WAR AND SOLDIERS
They were Hitler's bodyguards
Leader säälimättömiä suojelijoita.
But these loyal Nazis were also the most feared warriors of the war.
The Waffen SS, the SS combat troops, were known for perseverance.
The Waffen SS was the countless times a cornerstone of the German defense
who always fought to the last man.
The enemy paid tribute to their courage
but feared for their brutality.
Waffen SS men claim that only totelleensa commands.
We had heard rumors of concentration camps
but in the camps of the SS exercised in the name of the atrocities
are not related to the Waffen SS in any way. We were just soldiers.
Many SS's dark reputation have created offenses
did the organization of other branches, such as the Gestapo
the concentration camps guards and tuhoamispartiot.
But the Waffen SS was guilty of terrible atrocities.
The worst of them was the destruction of the village of Oradour
and the killing of 648 inhabitants in June 1944.
Veterans still do not admit evidence of this occurring.
The server Waffen SS throughout the war.
I did not see a single war crimes.
Who were the men who were able to both heroism and brutality?
This elite group dating back to the early days of the Nazi Party.
Germany paid the price for the 1918 defeat.
The Weimar Republic was in trouble because of the severe peace terms.
Germany suffered due to heavy war reparations inflation and unemployment.
The people went towards extremism, the communists and Hitler's Nazis.
Confrontations were seen often.
The Nazis established the 1922 Sturmabteilung , or SA
to protect the party's speakers. They began to say ruskeapaidoiksi.
SA's Director of Ernst Röhm was founded a year later
to protect the special unit of Hitler.
The men were identified by a black cap.
It soon resigned from the brown shirts, took the name of Schutzstaffel , or SS
and began to use entirely black look.
In 1929, the kilt-looking but ruthless Heinrich Himmler
rose to the SS lead.
It was still a small organization compared to 60,000 men SA.
SS Himmler stressed the disparities between the EU and SA.
SA He was a para-military unit
and the SS was the elite group of people and an integral part of the Nazi Party.
He scrape the party's intelligence and racial issues of the SS under.
When Hitler became Chancellor in 1933
SS got the important new tasks.
It provided security guards for the new Dachau concentration camp near Munich.
This was the beginning of the SS dismal share of the mass murder of the Jews.
SS received in 1936 under its auspices also of the secret police, the Gestapo
that Hermann Goering had set up in 1933.
The whole control mechanism and violence was directly controlled by Himmler.
In addition to the Führer ordered the SS to set up a separate unit
which received the name of the SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler.
It later grew Waffen SS, ie an armed SS.
Leibstandarte oli Hitlerin henkivartiokaarti.
It is guarded by the kingdom's Office and the Führer's castle in Berchtesgaden.
First World War Staff Sergeant Sepp Dietrich
had risen to Hitler's inner circle and was commander of the Leibstandarte.
Guard consisted only of volunteers. They were to be 2335 years old
in excellent physical condition, and at least 180 cm long.
Applicants also had to prove that it is fully clean Aryans.
SS Himmler's view, was the party's best
alokkaisiin so indoctrinated by Nazi doctrine and the concept of the Master.
Therefore, the Waffen SS was so ruthless in battle.
Lichterfelden kasarmille is majoittui
which had operated during the emperor's prestigious officer school.
The army took care of military training.
Exercise and field exercises was a lot.
The men of the Leibstandarte were proud Equipment and parade.
Other SS units mocking "tarmac as soldiers."
SA maintained its influence in the SS, in spite of the increase.
Röhm even suggested that brown shirts was raised above the army.
Hitler stated that Röhmistä was becoming a threat.
He flew to Munich in the early morning 30.6. 1934.
He was accompanied by Sepp Dietrich and selected Leibstandarte unit.
Hitler was arrested Röhm hotel by the lake
Dietrich and carried out further arrests in Munich.
Arrests were also made in Berlin. Leibstandarte took care of the executions.
Karl Wolff, Himmler's adjudantti later explained
that friendships are not stopped the SS.
Among them was Count von Spretich, Röhm's adjutant.
I was then Himmler's adjutant.
His last words were: "Heil Hitler."
We were close friends and often dine together.
He raised his hands and exclaimed: "Heil Hitler Long live Germany!"
Leibstandarte had proved their faithfulness.
The prize does not have to wait long.
SS helped to destroy Röhm's brown shirts
and the praise of Hitler expanded it.
Alongside the Leibstandarte was founded two new regiments
the so-called SS Verfügungstruppe ie SS VT.
They were independently functioning special units.
The organization expanded, but applicants still set strict requirements.
SS VT was Hitler's elite unit, who believed in their own superiority.
Expansion of course angered the Army
who doubted Hitler's converging competing armed forces.
But he thought that the war broke out
SS VT be attached the Army Divisions.
But the army did not give up the SS VT for
it needs artillery and other equipment.
The generals argued that the growing power of the military liiennyt equipment.
Nonetheless, the military helped the SS VT's in training
and agreed to surrender an officer SS Old Testament.
Experienced Paul Hausser became a Waffen SS Inspector General.
Army Training Felix Steiner was transferred to the Waffen SS.
He had been an assault troops
and wanted to educate the Waffen SS attack set.
It would proceed at the head, and the army should be followed as cannon fodder.
The aim was to train hard and ruthless men
and Hausser and Steiner were a great success.
But at the same time men stopped indifferent to the human spirit.
It laid the foundation for the crimes that ruined the Waffen SS's reputation.
The Army received the command of the Leibstandarte
when Austria annexed by Germany in March 1938
and Germany conquered the autumn of Czechoslovakia Sudeten Land.
England and France did not react to the invasion of Czechoslovakia
so Hitler believed he could take over the next Poland.
SS VT went the first time in a real battle.
SS VT fought in Poland motorized infantry regiments.
Hitler closely followed the progress of the Leibstandarte Dietrich
and meant a daily basis its office on the map, "Sepp".
Germany conquered Poland easily
but the army was not satisfied with the SS VT's operations.
It made no attempt to avoid losses
burned villages frighteningly frequent and ill-treated civilians.
Himmler said that the SS would fight better as a unit
as unidentified officers under.
Hitler gave permission to expand SS
but he considered the new units under the command of the Army.
Leibstandarte remained as a separate regiment
but combined with other Divisions.
The second division was assembled police officers
and created in the third concentration camps as guards units.
The division was renamed the SS Totenkopf.
Its commander, Theodor Eicke had commanded Dachau
and was famous for the brutality.
Also expanded the SS VT was renamed.
It worked from March 1940 as the Waffen SS
as a separate branch of the German armed forces.
Hitler began 10. 5. 1940 the long-awaited attack on the West.
Leibstandarte and another SS regiment proceeded at the forefront of the attack.
Paratroopers captured the Dutch airports.
The five-day battles
Leibstandarte worked his way paratroopers creates.
Rotterdam incident occurred
where the paratroopers of General Kurt Student wounded.
He doubted that the shooter was an SS man, but Leibstandarte denied.
The Waffen SS was not included in the Ardennes and the Meuse River crossing.
SS Totenkopf was transferred among the targeted west of attack
to support Erwin Rommel's 7th armored division.
The British departed 21. 5. counterattack
7. panssaridivisioonan ja SS Totenkopfin sivustaan.
Attack surprised the Germans
and caused havoc in the ranks of Totenkopf
before progression then continue.
The Germans besieged the British and the French port of Dunkirk.
SS Leibstandarte oli kiristämässä saartorengasta.
It faced strong resistance, especially Wormhoudtin village.
Dietrich's car was hit, and he was forced for a time to protect themselves from the ditch.
The village were conquered until nightfall.
Leibstandarte received the British prisoners. Approximately 90 men closed the barn.
One of the survivors will tell you what happened then.
They took five men at a time out. I was in the second group.
We turned her back, and they shot. I crawled back to the barn when virkosin.
When the Germans were shooting, the boys fell upon me.
I just hit the knee.
This is the first of those acts, with the Waffen SS got a dark reputation.
Also Theodor Eicken Totenkopf killed prisoners of war.
Le Paradis were murdered in the village of nearly a hundred British soldiers.
Hitler spoke to the western front in honor of the victory
Berlin opera house on 19 July.
He praised in particular the Waffen SS. It was tactically more skilful
but brainwashed soldiers were daring
and terrifying homicidal.
Himmler wanted to increase the Waffen SS
even though the army needed new men.
Hitler agreed to a small extension and a significant change.
The new SS Viking Division
were occupied country racially valid for men.
The division became a right-wing Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway.
A Danish tells us why he left.
I fought as a volunteer in the Waffen SS on the Eastern Front
a united Europe.
I want to stress
that it was the only chance to fight against communism.
We could not do it alone.
SS divisioonat Das Reich did Leibstandarte
took part in the conquest of Yugoslavia and Greece in April 1941.
Each unit excelled.
One case describes well the Waffen SS's fighting spirit
and its wish to demonstrate superiority.
One of the Das Reich led to the companies of Walter Klingenberg
he tried to make Belgrade before the Army valiorykmenttiä.
Rain hampered progress and moved in a savivelliksi
but she got there first on the Danube river.
But all the river-border bridges had been destroyed.
Klingenberg crossed the river in a rowing boat with 10 volunteer
and rushed to the crowd encircle the German embassy.
Klingenberg played from the Mayor
and threatened to call an air attack.
He had no radio, but the mayor believed in him and surrendered.
Klingenberg was awarded the Knight of the Cross.
He served in the Waffen SS
until he collapsed in April 1945, shortly before Germany surrendered.
Sepp Dietrich took in Athens against the Greek army's surrender.
Hitler's favorite soldiers had risen heroes
and the Waffen SS had received more fame bold fighters.
Balkan campaign was only an interlude
compared to the storm that Hitler now unleashed.
He launched a 22.6. 1941 Operation Barbarossa:
Attack the Soviet Union.
Leibstandarte grown to full Divisions
and all six of the Waffen SS division went on the offensive.
The ideology came into the picture.
Waffen SS believed that the Russians were lower race
and the war was a crusade on behalf of Western civilization.
As a result, the Waffen SS decided to win at any cost.
The army began to respect its abilities
this unprecedented cruel war.
But the Waffen SS was soon equated with other SS units
especially tuhoamispartioihin
who murdered thousands of Soviet Jews.
War against communism
attracted the Waffen SS ranks of people throughout occupied Europe.
These SS "the Foreign"
were often Waffen SS ruthless compartments.
Belgian Leon Degrelle was a typical volunteer.
He was before the war led to the extreme right-wing party.
He founded the Flemish Legion, which was attached to the Waffen SS
and commanded the battles with the Soviet Union.
Hitler awarded him knight of the cross and said:
"If I had a son, he could wish to be like you."
Waffen SS excelled in the winter 19411942 battles
by showing tenacity.
Leibstandarte, Totenkopf and Das Reich was moved to the west in the spring
and they changed panssarijalkaväkidivisiooniksi.
Himmler made sure that the divisions were given the best equipment
and were higher than the Army's divisions.
Army Corps returned to Paul Hausser under the command of the Soviet Union in 1943
and achieved fame conquer the spring Harkov back.
In particular, Sepp Dietrich excelled.
Hitler gave him the Knight's Cross with swords, as well as one million mark.
All now knew that the Waffen SS always fought to the last man.
It became the commanders "fire brigade"
which was thrown into the front hottest part of the battle to reverse the flow.
Absolute obedience was the Waffen SS, the basic feature of the
but the crew and officers intervals were straight forward than usual.
Hitler's ideology warriors increasingly resorted to more brutal extracts.
They did not give mercy to the Eastern Front bitter battles.
They also knew that the enemy do not have mercy on them.
So they decided more firmly not to surrender.
Stalingrad was not the Waffen SS units at the beginning of the year 1943
when an entire German army was forced to surrender.
But it took part in the battle, who witnessed the war slipped into the passage.
Germany has launched in July 1943 a major offensive
which was intended to rectify the Kursk Front complicated.
Waffen SS now comprised four army corps, about 12 divisions.
Most of them took part in the largest tank battle of the war.
Hitler was forced to suspend the attack after weeks of fighting.
Germany was forced on the defensive
and forwards an overrunning the Red Army began to liberate Russia.
SS divisions were once again the defense establishment.
They made relentlessly resist Russian advances towards the west.
Hitler knew that the threat of Allied grew in the West.
Italy was attacked and UK troops were being assembled.
The landing was coming
and it meant new tasks in the Waffen SS.
The Germans were waiting for the disembarkation of France and the Netherlands in 1944.
Atlantic barrier cannons, barriers and behind the infantry divisions
had been brought to 11 armor and armored infantry divisions.
Four divisions belonged to the Waffen SS.
Das Reich was in South France
and 17 SS armored infantry division of the Loire Valley.
Leibstandarte was supplemented by Belgium.
Near Paris was the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitler Jugend.
It was composed in accordance with the name Hitler Jugend young men.
The officers and non-commissioned officers had combat experience.
Hitler Jugend soldiers had grown up in the Nazi reign of.
They had been taught that only the strongest will survive
and war is the human uljain achievement.
They became Hitler's fanatical soldiers.
Three divisions were Dietrich 1. SS armored army base.
After the Battle of Normandy began on 6 June
Nearby there was only one armored division
and even that was too scattered to be able to counterattack.
Tank divisions did not get moved without Hitler's permission.
No one dared to awaken the Führer
so the Hitler Jugend, who issued only in the afternoon.
It came into contact battle the next day the night before.
However, it did not get to start the counterattack
but was forced to defend with all our might.
The British were 13.6. about to make a breakthrough
Villers Bocagen at the village.
The Soviet Union received the Knight's Cross of Michael Wittmann showed
the Waffen SS's famous fighting spirit meant.
His unit being maintained five Tiger panssarivaunuaan
when he saw on the road on a hillside of the British ajoneuvokolonnan.
Wittmann jumped into the chariot and drove toward the columns were moving in all guns blazing.
He destroyed in a few minutes 25 vehicles.
Wittmann drove to the village
where the British Cromwell trolley shot his wagon very close up.
Wittmann and his crew escaped.
They were stopped by the British in the attack alone.
Hitler Jugend participated in Caen city defense
and rejected a number of breakthrough companies.
The division commander Fritz Witt already crashed at the beginning of the battle.
His replacement was Kurt Meyer, founding member of the Leibstandarte
who had been making wild antics name "Panzer" Meyer.
Meyer's dwindling unit fought
and earned their respect and enemies.
Waffen SS fought bravely
but no less ruthlessly than in Russia.
Prisoners of war were killed in cold blood at least twice.
Das Reich was guilty of even worse offense en route to Normandy.
It was used on you, because the railways had been destroyed.
Resistance Operating difficult journey ambushes and destroying bridges.
Das Reich retaliated with terrifying way Oradour sur Glanen village.
They took the people together, and burned the houses.
Then they closed their people to the church and burned too.
648 French civilians were slaughtered mercilessly.
Many people think of Oradour prove
the Waffen SS men were not "just soldiers."
They claim that the perpetrators of atrocities
but the French village of the ruins of the second claim.
Normandy became the second SS armored corps
but the Germans were oppressed bend.
Army remnants retreated to the east of the French crack.
Many Waffen SS officers had left the famous lines.
"Panzer" Meyer was wounded and remained a prisoner.
Michael Wittmann in Villers Bocagen hero had fallen.
Allied supply problems spared the collapse of the Germans.
The Allied advance was stopped at the beginning of September.
Waffen SS pulled from the rear of divisions.
9th and 10th SS armored division were in Arnhem in the Netherlands.
It caused a disaster to the Allies.
On 17 September 1944 began a large airborne operation
the aim of which was to help the troops across the Rhine
by occupying bridges in the Netherlands.
The British and the Poles jumped into Arnhem.
Waffen SS took immediate effect.
It started to tighten the blockade ring around the paratroopers
and they were forced to surrender.
Hitler already prepared a foolhardy attack on the West.
Greater Attack went to the Ardennes region in Belgium.
Its aim was to separate the British and the Americans.
At the head attacked two armored army.
Repeat commanded by Sepp Dietrich, and it consisted of Waffen SS divisions.
Attack began December 16, 1944.
Dietrich's army dominated in the American and sowed panic.
But in the Ardennes mountain was more difficult in December 1944
than in May 1940.
The weather cleared up soon, and allied aircraft reached the atmosphere.
Difficult conditions slowed down the progression
and the unit after another came to a halt.
The Waffen SS appeared again the worst side.
Fanatical and aggressive Joachim Peiper commanded by Title
who gets the most and left behind a series of atrocities.
Peiper's men murdered unarmed civilians.
The unit faced Malmedy near the fire control battalion
who thought he was far from the Front.
SS men destroyed the vehicles Column ends
so that others remained between them, and did not let anyone escape.
Many surrendered to the Americans shot no scruples.
The Waffen SS was forced to answer for this crime.
Hitler's armies took to the end of December retreat.
Gambling had failed, and he had to concentrate to the east
where the Red Army threatened to go to Germany.
Faithful Waffen SS came to serve as the Head of his country once again.
The Red Army was preparing at the beginning of 1945 to proceed to Germany.
Hitler sent Dietrich Hungary
the power of the Balaton Lake oil fields back.
Dietrich Department was named the 6th SS panssariarmeijaksi.
The Waffen SS in its finally independently as Himmler had hoped.
Germany invaded from the east for the last time in March 1945.
Dietrich's SS armored army and the 6th Army
proceeded in mud Russians while making fierce resistance.
The attack came to a halt after one week.
Enraged, Hitler ordered the SS men removed from the arm band
a sign of humiliation.
Loyalty was a matter of honor Waffen SS, which fought
Allied driving the Third Reich increasingly under pressure.
SS other branches of the atrocities began to become public knowledge
when the extermination camps began to be found.
Stunned the Allies did not distinguish SS stands apart.
They are constantly faced the SS fanatical resistance
but it only postponed the inevitable end.
6. SS armored army remnants
could not prevent the Russians from reaching Vienna.
The last stop was Berlin.
The Soviets began to attack 16.4.
and they proceeded a week the city itself.
Among the defenders was the SS men from France and Latvia.
Hitler hoped that the Waffen SS save him
but he already had biases in power.
The city surrendered to 2.5. two days after Hitler's suicide.
The Soviet Union was useless to expect no mercy
so the units surrendered to hasten to the Western Allies.
Several SS Divisions liked defiant antautumisparaateja.
SS had done countless crimes against humanity
and a part of the Waffen SS was guilty of war crimes.
All the SS men were taken in for questioning.
Multi tried to masquerade
but tattooed under your arm the SS ID number revealed them.
A few of the Waffen SS man paid for his crimes with his life.
Only a few hands of the Soviets had returned home.
Malmedy massacre trial became famous.
Almost all of the officers were prosecuted and found guilty.
Sepp Dietrich, Peiper's supervisor, the judgment was read first.
The penalty is life imprisonment, and execution starts immediately.
Joachim Peiper by the Department of killed prisoners
was one of six kuolemaantuomitusta.
Replaced by life imprisonment. Dietrich was released in 1955
but he ended up in court again.
He received the 1957 prosecution actions "night of long knives" in 1934.
He was forced once again to jail but was released after 15 months.
Time your gold quickly for his and his subordinates' cruel memories.
We were all the time at the front. We were fighters.
We did not know what happened behind the front.
We were just ordinary soldiers!
West Germany apparently believed them, despite the evidence.
Waffen SS men were 50 veteran's pension
on the grounds that they, too, had to defend their country.
Waffen SS served in were also given permission to establish an association
which is still in operation.
Men like Degrellen Leon's fate was quite different.
He was considered a traitor in Belgium
and he lived the rest of his life in Spain.
Sepp Dietrich, Hitler's the epitome of a warrior
died in April 1966.
He received the Meritorious agree to the soldier's dignity funeral.
Dietrich and the Waffen SS in combat earned an unsurpassed reputation.
They continued to fight a hopeless situation
and that is why the enemy honored them, and the men admired warriors.
But they became brainwashed evil empire käsikassaroita.
Atrocities dipped forever their reputation as soldiers.
Translated by: Kai Laine www.sdi media.com