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For educational purposes
"Give death and take death" - this was the motto of the Waffen-SS on the frontlines of the Second World War, which earned it dubious fame: between boldness and crime, propagated heroism and mass murder.
The Waffen SS was a phenomenon full of contradictions, wooed by carefully cultivated myths.
This episode looks at The Waffen SS who were the elite military wing of the organisation.
They were fanatical fighters who spread fear and terror in the early days of the war as the Blitzkrieg was launched against Poland and the West.
This episode also looks at the major role The Waffen SS played in the attack on the Soviet Union in 1941.
"Give death and take death" - this was the motto of the Waffen-SS on the frontlines of the Second World War, which earned it dubious fame: between boldness and crime, propagated heroism and mass murder.
The Waffen SS was a phenomenon full of contradictions, wooed by carefully cultivated myths.
This episode looks at The Waffen SS who were the elite military wing of the organisation.
They were fanatical fighters who spread fear and terror in the early days of the war as the Blitzkrieg was launched against Poland and the West.
This episode also looks at the major role The Waffen SS played in the attack on the Soviet Union in 1941.
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LearningTranscript
00:28In
00:29May 1940, Hitler's forces stormed through France, crushing all opposition.
00:37At the heart of their rapid advance was a new military elite, the Waffen-SS, combat troops
00:44with a fierce devotion to the Third Reich.
00:51Our motto was duty, loyalty, the fatherland, and comradeship.
01:01The Waffen-SS were the ideological standard-bearers for the Nazi leadership, and they were notorious
01:08for barbaric crimes.
01:09They got no kindness towards man at all, man or woman or child.
01:19They kill everything in the midst.
01:22At their wartime peak, they numbered nearly a million men, and in battle, they were utterly
01:28fearless.
01:29For them, death was almost inevitable.
01:32They expected to die, but they were also brutal when it came to killing.
01:37The Waffen-SS, literally the Weapon-SS, were Hitler's most loyal military force, rivaling
01:44the regular German army.
01:47In the 1930s, young Germans were desperate to enlist.
01:53As a Hitler youth leader, it was the done thing for me to join the Waffen-SS.
01:57All my predecessors were in the Guard Regiment, so were officers there, and so I naturally wanted
02:03to join the Guards as well.
02:08The Waffen-SS had grown out of Hitler's Schutzstaffel, his unit of personal bodyguards.
02:15It was a great honour to join.
02:20When I received the call-up order, I ran all over town.
02:23I was so happy to be called up.
02:26You see, only three or four men out of 80 were accepted at the medical examinations.
02:30The others just ended up in the German army, not in the Waffen-SS.
02:35In a time of high unemployment, the Waffen-SS offered an honourable career at the heart of
02:41the new Nazi state.
02:44Kurt Sammertreiter was one of many new recruits.
02:48And then I said to my father, listen, how about if I went into the SS?
02:57All I'd need to do is four years, like an apprenticeship, and then I can be a civil servant.
03:05Perhaps you already knew a little bit more about the whole thing, but I got my way.
03:10In four years, I'll come back as a civil servant.
03:15I'm going.
03:19But the soldiers of the Waffen-SS were servants of the Nazi regime.
03:25The head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, wanted a unique new force,
03:30an army of ideologically committed elite troops to rival the regular army.
03:38As the Germans swept through France, the Waffen-SS was under the army's operational control.
03:44But many regular soldiers suspected the Nazis' long-term plans.
03:53Hitler and the generals assured the German army again and again that it was the one and only armed force
03:59of the state.
04:00Now, it became absolutely clear that another force was being built up alongside the German army
04:05that wanted to contend with the army for power.
04:08In France, one particular division gained immediate notoriety,
04:13the Leipstandarte Adolf Hitler, Hitler's personal bodyguard.
04:18Before the war, this unit had been dedicated to Hitler's personal protection,
04:22but now it was fighting on the front, giving the French a foretaste of what to expect from the Nazis.
04:28We did come across Hitler's personal bodyguard unit, the Leipstandarte,
04:33who'd leave behind marks so that the reinforcements would know where they were.
04:39They had smashed up all the crucifixes throughout Catholic France.
04:52That was out-and-out heathenism, but at the time we didn't realise it.
04:58The Waffen-SS was schooled to be the revolutionary shock troops of the Reich.
05:05By mid-1940, it was already 100,000 strong.
05:14SS leaders expected recruits like Gary and Goldman
05:17to be the crusaders of a barbaric new religion.
05:22Then some big shot came from Berlin,
05:24and we had to swear that we would not tell anyone what we were about to hear.
05:29They said it was a strictly secret official matter.
05:31And then the chap said to us that the victory would only be won
05:34when all the churches were ransacked,
05:37not just the Jews, but also the Jews.
05:39They all had to be got rid of first.
05:42Christ was an illegitimate son of a Jewish whore.
05:45That was the official view of Christ, you see.
05:49The army tried to stop this fanatical new force
05:52becoming too large and too well-armed.
05:56It was hard to deny the military prowess
05:59of the SS units laying waste to Europe.
06:03But the regular army criticised them for being all show
06:06and lacking traditional military expertise.
06:09For their part, the Waffen SS despised the army as cautious and old-fashioned.
06:15The commander of the Leifstandarte was Sepp Dietrich,
06:19a First World War veteran.
06:22Of course, we didn't think anything of his leadership qualities
06:26because he didn't have any experience.
06:29He had only been a sergeant in the First World War, you see.
06:32And even after that, he never enjoyed any higher military training.
06:41Dietrich's lack of training as a battlefield commander
06:43was apparent on the front line.
06:48His briefing was strange, to say the least.
06:51He just said, attack this, attack that,
06:53and you must all then come to some arrangement.
06:55It was like no briefing we were used to
06:57with clear goals and clear boundaries,
06:59but rather, we'll do it like that then.
07:01You go to the right, and you go to the left,
07:03and I'll watch out, and so on.
07:07But the Waffen SS soon showed
07:09that while some lacked training in battle,
07:12they had an unequalled capacity for cold-blooded killing.
07:17As the Luftwaffe bombed from the skies,
07:20German troops continued their unstoppable advance.
07:25In the face of this onslaught,
07:27British forces retreated towards the port of Dunkirk,
07:30embarking for the voyage back to Britain.
07:35The hundreds of thousands of retreating soldiers
07:38were given protective cover
07:39by a few French and British regiments.
07:44Among these troops was Albert Evans,
07:47then just 19 years old.
07:50Because the people was getting off the beaches of Dunkirk,
07:54we were told that we'd got to hold our position at all costs,
07:58so we held it as long as we could.
08:02On the 28th of May,
08:03Albert Evans and his fellow soldiers
08:05were surrounded by troops from the merciless Leibstandarte.
08:11Then they lined us up at the end of a gable end,
08:15and they got the machine gun on the road.
08:21They weren't very pleasant people to meet at all.
08:24None whatsoever.
08:27I mean, our officer pleaded with the 1SS,
08:29and he said,
08:30the point of where you're going,
08:31there's a point of no return.
08:36We were put into a field,
08:38and they put us into a barn,
08:41and that's when they started calling five out.
08:46They shot five first,
08:48then I called another five out,
08:50shot them,
08:52then it's actually getting a bit edgy,
08:55and the next thing I saw the jelly bending down,
08:58taking a grenade out of his boots and slinking it in.
09:04Whether I caught the blast of that grenade,
09:06I don't know,
09:07but as I fell to the floor,
09:09the officer grabbed me,
09:11this arm,
09:12and, come on,
09:13and she said,
09:13run for it,
09:14and we run out the barn,
09:16round,
09:17and, of course,
09:18they got four of their men off the side of the barn,
09:20and they fired at us.
09:22The captain who saved my life
09:24and got killed in doing so.
09:27I must have stood up,
09:28and I got hit in this shoulder.
09:30It was on his stray bullet,
09:31but I was all right.
09:34Bleeding from my arm,
09:35bleeding from my shoulder,
09:36bleeding from my neck.
09:37I still struggled,
09:38and I made me get away.
09:43Evans and Toombs managed to escape,
09:45but the Germans murdered 85 other soldiers at Wormhout,
09:49the first Waffen-SS massacre in the West.
09:56Altogether,
09:57the Waffen-SS killed 185 captured British soldiers
10:01during the retreat to Dunkirk.
10:04What happened to us,
10:06I don't think,
10:08didn't come under the annuals of warfare.
10:11It was a cold-blooded murder.
10:14I think so,
10:15myself.
10:17The killers went unpunished.
10:19The Waffen-SS encouraged ruthlessness,
10:22as well as bravery.
10:26When they occupied Paris,
10:28the faithful soldiers of the Waffen-SS
10:30posed happily for Nazi newsreel cameras,
10:34as war heroes.
10:41We were happy that it was all over.
10:44Really happy.
10:46We were so happy
10:48that for a few days we,
10:50well, basically,
10:52we got drunk.
10:55Really, you see,
10:56we just wanted to forget.
10:57We just wanted to forget.
11:06Private archive shows victorious troops
11:09of the Waffen-SS
11:10drinking themselves silly after battle.
11:18Many of these men
11:20had been farm workers or artisans,
11:23ordinary country folk.
11:29In the years to come,
11:31they formed the core
11:32of a vast army
11:33of battle-hardened fanatics,
11:35capable of great courage
11:37and sickening cruelty.
11:43In 1940,
11:45the Waffen-SS
11:46began recruiting troops
11:48from Nazi sympathizers
11:49throughout Europe.
11:51In newly occupied territories,
11:53Himmler was free to recruit
11:54as many men as he liked,
11:56without the German army
11:57setting limits.
12:00The vision of a pan-European army
12:02that would defeat communism
12:04inspired these foreign recruits.
12:06They also hoped
12:08that fighting under the Nazi flag
12:09would win them autonomy
12:11under German rule.
12:16When the Flemish leadership
12:17appealed for volunteers,
12:20they came forward in droves
12:21to fight against Bolshevism
12:23and to acquire an equal place
12:25for Flanders
12:26within the new Europe.
12:31By spring 1941,
12:33foreign volunteers
12:34had formed the first
12:35non-German SS division,
12:37the Viking.
12:38Later in the war,
12:39in the Balkans,
12:39the Waffen-SS press-ganged
12:41all men considered
12:42to be of German stock.
12:44Many conscripts were shocked
12:46by the intensity
12:47of the training.
12:49We didn't have
12:50the faintest idea
12:51about the German drill,
12:52nor what the army
12:54and the military service
12:55were like in Germany.
12:59This drill,
13:01this briskness,
13:02this inflexibility,
13:04this inhumanity,
13:04really hit us hard.
13:09In their barracks,
13:11young volunteers
13:12found they were getting
13:13much more
13:13than they'd bargained for.
13:17You see,
13:18in training,
13:19we were really drilled
13:19with some very brutal methods.
13:21Not everyone
13:22was able to endure it.
13:25There were also
13:26some who wanted out.
13:27The only way
13:28of doing that
13:29was suicide.
13:32Recruits or volunteers,
13:33SS combat troops,
13:35were trained to obey
13:35without question.
13:37Any slacking
13:37was mercilessly punished.
13:41If they didn't manage it,
13:43the whole group
13:43attracted attention
13:44and had to do
13:45extra training
13:46or something on Sundays.
13:47Then everyone went
13:48and gave the guy
13:49merry hell.
13:50He was dragged out of bed
13:51and beaten in the head
13:52and that kind of thing,
13:53so that he wouldn't
13:54give up next time,
13:55so that the troop
13:56would not be disrupted.
13:57There were some people there
13:59who just couldn't
13:59stand the pace
14:00and so they did a bunk
14:02and hid in the basement.
14:03They were gone a long time,
14:04seven hours or so,
14:05and they knew
14:06they'd be court-martialed
14:07or something,
14:08so they hanged themselves.
14:09That happened.
14:11The Waffen-SS
14:12were determined
14:13to disprove
14:14army accusations
14:15that they were amateurs.
14:17The Nazi combat elite
14:18was a new breed
14:20of military athlete
14:21with a special training program
14:22designed by
14:23former army officer
14:24Felix Steiner.
14:26Recruits also had training
14:28in Nazi ideology.
14:31Obviously,
14:35we were trained militarily,
14:37but above all,
14:38we were taught
14:39the principles
14:39of national socialism
14:40at the Officers' Cadet College.
14:43And we were actually
14:44proud of it.
14:45As elite troops,
14:47that was part
14:48of the soldiers' craft.
14:52The SS Cadet College
14:54at Bard-Tolz
14:55was a training camp
14:56for the officers
14:57of the new force.
15:01Training was based
15:02on the dictates
15:03of a Prussian general.
15:05From 1934,
15:07Paul Hauser
15:07dedicated himself
15:08to creating
15:09an SS officer corps
15:10to outclass
15:11that of the army.
15:13Later,
15:14as foreigners joined,
15:16Cadets were taught
15:16to forget
15:17any racial divide
15:18in the new Nazi force.
15:23As far as we were concerned,
15:25every European
15:26who fought with us
15:27was equal,
15:28and so these differences
15:30didn't exist any longer.
15:32You see,
15:32I even had
15:33German junior leaders
15:34under my command
15:35who had to obey me,
15:37although I was Flemish,
15:38and that was not
15:39a problem at all.
15:43By 1941,
15:45the Waffen-SS
15:46numbered 220,000 men.
15:49As northern Europeans,
15:50they all believed
15:51they belonged
15:52to the Germanic
15:53master race.
15:57In retrospect,
15:58I think that there was
15:59a very strong spirit
16:00of comradeship,
16:01which was based
16:02on the same beliefs,
16:04so to speak,
16:05based on the fact
16:06that we were convinced
16:07we were conducting
16:08a just fight,
16:09that we were convinced
16:11of being a master race.
16:13We were the best
16:14of this master race,
16:15and that really
16:16does form a bond.
16:19On the 22nd of June,
16:211941,
16:22the Nazis invaded Russia.
16:25Hitler wanted
16:26the Bolshevik Empire
16:27speedily crushed.
16:30At first,
16:31the Waffen-SS
16:32and the German army
16:33had it all their own way.
16:36We were filthy
16:37and covered in dust,
16:38but we pushed on eastwards.
16:39We thought,
16:40good grief,
16:41if it carries on like this,
16:42it'll be even faster
16:43than France.
16:44We didn't even think
16:45about how far,
16:46that there were still
16:4612,000 kilometers to go.
16:52We just saw
16:53all the war machinery
16:54we'd destroyed
16:55and the endless lines
16:56of prisoners.
16:57We didn't have to deal
16:58with them,
16:59but subsequent units did.
17:00It was bad.
17:07The Waffen-SS
17:09starved thousands
17:10of prisoners to death.
17:11Many others
17:12were shot on the spot.
17:15There was a row
17:16of Russian soldiers,
17:22obviously prisoners,
17:23and a group of
17:24SS soldiers
17:25getting ready,
17:26lining up to shoot
17:27these prisoners
17:28of war dead.
17:35The SS corporal said,
17:37ach, lieutenant,
17:38they are just brutes.
17:40I suppose that was
17:41representative of the ideology
17:42and explains how those
17:44in the Waffen-SS,
17:45even a corporal,
17:46could decide to execute
17:48prisoners of war
17:49who no longer
17:50even had weapons,
17:51just because it suited them.
18:00SS soldiers
18:01often killed
18:01their own prisoners
18:02personally,
18:03one-on-one.
18:06For the Nazis,
18:07this was a war
18:08to subjugate Slavs
18:10and exterminate Jews
18:11and Bolsheviks.
18:12The Waffen-SS
18:14followed their orders,
18:15slaughtering any
18:16potential political opponents.
18:19In Borisovo,
18:2025 people
18:21were arrested
18:22straight away.
18:23The village activists,
18:24they were the head
18:25of the Kolkots,
18:26the collective farm
18:28and their deputies,
18:29as if they'd been
18:30following a list.
18:32A trench
18:33had already been dug.
18:34The SS soldiers
18:35said they were
18:36partisans.
18:45In October 1941,
18:48troops from the
18:48Das Reichs
18:49division of the SS
18:50seized Borisovo.
18:52A massacre followed.
18:56When the order
18:56to shoot came
18:57in German,
18:58a young boy,
18:59the son of one
19:00of the heads
19:00of the Kolkots,
19:01said,
19:02Father,
19:02I won't let them
19:03take you.
19:04So they shot him
19:06dead too.
19:11But within weeks,
19:13Hitler's blitzkrieg
19:14on Russia
19:14foundered.
19:17The fierce Russian
19:18winter set in
19:19with a vengeance,
19:20and neither the
19:21German army
19:22nor the Waffen-SS
19:23were prepared for it.
19:29Minus 46 degrees.
19:32Minus 46 degrees
19:34and no overcoat.
19:36More froze to death
19:37than were wounded.
19:43Well, I honestly admit,
19:45I often cried out
19:46for my mother.
19:47In atrocious conditions,
19:48the elite SS troops
19:50remained resolute.
19:52I saw how my fellow
19:54soldiers
19:54ears fell off.
19:56So we got some rope
19:57and tied our ears
19:58to our heads,
19:59and that's how we coped.
20:07When Russians fell,
20:10there was a rush
20:11to get their uniforms
20:12off as quickly
20:13as possible
20:14before they got cold
20:17so that we had
20:18something warm
20:18to put on.
20:23The Russians
20:23fought back
20:24in defense
20:25in defense
20:25in defense
20:25of Moscow.
20:26Stalin ordered
20:27well-equipped
20:28Siberian troops
20:29into battle
20:29against the Waffen-SS.
20:36We beat the Germans
20:37and caused the SS
20:38huge losses.
20:42Suddenly,
20:46suddenly our mood
20:47changed.
20:53We were so thrilled
20:55that we had made
20:56the legendary SS
20:57take flight.
21:05It was the first ever
21:07major retreat
21:08by the Waffen-SS,
21:10ending the legend
21:11of their invincibility.
21:15The term retreat
21:16was dishonorable.
21:18It just wasn't done.
21:20And therefore,
21:21for us,
21:21it was as if we had
21:22made a mess of it,
21:23as if we had done
21:24something wrong.
21:25We were finished,
21:27absolutely done for.
21:28I mean,
21:29right at rock bottom,
21:30both psychologically
21:31and physically.
21:34December 1941
21:35was a turning point
21:37on the Russian front.
21:40It was the counterattack
21:41outside Moscow
21:42that convinced us
21:43that we could win
21:44this war.
21:45We had an encounter
21:47with the German SS division
21:48and we won.
21:50We were fighting
21:51for our homeland
21:52and the Germans
21:53were on foreign soil.
21:58Against heavy odds,
22:00the Waffen-SS
22:01flung themselves
22:01into the heart
22:02of the battle,
22:03often leading
22:04German counterattacks.
22:08their bravery
22:09won them
22:10new admirers
22:11among the officers
22:12and ranks
22:12of their old rival,
22:14the German army.
22:20If you were leading
22:21a division
22:21and you had
22:22a Waffen-SS unit
22:24alongside you,
22:25then you were
22:25perfectly happy
22:26because they were
22:27excellent,
22:28extremely courageous
22:29soldiers
22:29and they were on the whole
22:31much better equipped
22:32than we were.
22:35And so you felt
22:36quite safe
22:37if you were able
22:38to lean on
22:38a Waffen-SS unit.
22:45The devastating
22:46resolve
22:47of the Waffen-SS
22:48was not
22:49to be underestimated.
22:57When we were
22:58supposed to fight
22:59against the SS,
23:00we were expressly
23:00told,
23:01Comrades,
23:02you are going
23:02to fight
23:03against the SS troops.
23:05Be on your guard.
23:06Be vigilant.
23:08It was suicide.
23:10As long as
23:11they were not dead
23:11or at least wounded,
23:13you knew they would
23:14fight until
23:15the bitter end.
23:21Almost invariably,
23:22the Waffen-SS
23:23fought to the death.
23:25Their reputation
23:26for cruelty
23:27left them
23:28little alternative.
23:30We counted
23:30on the fact,
23:31especially we
23:32from the Waffen-SS,
23:33that they wouldn't
23:34take any prisoners,
23:35that they would
23:35stand us up
23:36against the wall
23:36straight away.
23:37And so we fought
23:38until the last bullet.
23:41For the first time,
23:42the Waffen-SS
23:43feared defeat.
23:46When it came
23:50to the attack,
23:51believe me,
23:52nearly everyone
23:53had to quickly
23:53go and spend
23:54a penny.
23:58You just got
23:59the urge.
23:59It came from fear.
24:01It came from fear.
24:06But years
24:07of bitter fighting
24:08had left many
24:09incapable of mercy.
24:15after a few years,
24:17they became
24:17so desensitized
24:19that they didn't
24:19even notice anymore,
24:21given that they
24:21were capable
24:22of just bumping
24:23someone off
24:24without batting
24:24an eyelid.
24:26Let's just say
24:27they would need
24:28to develop a lot
24:28of their humanity
24:29again,
24:30and that takes time.
24:38There was vicious
24:39hand-to-hand
24:40combat.
24:46Then a Russian
24:47jumped on me,
24:48this tremendously
24:49tall bloke.
24:50I don't really like
24:51to speak about it,
24:52what I did then.
24:54I bit him,
24:55you see,
24:56but in the throat.
24:58When you want
24:59to live,
25:00you will do
25:01anything.
25:03By 1943,
25:05a third
25:06of all Waffen-SS
25:07troops had
25:08fallen in Russia.
25:09Their corpses
25:10littered
25:11the battlefields.
25:19SS orderly
25:20Rudolf Porsche
25:21saw many
25:22undignified deaths.
25:25when such
25:28young comrades
25:29were lying
25:30dead in bed,
25:32doubled up
25:32like a hedgehog.
25:49Then I often
25:50thought,
25:50if your mother
25:52were here
25:52to see you now,
25:57it was just
25:57Despite the
25:58defeat at
25:58Stalingrad,
25:59Hitler retained
26:00his unquenchable
26:01faith in the
26:02Waffen-SS.
26:03He expected
26:04them to win
26:05him many
26:05other famous
26:06victories.
26:07In March
26:081943,
26:09German forces
26:10attacked Kharkov,
26:11one of the
26:11biggest cities
26:12in the Soviet
26:13Union.
26:14Soldiers
26:14from the
26:15fanatical
26:15Leipstandarte
26:16were among
26:17the first
26:17to set foot
26:18there.
26:20At one
26:21point,
26:21there was
26:22this silly
26:22saying that
26:23the Leipstandarte
26:24saw it as
26:24their mission
26:25to lay Kharkov
26:26at Hitler's
26:26feet.
26:27And that
26:28motivation was
26:29certainly there,
26:30let's not fool
26:30ourselves.
26:34Their victory
26:35was short-lived.
26:37The Red Army
26:38soon launched
26:39a vigorous
26:39counterattack.
26:42The Leipstandarte
26:43division suffered
26:44catastrophic losses,
26:46far heavier
26:47than on the
26:47battlefields in
26:48France.
26:5490% of our
26:56tank regiment
26:56was wiped out.
27:04Newsreels for the
27:05homeland showed
27:06nothing of the
27:07SS losses or
27:08of their war
27:09crimes.
27:11When the
27:12Soviets recaptured
27:13Kharkov,
27:14they discovered
27:14evidence of a
27:15horrific SS murder
27:16in a military
27:17hospital.
27:28In April 1943,
27:30Himmler visited Kharkov
27:32to be greeted by
27:33Obergruppenführer
27:34Paul Hauser.
27:36The SS leader
27:37had no qualms
27:38about the methods
27:39his men were
27:40using.
27:40We have
27:42only one
27:43task
27:44to carry this
27:45race
27:45war
27:46to carry
27:47war
27:48to carry
27:49this
27:51weapon
27:52the
27:52weapon
27:53of
27:55the
27:55terror
27:56and the
27:57terror
27:58that
27:58took us
27:59after the
28:00siege of
28:00Kharkov
28:01will never
28:03be
28:03weak
28:03to cry.
28:05It should
28:06only
28:06to
28:07strengthen
28:07to
28:13In summer 1944, south-west France was the setting for another Waffen-SS atrocity.
28:27The 10th of June 1944 was the decisive day in my life.
28:37That day, men from the Dothraich Division of the Waffen-SS set off for Orador.
28:44In the morning, you have breakfast with your family, and then in the evening, your family is dead.
28:51There is no one left, no houses, nothing.
28:58The citizens of Orador hoped they'd soon be free of Nazi rule.
29:07Just a few days before, on the 6th of June, the Western Allies had landed in Normandy.
29:16There were sporadic uprisings and a wave of attacks on German troops.
29:23In Orador, the Waffen-SS retaliated with ferocity.
29:27Many still believe this was a perfectly honourable response.
29:33Orador? Well, many of us still go over there today.
29:36I also wanted to go over once.
29:38They are warmly welcomed, the SS, even those who at the time were from the Dothraich Division.
29:47Orador, Sir Glan, paid a disastrous price for attempts at resistance.
29:54The Waffen-SS gathered the villagers in the marketplace.
29:58The men were separated from the women and children.
30:04I said goodbye to my mother and my wife.
30:07I embraced them one last time.
30:10And we saw the SS lead them inside the church.
30:14The women and children were locked inside the church.
30:19The men were led to a barn, where the SS opened fire on them.
30:29They're crazy, I thought. Crazy.
30:33With the first salvo, I was hit twice in my lower leg.
30:36Then I fell and got another two in my thigh.
30:40All my friends fell on top of me.
30:42That's what saved me.
30:44They saved me.
30:51Then the whole village was burnt to the ground.
31:00Fire is a terrible thing, and so I decided to flee.
31:04I was convinced that I was going to die, because they were outside the door.
31:08But I would rather die from a bullet than in a fire.
31:15Robert Ebre and Marcel D'Artouw were among the handful who managed to escape the massacre.
31:23Almost all the women and children herded into the church, burnt to death inside.
31:31My father came up to me crying and said,
31:36there's no point looking for anyone.
31:39They're all dead.
31:43That was awful.
31:49The French have preserved the charred ruins of Orador
31:53as a stark reminder of Waffen-SS infamy.
32:01You see, the physical injuries heal,
32:05but the wounds of the soul, they remain all your life.
32:12While Orador went up in flames,
32:15the battle for Normandy intensified.
32:18The Waffen-SS, desperate for new manpower,
32:21recruited males aged 14 to 18.
32:25The Hitler Youth Division was in the thick of the fighting.
32:29Officially, they were all volunteers.
32:33But many of them were forced.
32:35They had enlisted for the Air Corps or whatever,
32:37and then ended up fighting in Normandy.
32:40The Reich's youth leader, Arthur Axmann,
32:43was determined to form a new SS division.
32:45He recruited 20,000 teenagers,
32:48direct from the ranks of the Hitler Youth.
32:52When it was founded,
32:54we didn't like the name at all,
32:55because it sounded really childish.
32:57We wanted to be real soldiers, you see.
33:01The youngest among us didn't get any cigarettes.
33:05Well, they didn't smoke anyway.
33:08They actually got sweets.
33:10Confectionary.
33:14Nicknamed the baby soldiers by the Allies,
33:16they fought with a bravery that belied their age.
33:23They were fighters, really.
33:26A lot of them fought right to the better end.
33:29They wouldn't give up.
33:32They'd been programmed to believe
33:34the final victory would be theirs.
33:43The battle for Normandy
33:44ended in disastrous defeat for the Waffen-SS.
33:48Even Hitler's devoted Leipstand-Arte
33:50faced total destruction as a fighting force.
33:58There were no units left.
34:00Everything was wiped out.
34:04There were no units left.
34:06No tanks left.
34:08Everyone was still trying to find a way to get back.
34:12Suddenly, everything was over.
34:14It was total and complete chaos.
34:21The Allied air force relentlessly attacked
34:24the remnants of the Waffen-SS and the German army.
34:32The superiority of the opposition in the air
34:34was so remarkable.
34:35You may be amazed that we didn't ask ourselves
34:39what the point of fighting was.
34:40I ask myself that today.
34:42At the time, we didn't ask.
34:45Young recruits met their death
34:47or were changed forever.
34:53When they came back from action,
34:55they looked half dead,
34:56grey in the face, afraid,
34:58but nevertheless responsive.
35:00If someone gave them orders,
35:02they carried them out.
35:07Even in death,
35:08the newcomers stayed loyal to the Reich.
35:15A young lad who died in my arms,
35:17whose eyes I closed as I cried like a baby,
35:19said to me,
35:23Lieutenant,
35:24ask the leader of my company
35:25to write to my mother
35:27and tell her I died as a brave soldier
35:29for my Führer
35:31and my fatherland.
35:37SS Chief Heinrich Himmler
35:39had always demanded undying obedience.
35:44Hitler now called on him
35:46to mobilize his last reserves.
35:52It was said that if anyone
35:54could drum up something
35:55out of what was left
35:56by way of troops and weapons
35:58and so on,
35:59then Himmler was the man.
36:05Short of manpower,
36:07Himmler was forced to adapt
36:08his selection policy.
36:10From 1943,
36:12he even allowed Balkan Muslims
36:14into the Waffen-SS.
36:18Remarkably,
36:18you no longer had to have
36:20German roots
36:20to be an SS soldier.
36:28And of course,
36:28a lot of the older SS people
36:30really did screw their noses up
36:32at the fact that
36:33Muslims were now,
36:35as it were,
36:35being admitted
36:36into the blue-eyed Aryan elite.
36:41There was also a division
36:43of Ukrainian Slavs.
36:45By 1944,
36:47the Waffen-SS
36:48was 900,000 strong.
36:51With 200,000 non-Germans
36:53helping to fight
36:54its racial wars,
36:55the Waffen-SS
36:56had become
36:57a multinational army.
37:00Now the masses
37:01were called up,
37:02there were more
37:02and more divisions.
37:03And after that,
37:04our fighting morale
37:06was never really the same
37:07as it had been before.
37:14December 1944
37:15brought the last
37:16major German push
37:18to the west.
37:19As the Allies
37:20approached the German frontier,
37:22Hitler ordered another offensive
37:23in the Belgian Ardennes.
37:26The Waffen-SS
37:28mounted a formidable
37:29surprise attack.
37:35In practice,
37:36we were the second wave.
37:38On the 16th of December,
37:40the offensive began
37:41and we were deployed
37:43just before Christmas.
37:45Christmas Eve,
37:46we attacked.
37:48That was the first attack.
37:50It went pretty quickly
37:51and the Yanks
37:52were pretty demoralized.
37:55For a short time,
37:57German forces
37:58advanced once more.
37:59Yet again,
38:00the Waffen-SS
38:01left a trail
38:02of barbaric war crimes
38:03behind them.
38:05At Stavolo,
38:06troops of the
38:07Leifstandarte Adolf Hitler
38:08Division
38:08murdered civilians.
38:10At Malmedy,
38:11they shot dead
38:12American prisoners of war.
38:14Some were killed
38:14with a bullet
38:15to the base of the skull.
38:17Well equipped
38:18and fresh to battle,
38:19the Allies soon
38:20renewed their advance.
38:22By contrast,
38:23the once-proud
38:24Waffen-SS
38:25was in total disarray.
38:29We were 40 or 50
38:31kilometers into Belgium
38:32and our vehicle
38:33had to get to Cologne
38:34for petrol
38:35and there was
38:36one and a half meters
38:37of snow and ice.
38:40It took us four days
38:41to get there and back.
38:47Despite momentous losses,
38:49the Waffen-SS
38:50kept fighting.
38:57the Nazis' combat elite
38:59was reduced
39:00to a patchwork army.
39:10Every day,
39:11we just broke up
39:12another tank
39:12for spare parts.
39:14Always the worst tank.
39:16Every day,
39:17the driver
39:18and the marksman
39:19had to give a report
39:20on which tank
39:21we were to sacrifice
39:22this time.
39:24And so it carried on
39:25until we had
39:26no tanks left.
39:31In December 1944,
39:34on Hitler's orders,
39:35Waffen-SS troops
39:36from the Viking
39:37and Death's Head divisions
39:39made their way
39:40to Hungary.
39:43their task
39:44was to break
39:45the Soviet siege
39:46of Budapest.
39:51It was quiet,
39:53relatively quiet
39:54that New Year's Eve.
39:56I was the charging
39:57gunner on a tank.
39:59I'd got the flare ammunition,
40:01was sitting up
40:02on the back
40:02of the tank
40:03and shot my flare
40:04cartridges high.
40:09and the radio operator
40:11had managed
40:11to get Lily Marlene.
40:23That was just
40:28one of the memories.
40:30But of course,
40:31there are others
40:31I would rather
40:32not think about.
40:41Budapest was
40:42an utter disaster
40:43for the Waffen-SS.
40:46After seven weeks,
40:48the Hungarian capital
40:49fell to the Red Army.
40:53The attempt
40:54to end the siege
40:55had failed.
40:57Of the 22,000
40:59SS troops
41:00in the city,
41:0119,000
41:02were killed.
41:05With other defeats,
41:06I think it was possible
41:07to put the blame
41:08on others,
41:08on the Italians
41:10or on the German army.
41:12But Budapest
41:13really was
41:13an SS defeat.
41:16The Waffen-SS
41:17had been sent over there
41:18to break up the ring
41:19and they didn't succeed.
41:25The units
41:26defending the city
41:27included many men
41:28who'd perpetrated
41:29war crimes
41:30in Russia.
41:32Most fought
41:32to the last,
41:33fearing the retribution
41:35of the victors.
41:37I had contacts
41:41with SS people
41:42who said to me,
41:44among other things,
41:45yes,
41:46we are
41:47in a pretty bad way,
41:48but we must win
41:50because we have
41:51so much to answer for
41:52that the only thing
41:54to do
41:55is to hold out
41:56to the end.
42:00Anyone who had
42:01wavered in battle
42:02was dealt with severely.
42:07There were frequent
42:08court-martials
42:08and executions.
42:13We stood there
42:14in the square
42:14and the sentence
42:15was read out.
42:16And all of a sudden
42:17the barrels
42:18were kicked away
42:19and they dangled there.
42:20And I must say
42:21my feeling at the time
42:22was that the pigs
42:23deserved to hang
42:24because they stabbed
42:25us in the back.
42:26You don't give up
42:27in war.
42:28You don't sabotage.
42:30You have to do
42:31your duty
42:32until the end.
42:37In March 1945,
42:40Russian artillery
42:41pounded Berlin.
42:45The Waffen-SS
42:46still resisted fiercely,
42:48even if many
42:49were foreigners
42:50fighting under
42:51the Nazi flag.
42:57And then we really
42:59had pangs of guilt.
43:01Should we say
43:01to our people,
43:02knock off
43:03and go home
43:04or should we stand
43:05firm for a few
43:06more days?
43:09And yes,
43:10we did what
43:11was demanded of us.
43:13We defended Germany
43:14until the end
43:17because we believed
43:18because we believed
43:18that we had to
43:19protect Europe
43:19and this was the way
43:21to do it.
43:25As Adolf Hitler
43:26kept to his bunker
43:27underneath the
43:28chancellery,
43:29foreign troops
43:30played a major role
43:31in defending him
43:31to the last.
43:37At the end,
43:39when the Russians
43:40were only about
43:41800 metres away,
43:42a considerable
43:43percentage of those
43:44defending the
43:45Reich's chancellery
43:46weren't Germans
43:47at all.
43:50They were Swedes,
43:53Danes,
43:54I think even
43:54Frenchmen.
44:03Many non-Germans
44:04fought to the very
44:05end in a gallant
44:07last-ditch attempt
44:08to save Hitler's
44:09life.
44:10One of the
44:11Führer's loyal
44:11defenders was
44:12Henri Fennet,
44:13a Frenchman.
44:16We didn't even
44:17think about death.
44:23just fighting,
44:25carry on fighting.
44:32We were living
44:34and fighting,
44:35just to fight.
44:37Henri Fennet
44:38remained faithful
44:39to his vow
44:40of allegiance.
44:42Loyal
44:43until the end.
44:48Loyal
44:49until the end.
44:55Hitler met
44:56his end
44:56in the bunker
44:57beneath the
44:58chancellery.
45:00Closeted inside,
45:01on the 30th of
45:02April,
45:03he took his
45:03own life.
45:08The leader
45:09of the Third
45:10Reich
45:10had fallen.
45:16The central
45:17pivot was
45:17missing,
45:18so to speak.
45:18the force
45:19that had
45:20driven us
45:20all forward
45:21was missing.
45:26And we were
45:28afraid of
45:28what was to
45:29come.
45:34In April
45:351945,
45:36thousands of
45:37German soldiers
45:38crossed the
45:39Elbe to
45:39surrender to
45:40the Western
45:40Allies,
45:41rather than
45:42face the
45:42vengeful
45:43Red Army.
45:45Among those
45:46giving up
45:47their arms
45:48were many
45:48men from
45:49the
45:49Waffen
45:49SS.
45:52Under
45:53interrogation,
45:54most maintained
45:55that all they
45:56had ever done
45:56was follow
45:57orders.
46:01soldiers.
46:02We didn't even
46:02ask what's it
46:03all about,
46:03what for?
46:05That wasn't an
46:05issue.
46:06We were
46:06soldiers and
46:07we were given
46:08orders and
46:09carried them
46:09out.
46:14But the men
46:15of the
46:15Waffen SS
46:16were never
46:17soldiers like
46:18any other.
46:20They were
46:21conditioned to
46:22be extreme.
46:22They often
46:24flouted the
46:25accepted rules
46:26of combat.
46:29They were the
46:30living embodiment
46:31of the SS
46:31motto,
46:32give death
46:33and take
46:34death.
46:37In all,
46:39one SS
46:40soldier in
46:41three fell
46:41in combat.
46:45I think it's
46:46so terrible
46:46that so many
46:47did not come
46:48back.
46:48What did
46:49they actually
46:50die for?
46:51The English
46:52can say,
46:52we fell for
46:53the freedom
46:53of Europe
46:54or we were
46:55fighting against
46:55a dictatorship.
46:57But what
46:57were we
46:58actually
46:58fighting for?
47:07I still
47:08have a certain
47:08underlying
47:09feeling of guilt,
47:10a shared
47:11responsibility
47:12for this
47:12catastrophe.
47:15Decades
47:16after they
47:16surrendered,
47:17some of
47:18the Waffen
47:18SS seemed
47:19to be genuinely
47:20haunted by
47:21their war crimes.
47:23But even
47:24now,
47:24many defend
47:25their actions.
47:27They still
47:28believe what
47:28the Nazi
47:29leaders told
47:30them,
47:30that they
47:31were simply
47:31combat soldiers
47:32whose duty
47:33was to obey
47:34every order
47:34they were given,
47:35even when this
47:37meant committing
47:37the atrocities
47:38that have
47:39shocked the
47:39world.
47:46after the
47:47break here
47:47on the
47:48History Channel
47:48our look
47:49at the
47:49SS continues
47:50by focusing
47:51on the
47:51Nazi
47:51whom Hitler
47:52called
47:52the man
47:53with the
47:53iron heart,
47:54Reinhard
47:55Heydrich.
47:55again.
47:56I'm
48:00going to
48:03going to
48:03see you
48:03again.
48:03I'm
48:09next time,
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