Identification marks of divisions ss. The development of the fascist tank forces SS I SS Panzer Division "Das Reich"

12th SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend" (12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend").
This formation owes its formation to SS Gottlob Berger, who proposed to SS Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler, in January 1943, to create an SS division from members of the Hitler Youth. On February 10, 1943, a decree was issued, according to which the formation of the SS "Hitler Youth" division was allowed from conscripts born in 1926 (age - 17 years old, previously for volunteers entering the SS there was an age limit of 23 years). SS Oberführer Fritz Witt of the Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler was appointed commander of the division, who also provided other personnel for the newly formed units. Through a competition, the division's distinctive sign was established, on which the Sovilo rune (the symbol of the Hitler Youth organization) crossed with the master key (the sign of the SS Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler division, which arose from the name of its first commander Joseph Dietrich (German: Dietrich - master key) ).
Fritz Witt

Formation of tankers of the division during an inspection by Field Marshal Gerd von Rundsted, France, January 1944.

Captured German soldiers from the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth" escorted by the military police of the 3rd US Army. These young soldiers (16 and 17 years old) were taken prisoner on the outskirts of Magerotte, east of Bastogne, Belgium.

Until September 1, 1943, more than 16 thousand members of the Hitler Youth were drafted, who underwent six months of training. In addition, more than 1,000 veterans of the SS troops, as well as experienced officers from the Wehrmacht, were transferred to the division. The total number of personnel exceeded 20 thousand people with 150 tanks. During training in Beverloo (Belgium), it was decided to reorganize the original tank-grenadier division into a tank division and change its name to the SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth". When the Waffen-SS units were renumbered on October 22, 1943, the division received number 12, and its grenadier regiments received numbers 25 and 26.

From June 1944, the division was on the Western Front in Normandy.
Grenadier of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth" on the road to Orne, Nomandia.

On June 6, 1944, with Operation Overlord, the Allies launched an invasion of Normandy. The 12th SS Division "Hitler Youth" together with the 21st Panzer Division were the closest tank units to the landing site. However, due to air raids, they reached the battle site only about 22 hours near Evresi.
On June 7, the 25th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment, under the command of SS Standartenfuehrer Kurt Meyer, together with the 12th SS Panzer Regiment, managed to repel the attack of the Canadians, and 28 tanks were destroyed, and the Nova Scotia Highlanders infantry regiment suffered heavy losses. At the same time, the division's losses amounted to six people. During this operation, 20 Canadian prisoners of war were killed by soldiers of the division at Abbaye d "Ardenne.
Kurt Meyer

On June 8, the 26th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment, commanded by SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Wilhelm Monke, reached a position west of Meyer's regiment. The regiment struck in the direction of Saint-Manvieu-Norre and captured a strategically important village.
Two tanks M4 "Sherman" squadron "A" of the 2nd Canadian tank division, knocked out and burned down on June 11, 1944 on the street of the French town of Ro (Rots) during a battle with the 12th SS Panzer Regiment of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth ".

Captured soldiers of the 12th SS-Division "Hitlerjugend" (12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend") for lunch in a field near the French town of Rots.



On 14 June, the Royal Navy shelled positions at Venoix, killing Witt. His place was taken by Kurt Meyer, who became the youngest division commander in World War II (33 years old). Meyer was later charged with war crimes, as he demanded from his units not to take prisoners.
The division was ordered to capture Caen over the next four weeks, although the enemy was vastly outnumbered and there was no air support.

Panzergrenadier of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth" captured by Canadian intelligence during the Battle of Caen. August 9, 1944

Tank Pz.Kpfw. IV (Panzerkampfwagen IV, Ausf. H, hull number 626) of the 6th company of the 12th Panzer Regiment of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth" (6.Kompanie / SS-Panzer-Regiment 12 / 12.SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend) on a march down a street in the French city of Caen.

Another Pz.Kpfw.IV tank with tactical number 625 from the same company of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth".


In the first weeks of July, the division suffered heavy losses. Therefore, Meyer ignored the order to hold the northern border of Caen and retreated with the remnants of his troops to the south. By this time, the division had lost 4 thousand killed, 8 thousand wounded and a large number of missing persons.

The machine gunner of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth" fires at the enemy with an MG-42 machine gun. France, July 1944.

Eighteen-year-old SS Sturmmann (Corporal) Otto Funk of the 25th Grenadier Regiment of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitler Youth in Rots after the failed German attack on Norrey-en-Bessin, northwest of Caen, France.
On June 26, 1944, Otto Funk (06.06.1926-11.09.2011) was wounded in the Cheux area, on May 8, 1945 he surrendered to units of the 65th US Infantry Division in Enns, Austria.

Rewarding division soldiers for the June-July battles in Normandy

By August 17, the main forces of the division fell into the Falaise cauldron, where they operated north of the city of Falaise. On August 29, the remnants of the division managed to break out of the encirclement, while losing from June 6 about 9 thousand people, almost all tanks and most of the heavy weapons and equipment. Until September, the personnel decreased by another 2 thousand people and amounted to about 3 thousand people. Meyer himself was captured on September 6 by the Belgian partisans, as a result of which SS Obersturmbannführer Hubert Meyer took command. Continuing the retreat, the division passed through Vielsalm and Malmedy. Having reached the Western defensive wall, the division took part in the defense of the canal and the Eifel region.
In November, the division was transferred to Nienburg, where, due to the actual destruction, it was formed anew. Meyer was replaced by SS Obersturmbannführer Hugo Kraas. The division was assigned to the 6th SS Panzer Army under the command of SS Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich to participate in Operation Watch on the Rhine.
Tank M4 "Sherman" (tail number 14) of the Canadian Sherbrooke Fusiliers regiment and soldiers of the Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal regiment in battle with the group of SS Sturmbannführer Krause (Kampfgruppe Krause) 12th tank division SS "Hitlerjugend" (12. SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend) on the street French Falaise (Falaise).

Captured soldiers of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth", captured in a Falaise cauldron.

The operation, which began on December 16, 1944, despite all efforts, did not achieve the task set - to break through the enemy's defenses. The reason was the strong resistance of the opposing American forces. Following this, the division was withdrawn to take part in the siege of Bastogne. Until January 18, 1945, the division, like other German units, was pushed back to its original positions.
The grenadiers of the 25th SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 25 of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend (12. SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend), killed in action with the 509th Parachute Regiment of the US Army on December 26, 1944 during offensive in the Ardennes.

Captured young German soldiers of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth" captured by soldiers of the US 7th Army in Schillersdorf, France.

Captured soldiers of the 12th SS-Division "Hitlerjugend" (12. SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend") load the wounded into the back of an American GMC truck

Captured soldiers of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth".

On January 20, 1945, the 6th SS Panzer Army received an order to redeploy to eastern Hungary in order to take part in the battles for Budapest, where 45 thousand people from the 9th SS Mountain Corps were surrounded. The transfer of units began on February 2, and already on February 4, the first units arrived in the area south of Colta. On February 5, the division launched an offensive near the city of Gran on the Danube. By the end of the month, the bridgehead at Gran was eliminated. Then the SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth" took part in the battles for the Paris Canal, Barth and Beni.
Subsequently, the division took part in the offensive on Lake Balaton, during which Germany planned to regain its oil fields. Parts of the division operated near the eastern part of Lake Balaton. Hitler tried to keep this operation secret and ordered not to conduct reconnaissance of the battlefield until the start of the offensive. After initial success, the operation was interrupted by a Soviet counteroffensive.
The German tank Pz.Kpfw destroyed near Lake Balaton. V Ausf.G "Panther" from the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth". A late-release vehicle, a gun mantlet with a peculiar tide in the lower part - a "beard" that makes it impossible for the turret to jam when a shell hits, and also prevents the shell from ricochet into the turret plate. The machine has a gun barrel shot through. The number of the Soviet trophy team is "79".


After March 15, the Hitler Youth division began to retreat along the Veszprem-Papa-Raba route. Crossing Raba and Sopron, the remnants of the division in an accelerated march advanced to meet the advancing American forces deep into Austria. After passing Enns, the remnants of the division surrendered to the 65th Infantry Division of the 7th US Army on May 8, 1945. Of the 21,300 personnel in the division in December 1943, 455 soldiers and officers survived. The division has one tank.

The divisions of the SS troops (Waffen SS) were selected units, the true elite of the Hitlerite armed forces during the Second World War. The SS Division Das Reich (which, translated from German, means Empire, or, more precisely, Power), is the subject of this book, which sets out the background of the formation of this select SS military unit, including the history of the origin of the SS-FT division (Ferfyugungstrupe or Ferfyugungstruppen ), its organization, the number of its members, the most famous commanders and lower ranks, especially those who distinguished themselves in the course of hostilities. The book also pays considerable attention to the description of the military training of the Waffen SS ranks, symbols, uniforms, banners and insignia of the military personnel of the division.

The book "SS Panzer Division Das Reich" details the combat path of the division that fought during the Second World War on both the Western and Eastern Front. The division's participation in the invasion of Poland, in the defeat of Belgium, Holland and France, the invasion of the Soviet Union, the battles of Kharkov and Kursk, the defense of Normandy, the Ardennes offensive, an unsuccessful attempt to break the encirclement around Budapest and in the defense of Vienna, where the division actually bled to death , completing your combat path with dignity. A dark spot in the history of the division, associated with the participation of its servicemen in the "sweeps" carried out in the French city of Tulle and the destruction of the town of Oradour-sur-Glane, did not remain ignored. Illustrated with rare photographs, the book "SS Panzer Division Das Reich" - in contrast to the countless publications demonizing the SS in general and the SS troops - in particular, and from the not so numerous, but, nevertheless, apologetic publications about the SS found in the modern book market , immensely extolling their merits and dignity and at the same time trying by any means to justify or silence the crimes they have committed! - represents a truly truthful, that is, non-fictional and unadorned, history of one of the best military units of Hitlerite Germany during the Second World War - the most terrible and bloody conflict in the history of mankind.

ARMOR FASTENERS AND TANKS OUR FAST

It was the second day of the Ardennes Breakthrough, the last German offensive on the Western Front. The morning of this December 17, 1944, here on the western slopes of the Belgian Ardennes, turned out to be damp and foggy. A fine, cold rain was falling, brought from the Atlantic by a gusty north wind. A full-fledged American armored artillery battalion, consisting of twenty-seven newest Sherman medium tanks, twenty-six barrels of field and anti-tank artillery, and two hundred US Army soldiers and officers, approached the southern outskirts of the small town of Malmedy. The quarters of the city, dimly showing through the veil of heavy morning fog, seemed to be quite close. American tankmen, leaning out of their towers to their waist, were talking merrily through laryngophones. Suddenly…

Something very large and at the same time very fast flashed through the fog, and a German medium tank "Panther" with a cross on its armor jumped out from under the slope of the ravine at the American armored column, turning the long trunk of the turret gun on the move. The carriage of the American head gun, crushed by the Panther's caterpillar, crackled. She swiftly jumped over the next two, now, close, no longer dangerous anti-tank guns. Obliquely, almost on the move, with a kind of laughing burst, spitting out a smoky-red sheaf of fire, the Panther's gun struck - and immediately exploded the ammunition on the lead American Sherman. Pecking deathly with its barrel, the Sherman instantly turned into a brightly flaming torch. From somewhere on the side, out of the fog, two more German tanks emerged and, turning sharply, hit the American gun servants with machine guns. Two more brand-new Shermans flared up, and did not have time to prepare for battle, and the rest, ponderously breaking formation, with a frightened herd of Arizona bulls, rushed down the gentle, long slope, cowardly substituting their angular, ash-colored shells hissing on the fly German Panther shells sides with white pentagrams ...

The rout was complete. On the field of a tank battle, which lasted no more than a quarter of an hour, there were sixteen burned-out "Shermans" and the bodies of seventy (according to other sources - seventy-one) killed Americans. The entire barrel artillery battery was completely destroyed. At the same time, the Germans did not lose a single person. The success of the German tank strike at Malmedy could enter the annals of world military science as one of the fastest and most effective tactical tank operations in World War II. I could have, but I didn't. There were a number of reasons for this.

First, the German plan to dump the Anglo-American "Western allies" into the Atlantic Ocean from where they sailed failed. After insistent requests from Roosevelt and Churchill to "save Private Ryan," Stalin threw Soviet troops from the three central fronts into a massive offensive, which forced the command of the German Wehrmacht to transfer the most combat-ready units from the Western Front to the Eastern. The German offensive in the Ardennes was stopped - the Anglo-Americans were saved.

Secondly, the brilliant victory at Malmedy was won not just by some Germans, but by the SS troops (Waffen SS), which, apparently, even before the Nuremberg International Tribunal was sentenced, it was tacitly decided to count, along with all the SS, a criminal organization - although the Soviet NKVD troops, who fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, could just as well be considered responsible for all the crimes committed by the executioners of the NKVD in the Stalinist camps and dungeons, only because both were considered "NKAVADIS" and wore the same uniform!

Thirdly, the victory at Malmedy was won not just by some SS troops, but by the 1st SS Panzer Division, which bore the name of Adolf Hitler, which could be interpreted not only in a purely military, but also in an undesirable symbolic sense.

Fourthly, the command of the American expeditionary forces, disdaining all the rules of officer honor, did not want in the face of History to recognize their troops so quickly and ingloriously defeated at Malmedy. The destruction, within only a quarter of an hour, of an entire armored artillery division by forces of only three German medium tanks, could be explained by only two reasons:

1) the complete mediocrity of the American military leadership (but the Americans, of course, could not admit this - the "honor of the uniform" did not allow!);

2) excellent moral and combat training of the enemy (but recognition of this fact, of course, would have dealt a blow to the morale of the US army, which was not particularly resilient - its companies in Vietnam, Somalia, Iraq, etc., serve as an example).

However, closing our eyes to the truth, one could try to find (or, more precisely, to invent) a third reason for what happened. And the Anglo-American sages took this third path.

A few days after the stabilization of the front in the Ardennes, the radio station of the British Royal Air Force transmitted an informational report (of course, without prudently informing that the information transmitted by it came not from military intelligence, from the battlefield, but from the opposite side - from across the ocean, from the special services USA!). The summary reported that the Germans, in order to create the impression of the defeat of American troops near Malmedy, killed several hundred (!) Captured (!) American soldiers, allegedly specially brought in advance for this purpose to the Malmedy region from Germany.

In the spring of 1943, Hitler, after the success of the SS Panzer Corps in Kharkov (March 1943) and the failure of the operation near Stalingrad of the army tank divisions (December 1942), decided to strengthen the Waffen SS tank forces. The Fuhrer's favorite Joseph Sepp Dietrich took command of the new tank corps. The corps included the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler Panzer Division and the newly formed Hitler Youth Division of recruited members of the Nazi youth movement. The Leibstandarte division provided the corps headquarters and the new division with experienced officers and soldiers.

By the fall of 1943, new units and units were formed in military camps in Belgium, but the Leibstandarte division joined with them only in the spring of the following year, returning from the Eastern Front.

In the fall of 1943, a new designation system was adopted, which primarily affected the panzergrenadier (motorized) divisions, officially renamed tank divisions. Thus, the first Waffen SS formation became known as the 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler", for short LSSAG.

New tank formations of the Waffen SS slowly took shape, collecting little by little recruits and military equipment. As winter approached, it became increasingly clear that the British and Americans would soon begin an invasion of France, which means that urgent measures should be taken to equip and train new formations. Tanks, armored personnel carriers, and other weapons went to France in a continuous stream.

The Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler! Division, which suffered huge losses on the Eastern Front, was sent to France in the spring of 1944 for rest and replenishment. It was going to land an Allied landing in France, and according to Hitler's plan, the division was to lead the German counteroffensive. The exhausted remnants of the division did not have time to completely put themselves in order when new recruits and military equipment began to arrive in large numbers. Time was running out, there was no time to figure it out, and many untrained soldiers were sent to the division. For the most part, they were young men, former personnel of the ground services of the Luftwaffe and the Navy. They did not possess the qualities of the volunteers who joined the ranks of the elite formations of the Waffen her at the beginning of the war. For veterans "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler!" I had to start practically from scratch, explaining to the newcomers the main provisions of military service, at the same time acquainting them with the orders in the "divisional family!"

By the end of the spring of 1944, five Waffen SS panzer and one panzergrenadier (motorized) divisions, designed to repel the Allied invasion of France, were equipped with the most powerful weapons in the German arsenal. The most widespread was the tank T-U, or "Panther". In the form of the main gun, a 75-mm long-barreled (L70) cannon was placed on the tank. In terms of rate of fire, maneuverability, and armor protection "Panther" surpassed almost all allied tanks.

"Panther" could destroy the main tank of the allies "Sherman" from a distance of 2 thousand meters, while "Sherman" was able to penetrate the armor of this German tank at a distance of less than 500 meters. The Sherman (75 mm or 76.2 mm cannon) could withstand the German T-IV tank, but the 75 mm long-barreled cannon (from August 1944 the L70, like on the Panther) gave the T-IV advantages in range. The tank battalions of its Waffen divisions were equipped with Panthers and T-IVs.

The German tank "TIGER 1" with the 88-mm cannon "L56 at the Tiger II" and "Tiger 3" was the real terror to the enemy. The guns of most of the allied tanks could not penetrate the 100-mm frontal armor of the Tiger. The only weapon in the West capable of hitting the Tiger I's frontal armor was the English 17-pound cannon.

In 1943, tank battalions equipped with Tigers! ”, Were part of the motorized (panzergrenadier) divisions of the Waffen SS, and later separate heavy tank battalions were formed. In the fall of 1944, the Tiger II, or Royal Tiger, was adopted. In the formations of the Waffen SS, there were a large number of "Jagdpanzer IV!", "Stug III" and "Mapder".

ACS were developed on a tank chassis; the disadvantage of the self-propelled guns is the absence of a rotating turret (the advantage is a low silhouette, the possibility of more powerful weapons and armor at the same weight as the tank). "Youngpanzer IV" was developed on a modified chassis of the T-IV tank, on which a wheelhouse of relatively large armor plates with optimal roll angles to increase security was installed; he, like "Panther"; was armed with a 75mm cannon. "Shtug III", created on the basis of the T-III, was armed with a 75-mm cannon, first short-barreled, and later long-barreled. The Marder was a light armored tank hunter based on the chassis of a Czech tank, with a 7 6.2 mm captured Soviet anti-tank gun. (This is "Marder-3" based on the Czech 38 (t) tank; it was also equipped with a 75-mm German gun. "Marder-2" was made on the basis of the German tank pz 11, "Marder-1" - on the basis of light French tanks and had French or German 75mm gun).

Each Waffen SS Panzer Division consisted of two Panzer Grenadier Regiments and Mechanized Infantry. Each had an anti-tank unit armed with Marders and PAK-40 anti-tank guns. In addition, a large number of anti-tank grenade launchers "Panzershrek" and single-use grenade launchers "Panzerfaust" or "Faustpatron" were in service. This weapon turned any infantry unit into tank hunters.

One panzergrenadier (motorized) battalion in each division was armed with SdKfz 251 medium half-track armored personnel carriers, which allowed the infantry to be in close proximity to the enemy.

We will start from the end of 1944, when not only Soviet troops reached the borders of the Reich (East Prussia), and the Allies proper. Hitler planned to strike at the Anglo-American troops in order to force them to negotiate, and for this case a large-scale offensive was organized in the Ardennes region on December 16, 1944.

The main task of defeating the enemy was assigned to the SS tank units, which included the 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandart". Despite the fact that the German troops were able to break through the Allied front, they did not succeed in reaching the operational space, due to a lack of fuel and difficult terrain.

By December 26, the Americans, having created a multiple superiority both in manpower and in tanks, went on the offensive. The German offensive had lasted ten days before that moment, and ended in complete failure. But the 1st SS Panzer Division is sent for the next military operation, which was planned in Hungary. The 1st SS Panzer Division lost about 50% of its tanks and self-propelled guns, but they were able to restore it in just a month, because it was this unit that had priority in obtaining military equipment.

And so, as part of the 6th SS Panzer Army, the 1st Panzer Division had to push the Soviet troops back to Budapest, which the Red Army took in stubborn battles. The 1st SS Panzer Division was to seize the bridgehead for the offensive. The battles were fought against units of the 24th Guards Rifle Corps, and in spite of the fact that the Russians were successfully pressed, there was no need to talk about any surprise of the strike.

Units of the 3rd Ukrainian Front were able to prepare for the German attack, and 67 anti-tank guns were deployed for 1 kilometer. Nevertheless, the Germans had nothing to lose, and from March 6 (some sources indicate March 7), the last major offensive of the Wehrmacht began. For three days, the 1st Panzer SS fought against Soviet soldiers, and at the cost of huge losses broke through two defense lines, and the 30th Soviet Rifle Corps was in fact defeated. Nevertheless, the command of the 3rd Ukrainian Front transferred additional forces in time, which included Soviet heavy self-propelled guns - German tank destroyers.

On March 15, units of the 1st SS Panzer Division made a maximum-scale breach of 30 kilometers, but they failed to break the last echelon of the Soviet defense, they were not strong enough.

As a result, 10% of the personnel (18,000 people) and 80% of military equipment were lost. It is difficult to say exactly how much the Germans lost tanks and self-propelled guns, historian Alexei Isaev calls the minimum figure of 250 pieces of equipment.

However, the defeat for the division came after the failed offensive. When Soviet troops launched an offensive against the 6th SS Panzer Army. The attack was carried out without any operational pause, and units of the 1st SS Panzer Division managed to be split into several independent groups at once, which had to be destroyed.

But, due to the fact that the remnants of the 1st Panzer Division were lucky to fight in the mountainous terrain of Eastern Austria, and this made it possible to restrain the Soviet offensive for the time being. However, by the beginning of May, only 55% of the manpower of the 1st SS Panzer Division remained. Considering the fact that after the defeat in March, 10% of manpower was lost, then we can safely say that the German unit was defeated, and the retreat to the demarcation line saved it from complete destruction. The remnants of the soldiers of the once strongest SS tank unit laid down their weapons there.

On June 24, 1945, on Red Square, during the Victory Parade, among the abandoned banners of SS units, the first was the flag pole of the 1st SS Panzer Division.

The offensive of the German troops on July 5, 1943 near Kursk received the code name "Citadel". The last postponement of the offensive date - from June 13 to July 5 - gave the Germans the opportunity to send two more battalions of Panther tanks in General Model's division to the northern flank of the arc, as well as a number of new medium tanks to the southern section of the Kursk salient. The main blows were delivered by the 4th Panzer Army of Colonel General Goth from the south and the 9th Panzer Army of Colonel General Model from the north. Both groups were supposed to unite east of Kursk, clamping the large forces of the Red Army on the ledge in steel "tongs". The 4th Panzer Army was advancing with the forces of the 48th Panzer Corps (3rd, 11th Panzer Divisions and the motorized division "Great Germany") and the SS Panzer Corps consisting of three divisions (LSSAH, "Reich" and "Death's Head") ...

The Battle of the Kursk Bulge was preceded by a concentration of armored vehicles unprecedented in military history. In the photo - a column of tanks of the SS division "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler" stretched to the horizon. In the foreground are Pz.Kpfw tanks. IV Ausf. G from the 7th company of the division's tank regiment.

Its right flank was covered by the army group of General Kempf, which attacked the northeast - one tank (300 tanks) and two infantry corps. Due to the exposure of other sectors of the Eastern Front, the German group of forces near Kursk looked extremely formidable. The two German shock groupings numbered more than 900 thousand people, about 10 thousand guns and mortars, up to 2,700 tanks and self-propelled artillery units and about 2,050 aircraft. They were opposed by the troops of the Central and Voronezh fronts, which by the beginning of July 1943 had 1,336 thousand people, more than 19 thousand guns and mortars, 3,444 tanks and self-propelled guns and 2,172 aircraft. The troops of the reserve Steppe Front concentrated 573 thousand people, 7401 guns and mortars, 1551 tanks.

The SS Panzer Corps, located in the center of Manstein's grouping on the southern flank of the arc, advanced on Kursk and Oboyan. The Germans were opposed by the 6th Guards Army, which included two tank corps. At the beginning of the offensive, the SS units managed to achieve some success - the Red Army was forced to cede its forward defensive lines. SS units, using PzKpfw VI "Tiger" tanks from heavy tank battalions and PzKpfw V "Panther" tanks from specially formed Panther Brigade, were able to break through the Red Army defenses in several places. Air support played an important role: a special anti-tank version of the famous Junkers Ju-87 "Stuka" was strenuously clearing the way for German tanks and infantry. In just one day, covering the leading fierce battles of the 4th Panzer Army of Gotha, German aviation made 1,700 sorties. By noon on July 6, the SS "Fuehrer" regiment (SS "Reich" division) occupied Luzhki 30 km deep in the defenses of the Soviet troops. However, further progress slowed down. By July 9, it was possible to drive three deep wedges into the Russian defenses, but due to fierce resistance they could not connect in any way and, being subjected to continuous flank counterattacks, suffered serious losses in manpower and equipment. The 3rd Panzer Corps, which was supposed to support the flank of the SS Reich Division, advanced too slowly.

The SS "Dead's Head" division managed to force the Psel River and penetrate somewhat into the defenses of the Soviet troops. On July 11, the LSSAH and Reich were able to link up with each other, but Death's Head was still operating alone. By July 12, the commander of the 4th Panzer Army decided to break through the defenses of the Red Army and enter the operational space. On the morning of July 12, all combat-ready tanks of the Kempf, Hausser and Knobelsdorf corps - about 750 vehicles, including more than 100 "Tigers", were gathered into a fist and thrown into the decisive battle. The Germans were opposed by Rotmistrov's 5th Guards Tank Army, in which there were about 850 tanks (T-34, KV-1 and T-70, the latter being 261 units). The tank battle at Prokhorovka began in an unusual manner, and its beginning was unexpected for both opponents. When Soviet tanks left their shelters and moved forward, observers noticed that the equally formidable German armada had also gone on the offensive and was moving towards, Soviet and German aircraft rushed to help their tanks, but a thick veil of smoke and dust and mixed battle formations prevented the pilots from distinguishing their own from strangers, as a result, the air armada grappled with each other and over the battlefield from morning to evening fierce air battles raged. A few minutes later, the first Soviet tanks, firing on the move, crashed into the battle formations of the Germans, literally piercing them with a diagonal through blow.

Battle of Kursk. Soviet counteroffensive

A German tanker, a participant in the battle at Prokhorovka, later wrote: “We were warned that we would encounter anti-tank guns and individual tanks buried in the ground, as well as, possibly, several separate tank brigades of slow-moving KVs. In fact, we were faced with a seemingly inexhaustible mass of Russians tanks - never before had I received such a vivid impression of Russian power and strength as on that day.Clouds of thick dust made it impossible to get support from the Luftwaffe, and soon numerous T-34s broke through our forward screen and, like beasts of prey, prowled through the song battle ".

In this close battle, the Tigers and the Panther tanks lost their advantage, which was given to them by more powerful guns and thicker armor. The whole world seemed to shudder from the deafening roar of the battle. The rumble of hundreds of strained roaring engines, feverish artillery fire, the explosions of thousands of shells and bombs, the roar of exploding tanks, the howl of falling aircraft - everything merged into a hellish thunder that did not stop until darkness fell. More than 1200 tanks and self-propelled guns mingled in a gigantic maelstrom, shrouded in a veil of smoke and dust, illuminated by the flashes of hundreds of tank guns. The dashing attack of the T-34 was carried out so swiftly that the carefully worked out German battle plans were thwarted, and the Germans never got the opportunity to establish control over their units and subunits. Tanks circled the battlefield, bouncing at each other in the midst of the rumble of guns, flashes of fire, sudden bright flashes of exploding tanks and self-propelled guns. The battlefield seemed too cramped for so many combat vehicles, and within an hour it was littered with the skeletons of burning, smoking, twisted tanks; from the explosions of the ammunition, the towers flew into the air and flew off tens of meters. The surviving tank crews could not get out of the battlefield - under the shower of shells, flying fragments and machine-gun bursts, passing across the battlefield was tantamount to suicide. The battle broke up into fierce battles between separate groups of tanks, which continuously maneuvered, concentrating fire on the enemy. Rotmistrov, apparently, was shocked and stunned by the picture that opened to him from his observation post. In a thick cloud of dust, where hundreds of tanks were blazing like torches and smoldering oily columns of smoke stretched up over the motionless vehicles, it was difficult to determine who was advancing and who was defending. In the darkness that descended on the battlefield, for a long time it was possible to see the fires of dying out tanks and aircraft. The Germans lost 400 tanks, and the surviving vehicles needed repair, maintenance and refueling and replenishment of ammunition. There were other irrecoverable losses - more than 10,000 people: tank crews, infantrymen, as well as dozens of aircraft with crews.

ACS "Ferdinand" was knocked out in the Battle of Kursk.

German historian Leo Kessler wrote in his book "The Iron Fist": "On the evening of July 12, Goth himself arrived on the battlefield in a command tank. He was unhappy with what he saw. Hausser lost 300 tanks and was unable to launch another attack until the urgently called 6th Panzer Division to help him. " The 5th Guards Tank Army lost about 300 tanks.

Destroyed tank "Panther" (PzKpfw V Ausf. D2) in the operation "Citadel"

By July 17, it became clear that the offensive had finally failed. In addition, Anglo-American troops landed in Sicily and there was a danger of Italy's withdrawal from the war. Therefore, Operation Citadel was officially terminated. Hitler decided to transfer the SS Panzer Corps to Italy. In reality, only the SS LSSAH division was sent to Italy. Before the SS divisions "Reich" and "Death's Head" had time to plunge into carriages, they decided to use them to strike at the bridgehead captured by the Red Army on the Mius River. Their attacks were successful and the front line in this sector stabilized. However, these battles were no longer decisive, since the Red Army went over to the offensive along the entire front. "Reich" and "Death's Head" were urgently deployed to the north. For the third time this year, the SS divisions under the command of Hausser entered Kharkov. However, their stay in the city was short-lived - the German units began to retreat to the Dnieper. On August 22, "Reich" and "Death's Head" left Kharkov, and in early September were in reserve in the Kiev region, having received only a short respite. The Viking SS division, which did not have time to recover from last year's campaign, was in reserve during the battle on the Kursk Bulge. When the Red Army launched a major offensive in the Orel region, this division was transferred to this sector of the front to stop the enemy's advance. But it was all in vain: "Viking" did not have sufficient combat power to solve the assigned task. After fierce battles, the division retreated beyond the Dnieper to the Gomel area and then was sent to the Balkans for rest and re-equipment. The LSSAH division was in Italy. By the end of the summer, a new tank regiment was included in its composition, which included a battalion of heavy tanks PzKpfw VI "Tiger". At the same time, the division was renamed 1-SS-Panzer-Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler". When German units in Russia were unable to stop the advance of the Red Army and were rolling back further and further to the Dnieper, the LSSAH was urgently deployed to the Eastern Front.

The location of the division was supposed to be Kiev, but while the division was on the way. The Red Army has already entered the capital of Ukraine. By the beginning of 1944, the location of the SS divisions was as follows: LSSAH occupied positions beyond the Dnieper, "Reich" - in the Kiev region, "Death's Head" was in reserve in the region of Dnipropetrovsk, "Viking", after returning to the front in December 1943, was sent to the Cherkassy region. In the meantime, the first of the four new SS divisions "Nordland" entered the battles in the Leningrad direction. She took part in bloody battles during the winter retreat of German troops to Narva. When the Red Army crossed the Dnieper north of Kiev in November 1943, only the SS Reich Division was able to counterattack the enemy. The Germans no longer had the strength to stop the enemy's advance. On November 6, 1943, the Reich was forced to abandon its positions in the Kiev area and begin a retreat to the southwest. After continuous stubborn battles, the division managed to gain a foothold only in the Fastov area. The entry into battle of the SS LSSAH division on November 12 could not change anything: by this time it was already impossible to push back the advancing Red Army units beyond the Dnieper. Between November 15 and December 30, 48th Panzer Corps, which was based on the LSSAH and the badly battered Reich, launched several fairly powerful counter-attacks. Throwing back three Russian corps to Brusilov and capturing Radomyshl, LSSAH cut off significant forces of the advancing enemy in the Koro stena area. The front line in the Kiev area was temporarily stabilized. All subsequent events in the Korosten area clearly showed how catastrophically the Germans lacked reserves.

The LSSAH, 1st and 7th Panzer Divisions opposed seven Soviet corps in this sector of the front. The Germans not only failed to keep the Red Army units surrounded, but they had to urgently retreat so as not to be defeated by their own recent victims. Units of the Red Army broke through the German defense line in the Brusilov area, defeating the 24th Panzer Corps, which by that time included the SS Reich division. The retreating LSSAH merged with the remnants of the SS Reich Division. This group, conducting stubborn battles, retreated to Zhitomir, where, finally, the defensive lines of the Germans were restored. The fighting in the Zhytomyr region had not yet died down when the LSSAH, together with the 1st Panzer Division, entered the battles in the Berdichev area. Only by repelling the Red Army's offensive in this direction did the division get the respite it needed so much. By this time, the troops on both sides of the front were severely exhausted and the decisive battle for Ukraine was postponed for the time being. The core of the Reich division, which had greatly thinned out in the battles near Kiev and Brusilov, was withdrawn to France in early February 1944. Several scattered units of this division were consolidated into battle group "Lamerding" (up to a battalion), and together with the LSSAH were left on the Eastern Front.

Tanks "Tiger" from the division "Das Reich" in the forest near Berdichev.

Subsequent battles flared up near Cherkassy. The offensive of the Red Army was stopped north of Berdichev and Kirovograd (where the divisions "Death's Head" and "Great Germany" took part in heavy fighting). Now the Soviet command planned to deliver a powerful blow to the center of the German positions. The Russians threw two corps into the breach, which launched an offensive on the German defensive line between Cherkassy and Kanev. After stubborn battles, on February 1, Red Army units overcame the enemy's defensive lines in the south and north, and surrounded six German divisions (including the SS Viking division) in the area of \u200b\u200bthe city of Korsun. Before that, German units had been surrounded more than once. Before the catastrophe at Stalingrad, the Germans always managed to save their encircled units. Based on this experience, the encircled divisions were ordered to hold their positions and await outside help. However, this was the largest encirclement of German troops after Stalingrad, and the Russians were determined to destroy the encircled units, preparing them the fate of Paulus's 6th Army. To break through the encirclement, the Germans assembled four panzer divisions, led by the 1st SS Panzer Division LSSAH. Strength was meant to crush strength. Arriving in the Buzhanovka area, on February 3, the LSSAH immediately entered the battle in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Shenderovka village, where the distance to the encircled units was the smallest.

Partly due to the fact that the German formations by the OKH decision were thrown into battle scattered over several days, and most importantly due to the fact that four exhausted divisions had insufficient combat power (they were opposed by two tank armies and one guards tank armies) an attempt to break through failed. After twelve days of continuous desperate fighting, the Germans barely covered only half of the 30 km separating them from the encircled group. Four more days later, the German command realized that the breakout troops urgently needed help from the encircled divisions. On February 7, the SS Viking division was transferred to the village of Shenderovka. On the morning of February 11, the German regiment took the village. For the next six days, heavily drained German troops repelled continuous attacks by the Red Army, which sought to reclaim these key positions. However, all the efforts of the Germans did not lead to anything - the breakthrough troops were never able to overcome the remaining 5 km, which separated them from the encircled troops. In this regard, the German command ordered the encircled divisions to break out of the ring on their own. On the morning of February 16, German units led by the Viking SS division attempted a breakthrough. After a day and a half of fighting, at the cost of huge losses, individual German units managed to break out of the ring and go out to their own.

During this breakthrough attempt, most of the German divisions were virtually defeated. The Russians threw the main forces of the 5th Tank Army to the place of the breakthrough. The Belgian officer, who was in the "cauldron" with the SS "Wallonia" brigade, later described the terrible picture of the impact of Soviet tanks on the German columns trying to escape from the encirclement. T-34 tanks rolled on the Germans in waves, crushing carts, vehicles and guns with their tracks. When the German units reached the river, many soldiers and officers threw themselves into the icy water, hoping to reach the opposite bank, while Soviet tanks poured lead rain on this floundering mass of people. Thousands of German soldiers were killed on the snowy banks of the river. Another column, which included the remnants of the SS Viking division and the SS Wallonia brigade, at dawn on February 17, in the vicinity of the village of Shenderovka, was also subjected to massive attacks. The divisions that managed to link up with the LSSAH were in a deplorable state. They retained only about 30% of the staff and lost all heavy weapons. At the very time when the "Viking" escaped from the cauldron, having lost almost all its military equipment, it was officially renamed the "tank" SS division.

After the disaster at Korsun, it became clear to the German command that their defensive lines should be significantly reduced. The Northern Front, on which a relative calm reigned since the spring of 1942, was on the verge of collapse after the winter battles of 1943-1944. The SS "Nordland" division fought on this front since November 1943, and already in mid-January 1944 it was forced to retreat before the onslaught of superior enemy forces. Due to the acute shortage of tactical reserves, the German command was forced to hastily transfer several mobile units to the north. Because of the danger of a Russian offensive on the Vistula, the practically defeated SS Viking Division and the relatively strong SS Division Dead Head were transferred to Warsaw, where they formed the 19th Panzer Corps. The SS divisions LSSAH, "Reich" and the "Lamerding" group were deployed to the German defensive lines in Western Ukraine.

It was no secret to anyone that the next offensive of the Red Army units in the south could lead to the encirclement of a large number of German troops and the enemy's exit to Rovno and Uman. The offensive began unexpectedly, before the end of the spring thaw, which, as a rule, made it impossible to conduct large offensive operations. Nevertheless, the Red Army launched an offensive not in April or May, as the Germans believed, but on March 4, 1944, taking the German units by surprise, since they were not yet prepared. The leading positions were taken with minimal losses. Despite the confusion, the LSSAH, being part of the 4th Panzer Army, immediately launched a counterattack in the direction of Rovno, but it was impossible to stop the Russian advance with such forces. A few days later, the division was drawn into bloody battles and was forced to begin a retreat to the west. Battle Group Lamerding and SS Division Reich (1st Panzer Army) also quickly retreated in front of superior enemy forces towards Kamyanets-Podolsk on the Dniester. Just a few days later, the advancing wedges of the Red Army, breaking through the enemy's defenses on the move, penetrated 80 km into the rear of the Germans and dismembered two German armies.

Manstein, the commander of this group of forces, was extremely worried about the widening rift between his armies. He understood that if the 1st Army continued to retreat south, the Russians would have an excellent opportunity to encircle this unit. Manstein could not afford to lose eight panzer divisions at once, so the 1st Panzer Army was ordered to break through to the west. The assigned task was unusually difficult - the 1st and 4th tank armies were separated by more than 100 km and more and more armored formations of the Red Army rushed into this gap. The German attack began on March 29th. The two armies were advancing towards each other and had to unite in the Bukhach region. The two new SS Panzer Divisions (9th SS Panzer Division "Hohenstaufen" and 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg ") that formed the 2nd SS Panzer Corps were urgently transferred to the Eastern Front and took part in this offensive. After several days of stubborn After fighting, the 2nd SS Panzer Corps captured Bukhach and the two German armies were able to connect. Simultaneously with the offensive in the south, the Soviet command carried out a somewhat smaller operation in eastern Poland, during which the Russians surrounded Kovel. a little later, "Hohenstaufen" and "Frundsberg", made it possible to somewhat press the Soviet units and establish contact with the surrounded city. After that, the front line in this sector of the front stabilized until mid-July.

By this time, on paper, the Waffen SS was a formidable force, including 17 divisions, 12 of which were tank units. In fact, even these 12 divisions were far from fully equipped. The most thinned of them were transferred to the west to rest and protect the coast from a possible Allied landing. The LSSAH and the literally assembled SS Reich division were stationed in France, where they formed two new SS divisions "Hitlerjugend" and "Goetz von Berlichingen". Parts of the "Peichsfuehrer SS" brigade, which fought in Anzio, together with the SS "Prinz Eugen" division were transferred to the Balkans, and the SS divisions "Nordland", "Florian Geyer", "Hohenstaufen", "Frundsberg", "Totenkopf" and " Wiking "were abandoned on the Eastern Front.

By this time, SS units were no longer the relatively few elite troops that represented the flower of the German nation. Heavy casualties and numerous reinforcements have greatly diluted the specially selected cadres who had previously been sent to the SS. The only difference between the elite troops, which the SS units could still claim, was the relatively good equipment, compared to the army divisions. Nevertheless, during the brief lull in the early summer of 1944, the SS divisions continued to be regarded as the most formidable and efficient German formations, even though they suffered heavy losses in manpower and equipment.