Published in „Siegrunen“ Magazine – Volume XIII, Number 3, Whole Number 77,
Summer 2005
Above: Memorials to the SS-Pz. Gr. Regiments “Norge” and “Danmark” today in Estonia. Unfortunately, neither one lists the battles of their first battalions in Poland, Hungary and Austria in 1944/45. (Erik Rundkvist Archives).
In March 1944, after much fierce fighting in northern Russia and on the Narva River in Estonia, the first (I.) battalions of both the SS-Panzergrenadier Regiments 23 “Norge” (Norwegian Nr.l) and 24 “Danmark” (Danish Nr.1) of the 11 .SS-Frw. Pz. Gr. Div. “Nordland”, had to be dissolved with most of their survivors utilized to reinforce the second and third battalions of their respective regiments. Small cadre staffs were retained to assist in eventually reforming the I. Battalions at the Hammerstein Training Camp to the southwest of Danzig.
In point of fact, very little got done in this line until September 1944, when the “Nordland” Training and Replacement Battalion, containing approximately 1,000 troops, mostly of Scandinavian and German nationalities, was finally sent to Hammerstein from its former base in Graz, Austria to “flesh” out the dual I. Battalions. On 18 September the “Nordland” T&R Battalion arrived at Hammerstein and both I./”Norge” and I./”Danmark” received 500 replacements from it, with the Norwegians going into “Norge” and the “Danes” into “Danmark”, although it was reputed that there were only some 40 Norwegians available for I./”Norge” at this time, as opposed to in the past when they constituted a majority of the personnel. There would be many more again in the future. In any event, both battalions were filled out with Germans, Romanian ethnic-Germans and a few other scattered nationalities. So along with the cadre staffs and recovered wounded along with troops returning from leave, the strengths of the twin battalions grew to around 600 men each.
The “Nordland” Division Replacement Battalion led by SS-Hauptsturmftihrer Willi Schweitzer, had just completed the basic training of many 17 and 18 year old recruits who were now incorporated into the companies of the I. Battalions. The training at Hammerstein now concentrated on specific battlefield tasks, including close combat and assault troop operations, basic defensive and camouflage measures and anti-tank fundamentals. Maneuvers were conducted at all levels: squad, platoon, company and battalion, to ensure unit cohesion. Long and exhausting route marches, obstacle course and physical fitness exercises were also carried out.
The battalions were both reorganized in a similar manner and consisted of the following components:
Staff
1 st-3rd Grenadier (Rifle) Companies
4th Heavy Weapons Company
There was also a small messenger staff consisting of 2 NCO’s and 10 enlisted men, which, had the German side possessed portable communications equipment (i.e. “Walkie-Talkies”), would probably not have been necessary. To say the least this was one of the real “Achilles Heels” of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in WWII. The heavy weapons companies each consisted of 4 heavy machine-gun teams, 4 heavy mortar teams, 2 infantry gun crews and 7,5 cm anti-tank gun squads.
The new commanders of the battalions were both East Front combat veterans. SS-Hstuf. Fritz Vogt, (“Das Reich” Division) took over 1.1 “Norge” while SS-Stubaf. Hermann Im Masche (“Wiking” Division) took charge of I./ “Danmark”. The adjutant for I./ “Norge” was SS-Ostuf. Radtke, while its 1st through 4th Company commanders were respectively, SS-Obersturmführer Rendemann, Fechner, Stüwe and Kiefer. The battalion medical officer was a Norwegian, SS-Ostuf. Dr. Storm. For I./ “Danmark” the adjutant was SS-Ostuf. Rott, while its 1st through 4th Company commanders were respectively: SS-Ustuf.Hazal, SS-Ustuf. Jensen, SS-Ostuf. Sidon and SS-Ostuf. Stenger. The battalion orderly officer was a Dane, SS-Ustuf. Baron Gyldenkrone.
Above: SS-Hauptsturmführer Fritz Vogt. He had received the Knight’s Cross in the French Campaign of 1940. He would be decorated with the Oakleaves while commanding I./’’Norge.
While at Hammerstein in the autumn of 1944, the battalion companies rotated guard duty for both the camp itself and an attached motor vehicle depot. One unfortunate incident occurred when a member of Ist Company/”Danmark” attempted to desert. He was apprehended and it was decided to make an example of him. He was executed by firing squad at the base rifle range before the assembled battalion on 4 November 1944.
The “home” regiments for the two battalions were now tied down in Kurland, western Latvia with the “Nordland” Division and the III. Germanic SS Panzer Corps. It was felt that 1) it was too hazardous to send the battalions to join their regiments and 2) the entire “Nordland” Division needed to be withdrawn from the front for refitting as soon as possible, (which still wouldn’t be for some months however). Thus, in mid- November 1944, it was decided to send the twin battalions to the 5th SS Panzer Division “Wiking”, which was not far away in Poland fighting in a marsh land known as the “Wet Triangle”, near the confluence of three rivers in the Modlin-Warsaw area. “Wiking” also urgently needed reinforcements, and it had been a repository for Scandinavian volunteers from its beginning in December 1940.
It was only a one-day journey by rail from Hammerstein to this region. The trip for the battalions got underway on 16 November 1944 and by the next day they had reached the railroad station at Modlin. By then it was clear that they were in a serious war zone as artillery firing could be heard nearby with occasional flashes lighting up the sky. The troops were temporarily quartered in Modlin then trucked to the vicinity of Olschevka and Olschewenika, north of Warsaw, just prior to midnight on 18 January. They then had to march for about a kilometer on foot to assume the positions of an exhausted Wehrmacht battalion from the 542nd Infantry Division which seems to have been under the jurisdiction of the “Wiking” Division at the time.
Above: Supply and transport troops for 1st Company/SS-Pz,Gr.Rgt. 9 “Germania” of the “Wiking” Division in Poland', 1944. On the second row, left is the Danish volunteer, SS-Rottenführer Paul Christiansen, who served as a driver. Danes and Norwegians, along with several other nationalities, served throughout the “ Wiking ” Division, (not just in national units), all during the war. (Erik Rundkvist Archives).
The well developed defensive positions, running along the edge of the towns, offered safe sleeping bunkers, machine-gun posts and access to nearby potato cellars! The bad news was that the Russians were only 50 to 100 meters away across a no-man’s-land marked by mine fields and obstructions. Also, snipers were continually in operation causing almost immediate casualties for the two Waffen-SS battalions. Other than that, the front situation was one of static, positional warfare. The first notable event took place on 6 December 1944, when the 3rd Platoon from 2nd Co./”Norge” were sent out on a “scout troop” operation to bring in enemy prisoners for intelligence purposes. The action succeeded in its goal but at the cost of 1 killed and 4 wounded to the platoon. Little of note then transpired until 22 December 1944, when the Norwegian volunteers Sydeng and Herstad were both picked off by Red sharpshooters.
While the Waffen-SS soldiers hoped that Christmas Day would be a time of rest, the Soviets had other ideas, (they tended to launch attacks on religious holidays!). 25 December was deliberately chosen as the perfect venue for a communist assault. Thus at 03:00 hours, a massive enemy artillery barrage got underway. When it let up, the Reds made a deep penetration into the I./ “Norge” positions. The 19 year-old Norwegian SS-Ustuf. Karl Aagaard Östvig would lead a heroic counterattack that restored the lines, but he was killed in the action. Throughout the day the fighting continued and dead and wounded from both sides lay in dangerously exposed positions. One Soviet soldier who entered a German bunker was captured when an SS man clobbered him and knocked him out with his Christmas present: a large, hard sausage!
Above left: SS-Ustuf. Karl Aagaard Östvig, who was killed in action on Christmas Day north of Modlin, Poland. Above right: the SS-Ustuf Fritjof Rosanaess who would be killed in action in Pettend, Hungary. For detailed biographies of both Norwegian volunteers see S. E. Norling’s fine article on NORWEGIAN W-SS OFFICERS KILLED INACTION that appeared in SIEGRUNEN #51.
As it turned out, Christmas Day was the last day that the two battalions would spend in the Polish positions. On 26 December 1944, the whole “Wiking” Division was ordered to Hungary to help relieve the garrison in the newly encircled city of Budapest. The twin “Nordland” battalions would arrive in Hungary by rail at the end of the year. At that time a Rottenführer from IV “Norge” managed to kill himself and wound 3 other soldiers while playing with an “egg” hand grenade during an irresponsible New Year’s Eve celebration!
The battalions next received operational orders at 18:00 hours on 1 January 1945. IV “Norge” was given the hazardous mission of guarding and protecting the south flank of the “Wiking” Division as it advanced towards Budapest along the Komom-Tata road. At midnight, IV “Norge” first encountered the enemy at the town of Boldogas, and cleared it of the foe in heavy fighting, killing many Soviet troops in the process. In the meantime the “Wiking” advance elements had fought their way into Tata and I./”Norge” soon followed after it had disengaged at Boldogas.
On 2 January 1945, IV “Norge” passed through Banhida and took the town of Fölsögalla in hard fighting on the next day. On the 4th of January, the “Wiking” Division began an attack on Bicske, but did not make much progress. So on the next day, IV “Norge” was brought up to join the “Wiking” spearhead, SS-Panzer Regiment 5 under SS-Ostubaf. Fritz Darges, (who had been booted out of his job at the Führer HQ for “improper” behavior; i.e. fooling around with the wrong people!), in a combined attacked on Bicske. The attack bogged down about 2 kilometers from the town in the face of very strong enemy resistance. A Red counterattack also soon developed which threatened the entire “Wiking” point element.
SS-Panzer Rgt. 5 and I./ “Norge” were then forced back to Hegeyks, where the troops took up very formidable blocking positions, using the high walls of the town as defensive works. For a full week these units fought off numerous Soviet assaults from all sides, (they were in fact, surrounded). By then the Wehrmacht High Command had decided that the enemy resistance in the area was far too strong for a western Budapest relief attack to succeed. The focal point for the effort would now come from the south. Thus, on 12 January 1945, the defenders of Hegeyks were ordered to breakout to the west, where a new German defensive front was being constructed. Heavy losses were taken by both “Wiking” units during the defensive effort and subsequent successful breakout.
I./ “Norge” now reassembled in Tarjan, Hungary and then began a motorized march southwards to Veszpram on the northeastern point of Lake Balaton where it underwent four days of rest and refitting before the next Budapest relief attack was attempted. 1./ “Norge” and I./ “Danmark” both went into attack readiness positions to the northeast of Lake Balaton on 16 January 1945. The next Budapest relief attack, led by the IV. SS-Panzer Corps (3.SS Pz.Div. “Totenkopf’ and 5.SS Pz.Div. “Wiking”), got underway on the morning of 18 January following an artillery bombardment.
After three days of slow but steady advancing, the “Wiking” Division reached the Sarviz Canal to the west of Dinnyes and north of Seregelyes. The enemy resistance now began to stiffen. I./ “Norge” was able to take the town of Seregelyes to the south but the Reds soon counterattacked with a powerful infantry supported tank force and the Norwegian battalion was not able to hold its positions. Even worse a medical dressing station containing severely wounded soldiers had to be abandoned. The battalion’s Norwegian medical officer, SS- Ostuf. Dr. Storm, along with all the medical personnel and wounded were subsequently incinerated alive in a wine cellar by the Soviet forces. This atrocity has been described previously in SIEGRUNEN. It was just another “heroic” gesture on the part of the “Allied” forces battling the evil “Nazis”; unmentionable of course!
On 23 January, I./ “Norge” passed through Dinnyes and then served as a security force for the left-wing of the “Wiking” Division. On the night of 24/25 January, the battalion was caught up in the defense of the town of Pettend and was forced to adopt “hedgehog” defensive positions that faced in all directions. What followed was a desperate and highly destructive battle, that cost the unit many casualties. The “Wiking” Division now became bogged down once again with its lead elements stopped at Baracska. Unfortunately, I./ “Norge” now absorbed the brunt of the enemy counterattacks. A force of some 180 Soviet armored vehicles now moved against the battalion’s positions, but they were driven back in a furious engagement, in which the “Norge” grenadiers managed to knock-out 36 tanks. The commander, SS-Hstuf. Vogt, personally accounted for six of them in close combat. For his heroic deeds and leadership at this time, he would soon be decorated with the Oakleaves to the Knight’s Cross and promoted to SS-Sturmbannfuhrer.
“Wiking” now had to conduct a costly fighting retreat, under enormous pressure, back between Lake Velencze and the Danube River to the so-called “Margarethen Positions”. During the fall back, I./ “Norge” was again hard hit, losing two company commanders and a platoon leader killed, (SS-Ostuf. Fechner of 2nd Company on 3 February, SS-Ostuf. Kiefer of 4th Company on 5 February and SS-Oberscharfuhrer Gräz on 8 February). By the time the battalion finally left the front on 19 February 1945, it had lost another 2 officers, 2 NCO’s and 32 men!
On 10 February 1945, the SS Main Office in Berlin had ordered the twin Scandinavian battalions to be returned to the “Nordland” Division, but it was overruled by Armee Gruppe “Balck” and the Wehrmacht High Command, which decided they could not be removed from the control of the “Wiking” Division. Both battalions now took up trench positions in an 1800-meter-long line running near Dennyes. I. Btl. “Norge”, now with a strength of only 100 or so men, was given the shorter portion of 500 meters to defend, while I. Btl. “Danmark”, which had not seen as much heavy fighting and still had 300 troops left (half-strength), took over the rest of the line. On the afternoon of 15 February 1945, a massive Soviet tank force advanced to within 100 meters of the IJ “Danmark” positions and opened up a deadly fire on the Waffen-SS trenches. It proved to be impossible to utilize anti-tank weapons at that close a range and under the particular circumstances, so the “Danmark” grenadiers had no choice but to run for it under the covering fire from the “Norge” troopers. It was during this melee that the commander of I./ “Danmark”, SS-Stubaf. ImMasche became missing in action, although he was almost certainly killed. However, this could never be officially confirmed.
Above: A group of Norwegian volunteers in a variety of dress and uniforms that were being transferred into the Waffen-SS. Note that most of them wear SS field caps with death heads. (Erik Rundkvist Archives).
Towards evening, I./ “Norge” became threatened by the same tanks that had broken through the I./ “Danmark” positions. SS-Stubaf. Vogt ordered his men to fall back on the woods 200 meters to the rear. Unfortunately the entire area was plastered with cannon and artillery fire and many more of the SS grenadiers were killed or wounded. The battalion’s survivors were next sent to the Hungarian village of Vrkut to the west of Veszprem for rest and refitting. They took up quarters in abandoned houses on the edge of town. The local populace was very supportive of the European volunteers and relations were warm and friendly.
It was here that the battalion was to be reconstructed from recovered wounded, new recruits and surplus personnel from the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. So a quick infantry training program for the Air Force and Navy people in particular had to be carried out, but obviously the combat effectiveness and general morale of the battalion would not be the same as it was before. The troop strength soon grew back to 250 soldiers of all ranks, but there were shortages of officers, NCO’s, specialists and equipment. As a result, I./ “Norge” was reduced to 3 grenadier companies with the 4th Heavy Weapons Company being eliminated. The situation for I./ “Danmark” was similar but not quite as bad, as they had more survivors to draw upon. The 3 companies for 1/ “Norge” would now be commanded by SS-Ostuf. Radtke (German), SS-Ustuf. Stmmness (Norwegian), and SS-Ostuf. Huber (German).
The 1st of March 1945 saw a change of command for Battalion “Norge”, SS-Stubaf. Barth took over from SS-Stubaf. Vogt who had been named to command the Armored Reconnaissance Battalion of the “Wiking” Division. On his last day with I./ “Norge”, SS-Stubaf. Vogt thanked the men for their performance in the last fighting over the last few months, shook hands with everyone and distributed combat decorations. Virtually all of the soldiers that had survived the battles of the previous weeks got one or more, including Iron Crosses, Close Combat Clasps in Bronze, Infantry Assault Badges and Tank Destruction Badges. Tragically, SS- Stubaf. Fritz Vogt would be killed in action a little more than a month latter.
On 6 March 1945, the 6,h SS Panzer Armee under SS-Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich, led an offensive known as “Operation Spring Awakening” which was aimed at reclaiming the extensive oil fields in eastern Hungary. 5.SS-Panzer Division “Wiking” was given the task of holding the city of Stuhlweissenberg at all costs. The twin “Norge” and “Danmark” battalions were also redeployed there. But 10 days later the massive German offensive bogged down in the spring mud and in the face of extremely strong Soviet resistance. From then on, all actions would be “retrograde” in nature.
On 18 March 1945, 1./ “Norge” was ordered to prepare for action at Lake Velencze. It stayed over night in a wooded are near Pakozd, Hungary. The front was about 10 kilometers away to the northeast. On the next morning, the battalion was directed to occupy and hold Hill 351 to the southwest of Nadap. The mission turned out to be an impossibility. The Waffen-SS troops got to the hill but came under enemy fighter-bomber attack which caused numerous casualties. The Norwegian commander of 2nd Company, SS-Ustuf. Oskar Strömness, was killed leading his command in action on the forward slope of the hill, (again see SIEGRUNEN #51, $12 from the publisher, for his biography).
Strong infantry fire from Nadap that was later supplemented by artillery and mortar barrages, kept the men of I./ “Norge” pinned down throughout the day in precarious positions and caused more significant losses. That evening a strong Red infantry force from Nadap attacked the hill and drove back the battalion’s survivors to the west. This would be the start of an overwhelming Soviet offensive that would push the “Wiking” Division and all the rest of the German/European forces in Hungary back into Austria. But it would be a step- by-step fighting withdrawal that cost the savage enemy dearly. On 20 March 1945, I./ “Norge” lost its commander, SS-Stubaf. Barth to a severe wounding in the Raab River valley in Austria. The unit would now be commanded by the 1st Company CO, SS-Ostuf. Radtke, until the end of the war.
Even though the war officially ended on 8 May 1945, the “Wiking” Division still had to make its way to the American lines to surrender and that meant fighting off the Russians while pulling back through Austria. The two “Nordland” battalions provided flank security for the rest of the division while it retreated. There were frequent, violent engagements with Soviet spearheads during this time. The war for 5.SS Panzer Division “Wiking” lasted until 12 and 13 May 1945, when its troops finally began surrendering to the Americans in and around Radstadt. The European volunteers were then trucked to a P.O.W. camp at Eberfing near the former Waffen-SS officer’s school at Bad Tölz in Bavaria. By this time the two Scandinavian battalions were so depleted that there were hardly any Norwegians or Danes in their ranks, much less veterans. But they had done their duty in difficult, heavy fighting in Poland, Hungary and Austria against the communist enemy of Western Civilization!
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In the spring of 1945, it was proposed to form the ad hoc SS Division “Wallenstein” from Waffen-SS garrison troops in and around Prague. The SS Bicycle Battalion “Kroner” was supposed to serve as the “Wallenstein” recce detachment, but instead, like most of the other elements slated for the new division, it found itself independently engaged against Russian volunteers from the Vlassov Russian Army of Liberation, (ROA) in May 1945. The Russian volunteers were trying to get in the “good graces” of the Western Allies by turning on the Germans, (it didn’t help, they were all deported to the Reds). They were joined by brutal Czech “partisans” (terrorists!), who bragged about “hanging every German soldier that fell into their hands!”
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