Stalin's Nemesis

by Michael James Melnyk

  With the finalisation of these plans, preparations for the commencement of the march began in earnest and all soldiers were issued with appropriate winter clothing.19 Additionally a Nachkommando (rear group) was formed under the direction of the 1. Ordonnanz Offizier SS-Obersturmführer Michel which in the wake of departure was required to oversee clean up. Prior to departure, Freitag ordered the Division to strip itself of all extraneous baggage and threatened that if he found any officer with a personal suitcase he would ‘personally throw it in the Drava’.20

  The Division’s Headquarters in Zilina received a written directive from Himmler in the form of a teleprinter message dated 26 January 1945, concerning the transfer:

  Re: Relocation of the 14.Waffen-Gren.Div.d.SS (ukrainische Nr.1)

  Following order RF-SS to be acknowledged and executed:

  1.) The 14.Waffen-Gren.Div.d.SS (ukrainische Nr.1) is to relocate to quarters in the Untersteiermark region. It will immediately commence its march [on foot] along the Pressburg/Wien (Vienna) route.

  2.) The Höh.SS-u.Pol.Führ.’Alpenland’ will ensure accommodation [in buildings] in garrisons, in villages and towns.

  3.) Transport of non-mobile parts [i.e. heavy repair equipment etc.] by train, other than this [transport] on foot where possible.

  4.) The march is to be utilised as a combined marching exercise with integrated combat exercises. The Division’s foremost sections will commence [the march] at the latest by the 26 January and will arrive at its new location by 28 February at the latest.

  5) I [am to] receive daily reports from the Divisional Commander via the nearest telegraph station or by radio.

  6) Naturally motorised vehicles are to be embarked.

  Signed H. Himmler

  SS—Hauptamt

  SS-Gren. Ausb.u.Ers.Rgt.14 (ukrainische Ausb.Rgt.Nr.1) is also to be transferred to the new location [concurrently].21

  By the time the official order arrived, the first groups in battalion and company strength had already begun the march. The remaining units set out at regular intervals to avoid congestion during the course of the following days, whilst the march routes and the final destination were for security purposes, known only to the commander and his most senior staff officers.

  The march itself presented numerous logistical problems for the supply units. Supply points were established along the proposed route by officers of Sections 1b (Quartermaster Supply—weapons and ammunitions) and IVa (Quartermaster General, supply food and uniforms), headed by SS-Hauptsturmführer Herbert Schaaf, and SS-Sturmbannführer Otto Sulzbach respectively. They coordinated their efforts with the commanders of XVI. (Vienna) and XVIII (Salzburg) Military Districts through which the Division was due to pass.

  In addition, for each battalion or sub-unit a Vorkommando (quartermaster group) was sent one day ahead to arrange accommodation. The units that followed were given a daily route with a detailed road map and assigned overnight rest areas. If no suitable public building was available, initially, whilst still on Slovak territory, the soldiers were billeted in farms and local houses, often sleeping on the floor on a bed of straw.22 To maintain sufficient progress the plan was to spend three days marching an average of 30–40 kms often along snow-covered roads, followed by one full day of rest.

  Amongst the members of Marschgruppe A was Waffen-Grenadier Volodymyr Keczun:

  […] And so started our epic march from Slovakia to Yugoslavia which was organised with precision like clockwork.[…] When we set out from Zilina deep snow lay everywhere and our progress was very slow. Holowczak was leading our horse. Lischynsky and Dacko walked by each side of the first truck, Ziemba and Kuchar by each side of the second and I, as the youngest and Miecek, who was nearly blind (he had cataracts on his eyes), were allowed to hold onto the metal at the back of the second truck. Later on we worked out a system where if the terrain was flat we could have a short ride in turns on the ammunition wagon which was behind us. Very late that first night I fell asleep, let go of the bar, stopped walking and got a very cold awakening in snow in a ditch. Our ammunition horse was probably sleepwalking too and didn’t see me and nudged me with his head into the ditch.

  Eventually we got into a routine; reach our assigned destination in the morning, find where the advance party assigned our stay that day, go to field kitchen to get our breakfast and eat it, undress-find and kill as many lice as you can, ask one of your mates to check inaccessible places on your body for lice, and do the same for him (there was no time to bury your shirt and wait for lice to climb up for some air), sleep, wake and check your armaments, eat again, short nap, and march—ad nauseam. […]23

  Waffen-Untersturmführer Zenon Kuk, commander of the 5 company WGR 30, later wrote about the transfer in his memoirs:

  […] On 31 January 1945 we set out for Yugoslavia. Our regiment belonged to group ‘A’. We marched 30–40 kms a day during good frost and deep snow. The march was quite difficult because we had to use side roads which were often covered with snow. The main roads were reserved for the front troops’ traffic. Usually there were four days of marching and one of rest.[…] Somewhere at the beginning of the march we were going through a forest and stopped for a brief rest. Suddenly one of my soldiers shouted ‘hare!’ Some 50 metres away there was a grey hare. I took a rifle, fired and killed it. I gave it to the boys for food.

  Men from an infantry unit set out on the march to Slovenia.

  Prior to commencing the march the soldiers were issued with reversible winter uniforms.

  An unidentified group from one of the Division’s infantry units during the march, February 1945, Slovakia.

  To assist with the movement of infantry support weapons and supplies sledges were utilised during the march.

  The Division marched fully armed in case of attack by partisans.

  The caption of this Kriegsberichter Photo from the Divisional Newspaper reads: ‘19 January 1945 Ukrainian Waffen-Grenadiers guard a rail transport. A machine gun is ready for attacks by low flying aircraft’.

  I remember one time we came up to a good hill. The boys negotiated it without any problems but the horses with their heavy carts sweated quite profusely. We had to unload the munitions carts, for the horses just could not pull them. Only when they had pulled the empty carts to the top of the hill did we load them up again. This happened several times.[…]24

  The going was equally demanding for Marschgruppe B, as recalled by a former platoon commander and Waffen-Untersturmführer Volodymyr Mykula serving with WGR 31 who noted in his diary:

  The march from Slovakia began on the 27 of January and finished almost at the end of February. On the first day of the March everybody was issued warm padded camouflage-patterned jacket with a hood and trousers. The 31 regiment assembled on the road going south from the town of Turchansky Sviaty Martin to Topolchany, near the village where the 3 company was stationed (I do not remember the name of the village situated about 10 kilometres north-west from the little town of Stubnianske Teplice) and then marched south and then west. The horse-drawn supply carriages after each company, as well as the Infanterie Geshütze (infantry artillery) followed.

  The weather was cold, it was snowing, the road was icy and slippery, so the carts sometimes slipped and overturned into the roadside ditch. After the first day of march when the regiment rested for the night in the village of Novaky, a platoon led by Waffen-Untersturmführer Sviatoslav Petriv (from 5 company) disappeared. It was rumoured that he persuaded his soldiers to return to the Ukrainian Carpathians and join the UPA.25

  The route of the march lay south through Radosin and Topolchany. Usually, the regiment marched for two or three days, covering about 30 km each day, and then rested for a day. After Topolchany the column halted for a while at Nadash and then the direction of the march was diverted west. Apparently the plan of the march was changed. Instead of going straight south towards Bratislava, the regiment went west through Piestany, crossing the River Váh, and stopping for a day at Dolny Lopashov. After crossing the L
ittle Carpathian mountain range, the regiment turned south and stopped for a rest at Malacky, close to Bratislava. On 5 February the march continued past Bratislava, crossing the Danube by the bridge into Austria. The weather was cold and wet. Wet snow mixed with rain was falling. The villages on the road were packed with all kinds of troops, so it was difficult to find accommodation for the night.26

  Now that the Division was on Reich territory, as a rule accommodation for overnight rests tended to be in bombed out or disused factories and similar buildings rather than private homes and dwellings.27

  The Division was assigned 50 Alsatian dogs used during search operations. Here one of the dog handlers with his dog hitch a ride during the transfer to Slovenia in February 1945.

  A column from the Division passes along General Stefanika Street in the city of Trencin February 1945.

  Four unknown officers during the march February 1945.

  Feld kitchen during the march from Slovakia to Slovenia February 1945.

  A stop for an important hot meal break during the march February 1945.

  The route passed close to Malacky Slovakia, where soldiers met Ukrainian girls from the Ukrainian Youth Corps during the march, February 1945.

  Transfer of the Division meant a forced march with horse drawn wagons for which the mountainous route and poor road conditions were a serious problem. Here the column proceeds along the Zilina–Trencin road close to the village of Povazske podhradie. Povazsky hrad castle can be seen in the background.

  With columns stretched out over a distance of 60–70 kms, the winter march soon became a trial of endurance for the soldiers and animals alike, the waist deep snow in the lower Carpathian Mountains in particular causing fatigue for the soldiers whose ‘uniforms and shoes were wet all the time’.28 The heavy snowdrifts and very poor road conditions made it extremely difficult for the draught-horses pulling cannons and other heavy equipment. In recognition of this Höfle eventually relented and gave permission for the heavy artillery and part of the Pioneer Battalion to detour onto a section of the main road from Piestany to Bratislava. Passing through Bratislava, Freitag and Major Heike stopped at Höfle’s HQ where in his absence, his Chief of Staff 1(a) Otto von Uechtritz, commended the Division for performing its tasks in Slovakia. Afterwards Freitag, together with the senior regimental commander SS-Standartenführer Beyersdorff and his adjutant SS-Untersturmführer Bernhard Möller, took the opportunity to review a march past by the artillery regiment.29

  As intended, the route for both columns bypassed Vienna to the east and west, passing close enough to hear the air raid sirens followed by the explosions of the bombs from Allied air raids on the city. Here refugees from western Ukraine (which included relatives and friends of the soldiers) who had fled from the advancing Soviets, were held in several transit camps. In the interests of discipline and to discourage desertion no leaves were permitted. The Division’s military police unit commanded by SS-Obersturmführer Wilhelm Drapatz were instructed to prevent the soldiers from entering the city; nonetheless, some enterprising individuals who had reason for doing so or out of sheer curiosity, managed to.30

  Shortly after passing Vienna, in early February 1945 in the vicinity of Bruck, Marschgruppe A stopped for a much needed eight-day rest while Marschgruppe B rested around Gleisdorf for a week, from the 13 to the 20 of February.31 Billeted locally, this was an ideal opportunity to repair equipment and carry out essential maintenance and also a chance to satisfy some basic personal hygiene requirements before continuing on the last stage of the journey.

  At this juncture, the provision of food to meet the needs of the entire formation proved to be problematical as Bruck did not have sufficient supplies due to a transportation breakdown and a general food shortage in the Reich where severe rationing had long been in force. Since during its transfer the Division was classified as a ‘reserve unit’, unlike units actively engaged in combat, it was eligible to receive only the lowest rations. This was felt all the more acutely as it had just left Slovak territory where almost every kind of foodstuff was available in abundance. The provisions the Division had brought along with it, together with the gifts of food many had received from the civilians in Slovakia32 partly compensated for the drastic reduction in rations which now occurred. Nevertheless, because of the immense physical effort required to march in these conditions, hunger was a constant concern. In one instance this led soldiers from II./WGR 29, to resort to the ‘appropriation’ of 300 kgs of butter in twelve 25 kg barrels from a local warehouse to supplement their rations which prompted an official complaint to the Division’s command.33

  Having rested for a week, the Division now began the final stage of the march across the Austrian Alps under the direction of Major Heike who had taken over from SS-Brigadeführer Freitag who fell ill and was unable to return to duty for ten days.34

  As the march continued, the winter was coming to an end and it was getting warmer every day. Now in addition to the melting snow and ice, as the columns got closer to their destination, they came within the range of Allied fighter aircraft operating out of airstrips in Italy which strafed the main roads during daylight hours causing casualties in men, horses and matériel. To lessen its vulnerability to air attack, orders were given for marching to continue by night only which inevitably slowed the pace and caused accidents. Particularly vulnerable were the few motor vehicles. Unable to use his motorcycle headlight in the dark, Waffen-Untersturmführer Roman Hawrylak who was appointed a liaison officer in Marschgruppe B, crashed his machine into a wooden barrier closing an access road during a dark stormy night.35 Although he and his co-driver escaped unhurt, others were not so fortunate and serious accidents and even fatalities occurred.

  Marching through the Alps was sheer torture for the soldiers with countless steep passes, sharp serpentines and deep ravines. A particularly difficult section of the route for Marschgruppe A was the part of the descending road leading through the Semmering Pass to Graz which took many hours to negotiate. This serpentine about 10 kms in length, had many tight turns, requiring careful use of brakes to avoid careering off the road and overturning the carts.

  Waffen-Grenadier Volodymyr Keczun, recalled how the exhausted soldiers kept themselves from falling asleep:

  […] It was decided to march during the nights to avoid air raids but the worst were spitfires which suddenly appeared from behind a mountain range and started strafing the marching column. During our long night marches to stay awake and alert, we held discussions on any topic and to make them harder, we alternated discussions in German, Ukrainian, Polish or Russian languages, usually Ziemba acting as ‘devils’ advocate.[…]36

  Marschgruppe C which included the Division’s Feldlazarett (Field hospital) together with its complement of staff (48 nurses and 12 doctors) and patients was the first echelon to arrive at its new destination. Waffen-Unterscharführer Roman Drazniowsky who had been wounded during combat in Slovakia recalled:

  On 26 January the patients from the Division’s hospital relocated from Zilina by rail. The train that we boarded was bound for Vienna. On one occasion the train was attacked by British aircraft. On 28 or 29 January 1945 the train arrived in Mariborg, Slovenia. Here the Division’s Feldlazarett was relocated in a bombed-out barrack.37

  With the arrival of Marschgruppe C in Maribor, the Divisional flak company immediately became operational. Consisting of nine 3.7 cm flak guns, it established itself within the city and was actively engaged in anti-aircraft defence.38

  Having crossed the Mur River, by the end of February Marschgruppe A had reached the new district and on 28 of that month at 1000 hrs the march was officially ended by special order,39 although it was not until the end of the first week in March that all the remaining elements had arrived.40 The Division’s command reported by radio to the RFSS-Feldkommandostelle and the HSSPF in Ljubljana that the ‘march [had] proceeded according to plan’ and ‘without any special problems’.41 The rough terrain, winter conditions and insufficient food had been
particularly difficult for the horses whose numbers were severely depleted while for the soldiers fatigue, coupled with sweat, sleeping in clothes and boots and inadequate sanitation brought the added problem of lice.

  In the course of departure approximately one hundred men deserted from the Division, the total strength for which (less the Training and Reserve Regiment) was given in an official chart dated 1 March 1945, as being 14,000.42

  Slovenia (a partisan is a partisan)

  The Division’s new area of operations encompassed territory on both sides of the Austrian/Slovenian border, in the provinces of Styria (Štajerska) [Untersteiermark] and Carinthia (Gorenjska) where it came under the operational control of HSSPF Alpenland SS-Obergruppenführer Erwin Rösener, who was responsible for all anti-partisan operations and maintaining security. As a precautionary measure and in an unsuccessful attempt to mitigate potential difficulties with the introduction of a new formation into his district, on 28 February he issued the following order:

  Der Höhere SS und Polizeiführer

  im Wehrkreis XVIII

  Führungsstab. Für Bandenkämpfung

  Ia

  O.U. den 28 February 1945.

  Special Order

  On orders of the Reichsführer-SS in my command area an SS unit is temporarily quartered and subordinated to me. To avoid mutual fire fights, personnel are informed in detail about the fact that the members of this SS unit are largely Ukrainians and speak only broken German. Identification badges: SS uniform, right collar patch Galician lion (white on black) left upper arm Galician lion (gold on blue).43