Predecessor of the Waffen-SS
Not to be confused with
SS-Totenkopfverbande
(SS-TV), the SS organization responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps.
Military unit
SS-Verfugungstruppe
(
SS-VT
,
lit.
'
SS Dispositional Troops
'
) was formed in 1934 as combat troops for the
Nazi Party
(NSDAP). On 17 August 1938
Adolf Hitler
decreed that the SS-VT was neither a part of the
Ordnungspolizei
(order police) nor the
Wehrmacht
, but military-trained men at the disposal of the
Fuhrer
. In time of war, the SS-VT were to be placed at the disposal of the army.
The SS-VT were involved in the German
invasion of Poland
in September 1939. By 1940 these military
SS
units had become the nucleus of the
Waffen-SS
.
Formation
[
edit
]
LSSAH troops undergo a drill inspection in Berlin, November 1938
The SS-VT was formed on 24 September 1934 from a merger of various Nazi and
paramilitary
formations such as the SS Special Detachments (
SS-Sonderkommandos
) and the Headquarters Guard (
SS-
Stabswache
) units.
The SS-VT was to be made up of three regiments modeled on the infantry regiments of the German Army (
Heer
) and according to their regulations. Each regiment would contain three battalions, a motorcycle company and mortar company. The unit was officially designated
SS-Verfugungstruppe
("Dispositional troops", i.e. troops at the personal disposal of the Fuhrer).
The men were to be volunteers who had completed their service in the
Reichsarbeitsdienst
(RAD; Reich Labour Service).
The existence of the
SS-Verfugungstruppe
(SS-VT) was publicly declared on 16 March 1935 by Hitler in a speech at the
Reichstag
.
The SS-VT had to depend on the German Army for its supply of weapons and military training, and they had control of the recruiting system through local draft boards responsible for assigning conscripts to the different branches of the Wehrmacht to meet quotas set by the German High Command (
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
or OKW in German). The SS was given the lowest priority for recruits, thereby limiting its size.
In 1936, Himmler selected former Lieutenant General
Paul Hausser
to be Inspector of the SS-VT with the rank of
Brigadefuhrer
. Hausser worked to transform the SS-VT into a credible military force that was a match for the regular army.
The SS-VT trained alongside Hitler's personal body guard the
Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
(LSSAH), which had also been formed from the
SS-
Stabswache
and
SS-Sonderkommando Berlin
. The LSSAH under the command of
Josef "Sepp" Dietrich
continued to serve exclusively as a personal protection unit for Hitler and an honor guard during this timeframe.
By 1937 the SS was divided into three branches: the
Allgemeine-SS
(General SS), the
SS-Verfugungstruppe
(SS-VT), and the
SS-Totenkopfverbande
(SS-TV) which administered the
concentration camps
.
[10]
On 17 August 1938 Hitler decreed that the SS military formations were to be placed at the "disposal" of the army in time of war.
Hitler stated, at Himmler's request, that service in the SS-VT qualified to fulfill military service obligations. Further, during wartime units of the SS-TV would be used as reserves for the SS-VT.
Over the course of the war this led to a constant flux of men between the Waffen-SS and the
Nazi concentration camps
.
The military formations under Himmler's command on 1 September 1939 consisted of several subgroups:
Early operations
[
edit
]
SS-VT in full marching order, 1935
Elements of the SS-VT served with the Wehrmacht during the occupation of the
Sudetenland
,
Austria
, and
Czechoslovakia
.
For those operations, the SS-VT was under the command of the army. The SS-VT also formed an Artillery Regiment during this time-frame which was used to fill the gaps in a number of army units for those events.
The SS-VT regiments
Deutschland
and
Germania
along with the
Leibstandarte
participated in the
invasion of Poland
, with
Der Fuhrer
(recruited in
Austria
after the
Anschluss
) in reserve at Prague. In September 1939, a combined unit of SS-VT and
Heer
(army) troops conducted operations jointly as
Panzer Division
Kempf
during the
invasion of Poland
.
It fought alongside army units at
Rozan
,
Modlin
,
Łom?a
and
Kmiczyn
. The division was disbanded near the Polish city of
Nidzica
on 7 October 1939.
In spite of the swift military victory over Poland in September 1939, events during the invasion of Poland raised doubts over the combat effectiveness of the SS-VT. The OKW or
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
(High Command of the Armed Forces) reported that the SS-VT units took unnecessary risks and had a higher casualty rate than the army.
They also stated that the SS-VT was poorly trained and its officers unsuitable for combat command. As an example, OKW noted that the
Leibstandarte
had to be rescued by an army regiment after becoming surrounded at
Pabianice
by the Poles.
In its defence, the SS insisted that it had been hampered by having to fight piecemeal instead of as one formation, and was improperly equipped by the army to carry out its objectives. Himmler insisted that the SS-VT should be allowed to fight in its own formations under its own commanders, while the OKW tried to have the SS-VT disbanded altogether. Hitler was unwilling to upset either the army or Himmler, and chose a third path. He ordered that the SS-VT form its own divisions but that the divisions would be under army command.
In addition, Eicke's SS-TV field forces were not military, and during the invasion of Poland, "[t]heir...capabilities were employed instead in terrorizing the civilian population through acts that included hunting down straggling Polish soldiers, confiscating agricultural produce and livestock, and torturing and murdering large numbers of Polish political leaders, aristocrats, businessmen, priests, intellectuals, and Jews."
Further, members of the
Leibstandarte
also committed atrocities in numerous towns, including the murder of 50 Polish Jews in
Błonie
and the massacre in Złoczew, where 200 civilians were machine gunned. Złoczew's children also suffered; SS men beat and murdered them, sometimes with rifle butts. Crushing the skulls of toddlers.
[21]
Shootings also took place in
Bolesławiec
,
Torzeniec
,
Goworowo
,
Mława
, and
Włocławek
.
Development of the Waffen-SS
[
edit
]
In October 1939 the SS-VT regiments
Deutschland
,
Germania
, and
Der Fuhrer
were organized into the
SS-Verfugungs-Division
with Paul Hausser as commander. The LSSAH was expanded into a motorized regiment.
In addition, the armed but ill-trained
Totenkopfstandarten
, together with
SS Heimwehr Danzig
, were organized into the
Totenkopf-Division
under Eicke's command in October 1939.
A further division, the
Polizei-Division
, was created from the
Ordnungspolizei
. These formations took part in combat training while under army commands in preparation for
Fall Gelb
against the Low Countries and France in 1940.
Elements of both the SS-VT and the LSSAH participated in the ground invasion of the
Battle of the Netherlands
.
In the five-day campaign, the LSSAH linked up with army units and airborne troops after a number of clashes with Dutch defenders.
After the surrender of Rotterdam, the LSSAH left for
The Hague
, which they reached on 15 May, after capturing 3,500 Dutch soldiers as
prisoners of war
.
On 16 May the SS
Totenkopf
Division was ordered to France and was attached to army divisions which formed the northern "spearhead" of attack.
In France, the SS
Totenkopf
was involved in the only Allied tank attack in the
Battle of France
. On 21 May units of the
1st Army Tank Brigade
, supported by the
50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division
, took part in the
Battle of Arras
. The SS
Totenkopf
was overrun, finding their standard
anti-tank gun
, the
3.7 cm PaK 36
, no match for the British
Matilda tank
.
After the Dutch surrender, the LSSAH was moved south to France.
On 24 May the LSSAH, along with the SS-VT division, were positioned to hold the perimeter around
Dunkirk
and reduce the size of the pocket containing the encircled
British Expeditionary Force
and French forces.
On 27 May, a unit from the
Totenkopf
, the 4 Company, committed the
Le Paradis massacre
, where 97 captured men of the 2nd Battalion
Royal Norfolk Regiment
were machine gunned after surrendering, with survivors finished off with
bayonets
. Two men survived.
By 28 May the
SS-Leibstandarte
had taken the village of
Wormhout
, 10 miles (16 km) from Dunkirk. There, soldiers of the 2nd Battalion were responsible for the
Wormhoudt massacre
, where 80 British and French soldiers were murdered after they surrendered.
After the close of the Battle of France, the SS-VT was officially renamed the Waffen-SS in a speech made by
Adolf Hitler
on 19 July 1940.
Himmler also gained approval for the Waffen-SS to form its own high command, the
Kommandoamt der Waffen-SS
(Waffen-SS Command Office) within the
SS-Fuhrungshauptamt
(FHA), which was created in August 1940 under
Gruppenfuhrer
Hans Juttner
. The
Totenkopf
Division, together with the independent
Totenkopf-Standarten
, were transferred to FHA control.
Further that same month, SS chief-of-staff
Gottlob Berger
approached Himmler with a plan to recruit volunteers in the conquered territories from the ethnic German and Germanic populations. At first Hitler had doubts about recruiting foreigners, but he was persuaded by Himmler and Berger. He gave approval for a new division to be formed from foreign nationals with German officers.
Motorcycle unit of the
3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf
in the Soviet Union, 1941
In December 1940 the
Germania
Regiment was removed from the
Verfugungs
-Division and used to form the cadre of a new division,
SS-Division
Germania
.
It was made up of mostly "Nordic" volunteers from the newly conquered territories, Danes, Norwegians, Dutch and Flemings.
By the start of 1941,
Germania
was renamed
Wiking
with command given to then
Brigadefuhrer
Felix Steiner
, the former commander of the SS-VT regiment
Deutschland
.
The
Verfugungs-Division
was also renamed
Reich
(in 1942
Das Reich
).
The
Polizei
division was brought under Waffen-SS administration.
[41]
The
Leibstandarte
was expanded to a division for
Operation Barbarossa
.
When the Waffen-SS divisions were assigned numbers much later in the war these first formations,
Leibstandarte, Das Reich, Totenkopf, Polizei
and
Wiking
were recognized as SS divisions 1 through 5.
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Organisationsbuch der NSDAP
, 3rd Ed. (1937) p. 424
- ^
Witold Kulesza. Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu w Polsce ? wrzesie? 1939. ?Biuletyn IPN”. 8-9 (43-44), issue August ? September 2004., p.22-23
- ^
The
Polizei
division members continued to wear
Ordnungspolizei
insignia and it did not include "SS" in its name.
References
[
edit
]
- Cook, Stan; Bender, Roger James (1994).
Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler: Uniforms, Organization, & History
. San Jose, CA: R. James Bender.
ISBN
978-0-912138-55-8
.
- Cooper, D. (22 February 2004).
"WW2 People's War: Le Paradis: The murder of 97 soldiers in a French field on the 26/27th May 1940"
.
BBC Online
. Retrieved
28 February
2016
.
- Flaherty, T. H. (2004) [1988].
The Third Reich: The SS
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ISBN
1-84447-073-3
.
- Harman, Nicholas (1980).
Dunkirk: The Necessary Myth
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ISBN
0-340-24299-X
.
- Mollo, Andrew (1991).
Uniforms of the SS: Volume 3: SS-Verfugungstruppe
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ISBN
1-872004-51-2
.
- Reynolds, Michael (1997).
Steel Inferno: I SS Panzer Corps in Normandy
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ISBN
1-873376-90-1
.
- Rossino, Alexander B.
(2003).
Hitler Strikes Poland: Blitzkrieg, Ideology, and Atrocity
. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.
ISBN
0-7006-1234-3
.
- Stein, George (1984) [1966].
The Waffen-SS: Hitler's Elite Guard at War 1939?1945
. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
ISBN
978-0-8014-9275-4
.
- Sydnor, Charles W. (1990) [1977].
Soldiers of Destruction: The SS Death's Head Division, 1933?1945
. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
ISBN
978-0-691-00853-0
.
- Weale, Adrian (2012).
Army of Evil: A History of the SS
. New York: Caliber Printing.
ISBN
978-0-451-23791-0
.
- Windrow, Martin; Burn, Cristopher (1992).
The Waffen-SS, Edition 2
. Osprey.
ISBN
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.