ϟϟ-Division „Reich“ and Casualties and losses in Operation Barbarossa

Waffen-SS prior to the winter season in communist Soviet Union

Volunteers of the SS-Division Reich

Unidentified fallen Stabsfeldwebel

The Germans forces were the best-trained troops in the world for the rapid, blitzkrieg-style warfare that encompassed the Eastern Front, but they were unready to deal with harsh weather and the poor road network of the Soviet Union. The gravity of the beleaguered German army's situation towards the end of 1941 was due to the Red Army's increasing strength and factors that in the short run severely restricted the German forces' effectiveness. Chief among these were their overstretched deployment, a serious transport crisis and the eroded strength of most divisions. Parallels have been drawn with Napoleon's invasion of Russia. By December of 1941, SS-Division Reich and other German troops were within sight of Moscow. But, when the notorious Russian winter set in, German advances came to a halt. The Reich had lost 60 percent of its strength and was still to take part in the Battle of Moscow, and was decimated in the following Soviet offensive; the SS-Regiment Der Führer was reduced to 35 men out of the 2,000 that had started the campaign in June 1941. During the bitter fighting outside of Moscow against the Soviet counteroffensive, the Reich was virtually destroyed. By the end of this, one of the largest, deadliest military operations in history, Germany had suffered some 775,000 overall casualties. More than 800,000 Soviets had been killed, and an additional 6 million Soviet soldiers had been wounded or captured. Despite massive advances, Adolf Hitler's plan to conquer the Soviet Union before winter had failed. On December 24, 1941, Admiral Wilhelm Franz Canaris wrote in his personal diary: In the retreat from Moscow we had to abandon German field hospitals as well. The Russians dragged out the sick and injured, hanged them upside down, poured gasoline over them, and set them on fire. On another occasion German prisoners were beheaded and their heads laid out to form the SS symbol. Top image: two soldiers of the Waffen-SS scanning the horizon in the Soviet Union. Photo by SS-KB Paul Augustin. Credit: Karl Mensburg. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Middle image: two soldiers of the Reich Division. Serving on the Eastern Front in winter time required camouflage. Before the introduction of purpose-made-special winter clothing camouflage was improvised from plain white cloth. The harsh Soviet winter of 1941 saw temperatures drop below -40 °C. The SS-Unterscharführer to the right appears on the cover of the book Loyalty Is My Honor by Gordon Williamson. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: USSR propaganda photo; a Soviet T-34/76 tank crosses a snow-covered wasteland near the corpse of a fallen Stabsfeldwebel. PD.

ϟϟ-Oberst-Gruppenführer und Generaloberst der Waffen-SS Dietrich

Josef Sepp Dietrich as SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS

Adolf Hitler and Sepp Dietrich at the Wolfsschanze east of Rastenburg

Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes

Josef Sepp Dietrich was born on May 28 1892 in the province of Swabia. At the age of nineteen he joined the Bavarian Army in October 1911. After the outbreak of World War I he was sent to the 6th Bavarian Reserve Field Artillery Regiment. He saw action in the first year of the war and had been wounded twice by early 1915. In 1918 Dietrich was transferred to one of the first tank units developed by the Imperial German Army in World War I, the Bavarian Assault Tank Detachment 13, and served as a gunner. Dietrich joined the Bavarian Landespolizei after the war, reaching the rank of captain by 1924. He took leave from active police service after he volunteered to fight with the Freikorps Oberland against Polish irregular forces. In 1920 Poland sought to seize control of the German province of Upper Silesia, with had been ceded to Poland by the Versailles Treaty. The hardened combat veterans of the Freikorps Oberland were sent to Upper Silesia to help defend the province from the Polish troops. In 1927 he joined the Nazi Party and shortly thereafter, the SS. From 1934 until 1939 Dietrich commanded Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler and oversaw an expansion and change in mission for the formation. Dietrich led his young Waffen-SS troops into Poland in September 1939 and later he scored a huge personal coup when he received the surrender of the entire Greek Army. In fact, he negotiated the entire surrender and extended very generous terms to the Greek officers, who were allowed to keep their sidearms and return home as well. On June 22 1941 Dietrich led an experienced Leibstandarte SS as a reinforced regiment into the Soviet Union, where it saw the most savage fighting in history. SS-Oberstgruppenführer und Generaloberst der Waffen-SS Dietrich surrendered to members of the U.S. 36th Infantry Division at Kufstein in Austria on May 9 1945 and entered what would be a long period of captivity. He was eventually imprisoned at Dachau and charged with war crimes associated with the Malmedy massacre. He received a life time sentence and was incarcerated in Landsberg prison. By 1948 his health began to deteriorate due to circulatory from the hard years in the Soviet Union and the poor conditions in the prison. He was released in 1959 and rejoined his family for the last years of his life. In April 1966, the old soldier of the Leibstandarte SS and holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves, Swords, and Diamonds died of a heart attack at his home in Ludwigsburg at age 73. His funeral was attended by 7,000 of his wartime Waffen-SS comrades. Dietrich was eulogized by former SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Wilhelm Bittrich. Credit: George Nipe and Remy Spezzano: Platz der Leibstandarte. Top image: Commander of the Leibstandarte SS Sepp Dietrich on the Berghof terrace. The Berghof was Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's home near Berchtesgaden in the Obersalzberg of the Bavarian Alps. Fair use. Middle image: Adolf Hitler shakes hands with SS-Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich on August 10 1944 at the Wolfsschanze or the Wolf’s Lair east of Rastenburg in Ostpreußen. In the background, from left to right: SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein and Hitler's aide-de-camp SS-Hauptsturmführer Otto Günsche. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds to the Knight's Cross by Otto Klein. Recently in November 2019 one set was sold at Barnebys for approximately 99,900 €uros. Fair use.

ϟϟ-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Meyer

Kurt Meyer aka Panzermeyer

Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern

Kurt Adolf Wilhelm Meyer was born in Jerxheim, Germany on December 23 1910. He was the son of an Army veteran of World War I who eventually died of complications resulting from wounds he received during the war. At the age of nineteen, Kurt Meyer became a member of the Landespolizei in 1929, serving as a police officer until 1934. He received the nickname Panzermeyer for an exploit which did not take place during World War II and had nothing to do with the military. In 1929, when Meyer began training at the Police Academy at Schwerin, he tried to play a prank on a fellow policeman, planning to dump a pail of water on the man as he passed by a building. Unfortunately, Meyer accidentally slipped from the roof of the building and fell nearly three stories, landing on his feet. He suffered more than twenty fractures and was not expected to live. In spite of his injures, he amazingly recovered, although almost losing a leg. Out of admiration for his physical toughness, his respectful fellow policemen began calling him Panzermeyer. Meyer joined the Nazi Party in 1930 and was accepted in the SS on October 15 1931. The fiery Meyer flourished under Sepp Dietrich's command. He showed aggressiveness and understanding of the proper employment of mobile units and won the Knight's Cross for his leadership and accomplishments during the Greek campaign. The fighting against Canadian troops during the days after D-Day in Normandy 1944 was bitter and marked by brutalities on both sides. Meyer was placed on trial for the death of a number of Canadian prisoners near his divisional headquarters, convicted and sentenced to death by a Canadian Army court. The sentence was subsequently changed to life imprisonment after being evaluated by a Canadian court of inquiry. He was finally released on September 6 1954. After his release, Meyer said: A United Europe is now the only answer. He became very active in HIAG, the organization for former members of the Waffen-SS and his excellent memoirs Grenadiere were published. The Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords holder SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Kurt Meyer died of a heart attack while celebrating his 51st birthday in Hagen, Westfalen on December 23 1961. Widely admired by men who served with him, as well as other SS veterans, his funeral was attended by over 15,000 former Waffen-SS soldiers. A cushion-bearer bore his medals. Left image: the 30-year-old Kurt Meyer, here as SS-Sturmbannführer and commander of Aufklärungs-Abteilung Leibstandarte SS in May 1941. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Right image: replica of the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords. Recently in 2017 an original 3-piece was sold for approx. US$75,000. Fair use.