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    5th SS Wiking at War, 1941–1945: A History of the Division
    5th SS Wiking at War, 1941–1945: A History of the Division
    5th SS Wiking at War, 1941–1945: A History of the Division
    Ebook177 pages1 hour

    5th SS Wiking at War, 1941–1945: A History of the Division

    By Ian Baxter

    2.5/5

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    About this ebook

    A photographic documentation of the German foreign volunteer unit—“a valuable addition to any enthusiast’s library of WWII military history books” (Firetrench).
     
    Drawing on a superb collection of rare and unpublished photographs, the 5th SS Division Wiking 1941-1945 is the 5th book in the Waffen-SS Images of War Series by Ian Baxter. The book tells the dramatic story of the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking at War. The men of the division were recruited from foreign volunteers in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, the Netherlands and Belgium under the command of German officers. Not all were collaborators—the choice they were all too often presented with was join up or be locked up—or worse. During the course of the war, the division served on the Eastern Front in 1941. It surrendered in May 1945 to the American forces in Austria.
     
    “The photos are mostly unpublished before and give an excellent impression of Wiking at war. We see a good variety of conditions over the 5 years of their war, from the height of summer to the depths of winter. We see fine detail of their uniforms and personal equipment as well as the development of larger equipment from motorcycles and early Panzer IVs, to the larger Panthers of the final period. There is also good coverage of anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons as well as heavier artillery. There is a good spread of detail in here which will interest the historian as well as the reenactors, militaria collectors and modelers alike.”—Military Model Scene
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateMar 30, 2018
    ISBN9781526721358
    5th SS Wiking at War, 1941–1945: A History of the Division
    Author

    Ian Baxter

    Ian Baxter is a military historian who specialises in German twentieth-century military history. He has written more than fifty books. He has also reviewed numerous military studies for publication, supplied thousands of photographs and important documents to various publishers and film production companies worldwide, and lectures to various schools, colleges and universities throughout the United Kingdom and Southern Ireland.

    Read more from Ian Baxter

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    Reviews for 5th SS Wiking at War, 1941–1945

    2.5/5

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    • 1/5
      Photo quality abysmal (author clearly owns only digital copies of copies). Nothing new. Badly written, warmed up mish-mash
    • 3/5
      The photographs are nice, the overall description is also OK. Some details are missing. The winter period, Nov 43 - Jan 44, and Feb - Apr 1944 is scarcely described, where actual heavy defeats of the Wiking happened ... The Korsun-Tsherkassky - Calduron is not the only one.

    Book preview

    5th SS Wiking at War, 1941–1945 - Ian Baxter

    Introduction

    Preparing for war

    Following the invasion of Poland in October 1939, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, commander of the SS, was eager to expand the Waffen-SS and wanted to establish a number of new SS divisions and recruit thousands of new soldiers under his command. This included recruiting ethnic Germans from occupied territories. As these were not technically eligible for conscription, he knew that the Wehrmacht could not obstruct his plans. Thus he began a recruitment drive which would be much better, more organised and larger than ever before. Apart from the expansion of the Leibstandarte, the three SS-Verfügungstruppe Standarten – Deutschland, Germania and Der Führer, which later became Das Reich, Totenkopf, and Polizei – Himmler was also enthusiastic to recruit foreign blood for what he termed a ‘crusade against Bolshevism’. Conscription for foreign recruits began in April 1940 with the establishment of two regiments: the Waffen-SS Regiment Westland (for Dutch and Flemish volunteers) and a Waffen-SS Regiment Nordland (for Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish volunteers).

    Himmler wanted an international army which would attract ‘all the Nordic blood of the world’ in one single crusade which would represent the spirit of a New Europe, all aimed at the destruction of ‘godless Bolshevism’. Thus a new Nordic formation was constructed at the behest of the Reichsführer. It was originally organised as the Nordische Division (Nr. 5), and its core of men was composed of eager Nordic volunteers and ethnic German Waffen-SS personnel. In late 1940 the SS Infantry Regiment Germania of the SS-Verfügungs-Division, which had drafted mainly ethnic Germans into its units, was incorporated into its formation to bolster the newly recreated division. In December 1940, the new SS division was to be designated as SS-Division Germania. However, in early 1941, its name was changed to SS-Division Wiking. The Wiking division comprised of three motorised infantry regiments: Nordland, Westland, and Germania. In addition to its infantry regiments, an artillery regiment was added: SS Artillery Regiment 5.

    Chosen to command this division was Brigadeführer Felix Steiner. Steiner had been introduced to Himmler in mid-1940 and had formerly been the commander of the Verfügungstruppe SS Regiment Deutschland. He was soon nominated by the Reichsführer to oversee the creation of, and then take command of, the new Wiking Division, which comprised mainly non-German volunteers, mostly Dutch, Flemish, Finns and Scandinavians, and included the Danish regiment Frikorps Danmark.

    This was the first multi-national division in the German army and would not be the last. In fact, two years later four of the eight new SS divisions formed would comprise foreign conscripts, mainly eastern Europeans.

    Himmler was determined that Wiking be prepared for the war against Russia and be indoctrinated to fight against Bolshevism. He looked upon the fight against the Soviet Union as a righteous crusade with the SS order taking the glory on the battlefield. His plans were intoxicated by his personal over-optimistic ambitions and dreams of destroying Russia and colonizing it. The planning for the invasion of Russia was far different from the Reichsführer’s vision. From the onset of planning, little was known about the country they were about to attack. The Red Army were an enigma to the German soldier. There was little information supplied about the country which they were invading, nor was there anything substantial known about the terrain or climate. The SS saw the Russians as inferior Slavic people. Propaganda informed the German soldier that all Russians were living in poverty and that its antiquated army were totally unprepared for war. They therefore seriously underestimated their enemy and were unprepared for the unimaginable distances in which they had to march. The immense forests, the huge expanses of marshland, and the many rivers that were continuously prone to flooding would be huge obstacles in their march east. The little information they did have was often incorrect. Maps frequently showed none of the roads, and the roads that were on the maps were in a terrible state of repair or nothing more than dirt tracks.

    There were also extremes of temperature in Russia: tropical mosquito-infested swamplands in the north; baking open arid terrain in the south; in the autumn the rain would turn roads and tracks into slurry; in winter temperatures could drop to thirty or even forty degrees below and Russia would freeze for weeks on end.

    Despite these hardships, the men of Wiking were determined to fulfill their duty and undertake their war of annihilation against the Soviet Union.

    Fresh-faced newly recruited soldiers of the SS Wiking Division with their motorcycles at a training camp. The men of the division were recruited from foreign volunteers in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, the Netherlands and Belgium under the command of German officers. The division was formed in December 1940 around the Germania regiment from the SS Division Verfügungstruppe, which later became Das Reich. The division was initially titled Germania, but in January 1941 the name changed to Wiking to reflect the Nordic non-German volunteers that had been recruited. The division comprised SS Infantry Regiment Nordland which was composed of Danes and Norwegians, SS Infantry Regiment Westland of Dutch and Flemish, and Infantry Regiment Germania comprising the 5th SS Artillery Regiment which was made up entirely of ethnic Germans.

    Wiking soldiers in the Spring of 1941 stand next to a light Horch cross-country vehicle and a supply truck inside a village. Local children can be seen with the troops. Note the divisional markings of SS Wiking painted in white on the right front fender of both vehicles.

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