Opening of Modlin Soldatenfriedhof

 

 

On 9 November 1944, SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Herbert-Otto Gille (Kommandierender General IV. SS-Panzerkorps) dedicated the new Soldatenfriedhof (wartime cemetery) in Modlin, Poland. In addition to the ceremony itself, a reception was held shortly afterwards inside the Modlin Fortress. Here is a copy of the ceremony's program, which featured a speach by Gille, as well as various tunes played by the regimental band of SS Panzer Regiment 5 "Wiking." Besides Gille, in attendance were the commanders of the Totenkopf and Wiking Divisions, their staffs, and various local dignitaries from the German administration of occupied Poland.

SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Herbert-Otto Gille (Kommandierender General IV. SS-Panzerkorps) views the newly-dedicated ceremony. to the immediate right of Gille stands SS-Standartenführer Karl Ullrich, the commander of the Wiking Division.

After the ceremony's conclusion in the chapel of the Modlin Fortress, commanders and staff officers file out of the front door to their waiting staff cars. In the center stands SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Helmuth Becker, the commander of the Totenkopf Division. In the foreground on the left stands SS-Obersturmbannführer Manfred Schönfelder, Gille's Chief of staff; on the right stands Gille's aide-de-camp, SS-Untersturmführer Günther Lange. The Army officer standing in the center between Becker and Schoenfelder is Major Otto Kleine, the Ia or operations officer of the Wiking Division.

At some point during the events of that day, Gille greets the commanders of the Wiking and Totenkopf Divisions, Karl Ullrich (left) and Helmuth Becker, right. In the background stands SS-Obersturmführer Johann "Hans" Velde, the O1 or assistant corps operations officer of the IV. SS-Panzerkorps.

The diagram of the German War Cemetery in Modlin, 1944.

Source :
"From the Realm of a Dying Sun. Volume I: IV. SS-Panzerkorps and the Battles for Warsaw, July–November 1944" by Douglas E. Nash, Sr.
https://www.facebook.com/Latewareasternfront

SS Totenkopf Award Ceremony

Waffen-SS Totenkopf Division award ceremony.

Source :
http://www.military-antiques-stockholm.com/index.php?cPath=26_60

Studio Photo of SS-Sturmmann from Totenkopf

Two Waffen-SS soldiers with the rank of SS-Sturmmann from Totenkopf Division posed in a studio portrait.

Source :
http://www.military-antiques-stockholm.com/index.php?cPath=26_60

Face of War

Portrait of a Totenkopf Division soldier in the battlefield during Operation Barbarossa in 1941.

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/150921014022/portrait-of-a-totenkopf-division-soldier-in-the

Totenkopf Soldiers with Civilian

The men from the Totenkopf Division giving humanitarian aid to the poor and affected people in the Baltic states, as they push towards Leningrad during Operation Barbarossa in 1941.

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/150930177887/the-men-from-the-totenkopf-division-giving

Red Army Personnel Being Searched by SS

Red Army soldiers and personnel being searched by soldiers of the Totenkopf Division in Demyansk area during Operation Barbarossa in the autumn 1941. Some of them were dressed in civilian clothes to escape captivity.

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/150981836312/red-army-soldiers-and-personnel-being-searched-by

Panzergrenadiers of Totenkopf in Kharkov

The men of the Totenkopf Division in Kharkov in March 1943, just after the recapture of the city. The morale of the division had been dealt a blow when its commander, Theodor Eicke, was shot down and killed during an aerial reconnaissance on 26 February 1943. The aircraft crashed behind enemy lines, but a party from the division managed to retrieve his body. Despite his death, the Totenkopf Division continued to fight the way Eicke had taught it. As he himself said: “Hardness saves blood. In fact hardness saves more. It saves bitterness, it saves shame, it saves worry, it saves sorrow.”

Source :
http://5sswiking.tumblr.com/post/145073172027/the-men-of-the-totenkopf-division-in-kharkov-in