SS-Verfügungstruppe

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SS-Verfügungstruppe
SS insignia worn on the helmets of SS-Verfügungstruppe.
Active	1934-1940
Country	Germany
Allegiance	Adolf Hitler
Branch	Waffen SS
Type	Motorized Infantry
Role	Schnelltruppen (Mobile troops)
Size	1 Division
Garrison/HQ	Berlin
Commanders
Notable commanders	Brigadeführer Paul Hausser Oberführer Felix Steiner Obergruppenfuhrer Sepp Dietrich

The SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT) (English: SS Dispositional Troops) was formed in 1934 as combat troops for the NSDAP. By 1940 these military SS units had become the Waffen-SS.

On August 17, 1938 Adolf Hitler decreed that the SS-VT was neither a part of the police nor the German Wehrmacht but military-trained men at the disposal of the Führer in war or peace.

Formation

LSSAH troops undergo a drill inspection in Berlin, November 1938.

The SS-VT was formed on September 24, 1934 from a merger of various Nazi and paramilitary formations such as the SS Special Detachments (SS-Sonderkommandos) and the Headquarters Guard (SS-Stabswache) units. The recruits were trained to be combat-ready infantry according to the German Army (Wehrmacht Heer) regulations ^[1]. The unit was officially designated SS-Verfügungstruppe ("Dispositional troops," i.e. troops at the personal disposal of the Führer). The existence of the SS-Verfügungstruppe (known as SS-VT) was publicly declared on 16 March 1935.

The SS-VT trained alongside Hitler’s personal body guard the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler (LAH), which after 13 April 1934, was known as the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH).^[2] The LSSAH continued to serve exclusively as a personal protection unit and honor guard during this timeframe.

By 1937 the SS was divided into three groups: the Allgemeine-SS (General SS), the SS-Verfügungstruppe, and the SS-Totenkopfverbände, which administered the concentration camps. ^[3]

The military formations under Himmler's command on 1 September 1939 consisted of several subgroups:

• Hitler's personal bodyguard the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler under Obergruppenführer ^[4] Josef "Sepp" Dietrich.
• The Inspectorate of Verfügungstruppe under Brigadeführer Paul Hausser, which commanded the Deutschland, Germania and Der Führer regiments.
• Inspector of Concentration Camps Gruppenführer Theodor Eicke's four militarized Death's-Head Standarten comprising guards from the SS-Totenkopfverbände, which would be formed into a division ^[5] after the Polish invasion, and folded into the Waffen-SS in August 1940. These troops wore the SS-TV skull and crossbones rather than the SS-VT "SS" runes.
• There were in addition combat-trained non-SS units of Obergruppenführer Kurt Daluege's Ordnungspolizei which reported to Himmler in his capacity as Chief of German Police. For the 1940 campaigns these also would be formed into a division, which would be placed under Waffen-SS control in January 1941 and merged into it in February 1942.

Early operations

Elements of the SS-VT served with the Wehrmacht during the occupation of the Sudetenland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. The SS-VT regiments Deutschland and Germania along with the Leibstandarte participated in the invasion of Poland, with Der Fuhrer (recruited in Austria after the Anschluss) in reserve at Prague. ^[6] In September 1939, a combined unit of SS-VT and Heer troops conducted operations as Panzer Division Kempf during the invasion of Poland. It fought alongside regular Wehrmacht units at Rozan, Modlin, Lomza and Kmiczyn. The division was disbanded near the Polish city of Nidzica on 7 October 1939.

Events during the invasion of Poland raised doubts over the combat effectiveness of the SS-VT. Their willingness to fight was never in any doubt; at times they were almost too eager to fight. The OKW reported that the SS-VT had unnecessarily exposed themselves to risks and acted recklessly, incurring heavier losses then Army troops. They also stated that the SS-VT was poorly trained and its officers unsuitable for command. In its defence the SS-VT insisted that it had been hampered by its fighting piecemeal instead of as one formation, and being improperly equipped to carry out what had been required of it. Heinrich Himmler insisted that that the SS-VT should be allowed to fight in its own formations, under its own commanders, while the OKW tried to have the SS-VT disbanded altogether. Hitler, unwilling to upset either the Army or Himmler, chose a different path. He ordered that the SS-VT form its own Divisions but the Divisions would be under Army command.^[7]

Development of the Waffen-SS

In October 1939, there were four armed SS regiments, Leibstandarte, Deutschland, Germania and Der Führer. The latter three were reorganized into the SS-Verfügungs-Division.^[8] The Leibstandarte was expanded into a motorized brigade, and three Totenkopfstandarten, together with SS Heimwehr Danzig, were organized into their own division under Eicke's command. A further division, the Polizei-Division, was created from the Ordnungspolizei. These formations took part in Operation Fall Gelb against the Low Countries and France in 1940.

The SS-VT troops first saw action in the main drive for the Dutch central front around Rotterdam.^[9] After the city had been captured, the Division, along with other divisions, intercepted a French force and forced them back to the area of Zeeland and Antwerp. They were next used to mop-up small pockets of resistance in the areas already captured by the German advance.

The SS-VT was renamed the "Waffen-SS" in a speech made by Adolf Hitler in July 1940; on 1 August Himmler established the Kommandoamt der Waffen-SS (Waffen-SS Command Office) within the new SS-Führungshauptamt (FHA) under Obergruppenführer Hans Jüttner. The Totenkopf Division and other SS-TV combat units were transferred to KW-SS control.

Flag of the Norwegian SS battalion.

In December 1940 the Germania Regiment would be removed from the Verfügungs-Division and used to form the cadre of a new division, SS-Division Germania,^[10] comprising mostly "Nordic" volunteers from the newly-conquered territories, Danes, Norwegians, Dutch and Flemings; it was soon renamed Wiking. At the start of 1941 the Verfügungs-Division would be redubbed "Reich" (in 1942 "Das Reich"), and the Polizei division brought under Waffen-SS administration. ^[11] The Leibstandarte would be expanded to a division for Operation Barbarossa.

Much later in the war, when the Waffen-SS divisions were assigned numbers, these first formations, Leibstandarte, Das Reich, Totenkopf, Polizei and Wiking would be recognized as SS divisions 1 through 5.

See also

• Waffen-SS
• SS Heimwehr Danzig
• Paul Hausser
• Führer order on the armed units of the SS, 17 Aug 1938[1]

References

1. ^ Waffen-SS at Encyclopædia Britannica
2. ^ Cook, Stan and Bender, R. James. Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler - Volume One, R. James Bender Publishing, 1994, p 19
3. ^ Organisationsbuch der NSDAP, 3rd Ed. (1937) p. 424
4. ^ Equivalent to a full General. The independence of the LSSAH can be partly explained by Dietrich's rank, as well as his personal friendship with Hitler
5. ^ Actually only the 1st (Oberbayern), 2nd (Brandenburg) and 3rd (Thüringen) TK-Standarten were formed into the Totenkopf division. The 4th (Ostmark) was assigned to occupation duties until it was incorporated into the 2nd SS Infantry Regiment in preparation for Barbarossa. http://sturmvogel.orbat.com/ss-tk.html
6. ^ http://www.germanamericanvoice.com/Stories/SS-STANDARTE%20DER%20FUEHRER.htm
7. ^ Flaherty, T.H (2004). The Third Reich: The SS. Time-Life Books, Inc. (re-print). ISBN 1 84447 073 3.  p 149
8. ^ Flaherty, T.H (2004). The Third Reich: The SS. Time-Life Books, Inc. (re-print). ISBN 1 84447 073 3. 
9. ^ Windrow, Martin & Burn, Cristopher (1992). The Waffen-SS, Edition 2. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0850454255. 
10. ^ Ripley, Tim . The Waffen-SS at War: Hitler's Praetorians 1925-1945 (2004) p. 52 .
11. ^ The Polizei division only formally become part of the SS in February 1942; until then its members continued to wear Ordnungspolizei insignia and it did not include "SS" in its name.