SS-Verfügungstruppe

"SS-VT" redirects here. For the SS organization responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps, see SS-Totenkopfverbände.
SS-Verfügungstruppe

SS insignia worn on the helmets of SS-Verfügungstruppe.
Active 1934-1940
Country Nazi Germany Germany
Allegiance Adolf Hitler
Branch Waffen-SS
Type Motorized Infantry
Role Schnelltruppen (Mobile troops)
Size 1 Division
Garrison/HQ Berlin
Colors Black, White, Red
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Brigadeführer Paul Hausser
Oberführer Felix Steiner
Obergruppenfuhrer Sepp Dietrich

The SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT) (English: SS Dispositional Troops) was formed in 1934 as combat troops for the Nazi Party (NSDAP). They were involved in the German invasion of Poland in 1939. By 1940 these military SS units had become the nucleus of the Waffen-SS.

On 17 August 1938 Adolf Hitler decreed that the SS-VT was neither a part of the police nor the German Wehrmacht, but military-trained men at the disposal of the Führer in war or peace. The men were to be trained in accordance with the rules of the SS and manned by volunteers who had completed their service in the Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD; Reich Labour Service).[1]

Formation

LSSAH troops undergo a drill inspection in Berlin, November 1938.

The SS-VT was formed on 24 September 1934 from a merger of various Nazi and paramilitary formations such as the SS Special Detachments (SS-Sonderkommandos) and the Headquarters Guard (SS-Stabswache) units. The SS-VT was to be made up of three regiments modeled on the infantry regiments of the German Army (Heer) and according to their regulations. Each regiment would contain three battalions, a motorcycle company and mortar company. The unit was officially designated SS-Verfügungstruppe ("Dispositional troops", i.e. troops at the personal disposal of the Führer).[2] The formation was to be placed at the "disposal" of the army in time of war. The existence of the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT) was publicly declared on 16 March 1935 by Hitler in a speech at the Reichstag.[3]

The SS-VT trained alongside Hitler's personal body guard the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH).[4] The LSSAH continued to serve exclusively as a personal protection unit and honor guard during this timeframe.

By 1937 the SS was divided into three branches: the Allgemeine-SS (General SS), the SS-Verfügungstruppe, and the SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV) which administered the concentration camps.[5]

The military formations under Himmler's command on 1 September 1939 consisted of several subgroups:

Early operations

SS-VT in full marching order, 1935

Elements of the SS-VT served with the Wehrmacht during the occupation of the Sudetenland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. For those operations, the SS-VT was under the command of the army. The SS-VT also formed an Artillery Regiment during this timeframe which was used to fill the gaps in a number of army units for those events.[8] The SS-VT regiments Deutschland and Germania along with the Leibstandarte participated in the invasion of Poland, with Der Führer (recruited in Austria after the Anschluss) in reserve at Prague.[9] In September 1939, a combined unit of SS-VT and Heer (army) troops conducted operations as Panzer Division Kempf during the invasion of Poland. It fought alongside army units at Rozan, Modlin, Łomża and Kmiczyn. The division was disbanded near the Polish city of Nidzica on 7 October 1939.

Events during the invasion of Poland raised doubts over the combat effectiveness of the SS-VT. Their willingness to fight was never in any doubt; at times they were almost too eager to fight. The OKW or Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces) reported that the SS-VT had unnecessarily exposed themselves to risks and acted recklessly, incurring heavier losses than army troops. They also stated that the SS-VT was poorly trained and its officers unsuitable for command. In its defence the SS-VT insisted that it had been hampered by fighting piecemeal instead of as one formation, and being improperly equipped to carry out what had been required of it. Heinrich Himmler insisted that the SS-VT should be allowed to fight in its own formations, under its own commanders, while the OKW tried to have the SS-VT disbanded altogether. Hitler chose a compromise path. He ordered that the SS-VT form its own divisions but the divisions would be under army command.[10]

Development of the Waffen-SS

In the wake of the Polish Invasion, there were four SS combat regiments: Leibstandarte, Deutschland, Germania and Der Führer. The latter three were reorganized into the SS-Verfügungs-Division,[11] and the Leibstandarte was expanded into a motorized brigade. In addition there were the armed but ill-trained Totenkopfstandarten; three of these together with SS Heimwehr Danzig[12] were organized into the Totenkopf-Division under Eicke's command in October 1939. A further division, the Polizei-Division, was created from the Ordnungspolizei. These formations took part in combat training while under army commands in preperation for Operation Fall Gelb against the Low Countries and France in 1940.[13]

In that operation, the SS-VT troops saw action in the main drive for the Dutch central front around Rotterdam.[14] After the city had been captured, the Division, along with other divisions, intercepted a French force and forced them back to the area of Zeeland and Antwerp. They were next used to mop-up small pockets of resistance in the areas already captured by the German advance.

Flag of the 1st Battalion, Norwegian Legion

The SS-VT was officially renamed the "Waffen-SS" in a speech made by Adolf Hitler on 19 July 1940.[15] Then on 1 August, Himmler established the Kommandoamt der Waffen-SS (Waffen-SS Command Office) within the new SS-Führungshauptamt (FHA) under Gruppenführer Hans Jüttner. The Totenkopf Division and other SS-TV combat units were transferred to FHA control. Further that same month, SS chief-of-staff Gottlob Berger approached Himmler with a plan to recruit volunteers in the conquered territories from the ethnic German and Germanic populations. At first Hitler had doubts about recruiting foreigners, but he was persuaded by Himmler and Berger. He gave approval for a new division to be formed from foreign nationals with German officers.[16]

In December 1940 the Germania Regiment would be removed from the Verfügungs-Division and used to form the cadre of a new division, SS-Division Germania,[17] It was made up of mostly "Nordic" volunteers from the newly conquered territories, Danes, Norwegians, Dutch and Flemings.[18] At the start of 1941 the Verfügungs-Division would be redubbed Reich (in 1942 Das Reich), the Germania was renamed Wiking and the Polizei division brought under Waffen-SS administration.[19] The Leibstandarte would be expanded to a division for Operation Barbarossa.

When the Waffen-SS divisions were assigned numbers much later in the war these first formations, Leibstandarte, Das Reich, Totenkopf, Polizei and Wiking would be recognized as SS divisions 1 through 5.

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Mollo, Andrew (1991), Uniforms of the SS: Volume 3: Verfügungstruppe 1933-1939, Windrow & Greene, p. 3, ISBN 1-872004-51-2
  2. ↑ Flaherty, T.H (2004) [1988]. The Third Reich: The SS. Time-Life Books, Inc. p. 144. ISBN 1-84447-073-3.
  3. ↑ Mollo, Andrew (1991), Uniforms of the SS: Volume 3: Verfügungstruppe 1933-1939, p. 3
  4. ↑ Cook, Stan and Bender, R. James. Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler - Volume One, R. James Bender Publishing, 1994, p. 19
  5. ↑ Organisationsbuch der NSDAP, 3rd Ed. (1937) p. 424
  6. ↑ Equivalent to a full General. The independence of the LSSAH can be partly explained by Dietrich's rank, as well as his personal friendship with Hitler
  7. ↑ Only the 1st (Oberbayern), 2nd (Brandenburg) and 3rd (Thüringen) TK-Standarten were formed into the Totenkopf division. The 4th (Ostmark) was assigned to occupation duties until it was incorporated into the 2nd SS Infantry Regiment in preparation for Barbarossa. http://sturmvogel.orbat.com/ss-tk.html
  8. ↑ Mollo, Andrew (1991), Uniforms of the SS: Volume 3: Verfügungstruppe 1933-1939, p. 4
  9. ↑ http://www.germanamericanvoice.com/Stories/SS-STANDARTE%20DER%20FUEHRER.htm
  10. ↑ Flaherty, T.H. The Third Reich: The SS, p. 149
  11. ↑ Flaherty, T.H. The Third Reich: The SS, p. 149
  12. ↑ This unit took part in several massacres of Polish civilians, political leaders and prisoners of war. Sydnor, Charles W. (1990). Soldiers of Destruction : The SS Death's Head Division, 1933-1945. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 44. ISBN 0691008531.
  13. ↑ Flaherty, T.H. The Third Reich: The SS, pp. 149, 150, 151
  14. ↑ Windrow, Martin & Burn, Cristopher (1992). The Waffen-SS, Edition 2. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0-85045-425-5.
  15. ↑ Flaherty, T.H. The Third Reich: The SS, p. 156
  16. ↑ Flaherty, T.H. The Third Reich: The SS, pp. 160, 161
  17. ↑ Ripley, Tim. The Waffen-SS at War: Hitler's Praetorians 1925-1945 (2004) p. 52 .
  18. ↑ Flaherty, T.H. The Third Reich: The SS, p. 160
  19. ↑ The Polizei division only formally become part of the SS in February 1942; until then its members continued to wear Ordnungspolizei insignia and it did not include "SS" in its name.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, February 02, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.