Talk:Azeri Waffen SS Volunteer Formations/Comments
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This is a confusing article . At the end of 1941 the German command had established national legions of the Soviet prisoners of war to participate in the military operations against the USSR. Why the Soviet prisoners of war turned over to the side of Germany and fought against the Soviet Union, it happened as a result of an order N270 from the Soviet government, which read : "To kill prisoners all ground and air means." Prisoners moved to the side of the enemy for fear of being massacred by returning home. Prisoners were condemned as "enemies of the people" and the Motherland,
There was another reason , many of the national republics deliberately moved to the side of the Germans,
believing in the promise of the German government, that in the aftermath of the victory over Germany, the USSR and the Soviet empire will be eliminated and its member nations attained their independence. Speaking about Azerbaijanese prisonners of war .From official recognized sources about 150.000 prisonners were made They were sent to differents Lagers in Russia or Poland.Death rate about 80%.No barracks,no food ,no water. Most of them did not voluntered to the Whermacht but were enroled . From G.Von Mende (Ostministerium)personnal archives the 1.10.44 ,38.588 Azeris were part of German forces ,Ostbataillons,Abwher, Todt,Propaganda,Infanterie regiment etc...
Speaking about SS
SD Wachgruppen : 92 people SS Regiment Ostturkisch Waffenverband: 2851 people SS Regiment Kaukasischer Waffenverband 1090 people
The Kaukasischer Waffenverband der SS was a late war composite of Ostlegionen units which for one reason or another found themselves
under Waffen SS command. Formed in Feburary 1945, this group comprised of North Caucasians, Georgians, Armenians and some Azerbaidjanis. At Paluzza, near Tolmezza in Northern Italy, work had already started on the creation of a Caucasian Cavalry Division for the Waffen SS. It did not get very far. As with other projected expansions of Himmler, the plan was extinguished by the collapse of the Nazi Reich. In practice, the SS never succeeded in getting it's hands on more than a fraction of the Army's multitude of Eastern volunteers. Often what authority it did exercise was only nominal, as in the case of the Cossack Cavalry Corps - At wars end, an SS-FHA commanded formation, but for all intents and purposes a Wehrmacht/Heer cultivated and trained unit.
The Statistical dept. of the German Army quoted the following manpower figures for non-Russian Eastern volunteers in the German Armed forces in Sept. 1944: Armenians: 17,600 Azerbaidjanis: 17,795 Georgians: 20,800 N.Caucasians: 13,000
Other Ss units 1. Ostmuselmanisches SS-Regiment at its peak: 1800 men (I. & II./1. Ostmuselm. SS-Rgt. forming Waffen-Gruppe "Turkestan"; III./1. Ostmuselm. SS-Rgt. (helped) forming Waffen-Gruppe "IdelUral") Waffen-Gebirgs-Brigade der SS (tatar. Nr. 1) at its peak: 3520 men. (W-Geb.Brig. d.SS forming Waffen-Gruppe "Krim".) 1100 ethnic Germans were given to other SS-units. So 2420 Tatars were left. Waffen-Gruppe "Armenien" at its peak: 2000 men Info taken from "Foreign Legions of the Third Reich, volume 4
