Withdrawal of the German Army Detachment „Narwa"

11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland

SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11 Nordland

SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 24 Danmark

On July 23 1944, SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner ordered a withdrawal from Narva to the Tannenberg Line, a prepared position 16 km to the west. The German units of Army Detachment Narwa that failed to retreat on the agreed timetable, immediately faced heavy Soviet assaults. The Dutch SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 48 General Seyffardt and the brigade's artillery component was to provide a rearguard for the retreating troops. The Marshal of the Soviet Union Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov launched the Narva Offensive on the German lines on July 24 1944, and in the afternoon, the 4.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade Nederland's Artillery battalion started withdrawing across the Narva bridge. The Dutchmen got involved in heavy fighting but managed to hold the Soviets while the last of the Waffen-SS volunteers got across the river. The Nordland's Pioneer Battalion blew up the bridge. However, due to a colossal mistake by its officers, the General Seyffardt regiment would not survive the withdrawal. The Nederland Brigade had lost one of its two regiments, and many valuable veterans were lost forever. With the exception of the General Seyffardt, the withdrawal had been a success, and Steiner's men began to dig in on the Tannenberg Line. In the ensuing Battle of Tannenberg Line, the German army group held its ground. Top image: a Nordland MG34 Gunner. Photo by SS-Kriegsberichter Kraus in 1944. U.S. NARA FU. Middle image: sitting on the half-track to the right with an unidentified volunteer in Estonia 1944 is the Swede SS-Untersturmführer and Zugführer Gunnar Eklöf. He had joined the Waffen-SS in 1941 and was posted to SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11 of the Nordland in 1944. Eklöf survived WWII and returned to Sweden in the summer of 1945. FU. Bottom image: Danish SS volunteers of the Nordland prepare to counterattack after Soviet forces managed to break into their lines near Orphanage Hill on July 28 1944. The areas of combat were thick with woods, making close combat the order of the day. Photo by SS-KB Erich Fabiger. Credit: Julius Backman. c. Bundesarchiv.