Ost-Muselmanische Division der SS, soldiers in Monte di Nes

[clement]

Ost Musselmanisches Division der SS soldiers in Monte di Nese, Italy: April 13 1945.

From official sources:
Orders from the SS Headquarters.
1. With effect of 15.12.1944 the Osttürkischer Waffen-Verband der SS is to be arranged as follows:
Stab Waffengruppe „Idel-Ural“
Stab Waffengruppe „Turkistan“
Stab Waffengruppe „Krim“
….
3. List takes place in the Miawa/Slowakei area.
....
5. The Ostmuselmanische Regiment regiment is to be integrated into the Osttürkischer Waffen-Verband der SS and is considered hereby as dissolved.
6. All Aserbeidschaner are separated from the Osttürkischer Waffen-Verband der SS and supplied to the Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband der SS.

Gez. Der Chef des SS-FHA Jüttner, SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS

Each Waffen-Gruppe was to be arranged into two infantry battalions, with five companies per battalion. The reorganisations began in January 1945.
The Aserbeidschan regiment is released according to this instruction from the Osttürkischer Waffen-Verband and supplied to the Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband in north Italy. (Udine, Paluzza, Friul, Carnia Alpe) assigned to the protection of Passo Monte (Plöckenpass) - important pass on Italian-Austrian border.
At the same time the 1200 strong Waffengruppe Turkistan was sent to Carpi, Modena (?)
The whole unit arrived from Slovakia March 1945 in Merate, 20 km north of Milan, North West of Italy. In a message from the Höchster SS- und Polizei-Führer in Italien, SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Karl Wolff from 9.4.45 the Osttürkischer Waffen-Verband had a strength of 3,800 men.Commander: SS-Standartenführer Harun el-Raschid-bey (Hintersatz).
Sources : Mostly G.Tessin: Band 14, Mehner, Klietmann, Munoz and Pfeiffer.


Till sometimes ago it seemed to be clear for me that the Aserbeidschani battalion (III.) from the Ost-Muselmanische Division der SS was integrated in January 1945 in the Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband in north east Italy.
Then I read an article in an Azerbaijan newspaper written by Mikhail Talalay "The death of Russians Mongols" relating “Azerbaijanis deserted on the outskirts of Bergamo (Italy) during the Second World War in Monte di Nese .More than a hundred deserters were executed “. I checked some maps from Lombardy and realized that this village was located 40 kms from Merate.
Talalay writes also that those soldiers were Waffen-SS “under Hintersatz command”.

I started more researches and discovered some documents, all from Italian origin, about Monte di Nese.
First document: INSTITUTO BERGAMASCO PER LA STORIA DELLA RESISTENZA E DELL' ETA' CONTEMPORANEA
Fondo: Mazzolà Natale Fascicolo: "I russi dell'Azerbaijan. Documenti" Busta 1, Fasc. 8 Documentazione relativa ad un consistente gruppo di ex prigionieri russi dell'Azerbaijan, inquadrati nei reparti delle SS e nella seconda metà del marzo 1945 giunti nella provincia di Bergamo dove disertarono in massa; molti furono uccisi dai nazifascisti.
Second document : “La diserzione – I “mongoli” nella Resistenza bergamasca e la strage di Monte di Nese” Instituto Bergamasco per la storia della Resistenza e dell’età contemporanea. Andrea Pioselli. (This man lives and works in Bergamo as a teacher. He is a member of the board and collaborator of the Institute for the History of Bergamo Resistance and writes for the magazine "Studies and research on contemporary history.")
Third document LA STRAGE DEI “MONGOLI” NELLA MEMORIA Testimonianza raccolta dall’ANPI di Alzano Lombardo.
Last “A RICORDO DI 120 MONGOLI CADUTI PER MANO FASCISTA – 1945”.

After reading those documents it was obvious that Azeri Turks deserters were killed in Monte di Nese , there is a twin tomb in the Monte di Nese cemetery “In memory of Azerbaijani soldiers killed in Monte di Nese” and many important documents in Italian archives, letters ,testimonies ,drawings about the presence of Azeri in Monte di Nese the 12 and 13 April 1945.

Major Fatalibejli - Dudanginski Head of Azerbaidschaner Verbindungsstäbe also member of the newly created Kaukasische Verbindungsstäbe in Berlin and Harun-el-Raschid Bey-Hintersatz were opposed to the SS-FHA order : the incorporation of this Azeri Turk unit in the Kaukasischen Waffen-Verband der SS. Those Azerbaidschaner felt more Turkish than Caucasians and they were Muslims like Idel Urals (Wolga Tatars) , Krim Tatars and Turkestanis.( See LE CAUCASE DANS LES PLANS STRATÉGIQUES DE L’ALLEMAGNE(1941-1945)Georges Mamoulia)

Did the Waffengruppe Aserbeidschan ever existed and was incorporated to the Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband from Slovakia in Paluzza ,did this Waffengruppe only existed on paper ?
May be some others Aserbeidschaner Freiwillige enrolled late 1944 in Klagenfurt, Neuhammer or elsewhere were sent to Paluzza. Or maybe they were enrolled amongst those thousands refugees from Caucasus scattered in Carnia Alpe territory near Paluzza.

I have now a great doubt, we have almost nothing about this Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband , just a very few officials documents (mainly Tessin) and some rare pictures possibly from the Waffengruppe Nordkaukasus. One from Standartenführer Arved Theuermann unfortunately with Frw.Leg. Nederland soldiers. Also an interview of SS-Ostuf. Josef Werner, Nachrichtenführer des Kaukasischen Waffen-Verbandes der SS in Der-Weltspiegel. DF 3/2006, S. 14-15. (Tessin mention: Nachrichtenführer SS-Ostuf. Josef Werner (00.01.45) – 00.00.45 (* 14.10.1919 Katscher/OS.)

"How did you feel your relationship with the Caucasian comrades? Answer: Excellent."No words about soldier’s ethnicity. He just mentions Caucasians!

I know that the supposed commander of the Waffengruppe Aserbeidschan Standartenführer Muhamed Israfil Bey never went to Italy.
21/03/1945 Major Dudanginsky from the Azerbaidschaner Verbindungsstäbe was sent from Berlin to Italy to visit the 162 Turk DI but this is another story, you will discover that in next posts.
So I am almost sure that those Aserbeidschaner (Ost-Muselmanische Division) arrived from Slovakia in Merate in march1945 they never went to Paluzza. Or deserted on their way to Paluzza ?. Note that the Aserbeidschani battalion (III.) from the Ost Muselmanische Division der SS almost deserted in Slovakia.( see Der Osttürkische Waffen-Verband der SS, Roland Pfeiffer – MIHAG – D)
Did all the Waffengruppe Aserbeidschan deserted or only a part of it, Pioselli speaks about “hundreds of soldiers originating from different countries of the Soviet Union who had disobeyed the order of the German command to head to the front and decided desertion, with collaboration of a group of partisans of the local Resistance.” How many Azeri Turks, I do not know yet .The Bergamo institute speaks of an “important group of Azeri Soldiers” .Talalay speaks of “150 Azeri”
Pioselli writes “The corpses, stripped of personal effects and any possibility of recognition, were abandoned and later buried in mass graves by the locals. He just speaks about “Mongols” as they were called by the local population. Could be Turkestanis, Idel Urals or Krim Tatars too.
In the Fascicolo: "I Russi dell ‘Azerbaijan. Documenti Busta 1, Fasc. 8 , we have a letter from a Russian partisan Leonid Sassarof, encouraging Azeri soldiers to desert and testimonies from this man about the execution of those Azeri in Monte di Nese and suburbs ,also letters from Azeri soldiers. I have no access yet to this important document. Believe me I will.

Resume of what happened in Monte Di Nese the 12 and 13 of April 1945.

On the evening of April 12, 1945 hundreds of deserters originating from different countries of the Soviet Union and enrolled in the German armed forces, arrive in Monte di Nese with Italian partisans.
They had disobeyed the German command order to head to the front and decided desertion, with collaboration of a group of local Resistance.
They were only a part of the thousands “Mongols” stationed in Merate.
Tired, hungry, without specific orders by a few officers who led them, they abandoned themselves to sleep without having prepared an efficient guard.

April 13, at dawn first deployment in the valley of German troops (strength unknown), then in the hills: may be SS-Polizei-Regiment ,cavalry with the presence of "Mongols" loyal to the Germans and the 9th Brigata Nera "Giuseppe Cortesi" from Bergamo, Commander Alberto Resmini. There were no roads leading to Monte di Nese, and the besiegers had to use the only existing path. During the early morning heavy fighting and lot of injured mainly members of the Brigata Nera , a paramilitary poorly trained fascist group belonging to the Repubblica Sociale Italiana army (RSI), age, from 12 to 70. With the deployment of a mortar battery near the house Mologni on the Belvedere (South), the situation changes for the benefit of fascists and Germans. The fights are very intense until noon. Early in the afternoon «Mongols» prisoners arrive from Monte di Nese in Busa near the Tribulina .The "Mongols" stops in a nearby meadow, just below the Mologni farm. They are forced to dig a big hole, and immediately executed by Nera Brigata men after being aligned on the edge of the pit. Among the soldiers a 12-13 years child at the time of the shooting has struggled to keep pointed his gun so he was helped by a more aged “soldier”. Before and after that, there were movements of soldiers in the Mologni farm. A group of soldiers of the same nationality as those executed advanced, led by an officer, from the farm to the place of execution, weapons in hand, shouting their rage against the fascist militia. This movement dispersed the fascists into the surrounding meadows. The officer went to the place of execution; he knelt down and kissed all bodies, and with tears in his eyes shouted in despair. Did this group of soldiers was deserters or “loyalists”. Probably deserters. Did they surrender and were executed? Most Probably.
The situation came back under control after the intervention of a German officer and deployment of German soldiers on the spot.
The bodies of those eight "Mongols» soldiers were found a few days later. The bodies were and transported to the Nese cemetery and buried in a mass grave near two Slavs killed in a raid the year before.

They fought for life, but the surprise of the defense and disorganization produced for deserters a disastrous outcome: more than a hundred died, about forty directly in the fight, more than seventy executed after a short battle. The corpses, stripped of personal effects and any possibility of recognition, were abandoned. An unknown number - still substantial - fled, mostly to the Val Serina (north of Monte di Nese, an Italian partisan sanctuary), where they came into contact, tense and not always peaceful, with the partisans of the "24 Maggio" and "I Maggio” Brigades.

Don Severino (Monte di Nese priest) remembers:" I saw a column of “Russians” taken prisoner below the Monte Cavallo. We count them: 54, they were accompanied by some Republicans who lead them just below the church and make them sit in a meadow. A Republican shouted”Sir we have good hunting” Republicans were hungry: they start stripping the “Russians” of wallets, coats etc.. But when I saw the “Russians” obliged to take off their shoes a terrible doubt assails me: are they going to kill them? While some are busy rummaging in every pocket of those unfortunates, others install machine guns. They make the soldiers stand up, some obey, and with others they must use violence. With hands upon their heads they are moved fifty meters and gathered in a small space. One kneels and prays. At a signal of a fascist lieutenant they start firing their machine gun, “Russians” fall on top of each other. Not everyone is dead, in fact most are injured and then I saw the human madness exploding with a so barbaric and savage cruelty that it is impossible to describe. Prisoners are literally crushed with blows of explosive bullets fired at point blank range. It lasted one hour.”

Pioselli: "There are deaths mainly in houses, either single or in groups, but unfortunately most executed. In addition to the 54 at the cemetery there are 11 scattered near the church bell tower around Ducchello, all shot, 3 to Ca Ghirardi, fallen in combat, 18 in Brugal divided into three groups: 10 in Monte Cavallo, 2 killed in Ca Paterna, 1 at Licini Egidio house.
Total 99 in Monte di Nese. 5 near Poscante, 2 in Olera (West), 8 led captive to Busa (South) and shot.

26 April 1945 SS-Standartenführer Hintersatz signed a contract with the local partisan command, according to which his 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 5th US division.
The German military governor of northern Italy, General der Waffen-SS Karl Wolff, who had been negotiating via the OSS office of Allen Dulles in Bern (incredible story!) since February, finally signed an armistice 2 May 1945, six days before Germany surrendered.
We have testimonies from an unnamed SS-Stubaf. captured by the British Second Army and reported in British 12 Corps Intelligence Summary and undated by probably late April 1945 or early May 1945:
"The Osttürkischer Waffenverband disliked the work or to do soldiering. They slaughtered their horses and ate them. They sold their weapons and equipment to the partisans. They needed numerous hours to say their prayers. They were extremely vengeful in case of the slightest offence or insult and killed quite a number of German NCOs they disliked. To listen to their elaborate and Homeric excuses whenever they were asked to do something was exhausting. Since everyone looked like the other, they usually managed to get paid several times. They sympathized with the civilian population they were supposed to fight and spent nearly all their time in their houses. Only in two respects did the Osttürkischer Waffenverband not observe the Koran: they liked a stiff drink and ate pork if their Mullahs (Chaplains) were not around."

What is sure: Deserters originating from different countries of the Soviet Union and enrolled in the German Waffen-SS arrives in Monte di Nese 12 April 1945. Many or most of them are Azeri Turks. They had disobeyed the German command order to head to the front (north eastern Italian Front) and decided desertion, with collaboration of a group of local Resistance partisans.
13 April at dawn they are attacked by Italian fascist Militia, German soldiers and Osttruppen soldiers loyal to the Germans.(Strength unknown)
After short and heavy fights 120 deserters are killed, a part of them executed by the Italian Militia. We do not know if German and loyal Osttrupen soldiers participated to the executions. But the rule was “no prisoners”.
An unknown number of those Osttrupen - still substantial - fled, mostly to Val Serina (north of Monte di Nese, an Italian partisan sanctuary), where they came into contact with the partisans of the "24 Maggio" and "I Maggio” Brigades. They join those partisans.
Armistice is signed 2 May 1945, six days before Germany surrendered.

What exactly happened in Monte di Nese ?
Any ideas or answers, please let me know.
Best regards.
Clement.

[Hecht]

Did the Waffengruppe Aserbeidschan ever existed and was incorporated to the Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband from Slovakia in Paluzza, did this Waffengruppe only existed on paper ?

Hello Clement,

Standing to Di Giusto, the best source available about the units deployed along the OZAK area, this isn't quite know yet.
Very few details are known about the Waffengruppen that actually formed the Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband der SS, with the exception of the Georgian Rgt. of the Colonel Fridonio Zulukidse, very likely to be part of the KVBSS.
Führer of the KVBSS was the SS-Standartenführer Theuermann.

Best Regards

[Alabvab1]

Thank you clement!

if anyone will be in village Poscante please make a photo of those 5 Azerbaijani graves, probably one of those brave men could be my lost relative(

[KrimTatar52]

Hello Clement,
Are there any records of the soldiers names in Stab Waffengruppe „Krim“ or any records of the soldiers names that were captured by the US 5th Army at Monte di Nese in April 1945?
I believe my late father Abdullah was part of the Krim Tatar group.
Best Regards,
KrimTatar52