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01:00They were Hitler's elite bodyguard, the ruthless protectors of their Führer.
01:09But the Nazi regime's most loyal servants were also among the most feared gladiators of World War II.
01:18The Waffen-SS, the combat units of the SS, became famous for their tenacity on the battlefield.
01:29Countless times on both the western and eastern fronts, Waffen-SS men were the cornerstone of the German defences, fighting
01:36to the death, even when all hope had gone.
01:48They were respected by their enemies for their fanatical courage, but feared for their barbarity.
01:56Survivors of the Waffen-SS insist that they were just soldiers doing their duty.
02:18Many of the evil crimes which made the name of the SS notorious...
02:22were indeed carried out by other parts of the organisation.
02:26The Gestapo, the concentration campguards, and the extermination squads.
02:31But what cannot be denied is that the Waffen-SS was responsible for some of the most appalling atrocities of
02:37the war.
02:38One of the most notorious was the utter destruction of the French village of Orodour, and the massacre of 648
02:45of its inhabitants in June 1944.
02:51Yet even today, the veterans refuse to accept that such things happened.
02:57I know from my service, and I was over the whole war, by the Waffen-SS, I know of no
03:04war.
03:04I know from my service, as well.
03:06Who were these men capable of such extraordinary acts of both heroism and barbarity?
03:16The origins of this elite World War II fighting force lie in the early days of the Nazi party in
03:22the 1920s.
03:27Germany was paying the price for its defeat in 1918.
03:29The democratic Weimar Republic was grappling with the effects of the harsh peace terms imposed by the victorious Allies.
03:38The payment of massive war reparations had crippled Germany and resulted in runaway inflation and widespread unemployment.
03:46People moved towards the political extremes, the communists on the one hand and Adolf Hitler's Nazis on the other.
03:53Clashes became frequent.
03:59In 1922, the Nazis formed the Sturmabteilung, the storm unit, or SA, to protect its speakers at rallies.
04:07They quickly became known as the brown shirts from the colour of their uniform.
04:12The following year, Ernst Röhm, the SA leader, formed a special unit to protect Hitler himself.
04:24This was recognisable by the black caps worn by its members.
04:28Gradually, it became independent of the brown shirts, taking the title Schutstaffel, the Protection Squad, or SS, and adopting a
04:37wholly black uniform.
04:40In 1929, the mild-seeming but ruthless Heinrich Himmler, one of Hitler's closest cronies, became head of the SS.
04:49This was still small in size compared to the brown shirts, which now numbered over 60,000 men.
04:55Himmler stressed the differences between the SS and the SA.
05:02He saw the latter as a mass paramilitary force, whereas the SS was an elite and integral part of the
05:09Nazi Party.
05:11Himmler began to increase the SS's power base by taking over the Nazi Party's departments for intelligence and racial affairs.
05:21Soon after Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, the SS gained very significant new roles.
05:32It provided the guards for the newly established concentration camp at Dachau, in the suburbs of Munich.
05:39Eventually, this was to lead to its infamous role as the main perpetrator of the extermination of the Jews.
05:50In 1936, the SS also took over the Gestapo, the secret state police which had been founded in 1933 by
05:58Hermann Göring.
05:59This meant that Himmler now had all the organs of political policing and terror under his direct control.
06:07Alongside these developments, the new Führer also ordered the formation of a special SS unit,
06:13which was to be called the SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler.
06:18This would eventually grow into the Waffen, or armed SS.
06:23The Leibstandarte was to be Hitler's personal household guard,
06:27on duty at the Reich's Chancellery and at the Führer's mountain retreat at Berchtesgarten in the Bavarian Alps.
06:43Sepp Dietrich, a bluff and outspoken World War I sergeant major,
06:48who had since become part of Hitler's inner circle, was appointed to command the Leibstandarte.
06:55Its members were all volunteers, and Dietrich insisted they must be mature men of 23 to 35,
07:01in superb physical condition, and at least 5 foot 11 inches tall.
07:07Applicants also had to prove that they were of pure Aryan ancestry, with no hint of Jewish blood.
07:15In keeping with Himmler's belief that the SS were an elite within the Nazi party,
07:20the Waffen-SS recruits were indoctrinated with Nazi ideology,
07:24and the belief that they were members of a master race.
07:26This was the core of the ruthlessness which the Waffen-SS were to display on the battlefield.
07:33They were housed in Berlin's Lichterfelder Barracks,
07:37which under the Kaiser had been one of Germany's leading officer-cadet schools.
07:45Military training was largely provided by the army.
07:48Physical fitness and field exercises played a large part.
07:55But the Leibstandarte prided itself on its turnout and drill.
08:10Other units of the SS soon jeeringly referred to its members as the Asphalt Soldiers.
08:20Despite the growth of the SS, the SA remained a powerful force in Germany.
08:27Ernst Ruhm even advocated that Hitler give his brown shirts primacy
08:31over the armed forces in the defence of the Reich.
08:35Hitler decided that Ruhm was becoming a threat.
08:43Early on the 30th of June, 1934, he flew to Munich.
08:50He was accompanied by Sepp Dietrich and a selected unit of the Leibstandarte.
08:56Hitler went on to arrest Ruhm and several of his cronies at a lakeside resort,
09:01while Dietrich carried out further arrests in Munich itself.
09:06Others were arrested in Berlin and the Leibstandarte carried out many of the subsequent executions.
09:16As Himmler's adjutant, SS-General Karl Wolf later explained,
09:21friendship and personal loyalty were not allowed to stand in its way.
09:29Among others, a charming fellow, Count von Spreti, Ruhm's personal adjutant.
09:35He held the same position with Ruhm as I held with Himmler,
09:38died with the words Heil Hitler on his lips.
09:43We were close personal friends.
09:45We often dined together in Berlin.
09:48He lifted his arm in the Nazi salute and called out,
09:53Heil Hitler, I love Germany.
09:58The Leibstandarte's ruthlessness and total loyalty to Hitler were now proven.
10:03Its reward would not be long in coming.
10:14The loyalty of the SS-Leibstandarte, when Ruhm's brown shirts were decimated,
10:19was rewarded by Hitler with a major expansion.
10:23Sepp Dietrich's Leibstandarte became a full regiment,
10:26and two more were formed.
10:27These were to be known as the SS-Verfugungs-Truppe, or SS-VT,
10:32special-purpose troops who would be completely distinct
10:35from the other branches of the SS.
10:37The expansion of the armed branch of the SS
10:40did not lead to any reduction in the physical or racial standards demanded.
10:44The SS-VT remained Hitler's elite political troops,
10:48indoctrinated with the belief in their superiority.
10:51Almost inevitably, the expansion incurred the hostility of the army,
10:55which suspected that Hitler was creating a rival military force.
11:02His actual intention was that in time of war,
11:05the SS-VT would be incorporated into the army as a complete division.
11:13The army resisted this,
11:15refusing to provide the SS-VT with the necessary artillery
11:19and other support for it to function as a division.
11:22The generals pleaded that Hitler's demands
11:24for rapid expansion of his army
11:26meant that they could not spare the resources.
11:37Nevertheless, the army did help the SS-VT with its training.
11:42It also allowed the transfer of certain officers
11:44to improve the SS-VT's military efficiency.
11:48The highly experienced Paul Hauser
11:51became head of the Waffen-SS Inspectorate.
11:56Felix Steiner, the army's director of education,
11:59took a similar role for the Waffen-SS.
12:02He had been a stormtrooper during World War I
12:04and saw the Waffen-SS adopting a similar role
12:07as highly trained assault troops.
12:10They would lead attacks,
12:11with the army providing the follow-up cannon fodder.
12:15The aim was to create a force of men
12:17who would be tough and ruthless.
12:19As events would show,
12:21Hauser and Steiner succeeded brilliantly.
12:24But the downside was that the men of the Waffen-SS
12:26became totally careless about human life,
12:29whether their own or the enemy's.
12:31The seeds had been sown for the atrocities
12:34which were to sully the reputation of the Waffen-SS.
12:37In spite of the army's suspicion of the SS-VT,
12:41it was given control of the Leipstandarte
12:43during the annexation of Austria in March 1938,
12:46and of other SS-VT units
12:48during the seizure of the Sudetenland province
12:51of Czechoslovakia that autumn.
12:54The failure of Britain and France to intervene
12:57when he dismembered what was left of Czechoslovakia
12:59convinced Hitler that it was now safe to turn on Poland.
13:05The SS-VT was about to have its first real taste of combat.
13:27The SS-VT fought in the Polish campaign
13:30as separate motorised infantry regiments.
13:36Hitler took particular interest
13:38in the progress of Sepp Dietrich
13:40and the Leipstandarte,
13:42daily marking Sepp on his map in the Chancellor.
13:48Yet in spite of the lightning German victory over Poland,
13:52the army felt that the performance of the SS-VT
13:54left much to be desired.
13:56Its units lacked fire discipline
13:58and were careless with casualties.
14:01It also showed an ominous tendency
14:03to torch villages and brutalise civilians.
14:08In defence of his men,
14:10Himmler argued that they would have performed much better
14:13if they had been concentrated in one formation
14:15rather than fighting under senior army commanders
14:18whom they did not know.
14:20Hitler agreed to allow further expansion,
14:23but insisted that the new units must remain
14:25under the operational control of the army.
14:31While the Leipstandarte remained an independent regiment,
14:34the others were combined into a separate division.
14:38A second division was created by volunteers from the police
14:41and a third from the units originally created
14:44to guard the Nazi concentration camps.
14:49This was known as the SS Totenkopf, or Death's Head Division.
14:54Its commander, Theodor Eicher,
14:57had been the commandant of Dachau
14:58and was notorious for his brutality.
15:04The enlarged SSVT was also given a new title.
15:09In March 1940, it became the Waffen, or Armed SS,
15:13confirming it as a separate element of Germany's armed forces.
15:26On the 10th of May 1940,
15:29Hitler launched his long-expected attack on the West.
15:35The SS Leipstandarte and the 2nd SS Regiment
15:39helped to spearhead the invasion of Holland.
15:44Simultaneously, airborne forces were dropped
15:46to capture Dutch airfields.
15:51In the five-day campaign that followed,
15:54the Leipstandarte linked up with the airborne forces
15:57after a number of clashes with Dutch troops.
16:06There was, however, an unfortunate incident in Rotterdam
16:09when the airborne commander, General Kurt Student,
16:13was wounded.
16:15He suspected that it had been a trigger-happy SS man,
16:18although the Leipstandarte strenuously denied it.
16:24The Waffen SS did not take part in the thrust
16:26by the panzers through the wooded Ardenne
16:28and across the river Meuse.
16:42But as they began to rampage westwards,
16:45the SS Totenkopf Division was summoned from the reserve
16:49to fight in support of Erwin Rommel's 7th Panzer Division.
16:54On the 21st of May, the British launched an armoured counter-stroke
16:58into the flank of 7th Panzer and the SS Totenkopf.
17:02They succeeded in knocking the Germans off balance momentarily
17:05and caused some panic,
17:07especially in the ranks of the Totenkopf,
17:09before the advance westwards continued.
17:15The Germans now trapped the British together with French troops
17:19in a pocket based on the port of Dunkirk.
17:30The SS Leipstandarte joined in the fighting
17:33to reduce the perimeter.
17:36It met stiff British resistance,
17:39especially from the village of Wormhout.
17:44Dietrich himself was shot up in his car
17:46and had to spend some time under fire in a ditch.
17:53Not until almost nightfall was the village secured.
18:03The Leipstandarte captured a number of British soldiers.
18:06Some 90 of them were herded into a barn.
18:10One of the few survivors describes what happened next.
18:37It was one of the first documented examples
18:41of the behaviour for which the Waffen-SS was to become notorious.
18:47Theodor Eicher's Totenkopf was also guilty of massacring prisoners,
18:51this time at a village called Le Paradis,
18:54when they murdered almost 100 British soldiers.
19:03To celebrate his victory in the west,
19:05Hitler made a triumphant speech
19:07in Berlin's Kroll Opera House on the 19th of July.
19:11He singled out the Waffen-SS for special praise.
19:14Its tactical performance had improved,
19:17but blind obedience and ideological brainwashing
19:20made Waffen-SS soldiers careless with their lives
19:23and frighteningly ready to murder prisoners.
19:26Following the campaign in the west,
19:28Himmler was keen to expand the Waffen-SS,
19:30but the army was concerned that he was stealing recruits.
19:34Hitler therefore authorised only a small expansion,
19:37but did allow one significant change.
19:40A new division, the SS Viking,
19:43was formed from the citizens of German-occupied countries
19:46inhabited by people of related stock, as Himmler put it.
19:50A number of right-wing Danish, Dutch and Norwegians
19:53volunteered to join the SS Viking division.
19:56One Dane later gave his reason for enlisting in the Waffen-SS.
20:01I was fighting voluntarily in the Waffen-SS and the East Front
20:08for the idea of a Europe united.
20:13And what I would like to emphasise is that Germany,
20:17we had the only opportunity we had to fight the communism.
20:22We couldn't do it alone.
20:23We could do it together with Germany.
20:27In the meantime, the SS Das Reich division
20:30and the Leipstandarte took part in the invasion
20:33of Yugoslavia and Greece in April 1941.
20:38The campaign saw both units distinguish themselves,
20:42and one particular action typified the best aspects
20:45of the fighting spirit of the Waffen-SS
20:47and its determination to prove itself better than the army.
20:52Hauptsturmführer Walter Klingenberg,
20:54a company commander of the Das Reich,
20:57led his men in a race to reach the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade,
21:00before the army's crack Grossdeutschland Regiment.
21:07Although severely hampered by the spring rains
21:10which had turned the roads into quagmires,
21:12his unit reached the banks of the Danube first.
21:15But it was unable to cross because all the bridges had been destroyed.
21:20Klingenberg found a single rowing boat, which had been abandoned,
21:24and crossed the river with ten volunteers.
21:26They headed for the German embassy, which was besieged by an angry crowd.
21:31Klingenberg used the embassy phone to telephone Belgrade's mayor.
21:34He then threatened to call in an airstrike unless the city surrendered.
21:39Unaware that the Germans had no radio,
21:41the mayor fell for the bluff and gave in.
21:45Klingenberg received the Knight's Cross for his achievement.
21:48He was to fight on in the Waffen-SS,
21:51dying in April 1945, only days before Germany surrendered.
21:58When the Germans reached Greece's capital, Athens,
22:01it was Sepp Dietrich who took the surrender of the Greek army.
22:05Once again, one of the Führer's favourite soldiers had proved a hero,
22:09and the Waffen-SS had added to its growing reputation for elan and aggressiveness.
22:16The campaign in the Balkans was, however, a mere sideshow
22:20compared to the storm that Hitler was about to unleash.
22:32On the 22nd of June, 1941,
22:35he launched Operation Barbarossa,
22:37the invasion of Soviet Russia.
22:42By now, the Leipstandarte had been expanded
22:45to a fully-fledged division in its own right,
22:47and all six existing Waffen-SS divisions
22:50took part in the initial assault.
22:56It was now that ideology came into play.
23:00The men of the Waffen-SS were imbued with the belief
23:03that the Russians were subhuman,
23:04and that they were embarking on a crusade
23:06to save Western civilisation.
23:11This gave the Waffen-SS a new, ruthless determination
23:14to achieve victory at whatever cost.
23:24The army general soon came to respect its fighting qualities
23:28in a war that was more savage than any so far experienced.
23:32But the reputation of the Waffen-SS
23:34was soon being linked to the activities of other SS units,
23:37in particular, the Einsatzgruppen, or extermination squads,
23:41which organised massacres of thousands of Soviet Jews.
23:48What was seen as a crusade against communism
23:50encouraged further volunteers
23:52from both occupied Eastern and Western Europe
23:55to enlist in the Waffen-SS.
23:57They became known as the foreign legions of the SS,
24:00and were often amongst the most ruthless members
24:03of the Waffen-SS.
24:07Typical of the men who came forward
24:09was the Belgian Leon de Grel,
24:11who had been a leader
24:12of the extreme right-wing Rexist party before the war.
24:16He raised the Walloon, or Flanders Legion,
24:19which was incorporated in the Waffen-SS.
24:22De Grel took it to Russia and led it in combat.
24:29Hitler personally decorated him with the Knight's Cross,
24:32and is reputed to have said,
24:33If I had had a son,
24:35I would have liked him to be like you.
24:46The Waffen-SS proved itself
24:48during the grim battles of winter 1941-42
24:51through its ability to stand and fight.
24:57That spring, three divisions,
25:00Leipstandarte, Totenkopf, and Das Reich,
25:03were withdrawn to the west to refit,
25:05and be converted to panzer grenadier divisions
25:08through the addition of tanks.
25:10Formed into the SS Panzer Corps,
25:12Himmler ensured that these divisions
25:14received the best equipment,
25:15and were larger than the equivalent army divisions.
25:19The SS Panzer Corps,
25:21commanded by Paul Hauser,
25:22returned to Russia in early 1943,
25:24and won undying fame for its recapture of Kharkov that spring.
25:33Sepp Dietrich, in particular, distinguished himself.
25:37Hitler awarded him the swords to his Knight's Cross
25:40and gave him a gift of one million marks.
25:46By now, the Waffen-SS had become a formidable fighting force,
25:50notorious for its willingness to fight to the death.
25:53Army commanders employed it as their fire brigade.
25:56They sent its divisions to the most critical points on the battlefield
25:59with every confidence that the SS soldiers would tip the scales.
26:06While unquestioning obedience remained the cornerstone of the Waffen-SS,
26:10relations between officers and men were less formal than in the army,
26:14with much more emphasis on mutual respect.
26:18But the ruthlessness that characterized Hitler's ideological soldiers
26:22became increasingly apparent.
26:24They gave little quarter
26:26in the ever more bitter battles on the Eastern Front.
26:29In turn, the men of the Waffen-SS knew
26:32that they could expect little mercy
26:34if captured by the Russians.
26:36This increased their resolve never to surrender
26:38as the carnage continued.
26:44No Waffen-SS units were involved
26:46in the disaster at Stalingrad in early 1943,
26:50when an entire German army was surrounded
26:52and forced to surrender.
27:01But it was to be heavily involved
27:03in the crucial battle
27:04which finally confirmed
27:05that the tide of war
27:06on the Eastern Front had turned.
27:09In July 1943,
27:12the Germans launched a major offensive
27:14designed to pinch out
27:15the massive Kursk salient.
27:25The Waffen-SS had been expanded
27:27to four corps,
27:28some 12 divisions,
27:30and most of these took part
27:32in what was to become
27:32one of the largest
27:33and most bitter tank battles in history.
27:52after a week's fighting
27:53against ever tougher Russian resistance,
27:55Hitler was obliged to halt the attack.
28:02Thereafter,
28:04the Germans were forced
28:04onto the defensive
28:05as the Red Army steamroller
28:07began the liberation
28:09of Western Russia.
28:13The SS divisions again
28:14became the cornerstone
28:16of the German defence.
28:17Time and again,
28:19they counterattacked
28:20and broke out of encirclements
28:21as the Russian offensives
28:23drove ever further west.
28:26But Hitler was increasingly aware
28:28that the Allies were posing
28:29a growing threat
28:30to Germany in the west.
28:32Italy had been invaded
28:33and Anglo-American forces
28:35were building up in Britain.
28:38An Allied landing in France
28:39was inevitable
28:40and it would soon present
28:42the Waffen-SS
28:42with fresh challenges.
28:48In the spring of 1944,
28:51the German forces in France
28:52and the Low Countries
28:53stood waiting
28:54for the Anglo-American assault.
28:59Behind the coastal guns
29:00and beach obstacles
29:01of Hitler's much-vaunted
29:03Atlantic Wall
29:03and the infantry divisions
29:05that supported it
29:06were deployed 11 Panzer
29:08and Panzer-Grenadier divisions.
29:16Four of these formations
29:18were Waffen-SS divisions.
29:22In southern France
29:24was the Das Reich
29:25and in the Loire Valley
29:2617th SS Panzer-Grenadier division.
29:30The Leibstandarte
29:31was in Belgium
29:32refitting after bitter fighting
29:33on the eastern front
29:34and west of Paris
29:36the recently formed
29:3712th SS Panzer division
29:39Hitlerjugend.
29:42As its name suggests
29:43the Hitler Youth Division
29:45consisted of 17
29:46and 18 year old
29:47members of the Hitler Youth
29:49stiffened by
29:50combat-experienced officers
29:51and NCOs.
29:57The recruits of the
29:59Hitlerjugend division
30:00were the generation of boys
30:02who had been educated
30:03wholly under Nazi rule
30:05indoctrinated since
30:06earliest youth
30:07with the ideology
30:08of survival of the fittest
30:09and war as the noblest
30:11activity of mankind
30:12they were to be among
30:14the most fanatical of all
30:15Hitler's political soldiers.
30:19Sepp Dietrich's
30:20first SS Panzer Corps
30:21commanded three
30:22of the four divisions.
30:32When the Allies did land
30:33in Normandy
30:34on D-Day
30:34the 6th of June
30:35only one Panzer division
30:37was close to the beaches
30:38but its units
30:40were too scattered
30:41for it to be able
30:41to contest
30:42the initial landings.
30:45Hitler refused
30:46to allow the bulk
30:47of the Panzer divisions
30:48to be moved
30:48without his permission.
30:50The Führer slept late
30:52and no one dared wake him.
30:53So it was not until
30:54the afternoon
30:55that the Hitlerjugend
30:56began to deploy.
31:01Its troops began
31:02to come into action
31:03on the evening
31:04of D-plus-one.
31:08But rather than being able
31:10to mount a decisive
31:11counter-attack
31:12to drive the Allies
31:13back into the sea
31:13the Hitler Youth
31:15found themselves
31:16fighting a desperate
31:17defensive battle.
31:39by the 13th of June
31:40the British appeared
31:41poised to break
31:42through the German line
31:43in the area
31:44of the village
31:44of Vier-Bokkage.
31:47It was then
31:48that SS-leutnant
31:49Michael Wittmann
31:50who had already won
31:51the Knights' Cross
31:51in Russia
31:52performed a feat
31:53which became a legend
31:54of the fighting style
31:55of the Waffen-SS.
31:57He was supervising
31:58some much-needed maintenance
32:00on his five Tiger tanks
32:01in a wood
32:02when he spotted
32:03a column of British vehicles
32:04travelling along the road
32:05running up the hill
32:06from Vier-Bokkage.
32:08Realising that they had halted
32:10Wittmann jumped
32:11into his tank
32:12and charged down the column
32:13firing as he went.
32:20Within a matter
32:21of a few minutes
32:22he had knocked out
32:2325 British vehicles.
32:34Wittmann charged
32:35on into the village
32:36and only then
32:37was his Tiger disabled
32:38by a British Cromwell tank
32:40firing at almost
32:41point-blank rage.
32:50Wittmann and his crew
32:52managed to escape.
32:53Their action
32:54single-handedly
32:55brought the British
32:56attack to a halt.
33:03In the meantime
33:04the Hitler Youth
33:05became involved
33:06in the tenacious
33:07defence of the city
33:08of Caen.
33:09Time and again
33:10they frustrated British
33:11and Canadian
33:12efforts to break through.
33:19Fritz Witt
33:20their inspirational commander
33:22was killed
33:23early in the battle.
33:29His place was taken
33:31by Kurt Meyer
33:32a founder member
33:33of the Leifstandarte
33:34who was known
33:35as Panzermeyer
33:36because of his dashing
33:37exploits in Greece
33:38and Russia.
33:40In spite of their
33:41dwindling strength
33:42Meyer and his young soldiers
33:44fought on
33:44gaining high respect
33:46from friend and foe alike.
33:48But if the Waffen SS divisions
33:50fought bravely in Normandy
33:51they also displayed the same
33:53ruthlessness
33:54as in Russia.
33:56on at least two occasions
33:57captured Canadian soldiers
33:59were shot in cold blood.
34:07The SS Das Reich
34:08Panzer Division
34:09committed an even worse
34:10atrocity during its move
34:12to Normandy
34:12from the south of France.
34:14It was forced
34:15to travel by road
34:16because of the Allied
34:17destruction of the rail system.
34:20The French resistance
34:21constantly harried the Germans
34:23blowing bridges
34:24and mounting ambushes.
34:29Finally
34:30in the village
34:31of Orodor-sur-Glan
34:32the Das Reich
34:34reeked a terrible revenge.
34:37The Waffen SS troops
34:39rounded up the villages
34:40and set their houses alight.
34:42Then they herded them
34:43into the church
34:44and torched this as well.
34:46A total of 648
34:48French civilians
34:49were slaughtered
34:50in this atrocity.
34:55For many
34:56Orodor
34:57was the defining moment
34:58when the claim
34:59that the Waffen SS
34:59were simply combat soldiers
35:01was exposed as a myth.
35:03Despite their claims
35:05after the war
35:05that they were never
35:06involved in atrocities
35:07the gaunt ruins
35:09of this French village
35:10still prove otherwise.
35:25even though a further
35:27SS Panzer Corps
35:28reached Normandy
35:29the Germans did
35:30eventually buckle
35:31under the remorseless
35:32Allied pressure.
35:39The shattered remnants
35:40of their army
35:41withdrew eastwards
35:42across France.
35:44By that time
35:45many of the leading
35:46Waffen SS commanders
35:47had become casualties.
35:50Panzer Meier
35:51had been wounded
35:52and captured.
35:55Michael Wittmann
35:57the hero of
35:58Villers-Boccage
35:59was dead.
36:06Only overstretched
36:08Allied supply lines
36:09prevented the German retreat
36:10from becoming a right.
36:17By the end
36:18of the first week
36:19of September
36:19the Allied advance
36:21had come to a virtual halt.
36:28The Waffen SS divisions
36:29were withdrawn
36:30from the line
36:31to refit.
36:32Two of them
36:33the 9th and 10th
36:34SS Panzer Divisions
36:35did so in the Arnhem
36:37region of Holland.
36:38This was to prove
36:39disastrous
36:40for the Allies.
36:43For on the 17th
36:45of September
36:451944
36:46they mounted
36:47a massive
36:48airborne operation
36:49to outflank
36:50Germany's last
36:51natural bastion
36:52in the West
36:52the River Rhine
36:53by seizing bridges
36:55over the Dutch
36:55waterways.
36:59British and Polish
37:01paratroops
37:01dropped at Arnhem.
37:03The Waffen SS
37:04troops went quickly
37:05into action.
37:14during the bitter
37:16week-long struggle
37:17that followed
37:17they gradually
37:18tightened their grip
37:19on the embattled
37:20paratroops
37:21eventually forcing
37:22them to surrender.
37:24But by now
37:26Hitler was preparing
37:27his own audacious
37:28gamble against
37:29the Western Allies.
37:33this was a massive
37:34counter-offensive
37:35in the West
37:36through the Ardennes
37:37region of Belgium
37:38and designed to split
37:39the British from the
37:40Americans.
37:43Spearheading the attack
37:44would be two
37:45panzer armies
37:46one of them commanded
37:47by Sepp Dietrich
37:48which consisted largely
37:50of Waffen SS
37:51divisions.
37:53the offensive
37:54opened on the
37:5416th of December
37:551944.
38:09Dietrich's battle
38:10groups sliced
38:11through the
38:11American defences
38:12spreading panic
38:13and confusion.
38:15But the hilly
38:16and wooded Ardennes
38:17was very much
38:18harder going
38:19in December
38:201944
38:20than it had
38:21been in May
38:221940.
38:27After the first
38:28few days
38:28the weather
38:29cleared
38:29and Allied
38:30air power
38:31began to wreak
38:31havoc.
38:34In increasingly
38:35difficult conditions
38:36the German advance
38:37slowed
38:38and one battle
38:39group after another
38:40ground to a halt.
38:42It was now
38:43that the worst
38:44side of the
38:45Waffen SS
38:45again became
38:46apparent.
38:48Joachim Piper
38:48one of its
38:49most fanatical
38:50and aggressive
38:51young officers
38:51was commanding
38:52the battle
38:53group which
38:53advanced furthest
38:54west.
38:55It left a trail
38:56of atrocities
38:57in its wake.
39:00Piper's men
39:01murdered unarmed
39:02Belgian civilians.
39:07Near the village
39:08of Malmedy
39:08they ambushed
39:09a US artillery
39:10observation battalion
39:11which thought
39:12that it was well
39:13inside friendly
39:14territory.
39:21the military.
39:25Ruthlessly
39:26picking off
39:26the vehicles
39:27at the beginning
39:27and end
39:28of the convoy
39:29so as to trap
39:30the remainder
39:30Piper's men
39:32ensured that
39:32few of them
39:33escaped the
39:33carnage that
39:34followed.
39:41many of those
39:42Americans made
39:43prisoner were
39:44marched into a
39:45field and shot
39:46in cold blood.
39:48It was an
39:49atrocity which
39:50would come back
39:50to haunt the
39:51Waffen SS
39:52but despite their
39:54barbarity by the
39:55end of December
39:56Hitler's armies
39:57were in retreat.
40:03his final gamble
40:04in the west
40:05had failed
40:05and he was
40:06forced to turn
40:07once more
40:08to the east
40:08where the Red
40:09Army was poised
40:10to advance
40:11onto German
40:11soil.
40:12The final act
40:13of the drama
40:14of the Waffen SS
40:15and the regime
40:16they served so
40:17loyally was
40:18about to be
40:19played out.
40:24As 1945
40:25began the Red
40:27Army prepared
40:27for the assault
40:28which would
40:29take it
40:29into the
40:29Nazi Reich.
40:35Hitler ordered
40:35Sepp Dietrich
40:36to move his
40:37army to Hungary
40:38to lead an
40:38offensive to
40:39recapture the
40:40oil fields
40:40near Lake
40:41Balaton.
40:46Dietrich's
40:47command was
40:47renamed
40:486th SS
40:49Panzer Army.
40:51Himmler's
40:51ambition for
40:52the Waffen
40:52SS to fight
40:53under its own
40:53command had
40:54at last been
40:55realised.
40:57The final
40:58German
40:59offensive in
40:59the east
41:00took place
41:00in early
41:01March 1945.
41:07Dietrich's
41:08SS Panzer
41:09Army and the
41:10German 6th Army
41:11which was also
41:12taking part
41:12struggled forward
41:14in the snow
41:14and mud
41:15against increasing
41:16Russian resistance.
41:27within a week
41:28the attack had
41:29ground to a
41:29halt.
41:31So angry was
41:31Hitler that he
41:32ordered the
41:33SS men to
41:34remove their
41:34prized divisional
41:35cuffbands as a
41:37mark of disgrace.
41:39But true to
41:40their motto
41:41my honour is
41:42my loyalty
41:43the Waffen
41:44SS divisions
41:44continued to
41:45fight on
41:46as the
41:46Russians and
41:47western allies
41:48squeezed the
41:48Third Reich
41:49ever tighter.
41:51By now on
41:52both the
41:53eastern and
41:53western fronts
41:54the true
41:54horror of the
41:55activities of
41:56other branches
41:56of the SS
41:57was becoming
41:58clear as the
41:59extermination
42:00camps were
42:00overrun.
42:04Horrified allied
42:05troops made
42:05little attempt
42:06to differentiate
42:07between the
42:07guilt of
42:08those who
42:08wore the
42:09SS badge.
42:11In the west
42:12the allies
42:13continually came
42:14up against
42:15small pockets
42:15of fanatical
42:16SS resistance
42:17but this could
42:18only delay
42:19the inevitable.
42:21In the east
42:22the remnants
42:23of the 6th SS
42:24panzer army
42:25could not prevent
42:26the Russians
42:27from capturing
42:27Vienna.
42:35there remained
42:36the final prize
42:37Berlin.
42:42The Russian
42:43assault on the
42:43German capital
42:44began on the
42:4516th of April.
42:46Within a week
42:47fighting was
42:48taking place
42:48in the city
42:49itself.
42:50Among the
42:51elements defending
42:51Berlin were
42:52French and
42:53Latvian SS
42:54troops.
42:55Hitler still
42:56hoped that
42:56his Waffen
42:57SS could
42:57weave a miracle
42:58and rescue him
42:59but he was
43:00now living in
43:01total fantasy.
43:02The German
43:03garrison finally
43:04surrendered on
43:05the 2nd of May
43:05two days after
43:07Hitler had
43:07taken his
43:08own life.
43:15Fearing that
43:15they would
43:16receive little
43:16mercy from
43:17the Russians
43:17there was
43:18now a rush
43:19among the
43:19surviving SS
43:20and army
43:21formations
43:21to surrender
43:22to the
43:22western allies.
43:25A number
43:26of SS
43:26divisions
43:27conducted
43:27formal
43:28surrender
43:28parades
43:29to demonstrate
43:29their defiance.
43:36war crimes
43:37because of the
43:37vast catalogue
43:38of crimes
43:38against humanity
43:39committed by
43:40the SS
43:40as a whole
43:41and the war
43:42crimes of
43:43particular units
43:44of the
43:44Waffen SS
43:44all SS men
43:46were rounded
43:47up for special
43:47interrogation.
43:49Many tried
43:50to disguise
43:51themselves
43:51but the
43:52giveaway was
43:53their SS
43:53number
43:54tattooed
43:54under the
43:55arm
43:55which could
43:56not be
43:56easily
43:56hidden.
44:00Some
44:01Waffen SS
44:01men eventually
44:02found themselves
44:03on trial
44:03and some
44:04paid the
44:05ultimate
44:05price
44:06for their
44:06crimes.
44:10Very few
44:11of those
44:11who fell
44:11into Russian
44:12hands
44:12were ever
44:13to get
44:13back
44:14to Germany.
44:16For the
44:17Waffen SS
44:18the trial
44:18of the men
44:19involved
44:19in the
44:20Malmedy
44:20massacre
44:20was the
44:21most
44:21notorious.
44:25Almost
44:26everyone
44:26in the
44:26Waffen SS
44:27chain of
44:28command
44:28was arraigned
44:29and the
44:29vast majority
44:30found guilty.
44:32Sepp
44:33Dietrich
44:33under whose
44:34ultimate
44:34command
44:35Piper
44:35had been
44:35was among
44:36the first
44:37to be
44:37sentenced.
44:38At the
44:38time the
44:38vote was
44:39taken
44:39concurring
44:40sentences
44:40due to
44:41life
44:41imprisonment
44:42commencing
44:43forthwith
44:43that such
44:44places may
44:44be designated
44:45by competent
44:45military
44:46authority.
44:48Joachim
44:48Piper
44:49whose battle
44:49group had
44:50been responsible
44:50for the
44:51massacre
44:51was one
44:52of six
44:52men
44:53sentenced
44:53to
44:53death.
44:55The
44:56death
44:56sentences
44:56were
44:57eventually
44:57commuted
44:58and
44:58Dietrich
44:59himself
44:59was
44:59released
44:59on
45:00parole
45:00in
45:001955
45:01but
45:02the
45:02long
45:02arm
45:03of
45:03justice
45:03had
45:03not
45:04yet
45:04finished
45:04with
45:04him.
45:05Two
45:06years
45:06later
45:06he
45:07was
45:07arraigned
45:07by a
45:07West
45:08German
45:08court
45:08for
45:08his
45:09part
45:09in
45:09the
45:09night
45:09of
45:09the
45:09long
45:10knives
45:10in
45:101934.
45:12He
45:12was
45:12sentenced
45:12to
45:13a
45:13further
45:13term
45:13in
45:13jail
45:14but
45:14was
45:15released
45:15after
45:1515
45:16months
45:16on
45:16medical
45:16grounds.
45:18For
45:19him
45:19and
45:20for
45:20many
45:20of
45:20those
45:20who
45:21fought
45:21under
45:21him
45:21the
45:22brutal
45:22reality
45:23of
45:23what
45:23had
45:23been
45:23done
45:23was
45:24soon
45:24glossed
45:24over.
45:25I
45:26have to
45:26say that
45:27we are
45:27a front
45:28troop.
45:29We were
45:29only
45:30at the
45:30front.
45:31We
45:31fought.
45:32What
45:32happened in
45:33the
45:33country
45:33is
45:34not
45:34know.
45:36We
45:36were
45:36soldiers
45:36very
45:37simple
45:39soldiers.
45:40Despite
45:41all the
45:41evidence
45:42to the
45:42contrary,
45:43it
45:43appears
45:43that
45:44the
45:44West
45:44German
45:44government
45:45agreed.
45:46During
45:46the
45:471950s
45:47it
45:47awarded
45:48the
45:48Waffen-SS
45:49veterans
45:49war
45:50pensions.
45:50on the
45:51grounds
45:51that
45:51they
45:51had
45:52fought
45:52for
45:52their
45:52country
45:52in
45:53the
45:53same
45:53way
45:53as
45:53every
45:54other
45:54soldier.
45:56The
45:56authorities
45:57also
45:57allowed
45:58those
45:58who
45:58fought
45:58in
45:59the
45:59Waffen-SS
45:59to
46:00form
46:00their
46:00own
46:01association,
46:02Hayak,
46:03which
46:03continues
46:03to
46:04this
46:04day.
46:05This
46:06was
46:06in
46:06stark
46:06contrast
46:07to
46:07the
46:07treatment
46:08of
46:08men
46:08like
46:08Leon
46:09de
46:09Greu,
46:09who
46:09had
46:09fought
46:10in
46:10the
46:10foreign
46:10legions
46:11of
46:11the
46:11Waffen-SS.
46:12He
46:12could
46:13never
46:13return
46:13to
46:13Belgium,
46:14where
46:14he
46:14was
46:15regarded
46:15as
46:15a
46:15traitor
46:16and
46:16lived
46:17out
46:17the
46:17rest
46:17of
46:17his
46:17long
46:18life
46:18in
46:18Spain.
46:19Sepp
46:20Dietrich,
46:21the
46:21personification
46:22of
46:22Hitler's
46:22political
46:23soldiers,
46:24died
46:24in
46:24his
46:24bed
46:25in
46:25April
46:251966.
46:27He
46:27was
46:27buried
46:27with
46:28the
46:28honours
46:28befitting
46:29one
46:29who
46:29had
46:29fought
46:29with
46:30gallantry
46:30and
46:31distinction
46:31for
46:32his
46:32country.
46:35Dietrich
46:36and his
46:36comrades
46:37in
46:37the
46:37Waffen-SS
46:38developed
46:38a
46:38combat
46:39reputation
46:39second
46:40to
46:40none.
46:42Their
46:42determination
46:43to fight
46:43on,
46:44often
46:44against
46:45impossible
46:45odds,
46:46gained
46:46the
46:47respect
46:47of
46:47their
46:47enemies
46:48and
46:48the
46:49admiration
46:49of
46:49their
46:49countrymen.
46:50They
46:51were
46:51true
46:51gladiators.
46:54But poisoned
46:55by its
46:56ideology,
46:57their tragedy
46:57was that they
46:58became the
46:58willing servants
46:59of an
46:59evil
47:00regime.
47:01Their
47:01reputation
47:01as
47:02fighting
47:02soldiers
47:03will be
47:03forever
47:03sullied
47:04by the
47:04atrocities
47:05which they
47:06committed
47:06in its
47:06name.
47:13laughter
47:14''HkM'''
47:15''HkM'''
47:32''HkM''
47:41''HkM'''
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