1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler

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1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
1. SS-Panzerdivision Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
— 1. SS-PzDiv LSSAH —
German occupation of Czechoslovakia
World War II
Commanders
Notable
commanders
(1–28 August 1944)

The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler or SS Division Leibstandarte,

division-sized unit during World War II
.

The LSSAH participated in combat during the

Panzer division
in October 1943.

Members of the LSSAH perpetrated numerous atrocities and war crimes, including the Malmedy massacre. They killed an estimated 5,000 prisoners of war in the period 1940–1945, mostly on the Eastern Front.[2]

Early history (1923–1933)

In the early days of the

Imperial Germany in World War I who used Hutier infiltration tactics.[6]

In May 1923, the unit was renamed Stoßtrupp (Shock Troop)–Hitler.[4] The unit numbered no more than 20 members at that time.[7] On 9 November 1923, the Stoßtrupp, along with the SA and several other Nazi paramilitary units, took part in the abortive Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. In the aftermath, Hitler was imprisoned and his party and all associated formations, including the Stoßtrupp, were disbanded.[8]

The second model of the LSSAH Standard, modelled after the Roman Vexillum.

In the mid-1920s, violence remained a large part of Bavarian politics.[9] Hitler was a potential target. In 1925, Hitler ordered the formation of a new bodyguard unit, the Schutzkommando (protection command).[9] The unit was renamed the Sturmstaffel (assault squadron) and in November was renamed the Schutzstaffel, abbreviated to SS.[10] By 1933 the SS had grown from a small bodyguard unit to a formation of over 50,000 men. The decision was made to form a new bodyguard unit, again called the Stabswache, which was mostly made up of men from the 1st SS-Standarte.[11] By 1933 this unit was placed under the command of Sepp Dietrich, who selected 117 men to form the SS-Stabswache Berlin on 17 March 1933.[12] The unit replaced the army guards at the Reich Chancellery.[12] Out of this initial group, three eventually became divisional commanders, at least eight would become regimental commanders, fifteen became battalion commanders, and over thirty became company commanders in the Waffen-SS.[13] Eleven men from the first company of 117 went on to win the Knights Cross, and forty of them were awarded the German Cross in gold for bravery.[14] Later in 1933, two further training units were formed: SS-Sonderkommando Zossen on 10 May, and a second unit, designated SS-Sonderkommando Jüterbog on 8 July.[15] These were the only SS units to receive military training at that time. Most of the training staff came from the ranks of the army.[15] On 3 September 1933 the two Sonderkommando merged into the SS-Sonderkommando Berlin under Dietrich's command.[16] Most of their duties involved providing outer security for Hitler at his residences, public appearances and guard duty at the Reich Chancellery.[5]

In November 1933, on the 10th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch, the Sonderkommando took part in the rally and memorial service for the Nazi Party members who had been killed during the putsch. During the ceremony, the members of the Sonderkommando swore personal allegiance to Hitler. At the conclusion the unit received the new title, "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler" (LAH).

Leibgarde – a somewhat archaic German translation of "Guard of Corps" or personal bodyguard of a military leader ("Leib" = lit. "body, torso") – and Standarte: the Schutzstaffel (SS) or Sturmabteilung (SA) term for a regiment-sized unit, also the German word for a specific type of heraldic flag (Standard
).

Expansion

December 1935 parade for Adolf Hitler at the LSSAH Barracks in Berlin-Lichterfelde. Sepp Dietrich is on the far right.

On 13 April 1934,

division of the Waffen-SS.[18] Although nominally under Himmler, Dietrich was the real commander and handled day-to-day administration.[19]

During 1934,

Stabschef-SA Ernst Röhm continued to push for greater political influence for his already powerful SA. Hitler decided that the SA had to be eliminated as an independent political force and ordered the LSSAH to prepare for the action. The LSSAH formed two companies under the control of Jürgen Wagner and Otto Reich, these formations were moved to Munich on 30 June.[20]

Hitler ordered all SA leaders to attend a meeting at the Hanselbauer Hotel in

Death Squad actions. At least 85, but most likely no less than twice that number of people, were executed without trial over the next few days.[23][24]

This action succeeded in effectively decapitating the SA and removing Röhm's threat to Hitler's leadership. In recognition of their actions, both the LSSAH and the Landespolizeigruppe General Göring were expanded to regimental size and motorized. In addition, the SS became an independent organization, no longer part of the SA.[25]

The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler barracks in Berlin, 1938

The LSSAH provided the honor guard at many of the

Standarten of the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT) (SS-Standarte Deutschland, SS-Standarte Germania, and SS-Standarte Der Führer).[29] The Polish crisis of August 1939 put these plans on hold, and the LSSAH was ordered to join XIII. Armeekorps, a part of Army Group South
, which was preparing for the attack on Poland.

The Leibstandarte division's symbol was a skeleton key, in honor of its first commander, Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (Dietrich is German for skeleton key or lock pick); it was retained and modified to later serve as the symbol for I SS Panzer Corps.[30]

Invasion of Poland

During the initial stages of the

Goworowo, Mława, and Włocławek.[34]

After the success at Pabianice, the LSSAH was sent to the area near Warsaw and attached to the 4.Panzer-Division under then Generalmajor (brigadier general) Georg-Hans Reinhardt. The unit saw action preventing encircled Polish units from escaping and repelling several attempts by other Polish troops to break through. In spite of the swift military victory over Poland, the regular army had reservations about the performance of the LSSAH and SS-VT units due to their higher casualty rate than the army units.[35]

Invasion of France

In early 1940 the LSSAH was expanded into a full independent motorized infantry regiment and a

22.Luftlande-Infanterie-Division
.

Heinrich Himmler inspecting a Sturmgeschütz III, Metz, September 1940

Fall Gelb—the invasion of France and the Low Countries—was launched on 10 May 1940. On that day, the LSSAH crossed the Dutch border,

prisoners of war.[37] After the surrender of the Netherlands on 15 May, the regiment was then moved south to France.[38]

After the British

SS-Verfügungs-Division, were moved to hold the perimeter around Dunkirk and reduce the size of the pocket containing the encircled British Expeditionary Force and French forces.[39] The LSSAH took up a position 15 miles southwest of Dunkirk along the line of the Aa Canal, facing the Allied defensive line near Watten.[37] That night the OKW ordered the advance to halt, with the British Expeditionary Force trapped. The LSSAH paused for the night. However, on the following day of 25 May, in defiance of Hitler's orders, Dietrich ordered his 3rd battalion to cross the canal and take the Wattenberg Heights beyond, where British artillery observers were putting the regiment at risk. They assaulted the heights and drove the observers off. Instead of being censured for his act of defiance, Dietrich was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.[40]

On 26 May the German advance resumed. By 28 May the LSSAH had taken the village of Wormhout, only ten miles from Dunkirk.[37] After their surrender, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, along with some other units (including French soldiers) were taken to a barn in La Plaine au Bois near Wormhout and Esquelbecq. It was there that troops of the LSSAH 2nd battalion, under the command of SS-Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Mohnke committed the Wormhoudt massacre, where 80 British and French prisoners of war were killed.[41][42] Although it is unarguable that the massacre occurred, Mohnke's level of involvement is impossible to know; he was never formally charged and brought to trial.[29][43]

Invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece

Main article:
Battle of Greece

After the conclusion of the Western campaign on 22 June 1940, the LSSAH spent six months in

Operation Marita, part of the planned invasion of Greece and Yugoslavia.[45]

The operation was launched on 6 April 1941 by aerial bombings of central-southern Yugoslavia, especially over Belgrade, causing enormous destruction and thousands of victims and wounded. After the LSSAH entered on 12 April into the Yugoslavian capital, then to follow the route of the

XL Panzer Corps. The LSSAH crossed the border near Bitola
and was soon deep in Greek territory.

Sd.Kfz. 231 armored cars of the LSSAH advance into the Balkans near Sofia, Bulgaria, with Vitosha Mountain in the background.

The LSSAH captured

Kurt Meyer's reinforced Aufklärungs-Abteilung (reconnaissance battalion), LSSAH was tasked with clearing resistance from the Kleisoura Pass south-west of Vevi and driving through to the Kastoria area to cut off retreating Greek and British Commonwealth forces.[46] Despite stiff resistance, Meyer's unit captured the pass.[46]

The brigade participated in the

clearing the Klidi Pass just south of Vevi, which was defended by a "scratch force" of Greek, Australian, British and New Zealand troops. An Australian artillery officer wrote of the Germans' "insolence" in driving "trucks down the main road – to within 3,000 yards (2,700 m) of our infantry" and there unloading the troops. The Germans were forced off the road by artillery fire and faced fierce resistance for more than two days. On the morning of 12 April the Germans renewed their attack, and by late afternoon the pass was cleared.[47]

With the fall of the two passes the main line of resistance of the

Peloponnesos. By 26 April the LSSAH had reached the Gulf of Patras, and in an effort to cut off the retreating British Commonwealth forces, Dietrich ordered that his regiment cross the Gulf and secure the town of Patras in the Peloponnesus. Since no transport vessels were available, the LSSAH commandeered fishing boats and successfully completed the crossing but were forced to leave much of their heavy equipment behind. By 30 April the last British Commonwealth troops had either been captured or escaped. The LSSAH occupied a position of honor in the victory parade through Athens. After Operation Marita, the LSSAH was ordered north to join the forces of Army Group South massing for the launch of Operation Barbarossa.[48]

Invasion of the Soviet Union

Following LSSAH's outstanding performance during Marita, Himmler ordered that it should be upgraded to divisional status.[48] The regiment, already the size of a reinforced brigade, was to be given motorized transport and redesignated "SS-Division (mot.) Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler". It was moved to Czechoslovakia in mid May for reorganization until being ordered to assemble in Poland[49] for Operation Barbarossa, as part of Gerd von Rundstedt's Army Group South. There was not enough time to deliver all its equipment and refit it to full divisional status before the launch of the invasion of the Soviet Union, so the new "division" remained the size of a reinforced brigade, even though its expansion and development was of concern at the very highest ranks of command. Franz Halder, chief of the OKH General Staff noted on 20 June that "SS 'Adolf Hitler' will not be ready in time. Tracked components leave on 22 June, others not before 25 June," then more hopefully the next day; "Materiel position of SS 'Adolf Hitler' has improved, Div. may yet get ready in time."[50]

Wehrmacht horse drawn artillery and armored cars of the LSSAH pass a burning Soviet village, August 1941.

Despite Halder's hopes, LSSAH was held in reserve attached to

XLVIII Panzer Corps.[49] During this time, the LSSAH was involved in the Battle of Uman and the subsequent capture of Kiev. According to a postwar report by Waffen-SS journalist Erich Kern, the division murdered 4,000 Soviet prisoners in reprisal on 18 August, after finding the mutilated bodies of six dead divisional members who had been executed at Nowo Danzig, north of Kherson. These allegations have been researched using local units' war diaries; no mention of executed German soldiers during those dates has been found. For want of reliable evidence, not even accusations by the Soviet authorities, the allegations remained unproven.[51][52]

LSSAH enters burning Taganrog, October 1941

In early September, the division was shifted to LIV Army Corps, as part of the

Crimean Peninsula was not launched until 17 September. Manstein deployed LSSAH to create diversions while preparing for the main assault, intending to employ it to exploit an eventual breakthrough, but was forced to throw pioneers into the attack on the "Tatar Ditch" in the face of a furious counterattacks and did not break the Soviet defense for ten days.[54]

On 8 October 1941, the LSSAH captured the major coastal city of Mariupol, catching the Soviets off guard.[55]

In October, the LSSAH was transferred back north to help solidify the Axis line against fresh Soviet attacks against the

Rostov-on-Don, which was captured in late November; there, the LSSAH took over 10,000 Red Army prisoners. However, by the end of the year, the German advance faltered as Soviet resistance grew stronger.[46]

Under pressure from heavy Soviet counterattacks during the winter, the LSSAH and Army Group South retreated from Rostov to defensive lines on the river

Fall Blau, participating in the fighting to retake Rostov-on-Don, which fell in late July 1942. Severely understrength, the LSSAH was transferred to the Normandy region of occupied France to join the newly formed SS Panzer Corps and to be reformed as a Panzergrenadier division.[56]

Kharkov

Sepp Dietrich in a medal ceremony for men of the LSSAH, Soviet Union 1942. Sepp Dietrich with von Westernhagen, Wiesemann, Max Wünsche and Karl Rettlinger.

The LSSAH spent the remainder of 1942 refitting as a panzergrenadier division. Thanks to the efforts of Himmler, along with SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser, the SS Panzer Corps commander, the three SS Panzergrenadier divisions, LSSAH, Das Reich and Totenkopf, were to be formed with a full regiment of tanks rather than only a battalion. This meant that the SS Panzergrenadier divisions were full-strength Panzer divisions in all but name. The division also received nine Tiger 1 tanks, and these were formed into the 13th (schwere) Company/1st SS Panzer Regiment.[56]

The collapse of the front around Stalingrad and the encirclement of the

Kharkov. The SS Panzer Corps was then ordered east to join Manstein's forces.[56]

Kharkov
March 1943

Arriving at the front in late January 1943, the LSSAH was engaged in fighting in and around Kharkov as a part of Hausser's SS Panzer Corps.[56] In March 1943 the division participated in the recapture of Kharkov. On 12 March 1943, the LSSAH made progress into the city's center by breaking through the Soviet defenses in the northern suburbs. By the end of the day, the division had reached a position just two blocks north of Dzerzhinsky Square.[57] The 2nd Panzergrenadier Regiment's 2nd Battalion was able to surround the square, after taking heavy casualties from Soviet snipers and other defenders, by evening. When taken, the square was renamed "Platz der Leibstandarte".[58] Despite the declaration that the city had fallen, fighting continued on 15 and 16 March, as German units cleared the remnants of resistance in the tractor works factory complex, in the southern outskirts of the city. The city was taken on 17 March.[59] While in Kharkov, troops of the LSSAH engaged in the murder of wounded Soviet soldiers that were located in the city's military hospital; several hundred were killed. Additionally, captured Soviet officers and commissars were routinely executed.[60]

The division was pulled back to rest and refit. Division commander Sepp Dietrich was promoted to form a new Corps, the

1st SS Panzer Corps Leibstandarte, and the LSSAH was to supply all the senior officers for the new headquarters. At the same time a new SS division would be formed from members of the Hitler Youth and the LSSAH would supply all of the regimental, battalion and most of the company commanders. This new division would become the 12th SS Panzer Division (Hitlerjugend).[61]

Massacre of civilians on the Eastern Front

During the fighting around Kharkov, a unit under the command of Joachim Peiper gained a nickname "Blowtorch Battalion", after the inhabitants of two Soviet villages were shot or burned.[62][63][64] Ukrainian sources, including surviving witness Ivan Kiselev, who was 14 at the time of the massacre, described the killings at the villages of Yefremovka and Semyonovka on 17 February 1943. On 12 February Waffen-SS troops of the LSSAH occupied the two villages, where retreating Soviet forces had wounded two SS officers. In retaliation, five days later LSSAH troops killed 872 men, women and children. Some 240 of these were burned alive in the church of Yefremovka.[65]

The reputation of the "Blowtorch Battalion" was confirmed in August 1944, when Sturmbannführer Jacob Hanreich was captured south of Falaise in France and interrogated by the Allies. He stated that Peiper was "particularly eager to execute the order to burn villages". Hanreich had previously served with Leibstandarte but was with SS Division Hitlerjugend at the time of his capture.[66]

Additional sources support the division's reputation for brutality. The following statement, taken from the surreptitious recording of POWs' conversations by the Allies, describes the atrocities on the Eastern Front. SS-Untersturmführer Krämer (captured on the Western Front during his service with the SS Division Hitlerjugend) recounted the following from his time with the LSSAH:[67]

I have experienced it in Russia at Orel. An MG 42 was set up in the main aisle of a church, [...] and the Russian men, women and children were taken into the church, without knowing at all what was happening. Then they were shot immediately with the MG 42 and petrol was poured on them and the whole place was set on fire.

Fabrikaktion Operation

Elements of LSSAH took part in

Auschwitz or other camps in the East.[68][69][70] In May 1943, Hans Frank shipped 500 watches collected from Auschwitz prisoners to soldiers of the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf.[71]

Battle of Kursk

The spring rasputitsa halted offensive operations, giving the LSSAH time to rest and refit. By early June 1943, the division had been fully refitted and was now under the command of SS-

StuGs. In late June 1943, the formation of I SS Panzer Corps meant that Hausser's SS Panzer Corps was renamed II SS Panzer Corps.[73]

Joachim Peiper, commander of the division's 1st SS Panzer Regiment

The

4th Panzer Army, tasked with breaching the southern flank of the Kursk salient. Field Marshal Walter Model's 9th Army
was to breach the northern flank, and the two forces were to meet near the city of Kursk, to the east, thereby encircling a large Soviet force.

The attack commenced on 5 July. The LSSAH's panzers, advancing in

Michael Wittman, a Tiger commander in Leibstandarte's heavy company, destroyed eight enemy tanks and seven anti-tank guns on the first day of battle.[74]

On 8 July, Unterscharführer Franz Staudegger, another Tiger commander, halted for repairs in the town of Teterevino and became separated from his company. He became aware of a nearby Soviet armored counterattack developing and rushed the repairs on his tank to meet the threat. Staudegger and his crew spotted the enemy vanguard and took out seventeen T-34s in two hours.[74] The Russian attack was now faltering, so Staudegger pressed his Tiger forward into the retreating enemy flanks, switching to high-explosive shells after exhausting his armor-piercing ammmunition. By day's end, Staudegger's Tiger had destroyed twenty-two T-34s, for which he won the Knight's Cross.[74]

By 9 July, the II SS Panzer Corps had advanced 48 km (30 mi) north and were nearing the small town of Prokhorovka. The LSSAH again took the lead; by now its strength was reduced to just 77 armored vehicles. The 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment, supported by several tanks, advanced up the road to Prokhorovka against heavy resistance. By midday, the infantry had cleared the Komsomolets State Farm and begun the attack on Hill 241.6, which they secured shortly after nightfall on 10 July.

The next day the advance resumed, with the division capturing Oktiabr'skii State Farm and Hill 252.2 in heavy fighting against Soviet

5th Guards Tank Army into a counterattack near Prokhorovka. Two tank corps
faced the LSSAH, hitting the Germans around Oktiabr'skii State Farm and Hill 252.2. In the ensuing fighting, the Germans inflicted heavy casualties on the Soviets. The Soviet counterattack had stalled the German advance, and the division was forced to fall back to Oktiabr'skii. Fighting continued the next day, but the focus of the Soviet attack had then shifted to the Totenkopf, on the left of the LSSAH.

With the battle at Prokhorovka still in the balance, Soviet High Command launched an offensive of their own, Operation Kutuzov, near Orel causing Hitler to order the cessation of Citadel. The II SS Panzer Corps was pulled back. The LSSAH was ordered out of the line, having suffered 2,753 casualties including 474 killed.[72] Eleven tanks were also lost during Citadel. The division was sent to Italy to help stabilize the situation there caused by the deposal of Benito Mussolini by the Badoglio government and the Allied invasion of Sicily which began on the night of 9–10 July 1943. The division left behind its heavy equipment, which was given to Das Reich and Totenkopf.[75]

Italy and subsequent operations

LSSAH Panzer IV Ausf. H in Milan, Italy, September 1943

The division, re-equipped with vehicles, arrived on the Po River Plain on 8 August 1943. The LSSAH was given the task of guarding several vital road and rail junctions in the area of Trento-Verona. After several weeks, the division was moved to the Parma-Reggio area. During this period, the Leibstandarte was involved in several skirmishes with partisans. With Italy having announced an armistice with the Allies of 8 September 1943, the division was ordered to begin disarming nearby Royal Italian Army units.[75] This went smoothly, with the exception of brief, bloody fights with Italian troops stationed in Parma, Cremona and Piacenza on 9 September. By 19 September, all Italian forces in the Po River Plain had been disarmed.[75]

While on rear security duties in Italy, LSSAH men murdered 49 Jewish refugees near Lake Maggiore, in the Lake Maggiore massacres, who had fled there after the German takeover.[76] The murders happened between 15 and 24 September. Some of the victims had their feet and hands tied and were drowned.[77]

The LSSAH was sent to the

Zhitomir area in mid-November.[75]

The division was assigned to

Korsun Pocket
in January–February 1944.

The majority of the LSSAH, which amounted to 41 officers and 1,188 men, were withdrawn to Belgium for rest and refit,

Kamenets-Podolsky pocket. The battle group took part in the fighting to escape the encirclement, forming a part of the spearhead which linked up with the II SS Panzer Corps near Buczacz on 6 April.[78] The LSSAH Division was reformed in Belgium and was at full strength by 25 April 1944.[79]

Western Front

The division was transferred again as part of the

272nd Infantry Division and pulled back to an assembly area astride the Caen – Falaise road between Ifs and Cintheaux.[84]

Operation Goodwood

Main article: Operation Goodwood
The front line at the beginning of Operation Spring, showing the layout of forces for both sides

The British Operation Goodwood took place between 18 and 20 July 1944. British VIII Corps, with three armored divisions, launched the attack aiming to seize the German-held Bourguébus Ridge, along with the area between Bretteville-sur-Laize and Vimont. The operation was preceded by a three-hour bombing by 2,500 aircraft.[85] The Division strength prior to Goodwood was reported as 59 Panzer IVs, 46 Panthers and 35 StuG IIIs.[86]

II/1st SS Panzer Regiment, located near Garcelles, received orders to attack the British at

British 11th Armoured Division. The body of the LSSAH was rushed to the front from Falaise, where it was being held in reserve. It counterattacked at 17:00, together with the 21st Panzer Division, and halted the British offensive on the left front.[87]

The British resumed their assault at around 13:00 on 19 July, having brought up reinforcements to continue the attack. They overran some of the forward German units and approached Bourguébus Ridge at 16:00. They came under fire from Panthers of the Leibstandarte, who had taken up positions on the ridge. Reinforcements of the

3rd Canadian Divisions.[88]

Operation Lüttich

Main article: Operation Lüttich

On 25 July 1944, US forces under General

RAF.[94]

The LSSAH and other divisions went on the attack on 7 August. The 1st SS Panzer Regiment, along with two battalions of motorized infantry, one combat engineer company, and the division's flak battalion, were used for the attack. The weather was not suitable for flying that morning, which disadvantaged the Allies. The SS Division Das Reich recaptured Mortain, and an armored battle group under Joachim Peiper reached Bourlopin, but had to halt due to US counterattacks and air strikes.

The much-reduced division was encircled in the Falaise pocket by US, Canadian, and Polish forces. Some LSSAH units broke out of the pocket on 22 August, leaving behind all their tanks and artillery. The division sustained 5,000 casualties during the Normandy campaign.[95] During their retreat from France, members of the LSSAH and the SS Division Hitlerjugend division murdered 34 French civilians in the towns of Tavaux and Plomion.[96]

Ardennes Offensive

Further information: Battle of Elsenborn Ridge and Battle of the Bulge
Kampfgruppe Knittel's troops on the road to Stavelot to support Peiper

The Ardennes Offensive (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive launched through the forested Ardennes Mountains region of Belgium, France and Luxembourg. The offensive was called Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (Operation "Watch on the Rhine") by the Germans. The 'bulge' was the initial incursion the Germans put into the Allies' line of advance, as seen in maps presented in contemporary newspapers.[97][page needed]

A preserved Tiger II tank left by the Kampfgruppe Peiper at La Gleize in December 1944

Wilhelm Mohnke, now in command of the LSSAH, attached to the I SS Panzer Corps, was the spearhead of the operation. The fuel crisis in Nazi Germany meant that the LSSAH had insufficient amounts of fuel for its vehicles.[98] On 16 December the operation began, with then SS-Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper's Kampfgruppe leading the push to the Meuse.[99]

Malmedy massacre

Main article: Malmedy massacre
A GI surveys the scene of the Malmedy massacre. The victims' bodies were preserved under the snow until Allied forces recaptured the area in January 1945.

Peiper was supposed to reach the

Meuse River on the first day of the offensive. Instead, he was delayed by almost an entire day by a recon platoon at Lanzerath Ridge. Then, unable to dislodge the 99th Infantry Division from Elsenborn Ridge, he diverted to an alternative road to the south. At 07:00 on 17 December, the unit seized a US fuel depot at Büllingen, and refueled before continuing westward. At 12:30, near the hamlet of Baugnez, on the height halfway between the town of Malmedy and Ligneuville, Peiper's Kampfgruppe encountered a convoy of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, US 7th Armored Division.[100][101]

After a brief battle the Americans surrendered. Along with other Americans captured earlier (127 men total), they were disarmed and sent to stand in a field near the crossroads, where the Germans shot them en masse with machine guns and pistols.[102] Of the 84 men killed, 41 were killed by a pistol shot to the head at close range and six were killed by having their skulls bashed in.[103] After feigning death in the field for several hours while the Germans moved among them shooting survivors, a group of about 30 men escaped.[104] Researcher Danny S. Parker believe that Peiper or one of his subordinates made the decision to kill the prisoners.[105] There is no record of an SS officer giving an execution order.[106] News of the killings raced through the Allied lines.[107] Captured SS men who were part of Kampfgruppe Peiper were tried during the Malmedy massacre trial following the war for this massacre and several others in the area. Many of the perpetrators were sentenced to hang, but the sentences were commuted. Peiper himself was imprisoned for eleven years for his role in the killings.[105]

Peiper entered Stavelot on 18 December but encountered fierce resistance from the American defenders. Unable to defeat them, he left a smaller support force in town and headed for the bridge at Trois-Ponts with the bulk of his strength, but by the time he reached it, retreating US engineers had already destroyed it. Peiper then headed for the village of La Gleize and from there on to Stoumont. There, as Peiper approached, engineers blew up the bridge. US defenders were entrenched and ready. Peiper's men were cut off from the main German force and supplies when the Americans recaptured the poorly defended Stavelot on 19 December. As their situation in Stoumont was becoming hopeless, Peiper decided to pull back to La Gleize where he set up his defenses, waiting for the German relief force. Since no such force was able to penetrate the US line, Peiper decided to break out back to the German lines on 23 December. The men of the Kampfgruppe abandoned their vehicles and heavy equipment, although most of the men were able to escape.

With each passing day, enemy resistance stiffened and the advance was eventually halted on all fronts. The German High Command ordered that a renewed attack begin on 1 January 1945. Yet by this time, the Allies had regrouped their forces and were ready to repulse any attack launched by the Germans. The operation formally ended on 27 January 1945, and three days later Mohnke was promoted to SS-Brigadeführer. LSSAH and the I SS Panzer Corps were then transferred to Hungary to bolster the crumbling situation there. Mohnke was wounded in an air raid.[108] In his place, SS-Brigadeführer Otto Kumm was appointed the new Division Commander as of 15 February 1945.[108]

Killing of Wereth 11

Main article:
Wereth 11 Massacre
Memorial to the Wereth 11

During Battle of the Bulge, troops from 3./SS-PzAA1 LSSAH captured eleven African-American soldiers from the

333rd Artillery Battalion in the hamlet of Wereth. Subsequently the prisoners were shot and their remains found by Allied troops two months later. The soldiers had their fingers cut off, legs broken, and at least one was shot while trying to bandage a comrade's wounds.[109]

Eastern Front 1945

Operation Spring Awakening

Main article: Operation Spring Awakening

Operation Spring Awakening (6 March 1945 – 16 March 1945) was the last major German offensive launched during World War II. It began in great secrecy on 6 March 1945. The German forces launched attacks in Hungary near Lake Balaton. This area included some of the last oil reserves still available to the Axis. The operation involved many German units withdrawn from the failed Ardennes Offensive on the Western Front, including the 6th SS Panzer Army and the LSSAH. Operation Spring Awakening was a failure for the German side. Within a week, the early gains were halted by massive counter-attacks by Soviet forces. The overwhelming numerical superiority of the Red Army made any defense impossible, yet Hitler somehow had believed victory was attainable.[110]

After the failure of Operation Spring Awakening, Sepp Dietrich's 6th SS Panzer Army retreated in stages to the

Vienna Offensive. The Germans could not hold Vienna, which fell to the Soviet forces on 13 April.[111]

This defeat resulted in the Ärmelstreifen (Cuff Titles Order) or "armband order", which was issued by Hitler to the commander of the 6th SS Panzer Army, Sepp Dietrich. Hitler claimed that the troops "did not fight as the situation demanded."[111] As a mark of disgrace, Hitler ordered the Waffen-SS units involved to remove their cuff titles (German: Ärmelstreifen). Dietrich refused to carry out the order and did not relay the message to the troops.[112] According to Heinz Guderian, most cuff titles had already been removed; he later wrote that the removal of unit cuffs from the Leibstandarte, Totenkopf, Hohenstaufen, and the Das Reich Divisions was accomplished for security reasons.[113]

Battle of Berlin

Main article: Battle of Berlin
honor guard in foreground[114]

Part of the LSSAH ended the war fighting in Berlin. On 23 April 1945, Hitler appointed Brigadeführer Mohnke the commander for the central government district (Zitadelle sector) that included the Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker.[115] Mohnke's command post was under the Reich Chancellery in the bunkers therein. He formed Kampfgruppe Mohnke which was divided into two weak regiments made up of approximately 2,000 men.[116] The core group were the 800 of the Leibstandarte Guard Battalion (assigned to guard the Führer).[117] After Hitler's suicide, they received orders to break out. Prior to the attempt, Mohnke briefed all commanders who could be reached within the Zitadelle sector about Hitler's death and the planned break out.[118] It started at 2300 hours on 1 May. Mohnke led the first of ten small groups.[119] Several very small groups managed to reach the Americans at the Elbe's west bank, but most, including Mohnke's group, could not get through the Soviet lines. Many were taken prisoner and some committed suicide. On 2 May hostilities officially ended by order of Helmuth Weidling, Commandant of the Berlin Defense Area.[120]

After Vienna was captured, the LSSAH had fewer than 1,600 men and 16 tanks.

United States flag was raised over Berlin for the first time at the Leibstandarte barracks.[114]

Organisation

Structure of the division:[123][124]

  • Headquarters
  • 1st SS Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion
  • 1st SS Panzer Regiment
  • 1st SS Panzergrenadier Regiment
  • 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment
  • 1st SS Panzer Engineer Battalion
  • 1st SS Panzer Artillery Regiment
  • 1st SS Panzer Assault Gun Regiment
  • 1st SS Panzer Tank Destroyer Battalion
  • 1st SS Panzer Anti-Aircraft Battalion
  • 1st SS Rocket Launcher Battalion (added September 1944)
  • 1st SS Panzer Signal Battalion
  • 1st SS Panzer Divisional Supply Group

Commanders

No. Portrait Commander Took office Left office Time in office
1
Sepp Dietrich
Dietrich, SeppSS-Oberst-Gruppenführer
Sepp Dietrich
(1892–1966)		15 August 19384 July 19434 years, 323 days
2
Theodor Wisch
Wisch, TheodorSS-Brigadeführer
Theodor Wisch
(1907–1995)		4 July 194320 August 19441 year, 47 days
3
Wilhelm Mohnke
Mohnke, WilhelmSS-Brigadeführer
Wilhelm Mohnke
(1911–2001)		20 August 19446 February 1945170 days
4
Otto Kumm
Kumm, OttoSS-Brigadeführer
Otto Kumm
(1909–2004)		6 February 19458 May 194591 days

Notable members

See also

References

Citations

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  3. ^ McNab 2009, pp. 14, 16.
  4. ^ a b Weale 2012, p. 16.
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  6. ^ McNab 2009, p. 16.
  7. ^ McNab 2009, pp. 10, 16.
  8. ^ Wegner 1990, p. 62.
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  10. ^ Weale 2012, pp. 26–29.
  11. ^ Reynolds 1997, p. 3.
  12. ^ a b Cook & Bender 1994, p. 9.
  13. ^ Reynolds 1997, p. 1.
  14. ^ Johnson 1999, p. 15.
  15. ^ a b Cook & Bender 1994, p. 11.
  16. ^ Cook & Bender 1994, p. 13.
  17. ^ a b Cook & Bender 1994, pp. 17, 19.
  18. ^ Stein 1984, pp. xxv, 12, 18, 58, 202, 203, 285.
  19. ^ Cook & Bender 1994, pp. 19, 33.
  20. ^ a b Cook & Bender 1994, pp. 22, 23.
  21. ^ Cook & Bender 1994, p. 23.
  22. ^ Cook & Bender 1994, p. 24.
  23. ^ a b Kershaw 2008, pp. 309–314.
  24. ^ Evans 2005, p. 39.
  25. ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 316.
  26. ^ Reynolds 1997, p. 2.
  27. ^ Cook & Bender 1994, p. 44.
  28. ^ a b Reynolds 1997, p. 4.
  29. ^ a b c d Reynolds 1997, p. 6.
  30. ^ Cook & Bender 1994, p. 421.
  31. ^ Butler 2001, p. 23.
  32. ^ McNab 2013, p. 157.
  33. ^ Butler 2001, p. 45.
  34. ^ Rossino 2003, pp. 114, 159–161.
  35. ^ Reynolds 1997, p. 5.
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  43. ^ Weale 2012, p. 253.
  44. ^ Stein 1984, p. 28, n.7: Ansprache des Reichsführers SS aus Anlass der Übergabe der Führer-standarte an die Leibstandarte 'Adolf Hitler', Metz, Fort Alvensleben, am 7. September 1940, RFSS/T-175, 90/2612641.
  45. ^ a b Reynolds 1997, p. 7.
  46. ^ a b c d McNab 2013, p. 159.
  47. ^ Australian Veterans Affairs.
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  49. ^ a b c "German Captured Documents: NARA Inventory". Maparchive.ru. American Historical Association. National Archives of the United States. Archived from the original on 7 August 2014.
  50. ^ Halder, Franz (21 February 1941 – 31 July 1943). War Diaries Vol 6. pp. 157–158.
  51. ^ Stein 1984, p. 133.
  52. ^ Lehmann 1980, p. 116.
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  55. ^ Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler’s Drive to the Don
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  57. ^ Margry 2001, p. 27.
  58. ^ Margry 2001, p. 30.
  59. ^ Margry 2001, p. 39.
  60. ^ Ripley 2000, p. 73.
  61. ^ Reynolds 1997, pp. 10–11.
  62. ^ Bishop & Williams 2003, p. 170.
  63. ^ Arnold 1990, p. 51.
  64. ^ Mitcham 2006, p. 33.
  65. ^ Parker 2014, pp. 356–357.
  66. ^ Parker 2014, p. 354.
  67. ^ Neitzel & Welzer 2012, p. 309.
  68. ^ Friedman 2004, p. 173.
  69. ^ Strauss 1999a, p. 127.
  70. ^ Strauss 1999b, p. 74–119.
  71. ^ Sydnor 1990, p. 332.
  72. ^ a b Reynolds 1997, p. 14.
  73. ^ Reynolds 1997, p. 10.
  74. ^ a b c Gilbert 2019, p. 226.
  75. ^ a b c d e Reynolds 1997, p. 15.
  76. ^ Moseley 2004, p. 42.
  77. ^ Zuccotti 2007, p. 123.
  78. ^ a b c Reynolds 1997, p. 16.
  79. ^ Reynolds 1997, p. 21.
  80. ^ Reynolds 1997, p. 131.
  81. ^ Reynolds 1997, p. 145.
  82. ^ Reynolds 1997, p. 148.
  83. ^ Reynolds 1997, p. 165.
  84. ^ Reynolds 1997, p. 166.
  85. ^ Reynolds 1997, p. 174.
  86. ^ Reynolds 1997, p. 172.
  87. ^ Reynolds 1997, p. 178.
  88. ^ Reynolds 1997, p. 192.
  89. ^ a b Van der Vat 2003, p. 163.
  90. ^ D'Este 1984, p. 410.
  91. ^ Lewin 1978, p. 38.
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  113. ^ Guderian 1952, p. 419.
  114. ^ a b "U.S. Flag Raised over Adolph Hitler Barracks in Berlin". Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
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  118. ^ Fischer 2008, p. 49.
  119. ^ Beevor 2002, p. 382.
  120. ^ Fischer 2008, pp. 49–50.
  121. ^ McNab 2013, p. 280.
  122. ^ McNab 2009, p. 182.
  123. ^ German Order of Battle, Panzer, Panzer Grenadier, and Waffen SS Division in WWII. p. 67.
  124. ^ "Leibstandarte SS-Adolf Hitler, Waffen-SS, 22.06.1941". niehorster.org. Retrieved 22 January 2019.

Bibliography

Further reading
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