Waffen SS physical requirements

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T.R.Searle
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Waffen SS physical requirements

#1

Post by T.R.Searle » 10 Sep 2002, 20:03

What were the physical requirements and expectations of the Waffen SS,althought it obviously lowered when the tide turned against the Germans but Between 1933-1942 what was it,did they prefer professional athletes or did they alow those who read books alot and just play a few little sports? What were they looking for physicaly?

T.R.Searle :)

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de-gouden-ridder
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#2

Post by de-gouden-ridder » 10 Sep 2002, 20:51

I read you had to be at least 1.70.
Later (when the war went on) this was reduced to 1.63 (most of all for volunteers).
Is all I could say. I hope this is bit usefull to you.

But if you see their trainings, it must have been cool. :D


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Eva
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#3

Post by Eva » 10 Sep 2002, 20:59

for all of us dumb Americans out there... could someone please translate those measurements into feet/inches. I puropsely forgot how to do the conversionafter passing my very last required math class last year.

Love,

EB

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Romulus
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#4

Post by Romulus » 10 Sep 2002, 21:01

It's around 5 foot 9, Himmlers heigth.

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Romulus
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#5

Post by Romulus » 10 Sep 2002, 21:06

http://www.wssob.com

Basic training lasted 3 weeks. All parade ground training eliminated in 1942. Unlike most modern armies, the German army recruit was immediately placed in their branch of service at the beginning of their basic training. The recruits were also exposed to an above-average amount of multi-disciplinary training - meaning that artillerymen would learn how to use radios, signals troops would learn how to fire heavy machine guns, etc. SS training stressed three main points:
physical fitness
character training
weapons training
Stressed aggressiveness, live fire exercizes; initiative and self reliance; lots of sporting events, the concept of Napoleon's "Baton in every knapsack" and the "Führerprinzip" (leadership principle)- square bashing was discouraged.

20 minutes to dig a foxhole then have a tank run over it

Since 1942: All Hitler Youth have received 160 hours of military training
The main recruitment centers were initially in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Vienna. After the Germans occupied a regions , the SS would often set up a recruitment center in a major city.

The Waffen-SS were open to new ideas & innovations in terms of training - for example - Panzer crews of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend were required as part of their training to spend a week working on the assembly line at the MAN tank factory in Nürnberg.

Officers & men addressed each other as "kamerad" when off duty.
locks forbidden on wardrobes - much emphasis placed on trust -- obedience was unconditional.

At first, recruitment standards for Waffen-SS troops (Leibstandarte & SSVT, perhaps to a lesser extent the SSTK) were extremely tough. Recruits were expected to be
between the ages of 17 and 22
at least 168 CM tall. (5' 9" - Himmler's height)
with no criminal record
since 1935, SS recruits were required to have a pure "Aryan" genealogy (aka no Jewish forebears) going back to 1800 for enlisted men and 1750 for officers
Terms of service: minimum 4 years for enlisted men, 12 years for NCO's and 25 years for officers.
The requirements were in fact so stringent that only 15 out of 100 applicants were accepted. RFSS Himmler boasted that not only did her personally look at the photographs of officer applicants for the SS, but that his organization did not accept a candidate with even "one filled tooth!" Such absurdist standards did not please the more practical SS leaders such as "Sepp" Dietrich.

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HaEn
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kamerad

#6

Post by HaEn » 11 Sep 2002, 01:53

>>>>>Officers & men addressed each other as "kamerad" when off duty. locks forbidden on wardrobes - much emphasis placed on trust -- obedience was unconditional. <<<<<
As my Kompaniechef would have said: "Quatch !!!" Waffen SS Men addressed EVERY superior from lowly Oberschütze to Reichsführer SS by their proper station or rank. no less, no more. There was no "Herr" in front of the rank as in the rest of the German army, but by God, nobody would have DARED to call his platoon leader "kamerad", even off duty. Well . . . perhaps after a few liter of beer perhaps :wink: HN.

Dan
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#7

Post by Dan » 11 Sep 2002, 02:52

Eva wrote:for all of us dumb Americans out there... could someone please translate those measurements into feet/inches. I puropsely forgot how to do the conversionafter passing my very last required math class last year.

Love,

EB
Eva, the way I alway remember is 2.54 centimeters in an inch. So, 1 foot is 12X2.54, and so on.

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Romulus
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#8

Post by Romulus » 11 Sep 2002, 02:53

Don't shoot the messenger!

Alex F.
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Re: kamerad

#9

Post by Alex F. » 11 Sep 2002, 03:40

HaEn wrote:>>>>>Officers & men addressed each other as "kamerad" when off duty. locks forbidden on wardrobes - much emphasis placed on trust -- obedience was unconditional. <<<<<
As my Kompaniechef would have said: "Quatch !!!" Waffen SS Men addressed EVERY superior from lowly Oberschütze to Reichsführer SS by their proper station or rank. no less, no more. There was no "Herr" in front of the rank as in the rest of the German army, but by God, nobody would have DARED to call his platoon leader "kamerad", even off duty. Well . . . perhaps after a few liter of beer perhaps :wink: HN.
What's this? We can't have these veterans messing up what the books say with their real life recollections!!

;)

Just kidding HaEn. Thanks for being a part of this forum. Do you mind if I PM you about a topic?

Regards
Alex

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HaEn
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kidding

#10

Post by HaEn » 11 Sep 2002, 05:37

I am too old to be kidding (produce kids :) ). Otherwise I don't take myself too serious anymore. The only thing that galls me is those people out there who think they know it all, they are an annoyance to me who DOES ! :wink: :lol: H.N. aka Dr.whozit
p.s. lockers were indeed not locked, and comrade theft was the biggest crime one could commit, other than desertion. And yes: Befehl ist (war)Befehl. First you carry it out, and then you may protest. HN.

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Metric Conversions

#11

Post by Heraklit » 11 Sep 2002, 20:51

From some of the earlier posts, it seems an easy guide to conversions from the metric system might be useful.

For an excellent online metric converter go to:
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/conversions.html

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HJ Division Grenadier
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#12

Post by HJ Division Grenadier » 11 Sep 2002, 22:41

A good post there!, quite a good topic too Manstein.
Ive read loads of books on the SS, in some it mentions a story of how recruits had to balance a handgrenade on the top of the helmet, if they kept their nerve it would explode and the force would be shielded by the helmet. If they lost their nerve.....well!
I cant believe this really happened and words to that effect were printed in the books to, but has anyone else heard of this?

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T.R.Searle
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#13

Post by T.R.Searle » 11 Sep 2002, 22:56

Now that grenade thing is almost unbielivable 8O (It would be quite the situation if the man sneezed) But I am still wondering even though half my question is answered and I thank you for that everyone,What were they looking for in the soldier,an athletes only organization or did they alow many people with more booksmarts such as a person who prefered to read and golf say more introverted or did they want the people who's life was sports.(I know this is getting more into personalities but we'l all learn something :wink: )

T.R.Searle :)

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#14

Post by Ovidius » 11 Sep 2002, 22:56

HJ Division Grenadier wrote:Ive read loads of books on the SS, in some it mentions a story of how recruits had to balance a handgrenade on the top of the helmet, if they kept their nerve it would explode and the force would be shielded by the helmet. If they lost their nerve.....well!
I cant believe this really happened and words to that effect were printed in the books to, but has anyone else heard of this?
The grenade stuff.. never heard of..

But the 3rd SS Division Totenkopf used live ammo in training, and possibly other divisions as well.

There was a story about Finns, who, during grenade training, stood in circle, took a grenade, armed it and sent it from hand to hand very fast, and one of them, estimating the moment it would explode, threw it away. It seems even more stretched - just a rumor? 8O

~Ovidius

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HJ Division Grenadier
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#15

Post by HJ Division Grenadier » 11 Sep 2002, 23:02

I know I didnt imagine it, its definately witten in one of my books. If I can find it I will tell you which one its in. The author does say its not likely, but he says in it that he interviewed a veteran that had heard of it himself.
Its hard to understand what your getting at Von Manstein, the requirements for joining the SS were listed above, do you mean what were they trying to achieve?

Im sure they were trying to create the purest Ayran fighting force?
Again there are countless book on this subject

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