10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg

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10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg
10th SS Panzer Division`s Ensignia
Active	2 January 1943 - 8 May 1945
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Armor
Battles/wars	Operation Epsom, Operation Market Garden, Nijmegen

The 10.SS-Panzer-Division Frundsberg was a German Waffen SS panzer division that saw action on both the Western and Eastern Fronts during World War II.

Originally, the name Karl der Große (Charlemagne) was used for some time in 1943, but French volunteers in the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS used Charlemagne (33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French)), so the honor title Frundsberg was chosen, which refers to 16th Century German landsknecht commander Georg von Frundsberg.

It, and its "twin" Division, the 9th SS Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen played an important part in holding the British Forces back in Normandy, particularly during Operation Epsom. Later, the Division was instrumental in stemming the Allied onslaught during Operation Market Garden at Nijmegen, in the Netherlands, at which time it, along with the 9th SS Panzer, constituted the II SS Panzer Corps.

In August 2006, German writer and Nobel laureate Günter Grass admitted to having been a tank gunner with the division after having been conscripted into the Waffen-SS at the age of 17 in November 1944. As Grass had always been an outspoken critic of Germany's treatment of its Nazi past, his surprise admission caused a great stir in the press.