----SPEARHEAD.a.- DAS REICH Waffen-SS Armoured Elite AnotherSovietattackhasbeenstoppedinitstracks. Waffen-SSartilleryobservers,wearingcleanloose fittingsnowcamouflagecoverallsovertheirparkas, carefullystudytheenemylinesthroughtheirstereo telescope.AnynewmovementbytheSovietswillresult inanotherfireordertobringdownartilleryfireonthe enemy'spositions. ~SPEARHEAD.a.- leu DAS Waffen-SS Armoured Elite Acknowledgements Firstpublished 2003 Michael Sharpe wrote the book, Brian ISBN071102975X Davis provided the black&. white photos. Thanksfor the colour re-enactment All rightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans material toWW2 Living HistoryGroup electronicormechanical,includingphotocopying,recordingorbyanyinformationstorageandretrieval system,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers. SS/Pz. Gren. Regt. 3 Deutschland, 9/Kompanie, New England, USA, ©CompendiumPublishing,2003 particularly Brian Clinton (Gunther PublishedbyIanAllanLtd Muller). MarkFranklin did the mapsand Donald Sommerville edited. animprintofIanAllanPublishingLtd,Hersham,SurreyKT124RG PrintedbyIanAllanPrintingLtd,Hersham,SurreyKT124RG Code:0306/B Abbreviations AC Armoured car BritishLibraryCataloguingin PublicationData APC Annouredpersonnelcarrier ACIPcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritish Library Arty Artillery Note:InternetsiteinformationprovidedintheReferencesectionwascorrectwhenprovidedbythe Atk Anti-tank author.Thepublishercanacceptnoresponsibilityforthisinformationbecomingincorrect. Bn Battalion BdE BefehJshaberdesErsatzheeres 55Ranks Waffen-SSfonnations/unitstructure (CommanderofReplacement Mannschaften(Enlistedmen) AbteilungSimilartoabattalion,a Army) SS-Schutze formationofcombinedunitsdesignedto Engr Engineer SS-Oberschutze beindependentonthebattlefield. Hy Heavy SS-Sturmmann Annee(army)ComprisedofseveralKorps, leFH leichteFeldhaubitze SS-Rottenfiihrer plusanyindependentformations,the (lightfield gun) SS-Stabsrottenfiihrer Armeeoperatedonthestrategiclevel. Lt Lieutenant; light TheonlyWaffen-SSArmeewasSixth MC Motorcycle UnteroffiziereobnePortepee SSPanzerArmy. Mor Mortar (JuniorNCOs) Aufklanmg(reconnaissance)Waffen-SS Mot Motorised SS-Unterscharfuhrer recceunitswerewell-armedandhadtwo NSDAP Nationalsozialistische Deutsche SS-Standartenjunker coysofACs,plusseveralMCcoysanda Arbeiterpartei(Naziparty) motorisedheavyweaponscoy. OKW OberkommandoderWehnnacht UnteroffizieremitPortepee Bataillon(battalion)Tacticalunitofthreeor OKH OberkommandodesHeeres (SeniorNCOs) moreKompanien,sometimeswith Pak Panzerabwehrkanone SS-Oberscharfiihrer additionallugeandastrengthof (anti-tankgun) SS-Hauptscharfiihrer between500-1,000soldiers. PzBefWag Panzerbefehlswagen SS-Sturmscharfiihrer Batterie(battery)Agroupofsupport (armdcomdvehicle) weaponsoperatingasaunit. pzGr Panzergrenadier Offiziere(CommissionedOfficers) BrigadeIndependentformation,usuallyof PzJr Panzerjager SS-Untersturmfiihrer 1-7,000soldiers.MostWaffen-SS PzKpfw Panzerkampfwagen(tank) SS-Obersturmfiihrer brigadesand/orlegionswereforeign RHQ Regimental HQ SS-Hauptsturmfiihrer volunteerunitsofvaryingsizeandthus SA Sturmabteilung SS-Sturmbannfiihrer notrelevanttoDasReich. SP Self-propelled SS-Obersturmbannfiihrer DivisionCombinationofseveralregiments SPW SchutzenPanzerWagen(APe) SS-Standartenfiihrer andAbteiJungen,withmanpowerof SS Schutzstaffel SS-BrigadefiihrerundGeneralmajor anythingbetween10-21,000soldiers. SS-VT SS-Verfiigungstruppe derWaffen-SS Waffen-SSpanzerdivisionstendedto (militarisedtroops) SS-GruppenfiihrerundGeneralleutnant havealargecomplement. Tk Tank derWaffen-SS Feldersatz(fieldreplacement)When WH WehrmachtHeer(asin SS-ObergruppenfiihrerundGeneralder possible,Waffen-SSdivisionswouldhave carandMCnumberplates) Waffen-SS anErsatz,orreplacementformation, SS-Oberstgruppenfiihrerund ofteninGermany,whichfednewtroops Dates GeneraloberstderWaffen-SS tothefrontlineunits. 20/7/54 20July1954 Reichsfiihrer-SS Feldpostamt(FPA)Militarypostoffice. CONTENTS Origins and History 6 Ready forWar 10 InAction 14 Insignia, Clothing and Equipment 66 People 84 Assessment 90 Reference 92 Index 96 AakAAunitsusuallyhadamixtureof (bakery),Fleischerei(butcher),newsand andtheKrankenkraftwagen(motorised towedheavy88mm,motorisedmed QMunits. ambulance)section. 37mmandIt20mmquadAAguns. Panzer(armour)Tankbattalionswere Stab(staff)Headquartersunitcomprising Kolonne(column)An independent organisedintocompanies,withoneor officerswhowouldbeassignedtoa = transportatioriunit,varying insize, morecommand(Befeh~ tanksper specificrolesuchas:la operations; = = transportingequipmentorsuppliessuch company,and Werkstatt(workshop/ Ib supply&transport;Ie intelligence; asabridgecolumnoralightinfantry repair)andsupplycompaniesallocatedto Id=training;lIa=personnelmatters, column (whichconsistedofanumberof eachregiment.EachPzDivhadattached officers;lib=personnelmatters,men; = = horse-drawnvehiclescapableof adeep-maintenanceKraftfahrzeug III judgeadvocate;IVa administration; = = transportingafixedtonnage). detachment,includingaworkshop, IVb medical;V motortransport. Kommando(detachment)Tacticalmilitary weaponsandasparesunit. DivHQincludedtheCO,plusstaffofficers, formationofindeterminatesize. Panzerjager'(anti-tank)APzJgunitusually cartographers(Kartenstelle),asignals Kompanie(company)Tacticalunitofthree containedamixtureofmotorisedand unit,anMPunit(Fe/dgendarmerie),plus ormoreluge;withastrengthof stationaryanti-tankweapons. anescortforceandtransportteam. 100-200soldiers. Pionier(assaultengineers)Inadditionto Trupp(troop)Tactical,sometimes Korps(corps)IdeallytheWaffen-5Scorps buildingbridgesandfortifications,Pionier independent,unitof10-20men. (formedfrom1943)comprisedtwoor troopsweretrainedasassaulttroops, Werfer(mortar)ComparedtoAllied moredivisions,plusseveralattached specialisinginurbanfightingand formations,Germanunitsweremuch Abtei/ungen,andtheHQstaff.Although weaponslikeflamethrowersandsatchel betterarmedwithmortars.Adivisional theI5SPanzerKorpswasthemodel, charges.Usuallysplitintoanarmoured Werlerunittypicallyhadthreebatteriesof manpowershortagesmeantthatthesize company,severalPionierandspecial six150mmtowedmortarsandabattery andqualityofeachvaried. companiessuchasBriicken(bridging) ofsix210mmtowedmortars.After1943 Nachrichten(signals)Asignalsunit, andassaultboat. sixbattalionsofSSNebeltruppen comprisedFemsprech(telephone),Funk RegimentComprisingseveralBataillone,with (specialisedrocketlaunchertroops)were (radio)andsupplyunits. anywherebetween2-6,000men. raisedandequippedwithNebe/werler NachschubbuppeSupplytroops,which Sanitiitstnlppe(medicaltroops)These (amulti-barrelledrocketlauncher). indudednon-combatantssuchasthe includedtheFe/d/azarett(fieldhospital lug(platoon;pluralZiige)Atacticalunitof veterinaryunit,theBackerei-Kompanie unit),com~rising theSanitatscompanies 30-40soldiers. ORIGINS & HISTORY Fame and infamyin equal measuresurround the2nd 55 PanzerDivision DasReich,the mostdecorated ofallWorldWarII German armed units.With the 1st55 PanzerDivision (Leibstandarte AdolfHitler), 12th 55 Panzer Division (Hitler}ugend) and the 3rd 5S PanzerDivision (Totenkopf), DasReichformed an elitecore ofhighly-skilled,motivated soldiers within theWaffen-55 that won the deserved plaudits of both friend and foe on the battlefieldsofEurope,and equallydeserved condemnationforitsactionsoutsidethe sphere of military operations. No fewerthan 69 Knight's (ross recipients fought in the ranksofDasReichduringthefiveandahalfyearsofwar,testimony,ifanywereneeded, totheelitestatusofthismuch-vaunteddivision.Thehistoryofthedivisionwasbothbrief and spectacular, but with the other elite Waffen-55 divisions, Das Reich has left an indelible markon the historyofarms,both through theferocityofitsactionsandforthe scale of its achievements. Measure for measure they are unequalled.This title in the Spearhead series therefore looks at the career of the 2nd 55 Panzer Division, its antecedentsand related units,in peacetime and in war. The story is all the more remarkable when one considersthat priorto October1939 no formal 55 Division existed.As with allWaffen-55 units,the elementsthat coalesced to form 2nd 55 Panzer in 1941 were fostered in the violent political scene of 1920s Germany, by an upstart political party (the Nazi N5DAP) seeking to defend itselffrom Right:Pre-warphotographofmenfromGermania duringatrainingmarch.TheSSStandarten (regiments)GermaniaandDeutschlandwerethe mainconstituentelementsoftheDasReichDivision. Bothwerecreatedinthemid-1930saftertheNazis cametopower. 6 ORIGINS & HISTORY attacks byrival groups and, in turn, harassopponents.The rise ofthe partythrough fair Above:'EyesRight!'The2ndCompanyof meansandfoul,andthetransformationofthesepolitical protection groups,iscovered in SSRegimentDeutschlandsalutes more detail in the companion volume in this series, Spearhead5: LeibstandarteAdolf SS-ObersturmbannflihrerKepplerandcompany commander(andlaterDasReichcommander) Hitler. Suffice to say that by 1930, the Schutzstaffel (55) had been formalised as a SS-HauptsturmflihrerWilliBittrich,bothofwhose personal bodyguard unit for Hitler under the leadership of the ambitious Heinrich headsandupperbodiesarecutoffinthisphotograph. Himmler,with detachments in mostofthe main German cities.There had been aname Theregimentalbandplayson. change,too,to Politische Bereitschaften (Political Stand-bydetachments) which had the unofficial statusofpolicesquads. Soon after the Machtergreifung (seizure of power) in January 1933 the NSDAP leaders set about consolidating their hold on power, using the Allgemeine (general) branchofthe55,theSAandtheStahlhelm,which wereall authorisedtoactasauxiliary police units, to cast along shadow over Germany.The Politische Bereitschaften were expanded in the principal municipalities,and rapidly anytrace ofopposition to the self proclaimed Nazi'revolution'was eradicated. The ruthlessness of such measures was soon graphically demonstrated. Hitler had recognised as early as 1922 the threatthat laywithin the ranks ofthe SA membership (this in part prompted him to form theAdolf HitlerShockTroop that becamethe 1st55 Panzer Division LeibstandarteAdolfHitler). Bythe end of 1933 SA membership stood at approximately 3 million, dwarfing the 50,000-strong fledgling Schutzstaffel. The brown-shirted 5A regarded itself as the true strong arm of the party, and under Ernst R6hm, aclose friend of the Nazi leader, its members had become asignificant and increasinglybelligerentthreatto Hitler'sdominanceofthe party. Furthermore,they had been encouraged to believe thatthey would replace the German Army as the country's national defence force. The delicate political balance on which the Nazis were still dependentcould,ofcourse,countenancenosuchthreattothestatusquoand inJanuary 1934,ayearafterhisappointmenttopower,Hitlerused55murdersquadstodecapitate the SAduringthe infamous'Nightofthe Long Knives'. 7 5PEARHEAD: DASREICH REGIMENT Deutschland SS-StandarteDeutschland,February1935 Priortothis event,in October1933,somenine monthsafterHitler'sappointmenttothe HQCompany Chancellorship, a group of 35 men selected from each of the 5tandarten of the 3xSS-Sturmbanneachof3xInfantrySturme, < 1xSignalsPlatoon,1xMG-Sturm Allgemeine-55 waschosen toform the cadreofthe 1stBattalion ofanew55 regiment. 55MotorcycleSturm These men were posted to the Munich Regimentofthe Bavarian state police and,after SSTrenchmortarSturm SSArmouredCarPlatoon selection, began officer training at the 55 academy at BadTolz.They, together with a 3xMotorisedsupplycolumns group of NCOs, formed the nucleus around which theWaffen-55 and Das Reich were Band built. Unchallenged by the 5A after the savage purge, during the mid-1930s the 55 underwent arapid expansion, under which the 55 platoons within the Munich police grew into the Politische Bereitschaft Munich, with a strength in mid-1934 of three infantrycompanies,onemachine-gun companyand an infantry-gun company. Fromthis unitwe can tracethe lineageofthe Regiment Deutschland, one of the two main formations from which the 2nd 55 Panzerwas created. Under orders from Himmler, from late 1934 the 55-Politische Bereitschaften wereformalised into thethree 5tandarten (regiments) of theVerfOgungstruppe (AdolfHitler, Deutschland and Germania) to allow for more effective administration, and to furthersteps toward fulfilling Hitler's ambitions for the 55. As part of this restructuring, in October the Munich unit was amalgamated with two similar formations into 5tandarte 1 of the 55-VerfOgungstruppe (55 I.VT), becoming 1st Battalion (1./55 I.VT).(Although itwasoriginallyto have been the 1st 55 Regiment, Hitler later decreed that the Leibstandarte AdolfHitlerwas not to be included in the numbering sequencefor55units,toemphasise that it was to remain instead his personal domain.) Above:DeutschlandcommanderSS-Standartenftihrer An NCO cadre was selected around which the sub-units of 5tandarte 1 were FelixSteinertakesthesaluteofhisregimentin organised along military lines. But although the newly formed regiment had all the Kufstein,March1938. bearing ofamilitaryunit,and nominal administration passed from the Nazi partytothe 7th InfantryDivision,itwasnotyetconsideredto bearegularArmyunit.All thesameit wasstationed inregularbarracksaccommodation,withthebattaliontaking upresidence in the quarters at Munich Freimann in which the regimental headquarters was established in 1939. At the same time, the 4th Battalion, which to all intents and purposes was the renamed Politische Bereitschaft WOrttemberg, was formalised and quartered at Ellwangen barracks. The men were predominantly southern Germans from Nazi strongholds in Bavaria andWOrttemberg. 8 ORIGINS & HISTORY During the Reichsparteitag celebrations of 1934Standarte 1. SS-VT was given the SS-Sfandat1e2.VTGennania,Odober1934 title Deutschlandand the constituent battalions received colours. Later an honour cuff 3xSturmbann band bearingthesamelegend wasawarded,and a2nd Battaliontaken onstrength and 1xTrenchmortarSturm 1xMotorcycleSturm quartered in IngolstadtLandstrasse.Thiswascomprised ofthe HilfswerkSchleissheim,(a groupofexpatriateAustrian Nazi volunteers) which had been drafted intothe SS-VT at asatFebruary1935 the suggestion of Himmler to circumvent adiplomatic clash with the Italian dictator 3xSS-Sturmbann eachof3xInfantryStiirme, Mussolini over the secondment of foreign volunteers to the German forces.The 3rd 1xSignalsPlatoon,1xMG-Sturmx3 Battalion wasnotformallyestablished untilJuly 1936atthe Munich Freimann barracks, 55MotofcydeSturm around acadre of volunteers and transferees from the 1stand the 4th Battalions, and 55TrenchmortarSturm 55Band recruits drawn mainlyfromWurttemberg and Bavaria. 3xMotorisedsupplycolumns In October 1936 SS-Sturmbann N (Nurnberg) was formed around a cadre from SS-LeibstandarteAdolfHitlerandSS-StandarteDeutschland.Ittookpartintheannexation ofAustria asapartofSS-Standarte Deutschland. Itwasthen converted intoamotorcycle battalion in November1938and redesignated SS-Kradschutzen-Bataillon N. REGIMENT Germania The second ofthe two principal units ofthe future Das Reich was Regiment Germania, formedasSS-Standarte3.1VTin 1934.Itwasrenamed SS-Standarte2.1VTwhen Hitler ordered that SS-Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler would not be included in the numbering sequence. In September 1936, SS-Standarte Germania, then stationed in Hamburg, received its colour standard at the Reichsparteitag in Nuremberg. It was organised formallyasaregimenton 1Octoberofthatyear,withthreeinfantrybattalionsandthree heavyweaponscompanies.Although these unitswere administeredtogether,theyrarely coalesced and lacked both acommon training schedule and true cohesion. Even so the regiment played arole in the annexation ofAustria, was responsible for security during Mussolini's subsequent visit to Germany, and also took part in the annexation of Sudetenland underdetachmenttotheArmy. Germanialaterserved asaguard regiment in Prague, asWach-Regiment des Reichsprotektors von Bohmen und Mahren, until July 1939.Forthe invasion ofPoland itwas attached to FourteenthArmyandfollowing that campaign formed partofthe SS-Verfugungstruppe Division. Bytheendof1936thetwocoreunitsoftheSS-VT- andthusDasReich- hadbeen established.Atthistimethey had acombined nominal strength of5,040.To these were later added further battalions of pioneer, artillery and signals troops and, after the annexation ofAustria,the 3,500 men ofthe DerFuhrerRegiment (see below).Together Below:Germaniamarchpastledbytheregimental with the separate wholly separate Leibstandarte Regiment (2,600 troops), and the band.Pre-warphotographtakeninHamburg. concentration camp guards of the Totenkopfverbande (3,500 troops), these regiments comprised the armed strength ofthe 55. REGIMENT DerFuhrer Completing the triumvirate of SS-VT units was the SS-Standarte Der Fuhrer. It was formed as SS-Standarte 3.1VT inVienna in March 1938, following theannexation ofAustria,ofAustrian volunteersaround acadre from SS-Standarte Deutschland. At the Reichsparteitag in Nuremberg in 1938, while still stationed inVienna, it was renamed SS-Standarte Der Fuhrer and received its colour standard. Command of this unit was temporarily transferred to the Army during the mobilisation in October 1938.Ittookpartintheoccupation ofCzechoslovakia and laterserved as aguard regiment in Prague,asWach-Regimentdes Reichsprotektors von Bohmen und Mahren.There was no role forthe regiment in the invasion ofPoland,during which itwas stationed on theWestWall. 9