1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
Encyclopedia
The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler ("LSSAH") was Adolf Hitler
's personal bodyguard
. Initially the size of a regiment
, the LSSAH eventually grew into a divisional-sized unit. The term "Leibstandarte" was derived partly from "Leibgarde" or "Life Guard" – a somewhat archaic German
expression for the personal bodyguard of a military leader, and "Standarte" – the Schutzstaffel
(SS) / Sturmabteilung
(SA) term for a regiment-sized unit.
The LSSAH independently participated in combat during the Invasion of Poland, and was amalgamated into the Waffen-SS
together with the SS-Verfügungstruppe
(SS-VT) and the combat units of the SS-Totenkopfverbände
(SS-TV) prior to Operation Barbarossa
in 1941. By the end of World War II
it had been increased in size from a regiment to a Panzer division
. The elite division, a component of the Waffen-SS, was found guilty of war crimes in the Nuremberg Trials
. Members of the LSSAH participated in numerous atrocities. They murdered at least an estimated 5,000 prisoners of war in the period 1940–1945, mostly on the Eastern Front.
formed a guard formation from the 19.Granatwerfer-Kompanie, and from this formation the Sturmabteilung
(SA) soon evolved. Adolf Hitler, realizing the potential threat the SA presented, ordered the formation of a bodyguard for himself in early 1923. Originally the unit was composed of only eight men, commanded by Julius Schreck
and Joseph Berchtold
. It was designated the Stabswache (Staff Guard). The Stabswache were issued unique badges, but at this stage the Stabswache was still was under overall SA control. Schreck resurrected the use of the Totenkopf
(death's head) as the unit's insignia, a symbol various elite forces had used throughout the Prussia
n kingdom and the later German Empire
.
Soon after its formation, the unit was renamed "Stoßtrupp (Shock Troop) 'Adolf Hitler". On 9 November 1923 the Stoßtrupp, along with the SA and several other NSDAP paramilitary units, took part in the abortive Beer Hall Putsch
in Munich
. In the aftermath of the putsch, Hitler was imprisoned and the NSDAP and all associated formations, including the Stoßtrupp, were officially disbanded.
Shortly after his release from prison in April 1925, Hitler ordered the formation of a new bodyguard unit, the "Schutzkommando" (Protection Command). The unit was renamed the "Sturmstaffel" (Assault Squadron) shortly thereafter, and in November was renamed the Schutzstaffel
, abbreviated "SS". By March 1933 the SS had grown from a tiny personal bodyguard unit to a formation of over 50,000 men. The decision was made to form a new bodyguard unit, again called the Stabswache, using capable and trustworthy SS men, mostly from the 1st SS Standarte operating out of Munich
to form its cadre. By 1933 this unit was under the command of Josef "Sepp" Dietrich
, who selected 117 men for the SS-Stabswache Berlin. Out of these initial 117 men, three eventually became divisional commanders, at least eight would become regimental commanders, fifteen became battalion commanders, and over thirty became company commanders, all within the Waffen SS. Eleven men from the first company of 117 went on to win the Knights Cross, and forty of them were awarded the German Cross in gold for bravery. Later in 1933, two further training units were formed: "SS-Sonderkommando Zossen", and a second unit, designated "SS-Sonderkommando Jüterbog."
In September 1933 the two Sonderkommandos merged into the "SS-Sonderkommando Berlin". In November 1933, on the 10th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch, the Sonderkommando took part in the rally and memorial service at the Feldherrnhalle
, erected in the place where many NSDAP members had fallen during the putsch. All members of the Sonderkommando swore personal allegiance to Hitler. To conclude this ceremony, the Sonderkommando received a new title, "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler"" (LAH).
, the Reichsführer-SS
, ordered the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler (LAH) to be renamed "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" (LSSAH). In late June, the LSSAH was called into action for the first time. Stabschef-SA
Ernst Röhm began to push for greater power for his already powerful SA
. Hitler decided that the SA had to be put in its place, and ordered Himmler and Hermann Göring
to prepare their elite units, Himmler's Leibstandarte and Göring's Landespolizeigruppe General Göring, for immediate action. The LSSAH formed two companies under the control of Jürgen Wagner
and Otto Reich, and these formations were moved to Munich on 30 June.
Hitler ordered all SA leaders to attend a meeting at the Hanselbauer Hotel in Bad Wiessee
, near Munich. On 30 June, Hitler joined Sepp Dietrich and a unit from the Leibstandarte and travelled to Bad Wiessee to personally command Röhm's arrest. On 1 July Hitler finally agreed with Göring and Himmler that Röhm should be executed. In what the Nazis called the Röhm Putsch (to give their action an appearance of legitimacy), but otherwise came to be known as the Night of the Long Knives
, companies of the LSSAH, together with the Gestapo
and Göring's Landespolizeigruppe, performed Death Squad
actions. At least 177 people were executed without trials over the next few days.
These actions succeeded in effectively decapitating the SA and removing Röhm's threat to Hitler's leadership. In recognition of their actions, both the LSSAH and the Landespolizeigruppe General Göring were expanded to regimental size and motorized. In addition, the SS became an independent organization, no longer part of the SA.
As the SS swelled with new recruits, the LSSAH represented the pinnacle of Hitler's Aryan
ideal. Strict recruitment regulations meant that only those deemed sufficiently Aryan—as well as being physically fit and National Socialists—would be admitted.
The LSSAH provided the honour guard at many of the Nuremberg Rallies, and in 1935 took part in the reoccupation of the Saarland
. The Leibstandarte was in the vanguard of the march into Austria as part of the Anschluss
, and in 1938 the unit took part in the occupation of the Sudetenland. By 1939 the LSSAH was a full infantry regiment with three infantry battalions, an artillery battalion, and anti-tank, reconnaissance, and engineer subunits. Soon after its involvement in the annexation of Bohemia
and Moravia
, the LSSAH was redesignated "Infanterie-Regiment Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (mot.)". When Hitler ordered the formation of an SS division in mid-1939, the Leibstandarte was designated to form its own unit, unlike the other Standarten of the SS-Verfügungstruppe
(SS-VT) (SS-Standarte Deutschland, SS-Standarte Germania, and SS-Standarte Der Führer). The Polish crisis of August 1939 put these plans on hold, and the LSSAH was ordered to join XIII. Armeekorps, a part of Army Group South
, which was preparing for the attack on Poland.
, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was attached to the 17.Infanterie-Division
and tasked with providing flank protection for the southern pincer. The regiment was involved in several battles against Polish cavalry
brigades attempting to hit the flanks of the German advance. At Pabianice
, a town near Łódź, the LSSAH fought off elements of the Polish 28th Infantry Division
and the Wołyńska Cavalry Brigade in close combat. Throughout the campaign, the unit was notorious for torching villages.
After the success at Pabianice, the LSSAH was sent to the area near Warsaw
and attached to the 4.Panzer-Division
under Generaloberst Georg-Hans Reinhardt
. The unit saw action preventing encircled Polish units from escaping, and repelling several desperate attempts by other Polish troops to break through. The LSSAH had proved itself an effective fighting unit during the campaign, though several Heer Generals had reservations about the high casualties which the LSSAH and the SS-VT units had sustained in combat. On 18–19 September at Błonie near Warsaw, around 50 Jews were murdered by soldiers from the division.
(Assault Gun) battery was added to their establishment. The regiment was shifted to the Dutch border for the launch of Fall Gelb. It was to form the vanguard of the ground advance into the Netherlands, tasked with capturing a vital bridge over the IJssel
and linking up with the Fallschirmjäger
of Generaloberst Kurt Student
's airborne forces, the 7.Flieger-Division and the 22.Luftlande-Infanterie-Division
.
Fall Gelb—the invasion of France and the Low Countries—was launched on 10 May 1940. On that day, the LSSAH crossed the Dutch border, covered over 75 kilometres (46.6 mi), and secured a crossing over the IJssel near Zutphen after discovering that their target bridge had been destroyed. Over the next four days, the LSSAH covered over 215 kilometres (133.6 mi), and earned itself dubious fame by accidentally shooting at and seriously wounding Generaloberst Student at Rotterdam
. After the surrender of the Netherlands on 15 May, the regiment formed part of the reserve for Army Group B
.
After the British armoured counterattack at Arras
, the LSSAH, along with the SS-Verfügungs-Division, was moved to the front lines to hold the perimeter around Dunkirk and reduce the size of the pocket containing the encircled British Expeditionary Force and French forces. Near Wormhoudt, the LSSAH ignored Hitler's orders for the advance to halt and continued the attack, suppressing the British artillery positions on the Wattenberg
Heights. During this battle the regiment suffered heavy casualties.
After the attack, soldiers of LSSAH's II.Battalion, under the command of SS-Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Mohnke
, were mistakenly informed that their divisional commander Sepp Dietrich had been killed in the fighting. In what is known as the Wormhoudt massacre
, about 80 British POW
s of 2nd Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment
were murdered in retaliation for the supposed death of Dietrich. Although it is unarguable that the massacre occurred, Mohnke's level of involvement is impossible to know, and he was never brought to trial.
(Moselle
). The LSSAH was expanded to brigade
size (6,500 soldiers). Despite this, it retained the designation 'regiment'. A 'Flak battalion' and a StuG
Batterie
were among the formations added to the LSSAH. A new flag was presented to the LSSAH in Metz, on September 1940, by Heinrich Himmler. During the later months of 1940, the regiment trained in amphibious assaults on the Moselle River in preparation for Operation Seelöwe. After the failure of the Battle of Britain
and the cancellation of the planned invasion of Britain, the LSSAH was shifted to Bulgaria
in February 1941 in preparation for Operation Marita, part of the planned invasion of Greece
and Yugoslavia
.
The operation was launched on 6 April 1941. The LSSAH was to follow the route of the 9.Panzer-Division
, part of General der Panzertruppen Georg Stumme
's XL Panzer Corps
. The regiment crossed the border near Prilep
and was soon deep in Greek territory.
The LSSAH captured Vevi
on 10 April. Sturmbannführer
Kurt Meyer
's reinforced Aufklärungs-Abt
(reconnaissance unit) LSSAH was tasked with clearing resistance from the Kleisoura Pass south-west of Vevi
and driving through to the Kastoria
area to cut off retreating Greek and British Commonwealth
forces. Resistance from the Greek 20th Division was fierce. According to some accounts, the SS were inspired to capture the Kleisoura Pass only after Meyer threw a live grenade at the feet of some of his soldiers.
Sturmbannführer Fritz Witt
's I.Battalion was tasked with clearing the Klidi Pass just south of Vevi, which was strongly defended by Australian, British, and New Zealand troops. Witt's battalion was reinforced and renamed "Kampfgruppe Witt". An Australian officer wrote of the Germans' "insolence" in driving "trucks down the main road — to within 3000 yards (2,743.2 m) of our infantry" and there unloading the SS troops.
The Germans were forced off the road and faced fierce resistance for more than two days. On the morning of 12 April the Germans launched a frontal assault, and by late afternoon the pass was cleared.
With the fall of the two passes the main line of resistance of the Greek First Army
was broken, and the campaign became a battle to prevent the escape of the enemy. On 20 April, following a pitched battle in the 5000 feet (1,524 m)-high Metsovon Pass in the Pindus Mountains, the commander of the Greek First Army surrendered the entire Hellenic Army
to Dietrich. British Commonwealth troops were now the only Allied forces remaining in Greece, and they were falling back across the Corinth Canal
to the Peloponnesos. By 26 April the LSSAH had reached the Gulf of Patras
, and in an effort to cut off the retreating British Commonwealth forces, Dietrich ordered that his regiment cross the Gulf and secure the town of Patras
in the Peloponnesos. Since no transport vessels were available, the LSSAH commandeered fishing boats and successfully completed the crossing, but were forced to leave much of their heavy equipment behind. By 30 April the last British Commonwealth troops had either been captured or escaped. The LSSAH occupied a position of honour in the victory parade through Athens
.
Following Operation Marita, the LSSAH was ordered north to join the forces of Army Group South
massing for the launch of Operation Barbarossa
.
—the invasion of the Soviet Union
—and so the new "division" remained the size of a reinforced brigade.
The LSSAH was attached to the LIV.Armee-Korps and held in reserve during the opening stages of the attack. In August 1941 it was transferred to III.Panzer-Korps, part of Generalfeldmarschall Ewald von Kleist
's Panzergruppe 1. During this time the LSSAH was involved in the Battle of Uman
and the subsequent capture of Kiev
. The division was involved in heavy fighting, with Meyer's Abteilung
particularly distinguishing itself. After finding six dead members of the division in Taganrog
the division murdered 4,000 Soviet prisoners in reprisal.
In early September, the division was transferred back to LIV.Armee-Korps, preparing to launch an offensive to clear the Crimean peninsula
. The operation was launched on 17 September 1941. The LSSAH was involved in heavy fighting for the town of Perekop
before advancing across the Perekop Isthmus to assault the Soviet defensive positions near the Tartar Ditch.
In November the LSSAH was transferred back to Panzergruppe 1 and took part in the heavy fighting for the city of Rostov-on-Don, which was captured in late November. During Operation Barbarossa, the division had penetrated 960 kilometres (596.5 mi) into Soviet territory.
Heavy Soviet counterattacks during the winter meant that Army Group South had to fall back from Rostov-on-Don to defensive lines on the river Mius. The LSSAH spent the winter fighting ferocious defensive battles in temperatures of down to −40 °C, with minimal winter clothing and only 150 grams of rations per man per day. Despite this, the division held. After the spring rasputitsa
had cleared, the exhausted division joined in Fall Blau, participating in the fighting to retake Rostov-on-Don, which was recaptured in late July 1942. Severely understrength and completely exhausted, the LSSAH was pulled out of the line. The division was ordered to the Normandy
region of occupied France to join the newly-formed SS-Panzer-Korps
and to be reformed as a Panzergrenadier
division.
The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler spent the remainder of 1942 refitting as a panzergrenadier division. Thanks to the efforts of Heinrich Himmler Reichsführer-SS, along with SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser
, the SS Panzer Corps commander, the four SS Panzer Grenadier divisions (LSSAH, Wiking, Das Reich and Totenkopf
were to be formed with a full regiment of tanks rather than only a Battalion
. This meant that the SS Panzer Grenadier divisions were full-strength Panzer divisions in all but name. Also, the division received nine Tiger 1 tanks, and these were formed into 13.(schwere)Company/1st SS Panzer Regiment.
The collapse of the front around Stalingrad and the encirclement of the German Sixth Army
meant that the entire eastern front was close to collapse. General Feldmarschall Erich von Manstein
, commander of Army Group Don
, requested reinforcements to halt the Soviet attack near Kharkov. The SS Panzer Corps was ordered east to join Manstein's forces.
Arriving at the front in late January 1943, the LSSAH was thrown into the line defending Kharkov itself as a part of Hausser's SS Panzer Corps. Facing them were the hundreds of T-34
s of Mobile Group Popov, a Soviet armoured Army sized formation which formed the spearhead of the Soviet advance. On 8–9 February 1943, the LSSAH's 1st SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment under SS-Sturmbannführer Fritz Witt
, fighting alongside SS-Sturmbannführer Max Wünsche
's I/1st SS Panzer Regiment, fought a bitter delaying action near the town of Merefa
, halting a major Soviet attack. The division fought in many desperate defensive battles over the next few weeks, gradually being pushed back into the city of Kharkov itself.
Despite inflicting heavy losses on the Soviets, and rebuffing all enemy attacks, the Soviets succeeded in outflanking the corps. On 15 February, Hausser ignored Hitler's orders to hold the city at all costs and ordered the SS-Panzer-Korps to abandon the city and withdraw towards Krasnograd. Over the next week, the SS-Panzer-Korps annihilated Mobile Group Popov in a series of hard fought battles. The LSSAH was a major participant in these battles, destroying several Soviet divisions and inflicting heavy losses.
Hausser now ordered that Kharkov should be recaptured. The LSSAH, Das Reich and Totenkopf were to form the spearhead of the attack. The attack got underway on 2 March. The LSSAH was formed into three Kampfgruppe
n which would attack towards and capture Kharkov. Over the next weeks, the LSSAH would take part in the battles to take the city. Kampfgruppe Meyer, under Panzermeyer's command, penetrated to Red Square before being cut off. Kampfgruppe Witt saw heavy fighting against a Soviet blocking force near Dergatschi before it also broke through into the city.
Both Kampfgruppen were repeatedly cut off during the confused fighting, and it was not until Kampfgruppe Peiper, under Joachim Peiper
, broke through that the defenders were finally overwhelmed. By 21 March, the battle was over and Kharkov was back in German hands, with Peiper's Kampfgruppe having penetrated as far as Belgorod
.
After recapturing Kharkov, soldiers of the LSSAH engaged in the murder of wounded Soviet soldiers that were located in the city's military hospital; several hundred perished. Additionally, per the Commissar Order
captured Soviet officers and commissars were routinely executed.
In honour of the 4,500 casualties suffered by the Leibstandarte in the fighting, Kharkov's Red Square was renamed Platz der Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler by the Germans. The division was pulled back for much needed rest and refit. One major change in the LSSAH now occurred their commander Sepp Dietrich after ten years in command was promoted to form a new Corps the 1st SS Panzer Corps Leibstandarte and the LSSAH was to supply all the senior officers for the new headquarters. At the same time a new SS division would be formed from members of the Hitler Youth
and the LSSAH would supply all of the Regimental, Battalion and most of the Company commanders. In time this new division would become the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend
.
(factory action) a/k/a/ "Großaktion Juden" (Major Action (on) Jews); an operation to capture remaining German Jews that worked in the arms industry
. Soldiers of the Leibstandarte helped the Gestapo
round up Jews in Berlin; people were taken from their jobs and herded in cattle wagons on February 27–28th 1943. Most of the captured perished either in Auschwitz or other camps in the East. Further, the division was awarded stolen Jewish property. For example, in May 1943 it was to receive 500 men's watches taken from Jews. And, as with other Waffen SS divisions, it received winter clothing that was confiscated from camps and ghettos in the East.
halted offensive operations, giving the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler time to rest and refit. By early June 1943, the division had been fully refitted and now under the command of Brigadeführer
, Theodor Wisch
. Its armour strength was 12 Tiger I
s, 72 Panzer IV
s, 16 Panzer III
and Panzer II
s, and 31 StuGs. In late June 1943, the formation of I SS Panzer Corps
meant that Hausser's SS Panzer Corps was renamed II SS Panzer Corps
.
The II SS Panzer Corps
was moved north to Belgorod in preparation for the upcoming Summer offensive, Operation Citadel. The LSSAH, along with the Totenkopf and Das Reich, was to form the spearhead of Generaloberst Hoth
's 4th Panzer Army
, tasked with breaching the southern flank of the Kursk
salient
. Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model
's 9.Armee
was to breach the northern flank, and the two forces were to meet near the city of Kursk, thereby encircling a large Soviet force.
The II SS Panzer Corps reached its assembly areas on 28 June and began preparing for the assault. The attack was set for 5 July, and on 4 July the II SS Panzer Corps, as well as the XLVIII Panzer Corps on its left and the III Panzer Corps on the right, began minor attacks to secure observation posts. Fighting lasted throughout the day, with the LSSAH's Pionier-Battalion seeing heavy action clearing out the entrenched Soviets.
The LSSAH panzers, advancing in Panzerkeil
s, soon ran into the Soviet Pakfront
s. The elaborate system of Soviet defences slowed the attack, but unlike in Model's sector, the 4th Panzer Army, spearheaded by the II SS Panzer Corps and the LSSAH, was not halted, and eventually broke through.
By 9 July, the II SS Panzer Corps had advanced 30 miles (48.3 km) north, and were nearing the small town of Prokhorovka
. The LSSAH again took the lead, by now its armour strength reduced to just 77 armoured vehicles. The 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment, supported by several panzers, advanced straight up the road to Prokhorovka against heavy resistance. By midday, the grenadiers had cleared the Komsomolets State Farm and they began the attack on Hill 241.6, which they secured shortly after nightfall on 10 July.
On 11 July, the advance resumed, with the division capturing Oktiabr'skii State Farm and Hill 252.2 in heavy fighting against Soviet Paratroops of the 9th Guards Airborne Division. On 12 July, the Soviets threw the 5th Guards Tank Army
into a counterattack near Prokhorovka. Two tank corps
faced the LSSAH, hitting the advancing Germans around Oktiabr'skii State Farm and Hill 252.2. In the ensuing fighting, the outnumbered Germans inflicted heavy casualties on the Soviets, knocking out many tanks. In the process, the LSSAH also suffered relatively light casualties; however the Soviet counterattack had stalled the German advance, and the division was forced to fall back to Oktiabr'skii. The Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army lost 300 tanks destroyed and further 300 damaged at 12 July. Fighting continued on 13 July, but the focus of the Soviet attack had shifted to the Totenkopf, to the left of the LSSAH.
With the Battle of Prokhorovka still in the balance, a massive Soviet counteroffensive near Orel
caused Hitler to order the cancellation of Citadel. The II SS Panzer Corps was pulled back. LSSAH was ordered out of the line, having suffered 2,753 casualties including 474 killed. 11 tanks were lost during Operation Zitadelle. The Division was then sent to Italy to help stabilise the situation caused by the deposal of Benito Mussolini
by the Badoglio
government and the Allied landings in Sicily
on 10 July. The division left behind its armour and equipment, which was given to Das Reich and Totenkopf.
, Austria, where they were re-equipped with vehicles. They continued across the Alps and into Northern Italy. The division arrived on the Po River Plain
on 8 August 1943.
The Leibstandarte was given the task of guarding several vital road and rail junctions in the area of Trento
-Verona
. After several weeks, the division was moved to the Parma
-Reggio
area. During this period, the Leibstandarte was involved in several skirmishes with partisan
s. With the Italian collapse
of 8 September 1943, the division was ordered to begin disarming nearby Italian units. This went smoothly, with the exception of brief, bloody fights with Italian troops stationed in Parma
, Cremona
and Piacenza
on 9 September. By 19 September, all Italian forces in the Po River Plain had been disarmed, but OKW was concerned by reports that elements of the Italian Fourth Army were regrouping in Piedmont
, near the French border. Sturmbannführer Peiper's
mechanised III/2nd SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment was sent to disarm these units. Upon arriving in the Province of Cuneo, Peiper was met by an Italian officer who warned that his forces would attack unless Peiper's unit immediately vacated the province. After Peiper refused, the Italians forces attacked. Peiper's battalion defeated the Italians, and later shelled and burnt down the village of Boves
killing 34 civilians. The soldiers then proceeded to disarm the remaining Italian forces in the area.
Following the disintegration and capitulation of Italy, the activities of partisan groups increased all across the area. Further, soldiers from the Leibstandarte murdered 49 Jewish refugees near Lake Maggiore
, who had fled there after the German takeover. The murders happened between 15 and 24 September. Some of the victims had their feet and hands tied and were drowned.
The Leibstandarte was sent to the Istria
Peninsula and was engaged in several major anti-partisan operations. During its period in Italy, the Leibstandarte was reformed as a full panzer division, and redesignated 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. In early November, the deteriorating situation in the east meant that the division was ordered back to the Russian Front, arriving in the Zhitomir area in mid November.
The division was posted to XLVIII.Panzer-Korps, a part of 4.Panzer-Armee
, which was struggling to hold the line near Zhitomir. The division was broken up into several Kampfgruppe
and thrown into action. On 18 November, Kampfgruppe Frey halted the advance of the Fifth Guards Tank Army near the town of Kotscherovo. Over the next two months, the division's Kampfgruppen saw very heavy fighting in the Zhitomir area, performing fire-brigade actions and enabling XLVIII.Panzer Corps to hold the line.
In January 1944, one of the Leibstandarte's 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion Tiger commanders, Michael Wittmann
, was awarded the Oakleaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
for his actions in halting the attack of an entire Soviet armoured brigade. The division was transferred to the Cherkassy area at the end of January, where it was assigned to German III Panzer Corps, a part of German First Panzer Army
.
When the 56,000 men of Gruppe Stemmermann were trapped in the Korsun Pocket in February 1944, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, along with the remainder of III Panzer Corps and German XLVII Panzer Corps
were ordered to attempt to break the Soviet cordon and rescue the trapped forces. Hitler intervened, and ordered the relief attempt be transformed into an impossible attempt to counter-encircle two Soviet fronts. The LSSAH, along army panzer units including Oberstleutnant Dr. Franz Bäke
's German 503rd Heavy Panzer Detachment
spearheaded the attack. Despite initial gains, the attack soon stalled due to a combination of the resistance of four Soviet tank corps and the thick mud of the rasputitsa
. The exhausted Germans managed to reach the Gniloy Tikich River, where a small bridgehead was established. The survivors of the encirclement fought their way through to the bridgehead and by late February the battle was over.
The majority of the LSSAH which amounted to 41 officers and 1,188 men was withdrawn to Belgium for rest and refit, however a Kampfgruppe was left behind. On 22 March, the entire 1st Panzer Army was encircled in the Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket
. The LSSAH Kampfgruppe took part in the desperate fighting to escape the encirclement, forming a part of the spearhead which linked up with the 2nd SS Panzer Corps near Buczacz on 6 April 1944. The shattered remnant of the Kampfgruppe was ordered to Belgium where it was to rest, refit and rejoin the remainder of the division. The new LSSAH Division was reformed in Belgium and at full strength by 25 April.
, 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen
and the Panzer-Lehr-Division.
The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler had been positioned north of the River Seine
to counter any possible landing in the Pas de Calais so the first units did not arrive in Normandy until the night of the 27–28 June with the whole division taking another week to arrive. By 4 July the 1st SS Panzer Corps was reformed and now consisted of the SS Divisions bearing Hitler's name 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler and the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. The first action they were involved in was the defence of Carpiquet
village and aerodrome in what was known to the Allies
as Operation Windsor
. Next followed a number of Allied attacks Operation Charnwood
and Operation Jupiter and on 12 July the LSSAH were in charge of the Caen
south sector from Maltot in the west to the Caen – Falaise
road in the east. During the night 14 – 15 July LSSAH was relieved by the 272nd Infantry Division
and pulled back to a concentration area astride the Caen – Falaise road between Ifs
and Cintheaux
.
The Division strength prior to Goodwood was reported as 59 Panzer IV
s, 46 Panther
s and 35 StuG III
s.
Operation Goodwood
launched 18 July, pitted three British armoured divisions, with infantry support on their flanks. They were to swing through the gap between Caen
and the eastern heights. There they would have to get across the hills at Bourguébus and break through towards open ground. The operation was preceded by a three hour bombing assault by 2,500 aircraft.
Immediately afterwards the British tanks came rumbling on and seized all their primary objectives. II/1st SS Panzer Regiment, located by the woods near Garcelles, received orders to attack the British at Soliers. SS-Obersturmführer Malkomes drove in the direction of Bourguébus with his 13 Panthers and discovered 60 British tanks South South East of the town. He attacked them, destroying 20, and capturing Soliers. Around 12:00 hours the Panther
Battalion, I/1st SS Panzer regiment, was engaged in combat with the British 29th Armoured Brigade
of the British 11th Armoured Division
. The body of the Leibstandarte was rushed to the front from Falaise
, where it was being held in reserve. Counterattacked immediately at 17:00, together with the 21st Panzer Division, they halted the British offensive on the left front.
At first, 19 July seemed to bring an end to Operation Goodwood, as only some individual tank assaults were carried out. But by 13:00 the British charged again, having brought up reinforcements to continue the attack. They quickly overran the forward German units and pressed on hard, a wave of tanks spearheading the attack. But when the leading Sherman/Fireflies and Cromwells approached Bourguébus Ridge at 16:00 hours, they came under fire and were blown up; the Panthers of the Leibstandarte had taken up positions on the hill itself. Around 15:00 hours the first of the 12th SS Panzer Division arrived, which relieved the right flank. The Canadians next attack was the Battle of Verrières Ridge
and Operation Spring
(see map), where the LSSAH came up against a number of allied divisions including the Guards Armoured Division, 7th Armoured
, 2nd Canadian
and the 3rd Canadian
.
Operation Bluecoat
was next this time the LSSAH was up against the British and the 11th Armoured Division
.
succeeded in breaking through German defenses as part of Operation Cobra
. On 1 August, American forces captured Avranches
. Simultaneously, General George Patton's Third United States Army was activated. With the capture of Avranches, American forces were able to "turn the corner" of Normandy, pushing through into Brittany and the coastal ports. As a result, German defensive operations could no longer be anchored against the coast on both flanks. By 4 August, seven divisions of the 3rd Army had entered Brittany.
With the American breakthrough, in spite of this costly victory, the Allied forces remained vastly superior in numbers. Five days later the Americans saw the chance to break out of their beachhead. The weakened German defense could not keep up with the savage battle of attrition as little or no reinforcements had arrived, supplies were shot up from the air, and movement by day was made impossible. Hitler forbade any retreat and, instead, ordered an assault to be made under the code name Operation Lüttich. According to Hitler, three qualifications had to be met for the attack to proceed. "Von Kluge must believe in it. He must be able to detach enough armour from the main front in Normandy to create an effective striking force, and he must achieve surprise". For his counteroffensive, Von Kluge would have available the XLVII Panzer Corps, consisting of the 2nd Panzer Division, part of the 1st SS Panzer Division, the 2nd SS Panzer Division
and the 116th Panzer Division
.
The Panzer Corps was supported by two Infantry Divisions and five battle groups
, formed from the remnants of the Panzer Lehr Division and four equally battered infantry divisions. Although Hitler promised more reinforcements, von Kluge was skeptical of the chance of their arrival. Aware of the increasing number of American troops moving to his south—creating the potential of being outflanked—von Kluge elected to begin the offensive earlier than originally planned, with the attack commencing at midnight on 6 August 1944.
To avoid alerting American forces to the imminence of a German attack, Operation Lüttich would not use artillery bombardments to precede the attack. The initial attacks, consisting of 300 tanks, would hit the 30th Infantry Division east of Mortain, then cut through American defenses to reach the coast. Had surprise been achieved, the attack would likely have succeeded. However, Allied-decoders at Ultra
had intercepted the codes for Operation Lüttich by 4 August. As a result, General Omar Bradley
was able to obtain air support from both the US 9th Air Force and the RAF.
LSSAH, together with the other divisions went on the attack on 7 August after moving to the assembly areas on 5 and 6 August. The 1st SS Panzer Regiment, along with two Panzergrenadier Battalions, one Pionier Company and the division's Flak Battalion, were used for the attacks. The weather was not suited for flying that morning, which only disadvantaged the Allies. The result was that the attack went smoothly at first, despite the fact that the Allies knew the attack was coming. The 2nd SS Panzer Division managed to recapture Mortain, and an armoured Kampfgruppe under Joachim Peiper
managed to go as far as Bourlopin, but was stopped by massive Allied air power, and American counterattacks. Another attempt was mounted the next day to capture Avranches, but it failed.
A report from SS-Obersturmführer Preuss, 10th Company/2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment describes the impossible situation:
This marked the end of the campaign in Normandy; the Leibstandarte was encircled by the Americans and Canadians, supported by the 1st Polish Armoured Division, in what would be called the Falaise pocket
, but by then the unit was reduced to several small Kampfgruppen. Leibstandarte withdrew from the pocket with Unterführers and Führers each taking the lead of a small Kampfgruppe and smashing through the ring, on 22 August, after which no combat ready tanks or artillery pieces were reported. The whole campaign caused some 5,000 casualties to the LSSAH. During their retreat from France, members of the LSSAH and Hitlerjugend division murdered 34 French civilians in towns of Tavaux
and Plomion
.
The Ardennes Offensive (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive launched towards the end of World War II
through the forested Ardennes Mountains region
of Belgium, France and Luxembourg on the Western Front
. The offensive was called Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (Translated as Operation The Guard on the Rhine
or Operation "Watch on the Rhine.") by the German armed forces. The “bulge
” was the initial incursion the Germans put into the Allies’ line of advance, as seen in maps presented in contemporary newspapers.
, now in command of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, was to lead his formation as the spearhead of the entire operation in the Ardennes
. Attached to the I SS Panzer Corps
, the LSSAH, one of the most elite and highly trained units in the entire German military. However, the divisions high casualties had forced it to take in a large number of inexperienced replacements to add to the core of battle-hardened and experienced veterans. The crisis in the Reich
meant that the LSSAH had dangerously low amounts of fuel for the vehicles in the upcoming campaign. On 16 December 1944 the operation began, with Mohnke designating his best colonel, Standartenführer Joachim Peiper
, and his regiment to lead the push to Antwerp.
In the north, the main armored spearhead of the Sixth SS Panzer Army was Kampfgruppe
Peiper
, consisting of 4,800 men and 600 vehicles of the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler under the command of Joachim Peiper
. Its vehicles included Panzer IV
(PzKw IV), Panzer II
(PzKw II Ausf.H), Panther tank
(PzKw V), Sturmgeschütz III
(StuG III Ausf.G), Tiger I
(PzKw VI) and Tiger II
(Ausf. B).
Bypassing the Elsenborn ridge, at 07:00 on 17 December, they seized a U.S. fuel depot at Büllingen
, where they paused to refuel before continuing westward. At 12:30, near the hamlet of Baugnez, on the height halfway between the town of Malmedy
and Ligneuville, they encountered a convoy of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, U.S. 7th Armored Division. After a brief battle the Americans surrendered. They were disarmed and, with some other Americans captured earlier (approximately 150 men), sent to stand in a field near the crossroads and were shot. A small number of men escaped and a few survived by feigning death. It is not known what caused the shooting and there is no record of an SS officer giving an execution order; such shootings of prisoners of war (POWs), however, were common by both the Germans and the Soviets on the Eastern Front. News of the killings raced through Allied lines. Captured SS soldiers who were part of Kampfgruppe Peiper were tried following the war for this massacre and several others in the area during the Malmedy massacre trial
.
Peiper entered Stavelot on 18 December but encountered fierce resistance from the American defenders. Unable to defeat them, he left a smaller support force in town and headed for the bridge at Trois-Ponts
with the bulk of his strength, but by the time he reached it, retreating U.S. engineers had already destroyed it. Peiper pulled off and headed for the village of La Gleize
and from there on to Stoumont
. There, as Peiper approached, engineers blew up the bridge, and the American troops were entrenched and ready. Peiper's troops were cut off from the main German force and supplies when the Americans recaptured the poorly defended Stavelot on 19 December. As their situation in Stoumont was becoming hopeless, Peiper decided to pull back to La Gleize where he set up his defences waiting for the German relief force. Since no relief force was able to penetrate the Allied line, on 23 December Peiper decided to break through back to the German lines. The men of the Kampfgruppe
were forced to abandon their vehicles and heavy equipment, although most of the unit was able to escape.
With each passing day, enemy resistance stiffened and the advance was eventually halted on all fronts. Desperate to keep the assault going, the German High Command ordered that a renewed attack begin on 1 January 1945. Yet this time, the Allies had regrouped their forces and were ready to repulse any attacks launched by the Germans. The operation formally ended on 27 January 1945, and three days later Mohnke was promoted to SS-Brigadeführer
. A short while later LSSAH and the I SS Panzer Corps were transferred to Hungary to bolster the crumbling situation there. Mohnke was injured in an air raid where he suffered, among other things, ear damage. He was removed from front-line service and put on the Führer reserve. In his place, SS-Brigadeführer Otto Kumm
was appointed the new Division Commander as of 15 February 1945.
During Battle of the Bulge, soldiers from 3./SS-PzAA1 LSSAH captured eleven African-American soldiers from 333rd Artillery Battalion
in the hamlet of Wereth. Subsequently the prisoners were shot and their remains found by Allied soldiers two months later. The soldiers had their fingers cut off, legs broken, and at least one was shot while trying to bandage a comrade's wounds.
After the failure of Operation Spring Awakening
, Sepp Dietrich's 6th SS Panzer Army retreated in stages to the Vienna
area. The Germans desperately prepared defensive positions in an attempt to guard the city against the fast arriving Soviets, in what become known as the Vienna Offensive
.
s (German: Ärmelstreifen). In the field Sepp Dietrich
was disgusted by Hitler's order. Dietrich told Obersturmbannführer Maier that the armbands "...would stay on." Further that the telegram was not to be passed on to the troops. A myth arose that a pile of medals was returned in a chamber pot
to Hitler, in the same manner as found in the Goethe play Götz von Berlichingen
. In actuality, most organisational cuff titles had already been removed to camouflage the operation Frühlingserwachen
.
(near Berlin) to the area of Mürwik
(part of Flensburg
in northern Germany, near Denmark), where they surrendered to the advancing British forces.
The rest of the LSSAH ended its days fighting in Berlin. On 23 April 1945, Hitler appointed Brigadeführer Mohnke the battle commander for the centre government district (Zitadelle sector) that included the Reich Chancellery
and Führerbunker
. Mohnke's command post was under the Reich Chancellery in the bunkers therein. He formed Kampfgruppe Mohnke (Battle Group Mohnke) which was divided into two weak regiments made up of approximately 2,000 men. The core group of his fighting men were the 800 of the Leibstandarte (LSSAH) Guard Battalion (assigned to guard the Führer). After Hitler's suicide, they received orders to break out. Prior to the breakout, Mohnke briefed all commanders (who could be reached) within the Zitadelle sector about the events as to Hitler's death and the planned breakout. The breakout started at 2300 hours on 1 May. It was a "fateful moment" for Brigadeführer Mohnke as he made his way out of the Reich Chancellery. He had been the first duty officer of the LSSAH at the building and now was leaving as the last battle commander there. He led the first of ten main groups and attempted to head northwest towards Mecklenburg. Several very small groups managed to reach the Americans at the Elbe's west bank, but most including Mohnke's group could not make it through the Soviet rings. Many were taken prisoner and some committed suicide. On 2 May hostilities officially ended by order of Helmuth Weidling, Kommandant of the Defense Area Berlin.
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's personal bodyguard
Bodyguard
A bodyguard is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, terrorist attack or other threats.Most important public figures such...
. Initially the size of a regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
, the LSSAH eventually grew into a divisional-sized unit. The term "Leibstandarte" was derived partly from "Leibgarde" or "Life Guard" – a somewhat archaic German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
expression for the personal bodyguard of a military leader, and "Standarte" – the Schutzstaffel
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
(SS) / Sturmabteilung
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
(SA) term for a regiment-sized unit.
The LSSAH independently participated in combat during the Invasion of Poland, and was amalgamated into the Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The 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...
together with the SS-Verfügungstruppe
SS-Verfügungstruppe
The SS-Verfügungstruppe was formed in 1934 as combat troops for the NSDAP. By 1940 these military SS units had become the nucleus of the Waffen-SS....
(SS-VT) and the combat units of the SS-Totenkopfverbände
SS-Totenkopfverbände
SS-Totenkopfverbände , meaning "Death's-Head Units", was the SS organization responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps for the Third Reich....
(SS-TV) prior to Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
in 1941. By the end of 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...
it had been increased in size from a regiment to a Panzer division
Panzer Division
A 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....
. The elite division, a component of the Waffen-SS, was found guilty of war crimes in the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
. Members of the LSSAH participated in numerous atrocities. They murdered at least an estimated 5,000 prisoners of war in the period 1940–1945, mostly on the Eastern Front.
Early history (1923–1933)
In the earliest days of the NSDAP, leaders realized that bodyguard units composed of trustworthy and loyal men would be a wise development. Ernst RöhmErnst Röhm
Ernst Julius Röhm, was a German officer in the Bavarian Army and later an early Nazi leader. He was a co-founder of the Sturmabteilung , the Nazi Party militia, and later was its commander...
formed a guard formation from the 19.Granatwerfer-Kompanie, and from this formation the Sturmabteilung
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
(SA) soon evolved. Adolf Hitler, realizing the potential threat the SA presented, ordered the formation of a bodyguard for himself in early 1923. Originally the unit was composed of only eight men, commanded by Julius Schreck
Julius Schreck
Julius Schreck was an early Nazi Party member and also the first commander of the Schutzstaffel .-Biography:...
and Joseph Berchtold
Joseph Berchtold
Joseph Berchtold , a former stationery salesman, succeeded Julius Schreck as Reichsführer SS in 1926. He was the last surviving person to hold that position and the only one to survive World War II....
. It was designated the Stabswache (Staff Guard). The Stabswache were issued unique badges, but at this stage the Stabswache was still was under overall SA control. Schreck resurrected the use of the Totenkopf
Totenkopf
The Totenkopf is the German word for the death's head and an old symbol for death or the dead. It consists usually of the skull and the mandible of the human skeleton...
(death's head) as the unit's insignia, a symbol various elite forces had used throughout the Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n kingdom and the later German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
.
Soon after its formation, the unit was renamed "Stoßtrupp (Shock Troop) 'Adolf Hitler". On 9 November 1923 the Stoßtrupp, along with the SA and several other NSDAP paramilitary units, took part in the abortive Beer Hall Putsch
Beer Hall Putsch
The Beer Hall Putsch was a failed attempt at revolution that occurred between the evening of 8 November and the early afternoon of 9 November 1923, when Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, Generalquartiermeister Erich Ludendorff, and other heads of the Kampfbund unsuccessfully tried to seize power...
in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. In the aftermath of the putsch, Hitler was imprisoned and the NSDAP and all associated formations, including the Stoßtrupp, were officially disbanded.
Shortly after his release from prison in April 1925, Hitler ordered the formation of a new bodyguard unit, the "Schutzkommando" (Protection Command). The unit was renamed the "Sturmstaffel" (Assault Squadron) shortly thereafter, and in November was renamed the Schutzstaffel
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
, abbreviated "SS". By March 1933 the SS had grown from a tiny personal bodyguard unit to a formation of over 50,000 men. The decision was made to form a new bodyguard unit, again called the Stabswache, using capable and trustworthy SS men, mostly from the 1st SS Standarte operating out of Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
to form its cadre. By 1933 this unit was under the command of Josef "Sepp" Dietrich
Sepp Dietrich
Josef "Sepp" Dietrich was a German SS General. He was one of Nazi Germany's most decorated soldiers and commanded formations up to Army level during World War II. Prior to 1929 he was Adolf Hitler's chauffeur and bodyguard but received rapid promotion after his participation in the murder of...
, who selected 117 men for the SS-Stabswache Berlin. Out of these initial 117 men, three eventually became divisional commanders, at least eight would become regimental commanders, fifteen became battalion commanders, and over thirty became company commanders, all within the Waffen SS. Eleven men from the first company of 117 went on to win the Knights Cross, and forty of them were awarded the German Cross in gold for bravery. Later in 1933, two further training units were formed: "SS-Sonderkommando Zossen", and a second unit, designated "SS-Sonderkommando Jüterbog."
In September 1933 the two Sonderkommandos merged into the "SS-Sonderkommando Berlin". In November 1933, on the 10th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch, the Sonderkommando took part in the rally and memorial service at the Feldherrnhalle
Feldherrnhalle
The Feldherrnhalle is a monumental loggia in Munich, Germany. It was built between 1841 and 1844 at the southern end of Munich's Ludwigstrasse next to the Palais Preysing and east of the Hofgarten. Previously the Gothic Schwabinger Tor occupied that place...
, erected in the place where many NSDAP members had fallen during the putsch. All members of the Sonderkommando swore personal allegiance to Hitler. To conclude this ceremony, the Sonderkommando received a new title, "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler"" (LAH).
Expansion
On 13 April 1934, Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
, the Reichsführer-SS
Reichsführer-SS
was a special SS rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945. Reichsführer-SS was a title from 1925 to 1933 and, after 1934, the highest rank of the German Schutzstaffel .-Definition:...
, ordered the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler (LAH) to be renamed "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" (LSSAH). In late June, the LSSAH was called into action for the first time. Stabschef-SA
Stabschef (SA)
For other uses of the term "Stabschef" please refer to Chief of StaffStabschef was an office and paramilitary rank in the Sturmabteilung , the paramilitary stormtroopers associated with the Nazi movement...
Ernst Röhm began to push for greater power for his already powerful SA
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
. Hitler decided that the SA had to be put in its place, and ordered Himmler and Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
to prepare their elite units, Himmler's Leibstandarte and Göring's Landespolizeigruppe General Göring, for immediate action. The LSSAH formed two companies under the control of Jürgen Wagner
Jürgen Wagner
Jürgen Wagner was a Brigadeführer in the Waffen SS during World War II, he was the commander of the 23rd SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division Nederland and was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves.-Early life:Jürgen Wagner was born on 9 September 1901 in Strasbourg, and was the son of Ernst...
and Otto Reich, and these formations were moved to Munich on 30 June.
Hitler ordered all SA leaders to attend a meeting at the Hanselbauer Hotel in Bad Wiessee
Bad Wiessee
Bad Wiessee is a spa town on Lake Tegernsee, Bavaria, Germany. The name "Bad" means for "spa" or "baths", while "Wiessee" derives from "West See", meaning "western part of the lake"....
, near Munich. On 30 June, Hitler joined Sepp Dietrich and a unit from the Leibstandarte and travelled to Bad Wiessee to personally command Röhm's arrest. On 1 July Hitler finally agreed with Göring and Himmler that Röhm should be executed. In what the Nazis called the Röhm Putsch (to give their action an appearance of legitimacy), but otherwise came to be known as the Night of the Long Knives
Night of the Long Knives
The Night of the Long Knives , sometimes called "Operation Hummingbird " or in Germany the "Röhm-Putsch," was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders...
, companies of the LSSAH, together with the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and Göring's Landespolizeigruppe, performed Death Squad
Death squad
A death squad is an armed military, police, insurgent, or terrorist squad that conducts extrajudicial killings, assassinations, and forced disappearances of persons as part of a war, insurgency or terror campaign...
actions. At least 177 people were executed without trials over the next few days.
These actions succeeded in effectively decapitating the SA and removing Röhm's threat to Hitler's leadership. In recognition of their actions, both the LSSAH and the Landespolizeigruppe General Göring were expanded to regimental size and motorized. In addition, the SS became an independent organization, no longer part of the SA.
As the SS swelled with new recruits, the LSSAH represented the pinnacle of Hitler's Aryan
Aryan
Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...
ideal. Strict recruitment regulations meant that only those deemed sufficiently Aryan—as well as being physically fit and National Socialists—would be admitted.
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...
. The Leibstandarte was in the vanguard of the march into Austria as part of the Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
, and in 1938 the unit took part in the occupation of the Sudetenland. By 1939 the LSSAH was a full infantry regiment with three infantry battalions, an artillery battalion, and anti-tank, reconnaissance, and engineer subunits. Soon after its involvement in the annexation of Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
and Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
, the LSSAH was redesignated "Infanterie-Regiment Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (mot.)". When Hitler ordered the formation of an SS division in mid-1939, the Leibstandarte was designated to form its own unit, unlike the other Standarten of the SS-Verfügungstruppe
SS-Verfügungstruppe
The SS-Verfügungstruppe was formed in 1934 as combat troops for the NSDAP. By 1940 these military SS units had become the nucleus of the Waffen-SS....
(SS-VT) (SS-Standarte Deutschland, SS-Standarte Germania, and SS-Standarte Der Führer). The Polish crisis of August 1939 put these plans on hold, and the LSSAH was ordered to join XIII. Armeekorps, a part of Army Group South
Army Group South
Army Group South was the name of a number of German Army Groups during World War II.- Poland campaign :Germany used two army groups to invade Poland in 1939: Army Group North and Army Group South...
, which was preparing for the attack on Poland.
Invasion of Poland
During the initial stages of the Invasion of PolandInvasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was attached to the 17.Infanterie-Division
German 17th Infantry Division
The 17th Infantry Division was an infantry division of Nazi Germany, active before and during the World War II. Formed in 1934, it took part in most of the campaigns of the Wehrmacht and was decimated in January 1945. Reconstituted in Germany, it surrendered to the Allies in May of that year...
and tasked with providing flank protection for the southern pincer. The regiment was involved in several battles against Polish cavalry
Polish cavalry
The Polish cavalry can trace its origins back to the days of Medieval mounted knights. Poland had always been a country of flatlands and fields and mounted forces operate well in this environment...
brigades attempting to hit the flanks of the German advance. At Pabianice
Pabianice
Pabianice is a town in central Poland with 69 648 inhabitants . Situated in the Łódź Voivodeship, it is the capital of Pabianice County...
, a town near Łódź, the LSSAH fought off elements of the Polish 28th Infantry Division
Polish 28th Infantry Division
The 28 Dywizja Piechoty was a Polish Army infantry division which saw action against the invading Germans during the Invasion of Poland of World War II. The division suffered heavy casualties in battles near Łódź and the remnants retreated to Warsaw, where they surrendered.-Order of battle:*HQ...
and the Wołyńska Cavalry Brigade in close combat. Throughout the campaign, the unit was notorious for torching villages.
After the success at Pabianice, the LSSAH was sent to the area near Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
and attached to the 4.Panzer-Division
German 4th Panzer Division
The German 4th Panzer Division was established in 1938. It participated in the 1939 invasion of Poland, the 1940 invasion of France, and the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union. It remained on the Eastern Front, mainly under Army Group Centre, until it was trapped on the coast at Courland in the...
under Generaloberst Georg-Hans Reinhardt
Georg-Hans Reinhardt
Georg-Hans Reinhardt was a German general of World War II. He commanded Third Panzer Army from 1941 to 1944, and Army Group Centre in 1944 and 1945. His highest rank was Generaloberst . He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords...
. The unit saw action preventing encircled Polish units from escaping, and repelling several desperate attempts by other Polish troops to break through. The LSSAH had proved itself an effective fighting unit during the campaign, though several Heer Generals had reservations about the high casualties which the LSSAH and the SS-VT units had sustained in combat. On 18–19 September at Błonie near Warsaw, around 50 Jews were murdered by soldiers from the division.
Invasion of France
In early 1940 the LSSAH was expanded into a full independent motorized infantry regiment and a SturmgeschützSturmgeschütz
Sturmgeschütz 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...
(Assault Gun) battery was added to their establishment. The regiment was shifted to the Dutch border for the launch of Fall Gelb. It was to form the vanguard of the ground advance into the Netherlands, tasked with capturing a vital bridge over the IJssel
IJssel
River IJssel , sometimes called Gelderse IJssel to avoid confusion with its Hollandse IJssel namesake in the west of the Netherlands, is a branch of the Rhine in the Dutch provinces of Gelderland and Overijssel...
and linking up with the Fallschirmjäger
Fallschirmjäger
are German paratroopers. Together with the Gebirgsjäger they are perceived as the elite infantry units of the German Army....
of Generaloberst Kurt Student
Kurt Student
Kurt Student was a German Luftwaffe general who fought as a fighter pilot during the First World War and as the commander of German Fallschirmjäger during the Second World War.-Biography:...
's airborne forces, the 7.Flieger-Division and the 22.Luftlande-Infanterie-Division
German 22nd Air Landing Infantry Division
The 22nd Infantry Division was a German infantry division in World War II.-History:Created as 22. Infanterie-Division in 1935, one regiment participated in the invasion of Poland; the rest of the division stayed in garrison on the Siegfried Line in case of a preemptive French attack. The division...
.
Fall Gelb—the invasion of France and the Low Countries—was launched on 10 May 1940. On that day, the LSSAH crossed the Dutch border, covered over 75 kilometres (46.6 mi), and secured a crossing over the IJssel near Zutphen after discovering that their target bridge had been destroyed. Over the next four days, the LSSAH covered over 215 kilometres (133.6 mi), and earned itself dubious fame by accidentally shooting at and seriously wounding Generaloberst Student at Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
. After the surrender of the Netherlands on 15 May, the regiment formed part of the reserve for Army Group B
Army Group B
Army Group B was the name of three different German Army Groups that saw action during World War II.-Battle for France:The first was involved in the Western Campaign in 1940 in Belgium and the Netherlands which was to be aimed to conquer the Maas bridges after the German airborne actions in Rotterdam...
.
After the British armoured counterattack at Arras
Battle of Arras (1940)
The Battle of Arras took place during the Battle of France, in the early stages of World War II. It was an Allied counterattack against the flank of the German army, that took place near the town of Arras, in north-eastern France. The German forces were pushing north toward the channel coast, in...
, the LSSAH, along with the SS-Verfügungs-Division, was moved to the front lines to hold the perimeter around Dunkirk and reduce the size of the pocket containing the encircled British Expeditionary Force and French forces. Near Wormhoudt, the LSSAH ignored Hitler's orders for the advance to halt and continued the attack, suppressing the British artillery positions on the Wattenberg
Watten, Nord
-Sights:The village is famous for its old ruined abbey, and for its mill, which was restored in the 1990s. These two buildings are located on the "Mountain of Watten" . Its church dates from the thirteenth century.-References:* *...
Heights. During this battle the regiment suffered heavy casualties.
After the attack, soldiers of LSSAH's II.Battalion, under the command of SS-Hauptsturmführer 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...
, were mistakenly informed that their divisional commander Sepp Dietrich had been killed in the fighting. In what is known as the Wormhoudt massacre
Wormhoudt massacre
The Wormhoudt massacre was the mass murder of 80 British and French POWs by the Waffen SS during the Battle of France in May 1940.-Fighting:...
, about 80 British POW
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
s of 2nd Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment
The Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers
The Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers, previously titled the 6th Regiment of Foot and The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, was an infantry regiment of the British Army. In 1968, it was absorbed, with the other Fusilier regiments, into the four-battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.-History:The regiment...
were murdered in retaliation for the supposed death of Dietrich. Although it is unarguable that the massacre occurred, Mohnke's level of involvement is impossible to know, and he was never brought to trial.
Brigade status—Balkans
After the conclusion of the Western campaign on 22 June 1940, the LSSAH spent six months in MetzMetz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...
(Moselle
Moselle
Moselle is a department in the east of France named after the river Moselle.- History :Moselle is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
). The LSSAH was expanded to brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
size (6,500 soldiers). Despite this, it retained the designation 'regiment'. A 'Flak battalion' and a StuG
Assault gun
An assault gun is a gun or howitzer mounted on a motor vehicle or armored chassis, designed for use in the direct fire role in support of infantry when attacking other infantry or fortified positions....
Batterie
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
were among the formations added to the LSSAH. A new flag was presented to the LSSAH in Metz, on September 1940, by Heinrich Himmler. During the later months of 1940, the regiment trained in amphibious assaults on the Moselle River in preparation for Operation Seelöwe. After the failure of the Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
and the cancellation of the planned invasion of Britain, the LSSAH was shifted to Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
in February 1941 in preparation for Operation Marita, part of the planned invasion of Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
.
The operation was launched on 6 April 1941. The LSSAH was to follow the route of the 9.Panzer-Division
German 9th Panzer Division
The 9th Panzer Division was a panzer division of the Wehrmacht Heer. The division was only active during World War II, and came into existence after 4th Light Division was reorganized in January 1940...
, part of General der Panzertruppen Georg Stumme
Georg Stumme
Georg Stumme was a World War II German general most notable for his brief command of the Axis forces at the beginning of the Second Battle of El Alamein.-Biography:...
's XL Panzer Corps
XL Panzer Corps
XL Panzer Corps was a tank corps in the German Army during World War II.The XL Panzer Corps fought at Kharkov, the advance to the Don River, and to the Terek in the Caucasus. The corps later withdrew toward Rostov and later into Romania....
. The regiment crossed the border near Prilep
Prilep
Prilep is the fourth largest city in the Republic of Macedonia. It has a population of 66,246 citizens. Prilep is known as "the city under Marko's Towers" because of its proximity to the towers of Prince Marko.-Name:...
and was soon deep in Greek territory.
The LSSAH captured Vevi
Vevi
Vevi, rarely Veve is a village located in the municipal unit of Meliti in Florina peripheral unit, Macedonia, Greece. The village is passed by two national roads which lead to Thessaloniki, Florina, Amyntaio, and Kozani...
on 10 April. Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
Kurt Meyer
Kurt Meyer (Panzermeyer)
Kurt Meyer, nicknamed "Panzermeyer", served as an officer in the Waffen-SS during the Second World War. He saw action in many major battles, including the Invasion of France, Operation Barbarossa, and the Battle of Normandy.Meyer was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and...
's reinforced Aufklärungs-Abt
Aufklärungsabteilung
An Aufklärungsabteilung was an Abteilung sized reconnaissance unit attached to a German division during the Second World War.The Aufklärungsabteilung was the eyes and ears of the parent division...
(reconnaissance unit) LSSAH was tasked with clearing resistance from the Kleisoura Pass south-west of Vevi
Vevi
Vevi, rarely Veve is a village located in the municipal unit of Meliti in Florina peripheral unit, Macedonia, Greece. The village is passed by two national roads which lead to Thessaloniki, Florina, Amyntaio, and Kozani...
and driving through to the Kastoria
Kastoria
Kastoria is a city in northern Greece in the periphery of West Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria peripheral unit. It is situated on a promontory on the western shore of Lake Orestiada, in a valley surrounded by limestone mountains...
area to cut off retreating Greek and British Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
forces. Resistance from the Greek 20th Division was fierce. According to some accounts, the SS were inspired to capture the Kleisoura Pass only after Meyer threw a live grenade at the feet of some of his soldiers.
Sturmbannführer Fritz Witt
Fritz Witt
Fritz Witt was a German Waffen-SS officer who served with the 1.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler before taking command of the 12.SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend...
's I.Battalion was tasked with clearing the Klidi Pass just south of Vevi, which was strongly defended by Australian, British, and New Zealand troops. Witt's battalion was reinforced and renamed "Kampfgruppe Witt". An Australian officer wrote of the Germans' "insolence" in driving "trucks down the main road — to within 3000 yards (2,743.2 m) of our infantry" and there unloading the SS troops.
The Germans were forced off the road and faced fierce resistance for more than two days. On the morning of 12 April the Germans launched a frontal assault, and by late afternoon the pass was cleared.
With the fall of the two passes the main line of resistance of the Greek First Army
Greek First Army
The Greek First Army is the highest formation of the Hellenic Army and its only extant field army.The First Army was created in March 1947, during the Greek Civil War. It controlled the II and III Corps, with Volos as its headquarters. It was abolished on 10 February 1948, and re-established in...
was broken, and the campaign became a battle to prevent the escape of the enemy. On 20 April, following a pitched battle in the 5000 feet (1,524 m)-high Metsovon Pass in the Pindus Mountains, the commander of the Greek First Army surrendered the entire Hellenic Army
Hellenic Army
The Hellenic Army , formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece.The motto of the Hellenic Army is , "Freedom Stems from Valor", from Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War...
to Dietrich. British Commonwealth troops were now the only Allied forces remaining in Greece, and they were falling back across the Corinth Canal
Corinth Canal
The Corinth Canal is a canal that connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnesian peninsula from the Greek mainland, thus effectively making the former an island. The builders dug the canal through...
to the Peloponnesos. By 26 April the LSSAH had reached the Gulf of Patras
Gulf of Patras
The Gulf of Patras is a branch of the Ionian Sea. On the east, it is closed by the Strait of Rion between capes Rio, Greece and Antirrio, near the Rio-Antirio bridge. On the west, it is bounded by a line from Oxeia island to Cape Araxos...
, and in an effort to cut off the retreating British Commonwealth forces, Dietrich ordered that his regiment cross the Gulf and secure the town of Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...
in the Peloponnesos. Since no transport vessels were available, the LSSAH commandeered fishing boats and successfully completed the crossing, but were forced to leave much of their heavy equipment behind. By 30 April the last British Commonwealth troops had either been captured or escaped. The LSSAH occupied a position of honour in the victory parade through Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
.
Following Operation Marita, the LSSAH was ordered north to join the forces of Army Group South
Army Group South
Army Group South was the name of a number of German Army Groups during World War II.- Poland campaign :Germany used two army groups to invade Poland in 1939: Army Group North and Army Group South...
massing for the launch of Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
.
Operation Barbarossa
Following Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler's outstanding performance during Marita, Himmler ordered that it should be upgraded to divisional status. The regiment, already the size of a reinforced brigade, was redesignated "SS-Division (mot.) Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler". There was no time to refit the division to full divisional status before the launch of Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
—the invasion of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
—and so the new "division" remained the size of a reinforced brigade.
The LSSAH was attached to the LIV.Armee-Korps and held in reserve during the opening stages of the attack. In August 1941 it was transferred to III.Panzer-Korps, part of Generalfeldmarschall Ewald von Kleist
Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist
Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist was a leading German field marshal during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords...
's Panzergruppe 1. During this time the LSSAH was involved in the Battle of Uman
Battle of Uman
The Battle of Uman was the German and allied encirclement of the 6th and 12th The Battle of Uman (15 July–8 August 1941) was the German and allied encirclement of the 6th (General Lieutenant I.N. Muzyrchenko) and 12th The Battle of Uman (15 July–8 August 1941) was the German and allied...
and the subsequent capture of Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
. The division was involved in heavy fighting, with Meyer's Abteilung
Abteilung
Abteilung is a German language word often used when referring to German or Swiss military formations...
particularly distinguishing itself. After finding six dead members of the division in Taganrog
Taganrog
Taganrog is a seaport city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located on the north shore of Taganrog Bay , several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don River. Population: -History of Taganrog:...
the division murdered 4,000 Soviet prisoners in reprisal.
In early September, the division was transferred back to LIV.Armee-Korps, preparing to launch an offensive to clear the Crimean peninsula
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
. The operation was launched on 17 September 1941. The LSSAH was involved in heavy fighting for the town of Perekop
Perekop
Perekop is a village located at the Perekop Isthmus connecting Crimean peninsula to the Ukrainian mainland. It is known for the Fortress Or Qapi that served as the gateway to Crimea...
before advancing across the Perekop Isthmus to assault the Soviet defensive positions near the Tartar Ditch.
In November the LSSAH was transferred back to Panzergruppe 1 and took part in the heavy fighting for the city of Rostov-on-Don, which was captured in late November. During Operation Barbarossa, the division had penetrated 960 kilometres (596.5 mi) into Soviet territory.
Heavy Soviet counterattacks during the winter meant that Army Group South had to fall back from Rostov-on-Don to defensive lines on the river Mius. The LSSAH spent the winter fighting ferocious defensive battles in temperatures of down to −40 °C, with minimal winter clothing and only 150 grams of rations per man per day. Despite this, the division held. After the spring rasputitsa
Rasputitsa
The rasputitsa refers to the biannual seasons when unpaved roads become difficult to traverse in parts of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The word may be translated as the "quagmire season" because during this period the large flatlands become extremely muddy and marshy, as do most unpaved roads...
had cleared, the exhausted division joined in Fall Blau, participating in the fighting to retake Rostov-on-Don, which was recaptured in late July 1942. Severely understrength and completely exhausted, the LSSAH was pulled out of the line. The division was ordered to the Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
region of occupied France to join the newly-formed SS-Panzer-Korps
II SS Panzer Corps
The II SS Panzer Corps was a Nazi German Waffen-SS armoured corps which saw action on both the Eastern and Western Fronts during World War II.- Formation - Kharkov :...
and to be reformed as a Panzergrenadier
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.
Kharkov
Paul Hausser
Paul "Papa" Hausser was an officer in the German Army, achieving the high rank of lieutenant-general in the inter-war Reichswehr. After retirement from the regular Army he became the "father" of the Waffen-SS and one of its most eminent leaders...
, the SS Panzer Corps commander, the four SS Panzer Grenadier divisions (LSSAH, Wiking, Das Reich and Totenkopf
Totenkopf
The Totenkopf is the German word for the death's head and an old symbol for death or the dead. It consists usually of the skull and the mandible of the human skeleton...
were to be formed with a full regiment of tanks rather than only a Battalion
Abteilung
Abteilung is a German language word often used when referring to German or Swiss military formations...
. This meant that the SS Panzer Grenadier divisions were full-strength Panzer divisions in all but name. Also, the division received nine Tiger 1 tanks, and these were formed into 13.(schwere)Company/1st SS Panzer Regiment.
The collapse of the front around Stalingrad and the encirclement of the German Sixth Army
German Sixth Army
The 6th Army was a designation for German field armies which saw action in World War I and World War II. The 6th Army is best known for fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad, during which it became the first entire German field army to be completely destroyed...
meant that the entire eastern front was close to collapse. General Feldmarschall Erich von Manstein
Erich von Manstein
Erich von Manstein was a field marshal in World War II. He became one of the most prominent commanders of Germany's World War II armed forces...
, commander of Army Group Don
Army Group Don
Army Group Don was a short-lived German army group during World War II.Army Group Don was created from the headquarters of the Eleventh Army in the southern sector of the Eastern Front on 22 November 1942. The army group only lasted until February 1943 when it was combined with Army Group B and...
, requested reinforcements to halt the Soviet attack near Kharkov. The SS Panzer Corps was ordered east to join Manstein's forces.
Arriving at the front in late January 1943, the LSSAH was thrown into the line defending Kharkov itself as a part of Hausser's SS Panzer Corps. Facing them were the hundreds of T-34
T-34
The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. Although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential design of World War II...
s of Mobile Group Popov, a Soviet armoured Army sized formation which formed the spearhead of the Soviet advance. On 8–9 February 1943, the LSSAH's 1st SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment under SS-Sturmbannführer Fritz Witt
Fritz Witt
Fritz Witt was a German Waffen-SS officer who served with the 1.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler before taking command of the 12.SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend...
, fighting alongside SS-Sturmbannführer Max Wünsche
Max Wünsche
Max Wünsche was a Obersturmbannführer in the Waffen-SS during World War II who was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves.-Early life:Max Wünsche was born on 20 April 1914 in Kittlitz...
's I/1st SS Panzer Regiment, fought a bitter delaying action near the town of Merefa
Merefa
Merefa is a city in eastern Ukraine. It is located in the Kharkivsky Raion of the Kharkiv Oblast .The current estimated population is around 23,679 ....
, halting a major Soviet attack. The division fought in many desperate defensive battles over the next few weeks, gradually being pushed back into the city of Kharkov itself.
Despite inflicting heavy losses on the Soviets, and rebuffing all enemy attacks, the Soviets succeeded in outflanking the corps. On 15 February, Hausser ignored Hitler's orders to hold the city at all costs and ordered the SS-Panzer-Korps to abandon the city and withdraw towards Krasnograd. Over the next week, the SS-Panzer-Korps annihilated Mobile Group Popov in a series of hard fought battles. The LSSAH was a major participant in these battles, destroying several Soviet divisions and inflicting heavy losses.
Hausser now ordered that Kharkov should be recaptured. The LSSAH, Das Reich and Totenkopf were to form the spearhead of the attack. The attack got underway on 2 March. The LSSAH was formed into three 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...
n which would attack towards and capture Kharkov. Over the next weeks, the LSSAH would take part in the battles to take the city. Kampfgruppe Meyer, under Panzermeyer's command, penetrated to Red Square before being cut off. Kampfgruppe Witt saw heavy fighting against a Soviet blocking force near Dergatschi before it also broke through into the city.
Joachim Peiper
Joachim Peiper , more often known as Jochen Peiper, was a field officer in the Waffen-SS during World War II, convicted of war crimes in Belgium and accused of war crimes in Italy. He was Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler's personal adjutant . In 1945, he was an SS-Standartenführer, the Waffen-SS's...
, broke through that the defenders were finally overwhelmed. By 21 March, the battle was over and Kharkov was back in German hands, with Peiper's Kampfgruppe having penetrated as far as Belgorod
Belgorod
-Twin towns/sister cities:Belgorod is twinned with: Wakefield, England, United Kingdom Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia Opole, Poland Vyshhorod, Ukraine Kharkiv, Ukraine-External links:...
.
After recapturing Kharkov, soldiers of the LSSAH engaged in the murder of wounded Soviet soldiers that were located in the city's military hospital; several hundred perished. Additionally, per the Commissar Order
Commissar Order
The Commissar Order was a written order given by Adolf Hitler on 6 June 1941, prior to Operation Barbarossa. Its official name was Guidelines for the Treatment of Political Commissars...
captured Soviet officers and commissars were routinely executed.
In honour of the 4,500 casualties suffered by the Leibstandarte in the fighting, Kharkov's Red Square was renamed Platz der Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler by the Germans. The division was pulled back for much needed rest and refit. One major change in the LSSAH now occurred their commander Sepp Dietrich after ten years in command was promoted to form a new Corps the 1st SS Panzer Corps Leibstandarte and the LSSAH was to supply all the senior officers for the new headquarters. At the same time a new SS division would be formed from members of the Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
and the LSSAH would supply all of the Regimental, Battalion and most of the Company commanders. In time this new division would become the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend
12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend
The 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend was a German Waffen SS armoured division during World War II. The Hitlerjugend was unique because the majority of its junior enlisted men were drawn from members of the Hitler Youth, while the senior NCOs and officers were generally veterans of the Eastern...
.
Fabrikaktion Operation
Elements of LSSAH took part in FabrikaktionFabrikaktion
The Fabrikaktion is the term for the roundup of the last Jews to be deported starting 27 February 1943. Most of these remaining Jews were working Berlin plants or they were working for the Jewish welfare organisation...
(factory action) a/k/a/ "Großaktion Juden" (Major Action (on) Jews); an operation to capture remaining German Jews that worked in the arms industry
Arms industry
The arms industry is a global industry and business which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology and equipment. It comprises government and commercial industry involved in research, development, production, and service of military material, equipment and facilities...
. Soldiers of the Leibstandarte helped the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
round up Jews in Berlin; people were taken from their jobs and herded in cattle wagons on February 27–28th 1943. Most of the captured perished either in Auschwitz or other camps in the East. Further, the division was awarded stolen Jewish property. For example, in May 1943 it was to receive 500 men's watches taken from Jews. And, as with other Waffen SS divisions, it received winter clothing that was confiscated from camps and ghettos in the East.
Kursk
The spring rasputitsaRasputitsa
The rasputitsa refers to the biannual seasons when unpaved roads become difficult to traverse in parts of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The word may be translated as the "quagmire season" because during this period the large flatlands become extremely muddy and marshy, as do most unpaved roads...
halted offensive operations, giving the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler time to rest and refit. By early June 1943, the division had been fully refitted and now under the command of Brigadeführer
Brigadeführer
SS-Brigadeführer was an SS rank that was used in Nazi Germany between the years of 1932 and 1945. Brigadeführer was also an SA rank....
, Theodor Wisch
Theodor Wisch
Theodor Peter Johann Wisch was a German Waffen-SS general and a commander of 1. SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler during World War II. He held the rank of SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS. He was also a winner of the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub...
. Its armour strength was 12 Tiger I
Tiger I
Tiger I is the common name of a German heavy tank developed in 1942 and used in World War II. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. E, often shortened to Tiger. It was an answer to the unexpectedly formidable Soviet armour encountered in the initial months of...
s, 72 Panzer IV
Panzer IV
The Panzerkampfwagen IV , commonly known as the Panzer IV, was a medium tank developed in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz...
s, 16 Panzer III
Panzer III
Panzer III was the common name of a medium tank that was developed in the 1930s by Germany and was used extensively in World War II. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen III translating as "armoured battle vehicle". It was intended to fight other armoured fighting vehicles and...
and Panzer II
Panzer II
The Panzer II was the common name for a family of German tanks used in World War II. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen II...
s, and 31 StuGs. In late June 1943, the formation of I SS Panzer Corps
I SS Panzer Corps
The I SS Panzer Corps Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler or I SS Panzer Corps was a German Waffen-SS panzer corps which saw action on both the Western and Eastern Fronts during World War II.-Formation and training:...
meant that Hausser's SS Panzer Corps was renamed II SS Panzer Corps
II SS Panzer Corps
The II SS Panzer Corps was a Nazi German Waffen-SS armoured corps which saw action on both the Eastern and Western Fronts during World War II.- Formation - Kharkov :...
.
The II SS Panzer Corps
II SS Panzer Corps
The II SS Panzer Corps was a Nazi German Waffen-SS armoured corps which saw action on both the Eastern and Western Fronts during World War II.- Formation - Kharkov :...
was moved north to Belgorod in preparation for the upcoming Summer offensive, Operation Citadel. The LSSAH, along with the Totenkopf and Das Reich, was to form the spearhead of Generaloberst Hoth
Hermann Hoth
Hermann "Papa" Hoth was an officer in the German military from 1903 to 1945. He attained the rank of Generaloberst during World War II. He fought in France, but is most noted for his later exploits as a panzer commander on the Eastern Front...
's 4th Panzer Army
German Fourth Panzer Army
The 4th Panzer Army was, before being designated a full army, the Panzer Group 4 , a German panzer army that saw action during World War II. Its units played a part in the invasion of France, and then on the Eastern Front.-Early history:The 4th Panzer Group's predecessor was the XVI Corps formed...
, tasked with breaching the southern flank of the Kursk
Kursk
Kursk is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym Rivers. The area around Kursk was site of a turning point in the Russian-German struggle during World War II and the site of the largest tank battle in history...
salient
Salients, re-entrants and pockets
A salient is a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory. The salient is surrounded by the enemy on three sides, making the troops occupying the salient vulnerable. The enemy's line facing a salient is referred to as a re-entrant...
. Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model
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...
's 9.Armee
German Ninth Army
The 9th Army was a World War II field army.The 9th Army was activated on May 15, 1940 with General Johannes Blaskowitz in command.-1940:The 9th Army first saw service along the Siegfried Line when it was involved in the invasion of France...
was to breach the northern flank, and the two forces were to meet near the city of Kursk, thereby encircling a large Soviet force.
The II SS Panzer Corps reached its assembly areas on 28 June and began preparing for the assault. The attack was set for 5 July, and on 4 July the II SS Panzer Corps, as well as the XLVIII Panzer Corps on its left and the III Panzer Corps on the right, began minor attacks to secure observation posts. Fighting lasted throughout the day, with the LSSAH's Pionier-Battalion seeing heavy action clearing out the entrenched Soviets.
The LSSAH panzers, advancing in Panzerkeil
Panzerkeil
The Panzerkeil was an offensive armoured tactic developed by German forces on the Eastern Front during World War II. The panzerkeil was developed in response to the Soviet employment of the pakfront defence....
s, soon ran into the Soviet Pakfront
Pakfront
The Pakfront was a defensive military tactic developed by the German forces on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. It was named after the phonetic pronunciation of the acronym nomenclature for German towed anti-tank guns, PaK...
s. The elaborate system of Soviet defences slowed the attack, but unlike in Model's sector, the 4th Panzer Army, spearheaded by the II SS Panzer Corps and the LSSAH, was not halted, and eventually broke through.
By 9 July, the II SS Panzer Corps had advanced 30 miles (48.3 km) north, and were nearing the small town of Prokhorovka
Prokhorovka
Prokhorovka is an urban locality and the administrative center of Prokhorovsky District of Belgorod Oblast, Russia, located along the Psyol River southwest of the city of Kursk. Population:...
. The LSSAH again took the lead, by now its armour strength reduced to just 77 armoured vehicles. The 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment, supported by several panzers, advanced straight up the road to Prokhorovka against heavy resistance. By midday, the grenadiers had cleared the Komsomolets State Farm and they began the attack on Hill 241.6, which they secured shortly after nightfall on 10 July.
On 11 July, the advance resumed, with the division capturing Oktiabr'skii State Farm and Hill 252.2 in heavy fighting against Soviet Paratroops of the 9th Guards Airborne Division. On 12 July, the Soviets threw the 5th Guards Tank Army
5th Guards Tank Army (Soviet Union)
The 5th Guards Tank Army was a Soviet Guards armoured formation which fought in many notable actions during World War II.The 5th Guards Tank Army was formed on 10 February 1942. Its organisation varied throughout its history, but in general included two or more Guards Tank Corps and one or more...
into a counterattack near Prokhorovka. Two tank corps
Corps
A corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...
faced the LSSAH, hitting the advancing Germans around Oktiabr'skii State Farm and Hill 252.2. In the ensuing fighting, the outnumbered Germans inflicted heavy casualties on the Soviets, knocking out many tanks. In the process, the LSSAH also suffered relatively light casualties; however the Soviet counterattack had stalled the German advance, and the division was forced to fall back to Oktiabr'skii. The Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army lost 300 tanks destroyed and further 300 damaged at 12 July. Fighting continued on 13 July, but the focus of the Soviet attack had shifted to the Totenkopf, to the left of the LSSAH.
With the Battle of Prokhorovka still in the balance, a massive Soviet counteroffensive near Orel
Oryol
Oryol or Orel is a city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River, approximately south-southwest of Moscow...
caused Hitler to order the cancellation of Citadel. The II SS Panzer Corps was pulled back. LSSAH was ordered out of the line, having suffered 2,753 casualties including 474 killed. 11 tanks were lost during Operation Zitadelle. The Division was then sent to Italy to help stabilise the situation caused by the deposal of Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
by the Badoglio
Pietro Badoglio
Pietro Badoglio, 1st Duke of Addis Abeba, 1st Marquess of Sabotino was an Italian soldier and politician...
government and the Allied landings in Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
on 10 July. The division left behind its armour and equipment, which was given to Das Reich and Totenkopf.
Italy
The division travelled back to InnsbruckInnsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
, Austria, where they were re-equipped with vehicles. They continued across the Alps and into Northern Italy. The division arrived on the Po River Plain
Po River
The Po |Ligurian]]: Bodincus or Bodencus) is a river that flows either or – considering the length of the Maira, a right bank tributary – eastward across northern Italy, from a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face...
on 8 August 1943.
The Leibstandarte was given the task of guarding several vital road and rail junctions in the area of Trento
Trento
Trento is an Italian city located in the Adige River valley in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. It is the capital of Trentino...
-Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
. After several weeks, the division was moved to the Parma
Parma
Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
-Reggio
Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia is an affluent city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 170,000 inhabitants and is the main comune of the Province of Reggio Emilia....
area. During this period, the Leibstandarte was involved in several skirmishes with partisan
Partisan (military)
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...
s. With the Italian collapse
Armistice with Italy
The Armistice with Italy was an armistice signed on September 3 and publicly declared on September 8, 1943, during World War II, between Italy and the Allied armed forces, who were then occupying the southern end of the country, entailing the capitulation of Italy...
of 8 September 1943, the division was ordered to begin disarming nearby Italian units. This went smoothly, with the exception of brief, bloody fights with Italian troops stationed in Parma
Parma
Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
, Cremona
Cremona
Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...
and Piacenza
Piacenza
Piacenza is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Piacenza...
on 9 September. By 19 September, all Italian forces in the Po River Plain had been disarmed, but OKW was concerned by reports that elements of the Italian Fourth Army were regrouping in Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
, near the French border. Sturmbannführer Peiper's
Joachim Peiper
Joachim Peiper , more often known as Jochen Peiper, was a field officer in the Waffen-SS during World War II, convicted of war crimes in Belgium and accused of war crimes in Italy. He was Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler's personal adjutant . In 1945, he was an SS-Standartenführer, the Waffen-SS's...
mechanised III/2nd SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment was sent to disarm these units. Upon arriving in the Province of Cuneo, Peiper was met by an Italian officer who warned that his forces would attack unless Peiper's unit immediately vacated the province. After Peiper refused, the Italians forces attacked. Peiper's battalion defeated the Italians, and later shelled and burnt down the village of Boves
Boves
Boves is a comune in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 80 km south of Turin and about 6 km south of Cuneo...
killing 34 civilians. The soldiers then proceeded to disarm the remaining Italian forces in the area.
Following the disintegration and capitulation of Italy, the activities of partisan groups increased all across the area. Further, soldiers from the Leibstandarte murdered 49 Jewish refugees near Lake Maggiore
Lake Maggiore
Lake Maggiore is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest of Italy and largest of southern Switzerland. Lake Maggiore is the most westerly of the three great prealpine lakes of Italy, it extends for about 70 km between Locarno and Arona.The climate is mild...
, who had fled there after the German takeover. The murders happened between 15 and 24 September. Some of the victims had their feet and hands tied and were drowned.
The Leibstandarte was sent to the Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
Peninsula and was engaged in several major anti-partisan operations. During its period in Italy, the Leibstandarte was reformed as a full panzer division, and redesignated 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. In early November, the deteriorating situation in the east meant that the division was ordered back to the Russian Front, arriving in the Zhitomir area in mid November.
Eastern Front
German Fourth Panzer Army
The 4th Panzer Army was, before being designated a full army, the Panzer Group 4 , a German panzer army that saw action during World War II. Its units played a part in the invasion of France, and then on the Eastern Front.-Early history:The 4th Panzer Group's predecessor was the XVI Corps formed...
, which was struggling to hold the line near Zhitomir. The division was broken up into several 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...
and thrown into action. On 18 November, Kampfgruppe Frey halted the advance of the Fifth Guards Tank Army near the town of Kotscherovo. Over the next two months, the division's Kampfgruppen saw very heavy fighting in the Zhitomir area, performing fire-brigade actions and enabling XLVIII.Panzer Corps to hold the line.
In January 1944, one of the Leibstandarte's 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion Tiger commanders, Michael Wittmann
Michael Wittmann
Michael Wittmann was a German Waffen-SS tank commander during the Second World War. Wittmann would rise to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer and was a Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross holder....
, was awarded the Oakleaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...
for his actions in halting the attack of an entire Soviet armoured brigade. The division was transferred to the Cherkassy area at the end of January, where it was assigned to German III Panzer Corps, a part of German First Panzer Army
German First Panzer Army
The 1st Panzer Army was a German tank army that was a large armoured formation within the Wehrmacht Heer field forces during World War II.-Formation:...
.
When the 56,000 men of Gruppe Stemmermann were trapped in the Korsun Pocket in February 1944, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, along with the remainder of III Panzer Corps and German XLVII Panzer Corps
XLVII Panzer Corps (Germany)
The XLVII Panzer Corps was a Panzer Corps formed by Field Marshal Günther von Kluge during the Battle for Normandy, and for Operation Lüttich...
were ordered to attempt to break the Soviet cordon and rescue the trapped forces. Hitler intervened, and ordered the relief attempt be transformed into an impossible attempt to counter-encircle two Soviet fronts. The LSSAH, along army panzer units including Oberstleutnant Dr. Franz Bäke
Franz Bäke
Generalmajor der Reserve Dr. med. dent. Franz BäkeIn German a Doctor of Medical Dentistry is abbreviated as Dr. med. dent. . was a German Army officer and panzer ace. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords...
's German 503rd Heavy Panzer Detachment
German 503rd Heavy Panzer Detachment
The 503rd Heavy Tank Battalion was a German heavy Panzer Abteilung equipped with Tiger I tanks and Panzer IIIs. In 1944, it was re-equipped with the new Tiger II. The 503rd saw action on the Eastern and Western Fronts during the Second World War...
spearheaded the attack. Despite initial gains, the attack soon stalled due to a combination of the resistance of four Soviet tank corps and the thick mud of the rasputitsa
Rasputitsa
The rasputitsa refers to the biannual seasons when unpaved roads become difficult to traverse in parts of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The word may be translated as the "quagmire season" because during this period the large flatlands become extremely muddy and marshy, as do most unpaved roads...
. The exhausted Germans managed to reach the Gniloy Tikich River, where a small bridgehead was established. The survivors of the encirclement fought their way through to the bridgehead and by late February the battle was over.
The majority of the LSSAH which amounted to 41 officers and 1,188 men was withdrawn to Belgium for rest and refit, however a Kampfgruppe was left behind. On 22 March, the entire 1st Panzer Army was encircled in the Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket
Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket
The Battle of the Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket, also known as Hube's Pocket, was a Wehrmacht attempt on the Eastern Front of World War II to evade encirclement by the Red Army....
. The LSSAH Kampfgruppe took part in the desperate fighting to escape the encirclement, forming a part of the spearhead which linked up with the 2nd SS Panzer Corps near Buczacz on 6 April 1944. The shattered remnant of the Kampfgruppe was ordered to Belgium where it was to rest, refit and rejoin the remainder of the division. The new LSSAH Division was reformed in Belgium and at full strength by 25 April.
Western Front Normandy
It was again part of the 1st SS Panzer Corps which at this time consisted of the 101 SS Heavy Panzer Battalion, 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend
The 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend was a German Waffen SS armoured division during World War II. The Hitlerjugend was unique because the majority of its junior enlisted men were drawn from members of the Hitler Youth, while the senior NCOs and officers were generally veterans of the Eastern...
, 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen
17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen
The 17. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Götz von Berlichingen was a German SS panzergrenadier division which saw action on the Western Front during World War II.-Formation and training:...
and the Panzer-Lehr-Division.
The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler had been positioned north of the River Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
to counter any possible landing in the Pas de Calais so the first units did not arrive in Normandy until the night of the 27–28 June with the whole division taking another week to arrive. By 4 July the 1st SS Panzer Corps was reformed and now consisted of the SS Divisions bearing Hitler's name 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler and the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. The first action they were involved in was the defence of Carpiquet
Carpiquet
Carpiquet is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France. Caen – Carpiquet Airport is located in Carpiquet.-Geography:Carpiquet is on the western side of the Caen metropolitan area...
village and aerodrome in what was known to the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
as Operation Windsor
Operation Windsor
Operation Windsor was a Canadian offensive launched as part of the Battle of Normandy during the Second World War. Taking place on 4–5 July 1944, the attack was undertaken by the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division in an attempt to capture the Norman town of Carpiquet and the adjacent airfield from...
. Next followed a number of Allied attacks Operation Charnwood
Operation Charnwood
Operation Charnwood was a Second World War Anglo-Canadian offensive that took place from 8–9 July 1944, during the Battle of Normandy. The operation was intended to at least partially capture the German-occupied French city of Caen , which was an important Allied objective during the opening stages...
and Operation Jupiter and on 12 July the LSSAH were in charge of the Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
south sector from Maltot in the west to the Caen – Falaise
Falaise, Calvados
Falaise is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.-History:The town was the birthplace of William I the Conqueror, first of the Norman Kings of England. The Château de Falaise , which overlooks the town from a high crag, was formerly the seat of...
road in the east. During the night 14 – 15 July LSSAH was relieved by the 272nd Infantry Division
272nd Infantry Division (Germany)
The 272nd Infantry Division was a Type 1944 infantry division of the German Wehrmacht during World War II, that was originally formed in December 1943...
and pulled back to a concentration area astride the Caen – Falaise road between Ifs
Ifs, Calvados
Ifs is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.-Population:-Twin towns:Ifs is twinned with: Ilfracombe, Devon, England Niederwerrn, Germany-External links:**...
and Cintheaux
Cintheaux
Cintheaux is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.-Geography:The commune is located between Caen and Falaise and is the home to the Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery....
.
Operation Goodwood
Panzer IV
The Panzerkampfwagen IV , commonly known as the Panzer IV, was a medium tank developed in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz...
s, 46 Panther
Panther tank
Panther is the common name of a medium tank fielded by Nazi Germany in World War II that served from mid-1943 to the end of the European war in 1945. It was intended as a counter to the T-34, and to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV; while never replacing the latter, it served alongside it as...
s and 35 StuG III
Sturmgeschütz III
The Sturmgeschütz III assault gun was Germany's most produced armoured fighting vehicle during World War II. It was built on the chassis of the proven Panzer III tank...
s.
Operation Goodwood
Operation Goodwood
Operation Goodwood was an attack launched on 18 July 1944, during the Second World War, by the British army to the east of the city of Caen...
launched 18 July, pitted three British armoured divisions, with infantry support on their flanks. They were to swing through the gap between Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
and the eastern heights. There they would have to get across the hills at Bourguébus and break through towards open ground. The operation was preceded by a three hour bombing assault by 2,500 aircraft.
Immediately afterwards the British tanks came rumbling on and seized all their primary objectives. II/1st SS Panzer Regiment, located by the woods near Garcelles, received orders to attack the British at Soliers. SS-Obersturmführer Malkomes drove in the direction of Bourguébus with his 13 Panthers and discovered 60 British tanks South South East of the town. He attacked them, destroying 20, and capturing Soliers. Around 12:00 hours the Panther
Panther tank
Panther is the common name of a medium tank fielded by Nazi Germany in World War II that served from mid-1943 to the end of the European war in 1945. It was intended as a counter to the T-34, and to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV; while never replacing the latter, it served alongside it as...
Battalion, I/1st SS Panzer regiment, was engaged in combat with the British 29th Armoured Brigade
British 29th Armoured Brigade
- History :Created in 1940 it served mainly with the 11th Armoured Division, notably in the Battle of Normandy and the campaign in Western Europe.- Component Units :*22nd Dragoons - Until Jan '41...
of the British 11th Armoured Division
British 11th Armoured Division
The 11th Armoured Division, known as The Black Bull, was a British Army division formed in 1941 during the Second World War. The Division was formed in response to the unanticipated success of German panzer divisions...
. The body of the Leibstandarte was rushed to the front from Falaise
Falaise, Calvados
Falaise is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.-History:The town was the birthplace of William I the Conqueror, first of the Norman Kings of England. The Château de Falaise , which overlooks the town from a high crag, was formerly the seat of...
, where it was being held in reserve. Counterattacked immediately at 17:00, together with the 21st Panzer Division, they halted the British offensive on the left front.
At first, 19 July seemed to bring an end to Operation Goodwood, as only some individual tank assaults were carried out. But by 13:00 the British charged again, having brought up reinforcements to continue the attack. They quickly overran the forward German units and pressed on hard, a wave of tanks spearheading the attack. But when the leading Sherman/Fireflies and Cromwells approached Bourguébus Ridge at 16:00 hours, they came under fire and were blown up; the Panthers of the Leibstandarte had taken up positions on the hill itself. Around 15:00 hours the first of the 12th SS Panzer Division arrived, which relieved the right flank. The Canadians next attack was the Battle of Verrières Ridge
Battle of Verrières Ridge
The Battle of Verrières Ridge was a series of engagements fought as part of the Battle of Normandy, in western France, during the Second World War. The main combatants were two Canadian infantry divisions—with additional support from the Canadian 2nd Armoured Brigade—against elements of three...
and Operation Spring
Operation Spring
Operation Spring was an offensive operation conducted by II Canadian Corps during the Normandy campaign. The plan was intended to create pressure on the German forces operating on the British and Canadian front simultaneously to American offensive operations in their sector known as Operation...
(see map), where the LSSAH came up against a number of allied divisions including the Guards Armoured Division, 7th Armoured
British 7th Armoured Division
The 7th Armoured Division was a British armoured division which saw service during the Second World War where its exploits made it famous as the Desert Rats....
, 2nd Canadian
2nd Canadian Infantry Division
The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division was an infantry division of the First Canadian Army, mobilized on 1 September 1939 at the outset of the Second World War. It was initially composed of volunteers within brigades established along regional lines, though a halt in recruitment in the early months of...
and the 3rd Canadian
3rd Canadian Infantry Division
The Canadian 3rd Infantry Division was an infantry division of the Canadian Army from 1940 to c.1945.- History :The formation of the division was authorized on 17 May 1940...
.
Operation Bluecoat
Operation Bluecoat
Operation Bluecoat was an attack by the British Second Army at the Battle of Normandy during the Second World War, from 30 July – 7 August 1944. The geographical objectives of the attack were to secure the key road junction of Vire and the high ground of Mont Pinçon...
was next this time the LSSAH was up against the British and the 11th Armoured Division
British 11th Armoured Division
The 11th Armoured Division, known as The Black Bull, was a British Army division formed in 1941 during the Second World War. The Division was formed in response to the unanticipated success of German panzer divisions...
.
Operation Lüttich
On 25 July 1944, following six weeks of attritional warfare along a stalemated front, American forces under General Omar BradleyOmar Bradley
Omar Nelson Bradley was a senior U.S. Army field commander in North Africa and Europe during World War II, and a General of the Army in the United States Army...
succeeded in breaking through German defenses as part of Operation Cobra
Operation Cobra
Operation Cobra was the codename for an offensive launched by the First United States Army seven weeks after the D-Day landings, during the Normandy Campaign of World War II...
. On 1 August, American forces captured Avranches
Avranches
Avranches is a commune in the Manche department in the Basse-Normandie region in north-western France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. The inhabitants are called Avranchinais.-History:...
. Simultaneously, General George Patton's Third United States Army was activated. With the capture of Avranches, American forces were able to "turn the corner" of Normandy, pushing through into Brittany and the coastal ports. As a result, German defensive operations could no longer be anchored against the coast on both flanks. By 4 August, seven divisions of the 3rd Army had entered Brittany.
With the American breakthrough, in spite of this costly victory, the Allied forces remained vastly superior in numbers. Five days later the Americans saw the chance to break out of their beachhead. The weakened German defense could not keep up with the savage battle of attrition as little or no reinforcements had arrived, supplies were shot up from the air, and movement by day was made impossible. Hitler forbade any retreat and, instead, ordered an assault to be made under the code name Operation Lüttich. According to Hitler, three qualifications had to be met for the attack to proceed. "Von Kluge must believe in it. He must be able to detach enough armour from the main front in Normandy to create an effective striking force, and he must achieve surprise". For his counteroffensive, Von Kluge would have available the XLVII Panzer Corps, consisting of the 2nd Panzer Division, part of the 1st SS Panzer Division, the 2nd SS Panzer Division
2nd SS Division Das Reich
The 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich was a Waffen-SS division during World War II. It is considered to be an elite formation amongst the thirty-eight divisions fielded by the Waffen-SS....
and the 116th Panzer Division
116th Panzer Division (Germany)
The 116th Panzer Division, also known as the "Greyhound 'Windhund' Division", was a German panzer division that saw combat during World War II. It was reconstituted in the Rhineland and Westphalia areas of western Germany in March 1944 from the remnants of the 16th Panzergrenadier Division, and...
.
The Panzer Corps was supported by two Infantry Divisions and five battle groups
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...
, formed from the remnants of the Panzer Lehr Division and four equally battered infantry divisions. Although Hitler promised more reinforcements, von Kluge was skeptical of the chance of their arrival. Aware of the increasing number of American troops moving to his south—creating the potential of being outflanked—von Kluge elected to begin the offensive earlier than originally planned, with the attack commencing at midnight on 6 August 1944.
To avoid alerting American forces to the imminence of a German attack, Operation Lüttich would not use artillery bombardments to precede the attack. The initial attacks, consisting of 300 tanks, would hit the 30th Infantry Division east of Mortain, then cut through American defenses to reach the coast. Had surprise been achieved, the attack would likely have succeeded. However, Allied-decoders at Ultra
Ultra
Ultra was the designation adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by "breaking" high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. "Ultra" eventually became the standard...
had intercepted the codes for Operation Lüttich by 4 August. As a result, General Omar Bradley
Omar Bradley
Omar Nelson Bradley was a senior U.S. Army field commander in North Africa and Europe during World War II, and a General of the Army in the United States Army...
was able to obtain air support from both the US 9th Air Force and the RAF.
LSSAH, together with the other divisions went on the attack on 7 August after moving to the assembly areas on 5 and 6 August. The 1st SS Panzer Regiment, along with two Panzergrenadier Battalions, one Pionier Company and the division's Flak Battalion, were used for the attacks. The weather was not suited for flying that morning, which only disadvantaged the Allies. The result was that the attack went smoothly at first, despite the fact that the Allies knew the attack was coming. The 2nd SS Panzer Division managed to recapture Mortain, and an armoured Kampfgruppe under Joachim Peiper
Joachim Peiper
Joachim Peiper , more often known as Jochen Peiper, was a field officer in the Waffen-SS during World War II, convicted of war crimes in Belgium and accused of war crimes in Italy. He was Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler's personal adjutant . In 1945, he was an SS-Standartenführer, the Waffen-SS's...
managed to go as far as Bourlopin, but was stopped by massive Allied air power, and American counterattacks. Another attempt was mounted the next day to capture Avranches, but it failed.
A report from SS-Obersturmführer Preuss, 10th Company/2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment describes the impossible situation:
This marked the end of the campaign in Normandy; the Leibstandarte was encircled by the Americans and Canadians, supported by the 1st Polish Armoured Division, in what would be called the Falaise pocket
Falaise pocket
The battle of the Falaise Pocket, fought during the Second World War from 12 to 21 August 1944, was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy...
, but by then the unit was reduced to several small Kampfgruppen. Leibstandarte withdrew from the pocket with Unterführers and Führers each taking the lead of a small Kampfgruppe and smashing through the ring, on 22 August, after which no combat ready tanks or artillery pieces were reported. The whole campaign caused some 5,000 casualties to the LSSAH. During their retreat from France, members of the LSSAH and Hitlerjugend division murdered 34 French civilians in towns of Tavaux
Tavaux
Tavaux is a commune in the Jura department in the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Dole – Jura Airport is located here.-Demographics:As of the census of 1999, the population was 4274.The estimate for 2004 was 4094.-References:*...
and Plomion
Plomion
Plomion is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.-Population:-Sport:Plomion has been host to the French Sidecarcross Grand Prix in the past and will be hosting it again in 2010, on 2 May....
.
Ardennes Offensive
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...
through the forested Ardennes Mountains region
Ardennes
The Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges formed within the Givetian Ardennes mountain range, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France , and geologically into the Eifel...
of Belgium, France and Luxembourg on the Western Front
Western Front (World War II)
The Western Front of the European Theatre of World War II encompassed, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and West Germany. The Western Front was marked by two phases of large-scale ground combat operations...
. The offensive was called Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (Translated as Operation The Guard on the Rhine
Die Wacht am Rhein
"Die Wacht am Rhein" is a German patriotic anthem. The song's origins are rooted in historical conflicts with France, and it was particularly popular in Germany during the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War....
or Operation "Watch on the Rhine.") by the German armed forces. The “bulge
Salients, re-entrants and pockets
A salient is a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory. The salient is surrounded by the enemy on three sides, making the troops occupying the salient vulnerable. The enemy's line facing a salient is referred to as a re-entrant...
” was the initial incursion the Germans put into the Allies’ line of advance, as seen in maps presented in contemporary newspapers.
Wacht am Rhein
Operation Wacht am Rhein was the final major offensive and last gamble Hitler was to make. Wilhelm MohnkeWilhelm 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...
, now in command of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, was to lead his formation as the spearhead of the entire operation in the Ardennes
Ardennes
The Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges formed within the Givetian Ardennes mountain range, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France , and geologically into the Eifel...
. Attached to the I SS Panzer Corps
I SS Panzer Corps
The I SS Panzer Corps Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler or I SS Panzer Corps was a German Waffen-SS panzer corps which saw action on both the Western and Eastern Fronts during World War II.-Formation and training:...
, the LSSAH, one of the most elite and highly trained units in the entire German military. However, the divisions high casualties had forced it to take in a large number of inexperienced replacements to add to the core of battle-hardened and experienced veterans. The crisis in the Reich
Reich
Reich is a German word cognate with the English rich, but also used to designate an empire, realm, or nation. The qualitative connotation from the German is " sovereign state." It is the word traditionally used for a variety of sovereign entities, including Germany in many periods of its history...
meant that the LSSAH had dangerously low amounts of fuel for the vehicles in the upcoming campaign. On 16 December 1944 the operation began, with Mohnke designating his best colonel, Standartenführer Joachim Peiper
Joachim Peiper
Joachim Peiper , more often known as Jochen Peiper, was a field officer in the Waffen-SS during World War II, convicted of war crimes in Belgium and accused of war crimes in Italy. He was Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler's personal adjutant . In 1945, he was an SS-Standartenführer, the Waffen-SS's...
, and his regiment to lead the push to Antwerp.
In the north, the main armored spearhead of the Sixth SS Panzer Army was 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...
Peiper
Joachim Peiper
Joachim Peiper , more often known as Jochen Peiper, was a field officer in the Waffen-SS during World War II, convicted of war crimes in Belgium and accused of war crimes in Italy. He was Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler's personal adjutant . In 1945, he was an SS-Standartenführer, the Waffen-SS's...
, consisting of 4,800 men and 600 vehicles of the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler under the command of Joachim Peiper
Joachim Peiper
Joachim Peiper , more often known as Jochen Peiper, was a field officer in the Waffen-SS during World War II, convicted of war crimes in Belgium and accused of war crimes in Italy. He was Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler's personal adjutant . In 1945, he was an SS-Standartenführer, the Waffen-SS's...
. Its vehicles included Panzer IV
Panzer IV
The Panzerkampfwagen IV , commonly known as the Panzer IV, was a medium tank developed in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz...
(PzKw IV), Panzer II
Panzer II
The Panzer II was the common name for a family of German tanks used in World War II. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen II...
(PzKw II Ausf.H), Panther tank
Panther tank
Panther is the common name of a medium tank fielded by Nazi Germany in World War II that served from mid-1943 to the end of the European war in 1945. It was intended as a counter to the T-34, and to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV; while never replacing the latter, it served alongside it as...
(PzKw V), Sturmgeschütz III
Sturmgeschütz III
The Sturmgeschütz III assault gun was Germany's most produced armoured fighting vehicle during World War II. It was built on the chassis of the proven Panzer III tank...
(StuG III Ausf.G), Tiger I
Tiger I
Tiger I is the common name of a German heavy tank developed in 1942 and used in World War II. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. E, often shortened to Tiger. It was an answer to the unexpectedly formidable Soviet armour encountered in the initial months of...
(PzKw VI) and Tiger II
Tiger II
Tiger II is the common name of a German heavy tank of the Second World War. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B,Panzerkampfwagen – abbr: Pz. or Pz.Kfw. Ausführung – abbr: Ausf. .The full titles Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf...
(Ausf. B).
Bypassing the Elsenborn ridge, at 07:00 on 17 December, they seized a U.S. fuel depot at Büllingen
Büllingen
Büllingen is a largely German language-speaking municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. On January 1, 2006 Büllingen had a total population of 5,385. The total area is 150.49 km² which gives a population density of 36 inhabitants per km²....
, where they paused to refuel before continuing westward. At 12:30, near the hamlet of Baugnez, on the height halfway between the town of Malmedy
Malmedy
Malmedy is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region, Province of Liège. It belongs to the French Community of Belgium, within which it is French-speaking with facilities for German-speakers. On January 1, 2006 Malmedy had a total population of 11,829...
and Ligneuville, they encountered a convoy of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, U.S. 7th Armored Division. After a brief battle the Americans surrendered. They were disarmed and, with some other Americans captured earlier (approximately 150 men), sent to stand in a field near the crossroads and were shot. A small number of men escaped and a few survived by feigning death. It is not known what caused the shooting and there is no record of an SS officer giving an execution order; such shootings of prisoners of war (POWs), however, were common by both the Germans and the Soviets on the Eastern Front. News of the killings raced through Allied lines. Captured SS soldiers who were part of Kampfgruppe Peiper were tried following the war for this massacre and several others in the area during the Malmedy massacre trial
Malmedy massacre trial
The Malmedy massacre trial was held in May–July 1946 in the Dachau concentration camp to try the German Waffen-SS soldiers accused of the Malmedy massacre of December 17, 1944. The highest-ranking defendant was the former SS general, Sepp Dietrich...
.
Peiper entered Stavelot on 18 December but encountered fierce resistance from the American defenders. Unable to defeat them, he left a smaller support force in town and headed for the bridge at Trois-Ponts
Trois-Ponts
Trois-Ponts is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Province of Liege. On January 1, 2006 Trois-Ponts had a total population of 2,445. The total area is 68.90 km² which gives a population density of 35 inhabitants per km². It is situated at the confluence of the...
with the bulk of his strength, but by the time he reached it, retreating U.S. engineers had already destroyed it. Peiper pulled off and headed for the village of La Gleize
La Gleize
La Gleize is a village and section of the Belgian Municipality of Stoumont, situated in the Walloon Region in the province of Liège.Common before the full merger of Commons in 1977, La Gleize is located on a rocky outcrop overlooking the valley of Amblève in the Ardennes region.-Hamlets:Moulin du...
and from there on to Stoumont
Stoumont
Stoumont is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Province of Liege. On January 1, 2006 Stoumont had a total population of 3,006. The total area is 108.45 km² which gives a population density of 28 inhabitants per km²....
. There, as Peiper approached, engineers blew up the bridge, and the American troops were entrenched and ready. Peiper's troops were cut off from the main German force and supplies when the Americans recaptured the poorly defended Stavelot on 19 December. As their situation in Stoumont was becoming hopeless, Peiper decided to pull back to La Gleize where he set up his defences waiting for the German relief force. Since no relief force was able to penetrate the Allied line, on 23 December Peiper decided to break through back to the German lines. The men of the 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...
were forced to abandon their vehicles and heavy equipment, although most of the unit was able to escape.
With each passing day, enemy resistance stiffened and the advance was eventually halted on all fronts. Desperate to keep the assault going, the German High Command ordered that a renewed attack begin on 1 January 1945. Yet this time, the Allies had regrouped their forces and were ready to repulse any attacks launched by the Germans. The operation formally ended on 27 January 1945, and three days later Mohnke was promoted to SS-Brigadeführer
Brigadeführer
SS-Brigadeführer was an SS rank that was used in Nazi Germany between the years of 1932 and 1945. Brigadeführer was also an SA rank....
. A short while later LSSAH and the I SS Panzer Corps were transferred to Hungary to bolster the crumbling situation there. Mohnke was injured in an air raid where he suffered, among other things, ear damage. He was removed from front-line service and put on the Führer reserve. In his place, SS-Brigadeführer Otto Kumm
Otto Kumm
Otto Kumm, was an SS-Brigadeführer and Generalmajor of the Waffen-SS. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords...
was appointed the new Division Commander as of 15 February 1945.
During Battle of the Bulge, soldiers from 3./SS-PzAA1 LSSAH captured eleven African-American soldiers from 333rd Artillery Battalion
333rd Artillery Battalion (United States)
The 333rd Field Artillery Battalion was an African-American unit of the then racially segregated United States Army during World War II. The battalion landed at Normandy at the beginning of July 1944 and saw continuous combat as corps artillery throughout the summer. Beginning in October 1944 it...
in the hamlet of Wereth. Subsequently the prisoners were shot and their remains found by Allied soldiers two months later. The soldiers had their fingers cut off, legs broken, and at least one was shot while trying to bandage a comrade's wounds.
Eastern Front 1945
Operation Spring Awakening (Frühlingserwachen) (6 March 1945 – 16 March 1945) was the last major German offensive launched during World War II and was an offensive launched by the Germans in great secrecy on 6 March 1945. The Germans launched attacks in Hungary near the Lake Balaton area on the Eastern Front. This area included some of the last oil reserves still available to the Germans. The Operation involved many German units withdrawn from the failed Ardennes Offensive on the Western Front including the 6th SS Panzer Army and the LSSAH. Almost inevitably, Operation Spring Awakening was a failure for the German Army. Despite early gains, the operation was a perfect example of Hitler's increasingly poor military judgement toward the end of the war. Its chief flaw was that the offensive was far too ambitious in scope.After the failure of Operation Spring Awakening
Operation Frühlingserwachen
Operation Frühlingserwachen was the last major German offensive launched during World War II. The offensive was launched in Hungary on the Eastern Front...
, Sepp Dietrich's 6th SS Panzer Army retreated in stages to the Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
area. The Germans desperately prepared defensive positions in an attempt to guard the city against the fast arriving Soviets, in what become known as the Vienna Offensive
Vienna Offensive
The Vienna Offensive was launched by the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front in order to capture Vienna, Austria. The offensive lasted from 2–13 April 1945...
.
Armband order
This debacle is famous for the notorious Armelstreifen (Cuff Titles Order) or "armband order" which followed. The order was issued by Hitler to the commander of German 6th SS Panzer Army, Sepp Dietrich. It was issued when it was evident that the 6th SS Panzer Army and, more importantly, the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler Division had failed him. Although one must remember this so-called failure was in the face of superior forces of the Soviet Army. Hitler claimed that the troops "did not fight as the situation demanded." As a mark of disgrace, the units involved were ordered to remove their "Adolf Hitler" cuff titleCuff title
A cuff title is a form of insignia placed on the sleeve, near the cuff of German military and paramilitary uniforms, most commonly seen in the Second World War but also seen postwar....
s (German: Ärmelstreifen). In the field Sepp Dietrich
Sepp Dietrich
Josef "Sepp" Dietrich was a German SS General. He was one of Nazi Germany's most decorated soldiers and commanded formations up to Army level during World War II. Prior to 1929 he was Adolf Hitler's chauffeur and bodyguard but received rapid promotion after his participation in the murder of...
was disgusted by Hitler's order. Dietrich told Obersturmbannführer Maier that the armbands "...would stay on." Further that the telegram was not to be passed on to the troops. A myth arose that a pile of medals was returned in a chamber pot
Chamber pot
A chamber pot is a bowl-shaped container with a handle, and often a lid, kept in the bedroom under a bed or in the cabinet of a nightstand and...
to Hitler, in the same manner as found in the Goethe play Götz von Berlichingen
Götz von Berlichingen
Gottfried "Götz" von Berlichingen and also known as Götz of the Iron Hand, was a German Imperial Knight and mercenary....
. In actuality, most organisational cuff titles had already been removed to camouflage the operation Frühlingserwachen
Operation Frühlingserwachen
Operation Frühlingserwachen was the last major German offensive launched during World War II. The offensive was launched in Hungary on the Eastern Front...
.
Final days
After Vienna was captured, the German Army High Command (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, or OKW) recorded that the LSSAH, from 20 April to 2 May, moved from ZossenZossen
Zossen is a German town in the district of Teltow-Fläming in Brandenburg, south of Berlin, and next to the B96 highway. Zossen consists of several smaller municipalities, which were grouped together in 2003 to form the city.-Geography:...
(near Berlin) to the area of Mürwik
Naval Academy Mürwik
The Naval Academy at Mürwik is the main training establishment for all German Navy officers.It is located at Mürwik which is a part of Germany's most northern city, Flensburg. Built on a small hill directly by the coast, it overlooks the Flensburg Fjord...
(part of Flensburg
Flensburg
Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...
in northern Germany, near Denmark), where they surrendered to the advancing British forces.
The rest of the LSSAH ended its days fighting in Berlin. On 23 April 1945, Hitler appointed Brigadeführer Mohnke the battle commander for the centre government district (Zitadelle sector) that included the 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...
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...
. Mohnke's command post was under the Reich Chancellery in the bunkers therein. He formed Kampfgruppe Mohnke (Battle Group Mohnke) which was divided into two weak regiments made up of approximately 2,000 men. The core group of his fighting men were the 800 of the Leibstandarte (LSSAH) Guard Battalion (assigned to guard the Führer). After Hitler's suicide, they received orders to break out. Prior to the breakout, Mohnke briefed all commanders (who could be reached) within the Zitadelle sector about the events as to Hitler's death and the planned breakout. The breakout started at 2300 hours on 1 May. It was a "fateful moment" for Brigadeführer Mohnke as he made his way out of the Reich Chancellery. He had been the first duty officer of the LSSAH at the building and now was leaving as the last battle commander there. He led the first of ten main groups and attempted to head northwest towards Mecklenburg. Several very small groups managed to reach the Americans at the Elbe's west bank, but most including Mohnke's group could not make it through the Soviet rings. Many were taken prisoner and some committed suicide. On 2 May hostilities officially ended by order of Helmuth Weidling, Kommandant of the Defense Area Berlin.
Lineage of the unit
- Stabswache (SA controlled) – 1923
- Stoßtrupp Adolf Hitler (SA controlled) – 1923
- Stabswache (not under SA control) – March 1933
- SS-Stabswache Berlin – 1933
- SS-Sonderkommando Zossen – 1933
- SS-Sonderkommando Jüterbog – 1933
- SS-Sonderkommando Berlin – September 1933
- Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler – November 1933
- Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler – April 1934
- Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler – 1939
- SS-Division (mot.) Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler – 1941
- SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler – 1943
- 1.SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler – 1943
See also
- 101 SS Heavy Panzer Battalion
- I SS Panzer Corps Leibstandarte SS Adolf HitlerI SS Panzer CorpsThe I SS Panzer Corps Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler or I SS Panzer Corps was a German Waffen-SS panzer corps which saw action on both the Western and Eastern Fronts during World War II.-Formation and training:...
- Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Order of BattleLeibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Order of BattleThe Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was founded in September 1933 as Adolf Hitler's personal Bodyguard formation. It was given the title Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler in November, 1933. On 13 April 1934, by order of Himmler, the regiment became known as the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler...
- List of German divisions in WWII
- List of Knight's Cross Recipients 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
- List of SS personnel
- SS Brigade SchuldtSS Brigade SchuldtSS Brigade Schuldt was a formation of the Waffen SS during World War II. It was named after its commander Brigadeführer Hinrich Schuldt. It served on the Eastern Front and was composed of units drawn from the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Das Reich, Polizei Divisions and a detachment from the...
External links
- 1.SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler at Feldgrau.com
- 1. SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler at Axis History Factbook
- Leibstandarte "Adolf Hitler" – Waffen SS, miscellaneous photos and Information
- 1.SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte the premier LAH reenacting unit