Published in „Siegrunen“ Magazine - Volume 6, Number
3, Whole Number 33,
January – March 1984
The
SS-Totenkopfverbande mounted infantry detachment was formed (more or less) on
15 September 1939 and consisted initially of 250 men and 252 horses. For the
most part the „cavalrymen” were farmers riding farm horses, although some world
class riders with their show mounts were also with the contingent. The military
training for all personnel seems to have been minimal. Soon after it was
assembled, this somewhat motley force was ordered into Poland by the Reichsführer-SS
for security duties.
In
mid-November 1939, RF-SS Himmler visited Lodz, Poland and spoke with Standartenführer
Hermann Fegelein, the designated „SS Cavalry Chief.” He told Fegelein that he
was incorporating his „bunch” into the Waffen-SS and that he had better be
ready to turn them into a real cavalry regiment or they would be quickly
converted back into foot infantry. With this threat hanging over his head,
Staf. Fegelein went to work in a hurry.
By
15 December 1939 the SS-“T“ cavalry had grown to a strength of 46 officers, 91
NCOs and 450 men (total: 587) with 455 horses. The OB/Command Structure at this
time was as follows:
Commander:
SS-Staf. Hermann Fegelein
Adjutant:
SS-Hstuf. Friedrich
Ordnance
Officer: SS-Hstuf. Fassbender
Supply
Officer: SS-Ustuf. Warth
Regimental
Doctor: SS-Ustuf. Dr. Strohschneider
Regimental
Veterinarian: SS-Hstuf. Dr. Herling
Additional
Officers on the Staff: Hauptmann der Schutzpolizei Lehner and SS-Stubaf. Temme
1st Squadron
(Warsaw): SS-Hstuf. Waldemar Fegelein
2nd Squadron
(Garwolin): SS-Stubaf. Ruge
3rd Squadron (Seroczyn):
SS-Ostuf. Gustav Lombard
4th Squadron
(Zamosc): SS-Stubaf. Magill
5th Squadron
(Cholm): SS-Hstuf. Reichenwallner
6th Squadron
(Tarnow): SS-Hstuf. von Zastrow
7th Squadron
(Krakau): SS-Ostuf. Schoenfeld
8th Squadron
(Kielce): SS-Ostuf. Duensch
9th Squadron
(Lodz): SS-Hstuf. Becher
1st Mounted
Battery (Radom): SS-Ustuf. Traeger
2nd Mounted
Battery (Krakau): SS-Ustuf. Lindemann
Signals
Platoon (Lublin): SS-Ostuf. Krug
Technical-Specialist
Unit: SS-Hstuf. Fritz
As
one can see, the detachment was scattered into small units all over Poland and
at this time weaponry and equipment was still minimal and insufficient. The
officers even had to provide their own handguns! According to Gustav Lombard
(later an SS-Brigfhr. and divisional CO), the formation of the regiment went „according
to plans” even though it was hindred somewhat by a long, hard winter. By April
1940, the SS-”T” Cavalry Standarte had reached all of the formation goals set
for it but the overall scheme of things was changing in the SS Main Office. The
concept of independent SS regiments was being abandoned in favor of large
formations. As a result, Staf. Fegelein was summoned to Berlin and instructed
to start building his new regiment into a brigade; this was no easy task and in
fact it would take somewhat more than a year to complete the transformation.
Hstuf. Gustav
Lombard leading 3./SS-“T” Reiterstandarte 1.
Waffen-SS
cavalry.
A
lot of work and improvisation was involved in rounding up the adequate
quantities of horses and riders and providing quarters for both of them.
Fortunately, early in 1940, service in the Waffen-SS began to count as „Wehrdienst”
or as military service the same as in the Army. This helped bring a lot of new
recruits into the armed SS. The SS-“T” Cavalry Rgt. attracted volunteers from
all over Germany, as well as ethnic - Germans from different parts of Europe.
In fact, some recruits arrived from South Tyrol who were veterans of the
Italian campaign in Ethiopia.
By
July 1940, the near impossible task of getting adequate horseflesh had nearly
been surmounted. Some 3,000 mounts had been rounded up, a majority of which
were „booty“ animals from the former Polish Army. The rest of the horses came
from all over the Reich and quality ranged from good to rag-tag. There were
even a few trained circus horses. These caused some problems, not to mention
much hilarity, as they leanded to launch into their „acts” when certain simple
commands, such as „Halt!” were given, much to the chagrin of their riders! The
job here was to find out through trial and error how the circus horses would
respond to various directives and then try and remember to avoid giving an „inappropriate”
command! The horses were segregated by color and condition so that the units
that they were assigned to would make a good impression.
In
the summer of 1940, the regiment split into two regiments, each consisting of
six squadrons containing 200 or more men and up to 250 horses each. Much of the
rest of the year was devoted to training and formation activities. The
regiments received supplies and equipment that to a large extent had belonged
to the ex-Polish Army, as well as „booty“ weapons from Czechoslovakia and older
equipment from Germany, including antiquated water-cooled machine guns. Each
squadron received a heavy machine gun platoon and the mounted artillery
batteries were outfitted with howitzers and heavy mortars. Engineer, antitank
and signals platoons were further expanded and developed.
On
28 July 1940 the twin „Deathshead” cavalry regiments had the following
strengths:
1. SS-“T“
Reiterstandarte (Warsaw): 54 officers/190 NCOs/ 1585 men
2. SS-“T“
Reiterstandarte (Lublin): 31/114/1366
Total
personnel: 3.340
The
great testing for the regiments came on 11 November 1940, when Oberführer
Krueger from the SS Military Inspectorate in Berlin visited Warsaw to see a
full demonstration of the units' capabilities. The SS cavalrymen went through a
wide variety of exercises, drills and parades both on horseback and on foot and
the impression they made was a good one. Krueger turned in his report to the SS
Main Office and it in turn was forwarded to Hitler, who officially approved the
continuation and further development of the SS „Deathshead” Cavalry regiments.
On
27 November 1940 the news reached the SS Cavalry staff, and Staf. Fegelein
issued the following order-of-the-day:
„The
Führer has authorized our regiments for deployment. We are now the beginning of
the cavalry tradition in the Waffen-SS.”
The
last phase of the early formative period of the SS cavalry ended on 6 December
1940 when the Waffen-SS high command ordered the incorporation of the 1st and
2nd SS-“T”-Reiterstandarten into one large regiment which was designated: SS-
Totenkopf-Kavallerie Rgt. 1. The two former regiments were now demoted to „half-regiments,”
and each was further subdivided into two detachments.
Now
the job was to make the unit ready for battle. For one reason or another the
first tactical ID sign of the new regiment was a radish! This was replaced by a
rightward tilting sword at the beginning of the Russian campaign in 1941. which
in turn would have a horse head added to it when the formation attained
divisional status in 1942.
