Waffen-SS: The SS Panzer Divisions

Background

The formation of the SS panzer corps in late 1942 signalled that the élite Waffen-SS divisions had become some of the finest units in the German order of battle. Now their fighting units would be lavishly equipped with panzers, halftracks, anti-tank guns and artillery, and the SS panzer corps would be used to turn the tide of war on the Eastern Front.

Genesis of th eSS panzer divisions

As the German Sixth Army was fighting for its life in the ruins of Stalingrad, in occupied France a heavily armed panzer corps was being formed from Waffen-SS units. Soon it would be loaded on to hundreds of trains and sent east to turn back the advancing Red Army.

Adolf Hitler's mistrust of the German Army had grown as the war dragged on. His arguments with senior army generals during the failed offensive against Moscow in the winter of 1941 had convinced him that a politically reliable combat force was needed if the Third Reich was to prevail in the titanic struggle with Stalin's Russia on the Eastern Front. The loyalty and obedience of the Waffen-SS to the cause of Nazism would ensure success in battle, or so the Führer thought. In May 1942, he ordered the formation of a Waffen-SS corps headquarters that was to command the Leibstandarte, Das Reich and Totenkopf Divisions. They were to be refitted after suffering heavy casualties in Russia during the previous winter. By the summer plans had advanced apace, and the Führer now wanted his prized divisions to be equipped as panzergrenadier divisions.

Creating the SS Panzer Corps

All through the summer and into the autumn, new recruits and new equipment poured into the Waffen-SS bases in occupied France, where the corps was being prepared for action. There, the three divisions and the corps staff were moulded into fighting units. This was a frantic time for the cadre of Waffen-SS veterans who had to rebuild their shattered units, while at the same time accepting new types of tanks, armoured cars, halftracks, anti-tank weapons and artillery. The tough training regime was interrupted in November 1942, when the Waffen-SS divisions were used to spearhead the occupation of Vichy France, after the Allied landings in North Africa led to the collapse of the pro-German regime. The exercise only served to show how much work was needed to prepare the divisions for action, as bottlenecks formed and units became disorganized. Once they returned to their bases, the training intensity was redoubled.

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