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Waffen-SS

Page 47

by Adrian Gilbert


  25TH WAFFEN GRENADIER DIVISION OF THE SS HUNYADI (HUNGARIAN NO. 1)

  25. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Hunyadi (ungarische Nr. 1)

  Authorized in November 1944 from Hungarian Army conscripts and volunteers, it was sent to Neuhammer in Silesia for further training. While still undergoing instruction, it was involved in the final Soviet offensives of early 1945. Two battalions were caught in heavy fighting before rejoining the main division in a retreat to Bavaria and surrender to the U.S. Army in May 1945.

  26TH WAFFEN GRENADIER DIVISION OF THE SS HUNGARIA (HUNGARIAN NO. 2)

  26. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Hungaria (ungarische Nr. 2)

  A companion formation to Hunyadi, it was created in November 1944 and sent to Silesia and then Poland for training. The Soviet offensive forced it back into Silesia in February 1945; from there it began a retreat westward, surrendering to the U.S. Army in Austria in May 1945.

  27TH SS VOLUNTEER GRENADIER DIVISION LANGEMARCK (FLEMISH NO. 1)

  27. SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division Langemarck (flämische Nr. 1)

  Based around the Flemish Langemarck Assault Brigade, which had seen extensive service on the Eastern Front, the formation was upgraded to divisional status in September 1944, although its numbers and equipment were never more than at brigade level. Assigned to Pomerania in February 1945, it also fought on the defensive Oder Line before surrender to the Allies on the Elbe.

  28TH SS VOLUNTEER GRENADIER DIVISION WALLONIEN

  28. SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division Wallonien

  Tracing its origins to the army’s Walloon Legion, it fought in the Caucasus before transfer to the Waffen-SS and subsequent upgrading to an assault brigade and involvement in the Korsun-Cherkassy encirclement battle. Converted into a division in September 1944, it fought in Pomerania and on the Oder in 1945, before surrender to Allied forces on the Elbe.

  29TH WAFFEN GRENADIER DIVISION OF THE SS (RUSSIAN NO. 1)

  29. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (russische Nr. 1)

  The notorious Kaminski Brigade was absorbed into the Waffen-SS in June 1944. Upgraded to divisional status in August 1944, it caused further controversy during the brutal suppression of the Warsaw Uprising. As a consequence, the division was dissolved, the remnants transferred to General Vlasov’s Russian Liberation Army.

  29TH WAFFEN GRENADIER DIVISION OF THE SS (ITALIAN NO. 1)

  29. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (italienische Nr. 1)

  After Mussolini’s fall from power, new Italian fascist units were raised, the Waffen-SS forming a brigade in September 1944 to take part in antipartisan operations. In early 1945 the brigade was upgraded to divisional status—taking its number from the former Russian division—although it was a division in name only. It surrendered to the British and Italian partisans in April 1945.

  30TH WAFFEN GRENADIER DIVISION OF THE SS (RUSSIAN NO. 2)

  30. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (russische Nr. 2)

  Drawing personnel from the pro-German Belorussian home guard and other police (Schuma) units, a brigade force was nominally upgraded as a division under Waffen-SS leadership in August 1944. Transferred to France for training, it fought against the Free French in November 1944. The formation was broken up early in 1945, prior to surrender to the U.S. Army in Bavaria.

  31ST SS VOLUNTEER GRENADIER DIVISION

  31. SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division

  Raised in October 1944 from a last trawl of Volksdeutsche from the Batschka region between Hungary and Yugoslavia, it was sent to fight in Hungary and suffered heavy casualties. Withdrawn from the line to recuperate, it was thrown back into combat in January 1945 in Silesia and was overrun by the Red Army. (It is not to be confused with a unit raised from SS training schools in Bohemia, the so-called Böhmen-Mähren division.)

  32ND SS VOLUNTEER GRENADIER DIVISION 30TH JANUARY

  32. SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division 30 Januar

  Formed in January 1945 from SS training-school personnel and miscellaneous ad hoc units, the formation was assigned divisional status in February and fought on the Oder Line. Much of the formation was destroyed in the Halbe pocket and in the defense of Berlin, with only a few survivors reaching the Elbe to surrender to the Western Allies.

  33RD WAFFEN GRENADIER DIVISION OF THE SS CHARLEMAGNE (FRENCH NO. 1)

  33. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Charlemagne (französische Nr. 1)

  The numerical designation had originally been assigned to a Hungarian cavalry formation but was transferred to the upgraded French SS brigade in February 1945. Combining former army and Waffen-SS units, the division fought in Pomerania before a retreat to the Western Allies and surrender. A volunteer battalion fought its way into Berlin; it was destroyed in the final battle.

  34TH SS VOLUNTEER GRENADIER DIVISION LANDSTORM NEDERLAND

  34. SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division Landstorm Nederland

  A home-guard, paramilitary formation, drawn from old SS veterans and Dutch Nazi groups, this assembly of infantry units was given divisional status in February 1945. It remained in the Netherlands and was torn apart by the Allied attack from the Arnhem position in April 1945, most surrendering to the British.

  35TH SS POLIZEI GRENADIER DIVISION

  35. SS-und-Polizei-Grenadier-Division

  Created from whatever police personnel could be found as the war drew to a close, the formation was based around an SS paramilitary police brigade formed in the summer of 1944. Designated as a division in February 1945, it fought on the Oder Line and was destroyed in the Halbe pocket in April 1945, a few survivors escaping to Allied lines on the Elbe.

  36TH WAFFEN GRENADIER DIVISION OF THE SS

  36. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS

  A February 1945 redesignation of the Dirlewanger Assault Brigade, which had achieved notoriety on the Eastern Front and in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944. Some troops from the army, training schools, and Volkssturm reinforced the formation, although all were overwhelmed in the fighting along the Oder Line in March–April 1945.

  37TH SS VOLUNTEER CAVALRY DIVISION LÜTZOW

  37. SS-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Division Lützow

  An ad hoc combination of replacements and reserves from 8th and 22nd SS Cavalry Divisions not involved in the Budapest disaster, reinforced by other Hungarian Volksdeutsche soldiers. By March 1945 a Kampfgruppe from the division was committed to combat and fought alongside the Leibstandarte Division during the retreat through Austria.

  38TH SS PANZERGRENADIER DIVISION NIBELUNGEN

  38. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Nibelungen

  Formed in March 1945 from SS cadets and staff at the Bad Tölz training academy, plus soldiers from several other Waffen-SS units with a substantial contribution from Hitler Youth and RAD members. Ordered into battle on 24 April, it conducted a spirited defense against the Americans in Bavaria until ordered to surrender on 8 May 1945.

  APPENDIX B

  Waffen-SS Knight’s Cross Holders by Division

  Division: 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler

  Number of awards: 52

  Division: 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich

  Number of awards: 72

  Division: 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf

  Number of awards: 46

  Division: 4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division

  Number of awards: 19

  Division: 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking

  Number of awards: 54

  Division: 6th SS Mountain Division Nord 5

  Division: 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen 6

  Division: 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer

  Number of awards: 23

  Division: 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen

  Number of awards: 12

  Division: 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg

  Number of awards: 13

  Division: 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland

  Number of awards: 27

  Division: 12
th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend

  Number of awards: 15

  Division: 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (Croatian No. 1)

  Number of awards: 4

  Division: 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (Galician/Ukrainian No. 1)

  Number of awards: 1

  Division: 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (Latvian No. 1)

  Number of awards: 3

  Division: 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS

  Number of awards: 1

  Division: 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen

  Number of awards: 4

  Division: 18th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Horst Wessel

  Number of awards: 5

  Division: 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (Latvian No. 2)

  Number of awards: 12

  Division: 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (Estonian No. 1)

  Number of awards: 4

  Division: 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg (Albanian No. 1)

  Number of awards:—

  Division: 22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Maria Theresia

  Number of awards: 5

  Division: 23rd Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Kama (Croatian No. 2)

  Number of awards:—

  Division: 23rd SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nederland (Netherlands No. 1)

  Number of awards: 20

  Division: 24th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Karstjäger

  Number of awards:—

  Division: 25th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Hunyadi (Hungarian No. 1)

  Number of awards:—

  Division: 26th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Hungaria (Hungarian No. 2)

  Number of awards:—

  Division: 27th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Langemarck (Flemish No. 1)

  Number of awards: 1

  Division: 28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Wallonien

  Number of awards: 3

  Division: 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (Russian No. 1)

  Number of awards:—

  Division: 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (Italian No. 1)

  Number of awards:—

  Division: 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (Russian No. 2)

  Number of awards:—

  Division: 31st SS Volunteer Grenadier Division

  Number of awards:—

  Division: 32nd SS Volunteer Grenadier Division 30th January

  Number of awards:—

  Division: 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (French No. 1)

  Number of awards: 2

  Division: 34th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland

  Number of awards:—

  Division: 35th SS Polizei Grenadier Division

  Number of awards:—

  Division: 36th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS

  Number of awards: 1

  Division: 37th SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Lützow

  Number of awards:—

  Division: 38th SS Panzergrenadier Division Nibelungen

  Number of awards:—

  Division: Total

  Number of awards: 410

  A further 38 awards were presented to Waffen-SS soldiers outside these formations. The list includes awards made to men in SS brigades before divisional upgrading.

  Source: Wegner, Waffen-SS, 312.

  An improvised armored vehicle of a Freikorps unit stands guard on a Berlin street during the attempted Kapp Putsch of 1920. The aggressive and nihilistic attitudes of the Freikorps were an important influence in the development of the fighting ethos held by the Waffen-SS. (Bundesarchiv)

  Adolf Hitler takes the salute of an honor guard of the Leibstandarte in Berlin, 1938. The prewar Leibstandarte’s close attention to parade-ground drill would earn it the derisory nickname “the asphalt soldiers” from other Waffen-SS units. (Bundesarchiv)

  Heinrich Himmler, the SS leader whose ambition was for a Pan-Germanic Europe under SS control. (Bundesarchiv)

  Paul Hausser, a former Army officer who laid the foundations for the Waffen-SS as an elite combat force. (Bundesarchiv)

  Josef “Sepp” Dietrich, commander of the Leibstandarte and an embodiment of the fighting spirit of the Waffen-SS. (Bundesarchiv)

  Theodor Eicke, main architect of the SS concentration-camp system and successful commander of the Totenkopf Division. (Bundesarchiv)

  Felix Steiner, first commander of the Wiking Division and proponent of wider European involvement within the Waffen-SS. (Bundesarchiv)

  Gottlob Berger, a close ally of Heinrich Himmler whose recruitment policies saw the expansion of the Waffen-SS into a multinational mass army. (Bundesarchiv)

  Herbert Gille, the most highly decorated member of the Waffen-SS and commander of the IV SS Panzer Corps during the final battles in Hungary during 1945. (Bundesarchiv)

  Wilhelm Bittrich, who served in the Leibstandarte and Das Reich divisions and commanded SS troops during the battle for Arnhem in September 1944. (Bundesarchiv)

  Infantry of the Leibstandarte rest in a roadside ditch around Pabianice during the invasion of Poland, September 1939. (Library of Congress)

  Accompanied by Jochen Peiper (far right), Himmler visits Waffen-SS troops in Metz after the German victory over France in 1940. Peiper acted as Himmler’s adjutant before taking a field command in the Leibstandarte. (Bundesarchiv)

  Armored cars of the Leibstandarte lead a motorized column through Bulgaria in preparation for the attack on Yugoslavia and Greece, April 1941. (Bundesarchiv)

  In a show of gratitude for their battlefield exploits, Himmler rewarded the officers of the Reich Division with a guided tour of Mauthausen concentration camp in 1941. In this photograph, Hausser (in greatcoat) walks up the infamous “stairs of death,” while behind him is Fritz Klingenberg—center, second row—hero of the capture of Belgrade. (Bundesarchiv)

  Horse-drawn artillery of the Wehrmacht and armored cars of the Leibstandarte drive through a burning village in the Ukraine during the early stages of Operation Barbarossa, August 1941. (Bundesarchiv)

  Officers of the motorized Totenkopf Division pause to assess the tactical situation, while acting as a spearhead in Army Group North’s drive into the Soviet Union, September 1941. (Bundesarchiv)

  Soldiers of the Wiking Division stand in front of their Marder II tank destroyer during the advance into the Caucasus, August–September 1942. (Bundesarchiv)

  Leibstandarte officer Fritz Witt marches past his half-track armored personnel carrier as Kharkov is recaptured, 14 March 1943—the most outstanding solo victory of the Waffen-SS in the Soviet Union. (Bundesarchiv)

  Troops of the Freikorps Danmark swear allegiance to the Nazi cause, following the establishment of the Danish Legion on 29 June 1941. By August 1941 over 1,000 men were under arms. (Bundesarchiv)

  An awards ceremony for soldiers of the Legion Niederlande on the Eastern Front, February 1943. Among the countries of northwest Europe, the Netherlands supplied the largest contingent of volunteers for the Waffen-SS. (Bundesarchiv)

  Belgian Rexist politician Léon Degrelle shakes hands with a decorated soldier from the SS Assault Brigade Wallonian, April 1944. The brigade had distinguished itself in fighting on the Eastern Front earlier in the year. (Wikipedia)

  A French volunteer proclaims his enthusiasm for the Waffen-SS prior to transit from Paris to training camps in Germany, October 1943. (Bundesarchiv)

  A recruitment poster for the Ukrainian 14th SS Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, January 1943. An initial response of 80,000 volunteers was eventually winnowed down to provide sufficient men for an infantry division. (Wikipedia)

  The German Army had originally been responsible for the raising of anticommunist Cossack cavalry in the southern Soviet Union, although in November 1944 these units were transferred to the Waffen-SS where they served in an antipartisan role in Yugoslavia. (Bundesarchiv)

  Soldie
rs of the Muslim Handschar Division—recruited primarily from Croatian Bosnia—read an SS propaganda tract on Islam and Judaism. Their distinctive headgear comprised a red fez for ceremonial occasions and a gray fez for field conditions. (Bundesarchiv)

  Troops of the SS Cavalry Brigade halt during an antipartisan sweep in the Soviet Union, September 1941. As the war developed the formation was increasingly recruited from Hungarian Volksdeutsche. (Bundesarchiv)

  The fearsome sight of a Tiger I tank of Das Reich Division as it advances over the Soviet Steppe in June 1943 during the buildup to the battle of Kursk. (Bundesarchiv)

  Wounded SS troops are transported on a half-track that is struggling through the mud in the wet conditions typical of the Eastern Front during spring and the fall. (Bundesarchiv)

  The charismatic special forces leader Otto Skorzeny inspects men of the SS Parachute Battalion in Pomerania, February 1945. Skorzeny achieved fame for his part in the rescue of Mussolini in September 1943 and in the coup against the Hungarian government in October 1944. (Bundesarchiv)

  An armored column and Waffen-SS infantry await orders during the advance through Hungary as part of the ill-fated Operation Spring Awakening, March 1944. (Bundesarchiv)

  A Panzer Mark IV of the Hitlerjugend Division rolls through a Belgian village in a training exercise, early 1944. Half the tanks allotted to the division were Mark IVs while the remainder comprised the more powerful Mark V Panthers. (Bundesarchiv)

 

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