Search results
The Waffen-SS (Armed SS) was created as the militarised wing of the Schutzstaffel (SS; "Protective Squadron") of the Nazi Party. Its origins can be traced back to the selection of a group of 120 SS men in 1933 by Sepp Dietrich to form the Sonderkommando Berlin, which became the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH). [ 4 ]
Units and commands of the Schutzstaffel were organizational titles used by the SS to describe the many groups, forces, and formations that existed within the SS from its inception in 1923 to the eventual fall of Nazi Germany in 1945.
THE GERMAN WORLD WAR II ORGANIZATIONAL SERIES. 1/I 01.09.39 Mechanized Army Formations and Waffen-SS Formations (3rd Revised Edition) 1/II-1 01.09.39 1stand 2ndWelle Army Infantry Divisions 1/II-2 01.09.39 3rdand 4thWelle Army Infantry Divisions 1/III 01.09.39 Higher Headquarters — Mechanized GHQ Units — Static Units (2nd Revised Edition) 2 ...
The SS fighting units, called the Waffen-SS, were to evolve into highly skilled and effective soldiers, in many cases superior in these respects to the German army, the Heer. Of all the German military organizations of WWII, the Waffen-SS is one of the most widely studied.
The Allgemeine SS was responsible for enforcing the racial policy of Nazi Germany and general policing, whereas the Waffen-SS consisted of the combat units of the SS, with a sworn allegiance to Hitler.
The units were under the control of During World War II, the Waffen-SS recruited significant numbers of non-Germans, both as volunteers and conscripts. In total some 500,000 non-Germans and ethnic Germans from outside Germany, mostly from German-occupied Europe, were recruited between 1940 and 1945.
SS and Foreign Intelligence. During the war the SD Foreign Intelligence Department (office VI of the RSHA) established intelligence networks clandestinely on the territory of Germany's Axis partners and occasionally conducted their own foreign policy in competition with the German Foreign Office.
