6th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck
Encyclopedia
The 27th SS Volunteer Division Langemarck was a German Waffen-SS
volunteer division comprising volunteers of Flemish background. It saw action on the Eastern Front
during World War II.
The formation started as the 6th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck and in September 1944 the Sturmbrigade was raised in status to a division, but its strength never reached more than a brigade.
attacks on Poland and in the West in 1939-1940, many European fascists saw Germany as an answer to the Bolshevik
problem. Heinrich Himmler
, head of the SS
, with the support of Adolf Hitler
, began a campaign in late 1940 to recruit those European fascists of sufficiently Aryan
stock into a series of Legions, under the control of the Waffen-SS. The SS Volunteer Standarte Nordwest was formed to cater for volunteers from the Low Countries
.
In April 1941, volunteers began arriving in Hamburg
. They were quickly processed and signed up for service in the Nordwest. Flemish volunteers were assigned to the 1st, 6th and 8th companies. The recruits went through basic training, and were sent to Radom
and Dębica
in occupied Poland for further training.
By July 1941, the number of recruits meant that the Nordwest could be dissolved and several separate units formed. The Flemings were organized into SS Volunteer Verband Flandern. Flemish volunteers, many members of the VNV
(Flemish Nationalist Front) continued to sign up for the unit, and by September 1941 the formation was the size of a reinforced infantry battalion, and boasted five fully motorized companies. The unit was again redesignated, this time as SS Volunteer Legion Flandern. Its strength was 1,100 men, of who 1,000 were Flemings, including 14 officers.
On 10 November 1941, the division was ordered to the front near Novgorod, under the overall command of Army Group North
. The legion was to be subordinated to the 2 SS Infantry Brigade
, an international unit composed of Dutchmen
, Norwegians
and Latvia
ns.
region attempting to halt the Soviet attacks. In heavy fighting, the legion proved itself capable in combat, and executed a fighting withdrawal to the Volkhov River
line.
On 13 January 1942, the Soviets launched an offensive aimed at the relief of Leningrad
. The Flandern found itself in the Soviet line of advance, and saw heavy defensive fighting against relentless attacks which lasted until late February. At the end of February, the Soviet assault petered out, and the Germans went on the offensive, attempting to encircle the extended Russians. For the next few months, the Flandern was engaged in efforts to complete the encirclement of the Soviet forces, and on 21 May 1942, the encirclement was closed.
Over the course of the next month, the legion took part in the reduction of the pocket, being heavily engaged until 27 June 1942, when the exhausted unit was pulled out of the line for a rest and refit.
After two months as reserve, the legion was sent back in to the line south of Lake Ladoga
, manning trenches which were under attack by Soviet forces intent on relieving the Siege of Leningrad
. The men of Flandern saw heavy fighting defeating two major Soviet attacks towards the city. On 31 March 1943, the legion was ordered back to the SS Training Area at Dębica to be reformed.
Soon after arriving at Dębica, the legion was ordered to move on to Milowitz in Bohemia
. On 31 May 1943, the legion was dissolved and reformed as SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck. The allocation of the title Langemarck, in memory of the bloody First World War battle fought at Langemarck, Belgium in 1914, was intended to represent Flemish-German camaraderie.
However, the Flemings themselves didn't understand why they had been given a title which represented the losses suffered by German soldiers trying to take over their country in 1914. The Flemings felt a jealousy that their French speaking countrymen, the Walloons
, were granted as a title their home region for the 5th SS-Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien. Despite this, large numbers of Flemings continued to sign up for service with the Waffen SS.
In addition to the veterans of Flandern, the Sturmbrigade now gained a battalion of Finnish volunteers, a contingent of new Flemish volunteers, an anti-tank Panzerjäger company, an assault gun battalion equipped with StuG's and a FlaK battalion. In October 1943, the brigade was renamed 6th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck. In December 1943, the Langemarck was ready to be sent to the front. The total unit strength was 2,022 men.
On 26 December 1943, Langemarck was sent to Ukraine
to act as a part of Army Group South
. Fighting alongside the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich, the brigade acquitted itself well in the heavy defensive battles in the region of Kiev
and Zhitomir.
In January, 1944 the Langemarck and elements of Das Reich were encircled by Soviet forces near Zhitomir. Despite this, they fought their way out of the kessel (cauldron), suffering heavy casualties and losing the majority of their heavy equipment and vehicles. By early March, the brigade had been reduced to 400 men. At the end of April, the shattered Langemarck was ordered back to Bohemia for reforming.
Rehmann was formed, commanded by SS-Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Rehmann. KG Rehmann, consisting of the Langemarck's 2nd battalion was sent to the Narva front to become a part of Felix Steiner's
III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps
which was defending the Tannenberg Line. The Tannenberg Line was anchored on three strategic hills. Running west to east, these were known as Hill 69.9 (69.9-Höhe), Grenadier Hill (Grenadier-Höhe) and Orphanage Hill (Kinderheim-Höhe). From Orphanage Hill, the rear side of the town of Narva could be protected. KG Rehmann was tasked with defending Orphanage Hill.
Fighting alongside men of the 11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier Division Nordland
, the 5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien
, the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian), the 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Nederland and several German formations, the Langemarck was engaged in very heavy combat against the Soviets.
An example of the fighting spirit and tenacity of the Langemarck men can be seen by the actions of the Flemish NCO
Remi Schrijnen
. During the fighting, Schrijnen singlehandedly knocked out more than a dozen enemy tanks while wounded and cutoff from his unit. In a period of 48 hours, Schrijnen personally halted several Soviet tank attacks which threatened to encircle the Langemarck and the Estonian SS men fighting alongside them. He even destroyed two T-34's
with one shot from his PaK anti-tank gun. For his actions, Schrijnen was awarded the Knight's Cross
.
Over the next few months, Langemarck, along with the remainder of Steiner's Corps, executed a fighting withdrawal into the Kurland Pocket, the brigade being in combat for much of the retreat. In September 1944, the remains of KG Rehmann were evacuated by ferry over the Baltic
to Swinemünde and joined the rest of the Brigade. Following the allied invasion of Belgium, many Belgian fascists fled the country to Germany. The result of this was that both the Langemarck and the 5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonie were redesignated as divisions on 18 October 1944.
near Stettin.
On 16 February, the division was ordered on the offensive as a part of Operation Sonnenwende, the operation to destroy a Soviet salient and to relieve the troops besieged in the town of Arnswalde. The offensive had been conceived by Generaloberst Heinz Guderian
as a massed assault all along the front, but had then been reduced by Hitler to the level of a local counterattack.
Despite initial gains, the attack soon bogged down after III. (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps, with Nordland Langemarck and Wallonie in the vanguard, reached Arnswalde. Heavy Soviet counterattacks threatened to encircle the corps, and so after evacuating all civilian survivors, Steiner canceled the operation and ordered the corps back to the area around Stargard
and Stettin.
The Soviet offensive of 1 March pushed Langemarck along with the rest of the depleted III. (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps before it. In a desperate fighting withdrawal, the Langemarck along with the rest of III corps inflicted heavy casualties on the Soviets, but by 4 March, the division was falling back to the area around Altdamm, the last defensive position east of the Oder itself. During the next two weeks, Langemarck and the rest of the corps grimly held to the town, inflicting and suffering high casualties. On the 19th, the battered defenders fell back behind the Oder, the Langemarck had fought itself to virtual extinction. As a part of Steiner's XI SS Panzer Army, the Langemarck, now reduced to a Kampfgruppe, began falling back towards Mecklenburg
where it surrendered to the Russians on 8 May 1945.
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...
volunteer division comprising volunteers of Flemish background. It saw action on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
during World War II.
The formation started as the 6th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck and in September 1944 the Sturmbrigade was raised in status to a division, but its strength never reached more than a brigade.
Lineage
- SS Volunteer Standarte Nordwest
- SS Volunteer Verband Flandern
- SS Battalion Flandern
- SS Volunteer Legion Flandern
- SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck
- 6th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck
- 27th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Langemarck
History and concept
After the success of Germany's blitzkriegBlitzkrieg
For other uses of the word, see: Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg is an anglicized word describing all-motorised force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery, combat engineers and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through enemy lines, and, once the lines are broken,...
attacks on Poland and in the West in 1939-1940, many European fascists saw Germany as an answer to the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
problem. 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...
, head of the SS
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...
, with the support of Adolf Hitler
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...
, began a campaign in late 1940 to recruit those European fascists of sufficiently Aryan
Aryan race
The Aryan race is a concept historically influential in Western culture in the period of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It derives from the idea that the original speakers of the Indo-European languages and their descendants up to the present day constitute a distinctive race or...
stock into a series of Legions, under the control of the Waffen-SS. The SS Volunteer Standarte Nordwest was formed to cater for volunteers from the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
.
In April 1941, volunteers began arriving in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. They were quickly processed and signed up for service in the Nordwest. Flemish volunteers were assigned to the 1st, 6th and 8th companies. The recruits went through basic training, and were sent to Radom
Radom
Radom is a city in central Poland with 223,397 inhabitants . It is located on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship , having previously been the capital of Radom Voivodeship ; 100 km south of Poland's capital, Warsaw.It is home to the biennial Radom Air Show, the largest and...
and Dębica
Debica
Dębica is a town in southeastern Poland with 46,693 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. It is the capital of Dębica County. Since 1999 it has been situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship; it had previously been in the Tarnów Voivodeship .-Area:...
in occupied Poland for further training.
By July 1941, the number of recruits meant that the Nordwest could be dissolved and several separate units formed. The Flemings were organized into SS Volunteer Verband Flandern. Flemish volunteers, many members of the VNV
VNV
VNV can refer to:*Flemish National Union*Vegetarian Network Victoria, the former name for the Australian vegetarian organisation Vegetarian Victoria*VNV Nation, an electronic music group from the UK...
(Flemish Nationalist Front) continued to sign up for the unit, and by September 1941 the formation was the size of a reinforced infantry battalion, and boasted five fully motorized companies. The unit was again redesignated, this time as SS Volunteer Legion Flandern. Its strength was 1,100 men, of who 1,000 were Flemings, including 14 officers.
On 10 November 1941, the division was ordered to the front near Novgorod, under the overall command of Army Group North
Army Group North
Army Group North was a German strategic echelon formation commanding a grouping of Field Armies subordinated to the OKH during World War II. The army group coordinated the operations of attached separate army corps, reserve formations, rear services and logistics.- Formation :The Army Group North...
. The legion was to be subordinated to the 2 SS Infantry Brigade
2 SS Infantry Brigade
The 2 SS Infantry Brigade was formed on the 15 May 1941, under the command of Karl Fischer von Treuenfeld with the 4th and 5th SS Infantry Regiments and began its operational service in September in the rear area of Army Group North, under which command it would spend its entire existence...
, an international unit composed of Dutchmen
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Norwegians
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
ns.
Battles around Leningrad
Arriving at the front late in November, the Flandern was immediately thrown into combat in the VolkhovVolkhov
Volkhov is an industrial town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated east of St. Petersburg, on the Volkhov River. Population: -History:...
region attempting to halt the Soviet attacks. In heavy fighting, the legion proved itself capable in combat, and executed a fighting withdrawal to the Volkhov River
Volkhov River
Volkhov is a river in Novgorod Oblast and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia.-Geography:The Volkhov flows out of Lake Ilmen north into Lake Ladoga, the largest lake of Europe. It is the second largest tributary of Lake Ladoga. It is navigable over its whole length. Discharge is highly...
line.
On 13 January 1942, the Soviets launched an offensive aimed at the relief of Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. The Flandern found itself in the Soviet line of advance, and saw heavy defensive fighting against relentless attacks which lasted until late February. At the end of February, the Soviet assault petered out, and the Germans went on the offensive, attempting to encircle the extended Russians. For the next few months, the Flandern was engaged in efforts to complete the encirclement of the Soviet forces, and on 21 May 1942, the encirclement was closed.
Over the course of the next month, the legion took part in the reduction of the pocket, being heavily engaged until 27 June 1942, when the exhausted unit was pulled out of the line for a rest and refit.
After two months as reserve, the legion was sent back in to the line south of Lake Ladoga
Lake Ladoga
Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, not far from Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake in Europe, and the 14th largest lake by area in the world.-Geography:...
, manning trenches which were under attack by Soviet forces intent on relieving the Siege of Leningrad
Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
. The men of Flandern saw heavy fighting defeating two major Soviet attacks towards the city. On 31 March 1943, the legion was ordered back to the SS Training Area at Dębica to be reformed.
SS-Sturmbrigade Langemarck - Ukraine
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...
. On 31 May 1943, the legion was dissolved and reformed as SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck. The allocation of the title Langemarck, in memory of the bloody First World War battle fought at Langemarck, Belgium in 1914, was intended to represent Flemish-German camaraderie.
However, the Flemings themselves didn't understand why they had been given a title which represented the losses suffered by German soldiers trying to take over their country in 1914. The Flemings felt a jealousy that their French speaking countrymen, the Walloons
Walloons
Walloons are a French-speaking people who live in Belgium, principally in Wallonia. Walloons are a distinctive community within Belgium, important historical and anthropological criteria bind Walloons to the French people. More generally, the term also refers to the inhabitants of the Walloon...
, were granted as a title their home region for the 5th SS-Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien. Despite this, large numbers of Flemings continued to sign up for service with the Waffen SS.
In addition to the veterans of Flandern, the Sturmbrigade now gained a battalion of Finnish volunteers, a contingent of new Flemish volunteers, an anti-tank Panzerjäger company, an assault gun battalion equipped with StuG's and a FlaK battalion. In October 1943, the brigade was renamed 6th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck. In December 1943, the Langemarck was ready to be sent to the front. The total unit strength was 2,022 men.
On 26 December 1943, Langemarck was sent to Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
to act as 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...
. Fighting alongside the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich, the brigade acquitted itself well in the heavy defensive battles in the region 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....
and Zhitomir.
In January, 1944 the Langemarck and elements of Das Reich were encircled by Soviet forces near Zhitomir. Despite this, they fought their way out of the kessel (cauldron), suffering heavy casualties and losing the majority of their heavy equipment and vehicles. By early March, the brigade had been reduced to 400 men. At the end of April, the shattered Langemarck was ordered back to Bohemia for reforming.
Narva and the Battle of the European SS - Kurland Pocket
In Bohemia, 1,700 new recruits were waiting to join the division, and soon it was back up to strength. On 19 July 1944, KampfgruppeKampfgruppe
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...
Rehmann was formed, commanded by SS-Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Rehmann. KG Rehmann, consisting of the Langemarck's 2nd battalion was sent to the Narva front to become a part of Felix Steiner's
Felix Steiner
Felix Martin Julius Steiner was a German Reichswehr and Waffen-SS officer who served in both World War I and World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords...
III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps
III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps
The III SS Panzer Corps was a German Waffen-SS armoured corps which saw action on the Eastern Front during World War II. The The III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps (III. (germanische) SS-Panzerkorps) was a German Waffen-SS armoured corps which saw action on the Eastern Front during World War II. The...
which was defending the Tannenberg Line. The Tannenberg Line was anchored on three strategic hills. Running west to east, these were known as Hill 69.9 (69.9-Höhe), Grenadier Hill (Grenadier-Höhe) and Orphanage Hill (Kinderheim-Höhe). From Orphanage Hill, the rear side of the town of Narva could be protected. KG Rehmann was tasked with defending Orphanage Hill.
Fighting alongside men of the 11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier Division Nordland
11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland
The 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, also known as Kampfverband Waräger, Germanische-Freiwilligen-Division, SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 11 or 11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland, was a Waffen SS, Panzergrenadier division recruited from foreign volunteers...
, the 5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien
5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien
The 28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Wallonien was formed from the 5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien which was a Belgian Waffen SS volunteer brigade comprising volunteers of Walloon background...
, the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian), the 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Nederland and several German formations, the Langemarck was engaged in very heavy combat against the Soviets.
An example of the fighting spirit and tenacity of the Langemarck men can be seen by the actions of the Flemish NCO
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
Remi Schrijnen
Remi Schrijnen
Remi Schrijnen was a Belgian volunteer in the German army. He was a Flemish Nationalist and the only Flemish volunteer in the SS Flandern to have been awarded the German Knight's cross...
. During the fighting, Schrijnen singlehandedly knocked out more than a dozen enemy tanks while wounded and cutoff from his unit. In a period of 48 hours, Schrijnen personally halted several Soviet tank attacks which threatened to encircle the Langemarck and the Estonian SS men fighting alongside them. He even destroyed two T-34's
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...
with one shot from his PaK anti-tank gun. For his actions, Schrijnen was awarded the Knight's Cross
Knight's Cross
Knight's Cross refers to a distinguishing grade or level of various orders that denotes bravery and leadership on the battlefield....
.
Over the next few months, Langemarck, along with the remainder of Steiner's Corps, executed a fighting withdrawal into the Kurland Pocket, the brigade being in combat for much of the retreat. In September 1944, the remains of KG Rehmann were evacuated by ferry over the Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
to Swinemünde and joined the rest of the Brigade. Following the allied invasion of Belgium, many Belgian fascists fled the country to Germany. The result of this was that both the Langemarck and the 5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonie were redesignated as divisions on 18 October 1944.
Pomerania - Oder Front
The new Langemarck division was to be designated 27th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Langemarck.. While the influx of displaced Flemings meant that the division had a solid base to be formed on, it also meant that more training was required. It was not until 1 January 1945 that the division was ready to be sent back into the line. The Langemarck was once again attached to III. (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps, now a part of Steiner's newly formed XI. SS Panzer Army located on the lower OderOder
The Oder is a river in Central Europe. It rises in the Czech Republic and flows through western Poland, later forming of the border between Poland and Germany, part of the Oder-Neisse line...
near Stettin.
On 16 February, the division was ordered on the offensive as a part of Operation Sonnenwende, the operation to destroy a Soviet salient and to relieve the troops besieged in the town of Arnswalde. The offensive had been conceived by Generaloberst Heinz Guderian
Heinz Guderian
Heinz Wilhelm Guderian was a German general during World War II. He was a pioneer in the development of armored warfare, and was the leading proponent of tanks and mechanization in the Wehrmacht . Germany's panzer forces were raised and organized under his direction as Chief of Mobile Forces...
as a massed assault all along the front, but had then been reduced by Hitler to the level of a local counterattack.
Stargard Szczecinski
Stargard Szczeciński is a city in northwestern Poland, with a population of 71,017 . Situated on the Ina River it is the capital of Stargard County and since 1999 has been in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship; prior to that it was in the Szczecin Voivodeship...
and Stettin.
The Soviet offensive of 1 March pushed Langemarck along with the rest of the depleted III. (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps before it. In a desperate fighting withdrawal, the Langemarck along with the rest of III corps inflicted heavy casualties on the Soviets, but by 4 March, the division was falling back to the area around Altdamm, the last defensive position east of the Oder itself. During the next two weeks, Langemarck and the rest of the corps grimly held to the town, inflicting and suffering high casualties. On the 19th, the battered defenders fell back behind the Oder, the Langemarck had fought itself to virtual extinction. As a part of Steiner's XI SS Panzer Army, the Langemarck, now reduced to a Kampfgruppe, began falling back towards Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is a federal state in northern Germany. The capital city is Schwerin...
where it surrendered to the Russians on 8 May 1945.
Commanders
- SS-Sturmbannführer Michael LippertMichael LippertMichel Hans Lippert or Michael Lippert was an SS Standartenführer, Police officer and a German soldier who served in both World War I and World War II. During World War II. Lippert commanded several concentration camps, including Sachsenhausen, before becoming a commander of the SS-Freiwilligen...
(24 September 1941 - 2 April 1942) - SS-Obersturmbannführer Hans Albert von Lettow-Vorbeck (2 April 1942 - June 1942)
- SS-Hauptsturmführer Hallmann (June 1942 - 20 June 1942)
- SS-Obersturmbannführer Josef FitzthumJosef FitzthumJosef Fitzthum Josef Fitzthum Josef Fitzthum (September 14, 1896, Loimersdorf, Lower Austria — January 10, 1945, Wiener Neudorf, was a senior SS Gruppenführer, Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS und Polizei, politician, and Beauftragter des Reichsführer-SS Albanien (special representative of the...
(20 June 1942 - 11 July 1942) - SS-Sturmbannführer Conrad Schellong (11 July 1942 - October 1944)
- SS-Oberführer Thomas Müller (October 1944 - 2 May 1945)
6. SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck (July 1943)
- Brigade HQ
- I. Battalion
- 1. Company
- 2. Company
- 3. Company
- 4. (MG) Company
- II. Battalion
- 5. (Infantry schütz) Company
- 6. (PanzerjägerPanzerjägerPanzerjäger was a branch of service of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War which were the anti-tank arm-of-service who operated anti-tank artillery, and made exclusive use of the tank destroyers which were also named Panzerjäger...
) Company - 7. (SturmgeschützSturmgeschützSturmgeschütz 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...
) Company - 8. (FlaK) Company
- 9. Flak Company
- 10.March Company
- I.Kolonne
27th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Langemarck
- SS PanzergrenadierPanzergrenadieris a German term for motorised or mechanized infantry, as introduced during World War II. It is used in the armies of Austria, Chile, Germany and Switzerland.-Forerunners:...
Regiment 66 - SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 67
- SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 68
- SS-Artillery Regiment 27
- SS-PanzerjägerPanzerjägerPanzerjäger was a branch of service of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War which were the anti-tank arm-of-service who operated anti-tank artillery, and made exclusive use of the tank destroyers which were also named Panzerjäger...
Battalion 27 - SS-Signals Battalion 27
- SS-Pionier Battalion 27
- SS-Div.Versorgungs Regiment 27
- SS-Reserve Battalion 27
- SS-Medical Battalion 27
- Verwaltungs Company
- Propaganda Company
- Kampfgruppe Schellong
See also
- PanzergrenadierPanzergrenadieris a German term for motorised or mechanized infantry, as introduced during World War II. It is used in the armies of Austria, Chile, Germany and Switzerland.-Forerunners:...
- Panzer DivisionPanzer DivisionA panzer division was an armored division in the army and air force branches of the Wehrmacht as well as the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II....
- WehrmachtWehrmachtThe Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
- List of German military units of World War II