The Battle for the Aleutians

June 6, 1942, Japanese troops invade and occupy Kiska in the Aleutian island chain only three days after their bombing raids on Dutch Harbor. A day later they also occupy Attu. The Aleutians campaign would rage on both sea and land for another 13 months before Japan finally withdrew. Historians believe Japan wished to put America on the defensive in the Pacific after the Pearl Harbor attack, and used this move as a distraction to split the efforts of the then still reeling U.S. Navy.

With increasing public fears of more Japanese attacks on the Alaskan mainland or the West Coast, the War Department felt it would be an important propaganda tool to create an informational booklet about the Alaskan battles, for morale purposes on the Home Front.

50-year-old well-known novelist, Dashiell Hammett, of detective fiction fame, had enlisted in the Army and was assigned to Adak island in 1943. While there he edited the base newspaper, and also was a writer of this Army booklet entitled, “The Battle for the Aleutians”. He and his other contributors received commendations for this work. He served on Adak until the summer of 1945.

British G.S. Mk. IV Anti-tank Mine

Italian soldiers collecting captured British Mk. IV anti-tank mines.

The Anti-Tank Mine, General Service, Mark IV (or Mk 4 mine) was a British anti-tank mine used during WWII (World War II). Externally the mine has a cylindrical main body filled with explosive either TNT or Baratol. The mine is covered by a pressure plate, which is attached to the mine body by four pins which sit in vertical slots in clips that fold up from the bottom of the mine. The mine uses the shear-pin based Contact Mine Fuze No.3 Mk I. The fuze consists simply of a spring-loaded striker pin restrained by a shear pin. Sufficient pressure on the pressure plate presses the plate down on the head of the fuze, breaking the shear wire and releasing the striker, which is driven into the detonator by the striker spring.

Diameter: 8 in.

Height: 5 in.

Total weight: 12.5 lbs.

Explosive weight: 8.25 lbs.

Explosive: TNT or Baratol

Material: Steel 

Color: Khaki-green

Fuze: Mine, contact, A/T, No. 3 Mk I. 

Pressure required: 350 lbs. 

Use: Defense against armored cars, tanks, and other vehicles. Disable tanks and vehicles.

Components

The G.S. Mk IV mine has three principal components: the loaded mine body, the pressure plate, and the fuze. The pressure plate covers the entire top of the mine and is attached to the mine body by four pins which engage in four slots in metal clips attached to the body. During normal shipment and storage, adhesive tape binds the pressure plate to the mine body.

Mine Body

The mine body is cylindrical in shape and contains a central well for the insertion of the fuze. Between the central well and the outside casing of the mine is located the explosive main charge.

Fuze, Mine, Contact, A/T, No. 3 Mk I

This fuze operates on the shear pin principle, and consists merely of a spring-loaded striker retained by a shear wire. Below the striker is located a percussion cap and detonator inserted in two CE booster pellets. All components, striker mechanism, cap and detonator, and booster, are contained in the fuze body. Pressure on the pressure plate forces the striker through the shear wire, and the striker through the shear wire, and the striker spring then forces the striker into the percussion cap, firing the mine.

Assembly and Arming

Remove the adhesive tape binding the pressure plate to the mine body, and then remove the pressure plate. Place mine in the ground and remove the paper seal over fuze well. Inspect fuze to make certain shear pin is in position, the insert the fuze and re-move the safety pin. Replace the pressure plate.

Caution: Do not use force when attempting to remove safety pin; if it does not come away easily, discard the fuze and use another.

Neutralization: To neutralize this mine, remove the pressure plate and insert a safety pin hole in the striker. Remove fuze from fuze well. Lift the mine from the ground and replace the pressure plate.

Remarks: If mine is to be re-used, inspect the fuze to make certain that the shear pin is in position and not cut or partially cut.

G.S. Mk. IV Anti-tank Mine.

 

Waffen-SS Forces in the Balkans: A Checklist

Heinrich Himmler, center, reviews troops of the 14. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (Ukrainische nr. 1), 3 June 1944.

by Steve Kane

To this day the history of World War II in southeastern Europe remains shrouded in obscurity. Nonetheless, the Balkan theater is worthy of observation in that a large number of Waffen-SS units were involved in the various campaigns that occurred there.

The following is a list of all Waffen-SS units known to have served in the Balkans. The dates shown are the “tour of duty” time period for each unit in ques­tion. A very brief combat history ac­com­panies each unit. Those formations which were Wehrmacht (i.e., not Waffen-SS) units, are presented since they repre­sent interesting and little-known foreign formations.

All SS corps, divisions, and smaller independent units known to have spent time in the Balkans are listed here with the following three exceptions:

all SS corps troops as listed in Bender and Taylor, Vol. II;

all ad hoc kampfgruppes formed from existing SS units such as the 7th Mountain Divi­sion for temporary battlefield use; and

all SS police/security regi­ments.

Most, if not all, of these last were attached to the local Hitler SS and Police Leader in the appropriate area as op­posed to Wehrmacht control, although such regiments did, in fact, participate in military operations against the partisans.

By definition the Balkans include Yugo­slavia, Albania, and Greece as they existed before April 1939. No account will be given here of Hungary, a country where nearly a dozen of the best Waffen-SS divisions served in the last six months of the war.

Corps

III. (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps

SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Felix Steiner

September-December 1943

This corps (containing “Nordland” Divi­sion and “Nederland” Brigade) was sent into the Balkans at the time of Ope­ra­tion Konstantin primarily to disarm the Italians in the Zagreb area. The corps later undertook limited anti-parti­san operations in eastern Slovenia and northwestern Croatia. At the end of 1943 the corps (accompanied by “Nordland” and “Nederland”) was transferred from Croatia to the Leningrad front near Narva.

V. SS Mountain Corps

SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Artur Phelps, killed in Sep­tember 1944 and replaced by SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Friedrich Wilhelm Kruger

July 1943-December 1944

The V SS Mountain Corps was acti­vated in July 1943 and spent the next eighteen months of its existence in the Mostar-Sarajevo-Dubrovnik mountain triangle in Bosnia and Montenegro controlling the 7^th SS Mountain Division and a number of Wehrmacht units in numerous anti-partisan drives launched against Tito’s forces. Toward the end of 1944 the corps was shifted into Croatia and in Janu­ary 1945 the corps headquarters was transferred from Yugoslavia to the Oder front and Himmler’s newly created Army Group Vistula.

IX. SS (Croat) Mountain Corps

SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS K. G. Sauberzweig

June-December 1944

The IX Corps was established in June 1944 to control the 13^th and 23^rd Bosnian Moslem SS Mountain Division, although at this time only the former existed. The corps served as a part of Army Group F east and northeast of the Sarajevo area. Minor operations were con­ducted against the partisans in this region throughout the summer and autumn of 1944. In October the corps briefly directed its attentions eastward against the advancing Soviets and took command of the “Knehiwein” and “Böttcher” kampfgruppes containing Wehr­macht personnel. In December 1944, Sau­berzweig was replaced with the elderly Austrian police general von Pfeffer-Wildenbruch. During this month the corps headquarters was moved into Hungary to take control of various SS and Wehrmacht forces near Budapest, where the corps would soon gain ever­lasting fame for the seven week defense of that city under siege by the Soviets.

XV. SS Cossack Cavalry Corps

SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS Hellmuth von Pannwitz

December 1944-May 1945

This unique corps was officially estab­lished on 27 December 1944 to take control of the 1^st and 2^nd Cossack Cavalry Divisions and the Cossack Pla­stun (infantry) Brigade. At this time the corps’ troops were located northeast of the Zagreb-Brod area, essentially man­ning the line of the Drava River with help from the 1^st Croat Storm Division. The corps continued to hold this area until early March 1945, when it was replaced by the LXXXXI Army Corps in time for the Frählingserwachen offensive. The corps fell back under partisan pres­sure later in the spring and took control of the newly formed 3^rd Cossack In­fan­try Division as well as temporary Wehr­macht assignments such as the 11^th Luftwaffe Field Division. In May 1945 the corps, with most of the surviving Cos­sacks and their families in tow, retreated in southeastern Austria to surrender to the Western Allies. Shortly thereafter the Cossacks were forcibly repatriated to the USSR to face torture, imprisonment, and execution.

Divisions

SS-Division “Reich”

April 1941

Operating under the XLI Panzer Corps, this division participated in the blitzkrieg campaign in the Balkans in April 1941. Although the German inva­sion of Yugoslavia and Greece officially began on 6 April, the “Reich” Division did not begin its advance from the Temesvar region of Rumania until 11 April. Suffering more from mechanical breakdowns and faulty traffic control than from Yugoslav resistance, the divi­sion rolled westward across the Banat toward Belgrade. On the evening of 12 April the mayor of Belgrade surrendered the city to Hauptsturmführer Klingen­berg, who sailed up the Danube in a motor boat into the Yugoslav capital. Shortly afterward the Yugoslav Army capi­tulated. “Reich,” which had suffered negligible casualties in the campaign, was soon transferred to Army Group Cen­ter in Poland to participate in the soon-to-be-launched Operation Barba­rossa.

SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division “Prinz Eugen”

October 1942-October 1943

Formation of this unit began in spring 1942. Some officers were drawn from Austrian Reichdeutsche, while the bulk of the division’s personnel were re­cruited from Volksdeutsche inhabiting Ger­man settlements in Serbia, Rumania, and the Banat. In October 1942 the divi­sion was sent into southwestern Serbia for its baptism of fire against the Yugo­slav guerrillas. Later in the year the “PE” was shifted north to Uzice and even­tually into Croatia near Zagreb. In Janu­ary 1943 the unit participated in Opera­tion Weiss against Tito’s partisans in northwestern Bosnia. Moving southward toward the Dalmatian coast, the division again saw extensive action in May-June 1943 in Operation Schwarz, a drive designed to destroy the partisan bastion in Montenegro and southern Bosnia. In mid-summer “PE” was moved to Mostar to relieve the Italians there. The division was involved in very heavy fighting in September, both in disarming stubborn Italians near Split and in battling Tito’s partisans along the Neretva River. In October 1943 the division was officially given the number “7.” (See 7^th SS Division.)

Russiches Schutzkorps Serbien

September 1941-end of war

This unit was founded in Belgrade in September 1941. Its personnel were es­sen­tially second-generation Czarist and White Russians whose parents had been welcomed into Serbia by the Yugo­slav government in the years following the Russian Revolution. Initially formed in battalion strength, the RSS was quickly expanded into a 15,000-man mixed infantry and cavalry division by early 1942. The men were uniformed and equipped with Royal Yugoslav Army surplus, although some German material was received late in the war. The RSS spent the first three years of its exis­tence in Serbia. The division’s primary responsibility was protection of the Bel­grade-Nis railroad, although on nume­rous occasions during the 1941-44 period the RSS did undertake limited anti-partisan operations in conjunction with the Serb collaborator forces of Gen­eral Nedić, Bulgarian Army units, various bands of Chetniks friendly to the Axis cause, and a few German security units. The Germans never placed much confi­dence in the military ability of the RSS, but the émigré Russians did in fact per­form surprisingly well on the battlefield—this despite the fact that the Czarist flavor of the RSS was somewhat diluted from 1942 onwards by the use of regular Soviet POW’s captured during the 1941 advance into Russia as replacements. In late 1944, the RSS saw action against the advancing Soviet Army in Serbia and fought bravely. The division eventually fell back with the retreating Germans into Croatia and Bosnia during the 1944-45 winter. Toward the end of the war the bulk of the RSS retreated in good order into Austria, where they surrendered to the Americans. Promised fair treatment, the Russians were all eventually handed over to the Soviet government for prompt execution. The balance of the RSS remained in Yugoslavia as the “General Stefan” Division (Lieutenant General Boris Aleksandrovich Shteyfon) and fought on to extinction against the advancing partisans in Slovenia in April-May 1945.

1. Kosaken-Kavalleriedivision der SS

November 1943-May 1945

This division arrived in the Balkans in November 1943. For about a year it served in Croatia southeast of Zagreb. Missions carried out during this period in­cluded security duty along the vital Sisak-Brod railway as well as frequent anti-partisan sweeps in the Sava valley north of that river. Given the increased unreliability of the regular Croat forces (Domobrans) in 1944, the Cossacks pro­vided the Germans with their only com­pletely dependable combat force in this region. Because of the fervent anti-Communist attitude of the division’s person­nel, the Cossacks proved quite effective in combating Tito’s partisans and soon became a unit much feared by the Yugo­slav guerrillas. In late autumn 1944 the unit was relieved by troops of the Ger­man Second Panzer Army retreating from Dalmatia and moved north toward the Drava River. United with the newly-created 2^nd Cossack Division into the XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps at this time, the Cossacks beat back a com­bined Soviet-Bulgarian attempt to cross the Drava from Hungary on Christmas Day 1944. The division spent several weeks in this region, although by early March the Cossacks were replaced by German troops and sent westward. The final Yugoslav attack to liberate their country began on 20 March and the Cos­sacks were once again involved in heavy fighting. Tito’s Third Yugoslav Army took on the division as the Communists tried to smash forward between the Drava and Sava Rivers. Fighting con­tinued to rage on throughout April as the Cossacks suffered severe losses. Fall­ing back through Slovenia, in May the 1^st Division was sent into the Drava River valley in southeastern Austria. Here occurred the same tragic fate as be­fell the other Russian units in this area: initial surrender to the Western Allies and subsequent betrayal and slaughter when forcibly returned to the Soviets.

2. Kosaken-Kavalleriedivision der SS

November 1944-May 1945

The 2^nd Cossack Cavalry Division ar­rived in Slovenia and Croatia in Novem­ber 1944. Shortly thereafter both Cos­sack divisions were united into the XV. SS Corps. The division performed the dual role at this time of manning portions of the Drava River front and providing security to the rear areas east of Zagreb where isolated partisan bands were beginning to make their presence felt. The 2^nd Division, like the remainder of the XV. SS Cossack Corps, suffered grievous losses once Tito’s March offen­sive was launched. It was vital for the Cossacks to hold the line at all costs north of the Sava, for large numbers of Ger­man troops in the Balkans were still defending in and around Sarajevo as late as 6 April 1945. For the Cossacks to fall back past Zagreb too soon would mean the annihilation of all German forces still stationed deep in southern Bos­nia. The Cossacks gave ground only sparingly at this time, allowing the Ger­man XXI. Mountain Corps to conduct a fighting retreat all the way from Sarajevo to Banja Luka and finally into Croatia. Once this retreat had taken place, the 2^nd Division fell back to the Drava valley in Austria. There it suffered a fate iden­tical to that of the 1^st Cossack Division.

3. Kosaken-Grenadierdivision der SS

March-April 1945

This short-lived unit was officially formed on 29 March 1945 by expansion of the Cossack Plastun Brigade. Unlike the other Cossack divisions, the 3^rd Divi­sion was an infantry (i.e., not cavalry) for­mation. The unit was built around the 7^th and 8^th Don Cossack Infantry Regi­ments and the Wehrmacht 360^th Cos­sack Grenadier Regiment. A few horsed Cossack elements may have been at­tached to the division after its creation. The 3^rd saw action in northeastern Croa­tia and Slovenia in April and like the other Cossack divisions was badly mauled in the process. The division was detached from the XV. SS Corps late in the month and marched into Austria while the 1^st and 2^nd Divisions re­mained engaged against Tito’s parti­sans. The surrender to British troops ar­riving from Italy was followed by “re­settlement” of the Cossacks to death camps and firing squad walls in the USSR.

4. SS-Polizei-Panzergrenadier-Division

September 1943-November 1944

Advance elements of this division began arriving in Yugoslavia in late sum­mer 1943 from training camps in Bohe­mia and Moravia. The division had been undergoing conversion from a police infantry into a panzergrenadier division in the quiet of the Protectorate. As the training of divisional elements continued, those portions of “Polizei” which had com­pleted the transition to armored in­fantry were sent into Serbia south of Bel­grade to form a mobile reserve in the event of an Allied invasion of the Bal­kans. Very little activity was necessary against the guerrillas in Serbia during this period since the partisan movement in that portion of Yugoslavia had been destroyed during the 1941-42 winter and was still in the process of rebuilding. Toward the end of 1943 elements of the 4^th SS began moving into northern Gre­ece while the last divisional sub-units com­pleted their training and re­organi­za­tion near Prague. By March 1944 the en­tire division (minus a small kampfgruppe still near Leningrad on the Russian front) was in Greece. It was decided to con­cen­trate the division near Salonika to calm Bulgarian fears of an Allied landing here similar to the World War I invasion. The bulk of the division’s armor was retained in this location, although other units of “Polizei” were strung out as far west and south as Florina, Kozani, and Larisa. The 4^th SS, accompanied by the 7^th Bulgarian Infantry Division (stationed north and east of Salonika) were or­gani­zed into the “Salonika-Aegean Admini­stra­tive Area” at the time. This command was reorganized into the LXXXXI Army Corps in August 1944. “Polizei” laun­ched various small-scale anti-partisan drives during the first eight months of 1944 but was hampered in such activity since its vehicles were less than useless in the trackless high mountains of the Epirus. The primary enemy fought during this period were several thousand guer­rillas of ELAS, the Greek Communist par­ti­san army. In July 1944 clashes broke out between the 4^th SS and members of EDES, the Greek royalist-republican resi­s­tance group that had arranged a cease-fire with the Germans in spring 1943. In August, Guderian, the head of OKH, demanded that “Polizei” be moved northeastward to restore the position of the Reich’s crumbling Balkan alliance-first to Bucharest to bolster the waning Rumanian war effort and protect the Ploesti oil fields, then to Sofia to recover a force of eighty-eight PzKpfw. IV’s and fifty as­sault guns recently shipped to equip a Bul­garian armored division. In the end, events moved too rapidly for either move­ment to be put into effect, but by the end of August elements of the divi­sion had begun pulling out of Greece. The movement northward was slowed dras­tically by Yugoslav partisans and a concentrated Allied bombing raid that had knocked out large stretches of the Belgrade-Salonika railroad. Finally arriv­ing in central Serbia, the division was thrown into action against the advancing Soviets about 40 miles south of Bel­grade in late September. Although suf­fer­ing heavy losses, the 4^th SS’s stub­born defense west of Turnu Severin and the Iron Gate slowed the advance on Bel­grade considerably and enabled the battered survivors of the 1^st Mountain Divi­sion to escape encirclement and al­most certain destruction elsewhere in the Morava valley. Fighting continued in Serbia during October, although once Belgrade fell on the 20^th of that month the Soviets sent most of their forces into Hungary. After a brief rest, the 4^th SS itself moved into Hungary in November, the beginning of a six-month odyssey that would end on the banks of the Elbe River in May 1945.

7. SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division “Prinz Eugen”

October 1943-end of war

Following its numbering and absorp­tion of captured Italian equipment, the “PE” Division remained near Mostar and Split on the Dalmatian coast. Elements of the division cleared several Dalmatian islands of partisans. In December 1943 the division participated in Operation Schnee­gestober against Tito near Sarajevo. From January to September 1944, “PE” was involved in numerous anti-partisan operations throughout Bos­nia and northern Montenegro. In October the division was transferred to the Nis area in Serbia to stop the advancing Soviets. “PE” fought very well in these battles but lost many veteran troops in doing so. In November the division moved south into Macedonia where more heavy fighting occurred. During this month the 7^th SS had to contend with Soviets and Bulgarians to the east and Communist partisans to the north, west, and south. The division’s firm defense of the Vardar valley here was partly responsible for the successful evacuation of Lohr’s Army Group E from Greece and the Aegean Islands into Skoplje and through the Uzice-Kraljevo bottleneck toward Bosnia. The 7^th SS’s last six months of the war can best described as one continuous nightmare of a delaying action. Shifted to the Osijek-Vukovar area in January 1945, “PE” was moved back to its old battle­grounds near Sarajevo in March. The division participated in the Xenophon-like retreat of the XXI. Mountain Corps in April and was eventually pushed out of Bosnia after increasingly bitter battles with the partisans. The 7^th SS finally capitulated to Tito’s guerrilla army on 10 May near Cilli in Slovenia. Thousands were subsequently massacred. A hand­ful of stragglers from the division are reported to have fought on with the 181^st Infantry Division to annihilation near Slovenska Bistrica during the period 11-15 May.

8. SS-Kavallerie-Division

December 1943-March 1944

This division (named “Florian Geyer” in March 1944) arrived in the Bal­kans at the end of 1943. Although probably coincidental, the movement of the 8^th SS into the southeastern theater is noteworthy in that it was practically the only unit (either Waffen-SS or Wehr­macht) sent there with extensive prior experience in anti-partisan warfare. The division had spent long months prior to its Balkan commitment battling Soviet guer­rillas in the Pripet Marshes and else­where to Army Group Center’s rear during 1941-43. The 8^th SS spent its three months of duty in the Balkans almost exclusively in Croatia. Initially the division cleared partisans out of the Bilo Gora north of Brod and was later moved to the area near Sisak southwest of the 1^st Cossack Division. Throughout its brief stay in Croatia the division divided its attention between small-scale anti-partisan operations and refitting efforts. In March 1944 the deteriorating political situation in Hungary forced the Germans to launch Operation Margarethe. The 8^th SS accompanied other Waffen-SS and Wehrmacht units during the occupation of Budapest and other vital areas throughout the country. On paper the division remained a part of Weichs’ Army Group Southeast until September 1944, but after Margarethe it did not again serve directly on Yugoslav soil.

11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrena­dier-Division “Nordland”

September-November 1943

For the account of this division’s ex­perience against the partisans in wes­tern Croatia in autumn 1943, see Sieg­runen, No. 15 (July 1979), “Soldiers of Europe, Part I.”

13. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS “Handschar” (Kroatische nr. 1)

February-December 1944

Although established in summer 1943, the “Handschar” Division was not committed to the Balkan theater until February 1944. The division moved into the Brcko sector along the Sava River and was responsible for the security of northeastern Bosnia and eastern Croa­tia. The unit spent most of 1944 in this re­gion and participated in numerous anti-partisan drives, although for several reasons achieved only indifferent suc­cess. In August 1944 the division was to have been relieved by the SS “Kama” Division and sent south to Sarajevo to assist the 7^th SS in Operation Räbe­zahl, but “Kama” was at this time un­pre­pared for combat. In September seve­ral sub-units of “Handschar” were converted into headquarters troops for the newly-created IX. SS Mountain Corps, established to control the two Bos­nian Moslem SS mountain divisions. Small elements of the 13^th SS are reported to have been sent east and involved in fighting with the Soviet 46^th Army between Subotica and Belgrade. In October there occurred an equipment crossover with the remnants of the 1^st Mountain Division. Also during this month “Handschar” was reinforced by a 3,000-man Wehrmacht force evacuated from Crete. By November a part of the 13^th SS was holding the Duna River line in Hungary and Croatia against com­bined Soviet-partisan attacks. In Decem­ber the division was relieved along the Duna and sent into Hungary. New evi­dence shows that the Moslem personnel in “Handschar” were not jettisoned at the time and continued to fight on south of Lake Balaton until the end of the war. Thus Haussers’s statements in his Waffen-SS im Einsatz regarding “our brave Mujos” appear to have been cor­rect after all despite years of scholarly belief to the contrary.

14. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (Ukrainische nr. 1)

February-April 1945

This division was ordered to pro­ceed to Slovenia in January 1945, al­though the movement from Slovakia to the Maribor area was carried out quite slowly. By the end of February units of the division straddled both sides of the pre-1941 Yugoslav-Austrian frontier. Spo­ra­dic fighting took place between the Ukrainian SS and Tito’s northern parti­sans for a few weeks. In late March the division was transferred from Slovenia to Austria in Army Group South reserve. It was also ordered at this time for the 14^th SS to turn over its heavy and surplus wea­pons to the newly-created 10^th Para­chute Division. The oversized Ukrai­n­ian SS replacement regiment had fol­lowed along during the move to Slovenia. This unit lingered on in Yugo­slavia until about mid-April and fought a few skirmishes against Tito’s partisans. It eventually joined the main body of the 14^th SS Division in Austria.

21. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS “Skanderbeg” (Albanische nr. 1)

July-October 1944

For a brief history of this division’s role in the Balkan theater during the sum­mer and autumn of 1944, see Sieg­runen, “The 21^st SS Mountain Division.”

23. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS “Kama” (Kroatische nr. 2)

August-November 1944

This Bosnian Moslem SS division was created in August 1944 by ex­pan­sion of the “Kroatien” Legion coupled with the transfer of a sizeable cadre from the 13^th SS Mountain Division. “Kama” spent most of its brief career in the Sava valley east of Brod. Most of the division’s time was spent in slowly readying itself for combat as opposed to actually under­taking any major anti-partisan operations against Tito’s guerrilla forces. Elements of the division may have been involved in fighting the advancing Soviets near Belgrade, but the bulk of the division remained west of Sabac to fill the vacuum left by the transfer of several Wehrmacht and SS units from Croatia and Bosnia into Serbia. Morale among the Bosnian rank and file (never high to begin with) took a marked turn for the worse following the desertion of the division’s iman (religious/spiritual leader) in November. At this point it was decided to disband “Kama.” Some of the reliable German and Moslem personnel in the division were sent to join “Handschar” while the remainder were eventually in­corporated into the newly-created 31^st SS “Batschka” Division.

24. Waffen-Gebirgs-Karstjäger-Division der SS

November 1944-end of war

The 24^th SS was established in Novem­ber 1944 by expansion of the SS Karstwehr Brigade. The division con­tained numerous Volksdeutsche recrui­ted from the South Tyrol, the area annexed by Italy from Austria-Hungary after World War I. “Karstjäger” spent the last six months of the war fighting parti­sans in Istria between the Tagliamento and Soca Rivers, although occasional ex­peditions were launched into the Dolo­mite and Julian Alps in the Alto Adige and Slovenia respectively. The division was hindered by the fact that it was es­sentially the only formation available to combat the guerrillas in these areas. On the other hand, despite the numerical superi­ority of the bandits in the rugged alpine regions, the Italian and Yugoslav Communists were violently at odds as to who would possess Istria in a post-war Europe and thus did not cooperate against the Germans. Throughout its his­tory (as battalion, brigade, and division) the 24^th SS was not a component of the regular Wehrmacht command chain of either Army Group C in Italy or Army Group F in Yugoslavia. Instead, “Karst­jäger” served under the control of the Senior SS and Police Leaders Karl Wolff (North Italy) and Odilo Globocnik (Tri­este and Adriatic) at various points dur­ing its brief career. It is not certain to which HSSuPF. command the 24^th SS belonged to near the end of the war, but if Wolff it is certainly ironic that a unit directly under his command would dis­regard his order to stop fighting once Wolff had completed negotiations for the surrender of all Axis forces in Italy and southern Austria. “Karstjäger” continued to fight partisans during and after the surrender talks and is noted for resisting elements of the British Eighth Army at Villach in southern Austria on 6 May 1945. The division, much weakened by the end of the war, was scattered throughout the Carnic Alps and thus small battlegroups were forced to capitu­late to whichever enemy was closest: Italian partisans, the British, or Tito.

Brigades and Independent Kampfgruppes

Leibstandarte SS “Adolf Hitler” Motorized Brigade

The premier Waffen-SS formation played an important role in the attack on the Balkans beginning 6 April 1941. At­tached to the XXXX Panzer Corps, the LAH brigade blitzed its way across Mace­donia and south past the Monastir Gap. Fighting splendidly against both moun­tainous terrain and a skilled, deter­mined enemy, the SS smashed through the Klidi Pass toward Kozani. Particu­larly fierce resistance was encountered during this battle from the 6^th Australian Division. Once the Aliakmon River de­fense line had been shattered, the bri­gade began rolling south through the Pin­dus Mountains of north central Greece. In what may have been Sepp Die­trich’s finest hour, General Tsola­ko­glou surrendered the entire Greek Epirus Army of 16 divisions to the LAH on 20 April. Later the brigade began a rapid advance from Ioannina across the Gulf of Corinth to the Peloponnesus, trapping several thousand British and Anzac troops at Kalamai. Following the evacua­tion of the IEF (Imperial Expeditionary Force), the LAH was moved first to Brno in Slovakia for a quick refitting and then to southern Poland for the great attack on the Soviet Union. (For a brief but no-nonsense account of the Leibstandarte’s role in the Balkan blitzkrieg, see Wein­gartner, pages 49-57.)

SS-Kampfgruppe “Ameiser”

September-October 1944

The “Ameiser” force consisted of the 17^th and 52^nd SS Cavalry Regi­ments from the newly-created 22^nd SS “Maria Theresa” Division. Sent into the Seven Mountains region of Rumania in late August, the kampfgruppe saw action at Timisoara against the Soviet 46^th Army. Elements of “Ameiser” were later drawn into the fighting for the Banat and the Backa near the Tisza River north of Belgrade. The kampfgruppe fought along­­side elements of the 4^th SS and (it would appear) the 13^th SS Divisions in this area. In October 1944 the SS cavalry group was moved north to parti­cipate in the rapidly escalating battle for eastern Hungary.

SS-Panzergruppe “Mühlenkamp”

September-October 1943

This battlegroup spent its brief Bal­kan tour of duty as part of Steiner’s III. SS Panzer Corps.

SS Karstwehr Mountain Brigade

May 1944[?]-November 1944

The brigade was formed by expan­sion of the SS Karso Scouts Mountain Battalion. It spent its time as the batta­lion had done: battling both Italian and Yugo­slav partisans in the mountains of Istria north of Trieste. Little else has sur­faced so far concerning this unit.

Cossack Plastun (Infantry) Brigade

November 1944-March 1945

This force arrived in the Balkans shortly after the 2^nd Cossack Cavalry Divi­sion in November 1944. The brigade appears to have served in the same area as the 2^nd (and 1^st) Cossack Divi­sions: in Croatia between Zagreb and the Drava River line and in the Bilo Gora. In late March 1945 the brigade became the 3^rd Cossack Infantry Division.

Russian SS Forces

Waffen-Gebirgs-Brigade “Krim” (tartarische Nr. 1)

Osttürkischer Waffen-Verband der SS

Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband der SS

Late 1944

To date very little has appeared con­cerning the history of these three brigade-sized Russian SS units, but it would appear that all three spent brief periods in the Balkans during the latter half of 1944. It is likely that the forces were deployed in Slovenia and Croatia to gain unit combat experience against the partisans. By spring 1945 all three brigades had been transferred to other fronts.

4. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzer­grenadier Brigade “Nederland”

September-December 1943

Like “Nordland” and the Mühlen­kamp Panzergruppe from “Wiking,” this brigade was a part of the III. SS Panzer Corps operating in Slovenia and Croatia.

16. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division “Reichsführer-SS” Kampfgruppe

October 1943-March 1944

Although portions of the brand-new 16^th SS Division were being formed at depots in Austria and Italy in the autumn of 1943, a considerable force of the divi­sion was established at Ljubljana. The par­tisans in Slovenia at this time had suffered heavy losses from drives laun­ched by the III. SS Panzer and LI. Moun­tain Corps, but a sizeable force re­mained intact not far from Ljubljana itself. Despite this enemy presence the con­tingent of the “RFSS” in Slovenia does not appear to have had its training/ reorganization seriously disturbed at any time. Although the 16^th SS battle group did eventually experience some fighting with partisans, this was on a local basis only. The main German anti-guerrilla ef­fort in Slovenia during the 1943-44 win­ter centered around the 367^th and 371^st Infantry Divisions, like “RFSS” newly-created units. In March 1944 the 16^th SS force in Slovenia was transferred to Hun­gary with the 8^th SS, 100^th Jäger, and 367^th Infantry Divisions as Opera­tion Margarethe was put into effect.

18. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzer-Grenadier-Division “Horst Wessel” Kampfgruppe

January-June 1944

The 1^st SS Motorized Brigade was trans­ferred from Russia to the Zagreb area in Croatia in January 1944 to un­dergo reorganization into the 18^th SS Divi­sion. Originally it was planned to form the division from SA volunteers but when this proved unfeasible it was decided to raise the bulk of the rank and file from Hungarian Volksdeutsche in­stead. As a result, the cadre was moved into the Backa region, a territory of the Voivodina awarded to Hungary after Yugo­slavia was dismembered in 1941. There followed a confusing period with ele­ments of the forming division de­ployed in the Backa, Austria, Croatia, and various locales in Hungary after Mar­garethe had taken place. The par­tisan movement never got off the ground in the Backa, but those portions of the 18^th SS in Croatia saw limited action against the guerrillas between March and June 1944. Part of the divi­sion fought near Zagreb, while a bat­ta­lion served with the 1^st Cossack Cavalry Division further to the southeast. By early summer all anti-partisan operations involving “HW” troops ended as the divi­sion moved to new depots in Hungary, Rumania and the Backa.

Regiments

SS-Kroatien-Legion

March-August 1944

This force was created in March 1944 due to an unexpected influx of Bos­nian Moslem volunteers willing to fight for the German cause. The regi­mental-sized unit served in the same general area as the 13^th SS Division but it is not noted for participating in any not­able anti-partisan operations during this time. In August 1944 the legion was ex­panded into the 23^rd SS “Kama” Divi­sion.

Serbisches SS-Freiwilligenkorps

May 1944[?]-end of war

The SFK was formed in late spring 1944 as a direct result of Dr. Ernst Kal­ten­brunner’s efforts to establish more pro-German regimes in Serbia and Al­bania in lieu of the vacillating policies of the Bulgarian politicians in Sofia. The regi­ment was formed from the more reli­able personnel of General Nedic’s forces (Serbian State Guard, Border Guard, etc.) and other volunteers. Little is known of the SFK’s combat history, but the regiment is believed to have spent a considerable period operating with the RSS force.

Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment der SS (Bulgarische nr. 1)

October 1944-January 1945

Although Hitler had hopes of raising two anti-Communist Bulgarian divisions, the lightning advance of the Soviets to Sofia prevented this plan from ever get­ting off the drawing board. In the end only a small number of pro-German Bul­garian military personnel were able to flee their country before the Soviets ar­rived. Some of these men, combined with a few loyal Bulgarian soldiers from the Fifth Army occupation force in Serbia, Macedonia, and Belomorie were formed into the Bulgarian SS Regiment. The formation fought in Macedonia and northern Greece with General F. W. Muller’s corps (11^th Luftwaffe Field and 22^nd Airborne Divisions) in the attempt to hold open the Vardar valley escape route for the remainder of Army Group E. The Bulgarian SS did not appear to particularly distinguish themselves in these battles. Eventually falling back with the rest of the German Army in Mace­donia, the regiment was trans­ferred to the Oder front in January 1945. It may have accompanied the V. SS Moun­tain Corps headquarters on this journey north.

Regimentgruppe 21.SS-Gebirgsjäger “Skanderbeg”

October 1944-end of war

For a brief history of this regiment (not to be confused with “Frundsberg’s” 21^st SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment), see “The 21^st SS Mountain Division,” in Siegrunen.

Battalions

Deutsch-Arabische Legion

July 1941-end of war

The DAL (also known as the 845^th Infantry Battalion) was formed in early summer 1941 following the estab­lish­ment of a German “sphere of interest” in southern Greece during 1941-43, divid­ing its duties between police security and guarding stretches of the Larisa-Athens railroad. Although the Arab Legion is not noted for participating in any sizeable actions against the fledg­ling Greek guerrilla armies, it is possible the battalion cooperated in “police ac­tions” with the Sonderverband 287, a Wehrmacht unit of Brandenberg com­mandos training in southern Greece for eventual deployment in Iraq. During the 1942-43 period the 845^th’s Middle East Arabs were joined by a few hundred North African Arabs (from Morocco, Algeria, etc.) friendly to the Axis cause. In September 1943 the legion seems to have assisted the German XXII. Moun­tain Corps in disarming the Italians on Corfu and other Ionian Sea islands. At the beginning of 1944 the force was shipped off to help garrison Rhodes and other strategically important islands in the Dodecanese. The Arab Legion sat out the remainder of the war here and marched into British-Greek captivity after the Reich’s final surrender in May 1945.

500. SS-Fallschirmjäger-Battalion

May-June 1944

Formation of this battalion began in September 1943 from volunteer officers and men from the SS disciplinary (penal) camps for minor offenders. Trained as an airborne unit, the battalion was landed by parachute and glider on Tito’s mountain headquarters near Drvar in the mountains of northwestern Bosnia on 25 May 1944 as part of Operation Ros­sel­sprung. The elusive partisan lea­der managed to slip out of his cave mo­ments before the SS paras arrived. The Germans did, however, manage to cap­ture partisan headquarters as well as Tito’s trousers. The battalion sub­se­quently suffered almost 70% casualties in holding off vicious partisan attacks for three days until the link-up with German ground troops was secured. In June the survivors of the battalion were trans­fer­red from Bosnia to Hungary where they were soon reorganized into the 600^th SS Parachute Battalion.

SS Karso Scouts Mountain Battalion

August 1943-May 1944[?]

This battalion was created along the lines of the four Wehrmacht high moun­tain (hochsgebirge) battalions formed to undertake military operations in the es­pe­cially rugged mountainous areas of oc­cupied Europe. The SS battalion, com­posed of picked German and Aus­trian personnel from the remote alpine regions, received special training in scal­ing and fighting amidst the karst, pecu­liar rock formations that comprised ex­tensive portions of the Dinaric, Julian, and Carnic Alps. The Karso Scouts took part in the disarming of Italian troops in the Udine area during Operation Kon­stantin in early September 1943. The battalion may have been attached to the Wehrmacht “Döhla” Mountain Brigade at this time. Battles then were fought for several months against both Italian and Yugoslav partisans in Istria, where the underground resistance movements had flared into open rebellion in the wake of the Italian surrender.

Soldiers of the 13th SS Division with a brochure about "Islam and Judaism", 1943.

Haj Amin al-Husseini, alongside SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen SS Karl-Gustav Sauberzweig, reviewing Bosnian SS volunteers from the 13. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS "Handschar" (kroatische Nr. 1) during their training in November 1943.

Members of the 13. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS "Handschar" (kroat. Nr. 1) during their training, 1943.

Members of the 13. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS "Handschar" (kroat. Nr. 1) on operations during May 1944.

Bulgarian Waffen-SS soldiers.

SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Felix Steiner.

SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Artur Phelps.

SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS Hellmuth von Pannwitz.

Soldiers of SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division “Prinz Eugen” with captured partisan.

Soldier from the Russiches Schutzkorps Serbien.

Oberfeldwebel Nicolas Balanowski of the 1. Kosaken-Kavalleriedivision der SS.

Members of the 21. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS “Skanderbeg” (Albanische nr. 1) with SS-Standartenführer Karl von Krempler somwhere in Kosovo in November 1943.

Formation of the 23. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS “Kama” (Kroatische nr. 2). Members of the 2nd Company, 56th Regiment, posing on a small hill near the Hungarian village of Kunbaja, during the division's training in Bačka. Standing in the front row in a light shirt is the company commander, SS-Untersturmführer Alfred Berger.

The SS-Freiwilligen-Karstwehr Battalion of the 24. Waffen-Gebirgs-Karstjäger-Division der SS conducting artillery training.

Swearing in of troops of the Serbisches SS-Freiwilligenkorps.

A black soldier of the Deutsch-Arabische Legion in Greece on 23 September 1943.

Soldiers of the Deutsch-Arabische Legion distributing hand grenades in Greece. Note the original Sonderverband 287 arm-patch on the German NCO.