14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Galizien (1st Ukrainian)

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SS Galizien (1st Ukrainian) shields 1943-1945

SS-Division "Galizien" (Ukrainian: 14-та Стрілецька Дивізія Зброї СС), 14. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (ukrainische Nr.1) , later the 1st Ukrainian Division of the Ukrainian National Army (1 Division der Ukrainischen National-Armee) was an Ukrainian military formation in the German armed forces during World War II.

1 Background
2 In Battle
3 1st Ukrainian Division UNA
4 Factual and alleged war atrocities
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Background

The SS Galicia recruitment poster places the emphasis on the German-Ukrainian cooperation. With the Nazi eagle and the Galician Division symbols placed together atop, the Ukrainian text reads: "Join the ranks of the SS-Rifle Division Galicia to defend your fatherland in the brotherhood with the best fighters in the world."

Before WWII, some Ukrainians, mainly in Galicia, saw the Third Reich as the sole force that might ensure establishment of an independent Ukraine, and proposed to the Germans the idea of forming Ukrainian military units. In the beginning of 1943, growing losses inclined German leaders to accept the proposition. The decision was made by the German Governor of District Galicia, Dr. Otto von Wächter to create a Galician Waffen-SS division designed for regular combat on the Eastern Front, the 14th Voluntary Division SS Galizien, and its formation was announced on 28 April 1943.

The Division was organized by the non-political Ukrainian Central Committee, headed by Volodymyr Kubiyovych with the active involvement of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. The OUN-B opposed the idea of creating the division, in part because it was an organization outside of its control, and claimed in its propaganda that the Division was used by the Germans as "cannon fodder." Paradoxically, the Division therefore included volunteers wanting to fight for Ukraine who were averse to the fascist ideology underpinning the OUN and therefore reluctant to join the ranks of the UPA. The creation of foreign SS units had been carried out previously - in the name of fighting against communism, French, Dutch, Latvian, Estonian, Croatian, and Belarusian units, among others, had been created. The formation of the division was announced on 28 April 1943, from 80,000 Ukrainian-Rusyns volunteers from Galicia. Although the Germans made no political concessions, the Division was quite unique among SS divisions in that its oath of allegiance to Hitler was conditional on the fight against Bolshevism and in the fact that Christian (mostly Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox) chaplains were integrated into the units and allowed to function (only the Sturmbrigade Wallonien had a - more minimalistic - clerical presence). The latter condition was instituted at the insistence of the Division's organizers in order to minimize the risk of Nazi demoralization amongst the soldiers.^[1] The creation of a Ukrainian SS division was perceived by many as the first step towards an independent Ukrainian state, and finding volunteers was not a problem. The Division was operational by December 1943 but continued to be trained until May 1944.

The Division SS "Galizien" was commanded by German and Ukrainian officers; prior to the sufficien training of new recruits many of the original officers were veterans of the Ukrainian Galician Army. The Commander-in-Chief was General Major Fritz Freitag, while Major Wolf Heike was the chief of headquarters and Major SS Binz and Lieutenant-Colonel SS Franz Lechthaler were commanders of police regiments.

[edit] In Battle

The division was sent to the front in the beginning of 1944. Although it lacked combat experience, the Division was well-equipped and most of its members had undergone more rigorous training than did the average German drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1943 or 1944. ^[1] The Division was sent to the area of Brody, where heavy combat was underway, and attached to the 13th Army Corps. Together with six understrength German infantry divisions, the Galician Division was responsible for holding a front of approximately 50 miles. On July 8th, the 13th Corps was transferred to the 1st Panzer Army. On July 13, Soviet forces under the command of Marshal Ivan Konev launched their attack. The Galician Division bore the brunt of an unnusually fierce assault by the Soviet Second Air Army, who in only a five hour period on July 15th flew 3,288 aircraft sorties and dropped 102 tons of bombs on it and on two panzer divisions as they attempted a counter-attack ^[2], an amount of explosives that exceeded the bomb tonnage of the nuclear blasts at Hiroshima or Nagasaki ^[1] By July 19th, after fierce battles, the division, together with several German units, was surrounded and defeated by the Red Army. Despite the severity of the battle, the Division maintained its discipline and most of its members were able to break out of the encirclement. Of the approximately 10,400 soldiers deployed at Brody, about 3,000 were able to almost immediately reenter the Division. Another 2,300 resurfaced over a period of several months, having hidden in the forests or in local villages, and a similar number joined the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Approximately 2,000 were killed and 900 captured ^[1].

The Germans rebuilt the division over several months using reserve units. At the beginning of October 1944, the division was sent to put down the uprising in Slovakia. In the end of January 1945, it was moved to Slovenia, where it fought Tito's partisans while maintaining friendly relations with Serbia's anti-communist Chetnik guerrillas ^[1].

From 1 April until the end of the war, the Division, with a strength of 14,000 combat troops and 8,000 soldiers in a Training and Replacement Regiment, fought against the Red Army in the region of Graz in Austria [1], where during a counterattack in early April it successfully seized the castle and village of Gleichenberg from Soviet forces (including elite Soviet airborne troops from the 3rd Guard Airborne Division) ^[1] and on April 15 repulsed a Soviet counterattack. The Division at this time successfully maintained an eight mile front.

[edit] 1st Ukrainian Division UNA

On 17 March 1945, Ukrainian emigres established the Ukrainian National Committee to represent the interests of Ukrainians to the Third Reich. Simultaneously, the Ukrainian National Army was created. It was intended to be composed of all Ukrainian soldiers fighting for Germany, the first of whom were the SS “Galizien” division. The commander in chief of the UNA was General Pavlo Shandruk, a former colonel in the Polish army and recipient of the Virtuti Militari cross.

General Shandruk was assigned command of the “Galizien” division and renamed it the 1st Ukrainian Division UNA. On 7 May, under his influence, the division left the front line, separated from Soviet forces and capitulated to the British and Americans. The Ukrainian soldiers were imprisoned in Italy. The renaming of the division, the fact that its soldiers were, until 1939, citizens of Poland, the intervention of the Vatican (and probably Poland's General Władysław Anders) saved the division from potentially tragic deportation to the USSR. According to Ukrainian sources, 176 soldiers of the division, following the division's surrender, joined Anders' Polish army. In 1947, former soldiers of SS “Galizien” were allowed to emigrate to Canada and to Britain [2].

[edit] Factual and alleged war atrocities

SS “Galizien” units have been accused of participating in several atrocities during the war. The most severe accusations relate to the actions of the 4th police regiment in Galicia and the 5th police regiment in Lubelszczyzna. The most serious accusation is the burning of the village of Huta Pieniacka and the most controversial is participation in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.

The village of Huta Pieniacka was a major Polish resistance guerrilla stronghold directed against the - fully independent, anti-German, anti-Soviet ánd anti-Polish - underground Ukrainian Insurgent Army that had fought off several attacks in late 1943 and the winter of 1944 ^[3]. On 23 February 1944, a small unit of the 4th regiment came to the village searching for Polish Armja Krajowa partisans. It appears that during the reconnaissance, an accidental shooting occurred in which two Ukrainian soldiers were killed. The Germans organised a lavish funeral for the soldiers and carried out a punitive expedition that razed the village in late February 1944. Between 500 and 1,000 inhabitants of the village were killed. Since November 1992, a Warsaw Commission of the Institute of National Remembrance has been conducting an investigation on the crimes allegedly committed by SS Galizien or other Ukrainian units in Huta Pieniacka.

Much more controversial is the allegation that SS “Galizien” units played a role in suppressing the Warsaw Uprising. The investigation made by Polish historians Ryszard Torzecki and Andrzej A. Zięba suggests that there were no uniformed units of SS “Galizien” in Warsaw during the Warsaw Uprising. This implies that the atrocities ascribed to Ukrainians were committed by other divisions, such as Bronislaw Kaminski's Russian RONA brigade – a formation composed of citizens of the USSR who supported the Germans. The confusion appears to stem from the fact that the citizens of Warsaw, under the influence of information about the Volhynia massacre committed by the UIA, assumed that the foreign units were Ukrainian. However, the Germans used two companies (about 300 people) of the Ukrainian Self-defence Legion (USL) against the Warsaw insurgents that fought on Powiśle in September 1944. In March 1945, the USL was absorbed into the SS “Galizien” division. However, it is not clear if the two companies were at that time a part of the USL [3].

A report, "Commission of Inquiry on War Crimes", by the Honourable Justice Jules Deschênes of Canada of October 1986 concluded that, "While in [POW camps in] Italy these men were screened by Soviet and British missions and neither then nor subsequently has any evidence brought to light which would suggest that any of them fought against the Western Allies or engaged in crimes against humanity. Their behaviour since they came to this country has been good and they have never indicated in any way that they are infected with any trace of Nazi ideology... From the reports of the special mission set up by the War Office to screen these men it seems clear that they volunteered to fight against the Red Army from nationalistic motives which were given greater impetus by the behaviour of the Soviet authorities during their earlier occupation of the Western Ukraine after the Nazi-Soviet Pact. Although Communist propaganda has constantly attempted to depict these, like so many other refugees, as "quislings" and "war criminals" it is interesting to note that no specific charges of war crimes have been made by the Soviet or any other Government against any member of this group."

The Deschênes report went on to explain that:

"56- The Galicia Division (14. Waffengrenadierdivision der SS [gal. #1]) should not be indicted as a group. 57- The members of Galicia Division were individually screened for security purposes before admission to Canada. 58- Charges of war crimes of Galicia Division have never been substantiated, either in 1950 when they were first preferred, or in 1984 when they were renewed, or before this Commission. 59- Further, in the absence of evidence of participation or knowledge of specific war crimes, mere membership in the Galicia Division is insufficient to justify prosecution. 60- No case can be made against members of Galicia Division for revocation of citizenship or deportation since the Canadian authorities were fully aware of the relevant facts in 1950 and admission to Canada was not granted them because of any false representation, or fraud, or concealment of material circumstances. 61- In any event, of the 217 officers of the Galicia Division denounced by Mr. Simon Wiesenthal to the Canadian government, 187 (i.e., 86 percent never set foot in Canada, 11 have died in Canada, 2 have left for another country, no prima facie case has been established against 16 and the last one could not be located." [4]

[edit] See also

List of German divisions in WWII (with links to articles on individual units)
Ukrainian Insurgent Army
Comparative military ranks of World War II
Galicia (Central Europe)
The Deschênes Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada

[edit] References

Inline:

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Logusz, M. (1997). Galicia Division: The Waffen-SS 14th Grenadier Division, 1943-1945. Altglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Military History.
^ (1962) History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941-1945.
^ M. Juchniewicz, "Z dzia alnosci organizacyjno-bojowej Gwardii Ludowej w obwodzie lwowskim." [From the Activities of the Organization and Fighting Group of the People's Guard of Lvov's District], Wojskowy przeglad historyczny, ch. 13, Nr. 4 (48), 1968, p. 153.

General:

Davies, W.J.K. (1981). German Army Handbook 1939-1945, Second U.S. Edition, New York: Arco Publishing. ISBN 0-668-04291-5.
Munoz, Antonio J. (1991). Forgotten Legions: Obscure Combat Formations of the Waffen-SS. Axis Europa. ISBN 0-7394-0817-8.
Quarrie, Bruce (1983). Hitler's Samurai: The Waffen-SS in Action. Arco Pub. 161 pp.. ISBN 0-668-05805-6.
Williamson, Gordon (1995). Loyalty is my Honor. Motorbooks International. 192 pp.. ISBN 0-7603-0012-7.
(English) Wiktor Poliszczuk "Bitter truth", 403 pages, ISBN 0-9699444-9-7