A fourth SS division, soon to be dubbed the Viking or Wiking, was ordered to be formed in late 1940. The SS-VT and Totenkopf Divisions were to be reinforced with extra firepower and specialist units. Likewise, the Leibstandarte was also expanded to a motorized brigade. Two Totenkopfverbönde regiments were transformed into the Nord Brigade and a third was turned into an independent Waffen-SS infantry regiment. Five Totenkopfverbönde infantry and two cavalry regiments were kept under Himmler's personal control for "special duties" in the occupied territories.

The Leibstandarte and Totenkopf

The Leibstandarte thus grew to more than 10,000 men. It now boasted four motorized infantry battalions carried in trucks and a heavy weapons battalion. A fifth battalion was detached to guard Hitler in Berlin. The brigade's artillery now fielded 105mm and 150mm howitzers, as well as 88mm flak guns. The latter were to prove very useful in Russia when the heavily armoured T-34 tanks appeared. Reconnaissance, combat engineer, light anti-aircraft and signal battalions, as well as a field hospital, completed the brigade's order of battle.

The Totenkopf Division also underwent a major expansion, receiving an anti-aircraft battalion equipped with 20mm, 37mm and 88m flak guns and a heavy artillery regiment of 12 150mm guns. A reserve infantry battalion was formed to allow a pool of battle casualty replacements to follow close behind the division.

The Das and Wiking Divisions

Paul Hausser's SS-VT received a similar quantity of new equipment and capabilities as its counterparts, and was renamed the Deutschland Division in December 1940. This did not last long because of a fear that it would be confused with the army's Grossdeutschland motorized regiment. In January 1940, the division assumed the title Das Reich. It was ordered to transfer its Germania Regiment to form the core of the new Wiking Division. In return, it received the 11th Totenkopfverbönde Regiment as a replacement.

The Wiking Motorized Division was a unique formation in 1940: the only Waffen-SS unit to contain foreign volunteers. In his desperate efforts to get round army recruitment restrictions, Himmler saw the possibility of recruiting pro-Nazi foreigners of what he considered to be "Aryan stock" from occupied north European countries. Nazi sympathizers from Norway and Denmark were recruited into the Nordland Regiment in mid-1940, and later in the year Dutchmen and Flemish-speaking Belgians were recruited into the Westland Regiment. During the latter half of 1940, German SS instructors had whipped them into shape to allow the two regiments to be transferred to the Wiking Division under the command of Felix Steiner. He had led the Deutschland Regiment of the SS-VT Division with distinction during the invasion of France.

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