Leibstandarte and its supporting Tigers struggling through the mud on the eastern Front at the end of 1943. The winter of 1943/44 proved a particularly challenging time for the Waffen-SS.
Collaboration in the nazi occupied territories was far more widespread than people generally realise. one result of this was that local SS security units were formed that created the basis for many of Himmler’s foreign waffen-SS divisions. Space does not permit any real exploration of this contentious and complex issue in this book but it is worth looking at the experiences of Scandinavia and the Low Countries as they raised an SS panzer division.
A cadre of willing recruits was initially established when the waffen-SS set up a number of security battalions, principally SS Guard Bn 3 ‘nordwest’ from dutch volunteers, SS Guard Bn 6 ‘nord’ from norwegians and SS Guard Bn ‘Sjaelland’ from danes. The black-clad Allgemeine-SS also established foreign branches in the ‘Germanic’ (i.e. non-Slavic) occupied countries. This ‘Germanic-SS’ recruited the most ardent collaborationists in denmark, Belgium (Flanders), the netherlands (Holland) and norway. They likewise provided the volunteers for foreign waffen-SS units and pro-German security units.
In Denmark the Danish Foreign Minister erik Scavenius supported the anti-Komintern Treaty and the recruitment of danish volunteers for the waffen-SS to fight the Soviet Union. The Schalburg Korpset was also raised as a Danish branch of the Germanic-SS although it never adopted the SS designation. It recruited Danish SS eastern Front veterans for an internal security role.
In February 1942 Germany appointed Vidkun Quisling ‘Minister President’ of norway, although power really rested with the reichskommissar. Jonas Lie was Quisling’s Minister of Justice and Police and leader of the norwegian Germanic-SS. In norway an Allgemeine-SS unit was formed, initially known as the Norges-SS but later retitled the Germanske-SS Norge – presumably to emphasise its Germanic credentials. This was about 1,300 strong and wore black uniforms.
In Holland the dutch fascists formed the Nederlandsche-SS, which was later renamed the Germansche-SS en Nederland. These troops also wore black uniforms. The 11,000-strong Landstorm Nederland militia also came under the SS. This was later amalgamated with the SS Guard Battalion Nordwest to create the so-called 34th SS-Freiwilligen Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland.
The 5th SS Panzer division Wiking was the first and best of the foreign units raised by the waffen-SS. Gottlob Berger’s foreign recruiting drive began to gather momentum in december 1940. The Germania regiment of the SS-VT division was set aside to form the cadre of a new division recruited from europeans within the occupied territories. Added to this were two foreign regiments already formed that year, the Scandinavian Standarte Nordland using 216 Danish and 294 norwegian volunteers, and the Standarte Westland with 630 Dutch and Flemish recruits. A Finnish battalion, Nordost, was added in 1941 but later broken up as replacements. These units eventually became the SS Panzergrenadier regiment 9 Germania and SS Panzergrenadier 10 Westland.
The new division, initially known as Germania, was placed under General Felix Steiner. He had his work cut out melding his disparate recruits into an effective unit. Initially, discrimination by German officers and instructors proved problematic, forcing Steiner to issue an order calling for humane leadership. To reflect the division’s nordic origins, and to make the volunteers feel more welcome, it was renamed Wiking.
Wiking initially took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union as a motorised division. The following year it fought in the Caucasus and was redesignated a panzergrenadier division. In the spring of 1943 the 5th SS was involved in the counter-offensive between the Don and Dneiper. Afterwards the Nordland regiment was detached to create the nucleus of the 11th SS Freiwilligen Panzergrenadier Division of the same name. It was partially replaced by an estonian battalion. Wiking took part in the fighting at Kursk in the summer of 1943 and at the end of the year, with the addition of a tank battalion, Wiking became a panzer division.
In early February 1944 the red Army’s 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts linked up near Zvenigorodka, trapping 56,000 troops of the German 11th and 42nd Corps in the Cherkassy or Korsun pocket, around 100 miles southeast of Kiev. Some 35 Soviet divisions surrounded the pocket. The German corps in the pocket commanded six divisions, including Wiking and what became Leon dégrelle’s 28th SS Freiwilligen Panzergrenadier division Wallonien.
At the time the latter was only of brigade strength, some 2,000 strong, having been taken over from the army as the Freiwilligen SS-Sturmbrigade Wallonien in June 1943. This was attached attached to Wiking. Under SS-Obergruppenführer Herbert otto Gille, who had replaced Felix Steiner in May 1943, the 5th SS, numbering some 11,400 men, had fewer than fifty panzers and self-propelled guns and fewer than fifty pieces of artillery.
The plan was for a two-pronged relief, with 1st Panzer Army’s 3rd Panzer Corps driving from the southwest and 8th Army’s 47th Panzer Corps striking from the south. Despite their losses of transport aircraft at Stalingrad, the Luftwaffe was expected to provide an air bridge to the pocket. As far as Hitler was concerned, the highly successful 1942 demyansk airlift would be repeated. weather and road conditions were such that the two relief corps had to be resupplied by air as well. In the event, the red Air Force shot the Luftwaffe out the sky as it struggled to keep the trapped troops resupplied. In addition, 47th Panzer Corps was reduced to just sixty-one panzers and assault guns, and could do little more than conduct local attacks.
Hitler ordered the surrounded corps to stay put while four panzer divisions, including the 1st SS, tried to cut their way through. The 16th and 17th Panzer divisions of 3rd Panzer Corps attempted to reach the pocket, pushing northward on 4 February. In the meantime Hitler signalled General Stemmermann in the Cherkassy pocket, saying: ‘You can rely on me like you would on a wall of stone. You will be freed from the ring. For the time being hold on.’ But Stemmermann had no intention of holding on; he rejected an offer to surrender on the 9th and Zhukov signalled Stalin:
According to information received from Pows, during battles in encirclement enemy troops have sustained heavy losses and their officers and men are now in a state of confusion bordering on panic.
According to intelligence reports surrounded enemy forces have concentrated [the] bulk of their troops in [the] Steblev-Korsun-Shevchenkovsky area. The enemy is apparently preparing for [a] last attempt to break out towards Panzer group advancing on Malaya Boyarka.
The German counter-attack quickly bogged down, so the 1st SS and 1st Panzer divisions struck southward, getting as far as Lysyanka, just 5 miles from the pocket. Unfortunately for the trapped men, 3rd Panzer Corps just did not have the strength to make the final push. By 10 February the pocket was just 6 miles by 7. Tanks of SS Panzer regiment 1 cut through four russian divisions, but the depleted 1st SS was left with just three panzers and four assault guns.
Hitler was normally averse to surrendering ground but now agreed to a breakout attempt. The order was finally transmitted to Stemmermann on 15 February informing him that he could expect no further help:
Capabilities of III Panzer Corps reduced by weather and supply difficulties. Task Force Stemmermann must accomplish break-through on its own to line dzhurzhentsy-Hill 239 where it will link up with 3rd Panzer Corps. The breakout force will be under the command of General Lieb [42nd Corps] and comprise all units still capable of attack.
The 5th SS Panzer division led the desperate attempt to break out on the 16th, only to run into the 4th Guards and 27th Armies. Wiking punched westwards through a snowstorm, while the men of the Wallonien brigade covered the retreat and held open the corridor. This they did with distinction, with only 632 of their number surviving unscathed. Wiking fought its way to the Gniloi-Tilkitsch river but could find no bridges or fords, so in desperation human chains were formed to help non-swimmers cross.
In the bitter fighting the Germans lost 20,000 killed and 8,000 captured. The Soviets claimed that the battle for Korsun-Shevchenkovsky cost the Germans a total of 55,000 killed or wounded and 18,200 captured. The Germans maintained that 30,000 men managed to escape the pocket, largely thanks to the actions of Wiking.
In crossing the Gniloi-Tilkitsch river the 5th SS lost all of its armour and most of its heavy equipment. Although the 11th and 42nd Corps escaped, they were severely depleted and were pulled from the line. This greatly impacted on the defensive effort of Army Group South in fending off attacks in the Uman area.
In late March 1944 some 200,000 troops of the 1st Panzer Army, including weak battle groups from Leibstandarte with 3rd Panzer Corps and Das Reich with 59th Army Corps, were caught in the Kamenets-Podolskiy area. By mid-March the 1st SS had fewer than 1,250 men and the 2nd SS around 2,500. The bulk of the latter had been sent to east Prussia at the end of 1943 to reorganise with a full complement of Panther and Tiger tanks. In early February elements of the division had started arriving at their new training ground in Bordeaux.
The forces trapped at Kamenets-Podolskiy could not escape the enveloping red Army, so the newly operational 9th and 10th SS Panzer divisions Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg were sent to their rescue. Although the weather was appalling, they managed to break through to 1st Panzer Army as it fought its way westward through freezing fog. Kampfgruppe Lammerding (named after its commander, oberführer Heinz Lammerding) from the 2nd SS formed the rearguard while the other German units escaped to safety.
Most of the troops of 1st Panzer Army were successfully rescued but they lost all their heavy equipment and only forty-five armoured vehicles were saved. The LSSAH battle group was rescued but suffered heavy losses. The remains of the division were then sent to Belgium for rest and refitting in 15th Army’s area of responsibility. Kampfgruppe Lammerding was also sent to Bordeaux, though the small Kampfgruppe weidinger remained on the eastern Front. It was involved in the fighting retreat through Proskurov and Tarnopol.
It was at Cherkassy that the last of Hitler’s offensive strength in Ukraine was lost, creating the conditions for the victorious red Army advances in the summer and autumn of 1944. SS-obergruppenführer Gille reported to Hitler that Wiking had ceased to exist as a combat division. The 5th SS survivors were withdrawn to Breslau to refit, though a 4,000-strong battle group remained on the eastern Front. The division next saw action in July 1944 when it was sent to help bolster the Vistula Front in Poland.
Léon degrelle gained the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross for his leadership of his Sturmbrigade during the breakout. on returning home the survivors held a celebration in Brussels on 1 April 1944, with ‘Sepp’ dietrich as the guest of honour. Cherkassy cost SS-Untersturmführer Jaques Leroy his right eye and right arm but he refused to be invalided out of the brigade. The bravery of degrelle’s walloons convinced the SS of their worth and he was given permission to form a panzergrenadier division, though it never reached full strength.
Leibstandarte and its supporting Tigers struggling through the mud on the eastern Front at the end of 1943. The winter of 1943/44 proved a particularly challenging time for the Waffen-SS.
Members of the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking’s tank destroyer detachment equipped with the Marder II. Judging by the vehicle’s very light colour, it has a whitewash over the dunkel gelb (deep sand yellow) base coat. The division contained Danes, Dutch, Flemings, Germans, walloons, norwegians and Finns. It first saw action as part of Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The man on the right is SS-Hauptsturmführer oeck, the tank destroyer commander. His NCO has a peaked field cap in camouflage pattern. The division’s reputation was forged at Cherkassy.
Panzer IVs and men of the 5th SS caught in a swirling blizzard. In early February 1944 the Red Army trapped 56,000 German troops from units including Wiking and the SS-Sturmbrigade Wallonien, drawn from volunteers from Scandinavia and the Low Countries.
Tanks and half-tracks massing for the attempt to cut through to the trapped 11th and 42nd Corps at Cherkassy. Success rested on the four panzer divisions of the 3rd Panzer Corps, which included the weak 1st SS.
Whitewashed Panzer IVs on the Russian steppe preparing for the rescue operation.
Well camouflaged Tiger Is and supporting infantry. The Cherkassy relief force also included Heavy Panzer regiment Bäke with Panther and Tiger tanks. The regiment was subsequently trapped in the Kamenets-Podolskiy pocket, along with the whole of the 1st Panzer Army.
Wrapped up against the cold, this grenadier has a warm drink before going into action.
Softening up the enemy. A Hummel on the Eastern Front in early 1944; these were used to equip elements of the SS panzer divisions’ artillery regiments.
Towed German artillery laying down covering fire.
Panzer IVs loaded with infantry. when the relief force was held up, the 5th SS was ordered to lead the breakout.
German troops in camouflaged parkas trying to escape Soviet encirclement. Broken down motor vehicles have been pushed off the road to allow the horse-drawn wagons to pass.
German equipment abandoned in the Cherkassy pocket. During the breakout the 5th SS lost all its heavy equipment, including its remaining panzers.
Sheltering in his foxhole on 21 March 1944, a German solder glances at a knocked out T-34 tank. The Germans were again encircled, this time in the Kamenets-Podolskiy pocket. This contained some 200,000 men, including battlegroups from the 1st and 2nd SS Panzer Divisions.
Soviet infantry hurry past a burning Panzer IV in Tarnopol to the northwest of the Kamenets-Podolskiy pocket.
Panthers being unloaded from trains in March 1944. note the damaged StuG on the left. To save the Kamenets-Podolskiy pocket required the intervention of the Panthers of the newly operational 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg.
Hohenstaufen Division Hummel self-propelled guns and Hummel ammunition carriers on their way to the front. They are painted in a dark base colour, presumably panzer grey, with sprayed patches of lighter camouflage either oliv grun (olive green) or rotbraun (reddish brown). This clearly made them stand out against the winter landscape.
Despatch riders wait for a Tiger I to pass. The tank is finished in dunkel gelb overpainted with a rough whitewash camouflage.
Léon Degrelle awarding medals to rather sombre survivors of his Freiwilligen SS-Sturmbrigade Wallonien in Charleroi, Belgium. These men had escaped Cherkassy. A celebratory dinner was held in Brussels on 1 April 1944, with ‘Sepp’ dietrich, just visible second from the left, as guest of honour. The brigade fought with the 5th SS, suffering 1,368 killed and wounded from a total of 2,000 men.