31. SS Freiwilligen Division?

[Helmut Von Moltke]

hi, was the 31.SS Freiwilge Division made of Czechs or what? Wikipedia says that it's made out Volksdeutsche from that area, but a award winning site about the German side of WWII, a sub section on Freiwilge says that they were Czechs. Anyone have any more info? thanks.

the site: http://www.geocities.com/herrvermylen/W ... teers.html

cheers,

kevin.

[sid guttridge]

Hi HvM,

One has to wonder who gave the site an award?

The division contained volksdeutsch from the Bohmen-Mahren Protectorate and Slovakia, men from various W-SS depots in the Protectorate and (if I remember rightly) elements of the ad hoc von Schill regiment previously used to suppress the Slovak National Uprising. (This all bears double checking).

Many volksdeutsch had mixed German-Czech ancestry, but the Germans recruited them because of the German bit. (Hitler's own surname is thought to have been medieval Czech and President Hindenberg used to call him "The Bohemian Corporal").

In 1941-43 the puppet Czech government of the Protectorat three times tried to get Germany to accept a volunteer legion like the French and Spanish to fight against the USSR, but was rejected each time. It wanted thereby to gain national recognition in Axis Europe. By mid 1944 the Germans so distrusted the Czechs that they sent 11 out of the 12 battalions of the ±6,000 man Protectorate Army (Vladni Vojsko) to Italy as construction troops. However, defections to the Italian Partisans were so great that the formation was disarmed in late 1944. The 1st Battalion still in Prague took part in the uprising against the Gwermans in early May 1945.

Hitler despised the Czechs and was resistant to using them militarily even if willing. He intended to displace them with German settlers and did not want to grant them any national recognition within Axis Europe, which a volunteer legion on the Eastern Front would have achieved.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Helmut Von Moltke]

thanks for the explanation.

ah well, about the Czechs in Wehramcht thing, which the Germans were so hesitant to do so, Czechs living in German annexed land like the Sudentenland, etc were conscripted to the Wehrmacht, to add to the explanation.

cheers,

Kevin.

[sid guttridge]

Hi HvM,

Sudetenland Czechs were conscripted by the German Army wehrkreise that were extended into them in October 1938: (from memory, WKVIII, WKIV, WKVII and WKXVII.) They have nothing to do with W-SS recruitment in the Protectorate.

Cheers,

Sid.

[pzrmeyer2]

Hi HvM,

Sudetenland Czechs were conscripted by the German Army wehrkreise that were extended into them in October 1938: (from memory, WKVIII, WKIV, WKVII and WKXVII.) They have nothing to do with W-SS recruitment in the Protectorate.

Cheers,

Sid.

Sid, any idea how many? Seems a very small demograpic, given the large Germany majoritites in these lands.

[sid guttridge]

Hi pzrmeyer,

I have the population stats somewhere, but not the recruitment stats. Yes, it was only a relatively small minority. I will dig the population stats out.

Cheers,

Sid.

[sid guttridge]

Hi pzrmeyer,

When Germany took over the Sudetenland in October 1938 it included 676,478 Czechs.

At the same time 261,524 Germans remained in Czechoslovakia, nearly half of them in Slovakia.

Cheers,

Sid.

[hardi]

hi, was the 31.SS Freiwilge Division made of Czechs or what?

hi,

unfortunately that is absolutely false, see Pencz, Rudolf: For the Homeland! The History of the 31st Waffen-SS Volunteer Grenadier Division
Solihull, UK: Helion & Company, 2002

75% of the enl. men were volksdeutsche from Bácska (~ Komitat Batschka, Hungary).

The Div. raised at 44. oct. 1. and had nothing to do with the former Czechoslovakia.

It seems the mistakenly given name ("Böhmen und Mähren") lead us to an other mistake again :)

[Le Page]

hi, was the 31.SS Freiwilge Division made of Czechs or what?

hi,

unfortunately that is absolutely false, see Pencz, Rudolf: For the Homeland! The History of the 31st Waffen-SS Volunteer Grenadier Division
Solihull, UK: Helion & Company, 2002

75% of the enl. men were volksdeutsche from Bácska (~ Komitat Batschka, Hungary).

The Div. raised at 44. oct. 1. and had nothing to do with the former Czechoslovakia.

It seems the mistakenly given name ("Böhmen und Mähren") lead us to an other mistake again :)

Yes, 31st Division Batschka had personnel mostly from Slovakia and Hungary. I don't know why post-war historians confuse this unit with the Division Bohmen-Mahren, which doesn't have a number.

[Paulus II]

Batschka:

Wikipedia:

Bis 1918 gehörte die gesamte Region zum habsburgischen Ungarn, danach kam der südliche Teil zu Serbien bzw. Jugoslawien, der nördliche Teil verblieb bei Ungarn.

"Until 1918 the whole region was part of the Habsburg Hungary, after that the southern part became part of Servia/Yugoslavia whilst the northern part remained Hungarian".

http://teacher2b.com/batschka/batschka.htm
http://spotlightongames.com/genealogy/backa-wel.html

German settlers in the region:



Paul

[Pisti3]

On the 1.march 1945 a group of 250 sol. were transferred to the division from the 26th. Hungaria. They were very young soldiers (16-17) members of the arrowcross youngs. Name: SS-Freiwilligen-Füsilier-Battalion 31 "Szálasi".
Commander: Zvonimir Bernwald Untersturmführer
Combats:Waldenburg,Strehlen

In Gustav Lombards memoir they performed well,but most of them died at Strehlen.


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