Feldgrau.net

It wasn't necessarily a duplication. There's a couple of factors to consider. For example, a "Panzer Abteilung" was organized around 76 armored vehicles, no matter if they were Panthers, Stug., or Hetzers. A Stug. or PzJg Abteilung was organized around 31 armored vehicles, until the late w...

Just a note about the participation of Das Reich in the "Hube Pocket." The vast majority of the division had left the front in December 1943 to rebuild. A battlegroup of 5000 men remained behind, but this was worn down in constant fighting. Elements continued to leave to join the rebuildin...

Hi Ron, were the Hetzers assigned to the 16. SS-PGD RFSS in SS-PJA 16? If so, am I correct that they soon left the division to become SS-PJA 32 in the 32. SS-FGD 30. Januar? The accounts I have seen of RFSS (primarily in Puntigam's Vom Plattensee bis zur Mur) only mention Stug.s, and then in SS-PA 16.

While I used the word "Freitod" I wasn't actually trying to imply anything about "honor." What Kiesselbach concluded is that his uncle was not in a healthy frame of mind. Heinz von Westernhagen had a pregnant wife at the time of his death, so he either killed himself while in som...

I got my copy from Helion in the UK. I found it a very good book. Much of the same information on the Latvians can be found in one of the last volumes of the Danauvas Vanagi series, but I can't read Latvian at all, so it is nice to have the information in another language. The Baltic details are qui...

I'm not sure, but probably Hans Weiss, who was previously decorated for his command of SS-PAA 2 before taking over I./SS-PR 2 and then sSS-PA 102. Accounts from veterans seem to indicate that Kurt Hartrampf was not well liked or well considered at either sSS-PA 103 (short term early commander) or sS...

The initial Nord KG was hardly trained. New battalions were added in early 1942 that were well trained, and the unit as a whole gained experience from spending over two years at constant patrolling and raiding. It never suffered especially heavy casualties, so it kept its large amount of experienced...

When von Westernhagen was wounded commanding SS-Stug. Abt. 1, he was succeeded by Heinrich Heimann, who won the RK on February 23, 1944 (and the DKiG on September 6, 1943). Von Westernhagen's next assignment was to raise sSS-PA 101, which later was renumbered as 501. When he had to leave the front i...

Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg took their cadre from all over the Waffen-SS, though of course if you trace back a few years, it all really stemmed from Das Reich, as Mark has pointed out in his works. As to Nord, other divisions were not taken from it, but regardless, but early 1944 it was a first rate...

Well, Wiking drew its cadre from (Das) Reich. RFSS actually was the sister division to Totenkopf, though it was initially based on the Begleit Bataillon RFSS. Prinz Eugen was not based on Nord, but Handschar, Kama and Skanderbeg took their cadre from Prinz Eugen. Horst Wessel was the expanded 1. SS-...

I think Heinz von Westernhagen was relieved of command because he was not in fit condition to command. He never really recovered from the wound he suffered during the summer of 1943. His head wound aparently left him with some mental trouble, such as difficulty in concentrating. And he was a realist...

I haven't been in contact with Kiesselbach in nearly a year. I knew that his uncle Rolf was still alive at last word, but I didn't want to make any assumption, so I phrased my words to indicate that Rolf von Westernhagen was still alive at the time that his nephew was looking into this matter. On a ...

For the record, I'm the "American historian" who contacted Wilhelm Kiesselbach, and made him aware of the version of Heinz von Westernhagen's death that Wolfgang Schneider tells. I put Kiesselbach in contact with Schneider, and as the post above shows, Kiesselbach was convinced by this and...

I'm not sure about Tieke's association with the Frundsberg Division. I thought I had read that somewhere, but after the biography you posted, I think I may have accidentally confused him in this case with Ewald Klapdor, another veteran-author who wrote a book about the II. SS-Panzerkorps (Die Entsch...

When it comes to books about Nordland, there is of course Wilhelm Tieke's Tragedy of the Faithful, which covers the entire III. (germ) SS-Panzerkorps. Sten-Erik Norling's book Raza de Vikingo's is specifically about Nordland, though it has the drawback (for many potential readers) of being in Spanis...