The Himmler's SS Read Online Free PDF Page B

eventually amalgamating and expanding during the Second World War under the all-embracing title of Waffen-SS. From the middle of 1934, the traditional nonmilitary SS, the backbone of the organisation, began to be known as the Allgemeine-SS, or General SS, to distinguish it from the armed branches.
    During these early years, thirty-three SS men were killed in street fighting with Hitler’s political opponents, and were duly recorded on the SS Ehrentafel, or Roll of Honour. In effect, they became SS martyrs. Their names, units and dates of death are shown in the table above.

2. T HE A LLGEMEINE -SS
    G ENERAL O RGANISATION OF THE A LLGEMEINE -SS
    During the period 1926–28, the SS-Oberleitung in Munich ran twelve local SS Staffeln, and oversaw six SS-Gau, as follows:
    SS-Gau Berlin-Brandenburg, with 2 Staffeln
    SS-Gau Franken, with 5 Staffeln
    SS-Gau Niederbayern, with 3 Staffeln
    SS-Gau Oberbayern, with 4 Staffeln
    SS-Gau Rheinland-Süd, with 5 Staffeln
    SS-Gau Sachsen, with 4 Staffeln
    In theory, each party Gau should have had an SS-Gau but, in fact, only these six were actually set up, and many of their Staffeln dealt directly with the Oberleitung. A large number of early Staffeln were very short-lived.
    By 1929–30, an SS-Oberstab had superseded the Oberleitung, and it was split into five distinct divisions, namely:
Abteilung I
–
Administration
Abteilung II
–
Personnel
Abteilung III
–
Finance
Abteilung IV
–
Security
Abteilung V
–
Race
    Under the Oberstab were three SS-Oberführer, who ran their own areas, or Oberführerbereiche, as follows:
    SS-Oberführerbereich Ost
    SS-Brigade Berlin-Brandenburg, with 3 Standarten/7 Stürme
    SS-Brigade Schlesien, with 4 Standarten/6 Stürme
    SS-Brigade Ostpreussen, with 2 Standarten/6 Stürme
    SS-Oberführerbereich West
    SS-Brigade Rheinland-Nord, with 4 Standarten/10 Stürme
    SS-Brigade Rheinland-Süd, with 4 Standarten/9 Stürme
    SS-Brigade Südhannover-Braunschweig, with 3 Standarten/8 Stürme
    SS-Brigade Hessen-Nassau, with 3 Standarten/9 Stürme
    SS-Brigade Thüringen, with 2 Standarten/7 Stürme
    SS-Oberführerbereich Süd
    SS-Brigade Baden-Württemberg, with 1 Standarte/4 Stürme
    SS-Brigade Franken, with 1 Standarte/3 Stürme
    SS-Brigade Niederbayern, with 1 Standarte/3 Stürme
    SS-Brigade Oberbayern-Süd, with 3 Standarten/8 Stürme
    SS-Brigade Österreich, with 1 Standarte/3 Stürme
    Again, in theory, every party Gau was supposed to have an SS-Brigade, each comprising several Standarten, in turn made up of around five Stürme. Since there were at this time thirty Gaue, the SS was obviously spread very thinly around the country. Most units were well under their ‘paper’ strengths.
    Once Himmler had taken control of the SS, things moved apace. Between 1931 and 1933, the whole structure was altered again and again to cope with the increasing administrative and manpower demands placed on the SS command. Two new departments, the SD-Amt and Rasseamt, were established to oversee security and racial matters. A third, the SS-Amt, was the largest of all and was divided into five sections, namely:
I
–
Staff Office
II
–
Personnel
III
–
Administration
IV
–
Reserves
V
–
Medical
    At the next level, the Oberführerbereiche were replaced by five SS-Gruppen, viz. Nord, Ost, Südost, West and Süd, containing fifty-eight Standarten.
    Yet despite these internal arrangements, the SS of 1933 was still very much subordinate to the SA and its Stabschef or Chief of Staff, Ernst Röhm. The SS command structure was in no way an independent one, and the most senior SS leaders were all attached to the SA Supreme Command, the Oberste SA-Führung. Until the SS became a separate element in July 1934, Himmler ranked merely as an SS-Obergruppenführer who held the post, not the rank, of Reichsführer der SS. He was, therefore, on an equal footing with any of the other SS or SA