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Category: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers  -- See latest WWII news here. See also 'Nazi Helmets', 'Foreign Waffen SS', 'Wehrmacht', 'HitlerJugend', 'Nazi Uniform', 'Military Medals: Iron Cross', 'Nazi Daggers'.

Bernard Gosselin, saved by the Waffen-SS 9th Division doctor
In 1944 the battle of Normandy was raging near Albert and Emilia Gosselin. Their 3 children had died in infancy, and the only doctor in the area had been injured in Allied bombing. Unable to find even a midwife, Albert appealed to German troops. To his horror, he found they were from the SS. The Waffen-SS 9th Division doctor had been amputating wounded soldiers but agreed to deliver the French baby, named Bernard Gosselin. ... who 28 years later was approached by a man with grey hair, who asked "Is your name Bernard and were you born in July 1944?" Bernard said "yes". Man asked "Do you know who I was? ... I was the wicked SS". There began 25-year friendship.     [ independent :: 2007-08-28 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

Russia condemns Estonian Waffen SS legion reunion, Erna Raid
Russia's Foreign Ministry condemned a meeting of veterans of Estonia's Waffen-SS division in the Baltic state. Estonian Waffen SS veterans gathered to commemorate one of the bloodiest World War II battles in Estonia. The ministry also said the military competition Erna Raid, scheduled for August 6-11 and held annually since 1993, complied with Estonia's line towards glorifying Nazism, as it commemorated the Abwehr-trained Erna reconnaissance group, which operated in the rear of the Red Army in 1941. Reunions to glorify fighters against the Soviet occupation have become a tradition in the Baltic state.     [ rian :: 2007-07-31 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

Norwegian Waffen-SS nazi in Costa del Sol: Got Gold Cross by Hitler
A Norwegian Nazi Fredrik Jensen who served in the Waffen-SS and was awarded the Gold Cross by Führer has been discovered living in Marbella on the Costa del Sol. He served in a number of Waffen SS units, including the SS Panzer-Grenadier der Fuhrer, SS-Panzer-Division -Das Reich, the Panzer-Grenadier Regiment 9 Germania and the Panzer-Division Wiking. He fought on the frontline, which earned him the rare accolade of being one of the few foreigners to receive the highest decoration granted by Adolf Hitler to Waffen SS troops: the Gold Medal. He joined the SS after the Norwegian Nazi party seized power under the puppet-regime of Vidkun Quisling in 1942.     [ independent :: 2007-06-05 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

Waffen-SS officers of 16th SS Armoured Infantry Division sentenced
Between Sept 29 and Oct 1, 1944 the 16th SS Armoured Infantry Division under the SS Sturmbannführer Walter Reder carried out a massacre in the town of Marzabatto. An Italian military court has only now sentenced, in absentia, the 10 Waffen-SS officers involved to life imprisonment and pay 100 million euros. A few weeks earlier, on August 12, 1944, the same Waffen SS unit, as well as Wehrmacht soldiers, had taken part in the massacre of Sant'Anna di Stazzema. "German War Crimes in Italy" by by military historian Gerhard Schreiber tells the cruelty of the Wehrmacht and SS troops.     [ wsws :: 2007-02-11 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

1,400 Waffen SS members living in the UK - SS Galizien division
More than 1,400 former Waffen SS members were living in the UK four years ago and police are in the process of searching for more. Minister Tony McNulty said a total of 1,450 veterans of the SS Galizien division were registered in Britain in 2003. No allegations of war crimes has been received against any of them. Scotland Yard's war-crimes division is using a database run by the US Justice Department to search for former members of the Waffen-SS who may be living in the UK, to help with enquiries.     [ ejpress :: 2007-02-10 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

Ex-PoW, a Waffen SS grenadier, wants his ashes scattered in Scotland
A Nazi storm trooper has arranged to have his ashes scattered in Scotland where he was a POW. Heinrich Steinmeyer was a grenadier in the Waffen-SS when he was captured in Normandy and taken to Cultybraggan POW camp in Perthshire. Rudolf Hess was kept there, and the ringleaders of a 1944 plot to free PoWs from camps throughout Britain were also sent there. His experience in the camp changed his view of the war. "Cultybraggan was a holiday camp compared to fighting or being a PoW in Russia... I was young and had been brought up in Hitler's system. I was part of the Hitler Youth, we were all young boys in our Panzer division."     [ telegraph :: 2007-01-27 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

As it Happened: The SS Struggle for Power - Documentary
The SS would be feared for its brutality and 40,000 of its guards would form the Death's Head Battalions that ran the liquidation camps. Yet the elite, black-uniformed corps who became the Nazi Party's enforcers sprang from a 200-strong group whom Adolf Hitler recruited in 1925 after the failed Munich Beer Hall Putsch. This account details the rise of Hitler and Schutzstaffel after the murder of the power-hungry Ernst Rohm, who led the original Nazi storm-troopers SA. Thereafter, Heinrich Himmler, would nurture the SS and make it the embodiment of Nazi terror. 6-part series includes SS officers speaking out for the first time.     [ theage :: 2007-01-05 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

Flemish Eastern Front Waffen-SS vets group will cease to exist
Far-right Sint-Maartensfonds, the organisation set up by and for Flemish vets of the Nazis' World War II offensive against the Soviet Union, will shortly cease to exist. Flemings were among the volunteers from a host of countries, who joined the Nazis in their offensive against Stalin's Red Army. Those who fought claim that they did so in order to keep Europe free of communism. However, many were also members of infamous Waffen SS. After the war, those who had fought on the Eastern Front were convicted of collaboration. Some were executed; others imprisoned and most lost their rights.     [ expatica :: 2006-10-31 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

Waffen-SS firing squad in Battle of the Bulge: Malmedy Massacre
During the Battle of the Bulge, Staff Sgt. Bill Merriken and more than 100 American soldiers were captured by German Waffen-SS troops and herded into a field. But a German officer, Maj. Werner Poetschke, waved two battle tanks into position in front of the Americans. Then he gave the order for the machine gunners aboard the battle tanks to open fire. Merriken, standing in the front row, was hit twice in the back as machine gun fire raked across the fallen men. A German tried to remove his ring, but his finger was too swollen from the cold. Only 10 out of the 113 Americans survived.     [ newsadvance :: 2006-10-12 :: Battle of Bulge: Ardennes offensive Bastogne ]

Protests against Nazi Waffen-SS Wehrmacht Gathering in Austria
Since 1958, every autumn an annual meeting takes place by the "Europa-Heimkehrergedenkstätte" - Europe homecomer memorial - at the Ulrichsberg in Carinthia, where veterans of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS and their ideological heirs meet up in order to participate in the biggest meeting of former "volunteers" in the German-speaking countries. Delegations and Kameradschaften from Germany, Norway, Belgium, Finland, France, Sweden, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands travel there every year. The purpose is to commemorate the comrades who were killed in the war and their "decent fulfilment of their duties" as soldiers.     [ is :: 2006-09-23 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

Nobel-winner admits serving in Waffen-SS Armored Division
German Guenter Grass admitted that he served in the Waffen SS, the combat arm of Adolf Hitler's feared paramilitary forces, during World War II. He had volunteered for the submarine service but was not accepted, only to be called up to the Waffen SS 10th Armored Division "Frundberg." The SS, Schutzstaffel or "Protective Echelon", started as a bodyguard for Adolf Hitler headed by top Nazi Heinrich Himmler. It later became a huge organization, which included the Waffen SS, a combat force that took part in fighting alongside units of Wehrmacht and gained a reputation as fanatical fighters.     [ cnn :: 2006-08-12 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

Memorials for Waffen SS Grenadiers of Estonian Legion
Two new memorials to soldiers of the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, also known as Estonian Legion, opened in town of Sinimäe. Guests are going to honor the memory of the fallen Dutch and Walloons who fought with the Division at World War II. Battle of Sinimäe between the Nazi and Soviet troops lasted for seven months in 1944. About 200,000 German and Soviet troops were killed, there are also a memorial of the Soviet soldiers, a memorial of Estonians soldiers who fought with the 20th Waffen SS division, and memorabilia of Waffen SS legionaries of Danish and other nationalities.     [ regnum :: 2006-07-29 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

Soviet monument to Waffen-SS 15th Cossack cavalry corps
The 15th Cossack cavalry corps fought against the Soviet Union under the control of the feared Waffen-SS from 1944. Wartime leader of the corps General Helmut von Pannwitz was executed as a war criminal. Although Russia has repeatedly voiced its concern over the monuments dedicated to Latvian and Estonian Waffen-SS Nazis, a monument to Nazi allies has stood at right in the Moscow's Church.     [ rian :: 2006-07-12 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

The hero who wiped out Hitler's tank ace Michael Wittmann
As a German war hero, he was in a deadly class of his own - having destroyed nearly 300 enemy panzers and guns. So astonishing were Michael Wittmann's exploits that he was feted throughout the Third Reich by the Nazi propaganda machine. So when the highly-decorated Waffen-SS tank ace met his death in the Normandy in August 1944, several Allied units claimed the distinction of having killed him. But now the man who really finished off the most successful tank commander of the Second World War has finally been revealed - Joe Ekins. Astonishingly he had only ever fired five practice rounds before the encounter with Wittmann near St Aignan de Cramesnil.     [ dailymail :: 2006-06-26 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

On Ted Junker and Waffen SS (Schutzstaffel) soldiers
Ted Junker is an old man, and a delusional one. One who is easy to dismiss. He says that he was a member of the Waffen SS. He even still has his SS tattoo. That would make him very different than other SS members like Josias Kumpf: Who at the end of World War II discarded his SS uniform and had his SS blood-type tattoo taken off with acid in order to avoid being identified as SS. Junker says that German soldiers were good men and "never times were they bad." Aaron Breitbart from the Wiesenthal Center: "And, it is true, there were Waffen SS members who did nothing but fight on the battlefield." Junker says he told the truth, and maybe he did in that instance.     [ jsonline :: 2006-06-17 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

Story of Anton Geiser - assigned to the Nazi Waffen SS
Geiser has lived quietly in the US for 47 years. Nobody knew that he was a camp guard for the German army during World War II. Geiser, assigned to the Nazi Waffen SS, was so ashamed of his service that he kept it to himself. As a teenager he joined the German Youth: "If you didn't join the rest, you wouldn't be respected." He was 17 when he got a letter: The Nazis had ordered that all ethnic Germans serve in the German military. He traveled to Breslau and was issued a uniform and an 8 mm rifle with bayonet. Infantry training included use of a rifle, machine gun, pistol and hand grenades, and marching. The new soldiers also attended classes in Nazi ideology.     [ sharonherald :: 2006-06-05 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

Members of Waffen SS among Wehrmacht troops remains in Usti
Members of the Nazi SS are among the German troops buried in the Czech Republic and probably also among the remains of the soldiers temporarily buried on the premises of a construction company in Usti nad Labem, north Bohemia. "Along with Wehrmacht members, we have also exhumed and buried members of the Waffen SS," director Martinic told. He stressed that only remains of the Waffen SS members had been found, not those of the SS guards who were notorious for their brutality in extermination camps.     [ praguemonitor :: 2006-03-27 :: RIP (remains of soldiers) ]

Ex-SS legionary's new book "Latvian legionary in true light"
On the eve of Day of Latvian Waffen SS legionaries, famous public writer and ex-SS legionary Visvaldis Latsis presented his new book "Latvian legionary in true light." The author tried to collect all "justificatory" arguments of the presidential historical commission, and stress the importance of their deeds in patriotic education of youth. He said that he wanted to prove that Latvians fought for their freedom, but were naive. Latsis himself is a contradictory person: Loyal soldier and commander of Latvian SS Legion Strike Force.     [ regnum :: 2006-03-18 :: Foreign Waffen-SS ]

Latvia braces for violence over Waffen SS parade
The glory days of the Latvian Waffen SS come alive again as Visvaldis Lacis tells war stories. "I was so scared," says the silver-haired platoon commander, "But I knew I would be the first to give the order to attack. I was the Fuehrer. I did it and started running." Veterans like Lacis are at the heart of a growing storm 120km away in the capital Riga, where an annual March 16 parade commemorating the Latvian Waffen SS Volunteer Legion's fight against the Red Army has been banned. Latvia had two divisions of around 100,000 men, the biggest contribution of any German-occupied nation to the Waffen SS's 900,000 men.     [ Reuters :: 2006-03-15 :: Latvia Divided - Nazi Past ]

Are Waffen SS Killers Still Living in Britain?
They were Hitler's elite - soldiers of the dreaded Waffen SS. And now they are living out their last days anonymously in Britain. Around 8,500 members of the Ukranian 14th Waffen SS Galizien Division were given refuge in 1947. Among them were men who had perpetrated appalling crimes against humanity, including the massacre of civilians. Defence chiefs at the time wanted to use the Nazi-trained troops as a possible fighting force against Communism. MI6 also saw them as rabid anti-Soviets and a resource to recruit spies to send into the USSR.     [ mirror :: 2006-02-13 :: How & where nazis escaped after the war ]

New drive to deport Waffen-SS soldiers and Auschwitz guards
Hundreds of alleged Nazi war criminals living in Britain face deportation under tough new immigration laws. An eight-strong team from Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch is examining files containing the names of more than 200 suspects understood to be in hiding or living under false names. They include at least 75 Auschwitz guards and former members of the 14th Waffen-SS Galician division, which has been blamed for atrocities. 6,000 of them were allowed to settle as contract labour in Britain at the end of the war and many emigrated, mostly to North America. Only one man, Anthony Sawoniuk, has been prosecuted here for Nazi war crimes.     [ independent :: 2006-02-05 :: Nazi hunters & nazis at large ]

Jewish death squads recall revenge on SS officers
A group of elderly Holocaust survivors came forward with accounts of a death squad they formed after World War II to take revenge on their Nazi persecutors, recounting a brazen operation in which they poisoned hundreds of SS officers. Reports of Jewish death squads have surfaced over the years, and several books have been written. Earlier this year, Israel's government refused a request from Poland to extradite a suspected death squad member.     [ - :: 2005-12-24 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

German far-right leader Schoenhuber dies -- Waffen-SS
Franz Schoenhuber, a leader of Germany's far right for two decades, has died at the age of 82. Schoenhuber, who served in the Waffen SS, the Nazi Party's private army, during World War II, founded a new far-right party, the Republicans, in 1983. There was shock worldwide in 1989 when it won German seats in the European Parliament.     [ expatica :: 2005-11-30 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

Where Nazi Storm Troopers are Heroes
Why are all those monuments going up in eastern Europe, honoring dead Waffen SS (elite Nazi combat troops) soldiers. What's going on here? It's not World War II being rewritten, just remembered. Russians are gone from Eastern Europe, and most Eastern Europeans are glad to see them go. And in many of these countries, the guys who joined the SS during World War II, to fight the Russians, were always considered national heroes. So in countries like Croatia, Bosnia, and the Baltic States, memorials are going up to the men who died fighting for the SS against the hated Russians.     [ strategypage :: 2005-11-22 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

Hitler's Legacy in the Balkans and The Batschka Division
During World War II, the Bachka region of Vojvodina was annexed to a Greater Hungary by Nazi Germany. Hitler sought to dismember Serbia by creating a Greater Hungary, a Greater Albania, a Greater Bulgaria, and a Greater Croatia. Pursuant to this policy, the Bachka region was made a part of Hungary. The Batschka Nazi SS Division of Vojvodina emerged after the breakup of the Bosnian Muslim Kama Division, which had been formed and trained in Vojvodina. The Kama Division had been the second Bosnian Muslim Nazi SS Division formed by Reichsfuehrer SS Heinrich Himmler.     [ Serbianna :: 2005-10-20 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

'German war' nearly broke out in Prague in 1944
A Czech historian has found evidence that pro- and anti-Hitler factions within the German military were poised to battle each other in Prague after the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler in mid-1944. Anti-Hitler factions in the Wehrmacht were ready to fight in the streets against pro-Hitler soldiers with the Waffen-SS in what was then Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Other historians confirmed that Uhlir had discovered several lost pieces of a historical puzzle about plans for a "German war" toward the end of World War II.     [ Expatica :: 2005-10-20 :: Wehrmacht: German Armed Forces ]

My grandad the Waffen SS officer of Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
Dan Tetsell grew up with an uncomfortable family secret - his grandfather was an SS officer. my grandfather Kurt Martens was in the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, the premier regiment of the Waffen SS. Kurt was killed or went missing during the fighting around Prague castle sometime in early May 1945, so I never knew him. All we really had is the image of him in his uniform - the sly, boyish smile at odds with the double lightning flashes and death's head cap of the SS.     [ bbc :: 2005-08-01 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

My Grandfathers in the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS
Johann Wiehe got drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1940. He was trained as an anti-tank gunner attached to an infantry division, and took part in the initial assault on Russia and the rush towards the Volga at the time when the Wehrmacht seemed to be unstoppable. In the winter of 1942/1943 his division dug in outside of Stalingrad, where the most memorable of his stories occurred: His unit received orders to move off and meet a Russian counterattack, but my granddad was unable to join his comrades as his toes had to be amputated due to frostbite. Helmut Barkowsky was drafted into the Waffen SS in 1942...     [ bbc :: 2005-03-02 :: Wehrmacht: German Armed Forces ]

Waffen-SS Panzergrenadier in the 1st SS Panzer Division
I was trained as a panzergrenadier in early 1943. After Training I was sent to Russia for 1st SS Div Leibstandate Adolf Hitler - Kharkov had just been taken by I SS Panzer Korps. Allied landings took place in Normandy - it was a different type of war to that which we had been fighting in Russia. There we were fighting against weather, partisans and man to man fighting. In Normandy we fought an unequal battle to stay alive from the constant air attacks. My firm belief is that if we had an decent airforce then they would not have won. We could only make any movement at night as Luftwaffe was non-existent.     [ bbc :: 2003-03-11 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

The German who served Adolf Hitler, Queen and Country
Werner Volkner won the Iron Cross in the SS and was later welcomed into the British Army. Across one wall are shelves of memorabilia from the Waffen-SS, the Nazi elite of which Mr Volkner was once a member, winning the Iron Cross for bravery under fire. On the other side, are mementoes relating to the Westminster Dragoons, the British Army regiment to which Mr Volkner also once belonged. The story of how he came to be a non-commissioned officer in both forces illustrates how thoroughly and adeptly veterans of the SS, brought here as prisoners at the end of the WWII, quietly insinuated themselves into British communities.     [ telegraph :: 2002-05-05 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

Waffen-SS veterans in Britain hold secret reunions
SS veterans who fought for Germany during the WW2 are living quietly in Britain and attending secret reunions to celebrate their time under the Third Reich. Evidence of the network's existence has been uncovered by following interviews with ex-soldiers from Hitler's elite divisions. SS veterans sing old Nazi songs at the gatherings, which have also been attended by members of the British National Party. At least one BNP member has been given honorary membership of the Hilfsgemeinschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit der Ehemaligen Soldaten der Waffen-SS (Mutual Aid Association for Soldiers of the Former Waffen-SS), the SS veterans' association.     [ telegraph :: 2002-05-05 :: Waffen SS: Combat Divisions, German Soldiers ]

See also

'Nazi Helmets'

'Foreign Waffen SS'

'Wehrmacht'

'HitlerJugend'

'Nazi Uniform'

'Military Medals: Iron Cross'

'Nazi Daggers'.

What's new - recent & interesting categories.

Although the articles linked from Adolf Hitler's Third Reich 1933-1945 and World War II in the News are reviewed and specially selected, they do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, who is not responsible for the content of any external sites. This service is © Joni Nuutinen 2005-2008. All rights reserved.