Bulgarian, Romanian, and Slovakian waffen SS troops
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Panzermahn
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Bulgarian, Romanian, and Slovakian waffen SS troops
Does anyone had any information about waffen ss units consists of romanian, bulgarian, slovakian troops....Is there any Bulgarian, Romanian or Slovakian soldier who were decorated with the Knight's Cross?
All Romanians who were awarded the Knight's Cross were part of the Romanian Army (at least the ethnic Romanians).
The ethnic German community was very numerous and lived mostly in Transylvania and the Banat. Even after North-Western Transylvania was ceded to Hungary in 1940, there were still 542,000 Germans in Romania.
Seeking to enlarge the recruitment pool for his organization, Himmler naturally paid a lot of attention to the German ethnics in Transylvania. Thus, during the winter 1940/41, he launched the “1,000 Mann Aktion”, through which he managed to recruit a first wave of one thousand volunteers, who were all incorporated in the "Das Reich" Division.
This, however, created some problems, because the Romanian law did not allow Romanian citizens to serve in other armies. Those who did risked to be treated like deserters or lose their citizenship. The main recruitment “tactic” was to invite groups of young German ethnics to Germany, where they joined the Waffen SS or other organizations.
But the number of volunteers was not very high, so an SS division was created especially for them: the 7th SS "Prinz Eugen" Mountain Division. This was put under the command of Arthur Phelps, a former vanatori de munte general in the Romanian army. In this unit served the majority of volunteers from the Romanian and Serbian Banat.
The losses of the 1942 campaign forced Berlin to pressure the Romanian government to allow the German ethnics to join the German military formations. During his meeting with Hitler in 1943, Antonescu agreed to allow them to serve in the Waffen-SS, without suffering any legal consequences. However, in the treaty signed in May 1943, the German ethnics already incorporated in the Romanian army that were officers or NCOs or trained specialists, were forbidden to do so.
By the end of 1943, an estimate of 60,000 Romanian citizens joined the Waffen-SS and another 15,000 the Wehrmacht and Organization Todt. The superior equipment and pay, plus the fact that their nationalist feelings made many Germans prefer these forces to the Romanian army. They served, mostly in the 7th SS "Prinz Eugen" Division and 8th SS "Florian Geyer" Division, but also in 11th SS "Nordland" Division, 17th SS "Götz von Berlichigen" Division and 18th SS "Horst Wessel" Division.
Another category of Romanian citizens that served in the Waffen-SS, were Romanian ethnics themselves. After the coup on 23 August 1944, a "government in exile" was established at Vienna, under the leadership of Horia Sima. In November 1944, Himmler decided to create the "Romanian National Army" from members of the Iron Guard (aka the Legion of the Archangel Michael) that had fled to Germany. However, these were too few: 120 were assigned for the new “government”, 200 wee sent to saboteur schools (see below) and only about 70-80 men remained. So they had to enlist POWs (most from the 4th Infantry Division), Romanians that were studying in Germany in August 1944 and were arrested afterwards, and deserters. Not all men joined because of their anti-communist beliefs. In fact the majority had to choose between starving in German camps and the German army. Frictions between the Iron Guard and Antonescu sympathizers among the "National Army" were frequent.
At the beginning of 1945, two regiments (each with two battalions) were ready for action. Horia Sima managed to convince the Germans not to use them against Romanian troops. The 3,000 men of the Waffen SS Grenadier Regiment Rumänische Nr. 1 saw action in Pomerania, north of Stettin, where they were almost completely wiped out. The second regiment was transformed into an AT regiment: Waffen SS Panzer-Zerstörer Regiment Rumänische Nr. 2. Despite the name, it was equipped with … bicycles. They were all taken prisoners by the Western Allies in May 1945. A third regiment began training, but because the end was near, they were used mainly as work teams.
Alongside these regular units several commando groups were trained. One of them, consisting of 70 men, was trained in guerilla warfare at Korneuberg. Another one was trained by the Abwehr and then parachuted behind Soviet lines, where they carried out sabotage missions. The most important of these groups was the one subordinated to Skorzeny's SS Jagdverbände Sudost. They were suppose to take part in the March offensive in Hungary, which never actually took place. They participated, however, in several missions until the end of the war.
The majority of the Romanians fighting in the Waffen SS surrendered to the Western Allies, but some were sent back to Romania, where the new pro-Communist government would take care of them.
Bibliography:
1. Cornel I. Scafes, Horia V. Serbanescu, Ioan I. Scafes, Cornel Andonie, Ioan Danila, Romeo Avram: "Armata Romana 1941-1945", Bucharest 1995
2. Miroslav Techjman: "Voluntari romani in unitatile SS", Magazin Istoric
The ethnic German community was very numerous and lived mostly in Transylvania and the Banat. Even after North-Western Transylvania was ceded to Hungary in 1940, there were still 542,000 Germans in Romania.
Seeking to enlarge the recruitment pool for his organization, Himmler naturally paid a lot of attention to the German ethnics in Transylvania. Thus, during the winter 1940/41, he launched the “1,000 Mann Aktion”, through which he managed to recruit a first wave of one thousand volunteers, who were all incorporated in the "Das Reich" Division.
This, however, created some problems, because the Romanian law did not allow Romanian citizens to serve in other armies. Those who did risked to be treated like deserters or lose their citizenship. The main recruitment “tactic” was to invite groups of young German ethnics to Germany, where they joined the Waffen SS or other organizations.
But the number of volunteers was not very high, so an SS division was created especially for them: the 7th SS "Prinz Eugen" Mountain Division. This was put under the command of Arthur Phelps, a former vanatori de munte general in the Romanian army. In this unit served the majority of volunteers from the Romanian and Serbian Banat.
The losses of the 1942 campaign forced Berlin to pressure the Romanian government to allow the German ethnics to join the German military formations. During his meeting with Hitler in 1943, Antonescu agreed to allow them to serve in the Waffen-SS, without suffering any legal consequences. However, in the treaty signed in May 1943, the German ethnics already incorporated in the Romanian army that were officers or NCOs or trained specialists, were forbidden to do so.
By the end of 1943, an estimate of 60,000 Romanian citizens joined the Waffen-SS and another 15,000 the Wehrmacht and Organization Todt. The superior equipment and pay, plus the fact that their nationalist feelings made many Germans prefer these forces to the Romanian army. They served, mostly in the 7th SS "Prinz Eugen" Division and 8th SS "Florian Geyer" Division, but also in 11th SS "Nordland" Division, 17th SS "Götz von Berlichigen" Division and 18th SS "Horst Wessel" Division.
Another category of Romanian citizens that served in the Waffen-SS, were Romanian ethnics themselves. After the coup on 23 August 1944, a "government in exile" was established at Vienna, under the leadership of Horia Sima. In November 1944, Himmler decided to create the "Romanian National Army" from members of the Iron Guard (aka the Legion of the Archangel Michael) that had fled to Germany. However, these were too few: 120 were assigned for the new “government”, 200 wee sent to saboteur schools (see below) and only about 70-80 men remained. So they had to enlist POWs (most from the 4th Infantry Division), Romanians that were studying in Germany in August 1944 and were arrested afterwards, and deserters. Not all men joined because of their anti-communist beliefs. In fact the majority had to choose between starving in German camps and the German army. Frictions between the Iron Guard and Antonescu sympathizers among the "National Army" were frequent.
At the beginning of 1945, two regiments (each with two battalions) were ready for action. Horia Sima managed to convince the Germans not to use them against Romanian troops. The 3,000 men of the Waffen SS Grenadier Regiment Rumänische Nr. 1 saw action in Pomerania, north of Stettin, where they were almost completely wiped out. The second regiment was transformed into an AT regiment: Waffen SS Panzer-Zerstörer Regiment Rumänische Nr. 2. Despite the name, it was equipped with … bicycles. They were all taken prisoners by the Western Allies in May 1945. A third regiment began training, but because the end was near, they were used mainly as work teams.
Alongside these regular units several commando groups were trained. One of them, consisting of 70 men, was trained in guerilla warfare at Korneuberg. Another one was trained by the Abwehr and then parachuted behind Soviet lines, where they carried out sabotage missions. The most important of these groups was the one subordinated to Skorzeny's SS Jagdverbände Sudost. They were suppose to take part in the March offensive in Hungary, which never actually took place. They participated, however, in several missions until the end of the war.
The majority of the Romanians fighting in the Waffen SS surrendered to the Western Allies, but some were sent back to Romania, where the new pro-Communist government would take care of them.
Bibliography:
1. Cornel I. Scafes, Horia V. Serbanescu, Ioan I. Scafes, Cornel Andonie, Ioan Danila, Romeo Avram: "Armata Romana 1941-1945", Bucharest 1995
2. Miroslav Techjman: "Voluntari romani in unitatile SS", Magazin Istoric
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Panzermahn
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Momchil Milanov
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Re: Bulgarian, Romanian, and Slovakian waffen SS troops
No bulgarian RKTPanzermahn wrote:Does anyone had any information about waffen ss units consists of romanian, bulgarian, slovakian troops....Is there any Bulgarian, Romanian or Slovakian soldier who were decorated with the Knight's Cross?
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Serbian boy
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Steen Ammentorp
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I think this thread covers the non-German RK's: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?p=2677#2677
Kind Regards
Steen Ammentorp
The General of World War II
Kind Regards
Steen Ammentorp
The General of World War II
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Panzermahn
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Actually, their are some new information about Wendrinsky. In Czechoslovak birth certificate and and information about permanent residence is his nationality writen by his father Slovak.
http://www.druhasvetova.net/view.php?ci ... 2006020301
http://www.druhasvetova.net/view.php?ci ... 2006020301
Mr. MILAN LORMAN's memoires about his service with the SS-Polizei-Division during the war. The author is Slovak by nationality from Košice (Kassa). URL: http://milanlorman.bigpondhosting.com/index.html.
My father after graduating from High school has opted for ecclesiastical life. He signed-up as a novice in the Franciscan seminary in Košice. But he didn't keep it up for very long. As he told us kids later, when we were a little older and he was in a good mood, he could not resist temptation. He recalled how, every day, walking along the footpath with his fellow seminarians, in orderly two-by-two's from their living quarters to the church and back, their teachers would instruct them to turn their eyes down to the ground. Which they dutifully did, and so were not distracted by the faces of the passing parade of girls of all ages. But, he continued, they ended up concentrating even harder on the feet and ankles of members of the fair sex. Come to think of it, those boys must have had some extraordinarily developed imagination when dealing with the pre-WW I long skirts and dresses.
Here is a short info on Bulgarians in SS, translated and taken from my on-line library, from book by J. Owad "Bo Vijna Vijnoju". Lviv, 1994.
Leshany
Leshany was an emptied Czech village, where in January 1945 we had our training in the Waffeschule. There was about 90 of us, who came from Posen-Treskau, a group of Germans and a smaller group of Bulgarians, former pilot officers, who were sent to undergo an infantry training. We quickly befriended each other and remained as friends troughout the whole training. Together with Bulgarians we celebrated our Christmass. Many of ours brought different products and Bulgarians had contacts with their committee, from which they received parcels, food and cigarets. Few of us who had nothing, were also included in the celebrations, the only thing we could contribute were our Marketendenwaren. We had traditional Christmas. After the joint supper we caroled together. The Christmass was filled with carols and joint speaches from our and Bulgarian sides.
Leshany
Leshany was an emptied Czech village, where in January 1945 we had our training in the Waffeschule. There was about 90 of us, who came from Posen-Treskau, a group of Germans and a smaller group of Bulgarians, former pilot officers, who were sent to undergo an infantry training. We quickly befriended each other and remained as friends troughout the whole training. Together with Bulgarians we celebrated our Christmass. Many of ours brought different products and Bulgarians had contacts with their committee, from which they received parcels, food and cigarets. Few of us who had nothing, were also included in the celebrations, the only thing we could contribute were our Marketendenwaren. We had traditional Christmas. After the joint supper we caroled together. The Christmass was filled with carols and joint speaches from our and Bulgarian sides.
P.S. Somewhere in my books I also remember mention of Rumanians, I'll try to find it too.Лєшани
Лєшани були виселеним чеським селом, де від початку січня 1945 року почався наш вишкіл у ваффеншулє. Квартирували ми по хатах. Було нас всіх 90, які закінчили школу в Позен-Трескау, сотня німців, а також одна чота болгар, колишніх летунських підстаршин, яких вислали, щоб вони пройшли піхотний перевишкіл. З ними ми швидко здружилися і протягом всього часу нашого побуту в Лєшанах жили в приязних відносинах. Через кілька днів після нашого приїзду припало наше Різдво. Ми разом з болгарами справляли спільний Свят-вечір. Багато з наших привезли різні продукти, а болгари мали зв'язки зі своїм комітетом, від якого отримували посилки, харчі та цигарки. Нас кількох, які з собою нічого не привезли, включено до загалу. Єдине, що ми могли зробити, то пожертвувати наші маркeтенденварен. Була традиційна кутя. Після спільної вечері ми колядували. І тим, і промовами з нашої та болгарської сторони був заповнений Свят-вечір.
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Dimitar Iliev
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