Die Deutsche Wochenschau – Newsreel No. 585 – 20 November 1941

1. Germany.

 

Pictures of the homeland.

 

Greetings from Stuttgart, the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg.

 

– In the 16th century it became a ducal residence.

 

– Bird's eye view of the city.

 

– Streets.

 

– Castle Square, where most of the architectural and historical monuments are located.

 

– Tower clock.

 

– Ancient cathedral.

 

– Famous natives of the city: storyteller Wilhelm Hauf, philosopher Georg Hegel, engineers Ferdinand Porsche and Gottlieb Daimler.

 

– Thanks to these inventors, the city became one of the centres of the German automotive industry.

 

Harvest in Swabia.

 

– Cart with apples.

 

– Loading apples into wagons.

 

Berlin.

 

– Solemn ceremony in honour of the 75-year anniversary of the composer of operettas Paul Linke.

 

– Jubilee welcomes the Minister of Propaganda Goebbels.

 

– In the Berlin Town Hall, the composer is solemnly awarded a medal.

 

– In the evening, in the premises of the People's Theatre Paul Linke conducts his operetta ‘Frau Luna’ performed by the Berlin Operetta.

 

– Fragments of the performance.

 

– Presentation of flowers to the jubilee.

 

Sending children from the north-western regions of Germany in the south of the country.

 

– Children and women in the carriage.

 

– Landscapes in southern Germany.

 

– Station Semmering.

 

– Arrived children and women at the station.

 

– Children on holiday, on a walk.

 

– Woman with an infant child.

 

Warehouse tobacco.

 

– Its sorting, drying, crushing, etc.

 

– Making cigarettes.

 

– Stuffing machine.

 

– Automatic cigarette packing line.

 

– Warehouse of finished products.

 

– Dispatching it by motor vehicles.

 

Field Marshal Goering awards distinguished pilots Luftwaffe.

 

– The ceremony of awarding.

 

– Goering hands out Iron Crosses, claps a pilot on the shoulder.

 

2. Finnish front.

 

In a break between battles: the commander of the 36th Corps, General of Cavalry Hans Feige awards Finnish soldiers who distinguished themselves in battle with Iron Crosses.

 

– German units in Karelia.

 

– Horse carts riding past the tanks.

 

– After the conquest of Jaanislinna (Petrozavodsk), eastern Karelia is systematically – cleared of Bolsheviks.

 

– Soviet units hide in dense virgin forests.

 

– Tanks in the forest, they break trees on the way.

 

– Shelling of Soviet positions.

 

– Firing guns.

 

– Another fierce fight in the forest.

 

– The Bolsheviks surrender, two soldiers are carrying a wounded man.

 

– German infantrymen in camouflage jackets moving forward, carrying weapons on a drag.

 

3. Near Leningrad.

 

Building a bridge provided with ice-cutters, the movement of the echelon on the bridge.

 

– Wooden structures of the bridge are filled with large cobblestones.

 

– The Germans unloaded stones along the chutes in wagons, carried to the construction site.

 

– Timber storage.

 

– German echelon.

 

– Unloading cows, goats.

 

– Warm winter things that arrived at the front.

 

– Arrival of the car with food, unloading it.

 

– Soviet prisoners at unloading work.

 

– The Germans are settling in winter flats.

 

– A soldier picks up firewood, carries in the dugout, stove.

 

– Soldiers rubbed with snow.

 

– German soldiers dismantle sent woollen clothes.

 

– The German puts on a coat maskhalat, put on his head cap.

 

– Special insulated boots and fur coat for observers and outposts.

 

– Division of scouts on skis.

 

– Detection of the Soviet detachment.

 

– Firefight with Soviet troops.

 

– Fragments of the battle.

 

– Explosions.

 

– They are going to surrender to the Red Army.

 

4. Military operations near Moscow.

 

German Colonel-General Maximilian Weichs, who celebrated his 60th birthday, at the positions.

 

– Weichs’ divisions and corps fought in Poland and the Balkans, on the western front.

 

– Later they helped in the battles near Kiev and Bryansk.

 

– He presents Iron Crosses to distinguished soldiers.

 

– An attack on a Soviet position north of Moscow.

 

– Part of the city is in the outer defence ring.

 

– A machine gunner shooting.

 

– Shooting infantrymen.

 

– They go to surrender Soviet soldiers.

 

– German infantry in the village.

 

– In the morning.

 

– View of Soviet positions and fortifications destroyed by the Germans.

 

– Destroyed equipment.

 

– The corpses of Soviet soldiers, covered with snow.

 

– One hundred kilometres from Moscow.

 

– Field kitchen with hot food for soldiers.

 

– Horses eat.

 

– Germans in camouflage.

 

– On the mud are tanks, other equipment.

 

– Announcer about the ‘indescribable’ state of Russian roads.

 

– Prisoners of war are working on cleaning the roads.

 

– German soldiers, bogging down in the mud.

 

– A soldier trying to pull out of the mud his boot.

 

– Go transports with replenishment and ammunition.

 

– Tanks in the village.

 

– Aerodrome transport aviation.

 

– Loading fuel in barrels in the transport aircraft.

 

– The aircraft takes off into the air, over the window of the cockpit hangs a toy monkey.

 

– He flies low over the German columns.

 

– In the cargo compartment barrels of fuel.

 

5. USSR. Southern section of the front.

 

On the line Krivoy Rog, Dnepropetrovsk, Stalin-Mariupol.

 

– View of Kharkov from the aircraft.

 

– A huge industrial enterprise /apparently, HTZ/.

 

– German aircraft lands in the central square of Kharkov at the building Gosprom, etc.

 

– The miserable dwellings of workers and the poor against the background of administrative colossi.

 

– Preparation of the next issue of the front newspaper ‘Ost-front’.

 

– Handing out the finished issue of the soldiers.

 

– Caricature of Stalin.

 

– The population buys in a kiosk anti-Soviet newspaper ‘The Voice of Poltava’, the number in the hands of the reader.

 

– Blown up railway bridge over the Dnieper.

 

– The grand opening of a new bridge, built by German sappers.

 

– On the bridge are trains.

 

– View of the bridge.

 

– Column of Soviet prisoners.

 

– A separate column of ‘identified’ Jews.

 

– View of the column from the air.

 

– Faces of soldiers.

 

– Typical Jewish faces.

 

– Landing German infantry on a barge on the Dnieper.

 

– Soldiers with weapons on the barge.

 

– Disembarkation of soldiers.

 

– Sending the German wounded to the rear on a barge, comrades give them a smoke.

 

6. USSR. Fighting in the Crimea.

 

German cyclists on the road leading to Simferopol.

 

– The defeat of the Soviet factory, turned by Soviet troops into a fortress and taken by storm by the Germans.

 

– The passage of the camera on the ruins of the factory.

 

– View of the destroyed Soviet armoured train.

 

– German anti-aircraft gunners are firing at Soviet aircraft.

 

– One aircraft falls down.

 

– Its burning remains.

 

7. Romania. 8 November in Bucharest is a victory parade.

 

On the steps of the royal palace in Victoria Square King Mihai I, Marshal Ion Antonescu, Queen Mother Helen.

 

– King Mihai I attaches awards to the banners of the units that distinguished themselves in the battles for Odessa.

 

– The parade is attended by German Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel.

 

– Rewarding officers, whom the king ordains knights of the Order of Mihai the Brave.

 

– Awards ceremony.

 

– Parade of winners.

 

– Under the Arc de Triomphe are Romanian troops who won the victory over Odessa, led by General Joseph Iacobich.

 

– Solemn passage of infantrymen, the passage of equipment.

 

– Defiles German group of troops stationed in Bucharest, led by General Arthur Hauffe.

 

8. Africa.

 

General Rommel bypasses the ranks of soldiers, awarded distinguished in battle.

 

– Preparation of a festive dinner.

 

– A soldier carries a plate of food.

 

– Soldiers eat.

 

– A soldier in a protective net from insects.

 

– Soldiers bring an awning to protect the table from the invasion of pesky flies.

 

– The feast continues.

 

– Chronicle cameraman in a protective net, covered with flies.

 

– A soldier writes a letter in a protective net.

 

– Flies walk around the letter.

 

At the front of the Sallum.

 

– Tank attack.

 

– Tanks are going through the desert.

 

– Shelling of enemy positions.

 

– Shooting guns.

 

– Rommel observes the course of the battle.

 

– Fragments of shelling.

 

– Tanks returning after a successful operation.

 

– Tanks in the desert.

 

– Burning and hit British tanks.

 

9. The English Channel.

 

German ships patrolling at sea.

 

– Sailor observers with binoculars.

 

– German aircraft escort.

 

– German caravan continues patrolling.

 

– German aircraft on the airfield.

 

– The pilot sits in the cockpit.

 

– Planes take off.

 

– The aircraft over the strait.

 

– View of the English coast.

 

– Shelling English aircraft.

 

– Bombing English ship.

 

– Explosions.

 

– Bombs.

 

– Burning ships.

 

– Shelling of ships from machine guns.

 

– Burning and sinking ship.

 

– The pilot transmits a message to the submariners.

 

– Another ship is sinking.

Adolf Hitler – Speech Before 200 000 Political Leaders, 7 September 1934

 

Nuremberg, September 7, 1934

 

One year ago, we met for the first time on this field; it was the first general review of the political leaders of the National Socialist Party. Now 200,000 men have been assembled; summoned not by their mere hearts but also their fidelity. It is our nation's greatest misery that moved us, united us in struggle, and made us fight strong, and all of those who have not suffered with me the very same misery and suffering among their own people cannot comprehend what we feel. To them, it is confusing and incomprehensible that this assembly would bring hundreds of thousands together and make them endure great misery, suffering and privation as a simple order of the State. They can only think that such a thing could only be possible at the command order of the State. They are gravely mistaken. It is not the State that orders us; but it is we who order the State!

 

It is not the State that created us, it is we who created the State! But the Movement is alive and stands firmly as a rock as long as one of us can still breathe life into it, just as in the many years past. Then drum will join drum, banner will join banner, group will join group, district will join district, and then, at last, the once divided people will then follow the gigantic column of a united Reich!

 

It would be a crime if we ever gave up what had been fought for and won so much strife, sorrow and sacrifice, and distress. One cannot be disloyal to something that has given content, meaning and purpose to one's entire life. All of this would not be possible were it not given to us by a great command and it is God Himself who created our Reich!

 

Therefore, let us take this vow this very evening, namely at each and every hour, one each day, to think only of Germany, the Nation, the Reich and our German people! To our German Nation - Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!

Formation of the 26. Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS „Hungaria”

 

Published in „Siegrunen“ Magazine - Vol. XII, No. 1,

Whole Number 69, Summer 2000

 

By Richard Landwehr

 

Editor’s note: After reading the idiotic text concerning the 26.WGDdSS „Hungaria“ on p.131 of the book THE HITLER’S INSTRUMENT OF TERROR by Gordon Williamson, which states among other things that the division was formed „in Germany in September 1944 around a nucleus of existing units, including the 49th SS Pz.Gr.Brigade and the Pz. Brigade Gross“ along with a small number of Hungarian and Romanian soldiers „fleeing the Red Army“, I about lost it. I certainly cant be the only one sick of these slick but moronic, exploitation, „atrocity“ books that keep getting put out. In any event I thought it was now time to cover the true story of the „Hungaria“ Division in more detail than before!

 

Rajka, a small northwestern Hungarian town of about 3,000 inhabitants in 1944, had by the end of the year become the collecting point for thousands of Hungarian volunteers slated to become part of a second full Hungarian Waffen-SS division, joining the already in formation 25. Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS „Hunyadi“. On 22 December 1944, some 2,000 volunteers, under the direction of soldiers from the Hungarian SS-Kampfgruppe „Ney“ left Budapest for Rajka to join the new division and thus escaped being trapped in the city by the Russians by a mere two days! Although outfitted in new Waffen-SS uniforms they had to march on foot in freezing weather to Rajka. At about the same time an entire Hungarian field police battalion, also in new Waffen-SS uniforms, but with the luxury of motor transport also left for Rajka, arriving on the 23rd of December. Their initial job would be to help the officers round up and assemble all of the volunteer groups in Rajka into designated formations.

 

The new division had been in the planning stages at least since the end of November 1944, when the SS Main Office had issued authorization to begin the formation of the unit. Personnel was to be comprised of civilian recruits and military veterans under former Honved (Royal Hungarian Army) staff officers and German liaison attaches. By late December, a divisional staff had been formed and was in place in Rajka. It was only awaiting the final authorization from the Hungarian Army Ministry to proceed further. This arrived on 23 December 1944. The designated divisional commander, Waffen-Oberführer der SS Zoltan v. Pisky, a Honved brigade commander, recovering from wounds received that autumn, then issued the following directives:

 

2.Ung.Pz.Gr.Div.

„Hungaria“

Headquarters, on 23 December 1944 (Released at 08:15 hours on 24 December 1944).

 

DIVISIONAL ORDERS NUMBER 1

 

1) I wish to make it known to the assembled volunteers in the town of Rajka and vicinity (the zone of the Rajka assembly area), that the Royal Hungarian Army Minister, Generaloberst (Col.Gen.) Beregfy, has on 23 December 1944, through the Special Order Number 1787, authorized the formation of a second Hungarian (SS) Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division.

 

2) The esteemed Army Minister has simultaneously bestowed upon the unit the name „Hungaria“. The title of the unit therefore reads:

 

„Panzergrenadier Division ‘Hungaria’“

 

3) The commander of the Division is -the undersigned-- Zoltan vitez Pisky, Oberst der Homed, (Colonel of the Royal Hungarian Army). The regimental commanders are the following:

 

4. Pz.Gr.Rgt. -- Andor vitez Podhradsky, Oberst

 

5. Pz.Gr.Rgt. -- Dr. Bela Lengyel, Oberstleutnant (Lt.Col).

 

6. Pz.Gr.Rgt. -- Ference vitze Varnay, Major

 

The further appointments of command postions will be addressed in the course of following divisional orders.

 

4) All of the grouped volunteers in the vicinity of the Rajka assembly area, who at this time hears the reading of these orders, will, without regard to rank or former unit membership, be placed at the further disposal of the 2nd Volunteer Division.

 

5) All of the volunteers will immediately be placed into military formations under designated officers and NCOS with the assistance of the Field Police.

 

6) The troop strength will be reported to me by 12:00 hours on the 24th.

 

7) All members of the division will then, in an orderly formation, prepare for transport and relocation.

 

Signed: vitez Pisky, Oberst, Division Commander

 

Attested to by: Geza Both, Oberleutnant, Acting Divisional Adjutant

 

For the next several hours, a head count went on while the volunteers were being rapidly bunched together into companies, battalions and regiments. At exactly noon on 24 December the strength report was turned into the division commander. He found out that he had 8,100 officers, NCOs and men at his disposal at that time. 2,511 of the troops were experienced soldiers, some of whom had been sent directly from the Hungarian Army Ministry. 5,589 men were untrained recruits according to the report of the divisional adjutant.

 

During the midday hours a march formation was organized and the columns of soldiers were soon sent off towards Pozsony. The goal was the railroad station at Ligetfalu near Pozsony, from which the soldiers were to be transported into Austria and Germany. The ultimate destination was to be the Neuhammer Training Camp near Strans in Uppoer Silesia. While passing through Austria the Hungarian SS troops were fed by field kitchens from the Vienna Military District.

 

The 25.Waffen-Grenadier Div. der SS „Hunyadi“ (Hungary Nr.1), was already in place at Neuhammer, which meant that the arriving „Hungaria“ soldiers would have to share crowded quarters with the „Hunyadi“ troops. Unfortunately it took time to arrange accommodations for everyone and many of the „Hungaria“ volunteers had to spend several days outside in sub-freezing weather and since many were inadequately clothed this caused severe hardships and by 28 December 1944, three of the ‘‘Hungaria“ recruits had reportedly died from exposure!

 

On the same day, 28 December, the „Hungaria“ divisional staff under the now Waf.-Oberfiihrer (Senior Col.) v. Pisky arrived at Neuhammer. On the next day, many of the new recruits were finally issued long uniform coats, (two different per person). Surplus uniforms from the „Hunyadi“ Division were now passed on to the „Hungaria“ Division which soon also had an excess of material. This led to speculation that more Hungarian SS Divisions were to be formed, which indeed was the long­term (but never realized) plan.

 

30 December 1944 saw the issuance of food utensils and canteens to the „Hungaria“ men along with new service pistols for the officers and NCOs. The 28th SS Division had now begun the job of organizing its internal structure and trying to put the right people into the right places. The formation had a noticeable lack of specialists and medical people, so very quickly personnel exchanges began with the „Hunyadi“ Division in order to fill in the gaps.

 

The Royal Hungarian Army Ministry also now dispatched some 650 trained armored troops, (including 170 Panzer VI tank drivers), to „Hungaria“ to help form what was intended to be the SS Panzerjäger (Anti-tank) Abteilung 26. But since the Division had no tanks and little prospect of getting any, these soldiers had to be incorporated into the ranks as „grenadiers“ (infantrymen). The same lot also befell a company of Hungarian „Hussars“ (cavalrymen) and some 400 Air Force personnel (including 110 trained pilots!) who had also been sent to „Hungaria“. A full company of Hungarian paratroopers (in camouflage smocks), that had only recently been in action, also arrived at Neuhammer to bolster the 26th SS Division.

 

A workshop company had also been set up and it was equipped with German tools and equipment. Waffen-Standartenführer Eugen (Miksa) Brenner was named to command the fledgling Artillery Regiment; he had been a Colonel in the Honved Flak troops.

 

The „Hungaria“ Field Police Battalion was already fully clothed in Waffen-SS uniforms, but these troops also wore Hungarian „breast plates“ or gorgets that were worn around the neck for instant identification, (German field police used the same device only in a different design). During the late afternoon of 30 December the divisional staff issued the following Field Post numbers to all active internal units:

 

DIVISIONAL STAFF

 

HQ Staff: 04606

Military Police Troop 26 04606/A

Translator Company 26 046C6/B

Signals Troop 26 04606/C

Messenger Troop 26 (Motorcycle & Horse) 04606/D

Divisional Security/Reconnaissance Company 26 04607/E

 

WAFFEN-GRENADIER RGT. DER SS 64

 

Regimental Staff 11788

I. W. Gren. Btl. 14886

II. W. Gren. Btl. 15055

 

WAFFEN-GRENADIER RGT. DER SS 65

 

Regimental Staff 30102

I. W. Gren.Btl. 31141

II.W.Gren.Btl. 32046

 

WAFFEN-GRENADIER RGT. DER SS 85

 

Regimental Staff 35115

I. W. Gren. Btl. 36339

II. W. Gren. Btl. 37924

 

Each Waffen-Grenadier Regiment would later add a third Battalion.

 

WAFFEN-ARTILLERIE RGT. DER SS 26

Regimental Staff 64429

I. W. Abt. (ist-3rd Batteries)?

II. W. Abt. (4th-6th Batteries) 64881

III. W. Abt. (7th-9th Batteries) 65242

IV. W. Abt. (10th-11th Batteries) 65932

 

WAFFEN-PIONIER-BATAILLON 26 66211

WAFFEN-PANZERJÄGER-ABTEILUNG 26 39037

WAFFEN-NACHRICHTEN-ABTEILUNG 26 66843

 

Two other units, a Supply Regiment and a Training and Replacement Battalion were still in the process of forming, but both lacked „specialist“ personnel so were still not considered „official“ divisional units and were not yet given Field Post numbers. For that matter the entire divisional staff was still in the process of being constructed. The third Waffen- Grenadier Regiment received the number 85 in the Waffen-SS numbering scheme, since the regimental number 66 had already been assigned to the 27.SS-Freiwilligen-Pz.Gr.Div. „Langemarck“.

 

After a new head count of personnel coming to the 26.SS Division at Neuhammer and thanks to transfers from the 25.SS Division „Hunyadi“, the new „Hungaria“ strength as of 30 December 1944 stood at 16,761 troops (!) divided into 351 officers, 1,270 NCOs and 15.140 men. Out of this number, 10,750 were organized into units while 6,011 were still in „reserve“ and had not yet been assigned to any specific unit.

 

A first inventory of the divisional armament was also now carried out. As of 30 December 1944, „Hungana’¹ had the following weapons:

 

808 M98 Carbines, 10 sniper rifles with scopes, 792 Hungarian rifles (mostly in the Military Field Police Battalion), 400 M08 pistols, 273 M09 pistols, 50 Beretta machine-pistols, 15 light machine-guns and 2 heavy machine-guns. The entire divisional motor transport consisted of 4 motorcyles, 2 automobiles and 2 trucks!

 

in terms of clothing and uniforms, 3,706 soldiers were dressed in Waffen-SS field grey with 2,601 men wearing Hungarian Army attire. The rest were still in civilian clothes and most did not have overcoats. The unit commanders now also adapted full SS ranks and nomenclature. The entire next day, 31 December 1944, was spent in further organizing the division.

 

At 03:00 hours on 1 January 1945 a special courier from the SS Main Office in Berlin arrived at Neuhammber with orders relocating the „Hungaria“ Division to the Generalgovernment (Poland). This was due to the crowded situation at the Training Camp, which was making it difficult to adequately deal with all of the soldiers there. The entire formation was then immediately put on alert. Unfortunately the area to which the 26.SS Division was to be sent was underdeveloped in terms of military facilities and ominously close to the Eastern Front!

 

At 05:30 hours, elements of the SS Transport Company 500 arrived to assist with the relocation. This was followed by the appearance of two military transport trains at 08:00 upon which the first regiment (WGRdSS 64) was swiftly loaded. By 10:00 it was on its way towards Sagan and Glogau. It arrived at its eventualy destination, the Polish town of Sieradz at 01:00 on 2 January 1945.

 

Waffen-Grenadier Regiments 65 and 85 did not follow until 4 January 1945, when a civilian train complete with Pullman cars was made available for the transport! Waffen-Artillery Rgt. 26 followed on the 5th of January. Remaining behind in Neuhammer was the cadre for the divisional Supply Regiment and the Training and Replacement Battalion. By 6 January 1945, the „Hungaria“ HQ was able to report the safe arrival of 10,750 troops in Schieradz and vicinity. The individual units were quickly quartered in small villages in the area as follows:

 

Schieradz: Divisional HQ and Security/Recce Co. 26 (initially located in the town but later moved on 14 January to an old Polish military base).

Warte: I. Btl./Waf. Gr. Rgt. d. SS 64.

Jakubice: II./ Waf. Gr. Rgt. d. SS 64 and Waf.Pio.Btl.26 (Engineers) - (The latter unit was there on a temporary basis).

Chojne: I./ Waf. Gr. Rgt. d. SS 8b.

Dombrowka-Wielka: II./ Waf. Gr. Rgt. d. SS 85.

Birkenland: I./ Waf. Gr. Rgt. d. SS 65.

Klein Gliczkow: II./ Waf. Gr. Rgt. d. SS 65.

Dombrowka: Waf. Art. Rgt. d. SS 26

 

On 7 January 1945, a Cossack Volunteer unit with 105 horse carts and a cavalry squadron was attached to the 26th SS Division. Their job was to keep the roads secure from Polish partisan attacks and also help resupply the detached „Hungaria“ units. The Cossacks wore the uniforms and insignia of General Vlasov’s RONA (Russian National Liberation Army). They stayed with the „Hungaria“ Division, providing useful and essential services, until the end in Austria in May 1945.

 

Supplies and weaponry continued to flow into the division including another 1903 carbines, 40 more sniper/scope rifles, 250 more Baretta machine-pistols, 35 more light machine-guns, 8 more heavy machine- guns and the first consignments of mortars, anti-tank guns and field howitzers. In addition, the division now received personal anti-tank weapons in the form of 50 Panzerschreck „bazookas“ along with 500 Panzerfaust single-shot „bazookas“ and 1,000 hand grenades.

 

Three teletype machines and 15 sets of radios and communications gear (of two different varieties) were also delivered. It was hard to get any more motor vehicles however; only one more automobile and six more motorcycles arrived. But these were supplemented by a shipment of some 500 bicycles! Additionally, 22,000 quarter-shelters for constructing tents, 1,000 gas masks, 11,000 mess kits and 11,000 set of cutlery were also dispersed to the troops.

 

Organization and training now began in earnest, but it was hindered by horrible winter weather conditions in the form of heavy snow and extreme cold. It soon became hard to get good drinking water and keep the men healthy. Field telephone communications were also continually being interrupted by the weather and the partisans. Several requests were sent to the SS Main Office for more winter uniforms but these were not forthcoming. The sharpshooters, while well-equipped, soon ran out of ammunition and thus could not train or practice. Each soldier with a rifle only received 60 rounds of ammunition and each machine-gun was limited to essentially only a cannister of ammo. Much of the ammunition could not be used in training and had to be hoarded for potential use against the threatening terrorist groups. The military district command was assembling weapons and munitions for the use of the local Volkssturm and would not turn loose of most of it. However the divisional staff and its security/recce company established a „bicycle supply line“ on the icy roads to bring in whatever ammo could be pried loose from the local authorities.

 

Unfortunately, most of the hand-grenades and Panzerfaust were used up in a week of training exercises and there were no immediate replacements! On 11 January 1945 a supply unit of the 26.SS Division was attacked by terrorists on the road between Schieradz and Klein Gliczkow, and despite a Cossack escort, there were losses and fatalities. After that, Hungarian SS Field Police would also accompany the supply troops. However things were about to get much worse rather than better! To be continued ...

 

Divisional insignia: Collar patch used by the 25th & 26th SS Division