23rd SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division Nederland

The 23rd SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division " Nederland " ( Dutch No. 1) was created in February 1945 by the renaming of the SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade " Nederland ". The division consisted nominally of Dutch " volunteers ", but in reality. Mostly of collaborators who were looking after the occupation of the Netherlands by the Allies their salvation in the flight to Germany, as well as German soldiers of the Wehrmacht and Waffen -SS The Division went in Halbe in Soviet captivity. The Division number 23 had previously had awarded to the 23rd Waffen Mountain Division of the SS "Kama ".

Precursor

The Division had its origin in the SS Volunteer Standarte Northwest, which was formed in April 1941 in Hamburg, the location of the SS -Standarte Germania, which already contained many foreign volunteers. This was preceded by the formation of the Nederlandse SS within the Nationaal - Socialistische Beweging under Anton Mussert. The SS leadership had decided now to take for the upcoming campaign in the east, also volunteers with " Nordic blood " into the ranks of the Waffen- SS. On 27 June 1941 a few days after the attack on the Soviet Union, Reich Commissioner Arthur Seyss- Inquart opened the campaign to recruit volunteers for the " crusade against Bolshevism ", which will be headed by General Seyffardt, a former chief of staff of the Dutch army.

SS Volunteer Legion Netherlands

The SS Volunteer Standarte Northwest, in the also served as Flemish, was reclassified in July 1941 in the SS Volunteer Association Netherlands since Mussert and Seyffardt had made ​​strong for a purely Dutch Association. The Volunteer Association was founded on September 24, 1941, finally renamed SS Volunteer Legion Netherlands. The legion had approximately regimental strength and has been used since January 1942 at the war against the Soviet Union, where she captured including the Soviet General Vlasov.

4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade " Nederland "

By war's end the division, but never had more than 5,200 man was, in Pomerania in action against the Red Army before it was nearly destroyed in the Halbe pocket and proceeded in Allied captivity.

Areas of application

  • September 1943 to January 1944 (training and partisan use in Croatia)
  • January-September 1944 ( use on the Eastern Front at the Narva bridgehead )
  • September 1944 to February 1945 ( retreat to Kurland )
  • February 1945 ( fought between Neudamm, Kuestrin and Arnswalde; was able to penetrate to the coast )

Structure

  • SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Regiment 48 " General Seyffardt "
  • SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Regiment 49 " De Ruyter "
  • Artillery Regiment 54
  • Division units 54

Commanders

  • 25. October 1943 to May 1945 SS Brigade Commander and Major General of the Waffen- SS Jürgen Wagner ( previously commander of the SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade " Nederland " )
National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands Hendrik Seyffardt Andrey Vlasov Sonneberg Oroslavje Donja Stubica III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps Army Group North 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian) Gdańsk Courland 4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division 22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Maria Theresia 37th SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Lützow 31st SS Volunteer Grenadier Division 35th SS and Police Grenadier Division 33rd Waffen Cavalry Division of the SS (3rd Hungarian) 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Ukrainian) 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian) 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) 26th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Hungarian) 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Italian) 36th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Integrated Authority File
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