Nordland Ss Views
The 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, also known as Kampfverband Waräger, Germanische-Freiwilligen-Division, SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 11 (Germanische) or 11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland, was a Waffen SS, Panzergrenadier division recruited from foreign volunteers. It saw action in Yugoslavia and on the Eastern Front during World War II.
The Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive was launched on 13 February, with the Soviets attacking right across the line, as well as launching an amphibious assault from the Baltic near Mereküla. The Nordland units were among the forces that annihilated the Soviet landing force. Over the next five months, the Waffen SS held against the Soviet attacks, the Nordland seeing very heavy fighting. On 6 March, the Soviet aviation managed to destroy the Narva bridge in the Battle for Narva Bridgehead, cutting off the troops on the far side of the river in Ivangorod. The men of Nordland's Pioneer Battalion quickly rebuilt the bridge while under heavy fire. The launch of Operation Bagration in June 1944 inspired the Narva Offensive. The highway bridge over the Narva was blown up and the defenders were moved 16 kilometres west to the Tannenberg Line.
On 16 April, Nordland was ordered back into the line east of Berlin. Despite recent replenishment, the division was still grossly understrength and, with the exception of the French and Spanish, many of the new recruits had little if any combat experience. From the 17 to the 20 April the division was involved in constant combat all along its front, and was pushed back into the city itself. On 24 April, the main Soviet assault was towards the Treptow Park area, where the rest of the Pioneer battalion and the few remaining Tiger tanks of Panzer battalion Hermann von Salza were defending. Obersturmbannführer Kausch led the few tanks and armoured vehicles in a counter attack and succeeded in temporarily halting the enemy advance at the cost of some of his last vehicles. However, by midday, the 5th Shock Army was able to advance again.[2] A later counter-attack by three assault guns was stopped by a Soviet soldier named Shulzhenok with three captured German Panzerfaust.[3]
On 25 April, Brigadeführer Gustav Krukenberg was appointed the commander of (Berlin) Defence Sector C which included the Nordland Division, whose previous commander Joachim Ziegler was relieved of his command the same day. The arrival of the French SS men bolstered the Nordland Division whose Norge and Danmark Panzergrenadier regiments had been decimated in the fighting. They both equaled roughly a battalion.[4]
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