Table Of ContentEdmund L. Blcmdford
Hitler's Second Army
It would be difficult to find any military
force in history as unique and perhaps as
controversial as Hitler's Waffen-SS.
In this work its origins are traced via the
recollections of men intimately involved.
How this small band of tough men
became transformed into a nationwide
political protection force is fairly well
known, but how some of these men were
taken and transformed into a fully
militarised force has always been
obscure. This book covers the combat
experiences of Waffen-SS soldiers on the
battlefronts from 1939-1945,
infantrymen, artillerymen, tankmen and
even the more unusual trades of
recruiters and interpreter.
The question of atrocities, though thorny,
is covered in completely objective
fashion, with a wider view to include
some examples of Allied misbehaviour.
In this full and fascinating account the
leaders and men of this force recollect
their own experiences - outside the
narrow circle of their veterans'
organisation.
Jacket illustration by Edmund Blandford
Edmund L. Blandford
Airlife
England
Copyright © 1994 by Edmund L. Blandford
First published in the UK in 1994
by Airlife Publishing Ltd
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
ISBN 1 85310 479 5
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.
Printed by Biddies Ltd., Guildford and King's Lynn
Airlife Publishing Ltd.
101 Longden Road, Shrewsbury SY3 9EB, England
CONTENTS
Introduction 7
Chapter One 9
Chapter Two 17
Chapter Three 30
Chapter Four 44
Chapter Five 51
Chapter Six 60
Chapter Seven 75
Chapter Eight 94
Chapter Nine 98
Chapter Ten 109
Chapter Eleven 118
Chapter Twelve 139
Chapter Thirteen 155
Chapter Fourteen 171
Chapter Fifteen 179
Appendix 1 Ranks of the Waffen-SS 199
Appendix 2 SS Unit Organisation 200
Appendix 3 Component Organisation of the Waffen-SS 201
Appendix 4 Types of Waffen-SS Formations 203
Appendix 5 SS Unit Nomenclature 205
Appendix 6 SS Divisions 206
Appendix 7 Two Views 208
Bibliography 209
Maps and Badges 210
Index 214
INTRODUCTION
Perhaps no army in history has emerged with a reputation quite like that
of the force known by the two letters 'SS'.
This work is an attempted objective account of the 'second army'
formed by men whose goals were entirely military and experimental,
soldiers with ideas very different to their political masters. Unlike most
other works on this often controversial subject, this effort includes unique
testimony by the men involved, both as organizers and combat soldiers
who experienced in their youth some of the biggest and most intense
battles of the Second World War. These collected post-war accounts have
to be an essential ingredient in such a history; the quoting of copious
'Himmler documents' may appear academic but it is a sure way to obtain
a distorted picture. Apart from which, in view of the well known
accusations levelled at these elite troops it is quite unjust to ignore their
version of events, they deserve a fair hearing if only for the sake of a
factual history.
Edmund L. Blandford
7
'A small band of the best and most determined is far more valuable than a
large mass of camp followers.'
Adolf Hitler in 1926
'First, there is loyalty, God be praised, we have never had a single case of
treason in our ranks.'
'Every man who joins the SS must know, that at any moment, he may be
mortally wounded.'
Heinrich Himmler, speaking to SS generals at Poznan 4 October 1943
'Men like Steiner and later Eicke . . . These were the people I most
identified with and we often discussed how we could organize a soldierly
force, an army along very different lines who would be superbly trained
in a new way.'
Sepp Dietrich post-war
CHAPTER ONE
Both the SA brownshirt army and the later-established elite guard SS owe
their origins to the large communist organization which burgeoned in
Germany after World War One. The armies of the right and left were born
in times of economic and political ferment when that nation's affairs were
in a state of great flux and when violence was rife. The multiplicity of
political parties, but above all that of the Reds resulted in the emergence
of counter forces, most notably the Nazi brownshirts who were used by
Adolf Hitler as a stepping stone to political power.
It has not been sufficiently recognized outside Germany how powerful
the communists had become in the post-war period; it was the future
Chancellor of a later era, Konrad Adenauer, who said in 1919:
'Germany is in grave danger of falling to Bolshevism.'
The communists were a large, well organized party who commanded
considerable support among the lower classes. Their propaganda was
powerful, based on the teachings of Marx and Lenin, but to most Germans
it seemed to aim at bloody revolution, with the elimination of the middle,
upper classes and intelligentsia as the first aim. Whatever support the
Reds received from the hopeful, less privileged, there were very many
Germans who lived in fear of a Bolshevik takeover. Worst fears seemed
realized when in some places the Bolsheviks actually gained power and
set up the first 'soviets; their success was short lived, a combination of
army and right-wing factions ousted them in bloody clashes which put
paid, temporarily to the Red menace in those areas. It was in this
atmosphere that the leader of the new National Socialist German Workers
Party (the NSDAP) felt obliged to form a small troop to act as a personal
protection squad and Stabswache, or headquarters guard in Munich.
Josef 'Sepp' Dietrich was one of Hitler's earliest supporters, one of
those men so impressed with him that he offered his services. Dietrich has
been variously described as an 'ex-butcher', a 'chucker-out', an
'uneducated bully', 'Hitler's chauffeur' and 'private detective', while the
eminent American Berlin correspondent William Shirer, referred to him as
one of the most brutal men in the Nazi Third Reich.
Born in Bavaria, Dietrich emerged as a small, tough character with a
forceful, outgoing personality, and while totally different in one respect to
his contemporary Ernst Roehm, whom he later shot, there is no doubt that
9
HITLER'S SECOND ARMY
both men were typical NCO types. Both had seen army service during the
war, and although Roehm achieved officer status he remained an NCO at
heart; Dietrich ended his war as a sergeant in the new tank troops. But,
apart from his sexual perversion, Roehm was a danger to Hitler and
probably Germany, so according to Nazi realities had to be eliminated.
Thereafter his name and face were expunged from all publications, even
the friendly, comradely inscriptions on the 'honour daggers' presented by
him were removed.
Dietrich has told how he came to join up with Hitler:
'I joined the Nazi movement because it seemed to be the best way to counter the
Reds and to try and effect some radical improvement in our country's
situation. I had been a Sergeant in the tank arm at the end of the Great War
and had seen enough horrors to know that we should try to avoid such a
conflict in future. 1 met Hitler in Munich and saw at once that he was far and
away the best speaker we had ever heard; wherever he spoke he captivated his
audiences, not all saw eye to eye with his ideas and statements, I did not
myself. But there was something about the man and his ability which laid hold
on me. So I offered him my small services, such as they were. He was rather
short of real followers, though this was to change later of course. We had a
heart to heart talk and he told me that I could be of most use to him by way of
protecting him from those of the far left who would likely try to kill him. This
was a very real threat at the time for the communists, or Bolsheviks as we
called them, were by far the largest political party with real strength; they were
uniformed and armed. By that I mean they usually carried cudgels or arms of
some sort and were not slow to use them.
7 agreed to become Hitler's personal bodyguard, but very soon we organized
a Stabswache of some six men who had the muscle to intervene if any brutality
threatened. Later on we increased the number to a round dozen or so as some of
the men had homes and families to go to. In my case I had forsaken my own
family to become a full-time companion to Hitler, so inevitably I got to know
him very well with all his quirks — and there were some. But he had an iron
determination such as I had never seen before, and I could see that properly
directed this would take him far in politics.'
Dietrich did not become Hitler's chauffeur at this time, that post was
occupied by Julius Schreck, another close confidant and friend of the
leader. And there came others, of course, in increasing numbers who tied
themselves to Hitler.
Dietrich:
'Unfortunately, there were others who saw him as a man they could manipulate.
I refer to Roehm and his clique, and these had to be guarded against. Hitler had
thrown in with the brownshirts I believe for one reason only — he needed the
numbers to offset the Red menace. It was no use at all having a political party
in those days unless you could march the streets waving flags and holding
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