93-986: The SS Cavalry Brigade ( SS-Kavallerie-Brigade ) was a unit of the German Waffen-SS during World War II . Operating under the control of the Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS , it initially performed rear security duties in German-occupied Poland . During the Invasion of the Soviet Union , the brigade operated in the rear of the German forces, in the Army Group Rear Area Command . It engaged bypassed Red Army units and carried out murders of Jews, Communists and suspected Soviet partisans . In 1942,
186-778: A "Division of the SS" was made up of non-Germanic volunteers and conscripts. Himmler's military formations at the outbreak of the war comprised several subgroups that would become the basis of the Waffen-SS : In August 1939, Hitler placed the Leibstandarte and the SS-VT under the operational control of the Army High Command ( OKH ). Himmler retained command of the Totenkopfstandarten for employment behind
279-566: A "university entrance qualification (Abitur), and no less than one-fifth a university degree". Hausser became the Inspector of the SS-VT in 1936. In this role, Hausser was in charge of the troops' military and ideological training but did not have command authority. The decision on deployment of the troops remained in Himmler's hands. This aligned with Hitler's intentions to maintain these troops exclusively at his disposal, "neither [a part] of
372-520: A 12th Horse Battery of four 80mm guns. In May it was divided into two regiments, SS Totenkopf Horse Regiments 1 & 2, each of four squadrons, 5th Heavy and 6th Horse Battery also included were Signals, Engineer and Motorcycle platoons. In March 1941 they were renamed SS Cavalry Regiments 1 and 2 and reformed again into 1st, 2nd and 3rd Saber Squadrons, 4th ( Machine Gun ), 5th ( Mortar and Infantry Gun), 6th (Technical), 7th (Bicycle) and 8th (Horse Battery) Squadrons. In early August 1941, Himmler ordered
465-518: A criminal record. A four-year commitment was required for the SS-VT and LSSAH. Recruits had to be between the ages of 17 and 23, at least 1.74 metres (5 ft 9 in) tall (1.78 metres (5 ft 10 in) for the LSSAH). Concentration camp guards had to make a one-year commitment, be between the ages of 16 and 23, and at least 1.72 metres (5 ft 8 in) tall. All recruits were required to have 20/20 eyesight , no dental fillings, and to provide
558-491: A medical certificate. By 1938, the height restrictions were relaxed, up to six dental fillings were permitted, and eyeglasses for astigmatism and mild vision correction were allowed. Once the war commenced, the physical requirements were no longer strictly enforced, and any recruit who could pass a basic medical exam was considered for service. Members of the SS could be of any religion except Judaism , but atheists were not allowed according to Himmler in 1937. Hitler expounded on
651-503: 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. By June 1940, Danish and Norwegian volunteers had formed the SS Regiment Nordland , with Dutch and Flemish volunteers forming
744-683: Is demonstrated by the record of SS Totenkopf Standarte "Brandenburg" . It arrived in Włocławek on 22 September 1939 and embarked on a four-day "Jewish action" that included the burning of 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 ". In October 1939, the Deutschland , Germania , and Der Führer regiments were reorganised into
837-531: The Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS (Command Staff Reichsführer-SS ) directly under Himmler's control. Initially, in keeping with the racial policy of Nazi Germany , membership was open only to people of Germanic origin (so-called " Aryan ancestry "). The rules were partially relaxed in 1940, and after the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Nazi propaganda claimed that the war
930-465: The Leibstandarte battalion was up to strength. 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 was attached to the army's 227th Infantry Division . The Der Führer Regiment was detached from the SS-VT Division and attached to
1023-599: The Leibstandarte had taken the village of Wormhout , only ten miles from Dunkirk. After their surrender, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment , along with some other units (including French soldiers), were taken to a barn in La Plaine au Bois near Wormhout and Esquelbecq . It was there that troops of the Leibstandarte 's 2nd Battalion committed the Wormhoudt massacre , where 81 British and French prisoners of war were murdered. By 30 May,
SECTION 10
#17327731254951116-687: The SS-Verfügungs-Division . The Leibstandarte remained independent and was increased in strength to a reinforced motorised regiment. Hitler authorised the creation of two new divisions: the SS Totenkopf Division , formed from militarised Standarten of the SS-Totenkopfverbände , and the Polizei Division , formed from members of the national police force. Almost overnight the force that
1209-594: The 207th Infantry Division . The SS-VT Division minus Der Führer was concentrated near Münster awaiting the invasion of the Netherlands . The SS Totenkopf and Polizei Divisions were held in reserve. On 10 May, the Leibstandarte overcame Dutch border guards to spearhead the German advance of X Corps into the Netherlands, north of the rivers towards the Dutch Grebbe Line and subsequently
1302-672: The 6th Army was destroyed during the Battle of Stalingrad . Hitler ordered the SS Panzer Corps back to the Eastern Front for a counter-attack with the city of Kharkov as its objective. The SS Panzer Corps was in full retreat on 19 February, having been attacked by the Soviet 6th Army , when they received the order to counter-attack. Disobeying Hitler's order to "stand fast and fight to the death" , Hausser withdrew in front of
1395-703: The Deutschland Regiment from being destroyed and their bridgehead lost. That same day, as the SS Totenkopf Division advanced near Merville, they encountered stubborn resistance from British Army units, which slowed their advance. The SS Totenkopf 4 Company, then 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 . Only two men survived. By 28 May,
1488-693: The German Army ( Heer ), Ordnungspolizei (Order Police), and other security units. Originally, it was under the control of the SS Führungshauptamt (SS operational command office) beneath Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler , the head of the SS. With the start of World War II, tactical control was exercised by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW, "High Command of the Armed Forces"), with some units being subordinated to
1581-615: The Jewish population of the occupied part of the Soviet Union . By 1 August, the SS Cavalry Regiment was responsible for the death of 800 people; five days later, on 6 August, this total had reached 3,000 "Jews and Partisans". Also on 1 August, after a meeting between Heinrich Himmler , Erich von Bach-Zelewski and Hinrich Lohse , the brigade received the following: "Explicit order by RFSS All Jews must be shot. Drive
1674-610: The Leie River at Merville . They forced a bridgehead across the river and waited for the SS Totenkopf Division to arrive to cover their flank. What arrived first was a unit of British tanks, which penetrated their position. The SS-VT managed to hold on against the British tank force, which got to within 15 feet of commander Felix Steiner 's position. Only the arrival of the Totenkopf Panzerjäger platoon saved
1767-610: The Pripyat swamps , an operation designed to round up and exterminate Jews, partisans, and civilians in that area of the Byelorussian SSR . Fegelein split the territory to be covered into two sections divided by the Pripyat River , with the 1st Regiment taking the northern half and the 2nd Regiment the south. The regiments worked their way from east to west through their assigned territory, and filed daily reports on
1860-572: The SS Cavalry Brigade ; and Gustav Lombard , commander of the 1st SS Cavalry Regiment. Nebe's talk focused on the role of the SD in the common fight against "partisans" and "plunderers". He also covered the "Jewish question", with particular consideration to the anti-partisan movement. The conference included three field exercises. On the second day, participants travelled to the settlement of Knyazhichi (German: Knjaschitschi ). According to
1953-485: The Soviet Union ( Operation Barbarossa ), the SS cavalry regiments, along with the 1 SS Infantry Brigade were assigned to "pacify" what was seen as the main trouble spots in the occupied territories. On 19 July 1941, the SS cavalry regiments were transferred to the general command of HSSPF Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski for action in the area of the Pripet marsh , a large area of land that covered parts of Belorussia and
SECTION 20
#17327731254952046-696: The Totenkopf ", Eicke was awarded Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross on 20 May 1942. The Waffen-SS expanded further in 1943: in February the 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen and its sister division, the 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg , were formed in France. They were followed in July by the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland created from Norwegian and Danish volunteers. September saw
2139-489: The Waffen-SS divisions and brigades fared better. The Totenkopf and Polizei divisions were attached to Army Group North , with the mission to advance through the Baltic states and on to Leningrad . The Das Reich Division was with Army Group Centre and headed towards Moscow . The Leibstandarte and Wiking Divisions were with Army Group South , heading for Ukraine and the city of Kiev . The invasion of
2232-655: The Waffen-SS formations participated (including the Reich Division, which was formally renamed to Das Reich by the fall of 1941). SS Division Nord, which was in northern Finland , took part in Operation Arctic Fox with the Finnish Army and fought at the battle of Salla , where against strong Soviet forces they suffered 300 killed and 400 wounded in the first two days of the invasion. Thick forests and heavy smoke from forest fires disoriented
2325-458: The Waffen-SS had increased in size from eight divisions and some brigades to 16 divisions. By 1943 the Waffen-SS could no longer claim to be an "elite" fighting force. Recruitment and conscription based on "numerical over qualitative expansion" took place, with many of the "foreign" units being good for only rear-guard duty. On the Eastern Front, the Germans suffered a devastating defeat when
2418-605: The Waffen-SS until 1942. At the same time, the Totenkopf-Standarten , aside from the three constituting the TK-Division, lost their Death's Head designation and insignia and were reclassified SS-Infanterie- (or Kavallerie- ) Regimente . The 11th Regiment was transferred into the Reich Division to replace Germania ; the remainder were grouped into three independent brigades and a battle group in Norway. By
2511-524: The heavy panzer companies . The Soviet offensive of January 1942 trapped a number of German divisions in the Demyansk Pocket between February and April 1942; the 3rd SS Totenkopf Division was one of the divisions encircled by the Red Army. The Red Army liberated Demyansk on 1 March 1943 with the retreat of German troops. "For his excellence in command and the particularly fierce fighting of
2604-843: The " Night of the Long Knives ", when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders and the purge of the Sturmabteilung (SA). Led by one of Hitler's oldest comrades, Ernst Röhm , the SA was seen as a threat by Hitler to his newly gained political power. Hitler also wanted to appease leaders of the Reichswehr (the Weimar Republic's armed forces) and conservatives of the country, people whose support Hitler needed to solidify his position. When Hitler decided to act against
2697-522: The 2,000 that had started the campaign in June. Altogether, the Waffen-SS had suffered 43,000 casualties. While the Leibstandarte and the SS divisions were fighting in the front line, behind the lines it was a different story. The 1st SS Infantry and 2nd SS Infantry Brigades, which had been formed from surplus concentration camp guards of the SS-TV, and the SS Cavalry Brigade moved into
2790-668: The Amsterdam region. The neighbouring Der Führer Regiment advanced towards the Grebbe Line in the sector of the Grebbeberg with as a follow-up objective the city of Utrecht . The Battle of the Grebbeberg lasted three days and took a toll on Der Führer . On 11 May, the SS-VT Division crossed into the Netherlands south of the rivers and headed towards Breda . It fought a series of skirmishes before Germania advanced into
2883-605: The Balkans. Himmler approved the introduction of formal compulsory service for the Volksdeutsche in German-occupied Serbia. Another new division was formed at the same time, when the SS Cavalry Brigade was used as the cadre in the formation of the 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer . The front line divisions of the Waffen-SS that had suffered losses through the winter of 1941–1942 and during
SS Cavalry Brigade - Misplaced Pages Continue
2976-460: The British were cornered at Dunkirk , and the SS divisions continued the advance into France. The Leibstandarte reached Saint-Étienne , 250 miles south of Paris, and had advanced further into France than any other unit. By the next day, the fighting was all but over. German forces arrived in Paris unopposed on 14 June and France formally surrendered on 25 June. Hitler expressed his pleasure with
3069-519: The Dutch province of Zeeland on 14 May. The rest of the SS-VT Division joined the northern front against the forces in Antwerp . On the same day, the Leibstandarte entered Rotterdam . After the surrender of Rotterdam, the Leibstandarte left for The Hague , which they reached on 15 May, capturing 3,500 Dutch soldiers as prisoners of war . In France, the SS Totenkopf Division was involved in
3162-601: The Dutch surrender, the Leibstandarte moved south to France on 24 May. Becoming part of the XIX Panzer Corps under the command of General Heinz Guderian , they took up a position 15 miles south west of Dunkirk along the line of the Aa Canal, facing the Allied defensive line near Watten. A patrol from the SS-VT Division crossed the canal at Saint-Venant , but was destroyed by British armour. A larger force from
3255-650: The German High Command ( Oberkommando der Wehrmacht or OKW in German); the SS was given the lowest priority for recruits. Even with the difficulties presented by the quota system, Heinrich Himmler formed two new SS regiments, the SS Germania and SS Deutschland , which together with the Leibstandarte and a communications unit made up the SS-VT. At the same time Himmler established two SS-Junker Schools (SS officer training camps) that, under
3348-522: The Northern Ukraine . Thereafter, the regiments combined to become the SS Cavalry Brigade. They were ordered to perform the "systematic combing of the Pripyat swamps". The SS Cavalry Brigade was assigned because it was more mobile and better able to carry out large-scale operations; the brigade played a pivotal role in the transition from "selective mass murder" to the wholesale extermination of
3441-524: The OKW had tried to disband had increased from 18,000 to over 100,000 men. Hitler next authorised the creation of four motorised artillery battalions in March 1940, one for each division and the Leibstandarte . The OKW was supposed to supply these new battalions with artillery, 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
3534-486: The OKW noted that the Leibstandarte had to be rescued by an army regiment after becoming surrounded by the Poles at Pabianice . 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
3627-403: 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. Hitler resisted integrating the Waffen-SS into the army, as it was intended to remain the armed wing of the party and to become an elite police force once the war
3720-426: The Red Army. During Field Marshal Erich von Manstein 's counteroffensive, the SS Panzer Corps, without support from the Luftwaffe or neighbouring German formations, broke through the Soviet line and advanced on Kharkov. Despite orders to encircle Kharkov from the north, the SS Panzer Corps directly attacked in the Third Battle of Kharkov on 11 March. This led to four days of house-to-house fighting before Kharkov
3813-410: The SA, the SS was put in charge of killing Röhm and the other high-ranking SA officers. The Night of the Long Knives occurred between 30 June and 2 July 1934, claiming up to 200 victims and murdering almost the entire SA leadership, effectively ending its power. This action was largely carried out by SS personnel (including the Leibstandarte ) and the Gestapo . In September 1934, Hitler authorised
SS Cavalry Brigade - Misplaced Pages Continue
3906-404: The SS (1st Galician) formed from volunteers from Galicia in western Ukraine. The 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian) was created in 1943, using compulsory military service in the Ostland . The final new division of 1943 was the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS , which was created using the Sturmbrigade Reichsführer SS as a cadre. By the end of the year,
3999-412: The SS Cavalry Brigade had 2 regiments with a strength of 3500 men and played a pivotal role in the transition to the wholesale extermination of the Jewish population. In the summer of 1941, Himmler assigned Hermann Fegelein to be in charge of both regiments. On 19 July 1941, Himmler assigned Fegelein's regiments to the general command of HSSPF Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski for the "systematic combing" of
4092-402: The SS Cavalry Brigade to be formed under the command of Hermann Fegelein from the 1st and 2nd SS cavalry regiments. Personnel were taken from the saber squadrons to form the brigade's Artillery, Engineer and Bicycle (Reconnaissance) Squadrons. They were also given a light anti-aircraft battery. The brigade now had a strength of 3,500 men 2,900 horses and 375 vehicles. After the German invasion of
4185-479: The SS Cavalry Regiment 2, assisted in the roundup of all the men aged 18 to 55 in the city of Pinsk , where 5,000 to 8,000 men were shot and shortly afterwards, another 2,000 residents including women, children and older men were murdered. Fegelein's final report on the operation, dated 18 September 1941, states that they killed 14,178 Jews, 1,001 partisans, and 699 Red Army soldiers with losses of 17 dead, 36 wounded, and 3 missing. The historian Henning Pieper estimates
4278-448: The SS Regiment Westland . The two regiments, together with Germania (transferred from the Reich Division), formed the SS Division Wiking . A sufficient number of volunteers came forward requiring the SS to open a new training camp just for foreign volunteers at Sennheim in Alsace-Lorraine . At the beginning of the new year, the Polizei Division was brought under FHA administration, although it would not be formally merged into
4371-447: The SS-TV would, in the case of war, be used as reserves for the SS-VT, which did not have its own reserves. For all its training, the SS-VT was untested in combat. In 1938, a battalion of the Leibstandarte was chosen to accompany the army troops in occupying Austria during the Anschluss , and the three regiments of the SS-VT participated in the occupation of the Sudetenland that same year in October. In both actions no resistance
4464-440: The SS-VT Division then crossed the canal and formed a bridgehead at Saint-Venant; 30 miles from Dunkirk. That night the OKW ordered the advance to halt, with the British Expeditionary Force trapped. The Leibstandarte paused for the night. However, on the following day, in defiance of Hitler's orders, Dietrich ordered his 3rd Battalion to cross the canal and take the heights beyond, where British artillery observers were putting
4557-439: The Soviet Union behind the advancing armies. At first, they fought Soviet partisans and cut off units of the Red Army in the rear of Army Group South, capturing 7,000 prisoners of war, but from mid-August 1941 until late 1942 they were assigned to the Reich Security Main Office headed by Reinhard Heydrich . The brigades were now used for rear area security and policing, and were no longer under army or Waffen-SS command. In
4650-424: The Soviet Union proceeded well at first, but the cost to the Waffen-SS was extreme: by late October, the Leibstandarte was at half strength due to enemy action and dysentery that swept through the ranks. Das Reich lost 60% of its strength and was still to take part in the Battle of Moscow . The unit was later decimated in the following Soviet offensive. The Der Führer Regiment was reduced to 35 men out of
4743-536: The Soviet counter-offensive were withdrawn to France to recover and be reformed as Panzergrenadier divisions. Due to the efforts of Himmler and 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 received nine Tiger tanks , which were formed into
SECTION 50
#17327731254954836-408: The Wehrmacht rear unit commanders. Participating officers were selected on the basis of their "achievements and experiences" in security operations already undertaken; participants included representatives of the Army High Command and Army Group Centre . The conference began on 24 September and focused on " combating partisans " ( Bekämpfung von Partisanen ) and reflected Schenckendorff's views on
4929-430: The Yugoslav capital. Fritz Klingenberg , a company commander in the Reich , led his men into Belgrade, where a small group in the vanguard accepted the surrender of the city on 13 April. A few days later the Royal Yugoslav Army surrendered. The Leibstandarte had now crossed into Greece, and on 10 April engaged the 6th Australian Division in the Battle of the Klidi Pass . For 48 hours they fought for control of
5022-407: The actual number of Jews killed was closer to 23,700. General of Infantry Max von Schenckendorff , commander of Army Group Rear Area behind Army Group Centre described their operations the following way: The SS Cavalry Brigade operates as follows: at dawn, without prior reconnaissance, the troop tasked with the inspection of a village rides into it at full speed and out the other end, occupies
5115-407: The advance on 13 May. When the Reconnaissance Battalion under the command of Kurt Meyer came under heavy fire from the Greek Army defending the Klisura Pass , they broke through the defenders and captured 1,000 prisoners of war at the cost of only six dead and nine wounded. The next day, Meyer captured Kastoria and took another 11,000 prisoners of war. By 20 May, the Leibstandarte had cut off
5208-448: The advancing combat units in what were euphemistically called "special tasks of a police nature". In spite of the swift military victory over Poland in September 1939, the regular army felt that the performance of the SS-VT left much to be desired; its units took unnecessary risks and had a higher casualty rate than the army. They also stated that the SS-VT was poorly trained and its officers unsuitable for combat command. As an example,
5301-401: The after-action report, "suspicious strangers" ( Ortsfremde ), that is "partisans", could not be found but the screening of the population revealed fifty-one Jewish civilians, of whom thirty-two were shot. A 16-page executive summary of the conference was distributed to the Wehrmacht troops and police units in the rear area. The conference, while ostensibly an "anti-partisan training", resulted in
5394-406: The area is cleared of opposition and pacified. After the Soviet counterattack in January 1942, the only large formation not already committed was the SS Cavalry Brigade. Launching an attack on 7 January, it was also forced back after only one day's fighting when it had run out of ammunition. One of its Battalions also reported 75% casualties when fighting in the woods north of Rzhev . The Brigade
5487-445: The army, nor of the police", according to Hitler's order of 17 August 1938. On 17 August 1938, Hitler declared that the SS-VT 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. He decreed that service in the SS-VT qualified to fulfill military service obligations, although service in the SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV) would not. Some units of
5580-551: The attitude he wanted during a talk in the Wolf's Lair : "I have six divisions of SS composed of men absolutely indifferent in matters of religion. It doesn't prevent them from going to their deaths with serenity in their souls." Historian Bernd Wegner found in his study of officers that a large majority of the senior officers corps of the Waffen-SS were from an upper-middle-class background and would have been considered for commissioning by traditional standards. Among later Waffen-SS generals, approximately six out of ten had
5673-448: The autumn of 1941, they left the anti-partisan role to other units and actively took part in the Holocaust . While assisting the Einsatzgruppen , they participated in the extermination of the 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. Because it was more mobile and better able to carry out large-scale operations,
SECTION 60
#17327731254955766-413: The brigade was disbanded and its personnel was transferred to the newly formed SS Division Florian Geyer . The SS Cavalry Brigade was based on the SS Totenkopf Horse Regiment, which was raised in September 1939, for police and security duties in Poland , under the command of Hermann Fegelein . By April 1940, it consisted of 8 Saber Squadrons, 9th Replacement, 10th Heavy and 11th Technical Squadrons and
5859-414: 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. His Totenkopfverbände troops were called on to carry out "police and security measures" in the rear areas. What these measures involved
5952-558: The direction of former Lieutenant General Paul Hausser , prepared future SS leaders. In addition to military training, the courses aimed to instill a proper ideological worldview, with antisemitism being the main tenet. Instructors such as Matthias Kleinheisterkamp , or future war criminals, such as Franz Magill of the notorious SS Cavalry Brigade were of questionable competence. In 1934, Himmler set stringent requirements for recruits. They were to be German nationals who could prove their Aryan ancestry back to 1800, unmarried, and without
6045-401: The exception of conscripts, who comprised about one-third of the membership, were denied many of the rights afforded to military veterans. The origins of the Waffen-SS can be traced back to the selection of a group of 120 SS men on 17 March 1933 by Sepp Dietrich to form the Sonderkommando Berlin. By November 1933 the formation had 800 men, and at a commemorative ceremony in Munich for
6138-415: The female Jews into the swamps." 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". 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 . Sturmbannführer Franz Magill and his men of
6231-398: The first in the Holocaust to wipe out entire Jewish communities. Fegelein's final operational report dated 18 September 1941, states that they killed 14,178 Jews, 1,001 partisans, 699 Red Army soldiers, with 830 prisoners taken and losses of 17 dead, 36 wounded, and 3 missing. Historian Henning Pieper estimates the actual number of Jews killed was closer to 23,700. In 1942, the Waffen-SS
6324-425: The formation of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend using volunteers from the Hitler Youth . Himmler and Berger successfully appealed to Hitler to form a Bosnian Muslim division, and the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) , the first non-Germanic division, was formed, to fight Josip Broz Tito 's Yugoslav Partisans . This was followed by the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of
6417-406: The formation of the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party and approved the formation of the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT), a special service troop under Hitler's overall command. The SS-VT had to depend on the German Army for its supply of weapons and military training, and its local draft boards responsible for assigning conscripts to the different branches of the Wehrmacht to meet quotas set by
6510-484: The formations. The Waffen-SS were involved in numerous atrocities. It was declared a criminal organisation by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg in 1946, due to its involvement in the Holocaust , the Porajmos , and numerous war crimes and crimes against the civilian population, including torture , human experimentation , kidnapping of children , mass rape , child sexual abuse and mass murder . Therefore Waffen-SS members, with
6603-482: The genocide that was already taking place in Army Group Centre Rear Area. The Wehrmacht's aggressive rear security doctrine, and the use of the "security threat" to disguise genocidal policies, resulted in close cooperation between the army and the security apparatus behind the front lines during Operation Barbarossa , the 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union. Schenckendorff organised a three-day field conference in Mogilev to create an "exchange of experiences" for
6696-646: The heights, often engaging in hand-to-hand combat, eventually gaining control with the capture of Height 997, which opened the pass and allowed the German Army to advance into the Greek interior. This victory 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." The Leibstandarte continued
6789-557: The need for total eradication of the resistance to German occupation as the only way to secure territory behind the armies. Talks presented included: the evaluation of Soviet "bandit" organisations and tactics, why it was necessary to kill political commissars immediately upon capture, and gaining intelligence from local collaborators. The speakers included: Arthur Nebe , commander of Einsatzgruppe B; Higher SS and Police Leader Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski ; Max Montua, commander of Police Regiment Center ; Hermann Fegelein , commander of
6882-435: The number of people killed and taken prisoner. By 1 August, 1st SS Cavalry Regiment under the command of Gustav Lombard was responsible for the death of 800 people; by 6 August, this total had reached 3,000 "Jews and partisans". Throughout the following weeks, the regiment's personnel under Lombard's command murdered an estimated 11,000 Jews and more than 400 dispersed soldiers of the Red Army. Thus Fegelein's units were among
6975-527: The only Allied tank counterattack in the Battle of France. On 21 May, units of the 1st Army Tank Brigade , supported by the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division , took part in the Battle of Arras . The SS Totenkopf , on the southern flank of the 7th Panzer Division , was overrun, finding their standard anti-tank gun , the 3.7 cm PaK 36 , was no match for the British Matilda II tank. After
7068-437: The outer edges of the village in a trice, in accordance with an agreed plan, and then gathers the whole population together, including women and children, for inspection. In many cases the skill and experience of the commanding officer, and also of the accompanying SD and GFP groups together with their interpreters, will decide upon the composition of the male inhabitants and their occupation, as well as upon their fate, so that
7161-552: The performance of the Leibstandarte in the Netherlands and France, telling them, "Henceforth it will be an honour for you, who bear my name, to lead every German attack." On 19 July 1940, Hitler gave a speech to the Reichstag , where he gave a summary of the western campaign and praised the German forces involved. He used the term " Waffen-SS " when describing the units of the LSSAH and SS-VT that took part. From that day forward,
7254-535: 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 . On that same day, British forces attacked Saint-Venant, forcing the SS-VT Division to retreat. On 26 May, the German advance resumed. On 27 May, the Deutschland Regiment of the SS-VT Division reached the Allied defensive line on
7347-578: The retreating Greek Army at Metsovo and accepted the surrender of the Greek Epirus-Macedonian Army. As a reward, the Leibstandarte was nominally redesignated as a full motorised division, although few additional elements had been added by the start of the Soviet campaign and the "division" remained effectively a reinforced brigade. Operation Barbarossa , the German invasion of the Soviet Union, started on 22 June 1941, and all
7440-623: The spring of 1941, the Waffen-SS consisted of the equivalent of six or seven divisions: the Reich , Totenkopf , Polizei , and Wiking Divisions and Kampfgruppe (later Division) Nord , and the Leibstandarte , 1st SS Infantry , 2nd SS Infantry , and SS Cavalry Brigades. In March 1941, a major Italian counterattack against Greek forces failed, and Germany came to the aid of its ally. Operation Marita began on 6 April 1941, with German troops invading Greece through Bulgaria and Yugoslavia in an effort to secure its southern flank. Reich
7533-581: The tenth anniversary of the failed Beer Hall Putsch the regiment swore allegiance to Adolf Hitler . The oaths pledged were "Pledging loyalty to him alone" and "Obedience unto death". The formation was given the title Leibstandarte ( transl. Bodyguard Regiment ) Adolf Hitler (LAH). On 13 April 1934, by order of Himmler, the regiment became known as the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH). The Leibstandarte demonstrated their loyalty to Hitler in 1934 during
7626-870: The term Waffen-SS became the official designation for the SS combat formations. Himmler gained approval for the Waffen-SS to form its own high command, the Kommandoamt der Waffen-SS within the SS Führungshauptamt , which was created in August 1940. It received command of the SS-VT (the Leibstandarte and the Verfügungs-Division , renamed Reich ) and the armed SS-TV regiments (the Totenkopf Division together with several independent Totenkopf-Standarten ). In 1940, SS chief of staff Gottlob Berger approached Himmler with
7719-414: The troops and the division's units completely fell apart. 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, which had been drawn largely from Totenkopfstandarten of Nazi concentration camp guards. The rest of
7812-495: Was a "European crusade against Bolshevism " and subsequently units consisting largely or solely of foreign volunteers and conscripts were also raised. These Waffen-SS units were made up of men mainly from among the nationals of Nazi-occupied Europe. Despite relaxation of the rules, the Waffen-SS was still based on the racist ideology of Nazism , and ethnic Poles (who were viewed as subhumans ) were specifically barred from
7905-538: Was a German military general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II . He was the commander of Army Group Rear Area behind Army Group Centre from March 1941 until his death. He organzed the Mogilev conference , in which Wehrmacht and SS officers discussed " bandit fighting " tactics, meaning the mass murder of Jews and other real or perceived enemies. The conference resulted in an intensification of
7998-527: Was a 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 Treblinka extermination camp . Units involved from the Waffen-SS were 821 Waffen-SS Panzergrenadiers from five reserve and training battalions and one cavalry reserve and training battalion. Max von Schenckendorff Max von Schenckendorff (24 February 1875 – 6 July 1943)
8091-431: Was found to be wanting and not equipped or trained to take on the Soviet armoured units. In March 1942, the SS Cavalry Brigade was used as the cadre in the formation of the 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer . German authorities investigated the activities of the SS cavalry formations in the 1960s. Waffen-SS The Waffen-SS ( German: [ˈvafn̩ʔɛsˌʔɛs] ; lit. ' Armed SS ' )
8184-537: Was further expanded and a new division was entered on the rolls in March. By the second half of 1942, an increasing number of foreigners, many of whom were not volunteers, began entering the ranks. The 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen was recruited from Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans) drafted under threat of punishment by the local German leadership from Croatia , Serbia , Hungary , and Romania and used for anti-partisan operations in
8277-496: Was met. Recruiting ethnic Germans from other countries began in April 1940, and units consisting of non-Germanic recruits were formed beginning in 1942. Non-Germanic units were not considered to be part of the SS, which still maintained its racial criteria, but rather were considered to be foreign nationals serving under the command of the SS. As a general rule, an "SS Division" was made up of Germans or other Germanic peoples, while
8370-671: Was ordered to leave France and head for Romania , and the Leibstandarte was ordered to Bulgaria. The Leibstandarte , attached to the XL Panzer Corps , advanced west then south from Bulgaria into the mountains, and by 9 April had reached Prilep in Yugoslavia, 30 miles from the Greek border. Further north the Reich Division, with the XLI Panzer Corps , crossed the Romanian border and advanced on Belgrade ,
8463-594: Was recaptured by the Leibstandarte Division on 15 March. Two days later, the Germans recaptured Belgorod , creating the salient that, in July 1943, led 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 particularly bloody for the SS Panzer Corps, which lost approximately 44% of its strength by the time operations ended in late March. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
8556-534: Was the combat branch of the Nazi Party 's paramilitary Schutzstaffel (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany , along with volunteers and conscripts from both German-occupied Europe and unoccupied lands. It was disbanded in May 1945. The Waffen-SS grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions during World War II . Combining combat and police functions, it served alongside
8649-825: Was won. During the invasion, numerous war crimes were committed against the Polish people. The Leibstandarte became notorious for torching villages without military justification. Members of the Leibstandarte also committed atrocities in numerous towns, including the murder of 50 Polish Jews in Błonie and the massacre of 200 civilians, including children, who were machine gunned in Złoczew . Shootings also took place in Bolesławiec , Torzeniec , Goworowo , Mława , and Włocławek . Eicke's SS-TV field forces were not military. Their military capabilities were employed instead in terrorizing
#494505