|
SS
Schutzstaffel
See Also: |
Third
Reich Organization and people GERMAN
ARMY WW2 ORDER OF BATTLE Adolf
(Adolph) Hitler WW2 Victory Defeat Power Axis
Powers WW2 Pact of Steel Gestapo, SS
Panzer Divisions Hermann
Goering, Heinrich
Himmler, Reinhard
Heydrich, Werner
Von Braun, Wilhelm
Canaris, Albert
Sper, Walter
Schellenberg, Von
Rundstedt, Heinz
Guderian, Wilhelm
Keitel Field
Marshal Erwin Rommel - Desert Fox German
Africa Corps Manstein
WW2 German Generals Otto
Skorzeny (Skorceny) WW2 Commandos Rundstedt
WW2 Field Marshal Nazism Fascism
WW2 V1
Rocket - Flying Bomb V-1 V2
Rocket V-2 Fuhrerbunker
- WW2 Forifications Maginot
Line WW2 |
The Schutzstaffel (German for "Protective
Corps," often abbreviated SS) was an elite
paramilitary unit of the German Nazi party. It was formed
from the ranks of the SA in 1925 to be Adolf Hitler's
personal guard and to guard NSDAP meetings. On January 6
1929 Hitler appointed Heinrich Himmler as the leader of
the SS, which then had only 280 people among its ranks.
With Hitler's approval Himmler built up the SS and by the
end of 1932 the SS already had 52,000 members. After only
a year the SS had over 209,000 members.
Before 1932 the SS wore the same uniform as the SA,
except for a black tie and a black cap with a skull
symbol on it (Totenkopf, "death's head"). Later
they adopted a black uniform and then, just before the
war, a field grey uniform.
Heinrich Himmler, together with his right-hand man
Reinhard Heydrich, consolidated the power of the
organisation. In 1931 Himmler gave Heydrich the
assignment to build an intelligence service inside the
SS, the Sicherheitsdienst.
By the time World War II began the number of members rose
to 250,000 and the Waffen-SS was formed in December 1940
to fight alongside the Wehrmacht, Germany's regular
military. The SS also received control of the Gestapo in
1936.
The SS evolved into a highly effective and deadly force
during World War II. At its peak, its name and reputation
for efficient and terrifying violence was enough to
strike fear into the heart of anyone. Hitler gave the SS
jurisdiction over all concentration camps and allowed
them to oversee the day-to-day control of all countries
conquered by Germany during the war.
Towards the end of World War II, a group of former SS
officers went to Argentina and set up a Nazi fugitive
network code-named ODESSA (an acronym for Organisation
der ehemaligen SS-Angeh?rigen) with tentacles in
Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the Vatican, operated out
of Buenos Aires, which helped Adolf Eichmann, Josef
Mengele, Erich Priebke and many other war criminals find
refuge in Latin America.
Divisions of the Waffen-SS
1.SS-Panzer-Division "Leibstandarte Adolf
Hitler"
2.SS-Panzer-Division "Das Reich"
3.SS-Panzer-Division "Totenkopf"
4.SS-Polizei-Panzergrenadier-Division
5.SS-Panzer-Division "Wiking"
6.SS-Gebirgs-Division "Nord"
7.SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division "Prinz
Eugen"
8.SS-Kavallerie-Division "Florian Geyer"
9.SS-Panzer-Division "Hohenstaufen"
10.SS-Panzer-Division "Frundsburg"
11.SS-Panzergrenadier-Freiwilligen-Division
"Nordland"
12.SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend"
13.Waffen-Gebirgs-Division des SS "Handschar"
(kroat. Nr. 1)
14.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (ukrainische Nr. 1)
15.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (lett. Nr. 1)
16.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Reichsf?hrer
SS"
17.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Gotz von
Berlichingen"
18.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division "Horst
Wessel"
19.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (lett. Nr. 2)
20.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (estnische Nr. 1)
21.Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS "Skanderbeg"
(alban. Nr.1)
22.SS-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Division "Maria
Theresia" (ung.)
23.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division
"Nederland"
24.Waffen-Gebirgs-(Karstjager) Division der SS
25.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS "Hunyadi"
26.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS
27.SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division
"Langemarck"
28.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division
"Wallonien"
29.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (russische Nr. 1)
29.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (ital. Nr. 1)
30.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS
31.SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division
32.SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division
"30.Januar"
33.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS
"Charlemagne"
34.SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division "Landstorm
Nederland"
35.SS und Polizei-Grenadier-Division
36.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS
37.SS-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Division
38.SS-Grenadier-Division "Nibelungen"
Text is available
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
|