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SS Specialist Units in Combat
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About this ebook
It is an often overlooked fact that the SS Divisions included Cavalrymen, Paratroopers, Mountain and Ski Battalions and these rare photographs illustrate the unique role played by specialist units in action.
Author
Bob Carruthers
Bob Carruthers is an Emmy Award winning author and historian, who has written extensively on the Great War. A graduate of Edinburgh University, Bob is the author of a number of military history titles including the Amazon best seller The Wehrmacht in Russia.
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SS Specialist Units in Combat - Bob Carruthers
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
INTRODUCTION
Originally formed in 1933 under the command of Sepp Dietrich, the Waffen-SS was created as the armed wing of the Nazi Party’s Schutzstaffel . The Waffen-SS grew from three regiments to over thirty-eight divisions during World War II, and served alongside the Heer , Ordnungspolizei and other security units. During its twelve year existence the Waffen-SS gained a reputation for ferocity, imagination, resilience, and tenacity that was second to none.
The Waffen-SS began as the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT). They bore this name until August 1940, when Hitler gave the SS-VT its new name: the Waffen-SS. Initially, in keeping with the racial policy of Nazi Germany, membership was open only to people of Germanic origin (so-called Aryan ancestry). Later the rules were partially relaxed, and the formation of units composed largely or solely of foreign volunteers and conscripts was authorised. These SS units were predominantly comprised of men from the nations of Nazi-occupied Europe. Despite relaxation of the rules, the Waffen-SS was still based on the racist ideology of Nazism, and ethnic Poles (who were viewed as subhumans) were barred specifically from the formations.
Though the brainchild of Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, the military father of the Waffen-SS was Paul Hausser. In November 1934, Hausser was transferred to the SS-Verfügungstruppe and assigned to the SS officer training school. In 1936, he became the Inspector of the SS-VT; in this role, Hausser was in charge of the troops’ military and ideological training, but did not have command authority as the decision on deployment of the troops remained in Himmler’s hands. This aligned with Hitler’s order of 17 August 1938, which stated these troops were to be ‘neither (a part) of the army, nor of the police’.
While many of its formations were specialized the core units were Panzer, Panzergrenadier, and specialized infantry. The premier Waffen-SS divisions were the 1st SS Panzer Division ‘Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler’, the 2nd SS Panzer Division ‘Das Reich’, the 3rd SS Panzer Division ‘Totenkopf’, and the 5th SS Panzer Division ‘Wiking’ (comprised mostly of foreign volunteers from Western Europe and Scandinavia). The 12th SS Panzer Division ‘Hitlerjugend’ was formed in 1943, with the majority of its men enlisted from the Hitler Youth, alongside senior NCOs and officers from other Waffen-SS divisions. It joined the other divisions as a premier Waffen-SS fighting unit, quickly earning a reputation for ferocity bordering on fanaticism.
In these pages you will find images of the men who kept these Waffen-SS divisions moving forward. Here are the cavalrymen, artillerymen, signallers, engineers, bakers, medics, mountain troops and a host of other specialists who combined to make the Waffen-SS
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