IV.ϟϟ-Panzerkorps (the Wet Triangle)

Fellow officers of SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 Wiking - east of Warszawa

Oakleaves holder Erwin Meierdress - east of Warszawa

3.SS-Panzerdivision Totenkopf - east of Warszawa

3.SS-Panzerdivision Totenkopf - east of Warszawa

3.SS-Panzerdivision Totenkopf - east of Warszawa

In June 1944. the 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking's manpower strength was 17,368 officers and men and the 3.SS-Panzer-Division Totenkopf's manpower strength was 21,115 officers and men. In August 1944, the Wiking was ordered to Modlin on the Vistula River, east of Warszawa. Paired with the Totenkopf as IV.SS-Panzerkorps and the Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1 Hermann Göring, the Wiking played an important part in reforming the line and holding the Red Army in Poland and virtually annihilated the Soviet 3rd Tank Corps, which included a division of communist Poles. Fighting was especially fierce in the so-called Wet Triangle, an area bounded by the Narew-Bug and the Vistula. Armoured spearheads of the Soviet 2nd Tank Army had been poised to severe the main road leading from the Narew bridge at Zegrze to Warszawa. A violent clash with elements of five panzer divisions put paid to this Soviet venture. It was thanks to the unbroken will of the Wiking, along with that of the comrades from the Totenkopf, that the enemy's operational intentions were thwarted. The Soviets failed to break through to the northwest and outflank the remnants of both Heeresgruppe Mitte and Heeresgruppe Nord. However, the Battle of Radzymin was the first of several battles that left the Wiking division's infantry regiments in tatters. Attrition was less of an issue for the Red Army, which was able to pump fresh reserves into the Triangle. The battles within the Wet Triangle had reduced Westland's infantry battalions to little more than rifle companies. These losses were compounded by the fact that few veteran Dutchmen or Flemings remained in what had once been a model contingent of Waffen-SS volunteers from the Low Countries. Its ranks largely replaced by Volksdeutsche conscripts and former Luftwaffe ground crew. The advent of the Warsaw Uprising brought the Soviet offensive to a halt, and relative peace fell on the front line. The Wiking and the Totenkopf remained in the Modlin area for the rest of the year. Credit: Sitrep. Top image: Wiking officers in front of the commander of the SS-Panzer-Regiment 5’s 2nd Battalion SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Paetsch's Panther. The photo is most likely taken in connection with Paetsch's transfer to the 10.SS-Panzer-Division Frundsberg in June 1944. Paetsch is standing in center holding a bouquet of flowers. To the right of him stands SS-Obersturmführer Karl Nicolussi-Leck dressed in shorts and SS-Untersturmführer Dr. Manfred Renz dressed in the black panzer uniform. Nine month later, on March 16 1945, Paetsch was fatally wounded aged 35 in Pommern. Note that Nicolussi-Leck is not wearing the Knight's Cross awarded to him on April 9 1944. Credit: Alif Rafik Khan. FU. Top clip: the Commander of 1./SS-Panzer-Regiment 3 of the Totenkopf SS-Sturmbannführer Hubert-Erwin Meierdress filmed in defensive position east of Warszawa in Aug. 1944. Meierdress had performed many fire brigade missions since the Demyansk Pocket in 1942 but was killed in action aged 28 on Jan. 4 1945 during Operation Konrad in Hungary. Bottom clips and screenshot: SS-Panzergrenadiers of the Totenkopf in a counterthrust east of Warszawa in Aug. 1944. Accredited to SS-Kriegsberichter Hermann Grönert. Footage: Die Deutsche Wochenschau.