SS Totenkopf at War

A History of the Division

Ian Baxter

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781473890930
• eBook ISBN: 9781473890954
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

The SS Totenkopf (Death Head) Division even 70 years on retains its formidable and ruthless reputation as a superbly efficient yet murderous formation. It earned this for its actions throughout the Second World War, first in 1940 during the blitzkrieg in Northern France and then on the Eastern Front. The battles at Kharkov and Kurst saw some of the fiercest fighting of that long and terrible campaign. During the long retreat back to the Fatherland the Division fought with customary dogged determination, nay fanaticism. This superbly illustrated work, drawing on images taken by participants, portrays the SS Totenkopfs history from formation through training to the battles in northern France and in Russia.

Chapter One

Birth of a Division

Before the Totenkopf achieved divisional status, the formation was known as Kampfgruppe Eicke, commanded by the hard and disciplined SS-Brigadeführer Theodore Eicke. Eicke had been commander of Dachau concentration camp in June 1933 and became a major figure in the SS. He was regarded the architect, builder, and director of the concentration camp system and ruled it with an iron fist. He was stocky in appearance, ruthless, blatantly brutal, and was said to give off an aura of raw energy. Recruits were indoctrinated in SS ideology to believe in the new Aryan order and his men followed his orders with blind and absolute obedience, even if it meant shooting prisoners and committing atrocities against civilians.

From the racially motivated SS-Totenkopfverbände (concentration camp guards) and others members of German militias that had committed a host of terrible crimes, Eicke formed Kampgruppe Eicke in the late 1930s. All recruits were expected to be fit with excellent racial features and produce a certificate of good behavior from the police. They were indoctrinated with a fanatical determination to fight for the Führer, to the death if necessary.

The military training regime took place at the unit’s depot at Dachau and was developed by Paul Hausser. He oversaw the military and ideological training with the help of two experienced officers, Cassius Freiherr von Montigny and Felix Steiner.

Hausser was also a hard disciplinarian. His recruits were trained to bury their emotions and become absorbed by their camaraderie and loyalty to the SS.

Recruits spent one week out of every month on guard duty in a concentration camp. At Dachau and other concentration camps they were taught to show hatred for Jews, emigrants, homosexuals and Jehovah’s Witnesses. They listened while Eicke or Hausser delivered lectures about the most dangerous enemies of National Socialism. Guard duty often entailed barbaric acts of cruelty on those incarcerated behind the barbed wire fences of the concentration camps. For Eicke, this process weeded out those SS men who were not fit for military duty in the Totenkopf division. They only wanted the most disciplined officers, NCOs, and enlisted men who had absolute allegiance and fanaticism to the SS order. These recruits, now exceptionally efficient killers, became known as the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS Dispositional Troops) or SS-VT units, Germania and Deutschland.

Through the late 1930s, Totenkopf evolved and expanded considerably. War in September 1939 put strain on the SS-VT to main its levels of manpower. Following the capitulation of Poland in October 1939, Hitler expanded the SS and created three division, the SS Verfügungs Division based around the SS-VT regiments, the Polizei Division created from recruits from the Ordnungspolizei, and Totenkopf. At the same time the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (Hitler’s personal bodyguard) expanded to the size of a motorized regiment. Out of this expansion emerged the military arm of the SS known as the Weapon SS, or Waffen-SS, and the creation a fully-fledged Totenkopf SS-Division. As a result of this formation, Eicke withdrew his staff from Dachau to form and equip his new Totenkopf Division, which was based on a standard Wehrmacht motorized division. It comprised three motorized infantry regiments instead of the regular Wehrmacht divisional establishment of two. The three SS-Totenkopfverbände Standarte formed the basis of the three motorized infantry regiments. For the artillery regiment, SS Heimwehr Danzig were enlisted, and to support the division, SS-Gruppenführer Heinrich Himmler established a replacement battalion for each Totenkopf regiment.

These new recruits of the SS were now a fully established Waffen-SS Division. Since late 1939 some 6,500 men from the SS-VT had been transferred into the new Totenkopf Division. They consisted of the concentration camp guards of the 1st (Oberbayern), 2nd (Brandenburg) and 3rd (Thüringen) Standarten (regiments) of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, and men from the SS Heimwehr Danzig. There were also members of other SS militias that were transferred into the division in early 1940. Some of these units had already shed blood in the Polish campaign and had been involved in numerous massacres against Polish civilians, political leaders and prisoners of war. Now, in May 1940, they were ready to attack the Low Countries and France.

SS-Obergruppenführer Theodore Eicke. Eicke had been made commander of Dachau concentration camp in June 1933 and became a major figure in the SS. He was regarded the architect, builder, and director of the concentration camp system and ruled it with an iron fist. On the battlefield he led Totenkopf to a series of victories on the Western Front in 1940, but committed some dreadful crimes against British and North African PoWs. His division went on to become one of the most effective fighting formations in Russia. On 26 February 1943 he was killed during the opening phase of the third battle of Kharkov when his Fieseler Fi 156 Storch aircraft was shot down.

A photograph showing a commanding officer with his new recruits during a training exercise, late 1930s. The men are armed with the Karabiner 98K bolt action rifle, which was the standard weapon used by the Heer and later the Waffen-SS.

A commanding officer leads his men out of the gates of a training barracks. Every Totenkopf recruit had to be fit, have impeccable racial features, and produce a certificate of good behavior from the police.

A column of Totenkopf troops on a drill march being led by their commanding officer on horseback. New recruits were indoctrinated with a fanatical determination to fight for the Führer. Men had to blindly obey every order, even if it meant shooting prisoners and committing atrocities against civilians.

Recruits are seen standing near their personal kits and Karabiner 98K bolt action rifles that have been stacked together. They were stacked like this for speedy action.

Rifle practice in the snow. The recruit is wearing the standard army tunic that remained universal in the Waffen-SS during the war. The commanding officer on the left and his corporal, or Rottenführer, on the right are wearing the army standard greatcoat, which was worn by all ranks of Totenkopf until 1942.

During peace time and two Totenkopf platoon leaders, or SS-Hauptscharführer, on the right are playing cards with another SS soldier who appears not be part of the Totenkopf. He displays an SS rune on his tunic collar instead of the Totenkopf patch.

Out in the snow in early 1939 and troops are being inspected. The period of enlistment in the original Totenkopf Ve...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter One Birth of a Division
• Chapter Two Into Battle (1940–41)
• Chapter Three Bitter Fighting (1942–44)
• Chapter Four End Game (1944–45)
• Appendix Organizational History of Totenkopf