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Chapter 2. Genesis: The Waffen-SS from 1933 to 1939

The Waffen-SS had initially been created out of a need to form an armed personal bodyguard detachment for the protection of Adolf Hitler. This was the Leibstandarte, "Life Standard", or Protection Squad. A second section, the SS-Verfügungstruppen^[1] (SS-VT), consisting of two Standarten (regiments), was formed concurrently in a similar fashion. Both the Leibstandarte and SS-VT Standarten were the core organisations of what eventually was to become the Waffen-SS. There was also another section of the SS apparatus, the SS-Totenkopfverbände, or Death's Head formations, consisting of concentration camp guards, which was initially distinct from the Leibstandarte and SS-VT. This formation was to see much change, however, and by the onset of war in 1939 it was considered to be a fully-functional component of what was to become known as the Waffen-SS, eventually forming the nucleus of what became the 3rd Waffen-SS Panzerdivision "Totenkopf" (SS-TK). The SS-TK, by virtue of having its roots in the pre-war Totenkopfverbände, was to provide the controversial and tenuous connection between the Waffen-SS and the concentration camps. For this reason, I will deal with the pre-war development of the SS-TK in the next Chapter, "The Waffen-SS, Totenkopf, the Einsatzgruppen and the Concentration Camps". In this chapter, the emphasis will be on the two sections of the SS that became the core for the élite formations, the Leibstandarte and the SS-VT.

The Birth of the Leibstandarte and SS-Verfügungstruppe

On Hitler's ascension to power as the Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933, the need for a bodyguard for the new dictator became paramount. This idea led to the beginning of the formation of the Leibstandarte, which grew out of the greater SS organisation. Created on 17 March 1933, the nucleus of what was to become one the most famed divisions of the future Waffen-SS, the so-called Stabswache Berlin, consisting of 120 hand-picked SS men, was to be led by Hitler's personal bodyguard, the Bavarian ex-Sergeant Major, Josef "Sepp" Dietrich. During the Nazi Party rally in the September of that year Dietrich's Stabswache were officially given the designation Leibstandarte "Adolf Hitler", and two months later, on 9 November, the tenth anniversary of the ill-fated Munich Putsch, they were to pledge their unconditional loyalty to the person of the Adolf Hitler and to him alone. Thus the Waffen-SS mystique was born, as well as the famous Waffen-SS motto Mein Ehre heißt Treue, "my Honour is Loyalty". In making this pledge to Adolf Hitler, the Leibstandarte placed themselves outside standard military and civil law.^[2] In effect, although Hitler was not yet Führer or even chief of state, he had in fact established a Praetorian Guard that stood above both Party and State.^[3]

As well as the Leibstandarte, there was also the concurrent creation of the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT), the result of reorganising existing "political action squads" in the major cities. Both the Leibstandarte and the SS-VT (unlike the SS-Totenkopfverbände) had a high standard in terms of entry requirements - the potential recruit not only had to meet exacting physical requirements but also had to possess a clean police record and an extensive "Aryan" pedigree. A recruit had to be no less that 5' 11" in height and between the ages of 17 and 22.^[4] Until 1936, recruits with even one filled tooth were not accepted into either the Leibstandarte or the SS-VT.^[5] In a secret decree on 2 February 1935 Hitler cleared up any differences there might have been between the Leibstandarte and the SS-VT Standarten, when the former was designated as being part of the SS-VT.^[6] However, the picture did not become clearer until the last months before the outbreak of war in 1939.

Although the Leibstandarte itself was to become one of the premier combat divisions within the Waffen-SS, it was the two SS-VT Standarten, "Deutschland", based in Munich under the command of ex-Reichswehr Captain SS-Standartenführer Felix Steiner, and "Germania", based in Hamburg under the tutelage of SS-Standartenführer Karl Maria Demelhuber, which were to set the standard in terms of training. Indeed, due to their largely ceremonial role at the time, the Leibstandarte were dubbed by the Army as the "asphalt soldiers".^[7] This was an unfair comment, for it was the Leibstandarte who spearheaded the reoccupation of the Rhineland in the spring of 1936.

The success of the two initial SS-VT Standarten was mainly due to the efforts of the ex-Reichswehr General Paul Hausser, who was appointed to the position of Inspector of SS-Verfügungstruppen on 1 October 1936 and, perhaps more so, Felix Steiner. It was Steiner who was the guiding light of the SS-VT, and it was he who designed many of the revolutionary and highly realistic training programmes that put the emphasis on practical and classroom training, with less focus on traditional army activities as "square-bashing". Both officers and enlisted men engaged in the same daily sporting activities, such as long and short-distance running, boxing, rowing, and various track and field events. As well as creating a group of men who displayed a high level of fitness, the training programmes also

"...fostered among officers, NCOs, and enlisted men a sense of fellowship and mutual respect generally unknown in the Army".^[8]

Steiner, a devout Christian, proved to be an inspiring leader, and he was widely respected even by rival commanders in the regular Wehrmacht. He had little or no time for Nazi ideology, preferring instead to have his men concentrate their efforts in becoming more effective on the field of battle rather than experts in the field of pseudo-scientific racial science. Steiner's training regime helped break a number of traditions that had been prevalent in most if not all of the world's major armed forces; indeed, it can be strongly argued that his meritocratic ideas for the SS-VT were to be the forerunner of ideas for today's élite troops:

"He (Steiner) believed firmly in the creation of élite, highly mobile groups whose training put the emphasis on individual responsibility and military teamwork rather than mindless obedience".^[9]

The two Junkerschule^[10] at Bad Tölz and Braunschweig, "a cross between the Spartan Hoplites and the Guards Depot at Caterham",^[11] continued to produce high-quality material, in spite of the fact that some forty percent of cadets had only an elementary school education.^[12] Steiner's highly intensive training programme made his own SS-VT Standarte, "Deutschland", the envy of the whole German armed forces; it "became a showpiece for others to emulate.^[13] On 8 November 1937, Himmler declared that it was his intention to bring Demelhuber's 2nd SS-VT Standarte "Germania" and the Leibstandarte up to the same state of combat readiness as "Deutschland".^[14] After the annexation of Austria in 1938, the SS-VT (including the Leibstandarte) acquired a fourth Standarte, "Der Führer", which was composed of Austrian volunteers. By mid-1939, the four SS-VT Standarten had been made subordinate to the OKW, had adopted the Army field-grey uniforms and pay allotments according to Wehrmacht pay regulations.^[15] The threat of war ever growing, "the nucleus of an élite SS fighting force had emerged".^[16]

Notes

1. Verfügunstruppen - "disposal troops", in the sense that they were at Hitler's disposal
2. Quarrie (1983), p.23
3. Stein, p.5
4. Quarrie (1983), p.13
5. Stein, p.10
6. Weingartner, p.20
7. Quarrie, p.24
8. Stein, p.13
9. Quarrie (1983), p.23
10. Junkerschulen - Training Schools. There were two specialist SS training schools, at Braunschweig and Bad Tölz
11. Reitlinger, p.77
12. Stein, p.13
13. Gilbert, p.11
14. Stein, p.11
15. ibid.
16. Gilbert, p.13

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