Himmler was perhaps the second most powerful man in Germany by 1943, and the Waffen-SS was an extension of his power base. It has to be viewed in this context to understand fully its place in German society and the Third Reich's armed forces. Many of the policy decisions taken by Himmler and Hitler concerning the expansion of the Waffen-SS had more to do with internal Nazi Party politics rather than military efficiency or effective use of scarce resources. The formation of the Waffen-SS' own special-forces troops is a typical example of this.

The RHSA

After Czech commandos, trained by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), murdered SS security chief Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, rivalry between the SS and the army intelligence organization, the Abwehr, reached new levels of intensity. A department for "special troops", Amt VI-S, was set up under the RHSA to control SS special-forces units. Otto Skorzeny was chosen to lead this organization. The tall, imposing Austrian had joined the Nazi Party even before Hitler rose to power. In the aftermath of the German invasion in 1938, Skorzeny had come to the notice of Nazi chiefs when he played a prominent part in thwarting a counter-coup by Austrians opposed to the German occupation. After seeing service with the Das Reich Division during the invasions of Yugoslavia and Russia in mid-1941, he gained a reputation as a dare-devil officer, but after he was injured in December 1941 he was put on light duties at the Leibstandarte's depot. On 20 April 1943, Skorzeny was promoted to Waffen-SS captain and given command of Amt VI-S.

Skorzeny's special units

His new command was little more than an office. The Abwehr had successfully frustrated previous attempts to create SS special forces. Skorzeny moved into Friedenthal Castle near Oranienburg, and set up a training camp for the Jagdverbande (Hunting Group) 502, which was to be trained for a wide range of sabotage and subversion missions. This force became known as the Friedenthal organization. Skorzeny was obsessed by the British commandos, who since 1941 had been staging raids into Hitler's Fortress Europe. He collected captured commando weapons, silenced Sten Guns, explosives and the like. The SS was in the process of forming its own parachute force, and Skorzeny was soon given command of this unit, designated the 500th SS Parachute Battalion. He achieved lasting fame for his role in the rescue of the Italian fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, in September 1943, although the operation itself was conducted by Luftwaffe airborne troops.

The SS search for manpower

Given Himmler's perpetual lust for power, it was not really surprising that he sanctioned the growth of the Waffen-SS into a force that eventually mustered over 40 combat divisions and numerous specialist units. There was, however, one fatal weakness in Himmler's plans to dominate the German state. The army High Command still formally controlled the allocation of "military age" manpower to the armed forces and the Waffen-SS. This was a constant source of tension between Himmler and the army's generals. To get around the problem, he turned to the occupied territories to attract the manpower necessary to fulfil his ambitions. Foreigners, as non-German nationals, were beyond the reach of the Wehrmacht and could be readily signed up to the Waffen-SS. The foreigners were also the key to ensuring German control of occupied Europe. Empires can often only survive with willing collaborators to do their new masters' biddings. This was particularly the case in Eastern Europe, because of the size of the territory involved and the huge populations that needed to be kept subservient to German rule. As the war dragged on and demands on the Wehrmacht grew, it became increasingly important to turn to locally recruited personnel to keep resistance in check.

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