Waffen-SS Officer Candidates at ϟϟ-Junkerschule Bad Tölz

Waffen-SS officer candidate at SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz

Knight's Cross holder Fritz Klingenberg at Bad Tölz

Waffen-SS recruits at SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz

Austrian Knight's Cross holder Ludwig Kepplinger at Bad Tölz

Training in the Waffen-SS placed high emphasis on physical standards of attainment which are only paralleled today by those of élite units. Each young man who was accepted into the Waffen-SS, a veteran recalled, was very proud of this. Out of 500 volunteers in my group, only 28 qualified. Being accepted at all was a great honor because such a strict selection process. Only the best applicants were accepted. Of those, only the most promising were selected for officer training, and only 60 percent of these passed their courses. Those men who became battalion and higher-level commanders in the SS-VT after beginning their careers as simple enlisted men were in many ways the “best of the best”, and in that light, it is not surprising that so many were highly considered. Credit: the author Marc Rikmenspoel. Clips: Waffen-SS volunteers at SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz. One cadet in three was eliminated from the course during examinations. One of the goals of the SS-Schule Tölz was to produce fighting officers, and classes were given in assault tactics, which built on the mobile tactics. The school adjutant and Wiking commander Felix Steiner is reported to have said: We require a supple adaptable type of soldier, athletic of bearing and capable of more than the average endurance. The timetable of SS-Schule Tölz was as follows: tactics, terrain and map reading, combat training and weapons training, weapons technology, shooting training, war exercises, religious education, military, SS and police, administration, physical training, weapons doctrine, pioneer teaching, current events, tank tactics, vehicle maintenance, sanitary engineering, air force doctrine. The average age of a Waffen-SS division throughout the war was 18. Even the vaunted Leibstandarte SS division was not that old. The average age among enlisted soldiers was 19 years, and for non-commissioned officers, it was 25 years, leading to a unit average of 22 years. For most young boys, they chose the Wehrmacht over the Waffen-SS because they were too daunted by the elite standards of the latter organization. Credit: Associate Professor of History Dr. Amy Beth Carney. Film footage: fascinating clips from the Tölz officer training centre, where men from all over Europe were trained by the staff and personalities of the Waffen-SS who made history. Die Deutsche Wochenschau. Fair use.