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According to its commander, [[Nazi SS and military ranks|Oberstgruppenfuehrer]] [[Paul Hausser]],  the '''Waffen SS''' (armed SS) was created in the fall of 1939. Its initial strength was three divisions, drawn from  the "Verfuegungstruppe, [[Totenkopf SS]], and from men who had been trained for the Police.  
{{TOC|right}}
According to its commander, [[Nazi SS and military ranks|Oberstgruppenfuehrer]] [[Paul Hausser]],  the '''Waffen SS''' (armed SS) was created in the fall of 1939. Its initial strength was three divisions, drawn from  the [[Verfuegungstruppe]], [[Totenkopf SS]], and from men who had been trained for the Police.  


All these were grouped together with various other smaller units and received the name of Waffen--SS. These few divisions proved their worth, and with the increasing need for more troops for the war they were gradually increased up to more than 35 divisions. The main reason for this unplanned growth is due to the fact that all racial Germans who volunteered from the north, from the east, and from the southeast of Europe, served in the Waffen-SS. The total strength, all losses considered, may be estimated at about 900,000 men. Only one-third, to one-half may have been Reich Germans.
It grew to over 35 divisions, as well as corps formation, due to an unplanned factor:  all racially Germanic volunteers, who were not German citizens, served in the Waffen SS. Its eventual strength was approximately 900,000 men, of whom only half to one third came from the German Reich itself. <ref name=IMT195>{{citation
| url = http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/08-05-46.aspp
| volume = Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 20
| title = One hundredth and ninety-fifth day, Monday; 5 August 1946, morning session
| publisher = Avalon Project, Yale Law School
}}</ref>
==Direction==
The Waffen SS was under an administrative, but not operational, office in Berlin, which reported to [[Heinrich Himmler]]. All operational matters were under the direction of the [[Oberkommando der Wehrmacht]].  Himmler's authority, with respect to the Waffen SS, was limited to "matters dealing with personnel and replacements, with judicial questions and fundamental problems of organization."
===Subordinate commanders===
With the exception of Hausser, no Waffen SS officer had been a regular army general. Hausser competently commanded an army group. [[Felix Steiner]] and [[Sepp Dietrich]] commanded army-sized formation, Steiner well given extreme resource constraints in the [[Battle of Berlin]], and Dietrich less so with the 6th Panzer Army in the [[Battle of the Bulge]].<ref>{{citation
| contribution =Chapter XXIII, The Battle Between the Salm and the Ourthe, 24 December-2 January
| title = The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge
| url = http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/7-8/7-8_23.htm
| publisher = U.S. Army
| date =15 June 1964
| author = Hugh M. Cole }}, p. 578</ref> While Dietrich was a friend of Hitler and active in the [[Night of the Long Knives]], he showed some independence, refusing orders he considered suicidal for his troops, and protesting orders to shoot Jews.


HAUSER: A unified SS High Command did not exist during the war. The main office in Berlin was the leading administrative
The Waffen SS simply did not have enough service time to train top-level commanders.
agency. All divisions of the Waffen-SS were incorporated into the Army and fought under the command and, in the final analysis, under the responsibility of the Army. I personally, in the 5 years and 6 months of the war, received orders only from the Armed Forces offices and agencies.


HERR PELCKMANN: Did Heinrich Himmler have any influence on the divisions of the Waffen-SS, and if so, what influence did he have?
At the corps level, SS leaders ranged in quality. All of the competent ones had Freikorps service, and usually Truppenamt or other clandestine training during the Weimar Republic.  They included [[George Bittrich]], [[Herbert Gille]] and [[Georg Kepler]]. At the other extreme was [[Heinz Reinefart]] who had been an army sergeant, rose to full police general, but was disgraced while commanding a corps.


HAUSER: The divisions which had been incorporated into the Army were subordinate to Heinrich Himmler only in matters dealing with personnel and replacements, with judicial questions and fundamental problems of organization.
Some of the younger division commanders spent their entire careers in the Waffen SS.<ref>{{citation
 
| title = The SS, alibi of a nation, 1922-1945
HERR PELCKMANN: The Prosecution states that the Waffen-SS used special means of combat and that they deliberately fought cruelly, used terror methods, and carried out mass exterminations.
| author = Gerald Reitlinger
 
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=-jWRG5XIeM4C&pg=PA292&lpg=PA292&dq=%22Hans+Oster%22+Roeder&source=bl&ots=2UD8oqUUKX&sig=R4h2j-HYz15iG3FSWBn7hKFccn8&hl=en&ei=xbrwTL68CcP68AbjsPTuCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CDwQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=%22Hans%20Oster%22%20Roeder&f=false
HAUSER: I must deny this emphatically. The troop was young, it had no tradition, and it had no name. It had to prove its worth first. The commanders had one ambition only, which was to win fame and prestige for this troop through courageous but fair methods of combat. Since some of the divisions fought together with the Army the generals of the Army would not have tolerated any methods deviating from regular fighting, and just as they took steps in tactical matters they would have stepped in if this accusation of a terrorist method of fighting had been justified. They would have noticed it just as we would have noticed it, for at critical times the commanders are on the road for days on end and they see how the troops are fighting and can judge what methods are being used.
| publisher = Da Capo Press | year = 1989
 
}}, pp. 84-85</ref>
HERR PELCKMANN: Were the officers and men instructed about adhering to international law?
==Conduct==
 
Hauser denied the prosecution accusation that the Waffen SS used cruelty and terror, and carried out mass exterminations.  He said he told Himmler, who once mentioned terrorist measures, that "was completely wrong, that we had not gained our successes through terror methods but only through the courage of officers and men who were ready to sacrifice themselves to the last man if necessity arose." Nevertheless, atrocities were associated with units such as the [[Das Reich Division]], as at [[Oradour-sur-Glane]], [[France]].<ref>{{citation
HAUSER: Even in peacetime, as part of their training, the officers and men were instructed on the rules of the Geneva Convention and the Hague Rules of Land Warfare. This instruction and supervision, of course, were continued during the war.
| url = http://www.oradour.info/
 
| title = Oradour-sur-Glane 10th June 1944
HERR PELCKMANN: Is it correct that Himmler once said that the successes of the Waffen-SS were to be credited to terroristic measures?
| author = Michael Williams}}</ref>  Another incident was perpetrated by the [[Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler Division]] at [[Malmedy]], [[Belgium]], under Dietrich.
 
==References==
HAUSER: Heinrich Himmler once used this expression in a speech. I reported to him ' that it was completely wrong, that we had not gained our successes through terror methods but only through the courage of officers and men who were ready to sacrifice themselves to the last man if necessity arose.
{{reflist|2}}

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According to its commander, Oberstgruppenfuehrer Paul Hausser, the Waffen SS (armed SS) was created in the fall of 1939. Its initial strength was three divisions, drawn from the Verfuegungstruppe, Totenkopf SS, and from men who had been trained for the Police.

It grew to over 35 divisions, as well as corps formation, due to an unplanned factor: all racially Germanic volunteers, who were not German citizens, served in the Waffen SS. Its eventual strength was approximately 900,000 men, of whom only half to one third came from the German Reich itself. [1]

Direction

The Waffen SS was under an administrative, but not operational, office in Berlin, which reported to Heinrich Himmler. All operational matters were under the direction of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht. Himmler's authority, with respect to the Waffen SS, was limited to "matters dealing with personnel and replacements, with judicial questions and fundamental problems of organization."

Subordinate commanders

With the exception of Hausser, no Waffen SS officer had been a regular army general. Hausser competently commanded an army group. Felix Steiner and Sepp Dietrich commanded army-sized formation, Steiner well given extreme resource constraints in the Battle of Berlin, and Dietrich less so with the 6th Panzer Army in the Battle of the Bulge.[2] While Dietrich was a friend of Hitler and active in the Night of the Long Knives, he showed some independence, refusing orders he considered suicidal for his troops, and protesting orders to shoot Jews.

The Waffen SS simply did not have enough service time to train top-level commanders.

At the corps level, SS leaders ranged in quality. All of the competent ones had Freikorps service, and usually Truppenamt or other clandestine training during the Weimar Republic. They included George Bittrich, Herbert Gille and Georg Kepler. At the other extreme was Heinz Reinefart who had been an army sergeant, rose to full police general, but was disgraced while commanding a corps.

Some of the younger division commanders spent their entire careers in the Waffen SS.[3]

Conduct

Hauser denied the prosecution accusation that the Waffen SS used cruelty and terror, and carried out mass exterminations. He said he told Himmler, who once mentioned terrorist measures, that "was completely wrong, that we had not gained our successes through terror methods but only through the courage of officers and men who were ready to sacrifice themselves to the last man if necessity arose." Nevertheless, atrocities were associated with units such as the Das Reich Division, as at Oradour-sur-Glane, France.[4] Another incident was perpetrated by the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler Division at Malmedy, Belgium, under Dietrich.

References

  1. ↑ One hundredth and ninety-fifth day, Monday; 5 August 1946, morning session, vol. Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 20, Avalon Project, Yale Law School
  2. ↑ Hugh M. Cole (15 June 1964), Chapter XXIII, The Battle Between the Salm and the Ourthe, 24 December-2 January, The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge, U.S. Army, p. 578
  3. ↑ Gerald Reitlinger (1989), The SS, alibi of a nation, 1922-1945, Da Capo Press, pp. 84-85
  4. ↑ Michael Williams, Oradour-sur-Glane 10th June 1944
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