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| Finnisches Freiwilligen-Bataillon der Waffen-SS |
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| SS-Unterscharführer Markus Ledin |
The Soviets were continuously being reinforced. An enemy column consisting of approximately 1,000 men and numerous motorized vehicles was identified five kilometres east of the forward lines around noon on October 6 1942. The SS-Division Wiking finally captured Malgobek the very same day, however the objective of seizing the capital and opening a road to the Caspian Sea was not achieved. The closest point to Grozny, Reference Point 701, was captured at 1730 hours by the Finnish Freiwilligen-Bataillon der Waffen-SS of SS-Infanterie-Regiment Nordland after two hours of hard fighting. In vain, the Soviets ran up against the newly won positions of the third battalion of Nordland for three days without breaking into the main line of resistance. All attacks were turned back by the tanks of the SS-Panzer-Abteilung 5
Wiking. On October 12 1942, 18 Soviet bombers, escorted by fighters, conducted four bombing runs on the positions on high ground. According to various sources the SS-Division Wiking lost over 1,500 men during the fighting for Sagopshin and Malgobek. Several combat units were reduced to only dozens of men, and as a Waffen-SS veteran later wrote:
Casualties weren't counted any more, just men left alive. Note: It should be pointed out that Reference Point 701 was not Hill 701, which is indicated in some writings. It was a target reference point for artillery purposes. There was no high ground of 701 meters between Malgobek and Wosnessenskaja. Credit:
Viking Panzers. Top image: SS volunteers of the Finnisches Freiwilligen-Bataillon der Waffen-SS. Public domain. Bottom image: Swedish SS-Unterscharführer
Markus Ledin from Stockholm volunteered for the Waffen-SS in January 1942 and served with the Wiking until he got wounded during the fierce fighting in Sagopshin. After recovering, he was transferred to the then newly created
11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland. Courtesy of Joakim Munter.
The history of the ethnic-Swedes in the Waffen-SS that lived in Finland and Estonia and in the south of Ukraine have been more or less forgotten due to their status as a national minority. The highest ranking Swedish-speaking Finn to be killed in action was SS-Obersturmführer Lennart Simeon Wallén. He was killed on 9 October 1942 during the heavy battles around Malgobek.
ReplyDeleteSS-Obersturmführer Erich Oskar Hannus was also killed in action in September 1942 at Malgobek and SS-Obersturmführer Kai William Hortling was killed in action in December 1942 at Tschikola.
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