23.SS-(freiw.)pzgrendiv nederland
The Nederland Division
Holding up the Nazi successes against Poland,
the Low Countries and France in the early years of World War
II as a model for every fascist to aspire towards, Himmler’s
propaganda machine made a passionate call for Aryan
volunteers to join the Schutzstaffel (SS). Late 1940 saw the
formation of the SS Volunteer Standarte Nordwest,
specifically to induct citizens of Holland and Belgium into
the SS. Headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, the first
volunteers began arriving for training in April 1941.
Backed by the Nationaal Socialistische Beweging (Dutch
National Socialist Movement) the enlistment drive was wildly
successful. So much so that the SS Volunteer Standarte
Nordwest was split into national units
with the SS Volunteer Unit Niederlande composed of the
fascists from Holland. By July 1941, the ranks had swelled
to five companies of infantry requiring another designation
change, the SS Volunteer Legion Niederlande. Great pains
were taken by the Nazi leadership to convince the volunteers
they had joined a uniquely Dutch unit. The legion was
allowed to wear the prinsevlag (Dutch tricolor) on their
sleeves and the wolfsangel (symbol of the Nationaal
Socialistische Beweging) on their collars in
place of the traditional
SS runes. Luitenant Generaal Hendrik A.
Seyffardt
of the Dutch General Staff was placed in
command of the new Legion. Although not a member of the
Nationaal
Socialistische Beweging, Luitenant Generaal
Seyffardt was
highly respected by the Dutch people and a
staunch anticommunist. This made him a perfect figurehead
around which the Nazis could rally their new recruits.
Basic training for the new Legion continued in Hamburg while
the newly minted soldiers were then sent to the
Truppenübungsplatz in Arys, East Prussia for
specialized and technical training. High motivation
characterized the new troops as did an eagerness to learn
the craft of soldiery.
Finally, the SS Volunteer Legion Niederlande was given
operational orders and transferred to the village of
Selo-Gora in the Leningrad area. Sent to replace the 20.
Infanteriedivision’s Infanterie
Regiment 90, the Legion joined General Field Marshall
Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb’s Army Group North in January 1942,
ready to join the fight against the enemies of National
Socialism.
Legion Combat
History
Commanded in the field by SS-Obersturmbannführer
Arved Theuermann, the Legion setup
defensive positions on the western bank of the Wolchov
River situated between Tschudovo
and Novgorod. Stationed between the German 20. and 254.
Infanterie divisions, the Dutch were responsible for
repelling any Soviet attempts at a bridgehead in their
sector. In addition to front line service, the Legion
was also responsible for patrolling the roads and wooded
areas near Pjatilipy and Gorenka.
The forested areas along the front were littered with
Soviet bunkers requiring near constant patrols to root
out and replace with Dutch defensive positions. The
Dutch fortifications were a direct response to the
seemingly clockwork artillery bombardments of the Red
Army. Legion soldiers were so adept at destroying Soviet
positions that German Army propaganda broadcasts in the
area singled them out for their efforts. Dutch forces
also had to deal with local partisans operating out of
the heavily wooded sections of the Legion’s area of
responsibility. All partisans caught by the Dutch were
interrogated and summarily executed.
February 1942, brought a new commander, SS-Brigadeführer
Gottfried Klingemann, and a morale boosting visit from
Nationaal Socialistische Beweging leader
Anton Mussert.
Mussert was instrumental in the formation
of the Legion and carried the banner of the reborn Dutch
military. The euphoria of Mussert’s visit quickly wore
off as the horrors of war came flooding back in the form
of a Red Army attack on the 10 February. Large amounts
of Soviet infantry were only beaten back after the loss
of dozens of Dutch soldiers. Continued attacks
throughout the month returned the same results, high
Soviet losses, dozens of Legion casualties and lowered
Dutch morale. Even the presentation of several Iron
Crosses to Legion soldiers couldn’t raise Dutch spirits.
Spring thaws did nothing to improve already dismal
morale. Waist deep waters in the trenches dramatically
increased the instances of disease while making front
line conditions miserable. Soviet infantry did their
best to compound these difficulties by making repeated
forays into the Dutch sector. Elite units such as the
1002nd Rifle Regiment of the 305th Siberian Division
attempted to storm the trenches in late March but were
repelled with heavy losses on both sides. April brought
improvement in flying conditions and with it, Soviet
bombing raids. These raids were often coordinated with
infantry attacks directly after, little by little
whittling down the Legion’s numbers and morale.
Spirits rose again once summer rolled around; better
weather coupled with the chance to finally take the
fight to the communists buoyed the Dutch. A site near
Fuhovga Lake witnessed the first Dutch attack on the
eastern front as III./Battalion tangled with the 305th
Siberian Division again. A large cache of weapons and
ammunition accompanied the capture of over 3,500 Soviet
prisoners of war, including Lieutenant General Vlassov
of the 2nd Shock Army. Vlassov, a
Hero of the Soviet Union recipient, was deported to a
camp in the Ukraine and began organizing the “Russian
Liberation Army”, a military organization dedicated to
the elimination of Stalin’s repressive regime. After
proving itself in the crucible of combat the Legion was
transferred to 2.SS-Infanterie Brigade and sent from the
Wolchov Front to the Leningrad Front.
In July SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Josef
Fitzthum took command of a Legion reduced
to just 1,400 combat ready men. Of these 1,400 men, 176
were awarded Iron Crosses by their new commander.
Luckily for the Dutch the remainder of July was quiet
and allowed time for training and recuperation.
When Operation “Nordlicht” kicked off in mid August
1942, the Legion found itself poorly equipped and ill
prepared. Morale had suffered after the unit was
ambushed at Krasnoje-Selo on its way to the Leningrad
Front and continued to decline as the Nederlanders were
thrown into the offensive alongside the 6.
Infanteriedivision and 4. SS-Polizei Division. Red Army
intelligence operatives had caught wind of the summer
offensive and were well prepared for the 13 divisions
Army Group North sent to dislodge them from Leningrad.
On the heels of the failed German attack Soviets
launched an offensive at Lagoda designed to finally
break the siege of Leningrad. Fierce Dutch and German
resistance slowed and eventually bogged the Russian
offensive late in 1942 as the weather again became
untenable. On 12 January, newly appointed commander SS-Brigadefuhrer
Friedrich Scholz’s first assignment was to repulse a
Soviet armored assault, again aimed at Lagoda.
Assisted by the Legion Norwegen (Norwegian Volunteers)
and a Luftwaffe Field Division, the Dutch were able to
repulse the attack. Of significant note, Gerardus
Mooyman of the Dutch Legion was
awarded the Knight’s Cross in February for destroying 13
Red Army tanks while crewing his 7.5cm anti-tank gun.
Withdrawn from the Leningrad Front in April 1943, the
remnants of the Legion were sent to Sonneberg to train
and reequip for the summer. With an influx of new
soldiers and officers, the Legion was redesignated the
SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier
Brigade ‘Nederland’ and readied for redeployment to the
Balkans.
Balkans
The newly designated brigade was commanded by
SS-Oberfuhrer
Jurgen Wagner and attached to the
III.SS-Panzerkorps for
anti partisan duty in the Balkans in September 1943.
Stationed in Oroslavje and Donja Stubica, Croatia, the
brigade absorbed 1,500 Dutchmen from 5.SS-Panzer
Grenadier Division “Viking” in order to fill in its two
new regiments, SS-Panzer Grenadier Regiment 1, “General
Seyffardt” and SS-Panzer Grenadier Regiment 2, “De
Ruyter.” The brigade’s stay in Croatia was brief but
bloody as rooting out the local partisan forces
invariably ended in the execution of all prisoners.
Although not fully reequipped or re-supplied, the
brigade received marching orders on Christmas Day 1943.
A return to the Leningrad Front awaited the men of
Holland, just in time to take the brunt of the winter
offensive.
Narva
Arriving at Oranienbaum in early January 1944, the
brigade was grouped with 11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadierdivision
‘Nordland’ and 4. SS-Polizei Panzergrenadierdivision.
Reinforcements were necessary in this sector as Army
Group North expected the Red Army to make a breakout
attempt from Leningrad. Striking at a section of front
manned by Luftwaffe units, the Soviets drove a wedge
into the Nazi line. So successful was the attack that
the Wehrmacht defenders were forced to pull back to
Narva, Estonia and setup fortifications along the Narva
River. To better consolidate command & control in the
area, 18. Army established “Army Group Narva”,
consisting of the Dutch Brigade, 11. SS-Panzergrenadierdivision
“Nordland” and the newly conscripted Estonian unit, 20.
Waffen Grenadierdivision of the SS.
The winter and spring of 1944 saw numerous attempts by
Soviet forces to establish and hold bridgeheads across
the Narva River and Lake Peipus.
These attempts were frustrated by the skill and bravery
of the multinational volunteer forces in what became
known as the “Battle of the European SS”. Soldiers from
Holland, Belgium, Denmark and Norway fought alongside
their Estonian comrades to keep the Soviets from
reoccupying the small Baltic nation. Despite dwindling
supplies and manpower the Dutch SS Brigade blocked
repeated attempts by the Red Army to create a permanent
bridgehead over the Narva River. 8 March saw the Soviets
gain a tenuous hold on the western river bank only to
have both armoured regiments sent to exploit the gap
repulsed with heavy losses. It wasn’t until late March
that the brigade was properly re-supplied with anti-tank
and artillery shells allowing for a suitable defence of
the Hitler’s newly ordered “Festung Narva.” April passed
uneventfully as the bloodied Red Army regrouped for a
summer offensive. The Dutch used this reprieve to
re-fortify and re-arm.
Like dominoes on a map, the collapse of Army Group
Centre to Operation Bagration left Germany’s northern
armies facing encirclement and annihilation. The 172nd
Straf-Battalion with the 191st Rifle Division in support
flooded across the river on 12 June, hell bent on
redemption at the cost of volunteer lives. ‘Nederland’
and ‘Nordland’ were both hard hit by the penal
battalion, but were able to push the Soviets back across
the Narva. Recognizing the desperate plight of Narva’s
beleaguered defenders, Army Group North began
preparations for a withdrawal to Tannenberg, just to the
west of Narva. Fighting the rearguard were the soldiers
of 48. Infanterie Regiment “General Seyffardt”, giving
their fellows time to pull back to the new line.
However, “General Seyffardt” paid
dearly for their efforts, as poor leadership put them
under the bomb sights of the Red Air Force. Raids from
the sky wiped out the regiment almost to a man.
Now assigned to the Pernau section of the line the Dutch
were still plagued by poor manning and supply.
Compounding these issues was the question of Estonian
loyalty. As the German forces retreated closer and
closer to Germany the Estonian troops became more and
more interested in liberating their homeland than
defending the German Reich. Newly promoted SS-Brigadefuhrer
Wagner went so far as to keep a company in reserve to
stave off any perceived
Estonian threat.
Kurland
Falling back again, this time to Kurland in October, the
Nederlanders had barely arrived on
station before having to repel a communist attack on
Libau. Confronted by the Red Army to their front and
Lithuanian partisans to their rear, SS-Brigadefuhrer
Wagner resorted to the execution of civilians to keep
the local populace marginally in line. Soviet forces
reorganized and in late December pummelled Dutch troops
in Libau and Frauenberg with massed artillery, presaging
a massive infantry assault. Human waves were driven back
with only minor losses to the SS forces. January 1945
saw a repeat of the December tactics with the same
results.
Germany
New orders for the brigade were cut in late January;
they were to sail for Stettin and be used to plug the
holes in the line defending Berlin. Despite boasting
only 1,000 combat ready soldiers, the brigade was
re-designated the 23. SSFreiwilligen-Panzergrenadierdivision
“Nederland” on 10 February 1945. Unfortunately for the
Dutch this new status couldn’t keep the Red Army from
pushing inexorably towards the capital of Hitler’s
“Thousand Year Reich.” Even reinforcements from
Kampfgruppe “Rehder” in March couldn’t keep the division
at a functional combat level for long. The division’s
death knell sounded on 16 April as two Soviet fronts
smashed into the German lines surrounding Berlin.
By 3 May the Dutch had seen enough of the Red Army and,
after repulsing one last communist attack, fled west and
surrendered to an American tank battalion. Having seen
the better part of valour, the Dutch chose to seek
clemency from
the Western Allies rather than to risk
the tender mercies of
the
avenging Red Army.
Additional information found
23. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nederland (niederlandische Nr. 1) consisted of Dutch volunteers and was formed 10 Feb 1945 when SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade Nederland was upgraded. Nederland was given the number 23 when the Kama division was disbanded.
It fought on the Eastern front seeing action on the Oder and south of Berlin where it was caught in the Halbe pocket, before surrendering to US forces at the end of the war.
The Dutch soldiers were
planned to be a part of the
Nordland
division but after protests from the Dutch nazi-party,
Nationaal Socialistische
Beweging (NSB),
it was decided that they would form their own division.
| Lineage | |
| SS-Freiwilligen-Verband-Niederlande | (July 1941 - Aug 1941) |
| SS-Freiwilligen-Legion-Niederlande | (Aug 1941 - Oct 1943) |
| 4. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade Nederland | (Oct 1943 - Oct 1944) |
| SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade Nederland | (Oct 1944 - Feb 1945) |
| 23. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nederland (niederlandische Nr. 1) | (Feb 1945 - May 1945) |
| Commanders | |
| SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Wagner | (10 Feb 1945 - 1 May 1945) |
| Chief of Staff | |
| SS-Sturmbannführer Jürgen von Bock | (10 Feb 1945 - 1 Mar 1945) |
| SS-Sturmbannführer Reinhard Wörner | (? 1945 - ? 1945) |
| Quartermaster |
| SS-Hauptsturmführer Fritz Beister (10 Feb 1945 - 1 Mar 1945) |
| Area of operations | |
| Berlin | (Mar 1945 - Mar 1945) |
| Manpower strength | |
| Dec 1944 | 6.000 |
Honor titles
“Nederland” is Dutch for “The Netherlands”, as this
division was composed of Dutch volunteers.
The division was authorized to wear a cuff title bearing
its name, although even after its introduction, some
personnel who had previously served with the
“Freiwillige Legion Niederlande” continued to wear that
cuff title.
Two of the division’s
regiments were also named:
SS-Frw. Pz. Gren. Regt. 48 „General Seyffardt“
The honor title was carried over from the 1st Company of
the “Freiwillige Legion Niederlande” and refers to
General Hendrik Alexander Seyffardt (1 Nov. 1872 – 6
Feb. 1943), the pro-Nazi former Chief of the Dutch
Army’s General Staff and later commander of Dutch
Volunteer Legion, who was assassinated by the Dutch
Resistance.
SS-Frw. Pz. Gren. Regt. 49 „De Ruiter“
Michael Adriaanzoon de Ruiter (1607 – 1976) was a Dutch
admiral who had fought the English in Guinea and the
Channel and was also famous for having led his fleet up
the Thames in 1666 to attack London.
Holders of high awards
(entire lineage, from legion to division)
Holders of the German
Cross in Gold
(30)
Holders of the German Cross in Silver (1)
Lange, Heinz, 14.10.1944, SS-Sturmbannführer, Brig.Int. (IVa)
SS-Frw.Pz.Gren.Brig. “Nederland”
Holders of the Honor Roll Clasp of the Waffen-SS (2)
Täubl, Johann, 17.12.1944, SS-Oberscharführer, 5./SS-Art.Rgt.
54
Unger, Gerhard, 00.00.1945, SS-Sturmbannführer, I./SS-Frw.Pz.Gren.Rgt.
49
Holders of the Knight's
Cross (23,
including 2 unofficial/unconfirmed) (20 RK + 3 EL)
Order of battle
SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 48 General Seyffard
SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 49 de Ruyter
SS-Artillerie-Regiment 23
SS-Nachrichten-Abteilung 23
SS-Panzerjäger-Abteilung 23
SS-Pionier-Bataillon 23
SS-Flak-Abteilung 23
SS-Feldersatz-Bataillon 23
SS-Nachschubtruppen 23
Officers serving in
the Einsatzgruppen and Concentration Camps
Concentration Camps 5
(includes officers serving in the Einsatzgruppen och
Concentration Camps either prior to or after service in
this unit)
Insignia
The "Legion Niederlande" cuff title was authorized for this unit, it was replaced by "Frw. Legion Niederlande", "Frw. Legion Nederland" and finally "Nederland".
The "De Ruiter" cuff title was authorized for SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 49 de Ruyter.
The "General Seyffard" cuff title was authorized for SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 48 General Seyffard.
A collar insignia showing a wolfsangel (wolf hook) was first used in an unofficial vertical format and later authorized in a horizontal format.
Photo © The Ruptured Duck
Sources used
John R. Angolia - Cloth insignia of the SS
Georges M. Croisier - Waffen-SS (PDF)
Terry Goldsworthy - Valhalla's Warriors: A history of the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front 1941-1945
Dr. K-G Klietmann - Die Waffen-SS: eine Dokumentation
Marc J. Rikmenspoel - Waffen-SS Encyclopedia
Frank Thayer - SS Foreign volunteer collar insignia and their reporductions (in The Military Advisor, Vol 4 No 2)
Gordon Williamson & Thomas McGuirl - German military cuffbands 1784-present
Gordon Williamson - The Waffen-SS: 11. to 23. Divisions
Mark C. Yerger - Waffen-SS Commanders: The Army, corps and divisional leaders of a legend (2 vol)
Reference material on this unit
Massimiliano Afiero - Nederland: 23.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier Division Nederland
Perry Pierik - From Leningrad to Berlin: Dutch Volunteers in the German Waffen-SS
Battle of Narwa
