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During the International Military Tribunal (better known as the [[Nuremberg Trials]]), the Waffen-SS was declared a criminal organisation, except conscripts, who were exempted from that judgement as they had been forced to join.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jewish Virtual Library|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/waffenss.html Waffen-SS|accessdate=2007-17-07}}</ref>
During the International Military Tribunal (better known as the [[Nuremberg Trials]]), the Waffen-SS was declared a criminal organisation, except conscripts, who were exempted from that judgement as they had been forced to join.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jewish Virtual Library|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/waffenss.html Waffen-SS|accessdate=2007-17-07}}</ref>

== Foreign volunteers and conscripts ==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1973-116-11, Waffen-SS, 13. Gebirgs-Div. "Handschar".jpg|thumb|right|212px|Men of the [[13 SS|13th SS Gebirgs Division ''Handschar'']].]]
In late 1940 the creation of a multinational SS division, the 5 SS ''Wiking'', was authorised and command of the division was given to [[Brigadeführer]] [[Felix Steiner]]. Steiner immersed himself in the organisation of the volunteer division, soon becoming a strong advocate for an increased number of foreign units. The 5 SS ''Wiking'' was committed to combat several days after the launch of Operation Barbarossa, proving itself an impressive fighting unit. It became both one of the established elite divisions and a model for what might be achieved through careful recruitment and training. Its ranks, however, never exceeded 40% "foreign" troops, relying heavily on German officers, [[non-commissioned officer]]s and technical specialists to provide the major part of its strength.<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2009-11-03|title=THE SS: HITLER'S INSTRUMENT OF TERROR|author=Williamson, Gordon|publishr=Motorbooks International.|url=http://www.wiking.org/topics/wikdata.htm}}</ref>

Soon Danish, Belgian, Norwegian, Swedish, [[Finnish Waffen SS volunteers|Finnish]] and Dutch volunteer formations were committed to combat, generally proving their worth despite their limited numbers.<ref name=fvol>{{cite web|accessdate=2009-11-03|url=http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=307|title=Foreign volunteers|author=Axis History}}</ref> Himmler was allowed to create his new formations, but they were to be commanded by German officers and NCOs. Beginning in 1942–43, several new formations were formed from [[Bosnians]], [[Latvian people|Latvians]], [[Estonians]], and [[Ukrainians]].<ref name=fvol/> Himmler ordered that new Waffen-SS units formed with men of non-Germanic ethnicity were to be designated ''Division der SS'' or Division ''of'' the SS rather than ''SS Division''. In some of these cases, the wearing of the SS [[runes]] on the collar was forbidden, with several of these formations wearing national insignia instead.<ref>{{cite book|accessdate=2009-12-03|title=Hitler’s Foreign Legion: Waffen SS Non German Units in the Waffen SS During World War Two|author=Eger, Christopher}}</ref>

[[File:Generał Heinz Reinefarth w czapce kubance i 3 pułk Kozaków.jpg|left|thumb|212px|[[Cossack]] members of the Waffen SS in [[Warsaw]] during the uprising 1944]]
[[Gottlob Berger]] sought to gain control of all foreign volunteer forces serving alongside Germany's Wehrmacht. This put the SS at odds with the Army, as several volunteer units had been placed under Army control, for instance volunteers of the Spanish [[Blue Division]]. In several cases, such as the [[Russian Liberation Army|ROA]] and the [[5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien|5.SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade ''Wallonien'']], he was successful, and by the last year of the war most foreign volunteers units did fall under SS command.

While several volunteer units performed poorly in combat, the majority acquitted themselves well. French and Spanish SS volunteers, along with remnants of the [[11 SS|11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division ''Nordland'']] formed the final defence of the ''Reichstag'' in 1945.

Among the more unusual units to exist in the Waffen-SS was the [[British Free Corps]], a unit composed of citizens of the British Commonwealth, was led by [[John Amery]] which never had a strength of more than 27 men at any given time. Amery was tried and convicted of [[treason]] by the British government, and was executed in December 1945.<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2009-11-03|title=Britisches Freikorps|author=Axis History|url=http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=1665}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last = Thorpe | first = Vanessa | coauthors = | title = Oscar winner reveals the secret of pro-Nazi traitor | work = [[The Guardian]] | pages = | language = | publisher = | date = 17 February 2008 | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2008/feb/17/theatre.secondworldwar | accessdate = 2008-08-18}}</ref>

After the surrender, many volunteers were tried and imprisoned by their countries. In several cases, volunteers were executed. [[Henri Joseph Fenet]], one of the last recipients of the [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross|Knight's Cross]] was sentenced to 20 years of forced labour and released from prison in 1959.<ref>{{cite web|title= Ritterkreuzträger Henri Joseph Fenet|url= http://www.ritterkreuztraeger-1939-45.de/Waffen-SS/F/Fenet-Henri-Joseph.htm | dateformat=dmy | accessdate=10 November 2008 | language=German}}</ref> Some were far less lucky and were shot upon capture by the French authorities. [[Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque|General Leclerc]] was famously presented with a defiant group of 11 or 12 captured 33 SS ''Charlemagne'' men. The [[Free France|Free French]] General immediately asked them why they wore a [[Nazi Germany|German]] uniform, to which one of them unwisely replied by asking the General why he wore an [[USA|America]]n one &ndahs; the Free French wore modified US Army uniforms. The group of French Waffen-SS men was then promptly executed without any form of military tribunal procedure.<ref>This incident took place May 8, 1945, at [[Bad Reichenhall]] in [[Bavaria]]</ref>

[[File:Men of theFinnish Waffen-SS have returned home.jpg|right|thumb|237px|Men of the Finnish Battalion return home at the end of their contract]]
[[Walloons|Walloon]] leader [[Leon Degrelle]], escaped to [[Spain]], where, despite being sentenced to death ''in absentia'' by the Belgian authorities, he lived in exile until his death in 1994.<ref>{{cite web|author=Encyclopedia Britannica|title=Leon Degrelle|accessdate=2009-12-03|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/156009/Leon-Degrelle}}</ref>

The men of the XV SS Cossack Corps found themselves in [[Austria]] at the end of the war and surrendered to [[United Kingdom|British]] troops. Even though they were given assurances that they would not be turned over to the Soviets, they nevertheless were forcibly removed from the compound and transferred to the [[USSR]]. This event became known as the [[Betrayal of the Cossacks]]. Most of the Cossacks were executed for treason.<ref name="Rodina">{{cite|author=Chereshneff, Colonel W.V. |title= The History of Cossacks|date=1952 |publisher=Rodina Society Archives}}</ref><ref name=blood>{{cite|author=Roberts, Andrew |title=BLOOD ON OUR HANDS;|date=June 4, 2005|publisher=The Daily Mail}}</ref>

In [[Estonia]] and [[Latvia]], the majority of Waffen-SS veterans were conscripts who were at least partly considered freedom fighters. In an April 13, 1950 message from the U.S. High Commission in Germany (HICOG), signed by General Frank McCloy to the Secretary of State, clarified the US position on the "Baltic Legions": they were not to be seen as "movements", "volunteer", or "SS". In short, they were not given the training, indoctrination, and induction normally given to SS members. Subsequently the US Displaced Persons Commission in September 1950 declared that<blockquote>The Baltic Waffen-SS Units (Baltic Legions) are to be considered as separate and distinct in purpose, ideology, activities, and qualifications for membership from the German SS, and therefore the Commission holds them not to be a movement hostile to the Government of the United States.</blockquote>

By the end of the war, around 60% of Waffen-SS members were non-German.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scrapbookpages.com/DachauScrapbook/DachauLiberation/BuechnerAccount.html|title=Col. Howard A. Buechner's account of execution of Waffen-SS soldiers during the liberation of Dachau|accessdate=2007-02-07|author=Buechner, Col Howard. A}}</ref>


==HIAG==
==HIAG==

Revision as of 08:11, 7 April 2009

Waffen-SS
Panzer
Panzergrenadier
Cavalry
Infantry
Mountain Infantry
Police
Size38 Divisions and many minor units at its peak
Garrison/HQThird Reich
Motto(s)Meine Ehre heißt Treue
("My Honor is called Loyalty")
EngagementsWorld War II
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Josef Dietrich
Paul Hausser
Felix Steiner
Theodor Eicke

The Waffen-SS (

"Jewish problem"
.

After the war, in the

Luftwaffe (air force) or Kriegsmarine (navy). The exception made was for Waffen-SS conscripts sworn in after 1943, who were exempted due to their involuntary servitude. In the 1950s and 1960s Waffen-SS veteran groups successfully fought numerous legal battles in the newly-founded West Germany to overturn the Nuremberg
ruling and win pension rights for their members.

Origins (1929 - 1939)

Parade for the third anniversary of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler on the barracks' grounds. Sepp Dietrich is at the lectern. May 1935

The origins of the Waffen-SS can be traced back to the selection of a group of 120 SS men in March 1933, by

Munich Putsch where the Regiment swore allegiance to Hitler

Pledging loyalty to him alone and Obedience unto death.[2]

The Leibstandarte demonstrated their loyalty in June 1934, during what became known as the Night of the Long Knives, the purge of the Sturmabteilung (SA)

The SA had over two million members at the end of 1933. Led by one of Hitler's old comrades Ernst Röhm, the SA represented a threat to Hitler's attempts to win favour with the German army and also threatened to sour his relations with the conservative elements of the country, people whose support Hitler needed to solidify his position in the German government. Hitler decided to act against the SA, and the SS was put in charge of eliminating Röhm and the other high-ranking officers of the SA.

The

Nazi party and approved the formation of the SS-Verfügungstruppe or SS-VT, which was to be a force of special service troop under Hitler's command.[2] 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 which was responsible for assigning conscripts to the different branches of the Wehrmacht, to meet quotas set by the German High Command or OKW. The SS was given the lowest priority for recruits.[3]

Even with the difficulties of the quota system

Bad Tolz and Braunschweig.[3] Both schools used the regular army training methods and used former Army officers to train their potential officers to be combat effective.[3] The officer candidates had to meet stringent requirements before being allowed into the officer schools; All SS officer's had to be a minimum height of 5 foot 10 inches – 5 foot 11 inches for the Leibstandarte.[3][4]

In 1936 Himmler selected former Lieutenant General

Brigadefuhrer, he set about transforming the SS-VT into a creditable military force that was a match for the regular army.[5][6]

On 17 August 1938, Hitler declared that they would have a role in domestic as well as foreign affairs, which transformed this growing armed force into the rival that the army had feared.[7] He also decreed that service in the SS-VT would qualify to fulfill military obligations, although service in the SS-Totenkopfverbände or SS-TV would not. Some units of the SS-TV would, in the case of war, be used a reserves for the SS-VT, which at the time did not have its own pool of reserves.[8] For all its training the SS-VT had been unable to test itself in a combat situation. This changed in 1938, when two opportunities arose with the Anschluss of Austria in March 1938. A battalion of the Leibstandarte was chosen to accompany the Army troops in occupying Austria, and during the occupation of the Sudetenland the three regiments of the SS-VT participated. In both actions no resistance was met with the Austrians and Czechs failing to fight back.[6][8]

World War II

1939

Poland

In August 1939 Hitler placed the SS-VT under the operational command of the

OKW. At the outbreak of hostilities there were four SS armed regiments: Leibstandarte, Deutschland, Germania and the new regiment from Austria Der Führer – although the last was not yet combat-ready.[9]

Events during the

Invasion of Poland raised doubts over the combat effectiveness of the SS-VT. Their willingness to fight was never in any doubt; at times they were almost too eager to fight. The OKW reported that the SS-VT had unnecessarily exposed themselves to risks and acted recklessly, incurring heavier losses then Army troops. They also stated that the SS-VT was poorly trained and its officers unsuitable for command. As an example, OKW cited that the Leibstandarte had to be rescued by an Army regiment after becoming surrounded at Pabianice by the Poles.[9] In its defence the SS-VT insisted that it had been hampered by its fighting piecemeal instead of as one formation, and was improperly equipped to carry out its required objectives.[9] Himmler insisted that 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.[9] Hitler was unwilling to upset the Army, and Himmler chose a different path. He ordered that the SS-VT form its own divisions but that the divisions would be under Army command.[9]

First Divisions

In October 1939, the Deutschland, Germania and Der Führer were reorganized into the

SS Polizei Division formed for members of the National police force.[9][10] Almost overnight the force that the OKW had tried to disband had increased from 18,000 to over 100,000 strong.[10] Hitler next authorised the creation in March 1940 of four Motorised Artillery battalions, one for each division and the Leibstandarte. The OKW was supposed to supply these new battalions with the weapons it required, but was reluctant to hand over guns from its own arsenal. The weapons arrived only slowly, and by the time of the Battle of France only the Leibstandarte battalion was up to strength.[11]

1940

1940 expansion

In August 1940,

Alsace-Lorraine.[12]

Himmler had also gained approval for the Waffen-SS to form its own high command, the

2 SS Infantry Brigade.[13]

France and the Low Countries

The three SS divisions and the Leibstandarte spent the winter of 1939 and the spring of 1940 training and preparing for the coming war in the west. In May, they moved to the front, and the Leibstandarte became part of the Army's

227th Infantry Division. The Der Führer Regiment was detached from the SS-VT Division and moved near the Dutch border, with the remainder of the division behind the line in Munster, awaiting the order to invade the Netherlands. The SS Totenkopf and SS Polizei Divisions were held in reserve.[14]

On 10 May, the Leibstandarte overcame Dutch border guards and spearheaded the German advance into

prisoners of war.[14]

In France the SS Totenkopf was involved in the only Allied tank attack in the

3.7 cm PaK 36, was no match for the British Matilda tank.[15]

After the Dutch surrender, the Leibstandarte moved south to

Saint Venant.[16] That night the OKW issued order that the advance was to halt, with the British Expeditionary Force trapped. The Leibstandarte paused for the night, but the following day. in defiance of Hitler's orders, continued the advance. Dietrich ordered his III Battalion to cross the canal and take the height beyond, where British artillery observers were putting the regiment at risk. They assaulted the heights and drove the observers off. Instead of being censured for his act of defiance, Dietrich was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.[17]

The same day the British attacked Saint Venant, forcing the SS-VT Division to retreat, the first time any SS unit had been forced to withdraw and give up ground it had captured.

Panzerjager platoon saved the Deutschland from being destryoyed.[18] At the same time another unit from the Totenkopf, the 14 Company, was involved in the Le Paradis massacre, where 99 men of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment were machinegunned, and any survivors finished off with bayonets.[6][19]

By 28 May the Leibstandarte had taken Wormhout only ten miles from Dunkirk.[16] They were also responsible for the Wormhoudt massacre when the II Battalion killed 80 British prisoners of war.[20]

By 30 May the British were cornered at Dunkirk, and the SS Division continued the advance into France. The Leibstandarte reached Saint-Étienne 250 miles south of Paris, and had advanced further into France then any other unit.[17] The next day, the French surrendered.[21]

Hitler expressed his pleasure with the performance of the Leibstandartes in Holland and France, telling them that;

Henceforth it will be an honour for you, who bear my name, to lead every German attack.[17]

1941

Leibstandarte advances in the Balkans.

By the spring of 1941 the Waffen-SS consisted of the equivalent of six divisions:

2 SS Infantry and the SS Cavalry Brigades.[22][23]

Balkans

In March 1941, a major Italian counterattack against

Operation Marita began on April 6, 1941, with German troops invading Greece through Bulgaria in an effort to secure its southern flank.[24]

Das Reich was ordered to leave France and head for

XLI Panzer Corps, crossed the Rumanian border and advanced on Belgrade, the Yugoslav capital, arriving on 12 April to accept the city's surrender.[25] The Yugoslavian Army surrendered a few days later.[25]

The Leibstandarte had now crossed into Greece, and on 10 April engaged the

Battle of the Klidi Pass. For 48 hours they fought for control of the heights, often engaging in hand to hand combat, eventually gaining control with the capture of Height 997, which opened the pass, allowing the German Army to advance into the Greek interior.[26] This victory finally gained praise from the OKW: in the order of the day they were commended for their "Unshakable offensive spirit" and told that "The present victory signifies for the Leibstandarte a new and imperishable page of honour in its history."[26]

The Leibstandarte continued the advance on 13 May. When the Reconnaissance Battalion under the command of

Metsovon and accepted the surrender of the Greek Epirus-Macedonian Army.[26]

Soviet Union

Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, started on 22 June 1941, and all the Waffen-SS formations would participate.

SS Division Nord in northern Finland took part in Operation Arctic Fox with the Finnish Army, and the battle at Salla, where against strong Soviet forces they suffered 300 killed and 400 wounded in the first two days of the invasion.[27][28] The battle at Salla was a disaster, the thick forests and heavy smoke from forest fires disoriented the troops and the division's units completely fell apart.[28][29] By the end of 1941, Nord had suffered severe casualties. Over the winter of 1941–42 it received replacements from the general pool of Waffen-SS recruits, who were supposedly younger and better trained than the SS-men of the original formation.[28]

The rest of the Waffen-SS divisions and brigades fared better. The SS Totenkopf and SS Polizei divisions were attached to

Kiev.[6][30]

Men and Horses of the SS Cavalry Brigade September 1941

The war in the Soviet Union proceeded well at first, but the cost to the Waffen-SS was extreme: the Leibstandarte by late October was at half strength due to enemy action as well as

dysentry that was swept through the ranks.[31] Das Reich had lost 60 percent of its strength and was still to take part in the Battle of Moscow, and was decimated in the following Soviet offensive. The Der Führer Regiment was reduced to 35 men out of the 2,000 that had started the campaign in June.[31] Altogether, the Waffen-SS had suffered 43,000 casualties.[31]
.

While the Leibstandarte and the SS divisions were fighting in the front line, behind the lines it was a different story. The 1 SS Infantry and 2 SS Infantry Brigades, which had been formed from surplus

Jewish population of the Soviet Union, forming firing parties when required. The three brigades were responsible for the murder of tens of thousands by the end of 1941.[33]

Because it was more mobile and better able to carry out large-scale operations, the SS Cavalry Brigade played a pivotal role in the transition from "selective mass murder" to the wholesale extermination of the

Erich von Bach-Zelewski and Hinrich Lohse
, the brigade's received the following order:

Explicit order by

RFSS: All Jews must be shot. Drive the female Jews into the swamps.[36]

Gustav Lombard, on receiving the order, advised his Battalion that "In future not one male Jew is to remain alive, not one family in the villages."[36] Throughout the next weeks, members of the SS Cavalry Regiment 1, under Lombard's command, murdered an estimated 11,000 Jews and more than 400 dispersed soldiers of the Red Army.[37]

1942

1942 expansion

In 1942 the Waffen-SS was further expanded and a new division was entered on the rolls in March. The

8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer.[22][29]

Panzergrenadier divisions

The front line divisions of the Waffen-SS that had suffered through the Russian winter of 1941-1942 and the Soviet counter-offensive were withdrawn to France to recover and be reformed as panzergrenadier divisions.[39] Thanks to the efforts of Heinrich Himmler and Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser, the new commander of the SS Panzer Corps, the three SS Panzergrenadier divisions Leibstandarte, Das Reich and Totenkopf were to be formed with a full regiment of tanks rather than only a battalion. This meant that the SS Panzergrenadier divisions were full-strength Panzer divisions in all but name. They each also received nine Tiger tanks, which were formed into the heavy panzer companies.[39]

Offensive of the Red Army south of Lake Ilmen, 7 January – 21 February 1942

Demyansk Pocket

The Soviet offensive of January 1942 had trapped a number of German divisions in what became known as the Demyansk Pocket between February and April 1942; the 3 SS Totenkopf was one of the divisions encircled by the Red Army. The Red Army would not liberate Demyansk until 1 March 1943 with the retreat of the German troops. "For his excellence in command and the particularly fierce fighting of the Totenkopf", Obergruppenführer Theodor Eicke was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross on 20 May, 1942.[40]

1943

1943 expansion

The Waffen-SS expanded further in 1943: in February the

Sturmbrigade Reichsführer SS as a cadre.[22] By the end of the year, the Waffen-SS had increased in size from eight divisions and some brigades to a force of 16 divisions.[22]

Kharkov

On the Eastern Front, the German Army suffered a devastating defeat when the

salient which in July 1943 would lead to the Battle of Kursk. The German offensive cost the Red Army an estimated 70,000 casualties but the house-to-house fighting in Kharkov was also particularly bloody for the SS Panzer Corps, which had lost approximately 44% of its strength by the time operations ended in late March.[44]

Warsaw Ghetto uprising

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the Jewish insurgency that arose within the Warsaw Ghetto from 19 April to 16 May, an effort to prevent the transportation of the remaining population of the ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp. The only units involved from the Waffen-SS were 821 Waffen-SS Panzergrenadiers from five reserve and training battalions and one cavalry reserve and training battalion.[45][46]

Kursk

Das Reich Tiger tank Company, during the Battle of Kursk.

The next test for the Waffen-SS was the

Soviet 1st Tank Army
.

During the fighting over the next few days, the II SS Panzer Corps thought they were close to driving a wedge between the 1st Tank Army and

III Panzer Corps and with the loss of their reserves, any hope that may have had of dealing a major defeat to the SS Panzer Corps ended. But the German advances now also failed – despite appalling losses, the Soviet Tank Armies had held the line and prevented the II SS Panzer Corps from making the expected breakthrough.[49]

Italy

After the

16 SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS.[50]

After the

Italian Fourth Army were regrouping in Piedmont, near the French border. Sturmbannführer Joachim Peiper's mechanised III Battalion, SS Panzergrenadier Regiment 2, was sent to disarm these units.[51] Upon arriving in the province of Cuneo
, Peiper was met by an Italian officer who warned that his forces would attack unless Peiper's unit vacated the province immediately. Peiper refused, which goaded the Italians into attacking. The veterans of Peiper's battalion defeated the Italians in a fierce battle, and then proceeded to disarm the remaining Italian forces in the area.

While the Leibstandarte was operating in the north the 16 SS Reichsführer-SS had sent a

Anzio landings in January 1944.[52]

1944

1944 expansion

The Waffen-SS expanded again during 1944. January saw the formation of the

Batschka region of Hungary.[22]

Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket

The

5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien, and the Estonian SS Battalion Narwa.[56] The Germans broke out in coordination with a relief attempt by other German forces from the outside, including the 1 SS Leibstandarte. Roughly two out of three encircled men succeeded in escaping the pocket, the remainder being killed, captured or reported missing.[57]

Raid on Drvar

The

Raid on Drvar, codenamed Operation Rösselsprung, was an attack by the Waffen-SS and Luftwaffe on the command structure of the Yugoslav Partisans. Their objective was the elimination of the Bolshevik-controlled Supreme Headquarters, and the capture of Marshal Josip Broz Tito. The offensive took place in April and May, 1944. The Waffen-SS units involved were the 500th SS Parachute Battalion and the 7 SS Prinz Eugen.[58]

The assault started when a small group parachuted into Dvar to secure landing grounds for the following glider force. The 500th SS Parachute Battalion fought their way to Tito's cave hedadquarters and exchanged heavy gunfire resulting in numerous casualties on both sides. By the time German forces had penetrated into the cave, Tito had already escaped. At the end of the battle only 200 men of the 500th SS Parachute Battalion remained unwounded.[58] [59]

Baltic states

In the Baltic states the

VI SS Corps, which consisted of the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian) an the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian).[62]

Normandy

The starting lines of Operation Spring, Wafen SS units identified are the 1 SS, 9 SS, 10 SS, 12 SS Divisions and the 101 and 102 SS Heavy Panzer Battalions

Panzer Group West, the Western theatre's armoured reserve.[63] The Corps was restructured on 4 July 1944 and only the 1 SS Leibstandarte and the 12 SS Hitlerjugend remained at strength. [64]

After the landings, the first Waffen-SS unit in action was the 12 SS Hitlerjugend who arrived at the invasion front on 7 June, in the

SS Heavy Panzer Battalion 101 arrived at the end of the month. The first action they were involved in was the defence of Carpiquet village and aerodrome in what was known as Operation Windsor.[67]

The only other Waffen-SS unit in France at this time was the 2 SS Das Reich, who were stationed in the southern French town of

Tulle murders, where 99 men were murdered.[69] The next day they reached Oradour-sur-Glane and massacred 642 French civilians.[70]

The

SS Heavy Panzer Battalion 102 started to arrive from the Eastern Front from 26 June, just in time to counter Operation Epsom.[71]

German counterattacks against Canadian-Polish positions on 20 August 1944.

Without any further reinforcements in men or material the Waffen-SS divisions were hard put to stop the Allied advance. 1 SS Leibstandarte and 2 SS Das Reich took part in the failed Operation Lüttich in early August.[72] The end came in mid August when the German Army was encircled and trapped in the Falaise pocket, including the 1 SS Leibstandarte, 10 SS Frundsberg and 12 SS Hitlerjugend and the 17 SS Götz von Berlichingen, while the 2 SS Das Reich and the 9 SS Hohenstaufen were ordered to attack Hill 262 from the outside in order to keep the gap open.[73] By 22 August, the Falaise pocket had been closed, and all German forces west of the Allied lines were dead or in captivity.[74] In the fighting around Hill 262 alone, casualties totalled 2,000 killed and 5,000 taken prisoner.[75] The 12 SS Hitlerjugend had lost 94% of its armour, nearly all of its artillery, and 70% of its vehicles.[76] The division had close to 20,000 men and 150 tanks before the campaign started, and was now reduced to 300 men and 10 tanks.[76]

With the German Army in full retreat, two further Waffen-SS formations entered the battle in France, the

Seine River allowing the Army to retreat.[79] Eventually they were forced back and then withdrew, the surviving troops being incorporated into the 17 SS Götz von Berlichingen[80]

Greece

While the bulk of the Waffen-SS was now on the Eastern Front or in Normandy, the

partisan attack. In total, 218 men, women and children were killed. According to survivors, the SS forces "bayoneted babies in their cribs, stabbed pregnant women, and beheaded the village priest."[81]

Italy

On the Italian Front the 16 SS Reichsführer-SS, was conducting anti-partisan operations and is more remembered for the atrocities it committed than its fighting ability: it was involved in the Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre in August 1944,[82] and the Marzabotto massacre between September and October 1944,[83]

Finland

In Finland, the 6 SS Nord had held its lines during the Soviet summer offensive until it was ordered to withdraw from Finland upon the conclusion of a separate armistice between the Finns and the Soviets in September 1944. They then formed the rear guard for the three German corps withdrawing from Finland in Operation Birch, and from September to November 1944 marched 1,600 kilometres to Mo i Rana, Norway, where it entrained for the southern end of the country, crossing the Skagerrak to Denmark.[84]

Arnhem and Market-Garden

In early September 1944, the II SS Panzer Corps (9 SS Hohenstaufen and 10 SS Frundberg) were pulled out of the line and sent to the

Training and Reserve Battalion, 16th SS Division Reichsführer-SS.[86] The Allied airborne operation was a failure, and the city of Arnhem was not liberated until 14 April 1945.[87]

Warsaw Uprising

At the other end of

Waffen-Sturm-Brigade RONA as well as a number of smaller units were sent to Warsaw to put down the uprising. During the battle, the Dirlewanger behaved atrociously, raping, looting and killing citizens of Warsaw regardless of whether they belonged to the Polish resistance or not; Oskar Dirlewanger himself encouraged their excesses. The unit's behaviour was reportedly so bestial and indiscriminate that Himmler was forced to detail an attached battalion of SS military police for the sole purpose of ensuring the Dirlewanger convicts did not turn their aggressions against their own leaders or nearby German units.[88] At the same time they were encouraged by Himmler to terrorize freely, take no prisoners, and generally indulge their perverse tendencies. Favoured tactics of the Dirlewanger men during the siege reportedly included the ubiquitous gang rape of female Poles, both women and children, playing "bayonet catch" with live babies, and torturing captives to death by hacking off their arms, dousing them with gasoline, and setting them alight to run armless and flaming down the street.[89][90] The Dirlewanger brigade committed almost non-stop atrocities during this period, in particular the four-day Wola massacre
.

The other unit Waffen-Sturm-Brigade RONA volunteers were first given the task of clearing the sector of Ochota district defended by only 300 poorly-armed Poles. Their attack was planned for the morning of 5 August, but when the time came, the Kaminski's men could not be found; after some searching, they were found looting abandoned houses in the rear. At the same time, thousands of Polish civilians were killed by the RONA SS men during the events known as Ochota massacre; many victims were also raped.[nb 2][nb 3] In the middle of the month, they were moved south to the Wola sector, but it fared no better in combat here than in Ochota; in one incident a sub-unit had stopped their advance to loot a captured building on the front line and was consequently cut off and wiped-out by the Poles. The brigade's commander Bronislav Kaminski was then called to Łódź to attend a leadership conference. He never reached it; officially, Polish partisans were blamed for an alleged ambush in which Kaminski was killed. According to various sources he was either tried first by an SS court or simply executed by the Gestapo out of hand. The behaviour of the RONA during the battle was an embarrassment even to the SS, and the alleged rape and murder of two German Strength Through Joy (Kdf) girls may have played a part in his execution.[93]

Vistula River line

In late August 1944, 5 SS Wiking was ordered back to

Soviet 3rd Tank Corps. The advent of the Warsaw Uprising brought the Soviet offensive to a halt, and relative peace fell on the front line. The division remained in the Modlin area for the rest of the year, grouped with the 3 SS Totenkopf in the IV SS Panzer Corps. Heavy defensive battles around Modlin followed for the rest of the year. Together they helped force the Red Army out of Warsaw and back across the Vistula River where the Front stabilized until January, 1945.[94]

Ardennes Offensive

Peiper's troops on the road to Malmedy.

The

SS Panzer Brigade 150.[95]

The purpose of the attack was to split the British and American line in half, capture

Axis Powers.[96]

The attack was not only a failure, it is remembered for the

prisoners of war were murdered on the 17 December 1944 by men of the Kampfgruppe Peiper, part of the 1 SS Leibstandarte. [97]

Siege of Budapest

In late December 1944, the Axis forces, including

IX Waffen Alpine Corps of the SS (Croatian), defending Budapest, were encircled in what became known as the Siege of Budapest. The IV SS Panzer Corps (3 SS Totenkopf and 5 SS Wiking) was ordered south to join Hermann Balck's 6 Armee (Army Group Balck), which was mustering for a relief effort, codenamed Operation Konrad
.

As a part of Operation Konrad I, the IV.SS Corps was committed to action on 1 January 1945, near

4th Guards Army. A heavy battle ensued, with the 5 SS Wiking and 3 SSTotenkopf destroying many of the Soviet tanks. In three days their panzer spearheads had driven 45 kilometres, over half the distance from the start point to Budapest. The Soviets manoeuvred forces to block the advance, and they barely managed to halt them at Bicske, only 28 kilometres from Budapest. Two further attacks, Operations Konrad II and III, also failed.[98]

The

Hungarian Third Army had been besieged in Budapest along with the IX Waffen Alpine Corps of the SS (Croatian) (8 SS Florian Geyer and 22 SS Maria Theresa). The siege lasted from 29 December 1944 and was ended when the city surrendered unconditionally on 13 February 1945. Some idea of the intensity of the fighting can be had by the fact that only 170 men of the 22 SS Maria Theresa made it back to the German lines.[99]

1945

1945 expansion

The Waffen-SS continued to expand in 1945. January saw the

38th SS Division Nibelungen which was also formed from students and staff from the SS-Junkerschule, but only consisted of around 6,000 men, the strength of a normal brigade.[22]

The

1 SS Cossack Division was transferred to the Waffen-SS on 1 February 1945. Despite the refusal of their commander General von Pannwitz to enter the SS, the corps was placed under SS administration and all Cossacks then became formally part of the Waffen-SS.[100]

Operation Nordwind

Lorraine in north-eastern France, and it ended on 25 January. The initial attack was conducted by three Corps of the German 1st Army. By 15 January, at least seventeen German divisions (including units in the Colmar Pocket) were engaged, including the XIII SS Army Corps (17 SS Götz von Berlichingen and 38 SS Nibelungen) and the 6 SS Nord and 10 SS Frundsberg.[101]

Operation Solstice

Eleventh SS Panzer Army, which was being assembled in Pomerania, against the spearheads of the 1st Belorussian Front. Originally planned as a major offensive, it was eventually executed as a more limited attack. It was repulsed by the Red Army, but helped to convince the Soviet High Command to postpone the planned attack on Berlin.[102]

Initially the attack achieved a total surprise, reaching the banks of the

Oder River
.

East Pomeranian Offensive

The

East Pomeranian Offensive lasted between 24 February to the 4 April, in Pomerania and West Prussia. The Waffen-SS units involved were the 11 SS Nordland, 20 SS Estonian, 23 SS Nederland, 27 SS Langemark, 28 SS Wallonien, all in the III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps, and the X SS Corps which did not command any SS units.[103]

In March 1945, the X SS Corps was encircled by the

Dramburg. This pocket was destroyed by the Red Army on 7 March 1945.[104][105] On 8 March 1945, the Soviets announced the capture of General Krappe and 8,000 men of the X SS Corps.[106]

Operation Spring Awakening

After the Ardennes offensive failed, the SS Divisions involved were pulled out and refitted in Germany in preparation for Operation Spring Awakening, with top priority for men and equipment.[107] The replacements were a mixed group of raw recruits and drafted Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine personnel which were no longer needed by their own branch of service as they had no aircraft or ships to serve in.[107] The 6th SS Panzer Army would again take the lead, with the I SS Panzer Corps (1 SS Leibstandarte and 12 SS Hitlerjugend) and the II SS Panzer Corps (2 SS Das Reich and the 10 SS Frundsberg). Also present but not part of the 6th SS Panzer Army was the IV SS Panzer Corps (3 SS Totenkopf and 5 SS Wiking). This was the first time that six SS Panzer Divisions would take part in the same offensive.[107]

As planned, the offensive got under way on 6 March 1945, spearheaded by the 6th SS Panzer Army. The attack managed to take the Soviets by surprise and impressive gains were made for an offensive launched at such a late date in the war.[107] However once the Soviets realized that elite SS units were involved, they took the German offensive seriously, utilizing ixteen Russian rifle divisions, two tank corps and two mechanized corps, with some 150 tanks, in direct support just behind the front line south west of Lake Balaton itself. Also the Soviets had been building up their forces for their own offensive along the Danube valley, which meant the 6th SS Panzer Army's attack would be confronted by an overwhelming Soviet force of more than 1000 tanks, which ground the German advance to a halt.[107]

By 14 March the attack was already in serious trouble. The advance of the 6th SS Panzer Army, while impressive, was well short of its targets. All the Waffen-SS divisions suffered grievously during Spring Awakening, and by the end most were below 50% strength without much prospect of any reinforcements to replace losses.[107]

Armband order

This failure is famous for the notorious "armband order" which followed. The order was issued to Sepp Dietrich by Adolf Hitler, who claimed that the troops, and, more importantly, the 1 SS Leibstandarte, "did not fight as the situation demanded."[108] As a mark of disgrace, the Leibstandarte units involved in the battle were ordered to remove their treasured "Adolf Hitler" cuff titles. In the field, Dietrich was disgusted by Hitler's order and did not relay it to his troops.[107]

Vienna Offensive

Victory Parade
, 24 June], 1945. The Leibstandarte standard at the front

After Operation Spring Awakening, the 6th SS Panzer Army withdrew towards

Vienna Offensive. The only major force to face the attacking Red Army was the II SS Panzer Corps (2 SS Das Reich and 3 SS Totenkopf), under the commanded of Wilhelm Bittrich, along with ad hoc forces made up of garrison and anti-aircraft units.[109] Vienna finally fell when the last defenders in the city surrendered on 13 April. [110] Bittrich's II SS Panzer Corps had pulled out to the west that evening to avoid encirclement.[111]

Berlin

The Army Group Vistula was formed in 1945 to protect Berlin from the advancing Red Army. It fought in the Battle of the Seelow Heights (16-19 April) and the Battle of Halbe (21 April - 1 May), both part of the Battle of Berlin. The Waffen-SS was represented by the III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps.[107]

On 16 April, the remnants of the 11 SS Nordland, 33 SS Charlemagne and the Spanish Volunteer Company of SS 101, were all ordered to move to the front line east of Berlin. From 17 April to 20 April they were in constant combat all along the front and pushed back into the city. By 22 April, the 11 SS Nordland had been pushed back to the

Reichstag itself. For the next few days, the few survivors held out against overwhelming odds.[107]

On 30 April, after receiving news of Hitler's suicide, orders were issued that those who could do so were to break out to the west. Several small groups managed to reach the Americans at the

Fuhrer bunker. Lacking any leadership, the breakout down Freidrichstrasse turned into a disorganised mob, which was quickly dispatched by Soviet armoured attacks.[107]

On 2 May hostilities officially ended by order of Helmuth Weidling, Kommandant of the Defence Area Berlin.

Commanders

File:Briefmarke Waffen SS.jpg
1943 German stamp honoring the Waffen-SS

Casualties

The true total of casualties amongst the Waffen-SS will probably never be known, but one estimate indicates that they suffered 180,000 dead, 400,000 wounded and 40,000 missing.[114] World War II casualties indicates that the Waffen-SS suffered 314,000 killed and missing, or 34.9%. By comparison the United States Army suffered 318,274 killed and missing, or 2.8%[115][116]

War crimes

Hans Gruhle, 23:Hans Henneck, 31:Gustav Knittel, 34:Werner Kuhn and 39:Erich Munkemer

Generally, the Waffen-SS was not directly involved in the

Kaminski Brigades are signled out, many others were involved – either in large-scale massacres or smaller-scale atrocities such as the Houtman affair.[117]

The linking of the SS-VT with the

synagogues and the execution en masse of the leaders of the Jewish community. On 29 September the Standarte travelled to Bydgoszcz to conduct an "intelligentsia action". Approximately 800 Polish civilians and what the SD termed "potential resistance leaders" were killed. The Totenkopfverbände was to become one of the elite SS divisions, but from the start they were among the first executors of a policy of systematic extermination.[118]

Several formations within the Waffen-SS were found guilty of a

Scorched-earth tactics during anti-partisan operations.[120] Also, some Waffen-SS personnel convalesced at concentration camps, from which they were drawn, by serving guard duties. Other members of the Waffen-SS were more directly involved in genocide.[121]

The end of the war saw a number of war crime trials, including the Malmedy massacre trial. The counts of indictment related to the massacre of more than three hundred American prisoners "in the vicinity of Malmedy, Honsfeld, Büllingen, Ligneuville, Stoumont, La Gleize, Cheneux, Petit Thier, Trois Ponts, Stavelot, Wanne and Lutrebois", between 16 December, 1944 and 13 January, 1945, as well as the massacre of one hundred Belgian civilians mainly in the vicinity of Stavelot.[122]

During the International Military Tribunal (better known as the

Nuremberg Trials), the Waffen-SS was declared a criminal organisation, except conscripts, who were exempted from that judgement as they had been forced to join.[123]

HIAG

The HIAG was an organization founded in 1951 by former members of the Waffen-SS, to provide assistance to veterans, and campaign for the rehabilitation of their legal status with respect to veterans' pensions. Unlike soldiers of the regular Wehrmacht, pensions had been denied to members of the Waffen-SS as a result of it having been declared a criminal organization at the Nurenburg trials. [124]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Waffen-SS.

References

Bibliography

Notes

Explanatory notes
  1. ^ In the context of this battle the term "Battle of the European SS" merely refers to the high proportion of foreign nationals present. [60]
  2. ^ Adolf Hitler is not interested in further existence of Warsaw (...) the whole population shall be executed and all buildings blown up.[91]
  3. Hague Convention or they infringe it. 2. Non-fighting part of population, women, children, shall also be killed. 3. All the city shall be raised to the ground, i.e. buildings, streets, facilities in that city, and everything which is within its borders.[92]
Citations
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  3. ^ a b c d e Flaherty, p 145
  4. ^ The SS: Hitler's Instrument of Terror (Gordon Williamson)
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  6. ^ a b c d e f g Windrow, pp 7-8
  7. ^ a b Flaherty, p 147
  8. ^ a b c Flaherty, p 148
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Flaherty, p 149
  10. ^ a b c Flaherty, p 150
  11. ^ Flaherty, p 151
  12. ^ a b Flaherty, p 160
  13. ^ Flaherty, p 161
  14. ^ a b c Flaherty, p 152 Cite error: The named reference "f152" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  15. ^ Harmon, p.100
  16. ^ a b c Flaherty, p 154
  17. ^ a b c Flaherty, p 143
  18. ^ Flaherty, p 155
  19. ^ Jackson, pp.285-288
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  85. ^ Harclerode, p. 460
  86. ^ Marcus Wendel. "Waffen SS units (16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS)". Axis History Factbook. Retrieved 2007-07-04.
  87. ^ Ellis, pp 313-315
  88. ^ Bell, J. Bowyer. "Besieged: Seven Cities Under Siege". Philadelphia: Chilton, 1966. 89-91.
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  91. ^ Czesław, p. 390
  92. ^ Ochota, pp. 128-129
  93. ^ Kirchmayer, p 367
  94. ^ "5.SS-Panzer-Division "Wiking"". Retrieved 2009-13-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  95. ^ "The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge/Chapter III". Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  96. ^ "Battle of the Buldge". Retrieved 2009-11-03.
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  100. ^ Rolf Michaelis (2006), Die Waffen-SS. Mythos und Wirklichkeit. Berlin: Michaelis-Verlag, p. 36
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  102. ^ Beevor, p.91
  103. ^ Erhard Raus, Panzer Operations. The Eastern Front Memoir of General Raus, 1941-1945, PP-324-332
  104. ^ Tessin, p 164
  105. ^ Ustinow, p 179
  106. ^ Schramm, p 1156
  107. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "German War Machine". Retrieved 2009-13-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
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  109. ^ Dollinger, p. 199.
  110. ^ Descriptions of Soviet actions are from Ustinov, pp. 238-239.
  111. ^ Gosztony, p. 262.
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  120. ^ "The Holocaust Timeline". Retrieved 2009-09-03.
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  122. ^ War Crimes Office (1948). "Case Number 6-24 (US vs. Valentin Bersin et al)". U.S. Army Trial Reviews and Recommendations. United States Department of War. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
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  124. ^ University of Bielefeld research project (2006). "Die Hilfsgemeinschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit der Angehörigen der ehemaligen Waffen-SS (HIAG) 1949-1990" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-11-03. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |title= at position 83 (help)


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