ϟϟ-Obersturmführer der Waffen-SS Leidreiter

SS-Obersturmführer Hans-Martin Leidreiter

SS-Sturmbannführer Gustav Knittel

SS-Obersturmführer Hans-Martin Leidreiter served with 1.SS-Division Leibstandarte SS, a veteran since 1938. He showed great bravery in the eastern front and distinguished himself at Korobotschkino in front of Bereka. Leidreiter was acting as temporary company commander in SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs Abteilung 1 after the then SS-Haupsturmführer Gustav Knittel had been wounded during a counterattack against the Soviets in Kharkov. After the recapture of Kharkov, the Leibstandarte SS was rebuild in preparation of the upcoming Operation Citadel or the Battle of Kursk, but both Leidreiter and Knittel were wounded on June 11 1943. Leidreiter continued to serve under Knittel as company commander and adjutant when the Leibstandarte SS was transferred to Normandy as part of the failed attempt to counter the Allied invasion and during the Ardennes Offensive. When the division surrendered to the Americans in Austria in May 1945, Leidreiter decided to evade capture. He made it to the west on foot, accompanied by his driver August Rauber. After the war he became an assistant teacher and rose to the position of deputy leader of the Agricultural- and Silviculture School in Titisee-Neustadt. The German Cross in Gold and Close Combat Clasp in Silver holder Hans-Martin Leidreiter died aged 86 on April 6 2007. Credit: Timo R. Worst. Left image: formal studio portrait of Leidreiter, probably made when he made SS-Obersturmführer on November 4 1943. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Right image: photo shows Leidreiter's commanding officer Gustav Knittel after his promotion to SS-Sturmbannführer on April 24 1943. Knittel passed away aged 61 on June 30 1976 in Ulm in Baden-Württemberg. Photo by war correspondent SS-Kriegsberichter Max Büschel. Credit: Karl Mensburg. U.S. NARA.

Waffen-SS: European Crusade against Communism

Dutch Recruiting Poster

Scandinavian Recruiting Poster

           
The recruiting posters displayed the Waffen-SS as a Western-European force and slogans like 'We fight for the culture and freedom of Europe' and 'Joint front against Communism' were common. Left image: Dutch recruiting poster from 1941, the Hamburg-born German artist and professor of the Nordische Kunsthochschule SS-Hauptsturmführer Ottomar Anton (1895-1976) used later SS-Obersturmbannführer Klemens Behler (1921-1998) as model. Behler was at the time only a recruit but went on to win the prestigious Knight's Cross on March 17 1945 as commander of SS-Artillerie-Regiment 54 (23.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nederland). After the war ended, Anton continued to work successfully as a commercial artist for numerous companies, and Behler went on to serve as Oberstleutnant in the West German Bundeswehr. Right image: a Scandinavian recruiting poster by the famous Bremen-born Norweigian artist Harald Damsleth (1906-1971). Damsleth did a number of outstanding recruitment posters for the Waffen-SS. He was sentenced to five years of hard labor for treason at the end of World War II but was pardoned after two years served. Nevertheless, he continued to have a successful graphic design career throughout his life. SS marschiert in Feindesland also known as Teufelslied was a marching song of the Waffen-SS. Its lyrics openly declared that the SS would destroy the "Red plague". The song with the same melody was adopted by foreign volunteers of the Waffen-SS and appears in slightly different versions from the original German recordings depending on language used. For an example, when performed in other European languages it does not mention neither Adolf Hitler nor the German Reich. After the end of World War II, this anti-communist song found its way into the French Foreign Legion and is still sung today in a version with slightly different and translated lyrics. In modern Germany, the public singing or performing of songs associated with Nazi Germany is illegal. Images in the Public domain.

European Waffen-SS Service Records

Waffen-SS officer candidates at Bad Tölz

SS-Schule Tölz – Frikorps Danmark

SS-Schule Tölz – Nordland

Over 125,000 non-German West Europeans volunteered for the elite Waffen-SS. Enlistment rolls show that more than 60,000 men from the Germanic nations were accepted and fought with distinction within its ranks. Another 21,000 men from the Latin nations joined the Waffen-SS. It is obvious that these volunteers felt that they were justified in their fight. These men enlisted voluntarily for many different reasons. The majority of the Western European Volunteers were idealists, with a strong pan-European identity. The vast majority of the Eastern Europeans who joined the Waffen-SS did so primarily to defend their own homelands against Soviet occupation. Nearly 310,000 foreign volunteers from no less than 16 countries served in its ranks between 1940 and 1945. A total of 950,000 men (German and foreigners) fought in the multinational Waffen-SS at some point during World War II. Clips: Nordic volunteers at SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz officer training centre. At SS-Schule Tölz the officers of the Waffen-SS were trained amid the majestic natural splendor of the Bavarian Alps. In the Waffen-SS the rule of a superior leading by example was binding and the officers were expected to lead from the front. Naturally this meant demanding and giving a higher degree of eagerness and willingness to see action and awareness of duty from every officer than from the men in the ranks. Footage from Die Deutsche Wochenschau - the official Nazi German war newsreel from 1940 until production discontinued in March 1945. FU.

European Confederation of Germanic Nations

Pan-German revolutionary Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler

Dutch SS volunteers of Vrijwilligerslegioen Nederland

Minister President of Norway Vidkun Quisling

The Waffen-SS cultivated contracts with influential persons in many foreign countries, in preparation for the time when these nations would unite with the German Reich into a Nordic union. In accord with the SS pan-Germanic ideology stressing Nordic blood ties, the Waffen-SS would accept only truly “Germanic” legions recruited in Denmark, Flemish Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden, leaving the proposed Croatian, French, Spanish, and Walloon Belgian contingents to the Wehrmacht for training and deployment. During the war, Walloon Belgium was given Germanic status and Finland became an “honorary Germanic” nation due to its unique ethnic origin. Men and often women front nurses from all of these counties served with the Waffen-SS during World War II, and their story is complex and interesting, not least because it is often told simplistically and inaccurately. Credit: the authors Kenneth Estes and Marc Rikmenspoel, Waffen-SS Encyclopedia. Top image: the Austrian-born Adolf Hitler had doubts about recruiting foreigners into the Waffen-SS, but he gave approval for the first Germanic multinational division to be formed from foreign nationals with German officers in 1940. A sufficient number of Nordic and Western European volunteers came forward requiring the SS to open a new training camp just for foreign volunteers at Sennheim in Elsaß-Lothringen. By the second half of 1942, an increasing number of foreign ethnic Germans, so-called 'Volksdeutsche, began entering the ranks. The Waffen-SS expanded further in 1943 and the first non-Germanic division was formed, and in 1944 it expanded again with Baltic formations. Hitler was categorically opposed to non-Germanic volunteers in the Waffen-SS but the military situation of the Reich forced him to approve this state of affairs. Credit: EstelleNation. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Middle image: Dutch Waffen-SS volunteers of the Volunteer Legion Netherlands sworn-in by SS-Sturmbannführer d. R. Gunter d'Alquen in Berlin-Zehlendorf on February 1 1942. Credit: Karl Mensburg. Oorlogsbronnen. Fair use. Bottom image: Minister President of Norway Vidkun Quisling during a gathering with Norwegian volunteers in Oslo in Norway in December 1943. Quisling was charged with high treason after the war and executed by firing squad in Oslo on October 24 1945. Credit: Scanpix. Fair use.

ϟϟ-Division „Wiking“

Dutch Waffen-SS Volunteers of SS-Standarte Westland

Danish Waffen-SS Volunteers of Frikorps Danmark

Scandinavian Waffen-SS Frontline Nurses

The first Danes, Dutch, Flemings, Norwegians and Swedes were concentrated, along with Finns, into the new SS-Division Wiking. The division was formed around the Germania regiment. The enrollment began in April 1940 with the creation of two regiments: the SS-Standarte Nordland for Danish, Norwegian and Swedish volunteers, and the SS-Standarte Westland for Dutch and Flemish volunteers. The Wiking did receive first-class officers and training before it went into action during late June 1941. The SS-Division Wiking performed so well during its first campaign suggested that troops drawn from outside the Reich's borders might be an effective way of fulfilling the Waffen-SS manpower requirements. In 1943, the Estonian SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Batallion Narwa was also added to Westland. Top image: Dutch volunteers of the newly built up SS-Standarte Westland in 1940. The term Standarte was soon to be replaced by that of the Regiment. Het Leven, Spaarnestad Photo. Fair use. Bottom images: Danish Waffen-SS Volunteers and Norwegian SS Front Nurses taking their oath of allegiance. The SS was responsible for both the recruitment and training of the volunteer front nurses. The Scandinavian SS nurses mostly served in Nordic volunteer units and formations. Many of them witnessed the heavy fighting at some of the most vicious chapters of the Eastern Front. The Norwegian front nurse Mrs Anne-Gunhild Moxness who served with the Wiking in Ukraine and Caucasus and with the III Germanic SS-Panzerkorps in the Baltic States was the first non-German woman to ever receive the Iron Cross (August 2 1944). The nurse in center is SS Frontschwester Elsa Stendal. Also seen in the picture is the front nurses Grete Bråten and Anne Marie Bjørnstad. The photo was taken by the former German cinema and fashion photographer the war correspondent Max Ehlert. Commons: Bundesarchiv.

11.ϟϟ-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division „Nordland“

Nordic volunteers taking their oath by swearing upon an SS-Führerdegen

SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11

Britisches Freikorps

In February 1943, Hitler ordered the creation of an Waffen-SS division which would be officered by foreign volunteers. In March 1943, the Wiking's SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Nordland, was separated from the Wiking Division and pulled out of the line to be used as the nucleus for the new division Nordland. The 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland's two Panzergrenadier regiments Norge and Danmark was made up of Scandinavian volunteers but both regiments had addition men made up of conscripts from other European countries. Dutch volunteers were planned to be a part of the Nordland division but after protests from the Dutch National Socialist Movement Party it was decided that they would form their own division. This division was formed in October 1943 and named 4.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade Nederland. Nordland's manpower strength was 11.393 officers and men in December 1943 when it was sent to the Oranienbaum front near Leningrad. Top image: Nordic Waffen-SS recruits swearing the oath of allegiance. FU. Middle image: European foreign volunteer recruits of the newly formed Nordland division on their way to the oath-swearing ceremony. The men are led by the Swede SS-Untersturmführer Hans-Gösta Pehrsson, platoon commander of the 3rd Company of Nordland's SS Reconnaissance Battalion. The photo was taken in the fall of 1943 in Sisak in Croatia. Lennart Westberg Archives. FU. Bottom image: in March 1945, the British Free Corps contingent, commanded by the South African SS-Unterscharführer Douglas Mardon, was deployed with the Nordland. The Britons were sent to the 3rd Company of SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11 under the command of the then Swedish SS-Obersturmführer H-G Pehrsson. Note the Union Flag arm shields and the three-lion passant collar tabs on the uniforms of the British recruits, SS-Schütze Kenneth Berry and SS-Sturmmann Alfred Minchin. FU.

Western European Volunteers in the Waffen-SS

Exhibition of photographs of the Légion Wallonie

Photography Exhibition: Waffen-SS Battle for Europe

More than 11,000 French citizens joined the Waffen-SS in 33.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Charlemagne. This does not take into account thousands of 1940 French citizens who volunteered after the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine (Elsaß-Lothringen) were annexed by the German Reich and declared Reichsländer, that is, integral parts of the Reich. A rough estimate is that over 8,000 Flemings served in the Flemish 27.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Langemark and in 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking up to September 1944, and that the number grew to over 13,000 by the end of the war. Another 10,000 Walloons served in 28.SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division Wallonien. All together, perhaps 10,000 Italians saw active duty with the Italian Waffen-Verband der SS and 29.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS. Up to 20,000 Dutch joined the Waffen-SS in 23.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nederland and Wiking, and tens of thousands of others served in organizations such as Organization Toth. More than 26,000 Scandinavians volunteered for service in the Wiking and 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland. Another 13,000 Swedes volunteered against the Soviet aggression in Finland during the Winter War and through rotation, as many as 47,000 Spanish and around 200 Portuguese volunteers served in the Spanish Blue Division as well as in Spanische-Freiwilligen Kompanie der SS 101 and 102. Left image: Belgian volunteer Leutnant Léon Degrelle at an opening ceremony in Belgium on June 18 1943 of an exhibition of photographs of the Légion Wallonie. In the same month, the Wallonian Legion was taken into the Waffen-SS as SS-Sturmbrigade Wallonien and Degrelle himself was promoted SS-Obersturmführer. Wallonien was attached to 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking in the middle Dnieper River sector in late 1943 just prior to the Soviet encirclement at Korsun. Fair use. Right image: Exposition de Photographies de la Waffen-SS, 42 Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris in January 1944. Fair use.

Eastern European Volunteers in the Waffen-SS

Ukrainian 14.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Galizien

Baltic Waffen-SS Volunteer in Sinimäe

Up to 50,000 ethnic Magyars served in the Waffen-SS, along with tens of thousands of Hungarian ethnic Germans. The divisions and National Legions raised from non-Germanics were in the Waffen-SS only by organizational association, and had no relation to the pre-war elite. The volunteers received SS privileges but were not considered true Waffen-SS men. They wore the uniform of the Waffen-SS but with additional national insignia. Freiwilligen – in a unit´s title implies foreign status (indicating that the preponderance of enlisted men were not of German nationality). Waffen – in a unit´s title implies non-Germanic origins (indicating that the preponderance of enlisted men were not of German, ethnic German, or related Nordic ancestry). From 1943 and onward large proportions of Slavic manpower was placed under SS administration and became formally part of the Waffen-SS. Hungarian, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, Galacian, Ukrainian, Ruthenian, Volga and Crimean Tartars contributed over 230,000 men to the ranks of the Waffen-SS, though their contributions were usually of far less significance than those of German and Germanic Waffen-SS units. Left image: Waffen-Hauptscharführer der SS Jaroslav Kunitsky was one of the 2000 Ukrainian NCOs who were sent to Germany in 1943 to be trained. This shot clearly shows the rampant lion collar patch. Kunitsky died in 2009 in Toronto, Canada aged 83. Public domain. Right image: a Baltic volunteer pictured in a reversible parka in Eichenlaubmuster camouflage during the battles held on the Narva River and in the Blue Hills in Estonia in 1944. These battles are often referred to as the Battles of the European SS because the majority of the defenders were European Waffen-SS volunteers. Credit: Rindeleht. Public domain.

Waffen-SS Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross Holders

Knight's Cross holder SS-Obersturmführer Søren Kam

Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes

                                                                                                                      

     
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of the Third Reich to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II. 457 German servicemen of the Waffen-SS, including volunteers from Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Latvia, Netherlands and Norway, received the Knight's Cross (almost always through the recommendation of impressed army corps and army commanders). Of these, 411 presentations were formally made and evidence of the award is still available in the German National Archives. Left image: the Danish Knight's Cross holder SS-Obersturmführer Søren Kam served with SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 9 Germania of the 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking. He obtained West German citizenship in 1956. Kam is wanted in his native country in connection with the death of newspaper editor Carl Henrik Clemmensen during World War II. Kam was at the time 21 years old. In 1999, Danish Minister of Justice Frank Jensen requested an extradition of Kam. This was refused by the Federal Republic of Germany. This request was again made in 2004. In 2007, Germany again denied Kam's extradition to Denmark. Photo taken in Copenhagen while Kam was on leave during WWII in 1945. Public domain. Right image: Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross by Klein & Quenzer. This particular Knight's Cross was sold in October 2010 for 28000 €uros. Fair use.

European Waffen-SS: Pan-European identity

SS-Regiment Westland

SS-Helferinnenkorps

The opinions of tens of thousands of men can only be generalized, but in their post-war writings, most Waffen-SS veterans express satisfaction at having acted. Many Waffen-SS veterans claim they fought to preserve their country's cultural and national identity. They consider themselves as European freedom fighters in German ranks to hold back a greater evil, the Soviet Union. Nothing is gained by either blanket praise for the Germanic volunteers as heroes, or by universal condemnation of them as mercenary traitors. They offered their lives and service in the name of Europe and anti-Communism in an act of conscience. Additionally, many Germanic Waffen-SS volunteers felt vindicated by the creation of NATO. They believe they set an example of international cooperation. Credit: Marc Rikmenspoel, Waffen-SS Encyclopedia. Left image: a contingent of SS-Regiment Westland volunteers taking their loyalty oath of allegiance in September 1944. Westland was one of the three regiments of 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking. The other regiments were Germania and Nordland. Westland consisted mainly of Dutch volunteers, other nationalities like Flemings and Germans were also represented, but in much smaller numbers. Public domain. Right image: a female member of the SS-Helferinnenkorps, the women who volunteered to support the Waffen-SS. Photo by SS-Kriegsberichter Werner Mielke. U.S. National Archives.

Waffen-SS: Casualties and losses

Dansih SS Volunteers during Memorial Day activities

Where the Iron Crosses Grow

Won the Battles but Lost the War

Total casualties amongst the Waffen-SS will probably never be known, but according to a report from July 12 1972 approximately 950,000 men passed through the Waffen-SS up to the end of World War II, and 253,000 were listed as killed or missing in action or died in Prisoner-of-War camps. This equals just less than 27 percent. Other reports, however, indicates that the Waffen-SS suffered 314,000 killed and missing in action or died in Prisoner-of-War camps. This equals just less than 35 percent. Wounded or captured volunteers were often executed when falling in Soviet hands once their interrogations were completed. The volunteers had no illusions about their fate if taken prisoner. The Soviet atrocities carried out against surrendered elite troops were well known among the Waffen-SS. On several well-documented occasions their fallen comrades had been found bestially mutilated and murdered. For the survivors, it was a small, but appreciated act of thanks when, in 1990´s, Finland and newly-independent Estonia issued memorial medals to foreigners who had fought against Communism in those two countries during World War II. The dead have also been honored in recent years through memorials placed in Canada, Estonia, Flanders, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Ukraine and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. Top screenshot: Danish Waffen-SS men during Memorial Day activities on June 2 1944. The Waffen-SS memorial service was held at Høveltegård near the town of Birkerød. Various high-ranking SS members attended the memorial service for Denmark's fallen Waffen-SS volunteers. Present among others were SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner, SS-Gruppenführer Herbert Gille and SS-Obersturmbannführer Fritz Klingenberg. After the war, the memorial was destroyed by the Danish resistance movement. Credit: Danish Defence. PD. Middle image: a volunteer SS soldier mourns by the fresh graves of his fallen comrades somewhere on the Eastern front. The left grave marker's name inscription is Karl Herbrechter, most likely from the Leibstandarte SS, an Zugführer SS-Untersturmführer Karl Herbrechter born 1918, is known to have served in the 14th Company of the 3rd Battalion of the Leibstandarte SS in 1941. Commons Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: three battle-exhausted Waffen-SS volunteers in Ukraine in 1943. The photo was taken by SS-Unterscharführer and Kriegsberichter Max Büschel. The talented war correspondent Max Büschel himself survived the war and managed to evade captivity when the 1.SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte SS surrendered to American forces in Austria in May 1945. He made his way back to his family in Berlin but was apparently shot to death when the Soviet occupational forces found out he was a former member of the Leibstandarte SS. U.S. National Archives. Fair use.

Soviet Winter Counter-Offensive: Operation Little Saturn

Soviet winter counteroffensive December 12 1942 – February 18 1943

Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 or Sturmovik attack bomber in 1943

Red Army charge during the Soviet winter counteroffensive in 1943

The Soviet winter offensive of 1942 struck the Germans in the southern sector of the Eastern Front like a hammer blow, destroying a number of Romanian, Hungarian and Italian divisions, as well as the remnants of the German 6.Armee at Stalingrad. Soviet forces began the final phase of their offensive on January 14 1943 with a massive attack on the overstretched Axis armies dug-in along the River Don. The Soviets were driving deep into German lines. Their hope was to destroy the southern wing of the German army while it was still reeling from its defeat at Stalingrad. There were large gaps in the German lines and a quick advance here could turn the tide of the war. The stakes were enormous. If the Soviets were the first to reach the Dnieper bridges, they could trap Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein's entire force east of the great river. The Germans had lost an army at Stalingrad. Now they were threatened with a super-Stalingrad of the entire German southern wing. The battered Axis divisions were driven back towards the Dnieper, and the Soviet 3rd Guards Tank Army were moving south to cut off Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm List's troops retreating from the Caucasus through Rostov. The SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Wiking had to race north in an orderly but terrible winter retreat to avoid being cut off. All seemed lost, as the newly formed SS-Panzerkorps took the field in the depths of the Soviet winter. Generaloberst Hermann Hoth's 4.Panzerarmee and SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser's SS-Panzerkorps caught the Soviets by surprise from all directions and vaporized them. German casualties in these opening days were minimal. The Soviets, however, lost nearly all their tanks, and many men. Credit: British military historian Gordon Williamson and American military historian Robert M. Citino. Middle image: Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft pictured in 1943. Credit: Georgiy Stanislavskiy. USSR photo. Bottom image: Soviets on the offensive in 1943. Photo taken by Kremlin photographer Dmitry Baltermants. Photos in the PD.

The Soviet Budapest Offensive and the Siege of Budapest

Hungarian Second Army (Második Magyar Hadsereg)

SS-Standartenführer Helmut Dörner of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 8

Panzerkampfwagen Königstiger n°233 of s.Panzerabteilung 503

On October 15 1944 the Germans removed admiral Miklós Horthy from power in Budapest, and the Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross militia began a slaughter of 40,000 Jews and 28,000 gypsies. This was followed by the Soviet Budapest Offensive, beginning October 29 1944. By Christmas Eve 1944 the Soviets had almost surrounded Budapest. The siege lasted until the fall of Budapest on February 13 1945. The Germans lost all or most of the 13.Panzer-Division and the 60.Panzergrenadier-Division Feldherrnhalle, the controversial bandit-fighting 8.SS-Kavallerie-Division Florian Geyer composed of Romanian Volksdeutsche and the 22.SS-Freiwilligen Kavallerie-Division Maria Theresia composed primarily of Hungarian Volksdeutsche. The Royal Hungarian I Corps was completely destroyed. Budapest lay in ruins, with more than 80 percent of its buildings destroyed or damaged. Soviet losses are estimated to 320,000 total casualties. When the Soviets finally claimed victory, they initiated an orgy of violence, including the wholesale theft of anything they could lay their hands on, random executions and mass rape. In Budapest alone, an estimated 50,000 women and children were raped. Hungarian girls were kidnapped and taken to Red Army quarters, where they were imprisoned, repeatedly raped, and sometimes murdered. Even embassy staff from neutral countries were captured and raped, as documented when Soviet soldiers attacked the Swedish legation in Germany. In January 1945, 32,000 ethnic Germans from within Hungary were arrested and transported to the Soviet Union as forced laborers. Many died there as a result of hardship and ill-treatment. Overall, more than 500,000 Hungarians were transported to the Soviet Union. While this destroyed most of the German forces in the region, troops were rushed from the Western Front and, in March 1945, the Germans launched the ill-fated Operation Spring Awakening. Top image: Hungarian Second Army with a Swedish 29M Bofors 80mm anti-aircraft gun in firing position. During the ensuing Siege of Budapest, it was destroyed completely and absorbed into the Hungarian Third Army. Photo by Hungarian Major Tamás Konok. Credit: Paul Reynolds. Fortepan. FU. Middle image: the highly decorated commander of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 8 of the 4.SS-Polizei-Panzergrenadier-Division Helmut Dörner is seen here in Oct. 1944 on his way to prepare the defence of Budapest. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords. During the siege of Budapest, the then SS-Oberführer Dörner became the commander of a mixed battle group. He got killed or captured on Feb. 11 1945 in Budapest during a breakthrough attempt while trying to reach the IV.SS-Panzerkorps. FU. Bottom image: Königstiger n°301 of schwere Panzerabteilung 503 pictured near St. Georges Square in Budapest on Oct. 16 1944. Photo by KB Faupel. Credit: Royston Leonard. Bundesarchiv.

ϟϟ-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser's ϟϟ-Panzerkorps Deployed to Ukraine

 Prussian SS officers Papa Hausser, Werner Ostendorff & Fritz Klingenberg

Panzerjägers with 88 mm Sd.Kfz164 Nashorn

In January 1943 SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Leibstandarte SS, Das Reich and Totenkopf were organized into the SS-Panzerkorps. In early February 1943, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler ordered the newly formed corps moved to the Eastern Front with all possible speed to join Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein's Heeresgruppe Süd in Ukraine. SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Paul Hausser was placed in charge of the corps, and was tasked with defending the strategic city of Kharkov. The SS-Panzerkorps was an immensely powerful force and Hitler pinned his hoped-for stabilization of the southern sector of the Eastern Front on it. The first elements to arrive were the Leibstandarte's SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 1 under regiment commander Fritz Witt, which threw an improvised defence ring around Kharkov blocking the direct route to the city. Das Reich's SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Deutschland under regiment commander Heinz Harmel, was sent to extend the screen northwards. Top image: Prussian officers SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser, his Chief of Staff SS-Standartenführer Werner Ostendorff and the highly experienced Das Reich officer SS-Sturmbannführer Fritz Klingenberg at a field commanders' strategy meeting in Ukraine. Photo taken before the Donets Campaign by South Tyrol-born SS-Kriegsberichter Friedrich Zschäckel. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: half-hidden behind an izba, a Nashorn tank destroyer. The Hornisse is believed to belong to s.Pz.Jg.Abt.519. Eager eyes scan the snow covered fields in search of the enemy. The strong winds mask engine sounds and disturb the soft snow creating a white screen that conceals movement and blinds the defenders. Credit: Rui Manuel Candeias. ECPAD archives. Fair use.

Soviet Skachok and Zvezda Operations: Early February 1943 (I)

Soviet T-34 tank in Stalingrad Oblast east of Ukrainian Donbas

SS-Sturmbannführer Joachim Peiper with fellow officers

SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Leibstandarte SS

By any reckoning, the strategic situation facing the German Army was dire. To their opponents it appeared that the entire southern wing of the Eastern Front was about to collapse, or already in such a state. Not unnaturally in this context, optimism mounted on the Soviet side. In attempting to exploit as much momentum as possible, the Soviet high command approved two plans for operations. The first, codenamed Operation Skachok, sought to liberate the eastern Ukrainian Donbas region and drive German forces across the Dnieper River. The second, codenamed Operation Zvezda, aimed at liberating Kharkov. Soviet numerical superiority was guaranteed in both operations. During the initial defensive fighting in the first week of February 1943, Paul Hausser's élite SS-Panzergrenadiers held the line firm while a host of retreating Romanian, Italian, Hungarian and fragmented German units streamed westwards past them. As Waffen-SS troops fanned out across the winter wasteland, they had a series of vicious encounters with the advance guard of the Soviet 17th Guards Corps. Intermingled with the Soviet troops were retreating columns of the hard-pressed German 298th and 320th Infantry Divisions, who had marched across the steppe to seek safety in the west. In a couple of cases, Waffen-SS reconnaissance troops mounted raids to rescue recently captured infantrymen, racing into Soviet positions on their motorcycles and raking them with machine-gun fire. Credit: military historian Major-General Mungo Melvin and author Tim Ripley. Top image: Soviet T-34 tank named 'Motherland' ploughs through the snow after the battle of Stalingrad in February 1943. Photo by Soviet Izvestia correspondent Georgy Zelma Zelmanovich. PD. Middle image: SS-Sturmbannführer Joachim Peiper in conversation with fellow Leibstandarte officers SS-Hauptsturmführer Paul Guhl and SS-Hauptsturmführer Georg Bormann of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 2 in early 1943. Credit: Bekors. U.S. NARA. Bottom image: battle-hardened men of the Swabian WWI tank veteran Sepp Dietrich's much feared Leibstandarte SS amid a house-to-house raid searching for Soviet soldiers. Photo taken in eastern Ukraine in early 1943. Credit: Olga Shirnina. c. Bundesarchiv.

Soviet Skachok and Zvezda Operations: Early February 1943 (II)

SS-Obergruppenführer Sepp Dietrich's Leibstandarte SS

SS taking up defensive positions to counter the oncoming Soviets

SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Leibstandarte SS

The Eastern Front in early 1943 saw no respite from battle for either side, which involved all available units from the German Army. The battered frontline was lashed by freezing winds, which increased the windchill factor considerably. Throughout the first week of February 1943 the Waffen-SS repulsed numerous Soviet attacks, inflicting serious losses on the enemy, who were somewhat shocked at running into strong Waffen-SS units. The SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Leibstandarte SS held its sector for two weeks against the full weight of the Soviet 3rd Tank Army, a remarkable feat in itself. Time after time the SS-Panzerkorps was called upon to reinforce, fill and stabilize weak points, and to close the gaps before the onslaught of Soviet troops could pour through. Oftentimes they were outnumbered and arrived just in the nick of time. Unlike the Battle for Moscow in 1941, SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser's Waffen-SS troops fighting in the Kharkov campaign were well equipped with winter clothing and equipment. Top image: a Sturmgeschütz or StuG protect an infantry column of the elite Leibstandarte SS against armored opponents in the endless snow-covered Ukrainian steppe. The photo was taken in February 1943. Credit: Georgiy Stanislavskiy. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Bottom clips: Waffen-SS in close combat under extreme winter conditions on Eastern Front in February 1943. Temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius below zero, snowstorms and the difficulties they caused placed the highest demand on the men, for once again they had to bear the heaviest burdens of the fighting. The volunteers of the Waffen-SS were suffering from frostbite and snow blindness but kept struggling, keenly aware that surrender to the Soviet Red Army meant certain death. Footage from Die Deutsche Wochenschau - the official Nazi German war newsreel from 1940 until production discontinued in March 1945. It received film stock from special Waffen-SS and Wehrmacht war reporting units. Fair use.

Soviet Skachok and Zvezda Operations: Early February 1943 (III)

In the Hell of the Eastern Front

SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser's SS-Panzerkorps

Lötlampen-Bataillon – a daredevil unit swooping behind enemy lines

By early February 1943, Soviet tanks and reinforcements were pushing towards the River Dnieper hammering the Germans hard. The Soviets then developed their push on Kharkov with a huge pincer movement. The Waffen-SS fell back deliberately towards Kharkov, during blizzard conditions, in waist-deep snow subjected to frequent ambushes by Soviet troops using the blizzard as cover for their movements. SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser's Waffen-SS troops held their front along the Donets with grim determination against furious attacks by the Soviet 7th and 15th Tank Corps. In their positions east of the city, Waffen-SS heavy MG-34 machine-gun detachments inflicted massive casualties on Soviet human-wave infantry attacks across the barren steppe outside Kharkov. The brunt of these assaults were borne by the SS-Panzergrenadiers, Hausser was keeping his panzer regiments well behind the frontline, ready to deal with any major enemy penetration of his front. These were desperate days for the Waffen-SS. With temperatures dropping to minus 40 degrees centigrade, it was vital to hold towns or villages to provide shelter from the elements. Retreat into the freezing night spelt disaster, so the Waffen-SS volunteers were literally fighting for their own survival. It quickly became clear that sooner or later, Kharkov would become endangered by the Soviet advance. Credit: Gordon Williamson and Tim Ripley. Middle clip: an armoured half-track personnel carrier Sd.Kfz. of Hausser's SS-Panzerkorps in February 1943. Footages from Die Deutsche Wochenschau. Fair use. Bottom image: according to some sources, an observation tank belonging to SS-Sturmbannführer Joachim Peiper's 3rd Battalion of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 2. This unit made quite a name for itself for its night attacks on the Eastern front and was known in divisional and corps areas as the Blowtorch Battalion. The vehicles even used a blowtorch as a tactical symbol. However, some post-war accounts claims that the unit gained the nickname after having set two Ukrainian villages on fire. The photo was taken by SS-Kriegsberichter Max Büschel. U.S. National Archives. Fair use.

Evacuation of Kharkov: February 15 1943

Gerhard Bremer as SS-Obersturmführer

 

Albert Frey as SS-Sturmbannführer

By the evening of February 14 1943, Soviet forces had penetrated into the suburbs of Kharkov. Elements of SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Das Reich, however inflicted heavy losses on the enemy and temporarily halted the Soviet push. SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser had received orders from Adolf Hitler that the city of Kharkov be held at all costs. Hausser was well aware that Kharkov was doomed. Hausser was a realist and would not willingly see his SS-Panzerkorps sacrificed in a pointless defence of a city he already knew was lost. Kharkov was virtually surrounded. Hausser feared that his corps and Panzergrenadier-Division Großdeutschland would share the same fate as Generalfeldmarschall Friedrich Paulus at Stalingrad. He wanted to order an evacuation through a narrow corridor to the southwest. Repeated orders from Hitler to hold the city to the last man and bullet were treated with the contempt they deserved. Hausser bluntly replied that it was too late: It is already settled, Kharkov is being evacuated. He would not countenance the destruction of his corps in a pointless attempt to save Kharkov. He issued orders to pull out on February 15 1943. The corridor linking the city to German-held territory farther west was now only 1.5 kilometers wide at the best. The Soviets were overjoyed at their success in outing the Germans from this strategically important city, but the tenacious defence put up by the Germans had cost the lives of many thousands of their men. Credit: Gordon Williamson and Tim Ripley. Left image: SS-Obersturmführer Gerd Bremer conferring with SS-Obersturmbannführer Kurt Meyer before the evacuation of Kharkov. His shoulder straps have the embroidered “LAH” cypher, and the machine-embroidered pattern of cuffband is worn. Photo taken by the Leibstandarte war correspondent SS-Kriegsberichter Paul Augustin. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. FU. Right image: the tried and tested Leibstandarte SS commander Albert Frey after he was awarded the Knight's Cross for his achievements during the operations in the Kharkov campaign at the beginning of 1943. He was born in 1913 in Heidelberg and joined the SS in 1933 and ended the war as SS-Standartenführer. Albert Frey who was devoted to his seriously ill wife Lotte shot her dead and killed himself in the morning of September 1 2003 in Heilbronn. Credit: Bekors. Commons: Bundesarchiv.