A Chapter in the Unknown Story of the Spanish Waffen- SS
Published in „Siegrunen“ Magazine - Vol. XII, No. 4,
Whole Number 72, Spring-Summer 2002
By Erik Norling
In the spring of 1944, the last Spanish soldiers of the „Blue Legion” (former Blue Division) were withdrawn and returned to the Fatherland after serving three long years at the Eastern Front. They left behind on Russian soil the bodies of 5.000 comrades, 300 captives in Russian hands, and 21,900 casualties out of the 47.000 who fought. But they also came back with the feeling that General Franco was betraying his word when at Christmas 1941 he promised the officers of this voluntary unit that in case, someday, the road to Berlin was under threat, then a million Spaniards would be there to help their comrade-in-arms Germany! Now he preferred to secure his country and he approached the Allies for negotiations.
Many of these volunteers, (the actual estimations are between 1.000 and 1.500), remained in Germany or again crossed the border with the occupied France to continue the fight against the Reds. For decades historians have recorded that only a handful of Spaniards that fought at Berlin 1945 in the „unit Ezquerra”, were in this group. The rest were then entered into a historical blackout... This article is an advance look of one of the areas of the research now being made in Spain that we hope will be published soon dealing with the front service of Spanish volunteers in the Wehrmacht (Yugoslavia, Rumania, Slovakia, etc.) and the Waffen-SS (with Leon Degrelle, the Dirlewanger units, the Italian SS Divisions, Skorzeny’s commandos, the special antiterrorist units of the SD in France, the battle of Berlin, captivity in Rusia, etc.). The political and propaganda activities around this unknown chapter of Spain's engagement during WWII will also be considered.
Into the Waffen-SS
Even before the repatriation of the Blue Legion both the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS competed for the recruitment of Spanish volunteers to be enlisted into their ranks. Due to the special diplomatic situation between Spain and Germany these actions had to be fulfilled undercover with secrecy. During 1944 the SS-Hauptamt decided to accept Spanish volunteers into their units, mainly in the „Wallonian” Division commanded by Leon Degrelle as well as in the security units that fought the terrorists in Southern France. The latter was due to the fact that many of the terrorists were Spanish Reds who had escaped from Spain after the Civil War. The recruiters of the WSS decided to even compete with the Wehrmacht and sent their own agents to the instruction camps where the Army kept the Spanish volunteers to convince them to cp,e over to the Waffen-SS, even deserting if necessary.
In this way many Spanish volunteers that had been being trained by the Wehrmacht at Hall/Tirol for many months and who were frustrated for not being sent to the front accepted the offer made by the Waffen-SS and left the Wehrmacht. One group was concentrated with the 28. SS Division „Wallonien” and took part in the heavy battles around Amswald and Stargard in Pomerania February/March 1945 ending at Berlin. Another group was designated to became part of a new unit that was developed during 1944, the 24. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS „Karstjäger” in Italy.
They were idealists that had snuck across over the border, vets from the Blue Division with experience from the Eastern Front, but also some former Spanish Reds disappointed who wanted to return to Spain and workers who left for Germany at the beginning of the war to work at their factories. They felt that by enlisting in the Waffen-SS believed that it would be easier to return home.
Anti-partisan Warfare
In the spring 1944, a former 2nd Lieutenant of the Spanish Foreign Legion and vet from the Spanish Civil War, Jose Ortiz Fernandez from northern Spain enlisted in the German anti-terrorist units in France. He worked for the SD and/or the „Brandenburg” division of the Wehrmacht until the fall of France. After the D-Day he was ordered to visit factories, KZ-camps and other facilities where Spaniards could be found in order to convince them to enlist in the Waffen-SS. He managed to obtain around hundred volunteers for his unit who were concentrated at Vienna. The Spanish platoon leaders were: G. Trapaga, Carlos Meleiro, Jose Maria Ozores, Felix Millän and Alfredo Solis, all of them vets from the Blue Division that decided to remain in Germany when the unit was withdrawn. Ortiz received the rank of SS- Oberschaflihrer (even though he was to be the company CO) and his officers as SS-Unterscharführer apart from Trapaga that was made an SS-Oberscharführer due to the fact that he had been a Lieutenant in the Spanish Army and was a veteran from the Civil War.
In the summer of 1944, the Waffen-SS needed to enlarge the SS-Karstwehr-Bataillon that served as sort of a police force in the border provinces between Austria, Italy and Slovenia. This was a mountainous area with difficult communications but without an especially strong guerrilla forces, until the autumn of 1943 when the Fascist government collapsed and the country was divided into two. Then a communist opposition developed along with the guerrillas supported by the Anglo-American AI lieds and they started to spread terror amongst the civilian population. At the time the SS-Karstwehr Battalion had about 1000 men, and the area's Gauleiter put in a request to the SS-HQ to enlarge the unit to an SS- Gebirgs-Division (24. Waffen-Gebirgs Division der SS Karstjäger) with around 7.000 troops — a figure they never succeeded in reaching as the division as such never came to have more than 2.000 men and it was finally redesignated an SS-Brigade. It was mostly composed of Ethnic Germans from the Balkans and South Tyrol with around 300 Italians (the 2nd Company was almost completely Italian for instance), as well as some Croats and Slovenians. It was used to combat the increasingly aggressive communist partisan activity in the area.
The Spaniards had been trained as a mountain unit by the Alpine units of the Wehrmacht at Hall/Tyrol and many of them also had experience in anti-terrorist actions from France so they were considered by the Waffen-SS to be suitable for the „Karstjäger” Division/Brigade... The Waffen-SS recruiters also took into consideration that some of the Spanish volunteers had been incorporated into the „Brandenburg” Commando Division during the first half of 1944 when this unit was engaged in Italy in anti-partisan warfare close to Perugia. After the assassination attempt against Hitler, July 1944, this unit was incorporated into the SS.
By the end of 1944 the Spanish company arrived at the „Karstjäger” positions at San Leopoldo, a small village between Pontebba and Malborghetto, close to the Austrian border. They were consolidated as the 5th Company of the Waffen-Gebirgs [KarstjägerJ-Regiment der SS 59 and SS-Oscha. Ortiz was appointed company commander. They were soon engaged into anti-partisan warfare against the communist bands, patrolling the valleys and looking for terrorists.
The Spanish SS company was based at Tolmezzo, where the Russian Cossacks had their camp. The Spanish volunteers managed to come into conflict with the Cossacks who acted as if they were not members of the German Army and respected neither the civilian population nor the orders issued by the higher command. In one case a fight broke out between the Spaniards and the Cossacks and several individuals were injured... At the end of March 1945 partisan activity increased considerably and the „Karstjäger” Brigade moved south, closer to Trieste and the Adriatic coast where the communists were launching n heavy assault against Gorizia that would last for 14 days. A German member of the brigade remembered that the Spaniards „were very aggressive in the attack”. He could also recount one episode when the partisans attacked the brigade's positions at Chiapovano, north of Gorizi. This was when Yugoslav partisans wanted to conquer this Italian province. The Yugoslavs killed and destroyed everything that came into their hands, and today the mass graves are still to be found where almost 30.000 civilians were murdered. The SMG-group (Heavy Gun-machines) of the Spanish company was encircled and had to fight their way out with knives and the empty guns after using all of their ammunition. But they left many Reds killed on the behind!
During these fights the Spanish company had many casualties and the heavily wounded were placed in the Military Hospital at Gorizia or Udine, the principal town of the province. Such was the case of the SS-Rottenführer Camarza from Benavente (Zamora) who, after being wounded at San Vito and transported to Gorizia, was assassinated with another 13 of his comrades of the brigade by communist partisans when they conquered the town May 1945. Another war crime of the victors! On April 8th the platoon of the Spanish company led by the SS-Oscha Trapaga was encircled in an ambush at Ponte di Canale. Eight of the Spanish volunteers were killed in action on this day, including the Lieutenant Trapaga from Madrid, and many others were wounded. The dead Spaniards were all buried at the German military cemetery at Costermano.
When the war was about to end, the German commander of the brigade, who had his HQ at San Giorgio di Nogaro, called for SS-Oscha Ortiz and explained to him his decision to move north to reach Austrian territory. The Italians and Spaniards were allowed to leave the unit if they wanted to do so. Ortiz, wounded himself, immediately answered that he wanted to reach the French border and enter into Spain. The German commander then ordered that the Spanish company should then do the last rear-guard service to the unit and: remain in their positions until the full brigade was able to withdraw to Pontebba, close to the Austrian border, so that that the Reds might not realize that they were retreating.
Adventurous Escape
Ortiz met with all his men, about 60 of whom were left, and explained his plan: they would try to get civilian clothes and tell the Italians that they were displaced workers, „political prisoners“ that were „enslaved to work in Germany” if they were stopped. First, they would try to reach Venezia, after that Milan and then Genova or the French border but first they had to protect their comrades that were withdrawing. During these battles they lost several men; for instance, a Spanish patrol that was trying to blow up a bridge was captured by the partisans.
The company, now in civilian clothes, was then intercepted by a partisan troop and captured at Latisana, the first town on the way to Venezia. A month later the American troops arrived in the area and they were set free. The group, now smaller, moved then to Venezia where they hoped to find a Spanish consulate. They were told that the Italian authorities were seeking them, blaming them for being killers and rapists! Despite these warnings, they were helped with transport to Milan where it would be more easy to disappear in the big city. At Milano they were discovered, and the SS-Uscha Ozores was wounded and captured by partisans, but the rest of the group managed to escape to France. Two months later they entered Spain.
Other Spanish volunteers of the company, who became lost or isolated during the escape, would manage to enlist in partisan units and after that contact the Spanish diplomats. Some cases are recorded where they became POW’s of the Allied troops. By November 1945 the figure of rescued Spaniards in Italy under diplomatic protection at Genova and Rome was around 200, but not all of them were soldiers as many were just workers that had escaped from Germany after the defeat. The Spanish authorities were eventually able to get them all home.
With the 29. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (Ital. Nr. 1)
However, the Spanish company of the SS-Karstjäger-Brigade was not the sole unit in Italy with Spanish volunteers. December 1944, a group of 10-12 Spaniards that were serving with Leon Degrelle’s 28th SS Division „Wallonien“ and another 42 Italians who had been living in Belgium and had been assigned to the division, received permission to change their unit. They were ordered to the 29th Italian SS division that was being trained in North Italy. The Spaniards preferred to serve in an Italian unit as they considered themselves closer to them, due to their mutual Latin heritage.
The Spanish group was led by the SS-Oscha. Camargo and the SS-Uscha. Jose Javier Martinez Alberich, former veterans of the Spanish Blue Division. They were incorporated as an infantry platoon under the command of the Italian Waffen-Ustuf Giorgio Gardini in the 1st Company of the training battalion of the 82. SS. Rgt. of the 29th SS-Division. Some were spread throughout the other companies. They were trained at the camp of Rodengo-Saiano, north of Milan and participated in some anti-partisan raids until the war ended.
Their fate is unknown, as has we have not been able to trace even one of this group in the list of displaced persons that returned to Spain after the war through Italy or other countries. Therefore, it could be reasonable to believe that they were killed during the bloody reprisals the partisans carried out after the peace came. At least 40.000 Italians, (and perhaps Spaniards and others as well!) were murdered after the war in one of the bloodiest butcheries ever seen in Europe.
Above: This photo, originally published in SIEGRUNEN #66, is one of the only ones known to show a Spanish Waffen-SS volunteer. On the left is the Spanish Waffen-Oberscharführer Camargo along with the Italian Waffen-Oberscharführer (later Untersturmführer) Giorgio Gardini during military maneuvers of the Waffen-Grenadier Rgt. der SS H2's training battalion near Rodengo-Saiano, Italy in March 1945. (Dr. Marco Novarese).
The SS-Einsatz Kompanie „Gross Koris“ was formed for emergency combat duty around 15 April 1945. While nothing has been found out about its exact deployment, many of its assigned soldiers were later carried as „missing in action“, indicating that the outfit met up with some type of catastrophe.
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