SS Totenkopf
THE SS Division Totenkopf was formed in October 1939 and had close links with the Nazi concentration camps with many of its members being former guards from camps such as the notorious Dachau. Members of SS Militias were also transferred to the division.
The Totenkopf was strongly indoctrinated with Nazi ideology under its commander Theodor Eicke (left). Members had a fanatical loyalty to both Eicke and to Germany and fought recklessly, suffering higher death rates than other German forces.
The Battle of France was SS Division Totenkopf's first major engagement of the war and they were called to the front line on May 17th. Totenkopf was used to "mop up" Allied forces in the area of Cambrai and the division had taken 16,000 prisoners.
By the time the operation had finished in Cambrai, the first German units had reached the English Channel, but the British counter-attacked just west of Arras on 21st May, following on from the counter-attack of the day before. The Totenkopf division suffered casualties of just under 100 men in repelling the assault.
The Totenkopf was then ordered to the town of Bethune and crossed the La Bassee River under British attack on 24th May. However, the men were ordered to retreat the next day to preserve tanks for the upcoming campaign in Dunkirk and to allow the Luftwaffe to attack Allied positions in the area. The men had to make the hazardous crossing again on the night of 26th May. The SS men took Béthune after heavy hand to hand fighting with the British, who withdrew to a line between Locon and Le Paradis.
The Totenkopf was strongly indoctrinated with Nazi ideology under its commander Theodor Eicke (left). Members had a fanatical loyalty to both Eicke and to Germany and fought recklessly, suffering higher death rates than other German forces.
The Battle of France was SS Division Totenkopf's first major engagement of the war and they were called to the front line on May 17th. Totenkopf was used to "mop up" Allied forces in the area of Cambrai and the division had taken 16,000 prisoners.
By the time the operation had finished in Cambrai, the first German units had reached the English Channel, but the British counter-attacked just west of Arras on 21st May, following on from the counter-attack of the day before. The Totenkopf division suffered casualties of just under 100 men in repelling the assault.
The Totenkopf was then ordered to the town of Bethune and crossed the La Bassee River under British attack on 24th May. However, the men were ordered to retreat the next day to preserve tanks for the upcoming campaign in Dunkirk and to allow the Luftwaffe to attack Allied positions in the area. The men had to make the hazardous crossing again on the night of 26th May. The SS men took Béthune after heavy hand to hand fighting with the British, who withdrew to a line between Locon and Le Paradis.
The 2nd Battalion of the Royal Norfolks, along with the 8th Lancashire Fusiliers were holding the Allied line at the villages of Riez du Vinage, Le Cornet Malo and Le Paradis with the battalion headquarters at Duriez Farm at Le Paradis. The battalions had been ordered to hold out for as long as possible against the Germans to give time for the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to evacuate from Dunkirk.
The SS Division Totenkopf emerged from the Bois de Paqueaut Wood and attacked Le Cornet Malo at dawn on 27th May. The British troops defended stubbornly but were eventually overrun. The attack resulted in the deaths of four German officers and 150 men. Another 480 men and 18 officers were wounded. Later the same day, the German troops moved forward to attack Le Paradis.
This ultimately resulted in the massacre at Le Paradis. The skull on the left was the Totenkopf insignia.
In her book entitled "The Auschwitz Kommandant" about her father Arthur Wilhelm Liebehenschel, Barbara Cherish makes the following comments about the Totenkopf:
"Richard Gluecks had authority over all concentration camps as of 1939, after Theodor Eicke, under whom my father had previously worked, was promoted to commander of the SS Death's Head Division........
"Theodor Eicke... was ordered by Himmler in 1934 to dissolve existing smaller camps and re-organise them into larger remaining camps. These camps were under the jurisdiction of the Death Heads Units of the SS making Eiche one of the key figures of this known 'system of terror.'"
The Death's Head Units of the SS (Totenkopfverbande) were established and its members were primarily employed as concentration camp guards......
The young and most able were formed into a specialised battle unit in 1940. The Totenkopf Division became part of the Waffen SS, taking the following oath.
"I swear before God this holy oath, that I should give absolute pledge to the Fuhrer of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler, the Supreme Commander of the Wermacht, and as a courageous soldier will be ready at all times to lay down my life for this man."
Please Note - There are discrepancies in various accounts of the massacre as to the exact company of the Totenkopf responsible. On our front page we have accredited the action at Le Paradis to the 3rd Company which seems to be the view of the majority of historians who have written about the massacre. We will continue with this view unless we receive solid evidence to the contrary.
The SS Division Totenkopf emerged from the Bois de Paqueaut Wood and attacked Le Cornet Malo at dawn on 27th May. The British troops defended stubbornly but were eventually overrun. The attack resulted in the deaths of four German officers and 150 men. Another 480 men and 18 officers were wounded. Later the same day, the German troops moved forward to attack Le Paradis.
This ultimately resulted in the massacre at Le Paradis. The skull on the left was the Totenkopf insignia.
In her book entitled "The Auschwitz Kommandant" about her father Arthur Wilhelm Liebehenschel, Barbara Cherish makes the following comments about the Totenkopf:
"Richard Gluecks had authority over all concentration camps as of 1939, after Theodor Eicke, under whom my father had previously worked, was promoted to commander of the SS Death's Head Division........
"Theodor Eicke... was ordered by Himmler in 1934 to dissolve existing smaller camps and re-organise them into larger remaining camps. These camps were under the jurisdiction of the Death Heads Units of the SS making Eiche one of the key figures of this known 'system of terror.'"
The Death's Head Units of the SS (Totenkopfverbande) were established and its members were primarily employed as concentration camp guards......
The young and most able were formed into a specialised battle unit in 1940. The Totenkopf Division became part of the Waffen SS, taking the following oath.
"I swear before God this holy oath, that I should give absolute pledge to the Fuhrer of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler, the Supreme Commander of the Wermacht, and as a courageous soldier will be ready at all times to lay down my life for this man."
Please Note - There are discrepancies in various accounts of the massacre as to the exact company of the Totenkopf responsible. On our front page we have accredited the action at Le Paradis to the 3rd Company which seems to be the view of the majority of historians who have written about the massacre. We will continue with this view unless we receive solid evidence to the contrary.
We are indebted to the Royal Scots Regimental Museum in assisting us in the history of the SS (Schutzstaffel) and the rise of the Totenkopf. This article is taken from their records.
The Rise of the Totenkopf
At the beginning of WW2, the term Waffen-SS was unknown. In 1931, Himmler established an unofficial security and ceremonial purposes service, known as the Sicherheitsdienst. From this came the organisation known as the SS-Verfügungstruppen. Firstly, Hitler's bodyguard, the Leibstandarte SS ‘Adolf Hitler’, which provided the nucleus around which two regiments grew.
In 1938, Hitler issued a decree establishing the position of the SS-Verfügungstruppen not as a part of the Wehrmacht or of the Police, but as a standing armed force at his disposal. Service was voluntary. In addition to regular military training, in some ways superior to that of the regular Army, they were also subjected to intensive political and ideological indoctrination. Special recruitment selection prevailed. This was based on minimum height requirements (5 feet 10 inches) rigid physical and racial standards.
So selective were the examiners that Himmler later stated “Until 1936, we did not accept a man in the Verfüngstruppen if he had even one filled tooth.”
The Totenkopf emerged from the SS Totenkopfverbande (SS Death’s Head detachments) who were formed in 1933 at Dachau by SS-Standartenfüher (Colonel) Theodor Eike as concentration camp security guards.
Subsequently Eike established and supervised guard detachments at other concentration camps. These camps, originally in Germany, were holding people considered to be a threat, academics, dissenters, political prisoners, and Poles after the fall of Poland.
Eike and his Dachau SS detachment shared with the Leibstandarte the dubious honour of manning the firing squads in the 1934 purge, "the night of the long knives." Following this he was officially appointed inspector of concentration camps and Commander of the SS Death’s Head detachments. This appointment promoted him to SS-Grupprenfüher (Lieutenant General). He reorganised and enlarged the Totenkopfverbände into five numbered battalions.
In 1937 these five battalions were again reorganised, this time into three regiments. They were stationed in the various concentration camps. In addition to their guard duties, Totenkopf formations participated in the occupations of Austria, the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia. When War (Sept 1939) came, 6,500 of the most experienced Totenkopf troops reinforced by SS reservists were formed into a new combat division SS-Totenkopfdivision, under command of Theodor Eike, who gave up his concentration camp duties for the role of a Waffen SS Field Commander.
In 1939, when Hitler invaded Poland, the SS Totenkopf -Sturmbann “Goetze” originally created to conduct operations of a “police nature” in and around Danzig, was reorganised into a reinforced infantry battalion, and was sent into battle under Army command.
This did not sit well with the Army, nor did the behaviour of the Totenkopf, particularly regarding their participation in carrying out the “ethnic policy” in Poland. In turn this led to conflict between the Regular Army and the SS hierarchy, the former who feared a desire to establish an SS Army alongside the German Army.
Hitler’s attitude to the SS during the early years of war, expected that the armed SS would return to its primary peacetime role of “state police.” He saw their temporary wartime role as “guardsmen” while the Army constituted “troops of the line”. Immediately after the cease fire in Poland the combat elements were withdrawn to Germany.
The conflict between the Army and the SS continued. As Germany was preparing for war in the west, there was a struggle with the SS over manpower and equipment.
The SS-Totenkopfstandarten were not under military jurisdiction, nor had duty in them been established as military service. They were supposed to recruit from Veterans or members of older age groups, in fact they enlisted pre- draft age groups.
The Army would not equip them as their own needs had to be met first. A large stock of heavy weapons was being held in Czechoslovakia. These guns had been manufactured for export to countries like Iran, Lithuania, Yugoslavia etc, but their shipment was held back due to the political situation. The Totenkopf Division was equipped almost entirely with captured Czech weapons, untested, which in the event proved to be equal in performance to those of German manufacture.
During the phoney war period both the Army and SS divisions continued with their preparations. The SS field formations were assigned to various Army Corps along Germany’s western frontier. SS personnel under Army command were subject to military regulations and required to salute according to military and not SS rank. As a concession its members were granted permission to use the Nazi salute and they were excused from church call and a number of traditional military observances. They were under the tactical command of the Army but discipline was retained by Himmler. The Regular Army still did not recognise them as a military force, they were disgruntled when they turned up wearing uniforms made from material as used for the Regular Army, although retaining their own badges. A well-founded concern because any atrocities carried out by the SS, became attributed to the “German Army” which was not the case. The size of the SS Divisions were also greater than the Regular Army. SS Divisions averaging 21,000 men each, against 15, 000 to 17, 000 in a Wehrmacht Regular Infantry Division
The Totenkopf Division were not involved in the invasion of Holland. On the 16th of May 1940, they were pulled out of reserve in Germany and ordered forward to exploit the German armoured advance. The Division raced through Belgium to join XVth Army Corp, halted at Cambrai to await infantry reinforcements. On the 19th May these arrived in the form of the SS- Totenkopf Division. They were immediately put to work and got its first taste of battle suffering its first casualties, 16 dead and 53 wounded, during the period 19th- 20th May.
On the 21st May, the attacking allied force was the most serious opposition the Germans had encountered. Before the attackers were finally stopped the 7th Panzer Division, lost 89 killed, 116 wounded and 173 missing. Totenkopf Division lost 19 killed, 27 wounded and 2 missing. Further skirmishes followed, then on the 24th May a stop order was issued ordering German forces not to cross the canal line.
By the time the order was received some had already crossed and others ignored it. This order was lifted during the night of 26/27th May and the German troops all along the canal resumed their advance. The Totenkopf forced a crossing (Le Basse Canal) on the 26th May at Bethune (it had to cross 2 waterways in its advance) and pushed north toward Merville.
Knoechlien Coy was 1st across. This resulted in heavy casualties, the battle raging throughout the night. The fighting next day 27th was no easier. The fighting on the 27th May was the bitterest of the entire campaign and the SS Units suffered accordingly.
Delaying the advance of Totenkopf meant that it was still miles to the rear of where it should be, which was on the left of the SS Deutschland Regiment, then far in advance of other German Forces.
Taking account of the fact that this was the Totenkopf Divisions first campaign, the need to demonstrate their military capabilities to the Regular Army, their belief that they were the elite specially chosen, well trained and equipped conquerors, the losses they suffered: together with their past known behaviour of brutality, it is not surprising that they reverted to type when met with such fierce resistance from a small force (Royal Scots & Royal Norfolks) lightly armed.
Their behaviour during this campaign, murdering civilians and military alike, caused great concern to the Wehrmacht Army, who registered a complaint and requested an official investigation, right up to Berlin (retention of discipline being held by Himmler) but to no avail.
Their known civilian war crimes were
22nd May 1940: Aubigny-en-Artois. Soldiers from I Regiment killed 92 civilians.
22nd May 1940: Vandalisers /Berlse-Montchel. Soldiers form II Regiment killed 45 civilians.
24th May 1940: Beuvry Soldiers from I Regiment and men from the Totenkopf Pionier Batalion killed 49 civilians.
It has to be understood that the SS were not a part of the German Army. It is also bewildering that Hitler managed to raise such a force to use at his whim. This explains how Leutnantgeneral Erich Höpner and the other generals were powerless to do anything about their behaviour and ill-discipline. They were not in a position to Court Martial them. Normally anyone who comes under the Military even Civilians are subject to Military Law, but in this case Himmler and Hitler retained control of discipline.
Hitler knew that he was at the mercy of the Military from when he became Chancellor, which is why he raised his own bodyguards. Then he steadily built this force up until he was in a position to weaken the Regular Army, he did this by removing 16 Generals and hierarchy and replacing them with his chosen ones.
The Rise of the Totenkopf
At the beginning of WW2, the term Waffen-SS was unknown. In 1931, Himmler established an unofficial security and ceremonial purposes service, known as the Sicherheitsdienst. From this came the organisation known as the SS-Verfügungstruppen. Firstly, Hitler's bodyguard, the Leibstandarte SS ‘Adolf Hitler’, which provided the nucleus around which two regiments grew.
In 1938, Hitler issued a decree establishing the position of the SS-Verfügungstruppen not as a part of the Wehrmacht or of the Police, but as a standing armed force at his disposal. Service was voluntary. In addition to regular military training, in some ways superior to that of the regular Army, they were also subjected to intensive political and ideological indoctrination. Special recruitment selection prevailed. This was based on minimum height requirements (5 feet 10 inches) rigid physical and racial standards.
So selective were the examiners that Himmler later stated “Until 1936, we did not accept a man in the Verfüngstruppen if he had even one filled tooth.”
The Totenkopf emerged from the SS Totenkopfverbande (SS Death’s Head detachments) who were formed in 1933 at Dachau by SS-Standartenfüher (Colonel) Theodor Eike as concentration camp security guards.
Subsequently Eike established and supervised guard detachments at other concentration camps. These camps, originally in Germany, were holding people considered to be a threat, academics, dissenters, political prisoners, and Poles after the fall of Poland.
Eike and his Dachau SS detachment shared with the Leibstandarte the dubious honour of manning the firing squads in the 1934 purge, "the night of the long knives." Following this he was officially appointed inspector of concentration camps and Commander of the SS Death’s Head detachments. This appointment promoted him to SS-Grupprenfüher (Lieutenant General). He reorganised and enlarged the Totenkopfverbände into five numbered battalions.
In 1937 these five battalions were again reorganised, this time into three regiments. They were stationed in the various concentration camps. In addition to their guard duties, Totenkopf formations participated in the occupations of Austria, the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia. When War (Sept 1939) came, 6,500 of the most experienced Totenkopf troops reinforced by SS reservists were formed into a new combat division SS-Totenkopfdivision, under command of Theodor Eike, who gave up his concentration camp duties for the role of a Waffen SS Field Commander.
In 1939, when Hitler invaded Poland, the SS Totenkopf -Sturmbann “Goetze” originally created to conduct operations of a “police nature” in and around Danzig, was reorganised into a reinforced infantry battalion, and was sent into battle under Army command.
This did not sit well with the Army, nor did the behaviour of the Totenkopf, particularly regarding their participation in carrying out the “ethnic policy” in Poland. In turn this led to conflict between the Regular Army and the SS hierarchy, the former who feared a desire to establish an SS Army alongside the German Army.
Hitler’s attitude to the SS during the early years of war, expected that the armed SS would return to its primary peacetime role of “state police.” He saw their temporary wartime role as “guardsmen” while the Army constituted “troops of the line”. Immediately after the cease fire in Poland the combat elements were withdrawn to Germany.
The conflict between the Army and the SS continued. As Germany was preparing for war in the west, there was a struggle with the SS over manpower and equipment.
The SS-Totenkopfstandarten were not under military jurisdiction, nor had duty in them been established as military service. They were supposed to recruit from Veterans or members of older age groups, in fact they enlisted pre- draft age groups.
The Army would not equip them as their own needs had to be met first. A large stock of heavy weapons was being held in Czechoslovakia. These guns had been manufactured for export to countries like Iran, Lithuania, Yugoslavia etc, but their shipment was held back due to the political situation. The Totenkopf Division was equipped almost entirely with captured Czech weapons, untested, which in the event proved to be equal in performance to those of German manufacture.
During the phoney war period both the Army and SS divisions continued with their preparations. The SS field formations were assigned to various Army Corps along Germany’s western frontier. SS personnel under Army command were subject to military regulations and required to salute according to military and not SS rank. As a concession its members were granted permission to use the Nazi salute and they were excused from church call and a number of traditional military observances. They were under the tactical command of the Army but discipline was retained by Himmler. The Regular Army still did not recognise them as a military force, they were disgruntled when they turned up wearing uniforms made from material as used for the Regular Army, although retaining their own badges. A well-founded concern because any atrocities carried out by the SS, became attributed to the “German Army” which was not the case. The size of the SS Divisions were also greater than the Regular Army. SS Divisions averaging 21,000 men each, against 15, 000 to 17, 000 in a Wehrmacht Regular Infantry Division
The Totenkopf Division were not involved in the invasion of Holland. On the 16th of May 1940, they were pulled out of reserve in Germany and ordered forward to exploit the German armoured advance. The Division raced through Belgium to join XVth Army Corp, halted at Cambrai to await infantry reinforcements. On the 19th May these arrived in the form of the SS- Totenkopf Division. They were immediately put to work and got its first taste of battle suffering its first casualties, 16 dead and 53 wounded, during the period 19th- 20th May.
On the 21st May, the attacking allied force was the most serious opposition the Germans had encountered. Before the attackers were finally stopped the 7th Panzer Division, lost 89 killed, 116 wounded and 173 missing. Totenkopf Division lost 19 killed, 27 wounded and 2 missing. Further skirmishes followed, then on the 24th May a stop order was issued ordering German forces not to cross the canal line.
By the time the order was received some had already crossed and others ignored it. This order was lifted during the night of 26/27th May and the German troops all along the canal resumed their advance. The Totenkopf forced a crossing (Le Basse Canal) on the 26th May at Bethune (it had to cross 2 waterways in its advance) and pushed north toward Merville.
Knoechlien Coy was 1st across. This resulted in heavy casualties, the battle raging throughout the night. The fighting next day 27th was no easier. The fighting on the 27th May was the bitterest of the entire campaign and the SS Units suffered accordingly.
Delaying the advance of Totenkopf meant that it was still miles to the rear of where it should be, which was on the left of the SS Deutschland Regiment, then far in advance of other German Forces.
Taking account of the fact that this was the Totenkopf Divisions first campaign, the need to demonstrate their military capabilities to the Regular Army, their belief that they were the elite specially chosen, well trained and equipped conquerors, the losses they suffered: together with their past known behaviour of brutality, it is not surprising that they reverted to type when met with such fierce resistance from a small force (Royal Scots & Royal Norfolks) lightly armed.
Their behaviour during this campaign, murdering civilians and military alike, caused great concern to the Wehrmacht Army, who registered a complaint and requested an official investigation, right up to Berlin (retention of discipline being held by Himmler) but to no avail.
Their known civilian war crimes were
22nd May 1940: Aubigny-en-Artois. Soldiers from I Regiment killed 92 civilians.
22nd May 1940: Vandalisers /Berlse-Montchel. Soldiers form II Regiment killed 45 civilians.
24th May 1940: Beuvry Soldiers from I Regiment and men from the Totenkopf Pionier Batalion killed 49 civilians.
It has to be understood that the SS were not a part of the German Army. It is also bewildering that Hitler managed to raise such a force to use at his whim. This explains how Leutnantgeneral Erich Höpner and the other generals were powerless to do anything about their behaviour and ill-discipline. They were not in a position to Court Martial them. Normally anyone who comes under the Military even Civilians are subject to Military Law, but in this case Himmler and Hitler retained control of discipline.
Hitler knew that he was at the mercy of the Military from when he became Chancellor, which is why he raised his own bodyguards. Then he steadily built this force up until he was in a position to weaken the Regular Army, he did this by removing 16 Generals and hierarchy and replacing them with his chosen ones.
KEY TO THE PARADIS SECTION MAP 1. 1st Royal Scots Regimental Aid Post. 2. The house of Raymond Delassus, Pipe Major Jimmy Allen (M.I.D and five comrades killed in action here. Raymond helped to bury them at the east side of the house on his return after the battle. 3. 1ST Bn Royal Scots HQ in the farm of M. Omer Boulen. 15 Royal Scots Killed in the orchard. 4. D Coy HQ. 5. Col. Money deployed sections around and in the church. A Bren LMG was in the steeple and fired at the crossroads. 6. 2ND Bn Royal Norfolks HQ at Duriez Farm. 7. Site of the massacre at the Creton Farm. 8. Pooley and O’Callaghan shelter here at Duquenne-Creton Farm. 9. 1ST Bn 3rd Regt SS Totenkopf come under heavy fire from the Royal Scots. 10. The farm in which Col Goetze C.O. 3rd Regt dies from wounds. 11. The ditch where he was shot. 12. The Royal Scots fire on the road from this area. 13. 1ST Bn 3rd Regt SS Totenkopf links with 1ST Bn 2nd Regt SS Totenkopf at Duriez Farm. Capt. Charles Long, Bob Brown and others taken POW by 1st Bn 3RD Regt Map and key reproduced courtesy of "Donald" John Simpson and National Archives
Map and key reproduced courtesy of Donald "John" Simpson and the National Archives.