"Handschar" Division's nicknames, motto, insignia...

[Ivan Ž.]

Continued from viewtopic.php?f=51&t=77027&start=735#p2396407

Document that shows Adolf Hitler giving the name "Handschar" to the 13th Waffen SS Mountain Division.

Before it was officially named "Handschar" in mid-May 1944, the unnamed division was given several nicknames by the Partisans and the locals, particularly of the Vojvodina region, where the unit first arrived after the training abroad.

We've already mentioned one, in the section quiz:

What was the early "Handschar" Division's nickname that the Partisan used in their reports?

I heard somewhere they called Handschar "Blue Division", they had mistaken it with some Croat. divisons.

Indeed, they called it "SS plava divizija" (SS Blue Division). This nickname appears in March-August 1944 documents. Apparently, according to the "Zbornici" staff [which compiled the documents], the Partisans didn't mistake it for another division, but they called it "Blue" because of the blue tassels on fezzes. This doesn't make much sense - not only since the tassels were black - even if they were pink, the chances are extremely low that anyone would nickname a unit by such a minor detail on uniform. So the reason for such a nickname remains unknown.

Uroš Šuljmanac of the 1st Vojvodina Brigade also mentions the "Plava divizija" nickname, explaining that it was given because of the blue fezzes (this does make sense, although they weren't actually blue, but field-grey). He added that they also called it "Fesaroška divizija" (Fez-Wearers' Division) and "Mujina divizija" (Mujo's Division; for those who didn't know, in Vojvodina, and other parts of the former Yugoslavia, Mujo is a term popularly used for the Muslims - like Fritz or Hans is for the Germans, elsewhere). See Mladost slobodi darovana (ed. by Nikola Božić), p. 112.

According to the Syrmian War Crimes Commission, the unit was nicknamed "Mujina divizija" by the (Syrmian) populace, and the commission kept referring to it as such in their 1946 elaborate about (i.a.) the unit war crimes. See Političke vlasti u "NDH" (ed. by Drago Njegovan), pp. 189-192.

Cheers,
Ivan

[Ivan Ž.]

Continued from viewtopic.php?f=50&t=110239

Motto in the "Handschar" was "HANDŽARU - UDARAJ!" - "HANDSCHAR - STRIKE!"

An example from a German document dated 27.02.1944 (made prior to the division's return to Bosnia):

There was also a longer version of the motto: "Handžaru, udaraj za spas domovine!" (Khanjar, strike to save the homeland!)

An example from an undated document (a draft for a recruiting pamphlet/poster made after the return to Bosnia, March 1944):

Source for both files: NARA, T175, R70

[Ivan Ž.]

We've also previously discussed the real unit insignia:

From viewtopic.php?f=50&t=232833#p2116847

A real insignia of the 13th SS Division (as printed on the cover of one of its "Handžar" magazines in late 1943): a hand swinging a khanjar with SS runes in the background. It is still not known how official the design was. Another drawing of the same motif can be found in the NARA files. There are no known (at least to me) examples of any unit's insignia on vehicles.


(Source: "Muslime in der Waffen-SS", Zvonimir Bernwald)

A clearer example of the divisional insignia, from a (period) divisional photo album:


(Source: Bundesarchiv)

The well-known insignia that can be found in various postwar publications and online (including the unreliable Wikipedia) was designed years after the war by Friedrich Husemann, for SS veterans (see Der Freiwillige from July 1969, pp. 19-20).

13SSpw.jpg (49.16 KiB) Viewed 6073 times

So it's not a divisional insignia, but a veteran association insignia. And whenever you see an item with such a motif, especially if someone tries to sell it to you as a genuine WWII item, know that it's a modern fantasy piece.

[Ivan Ž.]

Uroš Šuljmanac of the 1st Vojvodina Brigade [...] added that they also called it [...] "Mujina divizija" (Mujo's Division; for those who didn't know, in Vojvodina, and other parts of the former Yugoslavia, Mujo is a term popularly used for the Muslims) [...]

According to the Syrmian War Crimes Commission, the unit was nicknamed "Mujina divizija" by the (Syrmian) populace [...]

As our host George wrote in his Himmler's Bosnian Division book (p. 64), the term Mujo was also used among the Germans:

[The Germans] coined the nickname "Mujo," a common Muslim name, for their men.

Rudolf Pencz wrote in his For the Homeland! book (p. 4) that the German superiors of the second Bosnian Muslim division, "Kama", did the same:

Known to their superiors as 'Mujos', the Muslims were proficient soldiers and for the most part simple, good-natured men.

The popular term was also used among the troops themselves, as can be also seen in the previously-posted "Mujin čardak" photo:

An improvised hut with a comical sign that reads: "Mujo's Blockhouse." It is one of the few photographs showing a truly relaxed posture. You can note the mess tins hung on the branches to the left and the absence of cartridge belts or any weapons. There were a few periods of inactivity for the division and this semi-permanent position implies the place was cleared out of any partisan threat.

Notice also the unit symbols on the board above the entrance (ref. to my previous insignia-related post): a khanjar and a swastika on one side (like on their collar patch, only without the hand) and SS runes on the other.

By the way, this image from April 1944, which was scanned from a Croatian wartime magazine (precise source still missing), was originally published in Neue Illustrierte Zeitung from 16.05.1944, in a report entitled "Die Männer mit dem Fez" (The men with the fez).

[Ivan Ž.]

And whenever you see an item with such a motif, especially if someone tries to sell it to you as a genuine WWII item, know that it's a modern fantasy piece.

Speaking of fantasy pieces: even though it's quite well known that a cuff title was never authorised for the "Handschar" Division, people keep making them up and trying to sell them. Again, they are all fantasy items.

What is particularly ridiculous is that the first version of the fantasy cuff-title was made in two different scripts The "H" was made in Latin and the "andschar" in Gothic script. This speaks enough about the level of education of the people that make fantasy pieces. And what's even funnier is that the fraudsters still don't get it and keep copying it, which is shown by several different copies of this nonsense.

Handschar-fantasy1.jpg (108.63 KiB) Viewed 5656 times

Source: https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/ss-unifo ... ost2119663
See also https://www.epicmilitaria.com/handschar ... title.html
and https://www.ebay.com/itm/162793102349
and https://www.tokopedia.com/freiwilligens ... -handschar

The newer versions of the fantasy cuff title were slightly "better", in the sense that they were at least made in a single script

Handschar-fantasy2.jpg (89.18 KiB) Viewed 5656 times

Source: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ ... -128380356

Handschar-fantasy3.jpeg (71.04 KiB) Viewed 5655 times

Source: https://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/13th-waff ... atian.html

Note: from time to time, one might come across pictures of "Handschar" men wearing cuff titles - but those were all cuff titles they kept from the units in which they served before the "Handschar" Division. See for example: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=239171&p=2176714#p2176714

[Ivan Ž.]

The well-known insignia that can be found in various postwar publications and online (including the unreliable Wikipedia) was designed years after the war by Friedrich Husemann, for SS veterans (see Der Freiwillige from July 1969, pp. 19-20).



So it's not a divisional insignia, but a veteran association insignia.

Even though the 39 postwar-drawn divisional emblems by Husemann (among which was the above-posted "Handschar" emblem) were accepted by the HIAG and frequently used in their (and other) publications, it doesn't mean that all of the individual (divisional) veteran associations (those that existed, that is) necessarily used them as well.

Now, I haven't had an opportunity to read possible publications by the "Handschar" veteran association (Truppenkameradschaft) and thus can't know if they actually used the above emblem, but I did come across a letter by Hartmut Schmid (of the "Handschar" association, among the Vopersal files at the BArch), showing a similar yet different image in the letterhead, based on the symbol from the "Handschar" collar patch.

13SSpw2.jpg (45.16 KiB) Viewed 5552 times

Notice that both postwar emblems were "denazified" due to the postwar politics, leaving out the swastika and SS runes, which accompanied the khanjar in the divisional emblems during the war. And this ruined the original divisional symbolism - that the Bosnian Muslim struggle (symbolised by a hand swinging a khanjar) was sponsored by Germany, i.e. the SS (symbolised by a swastika or SS runes in the background).

[G. Trifkovic]

Thanks for all the info and all the myth-busting, Ivan.

Cheers,

G.

[Ivan Ž.]

Cheers, Gaius!

Another myth tied to this division is that its troops received special knives for throat-cutting - khanjars - after which the unit got its name. This does sound a bit far-fetched, to say the least. But was it a complete fabrication or were there some elements of truth there?

This type of dubious info, by the way, is always a treat for revisionists, like Zija Sulejmanpašić, for example, who called it "a product of the State Commission's vile imagination" in his book 13. SS divizija Handžar - Istine i laži (he kept referring to this bit throughout his book, mentioning it on seven pages: 146, 148-152, 232).

The info originates from an early postwar report by the Yugoslav State Commission (for war crimes) and can be found in various publications - for example - Zbornik dokumenata i podataka [...], Belgrade, 1962, vol. IV, bk 23, p. 115:

In order to distinguish themselves from other fascist soldiers, in addition to bayonets, they received special knives for throat-cutting, the so-called khanjars, after which the division got its name. Thus armed and incited, they were sent to Yugoslavia.

Similar info can be also found in the book Vojvodina u borbi, Novi Sad, 1963, p. 502, but this time accompanied by a photo:

After the change from red to grey fezzes, the company commander distributes khanjars to the soldiers as a gift from Hitler, before leaving for Bosnia and Syrmia, where these troops committed heavy atrocities against the populace.

Now, the division didn't really receive any special knives for throat-cutting and wasn't named after them, but the myth itself could have been based on actual - only misinterpreted - photographic evidence (as we can see) and possibly some eyewitness reports as well.

Firstly, the photo above shows an officer sticking a common German trench knife (issued to all troops) under his subordinate's belt, possibly to check whether he tightened the belt properly. As we can see in this better quality copy of the image, the knife appears to be out of the sheath, which isn't really how a combatant would carry it under his belt.

So that photo was indeed misinterpreted, deliberately or not, and the part about Hitler gifting the knives was definitely made up. However...! Upon returning to their homeland (March 1944), some "Handschar" men were actually carrying their trench knives under their belts, as these official press images below show, which was very atypical for German troops - but not for the people from the Balkans. What they used the knives for we can't really know though. Maybe it was merely for showing-off and looking tough, the same as the ammo belts.

Photo sources credited in the file names.

So, it's possible that the myth was based on misinterpreted photographs and reports of the populace seeing the troops carrying their trench knives under their belts, which can leave quite a frightening impression, and provoke imagination, too. But there was nothing special about the blades, they were standard pieces of military equipment, we don't know if they were ever used for throat-cutting, and the unit wasn't named after them.

Ivan

[balkanguy44]

Interesting, Ivan. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.

Best,

BG44

[Kurtsuljo]

Ivan



Thank you very much for the detailed Refutation of these myths.

[Ivan Ž.]

Cheers, guys.

To avoid a possible confusion and the history-twisting sensationalists taking things out of context, it's important to emphasise a few things:

1) I've seen dozens of photos of "Handschar" men returning home in March 1944 and the four soldiers pictured above were the only ones carrying their trench knives like that. Again - just four men. Maybe there were more, maybe not. The other pictured men either had hand grenades stuck under their belts or nothing, like any other German soldier. Also, the available pictures show only fragments of the unit. So the photos above only serve to show a possibility that the myth of special knives could have been based on misinterpreted images or eyewitness reports, nothing more.

2) I have much respect for the work done by the Yugoslav war crimes commissions, despite their lack of objectivity and propaganda vocabulary, particularly considering the chaotic circumstances under which they worked. They started gathering evidence while the war was still on, in a destroyed country soaked with blood, with tens of thousands of unidentified corpses rotting in pits and wells, countless settlements razed to the ground, complete families extinct and with so many different forces involved. And still they managed to gather a fascinating amount of data (some precise, some not). And if they made a mistake like that one with the knives - so they made a mistake. There's no reason to call it a product of "vile imagination", like that charlatan Sulejmanpašić did, or misuse it as an excuse to dismiss their entire work.

3) Just because the "Handschar" men didn't receive any special knives for throat-cutting, it doesn't mean there was no throat-cutting. The reports on them butchering people upon returning to homeland even reached Hitler himself (not that he cared though). The only thing that's been shown here is that they weren't issued special blades. Whether they used their trench knives or bayonets for killing some of their victims isn't known, nor is crucial. It should be noted though that the atrocities the "Handschar" Division was responsible of certainly weren't committed by the entire unit, but only by some of its elements.

4) The books that I mentioned repeating the misinformation about the special knives, Zbornik dokumenata i podataka [...] (Belgrade, 1962) and Vojvodina u borbi (Novi Sad, 1963), are actually very helpful works and shouldn't be dismissed because of such errors. But, as always, everything one reads should be re-checked...

Ivan

[Ivan Ž.]

An interesting little detail that I came across while browsing through the March 1944 images: some of the "Handschar" men were also issued camo veils. As far as I can recall, this is the only image showing this piece of equipment being worn in Yugoslavia.

Photo source credited in the file name.

More about SS camo veils: https://unionlosangeles.com/2012/10/12/ ... arnmasken/

[Ivan Ž.]

Regarding an alleged divisional song:

On 15 July 1943, the divisional propaganda section published the first issue of its Handžar magazine. Among various texts for the troops, there were also lyrics to two songs: "Sa pjesmom u boj" i "Ružmarin dragani". Both were covers of big hit songs by the most popular Third Reich composer, Herms Niel. "Sa pjesmom u boj" was a cover of his "Matrosenlied", also known as "Wir fahren gegen Engelland", or "Engellandlied", and "Ružmarin dragani" was a cover of "Es ist so schön, Soldat zu sein". It was one of German attempts of spreading their culture among foreigners. The magazine made no indications that they were to be considered official divisional songs and I've found no evidence that they were actually accepted and sang by the troops.

Handzar 1943-07-15 S-5.jpg (25.04 KiB) Viewed 1649 times

Handzar 1943-07-15 S-8.jpg (26.4 KiB) Viewed 1649 times

We do have some examples of what volunteers of the "Kama" Division sang though (a different unit indeed, but with troops originating from the same region), and those were covers of their own, Bosnian/Yugoslav songs. Which is what I would expect, too. (See Pencz's For the Homeland!)

In 1997, our dear host George published the lyrics of one of the two songs - "Sa pjesmom u boj" - in his book Himmler's Bosnian Division, representing it as the divisional song and mistakenly crediting Norbert Schultze's "Bomben auf Engelland" (Bombs on England) as the origin of the melody. His source obviously confused the two popular tunes due to the word "Engelland" in their titles.

In 2008, we had a short discussion on "Sa pjesmom u boj" here, where I nicely explained the true origin of the melody.

Still, when I took a quick google search prior to making this post, I saw that some people began representing the song as the "divisional anthem", changing the title of "Bombs on England", a misinformation itself, to "Bombs on London", a completely made-up title. It's amazing isn't it, how people keep twisting things, it never ends. One more time: The Germans served in the divisional magazine lyrics to covers of two tunes by their most popular composer. And without any further evidence, they can only be considered songs proposed to the troops, not official divisional songs.

[balkanguy44]

Ivan, I genuinely value your effort. It never made sense to me that Bosnian-Herzegovinian Muslims (most of them) would sing a song where the (Christian) name Ivana appears; it makes far more sense for them to have sung their own traditional melodies.

Keep up the amazing work!

Best,

BG44

[Kurtsuljo]

Hello does anyone know if this is authentic or not? Caption said that it belonged to a Bosnian SS man. Were Mausers pistols issued to the handschar or not?

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasf ... are_button