Maybe someone can give me the answer to the question: did 23 SS division 'Nederland' fought in Berlin?
I read The German Defense of Berlin by W.Willemar where it says the following:
6. Remnants of other combat units, including the 9th Parachute Division and SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Nederland." These units were all low in fighting strength and combat value.
I could not longer find some serious source of which would be confirmed this fact
Werter wrote:Maybe someone can give me the answer to the question: did 23 SS division 'Nederland' fought in Berlin?
I read The German Defense of Berlin by W.Willemar where it says the following:
6. Remnants of other combat units, including the 9th Parachute Division and SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Nederland." These units were all low in fighting strength and combat value.
I could not longer find some serious source of which would be confirmed this fact
Yes remnants of the 23.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzer-Grenadier-Division 'Nederland', fought in Berlin. These remnants where not (or just little) motorized.
Also have a look at the book from Pierik, Perry - From Leningrad to Berlin: Dutch Volunteers in the German Waffen-SS
Werter - Maybe you should just go and buy the book if you have a serious interest. The book is copyrighted and such material can't be scanned and posted here. There is a Sticky at the top of this forum that prohibits such activity. Please take the time to read it.
the Dutch SS-men where probably from the 5th SS division " Wiking". On the http://www.waffen-ss.nl site there is a short combat history of the $th SS- Freiwilligen Brigade " Niederlande" a.k.a. 23rd SS division " Nederland". It's combat Regiments where deployed in Arnswalde ( march 45) and later were forced to the north of Berlin and retreated to the West. On the 3rd of May 45 they surrenderd to US forces.
One part of Regiment 'General Seyffardt' was deployed with the 15th SS division near Hammerstein, here they were destroyed by the Russians. The others from Regiment 'General Seyffardt' ( the lucky ones) were deployed with KorpsGruppe von Tettau and surrenderd to the western Allies.
Essentially, only Dutch stragglers would have been in Berlin. The main body of the Nederland Division was to the southeast, where it was caught in the Halbe pocket. Commander Jürgen Wagner led some survivors to the Elbe, where they surrendered to the Americans (there's a well-known photo of a gaunt Wagner at the Elbe with American soldiers), but most of the unit was lost around Halbe. The General Seyffardt Reg. was detached, and fought north of Berlin, as indicated in a previous post.
Werter wrote:Maybe someone can give me the answer to the question: did 23 SS division 'Nederland' fought in Berlin?
I read The German Defense of Berlin by W.Willemar where it says the following:
6. Remnants of other combat units, including the 9th Parachute Division and SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Nederland." These units were all low in fighting strength and combat value.
I could not longer find some serious source of which would be confirmed this fact
Could it maybe be a mistake, or a typo in Willemar's book and that he meant the 11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division "Nordland", whose remnants fought in Berlin? Just a thought...
Regards,
Krollspell
"Wie es eigentlich gewesen ist"
Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886)
I have heard and read of individual dutchmen in berlin (probably "Nordland" men), but not of units of the "Nederland"
Anyway, small remnants of regiment 49 fought north of berlin and small remnants of regiment 48 fought south of berlin.
Besides the main combat units the various supporting units can be found on various other locations.
All units were basically on their own by that time, communication & cohesion, nearly ceased to exist.