Seems most criteria were put aside in 1943 by sheer expediency and Himmler's desire to expand his own personal fiefdom, the Wehrmacht men transferred en masse were certainly not guaranteed to match up to them and I doubt the men of Dirlewanger's gang qualified under anything other than physically fit.
With SS recruiting the problem for the service was they were initially very limited in the number of men they could enlist. Pre-war, the Heer had sufficent pull to ensure only a small number of men went into the SS. After the war started, Himmler sought ways to increase his force size. The first choice was through using "Volksdeutsche." That is people of "Germanic" decent who were not German citizens. This was then loosened to include those propely predisposed towards Nazi ideals. Hence the recruitment of Muslims in Yugoslavia etc. In September 1944 Himmler took over the entire German military replacement system and began to allocate troops as he pleased. The previous Werkreise system broke down and troops were basically being herded together and sent to the front to wherever the system ordered them. The Volksgrenadier division system was administered by the SS and obstensively, these too were technically now SS units even though they were not so designated.
Minimum height for the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler: 178cm. This criteria itself would have substantially limited the available pool of men. That's about 5'10" and currently in the US, the average height of men is 5'8" and was less than that in the 30s and 40s. I suspect it could have been a bit less in Germany at that time.
SSVT recruitment criteria. (1935-). Requirements: We must not forget that a good Aryan had to be: blonde like the Führer, athletic like the Reichspropagandaminister Göbbels and svelte like the Reichsfeldmarschall Göring.
We must not forget that a good Aryan had to be: blonde like the Führer, athletic like the Reichspropagandaminister Göbbels and svelte like the Reichsfeldmarschall Göring. Broad, manly shoulders and narrow hips like Reichsführer Himmler
We might add: A full head of hair and perfect teeth....(actually, the later was a pre-war requirement...no fillings or dental work).
I find myself wondering what they'd have done with all the 'below par' recruits had the Nazi project succeeded. Quietly swept under the rug? or each conquered area's freiwillige being used as cadres to base regional formations of Allegemeine, and perhaps to a lesser extent Waffen, units? Don't think I've read too much on Himmler's specific postwar intentions for the organisation? The possibilities, from his increasing mysticism to conflict between a large SS & the Heer, or other power struggles on the political side, seem mind-boggling.
SS are elite division, right? It is not possible to make that kind of short assesment on the fighting skills of the WaffenSS, a few of the Waffen-SS units were equal to the best in the regular German Army (Heer), some were average and some where horribly bad. "Waffen-SS Encyclopedia" by Marc Rikmenspoel is an excellent overview on the subject. /Marcus
I am sure that there is an abundance of historical account of this organisation which can be located by any amateur researcher of European history. Start by reading the judgement of the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg Trials on the SS which declared it to be a criminal organisation.
Hi, My first post here. My understanding was that as the war progressed and SS numbers began to dwindle it was really an act of desperation to accept "other" races. SS units were trying to maintain their military divisions while also operating various death camps.
Exactly P51 fan. There is a perception that the Waffen SS were an elite fighting organisation where in truth only a few divisions ever got close to that.
I do not belive this to be true. waffen ss were a formidable force and loyal idialogical troops of the fuhrer. To say that they were not a force to be rackoned with is absolute tosh!
I have just read a post which states the ss had to look elsewhere than ayrian race to make up numbers at the end of the war.........the hanjar ss was a force that culled many of its lands and a proud muslim force of the ss. A large number of proud men....would you call them weak????
my mate fought in normandy,he reckons the ss he fought were no better than the normal german army.yours,lee.
I do not belive this to be true. waffen ss were a formidable force and loyal idialogical troops of the fuhrer. To say that they were not a force to be rackoned with is absolute tosh! I dont think so. The Waffen SS indeed had formations that could consider to be elite and the SS divisions that faced the western Allies could be counted amongst these. But not all the formations were elite. Of the 38 formations only about 10 or 12 could even be regarded as strong fighting units, never mind elite. Tell you what, I'm the one that posted the Tosh so why not prove me wrong then?
my mate reckons a lot of ss blokes were shot,he knew what they were up to in the death camps.i know the waffen ss were diffent to that lot,but he did not care,to him they were all the same,animals.yours,lee.
I have just read a post which states the ss had to look elsewhere than ayrian race to make up numbers at the end of the war.........the hanjar ss was a force that culled many of its lands and a proud muslim force of the ss. A large number of proud men....would you call them weak???? Yes. The SS had great trouble training them to begin with. There was a high desertion rate in the unit during its training in France along with at least one major and several minor mutunies that had to be put down. Once the unit returned to the Balkans / Yugoslavia for anti-partisan duties it proved marginal in actual operations. As a combat unit 13th SS Hanshar proved worthless. That is, unless the original documents and every history of the unit I've ever seen is wrong......
