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The SS-Verfügungstruppe, combat support force, or SS-VT was created in 1934 from the merger of various Nazi and right-wing paramilitary formations. Two regiments were formed, in northern Germany the SS-Standarte “Germania”, and in southern Germany SS-Standarte “Deutschland”. In Berlin-Brandenburg they were incorporated into the SS-Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. SS-Verfügungstruppe was considered an armed wing of the General-SS and as a part…
On the same day as 8.LwFD marched into the trap near Nizhne Chirskaya, 2.LwFD was crushed by a massive Soviet offensive of six armies against the German Ninth Army in the Rzhev salient. Once again, heavy snows combined with strong frontal attacks and partisan raids crippled the novice 2.LwFD at…
Kanonier, Flakartillerie troops, Libya 1942 The appearance of Luftwaffe anti-aircraft units on the battlefields of Europe and Africa in a conventional artillery role was not due to any personal ambition of the Reichsmarschall, but rather to a sound and admirable flexibility of thought on the part of the German staff.…
Specialized soldiers operating with the German army in France in World War I. World War I in France was fought in what was certainly the most futile way possible. The Industrial Revolution had produced weapons of mass destruction like the ma- chine gun, tank, and poison gas, yet the generals…
The 2./schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502 did not join its parent battalion in the Heeresgruppe Nord area of operations. Instead, it was sent south to the Proletarskaja Sector and allocated to Heeresgruppe Don. This company would later be integrated into schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503. The 2./schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502 is established in Paderborn, using…
Waffen SS LSSAH Standartenführer Max Hansen with his staff waiting for the Red Army’s attack in the enclosed area of Balaton,Hungary 1945 Operation Konrad. In January 1945, five Waffen-SS divisions were in the process of pulling out of Belgium after the failure of the Ardennes Offensive. Hitler wanted them concentrated…
Tiger II B—509.sPz.Abt. Turret no. 300. Velence, Hungary As the pitiful drama in Budapest was entering its final act, Dietrich’s Sixth SS Panzer Army was at last arriving in Hungary in some strength. The German offensive would be conducted in two phases. It was to kick off with a preliminary…
German commanders kept them back as a reserve to counterattack against Soviet breakthroughs, and only…
The following information is from the excellent book by Niklas Zetterling entitled ‘NORMANDY 1944’. The…
The “SS Division Prinz Eugen” was the only military unit ever assembled with men from…
Medieval Prints by Graham Turner Although firmly rooted and fairly well developed in the Rhineland,…
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