. (SS-TV). (SiPo) until 1939; when folded into the. (SD). (Orpo) The Schutzstaffel ( SS; also stylized as with; German pronunciation: ( ); literally 'Protection Squadron') was a major organization under and the (NSDAP) in, and later throughout during. It began with a small guard unit known as the Saal-Schutz ('Hall Security') made up of NSDAP volunteers to provide security for party meetings in Munich.
In 1925 joined the unit, which had by then been reformed and given its final name. Under his direction (1929–45) it grew from a small paramilitary formation to one of the most powerful organizations in Nazi Germany. From 1929 until the regime's collapse in 1945, the SS was the foremost agency of security, surveillance, and terror within Germany and German-occupied Europe. The two main constituent groups were the (General SS) and (Armed SS). The Allgemeine SS was responsible for enforcing the and general policing, whereas the Waffen-SS consisted of combat units within Nazi Germany's military.
A third component of the SS, the (SS-TV), ran the and. Additional subdivisions of the SS included the and the (SD) organizations. They were tasked with the detection of actual or potential enemies of the Nazi state, the neutralization of any opposition, policing the German people for their commitment to, and providing domestic and foreign intelligence. The SS was the organization most responsible for the genocidal killing of in. Members of all of its branches committed and during World War II (1939–45).
The SS was also involved in commercial enterprises and exploited concentration camp inmates as slave labor. After Nazi Germany's defeat, the SS and the NSDAP were judged by the at Nuremberg to be criminal organizations., the highest-ranking surviving SS main department chief, was found guilty of crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials and hanged in 1946.
Contents. Origins Forerunner of the SS By 1923, the (NSDAP) led by had created a small volunteer guard unit known as the Saal-Schutz (Hall Security) to provide security at their meetings in. The same year, Hitler ordered the formation of a small bodyguard unit dedicated to his personal service.
He wished it to be separate from the 'suspect mass' of the party, including the paramilitary ('Storm Battalion'; SA), which he did not trust. The new formation was designated the Stabswache (Staff Guard). Originally the unit was composed of eight men, commanded by and, and was modeled after the, a of the time. The unit was renamed (Shock Troops) in May 1923. A commander of the during the, 1943 On 5 July 1943, the Germans launched the, an offensive designed to eliminate the salient.
The Waffen-SS by this time had been expanded to 12 divisions, and most took part in the battle. Due to stiff Soviet resistance, Hitler halted the attack by the evening of 12 July.
On 17 July he called off the operation and ordered a withdrawal. Thereafter, the Germans were forced onto the defensive as the began the liberation of Western Russia. The losses incurred by the Waffen-SS and the Wehrmacht during the Battle of Kursk occurred nearly simultaneously with the, opening a two-front war for Germany. Normandy landings Alarmed by the raids on and in 1942, Hitler had ordered the construction of fortifications he called the all along the Atlantic coast, from Spain to Norway, to protect against an expected Allied invasion. Concrete gun emplacements were constructed at strategic points along the coast, and wooden stakes, metal tripods, mines, and large anti-tank obstacles were placed on the beaches to delay the approach of landing craft and impede the movement of tanks. In addition to several static infantry divisions, eleven panzer and Panzergrenadier divisions were deployed nearby. Four of these formations were Waffen-SS divisions.
In addition, the SS-Das Reich was located in, the LSSAH was in Belgium refitting after fighting in the Soviet Union, and the newly formed panzer division, consisting of 17- and 18-year-old members supported by combat veterans and experienced, was stationed west of Paris. The creation of the SS-Hitlerjugend was a sign of Hitler's desperation for more troops, especially ones with unquestioning obedience. Troops of the Waffen-SS guard the in, 21 March 1944. The took place beginning 6 June 1944. Under Generalmajor, positioned south of, was the only panzer division close to the beaches.
The division included 146 tanks and 50, plus supporting infantry and artillery. At 02:00, Generalleutnant Wilhelm Richter, commander of the, ordered 21st Panzer Division into position to counter-attack.
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However, as the division was part of the armoured reserve, Feuchtinger was obliged to seek clearance from before he could commit his formation. Feuchtinger did not receive orders until nearly 09:00, but in the meantime on his own initiative he put together a battle group (including tanks) to fight the British forces east of the. SS-Hitlerjugend began to deploy in the afternoon of 6 June, with its units undertaking defensive actions the following day.
They also took part in the (June–August 1944). On 7–8 and 17 June, members of the SS-Hitlerjugend shot and killed twenty Canadian prisoners of war in the. The Allies continued to make progress in the liberation of France, and on 4 August Hitler ordered a counter-offensive from towards. The operation included LSSAH, Das Reich, and, with support from infantry and elements of the under. These forces were to mount an offensive near and drive west through Avranches to the coast. The Allied forces were prepared for this offensive, and an air assault on the combined German units proved devastating.
On 21 August, 50,000 German troops, including most of the LSSAH, were encircled by the Allies in the. Remnants of the LSSAH which escaped were withdrawn to Germany for refitting. On 25 August, and the last of the German forces withdrew over the by the end of August, ending the Normandy campaign. Battle for Germany Waffen-SS units which had survived the summer campaigns were withdrawn from the front line to refit. Two of them, the and, did so in the region of Holland in early September 1944. Coincidentally, on 17 September, the Allies launched in the same area, a combined airborne and land operation designed to seize control of the lower. The 9th and 10th Panzers were among the units that repulsed the attack.
See also: Beginning in 1940, Himmler opened up Waffen-SS recruiting to ethnic Germans that were not German citizens. In March 1941, the SS Main Office established the Germanische Leitstelle (Germanic Guidance Office) to establish Waffen-SS recruiting offices in Nazi-occupied Europe. The majority of the resulting foreign Waffen-SS units wore a distinctive national collar patch and preceded their SS rank titles with the prefix Waffen instead of SS. Volunteers from Scandinavian countries filled the ranks of two divisions, the SS-Wiking and. Swiss German speakers joined in substantial numbers.
Belgian Flemings joined Dutchmen to form the legion, and their Walloon compatriots joined the. By the end of 1943 about a quarter of the SS were ethnic Germans from across Europe, and by June 1944, half the Waffen-SS were foreign nationals.
16 March 2008 Following Nazi Germany's collapse, the SS ceased to exist. Numerous members of the SS, many of them still committed Nazis, remained at large in Germany and across Europe. On 21 May 1945, the British captured Himmler, who was in disguise and using a false passport. At an internment camp near, he committed suicide by biting down on a cyanide capsule. Several other leading members of the SS fled, but some were quickly captured. Kaltenbrunner, chief of the RSHA and the highest-ranking surviving SS main department chief upon Himmler's suicide, was captured and arrested in the.
He was among the 24 defendants put on trial at the in 1945–46. Some SS members were subject to summary execution, torture, and beatings at the hands of freed prisoners, displaced persons, or Allied soldiers. American soldiers of the 157th Regiment, who entered the concentration camp at Dachau in April 1945 and saw the human deprivation and cruelty committed by the SS,. On 15 April 1945, British troops entered Bergen-Belsen. They placed the SS guards on starvation rations, made them work without breaks, forced them to deal with the remaining corpses, and stabbed them with bayonets or struck them with their rifle butts if they slowed their pace.
Some members of the delivered captured SS camp guards to displaced persons camps, where they knew they would be subject to summary execution. International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg., pp. 14, 16., pp. 26–29., pp. 17, 19.
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