Published in „Siegrunen“ Magazine – Volume X, Number 5, Whole Number 61,
Spring 1996
7 April 1945: The 38.SS-Pz.Gr.Div. „Nibelungen“, which had been assembling at the SS-Junkerschule in Bad Tölz, was alerted for action. The divisional manpower strength on this day stood at 2,875 soldiers of all ranks, out of which, 2,719 were combat troops. At this time the 38th SS Division was organized into 7 combat battalions, only two of which were at maximum strength. Three battalions were listed at medium strength, one at „substrength“, and one was noted as being „very weak“.
Over the next 2 1/2 weeks the „Nibelungen“ Division added several hundred cadre personal from the disbanded 30. Waffen- Gr.Div.der SS („Weissruthenien“), along with several hundred more replacement troops from 6.SS-Gebirgs Div. „Nord“, in addition to other odds and ends, including two heavy artillery batteries from the 4.SS-Polizeipanzergrenadier Division. The core of the division was built around the last war time class at the SS- Junkerschule „Tölz“, in which about a score of different European nationalities were represented. The SS-Junkers would serve as both NCO’s and officers in the division. The main portion of the division’s soldiers seemed to be 17-year-old Hitler Youth recruits. Indeed, one entire battalion was composed of students from the Hitler Youth School „Sonthofen“.
24 April 1945: The 38.SS-Pz.Gr.Div. „Nibelungen“ was judged to be fully battle ready and was assigned to the XIII. SS Corps on the Danube River Front in southern Bavaria. Command of the division passed from SS-Gruppenfuhrer Heinz Lammerding to SS-Obersturmbannführer Martin Friedrich Stange, an artillery officer from the „Totenköpf“ and „Reichsführer“ SS Divisions.
The main elements of the 38th SS Division were now as follows:
Stab (Staff)
Panzergrenadier Rgt. 1
(Changed to SS-Pz.Gr. Rgt. 95 on 5 May 1945).
Panzergrenadier Rgt. 2
(Changed to SS-Pz.Gr.Rgt. 96 on 5 May 1945).
SS-Artillerie (Artillery) Abteilung 38
SS-Panzerjäger (Anti-tank) Abteilung 38
SS-Pioniere (Engineer) Abteilung 38
SS-Ersatz (Replacement) Bataillon 38
In sum total, „Nibelungen“ had an estimated 9,000 troops by this date, about 1,000 of whom had come from SS-JS Tölz. Many recruits came from the R.A.D. (Reich Labor Service). Also added to the division (on 9 April 1945), had been the last „Special Use“ Escort Battalion of the Reichsfuhrer-SS. The 38th SS Division had gone from being one-third motorized on 7 April to only one-fourth motorized on 24 April, the difference being that the number of incoming personnel outstripped the amount of vehicles being obtained by the division.
The commander of Panzergrenadier Rgt. 2 (96th SS), was SS-Ostubaf. Walter Schmidt, a veteran of die 5.SS-Panzer Division „Wiking“, who was at the time recovering from his 18th combat wounding! The leadership of the division was distinctly Pan- European due to the make-up of the SS-Junker class that had been incorporated into „Nibelungen“. Virtually all of the squad and platoon leaders and company commanders had come directly from SS-Junkerschule „Tölz“ and among them were many Norwegians, Danes, Dutchmen, Frenchmen, etc. A number of rank-and-file French volunteers from the reserve regiment of the 33.SS- Gren.Div. „Charlemagne“, were also added to the „Nibelungen“ Division.
25 April 1945: On this date, the 38th SS Division became a frontline formation of the XIII. SS Army Corps. „Nibelungen“ had been given the task of holding down the Corps’ right wing. As such the division was assigned to defend a 20-kilometer sector stretching from Vohburg to Kelheim, with bridgeheads along the north bank of the Danube opposite Vohburg and around Kelheim. Almost immediately the hopelessness of the positions became evident, when the neighboring 82nd Army Corps was unable to close up the gap that existed between its left wing and the XIII. SS Army Corps’ right wing. As a result, „Nibelungen“ was forced to extend its lines another 15 kilometers to the western outskirts of Regensburg. It was now so thinly deployed that it could not long resist any concentrated pressure at any one point in its lines.
26 April 1945: After a day of heavy fighting, the 38th SS Division conducted a withdrawal during the night of 26/27 April in conjunction with the rest of XIII. SS Army Corps. While under extreme pressure from the full impact of two enemy divisions—the 14th U.S. Armored and 99th U.S. Infantry—“Nibelungen“ attempted to build up a new defensive line, still 35 kilometers long, in the area about 10 kilometers to the south of the Danube.
27 April 1945: Throughout the day, violent, heavy fighting raged along the 35 kilometer „Nibelungen“ front, but the division’s soldiers managed to hold on. But on the 38th SS Division’s right, the 416th Division had collapsed under an all-out attack by the 99th U.S. Infantry Division. On the „Nibelungen“ left, the 352nd „Special Use“ Volksgrenadier Division managed to keep its positions.
28 April 1945: The 38th SS Division was forced to fall back another 12 kilometers, but its frontline sector was reduced slightly to 30 kilometers. To the west, troops of the XDL SS Army Corps were fighting desperately for the city of Munich and numerous elements were soon cut off.
29 April 1945: This was a day of continuous retrograde fighting, as „Nibelungen“ retreated across the Isar River and through the town of Landshut for a distance of about 16 kilometers. The division established a new line, about 20 kilometers long, beginning to the southeast of Landshut and running west towards the positions of the 352nd Volksgrenadier Division. As the day progressed, two large task forces from the 14th U.S. Armored Division began simultaneously assaulting both wings of the unarmored 38th SS Division.
30 April 1945: By now badly battered by non-stop combat against massive enemy forces, „Nibelungen“ was forced to fall back for another 18 kilometers before assuming a 17 kilometer long front sector about 18 kilometers to the northwest of Pastetten. But this new withdrawal did not buy the division any breathing space, „Nibelungen“ was now directly assaulted by the fresh 86th U.S. Infantry Division, while the 14th U.S. Armored Division continued to harass its right wing.
ABOVE: The Estonian SS volunteer Ülo Nerep, who served with the 38th SS Division „Nibelungen (Courtesy of the Erik Rundkvist Archives).
1 May 1945: The 38th SS Division conducted another desperate 12 kilometer pull back to a new defensive line to the southeast of Pastetten, but these positions could only be held for a few hours. 14th U.S. Armored Division was now beginning an outflanking movement to the east, while 86th U.S. Division was driving straight at „Nibelungen“ from the north. Additionally, the 20th U.S. Armored Division was pressuring the weak juncture point between the 38th SS Division and the 352nd Volksgrenadier Division. In the afternoon and evening, yet another continuous retreat of about 20 kilometers, mostly on foot, brought „Nibelungen“ to the northwestern outskirts of Wasserburg.
2 May 1945: In difficult, sacrificial fighting, the 38th SS Division brought the entire 86th U.S. Infantry Division to a grinding halt some 5-10 kilometers to the northwest of Wasserburg. Unfortunately this effort came to naught when the main portion of the 20th U.S. Armored Division assaulted weak „Nibelungen“ positions to the west-southwest of Wasserburg. The American tanks could not be stopped and the entire 18-kilometer-long divisional front collapsed.
3 May 1945: In a fighting withdrawal of more than 20 kilometers to the Chiemsee (Lake Chiem), the 38th SS Division began to break up. The bulk of the division took up a 13 kilometer long line running along the north bank of the Chiemsee, but by late in the morning this had given way. One segment of the division was now pushed into the sector of the 2nd Gebirgs (Mountain) Division, while most of the „Nibelungen“ Division fell back on foot along the western shore of the Chiemsee.
Another part of the division began retreating along the north shore of the Chiemsee along with a battlegroup from the 352nd Volksgrenadier Division. After a march of about 25-30 kilometers to the east-southeast, this „Nibelungen“ group finally reached the relative security of the mountains to the east of Traunstein.
4 May 1945: The main body of the 38th SS Division finished its final withdrawal via a forced march to the south of the Chiemsee through Bemau and Schillechnig. By late morning, after covering around 25 kilometers on foot, the surviving young grenadiers regrouped in the last „Nibelungen“ defensive positions due west of Oberwoessen. Later in the day a strong assault by the 12th U.S. Armored Division was successfully repulsed by members of the division in hard, close-combat.
Other American attacks on the northwest sector of the 38th SS Divisional front were likewise beaten back. The brave, stubborn resistance by the SS grenadiers at this late stage of the war, while certainly admirable, did not go unnoticed by the enemy. Probably as a result of the division’s efforts, literally hundreds of the „Nibelungen“ soldiers who fell into American hands were executed on the spot It has only been in the post-war years that these terrible atrocities have been documented. None of the „victors“ of course ever had to answer for these crimes! No „Nuremberg“ style tribunals for those „heroes“!
5 May 1945: After sporadic fighting, a negotiated ceasefire went into effect at 23:00 hours. On the same day the regiments of the „Nibelungen“ Division received their official designations, (SS Pz.Gr.Rgts. 95 and 96), to bring them into the authorized Waffen-SS regimental numbering scheme. The next few days would be peaceful ones.
8 May 1945: On this day the XIII. SS Army Corps and the last fully European volunteer formation of the Waffen-SS, 38.SS- Pz.Gr.Div. „Nibelungen“, went into American captivity.
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„NIBELUNGEN“ DESIGNATIONS
27 March 1945: SS-Grenadier-Division „Junker-Schule“.
7 April 1945: SS-Grenadier-Division „Nibelungen“.
9 & 15 April 1945: 38. SS-Grenadier-Division „Junker-Schule Tölz“. („Nibelungen“).
May 1945: 38. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division „Nibelungen”.
The divisional title. „Nibelungen“, was suggested by SS- Ostubaf. Richard Schulze-Kossens, the last commandant of SS- JS „Tölz“ and the first commander of the 38th SS Division. It was accepted by the SS Main Office in April 1945.
„NIBELUNGEN“ COMMANDERS
March-April 1945: SS-Ostubaf. Richard Schulze-Kossens.
April 1945: SS-Gruf. Ritter von Oberkamp
April 1945: SS-Gruf. Heinz Lammerding
April- May 1945: SS-Ostubaf. Martin Friedrich Stange
Ostubaf. Schulze-Kossens was initially responsible for the divisional formation. Gruf. von Oberkamp and Gruf. Lammerding appear to have been „caretaker“ commanders if in fact they actually reached the division. Ostubaf. Stonge very capably led the division during its crucial combat phase.
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The divisional ID sign seems to have been the split-shield with the eagle’s head and SS runes. The helmet emblem may have been a post-war creation. A number of cuff titles evidently of post-war manufacture, have also appeared but lack legitimacy.
ABOVE: SS-Ostubaf. Walter Schmidt (here a Stubaf.), a holder of the Oakleaves to the Knight’s Cross who was wounded 18 times in battle while serving with the „Wiking“ Division. He was the CO of SS- PZ. Gr.RgL96/38. SS-PZ, Gr.Div. „Nibelungen ”.
II.Btl./SS-Pz.Gr.Rgt.96 was commanded by Stubaf. Richter. This battalion was given rough treatment by the Americans both on and off the battlefield. The fates of some of the battalion officers were as follows: Ustuf. Dimter, wounded on 28 April 1945;
Obeijunker Björn Dick Brynjulffson (Norwegian), killed in captivity on 27 April 1945 for failing to comply with his captors’ wishes to call Hitler a „swine“; Oberjunker Julius Schafleitner, KIA on 17 April 1945; Ustuf. Gerhmann shot and killed in the Siebenburger Forest, probably in captivity; Ostuf. Meysing, battalion supply officer, disappeared on the Reichsstrasse 299 near Neustadt on the Danube, (presumed executed in captivity); Oberjunker Oskar Schönleber, KIA at Bad Abbach.
SS-Standartenobeijunker Brandstatter, the battalion adjutant of n./SS-Pz.Gr.Rgt.95, was killed in action on 28 April 1945 in a combat action against U.S. troops near Neustadt on the Danube. Ustuf. Seewald was the CO of 8th Company in the same battalion.
SS Engineer Btl.38/“Nibelungen“ was formed at Freudenstadt in the Black Forest in early April 1945. An Army reserve battalion led by Oberst Hermann Fritz joined the 38th SS Division during the fighting against U.S. forces at Wasserburg on 2 May 1945.
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