7.
SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs Division Prinz Eugen
Unit
history by Miha Grcar
Sub-sections
by AHF Staff
The
Division was formed on March 1942 from Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans)
from Croatia, Serbia (Banat), Hungary and Romania (Siebenbürg). In its
innitial phases all soldiers were volunteers but this later changed when
conscription was introduced. The unit itself was formed from a SS
Selbstschutz (SS Protection Force) and the Einsatz-Staffel
(ES) (Also called Prinz Eugen) from Croatia and named
SS-Freiwilligen-Division Prinz Eugen.
The
Gebirgs Division was forming up until autumn 1942 when it gathered some
21.500 soldiers. Its weaponry was mainly composed of captured equipment
such as Czech machine guns and French light tanks. When the forming was
complete it was designated to the Balkans as an anti-partisan mountain
division – the fist such division in Yugoslavia since 1941.
The
first actions Prinz Eugen participated in were near the
Serbian-Montenegro border in the mountains east of the Ibar River. Soon
afterwards, it was transferred to the Zagreb-Karlovac area, where it
took part in operation Weiß which in conjunction with the Italian forces
aimed at the annihilation of Tito's partisans. Weiß I lasted from 20
January - 15 February 1943, Weiß II from 25 February to mid-March 1943,
while Weiß III was cancelled. The operation didn't achieve its goals
and most of the partisans managed to evade the main attack. In May the
division participated in another offensive, this time against the
Serbian guerilla forces under General Draza Mihailović in Hercegovina
and Montenegro. Operation Schwarz began on 15 May and ended on 15 June
1943. Prinz Eugen advanced alongside the 1. Gebirgs-Division,
elements of the “Brandenburg” Regiment, 369. (Kroatische)
Infanterie-Division, 118. Jäger-Division
and 104.
Jäger-Division. The Division attacked Mostar in Hercegovina and also
deployed battalion strength elements northwest of Sarajevo. The
operation was succesfull and Mihailović had to retreat to Serbia with
the remains of his forces. The Division was later accoused of many
warcrimes towards civilians during the latter operation. In August 1943,
Prinz Eugen became a part of the XV
Gebirgs-Armeekorps and was sent to the Dalmatian coast. After it
disarmed the Italian forces in September, it helped to occupy the Hvar,
Brac and Korcula islands and the Pelješac peninsula. From there the unit
was taking part in another anti-partisan action in Makarska littoral
from Omis to Ploce and Biokovo named Landsturm.
The
Division was reorganised on 22 October 1943 and was renamed to 7.
SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division Prinz Eugen. In November the unit
subordinated itself to the V SS Freiwilligen-Gebirgskorps and took part
in anti-partisan sweeps Kugelblitz (6 Dec 1943) and Schneesturm. In
January 1944, the 7th SS was transferred to the Split and Dubrovnik
areas for training and to finish the reorganisation. They were once
again ready for action in March (when they launched a "purge action"
from Sinj resulting in massacres of civilians) and again took part in
anti-partisan sweeps such as Maibaum on 23 April 1944. The next big
offensive, in which Prinz Eugen participated, was the assault on Drvar,
codenamed Rösselsprung, which began on 25 May 1944. The goals of this
operation were to kill or capture Tito on the Drvar island with the SS-Fallschirmjäger-Bataillon
500, the 1. Brandenburg Regiment of the Division Brandenberg and
other units with a massive support of the Luftwaffe. After Drvar the
SS-Gebirgs-Division was sent to more anti-partisan operations. In May
the Division also saw action in operations Waldrausch, Freie Jagd in
June and July and Rübezahl (12 Aug – 30 Aug 1944), which prevented the
partisans from moving into Montenegro. During that time the Red Army
advanced to the Balkans and the division began fighting Russian and
Bulgarian units suffering heavy casualties in the process.
On 21
September 1944, SS-Obergruppenführer Artur Phleps, the division's first
commander was believed to have been killed when en route from Montenegro
to Transylvania, where he was to form a frontline against the Red Army.
Regiment 13 of the Division received the honour title "Artur Phleps" on
13 November 1944. It was at that time that the division saw action in
one of the most crucial operations in the Balkans so far. Linking up
with 13.
Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS Handschar (kroatische Nr. 1), the
remnants of the 23.
Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS Kama (kroatische Nr. 2) and 21. SS
Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS Skanderbeg (albanische Nr. 1), Prinz
Eugen created the Vardar corridor in Macedonia allowing the retreat
north of 350,000 German soldiers from occupation duties in the Aegean
and Greek regions. While fighting in the bridgehead they became
subordinated to the Armeekorps Müller under Generaloberst Alexander
Löhr's Heeresgruppe
E. On 20 October 1944, the Red Army captured Belgrade and Prinz
Eugen retreated through Čačak, Užice, Bajina Basta, Ljubovija, Zvornik,
Bijeljina, to Brčko and over Drina, acting as a rear-guard to the German
retreat. Due to heavy casualties the divisional SS-Kavallerie-Abteilung
7 was disbanded.
In the
beginning of November the "SS Skanderberg" Division was disbanded and
its remnants incorporated into the 14. Regiment of Prinz Eugen, which
received its honour title "Skanderbeg". The fighting around Nišch in
October caused the unit some heavy casualties and the the 7th SS was
sent for refreshing. In January 1945 the Division once again fought the
Red Army and Tito's partisans around Otok and Vukovar. The retreat from
Bosnia continued and Prinz Eugen soon retreated to Croatia in April,
where it was to hold its positions south of Karlovac on 2 May 1945. On
10 May 1945 the Division retreated towards Celje in Slovenia where it
surrendered on 11 May 1945 to Yugoslav forces.
This
unit took part in anti-partisan
operations in Croatia.
Known
war crimes
It
took part in the killing of Jews in the town of Split, Croatia.
A
battalion from the division took part in the relation operation against
Dorfer Otok, Cornji, Ruda, and Dolac Delnji in Dalmatia 27-28 March 1944
killing an estimated 834 civilians following a partisan attack on a
supply column. (3)
The
division has been accused of a large number of war crimes in their
anti-partisan operations, as an example SS-Sturmbannführer Breimeier
issued the following proclamation:
On 3 November 1943, around 2000
hours, a German soldier on the Velika Street in Sinj was ambushed and
killed. Since, despite all efforts, the culprit has not been found and
the population has not supported us in this matter, 24 civilians will be
shot and one hanged. The sentence will be carried out on 5 November
1943 at 0530 hours. (1)
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