Azeri Waffen SS Volunteer Formations
Encyclopedia
Azeri SS Volunteer Formations were volunteers (mostly) prisoners of war from the USSR, and from the countries annexed by Russia
after 1939. They were organized to fight against the Soviets on the German
side.
produced hundreds of thousands of non-Russian soldier prisoners in the POW cages of the German Army. All of them were hungry, many were starving. In a mere eight months of 1941-42, the invading German armies killed an estimated 2.8 million Soviet POWs through starvation, exposure, and summary execution. Conditions in the prison camps were atrocious. "There were no barracks or permanent housing. The camps were simply open areas fenced off with barbed wire. The prisoners had to lie in the sun, then in mud, and in the fall—with temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius—faced the possibility of freezing to death."
The foreign Waffen beginnings were shrouded in great secrecy, for fear of Hitler who was categorically opposed to any form of participation of Soviet citizens in the war against Russia. But the needs of the army on the Eastern Front induced German commanders to accept the services of volunteers to fight the Soviet regime even against the clear orders of the Supreme Command.
Tens of thousands of them were Muslims, where the majority of them came from the Soviet Union. In December 1941 a top secret memorandum ordered that the OKW was to create two Muslim units: the Turkestanisch Legion, consisting of Muslim volunteers from Central Asia; such as Turkomans
, Uzbeks
, Kazakhs
, Kyrgyzs, Karakalpaks
, and Tajiks, and the Kaukasisch-Mohammedan Legion from Caucasian Muslims volunteers; such as Azeris, Dagestan
is, Chechens, Ingushes, and Lezgins
.
The German courting of the Soviet Muslims was part of Hitler's schemes for bringing Turkey
onto his side and to advance control of the oil fields in the Middle East and Baku
. The most numerous of the Soviet Muslims that served the Germans were the Turkestanis. The first Turkestani volunteers were integrated as one battalion of the 444th Sicherungs Division in November 1941, and became an auxiliary force to help the Germans fight the local partisans. Major Andreas Meyer-Mader was appointed as commander of the 444th Battalion. Meyer-Mader, an Austrian, had served on the staff of Chiang Kai-Shek
’s Chinese Nationalist Army before WWII.
According to Argumenty i Fakty
newspaper, 40,000 Azerbaijani nationals fought for Third Reich, while 700,000 Azerbaijanis served the Allies of World War II
.
and spent most of the summer patrolling the communications and rail networks between Kharkov and Stalingrad. Discipline became so bad that Meyer-Mader was removed from command of the 450th Battalion during 1943.
In November 1943, Meyer-Mader meet Himmler to offer his services to help raise and command a Turkic SS unit. Himmler approved the broad plan and then transferred him into the ranks of the Waffen SS and promoted him to the rank of SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer
(Lieutenant Colonel). On 14 December, a meeting was held in Berlin in the presence of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammad Amin al-Husayni
. The Grand Mufti
approved the plan to raise a Turkic-Muslim SS division and to give his "spiritual leadership" to influence the Muslim volunteers.
battalions who would serve as a basis for a new platform: 450th, 480th, 782nd, 786th, 790th, 791st and I/94th Turkestanische battalions, Azerbaijanische 818th and Volga Tatar 831st. Many of the volunteers deserted at this time, and the 818th defected to Polish
and Ukrainian
resistance movements in 1943.
Furthermore, at the same time, Meyer-Mader made several visits to prisoners of war camps and called for volunteers to join the new Muslim SS legion. The recruits were not only Turkestani, but also Azeri, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, and Tadjik. By the end of January 1944 he was able to recruit three thousand volunteers who were concentrated in Poniatova. To increase the staffing regiment, dozens of German officers and non-commissioned officers were transferred there. Nevertheless, it was a very slow process, mainly due to lack of equipment, including uniforms and even shoes. Therefore, the October 1944 deadline, which Himmler appointed for the deployment of divisions in the regiment there were only four thousand people who had been formed into three battalions.
The unit was formed in Trawniki
, Poland, before they were transferred to Belorussia for further training. SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Andreas Meyer-Mader was appointed as its first commander.
This unit suffered from poor discipline and poor morale, especially after Meyer-Mader was killed during a skirmish with partisans in Yuratishki, near Minsk
, on March 28, 1944. The situation became worse when the replacement commander, SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer
(Captain) Billig executed 78 unit members for insubordination. This incident made Himmler angry and Billig was relieved.
In May 1944, the 550 men (Turkestanis, Wolgatatars Azeris, Kirghiz, Uzbek, and Tadjiks) from the Ostmuslemanische SS-Regiment were attached to the SS Dirlewanger brigade.
was assigned as SS and Police Leader in Reichsgau
Wartheland (Polish Great Poland Voivodeship
annexed by Germany in 1939). In this post he was responsible for the organised repression against Poles and other nationalities deprived of all rights by Germany. After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, Reinefarth was ordered to organise a military unit from the 16th Police Company and other smaller security units and head for Warsaw
. Upon arrival, his forces were included in the Korpsgruppe Von Dem Bach of General Erich von dem Bach
who was ordered by Himmler to quell the rebellion. From August 5, 1944 Reinefarth's group took part in fighting in the Wola
area. In several days, his and Oskar Dirlewanger
's soldiers executed approximately 40,000 civilian inhabitants of Warsaw in what is now known as the Wola massacre
. The Wola killings were mostly inflicted by elements of Kampfgruppe Reinefarth that assaulted the area held by the insurgents from the west.
It is hard to determine which specific units are to be held responsible, but the main “cleansing” tasks had been assigned to Angriffsgruppe Dirlewanger with following forces:
2 Grenadier Battalions (I & II) of SS Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger, Aserbeidschanische Feld Bataillon I./111 (com. Hptm. Werner Scharrenberg), Ostmuselmanische SS Regiment (without Battalion III), II Btl. "Bergmann" – (without 7. Komp.) Ltn. Mertelsmann, Gendermerie Operationsgruppe Walter (2 gendarmerie Komp.), Komp. I & II of Aserb. Feld Btl. I/111, Anti-aircraft battery of 80th Regiment, Sturmpanzer-Kompanie z.b.V. 218 (8x Brummbär) Hptm. Kellmann,a part of machine gun 4.Kompanie of Aserb. Feld Btl. I/111, 1. Platoon of 654. Pioniere Battalion, 1 KRONE flamethrower unit (8x Flammenwerfer 41)
Lack of precise documentation does not allow to specify precisely which elements of the above were involved in the Wola killing. It is also possible that some units of the other assault group that operated in the Wola area (Angriffsgruppe Reck) were taking active part in the events, as they also consisted of police/gendarmerie and special assignment units (Hptm. Kirchhubel's Warschau Polizei Kompanie, Hptm. Fersemann's Polizei Wachtkompanie, platoon of SS-Röntgen MG Kompanie from Posen (Poznan), but also SS Grenadiere of SS-Schule Treskau and Aserbaijani 7.Komp/II Bt. Bergmann
).
Each battalion would consist of staff, one staff company and five infantry companies.
The Ostmuselmanisch regiment was integrated into the Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbände der SS and was considered to be dissolved. In December 1944 The Waffen-Gruppe Aserbeidschan (commander W-Ostuf Kerrar Alesgerli) was transferred to the Kaukasicher WaffenVerbände der SS. The disbanded Tatar Waffen Gebirgs Brigade der SS would replace the Azerbaijani soldiers; Commander: SS-Standartenführer
Harun-el-Raschid-Bey. (Wilhelm Hintersatz (A former Austrian officer who had converted to Islam.)
The reorganisations began in January 1945 as follows:
SS-Waffengruppe Turkestan
SS-Waffengruppe Krim
SS-Waffengruppe Idel Urals
Apparently new “volunteers” were integrated, because the Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbände had increased from 5,000 men in January 1945 to 8,500 men in the period of February–May 1945. As Hitler's Reich crumbled, the Waffen-SS gave up all adherence of standards for recruit selection. If they could walk and shoot a rifle, they were good enough for the SS. At this time all German military forces were scraping the bottom of the manpower barrel - for example in January 1945, Heer
and Waffen-SS recruiting centers were combined. Waffen-SS troops were increasingly transfers from other military branches of the Wehrmacht from paramilitary and labor formations.
The whole unit arrived in March 1945 in Merate
, 20 km north of Milan
, northern Italy. Assigned to the defense of the area, the Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbände apparently participated in no larger operation against partisans. On the 26 April 1945 Hintersatz signed a pact with the local partisan command, according to which the soldiers would remain in the barracks in Merate, until the US troops arrived. This happened on 30 April 1945, the whole unit went into the hands of the 1st Armored Division (United States)
.
, a rumor that the unit was to be transferred to Andrey Vlasov
’s army dropped morale of the soldiers. Dec 24: 450 men deserted on Christmas Eve, 300 eventually did return. The Azerberjani regiment was removed from the Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbände 30 Dec 1944, and transferred to Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband der SS.
Kaukasischer-Waffen-Verband der SS, also known as Freiwilligen Brigade Nordkaukasien, began forming with volunteers from the Caucasus region, with the Frewilligen-Stamm-Division as a nucleus. It was transferred from the Neuhammer training camp to Paluzza
in northern Italy in Jan. 1945 and was still forming when it surrendered to British forces at the end of the war.
Organisation:
Commander Waffen-Standartenführer, Magomed Nabi Oglu Israfilov (Israfilbey) born 25 January 1893 in Azerbaijan. Israfilov was formerly a Colonel in the Russian Imperial Army. From the summer of 1943 to 1944 he was chairman of the Azerbaijan Committee. From May–September 1943 he was commander of the 314th Infantry Regiment in the 162.(Turk) Infanterie Division. On March 17, 1945, he was appointed responsible for military affairs in the Azerbaijan National Committee. He was sentenced to death on 11 July 1945 by the Baku Military District.
, who became in the middle of May 1943 the Chief of Section E of Amt IV of the RSHA
, the foreign intelligence service of the SS. The Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) Georg Greife was responsible for this operation.
As soon as the German troops had entered the territory of the North Caucasus
members of the different Caucasus National Committees, started to set up the core of a State administration and other organizations for the eventuality that Wehrmacht
would force the passage in Transcaucasia.
In the summer of 1942, the Reich ministries for Finances, Interior, Foreign Affairs as well as the RSHA created a special group, “Sonderstab Kaukasus”. The “Sonderstab” was under the aegis of “Unternehmen Zeppelin”. The members of the “Sonderstab” were to organize units of police forces to maintain order in the territory of the North Caucasus, and would constitute the organization apparatus of State.
The Unternehmen Zeppelin had many purposes: creation of intelligence groups for the collection and transmission of information from the USSR; advocacy groups for the distribution of social, national, and religious propaganda; rebel groups to organize and conduct a rebellion; and sabotage groups for political sabotage and terror.
From wireless reports of these commandos behind the Russian lines it is possible to determine what actions were taken. It was envisaged to recruit the future civil servants among the prisoners of war of Caucasian nationality, who were in large numbers in the German camps of the North Caucasus. The Azerbaijani group was directed by Abbas Bey Atamalibekov. (There is not much informations about Atamalibekov. In 1919 he was a member of the Azeri Delegation led by Alimardan Topchubashev
which participated at the Paris Peace Conference
in Versailles
. He actively participated in the formation of national legions from the Soviet prisoners of war in 1942, together with Abdurahman Fatalibeyli-Dudanginsky
and Fuad Amirjan in Berlin. He representated Azeri SS in the Azerbaijan National committee from 1943 to 1945 and then fled to Chile) Unternehmen Zeppelin was “partially successful”. Most of the Sonderstab members were captured and executed by KGB agents. In his personal archives, member of the Ostministerium, Gerhard Von Mende gives the number of 348 people from Azerbaijanese origin who participated in those operations. It is not known if anyone of them were SS.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
after 1939. They were organized to fight against the Soviets on the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
side.
Origins
The sweeping initial victories of Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
produced hundreds of thousands of non-Russian soldier prisoners in the POW cages of the German Army. All of them were hungry, many were starving. In a mere eight months of 1941-42, the invading German armies killed an estimated 2.8 million Soviet POWs through starvation, exposure, and summary execution. Conditions in the prison camps were atrocious. "There were no barracks or permanent housing. The camps were simply open areas fenced off with barbed wire. The prisoners had to lie in the sun, then in mud, and in the fall—with temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius—faced the possibility of freezing to death."
The foreign Waffen beginnings were shrouded in great secrecy, for fear of Hitler who was categorically opposed to any form of participation of Soviet citizens in the war against Russia. But the needs of the army on the Eastern Front induced German commanders to accept the services of volunteers to fight the Soviet regime even against the clear orders of the Supreme Command.
Tens of thousands of them were Muslims, where the majority of them came from the Soviet Union. In December 1941 a top secret memorandum ordered that the OKW was to create two Muslim units: the Turkestanisch Legion, consisting of Muslim volunteers from Central Asia; such as Turkomans
Turkmen people
The Turkmen are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and northeastern Iran. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai,...
, Uzbeks
Uzbeks
The Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China...
, Kazakhs
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....
, Kyrgyzs, Karakalpaks
Karakalpaks
The Karakalpaks are a Turkic speaking people. They mainly live in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya and in the delta of Amu Darya on the southern shore of the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. The name "Karakalpak" comes from two words: "qara" meaning black, and "qalpaq" meaning hat...
, and Tajiks, and the Kaukasisch-Mohammedan Legion from Caucasian Muslims volunteers; such as Azeris, Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
is, Chechens, Ingushes, and Lezgins
Lezgins
The Lezgians are an ethnic group living predominantly in southern Dagestan and northeastern Azerbaijan and who speak the Lezgian language.- Historical concept :While ancient Greek historians, including Herodotus, Strabo, and Pliny the Elder, referred...
.
The German courting of the Soviet Muslims was part of Hitler's schemes for bringing Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
onto his side and to advance control of the oil fields in the Middle East and Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
. The most numerous of the Soviet Muslims that served the Germans were the Turkestanis. The first Turkestani volunteers were integrated as one battalion of the 444th Sicherungs Division in November 1941, and became an auxiliary force to help the Germans fight the local partisans. Major Andreas Meyer-Mader was appointed as commander of the 444th Battalion. Meyer-Mader, an Austrian, had served on the staff of Chiang Kai-Shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
’s Chinese Nationalist Army before WWII.
According to Argumenty i Fakty
Argumenty i fakty
Argumenty i Fakty is a weekly newspaper based in Moscow and a publishing house in Russia and worldwide. As of 2008, it is owned by Promsvyazbank and the newspaper is edited by Nikolay Zyatkov.- History :...
newspaper, 40,000 Azerbaijani nationals fought for Third Reich, while 700,000 Azerbaijanis served the Allies of World War II
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
.
450th Turkestanisches Battalion
The 450th Battalion was raised at the town of Legionov, PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and spent most of the summer patrolling the communications and rail networks between Kharkov and Stalingrad. Discipline became so bad that Meyer-Mader was removed from command of the 450th Battalion during 1943.
In November 1943, Meyer-Mader meet Himmler to offer his services to help raise and command a Turkic SS unit. Himmler approved the broad plan and then transferred him into the ranks of the Waffen SS and promoted him to the rank of SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer
Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...
(Lieutenant Colonel). On 14 December, a meeting was held in Berlin in the presence of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammad Amin al-Husayni
Mohammad Amin al-Husayni
Haj Mohammed Effendi Amin el-Husseini was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and Muslim leader in the British Mandate of Palestine. From as early as 1920, in order to secure the independence of Palestine as an Arab state he actively opposed Zionism, and was implicated as a leader of a violent riot...
. The Grand Mufti
Mufti
A mufti is a Sunni Islamic scholar who is an interpreter or expounder of Islamic law . In religious administrative terms, a mufti is roughly equivalent to a deacon to a Sunni population...
approved the plan to raise a Turkic-Muslim SS division and to give his "spiritual leadership" to influence the Muslim volunteers.
Ostmuselmanische SS-Regiment
Between November 1943 and January 1944 there was a series of meetings between Meyer-Mader and Muslim volunteers. As a result of these meetings, on January 4, 1944, it was decided to form the Ostmuselmanische SS-Regiment. At the same meeting, it was decided to disband the following WehrmachtWehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
battalions who would serve as a basis for a new platform: 450th, 480th, 782nd, 786th, 790th, 791st and I/94th Turkestanische battalions, Azerbaijanische 818th and Volga Tatar 831st. Many of the volunteers deserted at this time, and the 818th defected to Polish
Polish resistance movement in World War II
The Polish resistance movement in World War II, with the Home Army at its forefront, was the largest underground resistance in all of Nazi-occupied Europe, covering both German and Soviet zones of occupation. The Polish defence against the Nazi occupation was an important part of the European...
and Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
resistance movements in 1943.
Furthermore, at the same time, Meyer-Mader made several visits to prisoners of war camps and called for volunteers to join the new Muslim SS legion. The recruits were not only Turkestani, but also Azeri, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, and Tadjik. By the end of January 1944 he was able to recruit three thousand volunteers who were concentrated in Poniatova. To increase the staffing regiment, dozens of German officers and non-commissioned officers were transferred there. Nevertheless, it was a very slow process, mainly due to lack of equipment, including uniforms and even shoes. Therefore, the October 1944 deadline, which Himmler appointed for the deployment of divisions in the regiment there were only four thousand people who had been formed into three battalions.
The unit was formed in Trawniki
Trawniki
Trawniki is a village in Świdnik County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Trawniki. It lies approximately south-east of Świdnik and south-east of the regional capital Lublin....
, Poland, before they were transferred to Belorussia for further training. SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Andreas Meyer-Mader was appointed as its first commander.
This unit suffered from poor discipline and poor morale, especially after Meyer-Mader was killed during a skirmish with partisans in Yuratishki, near Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
, on March 28, 1944. The situation became worse when the replacement commander, SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer
Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-grade company level officer and was the equivalent of a Captain in the German Army and also the equivalent of captain in foreign armies...
(Captain) Billig executed 78 unit members for insubordination. This incident made Himmler angry and Billig was relieved.
In May 1944, the 550 men (Turkestanis, Wolgatatars Azeris, Kirghiz, Uzbek, and Tadjiks) from the Ostmuslemanische SS-Regiment were attached to the SS Dirlewanger brigade.
Warsaw
On January 29, 1944 Heinz ReinefarthHeinz Reinefarth
Heinrich Reinefarth was a German military officer during and government official after World War II. During the Warsaw Uprising his troops committed numerous war atrocities. After the war Reinefarth became the mayor of the town of Westerland and member of the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag...
was assigned as SS and Police Leader in Reichsgau
Reichsgau
A Reichsgau was an administrative subdivision created in a number of the areas annexed to Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945...
Wartheland (Polish Great Poland Voivodeship
Voivodeship
Voivodship is a term denoting the position of, or more commonly the area administered by, a voivod. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times in Poland, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Serbia....
annexed by Germany in 1939). In this post he was responsible for the organised repression against Poles and other nationalities deprived of all rights by Germany. After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, Reinefarth was ordered to organise a military unit from the 16th Police Company and other smaller security units and head for Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. Upon arrival, his forces were included in the Korpsgruppe Von Dem Bach of General Erich von dem Bach
Erich von dem Bach
Erich Julius Eberhard von Zelewski or Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski , was a Nazi official and a member of the SS, in which he reached the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer .- Slavic origin :...
who was ordered by Himmler to quell the rebellion. From August 5, 1944 Reinefarth's group took part in fighting in the Wola
Wola
Wola is a district in western Warsaw, Poland, formerly the village of Wielka Wola, incorporated into Warsaw in 1916. An industrial area with traditions reaching back to the early 19th century, it is slowly changing into an office and residential district...
area. In several days, his and Oskar Dirlewanger
Oskar Dirlewanger
Oskar Paul Dirlewanger was a World War II officer of the SS who commanded the SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger, a penal battalion composed of German criminals...
's soldiers executed approximately 40,000 civilian inhabitants of Warsaw in what is now known as the Wola massacre
Wola massacre
The Wola massacre was the scene of the largest single massacre in the history of Poland. According to different sources, some 40,000 to 100,000 Polish civilians and POWs were killed by the German forces during their suppression of the Warsaw Uprising...
. The Wola killings were mostly inflicted by elements of Kampfgruppe Reinefarth that assaulted the area held by the insurgents from the west.
It is hard to determine which specific units are to be held responsible, but the main “cleansing” tasks had been assigned to Angriffsgruppe Dirlewanger with following forces:
2 Grenadier Battalions (I & II) of SS Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger, Aserbeidschanische Feld Bataillon I./111 (com. Hptm. Werner Scharrenberg), Ostmuselmanische SS Regiment (without Battalion III), II Btl. "Bergmann" – (without 7. Komp.) Ltn. Mertelsmann, Gendermerie Operationsgruppe Walter (2 gendarmerie Komp.), Komp. I & II of Aserb. Feld Btl. I/111, Anti-aircraft battery of 80th Regiment, Sturmpanzer-Kompanie z.b.V. 218 (8x Brummbär) Hptm. Kellmann,a part of machine gun 4.Kompanie of Aserb. Feld Btl. I/111, 1. Platoon of 654. Pioniere Battalion, 1 KRONE flamethrower unit (8x Flammenwerfer 41)
Lack of precise documentation does not allow to specify precisely which elements of the above were involved in the Wola killing. It is also possible that some units of the other assault group that operated in the Wola area (Angriffsgruppe Reck) were taking active part in the events, as they also consisted of police/gendarmerie and special assignment units (Hptm. Kirchhubel's Warschau Polizei Kompanie, Hptm. Fersemann's Polizei Wachtkompanie, platoon of SS-Röntgen MG Kompanie from Posen (Poznan), but also SS Grenadiere of SS-Schule Treskau and Aserbaijani 7.Komp/II Bt. Bergmann
Bergmann
Bergmann is a surname which is German or Swedish, in origin, respectively. It means 'mountain man' as well as 'miner' in both languages. Bergman is a common surname in the Netherlands and is also a common Jewish Surname, derived from Yiddish.- People :...
).
Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbände der SS
On October 20, 1944 the rest of the Ostmuslemanische SS-Regiment was transferred from Ukraine to Slovakia and renamed "Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbände der SS" and reorganized into 3 battalions organized along ethnic lines.- 1 Waffengruppe Turkestan
- 1 Waffengruppe Aserbeidschan (2851 soldiers : Gerhard von MendeGerhard von MendeDr. Gerhard von Mende was a Baltic German who was head of the Caucasus division at the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territory, or Ostministerium, in Nazi Germany...
archives) - 1 Waffengruppe Idel-UralIdel-UralIdel-Ural is a historical region in Eastern Europe, in what is today Russia. The name literally means Volga-Urals in the Tatar language. The frequently used Russian variant is Volgo-Uralye...
Each battalion would consist of staff, one staff company and five infantry companies.
The Ostmuselmanisch regiment was integrated into the Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbände der SS and was considered to be dissolved. In December 1944 The Waffen-Gruppe Aserbeidschan (commander W-Ostuf Kerrar Alesgerli) was transferred to the Kaukasicher WaffenVerbände der SS. The disbanded Tatar Waffen Gebirgs Brigade der SS would replace the Azerbaijani soldiers; Commander: SS-Standartenführer
Standartenführer
Standartenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in the so-called Nazi combat-organisations: SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK...
Harun-el-Raschid-Bey. (Wilhelm Hintersatz (A former Austrian officer who had converted to Islam.)
The reorganisations began in January 1945 as follows:
SS-Waffengruppe Turkestan
SS-Waffengruppe Krim
SS-Waffengruppe Idel Urals
Apparently new “volunteers” were integrated, because the Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbände had increased from 5,000 men in January 1945 to 8,500 men in the period of February–May 1945. As Hitler's Reich crumbled, the Waffen-SS gave up all adherence of standards for recruit selection. If they could walk and shoot a rifle, they were good enough for the SS. At this time all German military forces were scraping the bottom of the manpower barrel - for example in January 1945, Heer
Heer (1935-1945)
The Heer was the Army land forces component of the German armed forces from 1935 to 1945, the latter also included the Navy and the Air Force...
and Waffen-SS recruiting centers were combined. Waffen-SS troops were increasingly transfers from other military branches of the Wehrmacht from paramilitary and labor formations.
The whole unit arrived in March 1945 in Merate
Merate
Merate is a municipality of 14,872 inhabitants in the province of Lecco, Lombardy .- History :The name Melatum appeared for the first time in the 4th century; it may be derived from the Greek for black/gloomy/dark because of the presence of woods, or from the Italian for apple : an important fruit...
, 20 km north of Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, northern Italy. Assigned to the defense of the area, the Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbände apparently participated in no larger operation against partisans. On the 26 April 1945 Hintersatz signed a pact with the local partisan command, according to which the soldiers would remain in the barracks in Merate, until the US troops arrived. This happened on 30 April 1945, the whole unit went into the hands of the 1st Armored Division (United States)
1st Armored Division (United States)
The 1st Armored Division—nicknamed "Old Ironsides"—is a standing armored division of the United States Army with base of operations in Fort Bliss, Texas. It was the first armored division of the U.S...
.
Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband der SS
In December 1944, while training in SlovakiaSlovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, a rumor that the unit was to be transferred to Andrey Vlasov
Andrey Vlasov
Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov or Wlassow was a Russian Red Army general who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II.-Early career:...
’s army dropped morale of the soldiers. Dec 24: 450 men deserted on Christmas Eve, 300 eventually did return. The Azerberjani regiment was removed from the Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbände 30 Dec 1944, and transferred to Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband der SS.
Kaukasischer-Waffen-Verband der SS, also known as Freiwilligen Brigade Nordkaukasien, began forming with volunteers from the Caucasus region, with the Frewilligen-Stamm-Division as a nucleus. It was transferred from the Neuhammer training camp to Paluzza
Paluzza
Paluzza is a comune in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 120 km northwest of Trieste and about 50 km northwest of Udine, in the Carnia, on the border with Austria....
in northern Italy in Jan. 1945 and was still forming when it surrendered to British forces at the end of the war.
- Commander :SS-Standartenführer Arved Theuermann
Organisation:
- Stab Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband der SS
- Stab Waffen-Gruppe Armenien
- Stab Waffen-Gruppe Nordkaukasus
- Stab Waffen-Gruppe Georgien
- Stab Waffen-Gruppe Aserbeidjan (1090 soldiers: Gerhard von MendeGerhard von MendeDr. Gerhard von Mende was a Baltic German who was head of the Caucasus division at the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territory, or Ostministerium, in Nazi Germany...
archives)
Commander Waffen-Standartenführer, Magomed Nabi Oglu Israfilov (Israfilbey) born 25 January 1893 in Azerbaijan. Israfilov was formerly a Colonel in the Russian Imperial Army. From the summer of 1943 to 1944 he was chairman of the Azerbaijan Committee. From May–September 1943 he was commander of the 314th Infantry Regiment in the 162.(Turk) Infanterie Division. On March 17, 1945, he was appointed responsible for military affairs in the Azerbaijan National Committee. He was sentenced to death on 11 July 1945 by the Baku Military District.
Unternehmen Zeppelin
The Unternehmen (operation) Zeppelin was initiated in 1942 by SS-Brigadeführer Walter SchellenbergWalter Schellenberg
Walther Friedrich Schellenberg was a German SS-Brigadeführer who rose through the ranks of the SS to become the head of foreign intelligence following the abolition of the Abwehr in 1944.-Biography:...
, who became in the middle of May 1943 the Chief of Section E of Amt IV of the RSHA
RSHA
The RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt was an organization subordinate to Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacities as Chef der Deutschen Polizei and Reichsführer-SS...
, the foreign intelligence service of the SS. The Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) Georg Greife was responsible for this operation.
As soon as the German troops had entered the territory of the North Caucasus
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....
members of the different Caucasus National Committees, started to set up the core of a State administration and other organizations for the eventuality that Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
would force the passage in Transcaucasia.
In the summer of 1942, the Reich ministries for Finances, Interior, Foreign Affairs as well as the RSHA created a special group, “Sonderstab Kaukasus”. The “Sonderstab” was under the aegis of “Unternehmen Zeppelin”. The members of the “Sonderstab” were to organize units of police forces to maintain order in the territory of the North Caucasus, and would constitute the organization apparatus of State.
The Unternehmen Zeppelin had many purposes: creation of intelligence groups for the collection and transmission of information from the USSR; advocacy groups for the distribution of social, national, and religious propaganda; rebel groups to organize and conduct a rebellion; and sabotage groups for political sabotage and terror.
From wireless reports of these commandos behind the Russian lines it is possible to determine what actions were taken. It was envisaged to recruit the future civil servants among the prisoners of war of Caucasian nationality, who were in large numbers in the German camps of the North Caucasus. The Azerbaijani group was directed by Abbas Bey Atamalibekov. (There is not much informations about Atamalibekov. In 1919 he was a member of the Azeri Delegation led by Alimardan Topchubashev
Alimardan Topchubashev
Alimardan Alakbar oglu Topchubashov was a prominent Azerbaijani politician, foreign minister and speaker of the Parliament of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic....
which participated at the Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
in Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
. He actively participated in the formation of national legions from the Soviet prisoners of war in 1942, together with Abdurahman Fatalibeyli-Dudanginsky
Abdurahman Fatalibeyli
Abdurrahman Fatalibeyli Abdurrahman Fatalibeyli Abdurrahman Fatalibeyli (birth surname Dudanginski, or Abo Alioglu Fatalibeyli-Dudanginsky (Або Алиевич Дудангинский / Əbo Əliyeviç Düdənginski), born Abo Dudanginski (June 12, 1908, Dudangi – November 1954, Munich) was a Soviet army major who...
and Fuad Amirjan in Berlin. He representated Azeri SS in the Azerbaijan National committee from 1943 to 1945 and then fled to Chile) Unternehmen Zeppelin was “partially successful”. Most of the Sonderstab members were captured and executed by KGB agents. In his personal archives, member of the Ostministerium, Gerhard Von Mende gives the number of 348 people from Azerbaijanese origin who participated in those operations. It is not known if anyone of them were SS.
Further reading
- Eduard Abramian - Forgotten Legion: Sonderverbände Bergmann in World War II 1941-1945.
- Eduard Abramian -Kavkatsy v Abvere . Moscow 2006
- Christopher Ailsby - Hitler's Renegades: Foreign Nationals in the Service of the Third Reich.
- Wladyslaw Anders - Russian Volunteers in Hitler's Army 1941-1945.
- Christopher Bishop - SS Hitler's Foreign Divisions: Foreign Volunteers in the Waffen SS 1940-1945.
- J. Borsarello & W. Palinckx - Wehrmacht & SS: Caucasian, Muslim, Asian Troops.
- Dallin A. German Rule in Russia 1941–1945: A Study of occupation policies. London New York, 1957.
- Littlejohn D. Foreign Legions of the Third Reich: In 4 vols. San Jose, 1987. Vol.4.
- Antonio J. Muñoz - The East Came West: Muslim, Hindu & Buddhist Volunteers in the German Armed Forces 1941-1945.
- Munoz, Antonio J. Forgotten Legions: Obscure Combat Formations of the Waffen SS. Axis-Europa Books, 1991.
- Antonio Muñoz & Dr Oleg V. Romanko - Hitler's White Russians: Collaboration, Extermination and Anti-Partisan Warfare in Byelorussia 1941-1944.
- Foreign Volunteers of the Wehrmacht 1941-45 K. Yurado
- Osprey Publishing Ltd, Elms Court, Chapel Way, Botley, Oxford, OX2 9LP.
- Tessin, Georg: Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945. 20 Bde. Osnabrück 1967 ff.
- Held, Walter: Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Eine Bibliographie der deutschsprachigen Nachkriegsliteratur. 5 Bde. Osnabrück 1978 ff.
- Joachim HoffmannJoachim HoffmannJoachim Hoffmann was a German historian and scientific director of the German Armed Forces Military History Research Office.-Life:...
: Die Ostlegionen 1941–1943. Turkotartaren, Kaukasier und Wolgafinnen im deutschen Heer. Freiburg 1976. - Jeloschek, Albert und Friedrich Richter, Ehrenfried Schütte, Johannes Semmler: Freiwillige vom Kaukasus. Georgier & Tschetschenen auf deutscher Seite. „Der Sonderverband Bergmann“ unter Theo Oberländer. Graz, Stuttgart 2003.
- ВА-МА, Oberkommando des Heeres / Generalstab des Heeres, H 1/136, bl. 64
- NARA. Microcopy T-354. Roll 161. Frames 3806724 through 3807091.
External links
- Axis History
- Militera:
- redcapella on LiveJournalLiveJournalLiveJournal is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the free and open source server software that was designed to run the LiveJournal virtual community....
: - Feldgrau.com
- Seznam SWEB: "Ostturkischen Waffen Verbände der SS"
- Axis and Foreign Volunteer Legion Military Awards & Postal History: "Eastern Volunteers"
- CEHD: "MINISTÈRE DE LA DÉFENSE"
- Panzer-Archiv: "Der Osttürkische Waffen-Verband der SS"
- Механизмы войны: "Русские в "Предприятии "Цеппелин"