Rivalry with the Wehrmacht

If there was great rivalry within the Waffen-SS "brotherhood", it was mild compared with their rivalry with the Wehrmacht. There was a Waffen-SS song that contained the lyrics, "anything the army can do, we can do better". In sports competitions, training exercises and finally on the battlefield, the Waffen-SS tried to out-perform their army comrades and show it was fitter and more intelligent. This led to accusations that some SS officers were foolhardy and wasted their men's lives on operations conceived only out of pride or arrogance. As the Waffen-SS became more battle hardened and experienced in modern combat techniques, such claims became harder to support.

The reoccupation of the Rhineland

Hitler and his loyal henchman Himmler carefully moulded the armed SS into an élite fighting force in the late 1930s, and the Führer itched to give it a chance to show what it could do. As he manoeuvred Germany towards war, he would soon get his opportunity.

Hitler was determined to break free from the restrictions imposed on Germany by the Versailles Treaty, but he did not want to spark a conflict with his foreign foes until his rearmament programme was beginning to bear fruit. The British and French policy of "appeasement", based on the idea of not provoking Hitler by bowing to the "legitimate" grievances of the German people, only played into Hitler's hands. His first foreign adventure was launched in March 1936, when German troops were sent to reoccupy the west bank of the Rhine that had been declared a demilitarized zone by Versailles. His general staff warned Hitler that this would provoke a French military response. He told his generals, "if the army is reluctant to lead the way, a suitable spearhead will be provided by the Leibstandarte". A company of the élite SS motored down from Berlin and crossed the Rhine ahead of the army troops. The French Army stayed in its barracks, and the Leibstandarte men drove into Saarbrucken on Germany's western border to a hero's welcome. Hitler had called the French bluff and got away with it, without even having to fire a shot. In the process the Leibstandarte scored a noted coup over its army rivals.

Union with Austria

Two years later Hitler was ready to launch his most audacious foreign adventure yet, the seizure of Austria. Austria was the largest independent German-speaking country outside the Reich, and Hitler had long nurtured ambitions to bring it under his control. In the spring of 1938 he set in train a covert operation to seize it, using men of the SD Foreign Intelligence Section under Heydrich's personal direction. He sent his agents to Vienna to cooperate with local Nazis to generate a crisis. Austria's political leaders tried to deflect Berlin's pressure for their country to be incorporated into Germany by calling a referendum. Hitler was quicker to the draw, and he ordered an invasion before the ballot could be held. Columns of German tanks were sent southwards to Vienna and other Austrian cities. Taking up the rear was a battalion of the Leibstandarte that had motored south from Berlin at a few hours' notice. There was no fighting, and the Leibstandarte was able to shepherd a grateful Führer into Linz and Vienna, where he was mobbed by happy crowds of Austrians.

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