Waffen-SS Units

There does seem to be, to me at least, a certain confusion as to what units were, or were not, on the Honour Roll of the Waffen-SS.

This I think is due in no small part, to the plethera of articles post war and books written by many world famous authors and one has only to read the ravings of many authors who, for whatever motives (revenge or monetry) have helped to preserve the myth of the Armed-SS, as being something akin to modern super heroes.

It has always been a contention of mine that it was the Alleigme-SS who actually ran the death and concentration camps, reporting directly to the Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler and of course the Gestapo and the much feared SD also had their collective fingers in the bloody pie.

Why tie up hundreds of thousands of 'fighting men' in guarding the camps, when they would be better employed fighting the Allies?

So here below, is the full Roll of Honour for the Waffen-SS, taken from post war Allied archives:

1. SS-Panzer-Division "Adolf Hitler",
2. SS-Panzer-Division "Das Reich",
3. SS-Panzer-Division "Totenkopf",
4. SS-Polizei-Panzer-Grenadier Division,
5. SS-Panzer-Division "Wiking",
6. SS-Gebirgs-Division "Nord",
7. SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen",
8. SS- Kavallerie-Division "Florian Geyer",
9. SS-Panzer-Division "Hohenstaufen",
10. SS-Panzer-Division "Frundsberg",
11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Nordland",
12. SS-Panzer-Division "HitlerJugend",
13. SS-Waffen-Gebirgs-Division "Handschar",
14. SS-Waffen-Grenadier-Division Der SS Galizische NR.1,
15. SS-Waffen-Grenadier-Division Der SS Lettische NR.1,
16. SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Reichfuhrer SS",
17. SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Gotz von Berlichingen",
18. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Horst Wessel",
19. SS-Waffen-Grenadier-Division Der SS Lettische NR.2,
20. SS-Waffen-Grenadier-Division Der SS Estnische NR.1,
21. SS-Waffen-Gebirgs-Division Der SS "Skanderbeg",
22. SS-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Division,
23. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Nederland",
24. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Langemarck",
25. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Wallonien",
26. SS-Waffen-Grenadier-Division Der SS Russische NR.1,
27. SS-Waffen-Grenadier-Division Der SS Italiensche NR.1,
28. SS-Waffen-Grenadier-Division Der SS "Charlemagne",
29. SS-Grenadier-Division "Landstorm Nederland",
30. SS-Waffen-Grenadier-Division Der SS,
31. SS-Freikorps Danmark,
32. SS-Freiwilligen-Legion "Flandern",
33. SS-Freiwilligen-Legion "Norwegen",
34. SS-Freiwilligen-Legion "Niederlande",
35. Finnisches Freiwilligen-Bataillon Der Waffen-SS,
36. Ski-Bataillon "Norge",
37. SS_Fallschirmjager.
150. SS-Panzer Brigade,
SS SCHW Pz. Abt 501.

Below are listed other 'Volunteer' units that saw very little combat albeit, against partisans or as security forces:

1. Britisches Freikorps,
2. Indisches Legion,
3. Ostturkischer Waffen-Verband der SS,
4. SS-Heimwehr Danzig,
5. SS-Feldgendarmerie,
6. SS Standarte "Kurt Eggers",
7. Junker-und-Unterfuhrerschullen Der Waffen-SS.

Non-combatant units included amongst others:

1. SS-Musik-Schule-Braunschweig,
2. SS-Helfer,
3. SS-Helferinnen.

In total there were some 39 Waffen-SS units raised for fighting with several existing more or less on paper during the final throws of the war.

Units like the French "Charlemagne" division fought to the bitter end at the Reichstaag and Hitler's bunker.

The Britisches Freikorps were reputed or alleged to have fought the Russians on the Oder and the Neisse alongside the Wehrmacht's Gross Deutschland Panzer Grenadier Division, but I have never found any firm evidence to indicate that they did.

Thanks for the information on this, as it will be a big help on a little side project of mine.

The Waffen SS fighting elan was second to none.

However I know that the 3 SS Totenkpf division did rotate men from front line service to concentration camp guard duty.

Hi, i have a slightly different list from a diferent source. This is my complete listing of all SS divisions formed during WW2. Each SS division has its own organic units with designated troop number (some were even named). Both "named+numbered" and "numbered-only" divisions existed in the Waffen-SS formation:

1.SS-Panzer Division "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler"

2.SS-Panzer Division "Das Reich"

3.SS-Panzer Division "Totenkopf"

4.SS-Polizei Panzergrenadier Division.

5.SS-Panzer Division "Wiking"

6.SS-Gebirgsjager Division "Nord"

7.SS-Freiwilligen Gebirgsjager Division "Prinz Eugen"

8.SS-Kavallereie Division "Florian Geyer"

9.SS-Panzer Division "Hohenstaufen"

10.SS-Panzer Division "Frundsberg"

11.SS-Freiwilligen Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland"

12.SS-Panzer Division "Hitler Jugend"

13.Waffen-Gebirgsjager Division der SS "Handschar"

14.Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS

15.Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS

16.SS-Panzer Grenadier Division "Reichsführer SS"

17.SS-Panzer Grenadier Division "Gotz von Berlichingen"

18.SS-Freiwilligen Panzergrenadier Division "Horst Wessel"

19.Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS

20.Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS

21.Waffen-Gebirgsjager Division der SS "Skanderbeg"

22.SS-Freiwilligen Kavallereie Division "Maria Theresa"

23.Waffen-Gebirgsjager Division der SS "Kama"

23.SS-Freiwilligen Panzergrenadier Division "Nederland"

24.Waffen-Gebirgs Karstjager Div. der SS

25.Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS "Hunyadi"

26.Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS "Hungaria"

27.SS-Freiwilligen Grenadier Division "Langemarck"

28.SS-Freiwilligen Grenadier Division "Wallonien"

29.Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS (italian)
29.Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS (russian)

30.Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS

31.SS-Freiwilligen Grenadier Division

32.SS-Freiw.Gren.Div. "30. Januar"

33.Waffen-Kavallereie Division der SS
33.Waffen-Gren.Div. der SS "Charlemagne"

34.SS-Grenadier Division "Landstorm Nederland"

35.SS-Polizei-Grenadier Division

36.Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS

37.SS-Freiwilligen Kavallereie Division "Lützow"

38.SS-Grenadier Division "Nibelungen"

SS-Fallschirmjager existed as a battalion. if memory serves, it is numbered 500th.

schweres SS Panzer Abteilung 501 is one of the three SS heavy tank battalions; the Army has 12 of them (numbering from 501-512). s.SS.Pz.Abt 501 was originally numbered 101, but it was switched to 501 as believed to confuse Allied intelligence.

The Waffen-SS was helped and lifted to its legendary status by German propaganda. In fact, the average SS trooper is no different than his Heer counterpart, but the doctrine instilled into them by Nazism is very potent. There are many superb military feats by the Waffen-SS - Michael Wittmann is my favorite - but the rest of the Wehrmacht performed equally well.

As one of the three organisations that made up the entire SS, the Waffen-SS is often thought of as the fourth branch of the Wehrmacht, which is not the case. Even though they were used for field deployment under the OKW, they were political troops under the strategic control of Himmler. Himmler dreamt of the SS taking over the Heer as the official German Army which, ironically, comprised of "untermensch" among its ranks.

[edit on 29-11-2005 by sp00ks]

Good list, but it's an old listing. I deliberately did not include the more 'exotic' units which never mounted to anything more than a couple of dozen volunteers and, as I said, most only existed on paper in '44/45.

I quote you here, "Himmler dreamt of the SS taking over the Heer as the official German Army which, ironically, comprised of "untermensch" among its ranks" and respectfully point out that by the end of '43 and early '44, Himmler knew the war with Russia, had been lost. He had to do something to stem the Eastern Hordes.

He sent his recruiters to scour the holding and concentration camps for volunteers and, given the death sentence they had hanging over their heads, many thousands volunteered to join the Waffen-SS. Latvians, Russians, Estonians, Indians to name but few.

In the end, the very people that Himmler and his closest circle of maniacs had wanted to eradicate, were now seen as being the saviours of the Nazi regime and given the chance to fight and die for that which would have eventually destroyed them.

Hi fritz,
Yes, it has been some time since I had that list. lol

Himmler shared the same vision with Rohm of replacing the the German Army with SA/SS. But I do think the conscription of the "subhumans" into the SS, which could be dated back to 1941, was in contrary to Nazi ideologies.

Half of the 2 million strong volunteers were from the East, of which 50,000 were Lithuanian volunteers with mostly deserters of the Soviet 29th Light Infantry Corps. Appx. 200,000 Russian volunteers were already in active service to the Germans at the end of 1941.

It is an interesting note that the world's first crusade against communism was spearheaded by Nazism.

World-wide general dislikes for communism contributed to many people's interest on the Eastern Front. Swiss and Finns filled the ranks of Wiking's elements since 1941; Spanish units were in existence since 1941 too. Even the Indian legion was drafted in 1942 from Indian PoWs, who answered Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's call to fight for India's independency.

P.S: do you have any updated commanders and divisional organic units info for your list?

Hey SpOOks. OK. I will try.

It is a very hard subject to research and it has taken me 35 years to come up with my original post.

Am currently researching the more well known Waffen-SS units from unit conception, to either capitulation or destruction in 44/45.

I will post results in no particular order.

Cool, fritz. May I know which are the particular units that you are working on?

I came across an article years ago about the capture of two Korean soldiers, of the Wehrmacht, in France. Do you have any idea were they SS (if it is true)? It was speculated that they started service with the Japanese Army, who were captured by the Russians, then sent to fight the Germans under the Communist banner, and were in turn captured again by the Wehrmacht and put into service at the Atlantic Wall until their capture by the Western Allies.

regards.

Originally posted by rogue1
The Waffen SS fighting elan was second to none.

So was their inability to take prisoners at times. British prisoners were massacred near Dunkirk in 1940, and Canadian prisoners were shot on capture in Normandy in 1944.
As for the Russians... poor sods.

Those German/SS uniforms are SCARY!, I bet they were VERY INTIMIDATING!. Our country should have stuff like that instead of the Khaki that is still used now.

I LOVE German/Austrian/SS or any other AXIS camo,gear, Equipment and Weaponry. It was well better than the Allies stuff.

I would WELL prefer thier Camo than the one we use now although i dont mind it much becouse im an applicant for the British Forces now

[edit on 1-12-2005 by Browno]

one of my favorite stories about being an SS Officer was told to me when I was living in Germany after I got out of the Army. A Gasthaus was run by an older gentleman. I used to love to sit there on a Sunday morning, with a fruehschoppe( early morning beer, heh), anmd listen to the war stories from the older German men in the place. Well, the owner came and sat with us onet time, and said he was an SS Officer at the age of 16 in 1944. The SS and Wehrmacht were runnning out of soldiers then, and were taking in old men and young boys. He was sent to the Eastern front, only to be captured by the Russians.

He said the Russians dug out a huge pit in the ground, supposedly for prisoner detention. There was a ladder going down into the pit. The captured Germans were lined up, single file, and told to climb the ladder down into the pit. Well, as the Germans approached the ladder, a Russian soldier would hold the barrel of his rifle, and swing the rifle into the back of the German's head, before he descended the ladder, to try and kill him.

It was getting close to his turn to descend the ladder, and eventually get knocked in the back of the head. He said, as he became next in line to descend, he turned around, and punched the prisoner who was behind him in line, in the face. They started brawling, and the Russian soldiers pushed him and his victim into the pit. That is how he survived his initial days as a prisoner.



[edit on 1-12-2005 by nathraq]

sp00ks

Finns sent a "volunteer" Field Battalion to SS-Wiking, most of the men volunteered because they wanted to revenge USSR for Winter War (1939), some other elements were sent to Germany to recieve additional modern training... and to train Germans in winter fighting.

Main reason for sending the Battalion to Germany was to tie in closer relations to Germany in order to secure military supplies from the reich (Bf-109Gs, Stug3s, Panzerfausts, Flak-guns, ammunition, fuel...)

Most of the Finns in WW2 fought in Finnish Army, in Finland (About 250.000 men)

SS Wiking only fought against Soviets, Right?
And no Finns were ever accused of war crimes (in german army)

ps. After Finland made truce with Russia in 1944, some Finns including Lauri Törni aka. Larry Thorne went to germany in order to keep on fighting the russians (Törni later on Joined US-Army and became a Major of green berets) Lauri Törni

Originally posted by Browno
.I LOVE German/Austrian/SS or any other AXIS camo,gear, Equipment and Weaponry. It was well better than the Allies stuff.

Please do not repeat this sort of thing elsewhere as it's not really based on evidence and historic fact. SS units were equipped much the same as regular Heer units and were trained much the same. They were the "political" soldiers ( wich Hitler said he would need to really fight the communist) indoctrinated in theory to fight the communist 'hordes' on equal fanatical terms. The whole German equipment superiority just does not hold up on prolonged investigation.

What made the German Army what it was was simply organization and superb tactical leadership imo.

Hitler's Panzers East.

That is in my opinion one of the best short summaries you will find on the East front. It shows at great lenght what organization and good planning almost enabled Germany to do ....

Stellar

[edit on 1-12-2005 by StellarX]

Ahem!

Ladies and Gentlemen.

I would like to respectfully point out that my original thread had nothing to do with the supposed heroic actions of the Waffen-SS. That has been amply covered by other threads on this site.

It was my attempt to clarify the 'final' Honour Roll of units purported to belong to the Waffen-SS, in the final stages of WWII - 1944/1945.

Please would you be kind enough to restrict your posts to known Waffen-SS units, their order of battle and last known commanders and outstanding personalities if known.

Would you also please not denegrate this thread to a slinging match about what unit was or is the best.

After all, everyone has heard of Michael Wittman and his exploits. Many of you have no doubt, heard of the equally famous Kurt Panzer Meyer and some of you may have read about Otto Skorzeny.

But how many of you have ever heard of Leon Degrelle of the SS-Freiwilligen-Panzer-Grenadier Division "Wallonien" or Thomas Halle Cooper of the Britsches Freikorps?

That was the reason for my thread and nothing else. I for one, am certainly not interested in the so called Ubermensche mentality. Just facts and fingures and personalities.

11th Waffen-SS Division Nordland – Order of Battle

SS-Panzer grenadier Regiment 23 Norge
SS-Panzer grenadier Regiment 24 Danmark
SS-Panzer Abteilung 11 Herman von Salza
SS-Panzer Artillerie Regiment 11
SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs Abteilung 11
SS-Sturmgeschutz Abteilung 11
SS-Panzer Jaeger Abteilung 11
SS-Nachrichtung Abteilung 11
SS-Pioneer Battalion 11
SS-Nachrichtung Abteilung Truppen 11
SS-Nachschub Truppen 11
SS-Instandsetzungs Abteilung 11
SS-Wirtschafts Abteilung 11
SS-Kriegsberichter-Zug 11
SS-Feldgendarmerie-Trupp 11
SS-Feldersatz-Battalion 11
SS-Bewährungs-Kompanie 11
SS-Sanitäts-Abteilung 11
SS-Werfer-Battalion 521
SS-Jaeger-Regiment 11

The commanders were, as far as I can tell:

SS-Brigadeführer Franz Augsberger (22 Mar 1943 - 1 May 1943)
SS-Gruppenführer Fritz von Scholz (1 May 1943 - 27 July 1944)
SS-Brigadeführer Joachim Ziegler (27 July 1944 - 25 Apr 1945)
SS-Brigadeführer Gustav Krukenberg (25 Apr 1945 - 8 May 1945)

34. SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division Landstorm Nederland

Division Stab

SS-Feldersatz-Battalion 60
Grenadier-Regiment Nr.1
SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Regiment 83 (Niederlandische Nr.3)
SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Regiment 84 (Niederlandische Nr.4)
SS-Artillerie-Regiment 60
SS-Panzerjäger-Abteilung 60
SS-Pioniere-Kompanie 60
SS-Nachrichten-Kompanie 60
SS Vet-Kompanie 60
SS Feldpostamt 60
SS Sanitäts-Kompanie 60

SS-Oberfüher Viktor Knapp (11 May 1943 - 1 April 1944)
SS-Obersturmbannführer Deurheit (1 April 1944 - 5 November 1944)
SS-Standartenführer Martin Kohlroser (5 November 1944 - 8 May 1945)