Edmund L. Blcmdford Hitler's Second Army It would be difficult to find any military force in history as unique and perhaps as controversial as Hitler's Waffen-SS. In this work its origins are traced via the recollections of men intimately involved. How this small band of tough men became transformed into a nationwide political protection force is fairly well known, but how some of these men were taken and transformed into a fully militarised force has always been obscure. This book covers the combat experiences of Waffen-SS soldiers on the battlefronts from 1939-1945, infantrymen, artillerymen, tankmen and even the more unusual trades of recruiters and interpreter. The question of atrocities, though thorny, is covered in completely objective fashion, with a wider view to include some examples of Allied misbehaviour. In this full and fascinating account the leaders and men of this force recollect their own experiences - outside the narrow circle of their veterans' organisation. Jacket illustration by Edmund Blandford Edmund L. Blandford Airlife England Copyright © 1994 by Edmund L. Blandford First published in the UK in 1994 by Airlife Publishing Ltd British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 1 85310 479 5 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing. Printed by Biddies Ltd., Guildford and King's Lynn Airlife Publishing Ltd. 101 Longden Road, Shrewsbury SY3 9EB, England CONTENTS Introduction 7 Chapter One 9 Chapter Two 17 Chapter Three 30 Chapter Four 44 Chapter Five 51 Chapter Six 60 Chapter Seven 75 Chapter Eight 94 Chapter Nine 98 Chapter Ten 109 Chapter Eleven 118 Chapter Twelve 139 Chapter Thirteen 155 Chapter Fourteen 171 Chapter Fifteen 179 Appendix 1 Ranks of the Waffen-SS 199 Appendix 2 SS Unit Organisation 200 Appendix 3 Component Organisation of the Waffen-SS 201 Appendix 4 Types of Waffen-SS Formations 203 Appendix 5 SS Unit Nomenclature 205 Appendix 6 SS Divisions 206 Appendix 7 Two Views 208 Bibliography 209 Maps and Badges 210 Index 214 INTRODUCTION Perhaps no army in history has emerged with a reputation quite like that of the force known by the two letters 'SS'. This work is an attempted objective account of the 'second army' formed by men whose goals were entirely military and experimental, soldiers with ideas very different to their political masters. Unlike most other works on this often controversial subject, this effort includes unique testimony by the men involved, both as organizers and combat soldiers who experienced in their youth some of the biggest and most intense battles of the Second World War. These collected post-war accounts have to be an essential ingredient in such a history; the quoting of copious 'Himmler documents' may appear academic but it is a sure way to obtain a distorted picture. Apart from which, in view of the well known accusations levelled at these elite troops it is quite unjust to ignore their version of events, they deserve a fair hearing if only for the sake of a factual history. Edmund L. Blandford 7 'A small band of the best and most determined is far more valuable than a large mass of camp followers.' Adolf Hitler in 1926 'First, there is loyalty, God be praised, we have never had a single case of treason in our ranks.' 'Every man who joins the SS must know, that at any moment, he may be mortally wounded.' Heinrich Himmler, speaking to SS generals at Poznan 4 October 1943 'Men like Steiner and later Eicke . . . These were the people I most identified with and we often discussed how we could organize a soldierly force, an army along very different lines who would be superbly trained in a new way.' Sepp Dietrich post-war CHAPTER ONE Both the SA brownshirt army and the later-established elite guard SS owe their origins to the large communist organization which burgeoned in Germany after World War One. The armies of the right and left were born in times of economic and political ferment when that nation's affairs were in a state of great flux and when violence was rife. The multiplicity of political parties, but above all that of the Reds resulted in the emergence of counter forces, most notably the Nazi brownshirts who were used by Adolf Hitler as a stepping stone to political power. It has not been sufficiently recognized outside Germany how powerful the communists had become in the post-war period; it was the future Chancellor of a later era, Konrad Adenauer, who said in 1919: 'Germany is in grave danger of falling to Bolshevism.' The communists were a large, well organized party who commanded considerable support among the lower classes. Their propaganda was powerful, based on the teachings of Marx and Lenin, but to most Germans it seemed to aim at bloody revolution, with the elimination of the middle, upper classes and intelligentsia as the first aim. Whatever support the Reds received from the hopeful, less privileged, there were very many Germans who lived in fear of a Bolshevik takeover. Worst fears seemed realized when in some places the Bolsheviks actually gained power and set up the first 'soviets; their success was short lived, a combination of army and right-wing factions ousted them in bloody clashes which put paid, temporarily to the Red menace in those areas. It was in this atmosphere that the leader of the new National Socialist German Workers Party (the NSDAP) felt obliged to form a small troop to act as a personal protection squad and Stabswache, or headquarters guard in Munich. Josef 'Sepp' Dietrich was one of Hitler's earliest supporters, one of those men so impressed with him that he offered his services. Dietrich has been variously described as an 'ex-butcher', a 'chucker-out', an 'uneducated bully', 'Hitler's chauffeur' and 'private detective', while the eminent American Berlin correspondent William Shirer, referred to him as one of the most brutal men in the Nazi Third Reich. Born in Bavaria, Dietrich emerged as a small, tough character with a forceful, outgoing personality, and while totally different in one respect to his contemporary Ernst Roehm, whom he later shot, there is no doubt that 9 HITLER'S SECOND ARMY both men were typical NCO types. Both had seen army service during the war, and although Roehm achieved officer status he remained an NCO at heart; Dietrich ended his war as a sergeant in the new tank troops. But, apart from his sexual perversion, Roehm was a danger to Hitler and probably Germany, so according to Nazi realities had to be eliminated. Thereafter his name and face were expunged from all publications, even the friendly, comradely inscriptions on the 'honour daggers' presented by him were removed. Dietrich has told how he came to join up with Hitler: 'I joined the Nazi movement because it seemed to be the best way to counter the Reds and to try and effect some radical improvement in our country's situation. I had been a Sergeant in the tank arm at the end of the Great War and had seen enough horrors to know that we should try to avoid such a conflict in future. 1 met Hitler in Munich and saw at once that he was far and away the best speaker we had ever heard; wherever he spoke he captivated his audiences, not all saw eye to eye with his ideas and statements, I did not myself. But there was something about the man and his ability which laid hold on me. So I offered him my small services, such as they were. He was rather short of real followers, though this was to change later of course. We had a heart to heart talk and he told me that I could be of most use to him by way of protecting him from those of the far left who would likely try to kill him. This was a very real threat at the time for the communists, or Bolsheviks as we called them, were by far the largest political party with real strength; they were uniformed and armed. By that I mean they usually carried cudgels or arms of some sort and were not slow to use them. 7 agreed to become Hitler's personal bodyguard, but very soon we organized a Stabswache of some six men who had the muscle to intervene if any brutality threatened. Later on we increased the number to a round dozen or so as some of the men had homes and families to go to. In my case I had forsaken my own family to become a full-time companion to Hitler, so inevitably I got to know him very well with all his quirks — and there were some. But he had an iron determination such as I had never seen before, and I could see that properly directed this would take him far in politics.' Dietrich did not become Hitler's chauffeur at this time, that post was occupied by Julius Schreck, another close confidant and friend of the leader. And there came others, of course, in increasing numbers who tied themselves to Hitler. Dietrich: 'Unfortunately, there were others who saw him as a man they could manipulate. I refer to Roehm and his clique, and these had to be guarded against. Hitler had thrown in with the brownshirts I believe for one reason only — he needed the numbers to offset the Red menace. It was no use at all having a political party in those days unless you could march the streets waving flags and holding 10