Italians in the Waffen-SS

[Marcus]

Several threads dealing with the Italians in the Waffen-SS were merged into this one for easier reference.

/Marcus

[K.Kocjancic]

Were in the Italian W-SS units also members of the national minorities in Italy: such as Slovenes, Italo-Albanians, ...?

[bookreport666]

i found a rare photo's of the italian ss

[George Lepre]

Hi Bookreport666 -

Thanks for posting these photos. Where did you find them?

Best,

George

[Arto O]

Hi George,
The last photo appareared in AHF many years ago.
with best regards
Arto

[Ivan Ž.]

The source of the last photo is the book "Karstjäger!" by Corbatti & Nava, where it was stated that it shows a German police NCO training members of the Serbian Volunteer Corps. It seems that they based this (I believe incorrect) ID on the fact that SVC members used Italian helmets (they used them only sometimes - and so did the Slovenians) and that they wore blank, dark coloured collar patches (which were actually Serbian, and different in shape from the German ones). However, men in this picture do not wear German nor Serbian dark collar patches - they have light coloured and outlined * patches, the same as the Wehrmannschaft (Slovenian ethnic Germans) wore. So I very much doubt they are SVC members (nor Italians), they are way more likely Slovenian ethnic Germans - or Slovenians (see for example: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=30773 ). As Arto already wrote, the photo appeared in AHF years ago: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 1&t=170260

Cheers,
Ivan

* Serbian (SVC), German (SS) and Italian (SS) patches for enlisted ranks weren't outlined

[Stefano]

Hello
Referring to the last photo (soldiers with mortar), new researches have documented that these are members of the SS-Wachmannschaften of the Operationszone Adriatisches Kuestenland (OZAK), which were made up from members of the various ethnic groups living in the region (Italians, Slovenes, Croates, a few Volksdeutsche), plus some members of Abteilung R, Trawniki-men and Polizei.
This unit is dealt with in this forthcoming book:
http://www.schifferbooks.com/globocniks ... -6159.html
where also uniforms are described in detail.
Best regards
Stefano di giusto
http://www.panzer-ozak.it

[Ivan Ž.]

Thank you for the info, Stefano, as well as for notifying us about the forthcoming book, which already seems very interesting!

Best wishes,
Ivan

[bookreport666]

Hello
Referring to the last photo (soldiers with mortar), new researches have documented that these are members of the SS-Wachmannschaften of the Operationszone Adriatisches Kuestenland (OZAK), which were made up from members of the various ethnic groups living in the region (Italians, Slovenes, Croates, a few Volksdeutsche), plus some members of Abteilung R, Trawniki-men and Polizei.
This unit is dealt with in this forthcoming book:
http://www.schifferbooks.com/globocniks ... -6159.html
where also uniforms are described in detail.
Best regards
Stefano di giusto
http://www.panzer-ozak.it

are the soldiers on the first photo part of the debica battalion this bothered me a lot because i never saw italian ss wearing smocks

[AHK]

I have the book. It is a masterpiece.

[Messe62]

good book....

Legione SS italiana. Storia degli italiani che giurarono fedeltà a Hitler