Foreign volunteers in the SS-Jagdverbande

[-Michael]

The SS-Jagdverband Nordwest was under command of a SS-Hstuf. Dethier, is this the Flemish commander of the 5 Kp. of the Freiw. Legion Flandern, SS-Hstuf. Willy Dethier?

Somebody?

[silberfuchs]

Hstuf. Hoyer was the commander of Jagdverband Nordwest before Dethier took over in mar.1945.

There was several scandinavians in this group and I've been told that they went to a special school in Berlin

The norwegians I know about came from Div. Wiking.

[Lit.]

Was it the same German army unit (or it was "SS-Jagdverband Ost") that some paratrooper school in Czechoslovakia (near Karlovy Vary) belonged to and was trained in the 1944-1945?

As much as I know, there were Ukrainians, Latvians and Lithuanians in this school trained and ready to come back to their homelands to join resistance forces, but all were betrayed by some German officer (from the school staff) - appeared to be Russian spy. The first fighters that fled landed straight to the hands of Smersh (they were ready to "welcome" them).

When the Red Army was pretty close this spy targeted Soviet paratroopers to land near the place where this school was situated. But according to some Lithuanian vet, this attack failed. Russians were captured or shot, the "brave" German officer also. This successful contra-attack was led and don by Lithuanians, because only them (at that moment) had been trusted by Germans to have guns with ammo.

[Dan E. Moe]

Hstuf. Hoyer was the commander of Jagdverband Nordwest before Dethier took over in mar.1945.

There was several scandinavians in this group and I've been told that they went to a special school in Berlin

The norwegians I know about came from Div. Wiking.

Hi,
Would you like to share the information about the Norwegians?

Dan

[smetanin albert]

About Gustav Alupere.

There is only a Kusta Alupere (*23/10/11) card.
source - viewtopic.php?f=48&t=221164&p=2230095#p2230095

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Guys,

The following appeared above:

"On interesting note is, that while working on my website, I was contected by individual who's father was a Ukrainian who was one of the Skorzeny's commandos who liberated Mussolini. The old gentelmen is still alive and currently resides in Vancouver BC."

This is almost certainly a fiction. Firstly, it was not Skorzeny's commandos who liberated Mussolini', but Luftwaffe paratroops. Skorzeny, who had apparently discovered Mussolini's whereabouts, was essentially an individual outsider along for the ride. As far as I am aware, the German paratroops did not recruit foreigners.

Cheers,

Sid

[AllenM]

The reply is not accurate. Otto Skorzeny published My Commando Operations in German and English. To say he was "... an individual outsider along for the ride." is false. This mission was ordered by Hitler and Skorzeny had to be there along with a contingent of SS troops. This was a combined operation.

I have seen original photos of the Gran Sasso operation and individuals in the photos wear a mix of Winter white and Army uniforms, including Skorzeny.

[Xavier]

no Allen, your @facts@ are wrong, already has been discused and documented.
it is also welll know thet good old Otto missrepresented his involvement in the raid.

[AllenM]

So the original photos I saw which included Skorzeny were not telling the truth? Whatever one thinks of this man or what he wrote about his missions during the war, he was there and Mussolini was there. Everyone there had to have a purpose. One does not fly a mission like that and include a joy-rider. The British had published the news that they had Mussolini in custody. Not true.

[George Lepre]

Keep calm, guys.

Perhaps the best way to approach this matter is to use photographs to determine if other identifiable SS men (aside from Skorzeny) were present on the raid. This includes the Ukrainian fellow.

George

[Xavier]

indeed it was present, but it was not his operation or planning, he squeezed himself in the storchh that was taking the duce back, putting all the operation in jeopardy.
even wikipedia says he joined the op
"On 12 September 1943, Skorzeny and 16 SS troopers joined the Fallschirmjäger to rescue Mussolini in a high-risk glider mission"
all the planning was done by Harald Mors.
among lots of sources, this would b easily accesible to you:
https://www.amazon.es/Freeing-Mussolini ... 1526719975

[Xavier]

further
https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=t3 ... es&f=false
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm ... story.html

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi AllenM,

Skorzeny's main talent was self-promotion, before, during and after the war.

In the Mussolini raid, his main contribution seems to have been to find out exactly where Mussolini was, which was the vital requisite for a rescue attempt. However, his presence on the actual raid was unnecessary as he offered no expertise in airborne landings comparable to the Luftwaffe's paratroops. Ever since the reoccupation of the Rhineland it had been a Nazi policy that there should always be a visible SS presence in every high profile military operation and his presence during the raid should be seen in this light.

There is much myth around Skorzeny, often helped along by him. Most people seem unaware that Skorzeny never went behind Allied lines. As an independent commander he was more Hitler's internal enforcer inside Fortress Europe than a front line soldier. Operations such as Mussolini's rescue, the kidnapping of Admiral Horthy, or the attack on Tito, all took place hundreds of miles behind German, not Allied, lines. For the Ardennes almost all the fluent English-speakers he raised came from the Army's Brandenburgers. And he completely failed to get his fully motorised unit the few miles into Berlin in time to be effective against the bomb plotters.

In short, Skorzeny's record was decidedly mixed.

That said, I would still rather have had him on my side than the enemy's.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Georg_S]

Kusta ( Gustav in Ger/Swe) died in Stockholm in the 90's photo and more info in My future SS/Waffen-SS Vol 1

Best regards
Georg

[Lasse]

SS-ustuf Gunnar Eklöf served briefly in the Jagdverband Nordwest. In early 1945 six Swedish new recruits arrived in Berlin from AuE 11 (Graz), and reported to the Swedish liaison office (managed by Eklöf). Three Swedes remained at AuE 11 due to sickness.

As it seems the group was initially planned to be sent to the SS-Pz-Aufkl-Abt 11 as replacement (3./SS-Pz-Aufkl-Abt 11 had been intended as a Swedish company, something that never achieved).

As the Abteilung was cut off in the Kurland-pocket, the group of Swedes was informed that they would instead be inserted in a special unit behind the soviet lines. Their motivation to serve in the SS, already low, didn’t increase when they heard this. Three of them managed to be transferred to Norway to join the schijäger-btl, the other three forged a home leave permit of a Norwegian volunteer heading to Norway and managed to get out of Berlin as well.

Eklöf was shortly afterwards arrested for the murder of a Swedish SS-Ostuf. And that I would say concluded the short and uneventful story of the swedes in the Jagdverband.