11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland
Encyclopedia
The 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, also known as Kampfverband Waräger, Germanische-Freiwilligen-Division, SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 11 (Germanische) or 11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland, was a Waffen SS, Panzergrenadier
division recruited from foreign volunteers. It saw action in Yugoslavia and on the Eastern Front during World War II
.
The 5 SS Wiking, however, was composed of enlisted men who were predominantly Nordic
volunteers, commanded by German officers. In February 1943, Hitler ordered the creation of an SS Division which would be officered by foreign volunteers. The Wiking's SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Nordland, a Scandinavian volunteer regiment, was pulled out of the line to be used as a cadre for the new division. The division was originally to receive the name Waräger (Varangians
) but the name was rejected by Hitler himself. It was decided that the division was to continue using the already-existing regiment’s name, Nordland. The Nordland's two Panzergrenadier regiments were also given honour titles, with reference to the location where the majority of the regiment's recruits were from, SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 23 Norge (Norwegians
) and SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 24 Danmark (Danes
).
Despite most volunteers hailing from Scandinavia, the Nordland carried the widest range of nationalities found in any single division. By the end of the war, Danish, Hungarian, Dutch
, Norwegian, Finnish, French, Romania
n, Spanish
, Swedish
, Swiss
and British volunteers and Estonia
n conscripts had either served in the division or been attached to it.
After its formation in Germany, the division was attached to the III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps
under the command of Obergruppenführer
Felix Steiner
and was moved to Croatia
for training and to complete its formation. Soon after its arrival, the SS Volunteer Legion Netherlands was attached to the division and it began combat operations against Josip Broz Tito
's partisans
. In late November, the Danmark regiment was involved in heavy fighting with a force of 5,000 partisans near Glina
. During this period, the Nordland's Panzer Battalion, SS Panzer Battalion 11, was given the honour title Hermann von Salza
in honour of the fourth Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights
(b.1179-d.1239).
In January 1944, orders were received to move the division to the Oranienbaum
front near Leningrad
, under the command of Generalfeldmarschall
Walter Model's
Army Group North
.
attacks to break the German encirclement of the city. After they escaped from being surrounded, the Nordland effected a fighting withdrawal over 60 kilometres to Oranienbaum. On 14 January, the Soviet Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha Offensive
succeeded in collapsing the German front, and the Nordland again fought its way back
to the city of Narva
in Estonia
, where a new line of defence was being organized. In early February, Soviet forces began their attacks towards the city and the Battle of Narva
began. The battle has come to be known as the Battle of the European SS because a large proportion of the defenders were European volunteers. Joining the Nordland were the formations from all over Europe. The Dutchman
of the 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Nederland, the Walloons
of the 5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien
, the Flemings of the 6th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck
, the Estonia
ns of the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian), as well as regular German formations. Altogether, the defenders of the Narva River
line amounted to 50,000 men. Against them, the Soviets threw 200,000 men of the Leningrad Front
.
The Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive
was launched on 13 February, with Soviet forces attacking right across the line, as well as launching an amphibious assault from the Baltic
near Mereküla. The Nordland units were among the forces that annihilated the Soviet landing force. Over the next five months, the Waffen SS held out against the Soviet attacks, the Nordland seeing very heavy fighting. On 6 March, Soviet aircraft managed to destroy the Narva bridge in the Battle for Narva Bridgehead, cutting off the troops on the far side of the river in Ivangorod
. The men of Nordland's Pioneer Battalion quickly rebuilt the bridge while under heavy fire. The launching of Operation Bagration in June 1944 inspired the Narva Offensive
. The highway bridge over the Narva was blown up and the defenders were moved 16 kilometres west to the Tannenberg Line.
From 27 July, Nordland fought alongside the 20th SS Grenadier Division (1st Estonian), Sturmbrigade Langemarck and Kampfgruppe
Strachwitz
from the Grossdeutschland Division to keep control of Orphanage Hill. Despite the death of the Nordland Division's commander, Gruppenführer
Fritz von Scholz
killed in action and the subsequent deaths of the commanders of the Norge and Danmark Regiments, the division helped to grimly hold onto the Orphanage Hill and destroyed 113 tanks between 27 and 29 July.
On 4 August, men from Penal
Company 103, were reinstated and absorbed into the Danmark Regiment. The III SS Panzer Corps bled itself white defending the Tannenberg Line, until on September, the headquarters of the Army Group North
pulled it back into Latvia
to defend the capital Riga
. The city fell on 12 October, and by the end of the month, all Waffen SS units had been withdrawn into what was known as the Courland Pocket
.
From late October to December 1944, the Nordland fought fierce defensive battles in the pocket, and by early December the divisional strength was down to 9,000 men. In January 1945, the division was ordered to the Baltic port of Libau
, where it was shipped out of the pocket to Pomerania
. The division disembarked at Stettin, with the Panzer Battalion Hermann von Salza being sent on to Gotenhafen
for refitting. In late January, Nordland was assigned to Steiner's 11th SS Panzer Army
, which was now forming in anticipation of the defence of Berlin.
-sized British Free Corps
, a British Waffen-SS formation.
On 16 February, the division was ordered onto the offensive as a part of Operation Sonnenwende, the operation to destroy a Soviet salient and to relieve the troops besieged in the town of Arnswalde. The offensive had been conceived by Generaloberst Heinz Guderian
as a massed assault all along the front but had then been reduced by Hitler to the level of a local counter-attack. Initially, Nordland's attack achieved a total tactical surprise and the division soon advanced to the banks of Lake Ihna in all sectors. However, as the Soviet forces realized what was happening, resistance grew stiffer and the advance began to slow. On 17 February, the division reached Arnswalde and relieved the exhausted garrison. Over the next few days the town was secured and the surviving civilians were evacuated. Soon, however, strong Soviet counter-attacks halted the divisions advance, and Steiner called off the attack, pulling the III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps back to the Stargard
and Stettin on the northern Oder River.
By the 21 February the conclusion was drawn that no more useful gains could be made against an increasingly powerful enemy without incurring undue casualties, so Steiner ordered a general withdrawal back to the north bank of the Ihna. Between the 23 and 28 February, III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps made a slow withdrawal to the area around Stargard and Stettin on the northern Oder River.
The Soviet offensive of 1 March, pushed Nordland along with the rest of the depleted III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps before them. In a desperate fighting withdrawal, the Nordland and the rest of III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps inflicted heavy casualties on the Soviet forces, but by 4 March, the division was falling back to Altdamm, the last defensive position east of the Oder itself. During the next two weeks, Nordland grimly held onto the town, inflicting and suffering heavy casualties.
On the 19 March, the battered defenders fell back behind the Oder, the Danmark and Norge regiments had fought virtually to the last man. The division was ordered back to the area west of Schwedt
-Bad Freinwalde for a refit.
During this time, the 33rd Waffen-Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne, a 300 man unit of French SS volunteers and the Spanish Volunteer Company of the SS No.101, a company of Spanish SS men were attached to the division. The division's strength was replenished with the addition of several vehicles and some personnel from the Luftwaffe
and Kriegsmarine
.
From the 17 to the 20 April the division was involved in constant combat all along its front, and was pushed back into the city itself. On 24 April, the main Soviet assault was towards the Treptow Park area, where the rest of the Pioneer battalion and the few remaining Tiger tanks of Panzer battalion Hermann von Salza were defending. Obersturmbannführer
Kausch led the few tanks and armoured vehicles in a counter attack and succeeded in temporarily halting the enemy advance at the cost of some of his last vehicles. However, by midday, the 5th Shock Army was able to advance again. A later counter-attack by three assault guns was stopped by a Soviet soldier named Shulzhenok with three captured German Panzerfaust
.
On 25 April, Brigadeführer Gustav Krukenberg
was appointed the commander of (Berlin) Defence Sector C which included the Nordland Division, whose previous commander Joachim Ziegler
was relieved of his command the same day. The arrival of the French SS men bolstered the Nordland Division whose "Norge" and "Danmark" Panzergrenadier regiments had been decimated in the fighting. They both equaled roughly a battalion.
By 26 April, with Neukölln heavily penetrated by Soviet combat groups, Krukenberg prepared fallback positions for Sector C defenders around Hermannplatz. He moved his headquarters into the opera house. As the Nordland Division fell back towards Hermannplatz the French SS and one-hundred Hitler Youth attached to their group destroyed 14 Soviet tanks with panzerfausts, and one machine gun position by the Halensee bridge managed to hold up any Soviet advances in that area for 48 hours. The Nordlands remaining armour, eight Tiger tanks and several assault guns, were ordered to take up positions in the Tiergarten
, because although the two divisions of Weidling's LVI Panzer Corps could slow the Soviet advance they could not stop it.
On 27 April, after a spirited but futile defence, the remnants of Nordland were pushed back into the central government district (Zitadelle sector) in Defence sectore Z. There Krukenberg's Nordland headquarters was a carriage in the Stadtmitte U-Bahn station. Thereafter, the defenders of the government district were pushed back into the Reichstag
and Reich Chancellery
. For the next few days, the few survivors of the division held out against overwhelming odds. On 30 April, after receiving news of Hitler's suicide, orders were issued that those who could do so were to break out. Prior to the breakout Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke
briefed all commanders that could be reached within the Zitadelle sector about the events as to Hitler's death and the planned breakout. The break out from the Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker
started at 2300 hours on 1 May. There were ten main groups that attempted to head north west towards Mecklenburg.
Fierce fighting continued all around especially in the Weidendammer Bridge
area. What was left of the Nordland Division under Krukenberg fought hard in that area but Soviet artillery and anti-tank guns dispatched the groups. The Nordlands last Tiger was knocked out attempting to cross the Weidendammer Bridge. Others such as the 3rd (Swedish) Company of the Reconnaissance battalion fought a desperate and ultimately useless battle to escape the surrounding Soviets, as described by Erik Wallin in the book 'Twilight of the Gods'. Several very small groups managed to reach the Americans at the Elbe
's west bank, but most (including Mohnke's group and men from Krukenberg's group) could not make it through the Soviet rings. Krukenberg made it to Dahlem, where he hid out in an apartment for a week but then had to surrender.
On 2 May hostilities officially ended by order of Helmuth Weidling
, Kommandant of the Defence Area Berlin and General of Artillery. All remaining pockets of resistance were mopped up by the Red Army and the 80,000 or so Prisoners of War were marched east. Many SS men, loyal to their oath to Hitler, had already either fought to the death or taken their own lives. Of the few survivors who reached the Western Allies' lines, most were handed over to their respective countries and tried as traitors, some serving prison time and a few even receiving the death penalty.
Panzergrenadier
is a German term for motorised or mechanized infantry, as introduced during World War II. It is used in the armies of Austria, Chile, Germany and Switzerland.-Forerunners:...
division recruited from foreign volunteers. It saw action in Yugoslavia and on the Eastern Front during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Concept and formation
By 1943, the foreign formations of the Waffen SS had an established record in combat. The 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking, a volunteer division, had been in action since 1940.The 5 SS Wiking, however, was composed of enlisted men who were predominantly Nordic
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
volunteers, commanded by German officers. In February 1943, Hitler ordered the creation of an SS Division which would be officered by foreign volunteers. The Wiking's SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Nordland, a Scandinavian volunteer regiment, was pulled out of the line to be used as a cadre for the new division. The division was originally to receive the name Waräger (Varangians
Varangians
The Varangians or Varyags , sometimes referred to as Variagians, were people from the Baltic region, most often associated with Vikings, who from the 9th to 11th centuries ventured eastwards and southwards along the rivers of Eastern Europe, through what is now Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.According...
) but the name was rejected by Hitler himself. It was decided that the division was to continue using the already-existing regiment’s name, Nordland. The Nordland's two Panzergrenadier regiments were also given honour titles, with reference to the location where the majority of the regiment's recruits were from, SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 23 Norge (Norwegians
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
) and SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 24 Danmark (Danes
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
).
Despite most volunteers hailing from Scandinavia, the Nordland carried the widest range of nationalities found in any single division. By the end of the war, Danish, Hungarian, Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Norwegian, Finnish, French, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n, Spanish
Blue Legion
The Blue Legion was officially called the Legión Española de Voluntarios was created from 1,500 pro-Fascist volunteers who remained behind at the Eastern Front, after most of the Spanish Blue Division had been repatriated in March 1944, because Francisco Franco had started negotiations with the...
, Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and British volunteers and Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
n conscripts had either served in the division or been attached to it.
After its formation in Germany, the division was attached to the III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps
III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps
The III SS Panzer Corps was a German Waffen-SS armoured corps which saw action on the Eastern Front during World War II. The The III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps (III. (germanische) SS-Panzerkorps) was a German Waffen-SS armoured corps which saw action on the Eastern Front during World War II. The...
under the command of Obergruppenführer
Obergruppenführer
Obergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...
Felix Steiner
Felix Steiner
Felix Martin Julius Steiner was a German Reichswehr and Waffen-SS officer who served in both World War I and World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords...
and was moved to Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
for training and to complete its formation. Soon after its arrival, the SS Volunteer Legion Netherlands was attached to the division and it began combat operations against Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
's partisans
Partisans (Yugoslavia)
The Yugoslav Partisans, or simply the Partisans were a Communist-led World War II anti-fascist resistance movement in Yugoslavia...
. In late November, the Danmark regiment was involved in heavy fighting with a force of 5,000 partisans near Glina
Glina, Croatia
Glina is a small town in central Croatia, located southwest of Petrinja and Sisak in the Sisak-Moslavina county. It lies on the eponymous river of Glina.-History:...
. During this period, the Nordland's Panzer Battalion, SS Panzer Battalion 11, was given the honour title Hermann von Salza
Hermann von Salza
Hermann von Salza was the fourth Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1210 to 1239...
in honour of the fourth Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
(b.1179-d.1239).
In January 1944, orders were received to move the division to the Oranienbaum
Oranienbaum, Russia
Oranienbaum is a Russian royal residence, located on the Gulf of Finland west of St. Petersburg. The Palace ensemble and the city centre are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.-History:...
front near Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, under the command of Generalfeldmarschall
Generalfeldmarschall
Field Marshal or Generalfeldmarschall in German, was a rank in the armies of several German states and the Holy Roman Empire; in the Austrian Empire, the rank Feldmarschall was used...
Walter Model's
Walter Model
Otto Moritz Walter Model was a German general and later field marshal during World War II. He is noted for his defensive battles in the latter half of the war, mostly on the Eastern Front but also in the west, and for his close association with Adolf Hitler and Nazism...
Army Group North
Army Group North
Army Group North was a German strategic echelon formation commanding a grouping of Field Armies subordinated to the OKH during World War II. The army group coordinated the operations of attached separate army corps, reserve formations, rear services and logistics.- Formation :The Army Group North...
.
Leningrad to Narva
Nordland, along with the rest of III. (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps arrived at the front near Leningrad and was almost immediately put into action against the Red ArmyRed Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
attacks to break the German encirclement of the city. After they escaped from being surrounded, the Nordland effected a fighting withdrawal over 60 kilometres to Oranienbaum. On 14 January, the Soviet Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha Offensive
Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha Offensive
The Krasnoye Selo – Ropsha Offensive, also known as Operation January Thunder and Neva-2 was a campaign between the Soviet Leningrad Front and the German 18th Army fought for the western approaches of Leningrad in 14–30 January 1944....
succeeded in collapsing the German front, and the Nordland again fought its way back
Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive
This is a sub-article to Battle of Narva.The Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive was a campaign between the Soviet Leningrad Front and the German 18th Army fought for the eastern coast of Lake Peipus and the western banks of the Narva River from 1 February till 1 March 1944...
to the city of Narva
Narva
Narva is the third largest city in Estonia. It is located at the eastern extreme point of Estonia, by the Russian border, on the Narva River which drains Lake Peipus.-Early history:...
in Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, where a new line of defence was being organized. In early February, Soviet forces began their attacks towards the city and the Battle of Narva
Battle of Narva (1944)
The Battle of Narva was a military campaign between the German Army Detachment "Narwa" and the Soviet Leningrad Front fought for possession of the strategically important Narva Isthmus on 2 February – 10 August 1944 during World War II....
began. The battle has come to be known as the Battle of the European SS because a large proportion of the defenders were European volunteers. Joining the Nordland were the formations from all over Europe. The Dutchman
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
of the 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Nederland, the Walloons
Walloons
Walloons are a French-speaking people who live in Belgium, principally in Wallonia. Walloons are a distinctive community within Belgium, important historical and anthropological criteria bind Walloons to the French people. More generally, the term also refers to the inhabitants of the Walloon...
of the 5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien
5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien
The 28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Wallonien was formed from the 5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien which was a Belgian Waffen SS volunteer brigade comprising volunteers of Walloon background...
, the Flemings of the 6th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck
6th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck
The 27th SS Volunteer Division Langemarck was a German Waffen-SS volunteer division comprising volunteers of Flemish background. It saw action on the Eastern Front during World War II....
, the Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
ns of the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian), as well as regular German formations. Altogether, the defenders of the Narva River
Narva River
The Narva is a river flowing into the Baltic Sea, the largest river in Estonia. Draining Lake Peipsi, the river forms the border of Estonia and Russia and flows through the towns of Narva/Ivangorod and Narva-Jõesuu into Narva Bay. Though the river is only 77 km long, in terms of volume...
line amounted to 50,000 men. Against them, the Soviets threw 200,000 men of the Leningrad Front
Leningrad Front
The Leningrad Front was first formed on August 27, 1941, by dividing the Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and Karelian Front, during the German approach on Leningrad .-History:...
.
The Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive
Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive
This is a sub-article to Battle of Narva.The Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive was a campaign between the Soviet Leningrad Front and the German 18th Army fought for the eastern coast of Lake Peipus and the western banks of the Narva River from 1 February till 1 March 1944...
was launched on 13 February, with Soviet forces attacking right across the line, as well as launching an amphibious assault from the Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
near Mereküla. The Nordland units were among the forces that annihilated the Soviet landing force. Over the next five months, the Waffen SS held out against the Soviet attacks, the Nordland seeing very heavy fighting. On 6 March, Soviet aircraft managed to destroy the Narva bridge in the Battle for Narva Bridgehead, cutting off the troops on the far side of the river in Ivangorod
Ivangorod
Ivangorod is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated on the right bank of the Narva River by the Russian-Estonian border, west of St. Petersburg. Population: The town is known for the Ivangorod fortress....
. The men of Nordland's Pioneer Battalion quickly rebuilt the bridge while under heavy fire. The launching of Operation Bagration in June 1944 inspired the Narva Offensive
Narva Offensive (July 1944)
This is a sub-article to Battle of Narva.The Narva Offensive was a campaign fought between the German army detachment "Narwa" and the Soviet Leningrad Front for the city of Narva in 24–30 July 1944....
. The highway bridge over the Narva was blown up and the defenders were moved 16 kilometres west to the Tannenberg Line.
Tannenberg Line - Courland Pocket
The Tannenberg Line anchored on three strategic hills. Running west to east, these were known as Hill 69.9, Grenadier Hill and Orphanage Hill. From Orphanage Hill, the rear side of the town of Narva could be protected.From 27 July, Nordland fought alongside the 20th SS Grenadier Division (1st Estonian), Sturmbrigade Langemarck and Kampfgruppe
Kampfgruppe
In military history and military slang, the German term Kampfgruppe can refer to a combat formation of any kind, but most usually to that employed by the German Wehrmacht and its allies during World War II and, to a lesser extent, in World War I...
Strachwitz
Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz von Gross-Zauche und Camminetz
Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz von Groß-Zauche und Camminetz was a German Army officer. Strachwitz saw action in World War I, but rose to fame for his command of armored forces in World War II.-Early life:...
from the Grossdeutschland Division to keep control of Orphanage Hill. Despite the death of the Nordland Division's commander, Gruppenführer
Gruppenführer
Gruppenführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party, first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA.-SS rank:...
Fritz von Scholz
Fritz von Scholz
Fritz von Scholz, Edler von Rerancze, known as Fritz von Scholz was an Austrian Austro-Hungarian Army and later German Waffen SS officer who served in both the First and Second World Wars....
killed in action and the subsequent deaths of the commanders of the Norge and Danmark Regiments, the division helped to grimly hold onto the Orphanage Hill and destroyed 113 tanks between 27 and 29 July.
On 4 August, men from Penal
Penal military unit
Penal battalions, penal companies, etc., are military formations consisting of convicted persons for which military service in such units was either the assigned punishment or an alternative to imprisonment or the death penalty.-Nazi Germany:...
Company 103, were reinstated and absorbed into the Danmark Regiment. The III SS Panzer Corps bled itself white defending the Tannenberg Line, until on September, the headquarters of the Army Group North
Army Group North
Army Group North was a German strategic echelon formation commanding a grouping of Field Armies subordinated to the OKH during World War II. The army group coordinated the operations of attached separate army corps, reserve formations, rear services and logistics.- Formation :The Army Group North...
pulled it back into Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
to defend the capital Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
. The city fell on 12 October, and by the end of the month, all Waffen SS units had been withdrawn into what was known as the Courland Pocket
Courland Pocket
The Courland Pocket referred to the Red Army's blockade or encirclement of Axis forces on the Courland peninsula during the closing months of World War II...
.
From late October to December 1944, the Nordland fought fierce defensive battles in the pocket, and by early December the divisional strength was down to 9,000 men. In January 1945, the division was ordered to the Baltic port of Libau
Liepaja
Liepāja ; ), is a republican city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea directly at 21°E. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme Region of Latvia, the third largest city in Latvia after Riga and Daugavpils and an important ice-free port...
, where it was shipped out of the pocket to Pomerania
Pomerania
Pomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East...
. The division disembarked at Stettin, with the Panzer Battalion Hermann von Salza being sent on to Gotenhafen
Gdynia
Gdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk and suburban communities, which together...
for refitting. In late January, Nordland was assigned to Steiner's 11th SS Panzer Army
11th SS Panzer Army
The 11th SS Panzer Army was not much more than a paper army formed between November 1944 and February 1945 by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler while he was commander of Army Group Vistula....
, which was now forming in anticipation of the defence of Berlin.
East Prussia and Pomerania
In early February, the refitted Panzer Battalion returned to the division, and a trickle of reinforcements began arriving. Among these units was the platoonPlatoon
A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...
-sized British Free Corps
British Free Corps
During World War II, the British Free Corps was a unit of the consisting of British and Dominion prisoners of war who had been recruited by the Nazis. The unit was originally known as The Legion of St...
, a British Waffen-SS formation.
On 16 February, the division was ordered onto the offensive as a part of Operation Sonnenwende, the operation to destroy a Soviet salient and to relieve the troops besieged in the town of Arnswalde. The offensive had been conceived by Generaloberst Heinz Guderian
Heinz Guderian
Heinz Wilhelm Guderian was a German general during World War II. He was a pioneer in the development of armored warfare, and was the leading proponent of tanks and mechanization in the Wehrmacht . Germany's panzer forces were raised and organized under his direction as Chief of Mobile Forces...
as a massed assault all along the front but had then been reduced by Hitler to the level of a local counter-attack. Initially, Nordland's attack achieved a total tactical surprise and the division soon advanced to the banks of Lake Ihna in all sectors. However, as the Soviet forces realized what was happening, resistance grew stiffer and the advance began to slow. On 17 February, the division reached Arnswalde and relieved the exhausted garrison. Over the next few days the town was secured and the surviving civilians were evacuated. Soon, however, strong Soviet counter-attacks halted the divisions advance, and Steiner called off the attack, pulling the III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps back to the Stargard
Stargard Szczecinski
Stargard Szczeciński is a city in northwestern Poland, with a population of 71,017 . Situated on the Ina River it is the capital of Stargard County and since 1999 has been in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship; prior to that it was in the Szczecin Voivodeship...
and Stettin on the northern Oder River.
By the 21 February the conclusion was drawn that no more useful gains could be made against an increasingly powerful enemy without incurring undue casualties, so Steiner ordered a general withdrawal back to the north bank of the Ihna. Between the 23 and 28 February, III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps made a slow withdrawal to the area around Stargard and Stettin on the northern Oder River.
The Soviet offensive of 1 March, pushed Nordland along with the rest of the depleted III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps before them. In a desperate fighting withdrawal, the Nordland and the rest of III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps inflicted heavy casualties on the Soviet forces, but by 4 March, the division was falling back to Altdamm, the last defensive position east of the Oder itself. During the next two weeks, Nordland grimly held onto the town, inflicting and suffering heavy casualties.
On the 19 March, the battered defenders fell back behind the Oder, the Danmark and Norge regiments had fought virtually to the last man. The division was ordered back to the area west of Schwedt
Schwedt
Schwedt is a city in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the largest city of the district Uckermark near the Oder river on the border with Poland.-Overview:...
-Bad Freinwalde for a refit.
During this time, the 33rd Waffen-Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne, a 300 man unit of French SS volunteers and the Spanish Volunteer Company of the SS No.101, a company of Spanish SS men were attached to the division. The division's strength was replenished with the addition of several vehicles and some personnel from the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
and Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
.
The final battle
On 16 April, Nordland was ordered back into the line east of Berlin. Despite recent replenishment, the division was still grossly understrength and, with the exception of the French and Spanish, many of the new recruits had little if any combat experience.From the 17 to the 20 April the division was involved in constant combat all along its front, and was pushed back into the city itself. On 24 April, the main Soviet assault was towards the Treptow Park area, where the rest of the Pioneer battalion and the few remaining Tiger tanks of Panzer battalion Hermann von Salza were defending. Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...
Kausch led the few tanks and armoured vehicles in a counter attack and succeeded in temporarily halting the enemy advance at the cost of some of his last vehicles. However, by midday, the 5th Shock Army was able to advance again. A later counter-attack by three assault guns was stopped by a Soviet soldier named Shulzhenok with three captured German Panzerfaust
Panzerfaust
The Panzerfaust was an inexpensive, recoilless German anti-tank weapon of World War II. It consisted of a small, disposable preloaded launch tube firing a high explosive anti-tank warhead, operated by a single soldier...
.
On 25 April, Brigadeführer Gustav Krukenberg
Gustav Krukenberg
Dr Gustav Krukenberg was Brigadeführer of the Charlemagne Division of the Waffen-SS and further commander of its remains and the SS Division Nordland during the Battle of Berlin in April 1945....
was appointed the commander of (Berlin) Defence Sector C which included the Nordland Division, whose previous commander Joachim Ziegler
Joachim Ziegler
Joachim Ziegler was a Brigadeführer and Major General in the Waffen SS during World War II and the commander of the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, who was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves...
was relieved of his command the same day. The arrival of the French SS men bolstered the Nordland Division whose "Norge" and "Danmark" Panzergrenadier regiments had been decimated in the fighting. They both equaled roughly a battalion.
By 26 April, with Neukölln heavily penetrated by Soviet combat groups, Krukenberg prepared fallback positions for Sector C defenders around Hermannplatz. He moved his headquarters into the opera house. As the Nordland Division fell back towards Hermannplatz the French SS and one-hundred Hitler Youth attached to their group destroyed 14 Soviet tanks with panzerfausts, and one machine gun position by the Halensee bridge managed to hold up any Soviet advances in that area for 48 hours. The Nordlands remaining armour, eight Tiger tanks and several assault guns, were ordered to take up positions in the Tiergarten
Tiergarten
Tiergarten is a locality within the borough of Mitte, in central Berlin . Notable for the great and homonymous urban park, before German reunification, it was a part of West Berlin...
, because although the two divisions of Weidling's LVI Panzer Corps could slow the Soviet advance they could not stop it.
On 27 April, after a spirited but futile defence, the remnants of Nordland were pushed back into the central government district (Zitadelle sector) in Defence sectore Z. There Krukenberg's Nordland headquarters was a carriage in the Stadtmitte U-Bahn station. Thereafter, the defenders of the government district were pushed back into the Reichstag
Reichstag (building)
The Reichstag building is a historical edifice in Berlin, Germany, constructed to house the Reichstag, parliament of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Reichstag until 1933, when it was severely damaged in a fire. During the Nazi era, the few meetings of members of the...
and Reich Chancellery
Reich Chancellery
The Reich Chancellery was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany in the period of the German Reich from 1871 to 1945...
. For the next few days, the few survivors of the division held out against overwhelming odds. On 30 April, after receiving news of Hitler's suicide, orders were issued that those who could do so were to break out. Prior to the breakout Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke
Wilhelm Mohnke
SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke was one of the original 120 members of the SS-Staff Guard "Berlin" formed in March 1933. From those ranks, Mohnke rose to become one of Adolf Hitler's last remaining generals.Mohnke saw action with the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler in France, Poland...
briefed all commanders that could be reached within the Zitadelle sector about the events as to Hitler's death and the planned breakout. The break out from the Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker
Führerbunker
The Führerbunker was located beneath Hitler's New Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex which was constructed in two major phases, one part in 1936 and the other in 1943...
started at 2300 hours on 1 May. There were ten main groups that attempted to head north west towards Mecklenburg.
Fierce fighting continued all around especially in the Weidendammer Bridge
Weidendammer Bridge
The Weidendammer Bridge is an long bridge where the Friedrichstrasse crosses the Spree river in the central Mitte district of Berlin, Germany...
area. What was left of the Nordland Division under Krukenberg fought hard in that area but Soviet artillery and anti-tank guns dispatched the groups. The Nordlands last Tiger was knocked out attempting to cross the Weidendammer Bridge. Others such as the 3rd (Swedish) Company of the Reconnaissance battalion fought a desperate and ultimately useless battle to escape the surrounding Soviets, as described by Erik Wallin in the book 'Twilight of the Gods'. Several very small groups managed to reach the Americans at the Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
's west bank, but most (including Mohnke's group and men from Krukenberg's group) could not make it through the Soviet rings. Krukenberg made it to Dahlem, where he hid out in an apartment for a week but then had to surrender.
On 2 May hostilities officially ended by order of Helmuth Weidling
Helmuth Weidling
Helmuth Otto Ludwig Weidling was an officer in the German Army before and during World War II...
, Kommandant of the Defence Area Berlin and General of Artillery. All remaining pockets of resistance were mopped up by the Red Army and the 80,000 or so Prisoners of War were marched east. Many SS men, loyal to their oath to Hitler, had already either fought to the death or taken their own lives. Of the few survivors who reached the Western Allies' lines, most were handed over to their respective countries and tried as traitors, some serving prison time and a few even receiving the death penalty.
Commanders
- SS-Brigadeführer Franz AugsbergerFranz AugsbergerFranz Xaver Josef Maria Augsberger was a Brigadeführer of the Waffen-SS.-Early life:Franz Augsberger was the son of a hotel owner in Vienna, then the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire...
(22 March 1943 - 1 May 1943) - SS-Gruppenführer Fritz von ScholzFritz von ScholzFritz von Scholz, Edler von Rerancze, known as Fritz von Scholz was an Austrian Austro-Hungarian Army and later German Waffen SS officer who served in both the First and Second World Wars....
(1 May 1943 - 27 July 1944) - SS-Brigadeführer Joachim ZieglerJoachim ZieglerJoachim Ziegler was a Brigadeführer and Major General in the Waffen SS during World War II and the commander of the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, who was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves...
(27 July 1944 - 25 April 1945) - SS-Brigadeführer Gustav KrukenbergGustav KrukenbergDr Gustav Krukenberg was Brigadeführer of the Charlemagne Division of the Waffen-SS and further commander of its remains and the SS Division Nordland during the Battle of Berlin in April 1945....
(25 April 1945 - 8 May 1945)
Order of battle
- SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 23 Norge
- SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 24 Danmark
- SS-Panzer Battalion 11 Herman von Salza
- SS-Panzer Artillery Regiment 11
- SS-Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion 11
- SS-SturmgeschutzSturmgeschützSturmgeschütz is a German word for "assault gun", usually abbreviated StuG. The vehicle was a leading weapon of the Sturmartillerie, a branch of the German artillery tasked with close fire support of infantry in infantry, panzer, and panzergrenadier units...
Battalion 11 - SS-PanzerjägerPanzerjägerPanzerjäger was a branch of service of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War which were the anti-tank arm-of-service who operated anti-tank artillery, and made exclusive use of the tank destroyers which were also named Panzerjäger...
Battalion 11 - SS-Signals Battalion 11
- SS-Pionier Battalion 11
- SS-Nachrichtung Abteilung Truppen 11
- SS-Supply troop 11
- SS-Repair Battalion 11
- SS-Wirtschafts Battalion 11
- SS-War Reporter platoon 11
- SS-FeldgendarmerieFeldgendarmerieThe Feldgendarmerie were the uniformed military police units of the armies of the German Empire from the mid 19th Century until the conclusion of World War II.- Early history :...
Troop 11 - SS-Reserve Battalion 11
- SS-Bewährungs-Company 11
- SS-Medical Battalion 11
- SS-WerferNebelwerferThe Nebelwerfer was a World War II German series of weapons originally designed to deliver chemical weapons. They were initially developed by and assigned to the Wehrmacht's so-called Chemical Troops ...
Battalion 521 - SS-JägerLight infantryTraditionally light infantry were soldiers whose job was to provide a skirmishing screen ahead of the main body of infantry, harassing and delaying the enemy advance. Light infantry was distinct from medium, heavy or line infantry. Heavy infantry were dedicated primarily to fighting in tight...
Regiment 11
See also
- List of Knight's Cross Recipients 11th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division Norland
- PanzergrenadierPanzergrenadieris a German term for motorised or mechanized infantry, as introduced during World War II. It is used in the armies of Austria, Chile, Germany and Switzerland.-Forerunners:...
- Panzer DivisionPanzer DivisionA panzer division was an armored division in the army and air force branches of the Wehrmacht as well as the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II....
- Waffen-SSWaffen-SSThe Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
- Division (military)Division (military)A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
, Military unit - WehrmachtWehrmachtThe Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
- List of German military units of World War II
External links
- "11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division 'Nordland'". German language article at www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de. Retrieved 11 April 2005.
- "Nordland: A Brief History (Archived 19 October 2009)". Includes photo of the unusual curved SwastikaSwastikaThe swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
worn by the division. Retrieved 11 April 2005. - Wendel, Marcus (2005). "11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland". Retrieved 11 April 2005.
- Danish re-enactor group. "SS Panzergrenadier Regiment 24 ”Danmark”".