SS (Schutzstaffel) and the Waffen-SS
Interests of authors consisting of historians , history teachers at military academies and military analysts were very diverse . Whether in the form of admiration for their resilience , effective war machine , the reputation of a brilliant fighter , one of the foundation stone of the modern elite forces , methods of training and combat doctrine , followed by those who beat him , or because of the controversy that stands out as well as a list of cruelty - cruelty and part of an authoritarian regime that is touted as " the kingdom of the devil " in the 20th century !
Possible for the Waffen- SS so it still remains a topic of interest to put forward , abused , praised , studied . Because there are many more values that can be lifted like keelitan , strong brotherhood , unity soldiers of various ethnicities and nations but has a motto which held firm , courage , tough and very reliable .
Towards the end of the war was , the majority of the Waffen - SS formations especially early ( classic division ) has lost his faith in Hitler and the Nazis , but they remain persistent fighting . Instead Wehrmacht unity around them so easily give up or run away . At the end , they fought not because of loyalty to the political masters , but rather to brethren in unity and pride to join in an elite unit . Although opponents are always numbered bigger and stronger than them .
The view is wrong to equate the Waffen -SS Allgemeine - SS ( SS usual , politics or the SS black dress ) as generally described Hollywood movies and literature that depict the story from one side . The fundamental difference between the Waffen - SS with SS is the function and assignment :
SS contains smart people graduate college and move on government bureaucracy , politics and party other than the duties of police and internal security , counter espionage , economic , social , technological and other While the Waffen-SS was a regular combat troops serving on the front lines . The Waffen - SS as a de jure was under the SS , but is de facto being Oberkommando der Wehrmacht under ( Chief of the Armed Forces ) . Command line and field assignments are at Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres ( Army Commander ) . The complexity of the organizational structure at the beginning of the Nazi good and in the future when in power , is a direct result of the Treaty of Versailles that strangle Germany .
The formation of the SS and the Waffen - SS
Beginning Waffen- SS can not be separated from the formation Stosstruppe Adolf Hitler ( SAH ) in March 1923 as Hitler's personal protection during a tour of duty for the purposes of the party . SAH initial members numbered 12 people . All are former soldiers Stosstruppe ( the elite striker in World War I ) by Julius Schreck as the initiator and leader. Additionally SAH formed on Hitler fears the rapid growth of the Sturmabteilung ( SA ) under the command of Ernst Röhm . They contain , in addition to a former regular soldier WWI and Freikorps , also thugs , drunks and highway bandits !
In November 1923 , with a show of force since the coup that failed , SAH dissolved . Röhm fled to Argentina and while the SA headed by Heinrich Himmler .
After Hitler came out of jail , in lieu of SAH formed Schutzstaffel ( SS ) under the administration of SA in 1925 with Julius Schreck as Standartenführer ( Colonel equivalent ) first . Name SS ( unity protector ) itself is a gift from the name of Hermann Göring a protective format for aerial reconnaissance squadron of the air in World War I.
SS itself is a repetition of the history of the Praetorian Guard of Emperor Octavian Augustus established in 35 BC before he became the first Roman emperor . Praetorian Octavian formed to protect themselves from attack its main rival Mark Antony and the Senate and the nobles supporters . Shape similarity is very obvious after Octavian became emperor in 27 BC , Praetorian evolved into political power and bureaucracy . This organization will determine control of the Empire and the running of the government as well as determining who is entitled to become a Roman Emperor . This goes for more than 300 years . The difference , SS only political and bureaucratic control of Germany for 12 years . Forms of devotion to the leader and the country , the Roman salute , victory parades or in the silence of the night sea torch is a lot of factors that emulated the Nazis and the SS of the Roman Empire and Praetorian . Moreover, Himmler was a great admirer of the Roman Empire and Germany . Treatises such as Napoleon Bonaparte : l' histoire la repetee ( history will repeat itself or accidentally repeated ) .
It is inevitable , with the rise of Himmler " the chicken farmer " as Reichsführer - SS on January 16, 1929 , the SS actually growing more rapidly . SS filled with smart people as the driving force and the parties engaged in all areas of government and politics . It began to grow over the influx of foreign capital ( UK and U.S. ) to the party . Financier sponsoring the Nazi movement and inject funds for the German military industry , including research and development . Germany is famous for its technological innovation . Its products are well known with best quality .
With the rise of Hitler as Chancellor of Germany January 30, 1933 , duty and authority over the security of the country and then fell to the SS , particularly Himmler On June 9, 1934 , Himmler formed a special security unit and that is the secret of the Sicherheitsdienst ( SD ) . The unit is commanded by SS - Obergruppenführer (equivalent to Lieutenant General ) Reinhard Heydrich who is of Jewish descent and is known as the creator of the final solution !
Subsequently in June 1936 , nine days seteleh Himmler was appointed head of the state police , he issued a decree dividing the two tasks and functions of the police who had been under SS : Ordnungspolizei ( regular and uniformed police ) and the Sicherheitspolizei ( security police , secret and not in uniform ) .
Under the Sicherheitspolizei formed police units specializing in each, namely Kripo ( police for crimes against the state ) and the Gestapo ( secret state police for the task ) . The arrangement is further distinguish between the units in the SS with the Waffen-SS in the future .
Specific tasks such as addressing " the problem and the influence of Jews , Slavs , the Bolsewik and communists " fell to the police that Kripo SS , Gestapo and SD , while on the ground formed a special unit of the Einsatzgruppen for terror missions and help the final solution . Organization , unity and members who joined the police in particular Sicherheitspolizei , SD and Einsatzgruppen is what most of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity .
Recognition of the Waffen - SS
At the time the Nazis started to follow the race for the seat of government is legally through election of 1928 , Hitler wanted the elite unit back clean . Members of the unit must be selected strictly , no criminal record , and the original German descent who could be proven until the 18th century ! Hitler's actions as a form of anxiety SA increasingly seeing growth in the number of illegal militia that reached three million .
Besides Röhm and his supporters to maneuver and have the desire . Namely counterculture movement in the party and create a new party , want the armed SA and as a people's army appears when the Nazis came to power in Germany as well as the defense minister when the Nazis came to power .
Hitler then met SS - Gruppenführer Josef Dietrich . Former sergeant tank crews schwere Kampfwagen A7V WWI , recipient of the Iron Cross 1st class and old friends when new Hitler joined the NSDAP commanded to take important steps , including the formation of SS - Stabswache and SS - Sonderkommando Berlin Juteborg in the spring of 1933. Both in April 1933 gained education officer candidate at the Institute Lichterfelde - Berlin for two months , and then llantas merged and named as Adolf Hitler Standarte ( regiment equivalent ) on 3 September 1933 . name was changed back Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler in November 1933 . Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler ( SS - LAH ) in April 1934 , and consists of 1,000 people in seven companies (the equivalent of one regiment ) .
Initially these forces is a personal guard unit , especially when traveling on duty , guard units Reichstag , guard units in Berchtesgaden Bavaria , show proficiency weapons , ceremonial and parade troops . In that year , Dietrich managed to make the SS - LAH as a military formation and dampen efforts to make Himmler's SS - LAH as a political formation. Back in 1934 , Hitler wanted the establishment of a special reserve forces ( special purpose trupp ) hereinafter called the SS - Verfugungstruppe ( SS - VT ) .
Through Himmler in November 1934 , Paul Hausser was appointed as inspector SS - Junkerschule in Bad Tolz and Braunschweig into officer training center and a boot - camp of the Waffen - SS . He was a retired Reichswehr in 1932 and held the rank of Generalleutnant colonel War I veterans who had served in Stosstruppe and General Staff . Furthermore, due to the increasing demand due to the war there , set up the two training officers in Klagenfurt and Prague .
As for the training center NCO ( non-commissioned ) SS - Unterführerschulen ie , there is at Lauenberg and Radolfzell . During the war there , in the NCO training center was established also in three other areas in Laibach , Lublinitz and PosenTreskau .
Hausser then formed and trained the SS - VT and SS - LAH assisted Felix Steiner ( veteran Stosstruppe ) . Also there Cassius Freiher von Montigny ( veteran captain of the U - boat War I ) which then creates patterns of recruitment , combat doctrine , the unity of the armed specializations , curricula and training programs for both the theory and practice of the Waffen - SS .
On March 16, 1935 , Hitler made a speech in the Reichstag and announced to the world that Germany will reintroduce military mobilization that automatically violate the Treaty of Versailles . He intends to form a powerful army 36 division . On the same day Hitler issued a declaration that the SS - Verfügungstruppe military format and will be the forerunner of an SS division in the future .
Hitler 's speech in 1935 to make the SS - VT as military format troubling military brass . Because one of Hitler's secret agreement with Reicshwehr besides getting rid of the SA and Röhm , was the Wehrmacht ( substitute Reichswehr ) as the holder of the absolute power of the weapon ( Waffenträger ) after Hitler and the Nazis rose to the top of the German government .
How Germany reject the Treaty in 1936 by sending troops back into the Rhineland. As the spearhead of the German troops was SS - LAH rang used as sacrificial or trial , because the possibility of France will fight . In addition to the two unitary forerunner of the Waffen - SS , also runs a unity which initially served as a concentration camp guard forces of political prisoners before the war , the SS - Totenkopfverbände ( SS - TKV ) or Detachment skull that had been formed in late 1933 under the leadership of Dachau SS - Standartenführer Theodor Eicke . The following year , when " night long knives " June 30, 1934 , the SS - TKV with SS - LAH algoio and gain privileges as the firing squad to eliminate the helm of SA that must be removed . The success of its work , Eicke and SS - TKV earn bonuses . Eicke was promoted to SS - Brigadeführer (equivalent to major general ) and SS - TKV removed from the authority and responsibility of the SS .
On 1 April 1936 , out provision that Verfügungstruppe ( including SS - LAH ) and Totenkopfverbände , legally has the status as " organizations that provide services to the state " . Since it was placed in the police budget under the Ministry of the Interior .
Eicke next maneuver combat training in order to acquire their units in addition to regular duties keeping the concentration camps . Later formed several battalions ready for combat who already do not have guard duty again in early 1939 . Then some of these battalions is enlarged so that the equivalent of several regiments magnitude . 1938 before the outbreak of the world war , the SS - TKV with SS - VT and served as an opportunity to enter Sudentenland spearhead , the Anschluss of Austria and Czechoslovakia .
Although it has become a military format . Totenkopf still underestimated by Werhrmacht . The assumption , they are just guards and concentration camp guards who were armed but did not have sufficient military skills !
After plunging in military operations in Poland on 1 September 1939 , which is also the beginning of World War II, after Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939 , Eicke received approval from Hitler to change the function and the name of this unity into the SS - Totenkopf Division . These troops numbered 14,000 infantry personnel but not driving the motor . The task of keeping the concentration camp subsequently submitted to the Allgemeine - SS who then permanently form Totenkopfwachtsturmbanne ( guard battalion of the skull ) .
Until early 1938, the unity of the armed SS (later known as the Waffen - SS ) reinforced by 38,000 personnel . They are broken down in some units . Consists of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (equivalent regiment ) , SS - Standarte Deutschland (equivalent regiment ) , SS - Standarte Germania (equivalent regiment ) , SS - Standarte Der Führer (equivalent regiment ) , SS - Nachrichtensturmbann ( battalion equivalent password ) , SS - Pioniersturmbann ( pioneer battalion equivalent ) , SS - Sturmbann Nürnberg ( battalion equivalent ) , SS - Junkerschulen ( center education officer ) , SS - Unterführerschulen ( NCO education center ) , SS - Inspektion ( inspectorate ) , SS - Sanitatsabteilung ( battalion equivalent health ) , SS - Totenkopfstandarte Oberbayern (equivalent regiment ) , SS - Totenkopfstandarte Brandenburg (equivalent regiment ) and the SS - Totenkopf Standarte Thuringen (equivalent regiment ) .
The unity of the armed SS has had a military format like the SS-Standarte Regiment equivalent in the Wehrmacht, the SS-Bataillon Sturmbann equivalent in the Wehrmacht. Hausser also given training in line with the concept of military training in the Wehrmacht, especially Heer.