Waffen-SS in combat

Meine Ehre heißt Treue ("My Honour is Loyalty")

Schutzstaffel: Founded in 1925, the “Schutzstaffel,” German for “Protective Echelon,” initially served as NSDAP leader Adolf Hitler’s personal bodyguards, and later became one of the most powerful organizations in all of the Third Reich. Heinrich Himmler became head of the Schutzstaffel, or SS, in 1929 and expanded the group’s role and size. Recruits, who had to prove none of their ancestors were Jewish, received military training. By the start of World War II (1939-45), the SS had more than 250,000 members and multiple subdivisions, engaged in activities ranging from intelligence operations to running labor camps. Under Himmler’s guidance, the SS evolved over the next four years into a first-rate paramilitary unit.

During the mid-1930s, two significant SS subdivisions came into existence. One was the “SS Verfügungstruppen,” or SS-VT, a military unit whose members were quartered in barracks. In order to be accepted into the SS-VT, recruits had to agree to a four-year compulsory terms of service.

The second subdivision was the “Totenkopfverbande,” or “Death’s Head Unit operated Hitler’s labor camps. The Totenkopfverbande was so named because the caps worn by its members were decorated with an insignia that featured the image of a skull. This emblem symbolised that the Totenkopfverbande was committed to remaining faithful to Hitler to the death.

At the outset of World War II (1939-45), Himmler established the “Waffen-SS,” or “Armed-SS,” essentially an expanded version of the SS-VT.

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