German armored division
Military unit
The
5th SS Panzer Division Wiking
(
German
:
5. SS-Panzerdivision Wiking
) or
SS Division Wiking
was an infantry and later an armoured division among the thirty-eight
Waffen-SS
divisions of
Nazi Germany
. During
World War II
, the division served on the
Eastern Front
. It surrendered on 9 May 1945 to the American forces in Austria.
The division contained small contingents of foreign volunteers from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, the Netherlands and Belgium. These contingents were elevated in wartime propaganda and postwar mythology, including from the former German officers of the division, to give the Wiking Division the reputation of a pan-European force. In truth, the division was at all times equipped with a vast majority of German personnel.
Formation, training and demographics
[
edit
]
After the German
invasion of Poland
in 1939,
Heinrich Himmler
, the head of the
SS
, sought to expand the
Waffen-SS
with foreign military volunteers for the Nazi "crusade against Bolshevism". The enrollment began in April 1940 with the creation of two regiments: the Waffen-SS Regiment Nordland (for Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and a minority of Icelandic volunteers), and the Waffen-SS Regiment Westland (for Dutch and Flemish volunteers).
[1]
The Nordic formation, originally organised as the
Nordische Division
(Nr. 5), was to be made up of Nordic volunteers mixed with German Waffen-SS personnel. The SS Infantry Regiment Germania of the
SS-Verfugungs-Division
, which was formed mostly from Germans, was transferred to help form the nucleus of a new division in late 1940.
[2]
In December 1940, the new SS motorised formation was to be designated as SS-Division Germania, but after its formative period, the name was changed, to SS Division Wiking in January 1941.
[3]
The division was formed around three motorised infantry regiments: Germania, Westland, and Nordland; with the addition of an artillery regiment. Command of the newly formed division was given to
Felix Steiner
, the former commander of the
Verfugungstruppe SS Regiment Deutschland
.
[4]
After formation, the division was sent to Heuberg in Germany for training; by April 1941, it was ready for combat. The division was ordered east in mid-May, to take part with
Army Group South
's advance into
Ukraine
during
Operation Barbarossa
, the invasion of the Soviet Union.
[5]
In June 1941, the
Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS
was formed from volunteers from that country. This unit was attached to the SS Regiment Nordland of the division. About 430 Finns who fought in the
Winter War
served in the SS Division Wiking from the beginning of Barbarossa.
[6]
In spring 1943, the Finns' two-year contract ended, and the Finnish battalion was withdrawn. During that same timeframe, Regiment Nordland was transferred to help form the core of the new
SS Division Nordland
. They were replaced by the
Estonian Battalion Narwa
.
[7]
Operational history
[
edit
]
Invasion of the Soviet Union
[
edit
]
The division took part in
Operation Barbarossa
, the invasion of the Soviet Union, advancing through
Galicia
, today's Ukraine. In July and August, Wiking participated in the encirclement battles at
Uman
and
Kiev
. Later in August, the division fought for the bridgehead across the
Dnieper River
at
Dnepropetrovsk
. Finally, the division took part in the heavy fighting for
Rostov-on-Don
before retreating to the
Mius River
line in November, to hold for the winter.
In February 1942, the Soviet winter offensive had established breakthroughs on either side of the transportation hub of
Izium
. A
Kampfgruppe
was formed around the 1st battalion of the
Germania
regiment and the division's assault gun battery and sent north to help contain the Soviet thrusts. By the 25th of February, this
Kampfgruppe
was virtually annihilated in defensive battles near Izium against superior Soviet armored forces. Ultimately the front had been stabilized however, and conditions had been set for the devastating Axis counterattack at the
Second Battle of Kharkov
a few months later.
[8]
During the spring of 1942, the division received reinforcements for the coming offensive, including a battalion of Finnish infantry and a battery of StuG III's to replace earlier losses. In early June 1942, Wiking received its panzer battalion, making it among the first SS Divisions to be given its own armored contingent. The panzer battalion had just under sixty tanks, and was made up of two companies of
Panzer IIIs
and one company of
Panzer IVs
. The battalion was commanded by veteran SS officer
Johannes Muhlenkamp
.
[9]
In the summer of 1942, the unit took part in Army Group South's offensive
Case Blue
, with orders to capture
Rostov
and the
Maikop
oil fields. After capturing both targets, the division came to a halt in the foothills of the Caucasus on 14 August. In late September 1942, Wiking participated in the operation aimed to capture the city of
Grozny
, alongside the
13th Panzer Division
. After much difficulty, the division captured the Malgobek ridge on 6 October, but the objective of seizing Grozny and opening a road to the
Caspian Sea
was not achieved. The division took part in the attempt to seize
Ordzhonikidze
. The Soviet
Operation Uranus
, the encirclement of the
6th Army
at Stalingrad, brought any further advances to a halt and later necessitated a retreat from the Caucasus.
After
Operation Winter Storm
, the failed attempt to relieve the 6th Army,
Erich von Manstein
, the commander of Army Group South, proposed another attempt towards Stalingrad. To that end,
Wiking
entrained on 24 December; however, by the time it arrived at
Zimovniki
on 30 December, the Wehrmacht was retreating westwards. The Wiking Division was tasked with covering the retreat of Kleist's
First Panzer Army
back across the
Don
. Wiking held Simovniki for seven days, covering the retreat of several large German formations, taking high casualties in the process. The division escaped through the Rostov gap and took up a new defensive position at
Stalino
on 5 February.
[10]
Ukraine, 1943/44
[
edit
]
In early 1943, the division fell back to Ukraine south of
Kharkov
, recently abandoned by the
II SS Panzer Corps
commanded by
Paul Hausser
. In the remaining weeks of February, the Corps, including Wiking, engaged Mobile Group Popov, the major Soviet armoured force named after
Markian Popov
during the
Third Battle of Kharkov
. As the post-Stalingrad Soviet offensive exhausted itself, Manstein was able to stabilize the front.
In 1943,
Herbert Gille
was appointed to command the division. The SS Regiment Nordland, along with its commander
Fritz von Scholz
, were removed from the division and used as the nucleus for the new
SS Division Nordland
. The Finnish Volunteer Battalion was also withdrawn and they were replaced by the
Estonian Battalion Narwa
.
[7]
In the summer of 1943, the division, along with the 23rd Panzer Division, formed the reserve for Manstein's Army Group in
Operation Citadel
. Immediately following the German failure in the
Battle of Kursk
, the Red Army launched two counter-offensives,
Operation Kutuzov
and
Operation Rumyantsev
. Wiking, together with the SS Divisions Totenkopf and Das Reich, was sent to the Mius-
Bogodukhov
sector. The Soviets took
Kharkiv
on 23 August and began advancing towards the
Dnieper
. In October the division was pulled out to a quiet sector of the line just as the
Dnieper?Carpathian Offensive
overtook Army Group South.
In November 1943 the division participated in
Operation Harvest Festival
, engaging in the mass murder of thousands of Jews at
Majdanek concentration camp
.
In the aftermath of the fall of Kiev in late December 1943, the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts of the Red Army encircled several German divisions during the
Battle of the Korsun?Cherkassy Pocket
in January 1944. Over 60,000 soldiers, including the Wiking division, were trapped along the Dnieper River. Roughly half of German forces broke out of the encirclement. Similar to other formations in the pocket, Wiking suffered heavy casualties and lost nearly all of its heavy equipment.
In early March 1944, while still refitting after its ordeal in the Cherkassy Pocket, the division was ordered to the town of
Kovel
to help contain a Soviet breakthrough. Only a portion of the division's strength, equipped only with small arms, and the division commander Gruppenfuhrer
Herbert Gille
, made it into Kovel before being surrounded by Soviet forces. A breakout was deemed impractical, as there were over 2,000 German wounded in the city.
By the end of March 1944, a relief force had been assembled outside of the pocket, led by Obersturmfuhrer
Karl Nicolussi-Leck
. This force was built around the 8th Company of Wiking's 5th Panzer regiment, which had just received sixteen new
Panther tanks
. Fighting through determined Soviet resistance and heavy snow, the relief force broke through to the pocket on 30 March. Now able to be resupplied and receive reinforcements, Gille conducted counterattacks throughout April, culminating in the scattering of Soviet forces around Kovel on 24 April.
[12]
Through May, the division received replacements for earlier losses, including
Panzer IVs
,
Stug IVs
, and
Panther tanks
. In early June the division was ordered west, to new defensive positions at
Maciejow
. On 6 July, the Soviet armored advance reached Maciejow. Wiking's tanks and AT guns were well dug-in and camouflaged, and were able to destroy over 300 Soviet armored vehicles in three days of fighting. After bringing the Red Army's advance to a standstill in that sector, Wiking was dispatched to Poland on July 13, 1944.
[13]
Warsaw
[
edit
]
In late-August 1944, the division was ordered back to
Modlin Fortress
on the
Vistula River
line near
Warsaw
where it joined the newly formed
Army Group Vistula
. Fighting alongside the
Luftwaffe's
"Hermann Goring" Panzer Division
and
SS Division Totenkopf
the division participated in the
Battle of Radzymin
. The German counterattacks brought the Soviet offensive to a halt and the front line stabilized for the rest of the year.
The division remained in the Modlin area, grouped with the 3 SS
Totenkopf
and the
IV SS Panzer Corps
. Gille was promoted to the command of the new
SS Panzer
Corps, and after a brief period with
Oberfuhrer
Eduard Deisenhofer
in command,
Standartenfuhrer
Johannes Muhlenkamp
, commander of the SS Panzer Regiment 5
Wiking
, took command. Battles around Modlin followed for the rest of the year. In October, Muhlenkamp was replaced by
Oberfuhrer
Karl Ullrich
, who led the division for the rest of the war.
Hungary
[
edit
]
In late-December 1944, the German forces, including
IX SS Mountain Corps
, were encircled in
Budapest
. The IV SS Panzer Corps was ordered south to join
Hermann Balck's
6th Army
for a relief effort codenamed
Operation Konrad
.
As a part of
Operation Konrad
I, the 5th SS Panzer Division
Wiking
was committed to action on 1 January 1945, fighting alongside the 3rd SS Panzer Division
Totenkopf
. Near Tata, the advance columns of the
Wiking
attacked the
4th Guards Army
. The Soviet forces halted the German advance at
Bicske
, 28 kilometres from
Budapest
. After the failure of Konrad I,
Wiking
was moved south of
Esztergom
, near the
Danube
bend.
The second relief attempt, Operation Konrad II, got under way on 7 January with
Wiking
advancing south towards Budapest. By 12 January, the
SS Panzergrenadier Regiment Westland
had reached
Pilisszentkereszt
, 20 kilometres from Buda. Despite initial successes, the division was unable to exploit its breakthrough and was ordered to pull back and regroup.
A third attempt, Operation Konrad III, in cooperation with the
III Panzer Corps
, took place 100 kilometres to the south. It started on 20 January and achieved initial tactical success. The quick redeployment of more Red Army troops prevented a German breakthrough, turning the German forces back by 28 January. By the end of January,
Wiking
and
Totenkopf
had suffered 8,000 casualties, including 200 officers.
On 13 February 1945, the division was ordered west to
Lake Balaton
, where
Oberstgruppenfuhrer
Sepp Dietrich
's
6th SS Panzer Army
was preparing
Operation Spring Awakening
, an offensive at Lake Balaton.
[14]
Gille's remained as a support to the 6th SS Panzer Army during the beginning of the operation. Dietrich's army made "good progress" at first, but as they drew near the Danube, the combination of the muddy terrain and strong Soviet resistance ground them to a halt.
[14]
The division performed a holding operation on the left flank of the offensive, in the area between
Lake Velence
-
Szekesfehervar
. As the operation progressed, the division was engaged in preventing Soviet efforts to outflank the advancing German forces. On 16 March, the Soviets forces counterattacked in overwhelming strength, causing the Germans to be driven back to their starting positions.
[15]
On 24 March, another Soviet attack threw the IV SS Panzer Corps back towards
Vienna
; all contact was lost with the neighbouring I SS Panzer Corps, and any resemblance of an organised line of defence was gone. Wiking withdrew into Czechoslovakia. The division surrendered to the American forces near
Furstenfeld
, Austria on 9 May.
War crimes
[
edit
]
Following the killing of
Hilmar Wackerle
, one of the division's high ranking field officers, in the city of
Lviv
, Jews in the area were rounded up by members of the division's logistics units led by
Obersturmfuhrer
Braunnagel and
Untersturmfuhrer
Kochalty. A gauntlet was then formed by two rows of soldiers. Most of these soldiers were from the Wiking's logistics units, but some were members of the
German 1st Mountain Division
. The Jews were then forced to run down this path while being struck by rifle butts and bayonets. At the end of this path stood a number of SS and army officers who shot the Jews as soon as they entered a bomb crater being used as a mass grave. About 50 or 60 Jews were killed in this manner.
[16]
In addition, historian Eleonore Lappin, from the Institute for the History of Jews in Austria, has documented several cases of war crimes committed by members of Wiking in her work
The Death Marches of Hungarian Jews Through Austria in the Spring of 1945
.
[17]
On 28 March 1945, 80 Jews from an evacuation column, although fit for the journey, were shot by three members of Wiking and five military policemen. On 4 April, 20 members of another column that left
Graz
tried to escape near the town of
Eggenfelden
, not far from
Gratkorn
. Troops from the division stationed there apprehended them in the forest near Mt. Eggenfeld, then herded them into a gully, where they were shot. On 7?11 April 1945, members of the division executed another eighteen escaped prisoners.
[17]
In 2013 the
NRK
quoted "the first Norwegian [to publicly admit] that he participated in war crimes and extermination of Jews in Eastern Europe"
[18]
during World War II, former soldier of the division Olav Tuff, who admitted: "In one instance in Ukraine during the autumn of 1941, civilians were herded like cattle?into a church. Shortly afterwards soldiers from my unit started to pour gasoline onto the church and somewhere between 200 and 300 humans were burned inside [the church]. I was assigned as guard, and no one came out."
[18]
The 2014 Norwegian book
Morfar, Hitler og jeg
(Grandfather, Hitler and I) quotes the diary of a division soldier from 1941 to 1943: "and then we cleaned a Jew hole".
[19]
Organisation
[
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]
Commanders
[
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]
No.
|
Portrait
|
Commander
|
Took office
|
Left office
|
Time in office
|
1
| | Steiner, Felix
SS-Obergruppenfuhrer
Felix Steiner
(1896?1966)
| 1 December 1940
| 1 May 1943
| 2 years, 151 days
|
2
| | Gille, Herbert
SS-Gruppenfuhrer
Herbert Gille
(1897?1966)
| 1 May 1943
| 6 August 1944
| 1 year, 97 days
|
3
| | Deisenhofer, Eduard
SS-Standartenfuhrer
Eduard Deisenhofer
(1909?1945)
| 6 August 1944
| 12 August 1944
| 6 days
|
4
| | Muhlenkamp, Johannes
SS-Standartenfuhrer
Johannes-Rudolf Muhlenkamp
(1910?1986)
| 12 August 1944
| 9 October 1944
| 58 days
|
5
| | Ullrich, Karl
SS-Oberfuhrer
Karl Ullrich
(1910?1996)
| 9 October 1944
| 5 May 1945
| 208 days
|
Order of battle
[
edit
]
The organisation structure of this SS
formation
was as follows:
[20]
Designation (English)
[21]
|
Designation (German)
[22]
|
- SS Panzer
Grenadier
Regiment
9 "Germania"
- SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment 10 "Westland"
- SS Panzer Regiment 5
- SS Panzer
Artillery
Regiment 5
|
- SS-Panzergrenadierregiment 9 "Germania"
- SS-Panzergrenadierregiment 10 "Westland"
- SS-Panzerregiment 5
- SS-Panzerartillerieregiment 5
|
- 5th SS Panzer Division Structure (1940):
[23]
- SS Regiment
Germania
- 1. Battalion
- 2. Battalion
- 3. Battalion
- SS Regiment Nordland
- 1. Battalion
- 2. Battalion
- 3. Battalion
- SS Regiment Westland
- 1. Battalion
- 2. Battalion
- 3. Battalion
- 5. SS Artillerie
- 1. Battalion
- 2. Battalion
- 3. Battalion
- 4. Battalion
- 5. SS Support Battalion
- 5. SS Engineer Battalion
- 5. SS Tank-Destroyer Battalion
- 5. SS Anti-Tank Battalion
- 1. Sanitary Company
- 2. Sanitary Company
- 1. Defense and Works Company
- 2. Defense and Works Company
- 3. Defense and Works Company
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
McNab, pp. 167, 178
- ^
McNab, p. 167
- ^
Stein, pp. 103, 104
- ^
Stein, p. 103
- ^
McNab, p. 178
- ^
"Finnish Volunteers "Very Likely" Participated in the Killing of Jews"
.
The New York Times
. 11 February 2019.
- ^
a
b
Littlejohn (1987) p. 53.
- ^
Gilbert pp. 181-182.
- ^
Gilbert pp. 195-196.
- ^
Gilbert pp. 202-204.
- ^
Gilbert pp. 278-279.
- ^
Gilbert pp. 281.
- ^
a
b
Stein (1984) p. 238.
- ^
Dollinger (1967) p. 182.
- ^
Rhodes, Richard (2003).
Masters of Death: The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust
. p. 48, Vintage.
- ^
a
b
Lappin
- ^
a
b
Olav Tuff (91): Vi brente en kirke med sivilister
- ^
Ei ny fortid
[A new past] "Bestefaren Per Pedersen Tjøstland var frontkjempar i 5. SS Panzer-divisjon Wiking fra 1941?1943, og skreiv for bladet Germaneren. Hans eigne dagbøker og artiklar er ei hovudkjelde, men Jackson skriv at det er umulig a vite nøyaktig kva han var med pa. Kanskje seier det sitt at han bruker uttrykket ≪sa rensket vi et jødehull≫"
- ^
Williamson Gordon. "The SS Hitler´s Instrument of the Power". KAISER, appendix, p. 244, "Schlachtordnung der Waffen-SS/Waffen-SS Order of Battle"; copyright 1994 by Brown Packaging Books Ltd., London.
- ^
MILITARISCHES STUDIENGLOSAR ENGLISCH Teil II/ Teil III, Deutsch ? Englisch, Abkurzung Begriff, Bundessprachenamt (Stand Januar 2001).
- ^
Official designation as to ?Bundesarchiv-Militararchiv“ in
Freiburg im Breisgau
, stores of the
Wehrmacht
and
Waffen-SS
.
- ^
Baxter, Ian (2018-05-30).
5th SS Division Wiking at War 1941-1945: History of the Division
. Pen & Sword Books Limited.
ISBN
9781526721341
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Gilbert, Adrian (2019).
Waffen-SS: Hitler's Army at War
. Da Capo Press.
ISBN
978-0-306-82466-1
.
- Lifton, Robert Jay (1985).
"What made this man Mengele?"
. The New York Times Company.
Archived
from the original on 18 April 2009
. Retrieved
2009-03-29
.
- Dollinger, Hans (1967) [1965].
The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan
. New York: Bonanza.
ISBN
978-0-517-01313-7
.
- Lappin, Eleonore.
"The death marches of Hungarian Jews through Austria"
(PDF)
. yadvashem.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 19 February 2009
. Retrieved
2009-03-28
.
pp. 25?26
- Littlejohn, David (1987).
Foreign Legions of the Third Reich Vol. 1 Norway, Denmark, France
. Bender Publishing.
ISBN
978-0912138176
.
- McNab, Chris (2013).
Hitler's Elite: The SS 1939-45
. Osprey Publishing.
ISBN
978-1782000884
.
- Stein, George H (1984).
The Waffen SS: Hitler's Elite Guard at War, 1939?1945
. Cornell University Press.
ISBN
0-8014-9275-0
.
- Struve, Kai (2015).
Deutsche Herrschaft, ukrainischer Nationalismus, antijudische Gewalt
[
German Rule, Ukrainian Nationalism, and Anti-Semitic Violence: The Summer of 1941 in Western Ukraine
] (in German). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Oldenbourg.
ISBN
9783110359985
.
- Silberklang, David (2013).
Gates of Tears: The Holocaust in the Lublin District
. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem.
ISBN
978-965-308-464-3
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Nash, Douglas E.; Spezzano, Remy (2016).
Kampfgruppe Muhlenkamp: 5. Ss-Panzer Division "Wiking", Eastern Poland, July 1944
. Southbury: RZM Imports.
ISBN
9780974838984
.
- Nash, Douglas E.; Spezzano, Remy (2019).
Unternehmen Ilse: 5. Ss-Panzer Division "Wiking" Eastern Front 27 April 1944
. Southbury: RZM Publishing.
ISBN
978-0974838991
.
- Nash, Douglas E. (2019).
From the realm of a dying sun. Volume I, IV. SS-Panzerkorps and the battles for Warsaw, July-November 1944
. Philadelphia: Casement.
ISBN
9781612006369
.
- Nash, Douglas E. (2020).
From the realm of a dying sun. Volume II, IV. SS-Panzerkorps in the Budapest relief efforts, December 1944-February 1945
. Philadelphia: Casement.
ISBN
9781612008745
.
- Nash, Douglas E. (2021).
From the realm of a dying sun. Volume III, IV. SS-Panzerkorps from Budapest to Vienna, February-May 1945
. Philadelphia: Casement.
ISBN
9781612009575
.
External links
[
edit
]
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