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The Schutzstaffel (German: [ˈʃʊtsˌʃtafl̩] ⓘ; lit. ' Protection Squadron '; SS; also stylised with Armanen runes as ᛋᛋ) was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II.
Waffen-SS veterans in post-war Germany played a large role, through publications and political pressure, in the efforts to rehabilitate the reputation of the Waffen-SS, which had committed many war crimes during World War II. [212]
This table contains the final ranks and insignia of the Waffen-SS, which were in use from April 1942 to May 1945, in comparison to the Wehrmacht. [1] The highest ranks of the combined SS ( German : Gesamt-SS ) was that of Reichsführer-SS and Oberster Führer der SS ; however, there was no Waffen-SS equivalent to these positions.
During World War II, the Waffen-SS recruited or conscripted significant numbers of non-Germans. Of a peak strength of 950,000 in 1944, the Waffen-SS consisted of some 400,000 “Reich Germans” and 310,000 ethnic Germans from outside Germany’s pre-1939 borders (mostly from German-occupied Europe), the remaining 240,000 being non-Germans. [1]
Obergruppenführer, General der Waffen-SS und der Polizei, during World War II, he commanded the 4th SS Polizei Division and the VI SS Army Corps and the IX SS Mountain Corps. 292713 March 1939 1364387 Artur Phleps: Commander of the 7.SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division Prinz Eugen: 401214 30 June 1941 Oswald Pohl
SS-Panzerdivision "Das Reich") or SS Division Das Reich was an armored division of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II. Initially formed from regiments of the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT), Das Reich initially served during the Battle of France in 1940 before seeing combat on the Eastern Front between 1941 and 1944.
All Waffen-SS divisions were ordered in a single series of numbers as formed, regardless of type. [1] Those with ethnic groups listed were at least nominally recruited from those groups. Many of the higher-numbered units were divisions in name only, being in reality only small battlegroups ( Kampfgruppen ).
This unique position was a command authority of every SS unit in a given geographical area. SS and Police leaders had control over administrative SS commands, Nazi concentration camps, security forces, and (as World War II progressed) certain units of the Waffen-SS. [17] There were three levels of SS and Police Leaders, these being: