37th SS Volunteer Cavalry Division
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37th SS Volunteer Cavalry Division |
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|---|---|
 Troop registration |
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| active | February 20, 1945 to May 1945 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire
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| Armed forces |
 Armed SS
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| Branch of service | cavalry |
| Type | division |
| structure | See outline |
| commander | |
| list of | Commanders |
The 37th SS Volunteer Cavalry Division was an association of the Waffen SS . According to the sources, there is no evidence that the honorary name " Lützow " was awarded. The designations " Division " and "Freiwilligen-" are misleading, because the division achieved at most the strength and fighting power of a weak brigade and the staff consisted to a large extent of Hungarian ethnic Germans who were forcibly recruited by the SS.
background
With the capture of Budapest on February 11, 1945 by the Red Army, the 8th SS Cavalry Division "Florian Geyer" and the 22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division "Maria Theresia" were destroyed.
Three days earlier (8th), the SS command main office ordered that from the units of the two mentioned SS divisions standing outside the pocket of Budapest , as well as personnel replacement from Hungarian ethnic Germans, a new division with the designation “37. SS-Kavallerie-Division “should be set up. The official installation date was February 20, 1945.
commitment
The division was first set up in Slovakia in the Bratislava area (Pressburg). As a result of the Soviet advance, the division moved further and further west, first to Moravia ( Znojmo area ), then Bohemia ( Písek area ). Only at the end of April 1945 did the division receive a combat mission to secure the left flank of the 6th Panzer Army in the Zwettl area . Only a few days later, however, the division withdrew to the west via Freistadt and surrendered to the American troops in Austria on May 5, 1945 .
Detached from the division that was continuing the formation, the division staff received a special order in March / April 1945: With subordinate German and Hungarian units, it formed a combat group that was supposed to close the front gap between the 6th Panzer Army and the 8th Army in the area north of Vienna . The combat group had to withdraw without success and was disbanded in April 1945.
In the schematic war organization of the OKH , the division is listed on March 1, 1945 as being at the disposal of Army Group South in the East / Hungary , and on April 12, 1945 as XXXXIII. Army Corps of the 8th Army, also subordinated to Army Group South / East / Hungary. This entry probably relates to the deployment of the combat group led by the division staff, not to the division itself. The division is no longer listed in the last schematic war structure from May 7, 1945.
Structure (according to Ticino)
- SS-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Regiment 92 (2 departments with 8 squadrons together ) (SS-Sturmbannführer Karl-Heinz Keitel, son of Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel )
- SS-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Regiment 93 (also) (Kdr. SS-Obersturmbannführer Friedrichs)
Other units not listed in the field post overview that belonged to the division or should be set up for the division:
- SS-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Regiment 94 (SS-Sturmbannführer Anton Ameiser)
- SS Panzerjäger Department 37 (a company of Hetzer ) (SS-Obersturmführer Rudolf Müller)
- SS reconnaissance department 37 (SS-Sturmbannführer Karl-Siegesmund Litzmann)
- SS News Company 37 (SS-Obersturmführer Heinz Winkler)
- SS medical department 37 (SS-Hauptsturmführer Dr. Erwin Dom, then SS-Hauptsturmführer Dr. Richard Schreiner)
- SS Division Supply Leader
- SS supply troop 37 (SS-Obersturmbannführer Helmut Barthelmes)
Commanders
- February 26 to March 1945: SS-Standartenführer Waldemar Fegelein
- March to May 8, 1945: SS-Standartenführer Karl Gesele
literature
- Georges Bernage, François de Lannoy: La Luftwaffe, la Waffen-SS, 1939–1945. Heimdal, Bayeux 1998, ISBN 2-84048-119-7 ( Dictionnaire Historique ).
- Rolf Michaelis : The cavalry divisions of the Waffen SS. Michaelis-Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-930849-17-8 .
- Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945 . 2nd Edition. tape 5 . The Land Forces 31-70 . Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1977, ISBN 3-7648-1107-2 .
- Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 6. The Land Forces 71-130 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1979, ISBN 3-7648-1172-2 .