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

Josef Sepp Dietrich as SS-Ogruf. und General d. Waffen-SS

Adolf Hitler and Sepp Dietrich at the Wolfsschanze near Rastenburg

Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten zum Ritterkreuz

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. FU. Middle image: SS-Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich shakes hands with Adolf Hitler on Aug. 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. c. 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. FU.

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.

ϟϟ-Standartenführer der Waffen-SS Peiper

Joachim Peiper as SS-Hauptsturmführer 1940

Joachim Peiper as SS-Obersturmbannführer 1945

Jochen Peiper was born in Berlin-Wilmersdorf on Jan. 30 1915, son of an Army officer. His father, Capt. Waldemar Peiper served with the small German detachment that took part in the guerrilla fighting against the British troops and native auxiliaries in German East Africa during World War I. Joachim Peiper decided to join the SS, with the intention of becoming an officer in the elite guard of the Nazi Reich. He first joined the SS-Reiterstandarte 7 of Berlin and was later accepted for duty with Sepp Dietrich's Leibstandarte SS. Peiper was a member of the first class of officer candidates to graduate from the SS Junkerschule at Braunschweig in 1935. He was one of Germany's most colorful military commanders of World War II with a reputation for conducting extremely daring operations. The name Peiper will always be linked to the Malmedy Massacre. The highly decorated frontline veteran Peiper at the very young age of 29 had been chosen to lead the spearhead unit, SS-Kampfgruppe Peiper, during the German offensive through the Ardennes in Dec. 1944. Peiper commanded a platoon up to a regiment within the Leibstandarte SS, one of the most elite divisions within the Waffen-SS. He was an exponent of the tough SS leadership. Peiper was charismatic and extreme loyal to his unit. He was also a smart independent thinker. His men trusted him as a leader, even under the most extreme conditions. It was a logical decision that Peiper became the commander of the spearhead unit, but there were factors other than leadership leading to this decision, such as tactical considerations and a “we-know-what to-expect”-principle. About the troops under his command in 1944, Peiper said: I recognize that after the battles of Normandy my unit was composed mainly of young, fanatical soldiers. A good deal of them had lost their parents, their sisters and brothers during the bombings of Germany. They had seen for themselves in Cologne, thousands of mangled corpses after a terror raid had passed. After the war, Peiper was prosecuted as a war criminal for the Malmedy incident, even though he most likely never gave any order to execute POWs and was several km away when the incident occurred. He was convicted and originally sentenced to death by hanging, however on Jan. 30 1951 this sentence was changed to life in prison because U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy from Wisconsin proved the courts perfidy. During the Malmedy trial Peiper shared a cell in Dachau with tank commander SS-Ustuf. Arndt Fischer. On Nov. 17 1995 Fischer said: We didn't just talk about the daily progress of the trial. For example, he once told me that he had worked on the idea of a regimental march song. In this connection, I heard the following verses for the first time from his mouth: Einst reiten auf Flammen wir nach Walhall, man fragt nach der Einlasskarte, da rufen wir laut und mit lachendem Schall: Wir sind von der Leibstandarte; und einer spricht leis, der uns lange schon kennt: der sind vom 1. Panzerregiment. I remember the text so well because I printed it with the stub of a pencil on one of the boards of our bunks for subsequent generations. Peiper was paroled and released from Landsberg Prison in 1956. Twenty years later, in 1976, he was murdered in France. The French did not expend a great deal of energy searching for those responsible for the attack upon Peiper and no one has been charged with the crime to this day. In respect to this revered Waffen-SS commander, veterans refer to Peiper as Der Letzte Gefallen, the Last of the Fallen. He is quoted as saying: I was a National-Socialist and I remain one. The Germany of today is no longer a great nation, it has become a province of Europe and History is always written by the victors, and the histories of the losing parties belong to the shrinking circle of those who were there. Credit: Beginning of the end: Thesis by Major Han Bouwmeester, Royal Netherlands Army. Top image: the 25-year-old Peiper after the Western Campaign in 1940. He had received the Iron Cross 2nd Class on May 31 1940, and been promoted to SS-Hstuf. on June 6 1940. Bottom image: the 30-year-old Peiper at the Austrian front in April 1945. He had received the Swords on Jan. 11 1945 as SS-Ostubaf. and Cdr. of SS-Pz.Reg.1 LSSAH.

ϟϟ-Hauptsturmführer und Generalstabsoffizier der Waffen-SS Pehrsson

SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans-Gösta Pehrsson

Danish SS volunteers of Freikorps Danmark south of Demyansk

Hans-Gösta Pehrsson was born on October 10 1910 in Karlskrona in Sweden. He was a member of the Swedish Nazi party Nationalsocialistiska arbetarepartiet before moving to Denmark in 1934. Pehrsson volunteered for the Waffen-SS on July 21 1941. Following his military training at the SS-Unterführerschule in Posen-Treskau in annexed Poland, he was assigned to the Danish Volunteer Corps Frikorps Danmark. After heavy fighting at the Leningrad front and by Lake Ilmen, south of Novgorod in 1941-1942, he became a commander of a machine-gun section. In May 1942, Pehrsson and SS-Sturmbannführer C.F. von Schalburg's 2nd company of Frikorps Danmark was transported by air to the beleaguered SS-Division Totenkopf in the Demyansk Pocket. He distinguished himself in the harsh fightings in Demyansk and was promoted to SS-Oberscharführer on June 2 1942, and became a heavy weapons platoon commander. On September 10 1942 the whole Frikorps Danmark received the NSDAP Honor Cross for Combatants. Pehrsson was selected for officer training as a result of his performance and personality and attended SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz in December 1942. After graduating in October 1943, he was posted to the then newly created 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland's armored Reconnaissance Battalion. SS-Untersturmführer Pehrsson and his platoon proved themselves in the difficult and bloody fighting on the Narva Front and in the famous defensive action at the Battle of Tannenberg Line in Estonia between February and August 1944. On April 19 1944, Pehrsson was given command of the 3rd company of Nordland's SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11. Shortly afterwards he was promoted to SS-Obersturmführer. Other Swedish Waffen-SS officers, such as SS-Untersturmführer Heino Meyer, Rune Ahlgren and Gunnar Eklöf, were also members of this unit. On April 15 1945, Company Commander Pehrsson was promoted through the ranks to SS-Hauptsturmführer and served as general staff officer at the Nordland headquarters intelligence section. He ended the war by leading the remnants of his company in fierce house-to-house fighting in the Battle of Berlin. Pehrsson was captured by the Soviets in early May 1945 but managed to escape and returned back to Sweden in the summer that same year. The Waffen-SS commander Pehrsson, was a well-known and popular leader among the Scandinavian SS volunteers. SS-Obersturmführer Josef Sepp Schirmer, from Nordland's SS Reconnaissance Battalion, remembered the Swede: Gösta Pehrsson was a good comrade. He was brave, caring, friendly and warm-hearted with great military knowledge and skills. He helped everyone out of trouble, even if he had to risk his life to do it. Every comrade's life was more valuable to him than his own life. He took care of his men and company. For repeated demonstrations of bravery at the head of his men and for his leadership during the battles in the Baltics, Pehrsson was awarded, among others, the Iron Cross First Class, Close Combat Clasp in Silver, Wound Badge in Silver, Panzer Assault Badge in Silver, Infantry Assault Badge and the rare Honour Roll Clasp of the Army. Only 4.556 Ehrenblatt des Heeres were awarded during the war. Its bestowing was at the discretion of the German High Command. It was awarded sparingly to retain a high level of prestige and honour. Credit: The SS-Pz.Aufkl.Abt.11 Nordland. Top image: Swedish SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans-Gösta Pehrsson. Pehrsson died aged 63 on March 16 1974 in Stockholm. PD. Bottom image: Danish Waffen-SS volunteers of the Frikorps Danmark pose for a group photograph during the intense fighting at the Battle of Velikiye Luki in November 1942, also known as "The Little Stalingrad of the North". Lars Larsen Archives. Fair use.

ϟϟ-Hauptsturmführer der Waffen-SS Hinz

Bruno Hinz - The Face of Courage

RZM pattern Cuff Title for SS-Regiment Westland

Bruno Hinz was born on August 25 1915 in Petersdorf in Sachsen. In 1933, the young furniture maker joined the SS and became a member of the SS-Verfügungstruppe. As a member of the SS-Standarte Deutschland he participated in the Anschluss of Austria and the occupation of the Sudetenland in 1938. He also took part in the Polish Campaign in 1939, and in the French Campaign in 1940. In Oct. 1941, now an SS-Scharführer, Hinz reached SS-Division Wiking at the Eastern Front. He was designated a platoon leader in SS-Regiment Westland, fighting alongside many Scandinavian and West-European volunteers of the Waffen-SS. By that winter, Hinz had already earned the Iron Cross First Class and the Infantry Assault Badge in Silver for his bravery. He was promoted SS-Untersturmführer in Jan. 1942. Demonstrating decisiveness at the head of his soldiers, defensive prowess when needed and bravery in close combat, Hinz was always involved in critical situations. Hinz experienced some difficult month during the offensive through the southern Ukraine, the fighting in the Caucasus and the bloody withdrawal from Grosny. In the spring of 1943, the constantly attacking SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Wiking took some heavy casualties but Hinz was able to demonstrate his capabilities in the weeks that followed. He received the German Cross in Gold for his successful command and accumulated so many close-combat days in such a short period that he was not given the Close Combat Clasp in Bronze, instead, Hinz started with the Close Combat Clasp in Silver. His company had showed its combat expertise in countless assaults, bouts of house-to-house and street fighting, patrols and hunting down enemy armor. Wounded several times in the fighting southwest of Kharkov, Hinz was awarded the Wound Badge in Silver. He rallied his men through several crises as a result of his own initiative and bravery. In Sep. 1943 his company was in a defensive position on the Dnieper which allowed the Wiking to cross the Dnieper River. Hinz held the position but was badly wounded by a rifle round through the lung. It was only weeks later, after Hinz had regained some strength and had escaped death by the narrowest of margins, that he was informed of his award of the Knight's Cross. In Nov. 1943, he was promoted SS-Obersturmführer and in Feb. 1944 he was given command of the SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 38 of the newly formed 17.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Götz von Berlichingen. Involved in heavy fighting in Normandy and separated from his battalion, the veteran of the Eastern Front railed his company, incorporated elements from other companies into his own force and formed a Kampfgruppe. In the space of two days, Hinz led his men around enemy strongpoints. Often involved in intense firefights and without any sort of rations, he, and 100 of his combat effectives and a few wounded made it back to the German lines by exploiting terrain. For his actions, Hinz was awarded the Oakleaves as one of the lowest-ranking individuals to receive that award in the entire German armed forces. A few days after receiving the award, Hinz was wounded for the ninth time. In the military hospital, the news reached him that he had been awarded the Close Combat Clasp in Gold. He was then temporarily sent to the SS-Junkerschule at Bad Tölz as the school commander. Here he was promoted SS-Hauptsturmführer in Nov. 1944. At his own request, he was sent back to the field in Jan. 1945. Hinz participated in hard fighting in the Alsace and Franconia during the withdrawals. His regimental commander was the Austrian Knight's Cross holder SS-Obersturmbannführer Vinzenz “Zenz” Kaiser. Hinz lost almost his entire battalion as a result of Allied air attacks and became POW of the U.S. Army in late March 1945, Götz von Berlichingen could only muster some 800 men at the time. The remaining Kampfgruppen surrendered in southern Germany in May 1945. As well as being awarded the Oakleaves to the Knight's Cross and Wound Badge in Gold, Hinz was awarded the very rare Close Combat Clasp in Gold, which was only awarded 631 times during World War II. Only 98 received both the Knight's Cross and the Close-Combat Clasp in Gold. Bruno Hinz died aged 52 on Feb. 28 1968 in München. Credit: Florian Berger: The Face of Courage. Top image: studio portrait of RK winner SS-Obersturmführer Bruno Hinz. This photo also appears on the front cover of Waffen-SS Knights and their Battles: The Waffen-SS Knight's Cross Holders Vol.3. PD. Bottom image: an original Westland cuff title with silver-aluminium borders and RZM/SS paper tag. This particular cuff title was sold in 2021 for approx. 3,000 €uros. Fair use.

ϟϟ-Oberscharführer der Waffen-SS Misch

Rochus Misch as SS-Unterscharführer of the FBK

The Führerbegleitkommando served around the clock protecting Hitler

SS-Oberscharführer Rochus Misch was born in Alt Schalkowitz in Oberschlesien on July 29 1917, the now Polish Stare Siołkowice. The young painter Misch joined the SS-Verfügungstruppe in 1937. Along with 11 others, he was selected for the Leibstandarte SS. After being severely wounded by shots in lung and arms during the Polish campaign in 1939, Misch was transferred to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's escort command, the Führerbegleitkommando originally known as the SS-Begleitkommando des Führers. The FBK provided close, personal security for Hitler. Misch served as a bodyguard, courier and telephone operator for Hitler from 1940 to 1945. He fled the Führerbunker in Berlin on May 2 1945 only hours before the Soviets seized it. He was captured shortly thereafter by the communists. Misch was then tortured in an attempt to extract information regarding Hitler's exact fate. He had been with him every step of the way. Misch spent nine years in Soviet labor camps. He returned to his wife and daughter in Berlin after Christmas 1953. Being the last living witness of Hitler's last days, Misch published his remarkable biography Der letzte Zeuge (The last witness) in 2008. His memoirs offer an intimate view of life in close attendance to Hitler. As of 2013, aged 95, he is the last living survivor of the occupants of the Führerbunker in the final days of the war in Europe and the last known person alive to have known Hitler personally. Misch, who never held party membership, regularly receives visitors from the public who wish to speak to or interview him. Top image: Rochus Misch as SS-Unterscharführer in the dining car of Hitler's train Amerika, renamed Brandenburg in 1943. Credit: Benoit Vienne. Priv.coll. Bottom image: Hitler in front of the Altes Museum after his speech to the Legion Condor in the Lustgarten on June 6 1939. The Legion had just returned to Berlin after bolstering fascist dictator Gen. Francisco Franco's troops in Spain. The driver is Hitler's primary chauffeur SS-Stubaf. Erich Kempka, one of the original members of the eight-man squad known as the SS-BKdF, which later became known as the FBK. Photo by Hitler's personal photographer Hugo Jäger. LIFE photo archive. FU.

ϟϟ-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Steiner

Felix Steiner as SS-Gruppenführer

SS-Ogruf. Steiner inspecting troops of SS-Pz.Gren.Rgt.24 Danmark 

Felix Steiner – not only the most important single influence behind the development of the dynamic tactical theories adopted by Waffen-SS, but one of the most innovative field commanders of World War II. He believed in the creation of highly mobile, well trained, elite troops, both physically and mentally, to fight within the battlegroup and emphasized teamwork rather than mindless obedience on the field of battle. Steiner was determined to turn his volunteers into the finest soldiers in Europe, if not the world. To do this, he abandoned many time-honored traditions of the German Army. His primary concern was to create a hardened fighting force, so he stressed athletics and sports as a way to build up the body for the rigors of warfare. He also introduced a camouflaged battledress to replace the basic field gray uniform and used live ammunition in his training exercises. Another Felix Steiner innovation was the abolishment of the class system between officers and enlisted men. He knew full well that the hardships on the battlefield demanded an unquestioned trust between the two groups. Therefore, he broke down the traditional barriers that separated the men from their superiors. Steiner created a capable formation from disparate elements, and he commanded the multinational SS-Division Wiking competently through the many battles in the east from 1941 until his promotion to command the III. (Germanic) SS-Panzerkorps in April 1943. After having surrendered to the Western Allies in early May 1945, he was incarcerated until 1948. Steiner faced charges at the Nürnberg Trials, but they were all dropped and he was released. After the war, Steiner wrote: We intended to instill an unparalleled esprit de corps in our force that would mark it out as one of the finest ever assembled. In the main, I believe we achieved this objective, despite what some said about us and at times not without reason. With Paul Hausser, Herbert Gille and Otto Kumm, Steiner became a founding member of HIAG, the lobby group founded by former high-ranking Waffen-SS officers in West Germany in 1951. He dedicated the last decades of his life to writing his memoirs and several books about the World War II, among others Die Freiwilligen der Waffen-SS: Idee und Opfergang in 1958. Felix Steiner was born in Stallupönen in Ostpreußen on May 23 1896. The region was transferred from Germany to Soviet Russia in 1945 and made a part of Kaliningrad Oblast. On May 16 1966, the former SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS died aged 69 of heart failure in München. His funeral was attended by hundreds of his men who came from all over Europe to pay their last respects. Awards, among others: Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves and Swords and Finnish Order of the Cross of Liberty, 1st class with Breast Star, Oakleaves and Swords. Credit: the author Pat McTaggart. Top image: SS Commander Felix Steiner in a formal sitting. Photo by Adolf Hitler's official photographer, the Nazi politician Heinrich Hoffmann. A large archive of Hoffmann's photographs was seized by the U.S. Army during the Allied occupation of Germany. Fair use. Bottom image: SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner carrying out an inspection of the SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 24 Danmark of the 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland in Grafenwöhr in Bayern on June 11 1943. Behind Steiner to the left is the Commander of the Danmark SS-Obersturmbannführer Graf Hermenegild von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg, and to the right is former Commander of the Frikorps Danmark, the Dane SS-Obersturmbannführer Knud Børge Martinsen. c. Bundesarchiv.

ϟϟ-Standartenführer d. R. der Waffen-SS Degrelle

Léon Degrelle pictured after having received the Knight's Cross

Adolf Hitler awards the Oakleaves to Léon Degrelle

Léon Degrelle was born in 1906 in Bouillon, a small town in the Belgian Ardennes. He was a devout Catholic and his family was of French origin. Degrelle joined the Walloon legion of the Wehrmacht, which was raised in 1941, to combat the Soviet Union. Initially, the group was meant to represent a continuation of the Belgian Army, and fought as such during Operation Barbarossa. Degrelle's knowledge of tactics was somewhat dubious but his ability to lead and his loyalty and courage were beyond question. He proved this time and time again during the fierce mountain warfare at Gromovaya-Balka in Ukrainian Donetsk. During the summer and autumn of 1942, Degrelle was involved in numerous battles in the Caucasus with considerable success, capturing one objective after another. It was not long before his Walloon brigade caught the attention of the officers of the Waffen-SS. The Walloons were transferred to the control of the Waffen-SS in 1943. Degrelle was awarded the Knight's Cross for his part in the breakout of the pocket at Korsun-Cherkassy in January 1944 where he was severely wounded. Adolf Hitler commended him on his bravery, stating "if I had a son, I wish he'd resemble you". He was later awarded the Oakleaves to the Knight's Cross, a distinction only earned by two other foreigners, the Estonian Waffen-Standartenführer der SS Alfons Rebane and the Spanish commander of División Azul and later vice-president General Agustín Muñoz Grandes. Degrelle returned to combat on the Eastern Front against Hitler's wishes, fighting all the way back to Berlin in the face of the Russian onslaught. The Wallonien Sturmbrigade was upgraded to become 28.SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division Wallonien in October 1944. Degrelle steadily climbed in the SS hierarchy of the Waffen-SS and was made an Obersturmbannführer in the early months of 1945. By the end of the war, Degrelle had risen to the rank of Standartenführer within the SS, was involved in 75 direct combat actions, and was wounded 34 times. After Germany's defeat, Degrelle fled to Denmark and eventually Norway, where he commandeered a Heinkel aircraft, allegedly provided by former Reichsminister Albert Speer. He was severely wounded in a crash-landing on the beach at San Sebastian in Northern Spain. The government of Franco in Spain refused to hand him over to the Allies; Francisco Franco permitted his escape from hospital, while handing over a look-alike. In 1954, Spain granted Degrelle Spanish citizenship under the name José León Ramírez Reina. He continued to live undisturbed when Spain became democratic after the death of Franco. Asked if he had any regrets about World War II, his reply was: Only that we lost! Léon Degrelle, one of only 98 winners of both the Knight's Cross and the Close Combat Clasp in Gold, died aged 87 in Málaga on March 31 1994. Awards i.a: Knight's Cross with Oakleaves, German Cross in Gold, Close Combat Clasp in Gold, Infantry Assault Badge in Silver and Wound Badge in Gold. Ext. link: German Newsreel Excerpt: The homecoming of Degrelle and the Walloons in Bruxelles after the Battle of Cherkassy. Source: Campaign in Russia - The Waffen SS on the Eastern Front. Top image: SS-Hstuf. Degrelle on March 5 1944 at the Palais Chaillot in Paris after having received the Knight's Cross on Feb. 20 1944. Credit: Mateusz Pietruszkiewicz. Photo by French photog. André Zucca for Signal Magazine. Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: Hitler congratulates the then SS-Stubaf. Degrelle after presenting him with the Oakleaves on Aug. 27 1944. Next to Degrelle stands SS-Ogruf. Felix Steiner. Still: Die Deutsche Wochenschau.

ϟϟ-Obersturmbannführer d. R. der Waffen-SS Skorzeny

Otto Skorzeny as SS-Hauptsturmführer

SS-Division Reich: Waffen-SS Armoured Elite

Otto Skorzeny joined the Austrian National Socialism Party in 1931. He played a minor role in the Anschluss on March 12 1938, when he saved the Austrian President Wilhelm Miklas from being shot by Austrian National Socialists. Skorzeny then joined the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler as an officer-cadet in 1939. In 1940 he was promoted to Obersturmführer in the Waffen-SS and went to war in the Soviet Union with SS-Division Reich and subsequently fought in several battles on the Eastern Front. Otto Skorzeny, Adolf Hitler's Austrian commando leader in WWII, became known to the world in Sept. 1943, for his key role in the daring airborne raid to rescue the ousted Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. It was Skorzeny's first success as a commando leader. The exploit earned Skorzeny fame, promotion to SS-Sturmbannführer and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. With the successes that followed, allied media began calling Skorzeny "The most dangerous man in Europe". Skorzeny was involved with the Werwolf guerrilla movement and the ODESSA network but surrendered on May 16 1945, feeling that he could be useful to the Americans in the forthcoming Cold War. In 1948 he escaped from the camp with the help of three former SS officers dressed in U.S. Military Police uniforms. Skorzeny afterwards maintained that the U.S. authorities had aided his escape, and had supplied the uniforms. Using the cover names of Robert Steinbacher and Otto Steinbauer, and supported by either National Socialists funds (or according to some sources Austrian Intelligence), he set up a secret organization named Die Spinne which helped as many as 600 former Waffen-SS officers escape Europe. In 1953 Skorzeny was sent to Egypt by former Wehrmacht General Reinhard Gehlen, who was now working for the CIA, to act as General Mohammed Naguib's military advisor. Skorzeny recruited a staff made up of former Waffen-SS and Wehrmacht officers to train the Egyptian army. Several Palestinian refugees also received commando training. One of these Palestinians was Yasser Arafat. As the years went by, Skorzeny and his network gained enormous influence in Europe and Latin America, Skorzeny travelled between Franquist Spain and Argentina, where he acted as an advisor to President Juan Perón. In the 1960s Skorzeny set up the Paladin Group, based near Alicante in Spain, the Paladin Group specialized in arming and training guerrillas, and their clients included the South African Bureau of State Security and Muammar al-Gaddafi. They also carried out work for the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 and some of their operatives were recruited by the Spanish Interior Ministry to wage clandestine war against Basque separatists. The Soviet news agency TASS alleged that Paladin was involved in training U.S. Green Berets for Vietnam missions during the 1960s. Not surprisingly, this claim has been denied by the U.S. Army. The Oakleaves holder SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny finally succumbed to cancer at age 67 on July 5 1975 in Madrid. He was cremated and his ashes were later brought to Wien to be interred in the Skorzeny family plot at Döblinger Friedhof. Operations, among others: Operation Francois - Co-ordination of Partisan operations in Iran, Operation Oak (Unternehmen Eiche) - The rescue of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, Operation Armoured Fist (Unternehmen Panzerfaust) - The kidnapping of Miklós Horthy, Jr., son of Hungarian Regent, Admiral Miklós Horthy, Operation Griffin (Unternehmen Greif) - A false flag operation to spread disinformation during the Battle of the Bulge. External link: Interrogation of Otto Skorzeny on Aug. 2 1945. Credit: For Germany: The Otto Skorzeny Memoirs and My Commando Operations. Top image: portrait of the then SS-Hauptsturmführer Otto Skorzeny by photographer Walter Frentz, probably made in connection with the award of the Knight's Cross on Sept. 13 1943. FU. Bottom image: troops of the Reich stopped to consult a map during Operation Barbarossa in 1941. Skorzeny fought with this division until he got wounded in Jan. 1942. c. Bundesarchiv.

ϟϟ-Hauptsturmführer der Waffen-SS Törni, former Captain in Finnish Army; later Major Thorne in U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets)

Three oaths of allegiance – Lauri Törni also known as Larry A. Thorne

SS-Hauptsturmführer Lauri Allan Törni fought the Communists under three flags: The Blue Cross Flag (Finland), the Swastika (German Reich) and the Stars and Stripes (USA). Törni was born on May 28 1919 in Swedish-founded Viborg in Finland, now Russian Vyborg. When the Soviet Union attacked Finland in 1939, he took part in the annihilation of the encircled Russian divisions in Lemetti. In 1941 after the Winter War, Second Lieutenant Törni volunteered for the Waffen-SS in order to continue fighting the Soviets and served as an SS-Untersturmführer in the Finnish SS-Freiwilligen Bataillon Nordost. During the Continuation War (1941-44) Törni's elite unit penetrated deep behind Soviet lines for extended periods of time and enjoyed a reputation for its combat effectiveness. The Soviet Red Army placed a bounty on his head (3 million Finnish Marks, equivalent to 470.000 €). One of Törni's men was future President of Finland, Mauno Koivisto. Törni was awarded every Finnish medal of valor for bravery including the Mannerheim Cross, the highest Finnish military decoration. Captain Törni was dissatisfied with the terms of the unfavorable treaty called the Moscow Armistice signed between Finland on one side and the Soviet Union and United Kingdom on the other side in September 1944. In January 1945, Törni returned to Nazi Germany for saboteur training with Sonderkommando Nord of the German military intelligence Abwehr as part of the Werwolf program and to organize resistance in case Finland was occupied by the Soviets. On April 15 1945, Törni was promoted the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer. He reported to the headquarters of SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner, who issued him a military passport and command of a German unit formed of former naval personnel. Shortly afterwards, contact was made with advancing Soviet troops north-west of Berlin. Törni's fellow countryman SS-Untersturmführer Juhani Sarasalo got separated from the group in the confusion that followed and taken POW. He later described how he watched as a Russian officer demanded that an SS-Unterscharführer tear off his SS collar patch. The man refused, and he along with 20 other German soldiers were pulled aside and machine-gunned by the Soviets. Törni's ragtag unit ended up fighting their way through Soviet lines in early May 1945 and surrendered themselves to American paratroopers who turned him over to the British. He escaped the British POW camp but was arrested upon his return to Finland, and sentenced to 6 years in prison for treason and for having joined the German armed forces. In 1949 Törni managed to escape to Stockholm with the help of a prison guard. In Sweden he found protection and shelter with the Baroness von Essen, who harbored many fugitive Finnish officers following World War II. From Sweden he travelled disguised under an alias as a Swedish seaman aboard SS Bolivia, on destination Caracas, Venezuela. From Venezuela Törni was hired to a Swedish cargo ship MS Skagen, on destination United States. While in the Gulf of Mexico, near Mobile, Alabama, Törni jumped overboard and swam to shore. Törni was granted residence permit in the U.S. through an Act of Congress. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1954 and adopted the name Larry Alan Thorne. Private Thorne was soon selected for the Special Forces program where he quickly rose through the ranks. From 1958 to 1962 he served in 10th Special Forces Group in West Germany. While there he was second in command of a search and rescue mission in the Zagros mountains of Iran, gaining him a notable reputation in Special Forces. In 1963 Törni aka Thorne joined the Special Forces unit A734 in Vietnam and fought in the Mekong Delta. In 1965, he was transferred to MACV-SOG in Vietnam as a military advisor. MACV-SOG was a joint service unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations throughout Southeast Asia. On October 18 1965, Captain Thorne's helicopter crashed in a mountainous area of Laos. His posthumous promotion to Major was approved in December 1965. Major Larry Alan Thorne's remains were found in 1999 and formally identified in 2003. He was buried with full American and Vietnamese honors at Arlington National Cemetery, section 60, tombstone 8136, on June 26 2003. His U.S. memorial is the Larry Thorne Headquarters Building, 10th SFG(A), Fort Carson, Colorado. Units: the 4th Independent Jäger Infantry Battalion (Finnish Army), the SS-Freiwilligen Bataillon Nordost (Waffen-SS) and the 5th Special Forces Group Airborne (U.S. Army Special Forces). Awards among others: Mannerheim Cross of Liberty, Iron Cross Second Class, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Purple Heart (twice), Distinguished Flying Cross, Presidential Unit Citation and the Army Commendation Medal. Credit: Born a Soldier and A Soldier Under Three Flags: The Exploits of Special Forces' Captain Larry A. Thorne.