Yet it is also clear that the war was not fought in parallel worlds, in the Russian campaign in particular it is tremendously difficult to separate out the ‘niceties’ of normal combat and the very nature of the Nazis’ war in the East, which was based entirely on the concept of racial extermination. Paul Hveger witnessed a Ukrainian militia unit shooting unarmed civilians in 1941 and was appalled. He did not commit any crimes himself, but neither could he claim ignorance. Christian von Schalburg, who has never been accused of any atrocity, wrote a letter to his wife in late August 1941 during his service in the Wiking, where he discussed the treatment of Jews during Barbarossa:
Jewish rule in the Soviet Union was far greater than even I believed. The population hates them more than Aage H. Andersen himself could dream of [editor of the Danish anti-Semitic newspaper, Kamptegnet]. These people … are so damned passive, despite all their hate. Many lives would have been saved, most of all their own, if they had cut down the Jews before they fled from us. I think that that will come.
The Scandinavian Waffen-SS and its legacy
Himmler’s ambition to create divisions of Scandinavian Waffen-SS troops failed. Overall around 10,000 Danes, 6,500 Norwegians, 1,500 Finns and a few hundred Swedes enlisted. At any one time there was never more than two to three thousand serving at the Front, and though they fought well (especially when they had gained some combat experience – the Nordland Division won the fifth highest number of Knight’s Crosses of all the Waffen-SS divisions, 25) they never achieved the size necessary to turn the mammoth battles of the Russian Front in their favour.
Recruited from the need for manpower as well as racial kinship, it soon became clear that the martial traditions of the ancient Viking societies had long since disappeared. The best card the likes of Terboven had to play was the ‘Red Threat’, and having seen what had happened to Finland this was a powerful draw for some. This anti-communist sentiment was combined with the usual attractions to youth of potential glory and bold action, creating a heady mix that appealed to a number of individuals. Even then, most recruits came from Scandinavia’s small Far-Right movements, and the Nazis ‘model occupations’ did not convert the masses into adherents of German National Socialism. That naïve ambition very soon hit the buffers of strongly independent Nordic populations with solid democratic foundations and distaste for extremism of any kind. As such, the likes of Erik Brörup, Vagner Kristensen, Paul Hveger, Bjarne Dramstad, Ornulf Bjornstadt, Bjørn Østring and Erik Wallin were always a minority, both at home and in the Waffen-SS as a whole. Hausser and Steiner’s creation was never a European army, but it became an army of Europeans.
Perhaps it is best left to the veterans themselves to have the last word on the Scandinavian Waffen-SS. Erik Wallin:
What a road we had travelled … once, we had stormed forth victoriously over the boundless plains of east Europe. With the fighting excitement of youth we had thrown ourselves into battles that have gone down in history. Many of us, after the assault over the Kuban and Terek Rivers by Maglobek and Maikop, could even have imagined Asia beyond the cloud-topped, snow-covered Caucasus.
Bjørn Østring:
We, the Norwegian and other foreign volunteers, did not fight for Hitler or his regime, but alongside his country. Just as Britons didn’t fight for Stalin but alongside the Soviet Union, it’s a sad truth but in war you can’t pick your allies. If people are really interested in what actually happened then they should find out for themselves. They will see that it was not so easy at the time to choose a course of action, but it was then that a choice had to be made.
APPENDIX A
Wehrmacht Bravery Awards
Not one of the champions … was able to deliver us fromthe tyranny of the foreign hordes … because of the greatness of their bravery and ferocity.
Early tenth-century Irish chronicle, ‘Wars of the Irish with the Vikings’.
As with all things in the Wehrmacht, when it came to bravery awards there was a thorough system and process in place. Courage, and the citations and medals that went with it, were taken very seriously and based on a pyramid structure, with the Iron Cross being the standard basis of measurement, along with a series of specialist awards such as the Close Combat Badge, the Wound Badge etc. Up the pecking order from the Iron Cross was the German Cross, the Honour Roll Clasp and then finally on to the pinnacle, the Knight’s Cross. Most of the awards had at least two grades, with the Knight’s Cross having four; the Knight’s Cross itself, then awarded with Oak Leaves, then Swords and finally Diamonds.
Close Combat Day – (Nahkampftag)
A Close Combat Day was designated as fighting the enemy hand-to-hand. These days were acknowledged in a soldier’s individual Soldbuch by his superior officer and noted as such. The Norwegian volunteer, SS-Unterscharführer Sverre E.H Larsen, who also won the Iron Cross 1st Class and lost an arm during the retreat from Oranienbaum, was known as ‘Sverre Nahkampf’ due to his combat proficiency and the many close combat days he achieved.
Iron Cross – (Eisener Kreutz)
Awarded in two classes, the Iron Cross 2nd Class was authorised for a single act of bravery in combat beyond normal duty, some 2.3m were awarded during the war, including 214 to Finnish volunteers.
The Iron Cross 1st Class required you to already have the 2nd Class award and a further three to five additional acts of bravery; some 300,000 were awarded. Thirty-eight Norwegians, 16 Finns and 10 Swedes were among the recipients including Heinz Harmel’s personal radio operator, SS-Oberscharführer Sven-Erik Olsson.
Honour Roll Clasp of the German Army –
(Ehrungsblattspange des deutschen Heeres)
The Honour Roll Clasp required the recipient to have both classes of Iron Cross as a prerequisite, and was then awarded for an additional act of unusual bravery which just fell short of deserving a Knight’s Cross. Some 166 Waffen-SS soldiers won this prestigious award including five Scandinavians – the Swede Hans-Gösta Pehrsson for his leadership and courage in the fighting for the hill at Trekni in 1944, the Danes Alfred Jonstrup and Per Sörensen in Courland, and the two Finnish machine-gunners Kalevi Kønønen and Yrjø Pyytia in the Caucasus.
German Cross – (Deutsches Kreuz)
Awarded in two classes, the lower being Silver, the higher in Gold. This award was instituted by Hitler personally as a median award between the Iron Cross and a full-blown Knight’s Cross. It only required the winner to already have the Iron Cross 2nd Class, and was awarded for repeated acts of exceptional bravery in combat that did not merit a Knight’s Cross. One thousand and sixteen Waffen-SS soldiers won this award, including Fredrik Jensen who in so doing became the most decorated Norwegian Waffen-SS volunteer of the war.
There were 20 men in the Waffen-SS who held both the Honour Roll Clasp and the German Cross in Gold; seven were in the SS-Wiking Division (one then served in the Nordland in the 1st Battalion the SS-Norge Regiment), and two in the SS-Nordland Division (one having served in the Horst Wessel Division first) and the other being Per Sörensen.
Knight’s Cross – (Ritterkreuz)
Highly coveted, this was the highest award for bravery available to members of the Wehrmacht. Worn on a ribbon around the neck it was colloquially known as ‘curing your throat ache’. While it could be earned by all ranks for exceptional acts of courage, it was also awarded to officers as recognition of the deeds of the units under their command; hence many were earned by battalion, regimental and divisional commanders. No Norwegians, Swedes or Finns won the Knight’s Cross, but three Danes did; SS-Unterscharführer Egon Christophersen for his bravery at Narva, SS-Untersturmführer Sören Kam on 7 February 1945 while serving with the SS-Wiking, and SS-Obersturmführer Johannes Hellmers (who also won the German Cross in Gold) on 5 March 1945 while serving with the Dutch SS-Nederland Division during the Fourth Battle of Courland. Hellmers was commanding the De Ruyter’s 6th Company when it was dug-in around the town of Kaleti. Subjected to furious attacks from large formations of Russian infantry and armour, He
llmers personally led counter-attack after counter-attack to keep the Soviets at bay. As a direct result the line held and a major disaster was averted.
APPENDIX B
Waffen-SS Formation Organisation
SS Section – (Gruppe)
Commanded by a junior NCO, such as an SS-Rottenführer or an SS-Unterscharführer. Made up of anywhere between 6–12 men, depending on casualties, the section was the foundation and the building block of the Waffen-SS fighting formations, as in all armies. When a man passed his Waffen-SS recruit training, he would be posted to a division, which would then send him internally to a regiment and a named battalion. In the battalion he would be detailed to one of the companies and a specific platoon within that company. He would then finally be allocated to a section in the platoon and that Gruppe would become his home and sanctuary until killed, wounded, captured or told otherwise. If Sections in a unit don’t work then nothing else does either. All unit cohesion and performance rested on them within the Waffen-SS.
SS Platoon – (Zug)
Commanded either by a junior officer such as an SS-Untersturmführer, an officer candidate such as an SS-Oberjunker or a senior NCO such as an SS-Oberscharführer. The platoon had its component sections, usually 3–4 depending on casualties, with a young officer commander and a veteran platoon sergeant who would act as second-in-command. The platoon sergeant would also control the platoon’s supplies (ammunition, food, water etc) and provide a steady hand and voice of experience to his young officer. In SS panzer formations a platoon would comprise five tanks. A soldier’s closest friends were his section, but his home was his platoon.
SS Company – (Kompanie)
Commanded by a more senior and experienced, though usually still young, officer such as an SS-Obersturmführer or an SS-Hauptsturmführer. In the British Army a company is commanded by a Major, around early thirties in age and no less. Normally consisting of three platoons, the company was the lowest tactical unit that external attachments were made to, including forward artillery fire observers and forward air controllers. In panzer formations the company would comprise four tank platoons, and two command and control tanks.
SS Battalion – (Abteilung)
Commanded by an older and more experienced officer such as an SS-Sturmbannführer. An average battalion would be made up of four companies and could have sections of specialist troops such as assault engineers attached as necessary for a particular operation. A battalion would be numbered with a Roman numeral in front of its parent regiment’s designation, such as II/SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 6 Theodor Eicke, which denoted the 2nd Battalion of the Theodor Eicke Panzergrenadier Regiment number 6.
SS Regiment – (Standarte)
Commanded by a senior and very experienced officer such as an SS-Oberführer or SS-Standartenführer. Equivalent to a brigade in British Army parlance, the regiments were a division’s major sub-units and as such would have their own integral staff as well as supporting elements including at the very least a heavy gun company, an anti-aircraft defence company, a combat engineer company and its teeth arms of either three foot-borne infantry, armoured infantry battalions or two panzer battalions, depending on its designation as an infantry, panzer grenadier or panzer regiment respectively. This was a major difference between Army and Waffen-SS regiments with Army formations having the same number of panzer battalions but crucially only two infantry battalions in each panzer grenadier or infantry regiment. This heavily reduced the unit’s combat power and meant that Army units tended to burn out far more rapidly in the battles of attrition so prevalent on the Russian Front. However, due to manpower shortages later on in the war many Waffen-SS regiments raised in late 1944 and 1945, including those in the Flemish Langemarck and the French Charlemagne, mirrored Army formations and only consisted of two-battalion regiments. This reduction in strength meant the unit’s combat effectiveness could be quickly eroded in periods of intense fighting. The regiment would be described by type, Roman numeral if it had one, and then honour name if given one, so for example in the Das Reich there was SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 3 Deutschland. If composed of Germanic volunteers the term ‘Freiwilligen’ i.e. ‘volunteer’, would be added. So in the Dutch SS-Nederland Division there were two regiments – SS-Freiwilligen Panzergrenadier Regiment 48 General Seyffardt, and SS-Freiwilligen Panzergrenadier Regiment 49 De Ruyter. Non-Germanic volunteer units were designated as ‘Waffen-Grenadier der SS’, i.e. ‘Armed Grenadier of the SS’, such as the Latvian Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 42 Voldemars Veiss.
SS Division – (Division)
Next up the chain came the mainstay of the Waffen-SS formation. The division was entirely different from the British Army system where the much smaller regimental formation was the building block of the field army and a soldier’s spiritual home. A British soldier in the Second World War would feel loyalty to the Royal Norfolk’s, the Cameronians or the Irish Guards – famous regiments all, but in the Waffen-SS it was to the Das Reich or Hitlerjugend Divisions. This ‘division as home’ concept was a great help in maintaining morale and combat effectiveness during the frequent decimations of the Waffen-SS divisions.
There were three main types of Waffen-SS division, each with its own structure: the Panzer (tank) division, the Panzergrenadier (mixed tanks and infantry) division and the non-mechanized division (infantry, cavalry or mountain infantry).
All three types were commanded by either an SS-Gruppenführer or SS-Brigadeführer. Just as with regiments, the division would have a structure of support units and these would typically comprise a headquarters staff, military police, transport, medical support, logistics, a signals battalion, an engineer battalion, an artillery regiment and an anti-aircraft battalion (almost all entirely mechanized in panzer and panzer grenadier divisions). The teeth of the different types of divisions were as follows:
Panzer division
These were the armoured fists of the Waffen-SS and each had two panzer grenadier regiments of three battalions each and a panzer regiment of two battalions. There were seven full panzer divisions in the Waffen-SS and they comprised the crème de la crème of the Waffen-SS fighting strength, such as the 1st SS-Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. Of the non-German Waffen-SS formations only the famous 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking attained this celebrated status, and of course is described in this book.
Panzergrenadier division
Comprising two panzer grenadier regiments of three battalions each and a single panzer battalion, these were not full panzer divisions but were still very powerful formations with their own integral armour. In the ‘combat pecking order’ these formations were still an élite within the Waffen-SS. There were seven panzer grenadier divisions including the only Waffen-SS division to fight exclusively on the Western Front, the ethnic German 17th SS-Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen. Five of the divisions that attained this status were non-Reichsdeutsche formations including the Nordic 11th SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier Division Nordland (again covered in this book) and the Hungarian volksdeutsche 18th SS- Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier Division Horst Wessel, the Götz and the Belgian Langemarck and Wallonien.
Non-mechanised divisions (infantry, cavalry or mountain infantry)
These formations formed the bulk of the Waffen-SS order of battle and the vast majority of foreign formations came under this designation. As non-mechanized units they were the least well-equipped of the Waffen-SS formations and were of widely differing quality, organisation, strength and combat effectiveness. Usually called ‘grenadier’ divisions, they normally comprised two grenadier regiments of three battalions each with supporting arms, but in practice this was chopped and changed to suit the availability, or not, of both equipment and manpower. In the French 33rd Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Charlemagne (französische Nr.1) for instance, there were only two grenadier battalions in each regiment (for more information see Book 1 in the Hitler’s Legions series, Hitler’s Gauls). Crucially, these formations lacked any integral armou
r and the necessary transport to give them the mobility on the battlefield that was increasingly essential as the nature of warfare, particularly on the Eastern Front, became one characterised by rapid movement. In total there were 26 grenadier divisions including two number 23s, two number 29s and two number 33s (the number being re-used when the original formation was disbanded). Thus the original 29th Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS (russiche Nr.1) under Bronislav Kaminski, became the 29th Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS (italienische Nr.1) under Heldmann when Kaminski’s men were absorbed into Vlasov’s ROA.
There were four SS cavalry (Kavallerie) divisions, including the short-lived 33rd Waffen-Kavallerie Division der SS (ungarische Nr.3), which was overrun before formation and its number reused for the French Charlemagne division.
There were also six mountain infantry (Gebirgs) divisions including the German 6th SS Mountain Division Nord, and the Yugoslav ethnic German 7th SS-Freiwilligen-Mountain Division Prinz Eugen.
A few of these formations were excellent combat formations, especially the three Baltic grenadier divisions, plus the Nord, the Prinz Eugen, the Langemarck and the Wallonien. The majority however, were of questionable quality and many were formed as defeat loomed and were of little value at the Front. Some of these latter were the lowest of the low and deserve to be remembered with nothing more than horror and contempt at their records, which were brutal beyond belief. Probably the most infamous was the 36th Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS under Oskar Dirlewanger, whose record in Belorussia and especially Warsaw, will forever stain the reputation of the Waffen-SS order of battle.
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