SS und Polizei: Myths and Lies of Hitler's SS and Police

by J. Lee Ready

  In addition in the three months of June, July and August of 1944 these partisans had inflicted 12,000 casualties on the Axis! The highest-ranking loss was the commander of the Luftwaffe 20th Field Division.

  Another of the German units on anti-partisan duty in Italy was the 15th SS Police Regiment, which showed initiative by creating a panzer company using captured Italian machines. This armor was especially useful to run the gauntlet of sniping along country roads.

  Near Florence a unit of Simon’s SS Reichsfuehrer Division chose to retaliate against an Italian village after being fired upon by partisans. Sant’ Anna di Stazzema was a very small community. The SS troops butchered every man, woman and child they could find at short notice, about 500 souls.

  Elements of this division also massacred as many as two thousand civilians at Bardene San Terenzo, Marzabotto and nearby villages. Almost all the killings were ordered by Sturmbannfuehrer Walter Reder. Near Lucca SS personnel discovered sixty Jews hiding in the Farneta monastery. They killed them and also executed the priests and monks who had hidden them.

  Mussolini had conscripted all able-bodied male members of his Fascist party into the so-called Black Brigades. Himmler sent his agents to study these fellows and heard some good things about one particular formation. To Mussolini’s astonishment Himmler adopted this formation [read confiscated], renaming it the 24th SS Karstjaeger Italien Mountain Division, using the Austrian Allgemeine SS Karstein Battalion as a cadre. Very probably the Austrians of the Karstein were shocked to be sent to a combat unit. They had after all only enlisted to walk up and down their hometown streets with a swagger. [Karst = an alpine flower, Jaeger = hunter.]

  These Italians would continue to fight partisans in Italy, but from now on would do it with SS pay and German equipment and would report to Karl Wolff not to Mussolini. They usually wore Italian uniform with SS insignia.

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  In Greece Herbert Vahl had been killed in a traffic accident, so the 4th SS Polizei Division gained a new commander, Polizei Oberst Fritz Schmedes [who had finally joined the SS as a brigadefuehrer]. On 5 August the division advanced against a party of Greek EDES guerillas, and within days for the loss of 20 killed and 120 wounded they had killed 298 partisans and captured 260. Days later they were ordered into a major sweep for Greek Communist ELAS partisans in the Karpensi district, but they were soon forced to halt by fanatic resistance.

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  In Albania the 21st SS Skanderbeg Mountain Division was still in action against Communist partisans. Overall the division’s performance was good, but the desertion rate had begun to climb.

  Here Gruppenfuehrer Sauberzweig was now given the opportunity to create the IX SS Mountain Corps.

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  In Yugoslavia on 16 August the Germans launched another major offensive against Tito, using the V SS Mountain Corps of four divisions - 7th SS Prinz Eugen Mountain, German Army 1st Mountain, 13th SS Handschar Mountain and 23rd SS Kama Mountain. They attacked across the Drina River into the mountains of Montenegro. However, these days the Titoists were well supplied and they could call upon air support from the Western Allies flying from airfields in southern Italy.

  The SS Kama did not do well, probably because its training had been too rushed. The SS Handschar had received plenty of training and should have been performing wonders, but its Moslem members often became sidetracked and left their positions to butcher helpless Serb Christian peasants. Their SS officers tried to maintain discipline, but for every good soldier there were ten renegades.

  Himmler reinforced his police presence in Slovenia with the rebuilt 10th SS Police Regiment.

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  On the Estonian-Russian border Steiner’s III SS Panzer Corps, of the 11th SS Nordland Panzergrenadier Division, 20th SS Estnische Grenadier Division, 6th SS Langemarck Sturmbrigade and 4th SS Nederland Brigade, was still slowing down the Soviet advance. Falling back from the Tannenberg Line they were hard pressed by the Soviet Leningrad Front, so much so that the De Ruyter Regiment of the SS Nederland was all but wiped out. Its German commander, Obersturmbannfuehrer Hans Collani, died with his men. Sturmbannfuehrer Hans Meyer, a battalion commander in the regiment, survived and was awarded the Knight’s Cross. Hauptsturmfuehrer Guenther Wanhoefer, a pioneer officer, also won this medal. Both Wanhoefer and Meyer were aged twenty-seven.

  The 20th SS Estnische Division lost an entire battalion in this retreat.

  The Danes of the Nordland had fought like wildcats. The Knight’s Cross awarded to the Dane Oberscharfuehrer Albert Hektor was well earned. Also decorated at this time was Sturmbannfuehrer Josef Bachmeier, a German battalion commander of Norwegian troops.

  Obviously these losses created a severe shortage of personnel in the SS Nederland, and its survivors soon realized the full extent of Hitler’s manpower problems when, expecting to see Dutch volunteers arriving to fill their ranks, they instead watched stupefied as 400 German sailors were assigned to the brigade! They were also given some Estonians late of the Finnish Army!

  Degrelle’s 5th SS Wallonie Sturmbrigade was brought up to reinforce Steiner. Degrelle‘s chief of staff was Sturmbannfuehrer Franz Hellebaut, a Belgian Army general who had fought the Germans in 1940 and had been imprisoned by them! He often commanded the unit when Degrelle was away giving a speech for Himmler. Near Lake Peipus the Walloons stopped elements of the 3rd Baltic Front.

  The 20th SS Estnische Division performed wonders holding back a major Soviet push. Joining these Estonians in this fight was a regiment of their countrymen that had been fighting as part of the Finnish Army for five years. They were assimilated into the division as a unit. The division was also reinforced by the 37th, 38th and 287th Estonian Schuma Battalions. [The latter had been guarding slaves]. Several Estonian schuma policemen also arrived on an individual basis, their units having been disbanded. All of these personnel now entered the SS.

  In times of retreat the Germans routinely formed provisional formations. And now more were created, such as SS Battlegroup Vent, consisting of four battalions of the 20th SS Estnische Division. Another was SS Battlegroup Rebane, made up of Sturmbannfuehrer Alfons Rebane’s battalion from the 20th SS Estnische plus an army battalion and some army artillery. Yet another was SS Battlegroup Wagner that drew some artillery and a few tanks from the SS Nordland Division and an infantry battalion from the SS Wallonie. Wagner’s mission was to hold the Kambi-Dorpat-Noella line at all costs.

  Several Estonians were awarded medals for their recent heroic service including Obersturmbannfuehrer Harald Riipalu and Hauptsturmfuehrer Paul Maitla.

  Yet, in a move that confused many, Augsberger’s 20th SS Estnische Division was suddenly ordered to travel to the Czech Protectorate. He would temporarily leave behind his units attached to Vent and Rebane.

  Further south in Latvia the VI SS Corps of the 15th SS and 19th SS Lettische Grenadier Divisions and 106th SS Lettische Panzergrenadier Regiment had been forced to fall back by exceptionally heavy Soviet assaults. Oberfuehrer Nikolaus Heilman, now commanding the 15th SS Lettische, ordered some deserters shot, which created considerable ill-feeling. Initially Himmler supported Heilman’s decision, but once he learned of the Latvian reaction, he replaced Heilman with Brigadefuehrer Herbert von Obwuerzer. He dare not lose the Latvians. To soften the blow to Heilman’s ego, Himmler awarded him the Knight’s Cross.

  Meanwhile the Latvians were withdrawing, and indeed at one point the Red Army broke through in southern Latvia and reached the sea, cutting off the Axis forces in Estonia and Latvia from Germany. But a counterattack restored the lines of supply. The combat was fearsome and bloody, and the 32nd SS Lettische Regiment [of the SS 15th Lettische Division] was almost wiped out at Ostrov. In yet another unwise the VI SS Corps transferred some men from the SS 15th to the SS 19th to ‘stiffen’ the demoralized troops of the latter. The corps staff officers were so leery of the quality of some Latvian conscripts that they transferred about 2,000 of these ‘unreliable’ soldiers from combat
units to construction engineer regiments.

  The situation in Latvia was very bad. Himmler ordered Obersturmbannfuehrer Martin Gross to take command of a new panzer brigade at Seelager in Latvia. Gross, expecting to find panzer and panzergrenadier regiments, was dismayed on arrival to find his ‘brigade’ consisted of the instructors and trainees of an SS school, reinforced by one company of Tigers from the 503rd SS Heavy Panzer Detachment. Furthermore, he was ordered to assemble these men and machines, train them into a cohesive fighting formation, acquire sufficient supplies, entrain them for the front line and counterattack the Soviets, and all within three days! Unbelievably Gross accomplished this mission, and on 8 August SS Panzer Brigade Gross counter attacked a whole corps of Soviet horse cavalry. Gross could not stop the enemy, of course, but he did manage to slow them down considerably.

  On 19 August SS Panzer Brigade Gross counterattacked again at Libau alongside the army’s Strachwitz Panzer Division.

  SS Battlegroup Wagner could not stop the next enemy offensive by elements of the Soviet 3rd Baltic Front, and as a result Degrelle ignored Wagner’s authority and ordered those troops he had loaned to Wagner to withdraw else they be taken. Degrelle with the remainder of his sturmbrigade was able to halt the enemy on the line Parna-Lombi-Keerdu, and for this he and about 200 of his men received bravery decorations. One of them was an anti-tank gun officer Obersturmfuehrer Leon Gilles, earning his third such medal.

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  As it looked like the Soviets were going to sweep into Hungary, the Hungarian Army was preparing defenses. There were some German formations here too, including the 2/20th SS Police Regiment of Sudetens, and the 22nd SS Maria Theresa Cavalry Division [30% Germans and 70% Hungarian Volksdeutsch]. Himmler had also authorized a disgraced Hungarian army officer, Laszlo vitez Deak, to raise an SS battlegroup of his fellow Hungarians. Deak had been dismissed for massacring Jews! Most of the volunteers Deak gathered were members of the Arrow Cross, the highly anti-Semitic Hungarian fascist militia. They did their initial training at Vjvidek in Hungary. Himmler also cobbled together a new 1st SS Police Regiment to help with the defenses.

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  In Poland the Soviet 3rd Byelorussian Front had halted on the Vistula having outrun its supplies. The 3rd SS Totenkopf and 5th SS Wiking Panzer Divisions held part of this stable line. The SS Wiking was now under Standartenfuehrer Muehlenkamp. Some of Wiking’s armored crews were helping suppress the Warsaw uprising.

  In Western Poland the East Turkic SS Corps and the SS Caucasus Moslem Regiment were regrouping after their long retreat.

  The new 49th SS Panzer Regiment was on occupation duty in Denmark. The new 51st SS Panzergrenadier Regiment was still in training.

  In the far north of the Arctic Circle the men of Obergruppenfuehrer Friedrich-Wilhelm Krueger’s 6th SS Nord Mountain Division were in a dilemma. Their lines of supply ran right across Finland an Axis partner, and across Sweden an Axis friend, but suddenly the Finns began to talk peace with the Soviets, and the Swedes were getting cold feet. Krueger’s division might become trapped. And there was no let up from the Soviets. Near Kaprolat the division’s Norge SS Ski Company and Norwegian Police Company were hit hard, losing circa 40% casualties. The ski company’s Norwegian commander Obersturmfuehrer Sophus Kahrs had just been awarded a decoration for bravery. Shortly afterwards this police company went home and was replaced by Captain Aage Berg’s Norwegian Police Company.

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  In France south of Normandy Hitler’s counter offensive led by von Kluge had come to a halt by 10 August. Fortunately for them, on their northern flank near Vire Obersturmbannfuehrer Joachim Schiller’s battlegroup of the 1st SS LAH Panzer Division managed to stop an attempted American advance.

  Meanwhile in Normandy the center of the line was manned by Max Wuensche’s battlegroup from the 12th SS HJ Division. All day of the 10th there was no move against them. But then at 2000 hours, while it was still daylight, they were attacked by Canadians. Over the next two hours these SS shot down over a hundred Canadians. Nearby the German Army’s 85th Infantry Division, which had just arrived, lost a hill to the Polish 1st Armored Division, but helped by a few SS Jagdpanzers they made the Poles pay for every yard.

  On the 11th Standartenfuehrer Kurt Meyer began withdrawing his SS HJ Division, his positions being handed to the 85th Division.

  Something was seriously wrong with the Allies, if during their major offensive by two and a third armored divisions, the Germans could afford to replace an SS panzer division with an army infantry division, and perform the change in the midst of the battle!

  The old hares in the Frundsberg were saddened to learn that one of them, Haupsturmfuehrer Karl Bastian, had been killed. The twenty-nine year old was posthumously honored for his courage.

  Meanwhile Hitler had finally become convinced that his counter offensive had failed. Any landser could have told him that. As a result Brigadefuehrer Fritz Witt was ordered to withdraw his SS LAH Division eastwards.

  On the 12th four SS Tigers met the advancing Canadian 2nd Infantry Division at Cingal. It cost the Canadians five tanks to knock out one Tiger and force the other three to retreat.

  On the 13th some SS Tigers helped the 85th and 271st Infantry Divisions to stop a Canadian advance in the Potigny area.

  By now Dietrich’s I SS Panzer Corps was protecting Falaise with from left to right [west to east] the 271st, 89th then 85th Infantry Divisions, with the SS HJ Division in reserve. He also had some Tigers and additional artillery, flak guns and army mortars.

  Sturmbannfuehrer Erich Olboeter’s panzergrenadier battalion of the SS HJ was in action at Clair Tizon against a Canadian push.

  Twenty-five miles to the south the SS LAH started to dig in on the line Ranes-Carrouges facing west.

  Oberstgruppenfuehrer Sepp Dietrich, who had so far led the I SS Panzer Corps with distinction, was now promoted to command the Fifth Panzer Army, which included the bulk of the panzer forces in western France. Thus the two main armies fighting the Western Allies in France were now commanded by SS officers, Hausser and Dietrich. Dietrich took Fritz Kraemer his trusty chief of staff with him. Just days earlier Dietrich had finally convinced Kraemer to join the SS. Gruppenfuehrer Georg Keppler took control of I SS Panzer Corps.

  At 1135 hours on 14 August the Allies plastered the 85th Infantry Division with artillery, and followed this with a tank attack by the Canadian 4th Armored Division. At 1400 hours the 89th Infantry Division was bombed heavily by Allied aircraft, though once again many of the bombs fell on Allied troops.

  This was followed by an attack by the Polish 1st Armored Division and Canadian 2nd and 3rd Infantry Divisions and 2nd Armored Brigade. Keppler’s Germans fell back, but his line did not break.

  This day Witt’s SS LAH was attacked by the American 90th Infantry Division. Witt lost a small hamlet, but otherwise he held. Later in the day the Americans tried again, reinforced by their 3rd Armored Division and the French 2nd Armored Division. Still the determined warriors of the SS LAH held fast. In fact that night the SS LAH was able to allow the 2nd SS Das Reich Panzer Division to drive through their lines and escape eastwards.

  The Luftwaffe generals were not as confident as the German ground forces commanders, and they ordered all Luftwaffe units including flak batteries to retreat eastwards along the roads between Falaise and Ranes.

  Throughout the 15th Keppler’s I SS Panzer Corps gave up more ground, but nowhere was there a breakthrough. Here and there a few SS men were thrown in to stabilize the line. E.g. in one small incident two Tigers appeared, knocked out ten Canadian tanks, and then fell back.

  But the enemy advance was like a lava flow, slow but unstoppable, and the Canadian 2nd Infantry Division finished the day just three thousand yards short of Falaise. Meyer had to send someone to stop them for no German forces were in their path. One wonders what was actually stopping the Canadians then.

  The SS LAH stopped another charge at Ranes by the US 3rd Armored Division.

/>   More bad news arrived for the Germans. Hundreds of miles to the south the US Seventh Army had invaded the southern French coast. It was obvious now that the Allies intended to take France by one gigantic pincer maneuver. Dietrich was obviously beholding to Hitler and grateful for his recent promotion and new command, but one of his first orders to Fifth Panzer Army was in direct violation of a Fuehrer order - namely he commanded most of his army to begin retreating eastwards from Falaise.

  In fact by this time Fifth Panzer Army was already fragmenting into small pockets of all-arms. Moreover, Hausser’s Seventh Army was running away, which in light of recent events was the obviously logical thing to do. The escape route for these two armies lay between Falaise and Argentan, and already elements of Patton’s US Third Army were actually streaming south and east from Argentan. If Patton suddenly swerved northwards he could block the German retreat. Likewise if Crerar’s Canadian First Army pushed through Falaise southwards while Hodges’ US First Army pushed through Argentan northwards to meet Crerar, they would trap both Hausser and Dietrich in a bag. Put another way it was as if the German Fifth Panzer and Seventh Armies were trying to back up into a house through the west side doorway, while the US First Army was already coming through a window on the south side of the house and the Canadian First Army was already coming through a window on the north side and the US Third Army had almost reached the east side back door. This was not just disastrous for these two German armies alone, it was disastrous for the Axis war effort, because nothing stood between Hausser/Dietrich and the German border! The road was wide open!