • SS-Gebirgs-Reserve Battalion 7
  • SS-Medical Battalion 7
  • SS-Feldgendarmerie-Troop 7
  • SS-Volunteer Gebirgs Veterinary Company 7
  • SS-Volunteer Gebirgs War Reporter platoon 7
  • SS-Divisions Versorgungs Truppen 7

November 1944 – Balkans

  • Division Staff
  • SS-Volunteer-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 13 Artur Phleps
  • SS-Volunteer Gebrigsjäger-Regiment 14 Skanderbeg
  • SS-Volunteer Gebrigs Artillery Regiment 7
  • SS-Volunteer Gebirgs-Reconnaissance Battalion (mot) 7
  • SS-Panzer-Battalion 7
  • SS-Gebirgs-Panzerjäger Battalion 7
  • SS-Sturmgeschutz Battalion 7
  • SS-Gebirgs-Pionier-Battalion 7
  • SS-Flak Battalion 7
  • SS-Radfahr-Reconnaissance Battalion 7
  • SS-Cavalry Battalion 7
  • SS-Motorcycle Battalion 7
  • SS-Gebirgs-Signals Battalion 7
  • SS-Reserve Battalion 7
  • SS-Medical Battalion 7
  • SS-Volunteer Gebirgs Veterinary Company 7
  • SS-Volunteer Gebirgs War Reporter Platoon 7
  • SS-Propaganda-Zug
  • SS-Feldgendarmerie-Troop 7
  • SS-Werkstatt-Company 7
  • SS-Nachshub-Company 7
  • SS-Reserve Battalion 7
  • SS-Wirtschafts-Battalion 7
  • SS-Wehrgeologisches-Battalion 7

Alternative names

  • Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division
  • SS-Freiwilligen-Division Prinz Eugen
  • SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division Prinz Eugen
  • 7.SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division Prinz Eugen

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Official designation in German language as to "Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv" in Freiburg im Breisgau, stores of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS.
  2. ^ Tomasevich 2001, pp. 63–64.
  3. ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 77.
  4. ^ Lumans 1993, p. 235.
  5. ^ Wittmann, A.M., "Mutiny in the Balkans: Croat Volksdeutsche, the Waffen-SS and Motherhood", East European Quarterly XXXVI No. 3 (2002), pp. 258–260
  6. ^ Wittmann, A.M., "Mutiny in the Balkans: Croat Volksdeutsche, the Waffen-SS and Motherhood", East European Quarterly XXXVI No. 3 (2002), pg. 265
  7. ^ Fleming 2003, p. 41.
  8. ^ Fleming 2003, pp. 52–53.
  9. ^ The Chetniks were a threat to the Germans because they were able to break the German road communications and interfere with the movement of war materiel intended for Erwin Rommel's forces in the Second Battle of El Alamein—through the Morava−Vardar valley. Losses were inflicted on Keserovićev's detachments and the local population by the constantly pursuing enemy forces.
  10. ^ German combat group "North" marched to the top of Željin, and a secondary group to the top of Kavalj. Combat group "South" conducted a comprehensive movement in the area around Gobelja, located 17 km northwest of Raška. Combat group "West" concentrated its forces in the valley 5 km from Banje. Combat group "East" took a position west of Brus.
  11. ^ Lampe, John, Yugoslavia as History: Twice There Was a Country, 2nd ed. New York, Cambridge University Press, 2000, p. 200.
  12. ISBN 0-313-31290-7
    , pg.90
  13. ISBN 1-57638-168-4
    , p. 4.
  14. ISBN 0-19-820873-1
    , p. 175.
  15. ^ Otto Kumm: VORWÄRTS, PRINZ EUGEN! – Geschichte der 7. SS-Freiwilligen-Division "Prinz Eugen", Munin-Verlag, Coburg 1978, page 243.
  16. ^ Mirko Novović, Stevan Petković: PRVA DALMATINSKA PROLETERSKA BRIGADA, Vojnoizdavački zavod, Beograd 1986, pages 176–211 (serbo-croatian)
  17. ^ NARA records, T-314, roll 560, frame 750–751
  18. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8117-3438-7
    .
  19. ISBN 978-3-921242-34-6
    .
  20. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4422-0665-6
    .
  21. ^ Schwarz, Karl-Peter (11 November 2010). "Massengrab in Slowenien entdeckt: Eine eineinhalb Meter starke Schicht von Skeletten". Faz.net – via www.faz.net.
  22. ^ "Serbia site bears on Germans' plight". Los Angeles Times. June 29, 2008.
  23. ISBN 3-8132-0794-3
    .
  24. ^ Stein 1984, pp. 250–251.
  25. ^ Ginsburgs & Kudriavtsev 1990, p. 244.
  26. ISBN 978-1-57181-504-0
    . Retrieved 2015-06-22.
  27. ^ "The trial of German major war criminals: proceedings of the International Military Tribunal sitting at Nuremberg Germany". avalon.law.yale.edu.
  28. ^ Živković 2017, p. 651.
  29. ^ Glišić 1970, p. 131.
  30. ^ Historijski Arhiv Karlovac 1988, pp. 1091–1139.
  31. ^ Zatezalo 1986, pp. 1092–1094.
  32. ^ Zatezalo 1989, pp. 1178–1325.
  33. ^ Božović 2011, pp. 121–123.
  34. ^ Blagojević 1996, pp. 588–589.
  35. ^ a b Kajosevic, Samir (28 July 2021). "'Genocide' Controversy Erupts over WWII Massacres in Montenegro". Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.
  36. ^ Dedijer & Miletić 1990, p. 387.
  37. ^ Dedijer & Miletić 1990, pp. 367–368.
  38. ^ Kozlica 2012, pp. 80–92.
  39. ^ Kozlica 2012, pp. 92–93.
  40. ^ Kozlica 2012, pp. 93–94.
  41. ^ Kozlica 2012, p. 155.
  42. ^ "Trials of German Major War Criminals: Volume 20". nizkor.org. Archived from the original on 2008-09-06. Retrieved 2015-06-22.
  43. ^ Kumm 1995, p. 273.

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Casagrande, Thomas: Die Volksdeutsche SS-Division "Prinz Eugen", Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag, 2003.
  • Wittmann, Anna M. : Balkan Nightmare, Boulder, East European Monographs, 2000.
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