User:Doctor Papa Jones/Heer-SS

Background
The origins of the Waffen-SS can be traced back to the earliest days of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in the 1920s, times in which Germany was paying the price for its defeat in 1918. The democratic Weimar Republic was struggling with the effects of the harsh peace terms imposed by the victories Allies. The payment of massive war reparations had cribbed the German economy, resulting in run-away inflation and widespread unemployment. People moved towards the political extreme. Ernst Thälmann's Communist on the one hand and Adolf Hitler's Nazis on the other.

In 1932, the NSDAP became the largest party in the Reichstag (German parliament) with 35 percent of the vote. The next year, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg. That March, Hitler ordered the formation of palace guard, a group of outstandingly loyal men responsible for guarding the Führer's person, offices and residences. This was the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH). Nineteen-thirty four saw the creation of the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT) which made the early elements of what would eventually become the Waffen-SS. Its members were all volunteers, and had to be mature men of 23 to 35, in superb physical condition, at least 5 foot 11 inches tall and be of pure Aryan ancestry.

1935 expansion
The LSSAH and SS-VT proved their total loyalty to Hitler in an event that became known as the Night of the Long Knives, a massive purge of political opponents and old enemies that took place from 30 June to 2 July 1934. The Leibstandarte carried out many of the arrests and subsequent executions. Hitler rewarded his unit of political soldiers with a major expansion, the Leibstandarte became a full regiment and two more were formed. The expansion did not lead to any reduction in the physical or racial standards demanded.

Almost inevitably, the expansion incurred the hostility of the Heer (regular army), who suspected Hitler was creating a rival military force. His actual intention was that in times of war, the LSSAH and SS-VT would be incorporated into the army as a complete division. The Heer resisted this, refusing to provide the necessary artillery and other equipment for the SS-VT to function as a division. The generals pleaded that Hitler's demand for rapid expansion of his army meant they could not spare the resources. Nevertheless, the army did help the SS-Verfügungstruppe with its training, allowing the transfer of certain officers to improve its military efficiency.

Invasion of Poland
The LSSAH and SS-VT fought in the Polish campaign as separate, motorized infantry regiments. Hitler took particular interest in the progress of Leibstandarte and its commander, SS general Sepp Dietrich. In spite of the lighting victory over Poland, the Heer felt the performance of the SS-Verfügungstruppe left much to be redesigned; its units lacked fire discipline and were careless with casualties. It also showed an oneness tendency to torch villages and brutalize civilians. In defense of his men, SS leader Heinrich Himmler argued they would have performed much better if they had been concentrated in one main formation, rather than fighting under senior army commanders whom they did not know. Hitler agreed to allow further expansion, but insisted the new units remained under the operation control of the Heer.

1940 expansion
While the Leibstandarte remained an independent regiment, the others were combined into a separate division. A second division was created by volunteers from the police, and a third from the units originally created to guard the Nazi concentration camps. This was known as the Totenkopfverbände, commanded by SS general Theodor Eicke. The enlarged SS-VT was also given a new title; in March 1940 it became the Waffen-SS, confirming it as a separate element of Germany's armed forces.

Rotterdam incident
When Germany turned west and invaded Western Europe in May 1940, the Leibstandarte helped to spearhead the invasion of Holland. In the five-day campaign that followed, the Leibstandarte linked up with the air born forces after a number of clashes with Dutch troops. There was, however, an unfortunate incident in Rotterdam when the air born commander, army general Kurt Student, was wounded. He suspected it had been a trigger-happy SS man, although the Leibstandarte strenuously denied it.

Belgrade incident
In April 1941, the Das Reich and Leibstandarte took part in the invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece. The campaign saw both units distinguish themselves, driven by their determination to prove themselves better than the Heer. Fritz Klingenberg, a company of Das Reich, led his men in race to capture the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade, before the army's Großdeutschland regiment.

Although severely hampered by the spring rain, his men reach the banks of the Danube first, but found that all the bridges had been destroyed. Klingenberg found a single rowing boat, which had been left behind, and crossed the river with ten volunteers; they headed for the German embassy which was besieged by an angry crowd. Klingenberg used the embassy's telephone to contact Belgrade's men. He then threatened to call in an air strike unless the city surrendered immediately. Unaware of Klingenberg's actual rank and position, the mayor fell for the bluff and gave in. The incident was a severe embarrassment for the army, but triumph for the Waffen-SS, and Klingenberg was awarded the Knights Cross for his achievement.

Operation Barbarossa
When the invasion of Soviet Russia began on 22 June 1941, the Leibstandarte had expanded to a full division, and all Waffen-SS divisions took part in the initial assault. It was now that ideology came into play. The men of the Waffen-SS were endued in the belief that the Slavs were sub-human, and that they were embarking on crusade to save Western civilianization. This gave the Waffen-SS a new, ruthless determination to win victory at whatever cost. The army soon came to respect its fighting qualities in a war that was more savage than in other so far experienced. Time and time again, the Heer high command deployed the Waffen-SS units to some of the most critical situations on the front, becoming known as the army's "fire brigade".

Relations between the regular army and the Waffen-SS reached its highpoint when they in early 1943, having being converted to panzergrenadier corps the previous year, won undying fame for their recapture of Kharkov. Dietrich in particular distinguished himself; Hitler awarded him the Swords to his Knights Cross and gave him a gift of one million Reichmarks.