Published in „Siegrunen“
Magazine - Volume 7, Number 2, Whole Number 38, April - June 1985
The SS High Mountain School was established in Neustift
in the Stubai Valley of Tyrol on 15 September 1942. It consisted of a staff and
a training group which was divided into the following instruction categories:
mountain officer command training, mountain-jäger NCO training, mountain
engineering, mountain communications, mountain medical services and mountain
supply-transport training.
In
April 1944 the school was expanded through the addition of another three
training groups. II. Group was designated the SS Mountain Warfare School and it
was established as a separate facility, with a reinforced training company, at
Predazzo. III. Group was devoted to mountain marksmanship and sharpshooter
training, while the IV. Group was organized into a mountain officer’s training
school. All of these segments were subordinated, however, to the main
institution at Neustift.
Parts
of the SS High Mountain School were mobilized for the first time in September
1943 for use in the disarming of Italian troops near the Reschen Pass and the
towns of Mals, Schlanders and Meran. Later on, parts of the Neustift facility
had to be deployed in the field again, this time to fight partisans in the area
around the Tonale Pass, Sondrio and Lake Como. The SS Mountain Warfare School
in Predazzo (which was situated in the Fleims Valley of South Tyrol), was
likewise eventually sent into action, first fighting around the Rolle Pass. In
1945 the entire SS Mountain Warfare School was organized into a Kampfgruppe to
defend against the „Allied” advance in the Salurn area. This task force
eventually went into American captivity.
In
April 1945, a major portion of the Neustift facility was commandeered by the
Gauleiter for Tyrol and the instructors and trainees were formed into
battlegroups that were deployed around Scharnitz and Seefeld. They eventually
fell back on Neustift where they surrendered to American forces on 3 May 1945.
The only commander of the SS High Mountain School and its branches was
Standartenführer Eberhard von Quirsfeld, who held this position from 15
September 1942 to May 1945. He died on 28 June 1983 at the age of 84.
A
good many officers, NCOs and specialists from the SS Mountain Divisions „Nord”,
„Prinz Eugen,” „Handschar,” „Skanderbeg,” “Kama” and „Karstjäger,” underwent a
part of their training at the Waffen-SS High Mountain School.
Mortar training at the SS High Mountain School.
Waffen-SS trooper at the SS High Mountain School.
On the march at the SS High Mountain School.
Training exercise at the SS High Mountain School.
Nach Meinung von Charles A. Lindbergh, dem weltberühmten Autor und Flieger, war der 2. Welt Krieg ein schwerer Rückschlag für den Westen.
ReplyDeleteFünfundzwanzig Jahre nach dem Ende des Konflikts schrieb er: „Wir haben den Krieg im militärischen Sinne gewonnen, aber in einem weiteren Sinne scheint es mir, dass wir ihn verlieren, weil unsere westliche Zivilisation weniger ist respektiert und überzeugt von dem, was es vorher war. Um Deutschland und Japan zu besiegen, unterstützen wir die noch größeren Bedrohungen von Russland und China – die uns jetzt in einer Ära der Atomwaffen konfrontieren. Die westliche Kultur wurde zerstört. Wir verloren das genetische Erbe, das in vielen Millionen Leben von Äonen geformt wurde …
Es ist erschreckend möglich, dass der Zweite Weltkrieg den Beginn des Zerfalls der westlichen Zivilisation markiert, da er den Bruch des größten jemals von Menschen gebauten Imperiums markiert. “
Thomas Carlyle ( 1795 — 1881) war ein schottischer Essayist und Historiker, der im viktorianischen Großbritannien sehr einflussreich war. Zu seiner Zeit hat er es schon vorgergesagt .„ DIE ZUKUNFT DEUTSCHLAND IST DIE ZUKUNFT DER WELT“