GUIDES TO GERMAN RECORDS MICROFILMED AT ALEXANDRIA, VA No. 75. Records of the ...

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GUIDES TO GERMAN RECORDS MICROFILMED AT ALEXANDRIA, VA
No. 75. Records of the Waffen-SS, Part I
National Archives and Records Service
General Services Administration
Washington: 1978
This finding aid has been prepared by the National Archives as part of its program
of facilitating the use of records in its custody.
The microfilm described in this guide may be consulted at the National Archives,
where it is identified as RG 242, Microfilm Publication T354. To order microfilm,
write to the Publications Sales Branch (NEPS), National Archives and Records
Service (GSA), Washington, DC 20408.
Some of the papers reproduced on the microfilm referred to in this and other
guides of the same series may have been of private origin. The fact of their
seizure is not believed to divest their original owners of any literary property
rights in them. Anyone, therefore, who publishes them in whole or in part
without permission of their authors may be held liable for infringement of such
literary property rights.
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 58-9982
GUIDES TO GERMAN RECORDS MICROFILMED AT ALEXANDRIA, VA
No. 75. Records of the»Waffen-SS, Part I
National Archives and Records Service
General Services Administration
Washington: 1978

I N T R O D U C T I ON
The Guides to German Records Microfilmed at Alexandria, Va. stage to a full-fledged army; including guard duty; political and
constitute a series of finding aids to National Archives micro- racial indoctrination; preparations for combat; campaigns against
film of seized records of German central, regional, and local Poland in 1939 and The Netherlands. Belgium, and France in 1940,
government agencies and of military commands and units, as well the Balkan States and the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944; security
as of the Nazi Party, its formations, affiliated associations, duties in the protectorate Bohemia-Moravia, 1939; occupation and
and supervised organizations. The records described in the security duties in the Low Countries and France, 1940-44; security
guides were created generally during the period 1920-45. and antipartisan operations in Yugoslavia, 1941-44, in Finland and
the Soviet Union, 1941-44; defensive and offensive engagements,
The guide series was initiated by the microfilming project of retreat 1944-45. For detailed information see individual unit
the Committee for the Study of War Documents of the American histories.
Historical Association (AHA) in cooperation with the National
Archives and the Department of the Army. With the termination The INDEX to Guide No. 75 can be found immediately following the
of AHA participation in July 1963, the National Archives instructions for its use on page 190= It is primarily an archival
assumed sole responsibility for the reproduction of records index to this descriptive finding aid and only indirectly to the
and the preparation of guides. microfilmed documents it describes. Any attempt to index the
massive contents of the documents themselves in the comprehensive
This guide is complementary to the series describing the manner of a book index would be so encumber and bloat the index
records of the German Army field commands that have been ar- as to make it difficult to use. The master copy for this index
ranged by unit and filmed in discrete microfilm publications was computer formated and printed from terms input simultaneously
according to their military echelon as follows: Army Groups with the descriptive material in the text of the guide, and was
(Microfilm Publication T311), Armies (T312), Panzer Armies supplemented with references, cross-references, and explanatory
(T313), Corps (T314), Divisions (T315), and Rear Areas, subheadings. The full edition was then reproduced from the master
Occupied Territories, and Others (T501). copies by photographic offset printing.
Guide No. 75 (designated Part I of the Guides to the Waff en-SS) The provenance to which each record item is attributed is the unit
describes the records of Kommandoamt der Waffen-SS, 6. SS PzAOK, headquarters that created or filed it, although a large proportion
I. SS PzK "LSSAH," II. SS PzK, III. (germ.) SS PzK, IV. SS PzK, of the items had in fact already been retired to depositories of
V. SS GebK, VI. FrwAK, XII, SS AK, XIII. SS AK, LSSAH, 1. SS PzD the Heeresarchiv Potsdam, where accession numbers were assigned
"LSSAH," 2. SS PzD "Das Reich," 3. SS PzD "Totenkopf," 4. SS and stamped or written on the covers in the order received, and
Polizei PzGrD, 5. SS PzD "Wiking," 6. SS GebD "Nord," 7. SS FrwGebD where the records were then cataloged by unit. The records reached
"Prinz Eugen," and the 8. SS KavD "Florian Geyer." (The records of the United States still roughly arranged by unit, since Allied
the Kommandoamt der Waffen-SS, 6. SS PzAOK, I.-VI. and XII-XIII. SS intelligence officers retained this system, taking advantage of the
Korps, the 2. SS PzD, 3. SS PzD, 6. SS GebD, 7. SS PzD, and LSSAH circumstance that the original Potsdam catalogs were acquired along
are also listed in Guide No. 27. Miscellaneous SS Records: Ein- with the seized records. The AHA and the National Archives also
wandererzentralstelle, Waffen-SS, and SS-Oberabschnitte.) All of followed this arrangement in their joint and separate microfilm
these records are reproduced on 121 rolls of Microfilm Publication projects, although some record items appear out of sequence because
T354, rolls 116-146, 161, 192-237, 603-645. The records include they were still classified or temporarily unavailable at the time
material on the formation and training of SS units from the earliest the unit records were filmed. This also accounts for the occasional
111
break in continuity of roll numbers in the guides where those unit cards for such folders on each roll of these were again filmed
records filmed later on higher roll numbers appear out of item number as a finding aid at the beginning of that roll. The information
sequence at the end of the units entries. Record items not yet contained on these cards was used as a reference in compiling
retired to the Heeresarchiv depositories at the time of capture descriptive entries for the guide, but considerable revision
were assigned accession numbers above 75,000 by American custodians was undertaken because so many of these card descriptions were
in extension of the original Potsdam numbering scheme. prepared hastily to keep pace with the filming and restitution
schedules.
Considerable information on the fate of German military archives
during World War II, including documentation of efforts to re- The CONTENTS column on the pages containing records descriptions
construct records destroyed in several wartime fires, may be provides (a) the abbreviation of the staff section that originated
found in the files of the Chef des Heeresarchivs, OKH, filmed as the document, (b) the title appearing on the folder cover, and (c)
Microfilm Publication T78, rolls 1-38, and described in Guide No. additional information providing a general description of the
12 of this series. contents. The inclusive dates of the file item are given under a
DATE column; the ITEM NO. is the identification symbol given on the
A unit history in tabular form precedes the file item listing for original folder; the ROLL refers to the sequence of the film in
each unit. The DATE column gives the opening date or first date Microfilm Publication T354; and 1ST FRAME gives the frame number of
on a pertinent document for the LOCATION and ACTIVITY given in the the first page of the file item.
next two columns, and the timespan extends to the next date given.
The CHAIN OF COMMAND column gives the names of the commanding The original records, filmed and unfilmed, have been returned to
officers and superior units, with timespans for each, where the Federal Republic of Germany for deposit in the Bundesarchiv-
available. Militaerarchiv in Freiburg. The master negatives of Microfilm
Publication T354 have been deposited with the Publications Sales
These unit histories are based on information found in the SS Branch (NEPS), National Archives (GSA), Washington, DC 20408, from
unit records, in the Potsdam catalog, on contemporary German which copies of specific rolls may be purchased. Reference copies
daily situation maps, and in manuscripts of the Foreign Military may be consulted in the microfilm reading room of the National
Studies series. They supplement or correct the brief histories, Archives. For suggestions for citing microfilm, see page xvii.
based on the Order of Battle of the German Army (War Department,
Washington, D.C., March 1945) which were filmed at the beginning The descriptions in this Guide were prepared by Anton F. Grass 1
of rolls 603-645 reproducing the records of each unit. Data cards and Johanna M. Wagner. Mrs. Wagner also prepared the input data
describing each record item on roll 603, following, were micro- for the computer. The computer-input scheme, a modification of
filmed immediately preceding the folder it describes, and the the SPINDEX grogram, was devised by the undersigned.
ROBERT WOLFE
Chief, Modern Military Branch
Military Archives Division
IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Introduction iii
Equivalent Ranks in Waffen-SS, German Regular Army, U.S. Army vii
German Military Symbols and Abbreviations ix
Organization of German Army Staffs xii
Published Guides to German Records Microfilmed at Alexandria, Va xiv
Suggestion for Citing Microfilm xvii
Records:
Kommandoamt der Waffen-SS 1
6. SS Panzer-Armee . 2
I. SS Panzer-Korps "LSSAH" 5
II. SS Panzer-Korps 11
III. (germanisches) SS Panzer-Korps 26
IV. SS Panzer-Korps 30
V. SS Gebirgs-Korps 32
VI. SS Freiwillige Armee-Korps 34
XII. SS Armee-Korps 36
XIII. SS Armee-Korps 38
Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler 40
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
1. SS Panzer-Division "LSSAH" 73
2. SS Panzer-Division "Das Reich" 104
3. SS Panzer-Division "Totenkopf" 125
4. SS Polizei Panzer-Grenadier-Division 140
5. SS Panzer-Division "Wiking" 158
6. SS Gebirgs-Division "Nord" 163
7. SS Freiwillige Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen" 173
8. SS Kavallerie-Division "Florian Geyer" 179
Index 190
Instructions for Ordering Microfilm 283
VI
EQUIVALENT RANKS IN THE SS, GERMAN REGULAR ARMY, U.S. ARMY
SS Abbreviations Allgemeine-SS (General SS) German Regular Army U.S. Army
SS M. SS Mann Grenadier, Schuetze No equivalent
SS Strm. SS Sturnunann Obergrenadier Private
SS Rttf. SS Rottenfuehrer Gefreiter, Obergefreiter, Stabsgefreiter Private First Class
SS USchaf. SS Unterscharfuehrer Unteroffizier Corporal
SS Schaf. SS Scharfuehrer Unterfeldwebel Sergeant
SS OSchaf. SS Oberscharfuehrer Feldwebel Staff Sergeant
SS HSchaf. SS Hauptscharfuehrer Oberfeldwebel Technical Sergeant
SS Stuschaf. SS Sturmscharfuehrer Stabsfeldwebel Master Sergeant
SS UStuf. SS Untersturmfuehrer Leutnant 2d Lieutenant
SS OStuf. SS Obersturmfuehrer Oberleutnant 1st Lieutenant
SS HStuf. SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Hauptmann Captain
SS Stubaf. SS Sturmbannfuehrer Major Major
SS OStubaf. SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Oberstleutnant Lieutenant Colonel
SS Staf. SS Standartenfuehrer Oberst Colonel
SS Oberf. SS Oberfuehrer No equivalent No equivalent
SS Brif. SS Brigadefuehrer GeneraImajor Brigadier General
SS Gruf. SS Gruppenfuehrer Generalleutnant Major General
SS OGruf. SS Obergruppenfuehrer General der Infanterie Lieutenant General
SS ObstGruf. SS Oberstgruppenfuehrer Generaloberst General
RFSS Reichsfuehrer-SS Generalfeldmarschall General of Army
Vll
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