THE AXIS FORCES 1 (WW2 Axis Forces)

by Massimiliano Afiero

  SS soldiers during an attack, September 1941.

  Continuation of the fight against the bands

  During the day of 7 September, the brigade headquarters received orders to carry out new sweeps in the area between the Pripet, Dnieper and the line Retschiza-Ptitsch. SS-Kav.Rgt.1, reinforced by the SS-Radfahr-Aufklärungs-Abteilung, was to operate on the left flank, while SS-Kav.Rgt.2 operated on the right. The units quickly reached the assigned objectives, Retschiza for SS-Kav.Rgt.1 and Mosyr for SS-Kav.Rgt.2.

  SS soldiers during a break in the fighting, September 1941.

  On 9 September, the brigade established its headquarters at Choiniki, while SS-Kav.Rgt.2 moved to Jurewitschi. This time the orders were to eliminate isolated enemy groups that were attempting to escape from the gigantic Kiev pocket, where huge numbers of Soviet forces had been trapped. On 10 September, an enemy group consisting of around five hundred partisans led by Soviet officers was surrounded near Krasnyi-Ostroff and completely wiped out; at the conclusion of the victorious battle the SS captured 38 Soviet officers, in addition to having eliminated 384 partisans.

  September 1941: Himmler visits SS-Kavallerie-Brigade. On his right, Kurt Knoblauch, to the left is SS-Staf. Fegelein.

  Another photo of the visit of Himmler to the SS Cavalry Brigade in September 1941 (Bundesarchiv).

  The SS cavalrymen suffered no losses! Because of the excellent leadership of this operation, on 11 September Waldemar Fegelein was awarded the Iron Cross First Class. The sweeps continued into the days that followed, with the partisans who tried to avoid all contact with the brigade breaking up into small groups to better avoid pursuit by the enemy. Avoiding encounters in open territory, they preferred to resist the German actions by using mines and destroying roads and bridges, with the aim of cutting the lines of communication.

  Soldiers of SS-Radfahr-Abteilung, September 1941.

  On 15 September 1941, Himmler and SS-Brigadeführer Kurt Knoblauch discussed the future employment of the SS brigades on the Eastern Front; the Reichsführer continued to prohibit their use in the front lines because they were still the only units available to provide rear area security and above all he did not want them to lose control over them. The matter was soon made known to HSSuPF von dem Bach-Zelewski.

  SS soldiers take a meal near their horses as a horsedrawn column of thelogistics train passes behind them (Bundesarchiv).

  On 19 September, the brigade received 96 new replacements coming from SS-Kavallerie-Ersatz-Abteilung. On 22 September, with the capture of Soviet General Michael Rumanof and the execution of 42 partisans, operations in the Mosyr area were considered to be concluded. The brigade was then transferred to the Dnieper-Szos area to eliminate hot spots of resistance there. On 24 September, the SS cavalry units crossed the Dnieper west and south of Gomel, continuing pursuit of the rebel bands and executing several hundred “criminals”. On 28 September, units of the brigade were assembled in the Gomel area.

  Toropets sector

  In early October, the units were transferred by train to the Toropets sector, two hundred kilometers north of Smolensk, to be used to protect the railway line and convoy traffic, subordinated to the 403.Sicherungs-Division (Generalleutnant Wolfgang von Ditfurth). Above all else, the continuous ambushes and sabotage by Soviet partisan bands, whose activities continued to increase, had to be prevented. On 7 October, the brigade headquarters was established at Vitebsk; the same day another twenty-four Iron Crosses Second Class were awarded to the men of the brigade for the earlier actions in the Pripet Marshes. SS-Hstuf. Willy Plänk, commander of 1.Schw./SS-Rad.Aufkl.Abt. received the First Class. The bicycle reconnaissance detachment was engaged during that time to provide security for the Welikije-Luki and Toropets stretches of the railway line, while SS-Kav.Rgt.2 was engaged in pacifying the area on both sides of the road between those same locations.

  SS soldiers in the Toropets sector, October 1941.

  During these latest encounters, sixty partisans were killed, among them several women. The SS cavalrymen suffered no losses, while many enemy weapons were captured. On 10 October the brigade moved its headquarters to Toropets, where it was joined on the 12th by the SS-Radfahr-Aufklärungs-Abteilung and SS-Kav.Rgt.1, to be subordinated to253.Infanterie-Division (Generalleutnant Schellert). SS-Kav.Rgt.2 marched to Nevel, arriving at Miesnuiewo two days later, thirty kilometers northeast of the city. On 18 October after a torrential downpour had transformed the road into immense quagmires, the brigade was ordered by 9.Armee to “pacify” the area crossed by the Welikiye Luki-Rzhev railway line and the Army’s boundary area that linked the city of Luschnida (thirty kilometers northwest of Toropets) and the southern shore of Lake Ochwat. Contact was established withXXIII.Armee-Korps to bring the operation to a close. The brigade quickly sent out reconnaissance patrols which confirmed that numerous enemy forces were concentrating between the northern flank of 9.Armee in the area of Jeltzy and the southern flank of 2.Armee around Lake Ochwat. While the patrols continued to search the area, the bulk of the brigade, with its two cavalry regiments, positioned itself in the northern sector of the area involved in the sweeps. The SS-Radfahr-Aufkl.-Abteilung and Wach Bataillon 705 were engaged in protecting the railway line and the road that led to Rzhev.

  Operations in the Rshew sector, October-December 1941.

  German soldiers in a burning village.

  On 18 October, the order was received to pacify the northern sector of the 9.Armee rear area. Good results were achieved until 22 October, before the rains began. On 28 October, the brigade was subordinated to the Befehlshaber Heeresgebiet “Mitte”, carryng out anti-partisan operations under its direction.

  These SS cavalrymen have discovered a small ammunition cache.

  On 31 October, during the course of one of these operations, the SS cavalrymen discovered a small ammunition cache north of Semzy, also capturing some seventy partisans. Soon after, SS-Kav.Rgt.2 headed towards Cholm, more than forty kilometers northwest of Toropets, from where other sweep operations were mounted.

  Autumn 1941. Hermann Fegelein unfolding a map. We recognize Gustav Lombard, holding a cigar in his left hand, and, on the far right, the chief of staff of the SS-Kavallerie-Brigade, Karl Gesele (U.S. NARA).

  Until the beginning of November, 9.Armee with its XXIII.Armee-Korps advanced along both sides of Rzhev, then heading to the north in order to push back attacks by Soviet forces towards the south, departing from their positions between Lake Seliger and Kalinin. SS-Kav.Rgt.1 left its positions in the forest east of Lugi and moved east towards Okovitzy. Later the regiment was engaged in pacifying the area to the east of Jetkino.

  SS-Ostuf. Willi Plänk interrogates a Russian peasant, Autumn 1941.

  The SS and Russian peasants,Autumn 1941 (Bundesarchiv).

  An alert was unexpectedly received from the 102.Inf.Div. whose left flank, located on the large bend of the Volga, found itself under enemy attack. SS-Stubaf. Lombard, leading several combat groups formed of army units and those of his own regiment, was able to block the enemy forces. On 6 November, Generalleutnant Scheller, commander of253.Infanterie-Division, officially thanked SS-Kavallerie-.Regiment 1 and in particular SS-Standartenoberjunker Joachim Boosfeld, leader of one of the cavalry platoons, for having protected his left flank against enemy attacks. That same day the regiment was ordered to secure the Cholmjetzy area. The next day the units took up positions fifteen kilometers north and south of the Jetkino road. From several intercepted enemy radio messages it became known that the partisans were preparing an attack against Jetkino from the south. On 8 November, some elements of the regiment were attacked along the road from Cholmjetzy to Jetkino. Some squadrons were immediately sent as reinforcements in reaction to the partisan attacks against the Jetkino area. The fighting lasted several days at the end of which there were 842 enemy dead.

  Employment of other units

  From the beginning of November, SS-Kav.Rgt.2 was kept busy pacifying the area between Toropets and Cholm, where a strong group of parti
sans and several Soviet paratroop units were quite active. The regiment began to clear the area northwest of Toropets and along the road that connected Toropets with Rzhev. While the units were advancing towards Cholm and had gotten to within about twenty kilometers from their objective they clashed with a partisan formation. In the battle that followed about seventy “rebels” were captured.

  Soldiers of the signals company have just come to a halt and the men are warming themselves around a fire (Bundesarchiv).

  Only one SS cavalryman was killed after having stepped on a mine. On 4 November, another series of sweeps were carried out in the same area, during which another hundred or so rebels were captured. Regarding employment of the SS-Radfahr-Aufkl.-Abteilung along with several companies of Wach Bataillon 705, the unit was engaged along the road between Toropets and Jetkino, as it was also along the road that connected Schatry and Jetkino, where a partisan formation consisting of at least a thousand men was operating. The recon cyclists later operated in the area northeast of Butaki, destroying numerous enemy support bases and several bunkers in conjunction with the brigade’s engineers. On 9 November,the SS cavalry units were deployed as follows: SS-Kav.Rgt.1 in the Szyoly area, SS-Kav.Rgt.2 between Pog Potchen and Klimjatina and SS-Rad.Aufkl.Abt. near Bibjerewo. During a reconnaissance north of the Rzhev-Toropets road, in the Bibjerewo-Butaki-Dubno area, the SS cavalrymen were able to destroy 24 enemy bunkers and capture 44 partisans. In the days that followed, another 519 partisans were captured. Between 18 October and 14 November, the Brigade claimed 281 partisans killed, 3,018 captured, 141 Soviet soldiers killed and 112 taken prisoner. The SS suffered 7 killed and 9 wounded. On 14 November, by order of the Reichsführer-SS, SS-Kav.Rgt.1, SS-Reit.-Art.Abt. and SS-Pz.Kp. were ordered to prepare to return to Warsaw. Nevertheless, the seriousness of the situation at the front forced the units to remain in the rear area. On 15 November, SS-Kav.Rgt.1 had to move southeast of the area between Jetkino and Berjosa Tal to deal with local partisan activity. The next day, during the course of stiff fighting, 176 partisans were captured. Once that area was pacified the regiment was moved to Rzhev. On 22 November, one of the regiment’s platoons was loaded aboard trucks to carry out a punitive expedition along with a motorcycle platoon from the brigade in the area of Tschistowa. During the action a partisan camp was discovered and destroyed. The next day the presence of rebels was reported south of the railway line between Rzhev and Jetkino. The following day the SS units were engaged against other bands to the east of Jetkino while securing the rail line. At the end of the month the SS cavalrymen began to prepare their winter positions, while still carrying out reconnaissance missions to combat the partisan bands, whose activities had intensified significantly following the departure of units of the 255.Sicherungs-Division. On 27 November, the partisans attacked units of the brigade at Bibjerewo; sixteen partisans were killed in the encounter. On 1 December, in an attempt to improve protection of the position at Jetkino, the brigade’s Flak battery was transferred there. During the first week of December the SS units were engaged against an enemy band consisting of some two hundred men that was operating in the area northwest of Putiwl. The partisans also had aPzKpfw III that had been captured earlier from the Germans. During the actions that followed 73 partisans were killed and 93 captured. For their part, the SS suffered three killed and eight wounded. Also during the second week of December the SS cavalrymen continued to be engaged against other rebel groups; the biggest success was achieved in the forests southwest of Jetkino, where a band consisting of 400 partisans led by Frohmenkoff, a rebel chief who had long been sought by the Germans, was wiped out. Later, the SS units were engaged in securing the stretch of the Welikiye-Luki railway line, which was vitally important to 9.Armee for its supplies.

  Bibliography

  Massimiliano Afiero, “8.SS-Kavallerie-Division Florian Geyer“, Associazione Culturale Ritterkreuz 2010

  Charles Trang, “La Division Florian Geyer”, Heimdal Edition

  LAURITS JENSEN

  Free Corps Denmark

  by Lars Larsen

  Laurits Jensen was born on 23 February 1922 in Loekken, Denmark, as the oldest of three siblings. Shortly after his birth, the whole family moved to Arentsminde. When he was young, Laurits Jensen worked at a farm, where he got to know another worker of the farm, Svend Larsen. He was 1½ years older, and had tried to join the Danish Finland Battalion in 1940, but he never made it, as the armistice between Finland and Russia occurred on 13 March 1940. Sven Larsen was among the first, who joined Free Corps Denmark in July 1941. There is no doubt that the two young men discussed the situation of the world in the year of 1941.

  Laurits Jensen in civilian clothes (Larsen Collection).

  Laurits Jensen volunteer

  Laurits Jensen joined Free Corps Denmark (Danish: Frikorps Danmark) at the start of December in 1941. He bound himself to a 2-year contract, which expired on 13 December 1943, as he attended military examination on 13 December 1941. On 8 January 1942, he travelled through Gedser to the SS-introductory school in Sennheim, Germany. On 15 February 1942, he was finished at the school in Sennheim, and he was transferred to Free Corps Denmark, which was being trained in Treskau. First, Laurits Jensen became a part of the replacement company, and in April 1942, he became a part of SS-Obersturmführer Per Sörensen 1st Company. He was there from the beginning, when Free Corps Denmark was flown into the Demyansk-Pocket in Russia on 7 May and 8 May 1942. Schütze Laurits Jensen participated in one of the major attacks of Free Corps Denmark on 28 May 1942, at the village of Ssutoki.

  Frikorps Danmark in the Demyansk-Pocket.

  A couple of days before, on the nights of 25 May and 26 May 1942, patrol from Free Corps Denmark had made an observation. Russian troops, at the village of Ssutoki, were constructing a bridgehead north of the Robja stream. The patrol also discovered that the Russians had already built bunkers and positions. In other words, the Russian bridgehead was almost ready for a Russian attack.

  Map of the area of the Demyansk-Pocket.

  In the case of a Russian attack, Free Corps Denmark could lose ‘Rollbahn’, which was only 2 kilometers away from the new Russian positions. It would be a disaster for the whole Demyansk-Pocket, if “‘Rollbahn’” was lost to the Russians, as it was the only supply route to the trapped Germans forces. The patrol returned to their own positions, early in the morning on 27 May 1942, and quickly reported to Hauptsturmführer Poul Neergaard Jacobsen, who was the commander of the 3rd Company of Free Corps Denmark. He quickly informed Christian Frederik von Schalburg, the commander of Free Corps Denmark. The situation was then discussed and assessed quickly by C.F. von Schalburg, K.B. Martinsen and the other three company commanders, Per Sörensen of 1st Company, Boy Hansen, German, of 2nd Company and Poul Neergaard Jacobsen, 3rd Company.

  SS-Stubaf. von Schalburg.

  Attacking the Russians

  C.F. von Schalburg wanted to make a direct attack against the Russian bridgehead, whereas K.B. Martinsen believed that it was a risky maneuver, without even knowing the consequences of a direct attack. In the end, units of 1st Company would attempt to observe the Russians and eventually attack the bridgehead. Untersturmführer Johannes Just Nielsen of 1st Company, 2nd Platoon, was chosen to lead the mission. During 27 May 1942, he chose his people for the mission. Johannes Just Nielsen was to advance on the eastern side, and Oberscharführer Anton Kern, a German, from the west side. C.F. von Schalburg and K.B. Martinsen had a tactical meeting, and agreed that the units should get as close to the Russian positions as possible, after which they should quickly withdraw. If they had the opportunity, they would neutralize the Russian forces. The engineer platoon of the Free Corps had made some special explosive charges on pipes, and the patrol was handed out extra grenades and ammunition.

  SS-Ustuf. Johannes Just Nielsen.

  The operation had a good start. The group of Johannes Just Nielsen sneaked all the way up to the Russian positions without being detected, and Johannes Just Nielsen judged that an attack
was possible. The attack was launched, and a lot of hand grenades were thrown at the Russian positions and shortly thereafter, Free Corps Denmark captured the Russian positions, as they entered the trenches and quickly neutralized all the Russians. The attack was a major success of Free Corps Denmark, and about 100 Russians had been killed. Untersturmführer Johannes Just Nielsen ordered a retreat, but shortly thereafter, the positions were being shelled by 120 mm mortars. The shelling lasted about 10 minutes, after which they were shot at by heavy Russian machine guns. Soldiers of Free Corps Denmark crawled out of the positions and quickly withdrew. Johannes Just Nielsen was about to leave as one of the last persons, when he was shot by a volley from a Russian machine guns. He fell dead in the Robja stream, where they could not retrieve the body. The body is most likely still at that location to this day. Rottenführer Gunner Jensen died as well on that day, while five others were wounded.