14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Ukrainian)
| 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Ukrainian) 14. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (ukrainische Nr. 1) | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Truppenkennzeichen (unit or troop insignia) and sleeve badge (right) | |
| Active | 1943–1945 |
| Country |  National Socialist Germany
|
| Branch |  Waffen-SS
|
| Type | Infantry |
| Size | Division |
| Engagements | World War II
|
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Fritz Freitag |
The 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Ukrainian) was one of the 38/39 divisions fielded by the Waffen-SS during World War II. In 1946 the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg declared all members of all SS divisions "to be criminal within the meaning of the Charter." In 1985, the Canadian Deschênes Commission concluded that the Galicia division should not be indicted as a group.
Contents
History
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Name development
- Order to form a division of volunteers from Ukraine and Galicia: 23 April 1943
- SS Rifle Division “Galicia”: May 1943
- (14th) SS Volunteer Division “Galicia”: 30 June to 22 October 1943 (it is disputed whether it was already numbered at this point)
- SS “Heidelager” military training area in Debica near Krakow
- 14th Galician SS Volunteer (Infantry) Division: 22 October 1943 to 27 June 1944
- 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician): 27 June 1944, possibly only August 1944 to 12 November 1944
- 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Ukrainian): 12 November 1944, possibly only 15 January 1945 to 25 April 1945
- 1st Ukrainian Division of the Ukrainian National Army: 25 April to 8 May 1945
Subordination
The unit was subordinated to the
- XIII Army Corps
- Replacement Army
- I Cavalry Corps
- IV SS Panzer Corps and
- Ukrainian National Army.
WWII
The division was recruited from the inhabitants of the Galicia district of the General Government. The surplus of volunteers (more than 80 thousand signed up on 1 June 1943 alone) also allowed the formation of the 204th police and SD battalion and a number of other units, some of which were later used to recreate the division after its defeat at Brody in July 1944. The first SS units formed in Ukraine to engage the partisans were units of the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th SS regiments, which operated against the terrorists in France, Poland, Yugoslavia and Western Ukraine. According to the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, these units have been taking part in punitive operations in southeastern Poland since the fall of 1943. In mid-July 1944, the division of the first set was defeated by the Red Army in the battles near Brody.
- In early February 1944, the division received an order to form a combat group to participate in punitive operations in the Galicia district. The group, led by the division's artillery regiment commander, Standartenfuehrer Beersdorf, joined the 5th SS regiment in the Zamoć region in mid- February. Soon a second battle group was formed in the division, which was sent to the Brody area, where the 4th SS regiment was already operating. The composition of the combat group was recalled to the camps on March 20, 1944, while the 4th and 5th regiments, which were subordinate to the SS and SD of the General Government, continued to participate in punitive operations [...] The 3rd Battalion of the 4th Volunteer Regiment of the Galicia Division called the Mitscherling Battalion was part of the garrison of the fortified city of Ternopil (German: Fester Platz), the siege of which by Soviet troops lasted from March 23 to April 15, 1944. On April 5, after a prolonged artillery bombardment, the battalion surrendered during the assault.
- On June 25, 1944, the division was transferred near Brody to the disposal of the 13th Army Corps, where it occupied the second line of defense, located 20 km from the front line. On June 30, 1944, the division consisted of 15,299 officers and men. On July 13, the 38th and 60th armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front launched an offensive at the junction of the 13th Army Corps and the 1st Tank Army as part of the Lvov-Sandomierz operation. On the morning of July 15, units of the division took part in a counterattack against the advancing Soviet troops - SS-Galicia with units of the 13th Army Corps operated from the north, and the German 1st and 8th Panzer Divisions of the 1st Panzer Army from the south. Joint strikes of the 2nd Air Army and the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front, both tank divisions were drained of blood, and the counterattack by the end of the same day was exhausted. By July 18, the Brodov cauldron slammed shut. On July 20, several breakthroughs occurred in the sector of the front defended by the division, after which the divisional commander, General Freitag, resigned his command and was called in for service with XIII Corps staff. Command of all remaining units was then given to Generaloberst Georg Lindemann. Freitag remained with the Corps staff while Lindemann organized the withdrawal of the Galicia Division remnants to the south. On July 22, according to information from Wolf-Dietrich Heike, no more than 500 soldiers and officers managed to escape from the cauldron together with the division commander Freitag. At the gathering place of the division, they were joined by another 1,200 servicemen from the auxiliary divisions who were not in the boiler. Another insignificant part was able to come out with other parts.
- Analyzing the course of hostilities, the commander of corps group C (Korpsabteilung C), Major General Wolfgang Lange, negatively characterizes the actions of the division during the Brod events. The same opinion about the fighting qualities and the commander of the XXXXVIII Panzer Corps, who participated in the battle, F. V. Mellentin. However, the chief of staff of the division Gaike believed that the main demoralizing factor - the use of Katyushas - influenced the division no more than the better trained German units. He also noted the bravery of the Galicians and said that during the fighting there was not a single case of desertion. The losses of the division during the battles in the Brody cauldron amounted to more than 9,600 men Fallen and missing. Soldiers who later served in the SS Galicia division are related to the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising, but the unit itself did not participate in the suppression of the uprising. In January 1945, the division was transferred to the Balkans in the Styria and Carinthian region (Carinthia), where it has been fighting the Yugoslav partisans since the end of February. At the same time, the division was replenished with about 600 people from the 31st police and SD battalion, formed on the basis of the Volyn Ukrainian Self-Defense Legion. By the beginning of March 1945, the division with support units and a wagon train numbered more than 20 thousand people (the largest division in numbers in the SS Forces).
- At the end of March, the division received an order to hand over all the weapons for the newly created German units; but the advancing Soviet units, which were already 40-50 kilometers from the division's location, did not allow this plan to come true. Despite this, on April 3-4, 1945, Hitler issued another order on the formation of the 10th parachute division from the German parachute units retreating from Italy on the basis of the weapons of the 14th division. In early April, a general and about 1000 paratroopers arrive in the division for this purpose. But already on April 7, 1945, the front reaches the location of the division and the disbandment is canceled. From March 30, the division was transferred to the disposal of the 1st Cavalry Corps and from April 7, 1945 it was involved in defensive operations in the Feldbach region (Austria). From mid-April 1945, it was transferred to the jurisdiction of the 4th SS Panzer Corps. During their stay at the front, 98 soldiers of the division deserted. At the end of April 1945, Pavlo Shandruk, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian National Army, arrives at the location of the division. Part of the division takes a new oath and since April 24, 1945, the division formally received the name "1st Ukrainian Division of the UNA (1 UD UNA)", but on the OKW maps as of April 30, 1945 it continues to be listed under the same name. On May 5, 1945, representatives of the division are sent to the side of the Allies to discuss the details of the surrender. On May 7, the retreat of divisional units began, which on May 8 turned into a general flight of SS units from the front. The retreating units of the division took different paths, which is why a smaller part of the division earlier surrendered to the Americans, and most of them were captured by the British.[2]
At the end of September 1944, the division's combat-ready regiments were deployed to suppress the Slovak rebellion, and by mid-October 1944, the division was involved in Slovakia in full force. At the beginning of 1945, the division was transferred to the Balkans, where it participated in operations against the Yugoslav partisans. In mid-March 1945, the German command was going to disarm the division, transferring its weapons to the German formation being formed, but the rapid advance of the Red Army forced it to be transferred to the front, where it operated together with the 1st German Cavalry Corps and, before surrendering, was subordinate to the 4th Panzer Corps. In the last days of April 1945, the division was formally transformed into the 1st Ukrainian Division of the Ukrainian National Army, although on German maps and documents it still had its former name and the command of the SS troops considered it their formation. In the period from 8 to 11 May 1945, parts of the division surrendered to American and British forces.
Structure
1944
- Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment der SS 29 (galizisches Nr. 1)
- Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment der SS 30 (galizisches Nr. 2)
- Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment der SS 31 (galizisches Nr. 3)
- Waffen-Artillerie-Regiment der SS 14
- Waffen-Füsilier-Bataillon 14
- SS-Freiwilligen-Flak-Abteilung 14
- Waffen-Nachrichten-Abteilung der SS 14
- SS-Radfahr-Bataillon 14
- Waffen-Pionier-Bataillon der SS 14
- Waffen-Panzerjager-Kompanie 14
- SS-Sanitäts-Abteilung 14
- SS-Veterinär-Kompanie 14
- SS-Division-Nachschubtruppen 14
- SS-Wirtschafts-Bataillon 14
- SS-Versorgungs-Kompanie 14
- SS-Feldpostamt 14
- SS-Kriegsberichter-Zug 14
- SS-Feldgendarmerie-Trupp 14
- SS-Versorgungs-Kompanie 14
- SS-Feldersatz-Bataillon 14
- SS-Wirtschafts-Bataillon 14
Commanders
- SS-Brigadeführer and Major General of Waffen-SS Walter Schimana (30 June 1943 – 19 October 1943)
- SS-Oberführer Fritz Freitag (20 October 1943 – January 1944)
- SS-Standartenführer and Colonel of Waffen-SS Friedrich Beyersdorff (January – February 1944)
- SS-Oberführer / SS-Brigadeführer Fritz Freitag (February 1944 – July 1944)
- SS-Oberführer Nikolaus Heilmann (July 1944 – 5 September 1944)
- SS-Brigadeführer, Generalmajor der Polizei and Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Fritz Freitag (5 September 1944 – 19 April 1945)
- Lieutenant General Pavlo Shandruk (19 April – 8 May 1945)
See also
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- ↑ In honor of Dmytro Paliyev, commemorative plaques were installed in Lviv and Kalush. On 28 April 2023, in the city of Kalush, Chernyakhovsky Street was renamed "Dmytro Paliiv Street".
- ↑ 14th SS Volunteer Infantry Division “Galicia” (1st Ukrainian)
