Description
Very interesting Wehrpass
Issued to Karl Hilgarth , born 27,2,1919 in Germany.
He was unmarried when he enlisted as a student directly into the Waffen SS in Munich.
His Wehrpass is issued by SS Regiment Deutschland in October of 1939.
According to page 11, he joined 8th Kompanie, SS Deutschland in Munich. Interestingly, he did not swear an oath until 23.8.1944.
He was trained on the K98 Rifle, Luger P08, Handgrenade model 24, MG 34.
Promotions:
1.11.1940 – SS – Sturmmann
20.4.1941 – SS – Rottenführer
1.8.1941 – SS Unterscharführer
1.6.1943 – SS Oberscharführer
Awards:
Wounds Badge in Silver
Iron Cross Second Class – Feld Kommandostelle RF SS – Himmler’s “Feld Kommandostelle” (“Field Command Unit”) which, at that time, was the SS Field Headquarters at the Hegewald bei Zhitomir Ukraine.
Interestingly, the Wehrpass has a large battle calendar, starting in 1939 – Poland (Modlin), Western Front (Holland Schelde, Island Boveland und Walscheren, Hasebrouck), France (Avre, Siene, Dijon, Langres), Southwest France – Spanish Border, Security in Holland December 1940 – 1941 – Russia (Dnjeprstellung, Jelnja)
On the 4.8.1941 – he was wounded with a grenade splinter – Grenade Splinter left arm amputated at Jelnja.
After a short stint in a replacement company, (Genesungskompanie SS “D”), he was assigned to the Stabskompanie der Waffen SS bei der Rasse und Siedlungs Hauptamt SS.
Unit Background:
Elements of the SS-VT served with the Wehrmacht during the occupation of the Sudetenland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. For those operations, the SS-VT was under the command of the army. The SS-VT also formed an Artillery Regiment during this time-frame which was used to fill the gaps in a number of army units for those events.
The SS-VT regiments Deutschland and Germania along with the Leibstandarte participated in the invasion of Poland, with Der Führer (recruited in Austria after the Anschluss) in reserve at Prague. In September 1939, a combined unit of SS-VT and Heer (army) troops conducted operations jointly as Panzer Division Kempf during the invasion of Poland.[18] It fought alongside army units at Rozan, Modlin, Łomża and Kmiczyn. The division was disbanded near the Polish city of Nidzica on 7 October 1939.
In spite of the swift military victory over Poland in September 1939, events during the invasion of Poland raised doubts over the combat effectiveness of the SS-VT. The OKW or Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces) reported that the SS-VT units took unnecessary risks and had a higher casualty rate than the army.
They also stated that the SS-VT was poorly trained and its officers unsuitable for combat command. As an example, OKW noted that the Leibstandarte had to be rescued by an army regiment after becoming surrounded at Pabianice by the Poles. In its defence, the SS insisted that it had been hampered by having to fight piecemeal instead of as one formation, and was improperly equipped by the army to carry out its objectives. Himmler insisted that the SS-VT should be allowed to fight in its own formations under its own commanders, while the OKW tried to have the SS-VT disbanded altogether. Hitler was unwilling to upset either the army or Himmler, and chose a third path. He ordered that the SS-VT form its own divisions but that the divisions would be under army command.
In addition, Eicke’s SS-TV field forces were not military, and during the invasion of Poland, “[t]heir…capabilities were employed instead in terrorizing the civilian population through acts that included hunting down straggling Polish soldiers, confiscating agricultural produce and livestock, and torturing and murdering large numbers of Polish political leaders, aristocrats, businessmen, priests, intellectuals, and Jews.” Further, members of the Leibstandarte also committed atrocities in numerous towns, including the murder of 50 Polish Jews in Błonie and the massacre in Złoczew, where 200 civilians were machine gunned. Złoczew’s children also suffered; SS men beat and murdered them, sometimes with rifle butts. Crushing the skulls of toddlers. Shootings also took place in Bolesławiec, Torzeniec, Goworowo, Mława, and Włocławek.
The Race and Settlement Main Office (RuSHA) was one of the three oldest SS main offices, along with the SS Main Office and the SD Main Office. The SS Race Office was founded at the end of December 1931 and was responsible for racial examinations and marriage permits for members of the SS. It was later called the Race and Settlement Office and from January 1935 it was run as the SS Main Office. In connection with the formation of the Reich Commissariat for the Consolidation of German Nationality and the development of the General Plan East, it took on the tasks of racial selection of the populations of the occupied territories as well as the selection of candidates for the planned settlement of dismissed SS members in the East.
Comments
Very interesting Wehrpass, with the SSVT on the cover, perfect for the early SS Collector, interestingly Deutschland where to guard many of the SS guarded places in Munich including the Feldhernnhalle. After his wounding he was still of good use to the SS, it is unknown what his fate was.
