Soviet Polesskoe Offensive and the Ukrainian-Polish Massacres

View from a Wiking Panther on the railway embankment to Kowel

Wiking officers Reicher and Großrock west of the Polish city of Kowel

Panthers of SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 Wiking advancing west of Kowel

Panther n°800 of SS-Ostuf. d. R. Karl Nicolussi-Leck east of Warszawa

At the end of February 1944, 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking found it self in the area between Chełm and Lublin in Poland with the survivors who had been fortunate enough to escape the Cherkassy pocket. It was intended to reconstitute the division there. Then a call from the Führer Headquarters reached the division on March 12 1944. Wiking was to assist the defence of Kowel in Eastern Poland, which was under threat from a strong Soviet force during the Polesskoe offensive. At the same time, Chełm and its environs were subject to massacres and revenge killings between Ukrainians and Poles. According to Polish historian Marek Jasiak the most notable single day example of this occurred March 13-14 1944, when the Polish Home Army or the AK, aided by Polish self-defense groups murdered some 1,500 ethnic Ukrainians from Chełm region villages, 70 percent of whom were women and children. Stabswache de Euros has been unable to verify Jasiak's numbers of those killed using other sources. The massacre is believed to be an act of retaliation for earlier murders by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or the UPA, with the support of the local Ukrainian population against the Polish minority in the area. The atrocities on Poles were directly linked to the policies of the Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera and carried out indiscriminately and without restraint. The massacres were marked with extreme sadism and brutality. The victims, regardless of their age or gender, were routinely tortured to death. Poles were burned alive, flayed, impaled, crucified, disembowelled, dismembered and beheaded. Women were gang raped and had their breasts sliced off, children were hacked to pieces with axes, babies were impaled on bayonets and pitchforks or bashed against trees. Hundreds of thousands of Poles fled to areas that were controlled by the Germans. Swedish historian Per Anders Rudling's studies from 2011 quote 91,200 confirmed Polish deaths, 43,987 of which are known by name. The Germans tried not to get directly involved in the conflict, and special German units formed from the collaborationist Ukrainian and later the Polish auxiliary police were deployed in pacification actions. According to Polish professor Władysław Filar, Soviet partisan units in the area reported to the headquarters that the Ukrainian Banderivtsy did not shoot the Poles but cut them dead with knives and axes, with no consideration for age or gender. On the morning of March 16 1944, two days after the massacres in the Chełm region, SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Germania and Westland were loaded on trains. SS-Gruppenführer Herbert Otto Gille flew by Fieseler Storch from Lublin to Kowel. He landed there as planned and set up the command post. Gille acted with vigor and planned in great depth in order to improve the defensive posture of Kowel. But time was pressing. About 2,000 wounded men lay in the city's cellars, receiving only emergency care. Gille had his own doubts whether the city could be held until relief arrived. The first unit to arrive was the 8th Company of Wiking's SS-Panzer-Regiment 5. Commander was the daring officer SS-Obersturmführer Karl Nicolussi-Leck. He had already proven himself as an armor leader in the Caucasus. His company was well trained and newly equipped with 17 Panthers. It was further intended for the Germania of SS-Sturmbannführer Franz Hack and its 10 attached assault guns to accompany the attack. By April 10 1944 the Soviet encirclement of the city was broken and Wiking were pulled out of the line to continue refitting. In 1945, at the insistence of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin Poland's borders were redrawn, the Polish population was forcibly resettled and Kowel was incorporated into the Soviet Union. Credit: Wikipedia i.a. Top image: view from the turret of a Panther of SS-Panzer-Regiment 5, trundling along the railway embankment to Kowel in March 1944. c. Bundesarchiv. Second image: SS-Hstuf. Alois Reicher and SS-Ustuf. Alfred Großrock of SS-Pz.Reg. 5 confers with their Heer counterparts. Photo taken by SS-KB Alois Jarolim, who covered the battle of Kowel at close quarters. U.S. NARA. Third image: two Panthers from SS-Pz.Reg. 5 as seen through the commanders scissors periscope from a third tank. Note the Panzergrenadiers walking alongside the tanks. Photo taken west of Kowel in April 1944 by SS-Uscharf. Ernst Baumann, staff member of Germania. c. Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: Panther n°800 and a communication vehicle Sd.Kfz. 251/3 east of Warszawa in 1944. Panther n°800 belonged to SS-Ostuf. Karl Nicolussi-Leck. c. Bundesarchiv.

ϟϟ-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS Gille

Wiking Kdr. Herbert Gille in Kowel where the division saw fierce combat

An immobilized Panther of Wiking keeps fighting in Kowel sector

Herbert Gille's SS-Panzergrenadiers during the relief effort at Kowel

SS-Gruppenführer Herbert Otto Gille: Liberation of Kowel

SS-Gruppenführer Herbert Otto Gille flew into the encircled Polish city of Kowel to command its forces while Wiking and Heer units fought to the rescue. In the fortress, he reguested assistance from the Luftwaffe, since a lengthy defense of the city would not be possible without supply from the air. Herbert Gille, commander of 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking and of the IV.SS-Panzerkorps, holder of the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds, was highly regarded for his leadership qualities and tactical abilities. He had served at the frontline without pause since the Polish Campaign of September 1939. Gille had distinguished himself as a commander on every day of the fighting in Poland, the West and the East. He commanded Waffen-SS units at the regiment, division and corps level with distinction during WWII. Gille was popular with his Dutch and Scandinavian men and admired for his personal bravery. When the end of war was clear, the then SS-Obergruppenführer Gille marched his men towards U.S. troops in order to avoid surrendering to Soviet forces. All of his decorations were stolen in Augsburg. Because of his membership in the Waffen-SS, Gille was taken to Salzburg prison by the U.S. Army. Finally, on May 21 1948, he was released to his family. Gille died aged 69 of heart failure on Dec. 26 1966 in Stemmen near Hannover. More than 800 former Waffen-SS comrades from all over European nations accompanied the General to his final resting place. Former SS-Oberführer Karl Ullrich, the last commander of the Wiking, spoke the eulogy at the graveside of this unforgettable soldier and founder of the veteran magazine Wiking Ruf. Top image: SS-Gruf. Herbert Gille discussing the situation with SS-Stubaf. Franz Hack and SS-Hstuf. d.R. Hans Flügel during the Kowel encirclement in March 1944. Photo by SS-Kriegsberichter Alois Jarolim. Credit: Julia Kotterias. U.S. National Archives. Top clip: a Panther of SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 in Kowel sector, immobilized with track damage but the gun is in working order, and the crew continue to give fire support. Middle clip: SS-Panzergrenadiers of the Wiking in Kowel sector. Bottom clip: huge congratulations to the relief force who attacked and liberated the city of Kowel which had been surrounded by the Soviets in mid-March 1944. The relief force consisted of elements from the Wiking division, 4. and 5.Panzer-Division and 131.Infanterie-Division which together broke through the Soviet lines on April 5 1944 and established a permanent linkup with the defenders in Fortress Kowel led by the frontline veteran Herbert Otto Gille. All footage from Die Deutsche Wochenschau.

ϟϟ-Obersturmführer d. R. Karl Nicolussi-Leck's Panther Leap to Kowel

South Tyroler Pz Commander SS-Ostuf. Karl Nicolussi-Leck

Original SS-Division Wiking Cuff Title

The Soviet Red Army threw ten rifle divisions, a tank corps, and two tank brigades into the Battle of Kovel. They were checked in bloody defensive fighting, in which the then SS-Obersturmbannführer Johannes Rudolf Mühlenkamp, Oberst Fromberger and Lieutenant General Heinrich Nickel particularly distinguished themselves. Soon after beginning the attack, the 27-year-old SS-Obersturmführer d.R Karl Nicolussi-Leck, Commander of the 8th Company of SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 Wiking, received a radio message from the besieged commander to halt his attack and withdraw. He ordered his radio operator to ignore the call, and continued the attack. Risking court-martial, Nicolussi-Leck proceeded to fight his way though the Red Army encirclement, destroying several tanks in the process. They rolled over the Russian trenches, crushing gun positions and machine-gun nests, and then German steel helmets appeared before them. They were inside the pocket. It was exactly 07:30 on March 30 1944 when the tanks under Nicolussi-Leck reached the Kowel railway loop and established contact with the German strongpoint. At 08:10 they stopped in front of Wiking Commander SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS Herbert Otto Gille's command post. Out of the initial force of 17 Panthers and a Bergepanther only seven tanks reached the Kowel defenders. Nicolussi-Leck's Panther tank was the first panzer to break the encirclement, for his actions he was awarded the Knight's Cross. After World War II, Nicolussi-Leck like many of his Waffen-SS comrades left Europe for South America, but returned in the early 1950's. He became the founder of the South Tyrolean Center for Education, the University Claudiana and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Bozen. The holder of the Knight's Cross and the German Cross in Gold Karl Nicolussi-Leck died aged 91 on August 30 2008 in Bozen in South Tyrol. Top image: SS-Ostuf. d. R. Karl Nicolussi-Leck’s actions during the liberation of Kowel were judged to be worthy of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, which is visible in this photo. Private Collection. Bottom image: the 'Wiking' cuff title was introduced in September of 1942. This machine-woven cuff title is in the style known as Bevo-like. Fair use.

5.ϟϟ-Panzerdivision „Wiking“ after Breaking the Kowel Encirclement

5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking west of the Polish city of Kowel

SS-Pz.Gren.Reg. 9 Germania of 5.SS-Pz.Div. Wiking

SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 Wiking and 151.Infanteriedivision

Panzer commander SS-Obersturmführer Karl Nicolussi-Leck of SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 Wiking succeded in making a break through to the encircled town of Kowel on his own initiative and under severe conditions. Nicolussi-Leck's Panthers along with the III.Battalion/SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 9 Germania greatly contributed to the occupying troops holding out. The Soviet Red Army lost 295 tanks in the battle of Kowel. After 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking had established a corridor to the trapped forces, the withdrawal began on April 10 1944. On May 8 1944, SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 was withdrawn from "Fortress Kovel" and moved to Maciejow. Wiking's panzer regiment had become the Wehrmacht General Friedrich Hoßbach's LVI.Panzerkorps fire-brigade. The Soviet offensive Bagration began early on the morning of June 22 1944. Soviet armies with approximately 2,500,000 men were attacking on a 700-kilometer front. According to military historian Karl-Heinz Frieser this huge army was spearheaded by 6,000 tanks and self-propelled guns. At that point none of the men of the Wiking were aware of the catastrophe that was taking place to the north of them. All remained quiet in the Kowel area. Top image: with their mission complete, company commander SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans-Georg Jessen of SS-Panzer-Regiment 5, has time to confer with company commander SS-Hauptsturmführer Friedrich Hannes of 12th Company of Regiment Germania 9. Hans-Georg Jessen was one of the first officers assigned to the Wiking's tank battalion in 1942 and was hand-picked by commander Johannes Mühlenkamp in 1943. He was well know in the division as a steady hand in battle. Photo by SS-Unterscharführer Ernst Baumann. Credit: Doug Banks. c. Bundesarchiv. Middle image: SS-Hauptsturmführer Friedrich Hannes place a stick grenade in the tube 76mm of the Russian SU-76M to neutralize it. To the left is the Commander of the 11th Company of the Germania SS-Untersturmführer Gerhard Mahn. Photo by Ernst Baumann. Credit: Ghermán Mihály. c. Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: men of the liberated Wehrmacht Gruppe Ritter of the 151.Infanteriedivision are pictured as they pass by SS-Staf. Johannes Mühlenkamp's Panther R02 near Brześć Litewski. Credit: Régis Klimenko. c. Bundesarchiv.

ϟϟ-Standartenführer der Waffen-SS Mühlenkamp

Wiking commanders Johannes Mühlenkamp and Herbert Gille

SS-Staf. Mühlenkamp with tankers of SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 Wiking

SS-Obersturmführers Willi Hein and Kurt Schumacher

The 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking's Panzer Commander Johannes Rudolf Mühlenkamp was promoted SS-Standartenführer on April 20 1944. On August the same year, he was given the command of the division. He always led from the front and commanded Wiking until Oct. 1944. Then, Mühlenkamp was promoted Inspector of Waffen-SS Panzer troops in the SS-Führungshauptamt. Mühlenkamp held the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves that reflected not only his achievements but also those of his men. To the European volunteers under his command he was a figurehead who was often to be found standing over his panzer, his face covered in dust, leading them into battle. The Wiking Division had already earned a reputation for combat elan, even winning the grudging respect of the Soviets. The break out of Cherkassy and the battle of Kowel had only furthered that reputation. Johannes Mühlenkamp died aged 76 on Sept. 23 1986 in Bredelem in Niedersachsen. Top image: SS-Standartenführer Johannes Mühlenkamp and SS-Gruppenführer Herbert Otto Gille, both highly-decorated officers, had served in combat since the Polish Campaign of Sept. 1939. Photo taken on April 27 1944 south-west of Kowel by former Waffen-SS war correspondent SS-Unterscharführer Ernst Baumann, staff member of Germania. Middle image from left to right: SS-Sturmbannführer Paul Kümmel, Johannes Mühlenkamp, SS-Obersturmführer Kurt Schumacher, SS-Untersturmführer d. R. Paul Senghas credited with 49 tank kills, and an unidentified SS-Oberscharführer. Photo taken on May 19 1944 at Cholm from an awards ceremony for SS-Panzer-Regiment 5. Bottom image: SS-Obersturmführers Willi Hein and Kurt Schumacher in the summer of 1944 during training in Debica in eastern Poland, at the time the SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 was still undergoing reconstitution following its near-destruction in the Cherkassy Pocket. Both tankers were awarded the Knight's Cross for their actions during the fierce fighting at Cherkassy back in Feb. 1944. Willi Hein was severely wounded in the fighting for Budapest in early Jan. 1945 and spent the rest of the war in hospital at Bad Aussee in Austria. Hein, promoted to SS-Hstuf on Jan. 30 1945, died aged 83 on Oct. 25 2000 in Lauenburg an der Elbe in Schleswig-Holstein. Schumacher who was credited with more than 32 tank kills was KIA aged 22 during a night attack on March 20 1945 in a forest near Stuhlweisenburg in Hungary. c. Bundesarchiv.

Belorussian Offensive Operation Bagration: Casualties and losses

Deployments during Belorussian Strategic Offensive Operation Bagration

Soviet assault gun SU-152 in Eastern Europe during Bagration

Bandit-fighting LGN of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism in Belarus

3.SS-Panzer-Division Totenkopf in east-central Poland

5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking in east-central Poland

The Belorussian Strategic Offensive Operation Bagration was a massive Soviet attack which cleared German forces from the Belorussian and eastern Poland between June 22 and August 19 1944, consisting of four Soviet army groups totaling over 120 divisions that smashed into a thinly-held German line. More than 2,3 million Soviet troopers went into action against the German Army Group Centre, which boasted a strength of fewer than 800,000 men. The Germans had transferred some units to France to counter the invasion of Normandy two weeks before. At the points of attack, the numerical advantages of the Soviets were overwhelming: the Red Army achieved a ratio of ten to one in tanks and seven to one in aircraft over the Wehrmacht. Bagration was by any measure one of the largest single operations of World War II. According to official Soviet sources Soviet casualties in Operation Bagration were 770,888 including 180,040 killed and missing. According to German historian Karl-Heinz Frieser, Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS units suffered 399,102 overall casualties, including 158,480 captured. The offensive at Estonia claimed another 480,000 Soviet troopers. On June 30 1944, the IV.SS-Panzerkorps consisting of both the 3.SS-Panzer-Division Totenkopf and the 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking was placed under the control of former Wiking commander SS-Obergruppenführer Herbert Gille. The corps was one of the few functioning formations on the central section of the Eastern Front. It was placed into the line around Warszawa. As the Red Army approached, the Polish Home Army launched Operation Tempest. During the Warsaw Uprising, the Soviet Army halted at the Vistula River, unwilling to come to the aid of the Polish resistance. An attempt by the communist controlled 1st Polish Army to relieve the city was unsupported by the Red Army and was thrown back in September with heavy losses. The IV.SS-Panzerkorps itself was not involved in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising. After holding the line near Warszawa, the corps was pushed back to the area near Modlin, where it saw heavy fighting until Dec. 1944. Top image: Soviet heavy assault gun SU-152 crossing a river in Lithuania on Aug. 12 1944 during Bagration. Credit: Olga Shirnina. IMS Scandinavia. PD. Second image: during the opening days of Bagration, the French LVF had cut the Moscow-Minsk road in front of Barysaw in Belarus were they fought a successful small-scale delaying action. The French volunteers of the LVF were otherwise known for their indiscipline and low morale and used only in anti-partisan warfare behind the front-line of Army Group Centre, but here amid the chaos at the front, they stood their ground and only retreated after running out of ammunition. The losses on the enemy side were heavy with at least 40 Soviet tanks destroyed. Die Deutsche Wochenschau. Third image: SS-Stubaf. Hubert-Erwin Meierdress of the Totenkopf filmed in defensive position during the fierce battles east of Warszawa in Aug. 1944. Die Deutsche Wochenschau. Bottom image: caught on camera in the thick of battle is Wiking Panzergrenadieres in Sd.Kfz. 251 half-tracks storming an unidentified village between Białystok and Brześć Litewski in July 1944. At this time the Wiking was engaged in counter-attacks against Soviet armored and cavalry forces following their crushing defeat of Army Group Center in Belarus during the Red Army's Bagration summer offensive. Photo by SS-Uscharf. Ernst Baumann, staff member of Germania. U.S. NARA.

5.ϟϟ-Panzerdivision „Wiking“ (the Wet Triangle)

5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking

SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 9 Germania

SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 and SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Germania

The key, or so Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler believed, in achieving victory at this late stage of the war, was the use of his elite panzer divisions of the Waffen-SS. Hitler had lost faith in the German Wehrmacht long ago, but he still clung to the belief that his picked Waffen-SS troops would bring victory. This belief was to be shattered in the months to come. During this time the 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking was engaged in counterattacks against Soviet armored and cavalry forces following their rapid advance during the Red Army's Operation Bagration summer offensive. Top image: SS-Panzergrenadiers belonging to SS-Kampfgruppe Mühlenkamp of the Wiking in Eastern Poland in July 1944. As the massed forces of the Red Army steamrollered their way across Poland, the German war machine began to break down. The Waffen-SS and the Wiking continued to fight on even when overrun and abandoned in isolated pockets. Credit: Sylerius. Middle image: Company commander SS-Ustuf. Gerhard Mahn of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Germania signals to his men in armoured half-tracks while a plume of smoke rises in the background as they are about to mount an attack against the Soviets. Credit: Mike Gepp. Bottom image: Commander of 5th Company of SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 Wiking SS-Ostuf. Norbert Neven du Mont's Panther tanks sweeping all before them in the vicinity of Maciejow in Poland in July 1944. Panther n°534 moves ahead into a farmyard while Gerhard Mahn's men keep their heads down in their SPW in case Soviet infantry are encountered. Hanging inside the vehicle to the right of the Grenadier are three essential pieces of field equipment familiar to every German soldier; a Brotbeutel, Essgeschirr and Feldflasche. Neven du Mont was KIA on July 26 1944. Credit: Authors Douglas E. Nash and Remy Spezzano: Kampfgruppe Mühlenkamp. All photos taken by acclaimed lensman SS-Uscharf. Ernst Baumann of the Germania. Baumann was captured by the Americans in 1945 and returned home from captivity in 1947. On May 14 2006, a permanent exhibition with works from his early creative period from 1925 to 1950 was opened in the mountain hotel on the Predigtstuhl near Bad Reichenhall. c. Bundesarchiv.

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.

The Brutal Suppression of the Warsaw Uprising (Powstanie Warszawskie)

SS u. Pol.Führer Reinefarth w. Cossacks of Ob. Bondarenko in Warszawa

Russian collaborationist Waffen-Sturm-Brigade d. SS RONA in Warszawa

Members of the infamous penal unit Dirlewanger in central Warszawa

Members of the ill-fated Armia Krajowa in central Warszawa

Captured German Sd.Kfz.251 by Grupa Bojowa Krybar in Warszawa

Grupa Konrad of Juliusz Szawdyn in the bombed-out ruins of Warszawa

The Polish government in exile was beating the drum for Soviet recognition of their legitimacy, and their demands grew louder the closer the Soviets got to Warszawa. The Warsaw Uprising began on Aug. 1 1944. The Poles feared that if they failed to take the city the Soviet conquerors would forcibly set up a pro-Soviet communist regime in Poland. The Soviets had reached a point a few kilometers from the Polish positions, but made no further headway. Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin had ordered the Red Army to stop on the eastern shore of the Vistula. Because the Polish Armia Krajowa (Home Army) was loyal to the Polish Government-in-Exile and not to the communists from the Soviet-backed Polish Committee of National Liberation, the Soviet Union saw the uprising as an obstacle to a Soviet takeover of Poland. Stalin wanted the insurrection to fail so that the Soviet occupation of Poland would be uncontested. It is estimated that some 150,000-200,000 Polish civilians died during the Warsaw Uprising. The failure of the uprising of 1944 resulted in the Poles being subjected to the Soviet communist yoke for four decades. During the Soviet occupation of Poland thousands of former Armia Krajowa operatives were deported to Gulags and Soviet prisons, while others - including senior commanders like Leopold Okulicki and Emil August Fieldorf - were executed. Credit: James Bjorkman. Top image: SS- und Polizeiführer in Reichsgau Wartheland Heinz Reinefarth in a Don Cossack Papakha among Cossacks of esaul Jakub Bondarenko around ulica Wolska. The former Red Army officer Oberst Bondarenko was the commander of the Kosaken-Regiment 3 composed of both Don and Kuban Cossacks. Cossack units constituted the largest ethnic group among foreigners fighting against the insurgents. During the uprising, units of Reinefarth took part in mass murders in the Wola suburb of Warszawa were tens of thousands civilians and fighters were slaughtered alike without distinction. The main perpetrators of the many atrocities during the uprising were the notorious war criminal SS-Oberführer Oskar Dirlewanger and the Belarus Waffen-Brigadeführer der SS Bronislav Kaminski. Among the volunteer units who participated in the Wola massacre were also the east Muslim Ostmuselmanisches SS-Regiment 1, the Azeri Aserbeidschanisches Feld-Bataillon 111 and the Caucasian Sonderverband Bergmann. After the war, Reinefarth was elected mayor of Westerland and elected to the parliament of Schleswig-Holstein. He died aged 75 on May 7 1979 in his mansion on the island of Sylt. FU. Second image: this photo is supposed to show the Georgian officer Major Yuri Frolov of the Russian Waffen-Sturm-Brigade der SS RONA and Siberian officers of the auxiliary police unit Kosaken-Schutzmannschaft-Bataillon 209. Frolov was killed just north of the Ochota suburb on Aug. 21 1944. The RONA brigade was made up of Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Azerbaijani collaborators. It became involved in committing numerous atrocities and were infamous and disliked even within the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA). PD. Third image: volunteers and conscripts of the SS-Regiment Dirlewanger seen in a townhouse at ulica Focha 9 on Aug. 8 1944. The Dirlewanger consisted of Russian and Ukrainian volunteers and of convicted German criminals who were not expected by Nazi Germany to survive their service with the unit. It participated in the mass murder of civilians and in other war crimes in German-occupied Eastern Europe and gained a reputation for its brutality. Several Waffen-SS and Wehrmacht commanders attempted to dissolve the unit. According to various scholars the victims of this penal unit numbered about 70,000. Photo by SS-KB Hans Schremmer. c. Bundesarchiv. Fourth image: Polish Captain Cyprian Odorkiewicz and Lieutenant Wacław Jastrzębowski of the Krybar combat group of the AK inspect war trophies including a Wiking cuff title in Okólnik gardens on Aug. 14 1944. Photo by AK photographer Sylwester Braun. After the uprising, Braun was sent to a German displaced persons’ camp but managed to escape near the Dutch border and returned to Warszawa in Jan. 1945 (now under Soviet occupation) to retrieve his hidden negatives. He evaded capture by the Soviets and soon fled to Sweden. Braun died in 1996 in Warszawa. PD. Fifth Image: insurgents of the Krybar with a captured German half-track at ulica Tamka on Aug. 14 1944. The vehicle was later nicknamed Szary Wilk after its commander Cadet Sergeant Adam Dewicz seen here holding a German MP40. Dewicz was KIA on Aug. 23 1944. Photo by Sylwester Braun. Bottom image: insurgents of the Konrad group at ulica Szpitalna in Sept. 1944. Note the ruins of the Prudential skyscraper in the background. Photo by AK documentary filmmaker Antoni Bohdziewicz who died in 1970 in Warszawa. Credit: Mikołaj Kaczmarek. Biuro Informacji i Propagandy (BIP). PD.

ϟϟ-Obersturmführer der Waffen-SS Kam

Danish Kam brothers; Poul, Søren and Erik

SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 9 Germania

SS-Obersturmführer Søren Kam from København in Denmark volunteered with the Waffen-SS in June 1940. He served with SS-Standarte Nordland before Operation Barbarossa. Søren Kam was shot in the lung while serving in SS-Division Wiking during the battles of Dnipropetrovsk in September 1941. After recovering, he attended SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz in May 1942, from which he graduated in December the same year. SS-Untersturmführer Kam flew into the Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket in February 1944 and took part in the bloody breakout. Eight month later, in October 1944 when battalion commander SS-Hauptsturmführer Martin Kruse was wounded near Wieliszew in East-central Poland, Kam took over the command and shattered the enemy's attack in aggressively led counterattacks at Hill 86 and covered the retreat of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Germania of the elite 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking. Following this action Kam was awarded the Knight's Cross on Feb. 7 1945. The statement mention that he had been wounded in battle several times and for battlefield bravery been awarded the Iron Cross First and Second Classes, Close Combat Clasp Silver, Infantry Assault Badge Silver and the Wound Badge Silver and that he had seen combat in the battles of Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkov, Cherkassy, Kowel and Warszawa. After the end of the war, Kam avoided being extradited to Denmark by becoming a German citizen. SS-Obersturmführer Søren Kam is still alive in 2011 (90 years of age) and regularly attends Waffen-SS veterans meetings. Top image: a formal studio portrait of the Kam brothers while serving in the Waffen-SS. They all fought in the ranks of the Wiking division. PD. Bottom image: Kam's SS-Regiment Germania counterattacking in Eastern Poland during the Soviet Operation Bagration in 1944. Credit: Julius Jääskeläinen. Commons: Bundesarchiv.

Ritterkreuzträgers der 5.ϟϟ-Panzerdivision „Wiking“

MG 34 on a Sturmgeschütz III Ausf G of 5.SS-Panzerdivision Wiking

Waffen-SS Volunteers (DF) wearing various camo smocks of the SS

SS-Stubaf. Franz Hack, Commander of III./SS-Pz.Gren.Rgt. Germania

A few short words about two of the 54 Knight's Cross Holders of 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking, a figure surpassed only by 69 for the Das Reich. The bottom photo shows battalion commander of the SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Germania 9 SS-Sturmbannführer Franz Hack receiving first aid in east-central Poland on April 17 1944. Hack was wounded by hand grenade splinters in the face and right hand while personally participating in the fighting in the forward line with his own Sturmgewehr 44 and hand grenades. His prudent leadership and personal daring was of great importance for the relief of ‘Fortress’ Kovel. Out of the millions who fought for the Greater German Reich in World War II, only 98 received both the Knight's Cross and the Close-Combat Clasp in Gold. Hack was one of them. He was the first person whose awarding of the Oakleaves did not occur with a number. The award was made by SS-Obergruppenführer Herbert Gille and SS-Oberführer Karl Ullrich in April 1945. According the countings it would have been the 844th award. Franz Hack wrote in the preface to the classic photo album Panzergrenadiere Der Panzerdivision Wiking im Bild: Volunteers of almost every European nation, fought in the companies of the regiment, and – here it shall not be forgotten – as loyal comrades in arms, they thereby gave for the first time practical embodiment to the European ideal. The brave men of Wiking need no additional glorification. Franz Hack ended the war as an SS-Obersturmbannführer and died aged 82 on June 9 1997 in Schleswig-Holstein. Source: The Face of Courage. Former SS-Sturmbannführer Eberhard Heder is born on June 30 1918 in Neustettin in Pommern. He joined the SS-Pionier-Bataillon in Dresden in 1937 and took part in the Anschluß of Austria and the annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938. Heder was later selected to become an officer and posted to the SS-Junkerschule in Braunschweig in 1939. He served with the Wiking Division in Operation Barbarossa and was awarded the German Cross in Gold when in command of the Estonian SS-Freiwilligen-Panzer-Grenadier-Bataillon Narwa after the breakout through the Korsun-Cherkassy pocket. He was then given command of the SS-Pionier-Bataillon 5 Wiking and was awarded the Knight's Cross in Nov. 1944 for his actions in the fighting for Warszawa. Due to his effort, the breakthrough of the Soviets to the Vistula was to be prevented. Heder who is also a recipient of the Close Combat Clasp in Silver joined the West German Bundeswehr in 1955, where he finally reached the rank of Oberst. Eberhard Heder is still alive as of 2017 at age 99. Top photo by SS-KB Alois Jarolim, bottom by SS-Uscharf. Ernst Baumann. Credit: Karl Mensburg. c. Bundesarchiv.

Panzer Commanders of 7./ϟϟ-Panzerregiment 5 „Wiking“

SS-Obersturmführer Otto Schneider of 7./SS-Panzer-Regiment 5

SS-Obersturmführer Ulf-Ola Olin of 7./SS-Panzer-Regiment 5

SS-Obersturmführer Otto Schneider was born in Böhmisch-Leipa in Czechoslovakia 1921. After having served with the Sudetendeutsches Freikorps he joined the SS-VT in 1938. Schneider saw combat with the SS-Standarte Germania during the Polish Campaign and entered the SS-Junkerschule in 1940. He commanded a reconnaissance platoon in SS-Division Wiking during Barbarossa and from Feb. 1942 a tank platoon in the Reich. In Nov. 1943, he then again entered the ranks of the Wiking and was later assigned to command the 7th Company of SS-Panzer-Regiment 5. Schneider participated in the breakout from Korsun-Cherkassy and was awarded the Knight's Cross on May 4 1944 in recognition of his command on April 5 1944 during the liberation of Kowel. Part of Schneider's Knight's Cross recommendation reads as follows: Schneider was exceedingly hard and tough, and led at the head of his Kompanie during the fighting. He showed a dogged determination in finding a way through and was a role model of bravery and operational readiness for his subordinates. During the course of the fighting his tank was knocked out. Nevertheless he immediately got up again, took command of a different tank, and continued to lead his Kompanie. Schneider's 7th Company destroyed or captured one anti-aircraft battery, 27 heavy anti-tank guns, five light anti-tank guns, one assault gun and four light anti-aircraft vehicles, thus enabling a successful breakthrough of the SS-Kampfgruppe Gille. In May 1945, he and several comrades escaped captivity on their own. After a shootout with the U.S. military near Steiermark in Austria, he was long considered missing. In fact, he settled under a different name in West Germany and graduated from the University of Agriculture and Forestry. He was successful in the field and was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit as a government adviser for hunting. Otto Schneider died aged 80 on Nov. 6 2001 in Bayerbach in Bayern. Credit: Florian Berger. Still from Die Deutsche Wochenschau. Knight's Cross winner Schneider was succeeded as company commander by the Finland-Swede SS-Obersturmführer Ulf-Ola Olin. Olin was born in Helsinki in Finland 1918 and served in the Russo-Finnish Winter War as a 2nd Lieutenant. After the war ended, he was sent to Germany to join the Finnisches Freiwilligen-Bataillon der Waffen-SS in 1941. The Finnish battalion fought in operation Edelweiß in which he participated. When the battalion disbanded in July 1943, Olin joined the SS-Panzer Regiment 5, where he commanded a Panther tank platoon in 7th Company under Schneider. His successful leadership in the fighting east of Warszawa on Aug. 10 1944 was rewarded with the German Cross in Gold on Feb. 28 1945. The recommendation for the DKiG was made by Adolf Hitler's former personal adjutant SS-Obersturmbannführer Fritz Darges. At Maciejow the Soviets launched a massive attack by a force of approx. 400 armoured vehicles and tanks in an east-west direction. The tanks advanced under a massive umbrella of fighter-bomber attacks. Olin, who had moved into a decoy position with several Panthers had the mission of opening fire first and drawing the enemy's attention. SS-Standartenführer Johannes Mühlenkamp ordered him to allow 10 tanks to pass before engaging the enemy. With nerves of steel, he allowed 10 tanks to move past before knocking out the lead vehicle, then the tail vehicle. In total, Olin destroyed 11 anti-tank guns and two T-34s. The engagement lasted half an hour and ended with 103 Soviet tanks knocked out or destroyed without the loss of a single Panther. Olin led his tanks in many famous battles against the Soviets and is credited with destroying 34 enemy tanks during the war. He stayed in West Germany after Germany's capitulation and was an active member in the postwar organization HIAG. Ola Olin died aged 77 on Jan. 11 1995 in Kassel in Hesse. Private Collection.