25th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS "Hunyadi" (Hungarian No. 1)

25th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS "Hunyadi" (Hungarian No. 1)
Troop registration
active	November 2, 1944 to May 1945
Country	Hungary
Armed forces	Armed SS
Branch of service	Grenadiers
Type	division
structure	See outline
Butcher	Eastern Front
commander
list of	Commanders

The 25th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS “Hunyadi” (Hungarian No. 1) was a grenadier division of the Waffen SS during World War II . A large part of the troops and officers consisted of voluntary Magyars who belonged to the Arrow Cross members.

history

The division was set up in April 1944 as the 25th SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division .

By order of November 2, 1944, the division was newly created as the 25th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS "Hunyadi" (Hungarian No. 1) in the Zalaegerszeg area with volunteers from Hungary .

At the end of November, however, she was transferred to the Neuhammer military training area in Silesia, where the 26th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (Hungarian No. 2) was later set up. Both divisions formed the XVII in February 1945. Arms Army Corps (Hungarian). The Soviet winter offensive in January 1945 forced the not yet fully established division to move west, where it surrendered to American troops in the Attersee area (Austria) in May 1945 .

Composition and name

The division consisted mainly of members of the Hungarian Honvéd . In contrast to SS units, which were made up of Germans or members of the so-called "Nordic race", the division had the designation: Waffen instead of SS , the ranks were also preceded by weapons . The honorary name "Hunyadi" goes back to the family name of the Hungarian military leader Johann Hunyadi .

structure

• Arms grenadier - regiment of the SS 61 (Hungarian no. 1)
• Waffen Grenadier Regiment of the SS 62 (Hungarian No. 2)
• Waffen Grenadier Regiment of the SS 63 (Hungarian No. 3)
• Waffen Artillery Regiment of the SS 25
  • Arms Ski Battalion 25
  • SS Division Fusilier Battalion 25
  • SS Panzerjäger Department 25
    • SS Veterinary Company 25
  • SS Field Replacement Battalion 25
• SS supply regiment 25

Commanders

• November 1944: SS-Standartenführer Thomas Müller
• November 1944: until May 8, 1945 SS-Gruppenführer Josef Grassy

literature

• Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 4. The Land Forces 15–30 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1976, ISBN 3-7648-1083-1 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gordon Williamson: Die SS. Hitler's Instrument of Power, Kaiser, 2005, p. 244.
2. ↑ SSFHA - Office I. Org.Abt. la / II Tgb.Nr. 4021/44 g.Kdos. dated November 2, 1944.