Waffen-SS Encyclopedia

299 Pages·2004·36.79 MB·English

by  Marc J. Rikmenspoel

Waffen-SS Encyclopedia

Marc J.Rikmenspoel
IP
THE ABERJONA PRESS
Bedford,PA
Editor: Keith E. Bonn
Production: Aegis Consulting Group, Inc.
Printer: Mercersburg Printing
The Aberjona Press is an imprint of Aegis Consulting Group, Inc.,
Bedford, Pennsylvania 15522
© 2004 Marc J. Rikmenspoel
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
10 09 08 07 06 05 04 6 5 4 3 2
ISBN: 0-9717650-8-1
Originally published by The Military Book Club as Waffen-SS: The Encyclopedia
Visit us at www.militarybookclub.com
This edition published in cooperation with BOOKSPAN
The photographs in this book are predominantly from the author's private collection
or are used with the permission and by the courtesy of those individuals recognized in
the Introduction. Other photos are from the US National Archives, and are designated
by "(NA)" in the caption.
On the front cover: top row, left: Typical Waffen-SS soldier, summer 1942. (Author's
collection)
Top row, right: Soldiers of the SS-Estonian Legion, circa 1943 (Erik Rundkvist
collection)
Middle row, left: Volunteers of the Flemish Legion, spring 1942. (Geert De Vos
collection)
Middle row, right: Unterstuimführer Gerhard Stiller with a Panzer III at the training
center at Bitsh (Bitche), 1942. (Martin Månsson collection)
Bottom row, left: An SS-Totenkopf infantry regiment, 1941. (Author's collection)
Bottom row, right: Soldier of SS-Nord, 1942. (Richard Warfîeld collection)
To the memory of Terry C. Johnston,
who taught me what it truly means
to be an author.
Ake wancinyankin ktelo, mitakola.
Mitakuye oyasin.
Contents
Introduction x
About the Author xii
Rank Equivalence Chart xiii
A Guide to Tactical Unit Symbols xiv
Formations of the Waffen-SS 1
Armies 7
Corps 8
Divisions 16
Brigades 57
Regiments 57
Battalions 57
Never Formed 58
Structure of Waffen-SS Divisions 59
Early War 60
Panzer Divisions 60
Panzer-Grenadier Divisions 63
Mountain Divisions 64
Cavalry Divisions 66
Grenadier (Infantry) Divisions 68
Germans in the Waffen-SS 69
Germanics in the Waffen-SS 83
The "Wiking" Division 84
SS-Volunteer Regiment "Nordwest" 89
The SS-Nordland and SS-Nederland Divisions 90
viii
CONTENTS
The Germanic Nations 98
Denmark 98
Finland 110
Flanders 116
Great Britain 130
Iceland 134
The Netherlands 134
Norway 147
Sweden 160
Switzerland and Liechtenstein 166
Wallonia 169
Conclusions 179
Non-Germans and Non-Germanics in the Waffen-SS 181
Albania 181
Armenia 182
Azerbaijan 182
Bosnia 182
Bulgaria 183
Belorussia 183
Czechia 183
Estonia 184
France 185
Georgia 186
Hungary 187
India 187
Ireland 188
Italy 188
Latvia 188
Lithuania 189
North Caucasus 189
Poland 190
Romania 190
Russia 191
Slovakia 191
Spain 192
Turkics 192
Ukraine 193
Conclusion 194
CONTENTS ix
Leading Personalities of the Waffen-SS 195
Paul Hausser 195
Felix Steiner 199
Sepp Dietrich 203
TheodorEicke 206
Herbert Otto Gille 210
Willi Bittrich 213
Matthias Kleinheisterkamp 215
Otto Kumm 217
Heinz Harmel 220
Dr. Oskar Dirlewanger 223
Otto Weidinger 226
Hans Dorr 228
Walter Schmidt 231
Weapons of the Waffen-SS 235
Infantry Weapons 235
Anti-Tank Weapons (Including Tank-Destroying Vehicles) 238
Armored Vehicles 240
Artillery 246
Misconceptions and Controversies About the Waffen-SS 251
The Waffen-SS Were the "Asphalt Soldiers" 251
The Waffen-SS Was Atheistic 252
The Waffen-SS Suffered Unnecessarily High Casualties in
Battle 253
The Waffen-SS Had Inferior Leadership 256
The Waffen-SS Possessed Superior Weaponry to the Heer 257
The Waffen-SS, Einsatzgruppen, and Concentration
Camp Guards 259
The Waffen-SS and War Crimes 260
Appendix: Weapons Tables 265
Annotated Bibliography 269
Introduction
The list of published works about the Waffen-SS grows longer every
year. New accounts and infonnation see publication in every language
used by members of the Waffen-SS, meaning that many specialized
details useful to historians are found in books not available in English
or German. Meanwhile, the contents of various archives around the
world have yet to be explored in full. These factors allow for the happy
event that as a field of study, the topic of the Waffen-SS remains fresh;
more remains to be said without simply rehashing what has come
before.
Unfortunately, many works exist, particularly in English, which are
rehashes, cutting and pasting out of published books to create a "new"
volume. The result is that much misinformation has been widely spread,
with the Waffen-SS order of battle suffering greatly in this regard.
Thus, this reason for being is laid out. My aim is to present readers
and researchers with a handy reference on: the precise order of battle
of its major formations; the manpower sources and nationalities that
comprised the force, the "movers and shakers" of the Waffen-SS, and
the weapons they used.
As a bonus, extended detail is provided on the history of the
"Germanic" Waffen-SS, that part of it formed from Scandinavians and
West Europeans. This sub-topic has suffered from shallow and sloppy
research more than any other, in the realm of Waffen-SS books pub-
lished in English. Luckily, diligent researchers are investigating this
aspect of the Waffen-SS, and many have kindly made their findings
available to me. For this I need to particularly thank Tommy Natedal,
Geir Brenden, Björn Jervas, Lennart Westberg, Martin Månsson, Erik
Rundkvist, Holger Thor Nielsen, Allen Brandt, Erik Linnasmägi, Leo
Tammiksaar, John P. Moore, Eddy De Bruyne, Max Cuypers, Yvo
Janssens, and Peter van Holsteijn. With their help, I was able to present
information never before published in such a comprehensive manner. It
X
xi
INTRODUCTION
is my hope that this section will prove useful even to those experienced
researchers who find little new in the rest of the book.
The book as a whole has benefited from the writing and publishing
efforts of Roger James Bender and Hugh Page Taylor, Richard Land-
wehr, Erik Norling, John Fedorowicz (with Michael Olive and Robert
Edwards), Mark Yerger, Olli Wikberg, Munin Verlag, and the Sint
Maartensfonds, among many additional researchers and publishers.
Special thanks go to Kit and Patti Bonn for bringing me this project,
and for their considerate editing. The mistakes are still mine, of course.
I welcome questions and comments, and I apologize if I failed to
thank anyone who assisted me. Thanks for reading my work.
Marc Rikmenspoel
Fort Collins, Colorado
17 January 2002