7-а добровольча гірська дивізія СС «Принц Ойген» / 7. SS-Frw.Geb.Div. "Prinz Eugen"

Слева - оберштурмфюрер СС Франц-Йозеф Кромбхольц, справа - оберштурмфюрер СС Хельмут Гроб.

 

Честно говоря не знаю, зачем размещать фото ни кому неизвестных рядовых солдат, но ... пусть будет..
Главный принцип коллекционера - полнота коллекции!

 

Фото колоритное, так что оно в тему здесь.

 

Heinrich Petersen
оригинальные петлички на мой взгляд

SS-Standartenführer Heinrich Petersen won the Knight's Cross dated 13 November 1943 as SS-Obersturmbannführer and SS-Gebirgsjäger Kommandeur 1-Regiment "Prinz Eugen". In this photo he is also wearing two at once (!) Highest medal Croatia: On neck hung the Order of the Crown of King Zvonimir 1st class with Oakleaves, and next Eisernes klasse Kreuz I slung the Order of the Iron Trefoil 2nd class

 

Артур Флепс

 

Нашел когда то на WW2

 

SS. Gebirgs-Division “Prinz Eugen” with a MG-37 t (ZB-53) machine gun.

Heinrich Petersen?

French tank Pz. 35R 731 (f) (Renault R35) from the SS-PzAbt of 7th SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division "Prince Eugen". Photo made somewhere in Yugoslavia.

SS-Hstuf. Rudolf Ihrig, commander of 7th SS-Pz company of 7th SS freiwilligen gebirgs division "Prince Eugen" in summer 1943 somewhere in Yugoslavia

Captured French tank Hotchkiss H35 from 7th PzKp. of the SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division „Prinz Eugen" supported by the mountain troops from the same division during anti-partisan operation "Weiß". Yugoslavia, January 1943

May 23, 1943. Operation "Black" [Schwarz]. Soldiers of the SS Volunteer Division "Prinz Eugen" searching a village house; although the original caption reads "Captured Partisans", they are very likely just a family, civilians (there is an old man and an old woman, a middle aged and a young man, a woman and a small child; men don't seem armed, nor as if they have been disarmed).

Montenegro, May/June 1943. Operation "Black" [Schwarz]. Members of the 2nd Regiment of the SS Volunteer Division "Prinz Eugen" taking care of a captured Chetnik's (JVuO) wound.

 

нет. это Вальтер Шмидт, Ib дивизии

 

Dr. Viktor Brack, one of the initial staff officers of the "Prinz Eugen" division. He had a minor role in this unit (2nd assistant adjutant) and held a lower officer rank – but in the General SS [Allgemeine SS] he held the rank of SS-Oberführer and was chief of the Office II of Hitler's Chancellery; and this is where his historical significance was much serious: Brack was organiser of the euthanasia programme in Germany (after the war named "Action T4", after the street in which it was designed) – in which over 70000 people were murdered, who, according to German estimation, were "unworthy of life". At the Doctors' Trial in Nuremberg 1947, Viktor Brack was sentenced to death, and executed on June 2, 1948. He served in Yugoslavia for two years, at first in the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen", and then in the V SS Volunteer Mountain Corps. The enclosed photographs show Brack during his service in the "Prinz Eugen" division (on the day he was awarded the Iron Cross) – and a few moments before hanging.

Dr. Viktor Brack
Nationality: German.
Rank: SS-Sturmbannführer d. R. (Waffen-SS); SS-Oberführer (Allgemeine SS).
Date of Birth: November 9, 1904.
Place of Birth: Haaren, Rhine Province, Germany.
Date of Death: June 2, 1948.
Place of Death: Landsberg/Lech, Bavaria, Germany.
Cause of Death: hanged.
SS Number: 1940.
NSDAP Number: 173388.
Note: declared a war criminal by the US Military Tribunal.

Photograph 1

Photographer: unknown.
Date: 1942/1943.
Location: unknown, Yugoslavia.
Original Caption: unknown.

Photograph 2

Photographer: unknown.
Date: June 2, 1948.
Location: Landsberg/Lech, Bavaria, Germany.
Original Caption: unknown.

 

Members of the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen" posing with captured starved and barefooted Italians, who switched sides to the Partisans (NOVJ), after the capitulation of their country.

Serbia, October 1942. Soldiers of the SS Volunteer Division "Prinz Eugen" searching the captured Chetniks (JVuO) during one of their first actions. The Germans are wearing their drill uniforms, which were often worn on hot days because of the light material they were made of. And the captured Chetnik has an opera glass hanging around his neck; due to the lack of a full military equipment, guerrilla fighters were often forced to improvise.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, June 1943. Operation "Black" [Schwarz]. A soldier of the SS Volunteer Division "Prinz Eugen" tying up hands of a captured 11-year-old barefoot Gypsy child in the Partisan (NOVJ) service. The child was walking alone through the forest, unarmed (judging by other photographs) – however, with a Partisan insignia on the cap (contrary to most of adult Partisans captured in the same period). Similar cases of child abuse for war purposes by the Partisans were not uncommon nor are unknown, they are only being justified or simply ignored.

Serbia, October 1942. Soldiers of the SS Volunteer Division "Prinz Eugen" searching the captured Chetniks (JVuO) during one of their first actions. Some of the captives are barefooted.

Dubrovnik, September 1943. Operation "Axis" [Achse]. After the Italian capitulation (September 8), the Germans began disarming the Italian troops and taking over their occupation zones; at the same time, the general Partisan uprising broke out at the Adriatic Coast. As usually, the main German "firefighting unit" was immediately sent off to intervene: the SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen". One of the most important places in this area was the city of Dubrovnik, towards which the divisional 2nd regiment was heading; after heavy fighting with the superior enemy forces (the Partisans and their new allies, the Italians), the wounded regimental commander, SS-Standartenführer Schmidhuber, orders the city to be bombed by the Stuka airplanes – after which, along with additional fierce street fighting, Dubrovnik was finally captured. The photo shows the divisional music platoon, parading across the famous Stradun, Dubrovnik's main street (the city bell tower sticks out in the background).

Split, September 1943. Operations "Axis" [Achse] and "Gaiseric" [Geiserich]. On Marjan (park-hill on the peninsula of the city of Split), members of the 92nd Grenadier Regiment are decorating their vehicle (Sd.Kfz. 222) with a captured Partisan (NOVJ) flag, after capturing the city of Split (together with the 1st Regiment of the SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen"). The unit was consisted of former members of the German-Arabian Legion, and it was tropically-equipped (they even had pith helmets). Their 8-wheeler, Sd.Kfz. 233, is visible as well, in the background.

 

Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1943/1944. Officers of the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen" and the Chetnik (JVuO) Trebinje Corps, in conversation with a local woman. Present from the German side are: SS-Standartenführer August Schmidhuber (far left), commander of the 2nd Regiment (in this period he also became a temporary divisional commander), and a currently unidentified officer (2nd from the right; this is likely SS-Sturmbannführer Michael Groß, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment). Present from the Chetnik side are: Dr. Todor Perović (center), corps doctor, and Captain Milorad Vidačić (far right), corps commander. Vidačić is also being mentioned in the popular Chetnik song "From Nikšić Goes the Army": "Milorad Vidačić, our hope lies in you..."

Photographer: unknown.
Date: 1943/1944.
Location: unknown, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia.
Original Caption: unknown.

 

One jolly Hungarian ethnic German, an SS volunteer, possibly from Vojvodina (reminder: the Bačka region was attached to Hungary in 1941). On his sleeve, he is wearing the insignia with inscription "SS Volunteer of the German Racial Group in Hungary" [SS-Freiwilliger der Deutschen Volksgruppe in Ungarn], and he will be assigned to either the SS Volunteer Division "Prinz Eugen" or the SS Cavalry Division (future "Florian Geyer").

 

Otto "Bobby" Meckelburg, commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment (no. 14) of the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen". He arrived in the division from the Death's Head Units, where he was the chief operating officer within the General Inspectorate of Regiments; previously, he served in the 2nd Death's Head Regiment (this unit participated in crimes against the civilians in Poland 1939). He served in the "Prinz Eugen" division throughout the entire 1943, until the late summer of 1944, when he was transferred to the Operational Headquarters of the SS. After the war (even though he was declared a war criminal), he became a businessman (fraudster), and earned large amounts of money on alleged healers and miracle workers; in 1950 he was the manager of the popular mystic Bruno Gröning, and claimed almost all of the money they would earn (after the contract was cancelled, Meckelburg threatened to break Gröning's bones). He was also the founder and director of an allegedly healing association and sanatorium in Berchtesgaden (place best known because of Hitler and his favourite house above the town). What happened with Meckelburg afterwards is not known. The enclosed photographs show him as a battalion commander in the "Prinz Eugen" division in Montenegro 1943, and as a businessman in Germany seven years later.

 

Zagreb, spring 1943. Commander and founder of the "Prinz Eugen" division, SS-Gruppenführer Artur Phleps (center), arrives in Zagreb to form its sister, Muslim SS division (which will be named "Handschar"). He is being welcomed by SS-Obersturmführer Karl von Krempler (left), who will (together with Dr. Alija Šuljak) be in charge of the recruiting of volunteers across Bosnia. During the public meetings, it was a bit awkward that von Krempler spoke in the Serbian dialect (he was born in Pirot, Serbia), which irritated the Bosnian Muslims – and the Croatian authorities (Bosnia and Herzegovina were part of Croatia at the time) were very much bothered with the Germans frequently referring to the historical connection between Bosnia and Austria, thus reminding the Bosnians of their old autonomy. An interesting detail in this photograph is a prototype of the uniform of a still non-existing unit; this kind of uniform, as worn by von Krempler here, will indeed be worn by the "Handschar" division later, with some minor changes: the Croatian coat of arms will be moved to the left sleeve (and Edelweiß will be worn on the right one), the fez insignia will be centered, and a special collar insignia will be made. Phelps is wearing his own (unofficial), custom-made circular "Prinz Eugen" sleeve insignia, as well as the official armband with the divisional title.

Photographer: unknown.
Date: March/April 1943.
Location: Zagreb, Croatia, Yugoslavia.
Original Caption: unknown.

 

Croatia, autumn 1943. Soldiers of the SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen" laughing at the communist slogans written on a house captured during the fighting at the Adriatic Coast. The slogans are the following: "Long live the Supreme Commander of the People's Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia, comrade Tito" and "Long live the Unified League of Anti-Fascist Youth of Croatia".

 

Camouflaged vehicles of the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen" in late 1944. In the forefront are the Italian car Fiat 2800 and truck Lancia 3Ro (after the Italian capitulation, a year earlier, the division took over a large part of their equipment).

 

Serbia, August 6, 1944. An extremely rare photograph of a captured member of the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen", the main and the most hated enemy of the Partisans (NOVJ); most of the captured SS men were summarily liquidated, especially soldiers of the "Prinz Eugen" division, who were literally exterminated. The photograph was taken at the beginning of the German operation "Rübezahl", at the foot of the Kopaonik mountains – on which this SS division began its career (two years earlier), both military and criminal, hunting the Chetniks (JVuO) and mass murdering the civilians. The prisoner in the picture is a member of either the 2nd Regiment or the Engineer Platoon, and is surrounded by members of the 2nd Proletarian Brigade; his fate is not known, but it is sufficiently hinted by these Partisan smiles.

Photographer: unknown.
Date: August 6, 1944.
Location: unknown, Serbia, Yugoslavia.
Original Caption: unknown.

 

Montenegro, May 28, 1943. Operation "Black" [Schwarz]. Motorcyclists of the SS Volunteer Division "Prinz Eugen" securing the 2nd Regiment on the road near the village of Lukovo (between Nikšić and Šavnik). In the background: flames. The regiment was sent from Podgorica via Nikšić to Šavnik on May 27, and it captured the objective two days later (May 29), after fierce fighting against the Partisan (NOVJ) 5th Montenegrin Assault Brigade of the 3rd Assault Division.

Photographer: unknown.
Date: May 28, 1943.
Location: Lukovo, Montenegro, Yugoslavia.
Original Caption: unknown.

 

Members of the Dispositional Battalion "Prinz Eugen" of the Croatian ethnic German militia, the ES [Einsatzstaffel]. They are dressed in German uniforms, with insignia in the style of the SS – to which most of them will soon be transferred, more precisely to the newly-formed division of the same name (7th SS). In the photo can be seen their unusual, improvised vehicle (which actually survived the war); also noticeable is the old Czech machine gun ZB vz. 26 (carried by the soldier in the background), as well as the German MP 35 submachine gun (in the forefront, carried by the Hauptmann), which was mainly used in combat against the Partisans.

Photographer: unknown.
Date: 1942.
Location: unknown, Yugoslavia.
Original Caption: unknown.

 

Serbia, June 1942. Training of the SS Volunteer Division "Prinz Eugen"; soldiers of the 1st Company of the 1st Regiment with their commander, SS-Untersturmführer Michael Rittchen, in a forest near the village of Grebenac, in Deliblato Sands (Europe's largest sandy terrain). After the war, this area will become one of favourite school trip destinations, as well as the filming location of the Serbian cult movie "Who's Singin' Over There"

 

Bosnia and Herzegovina, early 1944. Captured Partisan (NOVJ) woman Rajna Radić betrays her comrades. According to the German propaganda story, she even offered to lead the Germans to the Partisan hideout herself, saying: "There they are, in that gorge. I'll take you to them!" She was captured by members of the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen" (left) and the 92nd Grenadier Regiment (with tropical caps); these two units often fought shoulder to shoulder, since Split 1943, until the Belgrade Offensive 1944.

 

Bosnia and Herzegovina, summer 1943. SS-Sturmbannführer Bernhard Dietsche (2nd from the left), commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen", in conversation with Chetnik (JVuO) officer Samardžić (2nd from the right). Samardžić wasalsoa Germanprisonerthe same year,in the prison in Zenica, from which he soon escaped.

Photographer: unknown.
Date: 1943.
Location: unknown, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia.
Original Caption: "SS-Stubaf. Dietsche, Kdr. II./2, im Gespräch mit einem Brigadekommandanten der Cetniks."

 

The first Christmas of the "Prinz Eugen" division (1942). Although the SS, being a pagan organization, was an opponent of Christianity – because of the deep roots of this religion in Europe, that is, to avoid turning off the potential manpower, celebrating Christian holidays was still allowed within the organisation. In the photo, the Banat ethnic Germans celebrate modestly their first and only peaceful wartime Christmas, before marching off to bloody battles across Yugoslavia. Their faces are already nostalgic, and their thoughts are directed towards home, to which none of them will ever return.

 

Нет ни одного документа от СС, в котором бы такое было написано, а также хотя бы устно заявлялось. Сочинения послевоенных разоблачителей. Мало того, в самих частях СС всегда проходили праздничные богослужения на главные христианские праздники и данное фото это не исключение из правил, а наоборот

 

Кладбище солдат и офицеров дивизии в окрестностях города Синь (Sinj) Босния 1943 год