Azeri Waffen SS Volunteer Formations were when "volunteers" (prisoners of war) from the USSR, and from the countries annexed by
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
after 1939, were organized to fight against the Soviets on the
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
side.
Origins
The sweeping initial victories of
Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 km front...
produced hundreds of thousands of non-Russian soldier prisoners in the POW cages of the German Army. All of them were hungry, many were starving. In a mere eight months of 1941-42, the invading German armies killed an estimated 2.8 million Soviet POWs through starvation, exposure, and summary execution. Conditions in the prison camps were atrocious. "There were no barracks or permanent housing. The camps were simply open areas fenced off with barbed wire. The prisoners had to lie in the sun, then in mud, and in the fall — with temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees centigrade — faced the possibility of freezing to death."
Their beginnings were shrouded in great secrecy, for fear of Hitler who was categorically opposed to any form of participation of Soviet citizens in the war against Russia. But needs of the army on the Eastern Front induced German commanders to accept the services of volunteers to fight the Soviet regime even against the clear orders of the Supreme Command.
Tens of thousands of them were Muslims, where the majority of them came from Soviet Union. In December 1941 a top secret memorandum ordered that the OKW was to create two Muslim units: the Turkestanisch Legion, consisted Muslim volunteers from Central Asia, such as
TurkomansThe Turkmen are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, northern Iraq and in northeastern Iran...
,
UzbeksThe Uzbeks are a Turkic-speaking people in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Russia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China...
,
KazakhsThe Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....
, Kyrgyzs,
KarakalpaksThe Karakalpaks are a Turkic speaking people of Mongol origin. They mainly live in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya and in the delta of Amu Darya on the southern shore of the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. However, small numbers can also be found in Iran and Turkey, and smaller communities in...
, and Tajiks and the Kaukasisch-Mohammedan Legion from Caucasian Muslims volunteers, such as Azeris,
DagestanThe Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject—republic—of the Russian Federation, located in the North Caucasus region....
is, Chechens, Ingushes, and
LezginsThe Lezgins are an ethnic group, living predominantly in southern Dagestan and north-eastern Azerbaijan, who speak the Lezgian language.In the 19th century, the term was used more broadly for all ethnic groups speaking Northeast Caucasian languages,...
.
The German courting of the Soviet Muslims was part of Hitler's schemes for bringing
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
into his side and for advancing to control the oil fields in Middle East and
BakuBaku , sometimes known as Baqy, Baky, Baki or Bakou, is the capital, the largest city, and the largest port of Azerbaijan and all the Caucasus. Located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, the city consists of two principal parts: the downtown and the old Inner City...
. The most numerous of the Soviet Muslims that served the Germans were the Turkestanis. The first Turkestani volunteers were integrated as one battalion of the 444th Sicherungs Division in November 1941 and became auxiliary to help the Germans fight the partisans. Major Andreas Meyer-Mader was appointed as commander of the 444th Battalion. Meyer-Mader, an Austrian, had served on the staff of
Chiang Kai-ShekChiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He was an influential member of the Kuomintang and Sun Yat-sen's close ally. He became the commandant of Kuomintang's Whampoa Military Academy and took Sun's place in the party when the latter died in 1925...
’s Chinese Nationalist Army before WWII.
450th Turkestanisches Battalion
The 450th Battalion was raised at the town of Legionov,
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and spent most of the summer patrolling the communications and rail networks between Kharkov and Stalingrad. Discipline became so bad that Meyer-Mader was removed from command of the 450th Battalion during 1943.
In November 1943, Meyer-Mader meet Himmler to offering his service to help raise and command a Turkic SS unit. Himmler approved the major plan and then transfers him into the ranks of the Waffen SS and promoted him to the rank of
SS-ObersturmbannfuhrerObersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...
. On 14 December, a meeting was held in Berlin in presence of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem,
Mohammad Amin al-HusayniMohammad Amin al-Husayni , a member of the al-Husayni clan of Jerusalem, was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and Muslim leader in the British Mandate of Palestine...
. The Grand
MuftiA mufti is an Islamic scholar who is an interpreter or expounder of Islamic law . A muftiat or diyanet is a council of muftis.-Qualifications:...
approved the plan to raise a Turkic-Muslim SS division and give his "spiritual leadership" to influence the Muslim volunteers.
Ostmuselmanische SS-Regiment
Between November 1943 and January 1944 there were a series of meetings between Meyer-Mader and Muslim volunteers. As a result of these meetings, on January 4, 1944, it was decided to form the Ostmuselmanische SS-Regiment. At the same meeting, it was decided to disband the following
WehrmachtWehrmacht was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe ....
battalions who would serve as a basis for a new platform: 450th, 480th, 782nd, 786th, 790th, 791st and I/94th Turkestanische battalions, Azerbaijanische 818th and Volga Tatar 831st. Many volunteers deserted at this time, and the 818th defected to
PolishThe Polish resistance movement fought against the occupation of Poland during World War II. The fight against the Nazi occupation of Poland was an important part of the European anti-fascist resistance movement and had the largest partisan army in occupied Europe...
and
UkrainianUkrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly—citizens of Ukraine...
resistance movements in 1943.
Furthermore, at the same time, Meyer-Mader made several visits to prisoners of war camps which called for volunteers to join the new Muslim SS legion. The recruits were not only Turkestani, but also Azeri, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, and Tadjik. By the end of January 1944 he was able to recruit three thousand volunteers who were concentrated in Poniatova. To increase the staffing regiment, dozens of German officers and non-commissioned officers were transferred there. Nevertheless, it was a very slow, mainly because of lack of equipment, including uniforms and even shoes. Therefore, the October 1944 deadline, which Himmler appointed for the deployment of divisions in the regiment were serving only four thousand people who had been merged into three battalions.
The unit was formed in
TrawnikiTrawniki is a village in Świdnik County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Trawniki. It lies approximately south-east of Świdnik and south-east of the regional capital Lublin....
, Poland, before they were transferred to Belorussia for further training. SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Andreas Meyer-Mader was appointed as its first commander.
This unit suffered from poor discipline and poor morale especially after Meyer-Mader was killed during a skirmish with partisans in Yuratishki, near
MinskMinsk is the capital and largest city in Belarus, situated on the Svislach and Niamiha rivers. Minsk is also a headquarters of the Commonwealth of Independent States . As the national capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is also the administrative centre of Minsk...
, on March 28, 1944. The situation became worse when the replacement commander,
SS-HauptsturmfuhrerHauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-grade company level officer and was the equivalent of a Captain in the German Army and also the equivalent of captain in foreign armies...
Billig executed 78 unit members for insubordination. This incident made Himmler angry and Billig was relieved.
In May 1944, 550 men (Turkestanis, Wolgatatars Azeris, Kirghiz, Uzbek, and Tadjiks) from the Ostmuslemanische SS-Regiment are attached to the SS Dirlewanger brigade.
Warsaw
On January 29, 1944
Heinz ReinefarthHeinrich Reinefarth was a German military officer during and official after World War II. During the Warsaw Uprising his troops committed numerous war atrocities. After the war Reinefarth became the mayor of the town of Westerland and member of the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag...
was assigned to SS and Police Leader in
ReichsgauA Reichsgau was an administrative sub-division created in a number of the areas annexed to Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945...
Wartheland (Polish Great Poland
VoivodeshipA voivodeship, also spelled voivodship, voivodina or vojvodina , is a type of administrative...
annexed by Germany in 1939). In this post he was responsible for organised repression against Poles and other nationalities deprived of all rights by Germany.After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, Reinefarth was ordered to organise a military unit out of 16th Police Company and other smaller security units and head for
WarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains. Its population as of 2009 was estimated at 1,709,781, and the Warsaw metropolitan area at approximately 2,785,000...
. Upon arrival, his forces were included in the Korpsgruppe Von Dem Bach of General
Erich von dem BachErich Julius Eberhard von Zelewski or Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski , was a Nazi official and a member of the SS, in which he reached the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer.- Slavic origin :...
who was ordered by Himmler to quell the rebellion. From August 5, 1944 Reinefarth's group took part in fighting in the
WolaWola is a district in western Warsaw, Poland, formerly the village of Wielka Wola, incorporated into Warsaw in 1916. An industrial area with traditions reaching back to the early 19th century, it's slowly changing into an office and residential district...
area. In several days, his and
Oskar DirlewangerDr. Oskar Dirlewanger was a World War II officer of the SS who commanded the SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger, a penal battalion composed of German criminals.-Early life:...
's soldiers executed approximately 40,000 civilian inhabitants of Warsaw in what is now known as the Wola Massacre. Wola killings were mostly inflicted by elements of Kampfgruppe Reinefarth that assaulted the area held by the insurgents from the west.
It is hard to determine which specific units are to be held responsible but the main “cleansing” tasks has been assigned to Angriffsgruppe Dirlewanger with following forces:
2 Grenadier Battalions (I & II) of SS Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger
+ Aserbeidschanische Feld Bataillon I./111 (com. Hptm. Werner Scharrenberg)
+ Ostmuselmanische SS Regiment (without Battalion III)
II Btl. "Bergmann" – (without 7. Komp.) Ltn. Mertelsmann
Gendermerie Operationsgruppe Walter (2 gendarmerie Komp.)
Komp. I & II of Aserb. Feld Btl. I/111
Anti-aircraft battery of 80th Regiment
Sturmpanzer-Kompanie z.b.V. 218 (8x Brummbär) Hptm. Kellmann
1/2 of machine gun 4.Kompanie of Aserb. Feld Btl. I/111
1. Platoon of 654. Pioniere Battalion
1 KRONE flamethrower unit (8x Flammenwerfer 41)
Lack of precise documentation does not allow to specify precisely which elements of the above were involved in the Wola killing. It is also possible that some units of the other assault group that operated in the Wola area ( Angriffsgruppe Reck ) were taking active part in the events, as they also consisted of police/gendarmerie and special assignment units (Hptm. Kirchhubel's Warschau Polizei Kompanie, Hptm. Fersemann's Polizei Wachtkompanie, platoon of SS-Röntgen MG Kompanie from Posen (Poznan), but also SS Grenadiere of SS-Schule Treskau and Aserbaijani 7.Komp/II Bt. Bergmann).
Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbände der SS
In October 20, 1944 the rest of the Ostmuslemanische SS-Regiment is transferred from Ukraine to Slovakia and renamed "Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbände der SS" and reorganized into 3 battalions organized along ethnic lines.
1 Waffengruppe Turkestan
1Waffengruppe Aserbeidschan(2851 soldiers : Gerhard von Mende archives)
1 Waffengruppe
Idel-UralIdel-Ural is a historical region in Eastern Europe, in what is today Russia. The name literally means Volga-Urals in the Tatar language...
Each battalion should consist of staff, one staff company and five infantry companies.
The Ostmuselmanisch regiment is integrated into the Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbände der SS and is considered as dissolved.
December 1944 The Waffen-Gruppe Aserbeidschan (commander W-Ostuf Kerrar Alesgerli) is transferred to the Kaukasicher WaffenVerbände der SS.
The disbanded Tatar Waffen Gebirgs Brigade der SS will replace the Azerbaijani soldiers
Commander: SS-
StandartenführerStandartenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in both the S.A. and the S.S.. First founded as a title in 1925, in 1928 the rank became one of the first commissioned Nazi ranks and was bestowed upon those S.A. and S.S...
Harun-el-Raschid-Bey. (Wilhelm Hintersatz)
The reorganisations began in January 1945 as follows:
SS-Waffengruppe Turkestan
SS-Waffengruppe Krim
SS-Waffengruppe Idel Urals
Apparently new “volunteers” were integrated, because the Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbände had increased from 5,000 men in January 1945 to 8,500 men in the period of February-May 1945. As Hitler's Reich crumbled, the Waffen-SS gave up all adherence of standards for recruit selection. If they could walk and shoot a rifle, they were good enough for the SS. At this time all German military forces were scraping the bottom of the manpower barrel - for example in January 1945,
HeerThe Heer was the Army land forces component of the German armed forces from 1935 to 1945, the latter also included the Navy and the Air Force...
and Waffen-SS recruiting centers were combined. Waffen-SS troops were increasingly transfers from other military branches of the Wehrmacht, from paramilitary and labor formations.
The whole unit arrived already in March 1945 in
MerateMerate is a municipality of 14,074 inhabitants in the province of Lecco, Lombardy .- History :The name Melatum appeared for the first time in the 4th century; it may be derived from the Greek for black/gloomy/dark because of the presence of woods, or from the Italian for apple : an important fruit...
, 20 km north of
MilanMilan in Italy, is the capital of the region of Lombardia and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while the urban area is the fifth largest in the E.U. with an estimated population of 4.3 million...
, north Italy.
Assigned to the safety device of the area, the Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbände apparently participated in no larger operation against partisans.
The 26 April 1945 Hintersatz signed a pact with the local partisan command, according to which the soldiers would remain in the barracks in Merate, until the US troops arrived. This happened on 30 April 1945, the whole unit went into the hands of the First US tank division.
Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband der SS
In December 1944, while Training in
SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...
, rumor that unit to be transferred to
Andrey VlasovGeneral Andrei Andreyevich Vlasov or Wlassow was a Russian former Soviet Army general who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II.
-Early career:...
’s army drops morale of the soldiers.
Dec 24: 450 men desert on Christmas Eve, 300 eventually return.
The Azerberjani regiment was removed from the Osttürkischen Waffen-Verbände 30 Dec 1944 and transferred to Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband der SS.
Kaukasischer-Waffen-Verband der SS, also known as
Freiwilligen-Definition:The term derives from the German 'Freiwillige' and is used where volunteers from an occupied country join the army of the occupier.-Germany - World War 2:...
Brigade Nordkaukasien, began forming with volunteers from the Caucasus region, from Frewilligen-Stamm-Division as a nucleus. It was transferred from the Neuhammer training camp to
PaluzzaPaluzza is a comune in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 120 km northwest of Trieste and about 50 km northwest of Udine, on the border with Austria...
in northern Italy Jan. 1945 and was still forming when it surrendered to the British forces at the end of the war.
Commander :SS-Standartenführer Arved Theuermann
Organisation:
Stab Kaukasischer Waffen-Verband der SS
Stab Waffen-Gruppe Armenien
Stab Waffen-Gruppe Nordkaukasus
Stab Waffen-Gruppe Georgien
Stab Waffen-Gruppe Aserbeidjan (1090 soldiers: Gerhard von Mende archives)
Commander Waffen-Standartenführer Magomed Nabi Oglu Israfilov (Israfilbey)
Born 25.01.1893 Azerbaijan. Colonel in the Russian Imperial Army. Since the summer of 1943 to 1944 chairman of the Azerbaijan Committee. From May-September 1943 commander of the 314th Infantry Regiment in the 162.(Turk) Infanterie Division. March 17, 1945, was appointed responsible for military affairs in the Azerbaijan National Committee.
Sentenced to death on 11.07.1945 by the Baku Military District.
Unternehmen Zeppelin
The Unternehmen (operation) Zeppelin was initiated in 1942 by SS-Brigadeführer
Walter SchellenbergWalter Friedrich Schellenberg was a German SS-Brigadeführer who rose through the SS to become, following the abolition of the Abwehr in 1944, head of foreign intelligence....
, who became in middle of May 1943 the Chief of Section E of Amt IV of the
RSHAThe RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt was an organization subordinate to Heinrich Himmler in his capacity as Chef der Deutschen Polizei and Reichsführer-SS...
, the foreign intelligence service of the SS. The Obersturmbannführer Georg Greife was responsible of this operation.
As soon as the German troops had entered the territory of the
North CaucasusThe North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....
members of the different Caucasus National Committees, started to set up the core of a State administration and other organizations for the case where
WehrmachtWehrmacht was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe ....
would force the passage in Transcaucasia.
At the summer 1942, the Reich ministries for Finances, Interior, Foreign Affairs as well as the RSHA created a special group, “Sonderstab Kaukasus”. The “Sonderstab” was under the aegis of “Unternehmen Zeppelin”. The members of the “Sonderstab” were to organize units of police force for to maintain the order on the territory of the North Caucasus, like constituting the organizations apparatus of State.
The Unternehmen Zeppelin had many purposes: creation of intelligence groups for the collection and transmission of information from the USSR; advocacy groups for the distribution of social, national, and religious propaganda; rebel groups to organize and conduct a rebellion; and sabotage groups for political sabotage and terror.
From the wireless reports of these commandos behind the Russian lines reports and actions were made. It was envisaged to recruit the future civil servant among the prisoners of war of Caucasian nationality, who were into large numbers in the German camps of the North Caucasus. The Azerbaijani group was directed by Abbas Bey Atamalibekov. (There is not much informations about Atamalibekov. In 1919 he was a member of the Azeri Delegation led by
Alimardan TopchubashevAlimardan Alakbar oglu Topchubashov was a prominent Azerbaijani politician, foreign minister and speaker of the Parliament of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic....
which participated at the
Paris Peace ConferenceParis Conference may refer to:*Paris Economic Conference of 1916Paris Peace Conference may refer to:* Treaty of Paris, 1783, formally ended the American Revolutionary War...
in
VersaillesVersailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial center...
. He actively participated in the formation of national legions from the Soviet prisoners of war in 1942, together with
Abdurahman Fatalibeyli-DudanginskyAbdurahman Ali oglu Fatalibeyli, born Abo Dudanginski was a Soviet army major who defected to the German forces during World War II.-Life:...
and Fuad Amirjan in Berlin. He representated Azeri SS in the Azerbaijan National committee from 1943 to 1945 and then fled to Chile) Unternehmen Zeppelin was “partially successful”. Most of those Sonderstab were captured and executed by KGB agents. In his personal archives, member of the Ostministerium Gerhard Von Mende give the number of 348 people from Azerbaijanese origin who participated in those operations. It is not known if anyone of them were SS.
Further reading
- Eduard Abramian - Forgotten Legion: Sonderverbände Bergmann in World War II 1941-1945.
- Eduard Abramian -Kavkatsy v Abvere . Moscow 2006
- Christopher Ailsby - Hitler's Renegades: Foreign Nationals in the Service of the Third Reich.
- Wladyslaw Anders - Russian Volunteers in Hitler's Army 1941-1945.
- Christopher Bishop - SS Hitler's Foreign Divisions: Foreign Volunteers in the Waffen SS 1940-1945.
- J. Borsarello & W. Palinckx - Wehrmacht & SS: Caucasian, Muslim, Asian Troops.
- Dallin A. German Rule in Russia 1941–1945: A Study of occupation policies. London New York, 1957.
- Littlejohn D. Foreign Legions of the Third Reich: In 4 vols. San Jose, 1987. Vol.4.
- Antonio J. Muñoz - The East Came West: Muslim, Hindu & Buddhist Volunteers in the German Armed Forces 1941-1945.
- Munoz, Antonio J. Forgotten Legions: Obscure Combat Formations of the Waffen SS. Axis-Europa Books, 1991.
- Antonio Muñoz & Dr Oleg V. Romanko - Hitler's White Russians: Collaboration, Extermination and Anti-Partisan Warfare in Byelorussia 1941-1944.
- Foreign Volunteers of the Wehrmacht 1941-45 K. Yurado
- Osprey Publishing Ltd, Elms Court, Chapel Way, Botley, Oxford, OX2 9LP.
- Tessin, Georg: Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945. 20 Bde. Osnabrück 1967 ff.
- Held, Walter: Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Eine Bibliographie der deutschsprachigen Nachkriegsliteratur. 5 Bde. Osnabrück 1978 ff.
- Hoffmann, Joachim: Die Ostlegionen 1941 – 1943.Turkotartaren, Kaukasier und Wolgafinnen im deutschen Heer. Freiburg 1976.
- Jeloschek, Albert und Friedrich Richter, Ehrenfried Schütte, Johannes Semmler: Freiwillige vom Kaukasus. Georgier & Tschetschenen auf deutscher Seite. „Der Sonderverband Bergmann“ unter Theo Oberländer. Graz, Stuttgart 2003.
- ВА-МА, Oberkommando des Heeres / Generalstab des Heeres, H 1/136, bl. 64
- NARA. Microcopy T-354. Roll 161. Frames 3806724 through 3807091.
External links