SS-Verfügungstruppe

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV), the SS organization responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps.

SS-Verfügungstruppe
Counter-insurgency
  • Maneuver warfare
  • Raiding
    • SizeDivision
    Garrison/HQBerlin
    ColorsBlack, White, Red
    Commanders
    Notable
    commanders    		Paul Hausser
    Felix Steiner
    Sepp Dietrich

    SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT, lit. 'SS Dispositional Troops') was formed in 1934 as combat troops for the Nazi Party (NSDAP). On 17 August 1938 Adolf Hitler decreed that the SS-VT was neither a part of the Ordnungspolizei (order police) nor the Wehrmacht, but military-trained men at the disposal of the Führer. In time of war, the SS-VT were to be placed at the disposal of the army.

    The SS-VT were involved in the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. By 1940 these military SS units had become the nucleus of the Waffen-SS.

    Formation

    LSSAH troops undergo a drill inspection in Berlin, November 1938

    The SS-VT was formed on 24 September 1934 from a merger of various Nazi and

    Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD; Reich Labour Service).[3]

    The existence of the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT) was publicly declared on 16 March 1935 by Hitler in a speech at the Reichstag.[4] The SS-VT had to depend on the German Army for its supply of weapons and military training, and they had control of the recruiting system through local draft boards responsible for assigning conscripts to the different branches of the Wehrmacht to meet quotas set by the German High Command (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht or OKW in German). The SS was given the lowest priority for recruits, thereby limiting its size.[5]

    In 1936, Himmler selected former Lieutenant General

    Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH), which had also been formed from the SS-Stabswache and SS-Sonderkommando Berlin. The LSSAH under the command of Josef "Sepp" Dietrich continued to serve exclusively as a personal protection unit for Hitler and an honor guard during this timeframe.[8][9]

    By 1937 the SS was divided into three branches: the

    Allgemeine-SS (General SS), the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT), and the SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV) which administered the concentration camps.[10] On 17 August 1938 Hitler decreed that the SS military formations were to be placed at the "disposal" of the army in time of war.[11] Hitler stated, at Himmler's request, that service in the SS-VT qualified to fulfill military service obligations. Further, during wartime units of the SS-TV would be used as reserves for the SS-VT.[12][13] Over the course of the war this led to a constant flux of men between the Waffen-SS and the Nazi concentration camps.[11]

    The military formations under Himmler's command on 1 September 1939 consisted of several subgroups:

    Early operations

    SS-VT in full marching order, 1935

    Elements of the SS-VT served with the Wehrmacht during the occupation of the

    Heer (army) troops conducted operations jointly as Panzer Division Kempf during the invasion of Poland.[18] It fought alongside army units at Rozan, Modlin, Łomża and Kmiczyn. The division was disbanded near the Polish city of Nidzica
    on 7 October 1939.

    In spite of the swift military victory over Poland in September 1939, events during the invasion of Poland raised doubts over the combat effectiveness of the SS-VT. The OKW or Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces) reported that the SS-VT units took unnecessary risks and had a higher casualty rate than the army.[19] They also stated that the SS-VT was poorly trained and its officers unsuitable for combat command. As an example, OKW noted that the Leibstandarte had to be rescued by an army regiment after becoming surrounded at Pabianice by the Poles.[19] In its defence, the SS insisted that it had been hampered by having to fight piecemeal instead of as one formation, and was improperly equipped by the army to carry out its objectives. Himmler insisted that the SS-VT should be allowed to fight in its own formations under its own commanders, while the OKW tried to have the SS-VT disbanded altogether. Hitler was unwilling to upset either the army or Himmler, and chose a third path. He ordered that the SS-VT form its own divisions but that the divisions would be under army command.[19]

    In addition, Eicke's SS-TV field forces were not military, and during the invasion of Poland, "[t]heir...capabilities were employed instead in terrorizing the civilian population through acts that included hunting down straggling Polish soldiers, confiscating agricultural produce and livestock, and torturing and murdering large numbers of Polish political leaders, aristocrats, businessmen, priests, intellectuals, and Jews."

    Goworowo, Mława, and Włocławek.[22]

    Development of the Waffen-SS

    In October 1939 the SS-VT regiments Deutschland, Germania, and Der Führer were organized into the

    SS-Verfügungs-Division with Paul Hausser as commander. The LSSAH was expanded into a motorized regiment.[19][23]

    In addition, the armed but ill-trained Totenkopfstandarten, together with SS Heimwehr Danzig, were organized into the

    Fall Gelb against the Low Countries and France in 1940.[24]

    Elements of both the SS-VT and the LSSAH participated in the ground invasion of the

    prisoners of war.[27]

    On 16 May the SS Totenkopf Division was ordered to France and was attached to army divisions which formed the northern "spearhead" of attack.

    3.7 cm PaK 36, no match for the British Matilda tank.[29]

    After the Dutch surrender, the LSSAH was moved south to France.[30] On 24 May the LSSAH, along with the SS-VT division, were positioned to hold the perimeter around Dunkirk and reduce the size of the pocket containing the encircled British Expeditionary Force and French forces.[31] On 27 May, a unit from the Totenkopf, the 4 Company, committed the Le Paradis massacre, where 97 captured men of the 2nd Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment were machine gunned after surrendering, with survivors finished off with bayonets. Two men survived.[32] By 28 May the SS-Leibstandarte had taken the village of Wormhout, 10 miles (16 km) from Dunkirk. There, soldiers of the 2nd Battalion were responsible for the Wormhoudt massacre, where 80 British and French soldiers were murdered after they surrendered.[33]

    After the close of the Battle of France, the SS-VT was officially renamed the Waffen-SS in a speech made by

    SS-Führungshauptamt (FHA), which was created in August 1940 under Gruppenführer Hans Jüttner. The Totenkopf Division, together with the independent Totenkopf-Standarten, were transferred to FHA control.[35] Further that same month, SS chief-of-staff Gottlob Berger approached Himmler with a plan to recruit volunteers in the conquered territories from the ethnic German and Germanic populations. At first Hitler had doubts about recruiting foreigners, but he was persuaded by Himmler and Berger. He gave approval for a new division to be formed from foreign nationals with German officers.[36]

    Motorcycle unit of the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf in the Soviet Union, 1941

    In December 1940 the Germania Regiment was removed from the Verfügungs-Division and used to form the cadre of a new division,

    SS-Division Germania.[37] It was made up of mostly "Nordic" volunteers from the newly conquered territories, Danes, Norwegians, Dutch and Flemings.[38] By the start of 1941, Germania was renamed Wiking with command given to then Brigadeführer Felix Steiner, the former commander of the SS-VT regiment Deutschland.[39] The Verfügungs-Division was also renamed Reich (in 1942 Das Reich).[40] The Polizei division was brought under Waffen-SS administration.[41] The Leibstandarte was expanded to a division for Operation Barbarossa.[42]

    When the Waffen-SS divisions were assigned numbers much later in the war these first formations, Leibstandarte, Das Reich, Totenkopf, Polizei and Wiking were recognized as SS divisions 1 through 5.[43]

    Notes

    1. ^ Reynolds 1997, pp. 1–3.
    2. ^ Flaherty 2004, p. 144.
    3. ^ Mollo 1991, p. 3.
    4. ^ Stein 1984, p. 9.
    5. ^ Flaherty 2004, p. 145.
    6. ^ Flaherty 2004, p. 146.
    7. ^ Windrow & Burn 1992, pp. 7–8.
    8. ^ Cook & Bender 1994, pp. 8, 9, 12, 17, 19.
    9. ^ Stein 1984, pp. 4–8.
    10. ^ Organisationsbuch der NSDAP, 3rd Ed. (1937) p. 424
    11. ^ a b Stein 1984, p. 23.
    12. ^ a b Flaherty 2004, p. 148.
    13. ^ Stein 1984, pp. 23, 33.
    14. ^ Stein 1984, pp. 5–7.
    15. ^ Stein 1984, pp. 27, 28, 33, 34.
    16. ^ Stein 1984, pp. 32–35.
    17. ^ Mollo 1991, p. 4.
    18. ^ Stein 1984, pp. 25–27.
    19. ^ a b c d Flaherty 2004, p. 149.
    20. ^ a b Sydnor 1990, pp. 37, 44.
    21. ^ Witold Kulesza. Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu w Polsce – wrzesień 1939. „Biuletyn IPN”. 8-9 (43-44), issue August – September 2004., p.22-23
    22. ^ Rossino 2003, pp. 114, 159–161.
    23. ^ Stein 1984, p. 32.
    24. ^ Flaherty 2004, pp. 149–151.
    25. ^ Stein 1984, pp. 61–65.
    26. ^ Stein 1984, pp. 61, 62.
    27. ^ Flaherty 2004, p. 154.
    28. ^ Stein 1984, p. 66.
    29. ^ Harman 1980, p. 100.
    30. ^ Stein 1984, p. 65.
    31. ^ Stein 1984, pp. 65–69.
    32. ^ Cooper 2004.
    33. ^ Weale 2012, pp. 251–253.
    34. ^ Flaherty 2004, p. 156.
    35. ^ Stein 1984, pp. 97–103.
    36. ^ Flaherty 2004, pp. 160, 161.
    37. ^ Stein 1984, p. 103.
    38. ^ Flaherty 2004, p. 160.
    39. ^ Stein 1984, pp. 103, 104.
    40. ^ Stein 1984, p. 104.
    41. ^ The Polizei division members continued to wear Ordnungspolizei insignia and it did not include "SS" in its name.
    42. ^ Stein 1984, p. 118.
    43. ^ Stein 1984, p. 302.

    References

    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SS-Verfügungstruppe&oldid=1219593717"