If your story is true your father never received any army pension or veteran benefits as all SS pensions and benefits were taken away from the vets and given by the new German government in comoensation to jewish people. Did your grandpa ever mentioned that?

@MrRedsjack Could be. I can't ask him anymore.

@Peter Kröger i have a lot of questions that i would like to ask my grandfather too. He was an Italian of German descent living at walking distance from the austrian border in an area that used to be part Austria until 1918. I never knew he worked with the Germans until i found a framed photo of him with a german air force general proudly standing behind some plane engines somewhere in germany. My understanding was that he was with the italian/german united front until 1943 as a front line engineer in greece and africa. Than no more info besides that photo. That photo must have meant a lot to him as it was one of the very few framed photos i found in his house. I know he was quite skilled with engines and after the war he had a workshop until he returned to his pre-war job as a carabiniere ( civilian police force in peace time but under the purview of the army and a deployable unit in war). Still many questions remain unanswered, what did he do with the Germans and what was so important about those engines i do not know. At the very end of the war after heavy bombardments it is my understanding that most people left the area and tried to return home. From another document from 1945 he appears to have joined a "green" partisan force in italy during the last few months of the conflict. By 1945 in italy there were red and green partisans (with communist and democratic alignment respectively) and they were in open conflict. Just because of those few months he was awarded a partisan pension after the war. The only information about his time with the partisans was another document, a type of commendation, for carrying a couple wounded people to the hospital with a stretcher trough a mountain pass.

My grandfather was in the Partisans (communists), in 1942 at the age of 17 he was captured and sent to a camp in Naples, he was not shot just because he was a minor, in 1943 he was released from the Americans who liberated Italy. There he married an Italian and he had a daughter with her, however in 1944 he had to return to take part in the liberation of the country from the occupiers, the whole family took part in the war and they were members of the communist party and if he had not returned they would have declared him a traitor. When he got drunk, he liked to sing Canzone Napoletana, which he learned in Italy

My maternal grandfather served as Obersturmführer (his last rank) of the artillery recon-squad of a motorized field howitzer battery in 1. SS-Pz.Artillerie Regiment "Leibstandarte" on both the eastern front and the invasion front in Normandy where he received his 2nd injury and went into captivity while recuperating in Garmisch-Patenkirchen. Do you know which battery yours served in? Mine lead the Beobachtungstrupp of 7. sFH Batterie as UStf. between 1943 - summer 1944 when he was injured. Raising our family in GDR he never spoke a word about the war to his daughters. I had to inquire at the Deutsche Dienststelle WASt. in order to find out his service record.

The insignia and rank titles for concentration camp guards were totally different than Waffen SS and General SS ranks.

@Richard Lahan No they weren't lol only difference was the general ranks where the Waffen only had the wehrmacht general rank infront of the SS general rank

@War Criminal Female members of the SS Gefogle had a different rank structure. Male members of the SS VT did not. I should have specified.

Not complete it is not pronounced "Woffen EsEs"but "Waffen Es Es"

@Steffen Rosmus No, not pronounced like the V. The moderator did a good job in pronouncing German. It's ok.

I love German, especially these kind of words/ranks. One will have a better (or less noticeable) accent than the other. In German I think it's mostly important you can speak the R right, bit same like in French. I'm Dutch btw so German is not so much different in many words.

Not really Deutsch is not that hard but I guess it depends on the person.

Just when Germans speak English..

Da! Da! Comrade! :)

They want to bury truth and history my friend

Up to 30years war, military language in Germany was german. But afterwards , many military words became french, because this was the international language of this time. So Haufen, Fähnlein,Rotte as words for units dissapeared, and Kompagnie or Bataillon appeared. Same with ranks, for some time Feldweibel ( Sergeant), Hauptmann ( Capitaine) or Oberst ( Colonel) dissapeared. So i think, it was simply tried to use ranks with no frech influenced names.

💀

That movie is so bad.

Also in German by the German actress/spy in the bar scene. Don't take my word for it, but I believe it wasn't uncommon for civilians to refer to people in the SS by the ranks that they would've had in the army, probably because the SS ranks were relatively new, while the army ranks had existed for a long time, hence a Sturmbannführer might've been addressed as herr Major.

@Mr. S. *look at Michael Wittmann interview and you will find out*

@RFFSA 4137-1D It's an interview, so of course the interviewer addresses him correctly.

@Mr. S. Since the Nazi Ideology was exactly that - an Ideology they offered basically a whole way of looking at the world. That Includes new Words, new customs (like for example while you address a Guy from the Wehrmacht by “Herr, Rank, Name,” and in the SS it was “Rank, Name” (usually without the Lastname for both)) and even some form of quasi religion. Since the SS was so closely related to the party they did a lot differently than the “elitist” Wehrmacht. The SS Man was meant to be a political Soldier even before they actually became Soldiers.

I am german. In the neighbor village there lived a veteran of wwll, who had the nickname ,Jentz Major'. A Major of another Regiment asked the man , What's your name? ' The young recruit wanted to say ,My name is Jentz, Herr Major!' , but said ,My name is Jentz Major!'.

Reminds me of the Nazi superhero in the Wolfenstein universe (a game) he´s called Blitzmensch (Lightning human)

xD

In V for Vendetta, Storm Saxon was a state-approved superhero on TV.

To millions of dead people and lucky ones that survived it will forever sound like the name of mass murderers

Haha Supersuperman

That is a hard movie to watch...

@Lee Donaldson same. It was indeed a horror film

@FreeBird0964 I could'nt watch it again.

Horatio Nelson Karma eventually caught up with the Dirlewanger Brigade. After their murderous exploits, towards the end of the war they were deployed as fighting troops to stem the Russian advance. But the Dirlewanger Brigade had very little experience in combat against experienced soldiers and consequently suffered many casualties and defeats.

Yes it is …

Ask while you can, it might be impossible to find out anything at all once she's gone 😔

@Alba Gu'Brath probaly for the better… Not all of of the family history have to be transfered to the next generation.

It's not a situation map. It's colour coded only to show the relative definitions of "east", "west", and "south". Finland was always in the 'east' even after they changed sides. The map is not an attempt to display precise deployments or position of the front line.

@HandGrenadeDivision Hi, thanks for the video, and the channel. But relative definitions according to who? We finns have never considered us eastern europeans. Never.

@Jarkko Mäkelä According to the Germans, who considered Finland part of the Eastern Front.

Some operators in special forces units in Canada today are officially termed "assaulters" which seems consistent with the use of Stürme to refer collectively. But your point is taken and why I insisted in the video on German Army ranks that it is usually foolish to try and assign 'equivalencies' in terms of ranks and titles. www.canada.ca/en/special-operations-forces-command/corporate/job-opportunities/types-jobs.html

@HandGrenadeDivision It's tricky - a lot of these Terms you simply can't translate (Volkssturm = means basically a Sturm (!) consisting of the people, in this case the term Sturm is used in a broader way, more generally as in a force). One has to remember that the Nazis used some terms especially to differentiate themselves from the former Weimar Republic etc and People got used to it over time - most German native speakers won't have any Idea today what most of these Terms meant. I think the best solution is using the original name and ad some description (like a pack of wolves or a flock of ...).

Its only confusing if its foreign to you, to me the American rank structure is pretty confusing.

He was first in the wermartch then got promoted to the SS in 1943 I think, even after the war he was very dedicated to Nazism and degrelle just was Hitlers puppet nothing else 😊

@Christian Protten Uldrich Read his book on the Eastern Front. Degrelle has more courage and bravery in his thumb than most millenials nowadays.

@thilgu I had and I also listened to his interview yes he was was brave and always spoke with his chest up but he was an soldier wasn't he..? That how he is supposed to be like Leon degrelle was always an fascist even as an Catholic and simple politician.

I think veterans of the Second World War - on either side - would tell you they weren't specifically fighting for a better world, but would not mind at all if that was the result of it. Part of that better world will naturally include less of a tendency to resolve conflicts with violence. I wouldn't be quick to condemn millennials for embracing that vision of the world - arguably that was what the war was ultimately for.

@thilgu 91% of the American armed forces today are millennials. 100% of the American armed forces are volunteers. I will give you the benefit of of the doubt that you are not American and that you are talking about the millennials in your country. As for me, I have nothing but respect for the courage and bravery of the millennial American armed forces.

The rule applies in Israel as well

Equal, and in some cases the SS man was considered lower due to the Heer having much more experience (plus, the Waffen-SS were subordinate to the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht).

I believe permission to wear the SS runes collar tabs was given to members of the Germanic foreign Waffen SS units, whereas foreigners with no ethnic ties to Germany were given their own collar tabs that did not bear the SS runes. Note I only remember reading this somewhere and haven't studied the subject of Waffen SS foreign volunteers for a while. The KZhomer "WWII History and Reenacting" has his primary impression as a Norwegian volunteer in the Waffen-SS Nordland division, regiment "Norge." The men in his reenacting unit wear the SS runes collar tabs as well as a Norwegian shield insignia on the sleeve. He's the best source on KZhome I have found for history of the Norwegian volunteers. Might want to check him out if the subject interests you.

Why should a U boat commander not proud to serve in the most dangerous unit and still survive. I bet the US soldiers on the other side are also proud of themselves

Probably uploading more because of quarantine

No quarantine here at present, just found time to get this one produced.

@HandGrenadeDivision That makes sense then, be careful still! could you do the other branches of the Wehrmacht? Like the luftwaffe and the kriegsmarine?

@HandGrenadeDivision your videos are 10/10

There were no specialized winter uniforms early in the war, which was a sticking point the first winter in the Soviet Union. Just the usual wool greatcoat. There may have been some specialized items like sentry coats or boots, but nothing for fighting in. The winteranzug, reversible parka and overtrousers, were introduced the second winter of the Eastern campaign (1942-43). They were issued originally in mouse grey reversible to white and later in various camouflage patterns. The SS also had specialized winter clothing of their own. But I believe the basic parka and over-trousers stayed the same pattern to the end of the war. Not everyone got or used them either, and the greatcoat was used throughout the war. These too changed, notably wool content but also pattern, with the collar getting larger, the pockets changing etc.

@HandGrenadeDivision damn, so the poor bastards had nothing to protect themselves with, in the winter of 41-42 which was arguably the coldest winter of the whole war.

In 1942 a 30 year old german by the name of Josef Neckermann was tasked with designing a new winter uniform for the Wehrmacht to prevent disasters like in 1941. His jacket proved to be very efficient and was produced, in different variants, throughout the rest of the war and its said that his jacket probably saved thousands of soldiers from freezing to death. After the war he founded a company which went on to become the most important german mail order company.

Радуйся, что не заперли их навсегда

It could be that Danish and Norwegian SS men were allowed to wear SS collar insignia, because they are Germanic, and as such, considered racially superior to non Germanic SS troops, though don’t quote me on that.

I’m also pretty sure that the Italian SS had regular collar tabs. However overall it might be depending on what was available at the time. Also if the collar tabs weren’t reflecting the country of origin other insignia or a cuff title would

They served in Wiking Division which had the ordinary SS collar tabs. Finnish SS volunteers also had the same SS collars although not being Germanic

Viha Voittamaton also the Wallonie divition and many Spanish volunteers fought there and all them use The SS collar !!

Im in disagree about Non Germans Cant use SS collar rank thats wrong ! Thats apply only on the first Years , but passing the time they allowed ! They were French volunteers with the SS collar fighting in Berlin also the Wallonie Divition that even Had Spanish Volunteers Using SS Collars also the italian at the First they wear the SS collar in red but as they prove their bravery they wear it in black !

Did the League Of German Girls have ranks?

@Visionist yeah it did. Although I couldn't find any consistent information about it on the internet. They would get separate badges and functions

yes I have seen something like this it said Crete in german I assume for the Crete campaign

yeah they sometimes had campaign awards in cuff title form.

or NSDAP ranks

The soldier is from 12th SS Panzer Division, a formation that became notorious in Normandy for executing Canadian POWs. The soldier shown is from a Canadian regiment, I believe just after Operation WINDSOR and the capture of Carpiquet airfield about a month after D-Day. By this time the front had settled into a stalemate, and the Germans were no longer killing prisoners (though opportunities to actually take prisoners were probably rare at this time, also).

@Alba Gu'Brath I'm sure. Every war had every participating side do the same. Pick up the book 'Citizen Soldier' by Stephen Ambrose. Great read and has a chapter on war crimes committed by the Americans, Germans, British and Canadians.

@Kapitänleutnant Thomsen No one’s denying that. But the propensity of crimes by the Germans pale in comparison to that comitted by the Americans and British

​@LibtardcuckBut the Germans were sentenced while the US soldiers didn't face any consequences for their war crimes

yes, they used the exact same officer ranks

Thank you for this. Yes, and consistent with Army practice where the senior officer aspirants wore officers' collar badges.

It's a German folk song, which was used in Cross of Iron to demonstrate how the young and innocent are always victims of war.

Correct, they don't exist in the Waffen-SS. Kapitan was a naval rank and Gauleiter was a political rank.

@HandGrenadeDivision : Oberst / colonel, Captain / Kapitän in navy, Hauptmann in other branches, Ober/another word for Kellner( waiter) .

Two different branches. One is military, the other is a govt. Security agency technically. Gestapo was lead by SS officers and was subordinate to it. The most glaring connection between the two would be the SD or Sicherheitsdienst.

Reichsdeutsche war die zeitgenössische, umgangssprachliche Bezeichnung der deutschen Bewohner des Deutschen Reiches von 1871 bis 1945. It seems to mean whatever many individual authors feel it means - either ethnic Germans, or ethnic Germans also living within the boundaries of Grossdeutschland.

you should be honored

Darius Kang Didn't Russia keep fighting in WW1 until 1917...?

Darius Kang I'm not saying that Germany has not defied the odds several times over, but you paint that picture far too simplified. For example, after Hitler took power, the economy boomed... but it didn't. Hitler thrusted the entire country into a war-economy, creating a financial bubble to finance his soon-to-be-built-army and basically threw his country into enormous debt. He knew that if he'd win 'his' war in the east, he'd have plenty of resources to steal and with it, stabilize the economy into a peacetime one. And if he'd lose the war.. well, it didn't matter anyway. There are many good books regarding the German economy and German society in general in the '30s, a must read.

Sometimes Blue Imagine thinking the only Germans were in the waffen ss lol

Darius Kang Not German though lol

We can only dream

My area of interest is the military (Waffen) SS, I would imagine there are some decent books about the General (Allgemeine) SS and the various other security and camp organizations, etc. But I've never studied that aspect so I can't recommend one to you.

I'm sure. I knew a Major Major.

A "wing" is a specific grouping, composed of several "squadrons" which were smaller tactical groupings of aircraft. Different levels of responsibility, in other words.

The Impala SS outranked the Camaro SS,,,,,but Camaro SS outranked the dubious and non-promotable Nova SS.