Siegrunen: Number 79 - Summer 2007

Siegrunen
Number 79 — Summer 2007

— Siegrunen #79 —
Title Page
Two members of the multi-national training battalion of the
24.Waffen-Gebirgs (Karstjäger) Division in Ugovizza, Val Canale,
Italy in the late summer of 1944. The unit had Italian, Slovene,
Croat, Spanish, etc., recruits with German instructors.
Courtesy of Dr. M.N.
Never before published.
On the Covers
Front Cover
Ramiro Bujeiro did this for a projected publication many years ago;
it ties in with our main article on a Spanish Volunteer Officer.
Back Cover
SS-Obersturmbannführer Conrad Schellong, the long time com-
mander of the Legion Flandern, the 6.SS-Sturmbrigade “Lange-
marck” and the SS-Kampfgruppe “Langemarck” on the Eastern
Front in early 1945. One of a series of color portraits Ramiro Bu-
jeiro did for SR a number of years ago that we intend to use now!
Schellong was incidentally an American citizen who lived and
worked for half his lifetime in the Chicago area before being
hounded out of the country by our “official” government “Nazi
Hunters”. Since he was here legally and never concealed his past, it
took them 7½ years of constant, vicious harassment to force him to
leave!
—2—
Contents
Preface...................................................................................................... 5
The Story of a Spanish Waffen-SS Officer:
SS-Obersturmführer R. Luis Garcia Valdajos .................................... 7
The Lynching of SS-Untersturmführer Jochen Krah .............................. 17
Emergency Battle-Groups of the Waffen-SS, Part I ............................... 21
Waffen-SS Personalities......................................................................... 35
55th Anniversary Celebration of the
HIAG-Landesverband Hamburg e.V. ............................................... 69
Publications of the European Volunteers ............................................... 81
Non-German Waffen-SS Holders of the German Cross in Gold ............ 87
A Brief History of the
SS-Grenadier Ausbildungs und Ersatz Bataillon 18 ...................... 103
The SS-Totenkopf Rekrutenstandarte.................................................. 111
5.SS-Sturmbrigade “Wallonie” .............................................................. 117
Germanic SS Volunteers Miscellany .................................................... 121
60th Anniversary of the Execution of
Generalleutnant Helmuth von Pannwitz, Commander of the
XV.Cossack Cavalry Corps of the Waffen-SS ............................... 125
The SS “Wiking” Division Conquers Rostov, July 1942 ....................... 137
Erik Rundkvist, In Memoriam, 1963-2006 ............................................ 155
Book Reviews ....................................................................................... 159
Waffen-SS Miscellany........................................................................... 161
—3—
Siegrunen
Vol. XIII No. 5 — Whole Number 79 — Summer 2007
(31st Year of Publication)
First published in 2007
First Edition
Copyright © 2007 by Richard W. Landwehr, Jr.

Book design Copyright © 2007 by the Merriam Press
Additional material copyright of named contributors.
All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied
in critical articles or reviews.
ISBN 978-1-57638- (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-57638- (hardcover)
Siegrunen is published by
Richard W. Landwehr, Jr.

P.O. Box 6718
Brookings OR 97415
Subscription rates (including postage):

1 copy for $27; 2 copies for $52.
Autographed hardbound edition for $45.
A full list of back issues and other publications is available upon request.
Thank you for your support and interest!
E-mail: richwehr@hotmail.com or agates@localnet.com
This work was designed and produced in

the United States of America by the
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Bennington VT 05201
For a copy of the current edition of the Merriam Press catalog

describing dozens more World War II and Military
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Web site: merriam-press.com
—4—
Preface
ELCOME to issue #79 of Siegrunen, now in its 31st year
W of publication! If all goes well this will be our first larger

format book-length issue. We did do a few “book” is-
sues some years ago, but this should be much better. Hopefully we
will be able to provide more content along with some better finan-
cial stability for the publisher! In any event there will be much
more material herein, including some revised reprints from out-of-
print back issues. I hope it will meet with your approval!
As I have mentioned before, Siegrunen grew out of my inabil-
ity to locate any adequate amount of published, accurate material
on the Waffen-SS and in particular, the non-German volunteer
units, in the 1960’s, so I took a chance that by doing this I might
attract more sources of “good” information, and it worked! I also
strongly felt that the “volunteers” were being given the shaft by the
mainstream media, if they were ever mentioned at all. The “estab-
lishment” defamation was, and remains, staggering. It didn’t take
me very long to discover that these were not criminals, but for the
most part, were above average individuals, highly motivated,
skilled and courageous who happened to belong to an elite military
organization (the Waffen-SS), that was so far ahead of its time that
we still have not yet caught up to it!
Last fall, I was bothered by a flood of certified letters from a
University of Utah Professor all seeking “full rights” to use a num-
ber of my book and Siegrunen covers in a book to be entitled “The
Myth of the Eastern Front; An American Viewpoint”, or something
similar. Of course they did not enclose any return postage or bother
explaining what their title signified or what their book was about. I
made some inquiries and got some mealy-mouthed, beat-around-
the-bush response. Finally I found out that they had assembled
some sort of work about the “romanticizing” of the Eastern Front
by American authors (specifically me!), who were “obviously” in-
fluenced by the post-war memoirs by assorted German veterans
that were published in America in the 1950s (i.e. due to “McCar-
—5—
thyism” no doubt and the anti-communist values of the era). What-

ever these people are doing is beyond my comprehension but I
found it offensive and they will not get any cooperation from me!
In the first place of course, my influences did not come from
the direction they indicated but simply from curiosity due to the
censorship, lies and lack of information about the Waffen-SS in the
general literary media in this country. And secondly, it was never
my intention to “romanticize” anything; just to present the facts in
a more positive and accurate manner, but also not shy away from
the extreme brutality of the combat conditions on the Eastern
Front. I will never make any secret of the fact that I considered the
soldiers and non-German volunteers of the Waffen-SS to be the
true heroes of the 20th Century for their deeds in the struggle
against communism (the greatest evil of all time) and predatory
capitalism. At any rate these idiots wasted my time and I didn’t
like it one bit!
We had at least two great losses in the last year. First of all my
colleague Erik Rundkvist passed away at the very young age of 43.
That is not a loss I expected or wanted, I guarantee. We will have a
tribute to him later in this issue. Also dying was Florentine Rost
Van Tonningen Heubel, whom I have mentioned many times in
this publication; both her brother and husband served in the Waf-
fen-SS and were both killed, the latter in captivity. She remained
true to her beliefs all of her long life of 92 years. For many years
she was a source of constant help and encouragement to me, which
was greatly appreciated. Naturally she was totally slandered in the
media, and tragically by her offspring, who were taken away from
her in the postwar era, during her own incarceration, to be “de-
Nazified” (i.e. brainwashed). She was a very fine person who will
be missed!
—Richard Landwehr
—6—
The Story of a Spanish

Waffen-SS Officer
SS-Obersturmführer
R. Luis Garcia Valdajos
by Erik Norling
A poor quality photograph of Luis Garcia Valdajos as an Obersturm-

führer in the Waffen-SS
—7—
Falangist Volunteer
R. (Rufino) Luis Garcia Valdajos was born in Tordesillas
(Valladolid), in the Spanish Castilla region (the equivalent of
Prussia for the Germans), on 4 May 1918 in a middle-class
Catholic family When he was only 5 years old his family move to
Madrid, where Valdajos began studying law at the University in
1936. The Spanish Civil War broke out in that year on the 18th of
July.1 Valdajos spent his summer vacations in his home town and
since this area was quickly occupied by General Franco’s
Nationalist forces, he went immediately to enlist. Initially, As a
member of the Falangist Party (Spanish Fascists), Valdajos served
as a civilian volunteer with the “Guardia Civil”, the equivalent of
the German Ordnungspolizei, or “Order Police”, but at the end of
August he was incorporated into the Falangist Militia, which was
an active military force.
At the age of 18 he fought in the first battle for Madrid with the
“Bandera de Castilla” (the Castilian Volunteer Battalion of the
Falange). On 11 January 1937 he was selected to attend an offi-
cer’s training course at Granada in southern Spain.2 After receiving
his rank as “Alferez provisional” (the equivalent of SS-
Untersturmführer der Reserve), he led a platoon of the Jägerbatail-
lon “Serrallo” (in Spain, individual units all received names), of
the 11th Army Infantry Division on the Madrid and Extremadura
Fronts. Garcia Valdajos would be decorated with several medals
for his service in the frontlines. Madrid was finally liberated and
the war ended in April 1939; Valdajos received a promotion to 1st
Lieutenant (SS-Obersturmführer equivalency) in July of that year.
His unit then became part of the 1st Regiment of the Spanish
Army, stationed in Madrid, where he would spend the next three
years as an officer.
1
Lebenslauf (roughly “background information”) 2.2.1945 Garcia Valdajos to
the R.u.S Hauptamt (Race & Resettlement Main Office). U.S. National Ar-
chives T354.
2
Military Records, Military Court action against Garcia Valdajos, 1947.
Achivo General Militar.
—8—
The Blue Division

Only a few days after the start of Operation “Barbarossa” (the Ger-
man invasion of the U.S.S.R.) in June, 1941, Spain began to
organize a volunteer formation to depart for the Eastern Front and
fight against the communists. Thousands and thousands of volun-
teers flooded the recruiting stations, but most of them had to be
rejected as there was no room for them in the division. Garcia Val-
dajos also immediately applied for permission to leave his post in
the regular Army and fight on the Eastern Front, but his application
was initially denied.
After more than a year he finally got permission to serve in the
new “Blue” Division (named after the color associated with the
Spanish Falange movement), but not with the rank of officer, as all
officer appointments had been filled. Therefore he had to enlist as
a simple soldier despite his rank of 1st Lieutenant. On 12 Septem-
ber 1942 he arrived at the divisional replacement battalion for the
northern region of Spain that was situated in Logroño. He was
soon appointed Corporal and his unit crossed the Spanish-French
border on 22 November 1942, where it was sent en route to the
northern portion of the Eastern Front near Leningrad. Valdajos was
then attached to Infantry Regiment 269 of the “Blue” Division. In
his one year of combat he saw heavy action in all of the hardest
battles of the division, including Krasny Bor in February 1943, in
which severe, bloody losses were sustained. In sum total the
“Blue” Division would lose 5,000 men killed and 20,000 more
wounded on the Eastern Front.
In November 1943, the “Blue” Division was withdrawn by
Franco for political reasons, but a small regiment known as the
“Blue” Legion was allowed to remain at the front until March
1944. Garcia Valdajos decided to remain as an NCO in this new
unit until it too was sent home. The “Blue” Legion was first
brought back to the training camp at Stablack (near Königsberg,
East Prussia), where preparations were made to return it to Spain.
But Valdajos did not want to desert what he saw as his duty to
fight communism. Therefore he and some of his comrades refused
repatriation to Spain and decided to stay in Germany, living either
openly or in hiding. In a report to the HQ of the Spanish Army in
Madrid dated 3 June 1944, the Personal Office of the “Blue” Le-
—9—
gion listed the names of 52 volunteers that had “deserted” by the

beginning of May 1944. One of the names was that of Luis Garcia
Valdajos.
He and some of his comrades jumped off the troop train that
was traveling across Germany to Spain on 5 April 1944 at Hanau.
They then presented themselves for duty at the nearest Wehrmacht
post. From there they were sent to Versailles (Paris), France to the
“Quartier de la Reine”, where the High Command of the
Wehrmacht (OKW) was assembling all of the Spanish volunteers
that had been crossing the border to enlist.3 On 15 April 1944,
Valdajos and 40 other Spanish volunteers were sent back to Stab-
lack (South), the new home for Spaniards in the Wehrmacht after
the departure of the “Blue” Legion.4 They arrived on 20 April, and
Valdajos’ Spanish Army rank of Oberleutnant was recognized for
the first time.
Sicherheitsdienst (SD) Officer

Garcia Valdajos was then contacted by SS-SD (Security Service)
officers that asked him if he wanted to join a special unit that was
fighting exiled Spanish Red terrorists in France. He accepted and
on 7 June 1944 he traveled to Paris.5 There he participated in a two
weeks course for SD officers before being sent to fight the Maquis.
From 23 June until 16 September 1944 he was engaged in anti-
partisan activities behind the Normandy Front and in southern and
central France. Although specific details of this period are vague,
his comrade Ricardo Botet, who had accompanied him, stated that
during this time they had received an assignment to capture an
3
Designation Sonderstab F, a section with the mission of coordinating the new
Spanish volunteer units. U.S. National Archives T563. This date also corre-
sponds with Garcia Valdajos’ cited Spanish military records.
4
Telegram from Sonderstab F to OKW (Wehrmacht High Command) on
14.4.1944, “Regarding Spanish Volunteers in Versailles”.
5
Here we have a mystery to be solved. According to Garcia Valdajos he just
went to a course for SS/SD officers and later was involved in anti-partisan
warfare. There are sources that have a Spanish officer, identified only by a
pseudonym, leading a platoon from the “Brandenburg” (Commando) Division
in action against the French “resistance” at this time. Could it be that Garcia
Valdajos deliberately decided to omit the name of this unit and his specific ac-
tions in his personal history during his Court Martial?
— 10 —
American officer who was operating with the Spanish Maquis. Bo-
tet, a former sergeant in the “Blue” Division, had also abandoned
the transport train on the way back to Spain, and would serve along
with Valdajos in the Waffen-SS.
Ricardo Botet as a Waffen-SS Oberscharführer. He had been decorated

with the Iron Cross, 1st and 2nd Class.
On 4 October 1944, Garcia Valdajos was in Berlin awaiting a

new assignment. Some sources state that he was attached to the
Iberoamerikanische Institut, led by a former German Reich ambas-
sador to Spain, General Wilhelm Faupel, that was engaged in co-
ordinating the activities of Spaniards that lived in Germany and
worked for the Axis, against the desires of the Madrid govern-
ment.6 While in Berlin, Ricardo Botet convinced Valdajos to con-
6
These Spaniards even had a newsletter, Enlace (Liaison), with strong anti-
Franco views, that was published bi-weekly. This served as a connecting link
for the Spanish volunteers still serving in the German Armed Forces (SS,
Wehrmacht, Kriegsmarine, Organisation Todt, or as a worker). Franco’s deci-
continued…
— 11 —
tact the Walloon political (and now military) leader Leon Degrelle,
who was in the Reich Capital attempting to find recruits for his
newly authorized 28th SS-Volunteer Grenadier Division “Wallo-
nien”.7
Enlisting in the 28th SS Division “Wallonien”

The well-known Walloon leader Leon Degrelle met with Garcia
Valdajos and Ricardo Botet, who acted as translator in French
since he had a good knowledge of both that language and German,
at the end of October 1944 in the Hotel “Adlon” in Berlin. De-
grelle was desperately trying to fill out the “Wallonien” Division
and he had instructed his recruiters to find anybody they could in-
cluding Spaniards. Valdajos was immediately accepted by Degrelle
into the 28th SS Division and appointed as the officer in charge of
any future Spanish volunteers coming into the formation. On 1
November 1944, the Spaniards went to Breslau where the recruit
depot of the “Wallonien” Division was located, but a week later
the entire unit was shifted west to the Alfed-Leine area near Han-
nover.
In the meantime, Spanish volunteers that had been recruited by
Garcia Valdajos and his associates began to arrive from every-
where.8 Valdajos gave them basic instructions and organized them
into a “Spanish Company”. For platoon leaders, he appointed his
comrade Ricardo Botet Moro along with former “Blue” Division
officers, Lorenzo Ocaña and Rafael Lafuente, all of whom were
…continued
sion to withdraw Spanish support from the Eastern Front had of course, low-
ered their opinion of him.
7
It could be that the contact person between Garcia Valdajos and Leon De-
grelle was the former Belgian citizen Alphonse Van Hermbeke, who had be-
come a Spanish citizen after serving as a volunteer in Franco’s Nationalist
forces during the Spanish Civil War. Memoirs of Van Horembeke, private
edition. Copy in the Archives of the author.
8
Many of the volunteers came from the Spanische Ausbildungsbataillon (Span-
ish Training Battalion), located at Solbad/Hall (Tyrol), while others came
from factories, where thousands of Spanish workers could be found. This as-
sembly came about thanks to the efforts of Alphones Van Horembeke and an-
other Belgian volunteer that had been in Spain during the Civil War, Paul Ke-
hren, both of whom spoke Spanish fluently.
— 12 —
given the senior NCO rank of SS-Oberscharführer.9 At the time

there were close to 100 Spaniards in the “Company”, but according
to some sources this increased later to up to 240 volunteers.10
By the middle of November, the Spanish recruits had been
transferred to a training camp at Hemmendorf/Oldendorf, while
Garcia Valdajos traveled back and forth to Berlin on administrative
matters. On 25 December 1944, during von Rundstedt’s Ardennes
Offensive, the “Spanish Company” was put on alert with the rest of
the “Wallonien” Division to perhaps advance back into Belgium
with Leon Degrelle, if the German attack achieved its hoped for
breakthrough. As a result, Garcia Valdajos and some of the other
Spaniards personally accompanied Degrelle to the west to see if
they could proceed back into the “Wallonien” homeland. But this
was not to be and on 7 January 1945, the offensive was called off,
a desperate, but clear failure. At that time the others returned to
their barracks while Valdajos went again to Berlin to check on the
overall situation.
The Last Battles

By the end of January 1945, the Soviets had advanced rapidly
through Northern Germany. A battle-group from the “Wallonien”
Division, consisting of its two formed SS Grenadier Regiments, 69
and 70 and SS Artillery Detachment 28, was now sent on an emer-
gency basis to the frontlines in Pomerania. The Spanish volunteers
had been incorporated into the 3rd Company of I. Battalion/SS-
Grenadier Rgt. 70, led by SS-Obersturmführer Robert Denie. Gar-
cia Valdajos was initially not with the unit, staying behind in Ber-
lin, where he was going to marry a German woman and fulfill all
of the bureaucratic requirements for such an undertaking for a
regular SS officer.11 Therefore, during his absence, the “Spanish
9
Interview with Ricardo Botet Moro.
10
Eddy de Bruyne, using these same sources as well as the memoirs of the Bel-
gian SS-Ustuf. Steiver, attempted to write a history of the Spanish volunteers
in the “Wallonien” Division, in his book: “For Rex and Belgium; Leon De-
grelle and Walloon Military Collaboration, 1940-45”, pp. 153-156 (published
by Helion Books in England in 2004).
11
His file at the SS-R.u.S. Hauptamt. U.S. National Archives T354.
The application form is dated 2/2/1945 and was finally authorized af-
continued…
— 13 —
Company” was led by SS-Untersturmführer Rudi Bal, an Argen-

tine-born Belgian SS officer, who therefore spoke Spanish. Ustuf.
Bal was killed in action on 6 March 1945 and supposedly replaced
by another Walloon officer, SS-Ustuf. Albert Steiver, who later
claimed to have led the company during the battles around Star-
gard.12
Garcia-Valdajos would rejoin the 28th SS Division, during the
hard fighting in the Arnsewalde sector in February 1945. The
Spaniards now lost many men in an encirclement and only about
60 escaped death or capture.13 During the re-organization of the
“Wallonien” Division in mid-March 1945, the remaining Spanish
volunteers left the formation. On 16 March 1945, SS-Ostuf. Garcia
Valdajos arrived at the “Wallonien” barracks in Alfed-Leine and
ordered the Spaniards to reassemble at Potsdam where they would
receive new orders.
When the group arrived at Berlin, the command of the roughly
100-150 man unit was taken away from Valdajos and given to a
Spanish SD officer named Miguel Ezquerra Sánchez. Garcia Val-
dajos was then attached as a liaison officer for the Spanish volun-
teers to the SS Main Office.14 The Russians came closer to the
capital and when the encirclement and battle for Berlin was un-
derway in late April 1945, Ostuf. Valdajos joined his comrades in
the so-called SS-Kampfgruppe “Ezquerra”, which fought alongside
the remnants of the Latvian Waffen-Fusilier Battalion 15 in the
vicinity of the Reichschancellery. Many of the Spanish volunteers
were either killed-in-action or captured by the Soviets. Valdajos
managed to hide himself until 9 May 1945 when he reached the
…continued
ter the standard administrative procedures, including a medical check
and a study of his racial background.
12
Private edition of Steiver’s memoir, “Krussow, 1945, Wallons ... et Espag-
nols!”
13
Steiver dedicated several pages to the Spanish volunteers and their battles.
14
The remembrances of some veterans give a bad impression of Garcia Valdajos
as a commanding officer (i.e. see Van Horembeke), while others, such as Ri-
cardo Botet, are also hard on Ezquerra. The figure for the number of Spanish
volunteers was given by Ricardo Botet.
— 14 —
Spanish Embassy to seek refuge.15 But the Embassy of a country

like Spain was not the best place to be when the Russians were
around. They had sent in a committee of communists Spaniards,
serving in the Red Army, to take it over. Therefore Garcia Valda-
jos had to escape from Berlin in civilian clothes, posing as a
“forced laborer”.
Return to Spain
Valdajos left the Spanish Embassy in Berlin on 13 May 1945, and
remained in hiding until the 8th of June, when he managed to cross
a Russian checkpoint out of the city. He then went to Stendal in the
Russian Zone and stayed there until November 1945 when he was
able to contact the British Military HQ in Berlin, which gave him
some assistance. They arranged that he could stay at a refugee
camp for displaced persons, and thus he started on an odyssey
through occupied Germany, Holland, Belgium and France. He was
always nervous about being discovered as a former SS officer, par-
ticularly in France, where violent and deadly reprisals were not
uncommon.
On 14 December 1945, Garcia Valdajos was able to cross the
international bridge on the French-Spanish border at Irun. He then
had to wait three long days until his papers were properly author-
ized. On the 19th of December he presented himself at his former
barracks in Madrid from which he had left 3 ½ years before! He
was then immediately prosecuted as a “deserter” by a military tri-
bunal, as it was considered that he had left active duty when had
jumped off of the train of the returning “Blue” Legion. The court
case against him took almost two years to be resolved, but he was
15
There are a few accounts of the Battle of Berlin by Spanish veterans. The
most famous are the controversial memoirs of Ezquerra, entitled “Berlin, a
vida o muerte”, that has been re-edited many times since the first edition ap-
peared in Portugal in 1947. Unfortunately the story Ezquerra writes is not very
accurate and has to be considered “doubtful” at many points. For example he
does not mention Garcia Valdajos at all, and let his fantasy fly when he claims
to have received the Knight’s Cross personally from Hitler at his bunker! Mi-
guel Ezquerra died in 1984. Also interesting is Moises Puente, “You, muerto
en Rusia (Memorias del Alferez Ocanas)” (Madrid 1954, Ediciones del
Movimiento. 2nd Edition 2003). Van Horembeke’s memoirs also cover the
Battle of Berlin.
— 15 —
never imprisoned and was he was finally acquitted by sympathetic

military judges on 1 March 1947. He was then once again a free
man.16
16
Unfortunately we have not been able to trace Garcia Valdajos’ life after the
war.
— 16 —
The Lynching of
SS-Untersturmführer
Jochen Krah
N 3 June 1947, the Yugoslav communist regime began a
O “war crimes” trial for three former officers of the 7th SS

Mountain Division “Prinz Eugen”. One of the individuals
was SS-Standartenführer Walter Zimmermann, who had formed
and led the “Prinz Eugen” combat engineer battalion (Pionere
Bataillon). He later served with the 33rd SS Division “Charle-
magne”, and at one point was acting divisional commander before
being badly wounded at Divenow in 1945. He subsequently went
into American captivity and was held on a hospital ship while he
recovered. He was then sent to a British run POW Camp at Neuen-
— 17 —
gamme. Upon receiving a request from the Yugoslav Reds for his
extradition as a “war criminal”, the English promptly shipped him
to Belgrade.
At the same trial were also SS-Obersturmbannführer Michael
Gross, one-time commander of SS-Gebirgs Regiment 14 of the
“Prinz Eugen” Division and SS-Untersturmführer Jochen Krah,
who had also served in the “PE” engineer battalion. The officers
were charged with having allegedly been involved in a wartime
massacre of 156 Yugoslav civilians as a reprisal for partisan activi-
ties. While the validity of the charges was suspect, the communist
kangaroo court went ahead rapidly, but all affairs were conducted
only in the Serbian language with no translator provided to the de-
fendants. Walter Zimmermann had some knowledge of Serbian
however, and whenever possible he provided assistance to his co-
defendants.
There was one other problem, at least, with the proceedings.
Jochen Krah was not even the right man requested; there was an-
other SS-Obersturmführer Krah (no relation to Jochen) in the
“Prinz Eugen” Division who had served as a regimental adjutant to
SS-Ostubaf. Gross. And this was the person that was supposed to
be on trial. However all attempts to correct this mistaken identity
were shouted down as “lies” by the judicial authorities. The
“judges” handed down their verdicts on 30/31 August 1947; Gross
and Krah were sentenced to death by shooting, while
Zimmermann, who could not even be linked to the incident, was
given 20 years detention at hard labor. Walter Zimmermann then
immediately sought an amnesty for Jochen Krah who had served
under him, but to no avail. He was also a longtime friend of the
Krah family, having known Jochen’s mother in his youth.
Jochen Krah wrote a moving and courageous last letter to his
mother in November 1947, in which he noted that 2 ½ years after
the war he would now be among the many thousands of soldiers
who died bravely for Germany, so that the Fatherland could live.
He stated in the letter that: “I die as a German officer for Ger-
many.” However the letter was returned with the notation marked
on the envelope that it was undeliverable due to lack of postal con-
nections between Yugoslavia and Germany at the time. Fortunately
— 18 —
it was then given to another prisoner who later smuggled it out to

Krah’s family after his release.
Jochen Krah was taken from his cell and executed around
22:00 hours on the night of 21 December 1947. Presumably Mi-
chael Gross was also killed around this time. Krah was only 24
years old. His mother fought to clear her son’s name until her
death in 1988. She had no success, even though he was clearly the
“wrong” man. The occupied-German authorities have never stood
up for “war criminals”, even when it has been proven that they
were conclusively innocent.
Walter Zimmermann was released from Yugoslav captivity,
without papers, at Christmas 1952, probably as part of a general
amnesty at the time. He returned to Germany and was able to suc-
cessfully re-establish himself in society. Zimmermann then main-
tained contacts with his comrades from the “Prinz Eugen” and
“Charlemagne” Divisions until his death in 1995 at the age of 97.
He also wrote a brief account of formation and subsequent history
of the “Prinz Eugen” engineer battalion.
— 19 —
“Prinz Eugen” photo. Two brothers in the 7th SS Mountain Division:

Johann Busch and Mathias Busch, both missing after the war (no
doubt killed by Tito Reds).
[Erik Rundkvist Archives]
— 20 —
Emergency Battle-Groups
of the Waffen-SS
Part I
HORTLY after the beginning of the war, the Waffen-SS
S and German Army proper, both showed great innovative

thinking in the use of selected “task” force combat groups
assembled from various cohesive units for specialized use against
certain types of enemy targets. The use of battle-groups or
Kampfgruppen became one of the more successful hallmarks of the
German military effort in WWII. However as the war progressed,
instead of using select troops to form battle-groups, it became
more and more necessary to assemble whatever was on hand in a
particular area to put together ad hoc emergency formations. Util-
izing recruits, trainees, specialists and recovering wounded, the
Waffen-SS deployed scores of these units, often in desperate situa-
— 21 —
tions in the last year or so of the war. This is the start of a series of
articles in Siegrunen, looking at many of these battle-groups and
how they fared. As these were not regular units, details about them
were often lacking, but in many cases, they left a dramatic story
behind! Although they did not always do well due to circum-
stances, they became a crucial part of the European Army that was
the Waffen-SS.
SS-Hstuf. Walter Runge, CO of SS-Kampfgruppe “Runge”/SS-Panzer

Brigade “Gross”.
SS-Kampfgruppe (Bataillon) “Runge”

In 1943 and 1944, the Waffen-SS maintained several training fa-
cilities near Riga, Latvia, virtually on the Baltic Sea. When the So-
viets advanced deeply into Latvia in the summer of 1944, the per-
sonnel from these had to be mobilized to form a very potent emer-
gency task force, which became know as SS Panzer Brigade
“Gross” (named after its commander, SS-Obersturmbannführer
Martin Gross, a Knight’s Cross Holder and former Panzer leader of
the “Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler”).The brigade’s troops came
mostly from armored and armored reconnaissance training de-
— 22 —
tachments situated at the bases of Riga-Strand and Seelager in

western Latvia. To go along with these troops, it was necessary to
also form a supporting infantry unit, thus the development of the
SS-Kampfgruppe or Bataillon “Runge”. Its personnel came from
partially trained recruits and experienced veterans from the conva-
lescent company of the SS Panzer Training and Replacement
Company at Riga-Strand. The commander was the 36 year old SS-
Hauptsturmführer Walter Runge from Hamburg. He had earlier
served in the SS Regiment “Germania”, the SS Motorcycle Re-
placement Battalion and the SS Armored Recce Training Detach-
ment at Riga-Strand.
SS-Pz.Brigade “Gross” went into action in Kurland, Latvia in
early August 1944 along with the SS-KGr. “Runge”. They went
from Windau to the Talsen and Kandau area, from which scouting
parties were sent out to the west of Tukkums to feel out the ad-
vance Soviet positions. A defensive line was then occupied from
Zemite to the Jaunsati cemetery. On 14 August 1944, the battle for
Jaunsati began. Once the whole town had been secured, SS-
Pz.Brigade “Gross” began to advance on Tukkums with the sup-
port of off-shore artillery salvos from the Kriegsmarine. Unfortu-
nately this kind of long distance “help” had its limitations, and
some of the “friendly fire” from the ships managed to inflict hor-
rendous casualties on the German side, including the total destruc-
tion of a tank company that was accompanying SS-KGr./Btl.
“Runge”.
The assault on Tukkums soon bogged down and 2nd Com-
pany/SS-KGr. “Runge” found itself surrounded after advancing too
far. It was able save itself and return to the rest of the unit, but
heavy casualties were absorbed in the process and a shortage of
medics made it impossible to properly help the wounded. On 20
August 1944, SS-KGr. “Runge” was detached from SS-Pz.Brigade
“Gross” and assigned to the Army 81st Infantry Division which
was moving towards Mitau. In the month that followed the small
battle-group saw action at Mitau and Doblen before going into de-
fensive positions to the west of Libau. During this time it left the
control of the 81st Inf. Division and began fighting in support of
the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division “Nordland”.
— 23 —
SS-KGr. “Runge” then fought in Jaunpils, Frauenburg,

Gramzda and Prekuln from late September until early December
1944. While at Preekuln, the unit was deployed in positions along
a main railroad line with a small river running behind it. There
were no bridges and it was too deep to wade, so supplies had to be
sent across via a floating bath tub! While at Preekuln, companies
from the Kampfgruppe were detached to fight with the SS-
Pz.Gr.Rgt.49 “De Ruyter” of the 23rd SS-Vol.Pz.Gr.Division
“Nederland”. As far as can be ascertained the SS-KGr./Btl.
“Runge” was dissolved in early December 1944 with most its per-
sonnel going to supplement the Armored Recce Detachment of the
“Nordland” Division and the SS Corps Security Company 3 of the
III. Germanic SS Panzer Corps.
SS-Kampfgruppe “Riepe”
The SS-Kampfgruppe “Riepe” was formed in late April 1945 un-
der SS-Sturmbannführer Julius Riepe (former CO of I.Btl./SS-
Pz.Gr.Rgt.40/18.SS-Pz.Gr.Div. “Horst Wessel”), It was comprised
of new replacements for the 18th SS-Pz.Gr.Div. “HW” along with
many Estonian volunteers from the 20th Waffen-Grenadier Divi-
sion der SS (Estonia Nr.1) and was probably of battalion size. It
was able to breakout of the Soviet encirclement of much of the
18th and 20th SS Divisions around Hirschberg, Silesia and retreat
through the mountains of northeastern Sudetenland to the west. It
was located in Gablonz in early May 1945, where an eyewitness
from another Waffen-SS formation noted that the Estonian volun-
teers were fully outfitted in camouflage uniforms while the soldiers
from the “Horst Wessel” Division were not. However the use of
the SA monogram collarpatch by the “HW” replacements was
definitely verified at this time! The ultimate fate of this battle-
group is unknown.
SS-Kampfgruppe “Fritz”
SS-Kampfgruppe “Fritz” was formed from the SS Pz.Gr. Training
and Replacement Btl. 4, around Pilgram near Iglau in the “Bohe-
mia-Moravia Protectorate” in April 1945, under SS-
Hauptsturmführer Otto Fritz (b.23 August 1909/SS Nr.467995V).
Fritz had been a member of the 4th SS-Polizei Panzergrenadier Di-
— 24 —
vision since 1940 until his assignment to the training and replace-
ment troops, which in fact were supposed to service the 4th SS Po-
lizei Division. The new battle-group was made up of new 16-18
year old recruits along with partially trained members of the Reich
Labor Service (RAD), and some veterans. At least three companies
are known to have been formed and it seems likely that another
company was contemplated if not actually assembled. Two of the
company commanders were former adjutant/orderly officers from
the SS-Pz.Gr. T&R Btl. 4, SS-Untersturmführer Siegfried Franke
and SS-Obersturmführer Josef Maier. Both came from battalion
companies that had been stationed in Serowitz. The third known
company of SS-KGr. “Fritz” was led by SS-Ostuf. Bauer from a
battalion company that had been located in Potschatek.
The battle-group was slated to become the third battalion of
SS-Regiment “Schultze”, which became a part of what was the last
known and unnumbered SS division, referred to as the SS-
Kampfgruppe Division “Bohemia-Moravia”. SS-KGr. “Fritz” was
soon transported from Iglau to Znaim with the assistance of a Po-
lizei transport staff. From Znaim it switched over to a truck column
provided by the famous Panzerkorps “Feldherrnhalle”, which
took the unit to its deployment area around Zisterdorf/Mistelbach
in the Austrian wine country to the north of Vienna on 13 April
1945.
The battle-group now consisted of at least a designated 10th
Company (Franke), 11th Company (Maier) and 12th Company
(Bauer) and should have had a 9th Company as well, but informa-
tion is still apparently lacking about that possibility. Almost imme-
diately after arriving in the town of Blumenthal to the south of Zis-
terdorf, SS-KGr. “Fritz”, went into action and would see heavy
fighting in this area until 16 April 1945. The inexperienced battal-
ion took very heavy losses, including 114 men killed, many of
whom had to be buried without personal ID, but were given the
designation as “members of the 4th SS-Polizei Panzergrenadier
Division”, which they would have been had they finished their
training!
On 16 April, the commanders of both 10th and 11th Compa-
nies/Btl. “Fritz”, were seriously wounded. It is not yet known who
took over 10th Company, but a senior NCO, SS-Oberscharführer
— 25 —
Ambrosius took charge of 11th Company. The next day the battal-
ion began to relocate with 11th Company going to Hobersdorf and
12th Company moving to Wilfersdorf. Following still more inten-
sive defensive fighting, the positions were evacuated as part of a
general pullback by the SS-KGr.Div. “Bohemia-Moravia” to the
Laa-on-the-Thaya area, which was reached on 21 April 1945.
At that time the entire SS-Rgt. “Schultze”, including SS-KGr.
“Fritz”, was briefly reorganized. 10th and 11th Companies/Btl.
“Fritz” were sent through Poysdorf to Grusbach, Bohemia for “re-
freshing”. They would remain there until 24 April 1945. However
12th Company was dispatched to the area south of Laa, seeing
combat action near Kellerhügel, before being returned to the old
battalion positions. By 27 April, at least 10th and 11th Compa-
nies/Btl. “Fritz” had reached Seefeld to the west of Laa, where
11th Company was again reformed with the addition of two new
platoon leaders. As far as is known, SS-KGr. “Fritz” would spend
the remainder of the war (27 April to 7 May 1945) defending a
section of the Vienna-Schönau railroad lines due east of Laa On
the night of 7/8 May 1945, the whole regiment then took off for the
American demarcation lines near Freistadt-Linz. The Waffen-SS
troops from SS-KGr. “Fritz” and SS-Regiment “Schultze” reached
their objective and surrendered to the Americans on 11 May 1945.
Little else is known about the fate of these soldiers and their com-
manders.
SS-Battalion “Deggingen II”

This emergency battle-group was formed in late March 1945 at the
former Reich Labor Service Camp of “Nord Alp”, located in Deg-
gingen, to the southwest of Geislingen. It had an existence span of
approximately one month. The personnel for the battalion came
from several sources. The 1st Company was comprised almost ex-
clusively of members of the Waffen-SS Translators Training and
Replacement Detachment. Secondly, there was a contingent of sol-
diers, one would assume, Germanic volunteers, who had been
evacuated from the Sennheim Germanic SS Training Camp in Al-
sace to Deggingen. Most of the officers and NCOs would come
from the main offices in various Waffen-SS recruiting districts. For
example, the battalion adjutant, SS-Obersturmführer Wehner and
— 26 —
the commander of 2nd Company, SS-Hauptsturmführer Kai, both

came from the SS Recruiting District “Ostsee” around Stettin. The
battalion commander, SS-Sturmbannführer Baumgaertel, originally
came from the “Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler”, and just prior to
taking charge of the new battalion, had been serving as the com-
mandant of the SS Mountain School at Birgau. He brought with
him a number of NCOs, clerks and support personnel from that
facility.
Early war Waffen-SS heavy machine gun squad.

The battalion was strictly an emergency unit and thus it did not
receive a field post number and it was not listed in the normal war-
time unit rosters. Because of the critical time factor, formation and
training of all elements was superficial at best. The operational
strength of the unit stood at around 500 men. SS-Btl. “Deggingen
II” was organized into 3 rifle companies, each with 6 light machine
guns (M-42’s, a “heavy” company with 5 heavy machine guns and
6 medium machine guns, 1 mortar section, 1 supply and transport
section, 1 heavy weapons section with two 2cm Flak guns and one
5cm Pak (anti-tank) gun. The battalion was not fully motorized
— 27 —
although it appropriated 1 armored car and a few supply trucks in

Deggingen.
Order of Battle
• Commander: SS-Stubaf. Willi Baumgaertel
• Battalion Adjutant: SS-Ostuf. Karl Wehner
• Battalion Orderly Officer: SS-Ostuf. Schultz (or Schulz)
o 1st Company CO: SS-Hstuf. Willy Sommer
o 2nd Company CO: SS-Hstuf. Kai
o 3rd Company CO: SS-Hstuf. Pfoser
o 4th Company CO: SS-Hstuf. Neuweiller
o Heavy MG Platoon (4th Co.): SS-Ostuf. Walter
Lehr
After being activated the battalion/battle-group was directed

towards the Danube front, possibly to join the SS-Kampfgruppe
Division “Bohemia-Moravia”. However at noon on 19 April 1945,
a messenger reached the battalion staff to the north of Gunzen-
hausen with the following orders from the XIII. SS Armee Korps:
“The battalion is to be subordinated to the 2nd (Army) Mountain
Division and is to proceed towards Merkendorf and there attack the
enemy penetration forces, contain them and secure the northern
part of Merkendorf and the Merkendorf-Gunzenhausen road..”
1st Company, 2nd Company and part of 4th Company/SS Btl.
“Deggingen II”, then proceeded down the Merkendorf-
Gunzenhausen road towards their objective. 3rd Company with a
portion of 4th Company assembled at Brand on the former route of
advance from Gunzenhausen to Schwabach. These elements then
went through Eichenberg, passing by the HQ of the Army Moun-
tain Regiment 137, reaching the Haundorf-Bieberbach road from
which they would launch their part of the attack.
At 17:00 hours on the 19th, more comprehensive orders arrived
from XIII. SS Armee Korps HQ that in fact countermanded the
earlier attack directives. It was now reported that some 40 to 50
American tanks now occupied Merkendorf, therefore a head-on,
daylight assault by the battalion was out of the question. More
stealth and preparation would be needed to deal with this situation.
“Deggingen II” was now directed to occupy positions located on
— 28 —
the edge of a forest about 2½ kilometers to the south of the town.

By 19:00 hours the companies reached this area and began digging
in. The battalion commander, SS-Stubaf. Baumgaertel then set up
his command post in the village of Haundorf.
During the evening hours a scout troop was sent out to verify
the reported enemy tank concentration in Merkendorf. The leader
of this party was later to able confirm that roughly 40-50 American
tanks and armored cars had fortified the town. This was a difficult
situation but SS-Stubaf. Baumgaertel thought that his troops could
deal with the enemy forces, using the cover of darkness as a shield.
He then formed two strong battle-groups with tank destroyer teams
from his command. They were to attack Merkendorf, eliminate as
many of the currently idled tanks as possible, and then withdraw
back to their old positions near the woods.
Shortly before midnight, SS-Stubaf. Baumgaertel issued the
following orders: “1st and 3rd Companies will press forward an
attack on Merkendorf at 03:00 hours on 20 April 1945. The tanks
are to be destroyed by Panzerfaust (one-shot bazookas). The com-
panies will stay put until dawn when they will return to their old
positions on the forest edge. 1st Company will attack from the
south and west; 3rd Company from the north and east. 2nd Com-
pany will remain in reserve before Biderbach with its heavy weap-
ons deployed to cover the withdrawal. I myself will be found with
3rd Company.”
Under the cover of darkness, the companies moved up to the
entry points of the town. At the specified hour, 3rd Company led
by SS-Hstuf. Pfoser charged into the town with weapons blazing.
The assault got off to a good start; 3rd Company was then able to
storm down the length of the main street before the Americans
could respond to the initial shock. But once they figured out what
was happening, heavy house-to-house fighting soon developed.
Still, in the first burst of action, 6 American tanks and 1 armored
car had been destroyed and a number of prisoner were taken by the
Waffen-SS troops. After 1½ hours of fighting, 3rd Company broke
off contact and regrouped at Biderbach. It soon linked up with 2nd
Company in the old battalion positions. The attack had cost the
company only 2 men wounded.
— 29 —
The attack by 1st Company did not go so easily. First of all the
surprise factor was not complete as the enemy had already been
alerted by the ruckus raised by 3rd Company. Then a heavy tank
blocked the main route of advance and it took extra time to fully
immobilize it. Following this, during the initial assault on the
town, the company CO, SS-Hstuf. Sommer, was instantly killed,
causing additional confusion. The detached company combat
groups then struggled through the western and southern parts of
Merkendorf towards the town center while under heavy fire. Un-
fortunately for these soldiers, the main enemy resistance proved to
be in their sector rather than that of 3rd Company.
Within a very short time all of the platoon leaders had either
been killed or wounded and the company, left leaderless, began
having serious problems. While 3rd Company had been able to
make a smooth withdrawal as planned at dawn, the uncoordinated
troops from 1st Company found themselves trapped in houses try-
ing to repel American counterattacks. In the fighting so far, the
men of the company had managed to destroy 3 enemy tanks and 3
armored cars, but that was scarcely enough. The Americans still
had the overwhelming firepower of around 30 armored vehicles at
their disposal and 1st Company began to rapidly shrink in man-
power under the impact of this intense pressure.
Even after daybreak, the outnumbered Waffen-SS troops con-
tinued to fight on with steadfastness. At 09:00 the Americans re-
ceived reinforcements in the form of a column of 12 heavy tanks
and a motorized infantry battalion that arrived from the direction of
Wolframs-Eschenbach. Surely this would decide the issue! Now
began the most critical hour for the remnants of 1st Company.
With stubborn tenacity the Waffen-SS men refused to give ground
and ferocious fighting raged. The resistance was enough to stun the
Americans who finally paused to reorganize some of their con-
fused forces. Using this lull in the action, the survivors of 1st Com-
pany finally began slipping out of the town. They made their way
to the woods before Stadeln. When the Americans realized what
was happening they started their tanks down the Merkendorf-
Gunzenhausen road, pursuing the Waffen-SS men, in the words of
a German participant, like “greyhounds after hares”.
— 30 —
Late war W-SS “Christmas Guard” contingent. Identified as Mühlenk-

amp, Knapp, Alex (an armed Russian volunteer or “Hiwi”), and un-
known. Possibly 9th SS Pz.Div. “Hohenstaufen”.
The pursuit came to an abrupt halt at the woods near Stadeln,

when 1st Company again was again able to concentrate a blistering
fire upon the Americans. Since there was no room for the tanks to
maneuver and the resistance was so vicious, the Americans finally
pulled back to Merkendorf after a brief fire-fight. 1st Company/SS-
Btl. “Deggingen II” was saved! In Stadeln the company reassem-
bled under its NCOs and counted its losses, which were indeed
substantial. Eleven officers, NCOs and men had been killed, 24
more had been wounded and 29 were missing. Additionally, the
more badly wounded soldiers had to be left behind. The surviving
half of the company was reassembled in the shelter of the woods
and SS-Stubaf. Baumgaertel personally assumed command of it.
The next hours were peaceful. In the late afternoon, the Waf-
fen-SS soldiers observed billowing dust clouds from their positions
which indicated that a substantial enemy force was moving down
the Merkendorf-Wolframs-Eschenbach road. It turned out that the
Americans were withdrawing from Merkendorf. The 101st Cavalry
— 31 —
Group, which had taken the town, was now ordered to proceed to
the newly taken town of Schwabach to link up with Task Force A
of the 12th U.S. Armored Division for a further drive to the south.
After the night of 20/21 April 1945 passed quietly in the SS-
Btl. “Deggingen II” sector, another scout troop was dispatched in
the early morning to determine the present status of Merkendorf.
The recce party sent back the message that: “The township is free
of the enemy!” SS-Stubaf. Barmgaertel and his adjutant therefore
proceeded to the town and joined the scout troop somewhat before
09:00 hours on the 21st. At the cemetery to the north of town, two
new mass graves were soon discovered. In one, lay the bodies of
SS-Hstuf. Sommer and the 10 other known battle fatalities of 1st
Company, but in the other grave were discovered the corpses of 14
other members of the company who had been badly wounded and
left behind. It was soon learned from local eyewitnesses that they
had been executed by the Americans at close range at around noon
on 20 April 1945. Many more missing were never found, but if
they had been captured, their fate could be imagined. The GI’s
were not happy with the stiff resistance that they had encountered,
as often happened, took it out on their captives.
Thus, SS-Btl. “Deggingen II”, like every other Waffen-SS
formation that fought on the Western Front, had fallen victim to
another American war crime, which like all the rest would remain
covered up by the “victors”. Again more Waffen-SS troopers died
in U.S. captivity than on the battlefield itself; it was a familiar
trend that present day historians would rather ignore, as they prat-
tle on about the “greatest generation” and their “sacrifices” for
“democracy”. Even if there would never be any justice for the war
criminals involved, all such incidents deserve to be fully docu-
mented if the true historical record is to ever be reasonably com-
plete. Unfortunately the “ruling establishment”, the publishing in-
dustry, the print media and the scholars and military “hobbyists”,
have deliberately, and with malice and forethought I might add,
evaded this side of the story and brought down their wrath on any-
one who dares point out these misdeeds! What a sorry situation!
Towards noon on 24 April, the SS-Btl. “Deggingen II”, badly
weakened by further engagements with the enemy, was broken up,
with its survivors being sent (as far as can be ascertained) as rein-
— 32 —
forcements to other Waffen-SS units. Most of them would soon

end up as captives of the Western Allies. This particular emer-
gency Waffen-SS battle-group left its only mark in the history of
the war at Merkendorf where it had performed very well indeed
against a far superior enemy force.
Kampfgruppe “Rautenfeldt”
This battle-group was assembled in February/March 1945 on the
eastern German Front from members of the 363rd Volksgrenadier
Division with a Waffen-SS command staff added. The CO was SS-
Ostubaf. Berens Götz von Rautenfeld, a former battalion com-
mander in the 7th SS Mountain Division “PE”. His new battle-
group/battalion came under direct orders of the XII. SS Armee
Korps.
— 33 —
Never before published photo of members of the Training Battalion of

the 24.Waffen-Gebirgs (Karstjäger) Division der SS. Among the na-
tionalities represented were Italians, Slovenes and Spaniards.
— 34 —
Waffen-SS Personalities
SS-Obersturmbannführer Erich Buchmann
Erich Buchmann was born on 23 May 1896 in the Spandau District

of Berlin. As a youth, he trained and worked as a pastry chef. In
WWI he served as an NCO in Infanterie Regiment 20, where his
heroism and devotion to duty brought him the award of the Prus-
sian “Golden Military Service Cross”. He became only the 828th
recipient of this high decoration. This was considered the equiva-
lent of the “Blue Max” (Pour le Merit) for enlisted men and was
roughly the equal to the Knight’s Cross of the WWII era.
Buchmann became an early member of first the NSDAP and
later the SS (SS Nr.5118). In 1933, he became a leader in the Ger-
man Labor Front (Arbeitsfront). By 1936 he was an administrative
officer in the Allgemeine (General) SS and he would go on to lead
the Allgemeine SS Standarte 41 with the rank of SS-
Standartenführer (Colonel). This rank however did not carry over
— 35 —
into the “armed” SS. After the war began, he was activated as a
duty officer in the SS-Totenkopfverbände with the rank of SS-
Sturmbannführer (Major) and on 5 May 1940 he became the com-
mander of II.Btl./SS-Totenkopf Standarte 5 stationed at Oranien-
berg near Berlin. On 29 November 1940, his battalion was relo-
cated to the town of Plock. As the Waffen-SS grew, the SS-
Totenkopf Regiments were utilized in the formation of new units,
and effective 1 September 1941, SS-T-Standarte 5 was dissolved
with its troops going to the SS Cavalry Brigade, SS-IR 9 (later
Regiment “Thule”), SS-Freiwilligen Standarte “Nordwest” (a short
lived unit for Flemish, Dutch and Danish volunteers), and the 6. SS
Gebirgs (Mountain) Division “Nord”.
Erich Buchmann’s next known duty station was that of the
commander of the SS Recruiting(?) District “Alpenland” XVIII.
How long he remained at this position is unknown. He did hold the
rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer while at this job. At any rate, in
1944 he was posted to the SS Sturm (Assault) Brigade “Dir-
lewanger”, which had been formed from assorted poachers, mili-
tary convicts and political prisoners. This was not a good sign that
Buchmann’s career was going in the right direction! Usually to get
attached to this outfit you had to have displayed either gross in-
competence, insubordination or just plain unethical behavior in
your service behavior or private life.
On 1 December 1944, SS-Ostubaf. Buchmann took charge of
the SS-Sturm Regiment 1 of the “Dirlewanger” Brigade which had
fought successfully against Soviet-backed partisan rebels in Slova-
kia. In 1945, the unit was redesignated Waffen-Grenadier Regi-
ment der SS 72 of the 36. Waffen-Grenadier Division (“Dir-
lewanger”). It was literally flooded with political prisoners (social-
ists and communists) who “volunteered” in order to get out of con-
centration camps. Needless to say their hearts were not into the un-
dertaking. The division would not be known for its dependability
and the commander, SS-Oberführer Oskar Dirlewanger frequently
used his own judgment in “following orders”. In April 1945, the
36th SS Division, reinforced by SS officer candidates and police
troops fought fairly well around Guben on the Oder Front. But
when the Soviets shattered much of the front during their spring
offensive in late April 1945, the division and Buchmann’s
— 36 —
WGRdSS 72, both fell apart. The 36th SS Division retreated in the
direction of Halbe where it was entrapped in a great enemy encir-
clement. It was here that the division totally dissolved through
casualties and desertions. Buchmann’s regiment soon ceased to
exist, leaving him almost the only survivor of his command!
Still his fate was better than that of the commander of the divi-
sion’s WGRdSS 73, SS-Stubaf. Ewald Ehlers, who was actually
lynched by some of the communist political prisoners in his regi-
ment! While some of the “Dirlewanger” soldiers would be exe-
cuted in captivity, many of those that deserted later went on to po-
litical positions in communist East Germany. As for Erich Buch-
mann, he was able to escape from the Halbe Pocket with much of
the divisional staff and some loyal troops. This group would go
into Western Allied captivity. The divisional CO, SS-Oberfhr. Dir-
lewanger was at the time recovering from a severe battle wound in
a military hospital in Austria so the acting commander of the divi-
sion during its last days was the very competent SS-Brigadeführer
Fitz Schmedes (formerly CO of the 4.SS-Polizei Pz.Gr. Division),
who had been posted to the “Dirlewanger” unit in December 1944
after refusing to carry out a direct “Führer Order”.
While Oskar Dirlewanger would be tortured and murdered in
French captivity, nearly all of his staff officers came out of the war
unscathed. Although the chief staff officer (SS-Ostubaf. Kurt
Weisse) had to change his identity to avoid civil incarceration and
possible execution, all of the others went through standard military
POW confinement and were released into civilian society circa
1948. Following his release, Erich Buchmann would live out the
rest of his life under his own name in the city of Düsseldorf. What
he did after the war is unknown. The poor quality photo accompa-
nying this article shows Erich Buchmann as an Allgemeine SS
Untersturmführer in the early 1930’s. Buchmann apparently suf-
fered from a heart condition during the war and at one point was
reprimanded for the unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Like Os-
kar Dirlewanger, he had also served in the anti-communist
“Freikorps” that helped saved Germany from becoming a Soviet
state after WWI.
— 37 —
SS-Unterscharführer Henri Simon
Henri Simon was born in 1919 in Lorraine (Lothringen), France.

As a teenager he joined the “Francist” (Fascist) Movement in re-
sponse to the extreme government corruption that existed at the
time. In 1938 he went into the French Army and he participated in
the war against the Germans which culminated in the French defeat
in June 1940. Simon then went into German captivity but was held
for only a month. Because of his knowledge of the German lan-
guage he was employed as a translator for the German military
administration at the Lorient Arsenal.
He soon gravitated towards the Breton Nationalist Movement,
which sought freedom and autonomy for Brittany in northwestern
France. This would soon land him in trouble. Along with other
Breton Nationalists, Simon got into a brawl with members of a
Dutch volunteer Guard Commando from the Organization Todt
— 38 —
(German Military Construction Organization), that was stationed in

Brittany. As a result he was arrested and had to serve a month in
jail.
In July 1943, with the official establishment of the French
Waffen-SS, Henri Simon became one of the first Frenchmen to
sign up. He was then sent to the 1st Company of the Germanic SS
Training School at Sennheim led by an SS-Obersturmführer Martin
for basic training. The Waffen-SS could never figure out whether
to classify the French volunteers as “Germanics” or “Latins”, so
they vacillated between both classifications (which meant a desig-
nation of either “SS” or “Waffen” used before a specific rank), and
for some time they were trained with other “Nordic” volunteers at
Sennheim. The classification situation was never fully resolved
and as a result both the “SS” and “Waffen” prefixes were used at
one time or another, sometimes at the same time!
Henri Simon was then sent to the SS NCO School at Posen-
Treskau and after becoming an SS-Rottenführer (Corporal), he re-
turned to Sennheim to serve as a military trainer for new French
Waffen-SS volunteers. Following the establishment of the 33.
Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS “Charlemagne” (French Nr.1),
in the autumn of 1944, Simon was assigned to the 2nd Company of
Waffen-Grenadier Rgt. der SS 57 with the rank of SS-
Unterscharführer (Sergeant). He would serve in this capacity in the
division’s brutal battles in Pomerania in February and March of
1945. Simon survived the war and post-war French imprisonment.
He died in late March 1997 and at his funeral his old comrades
sang military songs from the old French Navy and Colonial
Troops.
— 39 —
SS-Mann Eduard Stepanek
Eduard Stepanek was born on 2 September 1924 in Novo Mark-

ovka, Ukraine, near Kiev. On 23 March 1943 he joined the Ukrain-
ian Self-Defense (Schuma) Force led by Schutzpolizei Meister
Röhricht in the Chabnoye District of Ukraine on 23 March 1943 to
fight against the Red partisans. However when his unit was re-
called to Zhitomir for reforming, Stepanek left it (i.e. deserted). At
the end of 1943 with the Soviet Red Army drawing closer to his
home town, Edward Stepanek decided to volunteer for duty with
the German Armed Forces. Since he was of at least partial German
extraction, he qualified as an ethnic-German or “Volksdeutsch”.
After making contact with the German authorities, he was sent
across the Soviet-Romanian border to the town of Litzmannstadt
where he was enrolled into the Waffen-SS.
In early 1944, Stepanek was sent to a replacement unit of the
I.SS-Panzer Korps stationed in Mol, Belgium. He then served with
either the 1st or 12th SS Panzer Division (it is not clear which),
and took part in the Ardennes Offensive in December 1944 and the
savage fighting for Hungary in March 1945. Stepanek went into
American captivity at the end of the war and ended up being held
in a POW Camp in Lille, France, presumably under the jurisdiction
of French military authorities. It was here that his “Soviet” nation-
ality was discovered and someone made the decision to repatriate
him to the Soviet Union against his will.
On 30 October 1946, Edward Stepanek was sentenced to 10
years in prison for having served in the German Armed Forces by a
“military tribunal” of the 22nd Soviet Mechanized Guards Divi-
sion. He would never again return to the west, but lived out the
remainder of his life in the U.S.S.R. He died on 27 February 1990,
just about the time that Russia was throwing off the shackles of
Bolshevism.
— 40 —
SS-Standartenführer Max Schäfer
Max Schäfer was born on 17 January 1907 in Karlsruhe. He was

the son of Maxmillian-Albert Schäfer a fruit orchardist/agronomist.
He attended elementary and secondary schools in Bühl, Baden
from 1913 until 1921. After completing his basic education he en-
rolled in a vocational school and took up carpentry. In December
1924, Schäfer began working as a carpenter, a profession he would
pursue in Munich and Berlin over the next several years. He also
was employed as a “ship’s carpenter” on the passenger liners
“Bremen” and “Europa”, both in Hamburg and abroad.
In 1933/1934, Max Schäfer attended an infantry trainers course
held in Mölin/Lauenberg and he graduated as a certified instructor
in February 1934. He would then take his skills to the SS, where he
would serve as an instructor at the SS Sports schools (actually
“fronts” for military training” at Fürth, Bavaria and Reutlingen,
— 41 —
Württemberg, where he was responsible for helping to form the

armed SS Sturm (Company) 5.
In October 1934, Schäfer was commissioned an SS-
Untersturmführer (2nd Lt.) in the Armed SS or SS-VT; he was
then sent to the SS Engineer Battalion at Leisnig on the Muld. Af-
ter completing training course at the Army combat engineer
schools in Klausdorf/Rehhagen and Dessau/Rosslau. Along with a
promotion to SS-Obersturmführer (1st Lt.) he then was assigned to
command the 2nd Platoon of the 2nd Company of the SS Pionier-
sturmbann in Leisnig in 1935. He would maintain this post for the
next few years. In 1938 he accompanied the battalion’s marches
into Austria, the Sudetenland and Bohemia-Moravia.
With the outbreak of WWII, SS-Ostuf. Schäfer served as a pla-
toon leader in the SS-VT Engineer Battalion, which served as an
independent unit during the Polish Campaign of September 1939.
From January to March 1940, he attended a training course for
company commanders held at Dessau/Rosslau and he would return
to his old battalion, assuming command of the 2nd Company, just
prior to the commencement of the Western Campaign in the spring
of 1940. The unit was now part of the motorized SS-VT Division
which would later become the 2nd SS Pz.Gr. Division “Das
Reich”. During the course of the battle for France, Schäfer’s unit
was responsible for helping to cross many canals and waterways
while under fire and for the fine performance of his command, he
would be decorated with the Iron Cross, 1st Class and receive a
promotion to SS-Hauptsturmführer after the close of hostilities.
In August 1940, SS-Hstuf. Schäfer was given the task of form-
ing the 2nd Company of an engineer battalion for a new European
volunteer division, which by 1941 would be known as the SS
Pz.Gr. Division “Wiking”. He would lead this command, 2./SS-
Eng.Btl.5 with great success in the first part of the Russian Cam-
paign, on the southern part of the Eastern Front. He would become
the battalion commander in October 1941 and was subsequently
promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer (Major) in January 1942 and SS-
Obersturmbannführer (Lt.Col.) in March 1943, while participating
in the great battles from Rostov to the Caucasus. At the beginning
of 1943, the over extended German forces had to begin pulling
back from the Caucasus region. It was during the withdrawal fight-
— 42 —
ing that Schäfer’s command faced its greatest challenges. At one

point, in order to prevent a Soviet breakthrough, the members of
the “Wiking” Engineer Battalion were thrown into the lines as in-
fantrymen.
They were subsequently attacked by an enemy armored force
and lacking anti-tank guns had to improvise with hand-grenades,
satchel charges and land mines in close combat. SS-Ostubaf.
Schäfer directed the fighting from the foremost positions, while
standing up in his VW Kübelwagen command car. But it began as
an unequal struggle and the SS combat engineers were pushed
back to a small village where their commander rallied them and
then led them in a valiant counter-attack. In the course of fero-
cious, nerve-wracking fighting the enemy was forced back and the
battalion regained its old position, destroying the better part of an
entire Red Army regiment in the process. Some 700 enemy dead
were found on the battlefield and another 200 were taken captive.
Substantial amounts of Soviet weapons and supplies were also re-
covered.
Following a brief lapse in the fighting, the Reds regrouped and
resumed their assault on the “Wiking” Division. The battle would
rage for several days and nights non-stop. SS-Ostubaf. Schäfer and
his men were then required to defend a broad front to cover the
withdrawal of the rest of the division. It was not an easy task and a
strong enemy assault force was able to break through and seize a
vital highway bridge, thus severing the links between the engineer
battalion and some other units from the rest of the division. As-
sembling a regimental sized task force from the cut-off troops,
Schäfer personally led this force in a counterattack against the Red
troops that held the bridge. Under the cover of a snowstorm and
with their commander in the lead, the “Wiking” soldiers launched
a brutal and unrelenting attack against the Soviets. In the end they
prevailed, managing to smash the enemy force and retake the
bridge. For this accomplishment, Max Schäfer would receive the
Knight’s Cross directly from the divisional commander, SS-
Gruppenführer Felix Steiner, on 12 February 1943. It should be
note that despite his numerous achievements, Schäfer remained a
humble and unassuming man, who preferred to be called “Macki”
by his comrades.
— 43 —
SS-Ostubaf. Max Schäfer on the right as Corps’ Engineering Officer for

III.Germanic SS Panzer Corps on the Narva Front in Estonia in 1944.
On the left is SS-Stubaf. Fritz Bunse, CO of the “Nordland” Division
engineer battalion who had just been decorated with the Knight’s
— 44 —
Cross for successfully covering the withdrawal of the Corps from the
Oranienbaum Front with his command.
In May 1943, Max Schäfer was named the Corps Engineering

Officer for the new III. Germanic SS Panzer Corps by its CO, SS-
Ogruf. Felix Steiner. In December 1943, he traveled with the
Corps’ troops to the Oranienbaum Front west of Leningrad and in
the months to come, during the bitter fighting for Estonia, he
would lead several different battle-groups and special commands
in action. In November 1944, Schäfer was given the responsibility
for fortifying a major portion of the Kurland Front in Latvia by
General-Field Marshall Ferdinand Schröner. As part of his duties,
he would also command an emergency task force known as the
“Kurland Fire Defense”, which would deliver concentrated heavy
weapons fire on demand at vulnerable points on the front. His ac-
tions during this time earned him the Honor Roll Clasp of the
German Army and promotion to the rank of SS-Standartenführer
(Colonel).
Through all of the battles of the III. Germanic SS Panzer Corps
in Kurland, Schäfer’s prudent approach and personal example in
times of intense crisis situations, won him special recognition. For
his success at different combat command assignments and constant
demonstration of personal courage, he became the 714th recipient
of the Oakleaves to the Knight’s Cross on 25 January 1945. After
the return of the III. Germanic SS Panzer Corps to Germany via
the Baltic Sea in early 1945, SS-Staf. Schäfer led battle-groups in
action in Pomerania, around Arneswalde and to the north of Berlin.
Forced to withdraw with his troops to Schleswig-Holstein, he en-
tered British captivity near Sundonern on 14 May 1945. He was
then sent to a POW camp at Bremervoerde and was not released
until November 1948. He developed a successful business career
after the war and remained in close contact with his wartime com-
rades.
— 45 —
SS-Oberführer Friedrich Wilhelm Bock
Friedrich Wilhelm Bock was born on 6 May 1897 in Wreschen,

Warthegau, the son of an Evangelical Lutheran Pastor. Shortly af-
ter leaving school he volunteered for military service at the out-
break of WWI. He participated in many campaigns on both the
Western and Eastern Fronts, being badly wounded at one point. He
did become an officer during the war and was decorated with the
Iron Cross, 2nd Class. Following the hostilities, Bock served with
an anti-communist “Free Corps” in the Baltic region. When he fi-
nally returned home he spent a year working as a farmer before
deciding to join the Protection Police (Schutzpolizei). Along with
many other soldiers, he found that this was the only way he could
remain in the “armed services”, since the size of the German mili-
tary forces had been limited to 100,000 men by the infamous
“Treaty of Versailles”.
— 46 —
Friedrich Bock then spent several long years as a trainer at a

Police School. It was here that he developed his philosophy for
military leadership: be hard and demanding of those that served
under you, but also take good care of those that endured. In 1933,
Oberleutnant Bock was promoted to Hauptmann (Captain) of the
Police and a year later became a Major. When WWII began in
September 1939, Bock was in command of a Police Battalion that
fought in the Polish Campaign. In 1940, he was named to com-
mand the II.Abteilung (Detachment) of the newly formed Artillery
Regiment of the SS-Polizei Division. Then in 1941, with the com-
mencement of “Operation Barbarossa”, he led this unit in action
against the Soviet Union. After the fierce, victorious fighting by
the SS Polizei Division at Luga, Bock was decorated with the
WWII Clasp to his WWI Iron Cross, 2nd Class and also received
the Iron Cross, 1st Class. Before the year was out he had also been
promoted to SS-Obersturmbannführer, but his greatest hour how-
ever was to come in early 1942.
On the morning of 10 February 1942, even before the sun’s
first light, Soviet artillery began bombarding the German lines on
the Volkhov Front, south of Leningrad. Thick smoke began to bil-
low forth on the horizon. After a short pause, a powerful wedge of
Soviet tanks began moving forward, smashing through the German
positions. A number of enemy tanks also penetrated the sector held
by the 4th SS-Polizei Pz.Gr.Division, but they left their flanks
open and exposed to the SS Police Grenadiers. Instantly, SS-
Ostubaf. Bock and his detachment took the initiative in the defen-
sive fighting on what was potentially the most threatened portion
of the frontlines.
Rapidly and with great determination, Bock’s troops, under his
personal leadership, hit the enemy force and halted it just where it
had begun its breakthrough. Although Bock’s unit had no special
armor piercing weapons, everything else that was available was
employed and it did the job. Bock then decided to throw all of his
artillery crews and supporting infantrymen into the badly weak-
ened and splintered foremost defensive lines. He shifted his guns
into the most dangerous positions and personally directed their fire.
By evening the Red penetration had been completely sealed off
— 47 —
thanks in large part to the manner in which SS-Ostubaf. Bock had

directed his detachment’s operations.
For stopping this enemy breakthrough, SS-Ostubaf. Friedrich
Wilhelm Bock was awarded the Knight’s Cross on 28 March 1942.
He would remain with the 4th SS-Polizei Division for the next two
years, taking time off however to train and form a Latvian Volun-
teer Artillery Regiment for the 2nd SS Brigade (later to become the
19.Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS (Latvian Nr.2). He would
also receive promotions to SS-Standartenführer (Col.) and SS-
Oberführer (senior Col.). In March 1944, when the 2nd SS Bri-
gade’s commander, SS-Brigadeführer Hinrich Schuldt was killed
in action, Bock was sent to take charge of the unit on a temporary
basis. When a decision was made in April 1944 to expand the bri-
gade into a division, he relinquished command to SS-
Gruppenführer Bruno Streckenbach.
During the spring of 1944, SS-Oberfhr. Bock took on a new
assignment as Corp’s Artillery commander of the II.SS-Panzer
Corps that was fighting in Ukraine with the 9th SS Panzer Division
“Hohenstauffen” and 10th SS Panzer Division “Frundsberg” under
its control. By June the Corps had been shifted to France and
would soon be heavily engaged against the Allied invasion force.
When the commander of 9th SS Panzer Division, SS-Oberfhr. Syl-
vester Stadler was wounded, the Corps Commanding General, SS-
Gruf. Bittrich, named Bock to take over the formation. He would
lead it during its most difficult operations in the battles at Cheux
and near Estry, where powerful British attacks finally dislodged
the unit from its defensive positions. Soon afterwards, the men of
the “Hohenstauffen” Division showed exceptional courage and de-
termination in the savage fighting for Hill 112, which changed
hands over and over. However the formation, without adequate
resupply, reinforcement or air support, would literally be shredded
to pieces in the subsequent combat and desperate escape from the
“Falaise Pocket”. Bock himself would be wounded at the end of
August 1944, while “Hohenstauffen” was trying to escape to Bel-
gium. However for the valiant efforts of his command in the “Inva-
sion Battle”, SS-Oberfhr. Friedrich Wilhelm Bock became the
570th recipient of the Oakleaves to the Knight’s Cross on 2 Sep-
tember 1944. The surviving remnants of the division would then be
— 48 —
led by SS-Ostubaf. Walter Harzer when it began to reassemble in

the Netherlands. There it would of course be very successfully en-
gaged against the British in the battle for Arnhem.
In late October 1944, Bock was able to resume his old position
as Corps’ Artillery commander for II. SS Panzer Corps, and would
subsequently see action in the Ardennes, Hungary and Austria be-
fore going into Western Allied captivity in May 1945. He would
later have a successful career and retirement in West Germany. It
should be noted, that Bock as a Standartenführer also temporarily
commanded the 4th SS Polizei Pz.Gr.Division from 20 October
1943 to 26 October 1943, when its old CO, SS-Brigfhr. Fritz
Freitag, left to take over the 14th Waffen-Grenadier Division der
SS (Ukraine Nr.1). At that time elements of the division were scat-
tered all over: some in training camps, others in Greece and an-
other battle-group on the Lake Ladoga sector of the Eastern Front.
— 49 —
SS-Mann Jacques Lorazo
Jacques Lorazo was born in France of Flemish descent on 11

March 1924 to a family that had been engaged in the commercial
high seas shipping business for generations. He joined the Waffen-
SS in late 1943 and underwent basic training at the Germanic SS
Training Camp at Sennheim, Alsace. Afterwards he was not as-
signed to the French Waffen-SS, but instead served in a variety of
Waffen-SS formations. During “Operation Nordwind”, an attempt
to regain all of Alsace-Lorraine in January 1945, Lorazo was de-
ployed in the vicinity of Haguenau in Alsace (Elsass).
Following the failure of “Nordwind”, Lorazo was assigned to
the 27th SS Volunteer Pz.Gr. Division “Langemarck” (Flemish
Nr.1), and subsequently took part in the last battles on the Eastern
Front. In late April 1945, he was badly wounded to the east of the
Elbe River and fell into enemy hands. Unlike many SS prisoners,
the Soviets actually took good care of him, and when he recovered,
Lorazo managed to escape to the British zone of occupation in
Germany in late 1945.
The problem then was that the British turned him over to the
French for “punishment”. Tried as a “traitor” he would be impris-
— 50 —
oned for several years. After his release he went back into the fam-
ily commercial shipping business. In his later years he lived in re-
tirement on his boat the “Westhoek”, which was anchored on the
Seine River in Paris. He died of a massive heart attack on 21 June
1997 and his ashes were subsequently scattered into the River
Seine.
— 51 —
SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Felix Rinner
Felix Rinner was born in Austria on 6 November 1911. As a youth

he became an accomplished athlete while also taking up medical
studies. He represented Austria at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los
Angeles, where he was considered one of Europe’s best prospects
in track and field. While he didn’t win any medals his performance
and demeanor attracted fan mail from all over the world. He was
also offered a scholarship from the University of Southern Califor-
nia and several possible movie contracts from Hollywood studios.
However he turned it all down to resume medical studies in Aus-
tria. He would compete again from Austria in the 1936 Olympic
— 52 —
Games in Berlin. At one time or another, Rinner held European

records in the 200,300,400 and 500 meter distances in track, and
the last of his records (his time in the 300 meters), did not fall until
October 1975!
In 1939, following the annexation of Austria to Germany, Dr.
Felix Rinner decided to join the Austrian “Der Führer” Standarte
of the armed SS. Soon commissioned an officer he would transfer
to the SS Regiment “Germania” in 1940 and the SS Regiment
“Nordland” of the SS Pz.Gr.Division “Wiking” in 1941. SS-
Stubaf. Dr. Rinner would spend the rest of the war with the “Wik-
ing” Division, serving as a “frontline surgeon”, who also took part
in battle engagements with the enemy on numerous occasions. For
his performance in this capacity he would receive both classes of
the Iron Cross and the Close Combat Clasp in Bronze.
After the 5.SS-Panzer Division surrendered to the Americans
in May 1945, Dr. Rinner was held for a time at a U.S. run POW
camp in Salzburg, Austria. He was then sent to several different
internment camps. When these were disbanded in 1947, the gov-
ernment of the “new” Austria placed him under automatic arrest
because of his wartime Waffen-SS rank of Sturmbannführer (Ma-
jor). Anybody of that rank or above was considered a serious
“Nazi”, and many would even have their children taken away from
them for proper re-education! He was then put in a camp at
Glasenbach which was brutally run by low-grade Austrian police
elements, who had been recruited from the ranks of leftists and
criminals by the new “democratic” regime. To keep them in line,
the inmates were constantly threatened with deportation to the So-
viet Zone, and when this seemed to be on the verge of becoming a
reality, many of the prisoners, Dr. Rinner among them, decided to
try and escape.
On 19 March 1947, Felix Rinner slipped into an empty Ameri-
can truck parked in the camp, and under the cover of a lightening
storm managed to drive it out the main gate with many of his com-
rades on board. The Austrian guards were initially taken by sur-
prise but eventually began a pursuit. When they began to open fire
on the fleeing truck, Dr. Rinner stopped the vehicle. Upon appre-
hension, the guards decided to make an example of him and began
to beat him with their fists and rifle butts. This infuriated the other
— 53 —
inmates on the scene who immediately began throwing stones at

the guards. The “revolt” was brutally contained however and Rin-
ner was placed in “special custody”.
The prisoners, many of whom were former Waffen-SS mem-
bers, then staged a mass protest outside the American “supervi-
sory” barracks in the camp, demanding the end of their brutal
treatment and the release of Dr. Rinner into “general confinement”.
The demands were accepted and Rinner was released from solitary.
He then became a spokesman for the other prisoners and managed
to negotiate better conditions, including the disarming of the
guards, with the American “overseers”. In August 1947, the camp
was abandoned, and most of the prisoners were allowed to return
home. Felix Rinner however was in the last transport out and the
authorities saw to it that he was the last man technically released
from confinement! In the post-war era, Dr. Rinner worked for a
major pharmaceutical concern. He died abruptly on 2 April 1976 at
the age of 64.
— 54 —
Waffen-Untersturmführer der SS Harri Rent
Harri Rent was born in Tallinn, Estonia in 1925 and on 16 May

1943, he joined the Estonian Legion of the Waffen-SS. Following
a brief training period he was assigned to the 3rd Estonian SS As-
sault Brigade on the Neva River Front. After many combat actions
he was decorated with the Infantry Assault Badge and impressed
his superiors with his leadership potential, he was therefore sent to
the Waffen-Junkerschule der SS Prag (Beneschau) for officer’s
training.
After successfully matriculating from the Junkerschule, Rent
was posted to the 20th Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS (Estonia
Nr.1) on the Narva Front in 1944. During three weeks of heavy
fighting in the summer of 1944, Waf.-Ustuf. Rent was awarded
— 55 —
both classes of the Iron Cross, and after being severely wounded,
received the Wound Badge in Black.
After convalescing, Rent would rejoin the 20th
Waf.Gr.Div.d.SS in the fall of 1944 in Neuhammer, Silesia, where
it was being reformed and reorganized. He then served with forma-
tion until the end of the war, throughout its heavy combat engage-
ments in Silesia in 1945. After the German surrender, Harri Rent
went into Soviet captivity. As could be expected he was not treated
well and spent some six years at slave labor in Eastern Europe and
Russia, including a stint in a Polish coal mine.
When Estonia regained its independence in 1990, Harri Rent
was recalled to active duty with the Estonian Army, receiving the
rank of Lt.Colonel. In 1996 he served as the press chief for the en-
tire Estonian Armed Forces. As can be seen from the above photo,
he still proudly wore his wartime German decorations, including
the Iron Cross, 1st Class and Infantry Assault Badge, on the tunic
of his Estonian Army uniform.
— 56 —
SS-Hauptsturmführer Johannes Scherg
Johannes Scherg was born on 16 May 1918 to the son of a ship-

ping inspector in Würzburg. After completing his schooling and
Labor Service duty, Scherg joined the SS-VT in Munich on 1 April
1938 and he was assigned to the SS-Standarte “Deutschland”. At
the beginning of the war he was serving as a radioman with the
armored recce troop of the “Deutschland” Regiment. He then saw
action in both the Polish Campaign of 1939 and the Western Cam-
paign of 1940 in this capacity.
On 1 May 1941, Johannes Scherg was sent to the SS-
Junkerschule “Tölz” for officer’s training in an abbreviated course
that lasted only until 15 September 1941. On 1 October 1941 he
received his commission to SS-Untersturmführer (2nd Lt.) and was
posted to the 1st Company of the “Das Reich” Armored Recce De-
tachment as a platoon leader. He then saw heavy combat action on
the central part of the Eastern Front.
In 1943 he became the commander of 2nd Company of the
“DR” Armored Recce Detachment and for his achievements in
leading this unit, would be decorated with the German Cross in
— 57 —
Gold and receive a promotion to SS-Obersturmführer in November

1943. In July 1944 he would take charge of 1st Company of the
Armored Recce Detachment of the 4.SS-Polizei Pz.Gr.Division in
Greece, and while leading this unit in difficult fighting in Greece
and Romania would be decorated with the Knight’s Cross on 23
October 1944.
On 30 January 1945, Scherg received a promotion to SS-
Hauptsturmführer (Captain) and received the Wound Badge in
Gold for having been wounded in action on seven different occa-
sions! In April 1945, Scherg’s company took part in battles along
the Baltic Sea coast, fighting at Oxhäfter, Hexengrund and Hela
before engaging in retrograde combat while retreating through
Mecklinburg. The 4th SS-Polizei Pz.Gr. Division eventually fell
back over the Elbe River near Wittenberg. On 14 May 1945, Jo-
hannes Scherg entered British captivity but was later turned over to
the tender hands of the U.S. Army who in turn decided to send him
to the French for several years at hard labor, a fate that befell many
Waffen-SS POW’s (or disarmed enemy combatants as they were
designated to avoid having to follow the rules of the Geneva Con-
vention, but only once all American POW’s had been liberated —
some things never change!).
Johannes Scherg would not be released from this difficult cap-
tivity until 22 June 1951. He died on 22 December 1997 at the age
of 79.
— 58 —
SS-Sturmbannführer Carl-Heinz Frühauf
Carl-Heinz Frühauf was born on 14 February 1914 in Hamburg,

the son of architect, Wilhelm Frühauf. After graduating from sec-
ondary schooling he attended the Heinrich-Hertz Institute in Ham-
burg where he studied mechanics. He soon joined a politi-
cal/sport’s group and by March 1935 was serving as a training in-
structor at the Sternberg Sports School in Mecklenburg (“Sports
Schools” were in fact disguised military training institutes, used to
circumvent the Treaty of Versailles, which strictly limited such
activities). On 1 April 1935, Frühauf volunteered for the Armed SS
(SS-VT)and was accepted as an NCO designate with the 3rd Com-
pany/SS-Standarte “Germania”, based in Hamburg. In the months
to come he would serve as a squad/troop leader and substitute pla-
toon commander. From late 1936 until June 1938, Frühauf was an
— 59 —
SS-Oberscharführer (Sgt.) in the 1st Company/ “Germania”, where

he served as a squad leader and marksmanship instructor.
In June 1938, SS-Oscha. Frühauf was transferred at his request
into the armored car platoon of SS-Standarte “Germania”. He
served with this unit during the Polish Campaign of 1939 and was
subsequently decorated with the Iron Cross, 2nd Class for excep-
tional bravery in action. In early 1940, he attended an abbreviated
officer’s training class at the SS-Junkerschule “Braunschweig”,
and graduated as an officer-designate in July 1940. He was then
sent to an Army armored vehicle training school at Krampnitz for
more training. On 1 August 1940, Carl-Heinz Frühauf received his
commission as an SS-Untersturmführer in the Waffen-SS and was
sent back to the SS Regiment “Germania” where he became the
orderly officer and adjutant for II. Battalion/SS-”G”.
During the formation of the new SS Division “Wiking”, to
which the “Germania” Regiment would be assigned in late 1940,
the divisional CO, SS-Gruppenführer Felix Steiner personally se-
lected SS-Ustuf. Frühauf to lead an armored car platoon in the
“Wiking” Reconnaissance Battalion. However when the Russian
Campaign opened in June 1941, he was back to his position as bat-
talion orderly officer, but he still saw plenty of battlefield action
and was in fact decorated with the Iron Cross, 1st Class in August
1941. In October 1941, Frühauf, now with the rank of SS-
Obersturmführer, took charge of the 15th Motorcycle Company of
the “Germania” Regiment, a position he would hold until May
1942.
After being wounded in September 1942 in the Caucasus
Mountains, SS-Ostuf. Frühauf became the adjutant of the “Wik-
ing” Supply/Support Regiment, which handled everything from
basic logistics to recovered wounded replacement troops. On 9
November 1942, Frühauf was promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer
but was soon sent to a military hospital in Aufenthalt for another
period of convalescence. After fully recovering from his combat
wounds, he was sent to command an armored car company at the
SS Armored Reconnaissance Training and Replacement Battalion
in Ellwangen. He would hold this position for much of 1943.
In December 1943, SS-Hstuf. Frühauf was sent to join the III.
Germanic SS Panzer Corps on the Oranienbaum sector of the Len-
— 60 —
ingrad Front. Here he was assigned to take command of the SS

Panzer Recce Detachment 54 of the 4.SS Volunteer Assault Bri-
gade “Nederland”. He would lead it with distinction during the bit-
ter withdrawal fighting to the Narva River in Estonia. In March
1944, Frühauf took over II./SS-Pz.Gr.Rgt.49 “De Ruyter” (Dutch
Nr.2), after its previous commander, SS-Hstuf. Diener, had been
killed in action. He then led this battalion with great success in the
defensive fighting for the Lilienwald salient of the Narva Front
through May 1944, bringing about the award of the Knight’s Cross
to Carl-Heinz Frühauf on 4 June 1944.
In the following weeks, Frühauf led his command at all the
“hot spots” in the bitter fighting that raged in eastern Estonia;
along the Narva-Tallinn highway and on “Orphanage” Hill to the
west of Narva. On 27 July 1944, while at the head of his command
defending “Orphanage” Hill against a massive armored and infan-
try Red Army onslaught, he was again badly wounded and had to
be evacuated to the III. SS Panzer Corps’ hospital in Tallinn, Esto-
nia. From there he would be sent to other convalescent hospitals in
Gotenhafen and Zoppot.
After recovering, Frühauf was promoted to SS-Sturmbann-
führer and was reassigned to the SS Armored Recce Training Bat-
talion 1 at Sennelager. In March 1945 the battalion was mobilized
under SS-Stubaf. Frühauf’s command and was attached to the ad
hoc SS-Panzer Brigade “Westfalen” (“Westphalia”), which was
sent on an emergency basis to attack the American bridgehead
across the Rhine River at Remagen. But it was all a matter of too
little and too late. The enemy had overwhelming forces at his dis-
posal and the assorted SS training units that composed “Westfalen”
were soon overwhelmed. Frühauf’s battalion became entangled in
hard defensive fighting to the south of Paderborn and was soon
broken up into small groups which were largely destroyed. He was
then given the task of leading a mixed armored detachment subor-
dinated to General Floerke’s 11th Panzer Army. He would lead
this element in action around Elbingerode/Harz before finally be-
ing captured by the Americans.
SS-Stubaf. Frühauf was then sent to a “special” SS internment
camp at Darmstadt, where he would be held for the next three
years. After his release from captivity in 1948, he could initially
— 61 —
only find work as a reconstruction laborer. In the early 1950’s he

was instrumental in founding the Waffen-SS veterans welfare or-
ganization, widely known by its initials as “HIAG” and in 1952 he
became a salesman of industrial goods which would lead to a very
successful career. Certain firms in post-war Germany (such as
Mercedes Benz) did specifically hire many former Waffen-SS vet-
erans, particularly officers and specialists, and wisely profited as a
result, since they knew they were getting select, above average
employees!
Carl-Heinz Frühauf died on 18 April 1976 at the age of 62 after
a lengthy illness. More than 100 former Waffen-SS comrades at-
tended his funeral service in Hamburg.
— 62 —
Waffen-Gruppenführer der SS Rudolf Bangerskis
Rudolf Bangerskis was born on 21 July 1878 in Taurupe, Latvia

which was then a part of Czarist Russia. From 1899 to 1901 he at-
tended the Imperial Russian Military Academy in St. Petersburg
and would participate as an officer in the Russo-Japanese War of
1906. In the first world war, he served as a Colonel and regimental
— 63 —
commander of Imperial Russian troops. During the Russian Revo-

lution that followed, Bangerskis fought the Reds as a General in
Koltschak’s “White” Russian Army. In the course of that losing
struggle he commanded both a division and an army corps.
After Latvia gained its independence, Bangerskis returned
home to serve as the Defense Minister from 1924 to 1928. After
that he went into private business and from 1937 to 1942 was the
director of the Kiegelis Company. In 1943 he volunteered his ser-
vices to the Latvian local authorities who were then engaged in
forming the “Latvian Legion”, with the guidance of the Waffen-
SS, to fight the Soviets. Because of his experience he was immedi-
ately made a Waffen-Gruppenführer (Lt.Gen.), and became Inspec-
tor General of all Latvian Waffen-SS troops.
In February 1945, Waf.-Gruf. Bangerskis became the head of
the Latvian National Committee, which was to serve as a provi-
sional governing authority for a proposed independent Latvia. Of
course it was “too little, too late” as only the westernmost portion
of the country (the province of Kurland/Kurzeme) remained out of
communists hands at the time. Following the war and Western Al-
lied captivity, Bangerskis was granted asylum in West Germany
along with many other former members of the Latvian Legion. He
would remain in contact with many exiled Latvian veterans but
tragically died in an automobile accident in 1958 at the age of 80.
Rudolf Bangerskis was revered as a steadfast soldier and true pa-
triot to many Latvian exiles around the world during the long years
before Latvia regained its independence in 1990.
— 64 —
SS-Sturmbannführer Gerard Willem Antoon Peters
Gerard Peters was born on 22 April 1907 in Rotterdam, Holland.

Following his secondary schooling in the Netherlands, Peters went
to Germany to study engineering at the Technical School in
Karlsruhe, specializing in road construction, in 1925. As a student
he belonged to a fencing society. He graduated as a certified engi-
neer in 1932, and then worked in road development and construc-
tion in Italy and Holland until 1935. At that point he joined the
Royal Netherlands Army, in the “pioneer” ( combat engineer) ser-
vice and quickly became an officer.
In May 1940, Peters fought against the German Wehrmacht as
a Dutch Army engineering officer. On 1 June 1940, after the com-
pletion of hostilities in Holland, the German Army High Command
decided to begin releasing captured Dutch soldiers based on their
honorable performance in action and their decent treatment of the
German captured and wounded. Also taken into consideration was
the fact that the Dutch civilians had abstained from taking part in
the fighting as either guerillas or partisans and had behaved well
— 65 —
towards the German Army. Therefore Gerard Peters did not remain
a POW for long after the Dutch surrender.
Peters in turn was impressed by the fine treatment accorded the
Dutch soldiers by the Germans and he soon contacted friends in
Germany to see about enlisting in the Waffen-SS in order to con-
tinue his military career. He was soon able to obtain admission in
the Waffen-SS as a combat engineer officer with the equivalent of
his Dutch Army rank of 1st Lieutenant (SS-Obersturmführer). He
was first sent to a training course at the SS Engineer School in
Dresden before taking up assignments as an instructor with Ger-
manic volunteer training and replacement units in Debica, Poland
and Graz, Austria. At Graz, he also served as a training company
commander.
In July 1942, the SS Engineer Battalion 7 of the newly author-
ized 7th SS Mountain Division “Prinz Eugen” began forming un-
der SS-Obersturmbannführer Walter Zimmermann began forming
and it badly need qualified engineering officers. Therefore Gerard
Peters was assigned to the unit with the rank of SS-
Hauptsturmführer (Captain). In 1943 he would serve at times as
the acting battalion commander and his performance was such that
he was sent to a battalion commander’s training course being held
in Antwerp, Belgium. Then in 1944, Peters found himself desig-
nated the commander of the Waffen-Gebirgs Pionere Btl. der SS
21 of the new 21.Waffen-Gebirgs Division der SS “Skanderbeg”
(Albania Nr.1). Although never fully developed, the “Skanderbeg”
Division stayed on the books until December 1944, operating just
as a “battle-group” in its last months with only the German cadre
personnel and a small number of dependable Albanian volunteers.
In December 1944, “Skanderbeg” was dissolved with most of
its troops going into the “Prinz Eugen” Division and in fact the SS-
Volunteer Mountain Rgt. 14 of the “PE” Division, was then given
the title of “Skanderbeg”. SS-Hstuf. Peters was now appointed the
chief engineering officer for the Higher SS and Police Leader
“Adriatic Coastland” (the Italian territory bordering Slove-
nia/Yugoslavia at the time). Among his tasks was to help prepare
an “Alpine Fortress” for a last ditch struggle in 1945. In the last
weeks of the war, Peters became the “battle commandant” for all
German/European volunteer troops in Tolmezzo/Friaul, Italy with
— 66 —
the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer (Major), although he never found

out about this promotion until after the war!
On 8 May 1945, Peters managed to negotiate cease-fires with
both the local Italian partisans and the British Army. Peters and his
troops, still not fully disarmed, were sent to Klangenfurt, Austria
where they finally had their weapons taken away from them and
were processed as POWs. While his soldiers were then sent to
southern Italy for internment, Peters went to a camp for SS officers
at Nürnberg-Langwasser, from which he was able to escape in
1947.
Gerard Peters then began a long and varied post-war career.
Through contacts he was able to obtain a position as business di-
rector of a road building firm in the quasi-autonomous Saarland.
Unfortunately the Saar region was actually a fiefdom of France
until 1957, when the populace overwhelmingly voted to be an-
nexed to West Germany, and the Chief Minister named Hoffman
was extremely pro-French. When he learned a former Dutch SS
officer was prominently helping with the reconstruction work in
his “realm” he saw to it that Peters was forced to leave the Saar.
But the “cold war” soon brought him other opportunities. More
contacts and inquiries brought him into touch with NATO opera-
tives who were impressed by his wartime experiences. He then
worked for many years as an “engineering intelligence” function-
ary for NATO in Mönchengladbach, West Germany. After that job
ran its course, Peters became a business representative for a Ger-
man construction machinery firm which enabled him to travel
widely throughout western Europe and England. No matter what
he was doing, Gerard Peters always kept in contact with his war-
time comrades and in particular the veterans of the “Kamerad-
schaft” of the “Prinz Eugen” Division. He lived for many years in
retirement in the Traunstein area and was frequently visited by his
old comrades. He died at the age of 92 on 3 January 2000.
— 67 —
SS-Obersturmführer Ferdl Lukas
Ferdl Lukas was born in Znaim, Sudetenland (Bohemia), on 4

March 1920. He joined the artillery branch of the Waffen-SS, serv-
ing with artillery units in Dachau and at the “Leibstandarte SS
Adolf Hitler” barracks at Berlin-Lichterfelde. He then was sent to
the 2nd Range Finder Battery of the SS-VT for further training and
saw action with it in France as part of the SS-VT Division and in
Russia when it was a unit of the 2nd SS Division “Das Reich”.
Lukas was eventually sent to the SS-Junkerschule “Tölz” for
officer’s training, and afterwards as an SS-Untersturmführer be-
came an instructor at the SS Artillery School I in Glau. In 1944,
Lukas was assigned to the III. Germanic SS Panzer Corps Artillery
Observation Battery III, in Kurland, Latvia. When the unit com-
mander, SS-Hstuf. Haselbach was posted to the SS Artillery
School in Glau, Lukas, now an SS-Obersturmführer, took perma-
nent charge of the unit and led it for the rest of the war, during the
heavy fighting in Latvia, Pomerania and to the north of Berlin.
Ferdl Lukas celebrated his 80th birthday in the year 2000.
— 68 —
55th Anniversary Celebration

of the HIAG-Landesverband
Hamburg e.V.
Speech Given by Franz Schmitz
DITOR’S NOTE: One of our best supporters and readers
E secured permission for us to publish the following speech

that commemorated the 55th Anniversary of the Waffen-
SS veteran’s support organization in Hamburg, but it also provides
a good deal of worthwhile background material that many of you
might be unfamiliar with. I have had to adjust portions of the text
for readability, but hopefully that did not change the accuracy,
meaning or content. For illustration purposes I am using some “ge-
neric” but previously unpublished photos the late Erik Rundkvist
sent to me to use, depicting typical Waffen-SS troops, mostly from
the “Wiking” Division, the Finnish Volunteer Battalion and the
Germanic SS Legions/III.Germanic SS Panzer Corps.
Dear guests, my dear comrade wives and comrades!

On the occasion of the 55th anniversary of our HIAG Landes-
verband Hamburg e.V., I would like to present an overview of not
only ours, but also on other HIAG organizations that were founded
later. At the beginning I would like to review the formation of our
former troop. As you all know, on 17 March 1933, Adolf Hitler
authorized Sepp Dietrich to assemble a 120 man squad known as
the “SS-Stabswache Berlin” (SS Staff Guard Berlin). This nucleus
cell of the later Waffen-SS increased rapidly and became the
“Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler”, which was utilized for guard and
ceremonial duties. Infantry and weapons drill and training was
conducted by officers and sergeants of the Army Infantry Regi-
ment 9 from Potsdam. As is also known, the regiments “Deutsch-
land”, “Germania”, and after the integration of Austria, “Der
Führer”, also soon emerged.
— 69 —
The above mentioned units were grouped together as the “SS-

Verfügungstruppe” and participated in the Polish and Western
Campaigns of 1939 and 1940. After the conclusion of the Western
Campaign, Adolf Hitler gave a speech in the Kroll Opera House in
Berlin in which he particularly mentioned the achievements of ser-
vicemen of the Waffen-SS. From this time on, many men volun-
teered to serve in this “troop”, where words like loyalty, honesty,
obedience, fairness, companionship and bravery were held sacred.
Through these volunteers, thirty-eight divisions would come into
existence by the end of the war, and among us were many Euro-
pean volunteers who supported us in our combat against the com-
munists and their brutal regime.
On all the frontlines, we, the soldiers of the Waffen-SS, fought
together with our comrades from the Wehrmacht. The Waffen-SS
stood under the command of the Army leadership, and on their or-
ders were often used on the endangered areas of the frontlines. In
this regards, it is very interesting to learn what the former Major
General of the Bundeswehr Kurt von Einem wrote in the magazine,
“Soldat und Waffe” (“Soldiers and Weapons”): “A superficially
informed person is not able to differentiate between the military
organizations of the Waffen-SS and the many other SS formations
— 70 —
which were constituted in Germany or in the occupied sectors and

to which the odium of the concentration camp outrages cling to. In
respect to the responsible (members of the Waffen-SS), I must say,
that they always distanced themselves from these other SS organi-
zations. Up until the present they still avow the saying: “Where
crime begins, companionship ends”.
SS-Ogruf. Felix Steiner as CO of 5.SS-Pz.Div. “Wiking” and later

III.Germanic SS Panzer Corps, meets with Germanic SS European re-
cruits in Graz, Austria.
It also has to be said that a lot of people were arrested by the

Gestapo in Paris (July 1944), and Generals of the Waffen-SS like
SS-Gruf. Oberg and SS-Oberstgruf. Sepp Dietrich were able to ob-
tain the release of Generals of the Wehrmacht Speidel and Heus-
inger and Colonel Count von Kielmansegg from the Gestapo
prison. At the end of the war soldiers of the Wehrmacht and sol-
diers of the Waffen-SS went together into military captivity. We
could not understand the hate of our captors (towards us) and why
we had to be punished. We could not understand (this treatment)
especially, because we had done nothing to deserve it.
— 71 —
Finnish Waffen-SS volunteers in Austria.
Today, some of our former wartime adversaries have spoken

out as follows:
— 72 —
The Canadian Major Guy Gimons: “The only men who really
deserved awards were the young men from the SS. Every single
one of them deserved the Victoria Cross. Compared to them we
were amateurs. Irrespective of what side you are on, only a few
units could beat the record of the 10th SS Panzer Division
“Frundsberg” in Normandy.”
An English Lieutenant-Colonel in The Times: “Sir, I had the
honor of commanding Churchill’s old regiment, the Fourth Queens
Own Hussars. During the entire Greek campaign we were facing
opposite the Waffen-SS. They were excellent and fair servicemen.
After so many years (have passed), history must be corrected.”
There is much about our old troop of which we are still very
proud of. For this reason we do not deny that we were soldiers of
the Waffen-SS. After post-war captivity, which meant up to 10
years of imprisonment, we came back to our country. We as sol-
diers of the Waffen-SS were treated like lepers, because we were
charged with alleged war crimes and the supposed crimes in the
concentration camps. In this context please allow me to refer to the
statement by the former chairman of the SPD (Social Democrat
Party), Kurt Schumacher: “The Waffen-SS cannot be equated with
the normal SS or with any other special organization for crimes
against humanity. They barely had any more contact to this sort of
thing than parts of the Wehrmacht.”
(After the war), some comrades became aware of this situation
in regards to their honor, and they began meeting in small groups
all over Germany, mostly in private apartments or small back
rooms of pubs (taverns), to start thinking about their future. In
Hamburg, some comrades met in a small quarters and decided to
join forces. Among them were Otto Kumm (former SS-
Brigadeführer and holder of the Knight’s Cross with Oakleaves)
and Harald Milde. Some time later 50 comrades came together in
the clubroom of the “Patzenhofer” tavern. After some serious dis-
cussions, we finally set up a register of names (of former Waffen-
SS members). In regards to this fact, it should be noted that our
persecutors were better informed about this than we were!
At the second convention we counted more than 100 men in
attendance. At this time we also came to the decision to remain
neutral in relation to political parties. This is still in effect to this
— 73 —
day. The name, HIAG or Hilfsgemeinschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit der

Soldaten der ehemaligen Waffen-SS ( Roughly: Assistance Organi-
zation Against Reprisals (directed towards) Soldiers of the Former
Waffen-SS). In the meantime, news of the existence of our com-
munity got around and the “Patzenhofer” tavern threatened to
burst at the seams. The needed new pub was found located in the
house of the Police Senator of Hamburg with the name: “Zum Ele-
fanten”. The number of attendees grew to over 800 and we again
had to chose a new location, the “Winterhuder Fährhaus”.
Besides the normal agenda, here we had speakers ranging from
a Labor Union secretary to conservative authors. Even the former
Wehrmacht 1st Lieutenant Helmut Schmidt, who later became our
Bundeskanzler (Chancellor of West Germany), gave a speech to
his comrades of the Waffen-SS. On 21 August 1951, eighteen
months after the founding of HIAG, we entered it in the register of
associations in Hamburg. This “helping community” was a circle
of people who had gone through a lot of difficulties and were still
in distress. Then and today they are wrongly disenfranchised and
persecuted. In the year 1951, some 1500 to 1700 comrades came
from all over Germany to attend our meetings.
The managing-committee at the foundation consisted of:
Chairman: Otto Kumm

Associate Chairman: Kurt Brasack
Welfare Consultant: Otto Dinse
Employment Assistance Consultant: Kurt Kramer
Consultant for Widows, Orphans and Disabled Soldiers: Har-
ald Milde
Other positions, like that of treasurer, had not yet been filled.
Here is a list of all the Chairmen who have lead our Hamburg
Chapter throughout the years:
1951-1957: Otto Kumm (ex-”DR”, “PE”, “LAH”) and Ernst Au-

gust Hinze (ex-SS-HA)
1958: Franz Schreiber (ex- “Nord”) and Heinz Macher (ex-”DR”)
1960: Franz Schreiber and Kurt Brasack
1962: Franz Schreiber and Albert Stenwedel (ex-”Handschar”)
— 74 —
1964: Franz Schreiber and Albert Stenwedel

1966: Albert Stenwedel and Hans Stange (ex-”Langemarck”)
1969: Hans Stange and August Dieckmann
1971: Hans Stange and Carl Heinz Frühauf (ex-”Wiking” & “Ned-
erland”)
From 10 February 1973 onwards, comrades Franz Schmitz and

Ewald Marquardt have been elected Chairman and Treasurer. The
consultant positions and assistant chairman had to be assigned to
various different people because of the illness and death of many
of these comrades. In recent years our comrades Werner Hansen
joined as Organization Consultant and comrade Werner Kerber
became Assistant Chairman and both were members of the manag-
ing committee.
Our active work in this association makes it possible that we
can still count on between 70 and 80 comrades and their wives at-
tending our conventions. In this matter I wish to mention some of
our activities such as the highly interesting speeches given by our
comrades Nils Johannson and Brigadier of the Bundeswehr Herrn
Gern Schultz Rhonhof. Then there were our day trips such as our
bus tour to Dresden and visits to the Semper Opera and finally our
trips to the Mosel River and to Thuringia. And also don’t forget
our journeys to Hungary and Ulrichsberg (Austria), which were
organized by our deceased comrade Hans Spath. Then there is the
“Lettlandhilf” (Help for Latvia charity) and our visits to our Lat-
vian comrades of the 15th and 19th Divisions and the participation
in their national “Freedom Fighter Day”.
All of our work today and in the past shows that there was no
room for “status seekers”. I already mentioned that other comrades
from many parts of Germany came initially to the Hamburg Chap-
ter, so that we from Hamburg became the “godfather” for the
foundation of the chapters in Lower Saxony, Bremen, Schleswig-
Holstein and Saarland. Here I would like to note that our unforget-
table comrade Ernst August Hinze, nicknamed “Bula”, was the one
who helped coordinated and illustrate our intentions to the various
comrades (from other places).
I also have to mention (former) Brigadeführer Otto Kumm. Dr.
Kurt Schumacher was the Chairman of the SPD Party during the
— 75 —
days of the foundation of other HIAG Chapters, that could be

found all over Germany (and because of this) Dr. Schumacher
wanted to get to know Otto Kumm Annemarie Renger and Herbert
Wehner also took part in this conversation where many questions
were answered. One interesting point was made when Otto Kumm
stated: “I cannot comprehend why the SPD (Socialists) in particu-
lar are against the Waffen-SS because in this formation even type-
setters without a high school education could become officers, and
as in my case, General. These should be fundamental social de-
mocratic ideas in a kind of ‘people’s’ army.” The conversation was
so successful in influencing Dr. Kurt Schumacher that he dictated
to Herbert Wehner in my presence a form letter stating that the
employment of members of the Waffen-SS in companies and au-
thority positions should no longer be refused and that the collective
defamation should be done away with.
Waffen-SS officers with a Finnish Army officer honor the fallen mem-
bers of the 5th SS Division “Wiking” in Ruhpolding, 1943.
In Hamburg, the first publication of HIAG, “Der Ausweg”, was

printed with a typewriter in an exhausting work effort. The first
edition appeared on 4 May 1951. The sales price at that time was
— 76 —
0,50 Deutsches Marks. The incoming money was given to Harald

Milde for his social care work. Besides containing internal infor-
mation and covering the search for missing comrades, applications
for positions and the first job offers (for veterans) could be found.
This “Der Ausweg” was renamed “Wiking-Ruf” (Viking Call) and
finally became “Der Freiwillige” (The Volunteers). The latter is
still being published after more than 50 years.
I also want to point out that here in Hamburg another group,
“Helfende Hände” (“Helping Hands”), was created to support
comrades in captivity and their families. Many national associa-
tions and some county chapters followed (our) way to enter into
their local register of associations. Large meetings to trace missing
comrades were held in Rendsburg and Hameln with thousands of
comrades attending. In the years after 1956, different “troop” (unit)
oriented comradeships were established, including the following
representative examples which I wish to mention: 1st Panzer
Corps, “Wiking”, “Das Reich”, the “Cavalry Divisions”, “Götz
von Berlichengen”, “Corps Steiner”, the “T” Division and the
“Handschar” (Division).
After renaming the “Bundesverbindungsstelle” into the
“Bundesverband” (“Federal Association”), our spokesmen (for
HIAG overall), were the comrades “Panzermeyer” (Kurt Meyer),
Eberhard Enseling and Hubert Meyer. The latter led our associa-
tion from 1962 until its closing in 1992 due to his age. With the
foundation of the federal association, the local social foundations
like “Helfende Hände” were stopped and reorganized into the
countrywide foundation “Paul Hausser”.
This foundation was unique in the postwar period since it re-
ceived large private donations along with annual contributions
from every regional (veteran’s) association. For us delegates the
annual federal meetings were always a great experience; we would
take back suggestions to our regional associations or comrade-
ships.
The HIAG regional association in Hamburg arranged for three
of the annual federal meetings. The first took place in 1975 on the
occasion of our 25th Anniversary in the Festival Hall of Planden
und Bloomen. More than 1000 guests were welcomed in atten-
dance. With the closure of the Federal Association in 1992, more
— 77 —
and more of the regional and local associations and comradeships

were likewise closed down due to the aging of the membership.
But after the reunification of Germany, some new local associa-
tions were formed. In particular, we should mention the group
from Saxony, which was our guest in the year 2000 and is again
today.
Before closing the Federal Association and the Foundation
“Paul Hausser”, we decided on a last federal meeting to create a
permanent foundation. The result is our foundation for war graves,
“Wenn alle Brüder schweigen” (When all the brothers are si-
lent...).
Dear guests, comrade wives and comrades, we of the HIAG
Hamburg will together with you continue to hold up our flag until
the last soldier of our troop gets the marching order to join the
“Great Army”. That is what we owe to our deceased comrades.
Certainly our younger friends might wonder how it is possible to
manage such benefits like the “Helfende Hände”, Foundation
“Paul Hausser”, the foundation for war graves, “Wenn alle Brüder
schweigen” and the “Lettland Helfe”, with its shipment of more
than 100 clothing parcels. There is only one answer: it is the sequel
to our front-line comradeship which continued after the war. It is
because of the defamation of our “troop” during the postwar period
up until today and it is our “feeling of belonging together”, which
brings us together on anniversaries like this even though we are old
and invalid with wounds.
During the ceremonies marking the 60th Anniversary of the
end of WWII, politicians and so-called historians talked about the
“deliverance” from “Nazi” Germany and the “Nazi” Wehrmacht.
We former soldier still stick to the commentary in the last Heers-
bericht (Army Communiqué) of the Oberkommando der deutschen
Wehrmacht in which the following was stated among other things:
“The efficiency and sacrifices of the German soldiers on the
ground, on the water and in the air cannot be denied by the enemy.
Every soldier can hold himself upright with pride and lay down his
gun and with confidence start his work for the everlasting exis-
tence of our nation.”
When Mr. Schröder (then Chancellor) talks about the “bandits
of the Waffen-SS” concerning Oradour during the anniversary of
— 78 —
the invasion, then we will answer with the words of Professor

Schlee: “We returned home in rags but we will not let them make
us thugs.” In a letter to Mr. Schröder I pointed out that the (official
French) dossier on Oradour is sealed until 2039, and who knows
why? He might then ask his friend Jacques Chirac to look inside
this dossier and then inform the world, the German nation and es-
pecially the soldiers of the former Waffen-SS, who the bandits
really are? I haven’t had an answer yet.
My dear guests, comrade wives and comrades, before I end my
speech I want to thank all comrades for making this 55th Anniver-
sary of our HIAG Landesverband Hamburg e.V. possible. To sin-
gle someone out is not the style of our former “troop”, nevertheless
I want to thank the managing committee. We spent so many hours
together to make this all possible and we hope that you all enjoyed
yourselves too. My special thanks to all our guests from nearby
and far away who took it upon themselves to spend this day to-
gether with their old comrades.
To the young among us we say: “It is up to you that Germany
gets well and strong in a unified Europe, but maintaining its own
culture and history. You are the guarantors for the future; for the
new era. We front-line soldiers have done our duty for our nation
and our homeland. Sooner or later we will sign off for the “Great
Army” and for this reason we lay our German history and our
German skills into your hands. Conduct yourselves with dignity.
In this spirit, we shall now sound as our vow our “Treue-Lied”
(Loyalty Song): “Wenn alle untreue wereden, so bleiben wir doch
treu (When all others are unfaithful we will remain loyal).”
— 79 —
Airborne Operations in World War II

A German Appraisal
by Hellmuth Reinhardt
Generalmajor, Wehrmacht
A Merriam Press Original Reprint Publication

Military Monograph 30
This study was written for the Historical Division, EUCOM,

by a committee of former German officers. It follows an outline prepared by the Office of
the Chief of Military History, Special Staff, United States Army: (1) A review of German
airborne experience in World War II; (2) An appraisal of German successes and failures;
(3) Reasons for the apparent abandonment of large-scale German airborne operations
after the Crete operation; (4) German experience in opposing Allied and Russian air-
borne operations; (5) An appraisal of the effectiveness of these operations; (6) The
probable future of airborne operations.
This study is concerned only with the landing of airborne fighting forces in an area oc-
cupied or controlled by an enemy and with the subsequent tactical commitment of those
forces in conventional ground combat. The employment of airborne units in commando
operations, or in the supply and reinforcement of partisans and insurgents, is not in-
cluded in this study, nor is the shifting of forces by troop carrier aircraft in the rear of
the combat zone. Such movements, which attained large size and great strategic impor-
tance during World War II, should not be confused with tactical airborne operations.
After the original study was completed, Field Marshal Kesselring examined it and pro-
vided numerous insightful comments which were added to the text, sometimes agreeing
and sometimes disagreeing with the conclusions of the study. In addition, there is a sec-
tion, Notes on German Airborne Operations, by Colonel Freiherr von der Heydte.
This is a Merriam Press original reprint (not a facsimile) of the post-war study.
Third Edition, 90 – 6 × 9 inch pages, full-color cover illustration

Paperback, perfect bound, full-color cover: #MM30-P, $10.95
Hardcover, full-color dust jacket: #MM30-H, $34.95
Add $3.00 for shipping in the U.S.; $7.50 outside the U.S.
Merriam Press
133 Elm St, Apt 3R
Bennington VT 05201 USA
802-447-0313
merriam-press.com
— 80 —
Publications of the
European Volunteers
“Le SS Combattant”, a newspaper published for the 5.SS-

Frw.Sturmbrigade “Wallonie”; this issue features the “The Third Anni-
versary of the Legion Wallonie” and was published in August 1944.
LL of the larger groups of European volunteers that found
A their way into the Waffen-SS, had newspapers and maga-

zines that were published specifically for them, taking into
consideration their ethnicity, culture and history. Some publica-
tions were more “militant” than others with political slants, while
others (including East European ones), scarcely had any political
content. All of them featured news stories concerning the specific
combat units of the different European volunteer groups, while
— 81 —
some also featured lighter features from the “homeland”, including

sports news, cartoons and puzzles, along with cultural and histori-
cal pieces. Current events and military topics were generally cov-
ered quite accurately, certainly more so than those that came from
“communist” propaganda publications. In fact the material in these
stands up quite well today.
The following is a partial listing of some of the publications of
the volunteers, but there were many others, some quite short-lived.
Some were printed in the “homeland”, some in Germany (usually
Berlin), and others by troops near the front. They were quite varied
and were often supplemented by various political and civilian pub-
lications from home and the Reich. Other nationalities also had
their own newspapers, but I don’t have titles for them on hand. I
will list the nationalities first then the titles of known publications
for them.
Azerbaijan: “Azerbaijan”, published for the “Azerbaijan” Legion,

which eventually joined the Waffen-SS in 1944.
Cossacks: “Kosaken Illustrierte” (“Cossacks Illustrated”), pub-

lished in three different languages for the XV. Cossack Cavalry
Corps, and civilians in other countries. “La Terra der Cosacchi”,
again printed in different languages for Cossack troops in Italy and
other interested people in Europe.
Crimeans: “Kirim” (“Crimea”), a weekly newspaper for Crimean

and Turkic volunteers that was published in Berlin, circa 1944-
1945.
Dutch: “De Zwarte Soldat” (“The Soldiers of Black”), printed by

the NSB Party in Holland for volunteers and other interested peo-
ple. “Storm SS” (“SS Assault”), published by the Germanic SS in
Holland. “De Vermolmde Bolsjewiek” (“The Rotten Communist”),
published for the Legion “Niederlande”. “SS Front en Heem” (“SS
at the Front and Home”), a monthly magazine published for all
Dutch Waffen-SS volunteers. “Het Bruggehoffd” (“The Bridge-
head”), a newspaper published near the front-lines for the soldiers
of the “Nederland” Brigade on the Narva Front in 1944. “SS
— 82 —
Vormingsbladen”, a monthly news and information publication for

all Dutch SS members on duty, but later for others as well.
Estonian: “Eesti Pildileht”, a monthly magazine featuring news

and cultural articles for the Estonian Waffen-SS volunteers and
others, 1943-1944.
“Devenir” (“Future”), a French Waffen-SS volunteer monthly newspa-

per. This issue dates from March 1944.
French: “European Combatant”, published for the LVF or French

Volunteer Legion of the Wehrmacht, 1941-1943. “Devenir” (“Fu-
ture”), the monthly newspaper of the French Waffen-SS volunteers
in the SS-Sturmbrigade “Frankreich” and the “Charlemagne” Divi-
sion. “Combat”, a journal for the French Milice (Militia), that was
used to fight partisans in the homeland; many members also joined
the Waffen-SS.
— 83 —
Italy: “Avanguardia” (“Avant Guard”), the newspaper for the Ital-

ian Waffen-SS.
Kalmucks: “Kalmyckij Boec” (“Kalmuck Fighter”) a publication

for the Kalmuck Cavalry Regiment.
Latvians: “Daugavas Vanagi” (? “Falcons”), a Latvian Waffen-SS

publication, the title of which was later adopted by the post-war
Latvian volunteer veteran’s organization. “Nakotne” (“The Fu-
ture”), another Latvian Waffen-SS periodical. “Junda” (“Taps”),
also for the Latvian Waffen-SS.
Norwegians: “Hirdmann”, a publication of the Norwegian NS

Stormtroopers, many of whom joined the Waffen-SS. “German-
eren”, newspaper of the Germanic SS in Norway.
Russian: “Dobrovoletz” (“The Volunteer”), publication for all

Russian volunteers.
Spain: “Nuestro Boletin” (“New Bulletin”), “Adelante” (“For-

ward”) and “Hoya de Campana”, all publications of the “Spanish
Blue” Division and the “Blue” Legion.
Tatars: “Deutsch-Tatarisches Nachrichtenblatt” (“German-Tatar

Newspaper”), published monthly in Berlin in two languages from
1944 to 1945.
Turkestan: “Yeni Türkistan” (“New Turkistan”), a publication for

the “Turkistan” Legion. “Svoboda” (“Freedom”), the publication
of the 162nd Turkic Volunteer Division. “Türk Birligi” (“Turkish
Units”), a weekly newspaper published for members of the Ost-
türkischer Waffen-Verband der SS. It was printed in Berlin and
appeared from 1944 to 1945.
Ukraine: “Ukrainskyi Dobrovoletz” (“The Ukrainian Fighter”), a

publication for all Ukrainian volunteer units. “We Are Going Into
Battle”, a magazine of the 14.Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS
— 84 —
(Galizien/Ukraine Nr.1). “Do Boyu”, a newspaper of the 14th SS

Division.
Walloons: “Annales” (“Annals”), a publication of the Walloon

Legion, Sturmbrigade and Division. “Le SS Combattant” (“The SS
Combatant”), a newspaper for the Walloon Waffen-SS volunteers.
— 85 —
Finnish volunteers from the “Wiking” Division returning home to

Finland by ship in 1943. They are, left to right: Matti Kuikkonen, Yrjo
Salmela and Eero Salmela.
— 86 —
Non-German Waffen-SS
Holders of the
German Cross in Gold
The first photo is actually of a German NCO, SS-Oberscharführer Fritz

Krupt, just to illustrate the German Cross in Gold and its positioning
on the lower right portion of the uniform tunic.
— 87 —
The award of the German Cross in Gold was probably second in

importance to only that of the Knight’s Cross. It was given to sol-
diers who already held both classes of the Iron Cross and would
have been entitled to more if this had been a “multiple” decoration
such as the U.S. bronze or silver stars. Actually it usually required
numerous acts of bravery, any of one of which would have quali-
fied for an Iron Cross if the recipient already didn’t have that deco-
ration. The Knight’s Cross could be given for single or multiple
“spectacular” achievements. At any rate it was a prestigious medal,
adopted during the war to fully recognize heroic achievements that
went beyond the Iron Cross, 1st Class but fell short of the Knight’s
Cross award.
There were at least 27 documented European volunteer holders
of the German Cross in Gold of whom 16 were Latvians, which
helps to demonstrate their extensive military contributions to the
war against the Soviet Union. Below is a listing of these brave sol-
diers by their nationalities. Some went on to receive the Knight’s
Cross and in the case of Leon Degrelle, the Oakleaves to the
Knight’s Cross. But not all not all Knight’s Cross recipients held
the German Cross in Gold!
Denmark
• SS-Sturmbannführer Per Sörensen (1913-1945), Award
made to him on 14 October 1944 while serving as an SS-
Hauptsturmführer and company commander in the SS-
Pz.Gr.Rgt.24 “Danmark” of the 11.SS Volunteers Pz.Gr.
Division “Nordland”. He would later serve as a battalion
and regimental commander with “Danmark” and be killed
in Berlin by a “friendly” sniper!
• SS-Hauptsturmführer Johannes Helmers (1918-1999). He
received his decoration on 18 December 1944, while serv-
ing as an SS-Obersturmführer and commander of 6th Com-
pany/SS-Pz.Gr.Rgt.49 “De Ruyter” (Dutch Nr.1) of the
“Nederland” Assault Brigade/Division. He would later also
received the Knight’s Cross.
— 88 —
Estonia
Waffen-Hstuf. der SS Hando Ruus (1917-1945). A decorated com-
pany commander in the “Narva” Battalion of the “Wiking” Divi-
sion, Ruus perhaps had the strangest fate of the German Cross in
Gold recipients. While leading the Fusilier Battalion of the 20th
Estonian SS Division in a desperate attempt to break through a So-
viet encirclement on 22 September 1944, Ruus was captured by the
Reds. The captives from this battle were then taken back to the
now communist-occupied Estonian capital of Tallinn and paraded
before the citizenry, then shipped off to labor camps in Russia.
However, while in captivity, Ruus was decorated with the German
Cross in Gold on 30 December 1944. Whether or not the news of
this occurrence led to his further fate is unknown, but in March
1945, he was executed by the Soviets in Leningrad! He of course,
had committed only the “crime” of fighting for his country against
the communists! See Estonian Vikings by your editor and the late
Erik Rundkvist for photos and more information on Hando Ruus.
The Finnish volunteer SS-Ostuf. Ola Olin.
— 89 —
Finland
SS-Ostuf. Ola Olin (1917-1995). Olin was decorated with the
German Cross in Gold on 28 February 1945 while serving as a pla-
toon leader in 7th Company/SS-Pz.Rgt.5/5.SS Pz.Division “Wik-
ing”. Although he had joined the Waffen-SS with the Finnish Vol-
unteer Battalion (III./SS Rgt. “Nordland”), he later transferred into
the “Wiking” Panzer Regiment and became a tank commander.
Although he could have returned to Finland with his fellow coun-
trymen in May 1943, he stayed with the “Wiking” Division until
the end of the war. After being credited with destroying 34 enemy
tanks and 11 anti-tank artillery guns, Olin went into American cap-
tivity in May 1945.
Holland
• SS-Hauptscharführer Frans Venemen (1914- ). Frans Ve-
nemen received his decoration on 24 April 1944 while
serving as a platoon leader in 3rd Company/SS-
Pz.Gr.Rgt.48 “General Seyffardt” (Dutch Nr.2) of the
“Nederland” Sturmbrigade. He was badly wounded shortly
thereafter and seems to have never returned to active duty.
• SS-Ostuf. Gerrit-Jan Pulles (1923-1945), received the
German Cross in Gold on 18 December 1944 for heroism
in Kurland, Latvia while serving as an SS-Ustuf. and com-
mander of 3rd Company/SS-Pz.Gr.Rgt.49/23.SS-Volunteer
Pz.Gr.Div. “Nederland”. During the division’s heavy fight-
ing for Reetz, Pomerania in March 1945, Pulles became
missing in action. His father had been the mayor of Eind-
hoven, Holland.
Hungary
Waffen-Hstuf. der SS György vitez Hermandy Berencz received a
posthumous award of the German Cross in Gold on 23 March 1945
for heroic actions in the defense of the Neuhammer Training
Camp. He had been commander of I./Waffen-Grenadier Rgt. der
SS 65/26.Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS “Hunyadi” (Hungary
Nr.2) and IV. Waffen-Alarm Regiment der SS (Hungarian) during
the battle for Neuhammer. He had also been recommended for the
Knight’s Cross, which was never officially awarded (although a
— 90 —
German Wehrmacht officer placed his own KC around Her-

mandy’s neck after the battle). The first post-war “free” Hungarian
government in the 1990’s honored him by posthumously promot-
ing him to the rank of Colonel!
The Latvian Waffen-Ostubaf. Nikolajs Galdins and regimental com-

mander with all of his wartime decorations including the German
Cross in Gold on his right breast pocket.
Latvia
• Waffen-Standartenführer der SS Vilis Janums (1894-1981)
received the award in March 1945 while serving as com-
mander of Waffen-Grenadier Rgt. der SS 33 /15.Waffen-
Grenadier Division der SS (Latvia Nr.1), in Pomerania. He
would survive the war in the west.
• Waffen-Ostubaf. Nikolajs Galdins (1902-1945) was
awarded the German Cross in Gold on 25 January 1945
while commanding Waffen-Grenadier Rgt. der SS
42/19.Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS (Latvia Nr.2) in
— 91 —
the desperate defensive fighting for Kurland. One of the

most highly decorated Latvian volunteers, Galdins was also
decorated with the Knight’s Cross and the Close Combat
Clasp in Gold. He would be executed (murdered) in Soviet
captivity in October 1945!
• Waffen-Ustuf. Karlis Musins (1919-1955) was awarded the
German Cross in Gold on 8 May 1945 while serving as CO
of 4./Waf.Gr.Rgt.d.SS 42 “Voldermars Veiss” with the
19th Latvian SS Division in Kurland. After the war, Musins
took to the woods with many of his fellow soldiers and led
a band of freedom fighting partisans against the Soviet oc-
cupation of his country. He was captured by the Reds in
1955 and subsequently executed (murdered) on 2 June
1955.
Waffen-Ostuf. Rudolf Gaitars (here a W.-Ustuf.), wearing his German

Cross in Gold.
— 92 —
• Waffen-Ostuf. Rudolf Gaitars (1907-1945), decorated with

the German Cross in Gold on 11 May 1944 while com-
manding 7th Company of Waffen-Grenadier Regiment
42/19.Waffen-Grenadier Div.d.SS (Latvian Nr.2) in Latvia.
Gaitars was badly wounded in Kurland in March 1945 and
died in a field hospital in Kurland. His grave site along with
those of 33 other Latvian and 170 German soldiers was
made part of a pig farm by the Soviets after the war. In
1999 the bodies were exhumed and removed to a place of
honor in the Frauenburg cemetery.
• Waffen-Hstuf. Georgs Seibelis (1913-1970), had his Ger-
man Cross in Gold awarded on 27 January 1945 while he
commanded II.Btl./WGRdSS 42/”VV”/19.WGDdSS in
Kurland. He went into Soviet captivity after the war and
was held in slave labor camps until 1961!
• Waffen-Ostuf. Miervaldis Ziedanis (1915-1946), was
awarded the German Cross in Gold on 8 May 1945 while
leading 13th Company (Infantry Gun - close support artil-
lery), of WGRdSS 42 “VV” of the 19th Latvian SS Divi-
sion. He went into Soviet captivity and was executed by
them in 1946.
• Waffen-Standartenführer Karlis Lobe (1895-1995), was
one of the senior and most distinguished Latvian volun-
teers. He received the German Cross in Gold on 28 June
1944 while leading WGRdSS “Voldemars Veiss” of the
19th Latvian SS Division. After the war he was able to
move to Sweden where he died at the age of 100 in 1995.
• Waffen-Ostubaf. Voldemars Reinholds (1903-1986), was
decorated with the German Cross in Gold on 28 November
1944 while commanding I.Btl./WGRdSS 42
“VV”/19.WGDdSS (Latvia Nr.2) On 15 March 1945 he
became the CO of WGRdSS 43 “Hinrich Schuldt” in Kur-
land and led it until the end of the war. After the surrender
he took off into the forests with some of his comrades to
continue partisan warfare. Following four months his group
decided to try to make their way to Germany but they were
soon apprehended. While being truck transported to a place
of execution (shooting in the back of the neck), Reinholds
— 93 —
managed to leap from the vehicle and get away. For a time
he lived with relatives in Tukkum and even in the house of
his father in Kurmene, before going to Riga under an as-
sumed name to work as an electrician. Here he got into
contact with other old comrades also using false names.
However one of them was apprehended by the KGB and
was tortured into giving the others away, thus Reinholds
was arrested on 21 August 1948. Voldemars Reinholds was
then sentenced to 25 years at hard labor and was sent to the
notorious Siberian Labor Camp of Vorkuta. He was amnes-
tied on 1 August 1958 and returned to Riga where he was
employed as an electrician until 1977. Although he was
closely watched by the Soviet secret police he was able to
resume contact with other former Latvian SS officers, in-
cluding the former Waffen-Stubaf. Gustavs Praudins, who
was also under surveillance. But the Reds never caught on.
Reinholds died in a hospital in Madliena on 4 July 1986 at
the age of 83.
• Waffen-Stubaf. Eduards Stipnieks (1902-1983), received
the award of the German Cross in Gold on 12 September
1944 while in charge of an improvised battle-group from
Waffen-Grenadier Rgt. der SS 43 “Hinrich Schuldt” of the
19th Latvian SS Division. In early May 1945, Stipnieks
was named to a ministerial position in the newly independ-
ent Latvian government that had been established at that
time in Kurland. However after the German surrender on 8
May 1945, Stipnieks and other members of the new regime
decided to take a boat back to Germany rather than face
probable execution by the Soviets. Stipnieks founded the
Latvian Volunteer veteran’s association, “Daugavas Va-
nagi” in 1947 and then emigrated to Australia in 1950. He
died in Adelaide, Australia of heart disease in 1983.
• Waffen-Hstuf. Zaniz Butkus (1906-1999), was one of the
most highly decorated Latvian volunteers who would also
hold the Knight’s Cross and was nominated for the Close
Combat Clasp in Gold (he received the Clasp in Silver for
certain). He was decorated with the German Cross in Gold
while serving as commander of 10th Company/WGRdSS
— 94 —
43 “HS”/19th Latvian SS Division on 28 June 1944. The

Knight’s Cross would follow on 21 September 1941. Be-
fore the war Bukus was an athlete and professional soldier.
He always placed very highly in international small caliber
shooting competitions, and was in fact the champion in this
category in the Baltic States in 1937. A volunteer from the
first he distinguished himself time and again in combat
situations. Badly wounded in 1944, Butkus was assigned to
the Reserve and Replacement Battalion of the 15th Latvian
SS Division in Denmark, where he ended the war. After the
war he worked as a silver smith and in 1956 emigrated to
the U.S. with his family, living in the Milwaukee area for
some 30 years. He was also the “head” of the sports shoot-
ing society of the Latvian Veterans Association in North
America. In the 1980’s Zanis Butkus was hounded by the
official U.S. “Nazi” hunters, a group of government funded
racist thugs who are still active. They considered him a
“war criminal” for having fought for his country against the
Soviet Reds in a Latvian “self-defense” battalion. Despite
this vicious harassment, he was never deported and he
eventually moved to Alaska where he died in 1999. His
military decorations eventually found their way to the “col-
lector’s” market after his death.
• Waffen-Ostubaf. Rudolf Kocins (1907-1990), was deco-
rated with the German Cross in Gold on 29 January 1945
while commanding Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 44
of the 19th Latvian SS Division. Due to illness he was soon
transferred to the Inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and when
Germany surrendered he was among the high ranking Lat-
vian officers and officials who were evacuated by sea to
Germany. He died in exile in that country in 1990.
• Waffen-Stubaf. Gustavs Praudins (1899-1965) won the
German Cross in Gold on 7 January 1944 while he com-
manded I./WGRdSS 44/19.WGDdSS (Latvian Nr.2). A ca-
reer military officer, he quickly volunteered for duty when
the Soviets were pushed out of Latvia in the summer of
1941. He would subsequently command a Latvian Self-
Defense Company and Battalion (Nr.19). In May 1942 his
— 95 —
battalion was sent to the SS-Kampfgruppe “Jeckeln” which

was fighting on the Leningrad Front. Praudins became dis-
illusioned with the German treatment of his unit (i.e. like
“cannon fodder” to him) and the heavy casualties it soon
sustained, and in August 1942 he deserted his command
and returned to Riga. Obviously the consequences of this
act were severe. He was soon arrested and sentenced to
death on 29 August 1942.
Waffen-Stubaf. Gustavs Praudins wearing his German Cross in Gold

and other decorations.
Fortunately the sentence was not immediately carried

out and he was incarcerated in the central jail in Riga. The
sentence had to be reviewed by higher authorities including
Reichsführer-SS Himmler. Himmler decided that while
— 96 —
Praudins had acted illegally he did have some legitimate

complaints and on 11 February 1943 he reduced to his sen-
tence to five years imprisonment with the additional pro-
viso that Praudins could rehabilitate himself by serving as a
private in the Latvian Legion on the Leningrad Front. In
short order he distinguished himself in numerous assault
troop and raiding operations with Waffen-Gr.Rgt. der SS
39 (Latvian Nr.1) and in the summer of 1943, the head of
the Latvian Waffen-SS Inspectorate, SS-Gruf. Bangerskis,
officially requested his “rehabilitation” while SS-Ogruf.
Jekeln felt that he was worthy of a high German military
decoration. In any event, it took about another year for him
to get back his old rank. Praudins transferred to the new
Waf.Gr.Rgt.der SS 44 in January 1944 and would be deco-
rated with both classes of the Iron Cross, the Close Combat
Clasp in Bronze, the Infantry Assault Badge in Silver and
the Wound Badge in Black. In July 1944 he was placed in
command of a company in the 44th Regiment before taking
over the I.Battalion. He would constantly win the highest
praise of his commanders, both Latvian and Germans and
in March 1945 would take command of Waf.Gr.Rgt.der SS
44 with the rank of Waf.-Stubaf. and lead it with success
until the end of the war. After the war, Praudins tried to
conceal his identity for a time but was taken into captivity
by the Soviets on 5 June 1945. He would then be held in
slave labor camps until 1961. During that time a leg would
have to be amputated due to wartime wounds and his health
was completely broken. Following his release from captiv-
ity, Praudins returned to Riga and worked for awhile as a
draftsman before his death in 1965. He also was able to
make secret contact with some of his old comrades includ-
ing the former Waf.-Stubaf. Voldemars Reinholds, who
was also a Knight’s Cross holder.
• Waffen-Hstuf. Visvaldis Graumanis (1913-1944), was
awarded the German Cross in Gold posthumously for con-
tinuous acts of heroism on 9 January 1945. In September
1944, while commanding II.Battalion/Waf.Gr.Rgt.der SS
44, Graumanis had held off a strong Soviet attack with his
— 97 —
battalion but absorbed a severe head wound in the process.

A little more than a month previously he had also been
wounded while defending a Latvian bridgehead but that
time had stayed at the front with his troops. After the head
injury he had to be evacuated to Germany and he would die
in a military hospital in the Sudetenland in December 1944.
His last wounding had been the 7th that he had received in
combat during the war. An obituary called him one of the
“bravest Latvian volunteers of them all”, high praise indeed
considering the supreme courage demonstrated by most of
his countrymen!
• Waffen-Ustuf. Janis Pikelis (1915-?), was decorated with
the German Cross in Gold on 8 May 1945 for heroic ac-
tions while leading the bicycle reconnaissance platoon of
WGRdSS 44/19th Latvian SS Division. His 40 man platoon
had distinguished itself for stopping Soviet breakthroughs,
counterattacking and rescuing prisoners from behind enemy
lines on several occasions. Pikelis disappeared at the end of
the war, perhaps into a new identity and life.
• Waffen-Ostubaf. Voldemars Gravelis (1900-?), received
the German Cross in Gold and a promotion to Obersturm-
bannführer on 10 March 1945 while commanding Waffen-
Artillerie Regiment der SS 19 of the 19th Latvian SS Divi-
sion. At the end of the war Gravelis went into Soviet cap-
tivity and was said to have died in a labor camp in 1946;
however he was spotted alive in another camp as late as
1949. He eventually vanished somewhere in the communist
Gulag system.
• Waffen-Ostuf. Paulis Sprincis (1912- ), was decorated with
the German Cross in Gold on 28 February 1945 while
commanding 2nd Company/Waffen-Fusilier Btl.19 of the
19th Latvian SS Division. This was the division’s recon-
naissance battalion. After being wounded in combat for the
fifth time in March 1945 he was evacuated to a military
hospital in Germany. His brother had been killed in action
in Kurland. At the end of the war, Sprincis lived in various
POW and refugee camps before permanently immigrating
to Australia in 1948. He was still alive in the year 2000.
— 98 —
Fredrik Jensen in the uniform of a Germanic SS “Norge” Untersturm-

führer that originally appeared on the cover of SR #52.
[Provided by Erik Norling]
Norway
SS-Ostuf. Fredrik Jensen (1921- ), received the German Cross in
Gold on 7 December 1944 while commanding 7th Co./SS-
Pz.Gr.Rgt.9 “Germania” of the 5th SS Panzer Division “Wiking”.
Jensen was the most highly decorated Norwegian volunteer during
the war. He had served with the “Der Führer” Regiment of the
“Das Reich” Division during the first stages of the Russian cam-
paign. After the war, and an escape from American captivity, Jen-
sen made a new life for himself in Spain. At one point during his
later travels he was detained and searched by American authorities
while on a stopover in Hawaii because of his wartime “Nazi”
status which placed him on a “watch list” and refused him entry to
this country. This was another fine achievement by the official
government “Nazi” hunter thugs. We managed to keep all of these
good and decent people out, even other people with the same
— 99 —
names (!), while being overrun by criminal aliens from all over the
3rd World!
Sweden
SS-Oscha. Sven-Erik Olsson (1923-1985), who was born into the
Swedish community in Estonia, with a German mother and a
Swedish father, was awarded the German Cross in Gold on 20
April 1945 while serving as commander of an armored radio car
from 2 Company/Panzer Signals Detachment 10/10th SS Panzer
Division “Frundsberg”. At the time Olsson handled the communi-
cations for the divisional HQ which enabled the division to escape
total destruction by the Soviets and eventually break out of the
Spremberg pocket. Incarcerated by the western allies, Olsson relo-
cated to Sweden in 1947 and later worked for a large company in
Stockholm. He died of a heart attack during a skiing vacation in
1985.
Wallonia
• SS-Ostubaf. Lucien Lippert (1913-1944), was decorated
with the German Cross in Gold posthumously on 20 Febru-
ary 1944 after being killed in action leading 5.SS-
Sturmbrigade “Wallonie” in the battle for the Cherkassy
Pocket. He had been a career Belgian Army officer. After
his death he was also promoted to the rank of SS-
Obersturmbannführer. He was succeeded as brigade com-
mander by SS-Hstuf. Leon Degrelle who then led the rem-
nants of the unit in the breakout from the pocket.
• SS-Standartenführer Leon Degrelle (1906-1994), was
awarded the German Cross in Gold on 9 October 1944 after
having received the Knight’s Cross and the Oakleaves to
the Knight’s Cross, while commanding the 28th SS Volun-
teer Grenadier Division “Wallonien”. Degrelle was of
course one of the most remarkable personalities of the 20th
Century: a political leader who literally put his life on the
line for his beliefs. It should be noted that all of his military
awards and promotions were deserved and documented and
not given due to any “favoritism”. He was quite a contrast
to most of our present day U.S. political “leaders” who
— 100 —
while quite willing to wage bloody, aggressive wars with

other people’s lives, managed to avoid military service as
much as possible themselves! Condemned to death in Bel-
gium after the war, Degrelle just barely made it to Spain
(crash landing just over the border in a plane intended for
the Norwegian Leader Vidkun Quisling who let him use it),
where he obtained political asylum and lived the remainder
of his life as a prolific author, historian and commentator.
He was one of inspirations for publishing Siegrunen to be-
gin with!
There were of course many, many other highly honored Euro-

pean volunteers that served in the Waffen-SS and as a good intro-
duction to them I strongly recommend the book: Europas Freiwil-
lige der Waffen-SS by Patrick Agte (Munin Verlag: 2000), which is
packed with rare photos, documents and information on volunteers
of 11 different nationalities. While I don’t believe it is totally com-
plete (the highly decorated Swiss volunteer SS-Ustuf. Peter Renold
is omitted for instance), but it certainly excellent as far as it goes!
— 101 —
Battle of Wingen-sur-Moder
Operation Nordwind
by Wallace Robert Cheves

Colonel, Infantry, Army United States, Retired
Revised Edition edited by

Steven K. Dixon
This is the story of the battle of Wingen-sur-Moder, an important village leading to the Alsatian
Plain. If German forces had captured this town in the early days of Operation Nordwind, and
had been able to release their reserve Panzer divisions into the plain, the war might have been
lengthened. Operation Nordwind, launched December 31, 1944, was Hitler's last major offen-
sive. Its objective—take Alsace Lorraine, split the U.S. Seventh and Third Armies, link up with
the Germans in the Colmar Pocket and continue south, routing the French Army.
Colonel Cheves commanded the U.S. forces involved in the battle. The 2nd Battalion of the
274th, along with troops from the 276th and supporting elements, defeated two battalions of the
battle-hardened 6th SS Mountain Division (Nord). This book, along with Seven Days in January
by Wolf Zoepf (Aberjona Press), gives a complete picture of this important battle.
On December 31, 1944, 2nd Battalion of the elite 6th Mountain Division attacked Wingen-sur-
Moder in Alsace Lorraine and took some 200 POWs, members of the 45th Division. At that time
the 275th and 276th Inf. Regts., 70th Div., were committed to halt the German advance, re-take
Wingen and free the American GIs. The 274th Inf. Regt. moved in to fill the gap between the
275th and 276th, on January 4th, 1945 and on January 6th began an attack on the German
forces. On the evening of January 6th, the Germans launched a counterattack, which was re-
pulsed by G Co., 274th. On the morning of January 7th, the 200+ American prisoners were
freed and Wingen-sur-Moder cleared of all German soldiers, and the German offensive in that
area brought to a halt.
2nd edition, 242 – 6 x 9 inch pages, 15 photos, 5 illustrations, 6 maps, 2 tables, footnotes
Merriam Press
133 Elm St, Apt 3R
802-447-0313
merriam-press.com
— 102 —
A Brief History of the

SS-Grenadier Ausbildungs
und Ersatz Bataillon 18
A Waffen-SS training battalion on a route march through a town.

HE SS Grenadier Training and Replacement Battalion 18
T had a mixed and interesting background. It started out as

one battalion, split into two, and just before the end of the
war became one again. Along the way it played its own unique role
in the history of the Waffen-SS. Its origin can be traced back to the
SS Ersatz (Replacement) Btl. “Ost”. This battalion was formed on
1 June 1941 in Breslau to provide replacements for the SS field
units that came under the direct control of the Reichsführer-SS and
would soon be engaged in the campaign against the Soviet Union.
At the time these units, belonging to the “Field Command Staff
RF-SS” included the 1st and 2nd SS Motorized Infantry Brigades,
— 103 —
the SS Cavalry Brigade, the Escort Btl. “RF-SS”, some independ-

ent SS regiments and various specialty units that were not subordi-
nated to the Waffen-SS field divisions. The SS Ersatz Btl. “Ost”
was stationed in Breslau until 15 October 1942, when it joined the
“Field Command Staff RF-SS” that had relocated to Zhitomir in
Ukraine.
As of 1 June 1942, Battalion “Ost” was organized as follows:
• Staff Company
• 1st Rifle Replacement Company (Motorized)
• 2nd Rifle Replacement Company (Motorized)
• 3rd Rifle Replacement Company (Motorized)
• 4th Heavy Weapons (Machine gun) Company (Motorized)
• 1st and 2nd Convalescent Companies
A fourth rifle company was added in December 1942. The

commander was SS-Hauptsturmführer Kurt Wichmann. Staff and
support troops had been drawn from the independent SS Infantry
Regiment 5 (formerly SS-Totenkopf Standarte 5 “Dietrich Eck-
hardt”). In the autumn of 1942, the unit was split into two separate
battalions; one strictly to serve as a repository for replacements and
recovering wounded for the “RF-SS” field formations and the
other used only for training purposes. This was in line with policies
being practiced in the Wehrmacht at the time.
From 15 October 1942 until 31 May 1943, the two battalions
shared very similar titles. The replacement battalion was known as
SS Ersatz Btl. “Ost”/Zhitomir and the training battalion was named
SS Grenadier Ersatz Btl. “Ost”/Zhitomir. However on 1 June 1943
this whole situation changed. On 1 June 1942, the replacement was
sent back to Breslau where it assumed the title of SS-Grenadier
Ersatz Btl. “Ost”, while the training battalion remained in Zhitomir
and became the SS-Grenadier Ausbildungs Btl. “Ost”. At least
from the perspective of 60+ years in the future it was a somewhat
confusing situation.
The training battalion in Zhitomir got plenty of “on the job”
experience. From December 1942 until November 1943 it was on
call for use against partisans by the Higher SS and Police Leader
— 104 —
for Ukraine, SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Prützmann, and seems to

have seen considerable action against the terrorists.
Waffen-SS trainees (Finns and Germans), “siting in” with an air de-
fense machine gun.
— 105 —
On 1 November 1943, the twin “Ost” Battalions had their title

designations changed; instead of “Ost” they bore the numerical
designation “31”; i.e. SS-Grenadier Ersatz Btl.31 (Breslau) and the
SS-Grenadier Ausbildungs Btl.31 (Zhitomir). The SS Training
Battalion 31 in Ukraine was thrown into the frontlines on 10 No-
vember 1943 coming under the control of the Army’s 13th Infantry
Corps. On 15 November it participated in a counterattack towards
Zhitomir, which had been lost, from Ssinguri. It subsequently par-
ticipated in the assault on Klitschin on 18 November and was part
of the German force that managed to reoccupy Zhitomir on 19 No-
vember 1944. From 26 December 1943 until 10 January 1944, the
SS Training Btl.31 was engaged in heavy defensive fighting in the
area around Zhitomir-Tschudnov as part of the Army’s 48th Pan-
zer Corps.
On 11 January 1944, what was left of SS Training Btl. 31 was
dispatched to the SS Training Grounds “Moorlager” situated at
Berese-Kartuska near Brest on the Bug River. Here it was up-
graded to “Panzergrenadier” status as was its counterpart in Bres-
lau. After a period of refitting the new SS Pz.Gr. Training Btl.31
was sent into action against partisan terrorists in Byelorussia (to-
day’s Belarus).
In the meantime the SS-Pz.Gr. Replacement Btl.31 in Breslau
had been circulating soldiers to the following Waffen-SS units:
• SS-Sturmbrigade “Reichsführer-SS” (1 June 1943-15 Feb-

ruary 1944)
• German personnel for the Latvian SS Legion (1 June 1943-
1 November 1943)
• the Flemish 6.SS-Sturmbrigade “Langemarck” (1 June
1943-1 August 1944)
• SS and Police Security troops for Army Groups “South”,
“Center” and “North” on the Eastern Front (1 June 1942-15
April 1944)
• 1st SS Infantry Brigade (1 June 1941-15 February 1944)
• 18.SS-Pz.Gr. Division “Horst Wessel” (15 February 1944-
April 1945)
• SS Special Commando “Dirlewanger” (15 October 1942-15
April 1944)
— 106 —
• The SS Military-Geologist Company (15 July 1941-1 De-

cember 1941)
• the Flemish-Dutch SS-Standarte “Nordwest” (1 June 1941-
1 September 1941)
Waffen-SS troops during a large scale training exercise of the 9.SS

Pz.Div. “Hohenstaufen” conducted at Abbeville, France in 1943.
Interestingly, it appears that both of the “31 Battalions”, ap-

peared on the books as simply the SS-Pz.Gr. Ausbildungs und Er-
satz-Bataillon 31 under the overall command of SS-Stubaf. Karl-
Joachim Praefcke (until February 1944) and the permanent HQ for
both was situated in Breslau. On 15 April 1944, the battalions split
again, with the Replacement Battalion in Breslau becoming SS-
Grenadier Ersatz Btl.18, with a primary function of funneling rein-
forcements into the 18th SS-Pz.Gr.Div. “HW”. The SS-Pz.Gr.
Training Btl.31, retained its old identity and may in fact seems to
have assumed the complete title of the formation; i.e. “Training
and Replacement Btl.31” at this point in time. At any rate it was
now mostly, but confusingly enough, not totally independent from
SS-Grenadier Ersatz Btl.18.
— 107 —
In the middle of April 1944, SS Pz.Gr.A.u.E. Btl. 31 was relo-

cated to Iglau in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (today’s
Czech Republic), and from 17 April 1944 to 22 June 1944, per-
formed security duty in that area. On 23 June 1944, the battalion
was rushed by express train to central France where it was de-
ployed against terrorists in the Vichy-Thiers area until 7 September
1944. At that time most of the battalion staff fell into Allied hands
but the individual companies made their escape to Germany via
Freiburg. The survivors were then sent to the Hamburg-
Langenhorn Waffen-SS barracks on 11 October 1944 where it was
redesignated the SS-Grenadier-Ausbildungs-Bataillon 18, becom-
ing once again a “sister” unit to the SS-Grenadier-Ersatz Btl.18 in
Breslau. The latter unit would be soon caught up in the fighting for
Breslau and largely destroyed in the process. It fought around
Kapsdorf until 15 February 1945 when Breslau was captured by
the Reds.
However, somehow part of the battalion staff and a convales-
cent company had managed to get out of Breslau and was sent to
join the SS-Gr. Training Btl.18 in Hamburg on 2 February 1945,
but it was not until 1 April 1945 that the two battalions (or what
was left of them), merged into one for a final time, becoming this
— 108 —
time the SS-Pz.Gr. Training and Replacement Btl.18. Before this

had happened a battle-group had been formed from the Training
Battalion under the leadership of an SS-Stubaf. Kraemer and had
been sent to Winschooten in the Netherlands. The combined “18”
battalions would form other battle-groups in April 1945 that would
be in action until the end of the war in northern Germany against
the western Allies. All told the story of this unit was a complicated
one, due to the ever changing contingencies of the wartime situa-
tions!
— 109 —
The 1st SS Panzer Division

in the Battle of the Bulge
by Steve Kane
A Merriam Press Original Publication

An extremely readable account of the 1st SS Panzer Division

“Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler” (LAH) throughout the Ardennes Offen-
sive relating the actions of the LAH and a variety of German units
who fought with them as well as considerable detail about the
American units that fought against the 1st SS Panzer Division.
Contents
Background; The Saga of Kampfgruppe Peiper; The Rest of the
Saga; Analysis; Appendices; Waffen-SS/U.S. Army Officer Rank
Equivalents; Chronology; Bibliography; Afterword
6th edition, 216 – 6 x 9 inch pages, 128 photos, 14 maps, 101

footnotes

Merriam Press
133 Elm St, Apt 3R
802-447-0313
merriam-press.com
— 110 —
The SS-Totenkopf
Rekrutenstandarte
HE SS-Totenkopf Recruiting Regiment existed for only six
T months (mid-October 1939 until April 1940). It had the

joint mission of training 17 and 18 year old wartime volun-
teers for service in the various Deathshead units that existed at the
time and at the same time keep them out of the hands of the Ger-
man Army. Recruits were initially sent to a processing office in
Breslau and then on to Weimar-Buchenwald to commence basic
military training.
In early December 1939, the entire regiment was shifted to the
SS-TV barracks at Dachau, where full scale combat training was
accelerated. On 7 March 1940, the occasion of the 4th Anniversary
of the German military re-occupation of the Rhineland was used
for a general parade and inspection of the regiment culminating in
an address to the men by the commander. In the course of March
and April 1940, route marches in the mountains were carried out
followed by live ammunition field exercises with the use of heavy
machine guns.
Late in April 1940, the regiment was quite suddenly disbanded
and the trained troops were sent to reinforce other Deathshead
units. For instance, III. Battalion of the Recruiting Regiment was
sent intact to the SS-Totenkopf Standarte 16 in Bohemia/Moravia
and would then serve as the guard battalion for the occupation au-
thorities in the government sector of Prague. No attempt was ever
made to resurrect the regiment (certainly the regular German
Armed Forces did not like the idea as it tied up military age re-
cruits in a formation that had been considered “paramilitary” at
best).
By 1941 and 1942, all of the field units of the SS-TV had been
directly incorporated into the Waffen-SS as either reinforcements,
new combat regimental units or in the form of specialized guard
elements.
— 111 —
Rare portrait of unidentified pre-war SS-Totenkopfverbände officer. He

wears early issue skull collar patches with a company number.
— 112 —
Rare portrait of unidentified pre-war SS-Totenkopfverbände member.

He wears early issue skull collar patches with a company number.
— 113 —

— 114 —

— 115 —
Battle Between the Jagst and Kocher Rivers,

4-12 April 1945
Recommendation for the Award of the

Presidential Unit Citation to the
2nd Bn., 253rd Inf. Regt., 63rd Inf. Division

Complete collection of documents submitted for recommendation of

award to this unit for their action in this critical area northeast of Heil-
bronn, Germany. Two Medals of Honor were awarded for this battle. In-
cludes narrative of the battle, daily G-3, S-3 and S-2 reports, statements
by three non-coms, and complete rosters. Note: The unit was finally
awarded the PUC in 2000.
Contents
Introduction; Battalion Commanding Officer's Recommendation; Seventh
Army Commanding General's Recommendation; Narrative of Battle Be-
tween Jagst and Kocher Rivers; G-3 Reports; S-3 Reports; S-2 Reports;
Statement of Sgt. Elvin J. Franklin, Co. G, 253rd Infantry; Statement of
S/Sgt. Alfred Sueflow, Co. E, 253rd Infantry; Statement of T/Sgt. Richard
E. Woodhams, Co. F, 253rd Infantry; Appendices: Rosters (Headquarters
Company, 2nd Battalion, 253rd Infantry Regiment; Company E, 253rd In-
fantry Regiment; Company F, 253rd Infantry Regiment; Company G,
253rd Infantry Regiment; Company H, 253rd Infantry Regiment; Head-
quarters Company, 253rd Infantry Regiment); Transfers and Assign-
ments; Medals of Honor Awards
Fifth Edition, 188 – 6x9 inch pages

paperback, perfect bound, full-color wrap-around cover, #MM226-P,
$16.95
hardcover, full-color dust jacket, #MM226-H, $34.95
Merriam Press
133 Elm St, Apt 3R
802-447-0313
merriam-press.com
— 116 —
5.SS-Sturmbrigade “Wallonie”
Walloon and German recruiting officers for the 5.SS-Sturmbrigade

“Wallonie” in Belgium in 1943 just after the Legion “Wallonie” had
been dissolved and volunteers were being sent to the Waffen-SS in-
stead of the regular German Army, which had handled the Legion.
Part of a large “Burgundy Cross” banner can be seen behind the offi-
cer on the left.
HE 5.SS-Sturmbrigade “Wallonie” was established on 1
T June 1943 by the Waffen-SS using as its nucleus former

members of the Legion “Wallonie”, which had been serv-
ing with the Wehrmacht as a combat infantry battalion. In Novem-
ber 1943 the Sturmbrigade was sent to join the 5.SS-Panzer Divi-
sion “Wiking” in Ukraine with a strength of around 2,000 troops.
The following statistics come from a “Wiking” Divisional evalua-
tion report on “Wallonie” which was authorized by the “Wiking”
commander, SS-Gruppenführer Herbert Otto Gille.
• Troop strength 5.SS-Sturmbrigade “Wallonie” as of 1

January 1944
o 59 officers
o 346 NCOs
— 117 —
o 1,562 Enlisted Men

o Sum total: 1,967 personnel.
o Shortages: 33 officers and 120 NCOs fewer than au-
thorized.
o Excesses: 34 more Enlisted Men than expected.
• Losses from 1 December to 31 December 1943:
o 1 officer and 17 NCOs and Enlisted Men killed
o 25 NCOs and Enlisted Men wounded
o 10 NCOs and Enlisted Men missing
o 1 officer and 34 NCOs and Enlisted Men sick
o 10 other personnel on leave or special duties.
• Brigade Weaponry
o 10 operational Assault Guns
o 9 Heavy Anti-tank Guns
o 75 Heavy Machine guns
o 37 Assorted other Heavy Weapons
Divisional Commander’s (SS-Gruf. Gille’s) Evaluation:

“The Sturmbrigade is lacking in adequate offensive training and is
suitable only for defensive actions. This could be remedied some-
what by using small units for scouting and assault troop operations,
which gives some experience in offensive undertakings.”
The Sturmbrigade was essentially used for defense in the next six
weeks, getting caught up with the rest of the “Wiking” Division in
the “Cherkassy Pocket”. It should be noted that the unit was organ-
ized only into 10 separate companies and did not have a battalion
structure at this time. In the summer of 1944 it would be reorgan-
ized into a “two battalion” format.
From 1 January 1944 until 7 February 1944 “Wallonie” had
absorbed another 500+ casualties of all types. The Sturmbrigade
strength in early February still stood at around 1450 troops. At the
time of the breakout from the entrapment that commenced on 17
February 1944, “Wallonie” had 1260 personnel. Of these 650
would make it through to safety by 19 February 1944, although
some would be wounded in the process. During that time the
commander, SS-Stubaf. Lippert would be killed in action and
— 118 —
command of the unit would be taken over by SS-Hstuf. Degrelle,

who would lead it for the rest of the war.
Of the 1967 men on duty on 1 January 1944, some 858 would
be killed or missing by 19 February 1944; at least another 459
were seriously wounded or taken ill. Most of the fatalities occurred
during the Cherkassy “breakout”. One year later the expanded
28.SS-Volunteer Grenadier Division “Wallonien” with two regi-
ments and an artillery detachment would be deployed on the north-
ern part of the Eastern Front. Other elements were not yet ready.
At that time the entire formation, including troops still in training,
possibly had a strength of 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers. In March 1945,
the “Wallonien” battle-group, after several weeks in action, had
been reduced to around 1,800 combat troops. By the end of the war
it was down to one operational battalion!
— 119 —
Dönitz
A Defense
by David T. Zabecki

In this work, Zabecki (currently a general in the U.S. Army)

proves conclusively that Dönitz was innocent of the charges
leveled against him at Nuremberg by the Allies. Whether you agree or disagree with Zabecki's
conclusions, this book provides a very concise and readable account that covers Dönitz's
background, with background on the International Military Tribunal, and details the two counts
that Dönitz was eventually convicted of—crimes against peace and war crimes—and why Za-
becki believes he should not have been found guilty of either.
Contents
Introduction; Background: Karl Dönitz; Background: The International Military Tribunal; Crimes
Against Peace; War Crimes; Conclusion.
Appendices
Testimony of Fleet Admiral Nimitz, U.S. Navy, 11 May 1946; Excerpts from Defense of Mer-
chant Shipping Handbook 1938 (D.M.S.); Statement Under Oath of Chief Admiral Raeder; Dec-
laration of Former Submarine Commanders; Extract from the War Diary of the Naval Staff,
1939 (KTB SK1 Part C, Booklet VIII, 1939); Extract from the War Diary of the Commander-in-
Chief of the Submarine Command, 1939 (KTB BDU 1.-15 October 1939); Extract from the War
Diary of the Chief of the Submarine Command, 1942 (KTB BDU, September 1939); Extract
from the War Diary of the Naval Staff, 1939 (KTB SK1 Part C, Booklet VIII, 1939); Extract from
the War Diary of the Commander of the Submarine Command West, 1939 (KTB FDU West,
October 1939); Indictments, Verdicts and Sentences of the Defendants; Third Reich Positions
of the Defendants; IQs of the Defendants; Specific Counts of the Nuremberg Indictment; A
Note from Dönitz (after reading the original manuscript); Bibliography.
118 — 6 × 9 inch pages, 9 photos, 1 illustration, 14 appendices, 3 tables

Merriam Press
133 Elm St, Apt 3R
802-447-0313
merriam-press.com
— 120 —
Germanic SS Volunteers
Miscellany
Germanic SS volunteer officer cadets attending a ski training course.

N July 1944, a three platoon NCO Training Company at the
I Sennheim Germanic SS Training Camp was mobilized for the

defense of Elsass (Alsace). It was assigned to SS-
Kampfgruppe “Ehlert” to serve against advancing American forces
on an emergency only basis, since the volunteers were only sup-
posed to serve on the Eastern Front. Among the nationalities repre-
sented were Germans, Danes, Flemings, Dutch and Walloons.
These troops would be in combat in the region for the next several
months and most would not rejoin their “home” national units until
December 1944.
— 121 —
*****
From October 1943 to December 1943, the Waffen-SS held its first
sports training class for Germanic Volunteers at the “Reich-
sportschule” located in Smetana Park in Prague. The volunteers
came from assorted national units to be instructed primarily in
track and field disciplines by a number of German and European
Olympians and National Champions. Simply by completing the
course, the participants were able to obtain the “Reichs Sports
Badge” and were given a military-specialty title of “Sports Ex-
pert”. At least it was a diversion from the usual training and com-
bat duties. The first Flemish volunteer to qualify as a “Sports Ex-
pert” was Cyriel Joye from Harelbeke, Belgium.
*****
In July 1944, the SS-Panzergrenadier School at Sophienwalde
counted 55 French officers and NCOs in its first training course.
They would later be joined by Flemish, Italian and Bulgarian vol-
unteers.
Germanic volunteers, mostly Finns, with the 5.SS-Pz.Division “Wik-

ing”, in 1942.
— 122 —
The SS and Waffen NCO School (Unterführerschule) at Posen-

Treskau was in operation from October 1942 until mid 1944. It
specialized in training both Germanic and non-Germanic Waffen-
SS volunteers. The school commander from late 1943 until March
1944 was SS-Standartenführer Schimmelpfennig.
The school had 3 training companies consisting of 4 platoons
each. There were at least 19 Flemish volunteers concentrated in the
1st and 3rd Companies in the training class that ran from late 1943
until 20 March 1944. In June 1944, the school was organized as an
emergency combat battalion and was rushed to Veith on the Sawe
in the Karawangenge Mountains to fight against partisans. After a
short deployment at this “on the job training”, the volunteers were
given NCO status and sent back to their respective national units.
During this time the commander of 1st Company was SS-Hstuf.
Kostenbader.
In the fall of 1944 the staff and personnel from the SS and
Waffen NCO School from Posen-Treskau were incorporated into a
much larger facility at Laibach (Ljubljana), Slovenia.
*****
The Waffen-SS had training schools for combat medics of all
nationalities at Wenen, the Berlin Lichterfelde Barracks (home of
the “LSSAH”), Marburg, Prag-Beneschau and Bad Husee. Like-
wise there were training schools for language translators at Danzig
and Oranienberg.
*****
On 19 February 1945, Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitan Otto Kittel,
one of the most successful fighter pilots in World War II (267
kills) was shot down near Dzukste, Latvia to the north of Doblen.
He bailed out but landed in no-man’s-land between the lines. He
was then safely rescued by Latvian Waffen-SS soldiers from the
19th Latvian SS Division (Latvia Nr.2), that was in position
nearby.
— 123 —
The Malmédy Trial

A Report Based on
Documents and Personal Experiences
by Dietrich Ziemssen

First published in 1952 by a former member of the 1st SS Panzer

Division and defense witness, this is a completely new edition pro-
duced by Merriam Press. Covers the Malmédy incident, the de-
fendants’ imprisonment and mistreatment, the trial, their incarcera-
tion in Landsberg and years spent trying to get the case reviewed
and the sentences reduced.
Contents
Publisher’s Foreword; Introduction; Preliminary Remarks; Dates of
the Trial History; List of the Sentences; Malmédy: Previous History
of the Trial; Schwäbisch Hall; Dachau; Landsberg.
118 — 6 × 9 inch pages, 1 map, 2 tables

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— 124 —
60th Anniversary of the

Execution of Generalleutnant
Helmuth von Pannwitz,
Commander of the
XV.Cossack Cavalry Corps
of the Waffen-SS
General von Pannwitz (center) with two of the commanders of his

Cossack Regiments. On the left is Oberst Wagner and on the right is
Oberst von Baath.
N January 1947, Generalleutnant Helmuth von Pannwitz, the
I freely elected Ataman (Chief) of the Cossack volunteer forma-

tions that fought with Germany in WWII, was executed along
with other native Cossack leaders by the Soviet Union. In a process
marked by deception, lies and violence, the British Army under the
— 125 —
instructions of its government had forcibly repatriated Cossack

prisoners of wars to the Red Army in 1945. Their commander,
Helmuth von Pannwitz, had been given the opportunity to evade
being handed over to the Soviets, but he chose to accompany his
men into captivity and as it turned out to the gallows of the notori-
ous NKVD prison in Moscow. One of the true heroes of the 20th
Century, the combat history of the XV. Cossack Cavalry Corps has
been recounted in the book Steadfast Hussars: The Last Cavalry
Divisions of the Waffen-SS, available from the publisher.
The following is a short tribute to von Pannwitz arranged by
one of our readers and based (with permission), on the first half of
an article entitled “The Faithful Horsemen: Helmuth von Pannwitz
and His Cossacks”, which was written by his son Sieghard von
Pannwitz along with Nils Friesen and appeared in issues #’s 51 and
52 of the German military history magazine “DMZ”. This portion
contains background material that we have not covered before in
Siegrunen and serves as a suitable tribute to a brave, remarkable
man and his valiant comrades.
—Richard Landwehr
T was not for the last time that floral wreaths floated down-
I stream in the current of the Drau, after being thrown into the
ice-cold, rapacious, flowing river where around 60 years before an
entire group of people had met their destiny. At the feet of the east
Tyrol Dolomiten Mountains in Tristach, near Linz, Austria, elderly
German and Russian veterans of a mounted formation of the Ger-
man Wehrmacht, one of the most unusual formations in the entire
World War had gathered. Today they are a circle of colorful and
checkered characters that had assembled from around the world.
Just some peaceful old men who had given up their youth at vari-
ous fronts more than 50 years ago and then survived 15 years as
prisoners of war in Siberia, who now each year came to Linz and
Judenberg to remember their fallen, martyred, murdered and died
in captivity comrades.
At the ceremony were Germans along with Cossacks, who had
served shoulder to shoulder in battle and had in May 1945, come to
a tragic end in Austria. The speech at the commemorative stone
monument for General von Pannwitz was given in German, while
— 126 —
at the Cossack Cemetery, Russian clergy celebrated the religious

memorial service in the Russian language. Among the attendees
were members of Austrian veteran’s groups and an honor guard
from the Austrian Army.
It is worth noting that in 1996 a Russian Military Tribunal in
Moscow officially “rehabilitated” General von Pannwitz, finding
the Stalinist charges that sent him to his death without grounds.
The Tribunal noted that he was a soldier that did his duty and that
neither he nor the soldiers serving under him ever committed any
war crimes against Soviet civilians or soldiers as had been origi-
nally been alleged by the communists. This was a rather remark-
able turnabout on the subject!
Advance guard and color bearer of a German-allied Cossack troop

entering a town in the Caucasus Mountains, circa 1942. This never
before published photo was taken by a member of the 5.SS-Pz.Gr.Div.
“Wiking” who was on the scene.
Stalin’s Fragile System of Terror

After the attack of the German Reich and its Allies in 1941, the
Soviet Union was not only in deep military trouble but in political
— 127 —
trouble as well. The behavior of great segments of the population

following the advance of the German troops documents just how
fragile the (Soviet) ideology was, and it was often only through the
terror system of the People’s Commissars and the NKVD that or-
der could be maintained.
Eventually over one million Soviet citizens would fight in
German uniforms. At the beginning of 1942, an entire Soviet regi-
ment under Oberst Ivan Kononov went over to the other side. Ko-
nonov would later command the 5th Don Cossack Regiment under
German leadership.
By the end of 1941, many of the 3.8 million Soviet soldiers
captured by the Germans were branded as “deserters” and “trai-
tors” by the Red Army as a matter of course. Not enough of them
had followed Stalin’s injunction of “Triumph or Die”, so they were
being sent back to Germany. It was from their ranks that the Rus-
sian Liberation Army (ROA) was recruited, which finally became
a reality under General Vlasov in February 1945.
The readiness to join and serve with the advancing German
side in the fight against Bolshevism was not limited to just the
Russians; others wanted to be free of Stalin’s clutches as well, in-
cluding those in the liberated Baltic States and especially all of the
nationalities in the Caucasus, including Chetsins, the Kalmucks,
the Georgians, the Armenians, the Azerbaijanians along with the
Ukrainians and many others who saw their homelands freed from
the Red Terror by the advancing German forces, and felt a natural
bond with their liberators.
But it wasn’t until after the setback at Stalingrad that the politi-
cal leadership of the Reich and that of the Wehrmacht began to end
their unnecessary mistrust of the “Eastern Peoples” (Ostvolk), and
begin to consider their military potential. It was noted particularly
that in southern Russia, where many of these nationalities came
from, there was little or no support or association from the local
people with the Soviet “partisans”. In fact during the German oc-
cupation, the Cossack elements had begun reorganizing their own
security and form of government in the form of “Stans”, a sort of
tribal administrative unit.
— 128 —
The Caucasus in the Struggle

for Freedom and Independence
The Cossacks did not fight for the ideas of National Socialism, but
instead were motivated to join the German side to keep themselves
free after 25 years under the Soviet yoke. An example for the mo-
tivation to join this new fight for freedom on the German side that
was beginning can be found in the story of Ataman (the Cossack
equivalency of the rank of General), Nikolaus L. Kulakoff, a for-
mer Imperial Russian Colonel and leader of the Terek Army.
After the collapse of the Czar and then Alexander Kerenski’s
government, the Bolsheviks totally seized power and Kulakoff led
the Cossacks of his old regiment in the continuing battle against
the Reds. At the beginning of 1920, after having received severe
wounds to both his legs, Kulakoff returned to his home town where
both of his legs had to be amputated. For some years he was able
to live without hindrance, but when news came that the Bolsheviks
were attempting to locate him, Kulakoff was forced to hide in the
cellar of a house for the next 14 years!
A Waffen-SS member from the “Wiking” Division with Cossacks in

their native battle dress in the Caucasus Mountains in 1942.
— 129 —
With the advance of the Wehrmacht into Russia, Kulakoff saw

an opportunity to revive the movement for an independent “Ko-
sakia” with German help. This also attracted many other Cossack
emigrants to other countries that had been agitating for the same
objective. This included the Cavalry General Pyotr Krasnov who
lived in Berlin and had founded a “Cossack Central Bureau”. He
had also written the book entitled From Czar’s Eagle to Red Flag,
which had been translated and published into many different lan-
guages.
As members of what was known as the “Whites” Party in the
Russian Civil War against the “Reds”, the Cossacks remained a
thorn in the eyes of the Bolsheviks; over 300,000 of them were in
the anti-communist resistance while only 15,000 to 20,000 re-
mained “loyal” to the Soviet side. It would be the German Cavalry
officer Helmuth von Pannwitz, the commander of a Wehrmacht
reconnaissance detachment during the drive into Russia, who
would first realize the real potential that the Cossack volunteers
could offer the German side. He found that Cossack deserters and
POW’s were most eager to be helpful and if treated with fairness
and equality, made excellent auxiliaries to his combat troops.
The potential for utilizing the Cossacks as an independent
fighting force was quickly made clear to him and while serving as
an advisor to a General of “Rapid” Troops at the High Command
of the Army (OKH), von Pannwitz found enough support to im-
plement his plan for an “Army of Cossacks”. In September 1942
he was given the opportunity to develop something along this line
in areas which the Wehrmacht had occupied and the Cossacks had
fled to. After conferences with Generals August Köstring and
Ewald von Kleist, von Pannwitz found himself named the “Com-
mander of All Cossack Formations” by the Chief of the General
Staff in the OKH, General Kurt Zeitzler. The troops he would lead
would be known collectively as the “Reiterverband von Pannwitz”
(roughly “Mounted or Rider Formation von Pannwitz”).
At this time, the Red Army had made a dangerous break-
through in the Don River basin area of Army Group B to the
southwest of Stalingrad. It was here, on the threatened southern
flank of Panzergruppe “Hoth”, that von Pannwitz and his Cossacks
were to be directly deployed for the first time in strength. His Cos-
— 130 —
sack force was supplemented by an armored detachment, a Roma-

nian artillery battery, a Romanian Cavalry Brigade and German
supply troops. In short order the “Reiterverband von Pannwitz”
proved its worth by destroying three entire Soviet divisions. As a
result the commander became the 167th soldier to be decorated
with the Oakleaves to the Knight’s Cross (a decoration that von
Pannwitz had won earlier), on 23 December 1942.
Helmuth von Pannwitz

Helmuth von Pannwitz was born on 14 October 1899 to an old
family of the Lausitz-Silesia nobility that could trace its ancestry in
Prussia for more than a dozen generations. He decided upon a mili-
tary career at an early age, joining a preparatory (junior) cadet
corps in Waalstatt near Liegnitz at the age of 12 before being sent
to the main officer cadet academy at the Lichterfelde Barracks in
Berlin (later the home of the “Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler”).
Shortly after the outbreak of WWI, the 15 year old von Pann-
witz and two of his comrades who had not yet graduated from the
academy, volunteered to “report to the colors” and join the regular
army. But due to the intervention of his father, Helmuth was re-
turned to the Lichterfelde Barracks a few days later. For having left
the academy “without orders”, he was then held under “arrest” for
a week.
But this did not scare off the young cadet, he would soon try
again to join a combat unit. This time he applied for admission
with the 1st Ulan Regiment “King Alexander III”, which was serv-
ing in the front lines in France. Officers of the regiment were as-
tonished at the young man’s audacity, but after a short delay to try
and establishment his exact age (apparently he passed himself off
as a 16 year old), he was admitted to the unit as an officer candi-
date in March 1915. He would soon win a field promotion to Leut-
nant (2nd Lt.) for having demonstrated “bravery before the enemy”
and in the course of the war he would be wounded many times and
decorated with both classes of the Iron Cross.
After the war, von Pannwitz served in various “Freikorps”
combat groups that were engaged in fighting communist “Spart-
acus” forces and Polish insurgents, who with the help of the victors
of WWI, were attempting to take over a portion of his Upper Sile-
— 131 —
sian homeland. When things calmed down, von Pannwitz took up

agricultural pursuits from 1926 until 1933, finally becoming the
estate manager for the Polish Prince Radziwell in Mlochow near
Warsaw.
In 1935, von Pannwitz was reactivated into military service
becoming a “Rittmeister” (expert horseman) and a squadron
(company) commander in the Reiter (Mounted) Regiment 2 in An-
gerburg, East Prussia. In 1938, after the annexation of Austria, he
became an Abteilung (Battalion or Detachment) commander in
Cavalry Regiment 11 which was stationed in the Stockerau Bar-
racks near Vienna (in 1944-45 Romanian volunteers of the Waf-
fen-SS were stationed there). It would be from the ranks of this
regiment that a greater portion of the NCOs and officers from the
Cossack Cavalry Divisions would come.
Cossacks with the Wehrmacht

General von Pannwitz had originally hoped to employ the Cossack
volunteers into an exact facsimile of a Russian armored division
complete with T-34 tanks, but this concept was turned down on
grounds of political “sensitivity”. For a long time the communist
partisans in Yugoslavia posed a growing threat to the German sup-
ply lines to Greece, so it was thought that this would be a good
area to deploy the Cossack units.
The area chosen to form the 1st Cossack Cavalry Division was
around Milau or Mlawa, Poland. It would be the same training
camp that had been occupied by the 6th Don Cossack Cavalry
Regiment of the Imperial Russian Army in 1914, when the area
came under the control of Czarist Russia! So the local people again
witnessed the return of the Cossacks, this time in German uni-
forms! A subsidiary camp would be established in Mochovo for a
training and replacement regiment along with quarters for family
members.
In 1942, von Pannwitz had established facilities for the Cos-
sacks in Cherson, Ukraine which housed some 10-15,000 fighters
along with their families, horses, livestock and vehicles. At that
time he had won the hearts of his recruits with his chivalrous con-
duct and diplomatic approach to handling awkward training and
combat situations. In addition his personal bravery in battle set a
— 132 —
very effective example for his troops. He would not compromise

his principals and at all times expected brave and decent behavior
by his men when up against a brave enemy.
At a later point in time, a regimental chaplain reported to the
HQ of the Cossack Cavalry Corps and complained to von Pann-
witz: “In my Corps there are around 30,000 Protestant, Roman
Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Muslim, Shintoist and Buddhist faith-
ful. This is causing me to struggle with what kind of prayer to be-
gin with.”
The commander had a simple answer: “The faiths of all believ-
ers must be respected!”
A group of Kuban Cossacks outside a “soldier’s home” rest facility

named the “Heidelberg House” in a propaganda photo dated 31
March 1944. Most of them are wearing their native military attire
complete with swords and daggers.
— 133 —
*****
In 1944, the Cossacks were engaged in three major and several mi-
nor operations against Tito’s communist partisans in which they
conducted themselves with skill, prowess and bravery (again see
Steadfast Hussars: The Last Cavalry Divisions of the Waffen-SS
for full details). On 4 November 1944, the 1st and 2nd Cossack
Divisions became part of the Generalkommando of the
XIV.Kosaken-Kavalleriekorps under the jurisdiction of the Waf-
fen-SS. This was part of a negotiated deal to ensure better supply
and support help for the Cossack troops. The Waffen-SS was to
provide specialist training and support through the SS Cavalry
Training and Replacement Detachment 8 (“Florian Geyer” Divi-
sion), at the SS Training Grounds “Bohemia”.
It was clear that von Pannwitz and his officers wanted very lit-
tle interference in their operation and organization of the Corps.
They had the option of taking SS ranks but didn’t (although the
Soviets would later refer to von Pannwitz as an “SS General”), and
the Waffen-SS was prepared to provide standardized collar patches
and rank insignia but this was not wanted either. However some
specialty personnel from the Waffen-SS did serve with the Corps
with Waffen-SS uniforms and insignia.
On 25 February 1945, the Corps was retitled the XV. SS-
(Kosak.) Kavalleriekorps, perhaps to avoid confusion with another
XIV. SS Armeekorps which also existed. From this time on, von
Pannwitz did have the SS rank of SS-Gruppenführer, although he
probably never used it. The Corps would also contain other units,
notably the 11th Luftwaffe Feld Division and the 22nd Volks-
grenadier Division at different times until the end of the war. Al-
though there is no evidence that von Pannwitz ever held any rancor
towards the Waffen-SS, the incorporation of the Cossacks into that
organization was basically a matter of convenience in order to get
better supplies and equipment.
At the end of the war, the Cossacks went into British captivity
in Austria, and after having been promised asylum in the west were
forcibly turned over to the Soviets as part of what came to be
known as “Operation Keelhaul”. This undertaking was handled
with great violence and brutality on the part of the British and quite
— 134 —
a few Cossacks and their family members would die in or near the
Drau (Drava) River in the process of being “sent home”. An esti-
mated 50,000 Cossack men, women and children were said to have
been part of this repatriation. Some 750 German personnel, mostly
officers and some senior NCOs, also were sent back to the Soviets,
although most were supposed to have been given the option to es-
cape this procedure.
As we know, General von Pannwitz never considered this an
option and he went to his doom with his Cossacks, who had freely
elected him their “Feld-Ataman” (roughly “Field Marshall”). Con-
sidered traitors by Stalin’s regime, the upper echelon of the Corps’
leadership, Cossack and German, were executed, with the others
going into the great Gulag of slave labor camps in Siberia. Not too
many would survive. Von Pannwitz had proved himself a true
hero, worthy of remembrance!
— 135 —
Blitz!
Germany's Arado Ar 234 Jet Bomber
by J. Richard Smith and E. J. Creek

Detailed technical and operational history of the world's first operational

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Includes Ar 234 pilot's operating instructions from a 1946 American intelli-

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Also includes numerous diagrams reproduced from the German aircraft

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The text and handbooks were originally published in two issues of the
journal published in the 1960s by Gruppe 66. Additional plan views, cut-
aways and photographs have been added to this edition.
112 – 8.5 × 11 inch pages, 70 photos, 47 illustrations, 7 three-views, 2

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Visit the web site

— 136 —
The SS “Wiking” Division

Conquers Rostov, July 1942
Translated, corrected and adapted
by Ramiro Bujeiro from the book
Del Caucaso a Leningrado
(From the Caucasus to Leningrad)
by Argentine Army Lt.Col. Alberto Marini
based on the memoirs of the
Danish SS-Standartenführer Paul Ranzow Englehardt.
The Breakthrough and Exploitation

HE battle-group from the SS Division “Wiking” which was
T
lows:
to participate in the attack to overwhelm the Rostov defen-
sive positions from the north and west, was formed as fol-
• Commander: SS-Sturmbannführer August Dieckmann (CO

of I./SS Rgt. “Germania”)
• Staff: From combined units.
• I.Btl./SS Rgt. “Germania” (reserve battalion)
• 5.SS-Panzer Abteilung (attached to the division a few
months earlier).
• III./SS-Artillery Regiment 5 with 2 10.5cm howitzer batter-
ies and 1 15.5cm howitzer battery.
• 10th Company/SS-AR 5 with one battery of 10.5cm guns.
• One “Wiking” combat engineer company.
• One Flak (air defense) section with 4 or 6 6.2cm guns.
• One small combined unit supply and maintenance column.
SS-Kampfgruppe “Dieckmann” was organized in the “Wiking”

rearguard area between 18 and 20 July 1942. In this short time it
was able to exchange its battered and damaged vehicles for others
in good condition from other units. New armaments, ammunition,
— 137 —
uniforms, etc. were also added and an order to operate for “up to
six months” without extra supplies was also received. On the same
day SS-KGr. “Dieckmann” was sent to the front, German infantry
forces broke into Russian positions to the east of the Taganrog
Bridgehead and slowly advanced against heavy resistance.
SS-Obersturmbannführer August Dieckmann
The “Wiking” battle-group was forced to make a big loop to

the west in order to reach the main Mariupol-Rostove road about
10 kilometers to the west of the Mius River. During the course of
20 July, German mountain infantry had advanced about 10 kilome-
ters to the east, allowing follow-up units to move in behind them.
On 21 July 1942, SS-KGr. “Dieckmann” was ordered to ad-
vance north of IL. Mountain Corps in a tactical flanking maneuver.
As so often occurs in war, it proved impossible to carry out the or-
der given the uncertainty of the situation. From air reconnaissance
it was known that the Russians had constructed fortifications but
— 138 —
their strength and occupancy was unknown. Therefore SS-KGr.

“Dieckmann” was given a new mission: conquer the city of Rostov
as quickly as possible to prevent the construction of a defensive
line to the south of the Don River by the retreating Russians.
SS-KGr. “Dieckmann” received the new directive to advance
on the north wing of the Army Corps, penetrating as far as possible
to the east in order to support the Corps’ advance. After reaching a
distance of 12 kilometers to the east of the Mius River (about 2
kilometers to the east of the village of Sambek), SS-KGr. “Dieck-
mann” changed its course to the northeast, passing through the
town of Vodianoi in the following formation:
1. Lead or vanguard element: SS-Stubaf. Johannes Mülenk-

amp (CO of SS-Pz.Abt.5), with one tank company and half
a rifle company mounted on the tanks. This group traveled
about 2 kilometers in advance of the main body of the bat-
tle group.
2. The main force: SS-Stubaf. Dieckmann along with the bulk
of the formation. A reinforced tank section along with two
squads of riflemen were used to protect the flanks. A dis-
tance of about 1 kilometer was maintained ahead of the
rearguard.
3. The rearguard: the commander of a tank platoon with his
section reinforced by a rifle squad.
Ten kilometers to the east of Vodianoie, the forward tanks ex-

changed fire with the Soviet positions located a few kilometers to
the east. SS-Stubaf. Dieckmann continued the advance with the
vanguard element in order to scout the length of the enemy posi-
tions, as his mission proscribed for him the task of finding a weak
point in the Russian lines that could be exploited. While doing this,
the Kampfgruppe was forced to change direction and bend towards
the north. During the night of 21/22 July, the battle group halted in
“bristle” or “hedgehog” positions,17 about 3 kilometers to the west
of Stojakov, around a crossroads. In the inner defensive ring was
placed the artillery with a constant guard crew. The tanks and
17
“Circle the wagons” formation.
— 139 —
heavy infantry guns were put into the second ring ready to give
support to the rifle squads that were situated in the exterior ring of
the “hedgehog”.
The Attack Against the First Russian Position

On the morning of 22 July 1942, SS-KGr. “Dieckmann” continued
its advance. The vanguard, after passing through Stojakov, re-
ceived fire from hills occupied by the Russians about 3 kilometers
to the south. As the incoming fire was only from small arms, the
tanks continued their advance to about 1 kilometer from the enemy
positions where the riflemen dismounted to attack on foot. But the
close proximity of the German tanks was enough to cause the So-
viets to retreat.
SS-Stubaf. Johannes Mühlenkamp inspecting SS Panzer Abteilung 5 at

Wildflecken shortly before its deployment to action with the “Wiking”
Division. Wildflecken was later the training camp of the French 33rd
SS Volunteer Grenadier Division “Charlemagne”.
Following this episode, the lead element, with riflemen once

again riding on the tanks, continued the advance. In a short time
they began receiving fire from Russian positions located about 2
— 140 —
kilometers to the north of the village of Sultan Saly. As in the pre-

vious case, the riflemen again dismounted the tanks. The attack
was well coordinated and carried out rapidly. The tanks fired and
advanced by stretches and with that support the infantry was able
to continue on under their protection. When they reached a point
800 to 1000 meters from the enemy positions the situation became
more clear.
A “Wiking” Division troop train somewhere on the southern part of the

Eastern Front, circa 1942/1943.
The Soviet lines here were stronger than the previous positions
and automatic weapons and anti-tank gun fire had begun with
some intensity. The German tanks retreated immediately to about
1500 meters from the Russian lines. One tank received a direct hit
on a track (however it was recovered that night) and another
caught fire and burned, but both crews managed to get away
safely.
SS-Stubaf. Dieckmann was now in direct command of the lead
element from the turret of the battalion command tank so he im-
— 141 —
mediately brought the main body of his force to a halt in a valley

about 4 kilometers to the north of the enemy positions and range of
fire. The artillery group commander who followed the lead element
at a distance of 100 meters or so in his car, was ordered to place
the artillery in firing order to support an infantry and tank assault
against the Russian line. Dieckmann decided on a quick assault,
since he could see through his field glasses that the Russian
trenches ran on either side of Sultan Saly without a common junc-
ture and they seemed to be occupied by a small force.
The Kampfgruppe had a Luftwaffe liaison officer from the
“Wiking” Division staff attached to it, so SS-Stubaf. Dieckmann
was able to ask for Stuka (Dive Bomber) support as well. In the
meantime, the rifle battalion was deployed and the rifle companies
began to advance supported by their own heavy weapons and by
the artillery group (less the 10.5cm gun battery). The tanks covered
the flanks of the grenadiers and also supported them with their fire.
At about 17:00 hours, 36 Stukas appeared and began to bomb the
Russian positions.
The targets attacked by the Stukas were not visible but they
seemed to be near the village of Sultan Saly and at points farther to
the south-southeast in the suburbs of Rostov. Simultaneously with
the air attack, the artillery group and their heavy weapons section
laid down their heaviest rate of fire. After the Stukas left, the tanks
rushed up against the Russian positions and the infantry companies
began their assault. The heavy weapons fire shifted towards Sultan
Saly. Many of the SS riflemen remained mounted on the tanks and
since the enemy positions were not protected by anti-tank ditches
or minefields the tanks were able to penetrate the defensive works.
Once among the Russian positions, the tank-riding infantrymen
dismounted and jumped into the trenches to clear them out. Very
few prisoners were taken because the communists had retreated in
time. A few Red Army troops still held out in Sultan Saly, so Waf-
fen-SS troops with tank support had to mop them up in a house-to-
house operation that lasted until 22:00 hours, or one hour after sun-
set in that portion of the world. Once the enemy resistance ended,
SS-KGr. “Dieckmann” reassembled in a hedgehog-bristle position
to the south of the village and the assault troops were able to get
some rest.
— 142 —
— 143 —
Motorcycle messenger team from the “Wiking” Division; note divi-

sional emblem.
The Breakthrough of the

Second Russian Defensive Position
At this time the men of the Kampfgruppe hadn’t realized that they
had broken into the outside defensive perimeter around Rostov and
that there were successive, in depth defensive lines still before
them. SS-Stubaf. Dieckmann had learned only that his troops had
come up against and driven back at best one enemy battalion, that
there was fighting continuing to the west along the Krim-Tschaltir
line against strong enemy forces and that in the east and northwest
there were Russian concentrations of unknown strength. It was
presumed that the 13th Panzer Division was located between 10
and 20 kilometers to the east-northeast of Rostov, but there was not
contact maintained with that division.
Little was known of the Soviet forces before the Kampfgruppe.
Patrols sent out in the darkness of night were unable to find any
enemy to the south of Sultan Saly. At any rate, only one point was
quite clear to SS-Stubaf. Dieckmann: the small victory had to be
— 144 —
exploited as rapidly as possible without worrying about danger on

the flanks or in the rear. The worst that could happened would be
that the Kampfgruppe could be attacked from all directions, but in
such a contingency, the hedgehog positions could be expected to
hold out for one or two days, which would be enough to get assis-
tance from the higher echelons.
So, for four hours, the Kampfgruppe rested that night between
23:00 hours on 22 July to 03:00 hours on 23 July. For a change, the
grenadiers didn’t dig foxholes for the night but spent the valuable
time eating, washing, doing weapons’ maintenance and sleeping.
Half an hour before the sun rose, the Kampfgruppe formed up as it
had on the previous day and continued its advance. By 04:00 hours
the lead element had reached Point 93, 3 kilometers to the south of
Sultan Saly and the following battle situation then became known:
1. West of the villages of Krim and Tschlatir, two Russian

divisions, or the remnants of them (about 10,000 to 15,000
men), held the first line of defense against the German IL.
Mountain Corps. They were unaware that their flank had
been penetrated at Sultan Saly by the SS-KGr. “Dieck-
mann.”
2. Directly in front of SS-KGr. “Dieckmann” at Point 93 was
about one company of enemy troops (perhaps 200-300
men), in an intermediate position with what looked like
successive defensive works and a possible anti-tank ditch.
The extent of the positions (north-south spread), could not
be ascertained. Point 93 itself was about 8 kilometers from
the northwestern outskirts of Rostov.
3. At the Trud Factory, 4 kilometers southeast of Point 93, the
Russians had established a supporting position.
4. To the east of Trud, Russian troops could be observed mov-
ing from north to south.
Several times the east flank guard element of SS-KGr. “Dieck-

mann” tried to contact 13th Panzer Division with patrols, but they
had no success. As the vanguard of the battle-group drew up before
Point 93, it received fire from the Russian positions. As a matter of
routine course, the rifle sections dismounted and supported by the
— 145 —
ported by the tanks, began to attack the enemy line. Soon they dis-
covered that a stream bridge had been blown and that the Russian
positions were supported by anti-tank ditches to either side of
them. When the grenadiers reached a point about 800 meters from
the enemy, they were able to confirm that the continuous anti-tank
ditch would not permit tank passage. The commander of a tank
company asked his wing tank sections to look for a way through
the ditch. The results were negative. The only course left was to
put the Russian defense under the highest possible volume of fire
and they attack with infantry only.
The tanks then approached to between 50 and 100 meters (of
the enemy lines) and began to fire on the Russian infantry. The de-
termined actions of the lead SS riflemen, supported by four ma-
chine guns and two 88mm mortars, forced the communists to re-
treat. While the infantry gained the positions at compass Point 80,
the battle-group engineers blew up the walls of the anti-tank
ditches to enable the tanks to cross them.
At 07:00, the lead element passed Point 80 and confronted the
enemy at the village of Leninava to the southeast where fire was
received from small arms, heavy weapons and one or two artillery
batteries. Due to the fire from anti-tank guns, the Germans stopped
their tanks in Leninava and the riflemen halted about 100 meters to
the south of the village. The Russian positions seemed to be heav-
ily occupied and well organized. Unknown to the Waffen-SS sol-
diers, the Kampfgruppe was now up against the main Rostov de-
fensive line complete with anti-tank ditches, minefields, barbed
wire obstacles, bunkers and a profusion of fortified works. The 800
meters of terrain which divided both sides was fully exposed and
offered only the choice of a frontal attack which would involve a
heavy price in blood.
When SS-Stubaf. Dieckmann arrived in person at Point 80, his
first order was to bring the howitzer batteries into firing positions
to neutralize the enemy fire. He asked again for air support, but
unfortunately there were no planes available at that moment. But
he did receive the services of an observation plane through his
Luftwaffe liaison officer and was able to radio the following re-
quest to the pilot:
— 146 —
“Determine the extension of the Russian positions southeast of

Leninava, checking the following:
1. “If they are occupied for their entire length.

2. “If the type of terrain on the wings of the positions can be
determined.
3. “Which sections are more heavily occupied.
4. “If there are passages through the anti-tank obstacles that
can be determined.”
Successful “Wiking” Panzer commander receives a toast from a visit-

ing Waffen-SS soldier.
At about 11:00 hours, the pilot radioed back the following:
1. “In the direction northeast of Leninava, the positions spread

for at least some kilometers and are fully occupied.
2. “About 2 kilometers to the south of Point 80 there is an in-
tact bridge with no evidence of Russian troops guarding it
or in the vicinity.”
— 147 —
Heavily laden “Wiking” grenadiers on the march with accompanying

tanks and vehicles.
The bridge therefore would become the immediate objective.

SS-Stubaf. Dieckmann ordered two rifle companies that were in
readiness to the north of Point 80 to join with an engineer group
and mount the tanks of two armored companies that were con-
cealed in the same ravine. The artillery group was instructed to
maintain a heavy fire on the Soviet positions and as rapidly as pos-
sible they would disengage one after another and join the reforma-
tion movement of the battle-group. An orderly officer was dis-
patched to the vanguard element (one reinforced grenadier com-
pany with tanks), to relay on SS-Stubaf. Dieckmann’s directives
and order them to continue firing on the enemy lines in order to
obstruct their observation of the Kampfgruppe’s movements.
SS-Stubaf. Dieckmann climbed on the battalion commander’s
tank and signaled his troops into action by pointing with his arm to
the south. His further orders were conveyed by radio to the tank
commanders: “Reach the road from Tschaltir to Rostov; from there
bear to the ast and as quickly as possible seize the bridge over the
road 5 kilometers to the west of Rostov.”
— 148 —
The column then rushed forward along the ravine, reached the
designated road and passed over the bridge. The engineer group
remained on the bridge, cutting the wires and disarming the explo-
sive charges that had been placed on it by the Russians. The race to
seize the bridge had taken place successfully in less than 20 min-
utes with about 8 to 9 kilometers of ground covered in the process.
The Kampfgruppe and Panzer Abteilung commanders were at the
head of the column without any forward security sections and the
column included a mixture of tanks, trucks, communication vehi-
cles, etc. The job was done in a very unorthodox manner!
When the bulk of the Kampfgruppe reached the bridge, SS-
Stubaf. Dieckmann ordered one tank company reinforced by a rifle
company to attack along the main Russian line from southeast to
northeast (i.e. coming in from behind), with the objective of elimi-
nating the resistance, mopping up the positions and linking-up with
battle-group elements still near Leninava. The remainder of the
battle-group was organized into a hedgehog position at the main
juncture of the road and railroad lines going into Rostov. The rail-
road tracks ran around the western part of Rostov and then turned
towards the main station in the center of the city. Between 13:00
and 14:00 hours, all of the vital positions around the hedgehog had
been occupied by the SS troops. These included houses and stands
of trees in which observers were stationed. Scout patrol were then
sent out to explore the next route of the battle-group.
Breakthrough of the Third Defensive Line

and Drive into Rostov
At a little past 14:00, the entire Kampfgruppe was reassembled and
SS-Stubaf. Dieckmann was faced with the following situations:
1. The main defensive positions were now cleared of Red

troops, but between these lines and the Rostov city limits
were other organized enemy forces.
2. The situation in the southeast, alongside the railroad lines
and around the city limits, was unclear. The presence of
Russian soldiers in a wooded area and a housing complex
with both heavy machine guns and infantry guns had been
— 149 —
reported, but their exact numbers and disposition was un-

known.
3. More towards the south, in the so-called “special” area, pa-
trols from the Kampfgruppe met scattered groups of Rus-
sian soldiers who surrendered without resistance. In the
same direction and within the boundary of the city, the So-
viets had constructed an anti-tank ditch 5 meters deep and
some 6 to 8 meters wide. In the surrounding houses, the
deployment of about 40 to 60 enemy riflemen with 7 to 8
automatic weapons, had been confirmed. Between the anti-
tank ditch and the houses were barbed wire obstacles and
other defensive works.
SS-Stubaf. Dieckmann decided to attack towards Sapadni.

Dividing his Kampfgruppe into one assault group, one support
group and one reserve group, he devised the following plan:
1. The 1st Assault Group under the command of the tank bat-
talion commander (SS-Stubaf. Mühlenkampf), was formed
from one tank company, one rifle company and two-thirds
of an engineer company with explosive charges. Behind
this group would follow a reserve rifle company, directly at
the disposal of SS-Stubaf. Mühlenkampf.
2. The 2nd Group was given the job of supporting the 1st As-
sault Group, concentrating on the enemy forces in the
southern part of Sapadni. It was formed from the I.Btl./
“Germania” heavy weapons company and the artillery sec-
tion from SS-AR 5. The heavy weapons, machine guns, in-
fantry howitzers, mortars and anti-tank guns were deployed
in the western outskirts of Sapadni. The two 10.5 cm how-
itzer batteries were placed south of the village and were
able to hit with direct fire the outer buildings of Rostov
some 1500 meters away. The heavy howitzer battery and a
10.5 cm gun battery were placed west of Sapadni, enabling
them to place indirect fire on Rostov, and if need be, fire on
the Don River bridges.
3. The Reserve Group was formed by one rifle company, one
engineer section and one tank section and was situated to
— 150 —
the west of Sapadni. It was given the following roles to

play:
a. To constitute a reserve of the Kampfgruppe com-
mander to be used against Rostov.
b. To protect the battle-group artillery against attacks
from the north or west.
4. A Security Troop composed of one rifle platoon and one
tank section was left to hold the captured bridge and keep
the roads to Krim and Tschaltir closed to the enemy.
The attack now got underway. When the grenadiers of the 1st
Assault Group reached a point 100 meters from the anti-tank ditch
(the ditch was located about 20 meters from the enemy-held hous-
ing complex), they received fire from rifles and automatic weap-
ons; the latter being mostly light machine guns placed in the win-
dows of the houses. Since no anti-tank fire was received, the As-
sault Group tanks were able to advance to a point about 50 meters
away from the houses and began opening fire on the windows. Un-
der the cover of the tank fire, the grenadiers crossed the anti-tank
ditch and took the first houses.
While the combat engineers were busy building a passage
across the ditch for tanks, the reserve rifle company joined in the
fighting and entered the city, bringing in with them the forward
artillery observers. In the course of their attack the Waffen-SS sol-
diers reached Hill 80 about 2 kilometers southwest of the railway
station and about 1500 meters from the Don River. Here they or-
ganized a hedgehog position. Almost at once, the commander of
the artillery group and the commander of the two heavy batteries
(15.5 cm howitzers and 10.5 cm guns), arrived with communica-
tions and radio equipment.
From the hedgehog position on top of the hill, the Don River
valley could be observed. To the south large swamps stretched,
while the towns of Koisug and Bataisk could be seen. Towards the
east, a large island formed in the Don River to the south of the city,
where two bridges, one road and one railroad could be made out.
Large numbers of Russian troops from inside of Rostov were at-
tempting to cross the river to the south. Thousands and thousands
of khaki dressed men, mixed together from all arms of the service,
— 151 —
and many weaponless, could be seen congregating. To the south-

west, thousands of other men were moving towards the river carry-
ing hastily built rafts, trunks, doors, barrels and other objects to try
and cross the Don with. These were the defeated troops from Krim
and Tschaltir who had been cut off from the Don bridges.
The heavy artillery took for their targets the troops on the two
bridges to the south while the light artillery fired on the Russian
troops to the southwest. Meanwhile, with the assistance of the en-
gineers, the tanks were able to cross the anti-tank ditch. The Tank
Battalion commander with one tank company, one rifle company,
some heavy weapons and engineer sections rushed forward into the
city to try and close off the bridges to traffic. This was accom-
plished in the dark of the evening. During the night, this group was
able to make contact with units from the 13th Panzer Division
which had entered Rostov from the northeast.
Since there were still thousands of scattered Russian soldiers
inside of Rostov and to the west, SS-Stubaf. Dieckmann layed
down the following directives for his men to follow in the night to
come:
1. One hedgehog position under the command of the Tank

Battalion CO would be located between the Don River
railway bridge and the Rostov railroad station. From this
position contact would be maintained with a unit of the
13th Panzer Division holding the western road bridge over
the Don.
2. Another hedgehog position was to be formed with one tank
company and one rifle company 2 kilometers to the south
of Hill 80, 50 cover the road along the north bank of the
river.
3. A third hedgehog position would be maintained around Hill
80 with the Kampfgruppe commander, the four artillery
batteries and the remainder of the battle-group.
By 20:00 hours, all hedgehogs had been organized, established

and their activities coordinated. At this time the officers and their
staffs felt secure enough to take a formal mess break, assisted by a
delicate wine from the Crimean peninsula.
— 152 —
SS-Kampfgruppe “Dieckmann” had marched and fought hard

for three whole days with little rest. The losses in the first two days
had amounted to only a few men; during the attack to take Rostov
itself, 3 men had died and 12 had been wounded, 2 of them seri-
ously. In material damage, one tank had been destroyed and one
partially damaged. SS-Sturmbannführer August Dieckmann was
awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross for his actions in the
battle for Rostov. He would be killed in action as the commanding
officer of SS-Pz.Gr.Rgt.10 “Westland”/5.SS-Pz.Div. “Wiking”,
with the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer, in October 1943.
Acknowledgment
Dieckmann portrait and combat map both by Ramiro Bujeiro.
— 153 —
A group of veteran Finnish officers from the SS “Wiking” Division. Top

row: Mauri Sautio, Heikki Mansala, Kauko Ingero. Bottom row: Olli
Somersalo, Kalevvo Kuukiala, Yrjo Tenomaa. Photo taken at Izjn-
missa, early 1943.
— 154 —
Erik Rundkvist
In Memoriam
1963 - 2006
Erik Rundkvist, 2nd from right, with former Estonian Waffen-SS mem-
bers.
WENTY years or so ago, a young Swede named Erik
T Rundkvist first contacted me and expressed an interest in

Siegrunen. He had a great admiration for the European vol-
unteers of the Waffen-SS and soon was making very valuable con-
tributions to both SR and my book publications. He sought no
payment or publicity. In the course of time he had established con-
tact with some 1,500 Waffen-SS veterans and their families, offer-
ing only friendship and assistance if need be. He had no ulterior
motives; he just felt that these men were the true patriots of the
20th Century and deserved better than they received. He did accu-
mulate voluminous photo archives through his friendship with vet-
— 155 —
erans and he unhesitatingly placed all of this material at my dis-

posal. So it was with great sadness that I learned of his sudden,
tragic death last year. I had been in communication with him a few
months before his death but he never gave me any idea that some-
thing was amiss. We had at least four or more collaborative book
projects in the works which I will certainly try and get published in
his honor during the years to come. He had provided all of the pho-
tos for the Estonian Vikings book and the forthcoming (someday!)
book on the SS Regiment “Thule”.
Erik Rundkvist with the Estonian Knight’s Cross holder Haralt Nugiseks
at the latter’s home in Estonia.
Erik had made strong personal contacts with Waffen-SS veter-

ans such as Walter Reder, Henri Fenet, Haralt Nugiseks, Erik
Wallin and many others of different nationalities. As a result he
received a fine, “honorary” obituary notice in the Waffen-SS vet-
eran’s magazine “Der Freiwillige”. He was also a close friend of
the Swedish National Socialist Leader Olov Lindholm, and au-
thored the definitive pictorial/historical work on the subject of
Swedish National Socialism and Swedish Waffen-SS volunteers
under the assumed name of “Wiking Jerk” (the same name his
— 156 —
friend the Swedish W-SS veteran Erik Wallin used on his mem-
oirs). Erik also had deep interests in wildlife preservation, taxi-
dermy and Estonia. He was at all times a good loyal friend to me
from afar and he already is deeply missed. All of the work I com-
plete in the future, based on his kind assistance, will be gratefully
devoted to his memory! It is no exaggeration to say that his honor
was loyalty!
—Richard Landwehr
— 157 —
Die Schwerterträger der Wehrmacht
Recipients of the Knight's Cross

with Oakleaves and Swords
by David Almon Miller

Monograph 298
In addition to details about the award itself, each of the 160 recipi-
ents (seventy-six Heer, fifty-four Luftwaffe, five Kriegsmarine, and
twenty-four Waffen-SS) are detailed in the order they received the
"Diamonds." Details of each recipient's award of each class of the
Knight's Cross are also provided. A wealth of information and data
in a handy, singular reference.
Contents
Introduction; Heer ; Luftwaffe; Kriegsmarine; Waffen-SS; Bibliog-
raphy
66 – 8.5 × 11 inch pages, 29 photos, 2 illustrations
Paperback, perfect bound, full-color cover, #MM298-P, $12.99

Hardcover, full-color dust jacket, #MM298-H, $34.95
Merriam Press
133 Elm St, Apt 3R
802-447-0313
merriam-press.com

Visit the web site

— 158 —
Book Reviews
Boy Soldier: Budapest 1944-1945 by Ervin v. Galantay (Budapest:
Militaria) 2005. 280 pp., 80 maps and illustrations. English text.
The author of this work was a 15 year old Hungarian military cadet
in 1944 who joined the ad hoc “Vannay” Battalion comprised of
volunteers in the city of Budapest who fought valiantly against the
Soviets during the encirclement of the city. The battalion was actu-
ally trained and equipped by members of the 22nd SS Cavalry Di-
vision “Maria Theresia”. The author served as a messenger and
jack-of-all-trades with the unit during the fighting, and his mem-
oirs of the events are very readable and dramatic! This is probably
the best eye-witness account that will ever be made of the battle of
Budapest and the author seems to be meticulously accurate and
truthful in his work. Fortunately this is no “politically correct” tract
by a guilt ridden veteran, but the real nuts and bolts story, with full
credit given to all of the defenders of the city, including the mem-
bers of the Waffen-SS. A truly great and absorbing work of mili-
tary history! RL
La Legion Wallonie by Theo Verlaine (Belgium: Editions De Kri-

jger), 2006. 384 pp. and approximately 500 illustrations. Large
format, French text. This is the second large scale photo history of
the Walloon volunteers that I have seen, the first, long out of print,
entitled Leon Degrelle Et La Legion Wallonie, was easily the better
of the two in respect to overall content and quality of the photo
printing, still this is a very valuable book with many great photos
covering the Legion from the beginning to its end as the 28th SS
Division “Wallonien” in 1945. It has the first and only photo I
have ever seen of a volunteer wearing the “Burgundy Cross” col-
larpatch, which was eventually banned for some reason. Overall a
worthwhile effort. Recommended. RL.
— 159 —
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— 160 —
Waffen-SS Miscellany
The above collarpatch, I have been assured by its knowledgeable

owner, is the authentic one issued to the Free Indian Legion of the
Waffen-SS as opposed to the phony one that I ran recently in Sie-
grunen. At any rate I have never seen it before and it depicts the
head of a Bengal Tiger.
*****
In the summer of 1937, the SS-Standarte “Deutschland” became

the first military unit in the world to be totally outfitted with cam-
ouflage jackets and helmet covers. The apparel, designed by SS-
Obersturmbannführer Dr. Wim Brandt, would prove wildly suc-
cessful and stun the other participants in a joint Army-Luftwaffe-
Armed SS training exercise. It would then soon be adopted by all
of the other Armed SS-VT (later Waffen-SS) formations, and in-
deed would be copied and utilized initially by “elite” troops
throughout the globe. Today of course, camo uniforms are standard
— 161 —
attire for nearly all soldiers in all armies, but it had its origins in
the forerunner units of the Waffen-SS!
*****
We should have noted in our article on Lithuanian volunteers in

SR #78, that many of them also served in the SS-Jagdverbänd
“Ost” under SS-Hstuf. Adrian von Fölkersam circa 1944/1945.
*****
Four Waffen-SS companies (origin unknown), were incorporated

into the 405th Volksgrenadier Division under Gen.Lt. Faulenbach
in April 1945.
*****
The SS-Kampfgruppe “Bruel”, thought to be composed of a mix-

ture of Waffen-SS and Police troops, fought with the 20th Estonian
SS Division in Upper Silesia in January and February 1945.
*****
As of 17 February 1944, the Flemish SS War Correspondents

“Halbzug” (Half-Platoon), serving with the 6th SS-Sturmbrigade
“Langemarck” consisted of a commander (SS-Oscha. Raf Van
Hulse), a clerical NCO, 7 newspaper or print reporters, 4 photo
journalists, 2 motion picture photographers, 4 radio reporters, a
radio technician, 2 drivers and 2 combat artists and 2 support per-
sonnel. Total in all: 26.
*****
97 Flemish volunteers are known to have served in the SS-

Jagdverbände (Commandos), but the exact number was certainly
more than a 100 in all. In November 1944, some 50 Flemish
women volunteers were assembled at Oranienberg, near Berlin.
They were then sent for training as spies and saboteurs by SS-
— 162 —
Jagdverbände members at Neusterlitz. Nothing however came of

this endeavor, and the Flemish women mostly ended up working as
“SS Maidens” or “SS Helpers” in assorted Waffen-SS administra-
tive offices.
*****
The 24.Waffen-Gebirgs (Karstjäger) Division der SS reported at

least one Flemish volunteer, SS-Mann Pol Van Bergen, on its ros-
ter in 1944/45.
*****
At Zolotsjev, Ukraine in the foothills of the Carpathians, lies the

only military cemetery in Europe containing only fallen members
of the Waffen-SS. It was constructed and maintained by former
members of the 14.Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS (Ukraine
Nr.1) and their families, but Waffen-SS soldiers of different na-
tionalities are buried there. In 1997, veterans of the 14th WGDdSS
and the 27th SS-Frw.Gr.Division “Langemarck” (Flemish Nr.1),
held a joint memorial ceremony there.
— 163 —
The photo above was sent to me by a collector/dealer and shows what is

available on the market in terms of different Waffen-SS collarpatches, with
emphasis on some very different 13.Waffen-Gebirgs Division der SS “Hand-
schar” items, along with some runic, deathshead, “Prinz Eugen” insignia, etc.
I suspect nearly all of them are recently manufactured fakes! This has been a
cottage industry in some parts of Europe and no doubt continues to this day!
— 164 —

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Number 79 — Summer 2007

First published in 2007

Copyright © 2007 by Richard W. Landwehr, Jr.

All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-57638- (paperback)

Richard W. Landwehr, Jr.

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E-mail: richwehr@hotmail.com or agates@localnet.com

This work was designed and produced in

For a copy of the current edition of the Merriam Press catalog

W of publication! If all goes well this will be our first larger

thyism” no doubt and the anti-communist values of the era). What-

The Story of a Spanish

A poor quality photograph of Luis Garcia Valdajos as an Obersturm-

The Blue Division

gion listed the names of 52 volunteers that had “deserted” by the

Sicherheitsdienst (SD) Officer

Ricardo Botet as a Waffen-SS Oberscharführer. He had been decorated

On 4 October 1944, Garcia Valdajos was in Berlin awaiting a

Enlisting in the 28th SS Division “Wallonien”

given the senior NCO rank of SS-Oberscharführer.9 At the time

The Last Battles

Company” was led by SS-Untersturmführer Rudi Bal, an Argen-

Spanish Embassy to seek refuge.15 But the Embassy of a country

never imprisoned and was he was finally acquitted by sympathetic

N 3 June 1947, the Yugoslav communist regime began a

O “war crimes” trial for three former officers of the 7th SS

it was then given to another prisoner who later smuggled it out to

“Prinz Eugen” photo. Two brothers in the 7th SS Mountain Division:

HORTLY after the beginning of the war, the Waffen-SS

S and German Army proper, both showed great innovative

SS-Hstuf. Walter Runge, CO of SS-Kampfgruppe “Runge”/SS-Panzer

SS-Kampfgruppe (Bataillon) “Runge”

tachments situated at the bases of Riga-Strand and Seelager in

SS-KGr. “Runge” then fought in Jaunpils, Frauenburg,

SS-Battalion “Deggingen II”

the commander of 2nd Company, SS-Hauptsturmführer Kai, both

Early war Waffen-SS heavy machine gun squad.

although it appropriated 1 armored car and a few supply trucks in

After being activated the battalion/battle-group was directed

the edge of a forest about 2½ kilometers to the south of the town.

Late war W-SS “Christmas Guard” contingent. Identified as Mühlenk-

The pursuit came to an abrupt halt at the woods near Stadeln,

forcements to other Waffen-SS units. Most of them would soon

Never before published photo of members of the Training Battalion of

Erich Buchmann was born on 23 May 1896 in the Spandau District

SS-Unterscharführer Henri Simon

Henri Simon was born in 1919 in Lorraine (Lothringen), France.

(German Military Construction Organization), that was stationed in

SS-Mann Eduard Stepanek

Eduard Stepanek was born on 2 September 1924 in Novo Mark-

SS-Standartenführer Max Schäfer

Max Schäfer was born on 17 January 1907 in Karlsruhe. He was

Württemberg, where he was responsible for helping to form the

ing that Schäfer’s command faced its greatest challenges. At one

SS-Ostubaf. Max Schäfer on the right as Corps’ Engineering Officer for

In May 1943, Max Schäfer was named the Corps Engineering

SS-Oberführer Friedrich Wilhelm Bock

Friedrich Wilhelm Bock was born on 6 May 1897 in Wreschen,

Friedrich Bock then spent several long years as a trainer at a

thanks in large part to the manner in which SS-Ostubaf. Bock had

led by SS-Ostubaf. Walter Harzer when it began to reassemble in