500th SS Parachute Battalion
Encyclopedia
The 500th SS-Parachute Battalion (500. SS-Fallschirmjägerbatallion) was the parachute unit of the Waffen-SS
.
The idea to form a paratrooper unit within the Waffen-SS allegedly came directly from Reichsführer-SS
Heinrich Himmler
.
supposedly got the idea in September 1943, after Operation Eiche ("Oak"). Operation Eiche was launched on 12 September and included an airborne raid on Gran Sasso
. The operation was planned by Kurt Student
. During this raid, a group of German parachutists freed deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini
. Otto Skorzeny
took part in the raid by command of German dictator Adolf Hitler. The raid included a daring military
-based assault on the Campo Imperatore
Hotel at Gran Sasso and managed to rescue Mussolini, only firing a single shot.
Per Massimiliano Afiero, in The Crusade against Bolshevism; European Voluntary Legions (1941–1944), Vol.1, states that many witnesses and historians placed excessive emphasis on the presence of these disciplinary personnel in the unit, mainly because of the identification number 500, assigned also to a penal unit of the Wehrmacht.
The gathering of personnel for the new unit was in Chlum in Czechoslovakia
in October 1943. The first commander of the battalion was SS-Sturmbannführer
Herbert Gilhofer, coming from the 21st SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment of the 10th SS-Panzer-Division Frundsberg
. In November 1943, the battalion began its training in Madanrushka-Banja (Mataruška banja
), close to Sarajevo
, with the Luftwaffe Fallschirmschule number 3. The training was completed in the area around Pápa
, Hungary
at the beginning of 1944.
Kurt Rybka during its daring parachute and glider-borne assault on Tito's headquarters outside Drvar
on 25 May 1944. The raid, called Operation Rösselsprung ("Knight's Leap"), was reported in the 6 June issue of the German armed forces's daily report (Wehrmachtbericht
). Two companies were dropped directly on Tito's headquarters while the other two were landed by DFS 230
glider.
The first wave of paratroopers, following a heavy bombardment by the Luftwaffe, landed in between the area of the cave, (Tito's hideout) and the town of Drvar on open ground and many were gunned down by members of the partisan HQ Escort Battalion, a company numbering fewer than 100 soldiers. The second wave of paratroopers missed their target altogether and landed a few miles outside the town. Tito was long gone when the paratroopers captured the cave. Next to the cave's exit, there was a path leading to a railroad where Tito boarded a train that took him to safety in Jajce
. Tito had been forewarned and evaded capture while the numerically superior partisan
forces drove off the SS paratroopers. Over 800 of the 1,000 personnel who participated in the operation were killed or wounded.
, where they remained until the end of June. They were then transferred to Gotenhafen (Gdynia), West Prussia to take part in the planned occupation of the Finnish-controlled Åland Islands in the Baltic Sea
, but this was cancelled. They were then sent to join III. SS-Panzerkorps
at Narva
, but were ordered to be flown to Kaunas
, Lithuania on 9 July. There they formed a kampfguppe with I./Panzerregiment GD
to relieve the trapped German forces at Vilnius. Subsequently, they often acted as 3rd Panzer Army's 'fire brigade' in its defense of the Baltic States. By 20 August 1944, they were down to a strength of 90 men, but remained in combat for the next several months as the Germans were desperate for any and all combat troops to stave off the Soviet offensives.
The paras were finally relieved in late October and flown to Deutsch-Wagram
, Austria
where they were incorporated into the SS-Fallschirmjägerbataillon 600 after a week's rest.
The SS-Fallschirmjäger never fought in France. It is sometimes stated in histories of the French Resistance that SS paratroopers carried out a parachute assault in July 1944 against French partisan forces on the Vercors plateau in the French Alps where hundreds of partisans had created a stronghold from which they were mounting operations against the German occupiers. However, they were not Waffen-SS but Luftwaffe special forces from the secretive Kampfgeschwader 200. These para-trained commandos of II./KG 200 remain a little-known arm of Germany's World War II parachute forces and were listed on II./KG 200's ORBAT (Order of Battle) as the 3rd Staffel.
, can be said to have been, officially, the 600's first mission although the new battalion was not formally mustered until 9 November 1944 in Neu-Strelitz, their garrison town. The soldiers of the 500th who survived long enough to see the formation of the 600 were also given back their previous ranks and the right to wear the sig rune on 9 November 1944.
Two companies of the newly forming SS-Fallschirmjäger-Btl 600 were then attached to Otto Skorzeny's Panzerbrigade 150
in December 1944 for the Ardennes offensive. It was the only occasion in which SS paratroopers faced the Western Allies until, fleeing the Soviets, they surrendered to US forces early in May 1945. After the Ardennes, the 600th fought on the Oder Front in the Schwedt and Zehden bridgeheads and in various rearguard actions across northern Germany at the very end of the war. The battalion was virtually wiped out three times in its eighteen-month existence.
pattern steel helmet. It was worn with the standard fieldgrey fallschirmjäger trousers with either front lacing paratrooper or cleated mountain boots. There is evidence to support the existence of an SS pattern jumpsmock, although it is believed these were never issued (they were purportedley destroyed in an aerial attack en route to the unit) and there is little evidence to support the issue of an "SS Fallschirmjager" cufftitle. Although one photograph exists showing what appears to be a cufftitle.
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...
.
The idea to form a paratrooper unit within the Waffen-SS allegedly came directly from 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:...
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich 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...
.
Creation
Adolf HitlerAdolf 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...
supposedly got the idea in September 1943, after Operation Eiche ("Oak"). Operation Eiche was launched on 12 September and included an airborne raid on Gran Sasso
Gran Sasso
Gran Sasso d'Italia is a mountain located in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. The Gran Sasso forms the centerpiece of the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park which was established in 1993 and holds the highest mountains in continental Italy south of the Alps and is part of the...
. The operation was planned by 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:...
. During this raid, a group of German parachutists freed deposed Italian dictator 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....
. Otto Skorzeny
Otto Skorzeny
Otto Skorzeny was an SS-Obersturmbannführer in the German Waffen-SS during World War II. After fighting on the Eastern Front, he was chosen as the field commander to carry out the rescue mission that freed the deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from captivity...
took part in the raid by command of German dictator Adolf Hitler. The raid included a daring military
Military glider
Military gliders have been used by the military of various countries for carrying troops and heavy equipment to a combat zone, mainly during the Second World War. These engineless aircraft were towed into the air and most of the way to their target by military transport planes, e.g...
-based assault on the Campo Imperatore
Campo Imperatore
Campo Imperatore is a mountain grassland or alpine meadow formed by a high basin shaped plateau located in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy in the Gran Sasso massif. It is the largest plateau of the Apennine ridge...
Hotel at Gran Sasso and managed to rescue Mussolini, only firing a single shot.
Organization
Considering that the new Waffen-SS unit of parachutists had to be employed in dangerous actions behind enemy lines, it was decided to extend enlistment to those in the SS disciplinary units which were formed from officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers who had problems with military law. An order of the SS-FHA (the SS High Command) fixed a percentage of 50% for the unit coming from volunteers of Waffen-SS units, the rest from volunteers from the disciplinary units.Per Massimiliano Afiero, in The Crusade against Bolshevism; European Voluntary Legions (1941–1944), Vol.1, states that many witnesses and historians placed excessive emphasis on the presence of these disciplinary personnel in the unit, mainly because of the identification number 500, assigned also to a penal unit of the Wehrmacht.
The gathering of personnel for the new unit was in Chlum in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
in October 1943. The first commander of the battalion was SS-Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
Herbert Gilhofer, coming from the 21st SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment of the 10th SS-Panzer-Division Frundsberg
10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg
The 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg or 10.SS-Panzer-Division Frundsberg was a German Waffen SS panzer division. The division was formed at the beginning of 1943 as a reserve for the expected Allied invasion of France. However, their first campaign was in the Ukraine in April 1944...
. In November 1943, the battalion began its training in Madanrushka-Banja (Mataruška banja
Mataruška Banja
Mataruška Banja is a spa town in Serbia. It is situated in the Kraljevo municipality near 9 km, in the Raška District. Across this town runs the river Ibar. The population of the town is 2,732 people . The most beautiful spa in Serbia.-External links:* * * *...
), close to Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
, with the Luftwaffe Fallschirmschule number 3. The training was completed in the area around Pápa
Pápa
Pápa is a historical city in Veszprém county, Hungary, located close to the northern edge of the Bakony Hills, and noted for its baroque architecture. With its 33,000 inhabitants, it is the cultural, economic and tourism centre of the region....
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
at the beginning of 1944.
Organization (early 1944)
- Battalion Headquarters Company
- Supply Platoon
- Communications Platoon
- War-reporter Squad
- Motorcycle-dispatch Squad
- Maintenance Platoon
- Parachute Rigger Platoon
- Three Parachute Companies
- Three Parachute Platoons
- Three Rifle Squads
- Three Sub-machinegun Squads
- Mortar Squad
- Communications Squad
- Three Parachute Platoons
- Parachute Heavy Weapons Company
- Machine-gun Platoon
- Mortar Platoon
- Flamethrower Platoon
- Anti-tank Platoon (4x 75 mm LG-40 recoilless rifleRecoilless rifleA recoilless rifle or recoilless gun is a lightweight weapon that fires a heavier projectile than would be practical to fire from a recoiling weapon of comparable size. Technically, only devices that use a rifled barrel are recoilless rifles. Smoothbore variants are recoilless guns...
s)
Raid on Tito's HQ
The 500th was led by HauptsturmführerHauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-grade company level officer and was the equivalent of a Captain in the German Army and also the equivalent of captain in foreign armies...
Kurt Rybka during its daring parachute and glider-borne assault on Tito's headquarters outside Drvar
Drvar
Drvar is a town and municipality in western Bosnia and Herzegovina, located on the road between Bosansko Grahovo and Bosanski Petrovac, also near Glamoč. It is administratively part of Canton 10 of the Federation....
on 25 May 1944. The raid, called Operation Rösselsprung ("Knight's Leap"), was reported in the 6 June issue of the German armed forces's daily report (Wehrmachtbericht
Wehrmachtbericht
The Wehrmachtbericht was a daily radio report on the Großdeutscher Rundfunk of Nazi Germany, published by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht regarding the military situation on all fronts of World War II....
). Two companies were dropped directly on Tito's headquarters while the other two were landed by DFS 230
DFS 230
|-See also:-External links:* http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/dfs230.html* http://www.luftarchiv.de/flugzeuge/dfs/dfs230.htm...
glider.
The first wave of paratroopers, following a heavy bombardment by the Luftwaffe, landed in between the area of the cave, (Tito's hideout) and the town of Drvar on open ground and many were gunned down by members of the partisan HQ Escort Battalion, a company numbering fewer than 100 soldiers. The second wave of paratroopers missed their target altogether and landed a few miles outside the town. Tito was long gone when the paratroopers captured the cave. Next to the cave's exit, there was a path leading to a railroad where Tito boarded a train that took him to safety in Jajce
Jajce
Jajce is a city and municipality located in the central part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is part of the Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity...
. Tito had been forewarned and evaded capture while the numerically superior partisan
Partisans (Yugoslavia)
The Yugoslav Partisans, or simply the Partisans were a Communist-led World War II anti-fascist resistance movement in Yugoslavia...
forces drove off the SS paratroopers. Over 800 of the 1,000 personnel who participated in the operation were killed or wounded.
After the Raid
The survivors were at first sent to Petrovac then LjubljanaLjubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
, where they remained until the end of June. They were then transferred to Gotenhafen (Gdynia), West Prussia to take part in the planned occupation of the Finnish-controlled Åland Islands in the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
, but this was cancelled. They were then sent to join III. SS-Panzerkorps
III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps
The III SS Panzer Corps was a German Waffen-SS armoured corps which saw action on the Eastern Front during World War II. The The III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps (III. (germanische) SS-Panzerkorps) was a German Waffen-SS armoured corps which saw action on the Eastern Front during World War II. The...
at Narva
Narva
Narva is the third largest city in Estonia. It is located at the eastern extreme point of Estonia, by the Russian border, on the Narva River which drains Lake Peipus.-Early history:...
, but were ordered to be flown to Kaunas
Kaunas
Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...
, Lithuania on 9 July. There they formed a kampfguppe with I./Panzerregiment GD
Großdeutschland Division
The Großdeutschland Division was an elite Heer combat unit of the Wehrmacht. The Großdeutschland was considered to be the premier unit of the German Army and as such it was one of best-equipped unit of the German Armed Forces, receiving equipment before all other units.- Early history -...
to relieve the trapped German forces at Vilnius. Subsequently, they often acted as 3rd Panzer Army's 'fire brigade' in its defense of the Baltic States. By 20 August 1944, they were down to a strength of 90 men, but remained in combat for the next several months as the Germans were desperate for any and all combat troops to stave off the Soviet offensives.
The paras were finally relieved in late October and flown to Deutsch-Wagram
Deutsch-Wagram
Deutsch-Wagram is a city in Austria in the federal state of Lower Austria. It lies 15 km northeast of Vienna and has a population of 6,808 as of the 2001 census.- History :...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
where they were incorporated into the SS-Fallschirmjägerbataillon 600 after a week's rest.
The SS-Fallschirmjäger never fought in France. It is sometimes stated in histories of the French Resistance that SS paratroopers carried out a parachute assault in July 1944 against French partisan forces on the Vercors plateau in the French Alps where hundreds of partisans had created a stronghold from which they were mounting operations against the German occupiers. However, they were not Waffen-SS but Luftwaffe special forces from the secretive Kampfgeschwader 200. These para-trained commandos of II./KG 200 remain a little-known arm of Germany's World War II parachute forces and were listed on II./KG 200's ORBAT (Order of Battle) as the 3rd Staffel.
The 600th SS-Fallschirmjäger Battalion
The second Budapest mission, Operation PanzerfaustOperation Panzerfaust
Operation Panzerfaust, known as Unternehmen Eisenfaust in Germany, was a military operation to keep the Kingdom of Hungary at Germany's side in the war, conducted in October 1944 by the German military...
, can be said to have been, officially, the 600's first mission although the new battalion was not formally mustered until 9 November 1944 in Neu-Strelitz, their garrison town. The soldiers of the 500th who survived long enough to see the formation of the 600 were also given back their previous ranks and the right to wear the sig rune on 9 November 1944.
Two companies of the newly forming SS-Fallschirmjäger-Btl 600 were then attached to Otto Skorzeny's Panzerbrigade 150
Panzer Brigade 150
Panzer Brigade 150 or SS Panzer Brigade 150 was a formation of the German Army during World War II that was formed to take part in the Ardennes offensive, it was unusual in that it was formed from all parts of the German Armed Forces, the 2.500 men in the brigade were formed from; 1.000 from the...
in December 1944 for the Ardennes offensive. It was the only occasion in which SS paratroopers faced the Western Allies until, fleeing the Soviets, they surrendered to US forces early in May 1945. After the Ardennes, the 600th fought on the Oder Front in the Schwedt and Zehden bridgeheads and in various rearguard actions across northern Germany at the very end of the war. The battalion was virtually wiped out three times in its eighteen-month existence.
Uniforms and equipment
Published photographs show them to be wearing Luftwaffe standard jumpsuits complete with breast eagles of that arm, although these were often removed, and the fallschirmjägerFallschirmjäger
are German paratroopers. Together with the Gebirgsjäger they are perceived as the elite infantry units of the German Army....
pattern steel helmet. It was worn with the standard fieldgrey fallschirmjäger trousers with either front lacing paratrooper or cleated mountain boots. There is evidence to support the existence of an SS pattern jumpsmock, although it is believed these were never issued (they were purportedley destroyed in an aerial attack en route to the unit) and there is little evidence to support the issue of an "SS Fallschirmjager" cufftitle. Although one photograph exists showing what appears to be a cufftitle.
Commanders
- SS-Sturmbannführer Herbert Gilhofer (October 1943-April 1944)
- SS-Hauptsturmführer Kurt Rybka (April 1944 - 26 June 1944)
- SS-Sturmbannführer Siegfried Milius (26 June 1944 - May 1945)
Literature
- Adolf Kunzmann, Siegfried Milius (Mitarb.): Fallschirmjäger der Waffen-SS im Bild. Munin-Verlag, Osnabrück 1986, ISBN 3921242673. (Bildband)
- Rolf Michaelis: Das SS-Fallschirmjäger-Bataillon 500/600. Michaelis-Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-930849-35-6.
- Munoz, Anthonio J. Forgotten Legions: Obscure Combat Formations of the Waffen-SS. Boulder, Colorado: Paladin Press, 1991 ISBN 0-87364-646-0
- Jerzy Woydyłło: Desant na Drwar. MON, a.a.O. 1965. (polnische Monografie)
- Massimiliano Afiero, SS - Fallschirmjäger. The Battalion Parachutists SS, Lupo Editorial, 2004, 96 pages
External links
- Official Internetsite of the State Archives (Cedynia) zu den Kämpfen vom 25.-27. März 1945 an der unteren Oder
- Articolo sul Battaglione Paracadutisti SS in Italian
- Avalanche Press article
- Reenactment Fotos (Archived 2009-10-22)
- UK Re-enactment Photos
- Feldgrau Topics page
- 2. Kompanie SS Fallschirmjager 600 (Reenacted)
- KVH Feldpost 15 814, 3. Kompanie SS Fallschirmjager 500/600 (Reenacted CZ)